[center][b]Aylen[/b]
November 20th, 2015[/center]

The man fixed his cloudy eyes upon Aylen, his unsure feet stepping over the light snow that covered the rocky ground. The flaps of his torn white shirt blew open in the cold breeze, revealing a gash across his abdomen, black from coagulated blood. A groan escaped the man's lips as his steps suddenly turned relatively quick and sure from his previous shambling, hungry for prey. 

Aylen brushed her dark black hair from her face, raising her bow and taking aim at the man. She found herself wondering who he was, as she fixed an arrow into the bow string. Is he married? Does he have children? Is he a good man, a kind man? She took a breath of frigid air into her lungs, holding it as she took aim. She couldn't think like this, not anymore. He was a man no longer. She pulled back the bowstring, taut as she stared down the shaft of the arrow, closing one eye. She released, the arrow finding its mark. It plunged into the undead's eye, silencing his moan forever.

Hours later, as the sun was beginning to set, Alyen ascended a plateau deep in the Sinjeway Badlands, half a dozen rabbits pinned to her belt as she climbed over the ridge. A circle of RVs were assembled, fires licked up into the air from the drums illuminating the camp. Lookouts lowered their rifles as she approached, nodding in greeting. Walking into the camp, Aylen approached a rundown RV and opened the door, stepping inside to a musty smell.

"Hello Beautiful," croaked a weathered voice.

"Hello, Grandfather," Aylen smiled. An old man laid upon a sweat stained bed on the far side of the RV, oxygen tubes plugged into his nose and hospital equipment by his bed. She held up her catch proudly. "I brought dinner." She cleaned and dressed the rabbits outside, passing one to each family. As she sat by her grandfather's bedside, rubbing his forehead as she spooned rabbit meat into his mouth, she caught herself praying. She had long since ceased praying for rescue or an end to the outbreak. Now she just prayed her grandfather would survive the winter.