As the Ghost surveyed the Estes Colorado, he was being talked by someone. Every turn he made they made, every house he ducked into, they ducked nearby.
As nightfall made its ugly way into Estes, the being made itself known by smacking the Ghost with a Guitar.
"What the fuck!"
"Stay down cryptid, I'll be sure to end you quickly."
"CUT IT OUT! I'M NOT ONE OF THEM!"
"Wait, no shit? Well, THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
"Exploring, I assumed everyone had been turned..."
"Nah, I'm still kicking."
"I can see that, sorry about your guitar."
"Nah, it was busted anyways, besides, I swung it at you."
"You got a name?"
"Demi, leader of the Trauma-Club, you?"
"The Ghost of Ottawa, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"You know, you took that hit like a champ, maybe you'll be pretty punk-rock. Follow me."
Demi hops onto a motorcycle and tears off down the road, the Ghost trailing behind them.
Deep in the woods of Estes Colorado, Demi and the Ghost entered a cabin, there sat three others.
"Yo, I'm back, brought a new guy."
"What's up my dude!? I'm Dusty, resident stoner and tripper."
"Name's Onyx, Demi's friend, chef of the group."
"I'm *coughs exhaling marijuana smoke* Noah, stoner and best runner this side of the woods."
"I'm the Ghost of Ottawa, pleasure to meet you."
"This asshole flew in, got some old plane."
Onyx looked up from the pot of Chili they were cooking and raised a eyebrow at Demi.
"I checked him, he's not infected nor insane."
"Wait, infected?"
"Yeah man, fungus zombies and eldritch horrors." said Dusty as he cracked a beer.
The Ghost looked around at everyone in the room. Dusty, a 60's style stoner tuning a kind of keyboard. Onyx, a shorter, level-headed chef, seemingly deadly with their knife. Noah, a more modern stoner, but he was wielding a cutlass, its blade far sharper than anything he'd seen. Then there was Demi, Demi was a taller, emo kind of end-of-the-world heart-throb. Black leather jacket, spiked books and knee guards along a dragon's breath shotgun. This mixed group wasn't like Reagan and the others he'd encountered a while ago.
"So man, what brings you out this way?"
"Searching. I'm looking for people and supplies."
"Do you have a crew?" asked Noah as he looked at the others.
"At the moment, no. My crew is safe and I'm out here."
"Well, I made chili so feel free to eat bowl." said Onyx polishing their damascus steel blade.
The Ghost sat by the fire, opening his mouth cover, he took a bite of chili and ate silently. Demi watched him, his spoon didn't even tremble as he ate. His posture, his body language, they all told everyone he was ready should anyone threw even a piece of paper at him.
After everyone had eaten, they began to settle for bed when an ear piercing, blood curdling shriek could be heard from across the way.
"Zombies?"
"No doubt."
However, as the horde of zombies descended upon the city, it wasn't just fungus that was covering them. A living parasite had taken hold of their bodies and the ability to infect anything living it touched.
"No, this isn't right...They aren't supposed to be living."
"GET TO MY PLANE! WE NEED TO GO NOW!"