It’s been over a year since the world went to shit. It came fast, it hit hard. No one saw it coming. The day the dead started getting back up. Many lives were lost, families torn apart, civilisation imploding in upon itself. Yet, as ever, humans are resilient. They adapted, they survived, however, they felt needed. There is no cure in sight, the government, military and any sense of formal authority have crumbled. For some, hope has been lost. Those are the ones who fail to survive. It is only those who persevere, those who adapt, who make it to tomorrow.

Winter is heavily upon you, though is on its way to easing. A soft blanket of snow covers the ground most days even in the thickly wooded forest that surrounds the cabin. The thick, condensed trees mostly bare of their leaves these days, save for a few pines and the evergreens. The hunting game has grown scarce, though the river nearby the cabin you have all inhabited for the last few months is still fresh with fish, though even their numbers are fewer than in the spring and summer months. Food, water and supplies are not in a dire situation right now, most days you’re all comfortably fed so long as you keep up semi-constant trips out for food.

The lake, a little further down the river from where your usual fishing traps are has mostly frozen over. Trips across it are possible, though the ice is thin and it can be an unnecessarily risky trip on warmer days (for those who are knowledgeable about frozen lakes). Walkers are certainly present, but mostly your caution and knowledge of how the dead behave by now have given you the tools to mostly keep the place defended and off their radar. There are fences around the cabin and sound traps set up at set locations to draw their attention away. Every now and then trips are required to lure them in a different direction.

This is one such day, and not an entirely unpleasant one at that, being close to unseasonably warm for this time of year. The walker presence is strangely thin today and those you do find all seem to be heading in the same direction before they take notice of your presence. Following them would take you to the mostly frozen lake nearby.