I took a deep breath as I stood up, gingerly putting weight on my injured leg. It felt fine, in fact it felt better than fine. I wasn't sure if it was the infection or some kind of energy that was coursing through my leg. I tried to take a step and found that I was more than capable of using it like normal. The others nervously watched as I put pressure on my leg, and jumped up and down a bit. I looked at them and shrugged, “Feels fine!”

The rest let out a breath in relief, then they nervously looked around, pointedly avoiding looking at the decapitated monster. The young man who knew what the monster had been, he called it a Kabane, stepped forward and addressed the group. “If I'm right, and I think that I am, we cant stay here for long, the scent of blood will attract others. I don't want to be trapped inside a steel box when more of those things show up.” He reached forward to climb out of the cabin, showing them his determination. That did not stop me from noticing that the boy was trembling, he couldn't have been much older than fourteen-fifteen. He had reacted admirably, however, with a small smile I made my way after him.

My eyes widened as I looked at the surrounding landscape, we had been thrown down a minor hill, not a cliff as I had expected, I saw the rails and the crumpled cabins of the majority of the train a bit further away. We had been lucky being the last cabin it seemed, the other parts of the train were swarming with the Kabane, I hissed in panic and motioned for the others to hurry up. Me and the boy helped pull the others up, carefull for those with injuries and they all watched the scene with shock, whispering amongst themselves. The doctor helped the latina lady up, and he was last to leave the cabin. We gathered around, keeping an eye on the swarm as we decided what to do.

I had expected a discussion of sorts, there was no need to discuss anything, we all agreed to go in the opposite direction of the swarm, as far as we could, as fast as we could. We got off the cabin , helping those down who were not steady on foot and made our way across the small plain to the forest. The military man had taken lead and was walking with his metal spike in hand, eyes flickering from tree to tree, trying to find anything that was hostile. He muttered about the trees not only hiding them but hiding monsters aswell. I had to agree with him, the closer we got to the forest the less we could see.

We made our way steadily forward, hoping to reach the forest unseen. The unholy screech of the Kabane froze our hearts, we twisted around to see one of the monsters spotting us, the swarm turned, their howls and screeches fusing into a cacophony of heart-numbing sounds. Terror set in as they rushed towards us. Unlike in the movies, no one yelled at us to run, we all broke out into a sprint as soon as we could. The latina woman with the injured leg couldn't keep up, the military man cursed, turned around, swung the woman on his shoulders in a fireman hold and sprinted towards the forest.

Entering the forest everything turned darker, the thick foilage blocked the sunlight, the howls of our pursuers echoing strangely throughout the trees. We cursed as the sounds started echoing, making it seem like they were coming from every direction, I sprinted to the left side of the group, right behind Reginald. We slowed down a little to keep pace with the group, the young christian girl surprisingly being able to keep up with our spring but was also waiting for the group. We ran next to a small hill, the military man in the middle of the group, with the doctor and the kid to his right and the christian girl to the front.

We made our way, our breaths heaving in exhaustion, a few near trips over roots made us cautious. That's when Reginald slipt and nearly fell off the cliff. I dove after him and managed to grab his hand, only to be pulled down the hill myself, we were sent rolling through the underbrush. We smacked into the bottom of the hill. I glanced up to see the rest of the group staring at us with wide eyes. I waved my hand frantically. “Just GO!” I shouted, “We will go another way!”

The group hesitated for the briefest of moments before the howl of their pursuers forced them into action. They shouted a quick take care and started running their own way. I turned to Reginald and nodded, heading away from them. We started running, Reginald was in great shape and could keep up with my intense pace. I knew from experience that very few people could keep up with me when I started running seriously. Reginald was close to my level on sheer stamina, although I was sure I could quickly outpace him when bridging obstacles. The problem was his cracked ribs and broken arm, they were taking a tol on his stamina, the fall earlier did not help. I was surprised he hadn't yelled out in pain.

We ran as long as we could, the howling died down as we made our way deeper into the forest. It had been two hours since we escaped from the cabin. I looked around, stretching my lungs to increase the amount of oxygen I inhaled. I looked over to Reg, “What now?” Reg tapped his foot, he raised a hand to his chin and scratched his short beard. His other hand clutching at his ribcage, his face distorted in pain, with heaving breaths he spoke up.“Honestly we are better off without the others, I would have stuck with them despite what might happen, but the two of us are better on our own.”

I nodded, I agreed, although I was loath to admit it I did feel a small amount of relief to no longer be burdened by the presence of others. Which made me angry with myself because the very people who I was relieved to lose had saved my life. I sighed as I did my best to hide my inner turmoil. Reg put a hand on my shoulder, “I know how you feel, I'd like to think that we would have helped them to the end. We can't stay caught up in the past, we have to focus on what to do.”

I nodded as I looked around the forest, “We need shelter, something well hidden, also need to do something to cover the smell of blood.. The boy said they hunted on the smell of blood.”

Reginald's eyes widened as he looked at a flower. “Those things are like zombies right?”

I shrugged, “The kid said they were like overpowered zombies, why?”

“Well, zombies hunt the living right? That plant over there, it's called the Arum Lily. I remember it because... that doesn't matter.” He said waving away whatever he had planned to say. “The point is it smells like dead creatures, if we smell like the dead, we will smell like those Kabane, That might leave us under their radar.”

“Or it could attract them to us...” I muttered as I eyed the plant, I got closer and gave it a sniff and indeed it smelled like rotten corpses.

Reginald made a small nervous smile, “Or that, I still think it's worth the risk.”

I nodded, I had to agree, the chance to go unnoticed amongst these kabane was worth the risk. If they did not cover up their scent they would most likely be dead, going undiscovered would be a real blessing in disguise. I took a breath and rubbed the plant, then rubbed my hands on any part of my body that I could reach, I grimaced in pain when I rubbed the flesh near my wound. I made sure to rub it in extra, more than enough to cover the scent of my blood.

“Next up a place to crash.” I said as I finished rubbing myself in.

Reginald straightened, his nose twitching from the strong smell, “Where to go, these trees are big, way larger than those back home. We could find ourselves a solid branch or two, we still have an hour or two before dark, I could show you how to make a hammock out of grass. One of my friends taught me that.”

“Your friends taught you to make a hammock... Out of grass?” I asked incredulously, Reginald grinned. “Long story!”

Reg found grass and showed me how to weave it, he then used sticks at both ends like any normal hammock. Then used long strands of grass to create a rope of sorts, they were done just before night fell and they clambered up the stoutest tree with the studiest branches they could find. They climbed as high as they could and hung their hammocks between the branches. They got into their hammocks and stared at the sky, not that they could see much of it with the branches above them.

"I'm just surprised you still managed to do all this with your arm like that." I said mentioning towards his broken arm.

He shrugged, then grinned, "I have a pretty good pain tolerance."

It was silent for a while before Reginald spoke up again.

“Good thing you don't have a fear of heights, I don't think many people would be okay hanging this high up in grass created hammocks.” Reginald swung a bit, a leg hanging out of the hammock as he lay there leisurely.

“Spent most of my life running cross rooftops, I'm confident enough that if I fall off I will be able to recover enough to grab a branch. This isn't nearly as high as a skyscraper after all.” The words causing me to reminisce about the time where me and my friends ran across the cranes of new york, free climbing at heights that made others sick. I smiled at the memories, I never did grow tired of running along those heights, the danger of death near at hand. Heart pounding as I raced among thing metal beams. The thought of my adrenaline addiction gave me a realization.

“Hey did you notice how relatively calm everyone was about the situation?”

Reginald sturred as he turned in his hammock to look at me, his blue eyes reflecting some of the moonlight. “Now that you mention it, none of us completely panicked, then there is the fact that everyone helped kill the Kabane when it entered, no one froze.” He tapped his chin in thought.

I nodded as I relaxed into my hammock. “That's weird, right? I'm pretty sure most people would panic, maybe we were kidnapped, or whatever it is that got us here, for a reason?”

Reginald sagged back into his hammock as he stared at the branches above him, he sighed deeply. “Doesn't do us much good to realize it now, the only one around that I can ask about is you.” he pointed out.

I shrugged conceding to his point, “Well if you have questions ask away.”

Reginald turned his head a bit, “You don't mind?” I shrugged, “Not like I got anything better to do.” He grinned at that and rolled back into his hammock. “Well, then I won't hold back, be prepared because I have no sense of shame!”

I smiled slightly at that, “I can see that, the way you walk around with that hair.”

He gasped overdramatically and stared at me, “How dare you mock my fabulous mane, it has been the pride of the Maxwellian family for generations!”

We chuckled at that, the levity of the atmosphere getting rid of some unseen tension. “You said you had no family? Wassat about?”

I frowned for a bit, “Well my parents died or kicked me out when I was young, honestly I'm not sure. Raised myself sort of, lots of beggers and homeless people helped me out. Eventually, i met some other kids along the way, we became a family of our own. We stole food, and clothes and whatnot. Eventually, we moved on to bigger game, we became a somewhat infamous band of thieves in back in New-York. I heard they even had a special police unit looking for us.” I grinned as I remembered hearing about that.

“Wouldn't they eventually catch you, or one of you would be tempted by the reward and cave?” Reg asked carefully.

I laughed a little at that, “Perhaps they could catch us, but have you seen cops? So slooooow, run over a rooftop or two and they can't keep up, as for turning each other in for the reward. We didn't give two copper shits about the money. We had enough of it that we could live, and most if it was spent fooling around. We did it for the rush, now that I think about it maybe that is what connects all of us.”

I rolled the thought around in my head for a bit, wondering if that was the connection. “You think that's what it is, we are all fearless adrenaline junkies? People who live on the edge because it is the only way they feel alive? I have to say this being stalked by a horde of OP zombies is a good way to get the blood pumping.”

Reginald stared at me for a moment with wide eyes. “It does make a sick sort of sense, but that still leaves the how or why?” He sagged back into his hammock, “I don't think we will live long enough to find out what it is that brought us here.”

I laughed and grinned at him, “My dear richboy, didn't you know that death is merely the next great adventure. The only truly unknown place, after death there could be anything, and we wouldn't know. I do not fear death, I am merely curious.”

He shook his head, chuckling at my words. “Well curiosity kills the cat they say, perhaps curiosity will kill a Zoa as well.”

I snickered as swung a bit in my hammock. “Probably, I never expected to live past thirty anyways, at least this is exciting, a whole new high!”

“You're crazy.” Reginald stated.

“You mean WE are crazy” I said emphasizing the word we, “Don't pretend this whole ordeal didn't get your blood pumping blondie.”

“Fine, fine. Whatever, let's just get some sleep yea?” I chuckled at his response and closed my eyes, falling asleep with less tension in my body than I would expect.