The first time he had ever taken anything's life was when he'd been out hunting with his father. Nate, Nathaniel, had then evolved to more difficult prey then deer during in college. No one had ever caught him. He was far too meticulous, and thought of everything when he went out on the hunt.

Nate kept in shape, his medium build had to look good swatted in his signature white dress shirt and dark pants. He loved looking sleekly dangerous and intimidating, like a panther in the wild. Even now that a deadly disease had begun to spread chaos through the world, he still cared about how he looked. It paid to be able to hide a gun at the base of his spine, and knives at his wrists and boot cuffs, especially now when killing had become a matter of survival, and less of a hobby.

Now, he was more concerned with food then pleasure. Though he hated to have to do it, Nate had crept through the zombie filled town. He'd lunged from roof to roof, using boards to pave the way, until he had to scramble down to the ground. A huge pair of double golden arches marked his goal. McDonalds. He was sure there was still some edible food there, even if it wasn't the healthiest.

His dark hair was even styled in messy waves that made him look cool when he charged through a mass of zombies, cold-heartedly dispatching each one along the way, and then into the building. There didn't seem to be anyone else there, but even so Nate walked around knife in hand and jade eyes wary.

Tachigami:

Kyle had been out of town for two weeks. No television, no Internet, no phone or tablets. Only electricity and air conditioning, and enough power to handle the small fridge and stove. It was a little, four-room cabin that Kyle used to get away from reality, to hide while he did his work. The woods were beautiful and the cabin was calm and reserved, no bright colors or odd things to take his mind off his work as he drew. Kyle was a cartoonist, and he ran his own popular webcomic, so when he had to write new entries and couldn't find the inspiration, he traveled far out of the city for a place with no distractions and enough power to live reasonably comfortably, and draw out new entries or work on a show.

When he returned just a day ago, Kyle found the city in chaos. It was half abandoned, and the rest were either shooting one another or attacking and ripping others to shreds. He was terrified into a local fast food restaurant, that apparently had been closed down but left unlocked, with power knocked out. Kyle had dragged his bag with him, finding the walk-in freezer in the back completely cleaned out and cool, but not yet room-temperature.

He wedged himself underneath the back shelf and put his bag in front of him, stifling sobs as he tried to put his wild, honey-blonde hair back and out of his face. Suddenly Kyle wished he hadn't gone out of town, so that he'd at least understand what was happening. Had people gone crazy? Was he next? What if they knew where he was? He hadn't closed the freezer door all the way because it locked automatically from the outside, and he didn't want to starve.

No matter how terrifying the outside was, at least.

The place was quite simply a mess. Nate could tell he was a little late in the game, visiting the fast food place after many others already had. Still, he was sure to be able to find something useful, even if the had to rip that something from the wall itself.

He played with the knife as he walked around the cheap counter. Now and then, the menu signs sparked to life, and then sputtered out. Friers lay with oil inside them, turning more disgusting by the minute. No food there.

Dimly, he heard a sound that didn't belong. The dark haired man gripped his blade more securely. Anything could have been making that sad sound. A tape recorder, perhaps? That was what Nate would have done to draw in potential prey. His expensive leather shoes made barely a sound as he crept across the floor, towards the walk-in freezer.

Always wanting to make an entrance, Nate kicked the door open and smiled with satisfaction when it banged loudly against the metal shelves.

Breakers seemed to switch on and off at random, which Kyle knew was impossible, since it was actually the power sputtering now and then. But every time the fans in the freezer kicked back to life with a thump, Kyle startled and moaned quietly to himself. The noises hid anything that could happen within those ten to fifteen seconds, putting him more and more on edge. He felt as if his spine were about to snap in half from the tension in his body.

He could have sworn he heard something. A light squeak now and then. It was coming from outside the freezer. Kyle breathed in, shaking like a leaf despite tensing his muscles to attempt to stop it. Someone was there. Maybe they knew he was hiding. They would drag him out, because he didn't have a weapon, didn't have anything except his laptop that could possibly be used as a blunt weapon. But he doubted he could bring himself to kill anyone.

When the door suddenly burst open, Kyle screamed and struggled backward into the sold wall behind him. He twisted around, hiding himself uselessly in his corner. "Nooononono...."

Nate grinned. He fought not to laugh. He'd stumbled on something so much better then food! It was far more interesting to find someone so frightened that they screamed at nothing more then sounds, someone probably defenseless, and vulnerable because of that. Green eyes sparkling, Nate walked inside and whistled a happy little tune. He only fell silent once he was standing before the cowering shape in the darkest corner of the freezer.

Conscious about appearances as always, Nate slipped his knife back into its wrist sheat after cleaning it with a piece of cloth he kept at his belt just for that purpose. Then, he crouched down so he was at the same level as this frightened animal, this human who would have been the perfect prey when the world had been more orderly. "So, I take it you couldn't find any food either?" He smiled, perfect white teeth showing against slightly sun tanned skin.

Kyle's silvery-blue eyes were squeezed shut, and his teeth were gritted in wait. He was convinced that any second now he would receive a stab from that knife he saw glittering in the dimness behind the man, or he'd be snatched up or hit over the head. That was the only logical choices he saw since he watched mobs chasing down loners and take turns tearing limbs off their bodies. He'd just delayed the inevitable, and now he was cornered. He couldn't even run.

Blinking his eyes open, Kyle barely turned to look behind him, curling himself up tighter behind his bag, the only source of protection he had. "W...what...? What are you t-talking about? I d-don't even know what's happening... I... I've been... out of town s-since two weeks ago..." If anything, this guy was the first semi-sane person he saw since coming back. But he must have been completely insane to smile in a situation like this.

The man didn't know about the disease? Nate shook his head. A true innocent, how rare! What a prize. He tried very hard not to show his glee. "A disease is spreading through the air. Those infected become ... well for lack of a better word, they become zombies. The world fell apart. It's now a dog-eat-dog world. " He fell back on his heels, and settled down. Nate tried very hard to look as unmenacing as possible. He even lifted his hands to show that he had put away his knife.

Kyle had a bit of trouble swallowing his heart when it jumped into his throat, but he actually managed it enough to speak. "Wh...what...? Nonono, no... This isn't... possible, it's not possible, zombies aren't a thing, they can... They have too many natural predators, they can't handle the cold or the heat, they'd break down too fast to be a threat... H-how? How?" His voice broke, and he turned to look at the man. He seemed... menacing. Dangerous. Like the 'zombies' outside. The zombies that couldn't truly be zombies. Maybe they were just crazy people. But how could insanity set in so fast? So... hugely? It was like a bad movie Kyle would have laughed at any other time. The kind of bad CGI movies that showed on the SyFy channel at midnight. But he saw it happening right in front of him.

Nate sat down, cross legged on the floor. He leaned an elbow against his leg, and used his hand as a headrest. "Well the authorities didn't necessarily call them 'zombies', though they did say the people affected were clinically dead. If they found out anymore, I don't know. Things went really wild four days after the first case was reported on the news. That was ... " He counted the fingers on his free hand, ticking off the the days since.

"That was a week ago. So it's been nearly two weeks since the world went to hell." Nate chuckled a little. "People have kind of gone off their rockers, for the most part. Only the preppers are sane, and that's because they're ... prepared." He shook his head. "So resources are short, and the weak get killed for the smallest things."

His mouth was dry, but there was nothing he could do about that. Not trapped in a freezer with what looked like a crazy man. Or was Kyle the crazy one? He had to be hallucinating all of this, at home in his room, cowering in the corner from a coat on the floor or something. He always knew he wasn't quite right, maybe he'd snapped. It just didn't make sense, though. And the pain in his back from a loose screw digging in, coupled by the calls outside and the thunk of the fans suddenly turning on an off, he couldn't just be imagining it.

If it were real, which he felt it was, then he was the weak one and this guy was the strong one. He was going to die far, far too early. "I... I'm gonna die." He curled up against the corner. "I can't get back to the cabin... They'll... It's too far..." Whatever the creatures were, alive or dead---most likely alive---there were too many. Far too many of them to just avoid.

Nate straightened considerably at the mention of a cabin. It would be far safer there, then in his apartment in the city. There would be less people, which meant less exposure, and he was always interested in ways to save his own skin. That would mean only leaving the place to find food and water, things he was better then most at doing. If need be, he could hunt in the woods, regardless of season. There were always animals around.

"I have a proposition for you." He felt somewhat obligated to make the offer, even if he could have probably taken the key from the stranger quite easily, dead or alive. At least if the young man was alive, he had a chance at company. Even Nate got lonely sometimes. It also meant there would be other eyes watching over the cabin, a place he didn't know where to find yet. "Let's say I keep you safe, and keep us both fed, would you let me stay at your cabin with you?"

Kyle obsessively twisted his hair, which had been working free of its ponytail all day and falling in annoying curls all over his head. He was getting tired of he dark, the gloom that didn't let him see much of anything, only a silhouette of the dangerous man blocking the door. It was hard to see anything outside the freezer, either, coming or going.

He was about to decline the offer. He didn't want anyone else in his space, but what else could he do? If he didn't say yes, he could easily be killed, or forced to show the stranger the way. But then, if he had someone to help him, he might not be killed the moment he stepped outside. "F... fine." He said at last. "But... it's far off. It's stocked for... maybe a month. A bit less with two people... Might be able to find some things... in the towns... I took backroads, I... never saw any of this." What could have prepared him for a total anarchy state of being? He wasn't cut out for anything more than some wood chopping or tree climbing.

A month for one, two weeks for two probably. That gave Nate enough time to scrounge them up more supplies. He already had an idea of where to get some, so long as he could hijack a car and sneak through town. It was hard to say what was going on at the community center, and the stores. All the perishables were probably already done.But ... there were always the seeds that could be grown, for a more long term solution. Nate bit his lip. Yes, he was sure he would be able to take care of everything, with his hunting and scrounging skills.

"I can hunt. So that can take care of our protein needs. I'll raid the stores and garbages for seeds, we could start our own garden." He frowned. "Wait, you have a car? Where is it?" He looked over his shoulder and fidgeted. If anyone found it just out in the open, completely exposed and with fuel ... And in working order to boot ... It was sure to be stolen.

Kyle went distant, thinking about his car. He hadn't had a second to think when he stepped out of his car. "I... stopped when I saw the first fire. And the first abandoned transport vehicle. I... then I was chased away from my car by... a few of those crazy bastards... I don't know what they might've done to it. Don't know if it's even there anymore. I guess gas is still okay, but you can't hoard it forever without stabilizer, and even then there's not much of a fallback. That's the problem with all those survivalists. They think they can hide gas away for decades and it won't go bad but it does. They'll have taken it by now if they found it..."

That left the abandoned vehicles anywhere else. Or walking. It'd be so much harder to make their way through the forest highways because they wouldn't have anything.

Nate nodded quietly. "That means hot-wiring a car after checking it for gas." There was a chance there was still some at the gas stations, but he doubted it. On the other hand, there were a few other places with gas that probably hadn't been raided yet. Like the hospitals. He'd been intending to hit the city's, sooner or later.

"Or we could walk. I have a good way out of the city." He grinned suddenly. "And then there's motorcycles. A lot of people don't touch them, because they don't know how to drive the things." That sounded fun. "Come on, let's get out of this dark place." Nate stood and walked to the door. He peeked out carefully, resting a hand at the base of his spine. There was no one in the place, it was empty as it had been when Nate waltzed in.

Kyle sighed, unwedging himself from under the shelf he'd been beneath, hiding from whatever he could despite the predator that had come in for him for some odd reason. "I know how to ride a motorcycle... But it's hard to carry very much on one." Unfolding himself, Kyle stood and stretched the kinks out of his back, then grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "You know..." He moved forward, avoiding the hand he saw at the man's back. "... people... tend to forget the stock rooms... And the smaller rooms behind the stock rooms of larger chain grocery stores... I've worked in a couple, so when looting goes on... people are in too much of a hurry to get into the back. And they don't think to try to stock up on cans and boxes that can last for a long time."

He was rambling, obviously. Of course he was, it was what he did when he was nervous. But if it took the stress off the situation, the totally unbelievable situation, he'd talk this stranger into the ground, or at least into slitting his throat for a little silence.

Nate grabbed the blond's hand and tugged him along. In the other, he had plucked the gun from his waist and held it aloft menacingly. "We'll check later, once we have some kind of transportation secured. We can't get any food until then." Warily, he looked around. There was blood splattered across the ground. Nate found it entirely easy to ignore, but he was certain the cabin owner wouldn't, so he purposefully veered away from the places where the most carnage lay.

He went for the back ways, the roads less traveled. The high road was ignored, in preference for a chance to find transportation. Every time Nate heard a noise, he pulled the blond out of sight. They were hiding just inside an empty doorway, when a pack of people wandered past. Nate shoved the other man behind him, protecting him bodily from those on the prowl.

"I saw that bastard, I swear I did!" One of the gruff voices yelled.

Nate smiled slightly, wondering if he had been the one to offend the speaker so. He did tend to do that.

Kyle gasped when he was grabbed, tugged along like a child and unable to fight back. Well, he could, but he wouldn't have been able to go against the man---he was much stronger than Kyle, after all, and the iron grip on his wrist told him volumes. He used his hands a lot. His arms. Had quite a bit of upper body strength without being too overbuilt. His muscles were compact rather than showy, he had the quiet kind of strength that someone would regret second-guessing.

When they passed blood, parts, rags, Kyle grimaced and covered his eyes where the offense was located. It was hard to keep up with the man sometimes, so he had to sprint from time to time and as such, was often wrenched to a stop. He didn't talk back even as he was stuffed behind the man and voices came shouting from nearby. When he was sure the mob had gone off enough, Kyle sighed shakily. "God... It's like humans go insane when they have a chance... there's more murder than killing..." He shuddered hard, closing his eyes to what was happening as if he could will it all away.

It was a relief to know that his companion didn't struggle when tugged along, or shoved around. It meant Nate didn't need to worry about being resisted, or having to run off after him. But the closed eyes ... "Open them, your eyes. You're more likely to get into trouble if you don't look at what's going on around you." Lifting a hand, he ruffled the blond's hair. It was curly, that was unusual.

He took the blond's hand this time, and tugged him along, palm to palm. Just a few more steps, and they would be at the entrance to the roof walkway he'd built. No one looked over their heads. That was true even during a zombie apocalypse. The mobs made that route a lot safer then the ground route. "Come on, we'll be above it all soon. So just hold on til then."

Kyle shook his head, sending his hair loose a little more, when it was touched. He hadn't been expecting that, but it was sickening to look at the carnage around him. It was either close his eyes or lose everything he'd eaten recently. The next time he was pulled away, it was less uncomfortable, so he didn't have to tense himself as much.

"M-my name... My name's Kyle Bennett..." He said suddenly, feeling it necessary to not call the man 'guy' in his head all the time. At the mention of the upper areas, he felt a bit better. He wasn't afraid of heights and could run quickly---he just wasn't strong.

"Nate." One word. Sharp, short and sweet.

The way forward was clear. Soon, they were inside a dilapidated building. Broken glass snapped even further under their feet. Shards sparkled as the sun's rays slapped across them. You could actually see the rays of light, slicing through the dark. It was strange, seeing such beauty in a place so destroyed, in a world with so much carnage.

A sturdy set of metal stairs led up to the second floor. And another set led to the roof. From there it was easy to get to the boards Nate had slipped across the city. In some places, he'd had to be inventive, crafting bridges with rope and wood.

He let go of the other man, and motioned for him to follow him up the stairs. Meanwhile, he slipped a knife from one of his wrists, leather sheath and all. This, he handed back to Kyle rather forcefully. "You might not want to fight, Kyle, but at the very least you can use it to intimidate others."

Nate, then. At least Kyle had a name to go with the person. He blinked when sunlight hit through the cloud cover, like fingers feeling the earth, slicing off broken glass like hundreds of tiny spotlights. What a cliche---clouds in the weeks after a 'zombie' invasion. Whatever was changing people, they couldn't be dead. They couldn't be. It was impossible. Kyle wasn't a scientist but he knew the basics of being dead. Blood stopped moving. Neurons stopped firing. Rigor mortis set in and made it impossible for the body to move without a great force applied. These things had to be some kind of human, damn it!

He was shaken from his thoughts by sets of stairs, loud underfoot in the otherwise quiet cityscape. He didn't quite see the sheathed knife coming at him until he had to fumble not to drop it, and laughed bitterly. "Yeah. They'll all be intimidated by a scrawny cartoonist with a knife bigger than him." As if he could intimidate anyone. Or even follow through with a threat if the 'intimidation' didn't work. He knew self-defense, had taken classes in karate and had passed with flying colors, but knives, guns, weapons, he didn't like. He hardly liked to use what he had when it was necessary.