The first rays of the red orange sun peeked through the cracks in the canvas of the army tent.

"Day 178," Haru mumbled to himself before opening those deep cerulean eyes of his to see the same old, dusty, green tarp overhead.

Haru sleepily got out of his cot, letting the daily tasks run through his head. Help Makoto with some gardening, train with Nagisa and do a supply run with Rei. Just a normal day.

Haru stood up on his feet, feeling the dew in between his toes, and lazily walked over to the large hard plastic trunk, knocking over his blue, small, hiking bag by accident but he was too tired to pick it up. He opened it with some force to see only one pair of dark jeans and a plain black shirt beside a grey-blue hoodie along with the standard black socks and oddly printed underwear. A pair of electric blue and black runners were beside the chest that held Haru's clothes. And do the laundry. Haru added to his list of duties for the day.

Haru pushed the flap that open as he walked out. The paracord that kept it together was united as he was the last one to wake up. The sun was already becoming yellow and only held tiny hues of pinks and reds in it. The air smelled of hard work and prospects for the day. It was still damp in the air but, slowly, it was getting hotter.

"Good morning, Haru!" A tall giant with brown hair that held a green hue to it, and a soft expression made his way over to the individual looking over the farmlands of the camp.

"Morning, Makoto," was all Haru mumbled.

Makoto stood right beside Haru, sharing a quiet but well needed content moment in a world that was falling apart right in front of their eyes. Although it didn't seem this way inside camp Iwatobi.

Camp Iwatobi seemed like a paradise compared to the rest of the world. Whereas teenagers were either dead or killing others that were alive, Iwatobi had been created by adults when the world went to shit. But now it's run by teens ever since the adults that were there had all died when the camp went under attack by a horde of the undead. Now only five teens attend to crops, did supply runs, laundry, and keep each other sane. Everybody had their own duties but helped out with one another.

Haru was a supply runner along with Rei. They went outside of the metal cross wire gates to find supplies and hopefully survivors. Both of them always had small hiking backpacks on when they had to make supply runs. They were the fittest of the five of them before it all went to hell so naturally they were appointed the jobs of supply runner.

Nagisa was the shortest but easily the best when it came to sparring. He donned blond, wavy, hair and was always smiling with those pink eyes of his. Nobody questioned his eye colour, they just thought he was half albino. Nagisa wore t-shirts that nobody wanted and always had his wrists taped up. He could take a punch and deliver one twice as hard.

Makoto was the kindest one of the group. He donned a natural green thumb which gave him the responsibility of growing things like potatoes and carrots. He always had the same pair of jeans on but only owned two shirts, a white one and a forest green one with blood stains on it. His shoes weren't the standard runners. They were hiking boots that his jeans were always tucked into.

Then there was Gou. She happened to be the only girl. When the camp was 'normal', she always wore jeans and muscle shirts, seldom wearing dresses. It's what kept her alive. Whilst the other girls were in dresses and bribing soldiers with their bodies for safety, she was fighting zombies and killing those that betrayed her. Her main job is to hand out the duties of the day and to keep track of supplies.

None of the jobs were easier than the others and nobody flaunted their skills off. That's what kept things so peaceful. That and they all knew each other beforehand from the swimming team. It made things calm between them.

About the tenth day into the apocalypse all five of them were taken from their safe haven in that tiny supply room at school to a hill far off into the countryside where the teachers set up a camp, with help from the military. All five of them were runners but on day forty, they were finished learning how to do the other duties and out for a supply run when thirty minutes in, Iwatobi camp was attacked by some zombies that were kept as 'pets'. Ten minutes after the camp was destroyed they came back only to find a hoard of zombies in the camp. They fought off what they could and retreated to a part on top of the hill. Ten days later and the zombies were all gone so the five cleaned up what they could and started anew.

Haru turned around to walk down the hill that lead to the small dining area that always smelled of vegetable stew. Sure, they had no meat but that didn't mean they couldn't try to cook nice meals.

Today was Wednesday, Makoto's day to make the meals. He always tried to make something different but just how many ways could you prepare carrots and potatoes?

"Are you going to get breakfast?" Makoto inquired when he saw Haru near the hill towards the main camp area.

All Haru did was nod.

Makoto followed right beside Haru down to the dining tent along the worn down dirt path. Whatever grass was there was brown and straw like from all the heat they've had recently.

The air tasted hot and dry as if a dust storm was coming. It was only nine in the morning but something felt off, like the feeling when you forget your watch at home. Except Haru couldn't guess what it was.

"So I guess you don't have to help me," Makoto finished off his sentence but Haru was too busy thinking about what was wrong to pay attention.

"Hm?" Haru hummed.

Makoto give a slight giggle, "You don't have to help me today, it's okay."

"Okay," Haru half mumbled as he entered the tent with Makoto close behind. Both of them took off their shoes as they accessed the area with a tarped floor.

Inside the tent was one picnic table in the center, a black and white camp stove and two brushed steel pots off in the far left corner. One was boiling and the other one had nothing in it. It felt like a cozy house on the inside. Many jokes and discussions had been made in there which gave it a sense of security. The only place that felt secure and sacred to Haru. Almost like home.

There was a bowl of stew and a piece of bread with a bottle of water already on the table in the center of the covered area. Haru took the seat in the table with flaking red paint. Makoto grabbed a bowl of the stew and sat down across Haru.

They both ate in a comfortable peace with the occasional hum of approval for the breakfast. The wind that got inside the tent did little to get rid of the steam filled and hot air. There was a scent of starch mixed with burning wood. It was quite relaxing to both of them.

Half an hour passed before Haru finished his morning meal of stew. He slowly got up asking with his body language if he should put his dishes away but Makoto looked at him as if to say, "Don't worry about it".

Haru exited the tent that smelled of home. He focused on putting on his blue and black runners first before looking up at the sky. The bugs that were outside started scattering for shade, a protection from the already blazing sun. Haru's hand did little to shade the deep blue of his eyes from the burning sun. Not a cloud in the sky was visible, just blue. Just a light baby blue.

A rustling sound was heard in the dry smelling grass as Gou jogged up to Haru. Her red hair was tied back in the usual ponytail by a blue hair tie that had a flower coming out of it. She was wearing light green jeans and a grey t-shirt that had traces of blood on them. Most likely from training with Nagisa but Haru wasn't too sure. Nobody but Haru and Rei should be outside the compound anyway.

"Hey, Haru!" Gou caught Haru's attention whilst jogging over to him, "Do you think you could for some cloth on your supply run? We could always use some."

"And water, and food, and survivors, I know," Haru chimed back in a friendly manner.

"You got it, go grab your bag, take this," Gou handed haru a Bundeswehr Advanced Combat Knife, "And don't keep Rei waiting too long."

Haru paid no attention to Gou as she walked away but instead focused on the knife that was handed to him. The knife was a solid black with a handle that was ribbed and smooth. The edge didn't shine in the sunlight except for a couple nicks in the serrated part near the handle. It felt light and airy, almost as if there wasn't a knife there. Deciding an icepick grip would be best, he put it back in the sheath and tied it to his inner right thigh with the velcro straps attached to the holes around the edge of the sheath.

Haru started his walk back up the worn down dirt path that lead to the sleeping tent. Chickadees chirped in the few trees that lined the path. Cicadas were buzzing and clicking, all making it feel more like a campsite than a compound for safety against those that walked but were not alive.

The thought and smell, at first, of dead people, zombies, made Haru almost want to puke. The smell wasn't so bad in the start but as the days got hotter and hotter due to the rotting flesh having an effect on the ozone layer with all the CO² speeding up global warming significantly. It smelled of rotting flesh wherever you went. But as the days turned to weeks, Haru no longer smelled the stench of meat and no longer wanted to puke everytime he stepped foot outside any tent in camp Iwatobi even if it did get stronger every sickening day.

The tent on top of the small hill at the end of the winding dirt path was already hot and stuffy on the inside. The second Haru went inside he felt himself sweating from the moist heat. The hotter it got in that tent, the warmer it'd be at night and the easier they'd get to sleep as the nights were significantly colder. The black and blue backpack was laid on it's side from knocking it over that morning. Haru opened up the light blue flap at the top to check inside. A half full box of band-aids, two bottles of water and a solar blanket was packed up neatly just in case there was a lost survivor but there was still plenty of room for supplies like rags, medicine and untouched meat.

Meat. Haru thought. His mouth started to water at the rare delicacy. It's not like all the meat in the world had expired, it's more like they were all open and had the chance to be infected. None of the teens wanted to think about eating meat that was already open. It was just too much of a risk Haru strolled down the beat path along the hill. The smell of dinner was hypnotizing to Haru but he knew that it wasn't ready and he still had to do a supply run with Rin and training with Nagisa. Lunch was a rarity in order to save food so instead they had a heavy breakfast and a hearty dinner. Gou made the rule that lunch should be made if there was a survivor brought into the camp. They haven't had lunch since.

Nagisa prefered to do sparring with Rei and Haru after their runs. That way they could learn to fight even after they've run for miles and had no energy. Nagisa didn't let them take it easy either, he figured that if he took it easy then they'd never learn to fight a hostile person or a zombie, even of Makoto told him to ease up a little.

Haru passed the farm on his right and the training ring to his left. The farm was two small plots of land side by side with five wide furrows each. Each furrow was filled with seeds. The one closest to the path had potatoes and the one furthest away had carrots. There was another plot of land That Makoto wanted to make in case they found more got watered by the used well water when each member of the team was finished washing their clothes or utensils. The well water was safe for everything else but drinking, anyway.

The training ring was a large circle of dirt that had a diameter of 5.5 M (18'), it had a wooden fence all the way around it that stood up to Nagisa's shoulders. Nagisa was always there, whether he was napping or doing exercises.

The pathway between the farm and the training ring smelled of dust mixed with a tinge of sweat. The fence at the end of the path was a chain link fence that had been rusted in some areas, and in others it was stained with dried blood. Water bottles were kept near the rusted entrance under a tent for a futile try to keep the bottles cool in the little shade that was provided.

A tall man with blue-black hair and red-framed glasses stood inside the tent with the water bottles. He was wearing a white sports jacket that was accented with black and red, his old track team jacket. A blue spined book was held in the right hand whilst the left hand went back and forth on the pages.

"Rei!" Haru called out to the other runner as he sauntered up to the water tent.

Rei looked up from his book after a few seconds, probably finishing a sentence. "Are you ready to go, Haru?"

Haru simply gave a nod of his head before lightly jogging to the squeaky fence.

The first thing that was outside the fence was a wooden ladder lying on the ground, that way, if one of them got trapped at night, they could come back into the compound rather than be stuck at night. A thin strip of trees was straight ahead, and then, after that, was just dust and the occasional road with broken down cars here and there.

Not a single sound was heard except for Rei and Haru running. The occasional bird chirped and once in awhile a zombie could be heard grunting, always too far to be a danger.

The weather was getting hot but a thunderstorm looked to be on it's way for night time. The plants needed rain, well water couldn't sustain them enough.

Life before the 'incident', as they called it, was simple and happy. Rei had just joined the swim team to make it an official sports team with five people. Makoto had just given his little brother a bike for his birthday. Haru had just moved out on his own, with help from his parents. Nagisa finally got into Iwatobi to join his friends.

Life was shaping to be content and happy. Then, some doctor had claimed he had 'cured' Malaria in the form of an aerosol can. People that sprayed it would kill mosquitoes with the disease in their bloodstream. Turns out that if you inhaled too much, you'd become lethargic at first, and then retain only your lizard brain. The last step was to want to eat those that didn't look grey like themselves after a few violent seizures. It was truly horrible but there was no cure so far, only death in the brain.