Before the infection that plagued his village, Ramon Ramirez was a carpenter. He had a wife and two lovely daughters. But that was all before the 'sharing of the gift' that a few shadowy chiefs and cult leaders orchestrated. By the end of the week, the entire village was infected, the children dead, and the men and women slaves to the cause. Ramirez wasn't entirely sure what 'the cause' was, but he had been told to watch the north road for an American. That was all he knew, and for some reason, he felt compelled to do so.

So he sat on the ridge watching over the road, with a fellow villager named Gulmira. Gulmira was a portly man, his shirt stained with blood, and his eyes red.

"So anyway, like I was saying, does it really make sense for us to have all this boxes of ammunition lying around? Or in our pockets?" Ramirez said to his fellow sentry, who continued to stare mindlessly out at the road below. "I mean, only one of us has a gun in town. You know, what's-his-name, in the bigger house, with the shotgun. And he doesn't even use it. And why does he have handgun rounds lying around? And that grenade, the one we say during his wife's thing last month, what purpose does he have for that? How did he even get that?"

Gulmira remained silent, and Ramirez went back to guard duty. A few moments passed before he turned to his comrade again.

"So how about that guy Krauser who came through here a few times, eh? Did you see the pipes on that guy? And that thing he does with his arm? You know, when one of the villagers tried to make a run for it? How do you think he does that? Can he like, change his arm back? Or is it stuck like that? Sounds like a crappy deal if he can't, man. Imagine sleeping with that thing. Or going to the washroom. Still, having a sword for an arm is pretty damn cool. Hey, why can't we do that? All we have is greatly improved strength, night vision, and that thing when our heads explode and that tentacle things pops out. Did you see Luis? Fat Luis, I mean, not like, Luis-Luis, the science guy. Anyway, he fell from the church tower the other day, cracked his head open. Boom, tentacle thing. He just kind of goes around like that now. I try not to stare."

Gulmira was still silent, swaying slightly where he was crouching.

"Hey, have you noticed that there's like, three or four boxes with snakes in them? I mean, like nailed shut boxes. Do you have any idea why those are lying around? I opened this one box, and this snake just jumps right at me. Why do these boxes even exist? Is one of us going around, putting snakes in these boxes, and then sealing them? I'll ask around when we get off guard duty."

His partner was quiet as ever, his red eyes fixed on the road.

"You know what's-his-name, you know, the merchant guy? Who took off when everyone else was all like, doing stuff like dying and turning? The guy who had all those guns and bullets and that cool first aid spray that comes in the can? And he started selling those guns to everyone who hadn't been turned yet? Who does that, man? I mean, if he wanted to help those people, he should have just gave them the guns. Or you know, actually used them himself. Doesn't have to be a tool about it. He's still out there, I bet. Selling guns and bullets to people trying to undermine us. You know what I don't get? How he managed to get his hands on like, rocket launchers and submachine guns. I mean, we don't have that stuff. Probably should be out looking for him, before he hands off that firepower to someone who'll use it. Meh, I'm sure it'll be fine. In no way can this come back to bite us in the ass."

A brief silent moment passed.

"Hey, man. I think my parasite thingy might have fell out."