Keith walked up to a white house and knocked roughly yet lazily, waiting impatiently as ever. "El, wouldja hurry up." The Mechanic was in quite a rush to get back to the shop for lunch. Keith heard a sound from inside the silent building and swiftly pulled out a spare key he had received from Ellis in case of emergencies. He jammed it into the door's knob and slowly ventured inside the suffocating eerie foyer. The man turned to the first room and noticed a unidentified man hunch over a lifeless form lying on top of the snowy carpet. "What da fuck?" Keith announced loudly as the man slowly peeked over his shoulder with bits of flesh in his hands and teeth dripping to the floor below. In a sudden motion the bizarre individual lunged at Keith, leaving him in a forceful deadlock with the man who seemed to have more strength than he appeared. The man growled and snarled at him desperately aiming towards the Mechanic's neck. With more strength, the strange being managed to trail Keith into the foyer once again isolating him, and pinning him to the yellow floral patterned wall. The individual turned his head slightly towards Keith's forearm and sunk his teeth with a lock. "GET DA FUCK OFF OF MEH!" He gritted through his teeth. Keith slowly reached for a vase that sat neatly placed on a oak colored coffee table and with one firm grip, he slammed it straight into the man's temple. The 'man' tore a clump of flesh from Keith's arm as he fell to the snowy carpet below. Blood delicately seeped from the impact of the glass structure, painting the carpet in a deep crimson tone. The man bellowed through his hoarse throat before lying completely still, indicating his energy had dissipated. The Mechanic hissed in pain all while covering his aftermath feeling the red plasma ooze through his hand. "Shit." He whispered as he glancing over at the lifeless, tattered form in the living room in disgust and sadness. The body was that of an older woman, but, not just any woman...the mother of his best bud. Keith swiftly exited the house in frantic demeanor just to see 6 state Georgian police cars dash down the road with sirens blazing. Blood trickled to the ground below as he ran towards his truck with his mind spinning abruptly. He awkwardly fumbled around for his keys, immediately starting it and speeding off towards the auto shop.

20 minutes into his drive, Keith felt nauseous and paranoid seeing strange things along the journey. Turning his glance to the rear view mirror he noticed a woman attempting her way into someone's home. "Nah... Ah just imaginin' things." The Mechanic hushly announced turning his vision back to the road. Curiosity got the best of him as he glanced back to the mirror to see the woman had broken into the home hearing the sounds of blood curdled screams. His eyes widened in a mixture of all sets of emotions feeling the echoes ring in his eardrums. When he turned his hazel eyes back to the road a young boy no older than 12 staggered onto the street. Keith swerved, turning into a bulky White Ash tree and colliding head first into the steering wheel, his head ricocheted off the wheel and returned back to the cushioned seat nearly losing his consciousness. The Mechanic opened the door, escaping his vehicle disorientated and slowly began seeing the boy appeared into his faded view, snarling at Keith and preparing to lung. In seconds the child pounced and slammed into the older man. Instead of biting at him right away the young boy began ripping as his clothing with talon like nails until flesh was revealed. He desperately tried to push the child off but like earlier with the his incident the child had more strength then he appeared. A gunshot cut through the air and landed straight into the boy's temple. "KEITH!" A mysterious yet familiar voice called. Keith looked towards the figure with a blurry daze that sported a mustard colored shirt sprinting towards him. He shut his eyes slowly and let the darkness swallow him.


"KEITH!" His name echoed distance yet close. "Wake up." The young man jumped from his slumber with sweat beads on his forehead and was greeted with reality once more. "Are you okay? You seemed like you were having a nightmare." Zoey said looking him dead in his hazel eyes as he nodded slowly at her while raising his hands into his face, rubbing the exhaustion away. Zoey peered behind the blinds seeing plenty of Infected wandering about the motel's parking lot. She sighed slightly and backed away from the window and readied herself for another day in this world. The young woman inspected behind the blinds once more this time seeing this time an odd man slashing away at the crowd of the the undead with no sort of emotion.

"What's dat noise?" Keith asked watching Zoey witness something before her.
"A Survivor..." She hushed to him and opened the door to the motel swiftly.

Grunts had escaped the man's mouth as he continued his massacre and defiled his clothing all the while the duo ran to help the stranger, but the undead had already fallen to his grasp. Keith whistled softly seeing all the bodies secrete befouled blood around the man. Zoey held her gun ready towards the Survivor which he didn't seem to seem responsive to, instead he walked passed the pair and into the motel's rooms. "What was dat about?" Keith questioned rubbing his head slightly. "Do you think he saw us?" Zoey questioned backed. Keith directed a puzzled expression at her expecting an answer but instead the young woman shook her head dismissively. A moment after the man returned into view with a bag full of supplies he scavenged, he brush passed the couple with still no acknowledgement.

"HEY! Where ya goin?" Keith shouted at him and to his surprise he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Dead don't speak." He said slowly turning to the two... approaching them.
"Well yeah, Sir, we ain't dead." Keith commented with a 'matter of fact' tone.
The man dismissed the Mechanic and aimed his vision towards Zoey with an awkward tension. "You..," He began. "You look familiar...like..." He went quiet after his final word leaving an ominous wind.
"Are...you alone?" The young woman asked slowly placing her pistol in it's holster. The man looked deeply into her emerald color eyes seeing a dim light in her eyes."Yes," One word escaped his hoarse throat before he continued, he looked around seeing a couple of Infected staggering in their direction. "I can't stay anymore." He swiftly began walking away from the pair to which they had no objection. He was a stranger after all.
"Ah think Ah know why yew asked yur question before." Keith announced under his breath as he went to kill the two Infected.


The Autumn light shone delicately overhead as Keith and Zoey entered through a neighboring forest leaving behind the motel's 'luxurious' room. Not much was spoken between the pair as usual but that still didn't evade the fact that stranger left them with an feeling of uneasy in both their minds. Twigs snapped under their shoes and the winds brew by sending shivers up Keith's back. "Do yew think da guy will be alright?" The Mechanic said wrapping his arms together to provide some heat. "I hope so." She responded back with a monotone. "I've seen it happen before...when someone loses everything they were." She added with a hint of despair. "Besides its not like we knew him." The southern man aimed his hazel windows over to some leaves dying off the trees and pondered deeply. "Didn't seem dat way to meh." Keith said absentmindedly. She didn't respond but instead continue forward, focusing on her mission. Silence flooded in the area hearing only the sounds of the ambient woods but something had caught the Mechanic's attention. "Hey, looky over der." He whispered delicately to Zoey, who was leading the pair. The woman looked up into the morning's majestic canvas seeing smoke leading slightly off in the distance from her initial trail. "Lemme guess," She began... "You wanna check it out, don't you?"
Keith slowly looked down to the leafy pathway. "Someone might need some help over der." His noticed had caused Zoey to stop and stare into the coal colored smoke.
Before he continued Zoey interjected with a heavy sigh. "It could be, but that could be anyone over there or no one there..." Zoey grimly announced as she returned her gaze forward.
"But other Survivors is a good thang, ain't it?" The Mechanic counterattacked.
"Keith, nobody is over there and if so they're gone now." She vocalized without turning her back to look at him dead on. She didn't wanna believe what she was saying herself, but it's the reality this world had came to be, there's no such thing as 'what ifs' anymore.
"Are you gone?" Keith retorted immediately leaving a soft tension. Zoey turned to look at the southern man head on but failed to realize how close his being actually was to hers. His beautiful, hazel eyes beamed from the star's early rays and deep into her emerald windows.
"I mean what are yew even doing, Zoey?" His tone had saddened but he continued nonetheless. "Where are yew headed?"
She had not flinched but failed to construct words for his interrogative remarks. She didn't know why she was on her mission but she did in the same manner. Perhaps she was gone. Everybody else she knew was but why wasn't it her? Zoey entered a pensive state of the days she should've been dead but those times Ellis had always been by her side...always smiling like hope was left somewhere on this rotting terrestrial rock. Memories replayed in her mind like a song stuck on repeat, feeling emotion after emotion, and seeing HIS fucking goofy smile.
"I'm not gone. Because I'm still here." She silently answered while deploying her pistol and began leading into the smoke's direction. Keith followed behind wondering what they will encounter next.