Quarantine was boring as hell. I knew they had to follow their rules, especially regarding the safety of their lives. It only took one infected to turn in the middle of this group to create a catastrophic outbreak.

Still, I wished they'd given us something to do, at least put us in here with a book.

Boredom was capable to drive any grown human insane, not to mention the little girl that was nearly bouncing off the walls.

I was glad to see that the recent events hadn't scarred her too much. There were some clear signs that she had seen things no child should've seen.

Loud, sudden noises like doors slamming shut or people shouting made her jump and flee. Each time she heard a sound or someone passed the glass walls, she'd come running and hide behind my back.

Now she was entertaining herself by breathing on the walls, drawing in the condensed surface she created. A ghost of a smile twitched on my lips as I saw a few sloppy butterflies, a flower and what looked to be a stick figure.

The sound of approaching footsteps made the girl jump before she dashed towards me. By the time Eric and one of the guards came to a halt in front of the door, she had crawled against my back underneath my jacket.

"Well, we waited a day longer in case there's a new strain but you're both clear."

"Took you long enough." I grumbled before pushing myself off the floor, stretching my back as I did. Eric's smile softened as he looked down. "And what's your name, princess?"

She clutched tightly on my pants as she peeked around my thigh. Eric's smile slowly faded as the silence continued, ending in an awkward cough. It was clear that the little girl was traumatized, witnessing her mother changing and being tossed out and left to die.

"Mommy always said I was her little angel..."

At the sound of the small whisper, both Eric and the guard grinned down at the girl, kneeling to get to her level.

"Hmm, yes now that I truly look at you... how didn't I see sooner that you're an angel?!" Eric exclaimed loudly, much to the joy of the little girl. A giggle escaped her as she hid her face in the hollow of my knee, brushing the fabric with her nose before looking back up at Eric.

She seemed to be intrigued by his necklace, which was a small metal dragon that held a creamy white orb in its claws. Her eyes widened as she kept an eye on the curling serpent before looking up when Eric lifted the necklace up to give her a better view.

"What's that?"

He smiled warmly as he explained while the little girl traced the necklace. "It's a dragon, a good luck charm I'd come to think of it. Got it from my father and never took it off before. I'd like to think it keeps me from getting bitten."

The girl reached back at that, eyes casting downwards as her lip quivered. "My mommy got bitten...she didn't have a charm."

Eric shared a look at me but sighed with a troubled expression when I shook my head. There was nothing left to save, just an empty husk that still wandered the shopping mall. It was in her best interest to remember the woman from her memories, her mother as she was.

Not the Starved that would claim many, many lives until it perished.

"Tell you what...I do believe I have another charm laying around...I already have this one so how about you have the other one?" Eric smiled as the girl's eyes widened with hope before she nodded quickly.

I smiled as she completely ignored me, opting to take Eric's hand and follow him further in her future home. Good, that meant she wouldn't mind me leaving and would easily connect with these people around her.

The guard shot me a look as I made to leave while Eric was busy, forcing me to sigh and sit back down.

Eric must've told them to keep me here until he could talk to me in person. Not that I didn't want to, I just wasn't in the mood to reject his offer to stay with his people, again. It was the same song every time I dared to come anywhere near this place.

And every time I had to shoot down Eric's offer, opting to be the socially awkward outcast, simply because I preferred it that way.

By the time they came back, I was contemplating drawing on the windows as well. I wasn't made to sit around and do nothing. As soon as I heard the scuffing of their approaching boots, I was on my feet and pushing past the guards.

"I wouldn't be able to convince-"

"No Eric, and I don't see why you'd try every single time I show up." I grumbled, heading towards the storage rooms as he sighed beside me. "Living in numbers isn't such a bad thing as you make it out to be, Ash."

A scoff escaped me as I paused near one of the full shelves to inspect the goods while trying to arrange my thoughts. "Obviously you forgot the community at Santa Fe." He swallowed thickly at that and averted his eyes, probably remembering the gruesome sight.

Santa Fe had been a thriving community, a beacon of hope for many who believed in a return of human society. Their numbers grew, people grew arrogant and reckless, even went out on night runs as they planned to eradicate all nearby zombies and rebuild the town. Hell, they'd even let their children do runs outside the walls.

Their downfall? One of those kids found an abandoned litter of wolf pups and took them back to their base. Turned out the pups were infected and the kids family found it out in the flesh when their son changed in the middle of the night.

A base of three hundred people, massacred by three wolf pups and a freshly changed boy. The virus spread quickly as the boy struck out in the middle of the night. Anyone trying to flee was pinned by the wolves and soon the infection had spread over the whole base.

The only reason we knew, was due to the emergency broadcast that gave us the live audio feed as every single person in that camp was slaughtered and changed.

Turning around, I shot him a pointed look. "You know why I prefer to live alone, Eric. If one bad move, one mistake, forgetting one minor detail is what gets you killed, I'd rather be killed by something I did. And not because someone else got careless."

He remained quiet after that while I grabbed my back bag and tossed out the items I didn't need before grabbing a few things I'd desperately wanted. I did wait to stash them away until Eric nodded and motioned his hand.

"The girl?"

I didn't pause as I rearranged my bag, eyes focused on what I was doing. "Stays, obviously. She needs someone with her day and night, Eric. I wouldn't be able to do that."

That much was true; I was too busy, too much on the road to have a child tag along. Eric knew that as well, as he didn't try and fight me on the issue. By the time I was ready, he was rolling out his own maps while I picked up mine.

"We found a few new hives here, here...and here." He spoke, tapping the locations on the map as I marked them on my own. His fingers rushed to a crossed out section and I sighed, knowing what it meant. "We saw three scouts here, killed them as soon as we could though we don't know if word got out."

Scouts were bad news. The one thing I'd fear more than the infected, were the normal humans. Because they were still capable of everything and anything. I'd rather deal with a Starved skulking around my base than have any of the rogues sniffing around.

Because they wouldn't give up if they can't get in a base. They'd rather set the whole place on fire than let anyone else have all the resources. They'd resort to kidnapping, rape, murder, anything that could get them anything they wanted.

I made sure to map their location in, though I knew it was rather pointless. Rogues were always on the move, though rumor had it they too had their own base. If someone ever made it there, they never lived to tell the tale.

In return, I showed Eric several spots where I had found wild vegetables, stashes of loot I had hidden in the city and how to get into them. I did feel as if I had been a cheapskate to him, so I offered him to check the boilers in his facility.

He was all too eager to accept that offer and lead me around the facility, where I worked on several boilers that seemed on the verge of breaking down. Eric remained by my side, filling the silence with random chatter and small talk until we were headed to the final room.

As soon as he opened the door, I paused at the slightly nervous look shot my way before entering the room. The instant I was inside, I realized why and sighed at the chemical scent that curled in my nose.

"Really Eric?" I deadpanned as we stood in the middle of a small research facility filled with intricate swirls dripping liquid in beakers, vials of blood shaking in a device and several people in lab coats walking back and forth as they conversed quietly.

He rubbed the back of his neck while avoiding to look me in the eye as I spotted a few bulletproof glass containers, which seemed to hold infected in several stages.

I can't believe this bullshit.

Instead of saying anything, I fumed in silence as I worked on the two generators in the back of the lab, checking the boiler as well while Eric seemed uncomfortable.

"We can't give up hope Ash...We're so close to-"

"To what, Eric? Thousands have tried and died in their attempts to get a cure. Several 'cures' were created with deadly results, killing millions in their wake." I spat, fastening the last bolt before I tossed the wrench away and glared at Eric.

"This is different Ash, we can do this! If only-"

"No Eric, you can't. From what we learned, the strains of this virus adapt at an incredible pace on its own, mutating and twisting with every host it infects. Who's to say you guys won't make a more lethal version than what already exists?"

I looked at the scientists that had stopped their work to listen to our argument and I could see the stubborn glint in their eyes. Pointing at the back where they held the infected, I hissed in Eric's face "You're bringing them inside your base. They're already in your bloody walls and you don't see the risk that you're taking."

Eric sighed deeply, shaking his head. "They can't break through those walls, we have it tested a hundred of times Ash. I believe we can fix this. I know we can fix this. All we need is a break through and we can cure people."

I scoffed, shaking my head in anger. "Oh please, this whole thing started because of people with a god complex, thinking that just because they can, they should." Shouldering past him, I washed my hands and tugged at the wads of paper before tossing them in the garbage.

"We still have a chance Ash, you're just too afraid to see it."

Taking my bag, I rolled my eyes at my best friend as I stood into the doorway. "The truth of the matter is Eric, that even if we find a cure, there's nothing we can do about it. Our resources are limited, we're unable to produce any chemicals without attracting a shit ton of the Virals and Starved and even so, then what? The virus has already adapted to any medicine we created Eric. Our time is over, and it's time we accept that fact."

He didn't say anything more as I left the room and made my way out of the settlement. He might think I was wrong but in my heart I just knew I was right. Human kind had no place on this world anymore.

We weren't on the brink of extinction.

We're already freefalling into the abyss beyond it. We're just too afraid to open our eyes and accept that there is no hope left.