Book Two: From Death

Imprinted

A/n: I won't bore you all to death with these on the road chapters. I'll keep it down to maybe just this one being the final one before the big moment. If short stories of Adam and Issac out on the road together interest you all let me know! I may put a few together when the creativity strikes me. But anyways, enjoy! Its been a few months out on the road for our two men so far. How have they faired out there?

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Issac:

      Trekking through the woods I carried our quarry of dinner for the evening. I hated hunting animals with a passion. But being out in the woods of Colorado I couldn't fish effectively. So I took on small game, the larger prey items evading me I leaped over a stream, my breath billowing before me as a chill settled in rapidly. I was hoping we'd find our destination soon. Being out in this cold was torture. I carefully stepped over the traps and warning systems of our makeshift campground. Just as I returned Adam emerged from the woods as well, setting down firewood next to our campfire.

     He took off his white sugarskull mask that contrasted my black one. He'd insisted on taking it and wearing it when we found it in a ransacked gift shop some months back.

"What'd you catch?" He asked.

"Two rabbits. I kind of don't want to eat them." I sighed, growing tired of having to hunt.

     Adam was clumsy in nature. So I was usually tasked with hunting. While he did the cooking and wood gathering. We were roughly 50 miles away from our destination. But we'd stopped from a long streak of traveling and some nightmarish encounters with new threats the world seemed to cook up.

"So did you want me to take watch while you slept tonight?" He asked, chucking some wood in the fire as he stroked his beard.

"You need to be able to drive in the morning." I replied, handing him over the rabbits I had strung up.

"And if you drift off and one of those creepers sneak up on us we're done for." Adam reasoned.

     He had a fair point. This seemingly new variety of infected proved difficult. And quite a few of them called these woods home. They were of the tweaker variety, though they were more stealthy and seemed to hunt in groups. Scary behavior that almost cost Adam his life a while ago. Though I had the advantage against the infected. I could be bitten and not turn. Though I was wary about this new type. It was a total demeanor change.

"How about we split shifts, sleep, and watch from the truck cab where it's safe?" I proposed.

"Yeah. That sounds good. I'll lock up the truck bed so we don't get any stowaways." He smiled, stepping around and completing that task now; probably so he didn't forget.

     His truck had been a major help so far. Fuel was relatively easy to find if we could find a restaurant or fast food place that had been abandoned. The tricky part was filtering the frying oil as that took time; usually requiring us to set up camp until we could refuel. But it offered shelter from wind and kept infected out. Without it, I doubt the two of us would have lasted this long. And running into these new infected varieties assured me that I wouldn't survive on my own. Who knew all it would take is for me to venture out past Los Angeles. They were scary. But I'd done my best to study them from afar and take notes. Adam was back and before the fire, prepping the rabbits. We'd have to eat quickly as the loud scent of blood drew creepers in. My kills had to be blunt objects carefully striking the small animals as to not draw blood.

      Taking them on alone would prove to be a challenge. They were smart; retaining a lot more of their cognitive function than I was used to. They hunted in a fashion similar to how I did in the city we'd fled from. When they spotted us we'd hear them screech and scream. It was terrifying having my own tactics reversed on me, to say the least. I opened my notepad as I sat beside the fire while Adam prepared the food after he created a plume of smoke to mask the smell of blood. Another variant I'd noticed was one I took on months ago before we had to leave the stadium. I called them barbarics. The stalks of colorful fungus sprouting from their bodies told me they were of the lurker variety. Those stalks were sharp and I'm sure if they cut you it would spell infection. They were strong. But unlike the creepers, they weren't smart. And the fungus enhancing their bodies slowed them down considerably. I went back over my notes to refresh as I did every day. If I knew my enemy well, they couldn't surprise me.