Dead USA (DrTrollinski and Elwin)

[Elwin]

Coden scowled. He took the broom resdy to clean up and paused. "L-listen you. I don't take orders from no mouthy guy in his midlife crisis. This house is abandoned and we could die tomorrow..and and you lot are boring as hell!" Coden through down the broom and stormed outside.


Luna sighed and rubbed her head. She figured the house ran cold water atleast so she got up discretely to go find a bath. Once she got to the bathroom she stripped off her clothes and dipped her body in the cold water she ran. It was horrible but sitting in undead blood was much worse. She wondered what to do with her top and hoped that Greg had packed something she might be able to wear so she could wash it.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Phil sighed. Greg looked at him and saw that he wasn't going to go after him. He decided that he should follow him out, so he picked up the broom and dragged it at his side before following Coden out into the back yard. He was on much better grounds with him than anyone else was, so he'd try and talk to him - he had a pretty exciting offer for him, too.


"Hey... You alright?" Greg asked him as he set the broom down against the wall.

 

[Elwin]

Coden was kicking little rocks on the ground when Greg joined him. "I'm fine, I am just sick of having no.fun. I got no one to hang with 'cept my crazy Mom." he looked at Greg. "and Phillip really hacks me off I would kick him so hard if I could.." He clenched his fists.


Luna found a dusty towel still neatly folded in a cupboard in the bathroom. She wrapped it around her body, covering any intimate parts and headed down stairs whilst her black hair still dripped allover the floor. She was freezing but the feeling of cleanliness was like no other. She entered where everyone gathered. It was nice to see people relaxing a little. "Hey, um does anyone know where Greg has gone? I need to know where he put the spare clothes." she was holding a pile of her blood soaked garments helplessly.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"He went out back." Jacob said to her as he pointed towards the back door. He wasn't perverse and let her keep her privacy, so he looked away once he was done talking to her. Phil was indifferent and kept playing his card game.


"Hey..." Greg out a hand on his shoulder. "I know, you see, some people have a funny way of working. It sounds like a bad idea now, but when things cool down, I recommend you sit down and talk to him and see why he's giving you so much shit." He sighed and looked away, thinking for a moment. "I know how to have fun." He smirked. "Tell you what, go in and clean that stuff up before someone gets hurt, and tomorrow morning, me and you can come out here, stand some pots on the fence, and I'll let you take a few shots with my rifle, eh?" He smiled at him and nudged his shoulder.

 

[Elwin]

Coden beamed, "Yes sir!" he grabbed the broom stick and rushed back towards the house eager to prove himself.


"Thanks!" Luna smiled at Jacob. She was glad he was looking after Jackson. Luna hurried to the door, passing Coden who pushed her a little as he ran through the house. Holy.crap, it was cold. The air nipped her skin and made her lip tremble. "J-jeez it is cold" she mumbled, trying to catch Greg's eyes. "H-hey Greg, where did you pack the spare clothes?" She called, holding the frame of the door. She had put the soaked clothes on the doorway as her hands kept getting red from holding them.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Coden saw a trash can in the kitchen that he could put it all in. When he started sweeping it all up, Phil looked at him, gave a half smile, and then gave a curt nod. It was more of an act of respect - he did what was right, and Phil respected that.


"Damn, yeah." Greg said as he wiped his forehead. "They're in the black sports bag by the front door. They're all in there." He smiled at her.

 

[Elwin]

Luna did a spin and spotted the bag. "Excellent! Oh and if anyone needs a wash there is cold water running and some towels in the upstairs bathroom." She opened the bag and pulled out an.oversized grey sweater and some cargo pants. She was grateful that the pants were a teenage boys size as all the other pants were huge. "Thanks! I am gonna' probably whip up some food soon, I am sure everyone is really hungry." Luna spoke while she quickly pulled the sweater over her head, turned away from Greg. "Close your eyes please." She asked politely and dropped the towel, pulling the cargo pants up almost as quickly. The clothes were big and comfortable.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Brad sighed and rolled his eyes but smiled lightheartedly while he shut his eyes over. Once he was sure that she was dressed he opened his eyes again and looked at her.


"What's for dinner then?" He asked, grinning.


Jacob nudged Jackson after hearing Luna speak. "Didn't you need the bathroom?" He asked, Jackson nodded.


"Yeah, I still need to go, but not as bad." He said, Jacob slowly rose up and sighed as he patted his head.


"You'll make yourself sick if you wait too long. Let's go find where the bathroom is, eh?" He said, Jackson nodded and quickly got up and followed him upstairs. He didn't want to go bathroom hunting in the new house alone, anyway.

 

[Elwin]

Luna flashed a devilish smile. "Well for starters a delicious choice of my own special mac and cheese or beans and sausage. For a real treat it comes in mush form. But the best part is there is no dinner or desert so all the more reason to enjoy the starter!" with that, Luna bounded into the main room and grabbed a bag full of food supplies before making her next stop the kitchen. She assumed it would be nicer if the food was served in bowls rather than packets. When she got to the kitchen, Beth was sat in the corner surrounded by candy bar wrappers - puffing on a cigarette. She had tears rolling down her perfectly made up cheeks. "B-beth, are you okay?" Luna felt awkward. She wasn't good with handling these situations. Beth folding her arms. "Just get out okay?" She spluttered, between tears. Luna bit her lip and placed a ration pack on the side. "Eat this instead.." she muttered and stepped out the room, feeling awful.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Greg saw her step out again and then walked over to her after noticing the look on her face. He frowned a little and stopped her in her tracks by placing a hand on her shoulder.


"You alright?" He asked.


--


"Jacob... Can we do bow stuff tomorrow?" He called out from in the bathroom. It was dimly lit in there seeing as there was no light, but he didn't need to worry about missing the toilet seeing as he was sitting on it.


"Yeah, sure. We'll go out and shoot at a tree or something, I'll teach you some of the tricks." He chuckled a little while leaning against the wall outside the bathroom door.

 

[Elwin]

Luna looked up at Greg. "Just Beth. She seems upset but she shouted at me. I think she wants to be alone.." Luna looked down at her feet and spoke hesitantly. "Hey, if I took a gun..do you think it'd be safe to go for a walk. I know they must be crawling around here..but if I was quiet?" Luna knew her question was stupid, but she wanted to spend some time from the group. The constant chatter and yelling of Beth and Coden, especially, made her think less of the things she didn't want to forget.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He reached out and hugged her gently, sighing. "Things will fix up, I promise... It ain't your fault that Beth's upset. I'll try talking to her." He smiled softly and rubbed her back. "If you really want to get away from everything, you should take a stroll on the field beside the house. There's not mud everywhere just yet, and there'd be less of them out there than in the town." He said before pulling away from her. "Regardless of where you go, make sure you come back." He said, patting her shoulder.

 

[Elwin]

"I promise I will come back," she said gently with a little smile. "Make sure Beth is okay. I can't handle emotions too good so I am useless." She shrugged a little and left him at that, gingerly squeezing his arm before she walked off. Luna grabbed a trenchcoat, she wasn't sure who's it was and loaded her gun. She wanted to tell Clayton she would be gone for a bit but didn't want him to try come along incase of danger. The sky was now dark and in the distance Luna could hear infected. They didn't hear movement so great, so she didn't worry an awful lot if they were only a few seperated. The field was slightly damp from the fog which still lingered in the air. Luna wanted to take some time to reflect on her Mom.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Greg walked into the kitchen and slowly approached Beth, sighing as he took a seat at the kitchen table. "Beth... You okay?" He asked, scratching the back of his head as he looked across at her. He'd wondered what had got her so upset, but that's something he planned to figure out. (Last post, goodnight!)

 

[Elwin]

Beth looked up to see Greg, who seemed awkward as he spoke. She wiped away a tear and sniffled. "Just everything is catching up with me I suppose.." She mumbled, taking a bite of a candy bar. She had consumed at-least five now and had chocolate smears around her mouth. "Everything is so confusing..so scary." Beth burst into a new bomb of tears. "I'm so lonely, I miss the company of men and my girlfriends and not feeling like I am worthless. Everything is surreal.." Beth was wailing now as chocolate flew out of her mouth.


Luna wandered through the field. Her combat boots were wet with the dew on the grass. The whole atmosphere was like a ghost world. Only the sound of Luna's footsteps followed her. She kept walking. The field was large, she realized this. But it gave her more time to think. She didn't want to forget any detail of her Mother's beautiful face. As she got further from the house, the fog produced the appearance of a forest not to far away. She kept walking closer, an hour or so had passed. Luna got to the trees. She could tell it would be pleasant if the weather wasn't so terrible. But it wasn't. The fog was thick and the trees howled in the wind that had slowly picked up as she walked. Luna didn't feel aware of time, however. She was pleasantly distracted.


(I've shifted time a little so after Greg has done whatever with Beth, an hour went by.)

 

[DrTrollinski]

Greg sat down with Beth and spoke to her for the most part of an hour. He went over how things were going to straighten out with time, and eventually they'd be able to settle down without worrying too much. He told her that things would be fine, and that she should just try and settle in with everyone else - Instead of trying to force things, take things cool and slow. That was Greg's best idea of doing things.


Once Greg was done talking to her, he went around looking for Clay. He didn't know where Clay had gone, nor had he seen him recently. He went upstairs and went to the bathroom, but the door was locked. He could hear someone sobbing from behind the door - He slowly creaked it open, and he saw Clay sitting in the corner.


".. Clay?" He called out softly, Clay let out a sob and slowly stood up, walking over to him. He quickly hugged him and put his head against his chest. "Come with me, pal... We'll go and talk in the bedroom." He said, he lead him through to one of the rooms that had two single beds in it - it was painted blue, and there were pictures of stars and spaceships painted on them. It was the room of two of Emma's children - the woman Luna had shot earlier was in fact his sister in-law, but Greg never said anything. No one else was here, so he helped that the three kids and their father made it out of here okay. He walked Clay over and sat him on the bed. ".. Tell me what's wrong, hm...?" Greg said as he pulled him close.


".. I miss mom..." He sobbed weakly, his face half buried in Greg's chest. ".. I really really miss her..." He said, breaking out into a cry again. ".. I wanna' see Luna, where is she?!" He cried, Greg held him close.


".. She'll be back soon, okay? Calm down, son..." He said as he rubbed his back slowly.

 

[Elwin]

Luna had found a spot by a tree, quite far into the woodland area. She had sat down and fallen asleep for ten minutes or so after having a cry. It felt good to let it all out. She felt her stomach rumble a little and knew she was hungry. The house was probably about an hour and half away from where she was and she wasn't ready to head back. On the ground beside her was a collection of mushrooms. Luna had heard once that if a mushroom was poisonous it would tingle on her lip. She picked one and rubbed it across her lip. She felt nothing. Good enough to eat. She shrugged and popped it in her mouth. She swallowed part of it before realizing it had a foul taste. "Gross!" She spat out the last quarter or so, regretting it. She stood up and stretched a little. Perhaps it was time to head back.


She started walking, shivering a little from the weather. Everything seemed pleasant for twenty minutes or so. She had got through part of the woodland when her head started to feel mashed and confused. "Wow.." her movement felt slower. She felt as though in her mind she was running but only walking physically. The trees looked a lot more stretched out than usual. Luna had an idea of what was happening and knew she had been an idiot. The grass felt like it was growing around her and pulling her to the ground. Was she on the ground? Or walking still? Maybe even running. It didn't feel like the woodland would end.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Ten minutes later and Clay had finally stopped crying and decided just to have a lie down. Greg simply kissed him on the cheek and then stood up, leaving him to rest up for a while. He went downstairs and saw that Luna still hadn't returned - he went up to Jacob who was sitting at the table with Jackson and playing a board game with him; Greg tapped him on the shoulder and looked around again.


".. Jacob, Luna back yet?" He asked.


"No." He said as he moved his board piece along and handed the dice to Jackson. "She hasn't come back yet... Want me to go and look for her?" He asked. Greg quickly shook his head and took a deep breath.


".. No... I'll go out and wait for her our front. If she's in trouble, she can fire her gun. We'd hear that from here easily. On foot she couldn't have walked more than a mile or so, so if she shoots, we'll hear it. If not, I know which direction she was heading in, so I can take the car out, put the fog lights on, and then hunt around for her."


Jackson looked up and frowned a little. ".. Do you think she's okay, dad?" He asked.


"Of course... She's a strong girl. She just wanted some space, that's all." He said, patting him on the head. "Have fun with your game, son. I'll be back soon." He said, and then he walked out to sit on the front porch to wait for Luna to get back.

 

[Elwin]

Luna paused a moment, pulling her hands in front of her. She couldn't work out what they were used for. One of them was holding a gun, but why would she need a gun? "Wow.." She stroked her cheeks. They were really soft. The grass felt tighter around her ankles. "Why are you sucking me in?" She shouted at the ground. Luna dropped to her knees, feeling like she was sinking. She started to crawl forward, her hands and knees becoming muddy. "Am I reborn?" She questioned. She felt like nothing had happened prior to this moment. Luna suddenly felt the need to get up. The grass released her and she ran, doing spins along the way. It seemed like the only way to start the flying. Luna wanted to fly from the forest. It felt like hell and above the trees her Mother was waiting for her, as an angel. "Mom!" She screamed, seeing her shadow in the distance. "Mom come back!" She was running faster than she had ever ran. Luna ran straight into a tree, smacking her nose and falling back. Blood gushed down her face. She rubbed some of it with her fingers and stared. Why was she leaking? "Am I..I'm undead." She whispered to herself, panicking. She had figured it out. Luna had died. She had been eaten. "No, I'm not ready to go to hell!" She cried and started to run again. The forest disappeared into the horizon and only grass surrounded her. The mysterious gun from her hand had also disappeared. Luna was rushing with confusion and before she knew it, the grass dragged her to the floor.

 

[DrTrollinski]

After a while when Luna still hadn't returned, Greg got into the car and started driving off into the distance where he saw Luna last going - he saw a forest in the distance. She didn't go in there, did she? No, she couldn't have... Did she? He started to worry, he drove up to the center of the field and parked up where he could see the forest - he then started honking the horn of the car, over and over and over again, pressing it quickly sometimes, and then holding it down as well. He'd keep doing that, the fog lights glaring out through the misty air. It was strange, he hoped that he wasn't being watched right now, but even if he was, he needed to find Luna.


He waited, still honking the horn and changing the brightness of the headlights over and over, making sure there was enough light to break through the fog. He just needed to wait now.

 

[Elwin]

Luna could hear the sound of a screech in the distance. Once she noticed, it became louder. "No..no.." It was the call of the devil. The grass grew redder beneath her and blades would jump up and snap at her fingers. The only way it would stop was if she scratched them away. Her fingers were growing red now. Why is everything red? That sound..it wouldn't stop. Growls echoed from each ear. The devils were coming to take her back into hell. Had she not even left? She could see them in the distance. They were slow and falling apart. Strange. Not like your normal devil. No horns, but they moaned like anything. Luna felt trapped in the grass. She started to scream. Over and over. The louder she sounded, the quieter the devil's call sounded; the quieter the moans. The grass was dense and she couldn't stand up. She crawled across the floor on her stomach. Perhaps they wouldn't notice her if she was red and the grass was red then everything was red.

 

[DrTrollinski]

(Did the mushroom make her hallucinate, or something?)


Greg heard her screams and instantly started to panic. He hopped out of the car with his gun at his side and slowly walked towards where he heard the screams. He needed to find her. ".. LUNA?!" He called out at the top of his lungs. "LUNA! It's me, Greg! Where are you?!" He yelled as he paced around. He could hear rustling in the grass around him, and he was just praying that it was the wind, but there was barely even a breeze tonight. It was horrifying, so he wanted to find Luna and get her back home to safety. Providing she wasn't infected. No... She would have turned by now if she'd been bitten.


".. Luna?!" He cried out, anxiously running his eyes over the field.

 

[Elwin]

(Yeah, and the moans she can hear are some infected in the distance.)


Luna cried and screamed. The red grass was wrapping around her arms. She could hear her name in the distance. She was sure it was Satan coming to take her back to the forest. But way did she go? One way the moans came from and the other her name was called by the Devil. She covered her face with her red hands, attempting to escape. The devils were closer. One seemed so close. She battled the grass and crawled through it as faster as she could. "No, no you can't take me back, I have to find my Mom.." She shouted with anger.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Greg could hear her, she was close. He ran and followed her voice until he heard the rapid crawling in the grass. He followed it through the fog until he could see her - her face was covered in blood, and she was talking about her mom? What did she mean by 'take her back'? Jesus, what the hell had happened in that forest? He grabbed her by the shoulder and stopped her from crawling, followed by rolling her over onto her back.


"Luna! It's me! Look at me! You're safe, I promise... What the hell happened to you?" He asked her. ".. Come on, we need to get out of here." He said to her, looking continuously over his shoulders to make sure nothing was creeping up on him.

 

[Elwin]

"What?" She questioned. A Red man stood over her. She couldn't focus but he was trying to take her. "I'm not going with you? Get away from me!" She shouted, crawling backwards. The moaners were closer and she looked behind her and yelped. "What do you want from me?" She wasn't even sure who she was talking to anymore, she just wanted to escape. Luna managed to fumble onto her feet quickly and looked side to side, unsure of which direction to try run.