Lost...

I enquire as to the reasoning for his solitude however it was in vain for the mans 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 walling wind, knock at the old cracks in the glass windows.

It seemed as thought 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 all hoped. If you looked outside the windows of the house that had permanent ash burnt into it you would see the dark gray sky looming over us.

As the winter storm went on we found ourselves huddled together by the small fireplace in the house. You would think the house is haunted by all the terrifying sounds we could hear. However 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 realised he wouldn't be able to come and we had wasted too much time in this building.

As the man with his mouth now open, we saw the 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 shakey way trying not to cry myself.

We all packed up our stuff and put it away in are slowly deteriorating bags and left the home that had sheltered us 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 is 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 sore 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 but 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 by 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 and sometimes silver. It causes your mind to be rewired to 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 attomiton.

The second is to be infected by an animal either by eating it in it's early stage or bitten by it in it's late stage. The infection only affects certain animals, mainly predators but on the rare occasion pray, this includes bugs for some reason.

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 and move slower due to the extra weight but are just as dangerous and will attack if you enter it's 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 it's pollen and thorns to protect it's self.

You become rooted to the ground after 3 days. You are fully conscious as it doesn't affect your thinking side of the brain but your moter skills, making you unable to control your body.

It's hard to destroy the core of this infected as you need to break through the metal stem. So most people leave the poor souls to grow unable to move slowly going insane due to this infected being unable to attack.

This is why we need to avoid the trees at all cost, however the only way to tell with this particular tree is to listen to the ticking and turning of cogs. Which 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, as I did then I noticed something.

"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 heal.

All of us ran into the woods and the sixth member closely behind. It was a 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 are tracks. The infection has 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 greef 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 who had given us shelter. Even so I continued to walk on determined find them, against the cold environment. After all I can't morn for the world it's kill or be killed.