Lee looked with a raised eyebrow at the van that had just parked a few meters in front of him. He was somewhat curious, and cautious as he approached.

He thought that after all these years, no vehicle worked anymore.

He looked around for a few moments, he was on an abandoned road, surrounded by forest.

As a precaution, Lee started walking closer to the trees. He didn't have a weapon to deal with those people if he needed to. In these last few months, he had not even encountered any bandits.

Some people got out of the van carrying guns in their hands, and Lee stopped walking, looking intently at the two men and two women who were approaching him.

- I don't want any trouble. I just want to go on my way.

Lee said, finding it mildly amusing that these were his first words after meeting people after so long. Deep down he kind of knew that this was more or less how he would find another human being.

Alive, at least.

- We're not going to be problems if you're not either. Do you have a group?

one of the men asked, stopping a few meters in front of Lee and looking around for other people.

- You are the first people I have met in... in a while.

Lee answered after a few moments of silence, glancing at the tree beside him.

If things got bad, he would run into the forest and try to get to the river he was at earlier, or perhaps get to the hill he saw on the way there, kill each of them without them noticing.

If he took the submachine gun that one of the women was holding, he would even make sure to kill the others, it wasn't as heavy a weapon as a rifle, and the recoil was relatively easy to control with one hand... compared to a heavier weapon, of course.

- Are you going somewhere? To a commune, for example?

Another man asked.

Lee looked at them for a moment; they all had clean clothes, looked healthy and well armed. Hair cut, beard done.

They came from a large community, and from the size of the van, they might have been carrying supplies in the back.

- No. I'm just walking... looking.

He answered, looking back and forth, trying to see if there were more of them around, so that maybe he could act before he was surrounded, you never know.

- Looking? For what?

The woman with the submachine gun asked, looking somewhat hesitant, and confused at Lee, who smiled slightly humorlessly.

- For something.

He answered, glancing at the van as he noticed movement within it.

- Well, maybe you have found that something. We come from a large community, lots of food, raise pigs, cows, sheep... we have enough electricity to power the whole community. You can come with us, take a hot bath, what do you think?

One of the men said, and Lee looked at him with an arched eyebrow, intrigued.

- That... that sounds good... too good, so tell me, what am I going to be forced to do?

Lee asked, alternating his gaze between the four people there.

- What do you mean?

One of the men asked, a small smile on his lips as he looked down at the ground quickly.

- Oh, come on. You don't give a chance like this to every survivor you meet, right? Food, hot baths... of course you want something in return. Slave labor, perhaps? If you haven't noticed, I only have one arm, so, let's say, I'm useless.

Lee said, turning and walking back, but they came closer and surrounded him, where one of the men stood right in front of him, blocking his way.

- You wouldn't survive all this time out here if you weren't capable of this, would you?

One of the women said, and Lee smiled humorlessly, shaking his head slightly.

- Looks like you got it wrong, pal. We tried it the good way, but since it didn't work out...

The man said, raising his rifle and aiming it at Lee's head, who sighed wearily.

- I get it. You kidnap survivors... I was right, it's slave labor after all.

Lee said, raising his arm and starting to walk towards the van.

During the short walk to the vehicle, Lee glanced back. The man with the rifle was a few steps behind him, while the others were further back.

Lee took a few more steps, and stopped walking as soon as he stood next to the van.

- What are you waiting for? Move it.

The man said, and Lee turned quickly, ducking before the man could shoot, dodging the bullet that would penetrate his head.

Lee grabbed the knife he had around his waist and stabbed the man in the stomach, then he grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to himself, making the man a shield for the shots that came his way.

He walked backwards, still with the man's body as a shield, and hid behind the van, picking up his knife again.

He closed his eyes, and sighed, that would be tough.

Two people were coming from his left, and another from his right.

Lee threw himself against the person on the right, avoiding being hit by the shots the woman fired and stabbing her in the neck. After that, he grabbed her submachine gun and used her body as a shield, shooting the other two who just appeared in his line of sight.

Lee threw the woman's body aside and stood up, however, before he could do anything, another shot echoed through the empty road, and he fell to the side, feeling his arm throbbing.

He looked down at his newest bullet wound, right in the middle of his arm. His eyes then focused on the man who had just stepped out of the van and was pointing a pistol in his direction.

- Holy shit. You are a bunch of useless fucking assholes! He doesn't have a fucking arm!

The man shouted, looking at the only woman left, the only person who survived. His eyes then met Lee's, who looked deep into the different colors of the man's irises.

- Jesus Christ. One cripple is more useful than four people together with guns. Get up.

The man said, and Lee took another deep breath, standing up with some difficulty, amid groans of pain.

- Abel, we should kill this guy!

The woman said, pointing the gun at Lee's head, who looked at her with an arched eyebrow.

- Really? Well, if we do that, those three useless idiots will have died for nothing! If even without an arm he can kill that many in such a short time, then he will certainly be useful. Use your fucking head!

The man yelled at the woman, walking to the van and opening the back doors, beckoning Lee to get into the vehicle.

He shook his head and clicked his tongue, getting into the van shortly after Abel grabbed his backpack.

His eyes focused on the boy who was sitting with his hands tied and his back braced against the cold metal of the vehicle.

- What's this? You kidnap children too?

He asked loudly, sitting down across from the boy and looking at Abel, who lit a cigarette and closed the doors, ignoring him.

Lee laughed humorlessly and bowed his head, thinking of a way to cover his wound and stop the bleeding.

He looked down at his own shirt, under his jacket, and tore a piece off the bottom, running it around his arm with his mouth.

- Where did they find you, kid?

Lee asked after a while, taking a quick look at the young man, who stared at him for a moment, somewhat enigmatically.

- I was in a forest. They found me, and took me.

The boy answered, his low, slightly slurred voice making Lee stare at him for a few more moments before he tried to tie a knot with his hand and squeeze it with his mouth.

- What is your name?

He asked, looking at the work he had done on his arm, it wasn't very tight, but it would do for now.

If only he had two arms, he would take the bullet that was trapped inside his arm and shove it into that man's eye in a matter of seconds.

- James. And yours?

The boy answered after a while, looking at Lee for only a few moments, as if he was hesitant to do so.

- Lee.

He said, propping his head on the cold metal and closing his eyes as he sighed, he definitely hadn't expected that when he woke up that morning.

He was in need of human contact, fine, but this was already more contact than he wanted, to tell the truth.

- You... you killed those people.

James said in a whisper, looking at Lee somewhat puzzled.

- I did. Too bad I don't have two arms, I think I could have killed the other two.

Lee said, looking at Abel, who was sitting in the driver's seat, and didn't even seem to pay attention to their conversation.

- Have you killed many?

James asked, looking at Lee with a certain distance in his gaze, a bit of regret perhaps.

- People? Too many to count. Same thing with zombies.

Lee answered, arching an eyebrow when he saw James' somewhat uncomfortable expression.

- Zombies? Is that what you call them?

James asked, leaning his arms on his knees and looking at the ground, with a certain melancholy around him.

- Yes, what do you call them?

Lee answered, sighing when he saw that his backpack was in the front of the van, along with the woman next to Abel.

-People...

The boy answered, and Lee looked at him somewhat puzzled, and slightly curious.

- People?

Lee asked, leaning his body slightly forward, and looking at James with a certain interest.

- No... not people, exactly. But, something in between.

He answered, a little surprised, and even a little embarrassed, maybe because he thought it sounded too crazy to say.

- Ok, I am curious, why do you call them that?

Lee asked, and James stared at him for a few moments, looking deep into his eye. Perhaps, surprised not to meet the judgmental, ridiculing gaze.

-... Part of us is still in there, somewhere. Few of us die now, we turn out. Neither alive, nor dead. In a way, they are lost.

He said, and Lee put his hand thoughtfully on his chin, ignoring the pain that hammered at his arm.

He had been shot so many times before, he thought it was normal.

- So do you kill them? Or do you avoid them?

Lee asked, genuinely curious, he had never met a person who was as fucked up mentally as he was, and this kind of cheered him up.

At least he was no longer crazy alone.

- I avoid killing them. I walk among them, I protect them. I avoid contact with other people, and keep them safe. I live among them for years, still do, in a way. When they are alone, they are harmless. Innocents.

James answered, surprised at himself for talking so openly with a stranger he had just met.

Lee stared at him for a few more moments, thoughtfully.

- You know, in a way, it's nice to think that there's still something inside them, that they're not completely gone. But at the same time it is sad.

Lee said, and James stared at him curiously.

- Think of it this way, if there really is something inside them, clearly that something is buried very deep, and the person they once were is forced to watch their own body walk against their will.

Lee explained, taking a quick look at his wound, which had already stopped bleeding.

- She is forced to watch her own body devour the flesh of a living person. Imagine, a father has just turned, and is forced to watch himself devour his daughter's body... it would be hell for him, anguishing suffering, the worst of punishments. No father would want that.

He said, wondering how Brenda had felt when she had turned into a zombie, and was forced to watch her deformed body grunt eternally in agony, until he put an end to her suffering.

- It seems to be a painful, lonely thing... so I think that killing them, in a way, is an act of mercy. They will no longer be forced to endure the pain of having their body fall apart, and continue to walk, despite this.

Lee bowed his head, sighing slightly as he finished saying.

- But, who knows, maybe it is kind of nice in there. It's not like zombies can talk.

Lee said, slightly amused at that thought.

James stared at him for a while, stuck in his own mind as he repeated those words multiple times.

He was a bit confused, and clearly he was taking Lee's words to heart, as it was another way of looking at the same situation.

-... Maybe...

The boy said after a while, staring at some random spot in the van, somewhat shocked by the words.

- Crazy talk!

The woman said loudly from the front seat, and Lee looked at her, with a mocking smile on his face.

- You're welcome to join us, there's plenty of room back here.

Lee said, his smile widening as he saw the middle finger the woman sent his way.

- Shut up! All of you!

Abel said angrily, taking one last drag on his cigarette, before throwing it out the window.

- Oh, but why? We can all be friends here, the crazy quartet! You would be a VIP member.

Lee said, laughing at his own words, and completely ignoring the curses that Abel sent in his direction.

They should celebrate, inaugurate this group, and Lee already had the perfect party in mind.

A shower of blood pouring over that woman's body as he cut Abel open with a rusty knife.

That party would be a killing one, for sure.

(...)

Lee opened his eye slowly, lifting his head and sighing softly as he heard the sound of the van door closing.

He rubbed his hand over his eye, temporarily forgetting about the bullet that was still lodged in his arm, and looked back at the driver's seat, arching an eyebrow as he saw the light through the window. And surprised that it was already dark.

- We have arrived at one of their temporary bases. It's not the main camp yet.

James's voice caught his attention, and Lee looked at the boy, slightly confused. Apparently he had slept for a few hours.

- Well, what the hell... you know, I may not be an expert on this, but I don't think slave labor is very nice.

Lee said, hearing the muffled voice of Abel, who was talking to someone a few meters away.

- From what I heard while you were sleeping, there are a lot of people around here, and there will be even more in the main camp. It's going to be a bit complicated to get away.

James said, but not in a defeated way, or in the tone of someone who would just stay there, but in a warning tone, as if telling Lee to be prepared.

Lee smiled, he had liked James, perhaps because of the fact that the two of them had a screw loose. But, the boy seemed decent enough.

- Easy, just don't get caught.

He said, looking at Abel, who opened the back doors of the van and pointed his pistol at him.

- Get out.

He said, and they both got up, climbing out of the van at gunpoint from several armed people.

They looked around, they were on a farm, relatively large. There were a few cows on a fence out front, torches scattered around the place, and several tents around.

There must have been dozens of people there, and if it really wasn't their main camp, it meant that the total number of people must have been close to a few hundred, maybe even thousands, who knows.

- Look what we have here.

The familiar voice of a woman echoed through Lee's ears, who turned his face to the side and looked surprised at Lilly, who was walking towards him with a slight smile on her face while holding a rifle.

- Lilly? Wha... are you with these guys? No, first, what are you doing here?

Lee asked, in a mixture of surprise and confusion.

- Is that the first thing you ask after so long without seeing each other?

She asked, pulling Lee by the neck for a kiss, causing the man's eyes to widen in surprise.

- I've missed you. You look good, you've gotten better with age.

She said, breaking the kiss and taking a few steps away from him. There was a certain brightness in the woman's eyes, something different from what Lee had seen the last time he had been with her.

- Is this who I think it is?

Lee was interrupted by a male voice, and looked surprised at Victor, who was walking calmly towards him.

- Victor? You too? I mean, it's good to see you two, but... what?

Lee alternated his gaze between Lilly and Victor, confused, lost in the whole situation. They shouldn't be there, with people who had just kidnapped a teenager and a wanderer on the road.

- After the new frontier attacked the village, we walked for a while until we found Delta. She gave us a new life. Unfortunately, many of our friends died in that attack, but Delta saved those that were left.

Victor said, looking at Lee in a mixture of excitement and regret.

- You will also have a new life from now on. I see that you still haven't found the girl you are looking for. We can help with that. We really can.

Lilly said, nodding to some people at the side, who walked towards Lee with guns drawn.

- When Abel said he had brought someone who had killed almost our entire search party, I should have known it was you, that look on your face is something unique.

Lilly said, placing her hand gently on Lee's face, and looking at him with a certain intensity.

- You look different from the last time we saw each other. That look in your eyes is more intense, the air around you has changed. You must have been through a lot since you left the village. Needless to say, I am impressed. Now you can use these abilities of yours for something real.

Lilly said, giving Lee no time to say anything, and both he and James were forced to walk towards one of the tents ahead.