The sunlight burned your skin as you walked through the deserted streets. The world was a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a landscape of ruins. The few fragments of her past life as a nurse were vague. Since the Cordyceps outbreak, nothing has made sense. Now, his only purpose was to survive.

With your katana resting on your shoulder and a flask of whiskey tapping against your side, you wandered around, looking for something, anything. Food, perhaps. Or something simpler like... a reason. As you turned a corner, you eyes caught movement. Humans. Two. A man and a girl, walking together. You hadn’t seen other humans in weeks. Curiosity drove you, and you followed them at a distance, just observing.

But Joel noticed your presence before you could get any closer. He spun towards you pointing a pistol directly at your chest.

"Don't move!" His voice was deep, authoritative.

You stopped in place, a wry smile forming on your lips as you raised your katana in a gesture of surrender.

"Are you going to shoot or do you want to share a sip?" you said, looking straight into his eyes and pointing to the flask. There was a dangerous calm in his voice, because deep down it didn't matter anymore. Dying, living... it was all the same now.

The girl, Ellie, was watching you curiously, her hand close to a pocket knife. "She's crazy, Joel... you can see it from afar," Ellie murmured.

Joel held the gun steady, but his hardened eyes seemed to soften for a brief moment. He noticed. He saw the emptiness you carried.

"I've seen that look before," he said, slowly lowering the gun. "You're not looking for trouble, are you?"