Realistic or Modern Patient Zero (A Zombie Survival RP)

[shadowz1995]

The past few days at the lodge were spent in silence. Most of the noises heard were whispered conversations or the moans from the injured survivors of the assault. In the bathroom, stood one man staring at himself in the mirror. All was silent until a long exhale left his lips and he turned to leave after washing his hands extensively with one of the only sinks that survived the battle.


Hector had been making his rounds and checking in on the injured ever since he had regained consciousness and given the extent of the wounded, it was a full time job. The doctor had gotten a collective 5 hours of sleep in the past 3 days and it showed.


He always had shadows under his eyes but the combination of the wrapped, bloody bandages and nearly week old scruff made him look like a trainwreck of a man. His hair was tied back in a lazy ponytail spots of rusted brown could still be seen in the long, greyed out locks. Blood that he hadn't had a chance to wash out.


His rounds took him to one of the easier patients to deal with. Andy's injuries were not too bad, thankfully. Her main issue was the amount of blood she lost which could only be healed with time. Much like her brother, though his wounds were much worse.


There were three knocks on the red-head's door to announce his presence before the big man let himself in the room. "Ms. Jordan." He said quietly, grabbing the chair Hector had placed next to her bed and occupying it. "Como te sientes hoy?" He asked neutrally.


Andy had been sleeping when the door opened. She felt as if that was pretty much all she had been doing over the last several days. Anytime she attempted to get out of bed she was bitched at by any variation of person in the lodge and so she had eventually conceded and decided to try to rest. The familiar accent of Hector’s voice broke through the last threads of sleep as she blinked several times, coming awake. A deep wince contorted her fair face as she sat up in bed.


She was told later that Leliana had removed the bullet while she was unconscious, but Andy had no memory of it. The last thing she remembered clearly from the events of the attack was the gruesome scene of Luca ripping out the soldiers eyeball. The pain was fading more each day but she knew that she would likely have a lovely purple scar by the time it finally healed completely. Andy wasn’t sure when she would feel back to full strength, but there was some color starting to come back to her normally pale cheeks.


“Fine.” Andy answered cooly. She was used to the doctor’s visits by this point. He had come in on various occasions to check on her despite his own injuries. The redhead was grateful that she had been able to rest in her own bedroom. It was one of the few parts of the lodge that didn’t need repairs. From the sounds of construction that often startled her awake, she figured that some of the able bodied humans had been at work repairing the rest.


“How is Owen?”


"In and out. He is very touch and go but he isn't gasping for air anymore. The operation went well, he is showing no signs of infection as of now, and I expect him to be able to breathe on his own soon in a week but I am keeping a close eye on his condition just in case."


“Good.” Andy stretched to the best of her ability, but her side was still healing and she didn’t want to bust anything open that shouldn’t do so. Still, she found herself getting stiff from all the time in bed and longed to get up and move about some. With any luck the Doctor would have nothing but positive things to say about her condition and maybe she could go see her brother.


“I appreciate everything you’ve done for him.” Her voice was stoic, but the sentiment was genuine. The gratitude felt almost foreign coming from her mouth, but she did her best to struggle through it. It was thanks to Hector that her brother was still alive to worry about.


The doctor leveled a cold glare at her now as he set his papers aside. "I would have more time to attend to him if I didn't have to be checking on you because you decided to hide your injury. Do you realize you could be helping if you hadn't been so foolish?"


Andy's bored expression turned more icy as the doctor addressed her. The redhead yawned and crossed her arms over her chest. He of course, was only doing his duty as her physician by chastising her behavior.


"I am no worse than you," the woman argued. "You should have tended to your eye far before you did. However, we both knew that bigger things were at risk." She reached for the glass on her night stand took a long drink from it. Wiping her mouth on the back of hand, she sat the glass back down and stared up at him.


Hector's eye narrowed further, as if looking past the surface and into her very soul. "If you were no worse than me, you wouldn't be missing a fourth of the blood in your body. You would be like me and helping. You can twist it whichever way you want, Niña. You made a mistake that nearly cost you your life."


The older gentleman stood and moved the covers so he could get a look at how the wound was coming along. She would need to change her bandages soon but at least she was bleeding through them anymore. It was progress.


Luckily, he left several rolls of bandages on her nightstand for that very reason. He gestured for her to sit up.


Andy obliged, continuing her slow movements to sit up against the soft headboard of her bed. She winced, but more out of stiffness than anything else.


"Well it wasn't exactly my idea to pass out" the girl conceded. "I just wanted to get you to Owen. Being kidnapped sort of threw a wrench in my plans."


"I'm not holding the fact that you were caught unawares against you. I'm saying you wouldn't have become the…" The doctor paused his bandage work for a moment to think of the phrase that was slipping his mind. After a breath, the english word clicked and he continued, "...damsel in distress if you were being treated for your wound by me. You may have even been able to fight back with the others that were with us."


The doctor double checked that the fresh bandages were fastened properly before staring at the roll in his hand. It was past time for him to change his own bandages as well.


Andy gave a characteristic eye roll as he spoke, emerald eyes somersaulting toward the ceiling. Of course she hadn’t meant to almost bleed out. She hadn’t exactly been working at full capacity once she saw Owen get gunned down. Her brother had become her main focus, as was to be expected. Was Hector really going to chastise a twenty-two year old girl for her rash behavior during duress? The idea seemed utterly ridiculous to her. It’s not like she was an experienced war veteran. Although after all the blood shed she had witnessed days prior, Andy supposed she might as well be one now. She found herself talking through clenched teeth at the word ‘damsel’.


“Listen here you entitled shit-bag,” Andy growled. “You are wasting your breath. I can’t suddenly go back in time and tell you about my injury and appease you, so really this conversation is moot.” She gestured for him to hand her the bandages that he was holding so she could assist him. Hector wasn’t going to be able to wrap them around his head by himself with any sort of grace, and it was the least she could do. He may be a pompous asshat, but he had saved Owen’s life.


“And for the record, I’m no one’s fucking damsel.”

 

[Maj]

​

October 29 2019
Andy's Bedroom
9:00 AM

Hector had no reaction to the outburst. It was completely expected from what he understood about her. She was very intelligent but also very stubborn and proud. However, the final note the red-head added caused him to arch an eyebrow. "No? You were unconscious but Luca princess carried you inside. That is quite damsel-like."

The doctor handed her the roll and deftly started to undo his own bandages. Each layer that fell away was a shade of crimson deeper than the last. After all, Hector only rested for a few hours before returning to his medical duties. Thankfully, it wasn't getting infected due to the doctor's willingness to drown the nasty wound with iodine or peroxide periodically. Something he had on him right now for Colt and Jenna.

“You are just mad no one princess carried you,” Andy said with an amused snort. Hector looked like he needed a doctor more than she did, but at the moment she was the best he had. She hoped that he would have Leliana look at it at least, but the man seemed to be about as stubborn as she was. It was likely hard to examine your own injuries when you were down half of your vision.

“I’m sure Luca didn’t mean to exclude you,” The redhead said in mock sweetness. She took the bottle of disinfectant from him and braced herself to pour some on his still weeping eye. She was sure that it wasn’t going to feel nice. “It’s not his fault that no one can lift your fat ass.”

"Fat?" The doctor questioned. As if he had just heard the girl say that she believed the world was flat. "I didn't realize your brain was down where you were shot, Andy. It seems to have affected your vision greatly."

Hector took a breath and angled his head to the right, giving Andy the best look at his wound and position to pour the medical acid on his face.

“Oh believe me,” Andy began, voice dripping with feigned innocence. “I wish it had. I got more than an eye full of your wrinkly old man body while I was hoisting your half naked ass up and out of a window.” The girl was careful as she began to pour the liquid down the man’s face.

"Seeing your pale, scrawny body everyday does wonders for my eyes as well."

"Eye." He corrected a second after.

Just as well, because once the peroxide started flowing, Hector jumped in his seat but otherwise made no sound. One could hear the wooden seat beneath him groan from the pressure his grip was applying. The peroxide let out a cringe-worthy hiss that like cold water hitting hot metal. It quite literally burned away the beginnings of an infection because not long after, the hydrogen peroxide started to foam up across the entirety of his injury.

The doctor's breath came harsh and sharp as he breathed through the literal agony that was assaulting his perception. His jaw managed to unclench for a moment to let out a small, "Ow."

“Jeeze,” she retorted and poured the liquid ran mostly clear. “I didn’t realize looking at me was such a hardship for you. Here,” Andy paused. She tilted his head so that only the side of his face with the missing eye faced her. “Problem fixed.” She batted her eyelashes in a dramatic false innocence, knowing all too well he couldn’t see her do it. The girl moved to help him bandage his face back up.

It took the older man a second to understand what she meant but once he did, Hector actually chuckled. A low, grumbly chuckle that possibly no one had really heard before. Andy raised an eyebrow, amused at her own joke. The doctor was too.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m hilarious,” Andy said. “Now hold still.” She clumsily wrapped the doctor’s head to the best of her ability. It wasn’t perfect, Leliana could likely have done a better job but it was still better than Hector trying to wrap his own wounds while half blind.

“What do you think Doc? Am I okay to limp out to see my brother yet?” Andy hadn’t seen Owen since she had passed out days prior. She wasn’t asking to do anything strenuous. She had learned her lesson about pushing herself too far. Still, no matter how many times people told her that he was doing well, there was an anxious pressure in her chest that wouldn’t go away till she saw him with her own eyes.

"That shouldn't pose any issues as long as you move carefully. Just try to stay calm when you speak to him. Elevated emotional distress may cause you or him to collapse. Especially Owen. He is much weaker than you are. So, if not for yourself then for his sake."

With a nod of gratitude, the doctor collected his supplies and walked through the door, keeping one hand lingering on the wooden surface. He was holding it open for the girl to walk out. "He's awake right now. Remember, short sentences. It's difficult for him to speak."

Andy slowly rose out of the bed, careful not to grimace and give the doctor any reason to revoke the gift he had just given her. She gave him a small smirk, the corner of her full lips turning slightly and walked slowly and steadily out the door, grateful for the first taste of freedom since the attack.

shadowz1995 FireMaiden Brax

 

[Brax]

Aubrey was used to waking up early, but not in a place that’s strange and unknown to her. She was used to the boat. She felt safe on the boat, not this wooden shell of a home. As the blonde sat up, she ran a hand through her tangled hair before realizing she didn’t have enough energy this morning to care about how soft it was. Instead, she tossed it into the braids they typically stayed in and threw on same hat she always wore.

The spare clothes Aubrey had at the start of her expedition were taken away by the men who robbed her of the supplies she initially had, so she resigned to wearing her daily clothes to bed, “I really need to find some more clothes…” She thought, slowly making her way out of the bed that laid amongst many others. Her body was immensely stiff. The past week’s activities were not easy on her body, and neither were the spots she slept in. Despite the poor quality, the bed was a godsend compared to the other spots she had laid down in.

Once she was fully up, the girl made her way over to the door and threw it open, not prepared for the morning sunlight to pour into her retinas. Once more, Aubrey was used to waking up early, but for her standards, this was late, “I must’ve slept in…” She murmured, looking around to see a rather sweaty Luca nearby and Nile walking away.

“Morning Luca.” Aubrey waved before her right hand shot up to her hat, “I thought I woke up early, I guess you guys wake up even earlier.” Taking a look over Luca’s visage, she inquired, “Do you know a good place to work out?”

“Mmm.” The man responded, after watching the woman walk up to him and listening to her speak. He had a ponderous look plastered upon his face. At first, he had completely ignored her question. This wasn’t intentional, however, as he was trying his best to pay the girl some respect. Then, after a few seconds, he snapped and audibly spoke what he was thinking.

“Audrey, was it?” Luca shrugged.

“Uhm, Aubrey…” She said sheepishly.

He was never good with names, especially for those whom he decided he did not specifically need to remember. Being approached so casually was off-putting nonetheless. No one in the lodge walked up to Luca to ask him such simple, unimportant questions. “There are no weights or machines. I work out around the lodge. People typically aren’t up at this hour so I don’t have to worry about some pathetic sack of meat taking up my space.” The man winked, placing his shirt down on the grass beside his feet and turning from the girl.

Nile had done enough to hamper his allotted time. Luca had merely stopped to take a break, after all. Without another word, he took off - jogging around the corner of the lodge and beginning another mile-long trek around the house. When he had the appropriate facilities, Luca spent quite a bit of time every day at the gym. He had begun working out around the same time he took up martial arts as a young teen. Eventually, the habit just stuck with him. Hell, in his apartment, Luca had spent hundreds of thousands on free-weights just for when he was too lazy to go to the gym and still needed to get in a pump.

Aubrey listened intently, before looking slightly confused, “Do you guys have sacks of meat around here? And what's up with you guys and not wearing shirts?!” She called after, watching him run off. With a sigh, she picked up the shirt and ran after him. If he was implying that she's not worthy of knowing, she'd prove him wrong. Aubrey would get up at the break of dawn and do her daily work out- a lap around the lake, pull out some pull ups, push ups, sit ups, a whole routine she did every day. She had nothing better to do anyways. When she worked, it was always in the evenings because she couldn't fish as well at night. Even though she didn't go to a gym, her stamina was plenty capable of keeping up with him.

But oh boy, did that man run. It took her a good ten minutes to match pace with him, and when she did, she placed the shirt in his shoulder, “Can you show me where you work out now? I tried finding a place yesterday but some of the ground is uneven… And covered in blood.”

When the girl finally caught up with Luca, he looked over to her with surprise. He did not assume she would try to keep pace. Most people would have gotten the hint by now; or tried to figure it out themselves. The oddity of the situation, even bringing his disgusting shirt to him despite him having left it in that spot on purpose, resulted in the man being unable to contain a chuckle. It was rare to find someone with so much motivation to work out, let alone to seek answers at such a pace. Luca didn’t slow down, instead opting to converse with the woman as he ran.

Aubrey was caught off guard by his chuckle. Typically, while on a run, laughing isn’t common place. Still she continued beside him.

“You’re looking at it.” His breathing remained paced, though his words were not able to come out as smoothly. “There’s no place to work out so we make with what we’ve got. Whatever is lying around. I use the lodge as a marker for a mile. One trip around the lodge is one sixteenth.” Speaking this outloud made Luca experience a moment of deja vu, as though he had just went over this very same thing but a few paragraphs (or an entire collab) previously. The man was able to keep his entire pace throughout, only slowing when his time running had come to an end.

“Oh… That makes sense.” Aubrey nodded, looking around the wooded area. If he did his running here, she's sure to find some spot to work out amongst it.

“And yes, we do have sacks of meat around here. They have legs, arms and eyes. Usually spew bullshit from their mouth holes.”

“Sounds kind of worrisome. Are they like the Things?” She asked naively, before the gears in her head realigned and she sighed in defeat, “That was a joke… Sorry.”

“Apology accepted.”

Trying to change the topic, her hand gripped the baseball cap as she asked, “Wanna do some push ups? See who can do the most?” Aubrey knew a friendly competition wouldn't hurt. People always made things little competitions, so she hoped that wasn't an odd thing to do.

“Do you ever take that thing off?” Luca asked, referring to her hat. Seemed weird to keep it on, even when the woman was claiming to have stepped out to work out. As for him, he was used to wearing as little clothes as possible when working out. They were only a hindrance, especially when the man was most definitely not trying to shed weight. He was skinny enough as it was.

“Oh, my hat?” She nodded, “Yeah, when I sleep. It would be weird to keep it on then.” She hoped the short reply would be enough. She didn’t feel like explaining she had a weird attachment to it despite not owning it for very long.

He bent over so that both hands were placed on the grass. Then he slid them outward, having moved parallel to Aubrey. After waiting for her to assume the same position, Luca then finally dipped his upper-torso as close to the ground as he could get it before lifting upward. Within a short amount of time, the two were off to the races. As time passed, both would progressively get slower. Then, Luca’s pace finally hit a crawl. His biceps were on fire and his chest was signaling the same level of soreness. However, he did not stop.

Aubrey on the other hand, did stop. She was never a competitive person and didn’t mind the loss, she just didn’t want her arms to be rendered useless for the rest of the day if she pressed on, “Okay, you win.” She groaned, letting her body hit the ground for a couple seconds before getting up and offering a helping hand to lift him as well, “You’re really strong. Do you know how many we did just then?” Her sentence was choppy due to her burning lungs, but she managed, “Also, where do you go during the day? I never see you around.”

When the woman beside him had finally spoke up, Luca was reminded that she had even called this a competition in the first place. He had just defaulted to doing as many pushups as his body would allow him. With that he finally stopped, lifting himself up so that he was resting both knees on the ground as he looked over to Aubrey. In reality, Luca had not bothered counting. However, if he were to surmise, they were probably within the range of thirty or forty. For her to be able to keep up with him was far more impressive.

“The kid with the dreadlocks usually spends nights looking after the lodge while everyone sleeps. While he’s currently incapacitated, i’m just doing that for him. So, I've mostly been sleeping during the day and staying awake all night. My sleep pattern, however, is fucked so it comes a bit more haphazardly than that.” He placed both of his hands in his lap as he sat back on his heels, an uncomfortable form of sitting that had been taught to him in his youth. To that man, this was something that was actually comfortable. Luca used it primarily to stretch his legs.

Aubrey nodded along as he spoke. No wonder she never saw him around, “I don’t think I’ve even seen this kid you’re talking about.” She mumbled, not recalling a dreadlock-hair boy.

“The better question is, how have you been making yourself useful since you’ve gotten here a few days ago?” He placed his hand in hers and was helped up to his feet.

Aubrey was taken a bit by surprise by the question. It’s understandable to ask, she’s new here and still doesn’t really know what she’s doing, “I sure hope I have. I’ve been trying to repair the lodge a bit, move dead bodies, see if there’s anything I can do for the injured people. I haven’t really gotten instructions on what to do so I’ve been trying to fix what I know. Do you need help with looking out? I can’t imagine it’s healthy to stay up all night and sleep during the day.”

The man pursed his lips slightly and nodded as he looked toward the ground. That was a good answer. Luca had been expecting her to be confused by the question or say nothing, so it was a breath of fresh air to be able to speak with someone competent after dealing with Nile’s ass for only a handful of minutes. There was not always going to be instruction, so long as she was doing something she felt was proactive then that would certainly be enough.

“Help looking out, huh?” He blew air out of his nostrils at a faster pace than usual, looking back up at the girl. “Do you know how to use a gun? Have you ever killed anyone? Or a zombie, for that matter?” A bored expression on his face accompanied these questions.

Once more, the questions surprised Aubrey. She certainly didn’t expect to be asked if she’s murdered someone before. Never in her life time did she think those words would ever be said to her, but here she was, “Uhm… No, no, and yes.” She paused for a second, trying to collect her thoughts and explain what she’s done before, “I spent most of my time trying to get here without disturbing those Things, and it worked for the most part. I had my bumps here and there when I had to use my crowbar but those were few and far between. Traveling by yourself and being stealthy was much easier than traveling with a group, but when Colt and them found me, there was an altercation. We dealt with it. So yeah, I’ve killed a zombie thing before.” Another pause took affect before she said, “I didn’t know you had to use a gun for look out. Probably not the job for me, then.”

“You don’t necessarily need to use a gun, I was just inquiring because I was curious. Part of playing this role is the ability to dispose of anything hostile that comes our way. I don’t think bringing a crowbar to a gunfight would serve anyone well.” He wiped his index finger horizontally across his left nostril a few times. “Tre doesn’t use guns. However, he’s younger and better built for the hours. I just prefer using guns because I am adept at handling them.”

“Oh, gotcha. I think you’re right that a crowbar wouldn’t do too well. I don’t particularly like guns, but Andy’s going to teach me how to use a bow soon, so maybe after that I can help out.” She said hopeful.

No power meant a lot of things. No coffee, microwave or oven to heat up food. That was besides the fact that there was no light in the evenings. Being that the soldiers had decided to hit the generator for their own gain, for whatever reason the populous at the lodge simply did not have the know-how or skill to properly fix the damn thing. Luca considered taking a look at it, as he was unsure as to where the damage was sustained in the first place. That was a job for someone with a bit more prowess as an engineer than himself.

“Anyway. My workout routine is simple. Run a mile, do a set of push-ups, sit-ups and chin-ups three times a week. One time a week I switch it up and focus on doing crunches, anything focusing the legs. Two days a week I focus on just cardio. One day a week I take a break from cardio and just lift whatever the hell I could get my hands on that is heavy. That’s how I've been getting along since we got here.”

“I may start adapting that. I typically worked on my arms, core, and legs every morning and go for a run every other day, or try to. Life got in the way sometimes.” By this point, she had regained her breath and was ready for round two, “It’s still pretty early in the morning. Ready to keep going?” She asked, readjusting the hat on her head to make sure it wouldn’t fall off while doing workouts.

“Yep.” He responded in a short manner, pushing both hands down on his thighs.

Featuring: Corgi

 

[The Mad Queen]

The following is a collab between yours truly and Rumble Fish​

Jenna's boots crunched over the thin sheet of snow, wiping away anything left of the blizzard that had assaulted the lodge. Any snow that had been left behind was stained red from battle and would be gone soon enough.
With her good arm she unlocked the rental and reached through the passenger seat. On instinct, she almost opened the wrong side but quickly corrected herself.

The small backpack was still there. Of course it was. Nobody had given her car that much of a glance since she'd arrived at the lodge, so why would they go hoking around in it?
It took one or two tries but she managed to get it over her shoulder and started to head back towards the lodge. She'd gotten a chance to go through the rucksack full of meds she'd brought back, taking what she needed and leaving the rest with the lodge's dwindling supplies. She had wanted to hug Aubrey for it. After all, not only had she grabbed the most useful of the bags but the rucksack had been a gift. It was a small reminder of home, but a reminder nonetheless. She'd be sure to sing the girl's praises if given the chance.

She hadn't been in that much of a mood to be around anyone except for Cammy, otherwise she'd have hailed her as a Saint. Heading back inside, she made her way through the kitchen.

Yesterday was not a good day. This was evident by the bottle of wine and scattered cans of beer at the foot of the sofa where Colt had been sleeping. The can that was still amazingly in the woman’s grip dropped onto the wooden floor with a clang, waking Colt up. She had been lying on her back, but jolted at the noise, her head instantly pounding from the light within the Lodge. She could almost feel her body creaking as she sat up as her head pounded. What time was it? Colt groaned slightly before releasing a loud sneeze, which only aggravated her headache and light-headedness even more.

“Jesus…” the woman snorted as she wiped her nose with the back of her hand, “Fuckin’ mouth tastes like a gas station.” She grumbled. Her hair was akin to a rat’s nest, her bangs covered her eyes. Swinging her legs over the side of the sofa, she sat upright with a sigh, breathing heavily to push back that feeling of rising sickness in her system. What a day. And it had not even started.

Jenna passed by Colt sleeping on the sofa, and tried to tip toe around her immediately. It wasn't that Colt frightened her, sure the woman could probably kill the girl with good wallop from her prosthetic or even just by staring at her in the right way but she'd taught Jenna how to defend herself, and the others.
And she hadn't repaid the favour.

Leliana may have given her a bollocking Jenna considered well-deserved, but it wasn't like the two got off on a good foot anyway. Colt, on the other hand was somebody Jenna didn't want to disappoint. She didn't want Colt to know she had blood on her hands, to know she was a killer. As she tried to tip-toe around she replayed the event in her head. She went for the throat. Why had she gone for the throat, of all things? If she'd gone for the mercenary's arm, or shoulder she could have still saved him.
But what if she had? Jenna was loud, and people listened to her. Sometimes. What if she convinced the lodgers to keep the man as a prisoner?

That's all it was though, what ifs and maybes. None one of mattered.

Shaking her head, the girl moved once more only to hear a clang as Colt dropped a can to the floor. If she wasn't alert before joining the army, they had instilled that into her through training. Even if she had a hangover that impacted like the Tsar bomba, there is no doubt in the girl's mind that the veteran would jolt awake.

And that's exactly what she did. Seeing Colt sit up, Jenna knew she couldn't sneak away and so instead forced a smile.
"Good morning Do you want something to eat? Fried eggs are a good hangover cure."

Colt jumped as Jenna spoke, not knowing that the woman had been there in the first place. As she mentioned that it was morning, Colt stretched out her arms before getting up, scratching her rear as she did. When did she start drinking last night? She had waited until everyone was either upstairs or pre-occupied. She honestly did not know. The woman groaned.

"It's mornin'? Fuck. How long have I bin out?" The veteran rubbed her head as she tried to grab her crutches with clammy hands. Once she had grabbed them, she saw the streamer's smile and instantly saw through it. She was clearly troubled. Colt opened her maw to speak when the purple haired girl asked her if she wanted eggs. "...sho." She answered with a shrug as she grabbed the last of the two cans in the six pack and brought them into the kitchen with her.

"It's only 9am." Jenna stated "I'm sure you needed the sleep anyway." The girl hadn't sleep a wink herself, but got to work regardless on the stove. Cracking two eggs she stared to fry them up in a pan.
"Coffee?" She asked "I'm making some myself. Thankfully there's some left over from Nile's little display." She lightly chuckled

"Nine? Shit! I've overslept!" Colt grabbed her head her sore head in despair. She pulled a tab on one of the beer cans, "Ugh, don't matter." She grumbled as Jenna then asked her if she wanted coffee. The woman just nodded, scratching at her tangled and greasy hair.
"I still dunno what that dumbass was thinkin' with that." She grumbled as she sat down at the table and set her crutches at the side. "How long ya bin up fur?"

"Oh, half an hour. Maybe more." She lied, pouring two cups of coffee and setting one down in front of Colt "There's no milk, but do you want sugar?" She asked, gently stirring a teaspoon in her own cup "I don't like my coffee to be as bitter as I am, so I can't take it without a few scoops." She winked

"I'm not a coffee gal. But I'll take a few of that there sugar. Makes me perky." She pulled her mug towards her and, after spooning in a few teaspoons of sugar into it, she took a long drink from it, "Ugh fuck, it hurts t'talk. And think." She sighed as she occasionally swapped between sipping the coffee and the beer. "Jesus, can't remember I had a coffee. Tried makin' some a few months ago and... well I don' remember how it turned out but a corner of my kitchen was black."

Jenna raised an eyebrow at that, and let out a light laugh "First time I tried making Ramen instant noodles I somehow managed to fuck that up too. Burned them and the pot." She took a sip. Four sugars was what it took to make it drinkable to her. "It's how I got my name. That, and the hair."

"Hm. Purple Noodle, interesting. Don't expect me t'start calling ya that. Unless ya wanna be called P.N but I can see those dummies makin' stupid jokes already." Colt grumbled under her breath as she took another sip, "I can't cook for shit. Pfft. Some fuckin' woman I am." Putting some beer in her mug after finishing her coffee, she looked back to the woman with red eyes, "So what did ya do on that streamin' thin'?"

"I think people calling me by my handle around here would get old fast." She shrugged "It's a wonder that Michael doesn't call me PurpleNoodle outright though."
She chuckled at Cot's comment about cooking "Well, you're barking up the wrong tree on that one love. If cooking and rearing children is all there is too it I can confirm that while I haven't fucked up as badly as those noodles giving me a baby is a recipe for disaster. You'd have better luck giving your kids over to Gerry McCann."
Taking one more sip she set the coffee down "Oh, I started off playing videogames and progressed into other things. Vlogging, talking about political stuff. I never got too far into it, just mentioned things that were important to me. I did makeup tutorials and stuff to. Showing off Cosplay was another big one."

"Knowin' him he would. Damn city-slicker." She grumbled as the woman went on to explain what she did on her streams. Colt stopped drinking as she the woman went on. She had quite an impressive list. She released a whistle through her front teeth.

"Makeup hm? I mean, good lookin' thing like yerself, I'm not surprised." She gave the woman a tired half-smirk before looking towards the window and seeing her reflection. Her face was pale with red blotches around her eyes and nose and that fucking hideous scar! And it was not the only one and each one she hated more than the other. Colt grimaced at it and turned her attention back to her beer, gripping the can tight enough for it to crinkle and dent in her grip. "So... Cosplay. What's that?"

She tried to hide it of course, but Jenna couldn't help but blush a little when Colt told her she was good looking. Sure, it wasn't uncommon for people to give her compliments on her physical appearance but they were all faceless fans on the other side of a screen or buried on top of each other in comment sections on YouTube.
In person, it was always different. Even from fans when meeting them it was different.

Thankfully, Colt changed the topic before it could get awkward.
"Oh, right. Cosplay! Yeah, well it's when people dress up for something like Comic Con or other conventions. Some just do it for fun, while others are in competitions or make money off of it." She explained, beaming a little bit. It felt good to get her mind off of the awful events of the past few days and just talk about what she was into.

Whether Colt was actually interested or was trying to comfort Jenna was something she wondered, albeit a little bit deep down. She just didn't seem like the type who'd be interested. Then again, appearances and first impressions were deceiving, and the lodge was no different. She'd thought Luca was a violent maniac and yet he'd taken the time to look after her, even thanking her for doing bugger all during the raid. She thought that Leliana hated her guts, and yet her initial, unprovoked outburst had been due to withdrawal from her meds.

"I'd Cosplay during streams and go to conventions myself. Like, if I was playing a videogame or tabletop game I'd maybe dress up as a character from it. Like, I...'" She chuckled a little. It was something she'd put a lot of work into, and yet talking about it to somebody like Colt seemed a little silly "Was Harley Quinn when I was streaming a Batman game. Outfit, makeup, a wig...I even."

She cleared her throat "Did the voice." Doing her best impression of the character.

Colt tilted her head at the woman's in depth explanation of what cosplay was. The woman blinked a few times and her back straightened up. "Harley Quinn?" She asked. That was a name she had not heard in a long time. "I never cared for Batman, but Quinn? I liked her." She admitted as she lifted her can again. She used to read the comics and watch the cartoon. As she did the voice to demonstrate, Colt blinked a few times.

"Fuck me that's scary. Yer good at that!" She gave the woman an attempt at smiling, and while it failed, it still came across as a gesture. "My friend loved anything DC. She... would've loved ya." Colt faltered with a sigh. She poured the rest of her beer into the mug. It looked better than drinking from a can.

Jenna beamed a little bit more at the compliment, a smile growing on her face "Why thank you. It took a bit of practice." She continued her impression, but quickly dropped it when Colt mentioned her friend. She wasn't sure if the veteran had lost her in the outbreak or overseas, but given her tone of voice, and the past tense Jenna knew what she was pointing at.
"I would have liked to have met her." She said, softly, taking a seat next to Colt "What was her name?" She asked, a light and comforting smile on her face

Colt gave the woman a melancholy slight-smile as she continued her impression of Harley Quinn but it faltered as she asked about her friend. Her eyebrows furrowed inward and she looked ahead, knowing that looking Jenna in the face would make her break down. "Sasha Oberon." She answered quietly. Despite having spoken to Leli about her and telling her her name, but that was it. "She loved comics, zombie movies and, well," Colt stopped as her shoulders hunched. Looking at the last can in the six-pack, she pulled it out, unsure of how to continue speaking.

"She sounds great..." Jenna was never sure on what to say next. Merely expressing condolences was something Colt had probably heard a thousand times over. She was probably tired to the thoughts and prayed routine so many jumped to. Jenna wasn't one for praying, and Colt knew that much anyway.
Instead, she offered a smile as a lightbulb went off. "Hey, I got a crazy idea. Would you like me to teach you a thing or two? You taught me how to shoot, it's only fair I teach you something in return." She shrugged

"She was." Colt mumbled, her gaze still down. She had only ever talked about Sasha to a few people, and until that supply run, she hadn't mentioned her to anyone for close to a year. It felt strange to think of it. But after a moment, the veteran turned to Jenna as she suggested teaching her some things. "Hm? Like what?"

"I would suggest animal care but all we've got here is a dog and some chickens. There's not a whole lot I can do with just that." She shrugged "And given there's no game consoles and I don't have the sourcebooks for any DnD games or Vampire the Masquerade that limits our options... I wish I had the materials to make cosplays. You'd make a great Ellen Ripley." She gave Colt a light chuckle

"I guess...I do have some of my makeup and nails stuff with me. If...If you'd be interested."

"Hm. I did like Ripley. But she don't some big fuck-off ugly sca-!" She was halted mid-tirade as the woman offered to do her makeup and nails, something Colt had never done, even before joining the Marines. Colt looked at the woman and sat up completely, "Hm, never really done it. How do ya do it?"

Jenna leaned forwards "Colt." She said, plainly "That scar doesn't make you ugly." She shook her head "You're actually quite pretty, and..." She stopped herself before that went further. She didn't want Colt to get the wrong message, she respected the woman after all and wasn't about to complicate things "That said, I do know a thing or two about not feeling comfortable about one's own appearance."

"For some people, that's what it's about I suppose. I used makeup myself to hide..." She stopped herself once more. Colt didn't need to know about that. "Facial hair. Sure, I could shave till my skin went raw but there were always leftover hairs. Makeup was a good cover till I could afford laser hair removal, and somebody else did show me how to cover up scars."

Colt kept quiet as Jenna talked about her own issues when it came to appearance and instantly felt sick with guilt. What was she thinking? Going off like that to someone such as Jenna who not only knew, but had been through worse. "Sorry. Yer right." She didn't look at the woman, folding her arms at an attempt of self-reassurance. She just wanted the ground to swallow her up at this point. After a few moments, she let out a deep sigh, "So, how do you do that?" She asked, despite her fear that Jenna would drop the whole thing.

"Don't be sorry." Jenna gave the veteran a reassuring smile and started to go through her backpack. Her good arm rummaged through it, passing by her medication and small comforts from home "We're gonna start with a colour corrector, it's like a concealer but it comes in shades. Now, your scar has a shade of red to it so we're going to use green." As she explained, her hand continued to rummage through the bag and her eyes were locked on the inside contents.

"Luckily, I have green. I work with animals, so it worked if I had a nasty scratch that wouldn't go away for away for a while." She smiled, taking out the small tube and laying it down on the table "So, what you're going to do from here is take a tiny bit on the finger and apply it to the scar itself."
She rummaged once more, realising she didn't have the pocket mirror and quickly set it out on the table in front of Colt.
"Do you want to do this part or should I?" She asked

Colt relaxed as Jenna assured her that she was okay and then got to work, the mention of green confused the woman slightly but having no experience of make-up, she decided to trust the woman's judgement. As she spoke, Colt ran a hand down the left of her face and shuddered. She hated how her scar felt. Leathery and bumpy and not like how skin should be. Even after a year it was still an angry reddish purple. She looked to the scars along her hands and arms with disgust. They were vile and Colt could not bear to look at them. As Jenna asked if she wanted to do it, Colt sighed and looked to the table with an angry gaze. "Think ya should. Can't even think straight." She responded finally.

"Going to use a little bit of primer first. It'll smooth out the area before I pop the corrector on. It'll look less bumpy that way." Jenna explained with a smile, opening the tube of primer and gently applying it to the scar and the area surrounding it. Jenna took her time, being as gentle as possible."I'm using green because it reduces redness, and after I pop the concealer on you won't notice the green anyway." Wiping the primer off of her finger she applied the corrector next, gently dabbing it onto the scar itself.
"If you want me to stop, just say. I know it can't be easy." Her voice was soft and calm "I'd hate to think I was making you uncomfortable."

Colt's eye twitched incessantly while Jenna applied the makeup even with the strong will the veteran could muster. The woman sighed deeply. "Sorry. Can't see well out that eye." She explained in a tired tone. The sensation was strange but not uncomfortable. The woman winced slightly whenever the streamer came close purely out of instinct.

"N-no it's fine." She gulped, "It's just, 'aven't 'ad this kinda contact in a long time." This was excluding any interaction she had with Marcus, knowing it was all a ploy to his own selfish gain. The woman huffed, "At least contact that wasn't some cruel joke." She figured Jen could put the pieces together herself. To say it had worsened Colt's already deep trust issues was like preaching to a choir.

Jenna knew what Colt was talking about, that creep who had left the lodge "Well, he was a twat anyway. You could do a lot better." She gave her another smile for comfort "I've..." Was she ready to admit that? It would maybe make Colt feel better at least, and what did she have to lose? "I've only had that kind of contact once. That was a cruel joke too." She shrugged "Oh well. Onto the concealer."

She removed the cap from the bottle and squeezed it gently, allowing a small amount onto one of her fingers. Doing this with one hand was difficult, but not impossible. It just meant she had to go back and fourth, removing bits from her finger before applying something else.
"This is water resistant, so if you want to take it off you'll probably have to use one of my wipes." She explained, gently applying the concealer with her finger over the scar itself. She couldn't even see it anymore.

But she wasn't ready to show Colt her work, not yet. There was still a final touch to be added. Jenna reached for a brush, "Okay, close your eye a minute. I don't want any powder getting in."
She dabbed the brush into the small tub of setting powder and brought it forwards.

"Seems I either attract sleazy bastards named Marcus, or they..." she honestly could not finish that sentence. "Seems neither of us have-" Colt stopped upon realising what she was saying "Fuck- idiot idiot idiot! shut the FUCK UP STANHOPE!" She snarled to herself, trying hard not to move while Jenna continued. The last thing she wanted was to bring her down too. Going quiet, she did as Jenna wanted and shut her eyes. She was actually quite curious about how this would turn out. But at the same time she was quite anxious. Was this normal for putting on makeup?

Seeing Colt curse herself, Jenna reached out with her bad arm and rested a hand on Colt's shoulder. It stung as the pain moved up her joints but it was worth it. "Colt. It's okay." Her voice was a comforting whisper now "Say what you were going to say. I can take it." She wasn't sure what Colt was getting at, only that the woman was berating herself for it.
Her other arm was busy at work, dabbing in powder around the scar with both gentleness and precision.

Colt was quiet for a moment before groaning quietly, "I just, I was just going to say it seems neither of us have luck with people like that. But I don't want to put my problems on the same level as yers. If that makes sense." She spoke lowly. It had happened before, to herself and other people and she knew how it felt.

Jenna shrugged slightly, taking care not to shrug with her bad shoulder "Yeah, that's fair I guess. You shouldn't beat yourself up over it though. We've all been through stuff, even before this outbreak." She gave a brief half-smile, focusing once more on the powder. "I think it's done." She pulled the brush away, and handed Colt the hand mirror.

The scar had vanished, a reminder of what happened to the veteran overseas as she fought for her country was now concealed under products the girl had once used to hide reminders of parts of herself she had despised. It had been more than just forests of stubble but Colt didn't need to know about that.
At the very least, those markings hadn't been on Jenna's face.
"Don't touch it just yet, it needs a few minutes to settle in."

Colt opened her eyes as Jenna told her it was finished. She wanted to touch it but paused as the streamer told her not to. She shook slightly in her seat. As she was handed the mirror, Colt looked into its reflection, something she had grown to loathe and despise doing. She had no mirrors in her apartment and she she had actively avoided looking in any at the lodge, but she was now faced with it.

Raising the mirror, she looked and the veteran just froze. The scar was gone, as if it had never been there in the first place. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out more than a gulp. She did not break her gaze from the mirror. She just felt that if she tried to speak, either nothing would come out or she'd just break down.

Jenna sat back in her chair, waiting for some kind of reaction from Colt but no words came out, the veteran just stared into the mirror.
"Do..." Jenna cleared her throat "Do you like it?"
She couldn't tell, and Jenna didn't want to disappoint.

Colt looked to the woman as she spoke up. She cleared her throat and turned to face her. Her sore and red eyes were shimmering with the threat of tears. With a deep breath, she finally found her words. "Y-yeah. I-I love it." She sniffed slightly. It just felt so strange, as if the last twelve years had never happened. "Th-thank you."
Jenna just smiled. It felt good to help someone out like that.
"Just, keep in mind it will start to fade in a few days. If you get it wet in the shower or something that'll speed it up a bit... But, I'm happy to apply stuff again once that happens. If you want."
Colt nodded a few times, still in a bit of shock. The woman could only give her a very slight smile in response "Y-yeah... if like that a lot." She spoke softly.

Jenna nodded "Alright. But I did mean what I said earlier. You're not ugly because of that thing. Just because a wanker like that..." Yet again, she stopped herself "Sorry, it's probably not my place to say."
"What?" Colt blinked a few times, wanting to know what was on the woman's mind; she had helped her before. "Tell me."
"Just because some wanker like that would use you it doesn't mean that everyone else will. Maybe when all this is over you could find someone nice." Jenna shrugged.
Colt sighed and glanced down, taking back her beer can. "I 'unno anyone in their right mind who'd want someone like me. But maybe yer right." She looked at the woman once again, flashing a slight smile to the woman, if only for a brief second. "Sure ya will to,"

"Me? Nah." Jenna scoffed "I gave up on the idea of that a while back." Shaking her head, she poured some more coffee for herself and added three scoops of sugar
"I know there's people who want me but, they only really see me on camera. As for everyone else..." She motorboated her lips "Half of them run for the hills or worse when they figure out what I am. The rest think it's kinky."
She took a long sip of the coffee at that.

Colt listened and frowned slightly, "Hmm... y'never know I guess." She spoke up again, "At least yer happy with yerself. Them folks who act like that aren't and just wanna project. At least, that's what she'd tell me." She stopped again upon bringing Sasha up, not wanting to talk about her anymore, "Anyway. I appreciate all this. Thank you."

"That's a good way of looking at it." She gave a slight smile "Anytime." She nodded, starting to put her stuff back in the bag "We can do more later, if you want but I need to take care of some things for now."
"Yeah," Colt finished her beer and gathered up her crutches. "Work's never really done ain't it."

 

[Brax]

It was mid-afternoon, and Aderyn had nothing she should have been doing.

Most activities in the lodge were being performed on the down-low. She’d made breakfast in the early morning, brought plates to the still-healing in the lodge, and had one herself. Milly seemed skittish, as usual, but Aderyn didn’t have the energy to deal with it. She had her own problems to worry about.

A patrol of the area around the lodge around noon, handgun clutched in hand, had done nothing to ease her fears. Despite the obvious things to worry about - the recent invasion of the lodge, Owen’s health, Milly’s constant and bothersome anxieties - her mind kept flickering back to her and her cousin’s reunion. A do-nothing little bitch.

She’d been avoiding him since that conversation. In fact, she hadn’t spoken to Luca since, instead making herself busy - talking about toys or food with Milly, trying to converse with Colt if she happened to be in the same room, or even just opening up and wiping down her handgun in an effort to ignore him. Headphones had been a good deterrent as he walked passed, but the ipod was nearly out of battery - and now there was nowhere to charge it.

Aderyn rapped on the door to Andy and Luca’s bedroom impatiently. When nobody answered, a smile turned up the corner of her lips, and she quietly opened the door.

Her first stop was the closet. She’d assumed the booze would be kept there, and she was right; it stood in a neat row on the shelf. One of the bottles - presumably the preferred one - was half-empty. She pulled two water bottles from her bag, pouring about three-quarters of the remainder into the empty one, and refilling the glass bottle carefully with water. The colouring was slightly off, but she doubted anyone would notice, at least until they took a sip.

The next stop was the bedside table. She rooted around inside. A half-crushed box of condoms, magazines she doubted Luca would read - Country Life and Cosmopolitan - probably there long before the lodge’s current inhabitants. A sigh escaped her. The girl left the drawer open. She knew, of course, that Luca had been involved with crime. Boredom and curiosity had mixed into an insatiable desire to know more - without having to talk to him if possible. She kneeled, flattened herself to the floor, and began to fish around under the bed.

It was quite an interesting sight to see someone had entered the master bedroom. If it had been himself or Andy, chances were the door would have been closed. Though, in this case, it had been left slightly open. Quietly slipping through the cracked door, light blue hues noticed the lower frame of a small human had failed to make its way completely under his bed. Immediately, Luca knew who it was. No child in the lodge shared the same age and thus, did not share the same body types. Milly and Aderyn looked nothing alike. Tre was much larger than both of them, and obviously male. A small whistle escaped slightly pursed lips.

“What’s going on down there, snoopy? Looking for some cookies?”

“I’m talking to the dust bunnies.” The girl’s voice was muffled, her ribcage pressed against the floor.

This was the first time Luca had returned to his room in a few days. Chances were she wouldn’t care much; at least she was up and about. It was only a matter of time before she was. While the Italian had planned to make use of whatever water they had left, it seemed as though Aderyn had different plans. There was no animosity displayed on his visage, nor did it carry over when he attempted to make contact. She was a child, doing as children often did; explore.

He had not done a very good job of being a rock for her to lean on. As young as she was, it was undoubtedly hard for her to have to deal with the aftermath of the attack without talking to him about it. While he knew he was not the warmest personality by any stretch of the imagination, the ex-mafioso wanted to at least make an attempt to be helpful toward his much younger cousin. She was blood, after all - even if it might only serve to make himself feel better.

Aderyn’s hand clasped around a small backpack. She pulled it out as she scooched back, as quickly as she could, and looked up at Luca. She pushed herself to her knees. Resting her hands (and the bag) on them, she contemplated him, her face pale.

“Sorry, I forgot that you don’t approve of making friends.”

Her eyebrows knit, and her eyes abandoned him; instead, she stared at the wall. A sort of pout graced her lips. Her chest felt heavy. A do-nothing little bitch, huh?

Her gaze snapped back to her cousin. There was anger in her eyes, hatred, even. She stood. White knuckles gripped his bag. She wasn’t a goddamn infant. Luca had went straight from coddling her into telling her off, like she was some sort of animal, something that had no complexity of feeling. Like the only reason he had greeted her at all was to make himself feel better.

She knew the anger she was feeling didn’t matter; in all likelihood, they would all die in short order, with nothing to show for their struggling. The thought only made her more frustrated. Blinking hot tears away, she opened her mouth to speak again, but nothing came out. She felt herself sit down on the bed.

Luca had spent a large majority of his life learning things by himself. He didn’t have many people to lean on with the same experiences, nor did people really find it easy to understand him. Aderyn was at a terrible age, in an equally bad situation. Unfortunately, she was used to being a lone much like he was but it was apparent that she still had a lot to learn. What would his parents have done in his shoes? What would his uncle have to say about this sight, if he had been alive?

“Come.” His hues kept momentarily fixated on her sitting form. He had an idea on how Aderyn could burn off her excess stress while being somewhat productive. “I have something to show you.” Without waiting for the girl to tell him otherwise, the man turned his back to her and shoved the door open before leaving. On his way out of the front door, he was sure to grab two pillows off of the barely-functioning couch.

A few feet in front of the girl, the two walked out to the shed. Aderyn walked, almost ghostlike, Luca used a foot to push the door open before continuing inside, eventually placing both pillows onto the workbench. In silence, the man would grab a roll of duct tape and stretch out a large amount. He kept the roll connected to it for the time being. Immediately afterwards he placed a pillow down on the tape he had removed from the roll, before placing the back of his hand against it. With the use of his other hand, he wrapped the tape around his hand and the pillow until it was able to stick with ease. He followed the same process with the other hand, up until could no longer.

“Roll it up.” He nodded toward Aderyn, referring her to the roll of tape. Without her assistance, he could not tape the second pillow to his right hand.

She finished what Luca had started, and stepped back, examining their handiwork. “Alright. So…”

A deep breath. The girl shrugged off her backpack, throwing it to the ground to the side of the shed, and pulled her arm back. Her icy eyes met Luca’s, and for a moment, she was still. He was ready - she was sure of it. Taking two steps forward, she slammed her fist into Luca’s covered hand, a hard breath escaping her on impact.

Luca’s hand pulled back slightly as a result of the contact. He noted that it was relatively hard-placed, but did not pack the most power behind it. This was not a problem, as even he himself hadn’t been the hardest hitter around. If Aderyn was ever to get serious about learning how to properly defend herself, she would have to fall back on good technique to see success. Slapping both of the pillows in his hands together, the man then lifted his opposite hand. Aderyn’s fist sunk in without having to have been told.

“You have a strong foundation. Just make sure when you punch you keep your thumb outside of your hand, not inside.” He reminded the girl, rubbing both pillows together once more. Then, he lifted both hands up at the same time. “We’re going to focus on combinations. I don’t have a fighting style, but this was how I started learning when I was your age. You’re going to hit the pillow on your left twice with your left hand; two quick punches. Then I want you to throw a really hard right hand at the pillow to your right. Got it?”

Aderyn nodded.

“All right. Show me what you got.”

Aderyn lost track of time as the pair trained in the shed. Breathing heavy, she doubled over, hands resting on her knees. “I’ve.. done enough for now. Thanks.”

She shook her head, moved to sit on the floor. It occurred to her that Luca couldn’t very well get the pillows off his hands on his own. She considered him.

“Are you alright? After the attack, I mean, I…”

Aderyn pulled her legs to her chest, arms tight around them. She was sore, but didn’t mind. The anger swelling in her chest had all but dissipated. It had not led to contentment, as had probably been the intention, but instead an intense feeling of loneliness.

Looking down at the sitting form of Aderyn, Luca pushed the pillows together so his fingers could grip the tape around one of his hands. With some tugging he was able to stretch it out enough so that the pillow slipped off. He followed suit with the other hand. Holding onto his right wrist he wiggled his fingers, noting the pain of repetitive hits against the palm of his hand was slight but existed nonetheless. She had asked him about how he was doing. That was something that caught the man off-guard. People typically didn’t take the time to ask him such questions. He got down on one knee, the opposite foot planted firmly on the ground. Resting his right elbow atop his right knee, he leaned in slightly toward the girl.

“It’s alright to feel vulnerable. There’s nothing I can do to help you. I can barely take care of myself. What you seek, whether it be fulfillment or someone to just be there, I am unable to give it to you. In the end, you need to take pride and ownership for how you will lead your life. I can help provide you every tool in my arsenal, so you are able to protect yourself.” The man spoke truthfully, trying his hardest not to make anything worse for Aderyn while explaining to her the reality of her situation.

“Famiglia.” He placed a hand on Aderyn’s chest. His palm felt the beat of her heart as he continued.

“I love you, but I'll never be able to validate you. You have to conjure your own reason for existing. Plenty of us walk around simply because we don’t know if anything else is waiting for us on the other side.”

“Caring is a two-way street, cugino.”

One of her hands slipped free of her knee. It cupped Luca’s own hand, and she stared at him, a hard edge lingering behind her eyes.

“I don’t want to be babied. Clearly, I can take care of myself, and don’t want to die enough to have jumped in front of one of those soldiers.” She shook her head.

“It’s not like we’re all that busy right now. I wanted to talk to you, share experiences, get to know each other. I’m allowed to give a damn about you and hope it’s reciprocated. If you can’t just be there, though, that’s.. Fine.”

She grabbed his hand, and pushed it away, hauling herself to her feet. She looked down at Luca’s kneeling form. She could feel her hands shaking. “If there’s nothing else you want…”

Bored eyes looked at the girl as he brought his hand back to his own knee. He stood up, taking the moment to continue looking at the girl. Speaking the truth was often something that people claimed to like about their peers, but when push came to shove, no-one ever really gave a shit about hearing the negative aspects that came with it. Having come to the conclusion it was best to put aside his own ego for the sake of the child that shared his very own blood, Luca spoke once more.

“I want to eat. I’ll make you a deal; how about I make us some food, and if you sit around long enough to eat with me, i’ll answer any questions you have.”

“I can do that.”

Featuring: Meredith

 

[Corgi]

​

October 31, 2019
Flashback to October 26, 2019
8 : 0 0 PM

A walk never felt so good. Aubrey often walked around the outskirts of the lodge, but after a long day of moving dead bodies and repairing the lodge, she needed to wind down more the usual. Typically she can shut her brain off and enjoy her time in the woods, but she couldn't seem to do it today. Her thoughts trailed to her first day at the lodge and what had happened since. Who she had met since.

Grass crumpled underneath Aubrey’s boots as she slowly made her way towards the lodge. The past few hours have been hell. From thinking that Colt, Lelianna, and Nile were going to kill her, to running away from the Things that actually were going to kill her, to being robbed for the second time this week, and the cherry on top, to staring a dead man straight in the eyes. So, to state simply, Aubrey was mentally fried. All she wanted to do was go back onto her boat, sleep, and wake up when this nightmare was over. But that was only wishful thinking.

Instead, she made her way through the dead human beings in hazmat suits to the front door of the lodge. Luca, the man who picked her up from the robbing site, hadn’t said a word since they started their journey back, so neither did Aubrey. She was planning on piping up and asking where to go, but figured if she got the place wrong, he’d correct her.

Aubrey placed her hand on the cold, metal doorknob and pulled, about to stop in the doorway and ask where to put the duffel bag, but upon entering, her eyes laid upon a purple-haired girl. She had met her and hour or two ago, but hadn’t really spoken to her. Come to think of it, she hadn’t even said a word to her. Aubrey was thrusted onto the purple-haired girl and farmer man, wherever he was, without really an explanation.

Deciding that Luca could wait to tell her what to do, she walked up to the woman, “Hi, uhm, I’m Aubrey,” She instinctively shot her hand forward, “I wanted to introduce myself now that we’re under different circumstances and apologize for how I acted when we first met… It’s been a long day, as I’m sure you know.” She said, motioning to her arm bound in a sling.

Jenna had spent the past few minutes throwing up into the toilet and then cleaning the hazmat’s blood off of her face, starting at herself in the mirror. As much as she tried, she couldn’t get the image of the man struggling to breathe as his throat was torn open out of her head. At least Cammy was there to help, for what little good it did.

By the time Aubrey made it to the lodge, Jenna had at least a few minutes to clear herself up. Thanks to some well-placed breath mints and throwing her purple hoodie in the corner, one could say her hands were clean.

Making her way downstairs, a makeshift sling holding her buggered up arm, she bumped into Aubrey. It was pretty thrown together, but it would do at least until somebody with two functioning arms had the time.

“Jenna.” She introduced herself rather plainly, offering Aubrey a handshake, “Glad to see you’re in one piece at least.”

“Me too…” She mumbled, trying to shove the last few hours out of her mind.

She wondered where the other girl was, Cate. The one who Colt had shot and lost her father on the same day. Given the days events, she probably just needed space like everyone else.

“Do you need help bringing the supplies in?” She asked.

“Oh, the supplies are gone.” Aubrey stated simply before remembering how Luca reacted and explaining further, “Cate held me at gunpoint and stole the truck. As I was getting out I managed to grab the duffel bag as well as a bag of medicine-y things.” She turned around to motion to Luca who had the bag she was talking about, but realized he already made it up the stairs.

Jenna just lightly sighed at that. This day just seemed to throw more and more in the group’s direction. At least she’d managed to bring back the rucksack of meds. The stuff for the baby, everything she could shove in at the pharmacy and her own batch of meds were in there.

“Are you okay?” She asked the girl, her eyes slightly wide with concern.

Even with the supplies, Cate was still on borrowed time. It wouldn’t be long before she succumbed to an infection, given her wound wasn’t being treated properly. There was nothing she could do for her.

Aubrey, on the other hand, she might have been able to help.

“I mean, probably. I didn’t get shot so I’m content with that, I think.” She replied, nodding her head a little before asking, “Are you okay?” Aubrey wasn’t a connoisseur at conversing and didn’t really know what else to ask the girl. Seeing as Jenna cared enough to ask her, Aubrey figured she could pull together enough energy to ask it back. Also, Jenna had blood on her pants that may or may not have been hers, and the blonde was already slightly concerned.

“I got shot. Twice, but outside of that I’m fine. I sure as shit faired better than some of the others here.” She lied, shrugging and in response a jolt of pain shot through her bad arm. “Just got to get used to it…” She winced, biting back on the pain “No more shrugging for me.”

“Are others hurt?” Aubrey asked, her voice not carrying the concern it probably should, “And, yeah, you probably shouldn’t move whatever you got shot in.”

“Shrugging is my default expression. It’ll be hard to get used to. And yeah, the others did what they could for them. I guess it’s just the waiting game now.”

“Do you know what happened? I mean, I saw the bodies outside…” Aubrey’s expression darkened, “Were people killed? People from the lodge?” The idea of Aubrey sitting safe in a forest while these people were being brutalized tugged at her gut. The blonde never understood war, not like the others that lived in the lodge. She never got why people couldn’t just get along and talk things out.

Jenna glanced Aubrey up and down, looking at her reaction.

“How long have you been in Aurora?” She asked, her sharp blue eyes widening slightly.

So much had happened in the last few days that it was difficult to sort through. Aubrey felt as if she had lived a horrible life time within seven days and didn’t want to keep reliving it in her head, “I guess a couple of days? Maybe a week? I, uh, I don’t know.”

“And you haven’t seen any of those guys before? The ones in yellow hazmat suits?”

Aubrey shook her head slowly, “No, I’ve seen one before. When I first got to Aurora there was this barricade up and I talked to one of the men there and he let me in. It was dark out at that time so maybe it was a different yellow suit?” She reasoned, concern now riddling the space between her brows.

Her eyes widened even further, her mouth agape “They just let you in!? How the fuck did you manage that?”

The girl took a small step back at Jenna’s surprise, “Uhm… yeah, kind of. It was night and I approached the only person I could see and asked what’s going on. He said they had a barricade up to quarantine Aurora due to an illness that was spreading. I explained that my sister was in Aurora, and he said that they weren’t allowed to let people in, that it was dangerous. I pestered him a bit more and he gave in. I think his name was Gale?”

“He wanted you out of the picture…” Jenna muttered, “Jesus Christ.” She slowly shook her head “He didn’t let you in to find your sister, Aubrey.” She looked the girl straight in the eyes “He wanted to get rid of a witness. That’s what’s going on here.”

The concern on her visage turned to confusion, “He didn’t seem like he wanted to get rid of me. He actually seemed kind of nice but…”

“That’s how they get you. I watched these people drag out a pensioner they’d beaten within an inch of his life and put a bullet through his skull. They’re monsters using this whole thing as an excuse to kill and take who they want.” She spat “They attacked this place, and tried to kill us all. We didn’t let them.”

Aubrey quickly broke eye contact and glanced behind her at the lodge’s entrance, “Maybe you’re right... I don’t know.” She turned back to Jenna, a frown plaguing her lips, “Anyways, is everyone going to be okay?”

“I hope so.” Jenna sighed “Could I take a look at that medical bag?”

The blonde glanced upstairs at Jenna’s inquire about the medicine, “Luca took it upstairs… Uhm, do you want me to go get it for you? You’re more hurt than- Woah!” Aubrey took a quick step back at the sight of the dog, which she somehow managed to ignore up until this point, “That’s a dog.” She obviously pointed out, eyes a bit wider than they were before.

“No it’s fine. I’ll grab it later.” Her own meds could wait. Luca probably had enough to deal with as it was, and her badgering him especially after he’d ordered her to stay in one place probably wasn’t the best idea. Jenna raised an eyebrow when the girl stepped back.

“That’s Cammy.” She pointed at the dog, who tilted her head to the side as she was mentioned.

“You scared of dogs or something?”

“No, not really… She’s just, uh, bigger than I thought dogs were. I haven’t seen many up close like this. My mom was afraid of them.” Aubrey explained, staring at the pup’s bright eyes and feeling conflicted. Part of her wanted to pet the dog, while the other part wanted her to run away. The dog was a great distraction from what had been going on in her head previously, “She bite?”

“Nope. She’s friendly.” For demonstration, Jenna reached down and patted her behind the ears. Cammy’s tail wagged, her eyes turning to the purple-haired girl to stare up at her.

Watching the pup’s tail wag made her chest warm. The bright brown eyes and cute little nose made her chest rise, but she didn’t want to throw all caution to the wind. She knew she had to be careful despite Cammy’s sweet smile. Aubrey glanced at Jenna, then at Cammy before carefully reaching her hand out to scratch under the dog’s chin.

Cammy’s head slowly turned to Aubrey as the girl scratched under her chin, her tail wagging a little more and moving her head upwards to give the girl more space.

“I think she likes you.” Jenna managed to smile at Aubrey.

“R-Really?” She asked, her hand moving up the scratch Cammy behind her ears. As she saw the excitement enter the dog’s body, it seemed to wipe away Aubrey’s troubles. The last week escaped her mind as her heart filled with happiness. For the first time in awhile, the corner’s of Aubrey’s lips lifted into a little smirk.

Jenna just about managed a half-smile “Do you mind keeping an eye on her? I-I need to tend to some things.” In truth, she just wanted to get away from other people but if Cammy was brightening Aubrey’s day given what she’d been through it was better if the dog stayed with her.

“Yeah, I could do that.” Aubrey replied, both hands now giving the puppy pets.

“Thanks, just mind her back. She got grazed by a bullet during the attack.”

“Will do. Thanks for telling about the ‘Hazzie’ people.” The slight smile she had faltered as she mentioned the killers, “Go ahead and take care of what you need to do.”

With a nod, Jenna started to head back up the stairs.

Aubrey continued to think on the Hazzies. Jenna said they were bad. They attacked the lodge so they had to be bad. They hurt so many of the people she had grown to care for, but it somehow felt off. The man she met seemed genuine, but then again the blonde wasn't great at reading people. There was something she was missing, something they all were missing but she couldn't place her finger on it. She shook her head, "No point in thinking about it now. It's over. Just go get some sleep." She thought, making her way towards the barracks.

Featuring: The Mad Queen (Jenna and Cammy)
Mentioned: Brax (Luca), Rumble Fish (Colt), FireMaiden (Lelianna), Togy (Nile), and @ RandomNPC (Gale)

 

[Maj]

​

November 9th 2018
Owen's Bedroom
4:00PM


Walking up the steps, Aubrey allowed the same old, dirty fishing boots to carry her to the second floor of the cabin. During the time she had been at the lodge, everyone who was well managed to get it back into some semblance of shape. The bodies had been moved, the dust and shattered glass that had littered the cabin had been cleaned out, everything felt different. Even Aubrey’s reasoning for going up the same steps she went up previously was different. This time, she purposefully turned to the second door on the left and knocked, “It’s Aubrey. Are you dressed?” She asked, her right hand finding it’s typical place on the rim of her hat.

“I have pants on if that’s what you are asking,” Owen called back. But all the same he pulled the covers over his bandaged chest to save Aubrey of the surprised squeak and red cheeks that often followed her coming into his room. The days that had crept by had helped him heal, but to Owen it felt like a snail’s pace. He wasn’t entirely confined to his bed now, although he really was only able to leave it to limp to the bathroom and back. The small trips had been excruciating and normally were followed by a long nap afterwards.

“Come on in pigtails. It’s safe.”

“Pants are better than nothing,” She sighed, “And I guess I’d like to think of them more as dual braids than pigtails.”

Aubrey hesitated to take her hand off her cap and wrap it around the doorknob. She could live without her hand up there while talking to someone, but it made her feel so much more at ease when she had it to grip onto. Alas, what she had in her other hand was more important than her comfort.

She had debated hiding the little bright dandelions behind her back, but they never did that in the movies. Then again, the flowers in the movies were much more extravagant and colorful in hues of blues and pinks, not a plain yellow. Nonetheless, Aubrey held them down at her waist as she stepped into the room, not paying attention to them.

While his chest was covered, she could easily see that his shoulders weren’t, “Do you even own a shirt? Should I go out and try to find you one? I know you have a blanket but it can get pretty chilly in here.”

“Are you offering to warm me up?” Owen asked her with a wink. His voice was healing but talking still hurt. Anything that required a lot of air flow hurt, but it got lonely sitting up in his room all the time. “With as much poking around on my chest as Hector does it’s just easier not to wear one,” The boy explained. He had gotten used to Aubrey’s direct way of dealing with him. To be honest, he wasn’t sure if she didn’t understand all his jokes and flirtatious comments or if she chose to ignore them, but at the minimum she didn’t seem bothered by it. The girl had come back to visit a few times in the weeks of his recovery.

“Not quite. I was going to offer my jacket if you were cold. It’s a zip up, so you could unzip it when Hector comes in to do his ‘poking’.” She explained, making an odd face at his wink once more. He had done that gesture a couple of times but she never really got it. At this point, she assumed it was a tick he did, and she didn’t want to draw attention to it in case he was self conscious about it.

“Whatcha got there?” Owen asked with a smug eyebrow raise. He gestured down to the flowers in the girl’s hand. Maybe the girl was more fond of him than he had realized, no one had ever gotten him flowers before. He had never been essentially hospitalized before either, but he chose to focus on the positive.

“Oh!” She looked down at the dandelions and crossed the threshold which she typically stayed, heading to the side of his bed and handing them to him, “I saw in movies and stuff they would bring sick people flowers, so I figured I’d do the same. The people always looked happy to get them.” She explained, “I couldn’t find any prettier ones. Anyways, how have you been?”

Most of their talks were Aubrey standing awkwardly five feet away from the door until they didn’t have anything to talk about or she had to go help around the lodge, but this time, the girl sat down in the seat next to his bed.

“Oh you know,” Owen said gesturing to the empty room around him. “I’ve just been so busy.” The sarcasm rolled off his tongue naturally, but he quickly realized that it would be lost on his companion who had been kind enough to keep coming to visit him. He took the flowers from her and gave her a soft smile.

“Really? I guess recovery takes up a lot of time.” She mumbled.

“I’m doing good. A little better every day in fact. Before long I’ll be up and around and we can go look for your sister.”

The talk of her sister immediately made her tense, “I’m glad you’re getting better.” She said, trying to change the topic. Despite her voice not carrying a happy tone, she genuinely was. Conveying her emotions was always difficult for her even when she meant it, “Are you sure you’d be up for walking around so soon?”

“Maybe not as soon as you’d like, but soon enough.” Owen knew what it was like to worry about his family. His mother had been lost to the chaos of the outbreak and his sister had almost died days before. If Andy was missing, he knew that he would have been chomping at the bit to go find her. Aubrey’s patience couldn’t have been easy to maintain. Realistically, it could be several more weeks before he was strong enough to go out, but he didn’t like the idea of her feeling tempted to go out looking on her own. He wasn’t sure how many people were strong enough to travel and of those, there were few he would trust to make sure that Aubrey made it back in one piece.

“I know how important family is. Even if I’m stuck on the bench for a while longer, I’ll make sure you get the chance to find her.”

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m not thrilled to find her. We didn’t leave things on a good note the last time we talked and, this is terrible to say, but finding her dead may be easier on me than finding her alive.” She closed her eyes for a second, taking a deep breath before continuing on, “I appreciate you helping me out. I feel,” She paused, furrowing her eyebrows. How did she describe this feeling? It felt like someone shoved a sack of rocks down her throat and they’re weighing down her stomach, “bad having to ask you all for help.”

“Listen, if Andy ever goes storming off into the sunset, I’ll let you repay the favor.” He gave the girl a grin and playfully bumped his shoulder into hers. “But I understand how you feel. Sisters are sort of the worst.” He took a breath, wincing as he did so and quickly replaced it with a smile. If this poor angel of a girl only knew the amount of times his and Andy’s conversations ended on ‘not a good note.’ Maybe someday he would tell her about his fight with Luca. All siblings had the capability to be asshats, and he was not excluded from that rule.

“Deal.” She said, the corner of her lip curving up slightly.


“But I can promise you that finding her alive will be easier.” He thought of his mom, the shock he had felt as he entered the lab in the hospital and found her mangled undead corpse. His hand instinctively went to the locket around his neck, rubbing the back of the smooth gold surface like a worry stone. “As long as she is alive, you have time to reverse whatever bad was done. If she’s not, that door is closed forever.” Owen had never been the one to spout sagely advice, but sibling rivalries was something he was well versed in. If Andy had died during the attack it would have left so much unsaid, and he saw his sister often. Being away for so long as Aubrey had been, with all that baggage weighing you down only to have to have to never have closure on it would be awful. Owen understood where Aubrey was coming from, but she didn’t mean it. And if she did, she didn’t know enough about death to realize she was wrong.

“I think what’s going to hurt the most is I don’t think she’ll want to see me. I can’t blame her, I wasn’t a good sister. I guess I wasn’t really apart of the family half the time. I can’t tell what would be easier, either. Her hating me or her not even hurt by the past.” Aubrey felt sick to her stomach. She never liked talking about stuff like this with anyone, especially not a guy like Owen. ”What is a ‘guy like Owen’ even like?” She thought, the subtle smile she had previously completely erased.

“She might not want to see you,” Owen offered unhelpfully. The man shrugged his shoulders, ignoring the pain that spiked as he did so. His freckled face was soft as he gazed at Aubrey’s defeated looking form. He couldn’t stand to see a girl sad, it was his fatal weakness. “However, it doesn’t matter. Families get mad and they fight, and sometimes they aren’t there for you when you think they should be. But it doesn’t change the fact you are family.” Owen stiffened as he spoke. “I never got to meet my dad.” He didn’t make a habit of talking about his daddy issues, but it was important that he help Aubrey understand that her worry was for naught.

“My mom wouldn’t even talk about him she was so mad at him. He wasn’t there and he definitely wasn’t a part of our family. But I know if he showed up, I’d at least give him a chance to explain himself. I would be overjoyed to find out he’s still kicking around and your sister is going to feel the same. No matter how she reacts, she’s going to be glad you are alive.” He reached out and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Aubrey looked up at him as his hand grabbed her shoulder. For the first time in a while, she felt tears threatening to spill onto her cheeks. Not tears of panic of stress, but emotional tears, “Thank you…” She whispered, taking the sleeves of her jacket and wiping away the wetness around her eyes, “I… uhm… Understand that talking about family related things is difficult, so thanks for talking to me about it. I appreciate it.” While her body felt emptier, it also had a newfound confidence in it, “I’ll keep telling myself that till we officially leave. I hope that even if we don’t find her, we find something useful for this rundown place.” She said, lightly kicking the ground.

“Aww man, don’t let Andy hear you say that. She loves this dump more than she loves me. She acts all scary now but her and Luca were normal kids once.” He gave Aubrey a mischievous grin. He wanted to cheer her up, do something to bring back her bubbly yet oblivious demeanor. She was sort of endearing to him, like a rabbit or a kitten. Easy to startle but cute and non-threatening. Owen felt like the wrong move might cause her to bolt out of the room but also felt a need to protect her, even from her own feelings.

“Have I told you about the time the three of us almost burned down the Christmas tree? It happened literally right downstairs ...”

Collab: Corgi (Aubrey)
Mentions: Brax (Luca) Rumble Fish (Colt)

 

[shadowz1995]

A glass half-filled with water sat next to two oval-shaped dark green pills. Tre woke up with a shooting pain in his chest, something that had prompted him to place both of those pills in his mouth and swallow them alongside a bit of water. His stomach was empty, but he was in too much pain to eat. He didn’t think either of his wounds were infected, but his shoulder was extremely stiff. Fifteen minutes passed as Tre sat on the edge of his bed in the barracks, eyes focusing on the wooden floor underneath his feet. Although both hands had gripped the mattress beside him tightly, he still couldn’t stop his upper body from swaying back and forth. Each time he would dip too far he would have to readjust, nodding in and out of conscious.

Wiping a bit of drool from his mouth, the teen stumbled to his feet. With the help of the wall he was able to make it outside. The effects of the painkillers had made all the colors extremely vibrant. Alongside the bright sun, everything popped immensely. Covering his wincing eyes, Tre began to slowly make his way toward the lodge’s back porch. On his way up the steps he had to be careful to hold onto the banister, because without it he surely would have tumbled backward. This didn’t stop his stomach from doing somersaults upon reaching the top. His pace had slowed even further. It took the rest of the strength he had left to finally slide open those glass doors before he collapsed over the back of a wooden chair, toppling it over and falling unconscious on the kitchen floor.

He also just so happened to do his idiotic stumble right in front of the one-eyed Dr. Salazar. Any other day, Hector would probably just stared at Tre's unconscious form and walked away, leaving him to his own devices.

Today was not any other day though. No day would have that title for many weeks to come.

Multiple wounded with varying degrees of injuries, surgeries were needed in unsterile environments and very limited tools with very limited supplies, the entire lodge was in ruins, he had taken two or three lives that weren't mindless infected, breaking his oath, down an eye and in agony despite how well he hides it, and to top it all off, this young welp was one of the more severely injured.

Yet, here he was. Bumbling about like a drunken whore.

He'd be lying if the urge to step on Tre's throat until he stopped breathing didn't dominate his mind for a moment. Hector had very, very little sympathy for fools.

Instead, he made his way over to the sink and filled a glass of water. Half of it he guzzled down and the other half he slowly poured over Tre's face while using his foot to put pressure on his wounded shoulder. Not enough to damage it, of course, but certainly enough for it to hurt like hell. It also doubled as a means to keep him still when he inevitably jolted awake.

"Wake up, Niño." He growled, the irritation in his voice palpable with every syllable.

For a little while, things were quite nice. Tre felt his body floating on a cloud as he slumbered on the kitchen floor. There were no worries, just relaxation. Well, up until the big scary Spaniard splashed water on his face. Eyes opened as the boot on his foot pressed into his shoulder, forcing Tre to scream at the top of his lungs. Ever see Tom and Jerry? Yeah, totally a Tom screen. To make matters worse, upon being forced back to consciousness, the teen didn’t only have to deal with his shoulder hurting. No, his face and shirt were now completely drenched and had an astronomical headache, probably the result of slamming face-first into that wooden chair on the way down.

Tre was still high as a kite, but left underneath the boot of an old sourpuss.

“I’m up, i’m up, get your fuckin’ mongoloid foot offa me dawg!” Tre howled underneath the man as both of his hands tried their hardest to push Hector’s foot off of his chest.

The doctor slowly and reluctantly obliged.

With a small sigh and the relief of pain escaping him, Tre dropped his head back onto the tile of the kitchen floor. He took a few deep breaths. Then he sat back up, removing a blunt from the depths of his pocket. The cigarillo was bent out of shape, but not ripped anywhere as far as he could see. After staring at it for a moment, Tre placed the mouthpiece between his lips and used a lighter to bring flame to its opposite end. Still, he had not stood up off of the ground. Mostly for fear that he couldn’t walk very well and would just tank again.

The doc calmly knelt down beside the boy and in a surprising flash of speed, ripped the blunt out of Tre's lips and flicked it into the sink. The look he received was obvious but Hector stared the teenager down, hard, with a look of disapproval that could match any parents. "Truly? Smoking. When I had to take a bullet out of your chest? So you can collapse the lung again and destroy all the hard work I went through to save your life. Boy, there is a limit to how utterly moronic one human can be."

Tre watched in horror as the doctor hung over his frame. Although he knew it was coming, he watched in slow motion as the blunt was taken from his grasp and thrown. The boy’s eyes traced its arc, from the time it left Hector’s clutches to the sound of the cherry being engulfed by the wet contents of the kitchen sink’s surface. Defeated, Tre felt himself holding back tears as he pushed himself up onto his feet shakily.

“I uh.” He placed a hand on the kitchen table to keep himself upright while the opposite palm rested against his forehead. “I’m tryna eat. Do we got bread?” Tre was unable to look at the Hector. Perhaps it was out of an inability to do so given his position, though it could equally be just out of pure shame.

The older gentleman raised an eyebrow but again obliged without questioning. He reached up to the high cabinet and pulled the loaf of bread that had somehow managed to escape the destruction without a scratch. He reached in and pulled a slice free, handing it to the young lad silently. In turn, Tre took the bread out of the man’s hand and took a bite.

"Why bread?" Hector questioned, more out of curiosity than anything else.

“Cuz dat’s all I be makin'.”

The young man smacked his lips together in response, eventually taking a few more bites before offering the doctor a large grin. Grains belonging to the whole wheat had been stuck between each tooth, but what did he care? Tre was high as fuck.

"I should have let you die."

Spoiler

Brax

 

[Brax]

As it neared the evening hours, Luca reemerged from Andy’s lookout. Holding with him a half-bottle of alcohol he made his way into the lodge through the kitchen’s sliding doors. It hadn’t been since this morning since he’d eaten and since then all he had done was drink. With the use of a battery-powered flashlight to traverse the pantry, he was able to remove a granola bar from one of the near-empty boxes. The kitchen had been illuminated quite well with the use of candles, but those would only last them so long. He ripped off the end of the foil that had covered his snack off and threw it out. Then he made his way through the kitchen to the living room, running into a familiar face on the way.

“How are you holding up, Clint?”

Ralph had been sitting on a sofa chair. His figure had been illuminated by poor lighting but Luca had been able to make it out after a second of looking hard enough. Opposite of the chair was a long rectangular wooden table, parallel to the couch. The Italian walked up to the man and took a seat on the edge closest to Ralph. It had been quite a few days since the two men had spoken to each other.

Spoiler

enjoy this anime rendition of cdcbae

“Well, Luca I’m doing okay. All things considered, of course.” He nodded at the Italian, leaning forward in the chair, and in response a jolt of pain shot through his leg. Thankfully they’d saved it with surgery, and the bullet was out of him but he knew that the pain would be with him for the rest of his days.

But it was a new wound, and he knew that he’d get used to it or it would lessen over-time.

“And how are you doing?” He asked, offering the Italian a smile in support.

“I’ve been better and i’ve been worse.” Luca responded, looking around briefly before turning his attention back to the man. Then he spoke in a slightly lower tone. “I was wondering if you had heard anything worth noting through the grapevine that I might not yet know about.” Was asking this person who wasn’t exactly allied to him the most intelligent thing in the world? Especially ex-CDC? Ralph had intelligence becoming of him. That was a lot more than others sitting around the lodge could say. Chances were other people that didn’t trust him might feel oppositely about the older man sitting before him. Much like them, Luca too trusted Ralph. He was genuine. Even with a limited amount of exposure to the man, the ex-capo could tell that.

“There has been some interesting rumblings from others around the lodge that i’ve caught onto, but I have been investigating the source of the hazmat attack. I am under the impression that it was not brought on with extraneous intelligence, but I cannot be too sure.” The Italian leaned in slightly toward the man as he spoke, his voice low enough so that anyone who wanted to eavesdrop in on what he was saying would have to come extremely close.

“Have you heard anything out of place?”

Ralph had always been a terrible liar, ever since childhood and he knew it. If he told Luca he hadn’t heard anything there was no doubt the Italian would catch on, but at the same time he was also a man of his word and he’d promised Brian he wouldn’t tell anyone about his CIA connections.

What would become of the man if others knew about it? He might have been okay if he’d told the group a few days ago, but most of the lodge had been injured and Ray had been killed in the attack.

Brian’s injuries could act as his defence though. Why would he sell the group out if he was going to risk his life to defend them? He knew it in his gut, and just by weighing the evidence in front of him that Brian wasn’t a traitor to the lodge. He was a traitor in the eyes of his government, but then again, so was Ralph.

And he’d rather be called a traitor than be a monster.

He stirred a little in the chair as he tried to think of how to word things. The truth would come out eventually, and it could actually be worse for the ex-operative if somebody else spilled the beans. He hated it, he hated having to break a promise but he didn’t see any other way to save Brian. Leaning forward in his chair, his smile faded and his voice went low as he shared what he knew.

“I did hear something..” He sighed “Somebody at this lodge worked for the government but defected when the hazmats opened fire on the school. They now want to expose the government for war crimes with the resources they have gathered in their time here. The hazmats are actually a mercenary group hired by the CIA for what I assume as plausible deniability. Basically, if word got out the CIA could easily throw them under the bus. This individual was their liaison.”

Luca had already been leaning forward, so the two men’s faces were practically side-by-side at this point. His facial expression remained the same, though the information being dispensed to him was not necessary new news for the man.

He carefully watched Luca’s response as he laid it out “However, they sustained a number of injuries during the attack as they tried to defend the lodge and the people here... Why sell us out if they were going to help defend this place?” He explained, then sighed lightly “Simple. This person didn’t sell us out, but I think somebody else did. I have a theory as to who that might be.”

“The only reason I didn’t approach you about this sooner is simple. Not only did I make a promise to his individual to keep it under wraps, but I was unsure of who I could trust at the lodge. I do now. My theory, on the other hand is far more recent but as it involves somebody who some people at the lodge were friendly with I didn’t bring it up with the collective.”

He leaned in even closer “I think Marcus had something to do with this.”

“Interesting.” The man admitted, raising a hand up to stroke his chin. “I’ve heard similarly from someone else. The person in question has ties but I told them what you just said to me. It doesn’t make much sense for them to be the culprit because they put their necks on the line as much as the rest of us. Surely he wouldn’t be so willing to eat a bullet or two had he been constructing the attack in the first place. I don’t think it was him either. However, the Marcus theory has piqued my interest.”

There wasn’t much to remember regarding the man. Luca recalled threatening him the last time he saw him, mostly due to frustrations pent up against Colt.

Ralph let out a light sigh of relief. It seemed that Luca already knew who Brian was, and if Ralph’s words hadn’t convinced him it seemed like the ex-operative’s actions had spoken for him. He wasn’t sure just how many bullets he’d taken, but even one would probably have been enough to buy that trust.

“Marcus left of his own volition a few days before the attack happened, and that his run with Brian and Jenna was an excuse to get out without causing a scene. I don’t think that means he was working with the hazmats but it wouldn’t be out of the question for him to have been picked up by them if he tried to leave town.” Fisher explained, keeping his voice low “There is a good chance, if he was taken alive that he sold us out to save his own skin. Whether they let him live is another question though. In fact, I wouldn’t put it past these monsters to have tortured him for the information.”

“Not our problem.” Luca said coldly, not caring what happened to the man.

“I just don’t think of another way of them finding us, at least not without someone here spotting a drone or a scout. If one squad showed up, I wouldn’t be suspicious but they sent an entire army after this place, not to mention it was during a time where a few of us were away on a supply run.”

“I don’t think that the hazmat soldiers have much of an army left. Something tells me that they're operating completely separate from the actual armed forces. Believe me, if the government wanted us dead, we’d be long dead by now. They have the means.” A short sigh, before Luca removed a cigarette from his pack and sparked it.

He leaned even further forwards “There is something else that’s bothering me though, Luca.”

“Yeah?”

“They wanted you and Andy. You’re absolutely right. A drone strike on this place would have killed us all, but they sent in ground forces and demanded we hand you two over to them. Do you have any idea why?”

Luca’s eyes narrowed. If he had just given himself up, was it possible so many others wouldn’t have gotten hurt in the process? What a strange statement. How did Ralph have this information and from whom did he acquire it from? Eyes moved back and forth horizontally as the Italian searched the banks of his memory for information. However, this proved to be fruitless. In what scenarios were Andy and Luca in a position to be both alone to be singled out in this manner?

“How do you know this?”

“They announced it on a megaphone.” Ralph explained “Told us to hand you over or they’d kill hostages. I for one, didn’t think that even for a second that they’d actually let us live. It was probably just to get you two out of the way. The question is why? What could you two have that was important to them? I could understand if they wanted us to hand over the ex-CIA operative or even myself but…” He shook his head “You two? I have no idea.”

He lifted an eyebrow. The curves of his lips turned upward and he let out a hearty laugh.

“What in the actual fuck? Leave it to me to miss that megaphone call.” His free hand lifted up to rub his eye momentarily as he took a drag from his cigarette. “It wouldn’t make much sense to have all those men just to apprehend two people. It’s more than likely they would have wiped everyone out. They tried anyway. I don’t think anyone here is actually stupid enough to believe that considering what happened at the middle school.”

The middle school shooting. That same day, both Andy and Luca were present at the hospital. Was it possible this fact was connected with the appearance of the hazmat soldiers?

“I can tell you one thing, I'm absolutely useless to any government official at this point in the game. Maybe a few months ago, my head was worth having on a platter. I don’t have that kind of power anymore. It doesn’t make sense to me that they’d want Andy either, she’s literally just a bitchy school girl.”

Ralph stroked his chin “There’s not really a whole lot either of you could offer to the CIA, let alone something worth risking that many troops. Even the mercenary that tried to kill me was doing it for personal reasons and I’m sure a few of them wanted our ex-CIA friend dead as well. But, they wanted you two alive. Perhaps I’ll never know why. All that really matters is that I think without you two being here they would have just bombed this place into the ground. Their objective prevented that.”

The thought made the Italian chuckle. “Imagine that. I’m sure plenty of people here would scoff at the fact that if I wasn’t here and alive, they’d be dead.” Ralph was more of a character than Luca had thought him to be, even if the man was being completely serious.

“Well, I for one am glad you’re here, Luca. Not sure if we’d have pulled through otherwise.” He nodded.

“I’m just a piece of shit parading around as a competent lead. I know as much about our situation as anyone else. However, being a part of the CDC, one would think they came here for you.”

“We were expendable from the start.” Ralph scoffed “They threw my team into a meat grinder just to save face.”

“People will not hesitate to turn on their own, especially to save themselves.” Luca murmured into his hand. Then he removed it to take another drag off his cigarette.

“As far as the hazmat attack goes, it could have turned out far worse. I feel bad for Ray, though. I wish he wouldn’t have been out alone. We really need to rethink moving outside in pairs because it’s obvious that nothing good comes from being caught alone. Some of us here are blessed, because somehow we walked away with minimal casualties in comparison. Half of us aren’t even trained.”

Ralph shook his head. He didn’t know Ray that well, but the man did remind him of his own father and he could tell he was a good man. “It goes to show how far these people will go. No morality.” He sighed “Ray wouldn’t even have been a threat to them, and they took Milly as a hostage. A little girl!” He raised his voice slightly, then withdrew back into himself, shaking his head once more.

“Nothing we can do for Ray now, except I suppose to not let it be in vain. I know a thing or two about firearms. As a government agent, we all had to receive training. I could help teach some of these people if you want. More so on the safety side."

Luca nodded, standing up. “You too, are a good man. We’re going to hold a meeting tomorrow. As we discussed previously, you’ll be responsible for rounding up the lodge. Can you still do this for me?”

Ralph looked down at his knee, then back up at Luca “Honestly? I’m having trouble standing up as it is, but I’ll try. That purple-haired girl is helping me get back on my feet but it’s a very slow process.”

“You’re referring to Jenna, right? Make her do it. I took a bullet out of her arm, she owes me one anyway.” In all honesty, Luca had completely forgotten that Ralph had been sitting relatively close to the girl in the kitchen on that day. Of course he couldn’t round up the lodge. This also explained why he was creepily sitting in the dark. Turning around momentarily, the man located a candle on the other end of the room and moved it to the table in front of him.

“I suppose we could do it together. Injured or not, I still want to do my part for this place.” Ralph nodded “And it’s an excuse to keep me on my feet, anyway.” He chuckled “I’ll get the kid to do it…” He scoffed at his own words, she had to be nearly thirty and there he was, calling her a kid. Maybe Warren was right, perhaps Ralph was getting old. He’d certainly be moving around like an elder from now on, given his injury.

“Thanks.” Luca responded. “I’ll catch you then.” He nodded, turning from the man and walking back out of the lodge through the kitchen’s sliding glass doors.

Featuring: The Mad Queen

 

[Maj]

​

October 29th 2019
Owen's Bedroom
11:00AM



If Andy ignored the bloody bandages that covered Owen’s body, he looked almost peaceful. She was unable to enter the room at first, leaning in the doorway and watching the rise and fall of his chest, thankful for each breath. She wasn’t good at this. Her mother was the one you wanted in a crisis. Calm, collected, and able to reason through even the most dire circumstances, Mary Jordan would have been the perfect person to have at Owen’s side. Andy wasn’t a nurse and she couldn’t help make him better. All she could do was try to support him, and they both knew that wasn’t her strong suit.

Owen was like their mom in every way Andy was not. Warm, charming, protective, he was a good person. Andy had gotten the logic, but little else. Without the medical degree how did that help Owen? She was going to have to suck it up and do her best to be there for him, because standing in the doorway like a scared child wasn’t helping him either. She walked slowly inside, careful not to wake him and took a seat in the chair that was near his bed.

His eyes slowly fluttered open, as if he could sense the presence of another human. Andy couldn’t help but smirk as her eyes locked on his matching green ones. The joy and relief that spread over his stupid freckled face softened her own. He had been worried about her. Literally on his deathbed, Owen’s concern was still Andy. It was both humbling and infuriating, but much about her brother was.

“How nice of you to finally join us,” she teased. Her tone was soft but still carried the dry tomber that it normally did. He opened his mouth to speak but she shook her head and shushed him. “I was told you were to speak very sparingly. I’d hate for you to waste your comebacks on cracking prepubescent voice.” She smirked, but handed him a pad of paper and pencil she had been holding anyway.

“In case I insult you so bad that you just can’t contain yourself,” Andy suggested. Owen smirked and took the pencil from her, wincing as he moved his arm to position it near the pad so he could write. Being left handed was hard enough without a bullet hole in your left shoulder. He seemed to struggle as he put the pencil to the thick paper of her sketchbook.

‘How are you?’ he scrawled in nearly illegible handwriting.

“I’m fine. I’m sorry I didn’t see you sooner. Hector is one hell of a drill sergeant.” Leli had of course been lecturing her about not moving as well, but she was relatively easy to argue with. Hector threatened physical violence and Andy wasn’t sure she knew him well enough yet to trust him not to follow through with it. She was surprised to find how much easier it was to talk when she knew that Owen couldn’t respond. Something was calming about knowing that he was unlikely to piss her off at any moment’s notice.

“You should be more concerned about yourself anyway,” Andy said. Her brother was always more worried about other’s well being instead of his own. It was something that they had argued about often, but she couldn’t even blame his stupidity this time. The fault of his injuries laid entirely on Andy’s shoulders. “I’m sorry that you got hurt.”

‘It’s not your fault’ He scrawled on the sheet. Andy laughed, it was a bitter and sarcastic chuckle. Of course he would say that. It was the natural response you had when someone apologized for something out of their hands. What he failed to realize was that it was entirely in her control. It was her that sent him gallivanting across the field in the line of sight of a dozen soldiers. She crossed her legs, wincing as she felt the wound in her side shift in an unusual manner.

“Then who’s is it?” Andy retorted. Owen reached down to begin writing once more. “Stop.” She commanded forcefully. “It’s a rhetorical question you dolt. I know it was the soldiers that shot you, I know you went of your own volition, but I sent you to the wolves because I was confident that me and Luca could keep you safe, and we didn’t. You almost died.” It wasn’t until her voice cracked that Andy realized she was getting emotional. Her eyes welled up and she angrily turned away from him, blinking rapidly to rid herself of the tears.

He didn’t try to speak and chose to leave the pencil in his lap untouched. Andy was grateful for it. The harder she tried to force the tears to dry up, the more forcefully they seemed to come. She had been fifteen years old the last time she cried in front of Owen. Some moron at school had gotten angry that Andy had rejected him and intentionally spread a rumor that they had slept together. It had of course been a lie, but it didn’t change the way people acted around her. Owen dealt with the dejected asshat in his usual fashion. It was part of what made it so hard to reach out to her brother. There was no venting to Owen, her brother only knew how to act and to do so rashly. She couldn’t tell him about people who broke her heart, or the wrongs in her life because Owen by his nature had to fix them. Even if by fixing them, he often only made things worse.

The weight of his hand on her knee startled her. At first she flinched away, unprepared and unfamiliar with the affection but she quickly settled. A shaky breath was forced from her lungs and she lightly laid her own hand on top of her brother’s scarred knuckles. She didn’t speak for a while, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. Her thumb idly traced over his fingers, deep in thought.

“You did what had to be done.” His voice was hoarse, and she could hear his wheezing in between syllables but he was still easy enough to understand. “Those girls are alive because of you. No one else was willing to make those hard calls.” She tried to shush him but he shook his head, determined to finish his thought.

“There isn’t a person in this lodge who could have done a better job Andy. We stood up to a small army of soldiers and most of us made it out with our lives. You aren’t trained, you aren't-” Owen was cut off as he lost his breath and Andy rolled her eyes as he coughed until he caught it again.

“Use the fucking paper you moron.” She thrust the pad back under his nose and he took it from her.

‘Luca can pretend all day that he’s in charge around here. But it’s thanks to you that we didn’t have more casualties than we did. You should be proud.’ She stared at the paper for several moments in silence. It was hard to feel proud when the death of Ray seemed to hang over the lodge like a fog, but seeing her brother write it down did make her feel better.

There would have been no way to get to the old man and truth be told, Andy hadn’t even realized he had been missing. Beth and Milly couldn’t have run away by themselves, blindfolded, bound and gagged as they were. Owen was the most likely to make the run across the field unscathed with the girls in tact. As she did her best to think through the scenario again only to find that she couldn’t see a better solution. The only reason to not send Owen across that field would have been selfishness. Maybe having all three of them alive was enough of a victory.

“Sometimes we must let go of our pride and do what is requested of us." Andy said seriously, breaking the silence to look up and lock eyes with her brother. She could see the silent groan take over her brother’s face. His eyes somersaulted much in the same way her own often did. The woman’s hand went to her mouth as she laughed, it was a rare and musical sound.

“If you are going to quote Star Wars at least use the original trilogy,” He croaked.

“I have no idea what you are talking about because unlike you I’m not a nerd,” Owen shoved her, knowing good and well that she loved Star Wars as much as he did and only quoted Padme to get a rise out of him. As her laughter died off her face grew serious once more, lost in thought.

“You know Owen, there is actually something else I should-”

“Room service!” Beth chimed from the doorway. Andy jumped, like someone who had just got caught doing something illegal.

“Oh sorry, did I interrupt something?” Beth asked, holding a tray of food. Andy shook her head in response.

“I should probably go lay down before someone comes and yells at me. Get some rest dude.” She was already on her feet and headed for the door, Owen tried to flag her down to get her to finish her thought, but his voice wouldn’t work loud enough to get her attention. His sister didn’t look back as she fled the room and was gone.


Collab: @mydamnself
Mentions: FireMaiden shadowz1995 Brax TheTreForce Rumble Fish

 

[King Vioogra]

The day of the hazmat attack.


After a quick few moments of contemplating, Ivan rose up from the couch and ran his hands through his hair, which had grown longer in the past few weeks of the apocalypse.He exhaled sharply, looking around the den area quietly before bending over and picking up a discarded hair band, likely from one of the other people present at the lodge. He picked it up quickly and fixed the back of his hair into a shamefully put together ponytail, which left out his bands and the sides of his hair. A grunt of annoyance surfaced from the man as he left it as it was and said quietly, “I’ll have Leli or someone else teach me how to do it later.” He spoke in a quiet grumble as he made his way into the kitchen, looking for either lighter fluid or alcohol potent enough to burn. Opening the door quietly, as to not disturb the injured or otherwise, he saw Luca walking out of the lodge toward the backyard. Perfect. The Russian followed him outside, closing the glass doors behind him as he cleared his throat. "Luca. I've got a quick question for you."

“What?” Luca asked, stopping to turn toward Ivan. He had just finished washing the blood off of his body, and had been on his way to Andy’s perch. The back porch lights were the only source of illumination around them.

“Do you know where all the alcohol is? It needs to be able to burn.” The Russian said in response to Luca, ignoring how badly his hair looked in its half-assed state of a ponytail.

“You want to use a precious resource we have to burn? For what?” He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“There’s a pile of hazmats out front and I can’t exactly drink lighter fluid, if we even have any.” He said in response, a surprising lack of sarcasm in his tone as he explained himself.

“I thought you got that done hours ago.” The man shook his head, before extending a hand out to point toward the shed. “There’s a big plastic handle of cheap vodka in the shed. Go to the back right corner and right behind the pile of cut-up wood you’ll find it. It should be enough to do the job.” With that, the man continued making his way out into the woods.

Ivan looked over his shoulder to where Luca had pointed giving a nod as they went their separate ways for now, Ivan to the shed, Luca to wherever he chose. As he got to the shed, he went inside and found the handle of vodka the Italian had told him about. He grabbed it and inspected it. There was still three quarters of the alcohol left in the bottle, so this would definitely be plenty.

The Russian left the shed, quickly going towards the pile of bright yellow bodies in the front area. After making sure there was no way for the fire to spread through the forest, Ivan unscrewed the cap of the vodka, pouring it on the bodies as he made a full lap around the pile, stopping when there was about a fourth left of the handle. As the Russian pulled his lighter from his pocket, he threw the bottle back, the disgustingly familiar liquid filling his mouth as he swallowed it down, grimacing as he threw the lighter into the pile. The flames climbed up the pile like a bat out of hell, Ivan throwing the bottle back again as he made his way inside. "до свидания."​

 

[Maj]

​

November 9 2019
Porch Swing
8:30 PM



The silence of the outside world was broken only the occasional plucking of strings and grumbles of annoyance as Colt fiddled with the large wooden instrument. She had found the old guitar while rummaging through a cupboard at the back of the Lodge. Over this last fortnight she had finished all of the books (or the ones that interested her at least) on that shelf and needed something else. After a day of dealing with the stress of the Lodge and it's people, she needed something to help her mind settle, or as settled as it could be with the perpetual turbulence within it.

She had been out on the back porch for about half an hour with just a couple of wine bottles (one half empty) for company. Colt sighed a bit as she tuned the guitar, pausing for a moment to take a swig. While she would not admit to anyone in this building, Colt was excited to have found the instrument. It had been some time since she had played one and, not to toot her own horn, she was quite good at it. As she took that break her mind wandered. Despite her efforts to forget with the assistance of alcohol, everything about that day was still very clear. Ray was dead, and while Owen was recovering, he was not out of the woods and she was still worried sick about their potential fate of being torn limb from limb by Things or being on the receiving end of a firing squad. But what could they do? Everything had ground to a halt and she had no idea how long it would take for them to get moving again.

“Collllllt” Andy called from the doorway. She was smashed, the remnants of the old oak door was the only thing keeping her slender frame from falling into the porch. Her face was uncharacteristically bright, a stupid drunken grin plastered across her full pink lips. Apple colored eyes sparkled in the porchlight as she held up an empty glass bottle, freckled cheeks flushed and pink.

“I’m empty,” she shook the bottle as evidence. “What do you have stashed? I know you are holding out on me,”

Colt swayed backwards and looked behind her by letting her head flop back to see an upside down and more than tipsy Andy looking at her. The woman could only blink lazily for a few moments before answering the woman while dramatically flopping her head back forward with such a force it could endure whiplash.

“Yaaaa don’ seem like a wine gal.” She slurred with an exaggerated shrug before taking the one she had been drinking from and lifting it to the woman despite what she had just said. At least now if anyone was to give her rubbish for drinking she'd have Andy getting it as well. The veteran groaned as she took off her cap, revealing her own messed and ruffled hair. Her face was blotchy with a nose almost like Rudolph. She put the guitar down and tilted her head, ear to shoulder, to Andy, “Whatchu doooing?”

The redhead took the bottle from her and let her body flop on the porch swing, letting it sway under her weight. It swept her feet up and in turn she folded them under herself, leaning her head back to take a long drink from the bottle. She handed it back to the vet, and sighed.

“Drinking your swill, what does it look like I’m doing?” Andy asked, but her tone was without bite. There was little to do around here, most complained when she was up and about and most complained even further when she went to practice with her bow. She was out of sketch paper and with the generator being out of commission she was without her music to distract her as well.

“Can you actually play that thing?” It was her Uncle’s old guitar. He had spent many a night on this very porch playing it for her, passing whiskey back and forth. It had been hard to look at after he died and had stayed stored away until today when Colt found it. She wasn’t mad that the woman had found it. The instrument was no good to her Uncle anymore.

Colt simply sat slumped as Andy took a swig from her wine before answering in her usual sarcastic tone. At least that had not been lost. The veteran had not interacted much with the redhead since she had left for that supply run. Colt had avoided most of those who were recovering as they needed the space.

“Hm. I know mah left eye’s bad but I can still see that.” She took it when the woman had handed it back to her and took her own swig of it. As she asked about the guitar, Colt looked towards the instrument and picked it back up. Despite her inebriation, she had handled the guitar gently, knowing the fragility of the thing. She brushed a hand across the lower bout.

“Yup. No’ dun it for a while but I know how.” She answered as her glazed eyes looked ahead, “I read all them books on that shelf and if I go patrollin’ one more time, I’mma end up losin’ mah mind like that feller in ‘The Shining.’ or somethin’.” Colt did not do anything else with the guitar, seeing Andy’s gaze falling upon it.

“It was my uncle’s,” she felt herself admitting, the Vodka she had consumed and now Colt’s wine did a fine job of loosening her tongue. “Well everything here was his, but I guess it’s mine now. You are welcome to it, otherwise it’s just going to collect dust.” Andy was artistic in a lot of ways. She spent many days drawing and painting, even writing the spare poem or short story now and again but music wasn’t something she had ever been able to pick up.

His passing had been a major blow to Andy’s family. Her mother had fled her hometown here, eight months pregnant and homeless and stayed in this very lodge under Andy’s uncles protection. Before Owen was large enough to start selflessly taking care of mom and herself, Eric had done it. They spent birthdays and holidays here with him. He had always been sort of a squat silly man, balding with a beer gut that protruded from grease stained t-shirts, but he always had time for Andy. Owen too, of course but Owen never had any issues going out and making friends. She on the other hand found people exhausting and her uncle always seemed to understand that. Hunting became a great escape for her, an outlet that she desperately needed.

“Play something,” Andy coaxed, taking back the wine bottle. “I haven’t heard it in months.”

Collab: Rumble Fish
Mentions: Brax

 

[Rumble Fish]

November 9, 2018
8:35 PM

Colt listened as the redhead explained the origin of the guitar. She glanced once again up towards the Lodge. This was something Colt could understand. Her father owned a cabin, not as big as this but still comfortable and Colt loved it. It was in the mountains rather than low like here. You could see over the horizons with the carpet of the forest below the sky-kissing mountains with only the stars for light.

As the woman requested to hear the guitar being played, the veteran paused. It had been such a long time and she only knew a few songs. Her father was more of the musician in the family. He had taught her a few of his favourites both in songs and artists. Colt sighed and took out her flask, seeing her wine had been nicked, taking a long swig from it for courage, Colt shuddered as she felt the hot liquid slip down her throat and into her stomach, which felt akin to a furnace with heat rising into her throat. She did not even remember what was in it in the first place. If she was going to potentially embarrass herself, it was better to be buzzed.

“Right. I’m rusty so don't expect much.” She finally built up the courage, tuning it one more time, “This is my pa’s favourite.” She added with a clear of her throat before getting herself set, with the occasional sway of her seat. After a moment of hesitation, she finally strummed the guitar twice and began.

“Aaall daay I faace, the barren waaaste, without the taaaste of water,” the veteran crooned alongside the rhythmic and rustic song of the instrument, “Cooool wateeer,” her voice was stilted from a lack of practice but with such a talk-tone song it meant very little. She continued the journey of a lonely, thirst-stricken cowboy with nobody but his old mule as they trekked down the endless ravages of the desert. Eyes shut, she knew it was just herself and Andy, but she refused to look. The last thing she wanted was to clam up while playing Andy’s uncle’s instrument. She had to do it justice. It seemed that the sense of duty never went away.

“The shadows swaaay and seem to saaay, tonight we praaay for wateeer,” Her tone was low and the slow and melancholy tempo of the song matched her more husky vocals, the further down the song she got, the looser her movements became and her voice became clearer and melodic as she got into the song’s rhythm. After the first few verses, Colt’s courage increased (probably due to the wine and God knows what else she had drunk today) as she reached the shift in tone as it approached the climax.

“Keep a-movin' Dan, don'tcha listen to him, Daaan! He’s the devil not a maaan! He spreads the burning saaand with wateeer,” her confidence was helped with her own connections to the song. Colt knew how it felt to walk endlessly under the unforgiving and mocking sun with no relief, “Say, Dan, can't ya seee, that big green treee where the water’s runnin’ freee? It's waitin’ there for you and meeeee,”

Colt had not looked at Andy at all during this, feeling that if she did she’d get too distracted or become flustered. It meant very little as she was towards the end.
“Like me, I gueeeess, he’d like to reeeest, where theeeere’s no queeeest, for water…” Colt sighed heavily, “Cooool, cleeeeear wateeer…” she allowed her fingers to run through the copper wires, the guitar’s melody softly flowing into the air and among the trees. Her fingers ached and her throat was sore from lack of use. She gently placed the guitar down and took back her wine, tilting her head back as she took a long drink from it. She needed hydration. Not to mention she needed it simply to wash away that wave of embarrassment that had come over her for doing something that out there. It almost felt wrong. For a brief five minutes, there was no apocalypse, no Hazmats trying to slaughter them like meer livestock and no Things threatening their sanctuary. Peace.

“Hm. You have a nice voice actually. I’m surprised.” It wasn’t meant to be condescending, but rather contemplative. What little she knew of Colt hadn’t led her to believe she could sing. She was quick to fluster and even quicker to anger. “I used to sit out here with my uncle much like this,” she explained. Andy had missed it. Her lodge had always been a sort of safe place for her, but for the months that followed her uncle’s death he seemed to haunt the place. Each time she turned a corner she had expected to see him sitting there, beer in his hand and stupid smile on his face.

‘Come look at this shit,’ she could almost hear him say, pouring over some project car in the driveway. She knew almost nothing about cars but had enjoyed spending a childhood handing him wrenches while he worked. He was gone so suddenly. Healthy and so full of life one day, and the next he was just gone. Aneurysms worked quickly. Andy had been on the phone with him only hours before he collapsed. She had called him from Washington D.C to tell him she had placed first in the qualifier for the national archery championships. Three hours later, in her hotel room, Andy had to face her mother’s waterlogged voice on the phone, alone at the foot of the bed she had paid extra to not avoid sharing.

“He...died over the summer.” She hesitated to find the right word. It honestly felt surreal after he was gone, more like he had been scrubbed from existence than he was rotting in the earth. No one wanted to talk about him, always dancing around the subject to avoid upsetting her. That was worse somehow, she wanted to remember him but instead she felt like she lived in some bizarro universe where she was the only person who knew who he was. The only thing she had left was the house he had help raise her in.

“Not gonna lie, miss-” Colt hiccoughed “I'm surprised I could still do that and no’ sound like a rooster with a bad turn o’broncitus.” Colt answered as she took more from her flash. The redhead really must have been inebriated as she spoke more of her uncle, her tone melancholy and devoid of its usual snarky spark. She had said “over the summer” so it must have been very recent. Colt sighed with a deep hum.

“I'm real sorry for yer loss, miss. Truly I am.” Her eyebrows furrowed sympathetically, “He sounds like he was a good man.” While Colt knew very much about loss, she knew very little about mourning, both in how to handle it herself and helping others through it. In the Marines, there was always that lingering knowledge that the people fighting with you, and your own existence could be snuffed out in a heartbeat. The knowledge was there, but no training in the world could prepare anyone for losing a loved one. She handed the wine back to the redhead after taking a swig herself. Colt knew her words meant little, but what else was there to say?

She took the flask and nodded in response. Andy never knew what to say to that phrase. ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’ Did you thank someone for being sorry? It didn’t seem right. The normal response to an apology was to tell someone that it was okay, but it wasn’t. His loss was an ache in her chest that she carried with her, unwilling to deal with it for worry of forgetting him completely.

“Would you teach me how to use a gun?” Andy asked suddenly, looking for a reason to change the subject. “I asked Luca, but he was unsurprisingly unhelpful. I’m sure there are a lot of us that could benefit from training.” There were still a lot of instances where her bow came in handy. During the attack she had taken out as many soldiers as anyone else and without the weaponry. However, for instances like Dixie, or when she had been taken captive it seemed that a faster and easier to cary mode of defense might have been better suited for the task.

Her lack of a “thank you” or any other response bothered Colt significantly but at this point in time, the veteran knew she was just going to have to accept it. She knew Andy was not the thanking type and probably just did not know what to say, which Colt understood. But she was still put down by the fact that it was apparent to her that she just expected to act as some kind of workhorse and pillar for these people with no kind of assurance at all. She chose not to mention it, however. Frustration may have been building but taking it out on a woman clearly grieving would make things worse. Colt was drunk, not stupid.

Colt’s position had shifted from a slump to sitting slightly forward, hands on her flask and holding it between her legs that would have been lazily crossed, eyes shut and head tilted back to allow the cold air cool her blotched and hot face. All that was missing was that stupid drunken-smile most people would have had. It took a moment for her to process Andy’s request about learning to shoot a gun. She had asked before but now Colt knew she wasn't going to get out of it. She was teaching Jenna, and was going to start teaching Michael so why not?

“Sho.” She hiccuped, “On one condition though.” She brought up a swaying hand, holding one finger in the air, “I do this and ya’ll show me how t’do that archery stuff. Yer like that there Cactus Ev- bleh! Katniss Everbea-deen from the books.” She added with a drawl and a lazy shrug. Colt was not a movie person, being shipped back and forth into combat gave her little exposure to them. She started to sway her leg slightly, but obviously couldn't with the other. She places a hand on what was left of her lost limb with a guttural sigh and tilted her head back further, opting to stare at the sky.

“Oh yes. A Katniss joke, almost as original as calling me Merida.” But Andy’s voice was light in nature. “You sound like you need to sleep some of that off sailor.” Andy’s own head was swimming as well, but without the southern drawl, her words didn’t seem to slur nearly as much. Also, it was likely that Colt had started drinking far before she did.

“Have you seen Luca lately?”

“Not joke, ya’ll never be as great as Cactus Everbean. And who the fuck is Merida?” Colt was aware of her misspoken words but didn't care. She was feeling lighter and dizzier than before. As she took another long drink from her flash, she listened as she asked for Luca. The veteran snorted; why the fuck would she know where Luca was?

“Eh,” she thought, “Last I saw ‘im he was wanderin’ into the woods. Dunno what he’s doing out there.”

Andy knew. So that is where the Italian had been hiding. He hadn’t slept in her bedroom in almost two full weeks. So It was clear that he had to be holed up somewhere and the communal sleeping arrangements of the barracks would never be Luca’s cup of tea.

“Yeah yeah,” Andy said. “Just be glad this Cactus is a good teacher. Get some sleep, I’d like to start tomorrow.” They would both be hungover and grumpy, but there was no telling when Andy might need that gun again and she didn’t want to fuck it up. Andy handed Colt back her flask and started back towards the treeline.

“See you in the morning.”

“Hm. We'll see whos the better teacher.” Colt blinked as she watched the woman then get up and leave. The veteran watched her red hair bob away. She took a long swig of her flask. She wasn't ready to face the rest of the Lodge yet. With a cough, she took back up the guitar and fiddled with it before putting it back on her lap. One more wouldn't kill her. She once again started strumming, a faster tempo and enough for her to tap her foot as she played. She hadn’t forgotten it as her squad’s anthem, sang through victory and loss.

“Well I won't. Back. Down. No I won't. Back. Down. Ye can stand me up, at the gates of Hell, but I won't. Back. Down…”

Collab: Maj
Mentions: Brax

 

[Maj]

​

November 7th, 2019
Owen's Bedroom
1:42 PM

“Shit.” Owen growled, as he did his best to stabilize his wobbly form. God it hurt to stand, each muscle in his body seemed to protest as he forced himself out of the sunken mattress to a more vertical position. Moving was mostly against the rules as he was still limping along the road to recovery. Progress was being made and today with a little luck, maybe he would make a little more. Nature called, and he was tired of Hector or Warren or any other dude strong enough to half carry his bulky ass having to help him to the bathroom. That shit was demeaning.

The few feet to the bathroom door took him an eternity, but the pride he felt as he was inside the bathroom with total privacy was worth the agony. He was sweating, beads of the stuff forming on his forehead. What he wouldn’t give for a shower, the sponge baths that he had gotten so far were not enough to feel clean. However, if this trip was any indication, Owen wasn’t sure he could stand up long enough to rinse the soap off his body. Business concluded, he limped his way back into his bedroom and with a mighty sigh, let his exhausted body collapse into a sitting position on the bed.

"You know you're supposed to get help with that," Leliana spoke, the nurse seemingly coming out of nowhere. She looked tired, a little less than Hector perhaps, but still tired. The bags under her eyes were dark, her movements were a bit slow. The last few days she had been helping to keep an eye on every injured person, even if they didn't want her help. So, long nights getting up every little bit to check and make sure they weren't suddenly crashing and getting them whatever they needed at the time takes a lot more out of you than one would expect. Leliana hadn't had this much back pain since she got actual boobs.

"You could fall, and have to start the recovery process all over, and you'll be stuck in bed even longer." Everyone in this lodge seemed to be the same amount of stubborn, always ignoring the doctor's orders. "Anyways, I brought you some more water, and the last bag of salt and vinegar chips. Thanks for grabbing those by the way," Leliana said with a smile, setting everything down on the nightstand next to the bed. "You mind if I hang out in here for a few minutes? I haven't sat down all day."

“Yeah well, I’m tired of Hector ogling me while I piss.” Owen seemed to be in high spirits despite everything else. A wide smile took over his face as he took the chips from her. He grabbed the bag from both sides of the seam and pulled, hearing the satisfying pop as it opened. Grabbing the wad of blankets on the bed he moved them to the side so there was room for her to sit next to him. Owen leaned against the back of his head board and signaled for her to sit down.

“I’ve never denied a cute blonde the right to be in my bedroom before and I don’t plan to start now.”

"Hey," Leliana chuckled, taking the spot next to him, pulling her legs up criss cross. "I'm not cute, I'm goddamned adorable, get it right." She was happy to see Owen was feeling better, even if meant she was being flirted with. At least it wasn't creepy comments or a really really weird stare. "Hector's just looking out for you. He's worried though he won't say it, I'm just certain emotions isn't a field he's uh...skilled in." Leliana reached up, hand pulling some of her hair forward. The nurse began to twist it between her fingers, opening her mouth to say something, before stopping herself. Maybe...maybe this was a conversation for Andy? But talking to Owen couldn't hurt, Leliana definitely didn't want to get shot. "So uh...do I look like your mom?" She asked suddenly, after a few moments of silence. She was looking at him now, blue eyes studying his face. "I know that's a weird question, but I'm curious."

“I’m sorry...what?” Owen asked dumbly, following with an awkward laugh. Between Leli and Aubrey his ego was taking a big blow this week. He had become accustomed to Aubrey ignoring his advances, but Leliana had taken him by surprise. Did the girl think he had some sort of complex? He examined her face and decided the question was genuine. He popped another chip in his mouth as he thought.

“This might be hard to believe, but I’ve never really thought about it before,” He teased. Looking her over, he supposed there were some similarities. They were both blonde with blue eyes, both had medical training and a similar face shape. But that was where the similarities stopped. His mom had been heavier set with flushed cheeks and a round button nose. Everything about Leli was sleeker and less aged looking.

“I mean I guess. My mom was you know,” Owen shrugged. “Like mom aged and you are nineteen so it feels weird to compare you guys, but I guess there are some similarities, yeah. Why do you ask?”

"Andy called me mom while I was dealing with her bullet wound. She gained consciousness, and started talking. I didn't understand a word of it, but at the end...she apologized," Leliana explained, her eyes leaving Owen to wander the room. She felt like she shouldn't have said anything, like it was just a weird thing, but it had been bugging her. "I was going to ask her about it, but it felt like something private, something she didn't really want to tell anyone. And I obviously don't want to push her about it." Her voice trailed off a little, arms crossing as she leaned back against the head board, sighing. "Like I said, I was just curious. It's kinda funny though, I've always been told I could be my mom's twin, didn't think I'd ever be called someone else's."

Owen furrowed his brow as he thought. That did seem strange, but with their mother’s death still so fresh he supposed it made some sense. Even he still saw her face sometimes when he slept. Their funeral at Andy’s perch had not been enough to give the woman the justice she deserved. But a public one also felt wrong. No one else except Hector and Luca even knew who she was.

“She probably feels guilty for her death I’d imagine,” Owen offered. “Andy had been at the hospital looking for her when the outbreak happened. She and Luca escaped without being able to reunite with her.” But something about that answer didn’t sit right with him. Owen shrugged it off. Asking her wouldn’t yield any more answers. Andy hated it when people tried to pry, even about super trivial things.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Leliana said softly. She knew what that felt like, the familiar ache seeping its way back into her heart, "You two did everything you could for her. I bet she would be proud of what you two are doing for everyone." She said this with a slight smile, "I know what it feels like, my mom is gone to." She would leave the details out because Leliana didn't want to make it seem like she was trying to turn the conversation to herself. But, she did want to talk to someone about it, maybe now wasn't the time, but bottling everything up never worked well for her.

“I never got to thank you by the way, for saving Andy's life. I know it was you that kept her from bleeding out. It was a close call for both of us. We owe you and Hector our lives.” He didn’t pry further, afraid of upsetting her and instead opted to change the subject.

She perked up when Owen thanked her. "Oh, yeah. If I were you, I'd thank Aderyn too. She was a big help to both me and Hector. That tough bastard, I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did," Leliana chuckled, "If Jenna had come inside, I would have sat his ass down to patch him up myself."

“You guys have been busy.” Owen had seen Aderyn often during his recovery. She was a sneaky little thing, staying in doorways and slinking around walls where she was less likely to be seen. He wondered how she was holding up. It wasn’t just the physically harmed that needed to recover.

“How are you?” Owen asked. “No offense but you look exhausted.” He smirked at her “I mean, gorgeous, but you know. Tired.” He leaned the open end of his bag of chips toward her, making sure that she got a snack as well.

The nurse chuckled, extending her hand to take a few chips. "Dude I've been exhausted since the day I was born. I'm fine, especially compared to everyone else. It's nothing I can't handle." Three people knew about the few boxes Leliana took and hid away. She didn't need everyone on her case, worrying, asking questions she didn't want to answer. Popping a few of the smaller chips into her mouth, she stayed silent. Colt, Jenna, and Ivan all knew about the Zoloft. Though she had doubts that Ivan knew what it was really for, which was cute in a way. "You know, it's all part of the job, life. I swear to God one time I hasn't slept in three days and was surviving on leftover pizza and redbull. This is nothing." Leliana gave him a smile, popping the last two chips she had grabbed in her mouth, "I've come to accept the state of eternal tiredness."

“Tired is something I know about,” Owen responded with a laugh. How many times had he lived on a diet just like that. Most of his work happened at night, but his mother was really only around during the mornings. Keeping up the facade of being a stay at home mama’s boy was hard when he spent his nights terrorizing the streets with his baseball bat. He wondered if his mom even suspected there had been a totally other part of his life. Owen hoped not, he could clearly see her disappointed look when she realized some of her patients had been in the hospital by his hands.

“You can take a nap here if you want. If anyone asks, I'll tell them you’re working.”

"That sounds like a great idea, but I better not. Every time I think I have a little bit to settle down, something else happens. I'll get some sleep tonight, might steal the couch from Ivan," She chuckled, running a hand through her hair, "He probably won't mind to much." They were fitness now, and he was like, on guard duty or something, she could steal it for an hour or two. "Besides, just hanging out for now is fun. Who knew the zombie apocalypse would be the perfect time to make friends?"

“Yeah yeah, I’m glad I met you too,” Owen said with a small grin. “But seriously, don’t let them work you too hard. We need you at full strength as well. I worry about you.”

Leliana smiled, dropping her head forward just a bit, before looking at him again. "Owen, I graduated highschool at 16 and immediately started working at Moe's. Plus being a nursing student, there's nothing anyone out there can throw at me that would stress me out much. You don't have to worry, it'll be okay," Leliana said, hopefully reassuring him. A few more minutes of silence, not awkward silence, passed. Suddenly, Leliana threw her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. "I think I've hidden long enough. I gotta go make sure everyone else is eating." Leliana took a moment to adjust her shirt, before stepping over to the door. Before she left, she turned back to look at Owen "We'll talk more later okay?"

"Sounds good blondie. Try to take it easy okay?" he gave her a wink. "I'm always here if you need to hide away for a few minutes." Leliana could try to reassure him all she wanted, but he was a worrier by nature. Honestly, the girl was a god send, without her their group would have died of infection long ago. Still, she was a nineteen year old girl trying to play mother hen to a bunch of stupid adults, and that fact was not lost on Owen. "Take care."

Collab: FireMaiden
Mention: shadowz1995 Brax Meredith

 

[Hyped_Taco]

​

Ever since the end of the hazmat attack on the lodge a few days ago, the atmosphere around the place had ended up becoming almost a depressing sight to behold, it probably didn't help that the groups morale seemed like it was at an all-time low; and although they managed to repel the attackers, this felt like no victory at all, with all their ̈defenses ̈ now gone, the lodge devastated and the heavy amount of casualties and injured on the group this merely ended up being a pyrrhic victory, a victory that took such a heavy toll on the winner that it felt like a defeat of sorts.

Cletus had been thinking about the siege every single day since it had happened, all of them had barely made it out alive with the exception of Ray… that poor old bastard. The redneck kept trying to keep this thought out of his mind for the last few days, yet it seemed impossible to do so ̈If the hazmats return any time soon, then all of us are fucked,’ he said to himself.

He then finally decided to leave the ̈Dixie ̈, the name he had given his RV in memory of his deceased wife. While walking around the mostly devastated lodge, he saw Aderyn outside, feeling a bit happy to see that she saw mostly uninjured during all of this. Then an idea crossed through his mind… why not teach her to fire an ̈actual ̈ gun? if they were to ever be attacked again then she would be able to help from a distance, unlike with her handgun, plus, it could even be fun to do so as well.

He approached the girl and said ̈Howdy Addy, wanna learn how to shoot a rifle?¨

Interacted: Aderyn Meredith
Mentioned: Ray (Deceased) TheTreForce Dixie (NPC/Deceased) Hyped_Taco

 

[Rumble Fish]

Part 1

Time :8:25 AM
Date: November 9th
Location: Wilderness​

The snow crunched under the trotting paws of the Alsatian as she strode silently under the trees. Her snout planted to the ground, her ears erect and her eyes forward, Cammy kept her frame low. She had got a scent a few moments ago and had been following it through the corridor of the trees. The falling flakes settled into her pelt, making the dog look as though she had aged 20 years. Her wanderings were halted at the sight of her prey. A lone stag, ignorantly without a herd or a clue as he munched on the bark of an already stripped pine. The canine grumbled lowly, crouching with rising and lower shoulder blades, ready to pounce.

“Ey.” A gruff voice caught the dog’s attention, causing her to freeze, “Yer awright gurl.” Steam shot from the scarred woman’s nose as she crouched close to Cammy, her nose red and frost nipped and cheeks flushed from her trek through the wilderness. Cammy lied at her side, staring down the young stag. Colt placed down the stick she had been carrying across both shoulders. Hanging from it was the carcasses of three rabbits and a pheasant, all from this trip.

An early solo hunt, what better way to celebrate the repair of her prosthetic? Cabin fever had begun to sink into the veteran, and the relief that she did not have to resort to exercise her right to bear arms upon herself was immense. She needed this solitude and time to think. Her mind was a wreck with stress and concern. But out here, she only had one mission. Food for the Lodge. With so many injured, food was becoming scarce and it had to be addressed. With Andy out of action and Leliana kept busy, Colt had wordlessly grabbed her rifle and left the Lodge, halfway through the forest before she heard the familiar pattering trot of Cammy, panting contently with her absurdly long tongue flopping out of her mouth. They were too far out to turn back, so the pair ventured onward, surrounded by their own companionship and silence of the forest in the early morning. Black clouds were rimmed with a bright orange, like Heaven itself was in flames, if only it’d rid the forest of the perpetual snowfall.

Cammy had shocked Colt from the start. Her ability to silently manoeuvre through the terrain and was the reason for their haul so far. The pair seemed to have a silent understanding between the hunter and her gun without a trigger, powered by a glance and a single word. But now, Cammy was not needed. Larger game required more fire power. Raising the rifle, eye locked on the sight, the stag had no knowledge of the huntress eyeing up his hide. He was quite a distance away; a clear shot would be hard. And with her less than stellar eye-sight, a lung shot would be hard to achieve. The last thing the veteran wanted was to destroy their chances of eating with a sloppy gut shot.

“Lungs are cleanest for rifles, but it’s more important you get a clean shot than not. If you aren’t sure where the lungs are, be sure to aim for the head or neck instead.” Andy’s words passed through her ears as her long stare lingered. She did not have a clear view of the lungs. But he was craning his neck to get that bark. Andy had made Colt’s decision without the red-head ever knowing. Inhaling, she cocked the rifle.

“One-hundred-and-eighty…”

The gun’s crack roared through the trees, the once barren sky flooded with the flurry of frightened fowl as the stag screeched and collapsed into his cold grave. Cammy sat next to Colt as she stood up. The woman glanced down to gaze at the mutt who was creating a half-circle of grass with the extremity and speed of her wagging tail and gazing up at Colt with the reverence and affection only a dog could achieve. With a chuckle, Colt put a hand to the side of Cammy’s head, pulling her into the side of her hip. Cammy panted happily with closed eyes at the requited gesture of friendship. With a flick of the head and click of her tongue, Colt gave Cammy permission to charge ahead as she could tell the dog wanted to. On that prompt, the dog charged ahead, yipping excitedly as she went. Colt rolled her shoulders, grabbing her haul and following the canine.

However, the tranquillity of the forest was lost as Colt slowly got closer to the stag. Cammy had gone silent and the atmosphere was far too quiet for Colt to feel comfortable. A knot formed in the pit of her stomach. Colt knew she was vulnerable. Her rifle was across her back and both arms were supporting the weight of rabbits and the pheasant on her shoulders, and she could not shake off the unrelenting feeling of being watched. If it was something akin to a bear, she wanted to get the stag and retreat to the Lodge as quick as possible, despite the long trek back. As she approached the carcass, something crunched behind her, sounding like footsteps, accompanied by the distinct and frantic whines of a distressed Cammy.

“Ya shouldn’tve wandered from yer husband, little woman…” a raspy, mocking voice hissed. Colt spun, dropping her game. Like phantoms in the blizzard wind stood four strangers; all men and all dirty and as mad as a starved mongoose in a chicken coop. All had firearms but were holstered. One, a blonde with wild grey eyes had the struggling canine in a vice-like grip. One arm around the body, pinning her to the ground and the other hand wrapped around her maw. Whale-eyed and frightened, Cammy cried and squirmed to no avail. Despite her overwhelming urge to simply end them all, Colt relented. She just stared. With tranquil fury dripped from her teeth, she answered simply and with a tone like the last words of a prowling puma before pouncing.

"Put the dog down, mister..."

Mentions: Maj (Andy)

 

[Rumble Fish]

​

Time: 8:40AM
Date: November 9th
Location: Wilderness

“Purdy thing y’are.” One of them cackled in a disgusting tone that sent shivers through the woman, “Ugly face but good strong teeth, don’t see much of ‘em ‘round ‘ere.” The speaker himself had only enough for Colt to count on one hand. Despite that insult, she managed to restrain her anger to a simple flick of the eyebrows. Her gaze stayed on the men with the knowledge that averting it for even a second could result in either her or Cammy’s deaths, or worse. Depraved hillbillies was one thing Colt knew to avoid.

“I got teeth in places ya’ll shouldn’t be pokin’ ‘round.” She spoke coldly, “Drop the dog.” Her words seemed to fall on deaf ears as they continued to ogle her and the inbred bum continued to harass Cammy, who had gone past panicking and was now shaking and whining, big eyes pleading for assistance. Seeing such a strong animal reduced to a quivering wreck only made her anger stronger.

“Folk’s gotta eat, sweetheart, times are lean.” Colt shook her head a little seriously hoping she did not hear that right. She took a step back towards where she had dropped her haul, only to not feel it at her heel. One of the scavengers had grabbed it while she was distracted and was holding it mockingly in front of her with a yellow, tartar coated grin. Despite standing several feet away, Colt could practically smell his breath.

“So ye got my game. Give me the dog.” She parroted for the third time. Even if it meant having to go back to the Lodge empty handed, she knew Jenna would never forgive her if anything had happened to Cammy. At these words, one of the stinking bandits smirked darkly.

“Who said we were gonna eat yer dog?” The three others cackled as if hearing the greatest joke told by the greatest comedian, “It’d teach ya’ll a fuckin’ lesson ‘bout wandering so far into our land. No wonder ya got them scars. Most men like a girl that fights. Give’s ‘em a challenge.” The mocking resumed as the four laughed, jeered and prolonged it for their own entertainment. Colt was no stranger to being berated, but if they thought Colt was going to take this from a group of inbred, shit-smelling bastards straight out of “Deliverance” they were mistaken. Puffing breath from her nostrils like an enraged bull, her head raised, eyes squinted, and teeth bared.

“I don’ see what’s funny.” She growled through her incisors, the laughing relented only slightly, “See, I don’ like folks who kill for pleasure, man r’beast. It gives me the crazy idea that them folks oughta be put down.” The woman’s stare was unbroken. While she hated killing, and hated how easy it had become to her; there was a special place within her hatred of humanity for those who would harm a creature incapable of self-defence. It was akin to trophy hunting; killing a being that had no chance in the first place.

The four seemed to finally realise that they were not going to get the better of this woman and stopped. Their eyes grew dark, their gazes hardened. The one holding Cammy, his grip tightened. The dog gasped, mouth agape as far as possible in desperation for life-giving air. “So I’m givin’ ya one last chance. Put. The. Dog. Down.”

There was a loud silence that built to an uncomfortable climax. Somebody was going to make a move. The men looked at each other, before turning back to her. They all had that spark in their eyes; they all had the same idea. But it was clear that, in their pea-brain minds, they had no idea that they had stumbled right into her trap. They all reached for their weapons-

*BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!*

Three bodies dropped to the snow, stained a fresh red from their wounds. The only survivor, with just a wound to the shoulder kept a tight grip on Cammy as he stared, face white at the woman. In that frame of light where they drew those guns, she had whipped out her concealed Colt.45, sealing their fates. Putting the gun away, Colt turned her furious glare to the sole man. She took a couple of steps towards him, which apparently startled the man enough to jump up and release Cammy, who yowled anxiously and hid behind Colt’s legs with her ears back and tail tucked between her legs. Colt stood close to the man, a hand still on her firearm staring him right in his wide and cowardly eyes. Without his gang, he was nothing. Rather than shoot, Colt simply leaned closer with a dark gaze and spoke with a soft yet biting tone.

“Stay out of my territory.” The implication was clear. Unlike the stag, his death would not be quick. The stag had served a purpose for his loss of life, to maintain others. This waste of space meant nothing. Letting him live without his backup or with purpose was a crueller fate. The man stayed frozen as the veteran, after giving him one more death glare over her shoulder began walking towards the stag to regain her prize and get out of here. Cammy turned to follow Colt, but her ears swivelled back suddenly, hearing something Colt hadn’t. A gun cocking.

Black lips pulled back to reveal dagger like fangs attached to a powerful hinge as the Alsatian released an unholy bellow as she launched herself up with her powerful hind legs, right onto the man’s chest and with a vile clamp, teeth sank into the flesh of his neck, blood spraying everywhere as the man shrieked and kicked in a futile attempt to escape the dog’s wrath. Cammy, her vocals drilling with fury shook him violently like a dead chicken, her livid eyes pierced his.

“Cammy! Come!” the voice of the veteran rang and the dog relented. She backed away from the man, who lied in a red carpet, gurgling and gasping. She turned to Colt, her maw and chin dripping with blood. Colt was silent as the man became still. He just had to get the last word. She knelt in front of the quivering dog and pulled out a small towel she had brought to clean her hands. She wiped the dog’s mouth and neck clean of her sins.

“Best we don’ mention this, hm? I’ll be quiet if yer quiet.” She whispered. Cammy, still whale eyed simply sighed and pushed her face into the woman’s chest. Whether it was guilt or a request for comfort, Colt responded by stroking the back of Cammy’s neck. Well, maybe Andy would want to hear this story at some point. Luca would just think the whole thing was ridiculous but glad that she had actually accumilated quite a haul during this hunt. “C’mon. They’ll be hungry.”

After shooting each in the head, ensuring they would never re-animate. Colt gathered up her things and, with a final look over the shoulder at her newly won hunting territory, began the long trek home. Cammy walked next to her, staying close. The dog had learned something important that she would not forget; the world had changed and people had too. She could not simply run free like she could before. She had to stay with her people. And she would protect them with her life.

Mentions: The Mad Queen Maj Brax

 

[Brax]

The sight of the young kid sitting at the counter stuffing his face froze Warren in the doorway to the kitchen. He couldn't help the small smile that forced it's way onto his face. Warren had kept to himself and avoided any prolonged encounters with people since Tre lost consciousness. No one was sure if he was going to come out of it alive, but here the twerp was.

"Ya know, this was one of your closest stunts yet." The man's body almost completely filled the doorway as he stood with a relieved but slightly frustrated look. His hand slid down the frame that he leaned against and he took a step toward the youngster, "You're lucky. But that luck is gonna run out someday." His strides continued until he found himself besides Tre, who was high as a kite, but the man was not aware. A large hand with sausage like fingers came down on the kid's shoulder with a firm pat, but careful not to open up any wounds, "I'm glad you're okay." Warren didn't like feeling vulnerable, but he couldn't do a well enough job containing his relief and thankfulness. An attachment had been made to this one and he hadn't realized the extent of it until this close call. An anger had built up inside of him these past days. Drowning himself in liquor had been his only escape; not sure of where or what he would be if Tre didn't pull through.

Having been spotted by Warren, Tre greeted the man with a large smile on his face. “Ayyy it’s good to see you man! Hector told me I done slept for three days. I ain’t never got sleep like that boiii.” The teen chuckled as he took another bite of his bread. “What’chu been up to while I been out man, you been drinkin’? You bitch anyone out? Fight Luca yet?” He asked, lifting an eyebrow. If there was one thing that Tre could count on is that those two would eventually come to throws. Unless they both were aware of something that the teen wasn’t, they hadn’t been on the best terms. Warren did claim that he wanted to leave when shit hit the fan.

“There’s a lot of people here that know what they doin’. I’unno if it’s any safer bein’ round Luca though. We livin’ in a actual fuckin’ zombie apocolypse, dude still got mothafuckas after his neck. Shit is fuckin’ incredible dawg.” Throughout his verbalization, Tre had been waving around that limp piece of half-eaten bread.

Warren's eyes followed the chunk of bread as Tre blabbered on, "You little shit. You're blazed out of your damn mind." He gave the kid's shoulder a playful shove and his grin grew wider, "Where'd you get that, huh? Doctor prescribed?"

“Hector Salamander, yessir. Homeboy gave me fourteen days’ worth of oxys. I still got four left, if you wan’ em.” Tre shrugged, removing the pill bottle from his pocket and placing it onto the kitchen counter top beside the sink. He walked over to the pantry and opened the door. The lights provided by the candles had illuminated the inside, generating a large shadow for the mop that had been leaning against the wall. Tre’s eyes looked up to see it grow, resulting in him screaming at the top of his lungs out of fear.

After a second, however, the young man realized he was screaming at an inanimate object so it quickly turned into laughter. Hell, he damn-near collapsed on the floor he had been laughing so hard. It had caught him completely off guard. All he was trying to do was get another piece of bread. “Yo, you want anythin’?” The dread head called from the depths of the pantry as he took note of their much smaller food supply. So much for snacks lasting in the apocalypse. At least there were way less people to eat them! He took a mental note to eat a twinkie the next time he came across one.

“I’un think they got any booze in here.”

"Eh, just gimme something to munch on." The man took a spot at the counter next to where dreads had been sitting. It took a number of readjustments every time he took a seat at the counter to get comfortable enough. Tre's scream and laughing fit caused Warren to look over his broad shoulder, "You sure the doctor gave those pills to you? I might have to take a couple of these after all." The small bottle was snatched from the counter and found itself in the palm of it's curious captor. He laid them back down and slid the bottle back to its original spot. The kid was probably going to need the rest of these. His body still had a solid amount of recovering to do. Probably doesn't even realize how close to the grave he came. "What's takin' so long? C'mon, you've got me hungry now."

“Here I thought I was tryna be nice, I ain’t no fuckin’ maid.” The kid mumbled as he withdrew a slice of bread and a granola bar from the depths of the pantry. Warren was at least three times the size of him so chances were he was slightly hungry. From the darkness soared the wrapped-up granola, hitting the man in the stomach. Then came the slice of bread which followed a slightly higher arc through the air. However, unlike the first item, the piece had smacked the man straight in the face.

A howl came from the other side of the kitchen as Tre rolled over in laughter.

Featuring: TheTreForce

 

[The Mad Queen]

The following is part one of a collab between Maj and yours truly​

At first, Jenna had tried to pick up the tray with both arms but her weak arm gave out and she nearly dropped the food. It would have been fair game for Cammy by then, but she managed to catch the tray before it hit the ground. Perhaps all that talk of improved reflexes had a point, she thought to herself.
It brought a small smile to her face, one she kept as a mask as she made her way up the stairs.

Cammy, of course attempted to follow but was quickly told to sit and wait.
"If only my dogs at home were as obedient." She sighed, shaking her head. Why, on today of all days did she have to remind herself of home? Even though it was just across the Atlantic it might as well have been a different planet.

Still wearing the mask, she made her way to Andy's room and went to knock on the door. Realising, once again that her other arm was buggered she let out a heavy sigh in frustration and instead gently hit her forehead against it before leaning on the handle and gently pushing the door open.
"Breakfast. It's eggs." She kept the fake smile on "Sorry if you're sick of them by now, but until the chicken's shit out swiss rolls I'm not happy about it either."

Andy had been awake before Jenna had opened her door, hearing the struggle to balance the tray and enter at the same time. She hoped the girl had never been a server or waitress. Not only did she seem to struggle with multi-tasking with a tray in her hands, but her fake smile wasn’t very convincing either. Andy wasn’t sure how to tell her that she didn’t much care what kind of food she was bringing her. Food was food, especially when supplies were low and she was unable to go out to remedy the situation. From the sunshine that had been pouring in her intact window, she figured the weather had been perfect for it too.

“I’ve eaten moose meat for almost a month straight before.” the girl replied, situating herself in the bed. “I think I can handle a few plates of eggs.” The movement hurt, she could feel the gauze bandages brush against her flesh, damp and warm. She was sure she was due for clean wrappings, but Andy wasn’t the type to ask. Hector or Leli would waltz in and fret over her before too long anyway. They always did.

Andy brought the plate into her lap offering the purple haired girl a polite smirk in the way of thanks. Jenna was one of the people at the lodge she had barely conversed with. She seemed to keep to herself, which Andy for one was thankful for. There was too much noise at the lodge, scientist children trying to argue with her, emotional veterans, chastising doctors, and the random child. Solitude was something Andy enjoyed, even needed but the more days that had passed the more lonely her room had felt. Leliana and Hector of course came in to see her often, mostly to dress her bandages and lecture her about taking better care of herself. Aderyn had been in a time or two to check on (the now unfortunately bloodsoaked) stuffed bunny thing she had left with Andy. But Owen was still unable to move, she hadn’t seen her brother at all and Luca seemed to be in and out, mostly while she slept.

“Sit.” Andy commanded, nodding to the foot of her bed.

"Maybe you got the one that attacked Michael?" She joked. He hadn't admitted it to her, possibly out of embarrassment but she'd heard about his encounter all the same from others. She did raise an eyebrow at the command. Jenna had expected to leave the tray with Andy and come back later to collect, was the redhead expecting her to feed her or something? She didn't mind, it just seemed a bit odd that they would get the girl with the busted up arm to do it.

Still raising an eyebrow she glanced at the spot on the bed. "Do I look like a dog or something?"

“Obviously not. I’ve never seen a purple mutt before.” Andy rolled her eyes as response. It wasn’t her intention to offend the girl, although most of what came out of the redhead’s mouth was vaguely insulting. She picked up her own fork and began eating, gesturing to the bed once more. “I mean you don’t have to. No one is twisting your arm, but what else are you doing?” Truth be told, Andy was bored., althoug she wouldn't admit it. She had read most of the books that she had laying around the room and without new sketch pads she was nearly out of room to doodle. Last time she had attempted to leave her room Leli had threatened her with a frying pan and that was far kinder than what Hector had threatened, so for the moment she did her best to be a model patient.

"Well..." Jenna had nothing. She'd been restricted from doing much around the lodge next to say, chicken duty due to her arm on Leliana and Hector's orders and she'd gone over their supplies so many times that the thought of taking down more notes made her feel physically ill.
"Twisting my arm? Is that meant to be funny?" She squinted at Andy. Her expression quickly changed into a half-smile as she sat down on the foot of the bed "I'm just fucking with you."

Only a maniac liked the idea of being confined to bed after an operation, and given the total lack of internet and other things to do she had to be half-driven mad with boredom.

“Yes. I’m sure you can tell by my overwhelmingly bubbly demeanour that I’m hilarious.” Andy responded drily, the corner of her mouth turning ever so slightly. It was obvious from the rain cloud following the girl around that she was overcompensating, doing her best to keep moving forward in spite of all the chaos that had ensued.
“How’s your arm?” The twin asked. She had selfishly only been concerned with Owen and occasionally Tre since she knew they were both in pretty bad shape. Others had gotten hurt too, just not as badly. Colt she heard was limping around, Jenna was bandaged up, Hector of course had half face missing. There were few people who had managed to come out of the fire unscathed.

"Eh, I've hurt worse than this." Jenna gave a light shrug, taking care only to move one of her shoulders. "You took more of a bollocking than I did anyway, so how are you holding up?"
The lodge had become a hospital since the attack, with so many in recovery and with a range of injuries too. Nobody had come away unscathed, for even those who hadn't taken a bullet or inhaled tear gas were shaken. She could taste it in the air that the mood at the lodge had gone down.
Ray's death and the brutality of their attackers added to that.

“You don’t have to keep up this false sunshine for my account.” Andy said, avoiding the question. The truth was that she felt like shit, but it was neither here nor there. They were already doing all they could for her. “This shit sucks. We both know it, it’s useless to pretend otherwise.”

"I guess so." Jenna sighed "More gutted about Ray than anything else."
A brutal attack and stolen supplies were one thing, but to lose one of their own had to be the biggest kicker out of the lot.

Andy nodded in agreeance. Ray had died right in front of her, so close that she was surprised that someone hadn’t been forced to clean his blood from her pale face. It didn’t matter how close he was, there was nothing she was able to do for him.

“His death was pointless.” Andy offered with a mouthful of eggs. “However, most death is. Ray wasn’t even a threat to them. It was done for no other reason that cruelty. The soldiers deserved what they got. I’m glad they are a pile of ash in my backyard.” Her eyes were cold, but Andy had more than enough time to dwell on the events of the attack. A few weeks ago, she could confidently say she had killed zero people. Now she had killed six.

 

[Maj]

​

October 31, 2019
Andy's Bedroom
9:33 AM

At least Jenna knew who owned the fortress now. There was something about the lodge, the way it was cut off and isolated that made it a pipe dream to her.
The idea of just disappearing into the woods where nobody would find you, and nobody would think to look.

Jenna rubbed her bad arm and looked away from the redhead. Maybe she'd find a lodge of her own, she thought. Up until she drove that axe into the mercenary's throat it might have been possible to return to her old life, or some semblance of it. Would it have taken years of over-expensive therapy? Of course, but it was still a possibility.

Isolation seemed better now. Complete the mission and then disappear.
That's what she'd do.

"This whole thing is bloody pointless." She muttered "You were chilling in the woods or something a week ago and I was on my way to Cali." Jenna scoffed.

"I guess shit just happens..."

“I’d much rather be in the woods than in Cali, even before now. It’s quiet and void of people.” That’s how she preferred it even before heavy population meant droves of monsters. “If this thing made it to Cali, you are gonna have a bad time. Can you imagine what Hollywood is like right now?” Andy shuddered. “But I guess it’s sort of hard to imagine anything going back to normal. Three weeks ago I hadn’t put a bullet in anyone’s skull. Whatever our plans were before this, they are different now.” Andy didn’t tell her that she had also been saving up to leave Aurora. This place was full of too many people who knew her and a blank slate had sounded appetizing at the time. But now none of that mattered. Luca was a mob boss, Owen was a drug dealer, Colt was a recovering Veteran but now they were all just survivors.

Jenna leaned over the side of the bed, letting out a heavy sigh. She wasn't the only one to take first blood that day, it seemed.
"You know what frightens me?" She asked, her face blank, empty of expression "I killed my first man that day too, and I feel absolutely nothing. Sure, at first there was shock and horror, a day of feeling sorry for myself but now I just feel nothing."
The girl gently shook her head "Might mean I'm becoming a sociopath or some shit. I dunno."

Relief poured over the red head’s face. Andy didn’t feel the need to correct Jenna. She had taken her first life the first day of the outbreak and then again at Cletus’s RV, but she had taken four additional lives during the attack. What mattered is that Jenna understood her. To say she had been hesitant to talk about it would be an understatement. Owen would never accept or understand how she felt, his hands were still blood free. Colt and Luca had both taken countless lives, how would they even remember what it felt like to take their first.

“You’re not a sociopath,” Andy found herself saying. “Or at least if you are, then I am too.” the girl pushed the tray off her lap, crossing her arms over her chest in thought. “I think I’ve focused more on how bad I feel about not caring than on actually feeling bad. It’s like I know I should feel bad, it would be normal to have regrets but I can’t bring myself to regret killing anyone who was trying to kill us. Maybe that’s selfish,” Andy shrugged in response. “But I honestly don’t give a fuck. They are dead and we aren't and that's all that really matters."

The girl glanced up at her. Ivan, Luca, Colt, Brian. They had all killed before, their careers had been built around it and had years to deal with it, to get used to it. They wouldn't have understood, but Andy did. The blood on their hands was fresh, and the first time either of them had their blood caked in it. It was shit, but knowing that somebody else felt the exact same way let Jenna know she wasn't alone in this.
"Same, honestly." She let out yet another heavy sigh "Now that you put it like that, it doesn't sound all that selfish."

She thought once more about what would have happened if the man had been kept alive, if she's somehow managed to save him. He would have been tortured to death by Luca or one of the others.
Perhaps what he'd gotten at Jenna's hands was kinder, a mercy.

"I guess I'm worried that feeling nothing about this means I'll get used to the killing." She brought her hands together at the side of the bed, clutching them together. She glanced down at them both.

“It’s better than breaking down,” Andy added thoughtfully. “Being accustomed to taking lives sounds shitty, but at least I know that the next time I’m facing down a barrel I won't dissolve into tears. I’ll be able to act and keep my wits about me.” She looked up and locked eyes with Jenna. “They need people like us Jenna. Whatever we are, sociopaths or not. They need people who can do what's difficult and keep moving, because I’m not optimistic enough to pretend that it’s going to get any easier.”

Jenna looked up from her hands, sitting on them to hide the slight shaking in both and glanced back up at Andy.
"I suppose. I worked too hard to get here as is. Not having that end because some yellow-clad Nazi with a rifle thinks it should." She gently shook her head "I shouldn't be alive, but here I am. I don't want that to change anytime soon."

"I guess there's a difference between getting used to it and enjoying it, though. If they start enjoying this I think that's it for someone...And that was the case with those bastards."

Andy nodded thoughtfully before looking up a small smirk playing across the girl’s full lips.

“When you look at the dark side, careful you must be. For the dark side looks back.”

"You're not green enough or small enough to be Yoda." Jenna gave a slight smirk.

"Nor wise enough. But I guess I'm best you guys have." She exhaled through her nose in what could have been mistaken as a laugh. "Tell Luca to quit being an asshole and asking the girl with one good arm to carry food trays." she rolled her eyes. "He’s a moron." It was clear that the seriousness of their conversation was over, and Andy was tired. A yawn took over her face as she stretched, wincing as the hole in her side protested to the movement.

"Like Luca would listen to me." Jenna scoffed, tucking the tray under one arm and standing to her feet "Nobody does around here. 'Cept maybe the damn dog."

"Then make them." Andy said seriously. "The only one in control of that is you."

"Yeah, because I want to piss off the people that might have to choose between me living and dying one day." Jenna muttered, making her way towards the door.

Did Jenna think they were going to kill her? They weren't animals, although the girl seemed more trusting of things with four legs than two. Andy rolled her eyes and laid back down. She had done enough comforting for one day, if Jenna wanted to limp around the lodge in fear that one of them was going to put a bullet in her head that was her own prerogative and the redhead didn't have enough patience to convince her otherwise.

"Whatever, if being a doormat is more your cup of tea, suit yourself." and Andy pulled the covers up over her head, allowing Jenna to let herself out of her room.

Jenna's hand gripped the door handle and she pushed it gently open with a heavy sigh.
"God I miss tea." She muttered to herself "Oh fuck it, you're right. What are they going to do if they give me a bollocking, shoot me in the arm?" She glanced at Andy one more time, giving her a wink before shutting the door

Collab: The Mad Queen
Mentions: Brax TheTreForce

 

[FireMaiden]

This a collab between FireMaiden and King Vioogra
October 29th, 7:19pm​

Ivan sat in front of the blackened pile of bodies, his legs crossed under him as he looked at the pile. The rancid smell of burnt rubber and flesh lingered even days after the pile had finished smoldering, giving Ivan the incentive to stand and distance himself from it. It'd been a good year or so since he'd consciously killed someone, and the quick escalation of having moved past his days of senselessly killing people to suddenly putting down people who only wanted to collect a paycheck took its toll on him. The Russian pushed the thoughts out of his head, only knowing that putting too much thought would bring him back to a time he'd all but forgotten.

"Hey." Leliana's soft voice broke through the evening quiet, unsure if Ivan had even known she was there a few moments prior. She had been watching him for a little bit. Well, not watching, occasionally looking at to see what he was doing from inside. The sky was changing colors, from blue to purple, she figured it was about time to come get him. "It's getting late, you should come inside. Eat something before Micheal tries to take your bowl," She said with a slight playful chuckle, before falling silent again. He had been acting different, everyone had been. The stress of the fight, seeing so many wounded, it would get to anyone who wasn't prepared to deal with it. "Are you okay, Ivan?"

Ivan was surprised by Leliana's presence as her voice broke through the sounds of nature around them. He chuckled quietly at her quip about Micheal stealing his bowl and turned to her as she asked if he was okay. He looked down for a moment, searching for an answer that wouldn't make her question his grip on reality. "Yes, I think so. It's been a while since I've had to kill someone, aside from the school. And I can't say it's something I've wanted to do, but it's not like I have much choice. It's them or us, right?" He said as he looked back up at her, stuffing his hands in his pockets for lack of another action for his hands except to just hang there. "How are the others? I haven't spent to much time, paying attention if I'm to be honest." He said scratching the back of his head and looking down.

Leliana furrowed her brows slightly, moving half a step closer to Ivan, arms recording as she pulled the small blanket she was borrowing closer. She didn't believe him, he didn't sound like he believed himself, but if she knew one thing about boys, it was that if they wanted to talk they would. Eventually. "They're okay. Andy is back on her feet already, Owen and Tre are in and out of consciousness, but it's only been three days. Colt is being, well, Colt. She doesn't want to sit still but the bleeding stopped so at least she can still drink. Hector's eye can't be saved, but his orbital socket didn't take to much damage, he's already back on his feet too." She paused for a moment, sighing as she looked towards the lodge, then back at him, "Everyone else is fine too. Other than...other than Ray, nobody died." Her voice trailed off when she mentioned the old man, a sharp pang in her chest hitting her once again. "At least, if he's not here, he doesn't have to watch the world we knew crumble anymore."

Ivan listened intently to Leli's report on the injured and how they were doing, a pang shooting him in the chest when she brought up Ray. "Right. I think it's for the best he passed here. Seeing a soul as kind as his rot alongside us would unsettling." He said in a low tone before he cleared his throat and put a hand on her shoulder. "I buried him around back, if you'd like to say a few words." The Russian spoke softly. Whether anyone except Luca knew that Ivan had buried Ray was uncertain, but it didn't really feel right to announce that he'd done it. "Unless it happened without me, I don't think there's been a service."

"I think that should wait until everyone is better, you know? It's better that way," Leliana said with a small shrug. Ray deserved to have everyone there, at least everyone who wanted to do something, and Leliana knew that a few injured would want to. The nurse decided it best to change the subject, but to what was the question. For a moment, she was silent, staring at the remains of the hazzies they had been burning. The sight sent a small shiver up her spine. "What were you doing before all this?"

Ivan nodded in agreement with Leli's suggestion to wait, following her gaze to the pile of charred bodies. A scowl crossed his face as his eyes met with the pile. His moment of minor hatred was interrupted as the nurse asked him what he did before the outbreak. "I was studying a few different types of engineering actually. I was majoring in electrical and minoring in mechanical." He said with almost a spark of delight in his voice. Nothing could beat talking about times long past when all you had to worry about was waking up in time for the next lecture. But as he went back further into his recent years, the smile he bore faded as his eyes were drawn back to the pile. "Before that, I was like them. Young, dumb, eager for adventure and a paycheck." After his last statement, a short scoff escaped him and he shook his head. "What about you, Красивые?" He said as he looked back at the blonde girl in front of him.

She chuckled, "No fair, you can't use words you haven't taught me yet," Leliana said playfully, laughing. With a sigh, she answered him. "I was a nursing student at the University, Sophomore year. Half my classes were online though, so I wasn't on campus much." Between work and having to take care of her mother, she simply couldn't be on campus most of the day. "And I worked at Moe's, a housekeeper. It was the only place in town that would hire me. Which makes sense I guess, I was 16 and honestly desperate. They had health insurance though, which was...surprising." How many shitty motels with terrible patrons did you know that offered almost full benefits? "Is your mysterious past the reason you know how to make a graphite grenade? I mean, you can look up a bunch of that stuff on the internet, I know how to make mutard gas. Then again anyway with the internet or who watched King of the Hill should know that."

Ivan listened intently to Leliana's story, remembering the few weeks he had to stay at Moe's when he first moved to Aurora. "I can't believe you could stand it there. The few weeks I stayed, I was sure someone was going to get kidnapped or something." He said quietly as he scolded Moe's under his breath. After his short rant, he realized what Leliana had said about using a word he hadn't taught her yet. "Oh right. Красивые means beautiful." He said with a bit of a smile as she went on to talk about knowing how to make mustard gas and bringing up King of the Hill. Lucky for the Russian, his roommate was utterly obsessed with that show and would often watch it late into the night. "You told them to mix ammonia and bleach?" Ivan responded in a his best heavily southern accent, which was still God awful, her reference pulling up a few more pleasant memories as he smiled at the girl.

Leliana shrugged, "It wasn't all bad. Myain manager Michelle made sure I was always insight of the cameras or that someone was always close by when I cleaned a room. And I had to put up with it anyway, my mom needed the health insurance more than me." She explained, almost not picking up on him explaining what the word menat. Obviously, Ivan needed glasses. "I...thank you," She said with a smile. She didn't normally like getting compliments, normally they weren't compliments, but Ivan was just being nice. She looked away for a moment, then back when he started quoting Hank Hill. "Only if they want bathroom fixtures that shine like the sun!" Her sountern accent, and Peggy Hill impression was easier to do being from the south herself. "My grandmother was obsessed with that show. My uncle too, it's pretty much the only thing we'd watch at night."

Ivan nodded as Leli explained that she was in good hands while working at Moe's, a short chuckle escaping from him as she responded to his horrible accent with a halfway decent one. He was about to add in the third part of the bit when she explained that her grandmother was obsessed with the show. "I get where you're coming from. I lived on campus and I swear all he'd ever do is smoke weed and watch that show on repeat. It took me almost a month to stop saying 'dammit bobby' whenever someone did something stupid." Ivan said, chuckling quietly as he spoke. This was really liberating for the man, since there'd been little time to reminisce and laugh once everything fell.

Leliana laughed again, one half of the blanket dropping as she reached up to run a hand through her hair to get it out of her face before she wrapped it back up around her arm. It was getting cooler, the sky was still getting darker, but she was enjoying being outside. Shifting her weight slightly, Leliana looked towards the forest. "You ever wonder if this is gonna get better? The world wasn't perfect before, but it wasn't an everyday fight for survival. Most people weren't terrified of the unknown, weren't terrified of what would happen if we left the doors unlocked or if someone wasn't constantly watching out every minute of every day." She paused, sighing, "I want things to go back to the way they were. I know they won't, but I want them to."

Ivan looked at the setting sun with a smile, taking in one of few things they were allowed to enjoy anymore, when the nurse asked if he thought it would ever get better. "I don't think so no. If whatever happened her hasn't already ravaged the rest of the world, we'll either die here or spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders. We can leave the country, go of the radar, it doesn't matter. The people who want us dead won't stop until we are. And even if we manage to live long enough to die of natural causes, we'll just become one of the things we fear most." Ivan said honestly. There really was no happy ending for this bunch of misfits aside from a cure. But in all of the comic books and other media that depicted this type of crisis, barely any end with a cure.

"Wow, that's depressing," Leliana chuckled lightly, nudging him with her elbow. He was right though. And she knew it. "Anyway, I wanted to thank you for telling Jenna to get the Zoloft. I know there was no guarantee that she would have, and with that girl Catelyn taking off with the truck, I could have been out of luck either way. But yeah, thanks. It means a lot." It hadn't been long enough for the drugs to start taking effect, but she was already noting a change. No more hand shaking, a lot less nasuea, it was good. "And, for the record, you didn't have to give her an excuse, pretty sure Jenna would have gotten them anyway."

Ivan smiled as Leli nudged him, looking back at her as the light from the sun faded and was replaced by the dim light of the moon. When she thanked him for relaying his task, his smile widened a bit as he scratched the back of his head quietly. "It's no problem Leli. I just hope it's actually for back pain. If not Jenna's probably really confused about my knowledge of medicine." He said with a bit of a nervous chortle, his eyes squinting so he could still see the features of her face. "Hey, maybe if the rest of the world hasn't gone to shit and we make it out of this alive, maybe I can take you out to dinner and we can gripe about other shows we were forced into loving."

"No, it's no for backpain. It's okay though Jenna knows it's for me, so it's all good." It was sweet that Ivan was worried, but he didn't need to be. Leliana had it all under control. But he also didn't know what Zoloft was, so he had no reason to be worried in the first place. He then did something she didn't expect during the apocalypse. She was surprised, did he mean it? Like, was he serious asking her on a date? One that would probably never happen mind you, but still. "I'll consider it," Leliana chuckled, "We never really know what's gonna happen." Tomorrow wasn't a guarantee anymore, they could all wake up dead or be killed by something stupid. Plus, Ivan probably didn't mean it. "Let's head inside for now. I was serious about Micheal stealing your bowl."

Ivan's eyes widened when she said that Zoloft wasn't for backpain, a quiet 'Shit' running through his mind before she said she'd consider his sort of date thing. "I couldn't have said it better myself." The Russian said in response to her before he broke into a short spurt of laughter as she brought up their fatter housemate again. "You're right, maybe after everyone's eaten we can finally get to your first lesson. It'll be fun to see the reaction on your face at my alphabet." He said with a smile as he lightly patted her shoulder, making his way to the front door and opening it. He stepped inside and out of the way so she could also come in.

Leliana followed him inside, slipping the blanket off her shoulders, neatly folding it before sitting it on the dining room table. "I'm gonna bring some dinner around to Owen and Hector, I'll be back soon." Leliana entered the kitchen, and grabbed two bowls of soup, dissapering off into the lodge to go deliver dinner. A few minutes later she had returned, her own dinner in hand. "So, what about the Russian alphabet is so weird?"

Rumble Fish Maj shadowz1995 The Mad Queen ​

 

[Corgi]

​

November 4, 2019
Lodge's Living-room
5 : 0 0 P M

Aubrey had been getting accustomed to the life these survivors were living. Get up early, work out, help wherever you can, sleep, and repeat. It was very similar to the life she led before Aurora went to hell. She was surprised the outside world hadn’t snuck into the camp more. Since the fight, she hadn’t seen a Thing out here. Whether that was because of the traps set along the perimeter or not, who knows; either way, things have been peaceful, and she’s enjoyed it.

The one thing she was still getting used to were the people. Aubrey’s whole life she felt like an outcast, side character, a monster of sorts. Because of this, she secluded herself. She shut out anyone who tried to get close to her, including her family. With the people at the lodge, though, they were so easy to talk to. It was weird- they didn’t ask questions or pressure her to join in on activities she didn’t want to do. Most of the time she had to seek out the people she needed to talk to. It was the most human she had felt since she moved out to the lake.

Entering the cabin, her plan was to talk to Colt, fail to get up the courage, and go talk to Owen instead, but that plan was cut short when her eyes fell upon a small girl with black hair holding a white teddy bear. Aubrey had seen this girl before a couple of times, but she never introduced herself.

Taking a deep breath and setting her hand on the rim of her cap, she carefully made he way towards the child, “Hey, uh, I’ve seen you around here. I’m Aubrey.” She stated simply, holding out her other arm. At this moment, she never realized how small children were. The top of the girl’s head only made it to her stomach. Aubrey then realized that she never really saw children shaking hands when introducing themselves, so she slowly dropped her hand to her side, “Uhm… What’s your name?”

Milly had been playing with a jigsaw for the last hour, everyone else was busy and no-one seemed interested in playing checkers with her which Milly did not mind too much. Her mother was not a fan of checkers herself. She had gotten bored of doing the same jigsaws puzzles over and over again so had opted to open up a two-hundred piece one that she had now been working on for over an hour and was at least two thirds through it.. Her legs kicked a little as she focused. The youngster was wearing her baby-blue and fluffy jumper and white joggers, making her look as though she was about ready for a nap which was quite true.

The disturbances within the Lodge gave Milly barely any chance to keep up her own routine. She had to sleep in the middle of the day and already she could feel a migraine developing. Another few minutes and she would retreat upstairs to sleep for an hour or so. It was the only thing she really had left. Hoping to prolong her headache for as long as possible, the youngster stood up with Snowy, intending to go to the kitchen for water.

As she got up, the small girl was startled at the sight of a blonde woman standing there. She was a good bit taller than she was, but Milly had seen her a couple of times around here. She then introduced herself to which Milly gulped slightly. It was not that she sounded intimidating, it was for the simple fact that she was another stranger. Not wanting to look her in the eye, Milly opted to count the light sprinkle of freckles across her nose.

“I’m Milly,” she responded in a soft voice finally “And this is Snowy.” she added as she cuddled the bear close to her. She had lost her for days after the siege on the Lodge and for those few days, it had been impossible to sleep or even relax. It was just a relief to finally have it back.

“I uh, you’re new. How did they find you?” she asked with curious hair only a kid could ask. Despite being thirteen, to say Milly was very young at heart would be like pointing out the sky was blue. She twirled her hair in one finger anxiously, she did not want to pry too much into the woman’s business, “Sorry, that was rude of me.” She mumbled quietly with an aversion of her eyes.

“Well, hi Milly,” She initially said, pulling her attention to the white bear, “and hi Snowy.” Aubrey wasn’t the best with kids. She didn’t really understand what they enjoyed or needed out of her, so she typically avoided them, but leaving a kid all alone didn’t seem like a good idea, either.

Listening to the girl, she shook her head, “Not rude at all. Colt, Lelianna, and Nile found me in a motel room. I was hiding from them because I thought they were bad but turned out they were helpful.” She explained, feeling a bit awkward just staring down at the girl. After a brief moment, she crouched down to be at eye level with the girl.

Aubrey never had major issues with eye contact, but as she looked at the young girl’s surprisingly bright blue eyes, she noticed she didn’t meet her own. It was possible the girl was just shy, maybe her parents didn’t introduce her to strangers a lot. She then noticed that whenever she’s seen this girl, she didn’t seem to have parents with her. The couple times she did see and adult with her, it was someone Aubrey knew didn’t have a child… Or at least didn’t share that they did.

With a slightly confused expression, she questioned, “Do you have someone taking care of you?” She didn’t want to ask if her parents were here because there was a high possibility that they died in the outbreak; there was no need bringing up bad memories if that was the case.

“They’re good. Colt’s scary but she’s good. Leliana’s really nice, I really like her. And Nile, um,” a thin eyebrow lifted a bit, “I don’t know about Nile.” she admitted, the man still confused her and the fact that everyone else seemed alright with him staying did not help. She just opted to avoid him whenever he was around. As Aubrey then asked if she was being looked after by anyone, Milly blinked a few times as she tried to think of a proper answer.

“Not really. A few people do sort of, like Beth. Adryen’s my friend too.” Her brows lowered a little, “They said they would try to find my mum but, I don’t know.” While Milly did not want to push them to keep their promise, she could not help but be frustrated at the lack of progress. None of them ever said anything about it. The younger girl sighed and looked back to the table where she had set out her things, “Checkers is a fun game.” she added, not wanting to go further into this topic.

Aubrey hadn’t met either Beth or Adryen, but she had seen them around. They didn’t look like caretakers of a child, though. The expression on her face deepened a bit at the thought of a young girl without her parents. How scared she must be not knowing where they are or if they’re okay. Just as she was about to question why they haven’t searched for her parents, Milly spoke.

“Checkers?” Aubrey asked, the confusion still on her visage, “What’s checkers?” The blonde hadn’t been too fond of games in the past. She played one or two with her family but it resulted in Aubrey feeling left out, so she did partake in them.

“This,” Milly chirped happily, seemingly forgetting about their conversation as she took Aubrey over to the table, showing where she had set the game out, “You’re trying to get the other person’s checkers and stop them from getting yours.” She explained before looking to the older woman, her head tilted like a curious bird. She had never played checkers?

“Do you want to play?”

Aubrey allowed herself to be lead to the table before sitting down on the opposite side of Milly. The game seemed simple enough, and she had some time to spend, so why not? “Yeah, let’s play.” She nodded, resting her elbows on the table as she hovered above the board, “Do you go first or do I?”

“Whites first.” Milly scooted around to the other side of the table, putting Snowy on it so it was if she was watching them playing, “Snowy can be referee.” she added as she picked hers up and placed it one step across. She shimmied around in her seat and looked to the woman with gentle eyes.

“You can only move one at a time and got to go diagonal.” She explained, still swaying in her seat as she hummed a little under her breath.

Aubrey cracked a small smile at the white bear sitting at the edge of the table before turning her attention to Milly and then back down at the board, “Got it.” She replied, moving the checker one space.

Milly moved hers another space, still swaying as she sat, “Well there she goes that girl is strange no question…” she mutter-sang as she fixed Snowy as the bear had fallen backwards and sat her back up as she waited for Aubrey to make her move.

“I wouldn’t say I’m too strange.” She said simply, moving the next checker up.

Milly jumped at Aubrey’s words, her stomach twisting into a knot, “Wait- no! Nonono I wasn’t calling you- I mean, i-it’s a song,” she gripped the neck of her hoodie and pulled it almost over her nose, her cheeks reddening from worry, “Oh god-”

Aubrey’s eyes widened at the girl’s reaction and her small smile widened more, “No, you’re fine. It was a joke… I think. I don’t think I did it right. I know what Disney is, my younger sister loved Beauty and the Beast.” She said, hoping to alleviate Milly’s worries about insulting her.

Milly squeaked and her breathing was still rapid and shallow from the fright she had gotten as Aubrey explained her joke. Jokes was something Milly struggled with terribly, the thought of ruining her chance to gain a new friend scared her. Biting her lip, Milly moved her own checkers.

Still seeing the tenseness in the girl, Aubrey’s stomach twisted. She felt bad that the girl reacted so poorly, “Uhm… What’s your favorite Disney movie?” She asked, thinking that may get the girl’s mind on something else other than Aubrey’s failure at a joke.


Milly looked up at the woman as she asked her about her favourite films, she coughed slightly, “Uh, I love Pixar movies. But I really like Beauty and the Beast and,” she thought for a second, “Ooh, Treasure Planet! Not many people know about it but I love it!”


Aubrey felt her chest warm at the sight of Milly going on about her favorite movies, “I prefer Pixar, too, but Princess and the Frog is one of my favorites. My sister was less into Treasure Planet, but I liked it a lot.”


The two continued to talk about movies for quite some time as the game of checkers continued, but the thought of Milly wondering where her parents may be pulled at Aubrey. She understood what it meant to wonder if someone you grew up with is alive or not. It was painful and set a bad feeling in her stomach; she didn’t want the young girl to have to go through that. Trying to change the topic as smooth as possible, “So… Are you from Aurora?” Aubrey asked, hoping to get some clues as to where her parents may be.


Milly was brooding over her poor choices in strategy, Aubrey had gotten a king and she hadn’t yet. She sat cross-legged on her chair in a pose remenicant to Rafiki, her blue eyes deep in thought. Her thought process was interrupted as Aubrey asked her a question, “Hm? Oh, yes.” She answered laconically as she made her move, “In the suburbs.” She did not want to think too much about her home, her wrists were already hurting from just mentioning it.


Aubrey’s eyes shot up to meet hers as she mentioned the suburbs. If Milly was upset about the others not going to find her parents, maybe Aubrey could when she went to find her sister, “My sister lives in the suburbs. When I go and find her, do you want me to look for your parents as well?” She asked, not sure if it was the right way to bring up the topic or not.


Milly looked up to the woman as she mentioned her sister lived in the suburbs herself. “D-did you lose her?” She asked softly before the mention of her parents made her freeze. The younger girl mumbled and looked away, her glance downcast. “I… I don’t know where my dad is. He left when I was three.” She admitted, her tone lower than usual. “And I don’t know where my mum is. She left me at the motel.”


“Not quite. I haven’t seen her in quite some time. I came to Aurora to find her.” As the young girl mentioned Milly’s parents, the smile she’s had been on her face almost the entire time they’ve been playing faltered to a frown, “I see…” She mumbled. Aubrey didn’t want to bombard the poor girl with questions of her and her mother’s relationship, so instead to moved her checker’s piece and said, “Seems we came from the same place, then.” The blonde was never the best at comforting people. She never knew what to say or what would be helpful, but she tried her best given the situation, “I’ll keep an eye out when I go to find my sister, if you’d like.” Aubrey offered, glancing up at Milly to watch her reaction.


“Yeah,” Milly sighed wistfully before looking at the woman as she offered to look for her mother while searching for her sister. Milly sighed deeply, “...Do you promise?” She asked, pulling Snowy towards her as she thought. Milly moved her checkers over two of Aubrey’s.


Aubrey nodded, holding out her pinky, “I pinky promise I will look for your mom.” She said, trying to look as welcoming as possible. She knew the young girl would be hurt if she didn’t at least look for her, Aubrey would be hurt too, so she had to do this. In doing this, she understood that if she did find Milly's mom, she may try to take Milly away. Based on the little Milly told Aubrey, she didn't like the idea of her mom.


Milly thought for a moment before she finally answered and reciprocated her pinky-promise gesture “Thank you.” She looked up at the woman before looking back at the board. The girl nibbled on Snowy’s ear with a slight giggle in hope to lighten her own mood, “We both got three left.”


Aubrey returned a small laugh in response before looking back to the board, “Yup… Let’s see if we can end this.” She said, taking a moment to look over the board before making the decision. It wasn’t a smart decision, but Aubrey went into this game knowing she wasn’t going to win, “You’re turn.”


Milly did not waste any time in taking the last of Aubrey’s counters, she had set the three in a way in which Milly could easily take them. The young girl squealed happily and clapped her hands before looking up to the girl, her eyes shining a little. “That was fun, you’re good at it. Sure you never played it before?” she asked earnestly.


Aubrey’s eyes went wide as all three of the checkers were taken before lightly laughing, “You’re sweet, and I haven’t. This was a lot of fun though. Want to play again?”


“Yeah! Snowy can ref again, she’s really good.”


“I noticed. She called out all of my mistakes.”

Featuring: Rumble Fish (Milly)
Mentioned: Maj (Owen), Rumble Fish (Colt), FireMaiden (Lelianna), and Togy (Nile)

 

[Rumble Fish]

Colt forced herself up, grabbing the wall for support as she looked down at the duffle bags containing the "armoury". She had counted the weapons so many times but she simply could not work by assumptions, regardless of how boring a task it was. Using her crutches, she pushed the cupboard door shut and hopped to the sofa. She saw Brian wandering around the room but paid no mind as she flopped onto the sofa with a loud groan as her sore bones settled. Even with the crutches, walking was an effort. As she got settled on the sofa, she glanced once again at the man. She hadn't spoken to the man much. She might as well make some sort of effort.

"Sup." She grumbled at the man as she fished into the rucksack next to the sofa, pulling out a bottle of... Bacardi? It could be anything. It didn't matter. Putting it on the ground she got out her flask and took a long drink from it, her left arm resting over the back of the sofa and her kneeless leg crossed over her only functioning one. She did not know how much longer she could cope without her prosthetic. All she could hope was that Hector would fix it soon.

With everything that just transpired, particularly his argument with Lilianna, left Brian really uneasy. Luckily the cut on his leg didn't immobilize him, but he wasn't gonna get very far if he ended up deciding to leave. Finally, he just sat down in one of the chairs next to the sofa. Colt then came into the room and flopped onto the sofa, snapping him out of his daydream state. He then watched as she pulled a bottle out of her rucksack and start drinking. "Oh, hey Colt." He greeted her calmly before rolling his sleeves back down and putting his jacket back on in hopes of covering up the blood all over his dress shirt before she noticed. "You got any more?" He asked, nodding at the bottle in her hand.

Colt frowned a little as he asked if she had any more in her bag. She took the flask from her lips and just looked at him. He hadn't asked for anything from her before so what was she supposed to say? With a few blinks, she shrugged and handed him the flask. "Y'can take some of this. Not much though, this stuff's scarce." She spoke before taking one last swig from it before handing it to the man, "Th'fuck's wrong whichu ya look like ya've seen a ghost or somethin'."

"Thanks." He said, smiling briefly when she handed him the flask. "That's because I did see a ghost. A few actually." He responded, his face turning pale as he opened the flask briefly and took a small sip, not wanting to drink the last of it since the alcohol wasn't his own. Brian handed the flask back quietly. He ran his fingers through his hair, sighing. Thinking about the battle, how everything got chaotic, inability to save Ray, the bloody gunfight and his confrontation with the Hazmats, namely ones who could identify him. "Not sure if you overheard, but Shinoa and Lelianna got into a fight here not too long ago."

"Hm?" The veteran grunted with a frown, "Um, I kinda. What was it about?" She asked, her eyebrows lowering a little. She remembered what Leliana had said about her suspicions about a potential mole. And there just happened to be a fight straight after? She took the flask back and took a long sip from it, her eyes not leaving his. What was he so twitchy about?

"It was about me," Brian responded, still feeling dejected. "Lilianna thinks that I threw you guys under the bus and led the Hazmats here. Shinoa didn't really agree. I didn't really say anything, let them battle it out for a few minutes. Shinoa went upstairs, took her kid and Lelianna went to talk to Luca after patching me up."

Colt froze and looked at the man as he explained the fight. "Wait... why?" she questioned, her tone now lower and significantly less friendly. She was concerned about what his answer could be. What if the nurse was right?

"Because I'm a Field Agent for Central Intelligence Agency." He responded coldly. "My latest mission brings me to Aurora. I was a liaison between the employers of the Hazmat Group and the US Government. It was supposed to be an in and then out. We were supposed to leave as quickly as we came, but something went wrong during our visit to the hospital." Brian explained. "But now I'm a rogue agent on the run for my life. The reason why I kept my mouth shut is because I thought I'd get a bullet to the brain. But I was proven wrong. I should have opened up. Ray would still be alive and no one would've gotten hurt. Guess Lelianna's right, secrets kill. To be honest with you, I don't expect to make it through the end of today. If I end up in a body bag, I end up in a body bag."

How such a long-winded response could come from a single word question was amazing. Colt’s posture jumped from slumped to sitting up fully as Brain spilt everything that had been going through his mind and had what happened. He was one of the Hazmats and yet he was here? And Leliana knew this? And from what it sounded, more than one person knew about this. Her eyebrows knitted as he spoke. So; people knew this and yet it had been kept from her? The woman’s breathing grew heavy as she could feel the anger bubble inside as her thoughts began to race, struggling to think of a proper answer.

‘Why the fuck didn’t anyone tell me about this? Don’t be stupid, why would they ask ya? Why the fuck would they tell a trigger-happy lunatic their secrets? Y’heard him, he knows he’d get shot and by WHO!? Yer thicker than pig-shit if ya think they’d trust ya with that kind of information. It’s not like any of ‘em actually trust ya. All ye are t’them is a turret, a workhorse, something for ‘em to use! If ya weren't of any use they'd have thrown ya out back at the school! What the fuck have ye done to earn any of their trust? Oh I don’t know EVERYTHING PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE!? Then why did they tell ya nothin’? What are ya gonna do, dummy? Shoot ‘im? Well, maybe- Oh sho go ahead and validate what they think. This bastard could be the reason everythin’ that’s happened happened! What the fuck else am I t’do, he’s a danger! Oh really, let’s think shall we? Ya lost Owen, ya killed that girl, y’reduced a man’s lungs to mush and ya left Aubrey with a maniac that could ‘ave killed ‘er! And HE’S dangerous?! Go on, ya drunk piece of shit, prove them right, see what Luca does when he finds out- SHUT! UP!’

Colt gripped her flask tightly as she inhaled deeply and shakily before turning to Brian. “And what the fuck does any of that have t’do with the Hazmats? I didn’t ask for yer fuckin’ life story.”

Brian only shrugged. "I'm just giving you my honesty on what happened. If you wanted a history lesson, I'd give you my fifteen year track record before hell decided to freeze over." He kept his arms folded. "I know that you're pissed. Probably wanna shoot me where I sit. I don't blame you."

Colt’s eyes bore into Brian’s own. He was right. Barely blinking, she watched his demeanour. She groaned a she got to her foot, leaning on the sofa for balance, all without breaking gaze. “Git outta my sight.” She spat lowly, “Ya think I’m pissed now? Then maybe yer best course would be to tread lightly."

"So this is how it feels when death stares down at you." Brian only nodded with a rather grim smile on his face. "Sure, I'll get out of your hair." He slowly got out of his chair and decided to head to the nearest door. He proceeded to exit the lodge and out onto the porch. "Now how to get up there..." Hopefully, that pipe was strong. Brian sighed and used the pipe to make his way to the roof. Taking off his jacket, he checked the magazine in his gun. One full mag left and his wrist-blade could only do so much. For the first time in two weeks, he turned his phone back on. He began looking through the group text between him and his superiors, which dated back on the night that the mission went wrong and the outbreak began.

Mentions: Maj (Owen) Corgi (Aubrey) Brax (Luca) FireMaiden (Leli)

 

[The Mad Queen]

Part three of three​

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" There was concern in her blue eyes, her good hand resting on Ralph's upper back
"I have to try." He looked up, the staircase seemed like a mountain to him.
"You nearly fell on your arse yesterday. If I wasn't there to catch you..."

He looked back at her and offered a smile.
"I'll be fine. I always land on my feet."
"You nearly didn't yesterday."
"And you didn't tell me what was bothering you, yesterday."

She groaned "Don't start on that. Just climb the damn stairs."
He gripped his hand tightly around the cane, using the other to hold onto the banister. Gritting his teeth in pain, Ralph made the first step.
"You know, if you want to talk about..."
"I know you said you worry about seven billion people..."
"Seven and a half billion."
"You knew what I meant...But that doesn't mean you have to play therapy with all of us."

He kept climbing.
"It's not therapy. I'm not licensed anyway. Not that kind of Doctor." He smiled, glancing back slightly to see Jenna behind him on the stairs before he took a few more steps. The agony that shot through his leg slowed him, but he didn't surrender to it and pressed onwards. He must have been halfway up by now. "It's merely just looking for people. I think you know about that yourself."
"What do you mean?"
"I had to watch your videos before I let my daughter see them. Never watched a full stream, never had the time and it was unpredictable anyway. I would never let her watch you live, what with your profanity."
"Fair enough." Jenna chuckled
"I saw the last few minutes of that stream when you were playing that cartoon videogame, and I saw your interview on YouTube."
"You're going to need to be more specific."
"I think we both know what I mean."

He was near the top now, the pain only growing stronger.
"They had to cut a lot of that interview." She sighed
"So I came to two conclusions. Either you were a very good actress, or you were genuine." He took a deep breath, steadying himself. Four more steps awaited Fisher.
"Which do you think it is?"

He reached the top and looked back at her, smiling. She was half-way down the stairs, just looking up at him.
"I thought you'd be right behind me the whole time?"
"You didn't need me." She shrugged
"Our work still isn't done."
"Nope. We need to figure out how to get you down the stairs. You can't just live up there."
"I mean, I could try it." He smiled back at her

She tutted "Right, rest up. We'll go again in a few."

****​

The next few days had dragged in, but Ralph was insistent and Jenna just put up with his nonsense. Each day he made it a little bit further with his cane, with the eyes of the purple haired streamer watching his back, ready to catch him with her good arm if he fell. He stumbled, but the fall she was afraid of, one that would have wrecked her already damaged arm never came.
Cammy, in all of her canine wisdom tried to help and so the closest Ralph came to actually falling was nearly tripping over the dog but he managed to use the cane to steady himself. Cammy, of course was none the wiser and just wondered why Jenna put her outside for a few minutes after that.

A glass of wine and a glass of water decorated the table, as well as two plates of eggs with bits of leftover animal. The wine had been a lucky find, something Jenna was keeping in her rental for when she reached California. That felt like a lifetime or two ago to the girl but for one night, she wasn't thinking about that.
Instead she sat across from Ralph, smiling and laughing.

"You punched him in the face?"
"Yeah." Jenna chuckled
"I mean, I've never liked violence but that guy sure sounds like a...D-word."
"Yup." She leaned forwards, pouring herself another glass "So, that's how I started my job. What about you?"
"Well, I suppose I always wanted to do something scientific. It wasn't until I found a book on past plagues that I guess I was drawn towards the CDC."
"And since then you always wanted to be some kind of disease-battling superhero?"
"Hmm. Take out the superhero part and I suppose you're accurate enough." He smiled
"What's wrong with superheroes?"
"Not scientifically accurate enough for me I suppose. If Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider he wouldn't get powers, he would die...And don't even get me started on the Hulk." He scoffed

"What about Batman?"
"With the strain that sort of lifestyle would put on the human body, he could keep it up for two years before something gave out."
"So you're saying Batman could exist?" She leaned over the table with a grin
"Perhaps not with the arsenal of gadgets he has, but yes. For two years."
"Yeah, Bat-Shark repellent is kind of silly."
"Well..."

Her jaw dropped "Are you serious?"
"A repellent that used dead shark tissue was tested in the Bahamas. Drove them away."
She raised an eyebrow "You're kidding."
"No. It could prove vital to conservation. I spoke with a colleague of mine about a few years ago."

Jenna leaned back in her chair, taking another sip of the wine while she crossed one leg over the other "Huh."
"I thought you'd know about that."
"I was a veterinarian, not a marine biologist. I never cared for fish that much. Especially stingrays."
"Well, there are no stingrays in Aurora. I'd say ocean life is the least of our worries."
"My dad took me fishing once. I threw it back."

She glanced across the table at Ralph once more.
"What about your dad?"
"He was a good man. The first of my family to be born in America. He had this...Fire in him."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Her eyes narrowed, sympathy reflected in her irises
"He had a good life, and died in his sleep. No need to be sorry." He gave her a light smile "He was okay with what I did with my life, so long as I wasn't working myself to death or hurting others. And, that I was happy with my choices." He looked across into the forest, looking up slightly to glance as the cosmos "A Jew and and Roman Catholic getting married? Not everyone would approve of that, but my family accepted it with open arms. Even my great-grandfather, who was a Rabbi
"Sounds a bit like my dad. Minus the religion."

"Parenting is both a privilege and a duty." He lightly sighed, but a smile was still across the man's face. It faded as he sharply turned to face Jenna "That is, if the person wants a child. I didn't mean people have to have children."
"I know, Ralph." Jenna nodded
"Well, what about you?"
"How do you mean?"
"Have you ever thought about having children of your own? I'm sure you'd be a great mom. You've been babysitting me for a few days anyway."

Jenna paused for a moment, and let out a long and heavy sigh.
"I can't."
"I know." He slowly nodded "That must have been a difficult choice. I wish people didn't have to make it." He wouldn't admit it to Jenna, for the thought itself made Fisher feel guilty but he was grateful that he didn't have to experience it. He was aware that the circumstances of his birth led to some advantages, especially given how hard his family had fought to even get to America. He was grateful for it too, for if things had been different there was a high probability he would never have been born at all.

"Adoption is on the table..." Once more, he offered a smile to comfort her
"Not for someone like me." Jenna scoffed "Even if I retired or lessened the career so I could have a kid in my life it's just not an option. This..." She raised her hands, hovering them above her body "Works against me. Maybe I could still adopt, even as a single parent but I also punched a guy in the face and it went viral. There is no way they'd hand a human child over to me."

She stood up from the table, picking up the plates and glasses.
"Maybe there is. I don't think you should give up just yet, especially if it's something you want."
"Ralph, just drop it. Okay. That ship sailed a long time ago. I made a choice, to feel comfortable in my own skin and not hate myself and this was a price I had to be pay for it. I knew that going in, and I've accepted it."

She rested a hand on his shoulder "I appreciate what you're trying to do, Ralph. I really do. But I'm good."
He didn't say anything in response, just giving her a slight nod of his head.
"What was your dad's name?" She asked, stopping at the door
"Jonas." He nodded. Seeing that she had the back door open for him he lightly shook his head "I might sit out here for a while and watch the stars. You head back in."

Fisher waited until Jenna was out of sight and pulled himself to his feet using the cane. Taking a few steps out onto the ever thinning sheet of snow he made his way over to the two graves that had been dug for their own. Standing at the foot of Ray's grave he let out a deep sigh, his head bowed in respect.
"God, filled with mercy, dwelling in the Heavens' heights..."

 

[Maj]

​

September 4th, 2017
Moe's Don't Tell Motel
10:34 PM


"Oh come on, where is it?" The flickering Amber street lights that kept the Moe's parking lot did very little to help Leliana find the first aid kit she kept in her car. No flashlight or enough pepper spray to make her feel safe enough to go ask the men she knew were watching for a light. A frustrated sigh left the 18 year olds lips as she straightened up, brushing shoulder length hair out of her face. Moe's didn't have a first aid kit, not one that she trusted enough to use anyway, but Leliana was about .3 seconds away from giving up. She normally didn't work this late, but they were understaffed this week. She was getting overtime, and with her mom getting worse, she needed it. With a sigh, Leliana bent back down to check underneath the seats and bingo! Her hand closed around the handle of the plastic first aid kit. Since she had already been out there for a few minutes, and the being out there by herself was less than ideal, Leliana hurried back inside after making sure her car was locked.

The lobby was empty, well, mostly. Some guy was passed out on one of the couches instead of making it back to his room. If he even had a room. Leliana decided not to worry about it for right now, and made her way to the break room. Slowly, she pushed the door open, poking her head in first before entering fully. "I found it! Sorry it took a while, it was not where I left it." Leliana explained, kicking the door shut behind her as she approached the metal table. "You know Bethany, you could talk to Michelle, that guy wouldn't be allowed back here. You wouldn't have to deal with him anymore."

Beth shifted uncomfortably on the dirty and tackily upholstered chair. The longer she had sat the more apparent the bruising had become under her left eye. Once a sort of deep yellow, the blues hues were coming to the surface. Blood had started to dry in the corner of her mouth, the swollen and busted lip had mostly closed up. Her blonde hair was a mess, falling around her waist in ratty tangles from being pulled. She held her side, the soreness near her ribs made her wonder how bad he had gotten her this time. With tired eyes, Beth greeted her friend with a smile.

“I could, but he pays well,” Beth offered, wincing. Although she wouldn't be able to work now for a few days by the state of her face, so she was beginning to wonder if it was worth it after all. She was charging double next time. “I’ve almost got enough saved up to leave that shit hole of a trailer I’ve been staying in.” Once upon a time she had lived here, but the disgusting state of these rooms made even her trailer-trash hovel look like the Four Seasons.

“I appreciate the help, really.” Leliana had always been there for her. It didn’t matter what kind of sad state she showed up in, the girl always greeted her with a smile. There was never any judgement in those crystal blue eyes, or a change in her bubble gum demeanor. Occasionally, like now, there was worry on her face but Leli had always accepted her for who she was. There was never a need to be anything different. She was unconditional.

"Extra money isn't worth risking your safety Beth. Besides, you're way to pretty for him, despite what he pays you," Leliana said, looking between her friend and the first aid kit. Leliana worried about Bethany, a lot. Women in her line of work were always in danger, and they never really seemed to get the justice they deserved at the end of the day. She knew often it was a job of circumstance, just a way to make ends meet until something better came along. And she also knew some women enjoyed it. Honestly Beth seemed like both, varying each time Leliana saw her, but it didn't keep her from worrying. From the first aid kit, the girl pulled out one of those thermal packs, a blue one, and cracked it. Waiting a moment, she handed it to Beth after it started cooling. "Hold it to your eye, take it off every few minutes so your skin doesn't get to cold," Leliana said, placing the thermal pack in Beth's hand.

"You know Mama's offer is still on the table, she loves you. If you wanted to come stay with us for a little while you could." They didn't have much room, but Bethany could use Leliana's room upstairs. It's not like she used it anyway, the couch was her bed now. And Diana did really love Beth, whenever she came to visit, Leliana's mom was up and out of bed. It was hard for her, Leliana knew that, but Diana wanted Beth to know that she had more than just Leliana looking out for her. "It would be fun." The next thing Leliana grabbed a small packet, which she opened, and poured a little rubbing alcohol on. Slowly, she reached out and turned Beth's head to the side in order to clean her lip. "And you never have to thank me for doing this. Friends look out for each other, no matter what."

Leliana was one of the hardest workers she knew, one of the few that worked as hard as she did. The girl knew the trials of working a terrible job to keep your head above water. She would never put her in a situation where she had to work even harder. Diana was a wonderful woman, warm and inviting and Leli did everything she could for her. Beth’s presence in their home, while welcome, would only be a financial strain on a family that already struggled and she could never do that.

“They do,” Beth said wistfully, pushing the strands of blonde hair out of Leli’s eyes while she worked. The truth was, it hadn’t been about the money although every penny helped. She had heard Bert talking to his business partner about “taking the cute blonde housekeeper for a spin,” and couldn’t help but interfere. Bert had been a regular of hers once, the kind that got more of a thrill from hurting women than sleeping with them. And while Beth knew that her friend could handle herself, she also knew that if Leliana had refused him things would have gotten ugly. Beth threw herself in the line of fire as a distraction, and much to her relief it had worked.

“I might come over for dinner this weekend,” Beth added in response to the girls offer. She did love the time she spent at the James household. “I can’t work till my face is pretty again and I have no boyfriend to attend to now.” She sounded almost relieved about it.

Leliana's hand was gentle as she wiped away dried blood and cleaned Beth's lip, not wanting to hurt her. "You and mystery boyfriend broke up? Oh no, what a shame. I would offer advice on how to get revenge but you've told me nothing about him. So I'm convinced he turned out to be a souless minion for the armies of the undead and you had no choice but to foil an evil plan hundreds of years in the making," Leliana giggled. Bethany not telling her about a boyfriend wasn't to weird, but she was almost secretive about this guy. Which meant Leliana was probably better off not getting involved with him. Wrong crowd or Beth was worried Leliana would end up getting hurt. She didn't take it to personally, Beth didn't know everything about her. Like why she couldn't sleep in her own room, or just how bad her mom's cancer was. It was just to keep Beth from worrying about her, as much as she could at least.

Beth let out a chuckle. She hadn’t told Leliana about Owen because honestly, she had never really planned to date him in the first place. He had been there for her on a few occasions, chased away the odd rough houser and then they hooked up. Suddenly he was calling her all the time, trying to take her out to dinner, inviting her to meet his mom. It was easy to get swept up in while it was happening, but every time she slowed down it was easy to see it for what it was. Beth couldn’t give him what he really wanted. No amount of manipulative pillow talk was going to change that.

“He wanted me to tell him that I love him. I think at one point I wanted to, but you can’t force these things. The heart wants what the heart wants. I tried, but I couldn’t make myself love him back.” The woman smiled as she looked down at Leliana as continued her work patching the escort up. There was something about her kind face that made Beth feel safe, something in the way the corners of her mouth turned when she spoke.

"Well, if you do come over, you'll have a say in what we make. Just, don't side with Mama, her choice is always meat loaf, and it never turns out well," Leliana chuckled, pulling away the piece of guaze to check on the process, before gently dabbing at the wound again. "I'm surprised Michelle didn't chase him out. Last guy that caused problems is still scared of the coffee machine thanks to her."

Collab: FireMaiden
Mention: Brax (La Cosa Nostra)