Isabel never thought that she would be seeing the boys again. Jonas and Blake asked them, before they went to camp, not to come over to them ever again. And yet they were back at their door, visibly seeking help. She didn’t like assuming, but she thought that they weren’t going to ask for food. They managed to survive, both, which isn’t so bad considering how ruined the city is. However, their bodies seemed badly hurt, and they were sore. 

The teen hesitated. She did want to help everyone else around the globe and to make life back to as it was before, but in a way, she knew that it wasn’t possible. It wouldn’t be the same way, without her parents, without life in the streets. In any case, the society would slowly grow back to normal-she hoped so- someday. Yet it would be a void, for a few centuries. And Isabel didn’t want it to be ruined. Nobody would want it ruined either, she knew it. 

If she had to be honest, she preferred the society to be destroyed then having to wait centuries for it to turn back to normal, in an awkward and murky place, where the technologies wouldn’t even go far enough to reach amelioration. It would be bad, unbelievably bad. The girl shook her head-the boys were waiting outside, and now wasn’t the time to be wistful about the future. Although they had to think about what they’d do later. 

And so, she took some time to remove the security measures, opening the door for them. They rushed inside anxiously, as Isabel quickly replaced the measures over. She then watched them intently, trying to figure out what they wanted by a simple glance. 

“So, what’s up, Evans? I thought you never wanted to see us ever again, am I right?”  She asked rhetorically, glaring at Jonas while she eyed Blake blankly. He just followed along, after all. 

“Plans changed.” The older brother replied, grinning as he ran a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply, “It’s complicated. We managed to get food and stuff for a couple weeks, but we start lacking some. And you looked like you knew what you were doing, Isabel, so that’s why I followed you.” 

Isabel watched him silently, taking in his words. They were incredibly lucky that they had survived for over a few days already. Lucia and herself had it easy at the camp, at a place that was made for them-made for the survival of humanity. And yet they didn’t have better protection, anyway, considering how the camp is now ruined. But she couldn’t tell him that, and she didn’t know why he was over. 

“You followed us?” Lucia repeated, appalled. Visibly, she thought that they weren’t okay mentally, and that they were as stalkers. “I don’t get it. You said you had nothing to do with us anymore.” 

“That’s right.” Isabel added on, folding her arms over her chest as her eyes narrowed, “What do you want?” 

Jonas hesitated. In a way, he knew they were right, and he couldn’t deny it. On the other hand, he wasn’t sure of how he was supposed to tell them. It’s not like he and his brother did anything wrong anyway, yet Isabel had just remembered them of what they had said a while earlier. Did it matter? Not for him, but it did for the girls. 

“I don’t know. Do you have a plan to save humanity or something? I’m getting a little annoyed of this apocalyptic world, honestly.” He admitted simply, not knowing what else to say. 

Isabel and Lucia looked at each other, shocked. He talked in such a way about the situation, as if it was a video game level, something normal. As if they didn’t have a reason to worry. And yet they did have one, and the boy talked about it like it didn’t matter. As if a new danger each day wasn’t enough to terrify him. Blake seemed afraid, though. At such an early age, meeting those creatures could give you a headache, or worse, a heart attack. 

“We weren’t sure for the moment. We just came back from the camp in New Hampsfire which just got ruined by a bunch of crappy zombies. Those guys followed us because they knew they had to collaborate with other people. I did tell Lucia that we had to be on our own, but yeah, we must find a way too, you know?” 

Jonas’ brows furrowed. A camp? What camp? He had never heard of any camp. If only he knew, he would’ve brought his own brother and himself there, to find a better way to survive. They have been starving for a few days now and were on the verge of dying of hunger, and they were lucky enough to find the girls. And yet that attracted his curiosity. 

“What camp?” He asked, tilting his head to the side. 

“I bet he wasn’t strong enough, so that’s why Lazarus didn’t bother coming over...” Ginny mumbled under her breath, “No wonder he never heard of it, they didn’t want him.” 

“Shut up.” Lucia hissed, pushing her away from the scene, “It doesn’t mean anything at all. Let us explain what that is, and they’ll explain his story afterwards. You can’t judge them like that-we know them.” 

Isabel paused her act as her younger sister spoke. This whole situation was starting to annoy her. The only reason she accepted Ginny to stay over was that she’d never forgive herself for letting someone else die. She’d feel too bad. And the others would’ve acknowledged that that was her fault. The girl hated to feel bad, and she did have a heart, too. 

The teen took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. How was she supposed to explain everything that has happened, for someone that never heard about the camp, and didn’t even bother making research about a place to survive? For some reason, Jonas was always a foolish boy, and that was the reason Isabel preferred hanging out with the middle child. 

“Okay, so the camp is a place where everyone meets us together. Teens, adults or children, briefly everyone. And so, the whole deal is that there’s a place to train, and another to build your own family. You have the choice, but it’s recommended to start training at an early age in case a situation with the zombies occurs. Usually, they begin education early as well, and there are plenty of resources there. It’s a few hours away.” 

Jonas and Blake were puzzled and stared at them. The Italian knew exactly what they were thinking about, and it annoyed her deeply. She felt her eyes rolling back in her head, her jaw clenching as she glanced at Lucia. She was thinking the same thing than she was, visibly. Her gaze was filled with anticipation, and she decided to step back. 

“If the camp had a lot of resources,” Blake spoke in a faint voice, “Then why did you leave there?” 

Isable had to admit this was a good logic. Although that was a great thinking, they should’ve been thinking about it even deeper and to think about why they could’ve left. They would’ve have left if it didn’t happen there. They would’ve stayed, naturally. And yet that detail, the boys didn’t seem to catch it quite well. 

“Something happened.” Isabel replied simply, “Zombies barged in- the walls weren’t strong enough to hold them back, and so it’s ruined. We went back home so that we could find a plan to save everyone else. It’s not that we think that we’re heroes, but we can’t keep on living like this.” 

“We did lose a lot of loved ones, and I could bet my life with the idea that you too lost someone important too.” Another boy said, “At some point it hurts, it’s sad, but we can’t avoid it forever and face the pain of losing someone new each day. It hurts too much, you know?” 

Jonas’ expression darkened. He understood, of course he did. When he lost Kimberly and Sam, it ruined his mood instantly. The zombies took them away, and it couldn’t be helped. Death was a quite common trend in the apocalypse. They weren’t the only ones. And so, the boy nodded, looking down as he muttered incoherent ideas. 

“Yeah, I guess. It does hurt, trust me. And you’re right to believe that I did lose someone.” Jonas whispered, his voice a shaky whimper before he shook his head, “This is way too dark. Anyway, any of you had a plan to make this work?” 

“Why are we here, Jo?” Blake pondered as his eyes watered, glancing at the other teens with confusion. 

“We need help to survive, and people meet up together to help themselves,” The oldest brother said, then he shifted to Isabel, his eyes shining, “What if we merge some more people together? We could find a way to cope and off these monsters?” 

The group looked at each other thoughtfully, not getting what he meant. Meet more people? But how could this change anything? They weren’t strong enough, and the number of zombies increased each day. It wouldn’t work at all. And yet it’s not like they had better options. 

Isabel pursed her lips, deep in thought. It could work, in some ways. But how? They would need to search for survivors, which would be relatively dangerous. Every day, they were in danger, and they could die anytime. Her thoughts wandered, and she couldn’t help but agree with the idea. What did they have to lose anyway? The worse that could happen would be death, and it wouldn’t bother too much. Well, it depended for who. 

“That’s not a bad idea,” She admitted, running a hand through her hair, “How would we do that though? It’s difficult to find alive people again, that aren’t zombies. And we can never be sure if they were bitten in the last hours and if they’ll turn into zombies soon.”  

“It’s weird. We’re all by ourselves but we still must cooperate. If this situation happens, we’ll just see how this turns out. We can’t know what will happen later, it’s mostly going to depend on ourselves.” Lucia replied, dropping a hand on her sister’s arm, her expression softening. 

She knew it was hard, too. It was difficult for all of them, to find a way. They were ten. Ten hopeless teens, lost in a destroyed world with no adults, no place to live, and their future in their hands. Even though the idea of sticking along Jonas and Blake didn’t make her ecstatic, she knew she had to do this. One way or the other.  

“Let’s search children around town, shall we?” Jonas said, grinning slyly, “But before we try to fight, we’ll need to have a talk with them, see if they noticed any weaknesses as they were fighting zombies. Instead of rushing to them and perhaps get eaten in three seconds, we could build a trap...” 

Isabel was surprised-Jonas wasn’t as dumb as she thought. She nodded, and everyone else agreed. And yet it was the first time the boy had ever felt smart in his entire life, and he couldn’t stop smiling. They could win, if they did their best. Well, if her planned future didn’t ruin her...