There is no point blowing it by being pushy now


"Ah of course, that is a pretty smart precaution" You begin "But as to my future, you say that as if it involves options?"


Cara immediately replies with a smile "Well of course it does, we aren't keeping you prisoner or anything" she pauses "Anymore" She adds with a wink to which you grin. She then continues a little more seriously "Basically you can join us, or head on your way. I would much rather you came with us though" and you can definitely hear some hopefulness in her voice "Perfect, she completely trusts me, this will be easy now" You think you yourself, smiling all the while.


"Well I would love to join you all, it will be much better than being alone again after what happened." you carefully craft your voice to make sure they understand you are referring to the lost friends you spoke about before and you watch them both immediately react like proper normal humans, putting on their caring faces and trusting you more "Honestly this is too easy, they buy anything I tell them" You think as Cara takes you hand, leading you outside. "Well, you are with us now! She announces "And since you have joined us we can do a quick introduction before we head off to the compound!"


The guards chuckle and wink at the fact you are holding hands the moment you exit the hatch and Cara drops you hand, blushing, but berating the guards for being childish. They are now close together and distracted, but they said you were heading to the compound right now.

You hold off, they can get you inside a compound full of humans, that is worth the wait.

Leaving them alive for a couple more days to get inside the compound is well worth it, you can eat them after that and once you have a proper plan. Time to keep getting in their good books.


You make the polite small-talk with the guards to introduce yourself and do your best to be as nice as possible. After a few minutes the guards indicate it is nearly time to move and Cara jumps and looks like she is about to leap back through the hatch "Oh, lost track of time, we have to set out soon if we want to make our safe point soon!".


You dodge ahead of her though and offer her your hand to climb back through. She raises an eyebrow and says "oohhh, being a gentleman today" before accepting it and climbing through while the guards chuckle to themselves. You climb through after her, thinking about how to keep in their good books.


Once inside you find her waiting and before you can react she kisses you on the cheek saying "You're very sweet" then spins and heads over to the food bags. You finally catch onto the situation "She is actually flirting with me!" It has been years since you even though about things like that but you are sure now that she is actually flirting with you, a harbinger.


"Well she doesn't know I'm a harbinger, and I did save her life" You look down at yourself "And thanks to being a harbinger I am actually a bit of an Adonis, I guess it makes sense."


Somewhat dazed by the revelation you start helping picking up the sacks to help carry them.

You starting out for the compound

With you all carrying bags there isn't too much and you make sure you take two of the heavier ones so Cara gets a single light bag to carry, and you know she notices "Well the plan is to stick with them for now and be trusted so this is the easiest way" You think as you all begin walking.


The way is fairly simple as you had guessed, follow the road North for a couple of days and you will see the compound with big obvious walls and smoke above it from the fire pit "We used to be more cautious" Cara explains "But once the raiders were all wiped out it didn't matter so we can make as much smoke as we like!" You smile in response and begin trading stories with her. It seems life out here was very different from the city once the infection had taken hold. 


"It was all small communities here" She begins "Farmsteads and walled places like ours were the gathering points. There was so much food grown out here scavenging has never been a problem so people banded together. Sadly some of them for other reasons, The infected were bad at firsts, roving mobs of them dozens strong were seen coming out of the city or down other roads and they would simply overwhelm places without walls or defenses with their numbers. It didn't matter if you shot fifty of them if the last 5 got inside to bite everyone and turn them too." She pauses and seem close to tears when you realize she is speaking from experience.


"Crap what are you supposed to do now?" You desperately try and remember the proper way to act when courting but when you look at her again and the gentle haze of her mind you realize you are moving automatically and you put your arm around her. "Oh perfect, comfort, going to have to really remember what it was like caring about humans for this to work. It's not like hanging around with males just being gruff and defensive the whole time". 


Cara instantly smiles when she notices that you dropped a bag to hug her and with a quick wipe at her eyes she jokes with you "You are not supposed to drop fruit and vegetables on the ground you know?" You quickly take your arm away and pick the bag up again realizing that you hadn't even noticed dropping it, but you are thrown off again when she kisses you on the cheek again saying "Thankyou", then as chuckles break out behind you from the men she follows up with a shouted "Shut-up or I'll poison your food tonight!". You laugh aloud with her before she takes up her story again.


"Right, where was I. Well as you guessed that is what happened to my family. Our little community didn't have walls and we were over-run, maybe three of us escaped and ran all night. It was a long way East of here, we were separated by morning and I just kept going until a scavenging team found me living in an orchard alone and I joined 'Safe-Haven'. You immediately give her a look and raise an eye-brow, she sighs before going on "And yes it is a stupid and corny name but it fits ok? Anyway, that was some years ago, right after the city fell. After that the issue was the raiders. It seems that some communities decided that keeping trucks running and using guns to steal from others was better than scavenging. They probably killed more communities than the infected did, the burnt out places South of here were all their work if you saw those. They attacked the weak themselves but if a place was strong like ours they would kill guards in a surprise assault and open the gates just to release infected inside, then return the next day to see if everyone was dead."


"they sound like cowards, if you wish to fight then you can do it with your own strength" You say after a moment, Cara give you a strange look "You're a funny one you know, most people would say how terrible it was to attack other humans bla bla bla but you just called them weak for not doing it themselves." She cocks her head to the side as if observing you differently "You really are interesting!" She gives you a big grin then calls lunchtime.

You walking talking and eating

The next couple of days pass with the same routine. You walk with Cara chatting and carrying the bag while the other three walk behind you with their own conversation. The going is slow, not because it is difficult but simply because Cara sets a slow pace and no-one else is in any more of a rush to get anywhere it seems so you enjoy the leisurely stroll through the countryside. 


Even the food is tasting good, generally normal human food taste terrible and makes you feel like you ate a lump of dirt but each time you stop and eat the food tastes better. The evening of the second night you accidently let speak your thoughts instead of just thinking them "I can't believe this tastes good!" you say as you bite into a bowl of stew Cara had just made. You hear an immediate hiss from the other men and turn to see Cara leaning in close to your face "oooohhhhHHH? surprised that it's good? Surprised that I can cook?"


Whether by luck or design, every hour you spent with Care let you remember more about what being a human was like so you know well enough just how much trouble you had somehow gotten into with your innocuous comment. "I can dig my way out or I can dig myself deeper into a whole, best not to dig myself deeper" You think. but You are not given an option as you immediately hear her saying "I'm waiting?". You panic a little "Crap it's not as if I even insulted her!" You finally try and explain seeing that you had no choice and she was beginning to brandish a knife at your throat.


"No, erm I meant that I haven't tasted anything like this in years, even before the infection. I generally hate eating cos everything tasted like crap in a tin but this was just so good I was surprised it was even possible." You grin weakly and consider having to defend yourself from the knife waving close to your own throat when Cara suddenly grins and sits back down to eat her own food "Good save, I give you that." She announces and the three other men clap in approval. You just keep eating until Chris pats you on the shoulder and whispers 'good luck' before walking away from the fire "I'm checking our safe zone is still secure, if I don't return in under ten minutes, you know the drill. One of the guards gets up and heads off with him.


You finally turn to Cara "Chris and you used to talk a lot but he has kept a little separate since I join up." She keeps eating as she replies "Oh, he isn't jealous, he has a partner back in the community so don't worry about that." She gives you a quick smile before going back to shoveling her food into her mouth "unexpected but I guess good, she though I was checking if she was available, this works out too". "Well that's good then" you say aloud and get another quick smile as the two return and let you know that the current safe zone is still in fact safe.


You are all lead to a very old looking square building with a tin roof and solid looking door "So yesterday it was the second floor of a barn, and today it's a shed, seems like we are going down in the world" You announce and get a couple of smiles as everyone heads inside. Care quickly grabs you arm and leans in close "Don't worry, if you get cold we can cuddle for warmth!" She announces a little too loudly before jumping away again and dropping her bag off in a corner.


You realize you are blushing, so do the two guards who once more chuckle as they secure the door "Stupid chuckle brothers, do you ever actually speak or just chuckle behind people all day long?" You announce, only to send them both into fits of proper laughter. You simply sigh and lie down. Cara does pick to lie close to you but still far enough away to make the message of 'Don't try anything' clear enough. She also makes sure you get the message by telling you "Don't try anything" loud enough for everyone to hear resulting in howls of  laughter again.

You morning arrival at Safe-Haven

You are awake well before dawn again and check the surroundings for infected but only find a couple of them nearby, both alone and near death anyway. You send them away and realize just how easy it was to do "Seems like my abilities are developing even without use or human flesh." You think to yourself while the others slowly wake up and join you for a breakfast of fruit.


"Right today we reach the community!" Cara announces, immediately followed by Chris retorting "Where we would have been yesterday afternoon if you walked faster." She scowls at him before replying "Well I didn't see you taking the lead or speeding us up did I?" She grabs her bag and swings the door open "come on then!" she shouts as she heads out leading the rest of you to pack everything up and grab your bags to follow her.


You find her waiting outside and clearly in a good mood. she slips her free hand through your arm while she tells you about what to expect "So it's a lovely little walled community, big solid walls and railing around a nice grassy area and pretty houses. It was a kind of rich person 'out of the city house' type thing so everything was very well made and cared for. You should see it any minute now actually on the horizon as we are not far off!" You don't tell her that you can already make out the grey smudge and smoke in the sky from here as you are pretty certain no normal human could. "Sounds lovely" is all you say as she goes on to tell you about certain people and specifically her own home there and how much she likes it and thinks you will too.


You let her talk and make all the right agreeable noises when required while you scan the surrounding are for infected and humans, You can once more Sense a few scattered shamblers but that is about all the infected that seem to be left out here, up ahead though you can definitely sense human minds, the glow of a normal's mind is now totally unmistakable to you. You also suddenly realize that you aren't hungry when you look at it. Normally seeing a human wa enough to make your hunger spike but you haven't felt it in the last two days, even when looking at their energy filled minds.


Then it stirs and you feel it  hiding in the back of your mind again "I guess thinking about it was enough to trigger it again" You think as you do your best to forget about it again as you all close the distance to the compound.

The Safe-Haven of Safe-Haven

As you get closer the smudge resolves itself into a large grey wall topped with small spiked railings. The gated community.


You keep your pace slow, you aren't sure if a normal human could have noticed the smoke and walls yet so you play it safe and wait a few more minutes before obviously turning your attention to the wall. You look carefully as you approach. The walls are High, maybe 10 foot high and 12 with the railings, the spikes on the top were surely ornamental before but they have been sharpened now into points and you can see men with guns looking over the walls at various points. They are clearly the guards as they are holding guns however they are also clearly relaxed. they probably haven't had any real excitement since the raiders died out a few years back.


You look carefully at them and realize that none of them is actually reacting to you at all. you look around and realize that most of you is covered by farm hedges and gates so that unless they were being vigilant they wont notice you for a few minutes yet. 


"Well the wall certainly looks impressive from here, but shouldn't the guards have spotted us by now, I mean we are out on the road?" Care is about to respond when you hear a bell ringing "Wel, they just did!" she announces happily. Now when we get to the gate we are going to be harassed by Boring, we call him that cos it is what he is. Anyway just be polite and he will open the gate, he just likes to act tough to seem like he is in charge." She quickly gives you another kiss on the cheek and says "Now remember I saw you first." Before walking ahead a little so she reaches the gate first.


You are wondering what she was meaning when you hear the call from the gate "Who goes there" and the immediate response from Cara of "Oh shut up Boring and open the gate already!" you just sigh and mumble "so much for being polite" you hear a chuckle as one of the guards passes you and adds "As you have probably noticed, subtle is not really Cara's strong suit. good luck." you nod to him then join the group at the gate holding the bags while the little drama plays out.


By the number of people on the walls laughing you can guess that this has happened before and more than once. You can also tell it isn't serious by the number of them laughing as the man up top repeatedly tries to tell Cara off and explain procedures and rules and that your group is late while she just insults him, calls him boring and tells him to go die because he is so old.


Eventually you are told to prove you have no bites and remove your shirt and give them a turn so they can see, then you hear a female voice whooping at you from the wall and actually feel embarrassed. You get dressed again while you think about how strange it is for you to care about what a human thought. The gates swing open and Cara immediately breaks into the big grin and waves you inside. 


As you walk in through the gate you get your first proper view of the little community, apart from the surrounding wall and wooden walkway you couldn't even tell that the world had ended outside. There is a group of nicely laid out houses in the center, a play park, a couple of mechanical looking buildings with tools and machinery inside and even a generator next to them.


The people are the same, clean clothing and all smiling and chatting as if the most horrific decade in human history wasn't still fully underway just past the gate you had walked through. One of the guards hops down behind you and several of the people come over, one is even carrying a toddler. The guard starts introducing everyone and you give short pleasant responses before realizing the thing that was bugging you the most. You look like a hobo, a hobo who had something die and rot on it's clothing recently and everyone around you is clean and well dressed for a rural community.


Your realization and glances at your torn and stained shirt must have registered as one of the women cuts the guard off "Let the man rest and get a change of clothing first before he gets embarrassed!" You are about to object when you hear a whoop from behind you and a female guard from the gate comes running over "I'll help, just wait till you see him with his shirt off!" The older woman tuts at her "Briar, behave yourself!" but she just grins and turns to you "Ok lets get you out of that shirt so I can burn it!". You don't actually feel embarrassed about it and you haven't cared what humans thought for years but you do find it strange that the social conventions still hold such strong sway over you "I wonder if they lingered around in the back of my mind of all this time being nice to Cara has helped them resurface?" You think as you pull your shirt off and hear another whoop from Briar as she takes your shirt and heads off to a fire-pit near the walls. You also get some approving looks from the other ladies and glance down at your perfectly muscled self, "here we go again." you think as you let the crowd of women take you over to a shed and hand you some new clothing and let you change in private.


When you finally come out there is a larger crowd, including men ready to greet you and show you their little community. They take you on a whirlwind tour, showing off everything like proud parents showing off their firstborn child. It is all as you first saw, nice well loved little houses and a couple of old barns used as machine shops, The one thing that catches your eye is at the back. A huge metal door leading into a metal corridor that seems half buried at the back of the compound.


"That's our bunker!" One of the men proudly announces "If everything else fails, we can all live in there for months without any worries!" You make a mental note to check it out.

You first evening in the haven

You are shown to a house that looks less well kept than the others and are told you can use it as your own "An old member, called himself 'Playa' used to live here, sadly he was on a scavenge when they got attacked, him and his partner never returned so now it's yours." You thank them and head inside, finding yourself automatically wiping your feet as you do so "Oh come on, I haven't wiped my feet in years, what am I doing?" You head upstairs and find a nicely laid out bedroom complete with a full bead "Although I really can't complain about this!" You hop onto the bed and relax "Even better than my van-sofa!" You think as you begin making your plans.


You start by stretching out your senses and trying to count the humans, you find that they are often too close together to count perfectly but at least 30-40 which fits your initial guess. Several act as guards day and night and they have a fair amount of guns including at least two automatic weapons. They also have the bunker but there are ways of dealing with that too. Then you sense one in particular and can immediately tell it is Cara alone in a house nearby "Hmm, I can tell human minds apart now, thats a new development" You think as you drift off to sleep


The morning is still far off when you wake up and automatically scan your surroundings, you see humans asleep all around you and guards un-moving on the walkway behind the walls, probably sleep judging by how lax they were. You also once more immediately sense Cara asleep in her house.


"This place and being with the humans is clearly affecting me, bring up old emotions and issues but I am still a harbinger" You reach out your senses and find you can stretch them a long way before getting a headache and you grab control of all the nearby shamblers, forcing them out of where ever they were and close to the community. Then you pause "I guess there is the other option" You think to yourself as you head downstairs and peek out the windows into the silent night.

You clear your mind of the stupid thoughts and emotions, you are a harbinger and it is time to kill

You look yourself over and shake your head "I eat humans, I have done for years, this stupidity is just from being forced to spend too much time with them recently and it will end once they are all dead!" You concentrate on getting the shamblers you had controlled closer and finally have six of them grouped up near the gate to get in once you had it open for them.


The guards on the walls still hadn't moved and inch but the ones by the gates might have "So those two might still be awake at least" You think as you plan out your next move. If this place was affecting you like a virus in your brain then you didn't have any time to loose and you had to strike now.


As you decide this it is as if your mind clears a little for you, what does it matter what one of them in named? Male, Female, child? they are all just prey and none of them matters at all. You are a harbinger, a Herald of the appocolypse and caring about humans is beneath you. It is time to feed.