The sun formed waves on the road in the distance, and the calm windless midday made it challenging for us to continue. The heat was deadly, and the lack of food and water only made matters worse.

"Gon, we have to find something at some point." Leorio groaned, slouched over, practically dragging his briefcase behind him. I sighed, becoming increasingly angry. "Do you think we wouldn't be there already if there was a place to stop around here?"

He huffed, crossing his arms above his chest and glaring at his feet. "Sorry about that, I was only complaining. We will eventually find something. Is it strange that I've seen that rock three times already?" Leorio pointed to a flat rock on the side of the road about the size of his hand.

"Well, because we have been walking in a straight line this entire time, I think it's pretty strange," I responded, kicking the rock off the road. "You better not be hallucinating."

After a brief moment of stillness, Leorio placed his hand on his forehead to block out the sun. "Am I really seeing things?" I had to squint to see what he was gesturing to in the distance. "No, leorio, I see it too. What is it?"

As we got closer, it started to look more like a building. A closer inspection revealed that there were several more than one. Finally, we'd have a place to sleep for the night. "At long last, we'll have a place to sleep for the night!" Leorio read my mind, leading me to mentally freak out. "Let's hurry up." He rushed forward, forcing me to do the same.

"It's a decent-sized town, I'm sure there would be food markets and stuff like that all over the place." I mentioned as we approached the buildings, very 'lively' and filled with walkers. "Because we have no weapons, or my backpack, we'll either have to fight hand to hand or find something quickly," I muttered while hiding behind a wall near the town's entrance, peering out at the walkers.

"I'm not sure about this, Gon." I sighed and turned to face him as he shivered. "If you think you can't fight without a weapon, follow me until we find something for you to use. Yeah?" He nodded, hopefully confident of his trust in me.

Leorio trailed behind me as I crept out of the alleyway. We made it to the last building's corner just opposite a new road by following the edge of the brick buildings. "Let me know if you find anything that we could find useful-" A walker stuck its head out from the corner beside me as I leaned against the wall, causing me to jump in surprise. "Oh, shit-" I yelp, swinging my arm and reflexively hitting the side of its face. The walker collapsed to the ground with a snap and a pop, groaning and attempting to stand.

Leorio smirked as he laughed softly at my shocked reaction. "'Be ready for anything,' you say. Look who practically jumped to the fourth dimension due to a stupid little walker." Leorio grinned as we backed away from the walker, wincing at the developing bruise on my knuckles. "Would you like to walk in front?" I remarked sarcastically, and he responded by shaking his head.

"You were probably too distracted by the jump scare to notice, but this entire road is lined with shops." He scoffed, I glanced around and confirmed that there were stores all around us. "Yes, I was aware. And don't pretend you didn't flinch." I say this while walking along the street, concentrating solely on the stores.

Leorio was now strolling alongside me, keeping an eye out for walkers or weapons. How would the people of this town have lived if half of the stores are Spas or Bath & Body Works? The fact that there are so many walkers around is most likely because half of them did not want to break their nails or mess up their hair.

"Gon-" "Leorio-" we both uttered at the same time, staring at a two-story brick flat. "What are you thinking?" Leorio inquired, his gaze suddenly fixed on me. "I suppose we could make it work if we cleaned it up a little." I shrugged as I walked towards the building, signaling for Leorio to accompany me.

With an eye roll, I picked up a hollow metal rod off the side of the road and handed it to Leorio. "I don't want another bruised hand this time, so try to use it as much as necessary." I skipped up the three steps leading to the apartment building's double doors, hoping they weren't locked, and pushed the handles open. The thought of it being secured almost brought tears to my eyes, reminding me of one of Kurapika's numerous talents. That shows how long it takes me to get over things.

I opened the doors gently, creating a loud creaking sound to echo off the stark yellow-Ish walls. The interior was unappealing, from the hideous flower-patterned wallpaper to the brown carpeted floors. All you could see at first was a cluttered room, a slightly slanted desk to the right with papers strewn across it and the floors, paintings barely hanging onto the walls, and two armchairs with tattered cushions.

Stairs and railing made of wood as dark as the floored carpets sat against the left wall and a normal-looking door with a golden handle beside it. A tall lamp lay on the floor in front of the entrance, a red and gold cover in an attempt to make it look fancy. I cringed, stepping over the lamp and into the building while holding the door open for leorio. "It doesn't look too bad, for its condition," Leorio said as he stepped over the lamp, taking in the scenery.

"That sounds like something a suit-wearing person would say," I respond, receiving only a small scoff in return. I stepped over the papers and crust from the walls and ceiling, reached out, and grabbed the shiny golden doorknob of the sole door in sight. Closer examination revealed faint blood marks in the form of handprints and smears on the dark wood.

"Let's have a look around first. We will work our way up?" I inquired, twisting the knob as I saw Leorio nod in agreement, stepping closer to me as I eventually pulled the door open wide.

Inside was a corridor that led to a dark room that would have been completely hidden if it had been night. It was intended as an office space, with three desks and Computers against the walls and a small window off to the side. To the right, a bookcase with files and storage leaned against a wall, with a small pet bed on the floor in front of it.

To the left of the room, however, sprawled a barely living walker without a bottom half, intestines spilling from his torso as it stretched out for us. As Leorio noticed it in the shadows, Leorio let out a little screech and gag, advancing in its way and swinging the pipe over his shoulders before bringing it back down, striking the walker in the skull and causing tiny chunks of skull and brain to splatter on the wall beside it.

"Guess this room is cleared, shall we move on to the next?" I asked, not really waiting before exiting the room.