Realistic or Modern Patient Zero (A Zombie Survival RP)

[Brax]

Warren stood at the door and watched as the two young men began to brawl it out. "Hm" The red head threw a barrage of fists that caught his attention. That boy had some fury and power that Warren admired. Tiring himself out was his downfall though and soon was taking his own beating from the Italian. The fight seemed to last a good five minutes because of the show they put on, but it was probably closer to only about a minute or two. The red head lay mostly unconscious when the fight was finished and the older man Warren had seen in the shed this morning hoisted him up to bring him inside. The large man moved slightly to the side as they came through the door and up the stairs. He followed behind them but broke off at the living room where Tre and another kid slept on couches. A boot kicked the couch beneath Tre's body, "Hey kid, wake up."

​

As the shoe connected with the wooden frame underneath the couch, Tre felt the couch move slightly. His eyes opened slowly. Bloodshot eyes soon looked up to Warren. The kid turned himself slightly so that he was sitting upright, groaning while closed fists rubbed at his eyes. This was followed by a short yawn. Even though he was ordered by Luca to go to sleep, being awoken by Warren was not a surprise. The first thing the young man’s mind went to was alcohol. “Sup.” Tre asked, his voice slightly raspy. “We outta juice already?” He scoffed, a bit annoyed at having been woken up from his slumber. It wasn’t unlike Tre to have a haphazard sleep schedule. Even when he was provided normal hours to rest, he often found it hard to regularly rest. As a child, the boy’s father used to tell him he never slept as an infant. “Yo.” The kid turned his head over to Jonas, waiting a few seconds. He was still asleep. Tre repeated himself, a bit louder. “Yo!” Jonas stirred, proving the boy’s lazy methods successful. When he finally had woken up, Tre parted his lips to speak once more.

“If we don’t go get booze this dude is gonna lose it. You tryna come? There’s gotta be somethin’ you need.”

Jonas' eyes parted slowly as Tre shouted at him. The crust in his eyes broke slowly as he pushed himself up on his elbows and looked over at Tre and Warren with what could only be described as a glare. The boy was a hell of a heavy sleeper when he managed to get any, and being woken up after using up some of his medication seemed like a waste. A short sigh came from the teens lips as he pressed his fingers against his eyelids, wiping the crust from them as they tried to adjust to the new level of lighting that had come over the time he'd been asleep.

"I'm gonna need more of my meds if you plan on waking me up whenever you feel like it."

He said with a sarcastic tone as he stretched quietly, a grunt escaping him as the entirety of his spine cracked loudly. He looked up at Warren with a yawn as he finally really processed Tre's question.

"Why should I care about this guy's alcoholic tendencies? If he wants booze he can go get it himself."

The boy said flatly before turning over and slamming his face back into the armrest of the chair, wishing for a return to sleep even though he knew he'd need another dose just for the hope of it. Jonas' last remark failed to reach Warren at all as he replied to Tre, "I just need to get away from this shit for a bit. Some alcohol would be nice though. C'mon, let's jump ship for a little while." The other kid laid his head back down but Warren could care less and quickly diverted his attention back to Tre. "You comin or what kid?"

Tre looked back up at Warren with a small sigh. He was an impatient cracker, that much was certain. Pushing himself off of the couch the kid made his way over to Luca’s bedroom, the door of which had been shut. On his way he stepped over the body that had been laying in front of the fireplace. He didn’t even bother to notice the man’s existence - hell, there were so many people in the lodge Tre didn’t know, this was just another face. Nearby, a man in the kitchen conversed with an older Spanish man who had been standing near the man who had assumed the fetal position. His hand turned the knob before Tre walked inside. He shut the door behind him, looking up to see Luca staring at him from the middle of the room. The shirtless Italian had been sitting in the same chair Hector had set down from him, though he was leaned back quite a bit. One hand gripped the neck of a practically-empty bottle of whiskey, bringing it up to his lips before he nodded toward the boy. Tre, noticing the state of Luca’s face, chuckled.

“The fuck happened to you? Get in a fight with a moose or somethin’?” The boy asked, taking a few steps toward the other chair and taking a seat opposite of Luca.

“A big, ugly, brain dead red-headed moose. What do you want?” He asked, eyes tracing the kid’s movement as he took a seat. Luca was prepared to deal with a few visitors, though Tre happened to be an exception. The man liked to pretend he didn’t care, but Tre was capable of taking care of himself. There’s no way he’d walk into his room without having to ask for something, which was always the appropriate action.

“We’re outta juice. I’m sure you noticed. I was gonna ask if I could make a run with Warren to go out ‘n’ get some, maybe see if you needed any other shit while we out.” Sure, both Warren and himself had just gotten back to the lodge, but neither were afraid of the perilous conditions outside. Luca knew Tre to be fearless, but could the same be said for the man that was his best friend’s bunkmate while he was still alive? If Warren was so close to Tre’s father, why did he let the man die? After a few seconds pondering the right decision, Luca made the call he believed was appropriate.

“Yeah. Make a run with Warren. There’s a beached whale somewhere around the lodge, a real gargantuan looking motherfucker with bigger jugs than most of the girls sitting around this lodge. Grab that woolly mammoth, he’ll be a great meat shield in case you get cornered. Take someone else with you too, as per my orders. I don’t care who it is, use proper judgement.” Tre stood up to his feet while Luca continued talking.

“Go out, grab a shit load of alcohol and clothes. Those things we need the most out of you right now. Take the fat fuck with you and another.” He reiterated once more. The kid made his way to the door he had entered through, before hearing Luca whistle loudly. Whenever Luca whistled, it meant that there was something important that he wanted to mention which required attention. So, Tre turned.

“You know how this goes, boy. If you try to lick me i’ll track you down and gut that big shit brick-house looking motherfucker you came here with like a fish right in front of your eyes. You understand me?”

​

In collaboration with: TheTreForce and King Vioogra

 

[The Mad Queen]

The following is a collab between myself and Togy
Jenna O'Connor, Nile Crayman and Doctor Ralph Fisher​

The girl made her way through the house, still carrying the chickens under an arm each. Her bag was half-open now, allowing the two chickens inside to stick their beaks out and take in their new surroundings. She wondered where everyone else had got to, after all she'd need to fill their leader in on the farm.

Sure, it had been a waste of time and in the case of Brian and Marcus probably ammo too but at least they hadn't come away empty handed. As much as the outside could fool anyone, it was still Autumn so the chickens wouldn't slow down that much in terms of how many eggs they produced.

Walking through the lodge, humming to herself she stopped in her tracks in front of the fireplace. A man lay in front of it, one she didn't recognise at all. Jenna cleared her throat to get his attention.
"Where the hell did you come from?"

Uncurling from the fetal position, Nile rolled over to face her, looking like a disgruntled Kindergartener who's nap time was interrupted. "New York City. NYC. The big Apple. Brooklyn. Yadda yadda yadda" Nile said. "The real question is where the hell did you come from and why do you have chickens?" Nile said, gesturing vaguely at the chickens in her bag.

"I asked first." Jenna glared into the man's eyes, her face forming into a scowl "But if you just have to know, I have a very good reason for carrying these chickens."
One of the chickens in the bag let out a loud cluck, so Jenna reached her hand towards it and gently petted the bird under it's beak.
"Hush now. You're far away from those things now." She spoke to the bird like it was a frightened toddler, petrified at the monster hidden in it's closet.

When the bird seemed to calm down Jenna went back to glaring down at Nile.

Nile just stared blankly at her, having realised something very obvious about her. How did he not notice?
"The fuck's with the hair?" Nile asked, staring at her purple hair. He'd seen some weird hairstyles before, but just dying the entire thing purple?
"The fuck's with your face?" Jenna retorted
"Nice one. The originality of that insult just radiated across the room." Nile said sarcastically.

She had to admit, it wasn't her best work. "If you don't start answering my questions, it won't be the only thing radiating across this room. I'm going to wait till one of these chickens lays it's first egg, then show it so far up your arse you'll be crapping omelettes for a solid fortnight."
One of the chickens she held under her arms clucked, moving it's head from side to side as she tried to study the room.
"Is that clear? Or do you want me to write it down?"

"Bold of you to assume I can read" Nile said, finally getting up. "I can though, but really, assuming makes an ass out of you and me." Nile said "I'm not legally allowed to be here, there, or anywhere for that matter."
Jenna's eyes widened at the last part of Nile's statement. "The law doesn't matter much in Aurora anymore. The government has death squads executing citizens...What did you do to get locked up?"
"Drugs. Hardcore drugs" Nile stated simply.
"Alright." She shrugged "So these people might let you stick around. If it was something else they'd probably have tossed you out into the snow. Or worse." She shook her head "How the hell did you get in anyway?"

"Uh, what's his name over in the kitchen let me in to warm up. Thanks by the way!" Nile called through the house, not really caring if Ralph heard or not.

She glared into the kitchen, watching as Ralph walked back in holding a cup of coffee.
"Ah, so you've met Nile then?"
"You could say that."
"Nile, this is Jenna." He smiled, offering the man the cup. He wondered just where she had gotten the chickens from, but so long as they were healthy and could lay eggs he didn't really mind. Just so long as nobody got hurt retrieving them.

"Thanks" Nile said, quickly taking the coffee. He then began to chug it down in almost one gulp. Deciding not to mention the fact that it probably needed more milk, Nile decided to ask a question about a subject he'd just gotten sober enough to care about. "So what was up with those two guys beating the crap out of each other in the front yard?" Nile asked.

"I just got back from scouting so I missed that. Is everyone okay?" Jenna asked Fisher. The doctor was silent for a few moments, going a bit pale.
"What guys? What did you see?" He asked Nile.

"This Redhead just came out of nowhere and just started brawling with this Italian lookin' guy out in the yard" Nile said. "Any idea what was up with that?" Nile asked.

That was enough to send a shiver down Jenna's spine, even if she hid it. There was only one person she thought Nile could be referring to. "Fuck." She muttered
"That would be Luca and Owen." Ralph sighed. He'd spoken with Luca earlier though. Starting a fight for no reason seemed completely out of character for him. Sure, he yelled a lot and threatened violence but actually throwing down was beneath him. "Did you say the redhead started it? Do you know where they are now?"
"Uh, yeah, I think the redhead did. And, uh, I think one came in here? Shit, I dunno" Nile said with a shrug.
"Thanks." Ralph nodded, turning on his heels and running outside. He didn't know Owen well, in fact the two of them hadn't even talked but he'd gotten a good look at both him and Luca. Both were capable of dealing some serious damage, maybe even killing the other.

Jenna remained where she stood, gently setting her bag down and sitting on one of the chairs. If Luca was not only back, but getting into fights then she was living on borrowed time even more so than before. The four chickens that now rested nearby could be her only ticket between staying at the lodge and exile. Her thoughts moved to Nile next. An ex-con and drug addict would be in even more danger than her, a lot more.
"What can you do, Nile?" She asked "I don't want to frighten you but unless you can prove your worth to this group you might get kicked out. That's just how things go when shit hits the fan. If it were up to me or Ralph you'd stay but it's not our call."

"Ahhhh, I'm touched. Truly" Nile said, putting a hand over his heart. "And I'm an architect. I saw that dogshit child's drawing that disgraces the name of blueprints everywhere, and I've already fixed it. With what I've got planned, that, uh, whatever the hell it is, will be the definition of comfort and could survive a semi ramming into it. Oh! And I saw one episode of Breaking Bad, and that inspired me to cook up my own drugs. I accidentally found out how to make meds as well. Fun fact, did you know medicine expires? Like pain meds and such. When their expiration date comes around, I'd probably be one of the only ways to get them again. Just sayin'" Nile said.

"Yeah I know medicine expires, dipshit." Jenna rolled her eyes. At the very least her own meds were still good for a few years, but the majority of meds wouldn't last that long. "Maybe leave the drug part out for now. Save it as a last resort in case the architect part doesn't work as well as it should. So long as this group is building stuff, they'll need you and that's enough to keep you around."

Nile shrugged. "Eh, either they take me in or throw my sorry ass to the dead. I've been able to survive about a week in about the most fucked up part of town in that fucked up town." Nile said. "Oh, hang on, mind telling me something? What in god's name is that town called?" Nile asked.
"The dead are one thing, but the US government has hired a bunch of off the books mercenaries to act as a death squad. Containing the dead and killing all witnesses. Put a few bullets in my car when a bunch of us tried to leave Aurora."

"The fuck you mean the government's sending in kill squads!? I did not pay taxes for them to put a round in my head!" Nile said. "Well, given, if I did pay taxes.." Nile trailed off.
"Government's always use taxpayer money to fund fucked up shit, but death squads being used on their own people is a new low for the US." Jenna shrugged "I'm going to expose them once I escape this place." She looked into Nile's eyes "I'd leave out the part of being a prisoner altogether.It's too dangerous. From the very little I know about Luca, he threatened to break a man's leg, berated a competent soldier and now he's probably kicked the shit out of a ginger. You need to be more careful." If he kept running his mouth, oversharing information then he'd be left in the snow to freeze.

"He threatened to break a man's legs-Jesus, are you guys the baddies or something?" Nile said, a little unnerved about the description of their leader.
"There's literal death squads running around that massacred schoolchildren." Jenna gave a heavy shrug "Luca's in charge but so far nobody here wants to challenge him. Too scared I suppose."
Could that have been what the fight was about?
"So the best thing to do right now is to try and impress him. You've got your architecture so as long as you don't run your mouth you'll be safe."

"Uh, yeah, that won't be hard" Nile said, lying through his teeth. He had no idea when it was time to just shut up.
Jenna said nothing in response, merely squinting once more and then moving her gaze to that of her chickens. She heard the pitter patter of footsteps coming from one of the other rooms and smiled, as Cammy ran towards her. At first she was prepared to grab the chickens or even scold the dog in an attempt to keep her away from the birds but instead Cammy leapt through the air, landing on Jenna and knocking the air out of her.

"Fu- Hi, dog." She chuckled "Nile. This is Cammy."
The German Shepard ignored the man, focusing on Jenna and briefly smelling one of the chickens before turning away. The chickens were of little interest to her it seemed.
"Girl or boy?" Nile asked, watching the two.
"Girl." Jenna smiled "She wasn't even mine when this thing started. Found her out in Aurora."
"Neat. I had a German Shephard once too. Named her Tasha" NIle said. "She was about that big when I last saw her" Nile said, pointing to Cammy. "That was when I was 15 though. She's long dead by now" Nile said.


"Oh." Her smile dropped "I'm sorry."
"Eh, it was 19 years ago. Remembering her is like remembering my first hamster that died within the day I got it" Nile said with a shrug.
"Hamsters are harder to take care of than a lot of people think." She shrugged "Yeah same could be said about any pet." She gently patted behind Cammy's ears while the dog curled up on her lap. "But I'd say there's something very different about dogs."

Nile scratched the back of his head as he watched the dog furiously wag it's tail. "Well, looks like there's nothing here for me, so adios, I'm going to go critique this shitty house." Nile said as he left the Living Room. Heading into the kitchen, he saw a concerningly unprotected window. "Do these people seriously not know how to board up a damn window?" Nile muttered as he began rummaging around the kitchen doors. He used to keep some tools in the unused kitchen drawers back at home, so if the people here were anything like him, they'd have some there too.
And turns out they did. Niles found a pen, sticky notes, and measuring tape. Walking over to the window, Nile used the tape and pen to mark equally distanced lines to tell whoever comes by where boards would be placed. He clarified such by writing it on a sticky note and sticking it next to the window. "Alright onto the next" Nile said as he left the kitchen and headed for the next window.

Outside, Ralph looked around for either Luca or Owen, unaware that they had already been tended to by Hector. Spotting some blood in the snow, he went pale again and made his way back into the house through the front door. What he'd discovered about the parasite mere minutes ago still lingered in his mind, but the first priority was to see to the wounded.

 

[Hyped_Taco]

​

After the talk Cletus had back at the ¨camp¨ with Aderyn, he decided it was needed to go out hunting again, the canned food they had brought from home was running low, and Dixie wasn't helping in rationing it. He walked to his truck and grabbed the two things he knew he needed, his trusty 336C and good ol´ Caroline, the revolver his Pa had given him so many years ago. Before leaving he told Aderyn with his deep southern accent ¨Welp, I´m out to hunt kiddo, wanna come?¨. Aderyn agreed, holstering her handgun, and shouldering her bag. She checked quickly to make sure she had all of her things, scampering behind Cletus, as she had no desire to be alone with Dixie.

Cletus now walked through the thinly snowy floor of the woods and had several questions already, but the most important one at this moment was ¨Uhhh… Kid? Why did you just climb a tree?¨ he would get it if she was trying to hide, but from who? There was no way they could be that close to other people, and even if there were then the poorly concealment she had made with the leafless branches would have given her away immediately, but he said nothing, as to not upset her game or whatever she was doing. Aderyn considered his question for a second, looking a bit amused, and staring down at him. “Oh, no, I just want to watch out for you - and, well, not scare any game away. I’m not going to kill anything with a handgun.”

They were up a tiny hill when he saw it ¨Down, kiddo, and pay attention cause that´s what we´ll eat tonight¨ He said to Aderyn after the sight of the deer, he thanked the deer as he had done with the rabbit from earlier while starting to point at it with his Rifle, he held his gun tight, put his finger over the trigger and took his shot. Aderyn nodded - she’d been moving fluidly from tree to tree, as most of their branches intermingled, and pressed herself against the tree trunk as he shot.

¨Aw shit I failed I-¨ the redneck said before he saw the deer fall to its side ¨-t… fuck yeah, we having dinner tonight¨ Cletus celebrated before seeing that a smaller creature approached the deer, without thinking too much about it he grabbed his rifle once more and pointed ¨Kid, I think you brought me luck, out here hunting¨ he shot and failed again. But before he could curse about it he saw how the other ¨deer¨ had red hair, a black jacket and was actually another human being ¨Aderyn...I think that ain´t a deer.”

The girl steeled herself as the gunshots roared, twice in quick succession, against the noise. She’d opened her mouth to warn him not to shoot, but wasn’t quite quick enough, and… well, fuck. “Yeah. No shit.”

She swung down from her arms, letting go, and hitting the ground with a thud. Straightening her legs, she booked it towards the woman, standing a few feet away. There was no way to know if she was infected, after all. “Are you… alright?”
--
The human voices sent fear shooting through Andrea’s nervous system. She was well prepared to avoid undead, but her biggest fear about coming into the woods had been the potential of running into more soldiers, it was one of the reasons she had brought Colt Along in the first place. If they were under attack by too many, this would be where her adventure ended.

However, relief was brought in the form of a child’s voice. The girl was standing in the distance, like anyone with half a brain would in these circumstances. Andy stood, holding her blood-covered knife in one hand, and her cheek in the other. Thankfully, it appeared at first glance that the bullet had just grazed her. It took her several minutes to absorb her surroundings.

“I’m fine,” The woman responded cooly. Andy was in disbelief that she had been shot by a child. Who taught this hooligan how to work a gun? Her eyes settled on the man in the distance holding the rifle and her eyes narrowed. From the sounds of things, it sounded like he had been aiming for the deer that Colt had already downed.

“Do I look like a god damn deer to you?” Andy growled, rolling her emerald eyes and closing the distance between herself and the male. “Have you ever seen a deer with bright red hair before? Or do they breed animals differently in whatever backwater place an illborn, illiterate, piece of shit hillbilly like you comes from?” His voice was like nails on a chalkboard to Andrea. Where both Leli and Colt’s accents were mellow and kind of nice, this one was so thick she had a hard time wrapping her head around it.
--
¨Well shit¨ Cletus said, moments after realizing he had almost shot a gal on her face, he needed to think of what to do quickly ¨Alright Aderyn, here´s the plan, we turn around and run awa- wait, why are you going towards them?!¨ now, he wasn´t about to leave Aderyn with these people so running away was no longer an option.

With his rifle strongly gripped between his hands, he began to walk towards the other group, then he noticed the red-haired gal he just shot approaching him at a rapid speed, closing the distance between the two.

They were a mere few meters apart when she asked him if she looked like a deer ¨Uhhhh… no, you ain't look like a deer what´cha ask that for?¨ he quickly responded to her, before noticing she only said that to start insulting him. Now, he wasn´t expecting a verbal fight with her, but Cletus was not about to back down from this confrontation like if he were some kind of pussy “Even if I knew what ‘illiterate’ was, I wouldn’t be offended. Besides, all I saw was your fat fuckin’ ass in the brush, ‘n it looked like a dang ‘ol deer! Thicker than my momma after our tradition of eatin’ a big ol’ Thanksgivin’ alligator.”.

--

The laugh that escaped the red head’s lips was dry and sarcastic, it echoed up her vocal cords with strained resistance. Her emerald eyes summersulted in the most exaggerated eye roll she could muster, and one finger came up to poke him sharply in the middle of his chest.

“Well, speaking I don’t think we share any relation, I don’t really think you have any right to be looking at my ass.” Another jab. “Listen you inbred hillbilly. I don’t know how they do things where degenerates like you come from, but here if we accidentally shoot someone we offer apologies.” She gestured to the bleeding spot on her cheek where the man had grazed her. The shot had been too close to comfort, any closer and it could have been fatal.

“Really, you should be thankful I don’t let my friend here,” Andy shot a thumb over her shoulder back towards Colt. “...Shoot you in your stupid fucking disrespectful mouth.” Andy turned her attention to the young girl standing near them.

“Are you okay? Is this asshole bothering you?” The idea that someone so young was safe with someone as moronic as this man had proven himself to be was absurd, but she asked the question anyway.

---

Aderyn looked at Andy, anger flashing in her eyes as they threatened to shoot Cletus; he hadn’t opted to shoot Aderyn, after all, and that inspired at least the tiniest bit of loyalty. She stared at the other girl for a second, opening her mouth, closing it. Opening her mouth, with a much less pointed retort readied, this time.

“...I’m okay with him, actually. Although, uh..” She took a second, a breath, and the next words flurried out of her. “If you have a place to stay that’d be pretty nice because right now we’re in a truck in the middle of the woods and I couldn’t get to the school to get out of here and also I’m pretty sure his wife hates me.” She shot Cletus an apologetic, flustered look, face reddening. “If you don’t want to answer that’s okay, I mean, he did just… shoot you. And all that. And he shared food with me so I think we’re okay if I’m honest.”

---

The laugh that came out of the red head´s mouth upset Cletus, he had just insulted her back why was she laughing now?, it could be seen on his face that the laugh had caught him off guard. And when she poked him in the chest it gave him chills down his spine, for some reason he had always been disturbed by that action.

¨Uhhh… yeah, we don´t share any relation and god damn when I said I saw your ass I did not mean it literally you thirsty motherfucker¨ He just wanted to get that out of the way, he had a beautiful wife back in the camp and by the laws of god looking at another woman would be considered as cheating to him. Cletus calmed down and keep thinking, why did he exactly insult the gal back for? he almost fucking shot her in the face so her anger was a bit justified.

He heard another insult and threat from her, but it really didn´t affect him, both sides seemed to be reasonable enough to not start shooting each other at each other, so it was clear to him that a confrontation had been avoided thankfully

Aderyn responded to the red head´s question, and Cletus decided to try and make up for the fact he almost fucking headshot the girl ¨So ya´ll… I´m like sorry I shoot ya by accident, I´ve got a few cans of soup back in my camp plus I could give you a rifle for the blondie over there if you want it¨ Cletus said while pointing at Leli ¨A handgun ain´t of much use for hunting and honestly if she encounters something like a moose, what is she exactly gonna do? throw the darn thing at it?¨

Interacted (?): FireMaiden Leli Rumble Fish Colt

 

[Brax]

​

“What the fuck?” Tre asked, making an exaggerated facial expression that mirrored his confusion. “The fuck do you think I am man?” The kid felt personally attacked, as though Luca believed he had only brought up the trip in order to take some shit and escape. Luca, on the other hand, was well aware of who Tre was. At the end of the day, however, he was an impressionable teen and Luca didn’t know Warren enough to give him even a smidgen of his trust.

“I know who you are and you heard what I said. Now go.”

The young man kept his eyes fixated on Luca momentarily, whose stare was unwavering. He exited the room while shaking his head, avoiding the rest of the interactions going on in the living room and turning to look at Warren. Well, if anything came from that conversation it was a green light. They were good to go as they wanted. Coming back with the requested items would at least have to partially prove to Luca his allegiance, right?

“Gotta grab some dude out back but we good to go.” Light hues looked down to the resting boy, his head of platinum hair resting slightly to the side. “Jonas, you comin’. Luca’s orders.” Of course Tre was lying here, but Jonas was someone who he figured was worthy of trust. After spending the previous night talking, Tre had a pretty good idea about just who Jonas was.

A minute later, the three men had exited the lodge through the backdoor in the kitchen. Upon walking outside, Tre’s eyes locked onto the man that Luca had been talking about. It must have been him, mostly because he was the only person who was out of shape. He happened to be standing around like an asshole doing absolutely nothing, so the timing worked out perfectly. Tre whistled loudly, bringing his thumb and pinky fingers to his lips in preparation.

“Ayo, chunk! We goin’ out on a run. Luca’s orders. Go get yo’ shit ready.”

Michael was still dizzy and confused from the fall he had earlier ¨Did I leave through the front or the back door?¨ he asked himself, not even sure of his exact location. Yet, he remembered the only important thing at the moment, and that was that breakfast was indeed not ready yet, or perhaps they ate it while he was knocked out outside the RV…rude.

The neckbeard really didn't have anything to do so he decided to get back to sleep, things seemed calm to him at the moment at least, it's not like there would have been a fight or something in the short time that he had been asleep or something right?. Michael turned around only to see 2 men and what seemed to be a teen getting out of the lodge and walking to his direction.

In the few days that Michael had been at the lodge he had learned a crucial thing, the few times people had started an interaction with him was either one of two things, 1) He fucked up or 2) they needed him to do something. And he would be correct, as the teen gave him orders to go with the group for god knows what ¨chunk?¨ Michael asked himself, he had heard many ways of people calling him fat, hell even comparing his head to an ostrich egg but chunk? ¨Hey so uhhh sure I'll grab my stuff but just tell me one thing, Who the fuck is Luca?¨ Michael told Tre while trying to remember where he left his katana at.

Warren stopped right outside the door and stood with an annoyed look plastered to his face. This shit was getting frustrating real fast. He didn't have the time or patience to take everyone on a fuckin field trip of sorts. Asking Tre to go with him had turned into him babysitting a handful of incapables as well. This tub that stood before him was clearly much more than a handful though. "Alright, I don't give a shit who's going, but if you are, shut up and get ready to head out." His tone simmered down when he turned to Tre, "We're gonna need a car, try to get that handled. Ask your buddy Luca if you want or just grab some keys." The man's attention went back to the lot of them, "I wanna be out of here in about 5 minutes, get whatever shit you need and come back out here." Warren's weight fell on the wall of the lodge and he shoved his hands into the depths of his jacket pockets. His eyes observed the two that he didn't know to see if they would comply.

Jonas gave a mild groan before finally getting up off of the couch and following the sound of Tre's voice. He was mildly hungover from the night before, thanks to the cognac the other teen had offered, but it likely wouldn't become a liability.

"Fine, what are we going out for again?" The teenager asked once he found where they were. He rubbed his eyes again and sighed before shifting his gaze between the three of his companions.

"We're so fucked."

 

[TheTreForce]

Ray and Milly
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

​

"Goodness gracious" The old man shook his head as Hector brought the young man inside. It was then when Nile came out of nowhere and started spewing nonsense. Ralph thankfully stepped up to take control of this one and Ray just sat back as he listened to the man, presumably on drugs, try to get his words together. Ray turned to head inside. Should probably check on the girls to make sure they're alright.


He followed Ralph inside and approached the little girl, Milly. The newcomer curled up by the fire and Ray watched, assuming the man was freezing. "Hey Milly, how are you doing?"


Milly remained silent, holding onto her bear as she watched the man being taken inside and put in front of the fire. What was wrong with him? The younger girl was rather alarmed about the amount of noise and people so retreated into the kitchen. As she stood there, the older man Ray approached her. She had not spoken to Ray much since he had arrived, but he had a kind manner.

​

“Uh.. I’m okay.” she mumbled before glancing to the floor, “Just… everything is so,” she was unsure how to describe what she was thinking. None of this made any sense to her whatsoever. Were all adults this unpredictable?


“Everything’s… too much.”


Ray took a seat next to the child, hoping to divert her attention from the guy by the fireplace and the bloodied figures from the brawl. "Yeah, I fully agree with you.. Doesn't really feel like home." He paused before giving her a warm smile, "Would you like to help me cook up some lunch for everybody?"


Milly’s eyes fluttered a little at the man’s words. It relaxed her a little, knowing that somebody else felt the same way she did. Too many times, Milly felt as though she was the only one who felt the way she did. Her mum said something about her being… different to other people, but wouldn't specify how.


She stimmed a little in thought, rubbing her hands together in a consistent fashion before looking up at the older man as he asked for help in making lunch, “what are we making?” She chirped as she followed him a little.


"Well, let's see what we've got in stock here," He got up from the seat and noticed Milly immediately get up to follow him. The cabinets were opened and checked one after another, with the fridge being the last stop. "Hmm," His hand moved a few condiments and various other food items to get a better look at the rest. "Not much to work with here.. We're gonna need to go on a food supply run soon." The old man stood up straight and turned to the little girl, "I think I've got an idea though."


His hands found some ingredients for his meal and assorted them on the counter top, "We've got a little bit of chicken.. do you like quesadillas?"


Milly sat on one of the chairs in the kitchen as she watched Ray search around. She had seen people sit on the table before, but they never said it was alright for her to do so. She tilted her head as he talked about needing food.


“Um… Andy, Leliana and Colt are hunting. Jenna and Brian are… I don't know.” She said outloud, though it was mostly to assure herself rather than tell Ray. He probably knew already. The younger lady tilted her head at the mention of quesadillas.


“Mum would make quesadillas today.” She said as she looked around the room. First the eggs and now quesadillas? Milly knew better than to assume they knew her routine. But it did reassure the youngster to have something resembling home. But the more she thought about it, the heavier her heart felt. She stayed quiet and just watched Ray.


"Yeah, I hope they manage to come back with a nice deer or maybe Michael's elk." He let out a small chuckle, "We're gonna need more than just meat though." He started opening a bag of tortillas, "Don't worry about Jenna, Brian, and Marcus; they'll be alright." Ray set a frying pan on the stove over medium-high heat and gathered the tortillas, pre-cooked chicken, and cheese. Milly's last remark about her mother caused him to reply in a brighter voice, an involuntary response that came natural to Ray when talking to children. "Oh, is that so? Does your mom cook a lot?," He tried to avoid using the word 'did', it might imply her passing and he knew nothing of the status of Milly's mother.


Milly nodded, knocking her knees together a little. “She cooks every day. I like quesadillas. She'd make them today, and then tomorrow she'd make spaghetti and meatballs, then the next day she would…” she slowed down in her speech before stopping. The youngster sighed heavily.


“I miss her so much…” she sighed quietly, looking down at the floor.


Ray paused what he was doing and turned to face her, "I'm sorry Milly.." The man's eyes followed her's to the floor before looking back up to her gloomy face, "When was the last time you saw her?" Ray knew it was kind of a dangerous question, but felt that it was necessary to get her to talk about it. He wasn't a stranger to loss, himself.


Milly looked at the man’s kind gaze as he asked her when she had last seen her mother. Hues glanced back downward as a heaved sigh left her nose. She didn't want to talk about it. But… he had asked her. And, it was rude to ignore someone right?


“At the motel…” she sighed quietly, “she put me in one of the bathrooms, saying she was going to get help.” She paused, her breathing becoming shaky as she thought about it. She could still remember it vividly. Her mother’s firm tone, her begging her to stay and to not leave her, that one last hug before she vanished… the younger girl wrapped her arms around herself, eyes still firmly on the ground.


A short pause followed the girl's last words; her uneasiness was noted by Ray. "I think it's safe to say that you have a close relationship with your mom.. The bond you both share and the time you have had together is a blessing. Don't ever forget that, even in these trying times of being apart from her." He took a couple steps away from the counter and knelt down, "Do you have a picture of her? I could keep an eye out for her the next time I go back out there." His face formed another kind smile, directed at her.


“Mhm,” Milly mumbled in response as she went into her rucksack. Her mum had put their house keys in there and there was a small picture of them both inside it. Taking the keys out, she handed them to the older man. “Her name’s Eleanor.” She added. Eleanor herself looked a lot like Milly, just taller, older and her hair was shorter. Milly’s eyes fluttered a little as she looked back up at Ray.


“I just hope nothing had happened to her.”


Ray's head cocked to the side a little to get a good look at the picture, "Wow, you look so much like her." His gaze shifted back to Milly, "Listen young one, your mom loves you and if she's out there, she's not going to stop for anything until she finds you. Sometimes.. all we can hold on to is hope. Hope that this will all end, hope that our loved ones are doing alright, hope that we will come out the other side a better person.. I understand your struggle and worry Milly. Years ago I had to face loss and solitude when my son passed. He's been gone for a long time but it will never not hurt when I find myself reminiscing about those times.. I found my hope and the way to move on, but not without years of struggling. Your mother may still be out there.. and I will do anything I can to help you. We just have to be strong and hope." His hand found rest on the little girl's shoulder.


Milly remained quiet as Ray spoke, the only time she responded was upon hearing about his son where she let out a small squeak, putting a hand on the old man’s. She did not know what she could say to him that would make him feel better, what could she say?


As he then offered to help her, the younger girl was blinking back tears. Something about his words and demeanor caused her to become a little emotional. She gave him a small smile as he put his hand on hers. “Thank you Ray,” she said, her voice shaking a little but she still tried to keep that smile up.


"Anytime." He returned his own smile back to her. After pulling his hand back, he scooted back over to the stove top. The first tortilla made contact with the hot pan and was sprinkled with cheese and chicken. A single fold and a flip prepared the half-circle shaped food for consumption and Ray slid the spatula under it to set it on a plate, "Why don't you give this to that man over there and let everyone know that food is about to be ready." He signalled to Nile and offered her the plate that smelled of hot, melted cheese and chicken.



Milly smiled at the man as he finished cooking and handed her a plate to give to the man Ralph had just brought in. With a slight twinkle in her eye, she hopped down from the chair and did as she had been told. Making her way into the living room, she paused at the man before darting her eyes, a little anxious to be speaking to another stranger. There had been too many. But Ray told her to, so…


“Um… this is for you.” She said softly as she gave him the plate before scampering to the sofa and sitting. Milly pulled her knees to her chest. The smell of food should be enough to entice people to the kitchen. She would wait until others ate before she did. As she sat, she noticed Jenna and Brian returning. The youngster chirped excitedly and jogged out to greet them, finally some familiar faces.


“Jenna!” She greeted the purple haired woman before pausing for a second, wait… something was amiss. “...where's Marcus?”


The Mad Queen Togy

 

[BloodThunder27]

Agent Brian Rousseau
Age: 36
Location: Lodge Interactions: Milly Rumble Fish
Mentioned: Jenna The Mad Queen , Michael Hyped_Taco

A Somber Return
While they were running, Brian ended up getting separated from the group. Having no time to look back, he simply kept running. Low on ammunition, he now had to be wiser about his shots. He was down to his final mag for the Rifle and last two for his Side-arm. Hopefully they could find more ammunition. Eventually he had managed to lose the infected, but also lost track of Marcus and Jenna. He could only hope that they were okay as he made it back to the lodge, exhausted. While Jenna and the chickens had made it back in a sound manner, he didn't see Marcus. His heart sank when there was no sign of him. Did he get infected on the way back and decided to go off on his own until he turns? Or did he legitimately get lost on the way back...or worse, did he get cornered and killed by the infected? No, maybe there were patrolling hazmats in the area and they got to him...Oh no... With such thoughts clouding his mind, Brian was at a loss for words. A dark feeling came upon him as Milly came out to greet Jenna... and he completely frowned when she asked about Marcus...

What was he or Jenna going to say? Brian was at a complete loss for words. They had lost him while away. He couldn't bring himself to lie to Milly. No, lying to a child was completely wrong. While Brian was trained in deception, he still had a heart and a conscience. He also greatly doubted that CIA Agents had their humanity as he did. Unable to look at Milly, or even say anything. Shaking his head, Brian just walked towards the camper that he still shared with Super-Thickness...

In hopes that the obese man was not inside, he opened the door to the camper. Empty. Where did he go? Shrugging, he climbed into the camper, closing the door and setting his rifle down. Taking off his blazer, he tossed it to the side before unstrapping his wrist blade and setting it aside along with his handgun. Raising his sleeves, he just sat down in his makeshift bed, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes, wondering on what to do next.

 

[Maj]

​

October 22, 2018
late morning
In the woods a few miles from the lodge


If she was being honest with herself, Andy wasn’t entirely sure how she had ended up here. One moment she was cursing out this buffoon of a man, and the next her and the group were dragging the deer back to Cletus’ RV. The child was likely the cause of her sudden change of attitude. If Andy had been able to have her way she would have had sucker punched that guy in the gut, stollen his gun, and left him in the woods. However, those blue eyes had looked up at her and asked about a place to stay, and Andy didn’t have the heart to tell her no. Besides, living out in the woods with some strange redneck was no place for her.

It was after their conversation in the woods that they had learned that the man’s wife had gotten sick. She was back at his RV resting, but he also had some non perishables and extra guns. They were in pretty good supply when it came to weaponry, but with all the new faces it would do them some good to have more. The larger the group grew the more of a chance there was for someone to discover their presence. They would need to be able to defend their homestead. Canned goods were also in high demand because while Andy could supply meat, that would help stave away the sickness that would come as winter set further in to the Colorado landscape.

Andy and Leliana were in the RV now, standing over a raggedly breathing woman. The redhead didn’t trust Leliana alone with a woman they had never met, but felt Colt more capable of keeping an eye on the two strangers outside. They had done them a kindness by coming here, one she hoped that she wouldn’t regret. It was entirely possible that they were just trying to ambush them, but since they had approached her after grazing her cheek instead of taking a second shot, Andy tended to believe that was not the case.

The woman, she had been told, was named Dixie. She slept on the RV bed, blankets thrown from her form in her fever despite the chill in the vehicle. Her skin was flushed and pink, and without touching her Andy could tell how sick she was. She radiated heat that could be felt in the close quarters of the RV, arm tossed over her forehead at the crook of the elbow, desperately looking for comfort that wouldn’t come.

“This looks bad,” Andy spoke softly, as to not wake the woman. Leli was doing her best to examine her with what little medical supplies she had brought with them. The gauze that was now taped to the side of her face was proof enough that the blonde’s ability to come prepared was a god-send.

Conflicted didn’t begin to cover how she felt. On one hand these people had valuable resources that could be an asset to her people. Food, guns, extra living space in the form of another RV. However, bringing this woman to the lodge risked infecting the others with some unknown sickness. It was true, they had doctors aplenty and lots of medical supplies after their last run. But without proper facilities, she wondered if they would able to keep it from spreading.

The woman shifted uncomfortably in her sleep again, tossing over to her side. The nightshirt she wore shifted up her uncovered leg and Andy’s eyes fell on the disfigured visage of the woman’s ankle. The skin was red hot, inflamed with infection. The deep oozing wounds made the perfect semicircle of a human mouth. Dark red flakes of skin speckled her pale flesh where the wound had tried to scab and failed, scraped clean by subconscious fingernails digging at the infection. Andy was no doctor, but by the green puss building under the surface of her skin she could surmise that this was the cause of the woman’s sickness.

“Leliana, look.” Andy guided the girl’s gaze to the wound. “She’s been bitten.”

Interactions: FireMaiden
Mentions: Rumble Fish Hyped_Taco Meredith

 

[The Mad Queen]

Jenna O'Connor: The Lodge​

The girl had drifted off a little. The adrenaline from the farm had worn off, and the fact that the German Shepard was lying across her didn't help either, her fur soothing Jenna into slumber. The chickens kept to themselves, pacing around Jenna's feet and clucking as they observed their new surroundings. She shot up a little as Milly called her name.

"W-what?" She gently shook her head "Marcus isn't here?"
She rolled her eyes and sighed heavily "Shit."
He'd followed her through the woods, keeping close. He may not have been a soldier but his dad was, and he was very much his father's son. It was escorting a civilian through a warzone while Brian fell behind.
With her arms full it wasn't like Jenna would have been able to defend herself that well anyway, not without risking the loss of one of the chickens. It would have meant the trip to the farm was for nothing.

Cammy leaned forwards, starting to sniff the young girl while her tail wagged but jumped down off of Jenna as the girl stood up and dusted herself off. That was when she stopped, feeling something in her back pocket. If her arms weren't full she would have slapped Marcus earlier, and if the woods weren't full of the dead she would have torn him a new one with words alone.
He'd been placing something in her back pocket of course, and the girl reached in to find it. A rolled up note with bad handwriting. Given his missing eye, a lack of depth perception could lead to something like that, or perhaps Marcus just had messy handwriting to begin with.

On the front read two words:

For Colt

It wasn't for her blue piercing eyes to see.
"You wouldn't know where Colt is, would you?" Jenna asked Ray

TheTreForce Rumble Fish

 

[FireMaiden]

​

Location: The Woods/Celtus' RV
Interaction: Maj (Andy)
Mentioned/In The Area: Hyped_Taco (Cletus) Rumble Fish (Colt) Meredith (Aderyn)
The last little bit had been a bit confusing if Leliana was honest. Andy got shot, then some backwater Alabaman insulted her which was just rude. And, Leliana was sure she had escaped these types of people when she moved away from the south, but no, here was the embodiment of "The South will Rise Again" standing in front of them. Then, on top of all that, they were heading off to his camp, but being brought back to the man's RV was proving more interesting than she originally thought. And of course, drummer than just a woman with a common cold. His wife was sick, deathly so, that much was painfully clear, however without clarity or that man Cletus present, Leliana didn't know how long ago she had fallen ill. The woman was pale, feverish, having trouble breathing and her consciousness paired with delirium when she could mutter something, made Leliana believe the woman was septic. But there was something more...Andy pointing out the bite only worsened her suspicions about this mysterious disease. "She has the symptoms of blood poisoning, septicemia, " Leliana told Andy, used to making her observations heard. Her eyes drifted down to the bite on the woman's ankle, gently rolling her foot. The woman groaned slightly in discomfort, trying to pull away but she didn't have the strength. "I've never seen a bite like this before, human or otherwise. You don't have reactions like unless.." The wheels in Leliana's head were turning faster than she knew what to do with.

"Andy I have a bad feeling about this, like really bad, " She muttered, aware the wan was not conscious to understand what she was saying. "Remember how Ralph said it was a parasite? When he did that autopsy on Rouge? This is a human bite, I can tell from what flesh is still intact from what had been ripped away. Human bites don't do this, that just doesn't happen. So she was attacked by one of those people who have come back from death, that's the only fucking reason I can think of since she doesn't have any other recent wounds. And originally, I thought maybe it was just death that triggered it, allowing the parasite to infect the recently deceased, and take over before to much damage had been done, " She paused in case Andy needed a moment, before taking a breath to continue. "Seeing this, knowing that this woman hasn't been the only one, and having seen how those things act, what if that isn't the case? Maybe...well...some of my ideas are the type I should share with someone who knows more about the topic than I do." Leliana went for the makeshift first aid kit, pulling out a small flash light. She reached up, gently pulling open one of the woman's eyes, before shining the light into it. Bloodshot, pupils dilated, and not responding correctly to the light. On top of that, her eyes were not a normal color, yet they weren't yet describeable. "Andy, we need to get this woman to Ralph. I have theories, but he's the one who knows about diseases. And this...I can't do anything for her, not with what I have with me. Honestly, I doubt any of us can do anything for her, her fever is too high, and her heart is racing beyond what any human's should be capable of."

 

[Meredith]

Aderyn
Location: Cletus' RV
Interaction: Hyped_Taco (Cletus), Rumble Fish (Colt)
Mentioned/In The Area: Maj (Andy), FireMaiden (Leliana)

The walk back to the truck had been short but tense. Everyone was angry with Cletus, and quite frankly, Aderyn absolutely understood why. She was appalled that he'd started trash talking back, seeing as he'd shot that woman - Andy. Two of their group had went into the RV, to check on Dixie, which made her nervous. If she started spewing vitriol at them - well, Aderyn might have decided to leave Cletus there entirely, as she doubted he would leave his wife behind.

She considered coming in after them to preemptively apologize for Dixie's shitty behavior.
Starting to move towards the RV, she stopped in her tracks, something instinctively halting her. Rash action on the streets had never served her well. Instead, it had gotten her scars, both inside and out.

Instead, she took a moment to reflect, letting herself feel the cold seeping into her bones. She was in nothing but a raggedy sweater and a heavy shirt; suitable for the autumn, maybe, but certainly not for the depths of winter. There was one positive to being cold - it was sharp, painful, and those sorts of things gave clarity. She pulled her hands out of her pockets, where they had been tightly curled, seeking warmth - and she examined her chapped (and now again bleeding) knuckles. They don't trust us, right? I wouldn't trust me right now. She turned back towards the woman on guard, who hadn't seemed to notice her movement. instead, she was preoccupied with something in the woods. Quietly, Aderyn approached her, examining her carefully. She had a roughness about her. Something strong, or broken, and strong again. The kind of person who might take pride in her work, her hobbies, or anything else she could lay claim to. Perfect.

She was shifting - something Aderyn could only chalk up to the cold - but that would make it easier to butter her up, wouldn't it? Any interaction should be a welcome distraction from the snow, and cold, and altogether shitty-ass winter. Aderyn loved the wintertime, once, before she had to find a place to sleep in it. That puts a damper on the magic of snowfall.

The handgun drew her attention. Somebody who carried openly (unlike her, who carried under her sweater) and had managed to keep hold of their weapons during the absolute chaos of the past few days was probably skilled. A hobby, maybe? Something that a woman like this one might care very deeply about.
"That's a Colt, isn't it? My dad taught me to shoot in our basement. We had a little range down there. I've got a handgun, too."

She pulled the gun from her belt, consciously pointing it towards the ground away from the woman. She detached the magazine, sliding it into her pocket, and opened the slide - sweeping with her finger to check for any remaining ammunition. Finding none, she closed the slide with a click, offering the pistol to the woman. "You can't keep it, of course, but.. if you'd like to take a look."

It was a glock, older, and clearly well-used at the range. Not by Aderyn - she had picked it up under what could only be described as terrible circumstances - but still. It looked innocent enough at first glance, but closer examination would reveal some dried blood on the underside of the grip; a place where clenched hands would not rub it off. It had not been cleaned recently, either from a lack of tools or lack of expertise, but had not been shot either. There was a crude engraving just above the trigger, obviously done by hand with a pin or some other only slightly sharp object, that simply read Dad. "Did you like to shoot? Before all this, I mean."

 

[Rumble Fish]

It had been a confusing period of minutes as the mood shifted from calm, to panicked, to a back and forth and now tension as Colt knew that the woman, who she heard being called Dixie was being assessed by both Andy and Leli inside the RV while she was assigned to keep watch outside. Her cargo pants, zipped up army jacket and matching cap made her more akin to that of a mossy trunk with a Colt .45 in its branches, five twigs gripping it protectively. Every now and again she would shift her weight from foot to… well not foot. Perhaps it was the terrain, but the pain that was ever present on her severed limb had become worse. Not that she wanted to let others on.

As she stood stoically, Colt’s gaze drifted to a lone figure moving through the trees. It emerged, some distance away, revealing itself as a silver she-wolf. Colt froze as the beast raised her head, watching with her knowing and hawkish gaze. Small ears perked upward and a black snout twitched. Neither side broke their gaze. The wolf was favouring a leg and her silver snout was stained copper red, no doubt from a struggle. It seemed the humans of Aurora were not the only ones struggling at this time. This wolf was like them; like herself, simply looking for a place to rest and be safe. The marine sighed and lowered her weapon.

“Y’and me both pardner…” she mumbled as the wolf seemed to lose interest in them, seeing no threat as she turned away. With bounding lopes and the fall of snow from shaken trees, she was gone. A silver phantom vanishing into the mist. It was a few moments before Colt finally drifted back into the living. How did a morning of hunting turn into this? She had been so close to shooting that redneck, given he had almost killed Andy. Colt held no love or sense of loyalty to Luca, but she did to Andy. She would have done it, if given the command. But the firey redhead was extinguished by the child and the sick woman. The woman’s eye twitched, Afghanistan had been full of these kinds of situations. They were always complex, and never ended well.

Colt’s moody thoughts were interrupted by the chirps of the child, Adryne (at least she thought it was that) questioning her on her firearm. Colt raised it, admiring the barrel with the running horse galloping across its golden and black sheen. She glanced down at the girl.

“Um… Colt.45 yeah. It uh, it was my friend’s.” thankfully she was spared the dwelling on those words as the youngster continued to rattle on about her own experiences with guns, almost expertly unloading hers and offering it to inspect. Colt made a short noise in her throats at her instance that she was not giving it to her to keep.

“Hm…” she hummed as she took it to look at, “Glock 17, reliable thing. I got a couple of them too. Y’see ta know yer way ‘round a gun well enough.” However, her impressed thoughts only showed themselves as a raise of her shaggy eyebrows. She turned the gun over, only to notice something that almost made the Marine’s scarred face turn pale. Blood, dried in blood! If she had been drunk this would have meant nothing but, well, she wasn't (if you count roughly 65% of lucidity as sober) Colt gulped and she quickly handed the gun back, knowing that if she held it any longer it would result in an anxiety attack.

“Bloo-! Wait, me? Yes.” She shook her head a little, still looking at her hand praying none had rubbed off, “I'm was a marine. So yeah I still shoot.” She added, hopping that would satisfy her. Talking to anyone younger than eighteen was not something that came easy to the laconic veteran, but it was an attempt right? She turned her head a little as she could vaguely hear Leliana and Andy speak. Tonal wise, it sounded grim. Colt simply sighed regretfully and turned back to the girl.

"How'd y'end up in this mess anyways?"

Interactions: Meredith
Mentions/near: Maj FireMaiden Hyped_Taco ​

 

[Brax]

​

“Luca’s the guy who calls the shots, Jabba.”

This was less of a surprise to Tre, as he had known the man in his former life. There would be plenty of time to explain further, but for now it was time to move. The kid’s sentiments were mirrored when Warren audibly made a push for the group to get a move on. When he mentioned the keys to the van outside, Tre put a hand to his chin momentarily in thought. Then, he snapped his fingers and turned around. Knowing Luca, they were probably still in the ignition with the car turned off. It wasn’t his car, he probably didn’t give a fuck about it. How else did he expect them to get on?

Another warm house call to Luca wasn’t necessary. They’d go. Tre left the two to gather anything they might be before the group of four reconvened out front. Michael was by far the slowest one to get his shit together, as the group had been waiting nearly ten minutes for him to find his Katana and make it outside. Tre watched as his chubby fingers - the result of too much water and salt in the fat man’s system - gripped the rail. He took each step down slower than the next, the kid’s eyes fixated on the man as he wobbled up to the minivan. Warren was already in the driver’s seat, impatiently waiting as Tre grabbed the passenger side door and opened it for himself. When everyone was finally inside, the dread-headed youth turned back to face Michael from the front seat.

Jonas snickered at Tre’s nickname for the fat guy. He walked back into the lodge quickly, grabbing his backpack off the coffee table and going back out to the van. He grabbed the door handle and pulled on it. The door came out before sliding down the length of the van. “Which soccer mom did we rob for this van again?” The teenager said with a short chortle as he climbed into the van, making sure to go all the way to the back of the van, as not to be crushed by Tubby.

“It’s not like we held the bitch up at gunpoint, y’know?” The dread-head responded, eyes turning from Jonas to Michael as he neared.

“Holy shit, my guy. Have you always been this fuckin’ slow? Is it not enough to look like a slug brought back to life as a human? You gotta walk like one too?” The van started just as that last door shut, resulting in Warren backing out of the driveway and taking off down the dirt path away from the lodge.

Michael had taken quite a bit more than the rest of his ...squad? In taking his stuff, it wasn't his fault that his katana wasn't inside the RV, or well it was but he was not just about to admit it to them. He ran as fast as he could back to the van they were gonna use for the raid or whatever the hell they were doing ¨Hey so about this Luca dude, why is he the one calling the shots if he wasn't here for like 5 days or something?¨ the neckbeard said moments before Tre insulted him once more, this time for taking way to long to get to the van ¨Hey so uh… Tree I would really appreciate if you stopped insulting me or something k?¨ Michael knew that the kid's name was actually Tre, and as petty as he knew it was, he decided to mispronounce it anyway.

“I dunno, Chris Farley.” Tre remarked, eyes fixated on the street just on the otherwise of the windshield protecting him. “You’re askin’ the wrong ninja. All I know is that I ain’t seen anyone stop him from doin’ what he wants - ever.” Keeping quiet, Michael got one of his last Doritos bags out of his backpack and started eating them, they had been opened before, hell maybe it was the bag he ate from when he was on the sewers. They were soggy.

​

It was mostly quiet as they went down the road towards the city. The path twisted a little here and there, but stayed consistently sandwiched by the tree line. A grumble from Warren's stomach interrupted the silence, "Forgot I haven't eaten.." Warren muttered under his breath.. His body shifted uncomfortably in his seat and he let out an angry sigh. This was proving to be quite a frustrating venture. Maybe they should stop for some drinks before anything…

The grumpy giant eyed the two in the back through the rear-view and turned his attention back to the road almost immediately after. “Hey kid, did we loot Marvin’s dry the other day?” Marvin’s was a small convenience store that kept a generous supply of liquors, wines, and beers. Warren and Tre had stopped there quite a few times on their short expedition together. He turned his head slightly and looked at Tre out of the side of his eye.

Tre kicked his feet up onto the dashboard, placing one of his fingernails between his teeth and subconsciously chewing on it. He had been focused on the road in front of him up until Warren parted his lips to speak, prompting Tre to remove his hand from his mouth and turn to face him. While it was impossible to take everything from Marvin’s as a result of the limited cargo space the two had between them, it was plausible that other survivors had made their way to the same spot.

“Don’t matter, dawg. If you didn’t grab the last, someone else prolly did. Marvin’s was poppin’ before shit hit the bricks.” Grabbing his bag from between his legs, Tre unzipped the top to remove the handle that was once filled with rum. It was down to its last five or six shots, definitely enough for Tre to remove the cap and place the tip to his lips. The kid took one for himself and left the remaining amount for Warren. Grasping the neck of the bottle, Tre moved his arm out and placed it onto the man’s chest before dropping it. Then he moved back to his bag and zipped it up.

“Let’s hit the Town Center at Aurora. We could prolly grab everything we need there.”

King Vioogra TheTreForce Hyped_Taco

 

[King Vioogra]

This is a collab between myself and Brax
(yes i'm still alive)

Ivan gave a short sigh as he laid his axe against the doorframe of the lodge, stepping into the slightly warmer environment. He took off the jacket he’d been wearing and hung it up on the hanger before cracking his neck quietly. The man made his way through the packed living room and noticed that Jenna and Brian were back, but Marcus wasn’t. A few worst-case-scenarios flooded through his mind before he quickly pushed them out. There’d be time for mourning or a search party later. He needed to tell Luca about the idea for an alarm system before he forgot or got sidetracked with other issues. As he walked into the master bedroom, he was surprised to see Tre coming out, and a few others getting ready for something. The Russian was tempted to ask, but they got out the door before he got the chance. Ivan cleared his throat as he entered the room, staring down the Italian and the whiskey he was holding.

“Pardon my… intrusion.” Ivan spoke confidently as he grabbed a stray chair that was sitting by the door and brought it near where Luca was sitting and plopping down into the seat.

Light hues turned from the floor to the door as it opened once more. Luca was surprised to see someone whom he had barely had the opportunity to exchange words with. He paid attention to the man as he sat down in the chair opposite it. The man brought the bottle of liquor back up to his lips briefly, the liquor running practically flavorless over his taste buds as he kept quiet and waited for Ivan to continue.

“I’ve got an idea about an alarm system for the perimeter of the lodge, but we’d probably need a supply run for all the parts I need.”

“About a minute too late.” Murmured from slightly parted lips, the man extended his arm out to hand Ivan some of what was left. Luca heard the accent. He was well aware of the demeanor of most Russian men. In his hayday, the Italian had done business with quite a few of them. There was not one Russian man he came across that ever denied a drink.

“I just sent a group out. Though, I don’t know if they’d be able to bring back all that extra shit anyway. The only problem I have with an alarm system is the amount of noise it could potentially make. Sounding any sirens doesn’t only give up our position to the reanimated. It also marks us as a target for hostile survivors.” A small smile crossed Luca’s visage, curving upwards as he chuckled slightly. His eyes, which had momentarily moved to look to the side of Ivan during the audible explanation of his thought process, looked back at the man sitting opposite of him.

“I’d rather us be the ones hunting them.”

Ivan reached up took and the bottle Luca offered him and set it down next to his chair. “I’ve already put some thought into how much noise it’d be making, that’s why I need the extra parts. A volume dial, directional speakers, the works. That way I can turn the volume down and point the sound in the direction of the lodge. Though we’d need to run a few tests so we don’t accidentally overshoot the lodge.” The Russian put his chin in his hand as he started adding in all of the necessary parts to the design he already had planned now that noise was a speed bump to go over.

“Are you confident you can set everything up and make it work?” The man asked, leaning back into his chair and extinguishing the burning cherry of his partially-smoked cigarette on the inside of a nearby glass. Smoke continued billowing from the remaining smolder left in the cup as Luca let go of the filter.

“Since we’ve gotten to this lodge, we’ve been on nonstop supply runs. Our numbers have increased dramatically. In order to ensure any attacks on the lodge are handled with priority, i’m going to put in the call to only allow one supply run at a time. When the four who just left come back, you will be responsible of bringing a few people you trust with you.” Luca decided to leave out the fact that he would not be participating in any future runs. The lodge was still standing after he had gotten back, undoubtedly as a result of Colt’s leadership. However, the man was well-aware that no one would be able to put his own vision into play but himself.

“When you get back, I’ll do whatever I can to help you put this thing together. Maybe I can learn something new for a change.”

“Sounds good. If I can help it, I hope to only need one person. Larger groups tend to attract more attention, government and infected alike, so it’d be good to keep it small. I was thinking about stopping by the campus library too if it’s not too crowded, there’s a ton of shit we need to know that we don’t, and I doubt that place doesn’t have a few books on necessities.” Ivan cleared his throat again as he stood from his chair, making sure to grab the near-empty bottle of whiskey, and started making his way towards the door.

“And I hope you’re patient, because electrical engineering is a bitch to learn.” The man said with a short chuckle before leaving the room, closing the door quietly behind him.​

 

[Hyped_Taco]

​

This last few days in this town had probably been the weirdest and scariest ones in Cletus´s life thus far, not only was he stranded in a northern town which he had never heard from before which was infested with many undead sons of bitches, but now he was surrounded by a bunch of strangers while going back to his truck due to confusing a girl for a deer and nearly head-shooting her… good fucking luck there was no police in here anymore.

While on the way back Cletus tried making some small talk with the trio of girls while on the walk to his truck...they probably ignored him all the way but he mentioned that Dixie was sick, which at the very least seemed to grab the attention of Andy. He had heard them talking before and managed to hear some of their names, Andy, Leli and… the other one, the one that walked kind of funny.

And after what seemed like an awkward eternity they finally arrived. Aderyn began to talk with the woman whose name he still didn´t know, this confused Cletus cause on the small time he had known the girl she had not been very talkative. And finally, he saw Andy and Leli checking his wife ¨So uhh, yeah that´s me wife Dixie, she ain't very like talkative at the moment ´cause she´s been feeling real bad¨ he told them moments before Andy pointed the bite on her ankle ¨Oh… right, so we basically had to fight our way out of the motel we were staying at due to this town going to shit while we were asleep or something. While on the way back to the truck one of those sons of bitches bit her in the ankle, happened so fast that I couldn´t stop it¨ He explained to them the way in which she had been bitten. He heard both of them talk about the injury being bad… real bad ¨Well, I´m sure that it could be worse, I gave her some painkillers and have cleaned the wound often so it should stop the wound from getting infected or something right?¨ Cletus said to them, with no effin clue about the zombie virus.

​

Interacted: Maj Andy FireMaiden Leli
Mentioned: Meredith Aderyn Rumble Fish Colt

 

[The Mad Queen]

Jenna O'Connor: The Lodge​

She still had a number of things to deal with before acting as a courier, so the letter could wait a few minutes. Colt was out, somewhere and Jenna wasn't about to talk to Luca about the whole chicken situation. Who could she talk to? The chain of command around the lodge didn't seem to be all that clear. Marcus had some authority by the looks of things, but he was nowhere to be found.

There had also been something off about him, she couldn't put her mind on it but his body language and the way he'd said some things was worrying. All she could think was, if Marcus had left then at the very least nobody would have to be alone with him. With a slight sigh, she moved around the lodge, keeping the chickens in sight. Cammy helped, her eyes watching the birds.

She'd have to keep an eye on her too, just in case some predator instinct kicked in and the dog tried to eat one. She wasn't prepared to explain that to Colt, let alone Luca. Thankfully she managed to find a spare blanket, and set it down. If they got too cold, the birds wouldn't be any good to anyone so her priority turned to just keeping them warm.

Building a coop or making something short of one wasn't something she would be all that good at. Even building stuff in the digital world wasn't something she was good at and making Lego constructs as a kid hadn't been the best either. She had always been a lot better at putting things back together than building them up to begin with.

Mentioned: Rumble Fish , Brax (Luca and Colt)

 

[Maj]

​

Andy also had a bad feeling about this. The blonde was echoing her own thoughts, just with more medical jargon thrown into the mix. One of the monsters had bitten Dixie and made her sick. None of them knew what happened when someone got bitten by one of the monsters, none of them had and survived to tell the tale. The stupidity the redneck was spouting at her felt mostly like white noise as her gears turned in thought.

The girl ushered the others out of the RV and out into the yard as to not wake the sickly woman. Andy was grateful for the clean air anyway, the tiny RV smelled like death. She wasn’t sure who Ralph was, likely one of the doctors she hadn’t bothered to talk to at the lodge, but it was clear that whatever was wrong with this woman was beyond Leliana’s paygrade. Still, the red head was torn.

Bringing new people to the lodge was one thing. Abled bodied humans were an asset. They could help defend and build their base. Sickly humans however, were a liability. Not only were they basically a drain on supplies in the form of a useless meat sack, but this one was dying. No matter what she was dying from, Andy had seen what happened once the life left her eyes. They would reopen, milky and void of emotion. The woman in the RV was a rapidly ticking time bomb.

Andy wasn’t sure what the right call was. Killing her would rid the world of one less infected. But putting a bullet in this woman’s brain was far different than shooting a soldier who was about to kill Luca, or putting down humans that were already dead. Right now, she wasn’t a threat. The question that lingered, was if Andy was willing to wait until she was.

She pinched the bridge of her nose in thought and let a heavy exhale out of her nose. Andy found herself wondering what Luca would do if he was in the situation. Likely he wouldn't even bother with these people, he would just leave these strangers in the woods and deal with their walking corpses when they inevitably stumbled up the driveway to the lodge. You can’t fix stupid.

Owen on the other hand, would take them back to the lodge and let the doctor's waste all their time and resources on trying to keep her alive. He wouldn’t deal with it until her corpse ultimately turned and maybe injured someone else in the process. However, Andy wasn’t Owen, and she wasn’t Luca either. Neither of them were here, so it didn’t matter what they would do. Right now it only mattered what she was going to do.

“There is no easy way to say this,” The girl began, crossing her arms over her chest and staring into Cletus’ face. “But your wife is dying. That monster who bit her has ultimately stolen her life. If we leave her alone she will turn into one of those monsters when she passes.” She began braiding her read hair back away from her face as she did her best to still the pounding of her heart in her chest.

“If we try to take her back with us, she will likely die before we make it to our base. When you die, you come back. I don’t know how many of those monsters you’ve seen, but keeping her from turning into one would be a mercy.” Andy spoke the last part softly, placing a hand on Cletus’ shoulder.

She didn’t wait for him to give his consent. Leaving them alone with Dixie meant that they would die. If he hated her but kept his and the child’s life in tact, then that was alright by her. Standing around to talk about it, was only wasting the precious time they had left.

“Leliana, can I borrow your gun?” She didn’t need to tell the blonde that it would be a quicker and more painless death than if she used her bow. Even she couldn’t fuck up the shot and point blank range. Hesitantly, the girl handed it over and Andy took it firmly in her palm. Her emerald eyes locked with the blonde’s and she nodded tightly, giving the girl’s hand a firm squeeze. It was hard to hide the anxiety that bubbled just under her surface, the slamming of her heart against her ribcage, her breath caught in her throat. Externally though, she looked cool and collected.

The forest had its own sort of symphony of sounds. The cold air gusted past them, blowing hair and jackets about in the late fall breeze. Birds twittered in the distance, calling back and forth in a language only they could understand. Leaves softly rustled and moved in waves from the wind, causing the treetops above to look like a sea of autumn colors.

“Colt. Keep them outside.” Andy didn’t want them to see it, but she also didn’t want anyone to try to stop her. She didn’t know Cletus well, but she knew that in high stress situations, people could be unpredictable. Without pausing to look back at them, Andy stepped up into the RV, closing and locking the door behind her. A few moments of unsettled silence followed, nothing but the creaking of Andy’s movement in the RV to be heard.

BANG

The sound ripped through the air, causing the birds to flee their homes in the trees and fly up to the sky, cawing in distress. Vibrations from the gunshots could be felt through the forest, alerting every thing near of their presence. Andy emerged from the RV moments later, pale as a ghost, blood splattered on her leather jacket.

Interactions: Hyped_Taco (Cletus and Dixie) Meredith (Aryden) Rumble Fish (Colt) FireMaiden (Leli)
Mentions: Brax (Luca) The Mad Queen (Ralph)

 

[Kloudy]

Kypher Genesise

(Central Aurora - University of Aurora's Main Street)​

Kypher was down in the dumps.

Not figuratively, rather he was currently knee-deep in bin sludge and other disgusting waste. Being forced to crouch in a dumpster bin was definitely a new low for the young genius. It was dark in his cramped hiding place, but had anyone been in there with him then they'd have noticed the faint gleam of indignant outrage in his iridescent eyes. So many things had happened to Kypher in the past week that it had become a struggle to focus solely on any one moment, there was simply too much to be traumatised about to dwell on his insane disposition. If he was honest, Kypher was certain it was the shock that was stopping him from breaking down immediately like any normal child would. Or perhaps he was too grounded to be too adversely affected by stress. Or perhaps he was too disconnected from his feelings to care? Or perhaps...

Kypher shook his head violently and grit his teeth. He was a genius! A child prodigy! If anyone could get through such a hopeless situation it was him! Extending his knees carefully so as to stand a little taller, Kypher allowed the top of his head to push the heavy lid of the dumpster up an inch. Caution evident in his glancing eyes, Kypher surveyed the outside world after having spent the last two hours in literal trash house. He was still in Central Aurora, near the university he had been studying at just over six days ago. His garbage haven sat at the mouth of an alley leading onto the main street and nothing about his immediate surroundings looked safe. Several people were shuffling, or perhaps it was more accurate to say dragging themselves, across the street aimlessly. Ignorant of wounds, vacant expressions, animalistic growling sounds; these 'people' were very obviously zombies. You didn't have to be a child genius to work that out. This wasn't some cheesy World War Z blockbuster where the survivors initially made every possible prediction as to what the clearly reanimated creatures were other than the most obvious. Although Kypher had to admit, he didn't exactly dislike The Walking Dead. At least it had been gritty enough not to bore him.

Sighing, the child slowly lowered his body back down and winced slightly as the lid of the dumpster made the smallest sound known to man. If there was one thing he had learnt since being stuck in this logic-forsaken city it was that these particular zombies followed a pattern. Most depictions of zombies were either one of two types: the super strong fast ones that were basically impossible to escape from unprepared and the slow stupid ones that really embodied the concept of rotting meat walking again. So far, Kypher hadn't observed anything faster than four kilometres per hour, or just under normal human walking speed. Even the uninjured ones seemed to shuffle. This would have been excellent news for him, if it had just ended there. After having spent several days moving from street to street, Kypher could confirm that that they could smell and hear considerably better. It was like a terrible mix of both types.

"What a ridiculous joke."

Which brought him back to the reason why he was in a dumpster. The smell from the fetid pool at his feet was enough to mask his own scent, meaning he was safe from discovery for now. Obviously he couldn't just stay here forever though. It had been several hours since he'd last eaten or drank and he only had a snack bar in his back pocket that would probably taste like a landfill now. Kypher had been attempted to move from an abandoned apartment near the university to a nearby bakery but someone had locked a zombie inside for some inexplicable reason. Upon stealthily drawing close he had made noise at the surprise of his latest discovery, drawing the attention of other nearby zombies. So of course he had run, accidentally dropping his supply backpack in the process. And now here he was: king of the alley trash! Kypher balled his fists like he wanted to hit something but refrained from doing so. Anger would not cloud his judgement at a time like this and it was always important to remain calm no matter the situation. Punching something would only generate unnecessary noise.

As much as he hated it, he would have to wait for either an opportunity to escape or for someone to come rescue him.

 

[Maj]

The following is part 1 of a 3 part collab by Maj and The Mad Queen
​

Fisher continued his ascent up the stairs, his eyes wide and skin a bit pale. He checked inside of the bathroom first, but found that it was empty. He moved to one of the bedrooms next, pushing the door open and finding Owen lying on the bed. He looked him over from the doorway.

At least he was still breathing.

If he was concussed it was a horrible idea for him to fall asleep.

He moved to the side of the bed and tapped Owen on the shoulder.

Owen jarred awake violently. The adrenaline from the fight still lingering somewhere in his veins, the sudden touch caused him to sit up right quickly. When he did the blood all rushed to the temples in his head and the room went woozy for a moment, blurring as everything tried to settle. Emerald eyes blinked into focus on Ralph’s face. He knew him by name since he had overheard him and Hector talking the night before, but the two had never actually conversed. It was likely the man had gotten to the lodge sometime while he was at the hospital.

“Oh jeeze doc, you scared the hell out of me,” Owen let out a sort of airy laugh, hand to his heart in a dramatic way. He had a pretty massive headache that he had been doing a decent job of ignoring while he was in the twilight of consciousness, but now that he was alert the pounding of his heart could be felt in the sides of his head, steady and firm.

Ralph breathed a sigh of relief, smiling lightly "You scared me a little bit there too..." He shook his head, and sat down at the foot of the bed. There was still a chance Owen had a mild concussion or something of the like, even if somebody had tended to his wounds. It was likely Hector, or Leli given the only other medical professional had run to the farmer's market by the looks of things.

"What the heck happened out there?" Ralph's tone went from welcoming and relief to firmness, like he was lightly scolding a child.

Owen chuckled. He had gone his whole life without a father figure in his life. His mother had done a fantastic job of making sure he never felt the absence. But still, he hid much of his life from his mother, especially all the dangerous shit he had done over the years. No one had ever chastised him for it, and now Hector and Ralph had both scolded him in less than 24 hours.

“Me and Luca have a history.” The answer was short and to the point. He shook his head, that wasn’t quite right. Him and Luca had known each other their whole lives and this was the first time it had ever come to blows.

“I don’t trust him around my sister, but I wasn’t using my brain. I let my emotions get the best of me today.” A sigh escaped his lips as he rubbed his temples. “Not my proudest moment.”

He tutted, shaking his head with disappointment.

"I don't imagine it was. Still, at least you weren't seriously hurt. This time." He glared into Owen's eyes "The next time you throw down with him he might leave you with more than a few bruises, so..."

He stood up from the bed, straightening his coat and continued to glare down at Owen.

"Your sister is a grown woman. If Luca's bad for her, just tell her instead of trying to beat the guy up."

He hadn't even spoken to Andy but had seen her in passing. She looked like she could handle herself.

“You aren’t the only one to say that.” Owen admitted. “But Luca wouldn’t kill me unless I was trying to kill him.” It felt weird to defend the Italian, but he knew it to be true. It’s why he was still standing. He had heard all sorts of stories about him after the two had parted ways, and he had killed people for far less than what Owen had just done. Him standing here with little more than a broken nose and a headache was testament to the truth of his statements.

“As for Andy, we’ve talked, but that girl doesn’t listen to anyone. Especially me,” He added the last part, sadly like an afterthought. “But I guess that’s irrelevant. She’s never taken kindly to being parented, especially not by her twin brother.”

"And probably not by Luca either." Ralph added with a scowl "What were you even trying to prove by fighting Luca anyway? Especially if Andy is going to just do her own thing?"

He placed his hands into his pockets and continued to glare down at Owen. Hopefully getting to the bottom as to why the two younger men would beat the lights out of each other would stop it from happening again.

Or at the very least, Ralph could just try to keep them from killing each other.

Owen sighed. How in the hell did he explain years of build up to a man who barely knew either of them? It truth he wasn’t trying to prove anything. The red head was firm in his belief that Luca was bad news for his sister. It didn’t take someone who knew them both well to see that they had grown closer since he had left days prior. Between sharing a bedroom and the way she chose to defend him, even the way she was around him. Andy seemed more relaxed than he was used to see her and it unsettled him.

“Luca Brasi was once my best friend.” Owen stated plainly. “But he is also a murderer. It’s not just a case of me trying to warn my sister away from some bad boy with a criminal record and a drug addiction.” He ran his hand through his red hair, wincing at the tenderness to his scalp.

“He has as much blood on his hands as any of the hazmat soldiers walking around Aurora. And yet they are our enemy and he’s sleeping in my sister’s bed.”

Interactions: The Mad Queen (Dr. Fisher)
Mentions: shadowz1995 (Hector) Brax (Luca)

 

[Brax]

Warren ( TheTreForce ) / Michael ( Hyped_Taco ) / Ivan ( King Vioogra ) / Kypher ( Kloudy ) / Tre​

The vehicle took a final turn out of the forest and the past civilization came into view. Warren drove the car into the mouth of the city, littered with small shops, neighborhoods, and a considerable amount of the biters wandering around. No traffic laws needed to be abided by now; The car sped through the stop signs and around all the parked and abandoned cars on the road. An unlucky corpse sauntered into the street about a hundred feet ahead of the car, “Piece of shit.” Warren said to himself as the car swerved to deliver a crunchy thud to the zombie. It’s body bounced off, head hitting the curb, and lay motionless as they drove past. Anyone looking at the man driving now would witness a disturbingly satisfied smirk on his face. “Not much farther to the store. Let’s hope they have the goods..” His words were loud enough for anyone to hear, but were primarily for Tre.

"Hey man, watch that shit. I don't know what type of movies you've seen, but a minivan isn't built to take that kind of impact." Jonas said quickly as the infected body flipped over the van, the thud it caused rocking the vehicle a bit. Tre sat silent, watching the scene unfold before his eyes. Much like Warren, he did not feel much empathy for those who had already passed. Instead of being a surviving member of the human race, the corpse that just hit the car was out to eliminate it.

The neon sign for Marvin’s came into view a few minutes later and Warren pulled the RV into the small lot. They were still pretty close to the outskirts of town, nowhere near the heart of it quite yet. The roads were smaller around here and the store resided on the corner of a crossroads to the right of the main street they came in on. A collection of houses sat beyond their destination. “This must be the neighborhood full of drunks that walk here to get their fix. Can’t imagine anyone else wanting to live in this shitty area.” As if right on queue, an extremely hefty man made his way out from behind the building, struggling to walk and growling with each labored breath. “Hoo boy!” Warren gave a hearty laugh, “This one here beats your keg of a friend by a good hundred pounds or more.” The creature’s groans got louder when it noticed them and quickened it’s very slow pace in their direction.

​

While on the way back to Aurora Michael was in a constant loop between being half- awake and going back to sleep, only to be awoken again by the car´s movement. Once the crew reached the city all he could see was basically a ghost town, the ruins of civilization or something like that, it all kind of reminded Michael of Dead Rising… except it was less fun, to be honest. Through all the way up to here, he had mostly ignored his team-mates conversations, that was until he heard Warren´s comment of his weight ¨Well Ha bloody Ha,¨ The comment may have been insulting, but even Michael had to admit that was a fat fuck ¨Alright whatever, let´s get this over with¨ The neckbeard said while he grabbed his katana and exited the vehicle.

Tre followed suit, getting out of the passenger-side seat and noticing the zombie approaching the opposite side of the van. He kept his lips sealed as he watched the fat boy make his way over, the only sound escaping through them being the small chuckle after Warren pointed out that the zombie was in fact somehow larger than Michael. Out of the corner of his eye, the brown-haired boy noticed a bit of rumbling coming from inside of the dumpster. The top had lifted slightly, only to shut seemingly as fast. Tre had caught the movement, but was unable to hear anything aside from the grunting of the zombie. Digits wrapped around the grip of one of his machetes, slowly removing it from the sheath on his back before making his way to the dumpster just off to the side of Marvin’s.

Jonas gave a short sigh as he exited the van and was met with the sight of the bloated infected that was coming towards them. He groaned quietly as he stepped ahead of the others, who were at best marveling at the sight. He turned back to the infected and started walking towards it, flipping his staff around his fingers before thrusting it forward once he was close enough. He got lucky and the now sharpened tip of the staff went through the dead man's eye socket, making its jaw drop as the rest of its body went limp. As he pulled the staff from it's eye, the body fell quickly, practically scrunching up as whatever life left behind was evicted, leaving a fat, rotting mess in the street.

"Let's go. Tre and I are scheduled to be on watch again so I'd like to get back soon." He said, taking on a surprisingly serious tone before his eyes tracked over to Tre, who was making his way to a dumpster with his machete drawn. He had heard the zombie drop, following the swift sound of the zombie’s partially-destroyed vertebrae and skull. He slid the blade of his machete underneath the corner of the dumpster’s top, propping it open slowly and peering down to the culprit of the noise with hesitation.

"Don't worry about it, it was probably a rat or something. Fuckers are flourishing in this shituation."

Ignoring the comment, Tre continued peering down into the dumpster.

“H-Hello sir. Are y-you here to save me...?”

Kypher felt disgust rise in his gut as he looked up at his supposed saviour, but he didn’t let it show on his wet-cheeked face. First he was entrapped in a bin and now he was forced to play the dopey scared child act. Admittedly he had been surprised at the sound of a vehicle and people drawing near and had been content with simply observing, but he’d slipped in the sludge and this situation had ensued. Humans were more dangerous than zombies because they weren’t as predictable, however they could be manipulated. No one would turn down a scared child hiding from danger. If there was ever a time Kypher didn’t actually mind his small size, now was it. He’d keep this act up for as long as needed until they took him to somewhere safer or stopped proving useful to him. Kypher didn’t particularly feel like being exploited for his brains today, zombies or otherwise.

The teen peered down at the younger kid in the dumpster with a mix of pity and disgust. He propped the lid of the dumpster against the shingled siding of the store with his blade before twisting the hilt around his open palm and placing it back into its sheath. Tre extended both hands, digits grabbing the fabric of the boy's clothes. Then he hoisted him out of the dumpster, sure to plop him down onto his feet. Within the very same instant Tre removed his hands from the boy. However, he couldn't help but lift a sleeve up to his own nose.

"You foun' the dirtiest fuckin' dumpster to cower out in, huh?" Tre's words escaped, muffled by the fabric belonging to his shirt.

“Please, sir, there are sick people everywhere…”

"Get inside, you pussy." Extending a hand to shove the boy toward the store's entrance while ignoring him in the same breath, Tre looked up to see the other three momentarily watching the scene unfold before making their way inside.

Upon being shoved into the store, Kypher noticed that they appeared to be on some kind of supply run. Wanting to appear useful while also helping himself, Kypher picked up a nearby bag that had been cast aside days before and made his way into the shop. Several things went in, several bottles of different cleaning products, glues, chemical agents, some snacks, etc. Hopefully his new ‘friends’ wouldn’t care enough to question his shopping list. Judging by their vehicle, they probably had a safe place to stay. Kypher’s eyes shifted about as he searched for more of his ‘groceries’, while keeping an eye out for zombies and ensuring his expression slipped into something more childlike when the others drew close. Making his way into the store after Kypher, Tre shut the door behind him. He had initially turned the lock in hopes that the door could be secured, but found that the deadbolt existed loosely within the frame of the door. It continued spinning, the hatch mechanism within refusing to budge from its withdrawn position.

 

[Maj]

The following is a Collab between Maj and The Mad Queen
​

The doctor's eyes widened at Owen's words, feeling a knot in his stomach. He had hoped that it was just a case of siblings being over protective, that Luca wasn't all that bad.

He really hated being wrong.
"I doubt he's killed as many as those soldiers." He looked away, not letting Owen see the look in his brown eyes "I was outside the school when they had started shooting. I even watched them kill one of their own when he was bitten!"

He ran a hand down his face. He couldn't lose his temper.
Not military, but something far worse. Then again...Owen had a reason for lying about Luca. But why go this far unless there was actual truth to it?

Taking one more deep breath Fisher sat down on the foot of the bed again.
"Who did he kill?" He asked, as cold as the group outside "I want to know why."

Ideas flowed through his mind. Self-defence? It would explain why Luca wasn't in prison at least. Maybe he was a minor that made one big mistake? That had to be it.

Owen hadn’t meant his laugh to come out as bitter and sarcastic as it did. It made sense that the older man would be doubtful, he didn’t know Owen well enough to take him at his word, nor Luca well enough to know what kind of monster lurked behind that sadistic smile.

“I was literally in the Gym when they started gunning down families,” Owen said cooly. His emerald eyes focused on the doctor’s face. “I know fully what I am comparing him to.” He crossed his arms over his chest, he didn’t like reliving the moment Luca had shot and killed the man in the car, but he was grateful that someone was finally taking him seriously.

“You aren’t from Aurora, are you?” Owen’s voice was low and soft as he addressed the doctor. “If you were, you would know what La Cosa Nostra was. In plain terms, it’s a Mafia. And that comes with all the terrible things you normally think of with that word. Luca Brasi was the leader of La Cosa Nostra up until about six days ago, when the world went to shit. But before that he was just my friend. A guy who came over to family gatherings and hugged my mom.” Owen’s voice cracked at the mention of his mother. He swallowed down the emotion, gulping hard. Hot tears stung at the corners of his eyes, but they didn’t fall.

“With her gone, Andy is all I have left.”

Not a Gunnery Sargent, just a Don it seemed. Ralph leaned back, a look of horror on his face. A Don. A Don had taken command of this group of soldiers, medical professionals and children, a Don had threatened to break the legs of one of his own and yet as Ralph was left shaking his mind was drawn elsewhere.

To his own conversation with Luca, to how he was trying to harden Colt for command it seemed.

Another question was on Ralph's tongue.
"How did you survive the school?"

“Honestly?” Owen asked with a small sarcastic laugh. “Dumb luck. I have no idea how we made it out. Me and Andy got seperated early when she was forced into quarantine. They wanted to test her since she was at the hospital when the outbreak started. There was so much chaos, I think it allowed for us to slip away. Thankfully me and Andy are both natives so we spent a lot of years in that school.”

The redhead put his head in his hands and exhaled loudly through his nose. It was true, logically he and Andy should have been gunned down with the rest. But the friends they had made in the line of fire had been the difference between staying alive and being undead. The idea that they had made it out and then was able to reunite with his sister was almost so lucky it sounded ridiculous.

“I think Andy must have some good karma built up or something. Surviving the hospital, and then the school as well…” He lead off. The only real reason Andy was alive was because Luca had chosen to help her. If the situation was different he would have thanked him, but his motivations for doing so had yet to be revealed.

“But really, any of us are lucky to be alive. How about you? How did you survive the school?”

"I never made it to the school." He admitted "Made it out of the hospital and ran to the police station to contact the CDC. Those soldiers were already there." He shook his head "Managed to give them the slip...When they killed one of their own. Shot him right in front of me."
He took a deep breath in "I'd shown up to warn people, but I was too late. The place was already a massacre by the time I got there."
"The sound of it was the worst part."

He stretched his sore muscles and grimaced as he rolled his neck slowly from side to side, feeling the bones echo and pop, the air between his vertebra escaping. Finally, moving to his knuckles which were scraped and bruised from the contact to Luca’s face. He took some solace in the fact he was able to get a few hits on the man. It felt good to finally have an outlet for the years of pent up frustration toward him.

“You are right about that,” Owen agreed. “Things have moved so fast and my mind has been so focused on keeping myself and Andy alive, I haven’t had time to slow down and think about it. I grew up here, I was born here. All the people who are wandering the streets are humans I’ve spoken to in super markets or who knew my mother. It feels weird for so many familiar faces to be wiped out in an instant.”

Shrugging heavily, and with his brown eyes heavy Ralph looked back at Owen.
"I know what you mean. I may not be a local, but I had my team with me at the hospital. People I'd known for nearly ten years...Gone. Just like that."

"Meg bringing everything I've found to the WHO or UN isn't just about trying to stop this thing. It's so that my team didn't die for nothing. Their families deserve to know that they gave their lives trying to defend humanity from this..."
He firmly shook his head "Thing I'm still trying to figure out. I'm still learning about it by the hour, and what I found out recently..."

He paused, noticing that both of his hands were shaking. Hoping that Owen didn't notice he placed them in his pockets.

"It could be worse than the Spanish flu outbreak. This virus is evolving. And it's evolving faster than anything I've seen before."
Ralph let out a deep breath, trying his best to hold his shaking body together.

"You should talk with Hector when you get the chance. He was interested in Andy when I told him that she was near the outbreak when it happened, and he talked like he might be researching it as well. I'm sure if the two of you put your heads together you might be able to come up with something great. I am useless at helping you there." The red head let out a nervous laugh. "I'm pretty sure Andy got all the brains out of the two of us, but I'll help in anyway I can. I know nothing about virus's or flu's but I saw patient zero and I can tell you right now we haven't seen all this thing can do."

"It was actually Hector that gave me the idea of it's rapid evolution. You see, my team never saw Patient Zero. It was covered up and instead we saw other bodies."
He pushed the image of the morgue aside, trying to forget about what he'd seen and just focusing instead on what he'd learned.

"What can you tell me about Patient Zero?"

Owen recounted his tale from the hospital, doing his best to be as detailed as possible. He told Ralph about how he and his cousin had broke in for medication she wouldn't tell him she needed. How they had fought their way tooth and nail to the pharmacy only to be blocked inside by a hoard of zombies led by patient zero. He told him about he and Sarah had narrowly escaped and how he had stayed behind in the hospital so she could shimmy down a fire escape never to be seen again.

"I was stuck in a labyrinth of locked down doors and gates. I honest to god thought I was going to die in there. He's fast, so much faster than the others. I know that I'm not exactly in tip-top shape but he's faster than me. The craziest part was he didn't look dead. If it wasn't for the white color of his eyes and the way he moved I would have never thought him to be a corpse. I barely got away from him. The damn thing is smart enough to stalk prey, he knew how to circumvent closed doors and how to jiggle handles. I got distracted by my moth..." Owen stopped mid sentence to collect his thoughts. "My Mother, who I found dead in the hospital. Patient Zero would have killed me if Hector hadn't intervened on my behalf."

Ralph's mind drew back to the infected that had chased him out of the morgue and how he had given them the slip by ducking behind a pull door. He had to sit down on the edge of the bed as his legs started to shake when Owen recalled his escape. He looked away from Owen, now simply staring at the blank wall as the doctor took everything in.

His brown eyes were wide, his skin as white as the sheets on the bed.
"Fuck." He muttered "It's so much worse than I thought...When I. When I performed that autopsy on Rogue, parts of her brain had decayed like the, um...Part that controlled aggression and hunger and the like. I assumed it made these things animalistic, and I've been right. Outside of the host controlling Rogue, which was able to climb and wield weapons they have all operated on very basic instincts and intelligence. But now this..."

He threw one arm up, running a hand down his face "This is. Hector never said anything about it being able to open doors. If that's Patient Zero and it continues to evolve as this virus has how long before it's doing something worse?"

After a few moments of silence, staring at the wall Ralph finally got up from the bed and started to walk towards the door.

"I dunno doc. I left that asshole back at the hospital, and I wouldn't recommend going back to find him. I'm not sure how much dumb luck we have left in us." Owen sighed and fell back on the bed, arms behind his head. Sitting up made him dizzy and he would prefer to not have Hector come in and "slit his throat" like he had so affectionately threatened to do if he didn't take it easy.

"I'm not sure if any of what I said helped. If it only freaked you out more, I'm sorry." Owen flashed him a wry smile. "I know it's a lot, but we all have to stick together the best we can. "

"I'm not going back to that hospital by any means." Ralph slowly shook his head "It would be suicide." He glanced back over at Owen "I don't believe in luck. Not really. Sure, sometimes circumstances play out randomly and that somehow works out in someone's favour but there's always a reason for it. Someone's immune system copes better with an invading virus and pulls through despite the odds? That's not luck, that's years of evolution at work trying to keep that person alive mixed with their lifestyle among other things before they got sick evening those odds. How long was it before they were treated? Did they have a healthy diet? Us all being alive right now, that comes down to a mixture of different things. Hector saving you, me going to that motel because it was far enough away from the hospital, the hazmat troopers not counting on certain individuals fighting back..."

He ceased his rambling and lowered his head. He'd gone too far. "I'm sorry about your mother, Owen I'm sure she's in a better place than this."

Owen swallowed hard, his hand instinctively coming up to clasp the locket he had taken from her neck. He felt the gold heart shaped piece of jewelry warm in his palm as he gripped it tight, fist to his chest. He was dealing with her passing the best way he could, which unfortunately was to just ignore it. It worked during the busy parts of the days but when he brought her up, or when the world got still and silent it made hard to think about anything else.

"I appreciate that." His voice cracked as he spoke, and the male rolled over and rested his eyes once more.

Mentions: Brax shadowz1995

 

[Maj]

​

October 22nd 2018
The Lodge
6:00pm


Andy refused to speak on the way home. Any attempts of making conversation were met with absolute denial, her emerald eyes focused on the path back to the lodge. The ringing in her ears hadn’t ceased since the shot had gone off, a constant echo in her mind. It had taken all of her small body weight to drag the woman from the RV. With a pillowcase over her head to hide the carnage of her skull from the others, she and Cletus removed her body and hauled it into the woods. She helped him bury his wife. It was the least she could do.

Maneuvering the RV through the trees was difficult, but with Andy helping to navigate in a soft spoken voice, they were eventually able to see the lodge in the distance. Andy instructed Cletus to stop the vehicle as they got close. She was sure that Luca, or whatever guard he put in place would not be expecting an RV, and she wanted to make sure she was there to keep the thing from being met at gunpoint. Andy exited the small mobile home and with pack slung over her healing shoulder, she walked in front of the vehicle so they could see her first.

She had Cletus park the RV next to the existing one. At least these newcomers brought their own sleeping space, although someone would need to wash Dixie’s blood from the mattress inside. The gun had been wiped off on Andy’s shirt and given back to its proper owner after the deed was done. She was sure Leliana had seen how bad her hands shook when she had handed it over, but Andy hadn’t said a word to the girl.

When the vehicle was in place, Andy waited for everyone to exit the vehicle before dragging the tarp she had fastened around the deer out of the RV and into the yard between the shed and the cabin. She figured Leliana or Colt could help explain who the newcomers were. Even more so than usual, the girl didn’t feel like talking. The string of dead rabbits that had once covered her shoulder was now rolled up in the tarp with the deer. Andy slowly unrolled the plasticy fabric from around the creature and knelt down on the icy ground to begin her work. Afterall, food was the real reason she had left the lodge today in the first place.

Andy removed the hunting knife from her boot. It had been in its sheath, but sanitation couldn’t hurt. Her slender fingers reached into her bag to retrieve some alcohol wipes she had left over from the first aid kit Leliana had made for her. She opened the small package and retrieved the knitted wipe and took her time thoroughly cleaning the length of the sharp blade. She carefully balanced the handle on her lap, as to not let the blade touch anything before pulling her mess of red hair up into a ponytail, making sure to keep all of it out of her face. The last thing she wanted to do after the day she had was wash deer blood out of her mane. Andy used another wipe to scrub the dirt and grime off her hands before tossing the garbage next to her knees on the ground.

She pushed the rabbits to the side and grabbed the deer by its closest front and back leg, pulling it on its back. Pushing lightly on it’s chest with her fingers, Andy found the creature’s sternum and used the tip of her knife to make a precise incision. Blood bubbled up at the wound, trickling down the animal’s tan fur. Satisfied the cut was deep enough to get through the thin layers of membrane, but not deep enough to puncture the organs, Andy turned her knife blade up, cutting from the inside of the creature outwards to avoid having to slice through the fur. Animal fur dulled blades quickly.

When the cut was made, and the deer’s belly was opened she began the careful work of removing the organs without damaging them further. To do so would taint the meat and make her trip in vein. She worked with expert grace, the kind of careful maneuvering that only came from years of cleaning animals for consumption. The first time she had cut a deer, the smell of all the blood had been almost enough to make her lose her balance. Now the smell of copper was almost comforting, a reward from a job well done.

Normally, she would have gone inside to get something to hold the organs for disposal, but Andy had wanted to avoid as much human interaction as possible. Conversation was something she disliked on her best days, and today was far from her best. Not to mention the ringing in her skull made it easy to ignore people, as she didn’t hear well unless they were close. This was better, a few moments of peace doing something she knew she could do well. Andy had had enough excitement for one day.

Her nose itched, but with her arms now elbow deep in deer guts it wasn’t an opportune time to act on such an impulse. She wiggled the tip of her nose, trying to get the itch to subside without using her hands. But it was a lost cause, the best thing she could do now was to try to ignore it. Blood stained the pale skin of her hands. The crimson hue clung to her fingers, pooling between them and dripping down the back of her freckled hands. Each time her eyes darted down to the color covering her palms she was forced to look away as her hands started to tremble once more.

Mentions: Brax Rumble Fish FireMaiden Meredith Hyped_Taco

 

[FireMaiden]

​

Location: The Jordan Lodge
Interaction: Open
Mentioned/In The Area: Hyped_Taco (Cletus) Rumble Fish (Colt) Meredith (Aderyn) Maj (Andy) The Mad Queen (Brian) shadowz1995 (Hector) King Vioogra (Ivan)
The ride back to the lodge was quiet, almost to quiet for comfort. It made Leliana nervous, watching the faces of Colt and Andy, and even more so when watching the faces of their new companions. Cletus worried her, he had lost his wife to not only the parasite, but the strangers he had hoped to help her. If it had been any sooner, maybe only an hour or two, Leliana may have been able to help her, keep her under control until they got back to the lodge for Ralph or Hector to take over. There was no denying their skills were higher than her own. On the very grim bright side, the woman was no longer suffering. But maybe someone else should have...should have killed her. Andy looked so shaken up, her hands her shaking when she gave Leliana her gun back. The teen knew that Andy had done because maybe she felt like she had to, or that she was protecting someone else from having to take on that burden, but Andy wasn't used to guns. They were definitely messier than a bow, maybe Andy couldn't deal with that? Of course, putting a bullet in the head of a sick woman who hadn't done anything to you was certainly something to wrestle with.

So, there was a relief when the lodge came into view. They were back and could be behind somewhat safe walls. Not to mention it would be a lot warmer inside than it was out, and even in this RV. Andy put herself in charge of cleaning up what they got while hunting, and so Colt could go rest, Leliana took it upon herself to show the newcomers around. She explained how it worked, how Luca was in charge, and you don't get food unless it was meal time or you informed her or someone in charge. The showed them around, introducing them to people who asked, and furthermore, made sure they knew the sleeping arrangements. "The upstairs rooms are filled, but the bathrooms are open to everyone and fully functional. Though don't hog the hot water, and try limiting how much time you spend in there. The master bedroom is off limits, for the most part, Luca and Andy share that one. And if you remember, those are the two who are in charge. Now, don't bother anyone who looks busy, but go introduce yourselves. It's a good first step." With that, she left them to go gather some cleaning supplies.

Cletus' RV was a bit of a mess, but she was in there to clean the blood before it dried completely. Bleach was a wonderous tool if you didn't mind the fumes. As she worked, she was given time to think. They had seen people die, and come back within minutes back at the middle school, and Rouge died and came back soon after, possibly slowed because of the temperature. Or maybe because her death wasn't as violent as others? Dixie had been bitten and was turning while she was still alive, her body was trying to fight it off, but without the help of medicine, she was doomed. So that would leave someone who didn't know about the parasite or hadn't seen anyone rise without having been bitten, to believe that the disease to be spread to bodily fluid. But that wouldn't explain how people, who hadn't had any contact with the sick, came back unless there was something else to it. The hazmat suits were starting to make sense, they filtered clean air, and made sure that you weren't exposed to foreign elements. Maybe they were just being cautious or they knew something about this parasite that Leliana could only guess about.

When she was finished, three blood-soaked towels and a half gallon of bleach later, the mattress was free of contaminated blood, and the walls were no longer splattered, Leliana took the bag out to be burned with the other trash. She felt like leaving Andy alone was a good idea, especially given the state she was in. And the fact she had a large knife. In truth, Leliana was going to go find Ivan and talk to him, after looking for the other doctors but not finding them. She couldn't find Ivan either, so instead, she found some loose paper and a pen and settled in the den. Writing helped her clear her mind, get her thoughts straight. Leliana decided writing down what she had observed with Dixie, her theories, was a good idea. And at the moment, she had nothing better to do with her time. It was time to make dinner yet.

 

[Rumble Fish]

The following is a collab between shadowz1995 and Rumble Fish

"Donde… donde…" The big man mused to himself as he wandered through the trees just beside the lodge. Hector wanted to get this alarm system that he had discussed with Ivan and Luca up and running as quick as possible. It wouldn't help him get any sleep at night but at least, he would be able to sleep more comfortably knowing that he or whoever was a sentry that night would be awakened by the alarm if they fell asleep on the job. So far, there were a few points where a good trap could be set up but getting the angles just right so they wouldn't be seen was the tricky part.

A separate set of footsteps crunching in the snow gave the doctor pause, to which he stopped and listened. Soon enough the cause for the noise revealed itself and it turned out to just be Colt walking about nearby. The doc's muscles relaxed from their tense, battle-ready state and instead, he focused on her gait. Something was off. Hector was aware she had a prosthetic but… she shouldn't be limping. Not like she was in pain, at least. She was clearly favoring one side as opposed to walking normally and the prosthetic itself being the cause of the strange gait.

"Ey, Mujer." He called out to her. "Porque estas coj-" the doc shook his head and cleared his throat before starting again, "Why are you limping around like that?"

Thoughts rushed through the veteran’s mind as she wandered aimlessly towards the lodge. The journey had been silent and grim following what had been done. If Cletus and the late Dixie had encountered Things, surely that meant they were close. How long would it be before there was another assault? The woman was deeply troubled by the lady’s demise. It was a necessary kill, but that didn't make it any easier. She had committed many mercy killings, but it still haunted the veteran. With a sigh she brought out her flask.

Just as she went to take a sip, a sudden voice caused a rush up Colt’s spine and her shoulders to erect defensively. What was this man saying? She did not even know his name. Some shiftless feller Luca brought home.

“What the fuck are ye-?” She turned around to snarl but her growl was halted by the armour piercing question regarding her limp. Shit. This one had actual vision. But now he had brought attention to her missing limb, pine hues darted.

“Nothin’! I snagged it on a root. Weren’ no thang.” She tried to explain, unconsciously scratching the back of her neck vigorously. Suddenly the scab back there itched. Or at least she thought it was.

Hector's cold, grey eyes narrowed as he heard the obvious lie and nodded at the leg in question, "Unless you can feel what metal feels, I find that hard to believe." His accented voice declared as he took a few steps towards the woman and then knelt down in the snow, his eyes locked on to the leg, "Show me the leg." He said cooly. There was no hesitation in his voice or even consideration. Like this was just another day.

It was only now that it had been brought up that Colt was reminded of the source of his question. A hot and irritable soreness on what was remaining of her left limb. She had been aware of it once upon a time but the passage of said time was a strange force. And whisky. She took a drink of the stuff, unsure if it was for confidence or to ease the irritation both external and internal. While her first instinct was to tell this man where to go, she could tell from his words and actions that gave her the insinuation that he was to be obeyed. Great… another one.

“No.” She growled, eyes down to the ground and darting, “No-Not in front of them.” She added, a little lower. Pride? Maybe. But within the confused compound of her mind, all she could assume was it would be perceived as weakness. And she couldn't show that. Not in front of him, and not by anybody.

The doctor's head turned to the lodge and he raised a black eyebrow before shaking his head and returning his sight to the leg. "Fine then." He looked up and started scanning until he found a suitably thick tree that would at least prevent them from being seen from the lodge. He nodded towards it and started walking over to it "Over here." He declared in a curt manner.

He took a knee once more and rolled the sleeves on his shirt up to his elbows and gestured for her to sit against the tree. The snow would be cold but at least it was away from prying eyes. As per the patient's request, "Now please. If you would."

Colt followed him without a word but paused upon being told to sit with a tone as if he expected instant results. Something about his mannerisms seemed to resemble Luca. Colt frowned a little with folded arms, deliberately keeping silent before finally responding.

“Fuckin’ civie tellin’ what to do…” she growled lowly as she sat down, still glaring at him. However, she did as he said. As she pulled the leg off, the cold air hit the irritated skin like Owen’s bat. The woman released a low rumble of a groan as she looked down. Everything down to where her knee would have started was a normal pale, but the joint itself was red. The doctor could probably see more than she could. Taking her flask out again, she took a sip from it, still watching him closely.

"Mmm…" he hummed as he examined the cause of the woman's irritation. There wasn't any real injury but the skin was incredibly irritated and swollen. Something of a sore was beginning to develop from the constant grinding against the prosthetic and that only made it worse. If she was going to keep on like this, the sore would get bigger and given how much seemed to like activity, it was going to get infected easily.

"Well, this civie," he repeated but his accent made it sound off, "is telling you that unless you want to lose more than you already have, this needs to get fixed."

The doc looked to the side and cupped some snow in his hands, rubbing it between his palms to get them cold. Then, he gingerly placed his cold fingers on the most irritated spots. It was hot to the touch, understandably and certainly couldn't be pleasant. He shook his head in disapproval as he continued lightly touched the hot, irritated skin to reduce some of the irritation. "Your going to have to come inside so we can treat this properly. You already have sores developing and they will get infected very quickly if they aren't take care of."

Hector's eyes snapped to the prosthetic and he noticed is was custom made for her. That being said, the basics were the same and amputees was not new territory for the Venezuelan. He would have to take exact measurements but even from a glance he could tell the height adjustment was completely off and the material that was supposed to prevent such irritation where the limb met the prosthetic had been completely worn down already. She was grinding her skin against hard plastic with every step, nevermind fighting for her life. Couple that with the fact she wore no covering over severed limb to help prevent irritation and Hector was surprised the woman hadn't worn her leg down to the bone.

Again, he shook his head, "Soldados. Todos son iguales." He muttered aloud. He then looked up at her, "You're tough, Niña. I'll give you that. But you won't be of any use to anyone sick from an infection or dead. Probably wouldn't even make a good zombie." Considering her leg….

"Come. No more walking on the prosthetic until I adjust it properly and fix it."

Colt remained totally silent other some wincing and the occasional grumble of pain. The veteran growled and pulled away slightly as he applied the snow to the hot and irritated parts of her leg. She frowned as he spoke, telling her about it. It did not sound good from what he said. But as he then spoke about adjusting the leg and how she should not walk on it, her gaze snapped into a glare.
“What?” She growled, “And what the fuck am I supposed to do till then? Have one of them dummies carry me bridal style like some cripple?” Just the mental thought of that was causing her heart rate to spike and her breathing to turn shallow. Not many even knew she was missing a leg in the first place!

At that moment, Hector looked deep into the woman's eyes and even a toddler could tell what he was thinking. He was looking at her like she was the dumbest human being he had ever laid his eyes upon.

"You are crippled."

He continued to stare at her for some time like that until he finally opened his mouth to speak, "Eres estupida? Are you stupid? What do you mean what are you supposed to do?"

With his left arm, he grabbed the fake leg and the right scooped the woman up and to her feet….foot… By getting his arm under her shoulder and hoisting her up so Colt's arm was over his broad shoulders and she could lean on him for support when they walked back. "You ask for help." He said plainly. As if it was like saying the sky was blue. "Even a child would know what to do. You're a grown woman, you should know this."

Oh no. Not again. Colt’s eyes widened as he spoke in the same tone that Leliana had used when lecturing her. Instantly, Colt felt herself bristle and her glare turned hard.

“I know what I am. And trust me, if ya’ve seen what I ‘ave, I am not what y’d call a fuckin’ cripple. I got lucky.” Her tone was low and in a hiss through with tired air. It was not even noon and she just wanted to go to sleep.

“Call me stupid one more time…” she grumbled angrily, forcing herself to stand up before he could assist her. “You approached me first!” She grumbled lowly before looking at the ground as he helped her inside.

“...Where did you even come from anyway?”

As the doctor walked her inside he barely listened to her protests for the sheer denial in them was astounding. "Yes, yes." He said dismissively. "You are not crippled just like your hair isn't black, your eyes aren't green, your skin isn't pale, and you are not a woman."

Regardless of any looks or stares from the other occupants, Hector paid them no mind as he helped the hobbling Colt along until they reached her room. He laid her down on her bed and disappeared out the door, prosthetic in hand, and didn't come back for several minutes. When he finally did come back, he came back with his personal bag of supplies that he set down with a loud thump! First order of business was to get the prosthetic height adjustment in proper order. Luckily, that only took a few moments of loosening certain parts and tightening others.

Then it was getting some proper cushioning into cradle so Colt's leg wouldn't keep grinding into the plastic. That was when he decided to answer her question, "Dr. Salazar, Medical researcher, Surgeon, Doctor, Virologist, and Professor. I've also probably got more years in medicine then you have been alive." His eyes snapped up to hers from his work, "So, I won't call you stupid as long as you don't act as such. Denying what you are for….Orgullo….uh….pride. is one of those things."

Soft gel padding meant for arm braces but it would have to do until he found some better lining for the leg. After that, he set the custom fitted prosthetic down and fished some ointment out of the bag that was for irritated and blistered skin. He applied the medical salve with a practiced hand over the affected area, knowing it would bring her quick relief.

The doctor recapped the tube and handed it to the woman, "After you've used the leg, apply that or as needed with flare-ups. I'll check it again in a few days."

He reached back into the bag and this time just pulled out a pair of clean socks. He grabbed one and began pulling on the elastic to excessively stretch it out until it was nearly twice as big as before. He held it next to her severed limb and nodded when the size was about right. "You put this on the leg every time you put on the prosthetic. It helps prevent this from happening. Similar to shoes."

Colt went into her holster and played with the colt slightly as he continued to growl at her. His choice of words only made her more irritated. If she had less sense he would have had a sixth hole in his head. After he lied her down, she stubbornly sat back up. She wasn't a cadaver for fuck sake! The woman remained silent as he introduced himself, not that she cared to know anymore. As he worked, she took out the Colt.45 (unloaded thankfully) and rubbed its barrel with a small cloth. Granted she wanted to use this thing on someone right now but… unfortunately this one was doing her a favour. But it was only when he called her stupid again that her gaze lifted back up angrily.

“It's not pride!” She snapped, “I’m only a cripple cause I wanted to protect people Just…” she shook her head and glared away towards the wall. She didn't want to keep going. She knew it would only give him more ammo. Seems that's all that people seemed to want. Ammo to keep her shot down. The woman watched as he fixed the prosthetic, only giving him a quiet “cheers” at being given the small bottle. She let out a sigh as he then explained to her how to apply it and keep herself comfortable.

“Hm… thanks for doing this.” She glanced own, still angry at this level of vulnerability on display. The veteran continued to clean her firearm in a futile at self assurance.

Hector stood and straightened his back with a groan. He had spent a long time bent over, fixing people today along with all the wood chopping in the morning. He was certainly fit but he wasn't getting any younger.

"Listen Niña. For what it's worth, how you got injured or why or when. None of that matters to me. I just care about your weaknesses and injuries. So, that I can treat them. You were a soldier, yes? It was your job and duty to overcome your weaknesses and stand tall for others, yes?"

The doctor grabbed his bag and tossed the woman a bottle of water to help her calm down. "I'm a doctor. It is my job and duty to make sure you can do your job as effectively as possible." At least…. That was what Hector was always taught by his master.

"There's only one way I can do that." He let it hang there without furthering the conversation. They both knew what he meant.

"Follow my instructions. Or you'll be needing another one of those." He nodded towards the prosthetic.


“Good. ‘Cause I don't wanna talk about it.” She grumbled, “and it was. But now? I dunno.” She sighed before he handed her a bottle of water, which she took a thankful sip from. The cold aqua woke her up slightly, she had been feeling a little dazed from the whisky. As he then talked about his duty as a doctor being to help her, she dipped her head and sighed slightly.

“Well… again, thanks for that.” She said, unsure of what to do to say now.

"You can show your appreciation by putting your skills to use. After you rest that leg for a while." He concluded before turning to leave the room.

Colt sighed and lied on the bed, which she now had to herself now that Marcus was absent. She just huffed and took out her flask again after propping herself up with some pillows, “I can do that… I'm just tired.” She sighed slightly, staring at the ceiling. With a grumble, she remained on the bed, sipping from her flask and her gaze firmly set on the ceiling. Despite his help, Colt could not help but still be annoyed.

"Christ alive, everyone 'ere's a fuckin' critic..." she grumbled before settling into her thoughts. The bare ceiling was doing wonders in numbing her mind into nothing.
​

 

[BloodThunder27]

Shinoa Bradford
Age: 17
Location: Lodge Interactions: Bethany Maj
Mentioned: Milly Rumble Fish , Lelianna FireMaiden

Pregnancy Progression: 39 Weeks, 6 Days

Countdown to Childbirth

Labor of Love, Part 1Most of Shinoa's day comprised of resting, eating or going to the restroom, something that irritated her because she felt useless. As nightfall came, she frowned as she looked down at her very pregnant belly. Hopefully the bun in the oven wasn't planning on overcooking, because going past her due date was not something that she really wanted to do, granted it was not really in her control. The unborn child did have a mind of her own. Throughout the day, the contractions came and went, but they were frequent enough to have the young mother worrying. Given some of the stories she has heard in the Hospital prior to the outbreak while waiting for her doctor's appointment, she was genuinely worried with how long labor was going to be.

While pondering on labor and delivery, Shinoa just relaxed in the bed that she shared with Milly and Lelianna, caressing and holding her swollen belly. "Not again..." She sighed, even though it was reoccurring every half an hour. As she got up and started waddling to the restroom, she began holding her back. Over the last few hours, it had been hurting more then usual. Was her contractions getting stronger? Or was it the weight of her baby pulling on her spine? Shinoa couldn't entirely tell. Groaning, she just went into the restroom and closed the door.

As soon as she was about to exit, upon opening the door, she felt a sharp pain, before feeling something gush down her thigh. "Bethany...Bethany! Can you go find Lelianna? I think my water broke!" She called out, hoping the other woman would hear her. To her dismay, she started feeling a lot more pain in her back then usual. "Oh god, its happening..." she cried before taking a deep breath whilst attempting to relax and straightening out her robe. It also wasn't long until sweat started dripping down her forehead.

 

[Rumble Fish]

The following post is a collab between The Mad Queen and Rumble Fish
Jenna jumped up at the sound of a shot going off, somewhere outside and sprung into action. With her arm wrapped around Cammy she dove for cover behind an armchair, attempting to shield them both from anymore shooting. She waited there for a few moments, holding her breath and listening to the world outside. There were no more gunshots, no signs of breaking glass or shambling feet. If they weren’t under attack then who would be shooting?

The girl sat up, peering over the armchair to see that the lodge was still in one piece, or at least as close as that got given the infected attack a few days ago. Others moved into the lodge, and she noticed the back of Colt heading up the stairs. After some more waiting, she followed and knocked on the door to the soldier’s room.
“Colt. We need to talk.” She wasn’t sure what to do with the chickens, so brought them with her. The birds pecked at the ground beneath Jenna’s feet while Cammy looked on, watching the door for herself.
-
Colt was in a bit of a daze after the forcefully dragging up the stairs she had just endured from Hector. Sure the doctor helped her with the prosthetic -leaning against the wall- but dragging her through the lodge was a quick way to cause resentment within the veteran. But the thought of Dixie’s mercy kill dominated her mind. With a long sigh, she took up the wine bottle next to her on the floor. As she did, she heard the voice of the purple-haired woman outside her door.

“C’min.” she grunted at the door, not bothering to sit up from her propped up position only held by pillows. She only hoped Jenna would not trip over any of the cans on the ground. Thankfully there was not too much, just a bottle and some cans. At least she thought so.
-
Jenna braced herself and gently opened the door “Sit.” She told Cammy. The dog did as she was told and sat down outside of the room. She’d shed over a good chunk of the sitting room already so the girl didn’t want to leave the lodge as a carpet of dog hair.
“Marcus gave me this.” She said, handing Colt the note “I haven’t looked at it, I swear on me dad.” She crossed her heart “Guy ditched me and Brian after the farm.”

She left out the part about Marcus’ other actions. Unless he came back that was for only Jenna to know.
-
Colt drank from the bottle as she watched Jenna enter before handing her a note. With a confused grumble, she put it down as she then picked the thing up. It was not a very long note but Colt took her time reading it. She squinted to try and make her blurry view less so. After several silent minutes, the veteran sighed, put the note down and picked the bottle back up.

“Hm. So it was all a rouse to get away.” Colt glugged unhappily as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, “Could ‘ave just… I don’t know.” she grumbled. So he decided to just take off like that? Into a city crawling with Things? Just the awareness of the stupidity of that plan was enough to frustrate the veteran.

“He say anything when he gave it?” she asked, purely for knowledge.
-
“No.” Jenna shook her head “At the time I didn’t even know he’d given me the damn thing. Bastard slipped it into my back pocket.”
So she’d been right, Marcus never cared about the farm and perhaps that was for the best, at least with him leaving. Again, he wasn’t the kind of person Jenna would trust in a room alone with someone and some of the things he said worried her, fueling the fire of her thoughts about the man.
“Are you going to be okay?” Jenna asked Colt
-
“He didn't even- oh for fuck…” Colt tilted her head back with an angry sigh through her nostrils as she sank back into the squishy pillows and took her cap off. She couldn't wrap her head around it. Just taking off? It made no sense.

“Me? Nah, I'll be okay. I got bigger things to worry about, really.” She added before taking a moment to allow a few minutes of silence to come between them before the veteran spoke up again. Focus, she had to focus on the important things, despite the turbulence in her mind.

“Forget that. What else happened? Y’find anything worth lookin’ at?” She asked, belching into her fist slightly after speaking. She could see the woman with the brilliant hair was as taken aback as she was so perhaps some good news would help? If there was any.
-

“The farm was crawling with infected.” Jenna shook her head “We managed to give them the slip, but I only had time to grab well…” She gestured towards the three chickens at her feet “Some feed for them too.”
She liked the look of the pitchfork too, and kicked herself a little for not being able to carry it as well. A weapon with some actual distance to it would be pretty essential now.
“So long as I’m able to keep them well, warm and fed we could stock up on eggs.”

The girl shrugged “Gives me something to actually do I suppose.”
-
Colt listened to the woman before finally glancing down to see the three hens at the woman’s feet. One of them had walked in and was pecking her prosthetic with a bobbing of its head. With a groan of effort, Colt sat upright and picked the chicken up, who clucked and stretched her wings out before settling into the woman’s grip. The veteran had expected a lot but chickens wasn't one of them.

“Good, good.” She looked to the woman, “Me ‘nd the girls shot some rabbits and a deer. Should keep us fed for a while.” They had shot more but Colt didn't want to think about that. She brought her stump up onto her other knee to pick at the scabbing on the skin, despite Hector’s work, it still hurt.

“Y’did a good job t’day. I mean it.” She turned back to Jenna.
-
“Even if it was just a waste of time so that bellend could bugger off.” She lightly chuckled “It’ll buy me some time.” She glared down at the chickens and wondered just what her life had come to. Mere days ago she was adored by millions who watched her pretty much daily and now her very future depended on some chickens being able to lay eggs.

She hadn’t even thought about that when she grabbed them, it was just a spur of the moment kind of thing.
“A few days, maybe more if I’m lucky.”
-
Colt sighed and rubbed her forehead, “You some time? Whatchu mean by that?” The veteran’s eyes narrowed a little as she looked at the woman. She knew that she knew very little about Jenna so she did not want to probe but at the same time it was worth an ask.

“We’ll come up with a way to keep everyone fed, but… look, y’let me worry about that.” She added before lifting the bottle up to see what was left. She released a snort.

“Seems I attract assholes named Marcus. Like a fuckin’ magnet.”
-
She got a good chuckle out of that “Come on, Colt. We both know I won’t last long here. It takes twenty six hours for an egg to form and while sometimes these hens can lay an egg every day or two, it’s not guaranteed. Nothing is.”

“If they don’t perform well, I’ve had it. I mean, what else am I meant to do around here? It’s like I told you before, I can’t shoot a real gun and I’m being held back from the only useful thing I’m good at by a stuck up bitch who has a stick rammed so far up her arse it’s popped out of her mouth.”

Sure she’d actually been nice, but that was only because of what happened to Rogue. Something she only blamed herself for because, like a moron, she’d let the words of the nurse get to her. Being told she’d messed up treating a friend, that she had wasted her time at university, that she wasn’t competent enough to even use google for how to treat a gunshot wound and then having that friend actually die moments later? It was no wonder she’d gotten so low and she was still angry with herself over it. Between someone who’d left the motel before it was attacked and Milly, the only other person who could confirm what Jenna had done was gone.

That was still a fresh wound, and it stung like hell. She’d never let anyone get under her skin like that again.

“And you said it yourself the guy in charge is threatening to break legs. How do you think he’ll take the idea of me sticking around if I can’t contribute?” Jenna chuckled once more “Face it Colt, I’m fucked. I can buy myself a few days and then I’m going to try and leave the city with Cammy.”

“Not sticking around till I get thrown out. Gotta leave before then.” She firmly shook her head “At least that way I can plan for things.”
-

“Nothin’ is ever guaranteed. Even before all of this.” Colt hummed slightly but then her gaze hardened as she then insulted Leli quite harshly, “Look okay, that's enough of that. I know how y’feel about her but just… try to focus. I mean… y’know what, fuck it. It's just us. Get it off yer chest.” The woman stayed quiet as the woman lamented her lack of contribution to the lodge, the same as she said before. Colt just nodded slightly whenever the woman’s words faltered. Once she had finished, Colt rubbed the back of her neck.

“Look. Luca was gonna break Marcus’ legs if I fucked up. I doubt he'd break yours. Guess beating women is the one shitty thing he wouldn't do. Figures.” The woman threw her arms out a little as she spoke, becoming much looser with the drink.

“Ya’ll learn how t’shoot, I said I’d teach ya didn't I?” She asked, “Jenna, I can't force ya t’stay. I know where yer comin’ from. But if yer serious, at least lemme teach ya how t’shoot first. I don't want ya t’leave. Seriously. But I'm no’ yer ma or nothin’ so, least I could do is help, y’know?”
-
Although she tried to suppress it, Jenna did find herself smiling a little when Colt referred to her as a woman. Not that she thought would ever be the type to have that kind of problem, it felt nice to have her good impression of someone confirmed. Still, Jenna had been a bit luckier than other girls like her on that front. Passing in front of other people had always been easier.

“Never said Luca would break my legs. Just that breaking someone’s legs in this situation is pretty far, a lot worse than kicking someone out. With one you’ve killed someone but with another you’ve given them a small chance to live.” She folded her arms “We both know crippling someone like that is a death sentence.” Looking straight into Colt’s eyes, she continued “And maybe Luca doesn't hit women. I don’t expect him to hit me unless I do something to piss him off anyway but who’s to say Luca is the type…” She turned away “Ah, fuck it. That doesn't matter.” Jenna muttered under her breath.

She glanced back again, looking Colt up and down “You’re far too young to be my ma.” She chuckled. There couldn’t have been that much of a gap between them.
“I’ll stay for a few more days I suppose. Best to give those chickens a chance at least and as it’s not like I need to watch them twenty four seven…”

“Thanks, Colt. I mean it.”
-
Colt glanced down towards her missing limb, wincing a little as the woman mentioned cripples. She heaved a deep sigh and went to drink more wine but stopped herself at the last second. Despite her rushing thoughts, she knew she had to be lucid for this conversation. Otherwise, Jenna wouldn't think she was genuine. She put the thing down, pushing it towards Jenna in a non-verbal invitation to have some if she so wanted. Might as well offer.

“Imma cripple but I'm still kickin’.” She grumbled lowly, still angry over what Hector had said. But what was the point in even denying it? Nothing.

“Luca is… Look. He is not going to stay in charge. I'm sure of it. Y’cant have that maniac runnin’ around threatenin’ folk. But… again, lemme worry about that.”

As Jenna mentioned her being too young to be her mother, the woman snorted, “y’never know. Could be usin’ some sort of cream I'm no’ telling ya about.” She wasn't smiling, but a slight spark in her eye indicated her sarcasm. Smiling, joking and the likes was still something Colt hadn't grasped since she had left the Marines. No reason to.

“Y’know ya got me behind ya, right?”
-

Slowly, Jenna picked up the bottle and held it close to her face as she studied it. Then, suddenly she took a heavy swig from it, gulping down. After a moment or two she placed the bottle down once more, and coughed.

She grinned at Colt’s joke, snorting slightly. She needed a good drink and something to laugh about after all. After a few moments, she went serious again when Colt posed her question.
“Yeah, and sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”
-
Colt was a little surprised at her willingness to take her offer but allowed her to do so. When she answered her question, Colt nodded a little with a sigh.

“No, I know ya didn't. I… can't say I know exactly what yer goin’ through but I do understand. Believe me.” She answered, “I'll help ya. Luca just expects usefulness from nothin’. Y’never had to shoot before now, but things are different, ye? But I can teach ya a thing or two. I wasn't always able to shoot… passin’ the torch ye could say.”
-
“I’ll make sure not to accidentally shoot someone.” Jenna smiled. Even if she did end up having the leave, at least she’d stand a higher chance now. “When do you want to start? I’m good whenever.”
-
“Yeah it's a good idea not to shoot folks not needing shot.” She snorted slightly before sitting up and putting her leg back on. She stood up, having to re-balance herself since she had been lying down and drinking. She tilted her head towards Jenna.

“Hmm, we got some time before it goes dark. Imma get some water and we could do a little now?” She asked as she took a few steps towards the door. It was still sore to walk, but the prosthetic felt much better and less irritable.
-
With a slight smile, Jenna follow Colt as the two made it down the stairs. She had to place her hands in her pockets to hide the fact they were shaking, even just a little bit. The closest she’d come to wielding an actual firearm was some airsoft thing she’d done for her channel. Before that lasertag as a kid and some VR stuff. None of it would compare to the actual feeling of cold metal that could mean the difference between going home and ending up as one of the infected.

She waved at Nile as the two entered the sitting room.
-
Colt walked down the stairs, looking to go to the small armoury of there's to find something for Jenna to use.

“Think a Glock would be good to start with. Very simple guns but very reliable in most situations. Can move onto more complex guns later-” she stopped as she noticed Jenna waving at someone she had not seen before. She looked between her and then back to the stranger.

“Who the fuck are you?”

Interaction: Togy (Nile)
Mentions: FireMaiden (Leli) Brax (Luca) Maj (Andy) ​