I enquire as to the reasoning for his solitude however it was in vain for the mans expression remained the same, blank. The snow remained vigilant in its harsh persistent fall. Whenever There was a moment of silence you could hear the sharp walling wind knock at the old cracks in the glass windows.
It seemed as thought the snow had no intention of letting up anytime soon, so we would remain trapped in this old broken ghost of a home for longer then we had all hoped. If you looked outside the windows of the house that had permanent ash burnt into it you would see the dark gray sky looming over us.
As the winter storm went on we found ourselves huddled together by the small fireplace in the old home. You would think the house is haunted by all the terrifying sounds we could hear but in truth the man told us by his photos and items around the house he lived alone. And by the looks of it for a very long time.
At last morning had come and the snow had stopped. Too bad the snow was knee deep. We asked the man if he wanted to come with us and even explained he wouldn't be alone anymore however when he looked up at us and finally spoke we realised he wouldn't be able to come...
As the man opened his mouth we saw the copper cogs and bolts all turning against each other, scraping against the fleshy inside of his mouth. The only words I could muster after that was "I'm sorry...I'm so so sorry..." I told him in a Shakey way.
We all packed up our stuff and put it away in are slowly deteriorating bags and left the home that had sheltered us from the snowstorm. I'm going to say we were glad to be leaving the home in its horrible state but the man even if he was infected was human in my eyes and no one should have to be alone for that long. All I will say is what I said to him I really did mean it I wanted him to be at peace finally having company but there was nothing I could do.
As we travel through the snow I got a strange feeling. like a cold hand on the back of my neck but when I turned around no one was there. I told myself it was just regret from leaving the man behind however my gut was telling me to be careful.
I looked at the path ahead and saw we had to go through a woods. "Great just perfect" i said a little too loud whilst speaking to myself drawing the others attention.
We would have to move through the dark forest where the leaves blocked the sun. All while avoiding the infected animals and trees it's hard to tell what trees are infected as they are Metal on the inside but the disease does not effect the bark for some reason, the only way to tell is to listen to the ticking and turning of cogs Which would be nearly impossible as we would be in a literal woods. I still had the feeling of being watched which made me nervous.
I turned around and looked at everyone counting heads, as I did then I noticed something... "1,2,3,4,5 and 6. Who's the sixth person I swear we only had 5 including myself..." I said confused.
As I looked closely at the sixth member I instantly screamed "RUN" all of us ran into the woods and the sixth member closely behind. It was a infected human the old man followed us after all, we ran as fast as we could avoiding the trees however as expected the infected was fast on are tracks the infection has turned the rest of his body into metal faster then expected I thought we had more time.
I knew the others wouldn't be able to out run the infected man at this rate so I stopped and ripped the bandages of my arm showing my clockwork arm to the others. I told them to keep running and they did, already aware of my half metallic state some looked worried but continued.
It was just me and them now... The infected vs the inventor. The infected let off a scream that sounded like nails down a chalkboard then charged at me full speed. I jumped over it just on time then span around and punched its head into a tree. The tree fell down from the blow and sparks flew around us in the air. Quickly before it started to fix itself I ripped out its mechanical heart crushing it.
I don't think I'll ever get used to that.
The infected were once human themselves so when I kill them it's like I'm finally giving them peace but at the cost of agony. The old mans body almost fully metal now started to rust and fall apart not fully disappearing but becoming a heep of scrap now lay there broken. The chill had gone and now greef washed over me.
'Thank you for the shelter now rest" I said rewrapping my arms bandages.
After I put a end to that infected And collected the heartstone from the scrap of the broken core I ripped out, I went to look for everyone else. All I could see was the outlines of trees and branches from the thickness of the leaves above, as I was looking for them. The only sounds I could hear was the quiet ticking all around me with the leaves and twigs underneath my boots as I walk through the thick snow.
The taste of regret still lingered on my tongue like a disgusting reminder for what I had done to the old man who had given us shelter, even so I continued to walk on determined find them, against the cold environment.