Chronicles of a Undying World - Chapter 1: Welcome to Safe Haven

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Shinku wouldn't accept a no that easily. He shook his head with a smile. "You won't be a bother there, Ayumi. Trust me, with those fighting skills you showed me when you killed those zombies a while ago, I definitely think you're more than capable to belong to the Guild". He nodded and chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Besides, most of the gang are just a bunch of lazy monkeys that just complain every time Nico assign them a task. Also, a new face there will really bring some joy to them, especially after seeing it's another girl". He laughed a bit and raisied his right hand a bit. "But don't get me wrong about that. We respect everybody".

He looked down at Vice and smiled, croutching in front of him and petting his face. "Ah, and Vice will be more than welcome. A dog while also cheer up the gang after so much misfortune..." He chuckled and looked at him in the eyes. "You're such a good boy! Yes, yes, you are!"
 
Ayumi was slightly surprised he was so adamant. "Are you sure Shinku? I really don't want to be a bother." She watched as Vice barked playfully and jumped on Shinku and she laughed. "I guess I can't turn you down when Vice likes you so much. Can't disappoint my boy!" She laughed again."Your Guild Members sound really nice. I can't promise joining up or staying for more than a day, but what can one night hurt?" She asked with a smile. She moved away from the window, "Plus it would be good for both Vice and I to meet some other people. Traveling just the two of us gets boring and lonely... How far is your compound from here?" She asked with a light sigh. She hoped it wasn't too far away with the sun already starting to go down.

She glanced out the door one more time to see the sky change from oranges to pinks and purples. They would have to head out soon if they didn't want to run in to any trouble.
 
Shinku smiled as she agreed to staying for the night. "Ah, just a few minutes to the East", he replied as he stood up. He fixed tightly his pack on his back and looked at her. "Trust me, everyone will be more than glad with for bringing home more than supplies". He chuckled and walked towards the window, looking up at the sunset. He then looked at both sides of the street, making sure the way was clear. "We better move if we want to arrive there before the darkness". He slowly began to slipped outside through the window, careful to not cut with the glass shards.

Once outside, he waited for Ayumi and Vice to come out. He looked around, picking his shotgun from his back and taking out some two bullets he had on his pockets. He reloaded the weapon just in case an emergency occur.
 
Ayumi smiled adjusting the straps on her own backpack, following Shinku out the window calling Vice after her with a soft whistle. "Okay, lead the way then." She reached back and grabbed her bat from where it was clipped in place on her back. Her choice of a melee weapon had helped her greatly in some situations but greatly hindered her in others. But she did love her baseball bat. She let the nailless part rest on her shoulder as she walked beside Shinku.

"So how many members does this guild have? And how did you guys get here? Pretty small town. Kind of a weird place for a Guild to be." Ayumi pointed out looking over up at Shinku.
 
Shinku rested the upper side of the shotgun on his right shoulder as he walked besides Ayumi, smiling as he looked at their way. "Ah, that's quite a story..." he replied, nodding in agreement with himself. It was indeed a funny and interesting anecdote. It all happened 4 years ago, right after the aftermath of the outbreak. Shinku, Utena and Nico crossed from the last parts of Georgia to Florida in a couple of weeks, leaving behind everything they knew. On their arrival at the Florida, they meet up with 7 survivors that begged them to et them join. They agreed, but after realizing they were too many, Nico decided to settle down somewhere.

On their search for a good place, they found out the ruins of what was once a great beautiful mansion. The place wasn't completely destroyed, neither badly damaged. And so, since that point, they named the mansion "Safe Haven" and created a survivors guild. Nico was the leader, but he didn't controled their lives, though. He was in charge to maintain an order and peace amoung the gang and assign important tasks necessary for the survival of the guild.

"So far, we luckily didn't had to move from that mansion", said Shinku as he continued with his small tale about the born of his dear guild. He slowly looked at Ayumi with a smile. "We also accept any good survivor that ask for join. We'ra all on the same boat after all, so it's our duty to help each other".
 
"That is too many members to keep traveling with." Ayumi nodded, agreeing with the leaders choice of finding a place to stay. "Its also good that you haven't had to leave yet. This place is such a blip on the radar I doubt any other groups would come and try to drive you out. I believe that you guys are the first Guild I've stumbled on to that has had such open arms about other survivors or scavengers. I've seen Guilds that kill outsiders on sight. I've seen Guilds like gangs, that try to jump in new members," Ayumi explained.

She decided maybe she should admit where she had come from and pulled up the sleeve on her jacket to reveal a tattoo. It was a small gun with barbed wire wrapped around it. "Right after this all happened, I joined up with a huge Guild. Almost 200 survivors. Near Chicago. We built a huge compound with houses and a hospital and huge walls that kept the undead out. The guild only grew from there. All of the higher-ups, the skilled fighters, kind of like the military of this place were all tattooed. Easier to identify bodies that way. Considering we were the ones going outside the walls. After awhile we had a population of roughly 1500 survivors. And we were running out of food fast. More and more people were coming through the walls everyday and we could barely feed the ones we had. We had to start turning people away. Sending them to find another place. The guild tore itself apart once starvation and hunger set in. Murderers, cannibals, infected the whole ten yards of shitty situations. I was lucky to get out of the walls before most of the people were massacred. Only roughly 20 survivors walked away from that. They were the worst of them. And they started a new guild. I dont know where they are now, but they're out there somewhere." Ayumi shivered recalling the memories of her old guild. Its why she traveled alone. Too much trouble. And it ended badly for almost all of the 1500 survivors they had taken in. "Not a lot of guilds help people anymore. Because things like that happened in the early days. Its sad really." She sighed looking around the area they were walking through.
 
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After hearing her story, Shinku lightly pressed his lips and sighed a bit. That was indeed a really sad story, totally different from his. He wouldn't let his dear guild end up like that. The mention of that awful guild made Shinku narrowed his eyes a bit, thinking. He turned his face to their path, placing his right hand under his chin. "I swear I've heard about a guild like that from Nico..." he thought, trying to remember the conversation he had with him the day before tomorrow. He sighed as he couldn't remember most part of it, because that small reunion happened like on 3 o'clock in the morning. So he was barely awake.

He sighed and scoffed, shooking his head. Ah, I'll ask him once we arrive there..." he though with a nodded, looking back at Ayumi. "I'm sorry for hearing that, Ayumi. It most have been terrible seeing your dear guild been destroyed like that". He smiled a bit and kindly rubbed the top of her head, feeling sympathy.
 
Ayumi shrugged offering a smile, "Its okay, honestly. Sure, it was hard, but guilds fall and people die. Its just life now." She pulled her jacket sleeve back down and adjusted the way she was holding her bat. She kept her eyes on the area around them, looking for any undead and where ever this place was the Shinku was taking her. "So there's ten of you guys? And the leader is... uhm.. Nico right?" She stumbled trying to remember the name of the leader he had told her. "So who's the rest? I know you, Nico and the girl, Meika, I think." She asked glancing over at him.
 
He nodded with a smile. "Yes, the leader is Nico. He's a pretty great guy. A total jokester, but a good leader". He chuckled as he fixed his pack on his back, looking at their way They were almost reaching the mansion, he could spot the silluete of it in the horizon. "Meika, as I already told you, is the only female member on the guild. That's the reason of why she's so tough and a bit rude with the rest, but luckily not with me". He chuckled and looked at Ayumi. "She will be more than glad to finally see a new girl even if it's for a night". He then looked at their once again and began to tell her more about the gang.

He didn't talked much about them, just that they were a bunch of good guys that were like a loyal family that won't disappoint neither betray with each other. Like Nico, Meika and him, most of them also came from different states of the country. "But, what's surprising and amaizing is that even when this whole world is fucked up, they act like if nothing really happened. They laugh, smile and live the life to the max. That's what a call a really possitive spirit".
 
Ayumi nodded, she was excited to meet these people. Though she didn't think she'd join them. They seemed nice and it would be good for her and Vice to be around other living people. She absentmindedly reached down and pet Vice, who was walking beside her. "Thanks, again, by the way. You really didnt have to do this." She grinned over at Shinku.
 
Shinku shook his head with a warm smile. "It's the least I can do for you after saving my life in the market", he replied. "I'm the one that needs to thank you more than once, Ayumi". He then looked at their way and pointed with his right index finger at the silluette of a mansion that was cleay visible now. "There's Safe Haven. It's like a hidde pearl in the middle of so mush scum".
 
Ayumi shrugged and laughed. She looked over where he was pointing and smiled, "So it was in really good condition when you found it then?" She asked. She bet it was. There were a lot of buildings that she came across still in working order. It was mostly the cities that were in ruins.
 
"Yeah, most part of it's in great conditions", he replied as he nodded. "But the entrance is al destroyed, so we had to clear the way and build up some electric fences for keep the undead away". He chuckled and looked at her with a smirk. "You should see the face those bastards put when they make a free-style dancing before thier heads blow in pieces". He looked back at the mansion, attaching his shotgu on his back and glad that he didn't had to use it on his way. "But we only turn on the electricity from 7:00 P.M. to 6:00 in the morning. That way, none of us will get a nasty surprise".
 
Ayumi nodded, "The electric fence makes plenty of sense, do you guys run watch during the day? What if the fence malfunctions, do you keep someone on guard just in case?" She shook her head realizing she was asking a lot of questions, "Sorry, you don't have to answer those sometimes I just.. yknow get carried away." She smiled softly hiding her eyes under her bangs. She knew that she talked way too much but she was like that before the apocalypse happened and its hard to change.
 
Shinku chuckled and shook his head. "Ah, don't worry, Ayumi. You dont need to apology", he replied with a grin. "You can talk all you want, I don't mind at all. And yes, we take turns on making guard as a backup if the fence ever runs out of energy all of a sudden". He raised his right index finger with a chuckle. "We aren't that idiot to the the fence unguarded".
 
Ayumi smiled with a slight laugh, "I didn't mean to infer that you guys were idiots, I was just curios." She mumbled guiltily. The mansion structure was a looming one. It stood higher and higher as they approached. Ayumi hadn't been in or around a place like this since before the world fell apart. It was new and nice. Something different at the least. As they came closer to the place, Ayumi's gut panged with nervousness. She had no idea how the others would react to her presence. She began biting on her lip and absentmindedly petting Vice.
 
Shinku noticed Ayumi's nervousness. He guessed why she was like that, so he smiled brightly and stopped in front of the electric fence that wasn't on at this time of the evening. "Ayumi, you don't need to feel so nervous, okay?" He kindly placed his right hand on top of her head, looking down at her eyes. "Nothing bad will happen and those guys will received you with open arms. They're really cool and friendly". He grinned brightly, hoping his would ease her down a bit. He knew that feel of been in a unknown place, he have been on her shoes a long time ago, so he could understand her.
 
She smiled up at Shinku. "Thank you, although it is still nerve racking. Its been a couple years since I've affiliated with any other survivors, so its also a little weird for me." She looked up at the fence and the mansion. Vice gave a slight whine by her side and she gave him a reassuring pat on the head, "S'alright, Vice. Shinku said they're nice." She knew the pup was as nervous as she was considering the only people he knew were ones that had tried to kill Ayumi.
 

Shinku nodded and looked down at Vice, kindly petting his head. "Everything's gonna be fine, buddy". He chuckled and turned around to face a medium size and kinda rusty post that was on the right side of the fence's entrance. In the middle of the post, there was an intercom with a camera and small buttong. A small blue flashing light was at the top of the device. Shinku pressed the button and cleared his throat. "Hey, guys, open up. It's me, Shinku".

After a couple of seconds, there were a slight interference sound before someone spoke. "How do I know what you're saying is true?" Shinku sighed and smirked, looking at the camera. "Just open up, Brian. That if you don't want me to eat your cookies as a payback". "O-Okay, okay, I was just kidding with you... I'll open you in a bit". Shinku chuckled and nodded. "That what I thought, you idiot..."
 
Ayumi laughed, "Thats a pretty serious threat," she giggled, running a hand through her hair "eating someone's cookies is a major crime." She grinned over at Shinku as the gate slid open, crackling and squeaking down the track. She waited for Shinku to enter first, before following after him.
 
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