1 year later

"Come on, it's just a little farther this way!"

"Where the hell are we going?!"

"They need our help!"

Surrounded by a crowd of the dead stood a circle of people, not regular people though, survivors.

I watch as Ahri pulls her gun, she starts taking out the dead ones surrounding them, clearing a hole for them to get through.

The group looks stunned as the dead start dropping to the ground.

"Hurry!" I shout at them, hoping to clear them from their trance.

The group starts running towards us, killing a few more dead ones along the way.

"Move fast, we've got a place a few blocks from here," I tell them before we start running.

We round the corner, and a dead one falls into me. Its stringy flesh begins to peel apart as I try to shove it off of me. One of the people we saved pulls it off and another stabs it in the skull.

"Thank you."

They both nod and we keep running.

"Ahren, open up!" I shout as we get closer.

We get to the subway station and the shutters are opened, Ahren hurriedly ushers us all inside before immediately shutting it once we're all in. The dead quickly begin piling up against it and Ahren closes the gate behind the shutters.

"Is anyone bit?" Ahren asks.

I look amongst the group of newcomers.

"No, we're all clean." One of them speaks up.

"We're gonna have to send you to quarantine anyways. It's just a precaution, if you're all clean then you'll be out in no time." I tell them.

Ahren nods in agreement. "We've got a way of doing things around here, if you comply then we'll have no problems."

The group all nods. "We won't cause any problems."

"Good. Quarantine is this way." Ahren leads the group away, leaving Ahri and I alone.

"Good find today. You saved those people out there."

Ahri smiles. "We saved them."

We head down to meet up with everyone else.

"I'm gonna go check in with Ahren."

Ahri nods and runs off.

I turn down a corridor towards quarantine. Jasper is walking towards me with someone. I recognize his companion as one of the women we'd brought in about a week ago. Their fingers are interlaced with each other.

Jasper smiles at me as he walks by. A butterfly flutters in my stomach at the sight. I smile back at him. My smile falters once they've passed me.

I brush the moment off as I turn the corner again. Ahren is there now, waiting outside quarantine.

"How's it looking?" I ask.

"So far so good. We've got five of them, two girls and three guys." Ahren replies.

I nod. "They're all healthy?"

"That's what it's looking like. The doc checked 'em all for bites and found nothing."

I sigh in relief. "Good. I'll go set up five more cots in sector C." I turn to leave but Ahren quickly grabs my arm.

"Wait,"

I turn back to face him. "What is it?"

He bites his bottom lip.

"C'mon, spit it out."

"Earlier today, before you went out with Ahri, she said something to me..."

I furrow my brow. "What was it?"

"She said that she doesn't want to lose more people like... her parents and... her sister..."

Catarina. Her memory seemed so far away these days, but whenever she was mentioned it was like she was standing right beside you. It was like she'd never left.

"It's been so long..."

"I know. But sometimes, I swear when Frankie turns her back to me, it's her. I know it's not but it's all I see."

Ah yes, Frankie. Another fiery redhead brought into our lives. From behind she could easily have been mistaken for Cat. I guess Ahren had a thing for redheads.

"At least with Allie, a blond girl isn't quite so distinctive." Ahren continues. "And no one's face could match hers."

We fall into silence. I still see all their faces, everyone I've lost, every night when I close my eyes.

"Ahem,"

We both turn to see the doc coming out of the quarantine room.

"They're all good to go. Would you like me to send them out?"

"Yes, thank you Doctor Kings." Ahren tells him.

He nods and goes back in. A minute later they all come out.

I quickly examine the group, one of the women appeared to be about my age while the other seemed quite a bit older. The three guys were also of varying ages. The one was probably a few years older than Ahri. Another looked about Ahren's age. The last seemed to be younger, closer to his early twenties.

"I'm Sasha, and I'm sure you also know Ahren."

They all nod.

"I'm Trent," The oldest of the men spoke first. "This is my wife Jeanine." He gestures to the oldest of the women.

The others are introduced as, Luna, Vega, and Fletch. Luna being the other woman, Vega being the youngest of the men, and Fletch the man looking close to his early twenties.

"It's good to meet all of you," Ahren says.

"What exactly is this place?" Fletch asks as we start heading towards the main area.

"It's a travel stop and a permanent residence for many people such as Ahren and myself," I tell them.

"We're also dabbling in the trade business," Ahren adds.

"Not quite yet, but we're trying to work towards that." I explain.

We reach the main area.

"This is our commonplace, the train car is public ground for everyone. As you can see we've got cots for travelers here as well."

The place was rather quiet today, mostly just people sleeping and the occasional person walking around. The train car was rather full though.

"Permanent residence is down in another subsection, these tunnels are insane." I laugh, thinking over the map of the station in my mind.

"Wow. Who did all of this?"

I smile. "It started as Ahren, myself, and another person who's floating around here somewhere..." I glance around, hoping to see Jasper but he's nowhere to be seen.

Ahren continues for me. "We'd find people and help 'em, then soon enough people were finding us. It just started to grow and we took advantage of it. A shelter from the dead, who wouldn't appreciate that?"

I see the group all nodding in response.

"So... how long do guys think you'll be here for?" I ask them.

They all look at each other.

"We've been on the road for a while... I think it'd be nice to settle down for a while." Jeanine speaks up for everyone.

"I think we can make that work."

Five more lives off the dangerous streets, five more lives saved, five more lives I was responsible for protecting, five more lives.