Dead USA (DrTrollinski and Elwin)

[DrTrollinski]

The dog shuffled from under Greg's head and scrambled to its feet. Greg hit the floor with a groan and curled up into a ball. The sunlight was striking against the surface of his closed eyelids, and he knew that his sleep was up. The dog ran over to the stream where Luna was with his tail wagging - it licked her face and then went to the other side of the stream and began drinking from it - trust the dog to kill the mood for everyone. Greg slowly sat up and looked at his two boys - he didn't really notice that Luna was upstream, so he shuffled up to the two of them and made sure they were both still snuggled up and warm - Jackson was the one he checked first; he'd curled up into the fetal position during the night so that the jacket could over him completely - the concrete ground was uncomfortable, but it was better than nothing. Greg smiled as he looked at him, and then looked at Clay - he brushed his hair away from his face and took a deep breath. They'd made it through the night.

 

[Elwin]

Luna laughed at the presence of the dog. She watched him drink from the stream and decided he was her hint to get ready for the day. Luna pull her hair into a wet plait behind her head and jumped out of the stream. She pulled her top over her head, being careful of her bandages then slipped into her cargo pants. Luna was in good spirits from her relaxed morning and she caught up with the dog that had ran back to the camp.


Luna saw that Greg was up and she smiled, with genuinely for the first time since they had met. "Good morning!" She whispered, being aware of the sleeping boys. "I hope you slept good."

 

[DrTrollinski]

".. Yeah, I did until the dog dropped me." He chuckled a little and then rose up and looked at his watch. "It's only seven-thirty, but I don't want to waste time today... I want to make as much progress as we can before the sun goes down, or we might be in a bit of a predicament." He said softly, he then crouched down beside Jackson and gently shook his arm. He was so peaceful and he didn't want to wake him up, but it had to be done. ".. Hey, little man... Get up, buddy. We need to get moving..." He muttered in a quiet and gentle tone. Jackson slowly awoke and opened his tired eyes to look up at Greg.


".. Dad... hi..." He muttered, Greg smiled at him and helped him sit up.


".. We've got a friend here for you." Greg chuckled as he motioned off towards the dog, of which was just sitting there minding his own business. Jackson's face lit up with a smile.


"You got a dog!" He yelled as quietly as he could and instantly woke himself up to run over and go onto his knees in front of it; he started petting him - he always wanted a pet dog, but his mom was allergic like Greg mentioned. He was going to ask Greg about that, but that could wait. He was so happy all of a sudden, and the dog was loving the attention as well.

 

[Elwin]

Luna chuckled, warmly and stretch her arms above her head. She felt fresh and ready for what was to come today. She was also hoping that she may come across a new weapon as the throwing knives weren't proving too useful, despite being a treasured gift from her red-faced friend back in Brooklyn.


"I think we need to give the dog a name." She said, aiming her words at Jackson. "I'm presuming its a boy..." Luna couldn't believe how much joy a dog could bring and part of her wished she hadn't found it, just to avoid any heartbreak. But the dog looked like it could stand its ground. Luna turned to Greg, folding her arms. "Are we going to set off? Like you said, we shouldn't waste time and what-not."

 

[DrTrollinski]

".. Dad--.. The dog's cool, but what about when we find mom? She's allergic to dogs." Jackson frowned, Greg sighed and walked over and patted him on the head.


"We'll talk about it later, son..." He sighed and then walked over to Clay. ".. Clay, get up, buddy." He gently tapped his leg with his foot - Clay quickly awoke and looked up at him before scrambling to his feet.


"What's up?" He asked.


"We're moving out, okay? We've got a dog now, as well." He said, Clay smiled but didn't say anything. Greg turned to Luna and pointed off in the direction behind her. "Let's walk up onto that road, then we'll keep going straight." He said.

 

[Elwin]

"Sure." Luna replied, bluntly. She didn't want to speak to much when the boys Mother was mentioned, due to it being none of her business. She started to walk, not really waiting for the rest of them. She wasn't looking forward to making their way to Georgia by foot but knew there wasn't anything that could be done. The car crash was coincidence, but in the back of Luna's mind she couldn't help but question fate for their misfortune.


Luna pulled out her leather pouch of knives and grabbed a rock by the stream. She knew it wouldn't do much but to pass the time she started to sharpen the knives, making sure that they would fly right through the skull of an infected. Luna also decided the walk would be good thinking time on how to act more agile when faced with an enemy. She didn't want to be useless and reckless, especially after surviving this long.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Greg and the boys slowly caught up with her, but they still trailed behind by a couple of feet.


".. Dad--.. I need the bathroom..." Jackson muttered quietly to him, Greg sighed.


"Luna, wait up a sec!" He called to her. He looked down at Jackson again and then over at the forest area. Plenty of trees and bushes to hide behind. ".. Go over there, son... We'll wait here." He said as he pointed at the bushes. Jackson just looked at him with wide eyes and gulped. This was a really convenient factor - Greg turned to Luna again and sighed. ".. Luna--.. I don't suppose you brought toilet paper with you, did you?" He asked. Jackson instantly went red and hid behind Greg. That was embarrassing.

 

[Elwin]

Luna turned round, slightly oblivious to the situation then click. "Oh, heck. I did actually- well tissues, but same thing." Luna pulled her bag from her back and pulled out a pack of tissues, throwing them towards Jackson. She tried not to laugh as she didn't want to embarrass the little boy- but it was a struggle. "I'll just wait ahead while you guys sort yourselves out." She called, smiling with amusement.


The sky was a deep blue and there wasn't a cloud in-sight. The day was beautiful and it seemed as though nothing had ever happened.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Greg picked them up and then passed them back to Jackson. ".. Go on then, we'll wait a little ahead with Luna, okay? Holler if you need anything." He said, but Jackson was still red with humiliation. Greg saw that this had had quite a negative impact on his mood and confidence all of a sudden, mostly because he didn't say anything in response. "Come on, when nature calls, you answer. I've been in far worse situations - Clay has, as well. We'll share stories later on, alright? Go on." He gently slapped his shoulder and Jackson wandered off down the small slope and then behind some trees and bushes where he was completely out of sight. Greg and Clay caught up with Luna, and then Greg gave a quiet chuckle.


"Thanks for that... I think he's a little upset, though. That was quite humiliating for him, I think." He said quietly - Clay didn't laugh or comment on the matter. He saw that his younger brother was quite hurt by it all, and he was struggling to see the humorous side to it.

 

[Elwin]

"Yeah, well. I can imagine." Luna commented back, passively. She had a little bit of a mood swing since they had started walking, her head had reminded her what they were actually doing. Luna realized she actually didn't really know these people at all but she was with them because there was no one else. What was she to do when they reached the rest of their family? I'll just be a stranger. She felt unusual, but the negative voice in her mind was overpowering the little bit of happiness and telling her that she should leave the group. I don't want to protect strangers, they wouldn't do the same if it was too risky. Luna thought about her Mother and all the times she had warned her about strangers and how you can't trust people, because there could be so many things they are capable of, that they have done in their past, that you just don't know about. Everyone has secrets and you can't rely on anybody.


Luna kept quiet as they walked. She used the rock to keep sharpening the knives, but she wasn't really paying attention.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Jackson soon enough came back once he was done - he'd tucked the rest of the tissues into his pocket, because it would be awkward if he gave them back to Luna. He'd washed his hands in the stream and came running back to silently cling to Greg's side as they walked on - Greg was still only half-awake, and he just wished that there was someone or something that'd help them out.


They saw some smoke rising above the tress in the distance. It was quite a way away, but it still something of interest. Greg didn't actually see it straight away, mostly because he was too tired and was busy on already literally dragging Jackson along with him.


"Look! There's smoke!" Clayton pointed at it as it came over the trees. He ran up beside Luna so he could get the slightest bit closer to it. ".. What do you think it is? Do you think a chopper crashed, or something?" He asked, Greg thought about that one. It was definitely a plausible idea, but they hadn't heard any choppers flying by overnight, and seeing as there was smoke it showed that this was recent.


".. I don't know, I say we go and check it out, though. Luna, what do you think?" Greg asked.

 

[Elwin]

Luna squinted her eyes to the distance, watching the smoke stream from the trees. "Yeah, we should." She responded. Luna felt a bit worried, bringing the boys to find out what the smoke was- but Greg knew best, she supposed. "Do you think it'll be safe?" She asked Greg, quietly as she didn't want to openly sound worried. Luna hoped that no-one was injured but did half hope that some useful weapons or supplies could be found at the smoke.

 

[DrTrollinski]

".. Probably. At most it's a car crash that happened recently. If it was anything bigger, we would have heard it." He shrugged and smiled as he pulled Jackson close to his ride and ruffled his hair for a moment. Jackson was still walking in silence, clearly showing that the embarrassment hadn't quite worn off just yet. ".. It's not a man-made fire, because look at the smoke - the clouds a straight stream, it's not gradual, and it's black smoke, which means it's an engine fire of some sort, or someone's burning fuel. Regardless, it involves fuel, so the most likely thing is that someone had an accident up here." He explained as he walked onward with his two boys and Luna. They all stuck relatively close together - oh yeah, and there was the dog. The dog had stuck with them.


Another ten minutes later and they came up to a straight road that was actually away from the tress by a fair bit. Two cars had crashed into each other, like Greg had predicted - One was a military Humvee, and the other was a civilian Range Rover, very much like Greg's own that crashed not too far back.


".. Only two cars on the road, and they had a head on collision?" Greg questioned the situation. ".. Something doesn't seem right about that. The engines are still puffing out the smoke, so this had to be recent." He said.

 

[Elwin]

Luna stood near the cars, her arms folded. "I wonder where the passengers are?" She walked over to the Humvee and jumped onto the side of it, trying to yank the door open. She jumped back down, breathing heavily. Surely the doors aren't locked if there was a crash and the driver got out. She jumped back up and started pulling at the door again. It flew open, literally off the hinges and Luna fell back with it. "Ouch..." She muttered, picking herself up.


"I'm thinking supplies?" she called over to Greg, who was stood further back with Jackson and Clayton. She peered into the inside of the Humvee. The whole vehicle was a mess and she wanted to be quick looting the place before trouble arrived.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Yeah." He said as he walked up with the two boys and leaned into the front; he pulled a level under the seat to pop the trunk, but it only creaked open in the slightest. ".. Guns, MRE's, water, medicine, anything." He said, he walked over to the back and locked his fingers around the edge of the trunk before trying to pry it open - his body shook in strain, but Clayton and Jackson eventually joined in - it flew open after a while. Jackson looked inside in amazement for a few moments - he didn't know where the passengers of the vehicles were. He was just hoping they weren't coming back. He looked over his shoulder and over the road they were travelling on. There was another gas station, just like he predicted there would be. They'd be able to stop there next.


Inside the trunk there was a small duffel bag that held medical items - it was mostly basic stuff, but there was some morphine in there as well, and there was some stuff that wounds could be sutured with. These guys must have been on a supply run to bring certain items to their outpost, or something. In the back there was also an M4A1 assault rifle, silenced, and painted in a woodland sort of color. It had a scope on it, but the zoom wasn't all that much - there was another bag there, but that only had a couple of bottles of water and a few MRE's, and finally, there was one last bag shoved in there that had a couple of Beretta pistols in there, alongside countless magazines of ammo for the pistols and the rifle. There were other types in there, but nothing that they had use for just yet.


".. I found something!" He yelled to Luna. He didn't really know how to explain it.

 

[Elwin]

Luna raided the inside of the the vehicle, pulling out some military food, water and a couple of small melee weapons. Luna pocketed quite a large trailing point blade into her cargo pants and jumped out of the vehicle. She dropped the weapons to the ground and ran over to Greg. "Hey what'sup?" She asked. She had one hand in her pocket, running her finger across her new blade. Her other blades were tucked away in her backpack, which were ready for more agile moves. It was a nice feeling to be better prepared.


"What have you found?" She question again, getting closer to him. She saw all the supplies he had found previously and raised her eyebrows. "Wow, that's a lot of kit. What were these guys doing?" Luna hoped whoever the owner's were didn't come back, as they were taking all of their stuff.


 
@DrTrollinski

 

[DrTrollinski]

".. I don't know. Probably doing a supply run." He took the rifle and slung it over his shoulder. He then handed off the bag of food and water to Jackson, whom of which put it over his shoulder and kept it there as best he could - he handed the bag of medical supplies to Clay, and then took the bag of ammo himself. Okay. That was heavy, but he ignored it and nodded towards the gas station. ".. Let's get inside before we get shot." He said, "Now that I've got something to suture the wounds you have, we'll stop for a while and get that done." He said. ".. I'll teach you how to do it, as well." He chuckled a little and began leading them all over to the gas station on the opposite side of the road. (@Elwin)

 

[Elwin]

Luna nodded and picked up her finds off the floor and stuff them into the crevices of her bag. "Do you need any help carrying, Greg? You're managing quite a load there." She held out her arms as a gesture to carry something. "I hope we don't run into anything crazy in the gas station again." She sighed, thinking back to their last gas station trip. One of the luckiest moments, yet one of the scariest.


The gas station looked slightly run down and already had an immediate creepy atmosphere. The building was a rusted mess, it almost looked like it hadn't been touched for years. But from the distance, Luna could see stock through the glass windows, so it couldn't be abandoned, unless it was all rotten.

 

[DrTrollinski]

".. Yeah, if you can manage it, you can take the ammo." He smiled and handed it to her. ".. If it's too heavy for you we'll switch, and you can carry the medical gear." He said as he pushed into the gas station doors and peered around inside. There was no smell of rotting bodies or food, so that was always a good sign. This place was one of those tacky little country station, but it was something. There were a few snacks and drinks missing from the shelves, but there was enough for them to take some picks from before they left. Greg slammed all the shutters in front of the windows down and then tried the lights - they worked, but he had a feeling that the power wasn't going to stay on forever.


".. Dad, I'm going to the bathroom." Clay notified him and Greg nodded - Clay took a key from behind the counter and then went inside and locked the door behind him. If only Jackson could have held it, he could have used the bathroom here. Jackson went off to look for candy bars and soda, whereas Greg got Luna sat down against the counter in the store. He had the right equipment in the bag to treat her wound, so the first thing he did was numb the area he was going to be stitching. That was painful at first, but he didn't give her too much - the last thing he wanted was her whole head to be numb. He prepared the stuff he needed to suture the wound and then cleaned it off with some antibiotic gel. That stung, but at least the wound would be clean.


".. Okay, you ready? This probably won't hurt all that much. Ever had stitches before?" He asked. (@Elwin)


 
(@Elwin)

 

[Elwin]

Before Luna sat down, she set the ammo on to the ground. It was heavy, but she wouldn't admit it to Greg now she had offered. She didn't really see the necessity in treating her wound again, but he was the expert and all.


The thought of stitches was quite stomach wrenching and she hoped it was done pretty quickly. Luna took a head start by unwinding the wrap around her head. It was a relief to not have her head squeezed by bandages, but the bandage was disgusting. "Urgh..." Luna screwed her face up and set the wrap down, with her now exposed wound. "Whenever you're ready, captain."


Luna winced further as he numbed her wound. It stung a fair amount. "I hope this doesn't take long..." She groaned, finishing off her statement with a little yawn. Luna screwed her face up again when he dabbed her wound with the gel. "Jeez, this is worse than hitting my head in the first place." It wasn't, but moaning was quite fun.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"I hope you're paying attention. You're going to have to do the same to me in a minute." He chuckled and prepared what he needed to suture the wound. He soon began stitching her up, one stitch after the other - he kept them close together and kept it as accurate as he possibly good. As a result of the anaesthetic, she felt only a tugging feeling on her skin.


Five minutes later, Clay had returned from the bathroom and now he and Jackson were happily going around the store and snacking on candy and fizzy drinks. Greg had stitched her up just fine, so he cleaned it off once more and then put an adhesive patch over her stitched wound. This was far more comfortable than the bandages.


"Okay..." He sighed. "Now it's your turn." He said as he sat down beside her. "Clean the wound, then use the anaesthesia, then you can begin the suturing. This'll stop infection and won't leave me and you worse off - I'm not looking for a masterpiece on my forehead. Just do what you can." He smiled weakly at her and then prepared the correct measurement of anaesthetic for her to use. He took the liberty of preparing the suturing equipment again as well.

 

[Elwin]

Luna opened one eyes when he mentioned doing it herself. Brilliant. She was also surprised at how painless the procedure actually was. When it was over, Luna felt a relief to have the disgusting bandage off her head and something a little neater. "Thanks!" She jumped from the side and started picking up tools, feeling a little confused. "Right...clean the wound first?" She was confirming with herself. Luna clean as thoroughly as she could, but gently. She didn't want to cause an infection from being an idiot. She then moved onto the anaesthetic and finally to the stitches. "Right, I'm so sorry if this is awful..." She apologized before starting. She started to stitch, closing one eye in concentration. It was easier than she had expected.


"Right I think we're done!" Luna opened both eyes. "Oh..well it is a bit wonky but you know.."

 

[DrTrollinski]

He chuckled. ".. It's fine, don't worry. You kept it cool - Good job." He smiled at her and then stretched - he took another adhesive patch and stuck it over the top of the stitches. There we go, nice and clean and quite neat as well. That was certainly better than the bandages. ".. We'll need to clean each other's wounds every day, so keep that in mind. If you start to feel any throbbing or aching pains on the cut, let me know, I'll check it to make sure it's not infected." He said - he stood up and looked around the store. The boys were still snacking down on candy and anything they could find - they looked happy enough, which only made Greg feel worse. He sighed and looked down at Luna, followed by giving her a hand to help her up. "I need to tell the boys, Luna... I can't hide it any longer, the guilt's weighing me down, just... Be ready, okay? I need you to be there for either of them just in case." He sighed again and looked over at the two. "Boys! Come over here, please..." He said. Jackson and Clay soon came running.


"What is it, dad?" Jackson asked, smiling as he shoved some more of a candy bar into his mouth. Greg cracked a half smile and took the candy away from him before setting it down on the counter.


".. We need to talk, okay? It's about mom."


"Okay, are we gonna' go back for her now?" Jackson asked, Clay didn't say anything. In fact, Clay looked considerably saddened. He might have just caught on to what had happened.


"No, no... Son..." Greg put his hands on the young boy's shoulders and sighed, bowing his head. ".. We can't go back for her, kiddo..."


"What, why? But--.. Dad! We can't leave her!"


"Son... You know the night we left? How she helped that bleeding man?"


His eyes were wide. ".. Y-Yeah?"


".. Well, Jackson... That man turned into one of those things. One of the things that we saw attacking Luna... He attacked mom, son." He explained. Greg was really struggling to explain now - he wasn't crying, but he was close to it. Clayton backed away and went to the nearest wall to bow his head by it. He started quietly sobbing. He knew what had happened, but Jackson didn't. Greg wouldn't be able to hold them both in this time.


".. Is--.. Is she okay, dad? Like, she got away, right? And--.. And that's when we heard the gunshots, 'cause you saved her?" He asked desperately, Greg shook his head.


".. No, son... He--.. Mom's not with us any more. That man--.. That man killed her, son." He muttered. There was a long silence. Jackson's face went from one of disbelief, then to denial, and then to pure heartbreak. He promptly burst into tears and flew into Greg's arms, sobbing and crying into his shoulder - he was near enough screaming his cries. He wanted his mother to come back.

 

[Elwin]

Luna stood behind Greg sheepishly watching him tell the truth to his kids. She felt nervous and slightly unwell as the boys' faces dropped from slight happiness to heartbreak. Luna respected Greg's wishes but needed a time-out. "Greg.." She whispered, tapping him on the shoulder. She didn't expect him to turn around. "Greg, I'm just going to take a breather." Luna wiped a tear from her eye and walked out of the gas station. She huddled into her denim jacket and walked around the side of the building.


Luna wasn't much of a smoker but there was situations when she felt it was justifiable. To an extent. Luna pulled out a pack of emergency cigarettes from her backpack and used a match to light it up. She slid her back down the wall of the gas station, until she was sat on the floor. She felt calmer after lighting up, but didn't want to be away from Greg and the boys too long. Luna put out the end of the cigarette and went to stand up.


She heard commotion up the road that took her by surprise. With caution, Luna jumped back into the wall, peering around the corner. A truck came down the road with all of the windows smashed in. Inside appeared to be a group of men screaming and yelling all kinds of things. Luna prayed that the truck be on its way but it slowed down as it neared the gas station. "Shit..shit.." Luna whispered to herself as she started to panic. She didn't want the men to go inside the gas station as the boys were all in there.


Luna felt her leg become wet and she turned around. The dog had ran outside round the back to find her. She knelt down and patted its head. "You should be protecting everyone inside.." She mumbled quietly to the dog. The dog shuffled a bit, wagging his tail - clueless. She peered back around the corner and the men had all jumped out of the truck. There must have been about seven of them and they were heading towards the entrance of the gas station. Luna slipped her new knife out and slowly started to make her way back to the front of the building, tiptoeing.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Greg heard the commotion outside and instantly grabbed Jackson and Clay and dragged them into the bathroom - they were still both sobbing, but he needed to do whatever he could to make sure whatever was coming wasn't a danger to them.


".. Boys--.. Be quiet and lock the door." He said as he closed the door on them and then hunted around for a place to take cover. He had the rifle with him, so he needed to be quick about this. He needed to make sure that he preserved his ammo well, and also didn't risk getting shot. He ran over and ducked down behind the counter with the cash register and sat the rifle on top of it - no more than half of his head was peeking over the top so that he was ready to shoot. The gun was silenced, so it wasn't going to attract anyone else to this place.


That wouldn't have mattered if none of them got out alive.


He gripped the rifle tightly and waited for whatever it was to come around the corner. The store was dim, so the chances were that Greg wouldn't be noticed by them right away. He'd watch them to see if they were hostile, and, if necessary, he'd do his best to protect his boys by taking some of them down. He waited, ever so patiently. He hoped Luna was alright - she'd been quite the morale booster over the last couple of days, and the last thing Greg wanted was for the boys to go through more tragedy. (@Elwin)