I enquire as to the reasoning for his solitude however it was in vain for the man's expression remained the same, blank. The snow remained vigilant in its harsh persistent fall. Whenever there was a moment of silence you could hear the sharp wailing wind knock at the old cracks in the glass windows.
It seemed as though the snow had no intention of letting up anytime soon, so we would remain trapped in this old ghost of a home for longer then we had hoped. If you looked outside the windows of the house you would see the dark gray sky looming over you. The gray skys are the same colour as the ash bunt into the windows.
As the winter storm went on we found ourselves huddled together inside by the small fireplace. You would think the house is haunted by all the terrifying sounds heard. In truth the man told us by his photos and items around the house he lived alone. And by the looks of it for a very long time.
At last morning had come and the snow had stopped. Too bad the snow was knee deep. We asked the man if he wanted to come with us and even explained he wouldn't be alone anymore. However when he looked up at us and finally opened his mouth, we realized he wouldn't be able to join. We had wasted too much time in this building.
As the man showed us his mouth we saw copper cogs and bolts all turning against each other, scraping against the fleshy inside of his mouth. A tear fell down his face. The only words I could muster being,
"I'm sorry...I'm so so sorry..." I told him in a shaky way, trying not to cry myself.
All five of my group packed up our stuff and put it away in our slowly deteriorating bags left the home. Our shelter from the snowstorm as fast as we could knowing what was soon to come.
I'm going to say we were glad to be leaving the home in its horrible state but the man even if he was infected was human in my eyes and no one should have to be alone for that long. I will say, what I said to him I really did mean. I wanted him to join us, finally having company, but there was nothing I could do.
As we travel through the snow I got a strange feeling. Like a cold hand on the back of my neck but when I turned around, no one was there. I told myself it was just regret from leaving the man behind, however, my gut was telling me to be careful. I looked at the path ahead and saw we had to go through a woods.
"Great, just perfect" I said a little too loud whilst speaking to myself, drawing the others attention.
We would have to move through the dark forest, where the leaves blocked the sun, all while avoiding the infected animals and trees. It's hard to tell what trees are infected. As they are metal on the inside; the disease does not effect the bark for some reason.
There are many ways to become infected, I would like to avoid all of them. One way is being bitten by another human, called a human infection. You get this by being bitten or scratched deeply.
The infection causes your whole body to be incased in copper, iron, gold, silver. It causes your mind to be rewired. And want to, infect others, as it can't stand anything that isn't metal. Your organs turn to cogs and bolts that function only to make you move like a human automaton.
The second way is to be infected by an animal, either by eating it in it's early stage or bitten by it in its late stage. The infection only affects certain animals, mainly predators and bugs but on the rare occasion pray.
Once infected by an animal you get sick, becoming hot and cold at the same time. Your bones start to snap and break reshaping into a chimera of a kind. Depending on the animal your body grows extra metallic limbs like claws, tails or legs. They are unstable, moving slower due to the extra weight, but are just as dangerous. They will attack if you enter its territory.
The last way to be infected is by plant. The worst way to go depending on what plant. If you cut yourself on a branch or ingest an infected plant it grows seeds inside your veins slowly turning your body into a puppet. You will have metal branches or saplings grow from your skin that sprout flowers to spread its pollen and thorns to protect its self.
It damages the spine and the cerebellum making you move like a shambling hunchback. Carrying the weight of the metal branches you carry.
It's hard to destroy the core of this type infected as you need to break through the metal stem. So most people leave the poor souls to grow unable to move very fast slowly going insane due to this infected being unable to attack.
This is why we need to avoid the trees at all costs, however, the only way to tell with infected trees is to listen to the ticking and turning of cogs. This would be nearly impossible as we would be surrounded by them in the dark, but it can't be helped as it's the only way to go.
I still had the feeling of being watched, which made me nervous. I turned around and looked at everyone, counting heads, something felt off.
"1,2,3,4,5 and 6. Who's the sixth person, I swear we only had 5 including myself..." I question, my panic growing. As I looked closely at the sixth member I instantly screamed.
"RUN" I said turning on my heel.
All of us ran into the woods and the sixth member closely behind. It was an infected human, the old man followed us after all.
We ran as fast as we could, avoiding the trees, however as expected the infected was fast on our tracks. The infection had turned the rest of his body into metal faster then expected. I thought we had more time.
I knew the others wouldn't be able to out run the infected man at this rate. So I stopped and ripped the bandages from my arm, showing my clockwork arm to the others. I told them to keep running and they did, already aware of my half metallic state that covered my arm and leg. Some looked worried but continued.
It was just me and them now... The infected vs the half broken. The infected let off a scream that sounded like nails down a chalkboard then charged at me full speed. I jumped over it just on time then span around and punched its head into a tree, denting it's skull deeply.
The tree fell down from the blow and sparks flew around us in the air. Quickly before it started to fix itself I ripped out its mechanical heart, crushing it.
I don't think I'll ever get used to that.
The infected were once human themselves so when I kill them it's like I'm finally giving them peace. But at the cost of agony.
The old mans body almost fully metal now started to rust and fall apart, not fully disappearing but becoming a heep of scrap and skin, now laying broken on the snow dripping red upon it. The chill had gone and now grief washed over me.
"Thank you for the shelter, now rest" I said, rewrapping my arms bandages.
After I put a end to that infected and collected the heartstone from the scrap of the broken core I ripped out. I put it in my mouth and ate it, repairing the metal on my arm. It tasted like rock candy to me, so sweet it made me feel sick.
I then went to look for everyone else. All I could see was the outlines of trees and branches from the thickness of the leaves above, as I was looking for them. The only sounds I could hear was the quiet ticking all around me with the leaves and twigs underneath my boots.
Regret still lingered on my tongue as well as the sweet core like a disgusting reminder for what I had done to the old man. Even so I continued to walk on, determined find them, against the cold environment. After all I can't mourn for in this world it's kill or be killed.