As a great percentage of the populace had either succumbed to the zombie virus as it infected the water supply or were bitten by those who had already turned, there would be, at first, a surge in available food and then a great decline. Survivors first hit the supermarkets, grabbing whatever they could, many not thinking long term, just grab and hoard. There were people that gathered and then holed up and created bases, the army was one such organisation to quickly respond, remove any threats within the bases that already existed for them and create boundaries to keep the threat out.

The army would send small squads in excursions to gather food and supplies, as would civilian forces. First they would visit the supermarkets and any known warehouses where food was known to be stored. Then they would look to restaurants, cafes and small corner shops, before finally searching houses outside of their borders.

One such squad was circling the edge of a nearby town, where the zombie numbers were fewer thus easier for them to handle. These men were all civilians, between them they were wielding knives and baseball bats, hockey sticks and one held a gun, but only had a few rounds of bullets. Two of the six men also had developed powers, though one could only use his to provide water for the group. They had already visited one street, avoiding houses for now that contained zombies, marking their doors with an x. They had felt it would be better to grab a bigger number of men or better weapons before tackling those properties. Instead they broke into houses that appeared to be empty. They still had to fight a couple of zombies, one had been in a tattered night dress having likely turned in her sleep, but they were dispatched without too much difficulty.

The one they put in charge; Dexter, a lightning user, dug out the small core in the brain of one of the zombies as the others raided the cupboards. They mostly were able to grab crisps and biscuits, rice and pasta, tossing them into huge backpacks as they pillaged. The food in freezers had long since spoiled, the electricity had been cut a few weeks ago. Bread was mouldy and fruit wrinkled or rotten. Still, they took any fruit and vegetables thought to contain seeds, put in plastic bags before adding to the rest. If they could grow plants that did not mutate, they could sustain themselves without raiding peoples houses.

Abilities had been born with the zombies it appeared, meaning amongst those who had weathered and survived the sickness, some awakened strange abilities. Mostly, they were weak, like a child who could produce a some smoke from his fingers and a man who now cool the air about him with a light frost. But others had developed slightly better abilities. There was thoughts that the energy in the zombie cores could help strengthen their abilities, like what was written in eastern novels, but tests were still being performed and no one had yet dared to try.

"Hey, Dex," Patrick nudged the man as Tyler rinsed the core for him with his water.

"What?" Dexter growled, back. His stretched his back and glanced to where his friend was pointing. His eyes widened as he saw a column of smoke rising upward. "A survivor?"

"Should we go see?" Patrick asked.

"Why bother?" Tyler snorted. "They won't have much food left for our base and we'd just be dragging back another mouth to feed."

"But what if it's a woman?" Patrick asked. For various reasons, there had been a decline in women, partially as a woman on her menstrual cycle was found to attract zombies. So she was not only a danger to herself, but to her fellow survivors. Any women not already on a base as wives and daughters had slim chance of getting there, especially when it came to civilian bases. So the point gave Tyler a moment's pause.

"It's unlikely..." he thought aloud.

"We will go and see," Dexter decided for them. They kept one eye on the skyline and one in the street for wandering zombies. They had to put down three before they arrived at the small row of terrace houses where the survivor was thought to be. One almost cost them a squad member, so they were a little agitated by the time they arrived and decided not to knock, especially as they saw two dead zombies outside of the house.

They wielded their weapons and came across a man beside a living room fire, a long silvery sword unsheathed and in hand. They paused as they stared at the man, who appeared to be of Asian descent, dressed in some sort of long dress and who had long black hair that draped down his back and nearly reached his feet.

"Doesn't he look like he came from the set of one of those ancient martial arts movies," Patrick whispered to Harry, who nodded back. Dexter held his hands up in sign of peace rather than surrender and his squad lowered their weapons.

"Name's Dexter," he told him. "And you are?"

"Ren Zexian," came the response. The man sheathed his weapon, slowly and cautiously.

"Tch," Tyler complained, "see just another mouth to feed."

"You have food?" The man asked, his stomach rumbling at the mention. "I only found these tubers." He poked the fire with the poker, two fat potatoes sitting within the embers. The men were suddenly hit with the scent of the steamy jackets, their mouths watering as they imagined them topped with butter and cheese. A pity it was impossible to get these items now.

"You don't live here, right?" Dexter mentioned, rubbing at the stubble upon his chin.

"No," Ren Zexian agreed. "I believe the occupants were once those two poor corpses now resting in the courtyard. There are so many walking dead within this land unable to rest, hungry for life."

"Yeah," Dexter said and indicated with a nod that his men should check the kitchen for food. He watched as the man pierced one of the potatoes with the poker and withdrew it from the flame, before removing the other. Ren Zexian then tore the potato in two, it's fluffy contents exposed, causing Dexter to gulp. The man offered him one half.

"It has been a long time since I required food," the man muttered beneath his breath, before slowly eating the hot vegetable. Dexter proceeded to enjoy his portion, wondering just how long it had been baked in the fire, it was tasty and perfectly cooked. He gained looks of hatred from his squad, but just smirked somewhat. Seeing as the supplies from the house were pretty good, including flour, sugar, yeast and coffee, he decided that they should take this man back with them.

Tyler was still unhappy about it, but agreed and guided the man to their truck, which was parked about ten minutes walk away, just outside of town. They hadn't wanted to announce their presence too much, not knowing just how many zombies that they might encounter. As they neared the vehicle, five zombies appeared, possibly lured by the noise of the engine and the scent of their unwashed bodies when they had arrived. Dexter cursed, but sent a small bolt of electricity flying. It was not particularly strong, but enough to cause the zombie issues and slow it down.

The Chinese man leapt to one side and neatly sliced the head off a female zombie, before turning to face another. Patrick and Tyler fought the nearest zombie, bludgeoning it as it approached. It took several hits to bring it down. Dexter shot out a few more bolts before smacking another zombie around the head. "Look out!" He yelled as a zombie snuck behind Harry lunging forward to take a bite.

Suddenly the zombie was knocked back by a ball of flames, which set alight to his tattered clothes before proceeding to eat away at the zombie itself. The squad and the man finished off the zombies quickly, before Dexter turned to speak with Ren Zexian.

"You are a fire user?" He asked.

The man's head tilted slightly as if pondering this question. "I have roots of fire and wind and..." he did not finish his sentence and fell silent.

"A dual user?" Patrick enquiried. "Is that possible?"

Dexter shook his head, but before he could speculate, Tyler grabbed the Ren Zexian's arm, sweeping up the sleeve of robe. "He's been fucking bitten," Tyler swore indicating the bite mark. The teeth marks were clear to see as was the fact that it had been an open wound, but...

"No signs of infection..." Patrick stated as Ren Zexian shook off Tyler's grasp. "Human bite?"

"We shouldn't take the risk," Tyler growled.

Dexter frowned and smacked Tyler over the back of his head. "What the fuck is wrong with you lately?"

"Blue balls," murmured Harry to another in the squad, who snickered loudly.

"Fuck you," Tyler swore.

"No thanks," Harry replied. "Want to keep my arse in tact."

"Look, the guy is probably going to go all zombie on us and your dicking around?" Tyler yelled at him.

"Zombie?" Ren Zexian frowned as an expression of concentration. "Ah... I will not become one of the violent walking corpses."

"How can you be so sure?" Tyler demanded to know. "Was it not a zombie that bit you? And when did you get that bite exactly?"

"Three days ago," came the reply, making them all fall to silence. Tyler stood there for a full minute before opening his mouth to speak again.

"Tyler, let it go," Dexter sighed, preventing him from arguing further. "Everyone knows a person will turn into a zombie within ten hours of being bitten and suffer the signs of infection almost immediately. Ren, here, isn't even showing signs infection." The man frowned a little once hearing his shortened name, but didn't say anything further. Dexter shook his head, hoping that this guy wouldn't prove him wrong. Still they'd probably all keep an eye on him... just to be safe.