Caden woke up to the sound of something whirring. He turned around and saw Renee next to the coffee machine, her hair tied in a bun. 

"Morning," She said after seeing him awake.

"Morning," He replied groggily. Renee walked up to him and handed him a cup containing coffee.

"Thanks," Caden said, surprised by the gesture. 

Renee wasn't usually the type to hold on to small arguments, given some time alone and she'd get back to normal. But she wasn't sure if Caden still held a grudge. 

"So," Renee started, "Any plans for today?"

Caden cleared his throat. 

"Yeah," He said "I might leave today. This cafe won't stay safe for too long, what about you?"

"Well, I was hoping we left to someplace more abandoned," Renee said.

"I thought about what you said last night," Caden said ignoring Renee's previous statement.

"Mhm," She muttered, nudging him to continue.

"And you weren't wrong," He said trying to avoid the word 'right'. "I should look after my safety first. Saving Gabriella should not be my priority"

"We should pack some essentials from here before leaving," Renee said not waiting for his approval to work with her. She realized initiating the idea would automatically make him agree.

"I'll go find a bag or something from the storage room," Caden said and got to his feet. Meanwhile, Renee started calculating how much she should take. She didn't want to have too much luggage as that could slow them down. Due to this, she avoided all luxuries and stuck mainly to food, water and some blankets in case they were forced to spend the night on the streets. It was a scenario she hoped wouldn't be the case, but she had to be prepared for the worst.

Caden, on the other hand, brought out two duffel bags, one he gave to Renee and the other he began packing the non-food essentials. He packed all the knives from the kitchen as well as the hammer Renee had found. 

"Are we ready to go?" Renee asked while struggling to zip the bag. 

"Do we need all that?" Caden asked, seeing the huge amount of items she had packed, while his bag was practically empty.

"Would you rather starve to death?" Renee asked mockingly "Or maybe even freeze?"

"Point taken" He replied while walking towards her and zipping the bag. "And to answer your question, I think we should find some pharmacy before going anywhere else"

"Ok, you're right. We will need those in case either of us gets injured" She replied. 

"And I want you to have this," He said handing one of the sharper knives. 

"I'm not really good with weapons," She said hesitantly. 

"Look, I'll try to handle most of the fighting but you still need to have something on you," He said reassuringly. 

Renee nodded and collected the knife from him.

"I think I saw a pharmacy down the block," She said.

Caden smiled and gestured to the door. Renee unlocked the door and looked around to make sure they weren't walking straight to their adversary. Renee led the way, with the duffel bag hanging on her shoulder and her knife ready to strike. 

After a few minutes, they were inside the pharmacy.

"Ok, what should we take?" Caden asked. 

"Take some Epi-pens, you never know what we may have to eat," Renee said. Caden nodded and started packing them.

"Next, get some crepe bandages," She continued. "We'll also need some antibiotics" 

"Should we take these?" Caden asked pointing to some granola bars on the counter. 

"Of course, we could use them in case we run out of food, they don't spoil quickly" She replied."And lastly, take some sanitary napkins" 

"Uh, I don't think they're here. I'll check the back" Caden said and went to the storage room whilst Renee looked around for anything she might've forgotten to include. Hearing Caden's screams a few seconds later invoked panic inside her.

"Caden?" She called out but decided to enter the storage room when she received no reply. She probably wasn't the best to help if he was surrounded, but it was still better than doing nothing.

She tried opening the door, but to no avail, as the door was stuck.

"Caden, are you alright?" She called once more. She didn't get a reply but heard someone groan, who she assumed was Caden. 

Then a few seconds later, she heard a gunshot.

»»————-　☠　————-««

Being in the military, Gabriella had learnt to accept death as a daily occurrence and not to grieve their loss.

But with Declan, it was different. He had been her only real friend and helped her settle in with everyone else. She felt deep down that Arthur may have been responsible for this. Her only query was, why?

Arthur had always been difficult, to say the least. But she never imagined that he would try to assassinate his subordinates. Was it because of the little argument they had earlier? Still, it was too less of a reason to plot his demise.  She did consider that maybe she let her dislike for Arthur was making her imagine things and what happened was just a pure accident, and no one could do anything about it. 

She took in some naproxen sodium to relieve her headache and help her focus. 

"Which street are we clearing next, sir?" A junior asked. 

"We're done for the day," Arthur replied "We're going to be staying at the nearest safe house"

The safe houses were created as an emergency after the virus broke, it was heavily guarded and all survivors were kept there. 

Gabriella took out a small photo of her and Caden during his high-school graduation, it was the last time she'd seen him. She prayed that Caden would be at the safe house, and that she could know for sure that he was safe. The rest of the trip was filled with silence, everyone was still jarred from losing Declan and were all anxious thinking about their own family. 

Arthur called the higher-ups to inform them of Declan's demise as well as the number of survivors they had collected today. 

Soon, they reached the safe house and were all sent to take a shower and then assemble for dinner. Tomorrow, they were scheduled to start clearing streets again. But the military's efforts did not seem to improve the situation. Streets were still packed with the undead, who seemed to lack eyesight but made up for it with their agility. 

With a sigh, Gabriella headed for the shower but did not follow the others for dinner. Instead, she went to the tech centre installed in each safe house. It contained information on the different branches, the estimated number of undead and detailed information about everyone brought into the safe-house. 

She typed in Caden's citizen registration number, but couldn't find any matching results. Disappointed as she was, she knew there was still hope that he survived.

But she couldn't help but feel as though she was lying to herself.

»»————-　☠　————-««

"Caden?!" Renee screamed again, her voice louder and more panicked.

The door finally opened, revealing Caden standing with blood splattered on his clothes, but safe. Renee pushed past him and went inside to see what had happened. She found one of the cannibals, its skull was broken and blood spilt everywhere.

"Did you do this?" She asked, still catching her breath.

"Yeah, I did" He replied without remorse in his tone.

"But- what about the gunshot?" She asked, trying to process everything.

"I had attacked it with my bat, but it wasn't very successful. I saw the gun and shot it" He replied, trying to keep calm.

"You know how to use a gun?" Renee asked in disbelief.

"My aim isn't the best, but I know the basics," He said "My sister thought me some of her moves"

Renee had a lot more questions she wanted to ask but knew they were short on time. So she decided to keep them for later.

"W-we have to go" She managed to say "You may have attracted attention with the bullet"

Caden nodded in agreement, "My bike is outside, we can go on that"

Renee agreed and they quickly ran towards the bike, the cannibals hot on their heels. Renee was a slow runner and struggled to keep up, so she turned back and resorted to the stabbing. But she wasn't able to keep up with the number.

At that moment, she realized that Caden had run off without her, leaving her to fend for herself alone. She panicked, feeling that her end had arrived. 

But her fears were short-lived when she heard the vibration of a bike. She threw her knife at one of them and quickly hopped onto the bike. Caden didn't wait for another second to take off.

They drove further and further away from them.