Behind Jon, the camp burst into noise and activity.  He turned from Will, not really caring at this point what the guy did.  There seemed to be bigger fish to fry as Jon caught up parts of the conversations.  He heard that they’d lost a man and that they were needing to leave quick.  Somehow they’d lost a lot of ground, and that didn’t make sense to Jon.

Unbeknownst to Jon or anyone in the group, what had happened was that the horde was pushed on by the group of four other zombies.  These were the rarest form of the risen undead and they were terrifying, so much so that even the undead masses responded to them.  While it would not be true to say that the zombies reacted out of fear, it was accurate to say that they avoided them avidly.  The “normal” zombies tended to move slow, shamble, react to noises or sights but with not focus.  They’d get distracted easily and it wasn’t like they would “remember” they were following a prey once they lose sight of it.  It is more that they would simply continue in that direction until some other stimuli enticed them to move in another direction.

But the group of four other zombies stayed behind the horde and that urged the mass of undead forward.  The four, the Runners, they had some kind of intelligence but what would suggest an animalistic level.  They would actually feed on walkers but only if no fresh flesh was available.  

While the Runners moving the horde forward was actually a simple bit of misfortune, as the walkers were just trying to move away from the Runners, it was a bit of bad luck twice over because it sent the horde forward at a faster rate and also exposed to the Runners that humans were near when the guard reacted to his being attacked by screaming in pain.

This is why as Jon came into the camp and the group started to move, zombies could already be seen in the distance and through the trees as they closed in at a slow pace.  It was then that Jon heard Austin address him and indicate off to the flank, where Jon noticed the group of several forms making a beeline towards them.

Jon risked raising his voice a little higher now.  He was not wanting to draw attention from the horde, but if he needed to open fire soon, then that would be somewhat moot anyway.  “[b][color=00aeef]Let’s go, now[/color][/b]!”  

Harris stood there stupidly, not sure what was going on so Jon grabbed his shoulder and half pushed, half threw him in the direction they needed to go.  Lucy and Rodney were already moving and looking back to try to see what was going on amidst all the confusion.

Jon looked to Austin and moved his head towards the group, indicating that he should lead them.   Jon looked back to the most immediate threat in the form of the Runners.  They were either smart or lucky because he could get a good count of them because they were coming through a heavily wooded area.

Initially, Jon could have easily mistaken them for wolves or something in the way that they moved.  This was obviously not the case as the main thing he could see through the trees was that they had a human form.  And they weren’t human because they just had that feral movement to them.  Something wasn’t right.  Jon watched them and their path towards the group and moved a few dozen yards before stopping  and kneeling in the snow.  He shouldered his rifle and waited, making sure to calm himself as the AR-15 pulled into the pocket of his shoulder.  A few short moments later, three forms burst from the treeline and into the clearing.  

Jon would have loved to watch them and study them, but they were undead and that was all that mattered immediately.  They raised questions such as why they moved so fast, why they didn’t travel with others, and how they were different from the others that Jon had met.   But, those were things to worry about later.  Jon took aim and just as he was about to fire, the three stopped and jerked.  Somehow they reacted to him!  Maybe it was scent.  ‘[color=00aeef][i]FUCK[/i][/color]’ Jon thought, realizing he was upwind.  

He opened fire, raising up as he did and moving directly towards the group aggressively.  He would have hit the first one fatally had they not reacted, but instead, he hit 2 of the three.  Then they did something Jon never would have expected:  they screeched and ran away.

This group recognized a threat and reacted.  

Jon then saw a movement off to his right and quickly swung the rifle around, getting off two shots before the form crashed into him violently.  He pushed the rifle forward between the form and his own as he crashed to the ground, sliding in the snow from the force before smashing his head into a tree.  

He heard a ringing and lost focus but managed to keep the rifle pressed out.  He felt fingers digging into his shoulder painfully and felt skin rip and bone cracking.  What he did not know is that it was his lucky day as this Runner had only one arm and could not get the full leverage to pull itself close enough to bite.  It tried and tried, lashing out with its teeth as Jon screamed in pain and anger.  He saw more movement to his left and saw the horde moving towards him.

“[b][color=00aeef]Fuck[/color][/b],” Jon said aloud this time as he realized the situation was not in his favor.  If he didn’t get this thing off of him fast, or it didn’t kill him, the horde would...