***

One hour later, in that house, the squad of ten people, have gathered all of the furniture they could've found in this four rooms house, dragged them into the living room. When they dragged the furniture they could seat, they align them in some sort of circle for them to sit and rest for the upcoming night. While four people are focussing on the arranging furniture, two people are exploring the other houses nearby this one. And Ramus with Maria are trying to make fire in this house, who is having a tile stove in the living room like many other houses like this one who couldn't afford to pay for gas and had a lot of firewood at their disposal.

Minutes passes, the fire has been made in the tile stove, which was a good sign. Soon, the entire room will gain heat.

A few more minutes later, the people who were send to check the other houses, and came with some good supplies to them. The survivors have handed to the other ones a backpack with food supplies and an aid kit, which contains a lot of useful medical items to help the wounds of Petre. But Petre refused to do it, stating that his wounds are not that bad and this medical kit should be preserved for the future.

They all gathered around that stove tile, to feel the heat and try to rest. Gancea, seeing that everybody has gone silent, he decides to break the silence.

"We probably don't know each other. All of us. How about we present each other?"

Nobody started to talk. They all look at Gancea, who found this change of his, weird.

"Alright." says Gancea. "I will start first. I am Gancea."

"Petre." says the injured soldier, on his military clothes.

"Daniel." says the mapmaker, who has gained a bit of weight recently, due to the community meals, wearing thick jacket by the colour of black.

"Maria." says the woman with dark hair and wearing a thick jacket by the colour of yellow.

"Ramus." says the only looking muscular man from this group, wearing only a vest with a thick blouse.

"Theodor." says a survivor, in his 20s, wearing some thick clothing to protect himself from the cold environment they've all been exposed.

"Ioan." says another male survivor, wearing a thick jacket, military camo, with a hoodie and a skull mask.

"Elisa." says the second female of the group, being the only one who is wearing a thin jacket and a pair of glasses to help with her vision.

"Lucian." says another male survivor, thick jacket by the colour green, with a helmet on his head, and a mask to cover his face. Is eating from a can of soup, who was in that backpack, then after he took three bites he passes to another survivor, possibly his friend.

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"Vasil." says the last survivor, next to Lucian, wears a thick jacket, opened to reveal a thick blouse with a deer head, is looking like an old man, with white beard and glasses on his face.

"Good." says Gancea sounding happy. "Now that we meet each other… What is the plan?"

"Plan?" asks Ramus to Gancea. "What plan? We go back to the base and retake what will be left from there. Simple."

"That would be sweet." says Ioan looking at Ramus. "But here is the thing. Do you think the military will come back to retake what they've abandoned?"

"And they will help us." says Ramus.

"They will not come back." says Petre. "I've been with those for so long. When a community is overrun, or destroyed, all we have to do is move from there, and start a new one somewhere… I've been in like three communities. All around Romania county… Well, what it is now… All three. Abandoned after they were over run, and created new ones in other regions. This one was the oldest. One month."

"Shit." says Theodor. "That short…"

"For you, it may be short." responds Petre to Theodor remark. "But we all thought this is it. Finally. The moment of peace we've been waiting. Now it is gone."

"Why would they kick you out?" asks Lucian, who was feeling curious about this. He wasn't paying attention when the survivors talked about this earlier on their walking. "I mean. They should at last take you. After everything you've done for the entire community and everything, right?

"This Organization… Wanted to be the best for the best people. Back in the beginning, they would help everyone in need. Now… They all wanted to help those who can fight back the apocalypse… More are not able to defend themselves. Just like the survivors who are still in that community… I feel ashamed for leaving them behind."

"But there is nothing we can do." says Daniel, and look at everybody. "Listen. I have an idea."

"What's yours?" asks Lucian to Daniel.

"If the community will not take us, all we can do is find a habituated island, and live in there, right?" he looks at the faces of all nine people in there, who are all wondering if this would be their only good decision they've had at their disposal.

"And what island you are referring to?" asks Vasil. "There are thousands of islands all around the globe."

"Petre." says Daniel to Petre. "You've said the virus hasn't reached America yet."

"From our sources, it did not." says Petre to Daniel. "You think we can make it in there?"

"No. Risk it is to big. I was thinking to inhabit one of the islands in the Atlantic Ocean."

Everyone was looking at Daniel. Wondering if this man is right on his head who has proposed such an unimaginable plan to them.

"Are you alright in your head?" asks Gancea, who has become a good friend to Daniel in the following days.

"I am just saying." says Daniel. "If we do not find any available islands to our closure, our only choice would be to either risk by going on the inhabitant islands far from civilization. Or we can try and remain in the forest. Survive as long as we can."

"We will stay here." says Petre. "Then we investigate the community. If we can fight back the zombies in there, we can rebuild it. We've worked too hard to leave this piece of heaven behind."

"But what if there will be survivors in there?" asks Lucian to Petre.

"Then we'll have to come to a negotiation with them." says Petre.

"I see." says Daniel.

In a second, an explosion is heard from outside. The explosion sounds to be coming from far away. Theodor got up from the chair, he walked to the window, looked through it and saw nothing, only the dark of this cold night.

But all of them knew the explosion has come from the community.