[1x1] Fight the Dead, Fear the Living

[sleeplessCartoonist]

Aidan frowned when he was handed the knife, staring down at it. "Eugh."


"It's just a bit of blood, I don't see what your problem is." Olivia said, reaching over to take it from him. When he pulled it away from her, she glared up at him.


"We'll have to clean it, first. We don't know the effects of infected blood. If saliva can turn you, who's to say blood can't? It makes sense, doesn't it?" he said, in thought for a moment. He pulled a small, plastic ziploc bag from Olivia's backpack, closing the knife and dropping it in, sealing it.


"You know we might need that, right?"


He shrugged, continuing to walk. "I've got my axe in case of emergencies."


Olivia smiled slightly, following him. "Yeah, and you can't bag that, either, in case you end up using it. I think you're just afraid of blood."


"How would someone afraid of blood possibly survive in this world?" he asked quietly, looking back at her with a raised eyebrow.


"I dunno, putting every bloody weapon in a plastic bag, maybe."

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Placing her backpack over her shoulders, Lia listened to Olivia's comments regarding Aidan and a possible dislike for blood. "Hey, I think it is totally possible for someone to live in this world and hate blood. At one of the camps I was staying at, there was a woman there who told me she absolutely couldn't stand blood. But she said that she was able to deal with it because when a corpse was coming after her, the last thing she thought about was seeing a little blood. She was more focused and getting rid of the corpse before it could hurt her. I think after a certain point, survival instincts take over and you forget about the small things that bother you in order to focus on the big things that are trying to kill you." The blonde knew for a fact she had gotten over a lot of things that used to bother her.


"That's an interesting point," Jenna agreed, touching her forehead as she continued to walk along. She touched her forehead, realizing that she was starting to feel dizzy. "Does anyone have some water?" she asked, fanning her face off.

 

[sleeplessCartoonist]

"It's not that I'm afraid of blood, though. I just don't want anyone to get infected because we were careless, you know?" Aidan shrugged, glancing around as they walked. When Jenna asked for a bottle of water, he glanced back at his sister. "Care to grab another bottle from the bag, Olivia?"


"Yeah, sure." she said with a nod, opening and digging through his backpack again, pulling out another bottle of water. She handed it to Jenna with a smile. "Here you go."


Aidan sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I can feel this thing getting lighter already. Thank god, because I can't carry sixty pounds of food and water all the time..."


"Well, if you want it to be lighter, we can have larger rations." Olivia suggested with a smirk.


"You're funny."

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

"Yeah, or you could always leave some of your extra clothes or blankets behind if you wanted to lighten your load. Who needs warm clothing for those chilly nights? A little cold will put some hair on your chest," added Lia, teasing Aidan along with Olivia for a moment.


"Thanks," Jenna replied, gratefully taking the bottle of water before opening it with a shaky hand. Before she could question herself as to why she was feeling so shaky or even attempt to take a sip of the water, she grew light headed and fell over, spilling the water on herself. Whining when he saw what happened, Renegade rushed to her side and nudged Jenna's arm with his nose.


"Shoot!" Lia cried, moving to kneel next to Jenna. She quickly picked up the spilled bottle of water and tried to get her to take a sip. "At times like this, I wish I was a doctor. Can you help me sit her up, Aidan?" She needed to get Jenna to wake up. She was the only one who could take them to the farm.

 

[sleeplessCartoonist]

His eyes widened when Jenna fell over, and he hurried to her side, placing the bag down and kneeling beside her. He helped her sit Jenna up, feeling her forehead and sighing. "We need to keep moving, but now..." he thought for a few moments, shifting a bit.


"Can I help?" Olivia asked, eying them.


Aidan looked back at her for a moment. "Go sit down over there and keep an eye out for zombies."


"Meaning 'don't do anything'. Okay..." she said with a sigh, sitting down on the grass and glancing around.

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Lia glanced to Olivia when she sighed, knowing the girl thought that her job wasn't very important. "Don't worry, Olivia, your job is just as important. We wouldn't want to be eaten by a corpse while we were trying to help Jenna out. So just make sure nothing sneaks up on us, all right?"


She turned back to Jenna, brushing some hair off her face so she could press the back of her hand to the young woman's forehead and check her temperature. "She feels like she's burning up. Do you have any sort of rag that we could wet to make cold and put on her forehead? We need to get her as cool as possible or I don't think she'll be waking up any time soon." Lia bit her lip. She knew that the longer they were stuck in the woods, they were sitting ducks for the undead or even the living to target them.

 

[sleeplessCartoonist]

She sighed and nodded, sitting back a bit and glancing around.


Aidan nodded and picked up the bottle of water that Jenna had, looking over at Olivia. "Pass me a rag, Olivia." he said, sitting up a bit when she threw him one. He caught it and wet it with the water, then placing it on Jenna's forehead. "What else can we do to keep her cool?" he aked, in thought for a few long moments. "We don't have any medicine for fevers left, I don't think..."

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Lia sighed, hearing that Aidan didn't have any medicine left. "Not good, I don't have anything that might help her out either. I'm out of any medication myself, and you know that's true because if I did have some I would have taken it myself by now." The blonde didn't want to remind everyone at a time like this that her ankle was still racked with pain so she said nothing more about it. "Anyhow, you're right, we need to think of more ways to cool her down."


Thinking to herself for a moment, Lia watched as Renegade continued to whine and tug at Jenna's shirt. That's when an idea struck her. "I think I know something that might help as long as you aren't squeamish about seeing a woman with her shirt off. If we take Jenna's shirt off, we can more easily pat her down with the cool rag." It's not like she would be naked anyhow. She was sure Jenna would have underclothes on.

 

[sleeplessCartoonist]

Aidan hesitated for a moment, staring at Lia, before nodding. "Yeah, alright... that's fine. Anything to keep her cool, really. The last thing we need is her dying and us having to take care of a body and return to the campsite..." he said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair and eying Jenna warily. "So, uh... do I take her shirt off, or will you?"


"Just take it off so she doesn't die." Olivia called, frowning at him.


"Right, sorry. Hold her up for me..." he said, hesitating again, before carefully pulling Jenna's shirt off. "Alright, you pat her down." he said, putting the shirt aside.

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Lia nodded, watching Aidan take her shirt off. She took the rag and made sure to wet it a little more before she started to use it to pat down various area's of Jenna's bare skin. "This is working nicely," she said, continuing to cool her down with the hope she would wake up soon. "You seemed a bit nervous about us taking her shirt off though. I take it you've never had a girlfriend before and aren't used to many girls around other than your sister?" Lia teased lightly. She continued to take care of Jenna while she spoke, relieved when the girl moved slightly. She sighted though, when she didn't wake up. At least she could see her chest still moving up and down. Jenna hadn't died just yet.

 

[sleeplessCartoonist]

Aidan rolled his eyes, before shrugging and feeling Jenna's forehead again. "I've been around plenty of girls. I'm just not used to taking off people's clothes. Not while they're passed out due to a fever, either." he said, looking back at Olivia for a moment. "I can feel her temperature going down, by the way, so keep at it." he sighed, sitting back a bit and watching Jenna, frowning. "She's not waking up, though... I remember reading once that really high fevers could cause brain damage. But, I don't know exactly how high her temperature is... not that we'd be able to do much to help out if it was horribly high, anyways." he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

“Yeah, I can see you wouldn’t be used to doing that,” Lia replied, continuing to gently cool Jenna off with the rag. “I’m not really used to doing it either, but I have seen other people do take someone’s shirt off if their fever was too high in one of the camps I was staying at.” It was a shame that none of the people from her previous camp were around anymore. They had all either been killed or had scattered like Lia had.


“You’re right though; there’s not much we can do if her fever is terribly high either. All we can do is wait it out and see what happens while we try to make her comfortable,” Lia added, sighing when she realized the rag had started to become warm from its contact against Jenna’s skin.


Before she could go to wet the rag again, however, Jenna suddenly sat up with slow, abrupt movement. Immediately, Lia shoved the girl back down grumbling in frustration when she realized she didn’t have a knife.


“Don’t hurt me!” Jenna gasped voice raspy.


Lia let her go, sighing in relief. “Sorry, I was just taking precautions in case you had died.” Lia was a bit jumpy at times, but at least she was still alive because of it.

 

[sleeplessCartoonist]

He sat quietly as Lia continued to cool her off, occasionally glancing over at his sister. When Jenna suddenly sat up, he jumped, gripping onto his axe, though relaxed visibly when Jenna spoke. He sighed, letting go of the axe and sitting back a bit. "Well, at least she's still alive. Which means we won't have to go back to the camp..." Aidan said, running a hand through his hair as he eyed her. "So, uh... how are you feeling? I mean, I'd expect you to feel like crap right about now... you can't walk, can you? Too weak?" he sat up a bit. "I think you need water. Do you think you could start walking again shortly?"

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Jenna bit her lip, trying to think over all of Aidan's questions. "Um, I need--"


"Sure, what do you need? Some food? A comfortable place to lie back down? Some space?" Lia asked.


Grumbling slightly, Jenna gripped both sides of her head. "I need for the two of you to stop asking me questions. My head is pounding." Jenna really did feel like crap at the moment and badly wanted a little bit of quiet so she could regain her senses.


"Hey, we were just trying to make sure you were all right," Lia admitted, moving back away from her a little bit. "But at least drink some water," she said, offering it to Jenna before glancing to Aidan. "Let's give her a couple minutes and then see if she's ready to head off. I know she isn't feeling well, but this isn't exactly a safe place to stay." She glanced over at Renegade who was sniffing the ground. "Maybe we could see if there are any wild berries growing around that are edible and we could take with us," she suggested.

 

[sleeplessCartoonist]

Aidan moved a bit away from Jenna, looking over at Olivia as Lia spoke. He was silent for a few moments, before nodding, getting to his feet. "Alright. I know of a couple kinds of berries that are safe to eat, at least. Flowers, too." he said with a nod.


"Can I help you guys?" Olivia asked, sitting up. "I can help, no problem--"


He shook his head. "No, no. You're going to sit here and keep a look out for anyone, okay? And, make sure Jenna's feeling alright on top of that. You're going to be helping us like that, alright?"


His sister sighed, pouting and sitting back again. "Yeah, alright. Big help..."

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

"Don't worry, Olivia, we've got this covered. It will be boring work anyhow," the blonde suggested, hoping to ease the girl's feelings. Lia nodded and stood up herself, following after Aidan. "You know about a few edible flowers, huh? That's a new one for me; I've never eaten any flowers," she admitted, scanning the ground for any possible food options.


When Lia and Aidan moved to walk off, Jenna glanced over to Olivia. "You can help me if you want," she offered, glancing to one of their bags. "I'm cold. If you have any blankets or an extra sweatshirt, I'd appreciate being allowed to borrow it."

 

[sleeplessCartoonist]

Aidan nodded, glancing around as they walked, looking back at Olivia and Jenna briefly as they left. "Yeah. We just have to make sure we don't grab anything toxic."


Olivia sat up a bit when Jenna spoke to her, moving a bit closer. She was silent for a few moments, in thought, before shaking her head. "No, I can't do that. Sorry." she said with a frown and a shrug. "You've got a fever, and if I make it any worse my brother's gonna be pissed." she said, sitting back a bit.

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

"No, we definitely wouldn't want to do that," Lia replied, shaking her head. "One poor fool--who lived in one of the same camps I temporarily stayed at--died from eating what he thought were berries. It turns out, he ate off a poison sumac shrub. The plant isn't deadly if you normally touch it. No, it only gives you a rash and some swelling on your skin. But eating it caused his throat to swell shut and he died of suffocation. So I agree with you; let's try not to make any mistakes like that." Lia walked around carefully, kneeling in front of one bush to carefully observe its berries.


"I have a fever?" Jenna asked, realizing after a bit of self inventory that Olivia was right. She sighed and rubbed her arms. It was no wonder she felt so chilly and uncomfortable. "Could I at least have some water then? I don't want to piss anyone off."

 

[sleeplessCartoonist]

Aidan winced at her story, approaching the bush she was observing and kneeling next to her. "These look good. Pretty sure they're safe to eat, they're one of the ones I'd read up on, I think..." he said, in thought for a few moments. "Ah, crap. We don't have anything to carry them in, do we? We can head back and grab a plastic bag, if you want. We've got a bunch of them." he said with a shrug, standing upright again.


Olivia nodded, picking up a water bottle and moving closer to her, handing Jenna the bottle. "Yeah, here you go. You can probably put your shirt on, though. I think you've cooled down enough for that." she said with a shrug.

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Jenna frowned, glancing down when Olivia pointed out her lack of shirt. "Good call," she muttered as she began to look around on the ground for her shirt. "The fact I had it off is probably part of why I felt so chilly. Thanks for pointing that out." Once she had found her shirt, she slipped it back over her head before taking the bottle of water Olivia handed over to her. "This may sound like a stupid question, but where have your brother and Lia gone again? My head is hurting so bad it's making it hard to think." This worried the girl. If she couldn't think coherently, how was she going to be able to guide everyone to the farm?


"Sure, feel free and run back to grab a couple bags. I guess I should wait here so we don't lose the spot where the good berry bushes are. Just hurry back. It's not safe to be alone for long," Lia replied moving closer to the bush. She usually had Renegade at her side and was never entirely alone, but for one reason of another, the dog had decided to stay back with Olivia and Jenna.

 

[sleeplessCartoonist]

Olivia sat up a bit. "Oh, they're off to pick flowers and berries or whatever. Food stuff." she said with a shrug, running a hand through her hair. "They'll probably be back in a bit."


Aidan nodded, glancing around for a moment. "Yeah, alright. I'll be quick." he said, turning to hurry out of the woods. When he came out from the trees, Olivia tilted her head a little.


"Oh, that was faster than I thought."


"I just need some plastic bags." he said as he knelt by one of their bags, digging through it. He pulled out two plastic bags, checking them for a moment, before nodding. "We'll only be a bit. Like, ten, twenty minutes." he said, returning to the woods.

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

Once Aidan hurried out of the woods, Lia returned her attention to the berry bushes, counting how many good bushes they had found. In the midst of her counting, however, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something crunching in the distance. The blonde cringed and started to look around, immediately associating the sound with that of the walking dead. Losing her focus on the task at hand, she moved away from the berry bushes and moved toward the sound, touching a hand to the gun on her side.


"I see; that's good to know," Jenna replied, nodding. Deciding she would try her best to keep her memory strong, Jenna fixed her mind on those thoughts until Aidan briefly returned to them. "Try to look for some nuts if you can," she told him. "Some kinds are actually good for swelling." After he walked off, she returned her attention to Olivia. "Listen, if your brother doesn't make it back in twenty minutes, you really should just leave me here and go take the dog to look for him yourself. You don't want to lose him." In her opinion, there was nothing worse than losing a member of your family in times like these.

 

[sleeplessCartoonist]

Olivia hesitated for a few moments, before nodding. "Yeah. Alright. But, uh... what about you? I mean, I could probably give you something to protect yourself with..." she thought for a few moments, placing a hand on her gun briefly. "...it'll be fine, though. He'll be back." she said with a small smile and a nod.


Aidan walked quickly and quietly, the bags in one hand and his axe in the other, stopping by where he recalled leaving Lia. He frowned, glancing around quickly, before sighing, biting his lip. He stood silently, listening for any noise- footsteps or anything of the sort -as his grip on his axe tightened.

 

[Klutzy Ninja Kitty]

"Of course it will be fine," Jenna agreed with a nod, looking away after a moment and biting her lip. She didn't know for certain everything would be all right, but she didn't want to bring down Olivia's hope. "On the off chance you did have to run off to find him and leave me, you could always leave me a knife or a gun behind with me and I'm sure I'll be fine. I've survived this long so it must mean I'm one of the strong." Or at least one of the lucky.


The sound of crunching grew louder. Lia couldn't tell if it was a corpse or something else, so she continued to keep her hand close to her gun as she wandered toward the sound. As the sound grew nearer, another noise joined it not long after. She was surprised when she heard it, the whinny of a horse. Glancing behind her when Aidan approached, she ushered him forward. "Do you hear that?"

 

[sleeplessCartoonist]

Olivia nodded, looking back at the woods for a few moments, before turning back to Jenna. "Yeah, of course. You're probably a bit weak at the moment, though, so I'll leave you with a gun. I think we've got a couple extra in one of the bags..." she stated, running a hand through her hair. "But, uh, we'll cross that bridge when- if -we get to it." she said with a shrug.


Aidan quietly followed the sound of crunching, pausing at the sight of Lia, before approaching, making sure she saw him. He frowned at the whinny, his grip on the axe tightening. "Yeah. Weird..." he whispered, glaring at the trees for a few long moments. "Should we investigate?" he asked quietly after a bit.