The four continue their little banter for a few minutes, but soon they continue on their path. They travel for a while in silence. The moon is still out in the sky, providing ample light to see as they travel and showing three girls their friend walking with a small limp before them. They all look concerned, but it is only more painful to point it out. He is not severely injured, they can only hope for the best for him.

“How far are we?” Mia

“Maybe an hour or two.” Robert

“I hope this place is better.” Mia

“Yeah, filled with candy and chocolate.” Nissa 

“...or grilled chicken.” Malah

“I would love some pork.” Robert

“Me too.” Mia

“Maybe there are people?” Nissa

“Maybe. Maybe they are also welcoming and nice.” Nissa

“We need water the most.” Mia

“And some food.” Melah

“And a safe place.” Robert

Robert suddenly raises his hand, stopping the others. They all go silent. A few moments pass by, as they keep an eye out. From the treeline at the side, small steps approach. Around a dozen meters away a large dog-sized creature walks out horizontally away from them. It doesn't seem to have noticed them yet, giving them time to take a better look.

The monstrous creature does seem to have the head of a dog, but it's not cute in the slightest. Its skin is pale pink and furless, the mouth seems rotten and filled with big bony fangs. The ears and tail are missing and only holes indicate it even had them. There are many wounds, old and recent all over the body, and worst of all, the dreaded infection is eating it from the inside.

Slowly, every person pulls out a weapon from their backpack as quietly as possible. Robert has a smaller ax, while the girls each hold knives of varying lengths. Even with weapons in hand, they rather just crouch down and wait for the danger to cross. Robert slowly begins to wrap a larger book around his weaker arm with cloth, just in case. This close to the creature, it is unlikely not to turn around and notice them.

For precious seconds they wait, praying for their luck to not run out now, which seems futile when it stops to snoop around in the ear. The creature turns its head towards them and looks Robert directly in the eye. The two hungry animals stare at each other, then the dog begins to sprint towards them.

Robert steps forward, holding out his protected right arm towards the creature and pulling the other back. As if by nature, the predator jumps and bites down on the presented limb, his long fangs seeping into the book pages. The man’s left arm comes down, multiple times on the dog's neck as the girls circle around, stabbing the creature as many times as they can. After a few good stabs and hits, the dog let go of the book and turned tail, attempting to run and Robert was more than happy to provide a path for it as he stepped to the side. Both Nissa and Mia pulled back immediately as well, however, Malah’s knife stuck into the creature. As she attempted to pull it out, the creature pulled her with itself. The girl let go of the knife to save herself, but the dog turned it’s neck to take a nab at the offender before she could getaway. The dog runs as fast as it can, disappearing into the mountainside woodlands.

Malah kneeled on the ground with a bleeding hand, barely holding back her painful wails. Instead of covering the wound to stop the bleeding, she let pour out for precious seconds.

“Fuuck, fuuck, fuuuuck I’m gonna die, please don’t be infected, please, I don’t want to die.”

While the girl keeps murmuring, Mia steps next to her to take a look at her wound. She raises the girl's arm and begins to bandage it immediately.

“Stoop! Let the pink stuff flow out! Don’t let me die please!”

Ignoring the cries, Mia uses all her strength to create a binding as strong as possible.

“Calm the fuck down and let me save you. You got your artery opened, if I can’t stop it you will die in seconds. Let’s just hope your blood spray pushed most of it out. It only scratched you with the top of the fangs, I doubt it's enough to kill you.”

Although saying those words, there is some doubt in her tone. The pink infection is pretty vicious and she saw people with weak immune systems die merely from breathing in its vapor before.

“I’m sure you’re gonna be alright. Calm down and breathe.”

After finishing the first aid, Mia hugs her friend strongly to try and comfort her. She does not stop speaking to her for a moment as she tries to calm her friend and let her come back to her senses.

The rest of the group keeps a lookout, making sure the dog doesn't dare to come back. They all got used to people they know dying around them by now, however, nothing can completely wash away the feeling of losing a friend. They all keep hoping, maybe, maybe she is lucky enough to survive.

They do take another short rest, but not more than twenty minutes. They are so close to their destination. So close to their hope of survival, they cannot stop.

All four continue on their part. Even if only at walking pace.

Not so after, when the sun begins to show light to the barest minimum, they begin seeing buildings in the distance. Tall buildings in the valley, a smaller city, filled with opportunities.

As they keep walking, they notice a small billboard put up next to the old one laying the ground. It is made out of wood, put up not too long ago, at least after the apocalypse. The billboard is simple, handmade, and has letters and shapes painted on it. Mia begins to read it out loud, slowly, line by line.

“Welcome to Hope City!”

“We welcome all survivors here. We have food, water, and a thriving community for all those willing to help!”

“Please be careful! Most of the city is still unsafe, but you can help us clean it.”

“Areas marked with yellow have powerful monsters, avoid at all costs.”

“Those marked with red are gangs! Stay away! They are bandits, they attack humans indiscriminately!”

“Come to one of the green areas and we will do our best to help you!”

“The white dots are the recommended route, but it is not guaranteed to be safe. Be careful and choose your own path if needed!

“Good luck!”

A large hand-drawn map is included below, will all kinds of markings with multiple colors.

“Most of it is yellow.” Robert

“There is a lot of red.” Mia

“...but there are four green ones!” Nissa

“How many people could be here?” Malah

“Give the size and the locations… from a few hundred to ten thousand at most. Hard to tell.”

“But it is hope.” Nissa

“That, it is.” Robert