"Guns?"

"Check."

"Truck?"

"That's how we got here."

"Everyone here?"

"Why wouldn't we be?"

"Clothes on?"

"Sterling!" Astrid hissed as they loaded out of the truck they had taken to their next run spot. They stayed out of the main city, moving around the outskirts to find some place to scavenge through. They happened along a trailer park, and thought what better place to scavenge through.

They worked their way through the grass. In this area, the sun had been strong enough to melt the snow, brown grass and mud left behind in the wake of the new excess of water.

Their shoes made loud squelching noises as they neared the first house. It had been built with a porch fashioned to the front of it. The wood looked old and trash littered the surfaces. They tried the door, it opening fairly easy. Within the first few steps in, a mouse squeaked, running across the floor in front of them. Cara watched it scuttle by, looking back up to scan through the small house.

Her nose wrinkled at the condition of the trailer. The furniture was all worn and old. Cuts and stuffing were all over the couches and chairs. Dust settled in a blanket over the windowsills and tables. The television was busted, and fallen on the floor.

"This place looks more ruined than my soul," Sterling mused as he stepped inside, his eyes wandering over his surroundings. Astrid provided him a complimentary snort as she made her way towards the kitchen.

"I don't think we'll find anything useful here," Astrid called, making her way back to the living room.

"Look through the bathroom before we leave. There could be some pain killers in there or something," Cara called out, heading towards the door. "I'll go to the next trailer and check things out."

She closed the door half way as she made her way out, stomping down the opposite side of the porch to another trailer. Her feet steeped carefully as she hit the gravel road between the houses. She had learned quickly that during the winter, despite the common thought, gravel was awful to traverse.

Most would think the uneven ground would keep ice from settling and forming, but it still did. The unevenness of the rocks mixed with the ice freezing over did little to comfort her as she slipped her way across the road to the other side.

She walked on to the next trailer, only having a small staircase leading to the storm door. The siding was a chipping white with slate gray windows shutters.

She poked her head inside, finding it still covered in dust. Cream covered curtains fluttered with the open window. Cara moved her way into the kitchen, finding the remains of a well rotten food plate. The bugs had managed to pick the majority of the food clean, leaving bones, gristle, and seeds. Cara hummed an indistinct noise from the back of her throat, making her way down a short hallway to a bedroom.

She opened the door, freezing quickly as she found two forms on the bed. Her mind was quick to register the anorexic looking forms of two skeletons. Clothes draped loosely over the bodies. She edged closer, finding it was a man and a woman. There hands were laced together when they had died, the bones gnarled into an indistinguishable nest. She found a single bullet wound in each of their heads. Her mind was sick enough to wonder who was the one to pull the trigger last, for the gun rested between the two.

She stepped her way around the bed, edging closer to the skeletons and reaching for the gun. She snatched it away quickly, having the irrational thought that the dead man's hand would curl around her wrist to stop her.

She pulled the magazine out, finding no bullets within it. She put the piece back in, tucking the gun into her waist as she moved towards the bathroom connected.

She made her way through the rest of the house, finding a few ibuprofen left over along with tampons. She grabbed the things she would think were necessary. She made her way down the stairs, finding Astrid on the side that the previous trailer was towards. Cara stopped in front of her, the half filled box of tampons holding her findings in one hand.

"Hey, if we find a gun, are we allowed to take it back or do w-"

"Don't move!" Astrid bit out harshly, stopping Cara with her words. Astrid's eyes seemed to glass over with tears as she raised her gun at Cara. The gun shook, and Cara's eyes widened with hurt. She slowly raised her hands in surrender, her goodies falling to the ground.

"I don't know what it is I did wrong, b-"

"Shut up!" Astrid hissed, cutting off Cara. Astrid brought her other hand up, trying to steady the gun as she aimed. Cara closed her eyes, accepting the fate about to be had. She would rather sacrifice her own life than take a life of a friend, even on that had betrayed her. Sterling stepped out from around the house, his eyes widening at the sight of Astrid pointing a gun at Cara.

"Astrid, what are you-"

A gunshot drowned out the rest of Sterling's words.

Cara peeked an eye open, flinching at the echoing sound. The bullet whizzed past her, the air pushing against her cheek as it passed by. Behind her, a strangled yowl struck the air, and she turned around to see a Blight rolling on the ground, blood seeping from its arm. Cara was quick to raise her own weapon, shooting the growth and the skull.

"They don't die until you pop the growth and shoot them in the skull," Cara lectured, remembering doing it to Alex for the first time. She lowered the gun, looking back over at Astrid who stared in horror at the monstrosity in front of her.

"Is that the first one you've seen?" Cara asked, watching as Astrid's face seemed to turn green.

"Yeah," she choked out, "I mean, we've heard about them. About the gross stench. The way they looked. I just never thought... never hoped I'd see one with my own eyes." Cara nodded her head in understanding, looking over at the gangly, disformed body. It's ligaments twitched despite the life being gone from its body.

"Do you want to keep looking through the houses or are you done? After what just happened," Cara asked, her tone turning soft. Blight situations were the one thing she knew how to handle. Astrid gulped noticeably, shaking her head with vigor as she stared off into the distance with vacant eyes.

"I want to go home."