Realistic or Modern Patient Zero (A Zombie Survival RP)

[The Mad Queen]

Fisher had stood silently, taking in every word Luca delivered while resting on the cane. He wanted to raise the idea of leaving, but he saw the condition people were in. Cletus caught his eye, seeing the burns while his thoughts also turned to Owen. The lodgers were in no condition to make such a trip, and wouldn't be for a while.
But he didn't hold his tongue completely. Clearing his throat, he took one step forwards.
"Food, medicine and something to fight off the cold comes first, but I believe we..." He shook his head. There was no way he would be going on a run anytime soon "You should also be on the lookout for something else. You won't find it just lying around but I could make a list of laboratory equipment. We need to understand this thing. Maybe we could even find a weakness. So far we've just been putting bullets in their brains but what if there was another way of kill..." He stopped himself once more.
Killing was a strange word to use. These things were't human or even animals, not in Ralph's brown eyes.
"Disposing of them." That word would have to do for now "It's worth noting, but it shouldn't be a priority, by any means. No point in bringing back a microscope if we're all too hungry or cold to even run tests."

With her back against the fridge and her arms folded Jenna listened in. Luca continued to surprise her. Was the Italian offering her a day off? For what?! Most of the food she'd recovered was gone, stolen by a bitch she kicked herself for feeling sorry for. Sure, there was the large rucksack full of meds and baby stuff but overall the mission had been a failure.
"Alright. I guess I'll say my piece too." She shrugged "We ran into some trouble on the supply run because gunfire drew the dead in." That was one way of putting it. Nile's lack of brain cells had caused a chain of events that had nearly gotten everyone killed, but throwing him under the bus in front of Luca was low, even for her. If she wasn't going to throw Ivan under the bus for abandoning her and Cletus, then she wasn't going to screw the junkie over either. "I know a few of you are professionals but for the rest of us it's the first time we've handled real guns. So simply telling people not to be gun nuts and unload a whole clip at the first sign of trouble is...Well, it wouldn't do jack shit. All the teaching in the world goes out the window if you get spooked. Professional or baby level."

Get to the point, lady. "Spears." She shrugged "We have to make spears, and train with them. They're quiet, give good distance so you don't get grabbed and are easy enough to make. I mean, I set up some pikes outside and I'm an idiot, so...It's not hard." She lightly chuckled "It would do till we could find better melee weapons in town I suppose. Sporting goods or hardware shop should have a few bits and bobs we could use."

With her piece delivered, Jenna leaned back against the fridge.

Mentioned: Maj (Owen), Hyped_Taco (Cletus), Togy (Nile), King Vioogra (Ivan)
Interactions: Brax (Luca)

 

[shadowz1995]

Hector was certain that whatever was being discussed downstairs could either be relayed to him if it was important enough or ignored entirely if it wasn't. One way or another, he was certain that someone would let him know. Right now, he had more pressing matters on his hands.


Dr. Salazar had spent the better part of the morning preparing for his little auto-surgical procedure and was currently staring at a vial of anesthetic that he had. It was half empty now thanks to the surgeries he had to perform to extract the bullets out of the wounded. Ralph, Owen, Tre, and Michael.


It would certainly make the process somewhat easier but the last thing Hector need was for his hands to not function with the grace and precision he was known throughout the medical world for. A deep frown beset his features as he stared at the vial, weighing his options but knowing which he would ultimately end up choosing.


“You don’t have to do another surgery on me do you doc?” Owen asked tentatively. He had been watching the doctor lay out the surgical supplies in silence. The redhead knew little about medical procedures but all the sharp instruments made him nervous. He was propped up against his headboard, stretched out on his bed with his legs on top of the covers.


"Not you." He replied quietly. The older man let out a long sigh before gently placing the anesthesia back into his bag of medical supplies and pulling the chair in the room close to the bed. All of the equipment was on the nightstand next to the two gentlemen.


After a moment, Hector reached up and started to undo the bandages around his head.


"Me." He added as the wrappings came undone. The redhead boy grimaced in response. It had been apparent that Hector needed medical attention of his own for quite some time. Since the doctor had been kind enough to focus his attention on keeping Owen’s treatment, the boy had refrained from lecturing him.


“Shouldn’t you get some help with that?” He asked Hector. “Surely Leli or someone would be willing to give you a hand.”


"The nurse has her hands full with one of the residential morons. Not to mention, she wouldn't know how to properly treat a wound like this. It would be guesswork at best and I don't blame her. It's not common knowledge."


The wrappings Andy had just put on the other day were once again a deep crimson color and getting darker every time he changed them. "The flesh is becoming necrotic and I've only been able to stave off a full infection by applying hydrogen peroxide every opportunity I had."


With the wrappings undone, the smell was gag-inducing even to doctor. Obvious by a slight wrinkle his nose made and grunt of disgust. "I'm burning through more supplies than anyone else now and it's getting to the point that I would be better off dying than continuing this drain on the medicine." There was no tone of contempt or determination as one would expect with a statement like that. The doctor's face remained largely unchanged. His tone suggested that it was just a matter of fact. As if he had already run the numbers and come to the obvious conclusion.


"So, I'll need you to do me a favor, Mr. Jordan." Hector then stood and stripped off his shirt, laying it gently on the back of the chair before grabbing two of the instruments from the tray. No need to get his clothes dirty with infected blood.


Owen was pretty sure that his life and the others that were owed to Hector were enough payment for any excess use of medical supplies, but he didnt feel like arguing. Instead, he sat up groaning, swinging his legs off the side of the bed. His face did look awful, it was far past time for the man to look over himself.


"Anything you need." Owen owed the man his life twice over after all. Whatever gross thing he had to do to help Hector be well was the absolute least he could do.


"You won't have to get up or move much." He reached into the nightstand's cupboard and pulled out a hand mirror that was there. The hispanic handed it to the large lad and gave him a frown that drove home how serious he was, "Just hold the mirror steady. I can handle the rest."


No one else could.


…………



Meanwhile Andy was downstairs finishing up Luca's "meeting." It had been a nice speech, maybe one of the most sentimental things she had ever heard out of Italians mouth and it had been good for morale. His free day was a nice offer, but Andy still had work to do. Her free days had been spent healing in bed, now she was finally ready to take some action.


Hector hadn't been at the meeting, which meant he was likely tending to her brother. She rose from her spot seat near the fireplace and made a b-line for the stairs. With coffee cup still firmly in hand she climbed them, only to be greeted with her brothers voice from the hallway.


"Are you sure that you shouldn't be getting help with that." His voice sounded strained. Andy made her way into the bedroom, ready to inquire what medical emergency her brother had gotten himself into now.


"Hector I-" Andy stopped dead in her tracks as she swung open the door. The smell of rotting flesh invading her nostrils. As her eyes settled on the doctor a gag took over, doubling over her thin frame, and forcing her to slosh boiling coffee over her hand. It wasn't her brother getting operated on today.


Hector was as pale as the day he had been shot and unlike that day, his hands were shaking something fierce. Though it wasn't fear that cause the man's hands to shake but pain. Unfiltered, agonizing pain of what he was doing. He tried as much as he could be he just couldn't get the necrotic mess that was once an eyeball out of his ocular cavity. So, Hector was forced to digging the tissue out piece by piece until he could scoop out the remains.


Normally, it would have been a somewhat simple procedure but Hector was under no painkillers and no anesthetic. It was hard enough to just keep the eyelids open using the retractor.


The large man consented to Owen's words and let the bloodied instruments fall onto the metal tray. His breaths were coming out harsh but he had taken care to make sure they were deep and oxygen rich. Last thing he needed was to be losing consciousness from hyperventilation.


"Welcome, Ms. Jordan. I'm taking a break right now, so you came at the perfect time. What do you need?" He asked as he took some clean gauze and started wiping his trembling hands free of the black, sticky fluids that were oozing from his eye.

 

[Maj]

​

"I need for you to-" another gag interrupted her words "that is too gross to even roast you for." The girl shuddered and put down her coffee cup. Suddenly her stomach was too sour to even think about drinking the beverage.

"I had some ideas to bounce off you, but you obviously have your hands full. I can wait. Do you need help? I could go get someone." Andy was not volunteering herself for such a task, but surely Ralph or Leli would assist him. She had seen the wound only days before but there had been too much blood to really make heads or tails of how bad it was. With a now gaping and oozing hole in his head, Hector was a whole rainbow of horrifying.

"No. No one else is qualified nor able." The older man hissed out before turning to face her. The blackened blood trickled down his cheek and stuck to his beard growth, eventually making its way down his neck and chest. Owen's look of horror throughout the entire ordeal may have been comical if it wasn't for the sheer amount of pain he was biting down.

"But as I said, I'm taking a break. My hands are shaking too much."

The doctor sighed and motioned for the female redhead to go ahead and ask away.

“Uh…” Andy blinked several times as she attempted to regain her focus and remember why she had come to find him in the first place. She regained her composure quickly, looking away from his face and instead looking at her brother’s, amused at the twisted and disgusted visage. If Hector was sure that now was an appropriate time to talk, she wasn’t going to waste her time arguing with him.

“My blood.” She said finally. “That’s why the soldiers were after me, at least one thought to tell me as much as he was trying to drag me toward the treeline. I assume that is why they were after Luca as well. I’m not sure why exactly, but I have a few theories. They got some samples of my blood at the middle school the day of the outbreak, whatever they found there was valuable enough they were willing to send twenty plus trained soldiers after us to get it.” Andy paused, you could almost see the gears turning in her head as she processed the information, breaking each fact down to its most basic form.

“Other than the fact you do a decent job at keeping us from dying, I don’t know much about you or your background. However,” she was pensive, head cocked to the side with her arms crossed over her torso as she spoke. “If there was something valuable with my blood, could you do something with it?”

Hector's eye flashed with recognition and he gave Owen a knowing look before turning back to Andy to speak. "Actually, that was the reason I even came to the lodge in the first place. I went to that hospital trying to track down Patient Zero and ended up running into your brother and saving him. He told me you were in the hospital the day of the outbreak and I said the way he could thank me, was by letting me get a few samples of your blood for study."

He glanced towards the boy once before returning his gaze to her. "He told me I could try asking but made no promises. As for my background, I am primarily a medical scientist and researcher. My skill as a doctor and surgeon are more of a formality to my former mentor than something I genuinely enjoyed doing. I'm sure you can tell I am not much of a people person."

The older gentleman looked down at his hands. The trembling had stopped and his breathing had slowed during the brief exchange of words. "So, once I had the lab operational, I was planning on asking to run some tests and seeing what we could find. I already have some theories about this virus but given enough time and testing. I'm fairly certain I can at least create some kind of vaccine. Maybe not a cure…. But something to prevent one from turning. That way a single bite or scratch may not be a death sentence."

“What would you need to start this process?” Andy asked. This was the most important thing she could think of. If by fighting off the soldiers she had prevented a cure from being crafted, she would never forgive herself. It seemed Hector was a much better alternative than being handed over to the military.

"A lab. I need the equipment for the lab. Once I have that, it's just a matter of testing and time. So, assuming no one else gets hurt badly and needs my expertise, I can fully focus on study and research on the virus."

The doctor then locked his gaze with the girl's, "Even if my research amounts to nothing, it could be used as a bargaining chip should the soldiers come again. We can say that I made some kind of breakthrough and have more than enough samples of your blood and data compiled. Their target may switch."

"Then getting you what you need is now our biggest priority. Well…" Andy paused gesturing to his face "Once you get that taken care of at least. We can leave tomorrow."

"Are you sure it's a good idea for you to be going out Andy?" Owen asked, placing the mirror in his lap. "You are only barely off bedrest yourself."

"Well, I'm taking the doctor with me since he knows what he needs. If I pop a seam I'm sure he can patch me up. Plus he's half blind and old, someone is going to have to help him find his way around the university, and no one knows it better than me. I'll be fine." She assured him.

"And with all this gunfire, I'm certainly not getting younger." He added with a touch of disdain. He hadn't been able to exercise in a while and it was making him feel wasteful.

Owen didn't break eye contact with his sister as his emerald eyes examined her thoughtfully. He didn't like the idea of her going on a run, and he liked the idea of her being out in town with soldiers after her even less. However, as usual, his sister had thought this through. Finally he sighed.

"Take Luca with you," he commanded. Andy raised a quizzical eyebrow. Ultimately it didn't matter how Owen felt about the mobster, he was the only other person here that the twin was confident would go out of his way to keep Andy alive. He could tell his sister had questions, but instead she merely nodded.

"That was the plan. What do you say doc?" The woman asked, turning her attention to Hector. "Is that gaping hole of eye sludge going to be safe to travel with by tomorrow?"

"No. But we are out of options. Let's just hope I can clean this out before tomorrow."

The doctor nodded for Owen to lift the mirror once more and presented the bloodied tools to his ruined eye once more before pausing for a moment. He returned his gaze towards Andy and asked, "Actually, would you happen to have a teaspoon you aren't using? Once I extract enough tissue, I'll be able to scoop it all out in one go. Sever the optical nerve if I must."

"Uh, I guess you can have this one," Andy said gesturing to the spoon sticking out of her coffee mug. "Or if you want a clean one I can go grab it from downstairs. Just promise it won't end up back in my utensil drawer."

"Ms. Jordan, do I come off as an utter moron to you? Of course, it won't end up back in the utensil drawer. But yes, I would like a clean one."

Andy shrugged in response and made her way out of the room to retrieve the man's eye scooper.

Collab: shadowz1995
Mentions: FireMaiden Brax

 

[Brax]

Some of the adults in the kitchen had not yet left. Luca continued standing around, waiting to see if anyone had input which had come in the form of a few tenants. Tre, in the meanwhile, removed a plastic flask from his bag and walked up to the kitchen sink in order to fill its contents with tap water. There were plenty of other drinks the boy would have preferred; chocolate milk, or coke immediately came to mind. Hell, he’d even settle for the red kool-aid if it meant avoiding the metallic taste of the water he had been forced to drink off of. Well water wasn’t much better but at least it didn’t have such a shitty aftertaste. Even though Luca had given the day to do whatever they wanted, it didn’t mean jack shit. Tre normally slept during the day, which was the opposite of doing anything. His sleep schedule since getting shot up had been jacked to high hell.

Tre walked out of the kitchen. Upon making his way into the living room, he took a seat on the couch he had come to know as his bed. The only light provided for both himself and Milly were from the open windows; as candles were to be preserved for when they didn’t have the light of the sun to use. The boy placed the water down on the table, before unzipping the top of his bag once more. He removed a comic book from its contents prior to tossing the knapsack beside him. It was an excerpt from a much larger series. The graphic novel itself was far too large to carry around with ease.

His eyes moved from the front cover of the book to the television at the far end of the room. On the middle shelf of the stand were a few things that Tre didn’t recognize; a VHS/DVD combination player was one of them. However, next to it, was an older video game system. Something that Tre had never played himself but had known about thanks to the internet. It had been over a year since the boy had last played any games. They were something he often used with success as a child to pass the time.

Skinny, long digits flipped open the cover of his graphic novel as Tre kicked his feet up onto the table. The first full-page of the comic was the start of the series. It showed a masked man in a trench-coat walking down the sidewalk of a city stuck in a perpetual evening. He had both hands in his pockets, staring down at the ground as an excerpt of dialogue hung over his head. It explained how people who used to live in the city had backbone. They would fight for things they believed in, regardless of the cost and without fear. It also displayed how times had changed. How people in the present often fit in to social norms much like sheep, but even then, they still deserved to live unhindered.

As the boy began to get re-invested in the comic he was reading, the power to the lodge turned back on. Someone must have been working on it. As the living room’s lamp flickered back on, Tre’s eyes were naturally drawn to the bulb’s light. He stared at it for a moment before coming to the conclusion that the power was back. Tre turned to look over at the television in excitement, floaties hampering his vision as he quickly scuffled from his spot on the couch. He made his way over to the television, nonchalantly tossing the comic book over toward Milly’s feet as he pressed the power button to that abnormally large, fat-backed television. This thing must have been older than he was, but it did turn on.

He flipped on the power to the console. Nothing on the television was happening. He flipped through the channels to get back to the input with the use of the buttons. Still, the result was the same. Scratching his head, Tre looked back down at the console. There was no light indicating that power was being transmitted to the system. Upon further inspection and moving the console a bit, the boy found that the power cord had not been plugged in - it was hanging around a few other cords despite being plugged into the wall. Once he plugged it in, the console had power. Then an eight-bit image scurried across the screen before the console’s logo hit. With the use of the controller, Tre started the game. Slowly, his wide smile had faded down into a frown. The more he played, the more Tre realized that he was playing a steaming pile of shit. Then, after a moment of processing, he realized someone paid money for this.

​

“What the fuck...?” The boy spoke in a hushed tone as he stared at the screen in horror.

 

[Maj]

​

Luca had turned his head to look at Ralph first and then Jenna as she spoke. In the case of the man, he was correct. Though it had been unspoken, Luca had noticed where the reanimated took the most damage. He surmised that others, such as Warren, Colt and Andy, had probably figured it out by now. In the case that they hadn’t, however, it was important to highlight the feature for those who weren’t as perceptive. Hell, there were still people in the lodge that hadn’t had their chance at a zombie yet. The man nodded in Ralph’s direction, parting his lips to speak as the kitchen lights flickered on.

“It’s the brain. The reanimated can’t take too much trauma to the head, otherwise they are killed. Much like regular humans. Spears in this case would work - in fact, anything blunt or particularly sharp will do the trick so long as the head is targeted.” His eyes turned from the man over to Jenna. He was never one who enjoyed the company of snitches. Part of him was curious to hear if Jenna would give up the names of the people responsible, but he abandoned this goal almost as soon as he remembered Colt was on the run. She knew who was to blame and it was her job to take care of them properly. However, Luca wouldn’t stop without saying something in response.

“Some of the people in this lodge are as dumb as the wood it’s made out of. It’s amazing just how many of you don’t think about how shit affects other people. If we don’t let them out on supply runs, this won’t be an issue in the future. Tell Colt you’ve got an issue. She must know who you’re referring to. I honestly don’t give a shit about it, I never put my faith in others to have my back. I’d rather be dead, in fact. Figure it out for your own future engagements and safety.” With that, the man collected himself and stretched his neck to each side casually before walking out of the kitchen. He made his way back into his bedroom, removing a pack of cigarettes from the dwindling pile in his nightstand drawer. This ultimately led to Luca walking back into the kitchen to get to the backyard.

The wind whipped wildly as a jacketed Luca crouched at the foot of Ray’s grave. His eyes were fixated on the waving flag. It was dirty, beaten to shit; a shell of what it formerly was. He maintained the same position, his arms both resting on his knees. One hand had still been nursing that horribly bad cup of coffee Andy had given him.

​

With the spoon given to Hector, Andy made a hasty retreat from the upstairs so she didn’t have to watch the doctor dig his own decaying eyeball from his skull. What little she had seen of the operation was enough. Plus, she still had business to attend to. Once the arrangements for the next morning were finalized she had hopped to get a little hunting in, and maybe a crash course in gun safety from Colt. It wasn’t Andy’s way to go out into the field ill prepared.

They were running low on supplies other than the lab equipment that they would need to acquire from the hospital. While that was a priority to Andy, the low food and morale around the lodge was also pressing. Colt had done a decent job of racking in some game while she was out and Jenna’s chickens seemed to be giving plentiful resources in the form of eggs. However, it wouldn’t do them much good if they didn’t secure a source for vegetables. Her idea of building a greenhouse was on hold due to the truck of glass panes being stolen, but maybe the university food court would have some canned goods worth stealing.

She had a variety of things she wanted to run by Luca, including him accompanying her and Hector on their trip. Honestly, she didn’t want the group to be much bigger. The smaller their group was, the more nimble they would be. Andy was surprised to find her bedroom empty, as it was his normal hiding spot, but it didn’t take her long to locate him. After-all, he had been the one that suggested visiting the shrine in the first place.

The army green coat was pulled tightly around, scarf covering her face as she exited the dilapidated remains of her back porch. It seemed to grow colder day by day, and with the generator just now starting to function once more, the lodge did little to stave off the chill in her bones. Andy approached him from behind, making sure to walk loudly enough to make her presence known. Her boots crunched against the frost covered grass to ensure she didn’t startle him.
“Are you up for a run tomorrow?” She didn’t mince words, there was little need to.

“No. What do you need me for?” Luca asked, letting out a small groan as he pushed himself back up to his feet. He turned around to face the girl, finishing off the remainder of the coffee in his cup. Andy rolled her eyes in response.

“I didn’t realize you were always so hungry for me to feed your insatiable ego Luca.”

“It’s great that you’re out here flapping your lips, but it doesn’t answer the question.” The corner of Luca’s lips turned upward as his eyes deviated from hers to the pack of cigarettes he had withdrawn from his pocket. He removed one and placed it between his lips, his free hand cupping his ear as he turned his head to the side.

“What was it you were going to say?”

“Hector thinks he can make a vaccine from my blood. Even if he can’t, I think it’s worth exploring. The University should have most of what he needs and will be less of a death sentence than trying to break back into the hospital. Plus, there should be canned goods, medical supplies, things we are dangerously low on after the attack.” She shifted her weight, head cocked to the side as she continued to think out loud. Andy reached up to pull the scarf down as she spoke, the bite of the winter air readening her cheeks and nose as her breath left a fog in the air.

“Hector has proven he is good at taking care of himself and knows what he needs for his lab, I know the layout of the university better than anyone here and you are good at murdering things so I figure the three of us will have a better chance than if we take a large group.”

The last time Luca went on a run with Andy, it was a nightmare. Not that it was particularly her fault or his own, it just happened to be extremely rough. Between wrecking their first van, freezing for six hours in the fetal position, a concussion and the multiple encounters the who had staved off, Luca was not looking forward to the time he would be forced to go on another one. Was Andy correct in this case? Yes, this was usually how things went. However, the Italian wasn’t going to feign his excitement.

​

“Yeah, whatever. As long as he stays out of my way, it’ll be fine.” He looked back down toward the girl as he crossed both arms over his chest. Hector was decent to deal with in doses, but Luca didn’t make it a full-time job to associate himself with the old bastard. The man wasn’t as interested in Andy or Hector’s hypothesis as much as the lodge needed general supplies. Unfortunately, anything won from the last run had been lost because of a girl who was probably too oblivious to be getting dressed by herself every morning. Even as he stood there making excuses for himself, both of them knew the real reason Luca had to go.

“I told Hector we would leave first thing tomorrow.” It was obvious that Andy had expected nothing else of Luca. Her coming to ask was purely a formality as well as informational.

“Fine.” The man responded as his posture loosened up. He turned from the girl and crouched back down, looking once more at Ray’s grave. One thing he had come outside to do was to pay his proper respects and it was something he was going to follow through with.

Andy’s gaze followed Luca down to the flag and she tensed. Even at her own Uncle’s funeral she hadn’t known what to say or do and the girl had known him her whole life. Ray was essentially a stranger, but she had watched him die and heard his last words before the soldiers had left him in a puddle of his own blood. It felt strange to do nothing, but he wasn’t even there beneath the earth.With a hard swallow, she turned on her heels back toward the lodge.

Collab: Brax
Interactions: The Mad Queen
Mentions: TheTreForce shadowz1995

 

[Rumble Fish]

Colt had reached Owen’s door over five minutes ago. Those wasted moments were spent trying to build up the strength to even knock on the door, nevermind talking to the red-haired man. Given his condition, the woman had not even seen Owen since before they had left for that run. As much as she wished she could have seen him, the fear of getting in the way or interfering with his recovery always stopped her. She stood with her arms akimbo, fingers tapping her hips in an anxious tic. Why was this so difficult?

The veteran inhaled deeply, the sickness of worry swimming in her chest as she finally raised a hand and chapped her knuckles a couple of times against the wood. She needed that thermometer, that was all she was in here for. Waiting for the answer, one hand drummed its fingers against the smooth flask in her pocket. At least she had something to keep her nerves steady if things got too awkward.

“Come in,” A queasy voice sounded. Hector had left his room only minutes before, leaving to finish his hack job of an operation in the bathroom. Owen’s nightstand was still littered with blood covered surgical supplies. It would appear that he was choosing Andy’s spoon over any of the items he had left behind. He brightened when he saw Colt in his doorway, she had been one of the few not to come visit during his time in bed.

“Hey soldier,” He greeted, shifting to put down the mirror he was still holding. “Fancy seeing you here.” The disgruntled sounds of Hector fighting with his eye could be heard from the bathroom down the hall.

As Colt entered the room, the first thing she saw was the blood covered medical equipment. Colour drained from her face as she felt her diaphram tighten. There was a flash of white in her eye as the supressed thoughts resurfaced for a brief but lengthy moment. “پسرم را بگیر! لطفا! او را نجات ده!” raced through her thoughts. With a grumble, Colt rubbed a finger against her temple, furiously trying to push it back. With a deep breath, Colt looked to the man. His brighter expression soothed her worries.

“Hey.” She approached him, her first instinct wanting to ask how he was, but that was clear. Instead she tilted her head towards him, her brows furrowed up. “Ya...Um. I’m sorry fur not comin’ t’see ya.” A hand-rubbed her other arm worryingly. There were reasons, but she did not want to bombard him with them. She could hear Hector down the hall, but kept her gaze on Owen.

“I’m sure you were busy,” Owen offered. “We were down a lot of manpower for a while.” He had thought it odd that Colt hadn’t stopped in to check on him. In fact, he had just assumed she had done so while he had been unconscious. However, it was nothing to hold against her. With all the gunfire and soldiers, he was sure that the woman had her own demons to fight with. The redhead had more than his fair share of caretakers while he was healing.

“How is everything downstairs?” The poor man hadn’t tried to brave the staircase yet, mostly because he didn’t want to hear anyone bitch at him, and two because other than Hector he wasn’t sure who was strong enough to catch him if he fell.

“I know but, still, I feel bad, y’know?” she huffed deeply. As he asked how everything was downstairs, the woman was reminded of what she was here for. Spotting the device, she picked it up before turning back to Owen. She had already decided to stay and talk before she even went up the stairs. The woman rolled her shoulders and leaned against the wall.

“We’re okay. Well, sorta. Milly’s no’ well but it don’t look like somethin’ serious. Luca gave us a “free day” as he put it.” Bloodshot eyes rolled, “How generous. Ain't like I don't have work to do.” The woman grumbled before turning her gaze back towards the man. Her head was pounding and it hurt to even look, but she knew better than to start bellyaching about this to someone who, only a short month ago was practically on his deathbed.

“How y’feelin?” She asked finally, her tone quiet and the softest she could manage. Given the woman’s guttural drawl that was easier said than done. Glancing down, she unscrewed her flask, now cursing herself for asking a stupid question. She already knew the answer but she couldn't just tell him not to talk.

“A little better every day. I’ll be happy to be out and about again. I think I have forgotten what fresh air even smells like.” The man smirked, letting the corners of his mouth tug upward into a small smile. He ruffled his hair in an almost self-conscious way. It hadn’t been his intention to worry everyone, but he supposed it was worth it since he had gotten Milly and Beth back safely.

“How are you feeling?” It was a statement that could mean a million things. She had been shot for one, and he was sure that the battle had an impact on her as well. No one could say that got away unscathed. Owen guestered to the empty spot next to him on the bed, offering her a seat.

“I could open the window if ya want.” The woman responded, still awkwardly. Her stance had relaxed considerably since he admitted to feeling better. While she hadn't been able to admit it, the thought of Owen being better was a big relief. It seemed the Jordan twins were the only ones to really get through to the veteran, even though Andy could only seem to do so when inebriated; but Colt was in the same boat so couldn't judge.

However, his next question earned him a troubled expression from the woman. She only responded to his invitation to sit. Despite her leg had now healed from its trauma, standing for long periods was still an ache. The woman grunted as the bed creaked under the added weight before looking to Owen, flask cupped in both hands as she stared at the covers.

“I, well, honestly?” She glanced at the man for a moment, unsure if she should keep going. “Not good. Just tryin’ t’keep going more than anythin’. Found a new hunting territory yesterday for us. That’s somethin’ right? Once yer up and about we should go. Catch up ‘n all.” She spared the grisly details of how she obtained such land, there was enough blood in this room as it was. The medical equipment was still giving her shudders. Colt paused to take a drink from her flask, honestly flummoxed. Why was she telling Owen of all people these things? He almost died. What could be worse than that? Being on the brink of death was something Colt understood; more than she wished she had.

“Definitely,” Owen agreed. Although it was likely that she would have better luck taking Andy than himself. His uncle said that his heavy footing scared away all the deer. However, the redhead assumed that it was more of a walk through the woods and talk sort of trip that Colt had in mind.

“When Hector gives me the all clear you can take me on my maiden voyage. When I’m good enough to travel I need to go out though. I promised Aubrey I would go with you guys to look for her sister.”

“Yeah, I remember her talking to me about it, a lil bit. I was, uh, pretty buzzed when she asked me.” The woman rubbed the back of her neck anxiously, “But I ain't nothin’ if I ain't a woman of mah word. Best if we keep the party small. Last few runs I did ‘ave… well, y’know.” She added, her gaze still pointed ahead and glazed. The woman sighed deeply and looked back to Owen, her brow low. Guilt from not visiting resurfaced.

“I’m just sorry that all happened.” She mumbled, “But ya did good. Both of ya. Without ya, who knows what could’ve ‘appened to those two.” The woman finally faced him completely for the first time. She had heard from Beth what had happened. It was a harrowing thought. Without the twins, they would have more fatalities; one being a child. Scarred skin twitched under her left eye as the woman struggled to keep pushing those memories back. The more they talked, and the longer she was around those bloody instruments, the more persistent they became. Her fingers drummed against her flask

“I only did what was natural to do. I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt Milly or Beth, not if I could help it.” The twin explained. “You fought for us too. It was because of everyone's collaboration that we didn’t end up with more casualties than we did. We have to stick together now. No matter how we feel about each other or how long we’ve known the other, we have to be united. It’s literally us against the world.”

“Heh, Y’got the right spirit for it, I can tell ya that.” Colt chuckled melancholically, fingers continuing to drum as she fought inwardly. “I’m just glad I could’ve done it this time-” the words got out before she could stop herself. Her green eyes diverted away from the man, darting a little before mumbling, “I-I-I meant I’m glad I could’ve helped.” she scrambled together, trying to keep her thoughts together. She took another sip before being able to collect her thoughts.

“Me too,” Owen agreed. He looked down at the thermometer in the woman’s hand. “Go take care of Milly,” He suggested, changing the subject from something Colt obviously didn’t want to talk about. “Tell her I said get well soon and if I could make it down the stairs without falling on my face I would tell her myself.”

Colt looked back to the thermometer with a light sigh. Part of the woman wanted to simply release it all. Cry, scream, throw things, rage against the world for putting both herself and everyone else into this hell-hole. If any of them could leave this place and go back to their own lives, no strings attached, they would. Nobody would stay. But Colt could not project all her pain onto the redhead not after everything that had happened to him.

“Sho. Then again them doctors’n stuff’ll look after her. I’m just a turret.” There was a rise of bitterness in her tone in those last words. Keeping that down was becoming harder and harder with each passing day. “After what happened t’the boy- um, Kypher, they’re worried. Just gotta do what we can. We’re already dwindlin’. Gotta keep strong for em.”

“Keep on doing what you are doing Colt. You are doing fine,” he offered as a send off.

Colt took a moment to turn and face Owen as he spoke again, assuring her of the effectiveness of her role. Eyes glanced back down to the thermometer before she could answer, “I’ll be better when y’are. I’ll come back later; missed our talks.” She gave the man an attempt at a smile before leaving. She owed the redhead man more than he knew. Without him at the hunting shop or her apartment, she and most of this community would not be here. The Lodge needed him, as much as Colt needed him.

Features: Maj
Mentions: Brax shadowz1995

 

[Corgi]

​

Aubrey felt her gut twist as Luca talked about the fight that happened between the Hazzies and the rest of the cabin. She didn’t understand what she was feeling, she just knew it was bad. She felt bad about not helping them and she didn’t know what to do to fix it.

The mention of a day off kicked her out of the negative thinking and into what she’ll do for the day. She had already bothered Owen enough, he needed to rest and so did Colt. Lelianna popped into her head, but she quickly shut the idea down. She’s been so busy since the battle, she didn’t want to inconvenience her with idle chatting.
She then remembered that people often got books from one of the rooms in the cabin. Colt had one when she came in and she saw others reading around the lodge, so she decided that would be the best plan of action. Aubrey hadn’t read in a bit and the thought of escaping this world, even if just for a moment, made her feel at ease.

Wandering around upstairs for several minutes, poking her head into rooms she hadn’t explored yet, she stumbled upon a room with a large bookcase in it. Seeing all the literature made her chest warm as she quickly stepped over and drew the first book that had an interesting cover. Sitting in the chair, she relaxed and opened the strange book. Her eyebrows furrowed as the description of owls being magic casters didn’t settle into her imagination.

Andy had her scarf most of the way unwound from her neck as she entered her bedroom door. It had been her intention to grab her hunting gear, but stopped dead in her doorway. There was a person already making herself at home in the armchair in the corner. Normally, such a sight would be far more concerning, but she had gotten used to the stray person wandering in to pillage her book collection. In a time without wifi, at least books didn’t require internet or a charge cable. Still, this was the first time that someone had decided to get comfortable in her chair.

“Excuse me?” Andy said snidely in way of a greeting. “Can I help you?”

Aubrey jumped at the creak of the door, looking up to lock eyes with Andy. Her surprise faded and she offered a small, sheepish smile, “Hi,” She quietly replied, “I actually could use some help. I can’t find a book that I like. Do you have any recommendations?”
Standing up from the armchair, she walked over to the bookshelf and put back, ‘Owls Well That Ends Well’, the odd fantasy book starring birds that she couldn’t seem to wrap her mind around.

Andy blinked several times at the girl, in disbelief at what she was hearing. Those emerald eyes somersaulted toward the ceiling as she threw her scarf on the bed and crossed her arms. Her hip was cocked, the bulk of her weight shifting to her left side as her face contorted into an aggressive smile.

“Well excuse me princess, I didn’t realize I looked like a god-damn Books-a-Million employee. What are you doing in my room?”

Aubrey looked back over at the woman, her eyes looking over her body language, a bit confused. She looked happy, her body seemed relaxed, but there was a sort of tension coming from Andy she couldn’t recognize, “You don’t look like a Books-a-Million employee at all. I figured since you had so many books you’d have one that you liked. Oh, and I guess I just wanted to find a quiet place.”

Her head then clicked that it was impolite to walk into someone’s room and her cheeks flushed, “I hope you don’t mind too much.”

Andy looked the girl up and down. She recognized her as being named Aubrey, but otherwise knew little about her except that Colt had brought her back during their last run. The girl seemed sweet enough, another bubbly blonde haired girl to add to their tribe, but Andy had little patience for anyone, nice or not.

“There is no such thing as quiet places around the lodge anymore,” Andy offered, uncrossing her arms to take off her coat. She pulled her right arm from the garment and then her left, also tossing it on the bed. “Except maybe the woods now that my bedroom has become a fucking public library.” It was obvious that the girl wasn’t going to leave until she had a book. Andy rolled her eyes once more and sighed.

“What do you like to read?”

“I’ve noticed… It’s quieter here than it was in the other rooms, at least. And when I was younger I used to read a lot of fantasy books or books surrounding history. I had to read ‘The Book Thief’ for school and it quickly became my favorite. I don’t know where a copy of that may end up the way the world is now.” She explained, feeling herself getting carried away before sighing, “I ramble sometimes, sorry.”

After a moment, she cleared her throat before looking over at Andy’s collection, “You have quite a few here, and I know I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I always have an issue finding one that looks nice and seems interesting.”

“If you liked ‘The Book Thief’, try this.” Her tone was very annoyed but she went to the bookshelf to pull out a book out by the spine anyway. Andy handed the girl ‘The Messenger’ by the same author. She paused looking at the books and pulled ‘The Sword of Truth’ down as well. If giving the girl books got her out of her hair, it was worth being compliant. It was blatantly obvious she wasn’t going away on her own. She didn’t seem to get jokes, Andy had seen as much from the limited interaction she had witnessed between Aubrey and her brother. Also it seemed all Andy’s attempts to be rude to her flew right over the girls head.

Aubrey’s eyes widened with excitement at the books she pulled, another small smile finding its way onto her visage, “Thank you,” she muttered, quickly reading the summaries, “these do look interesting.”

Opening up the first book she was handed, her nose quickly became buddies with the pages. Her legs mindlessly made their way to a corner of the room, quietly sitting down, and continued to read. She hadn’t picked up on the vibe that she was unwanted. In fact, Aubrey assumed the woman was interested in what she thought about the books since she recommended them.

Did she just make herself at home? Andy rolled her eyes and threw her arms up exasperated. The girl was dense, but she seemed harmless at least. If she was reading she wasn’t trying to trap Andy in conversation either. The redhead sighed audibly and grabbed her bag from the corner of the room.

“Just put my shit back when you are done I guess,” Andy commanded. “And maybe learn to read in your own room once in a while.” And with that, the girl exited the room.

A half-hearted nod came from Aubrey, who was already engulfed in the world the book described.

Collab: Maj
Mentioned: Rumble Fish (Colt), Brax (Luca), FireMaiden (Leliana), Maj (Owen)

 

[Rumble Fish]

Milly was relieved that Luca did not start shouting, but rather a general talk with the rest of the group. As the man spoke, she cuddled close against Beth and pulled her blanket further around herself while clinging to Snowy with both arms while lying on her side and slightly curled up. The room was cold, though she could not tell if it was that or it was just herself who was cold. Everything seemed to quiet down and, the youngster shut her eyes in an attempt to go to sleep, Snowy’s ear in her mouth as she nibbled it in an attempt at self-comfort. She snuggled closer to Beth for warmth.

She had been in and out of the closet for a few hours of the night so the temptation of slumber was too much for the youngster to ignore. Even if it was a few minutes it would be worth it. After a few moments, her breathing deepened and everything relaxed.

Heavy boots clumped as Colt made her way down the stairs, spotting the two on the sofa. Despite all that was rushing through her head, she simply approached and handed the thermometer to Beth before sitting on the sofa next to them. The woman was sweating bullets and shaking as her hangover had now caused her to take a queasy turn. The woman breathed heavily through her nose.

“Least he was nice enough to not start screamin’.” She said with a shaky tone, afraid to open her maw in case of spewing. At least Milly’s sickness was not her fault.

Beth had nothing to say on the matter. She knew exactly the kind of guy that Luca was capable of being. If he chose to yell or not didn’t change that fact. The blonde gave Colt a warm smile, taking the thermometer from her. Milly was now soundly sleeping against her with all the heat of a small furnace against her side. She didn’t want to wake the child, but knew that ultimately she would sleep better upstairs.

“I’m going to take her upstairs, thanks for fetching this for me.” Beth spoke in her normal sing song voice, even softer as she tried her best not to wake the little one. She shifted, doing her best to make sure she remained comfortable as her arms moved under the girl’s back and legs, detaching them.
Milly was surprisingly light despite her age and Beth had little issue lifting her into her arm bridal style. She braced the child’s head against her chest, wrapping one arm around the small of her back and the other under her knees, letting the girl’s appendages drape limply over her. The digital thermometer was still in her hand as she carefully took the girl upstairs to the bed that she and Leli normally shared.

She found the door still open and with minimal effort swung it the rest of the way with her foot. Careful to keep the girl’s head from hitting the oak frame, she made her way inside and laid her on the unmade bed. Bethany pulled the thick comforter over the girl, lifting it to her chin as she stirred from the motion.

“Hi sweet pea, I need to take your temperature.”

Just as she felt that she had gone to sleep, Milly felt herself being awoken by the gentle rocking motion of being carried. The youngster squeaked, but her breath relaxed upon seeing Beth. The weight of the cover warmed her cold frame and settled her nerves. As she looked up to the woman looming over her, all she could do was a nod in response to her words.

“I'm cold and hot,” she mumbled, eyes closing as she fought the urge to sleep, “That shouldn't be possible.”

Beth chuckled softly, brushing the girl’s hair out of her face. She could feel how warm she was, but with any luck some medicine and rest could fix that. As long as she hadn’t gotten bitten, they would be in good shape. Although Beth felt this was unlikely since there hadn’t been much run in with the monsters. The blonde sat on the side of the bed next to Milly and put the thermometer in her mouth.

“Stay still,” The woman instructed and waited until the device beeped, signaling it was done. Beth took it out and saw that it read 99.9. Beth tutted, but smiled down at the girl. She turned off the beeping thermometer and set it down on the nightstand.

“Alright little one, you absolutely have a fever. I’m going to find you some medicine, you stay here okay? Can I get you anything?”

Milly stayed still and silent as her temperature was checked. The girl gauged by Beth’s expression, as she then smiled it had already assured the girl that it was not too bad even before she had spoken. The youngster just sighed deeply as she spoke about getting medicine. The younger girl blinked a few times before looking away.

“Just water please,” she finally responded. Her nerves were shot. How long was she going to be sick for? Was she going to turn into a Monster? Ralph had said Rogue died from an illness; was this it? Covering her nose with the blanket, the youngster shut her eyes in an attempt to sleep. As soon as it went dark from closed eyes, her headache ceased. All she could do was hope that once she opened them again, she wasn't a Monster. Beth gave the girl a warm smile and a nod, before exiting the room.

Including: Maj
Mentions: Brax

 

[Togy]

Nile Crayman: The One Braincell One Man Fire Brigade
​

Nile ran through the forest to the collom of smoke visible in the distance, panting as his axe and fire extinguisher jiggled on his back. Pulling out a piece of Cloth and frantically tying it arounf his mouth, he jumped over the same stream he'd tripped into and broken his nose on his first day of living out in this forest he'd come to call "Buttfuck nowhere".

Spying the flames of the fire engulfing nearby trees, Nile sped up his pace. Ironically, he passed a random ass sign saying "Only you can stop forest fires", which was currently on fire. "Smokey, no!" Nile yelled, sliding to a halt on the heat hardened dirt. Whipping out the fire extinguisher, he sprayed the sign with a flurry of white foam, putting out most of the fire. Small flames still licked away at at the sign, and Nile regrettably had to leave it. The smoke was seeping through his home made gas mask, making him cough and his eyes water.

"WHO" Nile yelled, jumping over a fallen log lit ablaze. "IN THEIR RIGHT FUCKING MIND" Nile yelled once more, swerving to avoid a burning tree. "SENDS A SINGLE FUCKING DRUGGIE TO PUT OUT A NAPALM FOREST FIRE!?" Nile finished as he held out his axe and slammed it against a tree, his momentum from running making the blade cut deep.

He needed to cut down trees around the fire, make it so that there was a gap between the burning trees and the unlit trees to halt the spread. So with that intention in mind, Nile slammed his axe so hard into one of the trees, he had to plan a foot on it to try and wrench it out. "Why'd they blame me!? That inbred hillbilly fuck was the one who grabbed the wrong keg!" Nile whined to himself as he cut a tree in two, sending it down.

Looking to the fire, he saw a stream a few feet away. Turning around, he saw another stream, a few feet away yards away as well. It must've been the same stream from before, nearly wrapping around the entire fire. Damn was that convenient or what?

The fire was slowly encroaching, the Napalm lying far in the middle thus making the surrounding fire a regular wood fire. The intensity of the flames and the heat was gone, making it seem much more plausible that the fire could be contained.

With his axe in one hand and his fire extinguisher in the other, he began to cleave the trees in two. Despite the fact that he was sweaty, every part of his body ached, he was out of breath, and he genuinely believed his arms were just about to pop right out of his sockets and fall to the ground, he miraculously managed to make a line of cut down trees from one end of the stream to the
other after a half hour of the most excruciatingly painful and uncomfortable task he'd ever performed.

Panting as he leaned on his axe, Nile stared at the slowly spreading fire. He figured he'd just watch the show while he rested up, then head back to the Lo-

​

What sounded like a high pitched wail of a dying and clearly suffering Donkey was heard throughout the forest. It was so loud and shrill that Nile's ears were actually ringing.

"GAH! WHAT THE FU-UUUCCKKKK!" Nile yelled, the "UCK" several octaves higher as he watched a flaming Moose bound out of the firey woods right at him, shrieking it's dying wail all the while. It's fur was on fire, with charred pieces of flesh visible here and there. It was completely black and it's Antlers were charred red. Oh, and it was actually breathing out smoke.

"WHATHEFUCKWHATHEFUCKWHATHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCK" Nile yelled repeatedly, not stopping as he turned tail and ran, with the Moose from hell "Hot" on his heels. Non-stop cussing as he ran at break neck speeds through the forest, he leapt over logs and trees alike as he ran away in pure horror. Forgive him for freaking the hell out, but getting chased by Satan's chosen Moose was the most horrifying thing he's ever experienced.

Ash covered flaming bits fell off the Moose, and Nile sadly realized he'd have to put those out. Oh well, he'd do that after he wasn't under threat of being impaled by the antlers of a flaming Moose.

Mentions: Nile wtf​

 

[The Mad Queen]

Jenna wandered around the lodge, wondering what to do on her day off. She'd already taken the liberty of checking on the chickens, partially because it was worked into her routine but also because, if there was something wrong with the birds she was probably the only one who could've spotted it. With their limited supplies there wasn't a lot she could've done, so she was thankful that the three flightless birds were healthy.

If, or rather when they went on another run she'd have to ask about stopping at a veterinary clinic. Food came first, as always but with their medical supplies for human beings stocked up grabbing a few for the animals at the lodge couldn't hurt. As her mind wandered she popped outside, taking a trip to her rental car and that was when she heard it, yanking her out of the daydream.
The scream of a panicked animal, and a wounded one at that. She stood tall, and made her way towards it. The cries of a idiot also filled her ears but she brushed it off, for the caught a glimpse of a flaming moose. It's fur was being burned off, it's flesh peeling and it's eyes were ablaze with flames.

The large buck was straight on a collision course for a tree as it flayed around in a panic. Smacking it's head against it, it shook it violently and continued to howl in agony. Jenna only had a few moments to stare in horror at the state of the beast. There was nothing she could do for it now, she knew that much so instead she reached for the handgun, and breathed.
Following Colt's instructions she stared the animal down, and fired. She had been aiming for the head but the moose quickly jerked it's head to the side and the bullet went into it's neck.
"Shit." Jenna muttered to herself, watching as the animal ran around in a panicked circle until it collided with another tree. Despite it's size, she knew that there was only so much it could take. The buck was starting to slow down now. The burns, and the hole in it's neck saw to it as the creature stumbled around, groaning in agony.

Jenna started to step towards it, paying no mind to the moron it had appeared to have been chasing as the moose finally lay down. Taking a few more steps she sat across from it.
"Shhhh." She whispered. Part of her wanted to reach across, to touch it but the moose still burned. There was no way of stroking it without burning herself. "Close your eyes." Her voice was soothing, like a parent tucking their child into bed. The moose just groaned, seemingly unaware of the girl's presence. She didn't wait any longer, and brought out the axe.

She didn't want to touch the damned thing, not after it had been stained in human blood but she'd held onto it regardless. It somehow made her feel safe, the idea that she didn't have to rely on the gun.
In one swift movement she plunged the axe into the moose's head, and although it twitched the beast stopped moving. Shedding a tear, the girl shut it's eyes; stood to her feet and turned around.

Nile was in her crosshairs now, and she started to march towards him with nothing but fury in her blue, piercing eyes.

Interactions: Nile ( Togy )
Mentioned: Colt ( Rumble Fish )

 

[Hyped_Taco]

(This is a Collab between FireMaiden and ya boy Hyped_Taco )
​

Leliana had no words. Not a single word. Burns had never been her favorite thing to treat, the idea of a person being cooked was a really weird concept and the smell. The smell of sweat and burnt meat and hair always messed with her stomach a little. "Cletus, " She breathed in, speaking quietly, "What the hell? Like honestly, it is 7 o'clock in the morning, and you've already injured yourself." Not to mention setting the woods on fire, but that was not her immediate problem right now. "Go stand next to the kitchen sink, I'm gonna go grab one of the medical bags." Leliana stepped away, shaking her head slightly as she went to go grab what she needed. At least this would give her a chance to look for the things Milly could use, though she would have to save that for later.

"Okay, so, I'm gonna have to get your shirt off, and whether you can lift it off yourself or if I'm gonna have to cut it off, is up to you." She said, knowing she would have to cut it off most likely, "But you probably won't feel it, depending on how badly you're actually burnt. The good thing about bad burns, they kill your nerves so you could be in virtually no pain."

Cletus stood in front of the nurse after he and Nile had fucked up big time outside, If that asshole had just given him accurate instructions then none of this would have happened, or better yet, He should not have made those fucking things! where were they? Fucking Vietnam?.

The pain he was currently on was bad, real fucking bad, from the small parts of his back he could see, they were currently red, even redder than the time he had forgotten his sunscreen while working in the fields back in Alabama. Even worse was that he felt some parts of his back swelling, and god it was painful.

The redneck then followed the blondie´s instructions, and slowly went towards the kitchen sink. No walk on his entire life had felt so slow, the sink wasn't actually that far, but god it felt like an eternity to get there.

Once the nurse returned and told him to take off his shirt, Cletus tried to comply with the order, but halfway through it began to hurt even worse, he tried several more times yet the pain just increased in the area. Jesus, this shirt had been gifted by his mom back at Christmas of 2010, but the Alabamian quickly said ¨Oh Jesus christ just cut it!¨

"Hey hey hey, if you can feel the pain, that's good," Leliana said softly, digging through the bag to find a pair of scissors. "It means your burns are second-degree, your nerves are still alive and yelling at you for setting shit on fire." Leliana finally found the small pair of scissors, the nurse turned to Cletus' back. A good portion of the shirt had been burnt away, but the fact that his turns weren't worse was honestly nothing short of a miracle. They were still pretty bad, Cletus at least wouldn't have to worry about being crispy. Starting at the bottom of what was left, she cut up the length of the shirt, gently pulling it away from his skin as she did, one side was hanging free as she moved to the other half. After another minute his shirt no longer had a back.

Leliana sat the scissors down beside the sink, slipping beside him so she could wash her hands, she grabbed a clean towel that was conveniently sitting nearby, she drenched it in cold water, rung it out, and then gently pressed it to his back. "I'm not gonna make you lean over the sink, but this is necessary. I'm gonna have to look for something to put on your back though, gauze shouldn't be the only thing."

¨Feelin' payn trough all of this is good?!¨Cletus questioned, and although the nurse´s explanation was… easy to comprehend, he would really prefer to feel no pain at all right now.

And at last, he was set free from his shirt, and for once he thanked for the cold climate that Aurora had, the cold made his injuries feel just a tad bit better. The girl then began to press a towel on his back, which relieved him a bit ¨I- Uhhh Aight¨ the redneck said after the blondie told him she was going to go look for something to put on his back; he now wondered what in god´s name was she now gonna put on him if it wasn't some gauzes.

Leliana kept her hands on his back, gently pressing the towel down. These were fresh burns, so maybe putting an ointment on it immediately wasn't a good idea? It was a bit of an odd dilemma, she had seen both be done. "Okay, I've changed my mind, " She told him, "I'm going to find something for you to take, something to help with the feeling, and we'll apply an ointment later. If we have any, " She explained, moving her hands down a little further. Silence hung over them for a minute or two, before Leliana peeled the towel away. His back was on fire like he had a fever, but none of the blisters had popped yet. Which was ideal. But now came the more serious thoughts, this burn could get infected. Cletus could be in need of antibiotics that they didn't have or couldn't spare, she was going to have to talk to Hector about it, he would probably have a better idea of what to do.

She resoaked the towel, and spread it over his back again, making him bend forward slightly to keep it from falling as she stepped away to search through the bag. "Can you slide the rest of your shirt off?" She asked, "There's no back, so it shouldn't be too hard, I don't want to wrap your shirt in gauze as well." They had two rolls of gauze left, and a few bigger squares that she could use to cover his back, and after looking through the bottles she found some ibuprofen that might help with a little bit of the pain. And while she was at it, found the nausea medicine she was going to get for Milly anyway, leaving that on the counter with the bag, while moving the rest of the stuff to Cletus.

Setting the gauze and pill bottle down, she once again took the towel off his back, rung it out, and then reapplied it with fresh cool water. Grabbing the pill bottle, she opened it and put two pills in his hand. "Those should help a little, all of our better painkillers have been used." Her hands were placed on his back, keeping the towel in place. "So, how exactly did you get burned?"

¨Aight sure, but if we ain't got those oint thingy´s you mentioned then I'm fucked arent I?¨ Cletus asked Leliana, at this point, he would agree to anything to be put on his back to ease the pain he was on right now; the only thing that was on his mind now was that after he recovered, he would beat the crap out of that Junkie for even making Napalm.

He slid the rest of his shirt away just as he was told to do, thankfully this time it didn't hurt like hell to do so due to it being mostly cut in half. Cletus nodded at Leliana after she put two pills on his hand, supposedly to help with the pain, even though they weren't painkillers ¨I- uhhhh...¨ the redneck was taken back due to the nurse´s question, he wanted to answer it but without making him sound that stupid ¨Yeah so, that Junkie dude made Napalm, and gave me the wrong can to burn the forest out there¨

"No, not necessarily, I am just going to wait until the skin isn't so freshly burnt. Putting something on it now could irritate it and cause more pain, " Leliana said with a slight shrug, "You're going to have to be conscious about not popping the blisters. And the severity of your burn means no hard labor, extraneous activity, or whatever else may cause you more pain than you need to be in." She was sure he could understand that it was simple. Plus pain in humans was a great way of making them not repeat experiences that caused the pain. So, he should be more careful about..."Napalm?" Leliana was not expecting that as an answer. She was expecting something stupid but not napalm. "Nile made napalm, and set not only you but the forest on fire?" What the fuck? First off, making napalm must not be as hard as she thought it would be. And secondly, this was a lesson for everyone to not let Cletus or Nile do anything involving fire or explosives. That list seemed to be growing quickly. Anyway, she pulled the towel away, taking a moment to observe his back. His skin was red, blistered and leathery in some parts, but there were no charred black spots and she didn't see bone. Wonderful. "You're gonna be fine. And you'll have a pretty wild story to tell if it scars. Which, it probably will, but hey, better than dying right?" She said with a light chuckle, replacing the towel. "I'll wrap your back after this, and you'll have to come see me in a few hours or if the pain gets worse. Or tell Hector, I'm sure he'd love to hear how you managed to do this."

¨Ah, so I´m not totally fucked then? noice¨ Cletus said relieved after being told by Leliana that his back wasn't totally fucked, or well, not fucked enough for him to not be able to beat the ever-living shit out of that Junkie.

¨Wait no hard labor?¨ Cletus asked the nurse ¨But I'm a farmer, what am I supposed to do if not for hard labour?¨ the redneck agreed with the whole not popping his blisters thing, but completely protested to the idea of no hard labour, ever since he was a little boy his ma and pa had installed him the idea to always work hard or go home, and he always worked hard; just like in that afternoon of 97 where he single-handedly managed to fix the barn back at his farm in Alabama after his pa had said ¨Well there ain't no way I can ever fix this in uhh… four days or less¨, right now Cletus wished he could go back to those good old days.

He saw the blondie getting confused by the mention of Napalm, which he completely understood why she felt like that since who the hell made Napalm just for fun?. Although he wasn't a fan of having scars, he had to agree with her, it would make up for one hell of a good story to tell ¨Heya so, how long will this thing take to recover? 2 maybe 3 days?¨ the redneck asked, completely unaware of how long stuff took to recover mostly naturally in the human body.

"Dude, when I say no hard labor, that doesn't mean you're completely useless. You can be on guard duty? Or, for once, you get to tell other people what to do. But, I do mean no cutting firewood, no repairs, that type of stuff, " The nurse explained. "And it's gonna take more than two or three days to heal. But, you'll be off the hook sooner than you may think, we'll just need to keep an eye on it is all." She removed the towel for the last time, laying it in the sink, before grabbing one of the gauze pieces. Gently, she dab dried his back, not wanting him to have any issues with wet bandages, she began to process of putting gauze patches on his back, covering the burned areas with them before grabbing the gauze roll. It was a bit awkward having to reach around his chest, but honestly, not the weirdest thing she's ever done. "You know, you're very lucky, " She said while securing a gauze strip, "I don't know what I could have done if your face had gotten burned."

¨Oh so no intense manual labor then? aight¨ the redneck responded, he did not like the idea of it, but for the sake of his own health right now, he would avoid making his situation worse. ¨Well… shit¨ the redneck said, it seemed he miscalculated the time it would take him to recover, maybe it wasn´t 2 or 3 days, maybe it was a week or something, but hell if he knew.

While she worked on his back she told him he was fortunate to not have gotten any Napalm to the face cause she would not have known what to do then, to which joked with ¨Well, I guess you could probably call me two face and call it a day amiright?¨.While the nurse continued to work on his back, Cletus asked ¨So like- hate to ask but what are we gonna do with the fire out there?¨

"Sorry Cletus, you aren't cool enough to be Harvey Dent, " Leliana chuckled, checking to make sure that none of the bandages were too tight, but we're also secure enough to hold, she took a step back and moved to the sink. "That's Nile's problem unless it catches the house, then I don't really know. I would just be ready for it to draw some attention." Leliana said with slight concern in her voice, but she gave Cletus a weak smile. "You're all set. Go lay down, on your stomach obviously, or like, just hang out. Your break officially starts right now."

¨Well like, no one is as cool as Harvey Dent so that's an unfair comparison¨ The redneck replied jokingly while the nurse finished securing the bandages ¨Well yeah, let´s just trust that the Junkie who made the Napalm on the first place knows how to put it out right?¨ Cletus said while he started to get up; he knew he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed but for the love of God almighty, why would someone just decide to make Napalm?.

He began to walk towards the door after being told he was free to go ¨Well, I´ll go fuck off to my RV now, If you see that crackhead then beat the ever-living shit out of him for me¨ the man told Leliana before finally exiting the room.

 

[Hyped_Taco]

(The following Collab was made by Rumble Fish and ya boy, Hyped_Taco )
​

As it was routine by now, Michael was woken up by his newly sworn enemy- the sun. Every single day he had been at this godforsaken lodge he was forcefully awoken by the sunlight that shined through the curtainless windows of this RV; by now his sleeping schedule had probably returned to a normal 8 hours, and dear god did the neckbeard hate that crap, before the entirety of Aurora became infested by undead Lovecraftian horror creatures he had a routine he had fulfilled every day: Wake up, take a shower if he felt like it and then watch anime till he had to go to his art classes in college, after that shit he went to work and Gamestop only to then return home and play Overwatch till 2 Am to then sleep for about 4 hours, and for him that was the perfect routine but now it was ruined due to this damn apocalypse.

He stood up and saw that his roommate wasn't in the RV… as usual. Michael wondered why he never had seen this dude ever enter or leave the room, almost as if he had a deep dark secret or something like that… but Nah he must have been imagining things.

After changing into his usual clothing he exited the RV, still feeling sore from the ¨Incident¨ that had happened between with and the alcoholic veteran the day before. Michael finally entered the lodge for his fair share of breakfast, only to see that Colt was standing in the kitchen ¨...Shit¨ Michael said, and slowly but surely begun to retreat back to the front door.

--
--
(Flashback to the day before)
It had been a couple of… rough days to say the least since the hazmats had laid siege to the lodge, and to be honest, Michael was still confused as to how the hell they had made it out of that one with so few casualties; it even had him wondering if they had been saved by some kind of gods keeping them all suffering for their own sick sense of humor, as if their lives were something to toy or make a story with… but maybe he was just overthinking it all, cause now he had more important stuff to accomplish.

In the last few days, he had come to the fateful realization that Colt, the Military veteran… was crippled. Although it shouldn't have hit him as much of a shocker as it did, he was still surprised none the less… even though she walked kind of funny most of the time… and had seen her leg shine, like several times. But after coming to that realization, an idea came to his mind to lighten up the mood of the lodge a bit, or well he hoped. The neckbeard was about to steal the veteran´s leg while she was asleep.

As quietly as he could he began to climb the stairs, as to not arouse the suspicion of anybody at the lodge. Once he was finally on the second floor, he took a second to recover his breath due to all the effort he had put on climbing there, but finally, after that, he opened the door to the room Colt was currently on- of course, he did this too with the utmost silence.

He saw that she was sleeping on the bed, and slowly but surely he approached the metal leg on the right side of the bed. Colt grunted and moved slightly, but with the leg half-way off, he could not turn back now. After doing that he exited the room and scuttled down the stairs as fast as possible, and, not noticing the light thumping upstairs that would commonly be heard when a person hopped, excitedly did a small touch-down dance.

“Woo!” He held the nicked appendage above his head like a trophy, “M-I-C-H-A-!”

“YA BASTAAAAAAAAAAAARD!”

“-WAH!” a yelp escaped several octaves above what would be considered humanly possible as he spun around to see the camouflaged blur of the enraged veteran had launched herself like a bat out of hell, bypassing the stairs and straight into him, sending them both to the ground in a mangled heap.

The sight of the crippled Veteran throwing herself down the stairs almost seemed out of a horror movie; he had calculated every scenario that could have unfolded from this, but Colt jumping down the stairs wasn´t one of them. They both fell to the ground so fast Michael couldn't even process what was happening anymore, he could only feel himself in pain… a ton of pain. He didn't have the strength nor the will to get up, all he could do was say ¨… My leg¨.

Even before he had uttered those words, Colt had already snatched the stolen limb from him and, swiftly attaching it back, glared down at the man with the fury of a hormonal moose protecting her calf.

Right at that moment, Michael didn't care the way she had glared at him with the fury of a thousand suns, he felt shame, not from his action cause he thought that would have been hilarious, no, he felt shame from having failed with his ¨masterplan¨. Next time he ever attempted something similar, he was gonna try and remember that crippled people can launch themselves from stairs near inhuman levels of speed.

“Touch my leg again, boy and I’ll make sure them knees be bucklin’ for the next month!” With a spit thrown in his direction, the veteran took her leave back up to her room, not without muttering furiously under her breath, “Fuckin’ raggedy, big-eyed, waddlin’, Bob Pogo lookin’, gun-losin’, motherfuckin’...” the door slammed, disturbing the plant on the window-sill just outside her room.

The neckbeard laid in the ground, right now in complete defeat. He saw that Colt was angry… really angry, he still wondered why she hadn't killed him at this point tho, with all the fuck-ups and shit, but still, he would eventually take that leg no matter what. Slowly he tried to stand up, yet immediately fell to the ground once more due to the pain he was currently in, he could only mutter ¨… My hips¨.
--
--
Still crashing from the hangover, Colt had stumbled to the kitchen to look for anything she could eat to settle her system. Whether or not this would have good results, God knows. The shaking woman turned at the sound of footsteps, a squeak and then retreating steps. Michael. With a frown so deep, eyebrows became a unibrow, Colt watched the man retreating.

“Mornin’.” She grumbled lowly, arms folded. Why didn’t she just shoot him? She could have just shot him. The woman had asked herself that question too many times to be considered mentally safe.

She still had not noticed his presence, maybe he did have a chance to get out without being seen, just a few more steps and... ¨Dammit¨ he muttered once the veteran had greeted him with a low Mornin. Now, he may be paranoic due to all that happened yesterday, but he felt as if she were considering to just murder him right on the spot… but no one would think that, right?.

¨Uhh heya Colt¨ Michael finally responded, since the option of escaping was off the table, then he might as well go towards the kitchen to check what´s for breakfast.

 

[The Mad Queen]

A collab by Togy and me​

Nile fell to the ground when he heard the gunshot, hitting the forest floor hard. Looking up, he saw the Moose stumbled before falling down. "Oh thank god." Nile muttered as he picked himself up. "'Ey Jeanne, thanks for the help." Nile said, noticing the purple haired woman. He watched as she killed the Moose, wondering if they were going to bring it home for food now. It was pre-cooked after all. "Might wanna step away, it's covered in Napalm." Nile said, gesturing to the small flames still licking away at the now deceased Moose.

"Wha-Are you crying?" Nile asked, squinting at the little tear she shed for the Moose as she walked towards him.
Jenna's eyes widened at a bit at Nile's words. Every letter that spewed from the idiot's mouth only increased her fury. It burned as brightly as the forest had been as she marched towards Nile. She was a mere five feet away from the man now.

"You." She hissed, her hand still gripped around the handaxe
"Me?" Nile said, confused.
"Who else would I be talking to?" Jenna took a few more steps forwards, now a mere two feet from Nile.
"I dunno, the Moose? You were whispering sweet nothings into it's ear a few seconds ago." Nile said, gesturing to the Moose.
She looked to the axe in her hand as her grip tightened around it. Just for a second, a thought was on her mind, but the girl managed to stop herself and dropped the axe to the ground.

Instead, her hand formed into a fist and she threw a right hook that struck into Nile's face.
"Are you making jokes right now?!" She shouted, hissing once more
Nile's head was cocked to the side by Julia's punch. Turning back to face her, Nile felt compelled to say "Ouch". Looking at Julianne, Nile gave her a confused look. "What the fuck?" Nile asked, not even registering the last thing she said.

Her eyes burning like the fire, Jenna's fists clenched tightly "That's all you have to say!?" She shouted again "You murdering bastard!" Another punch was thrown, this time going straight for Nile's gut.
"What?" Nile asked again, really not getting it. Feeling the momentary pain in his gut, Nile grabbed Jane's wrist. "I think you need to chill the fuck out for a second." Nile said.
"Get your hands off me." She hissed, kneeing Nile in the crotch as hard as she could. It had been a go-to for fights the girl had gotten into at school, and it always worked. Much like the exposed weak point on a boss in a videogame, boys too had a weak spot.
Pain rocketed through his lower mid section, causing him to let go of Jenna's wrist as both his hands shot down to clutch his crotch. A muffled "Eeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrr" could be heard coming out of his closed mouth. "You" Nile croaked out. "Are so damn lucky I'm not a violent person. Or high." Nile said, adding the last bit in after a bit of thought.

"You're lucky!?" Jenna snapped, she knelt down slightly to spit into Nile's face and stare him in the eyes "You're lucky I'm holding back. I should kill you for what you did to such a beautiful creature." She leaned in closer "How would you like it if somebody set fire to you for fun, huh!?"
Wiping thew spit off his face with the sleeve of his jacket, Nile looked at Jenna. He hadn't paying attention to what she'd said, but he did hear one part. "I'm sorry, but did I just hear a 'For fun'? Bitch, you think that was fun!?" Nile said, picking himself up.

Jenna grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, pulling Nile to his feet as he was picking himself up. "Why else would you do it?" She scoffed "Burning an animal like that alive, and with Napalm no less. You'd have to be some real kind of sick fuck to do that."
"Okay there PETA." Nile said, placing his hands on Jenna's shoulders before roughly pushing her away. "I think that we're both deathly confused here." Nile said, leaning over to pick up the hatchet from the ground. "So why don't we try explaining like the adults we're pretending to be instead of trying to beat the shit out of each other. Sound good?" Nile said, sounding the most mature he'd ever sounded. Non-coincidentally, this was most sober he'd ever been too.

"PETA?" Jenna snapped "They butcher animals for kicks! You've got more in common with them than I do." She raised her right fist up once more "Talk quick junkie, because all I see is just another bastard that likes to hurt animals for fun and no policemen to stop me from beating him to a pulp."
"Jesus woman, calm the fuck down." Nile said, holding up a hand. "Look, we were clearing out the forest with fire, Huckleberry and I, and we were going to do it with gas. It was going to be a controlled fire, completely safe." Nile said before gesturing to the fire in the distance. "Then Ellis grabbed my fucking Napalm, which I intended on using myself, Luca ordered me to stop the fire, and that Moose charged at me with the lust for blood in it's eyes. And now we're here." Nile said.

"How many braincells do you two have between you?" She sighed, slowly lowering her fist "Is the answer somehow less than zero?! Not only could you two have started a forest fire, that newflash we don't have the resources to combat but you could lure all kinds of nasty shit here! What if the dead are drawn to the smoke, or other survivors that aren't as friendly! Or, hey what if there's more military waiting outside the town that see the smoke and come here to try and kill us all over again!" She marched over to Nile and smacked him very hard on the back of the head.
"And that moose didn't have a lust for blood. They're not predatory animals. They only attack when they feel threatened. It was panicking due to the fire you two dumb c***s started!" She struck him a few more times with her first, going for his chest and gut "Did you not see the animal on fire!? Or hear it yell in agony?"

She pulled her arms away from Nile and looked over at the shoulder at the smouldering corpse "I should have just let it kill you."
Listening to her rant and enduring her punches, Nile stood silent for once. After about a minute, he finally said "Your punches are dogshit." before turning around. "Listen, I've had a real shitty day today, and I can really do without a lecture about something that I don't give the barest of fucks for, so I'm going to bed." Nile said as he walked towards the Lodge.

"Moose or no moose you really don't care about the safety of the lodge? At all?!" She shouted back to him "If you want to die so badly just go OD in the forest or something but don't kill the rest of us along with you." She marched up behind Nile "Hey! I'm talking to you, arsehole. Don't you walk away from me!" Filled with rage at the lack of care displayed for his stupid idea risking everyone at the lodge, she kicked him right up the arse with force.

Clenching his fists, Nile subdued the instinct to retaliate. "Give the lecture to the redneck you crazy bitch." Nile said, trying his best to ignore the foot to the ass as he kept walking. "Tell him to be more careful or something, I dunno, just don't beat the shit out of him for god's sake. I swear to god, you people are way too fucking violent." Nile said, muttering the last part
"Oh, I'll definitely be paying that wanker a visit. All the inbreeding has gone to his brain and obviously turned him into a pyromaniac. Between setting fire to our supplies for no reason and now this..." She scoffed once more "I can smack a bitch around a bit. It's not going to kill anyone, but starting a fire like this. It will." She took a few more steps towards Nile, stopping directly in front of him and tapping him on the chest with a finger.

"I don't give a shit who started this fire. You or the hillbilly, I give as many fucks as you two have braincells but, if you're going to take at least one thing into that deep-fried brain of yours today it should be this." Her face met his, her blue eyes coldly starting into his own. "If you two ever put the safety of the lodge or my own safety at risk again I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can't, because not only does the world need some of the people behind those doors but I happen to care a great deal for all of them...Some, more than others. Obviously."

Still staring into his eyes, she took a deep breath and continued "Any threat to them, whether that's a walking corpse, a yellow-clad Nazi or an idiot trying to burn down a forest we're living in is not something I will tolerate lightly, or at all."

Staring at Julie, Nile blandly said "I'm going to bed." before pushing past her, hoping beyond hope that she wouldn't follow this time.

"It's like nine in the fuckin' morning." She called after him. Hopefully he'd taken her little speech into his brain at least. Jenna watched as Nile left, and stared back into the forest, avoiding looking at the moose's remains. She sighed deeply, and looked down at her right hand. It was a little bit bruised from the punches she'd given Nile but what Jenna paid more attention too was the fact that it was shaking. Holding it tightly, she placed the hand into one of her pockets, picked up the axe and walked deeper into the forest. If there were anymore animals hurt by the fire, she'd do her duty and put them out of their pain.

Mentioned: Cletus Hyped_Taco

 

[BloodLightning27]

Colt Stanhope & Shinoa Bradford
A Collab by Myself & Rumble Fish
The Soldier & The Mother
Brian's Departure​

After the meeting in the Kitchen, Shinoa went back upstairs to check up on Valerie. By the time she had entered the room, the poor baby started crying. "Shhhh, its okay, Mommy's here..." she proceeded to scoop up the infant, even grabbing a small blanket from the corner of the bed in case she needed to cover up in order to feed Valerie. As she once more exited her room, she watched briefly as Brian climbed back out the window. Probably going back onto the roof. Still, that was a relaxing hour for her. Given that it has already been two weeks, has the infection spread beyond the quarantine area? If its broken out, how long would it be until the United States Mainland is sealed off? She shook her head, not wanting to think about it. Really, she just wanted to go find her Grandmother and...go find her Dad, assuming that the parasite hasn't breached the quarantine zone. She slowly made her way down the stairs and found Colt sitting on the couch in the living room. "Rough morning for you as well?" She asked, greeting the other woman.

Colt had given up on finding food and had opted to slouch on the sofa, hoping that would help her nausea go away. She thought of asking Leliana for one of those alcohol pads, but she was pre-occupied with Cletus. She had heard the commotion outside but opted not to intervene. She was done vouching for idiots at this point. The woman’s head was tilted back as she stared up at the ceiling, trying to make a pattern with the boards. When a voice piped up, the veteran turned her pale face to see Shiona standing with her infant in front of her. “Seems like it.” The woman groaned as she sat upright, her joints creaking and muscles aching as she once again looked to the woman with a heavy exhale, hoping to clear the sickness from her stomach.

Shinoa cringed a little at the sound of the creaking joints. "Yeah. Seems like everyone is either sick, injured if not outright pissed off." She frowned, sitting next to Colt, still cradling Valerie. Briefly, she looked around for the German Shepard pup, but the dog was nowhere insight, making her frown. The baby started staring at Colt before reaching out to try and grab her sleeve. "Now, now, little Val, keep your hands to yourself. Its not nice to touch people without permission." She gently moved Valerie's hand away from Colt, hoping that she wouldn't upset the other woman.

“Hm.” Colt grunted, “Milly’s got a bug but she’ll be fine by tomorrow hopefully. Least we don’t have folks on their deathbeds anymore. Owen should be up and about soon. I hope.” The veteran glanced away for a moment in thought. Shiona had a point. But it was going to be like that from now on. They world they knew was gone. All that was left was this hell-hole. And God knows what the rest of America was like. The woman glanced back over, just to see Valerie’s little hands reach towards her only for Shiona to pull her away. “پسرم را بگیر! لطفا! او را نجات ده!” the mantra echoed once again in her mind. Colt squeezed her sore eyes with a sharp grunt. Why couldn’t it just go away? Ever since the siege, it had not stopped. Like a demon one would see during sleep paralysis, it was always there niggling at her mind. Glancing down at the infant, there was a flash in the woman’s eyes before raising her hands, mentally pushing the images away before finally turning back to the new-mother. “She’s fine.” She responded finally before taking out her colt.45 from its home in her holster and placing it (safety on) next to her, away from the baby’s reach before taking out her flask. “They get all grabby at that age anyway.”

"This wasn't how I expected my first two weeks as a Mom to go." She responded, holding Valerie close. When Colt mentioned that Milly had a bug, Shinoa looked down at Valerie. "I heard. Hopefully she'll be better by tomorrow. Then she can play with Valerie and the little Puppy." She had forgotten the puppy's name, which did make her a little sad, but that was because she was rarely around the dog. Shinoa watched her put the gun on safety, feeling rather relieved. Safety first, especially around children. Valerie saw the flask, before reaching out at it. "Whoa...You're way too young for that."

“Don’t think this is how anyone pictured their lives but, what can ya do.” The veteran sighed before seeing the youngster reaching for her flask. With a nervous dart of the eyes, Colt quickly took a long gulp from it before putting it away. This being around babies business was putting her more and more on edge. Could she be trusted around them? “Hm, true.” She sighed before turning to the woman, “How old are ya by the way? No disrespect or nothin’, miss.” Scarred hands raised in concern of insulting the woman. It had just occurred to her that she had never asked her.

Colt wasn't entirely wrong. No one ever really thinks about getting caught up in the middle of a Zombie Outbreak of all things, let alone plan for it. Sure, she has seen some of the videos online where people are 'prepared' for one. Then again, how could anyone be ready to withstand a zombie apocalypse...yet they get super scared when they encounter a spider? That made no sense to Shinoa now that she thought about it. "I'm seventeen..." She responded. Valerie yawned before looking around the room, seemingly confused. Shinoa smiled down at her daughter, before looking up at Colt. "Did you want to hold her?"

“Hm.” Was all Colt could say in response to the woman’s answer. What else could she say? It was strange speaking to someone of this age; and in such a different place than she had been when seventeen. After dropping from high school and feeling listless, she had long talks with her father who had reluctantly allowed her to join the Marines. Colt did not know what she wanted to do in life at that time. Maybe if she had stuck to school, things would have been different. She would not be here. But she would most likely be stuck in some dead end job. But she wouldn’t have experienced all the hell that came with the territory if military work. But she also would have never met Sasha… The veteran was broken out of her thoughts as the young mother offered to let her hold the baby. Colt bit her lip anxiously at the offer, green eyes looking down to the infant, who still seemed strangely interested in her. She had refused the offer before. The woman gulped, “Um, I would. But, I dunno how.”

The baby whined briefly. "Well I don't know either. Because you keep reaching out to her every time she is in the room." Shinoa smiled a little. "Are you looking for more hugs? Maybe I should ask Jenna if I can borrow her Dog. Dogs love snuggles like you do." She proceeded to kiss the infant on the forehead before looking back at Colt. "Same way you'd hold a small dog or cat. Only difference is that you have to support her head." She said cradling the baby, ensuring that her head was rested on her arm. "And then you hold them close. I can help you with it."

“Um, okay.” Colt mumbled and shifted towards the woman, still a little anxious about the idea of holding the infant. She looked at the cooing baby as Shiona took care of her. “So uh, how do you hold her?”

Slowly, Shinoa placed Valerie into Colt's arms and made the necessary adjustments, from moving Colt's hand to the baby's back and adjusting her arm to be a headrest for the infant. "Kinda like this. It takes time to get used to. Is this your first time holding a baby ever?"

Colt could not control her flinch away from Shiona’s grip as she adjusted her arm but managed to relax. The weight of the baby was heavier than she had expected and the veteran froze as she looked down at Valerie, lying comfortably in her arms. She was afraid move. What if she moved too fast and hurt her? As Shiona questioned her if it was her first time doing this, all she could do was nod. Her sister was the broody one, not her. She was the one who always volunteered to babysit or play with kids; Colt was more interested in shooting cans off of fence posts. She understood guns. Not kids. “I never, eh, considered kids. So yeah.” her gaze averted, "Marines kept me too busy."

Shinoa was the complete opposite. Since at least fourteen, she wanted to get married and start a family, with her only fear being a divorce. She could remember how it affected her when her Mother and Father went through that process as it was on a sour note. In terms of children, she always liked spending time with her younger cousins during family gatherings so that the adults could play poker and catch up. She'd be playing games on her laptop, while the kids were watching movies in one of the rooms at a house that they all stayed at. When Colt mentioned that she joined the Marines and never considered children, Shinoa frowned a little. But not everyone wanted to have to kids or never saw having a family in their future, so she wasn't one to judge about it. Her pregnancy was unplanned and she wasn't an adult either, so she had no room to talk. "Why'd you join the Marines? If you don't mind me asking." She asked, curious. The baby seemed content in Colt's arms. Shinoa could only wonder what Valerie's curiosity was with Colt, because the two had little to no interaction before childbirth.


Colt was still confused at the infant’s contentment in her grip. As the woman then asked her why she had joined the Marines, the veteran did not answer for several moments. What could she say? At this point, the woman could barely remember her reasoning in the first place for joining them. Colt’s eyes stared ahead as she finally came up with an answer to the teenager’s question. “Um,” she blinked, her arms swaying as she rocked Valerie slightly in her arms while looking to be sure her head was not tilting back, “No real reason. Just felt like it.” She had no idea what else to say on the matter. She had barely spoken to the young mother, what could she say?

"I see. Most people would tell me that they're following in their parents' footsteps. Or because its something that runs in the family." Shinoa replied as she looked at the baby. The little one yawned once more, before slowly falling asleep in a comfortable manner. Shinoa would then look out the window, thinking about her conversation with Brian earlier that morning. "Can you watch Valerie for a minute? I'm gonna go check on Brian. He's...been really quiet since the attack."

“Hm. I’ve heard it a lot.” The woman responded. Most of her comrades had given a similar story; she’d often reply the same to avoid giving away the fact that she had done it to avid being a useless deadbeat. Brookes hadn’t wanted her to go, but had supported her decision and had his blessing. He’d worry, he told her. All the time that something could happen and he dreaded the thought of losing his daughter. Well, he had. Just not in the way he had intended. Colt was broken from her thoughts as Shiona spoke up again. As she mentioned Brian’s name, a frown crossed the woman’s face. Her animosity towards the man was still very intense. But she could not let it out on Shiona. “Sho.” She grumbled, looking back to the baby who had grabbed a pink fistful of her wispy hair and was staring at it intensely.

Shinoa got up from the couch and went back up the stairs. Thankfully for the young mother, baby Valerie didn't notice her leave, having been occupied with Colt's hair. She smiled and laughed a little when looking into the Soldier's eyes. The last thing she remembered before sitting down with Colt was seeing him climb out the window, but its been mostly silent since. If anything she assumed that he was on the roof. Sadly, her assumption ended up being wrong. Instead she found a note on her bed, with Brian's Wrist Blade next to it.

"Shinoa,

If you're reading this, I'm already long gone. I'm leaving because I don't want to put you or anyone else here in danger again. My departure is probably going to incriminate me even more and I know that. I regret not saying anything sooner. If I had said something, Ray would still be alive and we probably wouldn't have been ambushed the way we were a few days ago. But if anything, I'm confident that they were trying to get to me. Well I'm not letting anyone pay for my mistakes. I'm gonna make sure that they don't gun for you guys again. But I can't live with myself knowing that I put innocent people in danger. I'm leaving you a parting gift. Thanks for sitting on the roof with me this morning and for believing in me. I also left instructions for how to use that gift I left for you. We'll meet again soon, you can count on it.

Brian"

Shinoa frowned before flipping the note over to read the instructions on how to use the Wrist Blade. She left the blade on her bed, making a mental note to look at it later before folding the note that Brian left and putting it in her back pocket. She quietly came downstairs to rejoin Colt and Valerie.

In the brief time Colt was left with the infant, it was spent in silence as Valerie cooed and reached up with her little hands. Colt’s eyes darted a little, hoping that Shiona would return quickly. Why the teenager had trusted her of all people with the baby was beyond her. Why not get Beth or Leliana? They were more suited to this job than she was. But thankfully she did not have to dwell on this for too long as the mother returned, but seemed troubled. Colt was no doctor or psychologist, but she could sense discomfort in people better than what would be thought of her. Came with the territory. “What?” the question was blunt and devoid of options. She wanted the truth. If it had anything to do with Brian, she had to know. That man was already on such a thin wire with the veteran; it would only take a hair-trigger to evoke her wrath.

Shinoa started feeling intimidated when returning to the living room. With the rather tense feeling, Valerie whined a little and looked at Colt with a sad face. "He...He left. He's gone now. I found his Wrist-Blade on my Bed." Shinoa finally answered before sitting down by Colt.

The veteran’s face hardened at what she had said. He had just left? Another one? Colt could feel the anger rising in her chest, but before she could do anything else, she gently handed the baby back to her mother. “Eh, thanks. She’s nice to hold.” The woman responded, sitting forward with held hands on her lap, her mind racing at what she had just said. What could she say? She could not lash out at the woman.

As Valerie was placed back into her arms, Shinoa held her close. With Brian gone, what was going to happen next? No doubt everyone was going to jump to conclusions about him being a sell-out and a traitor. Either way, Shinoa hoped that he was okay. With wishful thinking, she could only hope that he was attempting to lead the Hazmats away from the group if he was leaving to ensure their safety as the note in her pocket was claiming. She leaned back as Valerie slowly fell asleep, wondering how to tell Colt about that note without her lashing out. Shinoa decided to do that later, wanting to give Colt space. Quietly, she went to take the infant to tuck her into her little bed. Afterwards, she looked at the Wrist Blade before looking out the window.

Meanwhile....

Brian was at a reasonable distance from the Lodge now. With the rifle over his back and his trusty pistol in its holster, he gave it one last look before continuing to walk deeper into the woods...

 

[The Mad Queen]

The following is a collab between myself and Maj​

Having said his piece to Luca about disposing of the infected, and about lab supplies so he could better study the infection itself Fisher made his way upstairs. Not everyone had been present at the morning meeting so he'd need to pass on updates. He didn't knock on Owen's door. If the man was asleep he would just let him rest. Given the severity of his wounds he'd need a lot of sleep anyhow.
Instead he opened it just a peep, slowly yet as quiet as a mouse to check on the redhead.

Owen was still awake, sitting on the edge of the bed. He wished that Luca had left him more cigarettes before he left because he doubted anyone else would be generous enough to bring him any. Maybe he could bribe Nile into doing it, surely that dude smoked. At the sound of his door opening Owen turned to see Ralph in his doorway. The redhead smiled in the way of greeting.
"Sup Doc? It's good to see you up and around." He had of course heard about Ralphs injuries. They had been so focused on getting to Milly and Beth that somehow Ray and Ralph had slipped through their fingers. "How are you holding up?"

"Oh, better than I was at least." He smiled "Took a bit of work, but I'm able to move around by myself now. How are you recovering?" There was a point where Fisher wasn't sure if Owen would make it, and was glad to see the redhead smiling.
"Oh you know," The boy answered wryly. "I haven't even seen the downstairs in two weeks and I have forgotten what fresh air smells like. But I'm not dead!" His window had been one of the ones destroyed by the gunfire and had been temporarily replaced with boards and nails. He hoped his sarcasm didn't come across as ungratefulness, he was more than thrilled to still be limping around, even with everything else. Ralph had just missed Colt, and Hector could still be heard spouting Spanish curses from the bathroom.
"Ignore that. I think Hector is still...uh." Owen grimaced. "...dealing with his eye?" It was more question than statement. There was no polite way to say that Hector was currently scooping out the rotting remains of his eyeball with one of Andy's teaspoons.

"Hmm." Ralph nodded, his smile being replaced with a look of concern "He really should've asked for help, but that man seems far too stubborn." He really hadn't gotten a chance to speak to Hector, given the man had been that busy. They'd never spoken about Ralph's discovery in the woods as when he'd tried to confront the man the attack had happened. Ray died, and so many of the lodgers were badly hurt.

It just wasn't a good time.

"Hey so you are like a disease doctor or whatever right?" Owen asked dumbly. He had remembered Ralph mentioning it before, but he didn't remember the exact wording. "Andy was just in here telling Hector that the soliders had wanted her blood for some reason. Her, Hector and Luca are leaving in the morning to go get supplies for testing. That seems like something you should be involved in."
"Hers and Lucas. I'd say it's the only reason they didn't bomb this place with a drone." He nodded "It's not a good idea for Hector to leave so soon, given his injury. The thing looks like it could still get infected, easily at that. But, it's not like I could do anything to stop him." He gestured to the cane "All you'd need is a firm kick and I'm knocked on my bum."
"Well we are kindred spirits there doc," Owen added with a chuckle. "I am not going to be doing any runs for while either. I'm sure Hector will take the proper procedure to keep himself out of harms way. He's the only person other than you that could even tell them what they need." Andy was good at making plans if nothing else. Everything she did was with intention, asking Hector and Luca to accompany her was no accident. "Plus he will have Andy and Luca to help keep an eye on him," the ginger grinned, realising his accidental joke. "Since he only has the one."

"I suppose I could give Luca a list. I'm looking to study this infection myself." He shrugged "Given I'm stuck at the lodge for the time being, I might as well make myself busy." He stared at Owen "I do wonder why they would come after your sister for her blood but not you. Perhaps it has to do with her blood type?"
"We have the same blood type," Owen explained. "The only reason it makes sense that they want Andy and Luca and not me and Andy is because they were at ground zero. I wasn't. They took some of Andy's blood at the middle school quarantine. Whatever they found in it must have been valuable enough to try and kill all of us to get to her."
"I'm O Negative myself." Ralph explained "I have wondered what was worth risking that many soldiers over. Either something in her blood could possibly make her a carrier or, highly unlikely she could be immune to the Aurora pathogen outright. The second is definitely worth risking that many soldiers over, at least in the eyes of the CIA."
He shook his head "There's another possibility that's come to mind. Given what we know about these people it wouldn't be out of the question for there to be something in her blood that could produce a more dangerous strain. We saw it with Rogue, that when her body re-animated it was different from the others."

"I don't pretend to understand how this shit works," Owen said with a shrug. "But Patient Zero was different than these meat bags that normally stumble around. I think you might be on to something. Andy was trying to get to..." he paused, instinctively placing his hand on the locket that hung around his neck from the gold chain. "...My mom. And I found her in the same wing as Patient Zero. Andy couldn't have been more than a few doors down from him when he turned. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it, but Luca was with her. Weren't you at the hospital too?"
Ralph turned away "I was. My whole team was. Whoever these people are, they threw the CDC under the bus to save face. We weren't even shown Patient Zero, but a random girl who had died due to an unknown pathogen...And my team paid the price for it." He sighed heavily "I barely made it out of that place alive myself."
"I did manage to save this child though. She's probably dead by now." He wiped one of his eyes

"I wonder if what they are looking for is in your blood as well then," Owen thought out loud. "Lots of people who shouldn't have died did. I wonder where this disease even came from. At first it just seemed like the government was attempting to keep it from spreading, but I'm almost curious if they weren't trying to create it. Although that seems a little Hollywood to me. Still, its obvious this shit packs a hell of a punch. I'm not sure how many people in Aurora still have a pulse but I know that the dead outnumber the living."

"If they found something they probably would've wanted to take me alive, too." Fisher shook his head "Leliana and I theorised it could be a cross between Chronic Wasting Disease and maybe something else, but I can't know for sure unless I have better equipment to research it."
"If you need anything specific I would get with Andy or Hector. I can only assume learning more about this disease will put us in a better situation." Owen offered. "Not that I'm fond of going to look for trouble, but I can't help but wonder what the soldiers know that we don't. Maybe they have a lab set up somewhere."
"I wouldn't doubt it. It's possible this thing was accidentally released from a lab. If a disease like this would out there the CDC would've spotted it long before things got this bad." He gave a light shrug "Then again, if these events are anything to go by we aren't allowed to be clued in on everything."

"Maybe it's worth doing some sort of scouting mission once we have more members up on their feet, although I'm not sure what we would do if we found one." Owen sighed, laying back against his headboard. "You don't happen to smoke do you?" The red head asked. He had been respectful enough to stop smoking while there was holes in his lungs, but the cigarette he had earlier today and rejuvenated his taste for it.
"I've never smoked." Ralph replied with a slight nod "Come to think of it, I don't really drink either." He chuckled "Just never really cared for either, and well, smoking has some nasty side effects."

"Well doc," The ginger added with a morbid laugh. "These days we are far more likely to die from a bullet than lung cancer, so I'll take my chances."

Mentioned: Hector ( shadowz1995 ), Luca ( Brax ), Leli ( FireMaiden )

 

[FireMaiden]

This is a collab between FireMaiden and Maj
​

Beth came down the stairs with worry on her face. The girl wasn’t terribly sick and if the circumstances were normal then she would hardly be concerned about a young girl with the case of the sniffles. However, with medicine and food in dangerously low supply and diseases on the rise, the blonde was concerned. After Kypher had accidentally infected himself with whatever weird concoction he had cooked up, every cough and sneeze was cause for concern.

“Hey Leli,” Bethany called from the bottom of the stairs. “Do you have a second?” Beth didn’t pretend to be a doctor, that had always been Leliana’s strong suit. She would barely be able to tell what sort of medications they had unless it had “Nightquil” written on it in big blue letters, so she was far more comfortable leaving the Milly’s dosages up to a professional.

Leliana finished dealing with Cletus, having sent the man on his way. She was washing her hands when Bethany called her, the cold running water muffins her friend's voice, Leliana didn't respond immediately as she had to figure out what the other girl had said. "Yeah, yeah, just washing my hands," Leliana called after a few seconds, The sound of running water ending right after. Leliana shimmied out of the kitchen, a hand towel wrapped around her hands, "Is Milly upstairs? Did she have water with her?" Leliana asked, glancing at the stairs, before back at Bethany. "I didn't get a chance to look at her."

“I’m getting her water now, but she has a fever.” Beth was already making her way into the kitchen to fetch the girl a beverage as she spoke. “I’m not sure what else to do for her but we should keep close tabs on her. As far as I know, she hasn’t been bitten or scratched or anything, but who knows. After Kypher…” Bethany paused, sitting the glass on the counter and sighing. She crossed her arms over her chest, leaning against the granite countertops. It had been devastating to see someone so young turn like that. “It could just be the sniffles, but I’m no doctor.” She quickly changed the subject. “I have Milly sleeping in our bed right now.”

Kypher. Poor kid, that wasn't a sight anybody was ready to see. "Beth, I'm positive she's not infected, people get sick, especially when it's cold. I'd imagine she's one of those kids who gets sick like clockwork when it's this time of year, " Leliana said gently, trying to reassure Bethany. Truth be told, Milly be infected was at the back of her mind, every time someone showed a symptom as she saw with Dasiy, it's what she thought about. "That's good," Leliana said with a nod, following the change of subject. "We can wash the sheets and stuff later, and we'll have to tell everyone to stay out, especially the wounded ones. We can't take the chance of them getting sick on top of trying to recover."

“I wasn’t sure what to give her as far as medicine goes, but I figured you would. I’ll stay with her as much as I can. You know I have the immune system of steel.” The blonde let out a small chuckle before letting her blue eyes rest on the tired face of her friend.

“How are you holding up?” She knew that Leliana had been pulled in a million different directions. The electricity had been out, people were injured, and she knew that Leli had always struggled with her own demons too. Depression, lack of sleep, and lots of responsibility rarely went well together.

“And don’t give me some generic “I’m fine” answer. How are you really?”

"I pulled some nausea medicine out for her, I'll check the dosage, and I'll ask if anyone is going on a supply run. I think maybe Andy mentioned one, or Luca, but honestly, I don't remember, " Leliana chuckled. She tossed the washcloth that was now damp, over to the sink for anyone else to use, pausing for a moment when Bethany asked her if she was okay. Leliana was going to say she was fine, but her friend quickly added that she wasn't allowed to do that. "I'm...tired. My back hurts, and I have this headache that comes and goes. It's somehow linked to Micheal, but let's not tell him that." Another chuckle passed the girl's lips, glancing around to make sure they were alone before she sighed. "Jenna grabbed me a few boxes of Zoloft when we were out on our run, I'm really grateful for that. Still pissed about what she did, but I can't overlook her getting them for me. No more withdrawal symptoms, the weird dreams are stopping. A little at least, and I feel like a normal goddamned person right now. So, I'm good Beth, really."

Bethany smiled in response, seemingly satisfied with the answer. That was good news. Leli had been sleeping more soundly, that much was easy enough to tell. It had been a while since her friend had accidentally woke her with the tossing and turning that came with her dreaming.

“Michael is the source of everyone’s headache,” Beth agreed. She, of course, knew him from before the apocalypse. Despite all his attempts to ‘flirt’ with her, he had remained unsuccessful. Even Beth had standards.

“We’ve done some good work.” Beth picked Milly’s stuffed animal up off the couch to take up to her. “Owen and Tre are stable. Ralph is up and around. Everyone else seems to be doing better as well. Once we get Milly well you deserve a break. Maybe we can get away for a little while, you and I can go on a run or something. Staying in this place all the time isn’t doing either of us any favors.”

"Getting out for here for a little bit does sound good, " Leliana chuckled, "There are quite a few things we need, like food and honestly, clothes. Or at least a warm jacket for everyone, if the generator keeps going down like this, we could all freeze." Sure they had the means to make fire, but that wasn't a permanent solution. "I'm honestly surprised Ralph is up again, his knee was really messed up. He was shot point-blank." It really was a surprise, but that just shows how talented Hector is. Being an old man had perks. "You want to help me see if there are any crackers left? Milly might need something easy to eat later, and I want to make sure nobody else gets to them."

“Yeah, that sounds good. She’s going to need a fever reducer of some kind too. It’s still manageable but I don’t want it to get worse. Have you seen the other little girl around? I know she and Milly had been camping out in the closet under the stairs.” In truth, Beth had always found it a bit odd that Milly had chosen to sleep there. It had to be sort of damp and cold, and without the generator running it was likely the cause of her sickness, to begin with.

“Everyone seems to be healing pretty nicely,” Beth added at Leli’s comment about Ralph. “Even Owen is limping around now. I’ve seen his sister stomping around too.” It was clear that Beth seemed sort of reserved around Andy, the blonde had never approached her and had never met her when she and Owen were dating. Since Andy didn’t go out of her way to talk to others, it meant that they hadn’t crossed paths yet and that was okay with Bethany.

"I'm glad Andy is back on her feet, " Leliana said, grabbing the bag of medical supplies, sliding it closer to her in order to dig through it. "She's actually pretty cool. Next time she goes hunting and takes a group, maybe the two of use should go? I think you two would get along. I hope." Leliana didn't know how Andy felt about escorts, or how she would react to Bethany's personality. But the redhead seemed like a pretty chill person when she wasn't stressed out. "Ah, here we go, I found the ibuprofen again. Give her one tablet, well see if that helps bring her fever down and if it doesn't, we can give her another one. The nausea medicine I found, a full dose should be okay, it might make her sleepy. Which in this case would be good."

“Yeah, maybe,” Beth smiled tentatively at the mention of Andrea but gave no further response. Something about the redhead worried her, maybe it was just the fact that Owen had told her on multiple occasions how unkind she could be. I’m sure that after her and Owen’s break up his sister had little love for her. The blonde took the items from her friend and relaxed, happy to be able to give Milly some relief.

“Thanks for the help. I’m going to go upstairs and give these to her. I’m sure she will be feeling better in no time.” She gave her friend a final grin, before taking the medication, the water, and the bear upstairs with her to Milly.

Leliana nodded, making sure Bethany had everything. "If you need any help with her, just come find me." Once Bethany had gone back upstairs, Leliana began cleaning up the kitchen.

Rumble Fish The Mad Queen Hyped_Taco Brax ​

 

[Rumble Fish]

Andy was grateful for the solitude. After her conversation with Hector, Luca and then the weird blonde girl in her bedroom, the stillness of the woods around her was almost like a comforting embrace. Everything smelled damp but singed. She had of course been brought up to speed on Cletus and Nile’s idiocy. Cletus had already almost shot her once and then almost caught her forest on fire. The man was so stupid he was a literal danger to society. Or at least to her.

The frost was beginning to melt, leaving the blanket of fallen leaves and pine needles damp and squishy beneath her feet. Andy could feel the mud trying to suction her boot to the ground causing a sucking noise with each of her steps. Hopefully, it dried out some, damp earth made the woods more difficult to traverse and even more difficult to do soundlessly. Despite the smokey air it felt good to be back in her element after weeks of being cooped up in her bedroom. Andy hadn’t even pulled a bowstring in weeks and wanted to ensure her injury wouldn’t hold her back if she, Hector and Luca were to leave in the morning.

The fire would have scared off most of the game, but that wasn’t what this trip was about. In reality, Andy just needed some target practice. However, she didn’t want to listen to Luca give her a hard time about the last time she had twisted her ankle or anyone to see it if she botched her shot. Her aim had been good at the attack. The redhead had single handedly taken out four of the soldiers herself, each with a single shot. However, that was before she had taken a bullet to her gut. The wound was healed, but she hadn’t tested the familiar stretch of her muscles to see if it differed from before her injury.

The bow had been unstrung. No one had known how to care for the poor thing while she had been out. So cleaning, oiling, and resting her bow were among the first things she did once she had been cleared to be up and about. Andy paused on the forest trail and pulled the bow from her sling. The red head leaned her knee into the middle of the bow feeling the wood bend and flex into a curve as nimble fingers looped the braided cord into place.

The target practice was slow, but overall pretty good. Her aim had not been impacted by her injury and pulling her bow did little to strain the still sore spot near her hip. When she got back to the lodge, dusk was already starting to fall. It was easy to lose track of time in the depths of the forest. However, there was still one last thing she needed to do before her departure.

“Colt.” Andy greeted as she approached the front porch of the lodge, string of rabbits across her chest. “Do you have time for that lesson?”

The veteran had ventured outside to puff away some of her frustration. Seeing Michael after that bullshit he pulled yesterday only deepened the woman’s stress and she needed something to calm her. Just as she started to ponder on her choices, a familiar voice caught her attention. She turned to the distinctive red-head as she approached. With a groan, Colt stood up from leaning on the wall, stretching her arms out with a sharp groan at feeling her joints click. A gun lesson; perfect.
“Sho.” She shook her hair out as she grabbed her Glock from its holster and checked its chamber, “That’s the one thing I haven’t forgotten about last night.” she admitted. Everything else was a hazy blur. There were some things, but that was the most prevalent.

“Y’had any kinda experience with ‘em? Aside from the school ‘nd… well,” a hand windmilled as she struggled for words, “Before shit happened.” They did not count as far as she was concerned. Andy did not really need to answer this question, Colt could tell just from the limited time she had seen the freckled woman use a firearm.

“No,” Andy said plainly. She shrugged off her gear leaving it at the doorstep. First the string of rabbits, then the bow sling and quiver. The redhead was confident she could pick it up quickly once she learned to translate her knowledge of archery over to gunslinging. “Although now I guess I’ve shot one a few times. First, defending Luca in the forest after the car wreck and then Dixie. I’m not used to the recoil.”

“‘Ight, okay.” Colt coughed into her fist before inhaling messily through her nose, seems Milly wasn’t the only one feeling the winter blues, “I’mma not bore ya with the basics. Treat every gun like its loaded, there’s always a bullet in the chamber, yadda-yadda-yadda, yer smarter than me so ya probably know.” as soon as recoil was mentioned, a gloved finger raised in the red-head’s direction.

“I know.” she laconically answered, “And I know why.” Taking the Glock, she raised it as if about to fire it. “Y’know what yer issue is? Yer tense. See, instead of this,” she straightened her right arm, both arms pointed parallel to one another. She had been around Andy enough to know her dominant hand,

“Yer right arm’s gotta be loose. Bent. That absorbs the push. Left; holds the gun steady, right absorbs the shock and keeps ya level.” While she spoke, her gaze was directed forward, staring down the barrel of the gun. Only a flick of her cloudy eye turned to Andy, checking to see if she was watching.

Andy was watching. Her eyes were analytical as they tried to absorb everything. She knew how important stance was. Could that have been the only thing causing her to miss so badly with her shots? Surely not.

“I have some targets set up out back for my archery. Do you mind if I take a few practice shots?” The girl knew herself to be more of a hands on learner anyway. “Me, Luca and Hector are heading out in the morning. I don’t expect to be a pro after one lesson but it would be good to have some sort of working knowledge before I go.”

“Um… yeah. Just remember what I said.” Colt answered slowly. This was the first Colt had heard of this plan. Her eyes widened a little before they glanced away. Seems it was not just Brian keeping things from her. But Colt decided to bury it like the rest, to keep perspective.

“If ya need somethin’, just tell me.” She answered, “Though, I’ll be watchin’.” she added with a shrug. The woman took out her flask and took a long sip from it. She had noticed a pattern. Andy and Luca fucking off somewhere leaving her alone or sending her out alone with the worst people to take. She did not want to believe it was jealousy, but it practically confirmed what the woman had been feeling for weeks now. All she could hope was that she could count on Leliana or Owen to keep her grounded.

Featured: Maj (Andy)
Mentions: Brax (Luca) shadowz1995 (Hector) Hyped_Taco (Cletus) Togy (Nile)

 

[Maj]

​

Andy of course picked up on the change in Colt’s voice, but chose not to comment on it. It was true that she hadn’t consulted Colt about her plans to leave, but she hadn’t consulted Luca other than to invite him along. She didn’t feel the need to tell everyone what she was thinking, although there wasn’t a reason not to tell Colt. In all honesty, she had just been so focused on her plans she hadn’t thought about it.

The twin led the way to the backyard where several of her targets were. They had been knocked down from the fire fight, and no one had bothered to pick them back up. With a sigh the girl slowly picked each one up one by one and set them on their feet. Satisfied with their placement she made her way back to Colt and gestures for the gun.

“Can I borrow that?” She asked. It wasn’t like Andy had her own gun to practice with. Although if things went well, she wasn’t opposed to finding her own to carry. The veteran wordlessly handed the woman the handgun, hands firmly planted in her pockets once she had taken it. Andy took the heavy weapon in her hand and did her best to replicate Colt’s stance. Her left hand held most of the weight, wrapped around the textured grip. She ensured that her arms were loose and did her best to aim, using both eyes. People who closed one eye to aim were weaklings.

“Like this?” She asked before she squeezed the trigger. Andy wanted to ensure she knew what the right stance felt like so that she could replicate it.

“Mhm.” Colt strode around the girl as she looked at her stance, “Just relax. If ya tense too much, the recoil’s hell. Let the gun do the work.” She folded her arms and stood back a few paces to watch. While she seemed confident, Colt knew she would be in for a shock if she made any mistakes. She could still remember her first day shooting targets; she had little trouble while Sasha had struggled. That woman’s ego took a severe beating that day. A hand struck the woman’s forehead as she shook the memory out. It was worse given Andy was also a red-head, where was that flask?

Andy nodded and set her sights again on the target doing her best to remain loose as she squeezed the trigger. The loud bang sounded as the gun fired. Perhaps Andy had taken Colt’s advice to heart a little too much. Lacking tension in her arms meant that she wasn’t braced for the kickback of the gun. The large chunk of metal swung back clocking her square in the nose. Thankfully, it wasn’t worse. Andy was able to pull it back at the last second.

“For fucks sake,” the redhead growled. “You hold the thing to tight and you miss and if you hold it too loose you smack yourself in the damn face.” She pointed the gun toward the ground as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

Colt could see the smack coming from a mile away but it did not stop her from wincing as the metal connected hardly with the fragile cartilage of the girl’s nose. The amount of times she had done that herself when just starting out was too many to count and she had seen it numerous times. The woman cleared her throat to avoid laughing before shifting in her stance to walk up to Andy.

“It ain’t easy, I know. Takes a bit of practice.” She narrowed her eyes a little to examine her face, thankfully she had only bumped it, no blood or anything concerning. “Ya want a firm grip, but keep the elbow bent, and try not to jar yer wrists. There will always be a recoil, but if ya keep the wrists firm, and allow a lil’ movement, ya won’t shatter yer wrists or yer nose.”

“Fine,” Andy growled, adjusting her stance and readying herself once more. She did her best to listen to Colt’s instructions. Her fingers were wrapped firmly around the grip, elbows bent as she did her best to mimic how the veteran had been standing moments before.

“Firm wrists, loose arms.” the girl muttered before lining up her sight. She found herself in the same sort of routine she was in when doing archery competitions. Check your stance, line up your shot, exhale and release. Except instead of releasing, Andy squeezed the trigger. It wasn’t perfect, the gun still moved some but it was controllable and the girl hit the target. An exasperated exhale sounded through her nose as she examined her shot. It wasn’t where she was aiming for, but it was close and much better than before. Still, she was a perfectionist to her core.

“Good, good.” Colt spoke up, “Bring the gun further up, the bullet will go where you want.” she added. Colt could feel the frustration radiating off of the woman which the Marine understood. She was pretty sure the red-head was silently telling her to shut up but she had to say it. Silence would drive the woman to become too wound up in her frustrations to focus.

Really what it boiled down to was that Andy was naturally good at everything she touched. Archery had come super easy to her, art was something that she had picked up very quickly, school, hunting, really anything. On the rare case that she had to work at something it drove her to distraction. However, Andy had worked with enough people who struggled to shoot a bow to know that Colt was only doing her do diligence to help her. The redhead steadied her breathing, and rose the gun to try again.

Soon dusk turned to night, and it did neither of them any good to shoot in the dark. It was becoming easier, but Andy wasn’t idiotic or optimistic enough to think she would suddenly become an expert marksman in a single afternoon. Her confidence was growing however and she knew that the next time she had to pull the trigger, it would go better than it had with Dixie.

“We should head in,” Andy said, lowering the gun. She ensured the safety was switched on and handed it to Colt. “I know I can be sorta…” The redhead shrugged as if to say ‘you know how I am.’

“But I appreciate the help. Everyone here should be learning how to shoot. It’s become an invaluable skill. I know I don’t have to tell you this, but keep an eye on things while we are gone tomorrow. I didn’t want to leave us open like last time and take all of our heavy hitters out and leave the homestead under protected.”

By this time, the flask was drained and so was whatever Colt had as well. By the time Andy had called it a day, the disheveled veteran was rapidly losing her concept of balance. However, she was still lucid enough to listen to the woman. She seemed to genuinely appreciate her work. She nodded as she instructed her to keep things together at the Lodge.

“I’ll… I’ll do my best.” Internally, Colt was panicked over the prospect of protecting the Lodge. Marcus was gone, Brian was gone, they had lost most of their defense. But she had to at least try. She had told Luca before (which he seemed to totally misunderstood- typical) that she’d rather die than let anyone down. “Worst case scenario, ya’ll find the Lodge standing and my corpse surrounded by them yellow bastards.” she wanted to force a chuckle but nothing happened. Andy let out a loud exhale that could have been mistaken as a laugh.

“I have no doubt.”

“Anyway. Let’s git in, Sasha. I’m starvin’.” Colt slurred as she straightened her white zippy- now covered in grass stains and hanging from her shoulders, but her slumped posture straightened at the realization of what she had said. With an awkward cough, she turned and stumbled through the front porch as quick as possible.

Andrea paused at Colt’s Freudian slip. She wasn’t sure who Sasha was, but it was not the time or place to ask. Wordlessly, Andy followed in behind the woman and into the warmth of the lodge.

Collab: Rumble Fish

 

[Togy]

HARRIET HENNIGAN: DYING ALONE
​

Usually, when Professor Harriet Hennigan clocked in for work at the university of Aurora, he'd take a casual stroll through campus on his way to his History classroom next to dorms. He'd be sipping his coffee and reading the newspaper while walking just to illustrate that he was old. The birds would be chirping atop the tall pines planted in the courtyard, the grass would be green, the sun would be bright, the flowers would be beautiful, and he'd be thinking, for the hundredth time, that they'd ought to give their gardener a raise.

Today however, he wasn't clocking in for work as he entered through the back door of his classroom, using his spare key to get in. And the birds weren't chirping, they were currently being eaten alive by the dozen or so zombified students he'd snuck past in the courtyard. The grass was actually dying in the courtyard because as it turned out, zombie blood was not a good substitute for water. Not to mention the grass had been getting smothered by snow for weeks, so those poor plants never stood a chance of surviving the apocalypse.

But you know what, this is fine. Really, red snow is simply fascinating to look at Harriet thought as he quietly closed the backdoor behind him. Alright, made it past the sea of dead Millenials. Here comes the easy part, you're doing great Harry. Thanks Harry Harriet thought, giving himself a mental highfive as he looked around his classroom. It was a pretty somber sight, with no students in sight and the room completely dark save for the natural light coming in from the windows. Speaking of the windows, he could see some undead students shuffling about outside, completely ignoring him even though he was only two feet away from the window. It had been pretty obvious the creatures lacked eyesight, so they couldn't see him even if they were facing the window and scent couldn't carry through the glass. As long as he didn't make a sound, they wouldn't bother breaking in.

Looking on the bright side again, Harriet noticed no signs of chaos in his classroom. No blood, no upturned chairs, no nothing. That was good, that could mean that it wasn't as much of a bloodbath as on might think.

As he walked to the door to exit his class, he passed on of the bookshelves he stocked with history books. Nearly walking past it, he stopped and grabbed a book on the history of Lichtenstein. He'd never finished that book.

Stowing the history book into his red camping backpack, he opened the door to the hallway and peered outside. Yep, okay, hope is fleeting Harriet thought as he stared at a zombie eating the corpse of the French teacher. Scuse' me please Harriet thought as he sidestepped the zombie, giving it a wide berth. It seemed to enveloped by its meal to notice him, so Harriet just slid on by.

Alright, thought it wasn't classtime when it hit this place, thought they'd have been at the dorms. That proves me wrong. There was still the Quarantine though. Going off the assumption that I successfully taught my students to have an IQ in the triple digits, most of them should've headed for safety Harriet thought as he flicked on a flashlight due to the halls growing darker thanks to the lack of electricity.

As he moved deeper and deeper into the school, it became darker and darker to the point where his only source of light was from his flashlight. If anything was outside his little beam of light, than it might as well not exist because there wasn't a chance in hell Harriet was seeing it. That kind of frightened him actually, and became a little jerky with his movements of the flashlight, quickly moving it left and right as he walked down the hall so he could see if there was something there he was missing.

Eventually he spotted the double doors of the Cafeteria, his target. Going up to the windows on the door, he shown his flashlight through to see what was inside. Panning his flashlight across the room, he could vaguely make out figures standing upright and shuffling around. A dozen at least, most likely more.

"It was lunchtime? Really? C'mon" Harriet silently groaned as he thought of what to do. I don't know...Maybe I can lure them out, lead them to an empty classroom, trap em', and call it a day? Well, they're zombies. They're slow and stupid, it's definitely possible Harriet thought.

Deciding that was the best course of action, he grabbed the door handles. They began to open, but stopped short after just a second. Looking through the window at the handles on the other side, he saw that someone had tied their belt around the handles in order to keep the dead inside.

Being unable to reach the belt on the other side, Harriet turned his attention to the hinges on the door. Taking out a screwdriver from his backpack, he began to pry out the lefternmost top hinge. When that popped out, he focused on the top one, and when that popped out, Harriet gave the door a little push. The door moved inwards, with nothing holding it to the left wall anymore. The left door began to fall to the ground, taking the right door handle with it due to the belt that attached both of them. The door hit the floor with a resound crash, causing every zombie in the Cafeteria to turn towards him.

Harriet yelped at the sound of the crash before turning to face the dozen or so zombies now stumbling towards him. "Classroom, okayokayokay, I got this" Harriet said before putting his fingers to his mouth and whistling.

"C'mon, this way! Mrs. Smith would be dying to have you at her anatomy class!" Harriet said, stepping back quickly as the zombies exited the Cafeteria. He began to walk down the hall with them, giving words of encouragement as he looked for the nearest empty classroom.

He eventually found that the Philosophy classroom was empty, so he slowly stepped inside while he kept talking. The zombies stepped into the class one by one, and Harriet had to circle around the class to ensure he didn't get grabbed. He was three feet from the door when the last zombie finally shambled in. "That's my que to leave! Enjoy learning about moral dilemmas kids!" Harriet said as he made a break for the door, slamming it shut behind him. The dead futilely scrabbled at the thick wooden door as he walked back to the Cafeteria.

Walking into the blood covered Cafeteria, he made his way to the kitchen at the back, steppind over bits of flesh and blood puddles that littered the floor. Walking into the kitchen, he looked for the big metal door leading into the store room. The school hadn't bothered paying for refrigeration or trying to find a wholesaler of fruits and veggies, so they'd just bought cans of food that they'd crack open and serve to the students during lunch time.

Finding the store room, he found that the door was already open. Peering inside, he could see dozens upon dozens of canned food. By his count, there were about 58 cans of food. it looked like most of the students took food when they left for the quarantine. Good for them, you should always stock up on food in a disaster situation Harriet thought as he began to filler his camping pack with cans. He managed to fit 21 cans before the pack began to burst at the seams.

Having gotten what we came for, Harriet made to leave.

thum thum

Harriet stopped dead in his tracks, hearing what sounded like something walking on metal. Looking up, he realized the sound was coming from above him. It's in the rafters. No, the vents Harriet corrected himself as he listened.

Thum Thum Thum Thum

It was getting louder, maybe even closer. I need to get out of here, now Harriet thought as he began to speed walk out of the kitchen. When his shoes connected with the tiled floor of the kitchen, it made a loud clicking sound.

THUMTHUMTHUMTHUMTHUMTHUMTHUMTHUMTHUM

The sound sped up, definitely getting closer. The vents above him began to rattle, and Harriet was freaking out. Ducking behind a stove, he watched as the vent began to shake wildly before a vent cover flew off and slammed against the floor. In the darkness, something, something small, began to crawl out of the vent. It's was turning to and fro, looking for whatever alerted it. It began grabbed onto the ceiling a few seconds later, beginning to crawl around above Harriet.

Harriet silently rolled under a metallic table, his forehead sweating bullets.

Oh dear

 

[TheMightyRedLemon]

Vanessa McUlann

Vanessa sat with her arms wrapped around her knees, staring blankly in the direction of the University. How long had it been again, since she first saw the large campus?

dvadtsat' pyat' dney (twenty five days)

"Net! (No) You aren't talkin te me. You're dead, Yuri... I know that.. I saw it meself." Vanessa said, trailing off into a sad sigh.

So.. you think you have gone crazy, little Nessy? That is a glupoye opravdaniye (stupid excuse) to sit here boltovnya (chattering) with yourself.

The cold wind blew threw Vanessa's hair, sending a chill across her thin frame. She definitely wasnt built for the cold, she thought to herself as she tried to ignore the voice of her deceased ringmaster in her head. Twenty five days huh? Was that right? It felt like far more than a month. Vanessa's thoughts turned back to the day Aurora fell:




"I hope that you are ready, little Nessy, your up in three!" Yuri called out loudly in a thick Russian accent, twirling his cane as he strode along. Different performers and random oddities passed by as they prepared their own acts. Vanessa pulled her leggings up the rest of the way and stood. "Yuri! I'm not little! Haven't been fer a while ye know!" She shouted back at him in a faint Scottish accent. The middle aged russain man approached her, his face comming inches from her own as he leaned in on his cane. "No matter how big you grow, you will always be our malen'kiy (little one)." He said befor straightening up and gesturing towards the large large yellow and red circus tent with his cane. "I seychas (and now), you must go and dazzle them all Malen'kiy."

"Of course, Inspektor Manezha.(Ringmaster)" Vannessa said as she mentally prepared herself and started towards the tent.
Her act opened without a hitch, like many times befor. "Comrads! Please give Most warm welcome to our next preformer, Nessy NeverFall!" And like that, she was in the air, flipping and twirling high above the ground as she moved about the flying trapeze. Vanessa had run this routine thousands of times befor, dazzling the crowd with her daring acrobatic display. Naturally she was quite suppriesed when the sound of screaming cut through the cheering of the croud.
Comming to a stop, standing on one of the swings, She looked about the tent to find a sight that very nearly made her wretch. Horrific, bloody monstrosities of people were shambling in from outside the tent. They had begun to grab members of the crowd, pulling them down and bitting into them, tearing chunks of flesh as they clambered over themselves in an attempt to get at the now mutilated bodies, or catch a meal of their own. Panic ensued as men, women, and children alike rushed in a frenzy towards any exit they could.

Another cold breeze brought Vanessa back to reality. How long has she been sitting there? Her cheeks stung as her tears started to frost over on her cheeks.
stanovitsya pozdno (its getting late)
" I know, Yuri...." she sighed. "I guess I should get inside..."
Vanessa stood, whipping her face befor starting her climb down from the roof to the second story of the appartment building. She had blocked off the stairs with furnature from the upper apartments, opting to simply climb up and down the railings to get to and from the ground and her temporary abode. She felt safer this way.
Landing gracefully on the concrete of the breezeway for the appartment buildings upper level, Vanessa made her way over to a door marked with a seven, she entered slowly, casting a glance out over the balcony to check for potential danger befor locking herself inside. "Alright Vanessa... ya made it back inside. Now te eat and warm up." She said making her way into the tiny apartments kitchen. She opened the pantry door to find a solitary can of beans staring back at her. This was the last bit of food she had here on the upper levels of the appartment. She would have to leave her small safe haven soon... or starve and become one of the dead. That option just did not seem that appealing to Vanessa, who started to open the can. A noise below frightened her, causing her to jump. She hadn't cleared any of the bottom apartments yet, and it seems she wouldn't get off easy with any empty apartments. Vannessa looked down, pulling herself ot of thought with the realization that the can had slipped from her hand. Spilling the contents across the dusty tile.
"Zdorovo..." (great)

 

[Brax]

Warren paused in the doorway as soon as he saw the classic looking game on the television screen. "Holy shit, what are you playin' kid?" He have a chuckle and made his way over, taking a seat besides Tre on the couch. "Looks like something I might have played back in the day." The man readjusted himself in the seat to get comfortable.

“I ain't seen this shit before.” Tre replied, not looking back at the man as the little stick figures made their way across the screen. He used a hand to push himself off of the floor, dropping the controller onto the wood below his feet. There was a moment that Tre thought he’d have a device that would help him lose reality, even if it were for an instant. Unfortunately he had asked far too much of this prehistoric toy.

“I need to do plant shit today.” The dark-skinned boy looked back at Warren with a smirk on his face. “I was the forest scopin’ out the area around us a lil bit ago. I found somethin’ worth lookin’ at. Got some time? Wanna kick it?” He asked the man who had been sitting on the couch. Of course, Tre wouldn’t have bothered asking if there weren’t something worthwhile for Warren to look at.

Warren gave an intriguing look at the boy after he dropped the controller, "Anything you have to show me must be better than rotting in here." The man stood from his seat with a grown, expecting Tre to follow suit, "C'mon then, I'll follow."

The two made their way outside and toward the wooded area, "We haven't really gotten much time to just kick back since we got here. Always somethin' going on around here." Warren took the moment outside to brandish a cigar as they walked. "Running out of these fuckers", he motioned to the leaf-wrapped delight in between his fingers, "Gonna have to get out there to restock at some point.. So what'd you wanna show me out here, kid?"

“I think I'm down for a run too bro. Luca said he bout to be out though, I dunno if I wanna leave these people without any backup… Though, they were fine before we came ‘round. We almost there.”

Tre continued walking as Warren spoke. It was true; while the man was running out of cigars in his own right, Tre felt his stash too had been deleting. Though, he had to cut his cigars down the middle and remove the tobacco to be able to use them. That was a thought for a different time. The two walked from the backyard and deeper into the forest in the back of the lodge. After a few minutes, the two had eventually made it to a clearing that had been someone’s garden. Given the fact that most of the vegetables were still alive, the person who was tending to them was either still out there somewhere or had recently passed. Either way, the boy didn’t care much.

“I don’t like Vodka that much, but…” The young man mumbled as he made his way over to the patch of potatoes that had fully grown. As he kneeled down to grab one and pick it from its root, he looked up to his guardian with a small smirk. Then he extended his hand to drop it in Warren’s own.

“We can make Vodka from this shit right here mane!” The boy exclaimed with a smirk widening across his visage. He unzipped his backpack and began picking the potatoes from the ground and placing them into his bag. Tre had much experience making hooch from scratch. In the past, he had used both wheat as well as rye with spectacular results. He had only made vodka from potatoes once and it had not turned out the same. However, he had plenty of time to do some testing if nothing else. He continued talking as he resumed collecting vegetables from the land.

“First clean em. Then cut em up to boil. Mash them bitches up, add water and raise the temp. Then ferment, strain and distill. Need to make sure we got the right shit back at the lodge to make this as easy as possible but we gon’ learn. Anythin’ we don’t have we could go get on a run.”

Warren listened in as the boy ecstatically explained his idea. It had been a good while since Tre had actually been this excited about something that wasn't too bat-shit crazy. "Sounds like some hillbilly moonshine shit. You sure y'know what you're doing, little alchemist?"

The heavy-built man stooped down to yank a couple more potatoes out. Sprinkles and pebbles of dirt fell to the ground as they emerged, and roots clung to the earth before snapping in a last ditch effort to remain. "Y'know, it's been a while since I've had some good potatoes. What other vegetables or fruits are out here?" He tossed the lumps of starch, including the specimen the young one had handed him, into the bag Tre had brought along. His cigar held between his lips and his hands rubbed together to free the dirt from the crevices that held it. A quick count earlier in the day had revealed to Warren that he had four leaf logs left in his stash, including this one.

“I seen tomatoes, corn, these potatoes and lettuce. Basic shit, you know what i’m sayin’?. It ain’t much but I wasn’t out lookin’ for food. The potatoes will give us booze but really I was out lookin’ for a plot of land that had access to sunlight.” Tre commented under his breath before standing up from the barren dirt where the potatoes had been growing. A few feet over was some more dirt, which the young man would reposition himself to drop a few seeds of his own into the ground.

“This tree is gonna grow me some dank shit. ‘N when it’s done, it’ll drop more seeds. As long as we here, I’ll keep my buds with the veggies. If we have to move I could always uproot it and put it in a pot. No biggie. Point is, so long as we have this stuff, alcohol and weed will grow without us goin’ out lookin for it.” The boy smirked as he looked back over to the man. Unfortunately, this wouldn’t help much in terms of his tobacco issue. Tre had never cultivated tobacco crops before so it wasn’t something he kept in his mental toolbox. However, there had been plenty of times Tre had grown weed and made moonshine, so it was easy to replicate the process.

“When you have no money and you want shit, you gotta figure out a way to take it for yourself, you know? Or, in some cases… Make it for yourself. When pops was still alive, he was runnin’ with Luca a lot. My moms wasn’t around, I didn’t meet her ‘til a little over a year before she died. When he was at work, I hit the streets and got to work. Then when they took him to the slammer, Luca spent years raising me. He wasn’t really a father, he’s not even a decent person once you get past all the blood that follows him. Emotionally, dude just ain’t there.”

Tre stood up, smirking as he placed a thumb against his nose and swiped it across his face briefly.

“Saved my ass too many times to count though. You and him have a lot in common. Two white boys too crazy for their own good; this world was made for you.”

Featuring: TheTreForce

 

[The Mad Queen]

The following is a collab between BloodLightning27 and myself​

Jenna moved through the lodge, a gun and an axe in her belt and Cammy by her side. Yesterday had been too close a call, and she needed to get it out. She thought about talking to Colt, but the two women had built something and Jenna was worried about how the veteran would see her if she knew. Sure, Colt had taken lives. There was no doubt about that, but the fact that she had the mere thought of putting an axe in Nile had the girl shaken to her core.

Ralph was off the table too, for obvious reasons and bringing the idea of her being a threat to the other lodgers to Andy was a horrible idea. Somebody else came to mind, Brian. He knew a thing or two about keeping secrets anyway. As she thought about the ex-CIA agent it also occurred to her that Jenna hadn't seen him around since yesterday.
There was someone who might've known where he was though, Shiona. Jenna walked up to the young mother's room and knocked on the door.

Shinoa was studying the note, re-reading it as she fed Valerie. Even though it had been two weeks since she delivered her daughter, it still hurt for her at times. Not only that, but Brian had left and only god knew where he is now. She last saw him climbing out the window, probably to go hang out on the roof like he had early yesterday morning. But when she had gone to check up on him, he was no where in sight. The only things he had left behind was his wrist blade, which she hasn't touched aside from putting it on the nightstand and away from the baby, worried that the blade would slip out and hurt the poor little infant. She set it aside, refolding it before continuing to focus on feeding Valerie. As she heard a knock on the door, Shinoa grabbed a small blanket to cover up. "Come in."

Jenna only opened the door a small peep "Hey, Shinoa." She said with a false smile. "You haven't seen Brian around, have you? I can't find him anywhere."
"No. Sadly I haven't." Shinoa gulped as she adjusted the blanket that she had on to ensure that it didn't fall. "He...He left yesterday afternoon."
"Oh. Did he say when he'd be back?" Jenna asked
"No." Shinoa shook her head. "He left a note for me...and his...Wrist Blade." After Valerie was done, Shinoa quickly pulled down her shirt and took the blanket off. She briefly cleaned Valerie's face before the little turned to look at the dog standing next to Jenna.

Jenna sighed in defeat. When people left notes it was a sign they wouldn't be coming back, something she knew better than most. Perhaps Brian felt guilty for the attack, but if she had been there when he was leaving she would have throttled him over it.
The lodgers needed Brian, she needed Brian for what he knew.
"He didn't happen to leave anything else? It's important, Shinoa." Her smile was gone now, her eyes widened a bit with concern.
Shinoa frowned a little after picking the wrist blade up again. "No, not that I'm aware of. Although it did feel a little weird when I tried it on last night." She admitted. She hadn't fully read through the instructions on the wristblade yet, not feeling all that confident in using it. After all, it was a very unique weapon and she had never seen it before meeting Brian. "Why, what else would he have left behind?" She asked, puzzled.

Meanwhile, baby Valerie continued to stare at the German Shepard in the room, before reaching out. "Aww, did you wanna pet the puppy?"

"He...We talked about a thing or two when we were scoping out the farm a few weeks back." Jenna explained, letting out a heavy sigh once more. "It's just...Ugh." How much did Shiona need to know? Jenna didn't want to frighten the new mother, she had enough on her plate as it was "It was kind of important, that's all. Look, if you see a thumb drive lying around this place please let me know."

The girl looked down at Cammy as the baby reached towards her.
"I don't know if that's a good idea. Dogs and babies are unpredictable. They're usually hard-wired to be protective but there's no real way of knowing." Her tone was stern, almost scolding but then her eyes met that of Valerie's and Jenna just about managed to smile. "However, there's nothing wrong with supervised socialisation. Just hold her back and let Cammy have a little bit of a sniff, I'll hold her back."

"Yeah, you'll be the first to know if I find anything out..." She nodded before looking at Valerie, who seemed interested in the dog. Before she got pregnant, Shinoa watched plenty of videos on social media and on YouTube of babies and dogs cuddling and playing together. Nonetheless, Jenna was right. Dogs and babies were unpredictable. And this was going to be Valerie's first time actually meeting Cammy. During the last few days of her pregnancy, Shinoa did remember meeting Cammy for the first time, with the dog even laying her head on the belly and getting spooked when the baby kicked. Such an adorable dog. She could only hope that Cammy and Valerie will get along. "Yeah, I don't think anything will happen as long as we watch them."

Shinoa smiled a little before keeping Valerie close so that Cammy can come and sniff her briefly, probably to become familiar with the infant's scent. "So Val, are you going to be nice to Cammy?" The infant responded by smiling.
Jenna held Cammy by the collar as the dog leaned forwards, sniffing Valerie for a few moments before licking her gently.
"Good girl." Jenna managed to smile once more, stroking Cammy on the back of the head while still gripping her by the collar just in case something happened. The dog looked back at Jenna, her ears pointed forward with her tail wagging gently.

"Huh. I think she likes you." She told Valerie
When Cammy licked Valerie, the little infant smiled. When the German Shepherd relaxed a little, Shinoa brought her closer so that she can reach out and pet the dog. "I love it whenever dogs and babies get along. Its always so adorable, especially when they're snuggling. But we should give it a week or two before we let Cammy cuddle with Val. Or the other way around." She smiled before reaching for a piece of paper sitting beneath the wrist blade.

Jenna slowly and carefully loosened her grip around Cammy's collar so that her hand was barely grabbing it. Trust was a two way street, so she needed to show the dog that she was trusted. She'd always trusted animals over people as it was anyway, but she wasn't about to take any chances. One bite and not only would Val get badly hurt, but somebody at the lodge would probably shoot Cammy.

"Yeah." She sighed "I'd give it a bit longer than that. She's what, two weeks old now? Not even that?" She couldn't say for sure, after all Jenna had always relied on technology to keep a schedule on things. She wasn't even sure on the date. Her eyes moved away from Cammy for a split second as she noticed the piece of paper.
Shinoa acknowledged the safety concerns with Cammy and Val. Sure, it was adorable whenever Dogs and Babies got along, but both of them were still unreasonably young. While Valerie was born two weeks ago. "Seeing that she arrived on her due date. Yes, she's two weeks old." She said as the infant continued to smile at the puppy. "How old is Cammy?"

She then reached for the piece of paper. When she flipped it over, the young mother came to the realisation that it was a bit of a two page note. There were instructions on how to use the Wrist Blade that she had received...and something else. "By the way, was this the pen drive you were talking about?" She asked as she reached into the Wrist Blade and yanked out a black pen drive with a piece of scotch tape stuck to it.

"Can't know for sure. I'd say she's at least a year judging by her teeth. Between one and three years would be the closest guess." Jenna shrugged, resting a hand on Cammy's head and gently patting her. The girl's eyes widened when Shiona brought out the pen drive. "Shit." She muttered, then quickly shook her head "Sorry, swear." Jenna told Val "That's it! That's the drive." A smile moved across her face but it quickly faded as the girl's look turned serious.
"I'm going to need to see what's on it. I promised Brian I'd give his information an audience, but with those monsters having cut off the internet I'd need to leave town." She stopped once more, and sighed "And getting out could be difficult. I imagine they're watching every exit, and I don't want to risk going through the sewer with that thing in case it gets damaged."

Given Jenna's reaction, that Flash Drive must be very important. At the mention of Brian, she felt hesitant, but Jenna was a trustworthy person given their interactions. When Jenna swore, Shinoa wasn't all that worried since Val was still too young to understand either of them. "Its better in your hands then." She placed the pen drive into the palm of Jenna's hand. "I think the sewers will be our only way out of here. I'll just have to keep Val bundled up to keep her from getting sick."
"It's not a good plan. Not yet." She firmly shook her head, placing the drive into a top pocket "We've got too many injured and I don't intend to lose anyone else. That, and if those monsters have the sewer monitored we'd be walking out into a firing squad."
"That is true. And I can only do so much. I'm not much of a fighter like anyone here. Only thing I'm really good at is cooking." Shinoa frowned. "But if they came her and attacked us...what's going to stop them from attacking again?"

Valerie continued to be fixated with Cammy, reaching for the dog and touching her nose.

"Absolutely nothing. Which is why we can't stay." She shook her head "But I do know this much, when those Fascists do show their ugly faces again I imagine we'll be a lot more prepared for 'em."

 

[TheMightyRedLemon]

"What in the world is happening?!" Sergei asked in a low, rumbling voice. He was a seven foot lumbering mountain of muscles and manliness. Although not very bright he had a good heart and he was more or less what you would expect of the typical circus strongman, curly mustache and all. "It is obvious, is it not comrade?" Yuri's voice came from across the room behind his desk. He was rummaging around in the drawers for something.

"Mertvets Khodit. (The dead man walks)" Yuri continued as he produced a small .32 revolver from one of the drawers.

"Mertvets?! (Dead man)" Natasha, one of the dancers, said in a hushed but frantic tone. She had already begun to change out of her performance dress and was pinning her hair back up as Sergei peeked outside the trailer through the blinds on the window by the door. A grim silence came over everyone as they waited to hear what Sergei was seeing. "Five, maybe six mertvets wandering about just outside. Many more in front of the tent beyond." He noted verbally. Vanessa looked up from the corner behind Yuri's desk, speaking up for the first time since the initial incident, her voice shakey and a bit hoarse. "W..what're we goin ta do now?"

Yuri had finally finished loading the revolver from his desk, sliding a handful of bullets into the pocket of his large fur coat. Setting the gun on the table he pulled a large, fat cigar from a box on his desk befor putting it to his lips and lighting it with an old silver zippo. He took a long drag, holding the smoke in his lungs for a moment befor slowly breathing it out and picking the revolver back up. "One thing is for certain, comrades. We cannot stay here. We will head north into Aurora. S udachey (With luck) , we will find help." He said, walking around his desk and to the door.

Vanessa woke up shivering and disoriented. It seemed she had fallen asleep sitting on the floor, leaned up against the wall in the kitchen. How long had she been out? Still clutched in her right hand was the now half empty bottle of whiskey she had found in one of the cabinets. Squinting her eyes in the darkness of the apppartment she felt around for the cap groggily, finding it after a moment and recapping the bottle. Her teeth begain to clatter, prompting her to pull Yuri's bloodstained fur coat tighter around herself. So much had happened in such a short time. Everything she had known and loved lost so quickly. Her thoughts were interrupted by her growling stomach. She let out a quiet chuckle. She hadn't been this hungry since... "No." Vanessa scolded herself, "Things are depressin enough as is. Ya've got te formulate a proper plan.... yer on yer own now..."

On her own. This thought sank in for a moment. Dispite her best efforts, Vanessa's thoughts turned back to her childhood. This was much like back then, she thought bitterly. She was alone with no home, no food, and no family. Exactly why was she clinging to life so hard anymore? It's not like she had anything left to live for.

.....The show must go on, my little Vanessa, and you are the show now.... Do not let those curtains fall yet.....


Yuri's last words resounded within her mind. "Right..." she sighed heavily, uncapping the bottle of whiskey again and taking a long swig. "S'pose I should look fer food in the mornin. That'll be the plan for now." She said, using the wall to help her stand up and stumbling back to the bedroom of the appartment and closing the door, locking it behind herself. Setting the bottle of booze on the nightstand, Vanessa crawled into the bed and went back to sleep.

 

[Maj]

​

November 11th, 2019
The Lodge
6:00AM


Zip!

The very first rays of dawn had just begun to kiss the blackened night sky, announcing the beginning of daybreak. All was silent in the lodge aside from the rhythmic *zip!* of someone zipping up supply bags. Dr. Salazar hadn’t woken up early in anticipation for the trip they were about to go on. He just hadn't slept. Not out of anxiety or nerves but simply that this was the way Hector was. The downside of intellect was that there was no goddamn off switch. A "unquiet mind" as his research discovered, according to several "enlightened" individuals. Hector believed in the power of enlightenment about as much as he believed anti-vaxxers but his own studies showed he had no legitimate reason for his insomnia. So, as ridiculous as it sounded, it was all he had to go on.

Still, it meant he was able to have all the supplies and bags ready for the excursion before anyone had even begun to stir. The sky was still dark by the time Hector silently entered Andy and Luca's room. Muted footfalls approached the bedside and the scene laid out before him caused the man to quirk an eyebrow. The other hidden behind fresh bandages.

'So, there was some truth to Owen's suspicions. Hm…'

The two were cuddled up together in a somewhat questionable state of attire….. or rather lack thereof. Still, far be it from him to have any opinion on it. The fact of the matter was that little things were of any interest to the hispanic and this wasn't one of them.

The doctor then reached down and gently tapped Luca's shoulder to rouse him from his slumber. Given his personality, it wasn't going to take more than a few light touches to get him to jolt awake. "Time to move, Niño. The bags and supplies are ready to go."

Luca’s eyes opened to the sight of the middle-aged hispanic man who had stood over him. Light hues had instantaneously recognized who it was that woke him, though the circumstances weren’t pleasurable to say the least. Being woken up prematurely never was. The Italian removed the covers from his body, detaching himself from Andy and turning so that he could stand up out of bed. Despite being completely in the nude, he paid the man waiting for them no mind. Instead, he walked into the bathroom to handle his business. Then he quickly got dressed, sure to collect a few bundles to wrap himself in. There was no way he was going to freeze for another night in Aurora.

Andy groaned and turned over. Her mop of red hair was stuck to the side of her face, forcing her to shove it back over her eyes to be able to see. She blinked rapidly as the depths of slumber left her, looking up at Hector’s form standing over her. The girl reached for the pillow that had once been under Luca’s head and tossed it at the doctor.

“Get out of my room.” She was naked after all, did the man have no common decency? Just because he was a doctor didn’t mean she felt the need to parade around in front of him without clothes on.

The doctor rolled his eyes in response, "I've already seen you naked, Niña. Not to mention, I'm not interested in children." He didn't leave but he did turn around at least. Andy, in turn, rolled her eyes but sat up with the blanket clutched around her chest and reached to the floor for the clothes she had discarded the night before.

Their things had already been packed. Luca hadn’t touched a thing, rather, Andy had taken the precautions while he had been fucking off the day before. He reached underneath the bed to grab his rifle, strapping it over his chest. Then he clipped the holster of his knife to his ankle, adjusting his pants momentarily to do so. It was usually on him, hidden at all times. An old habit from even older days than just his youth. He lit a cigarette, taking a drag and letting the smoke escape from his nostrils as he looked over at the clock. It was relatively early. The darkness of dusk provided by the winter would soon lift, providing them with plenty of sun to spare for the day.

He knew absolutely nothing of the college they were headed to - Andy’s Alma Mater, or would-be. Luca was not a formally educated man and it was still something he did not regret. While some people needed to fall in line to do what was necessary for them to survive, he had always found his work to be more strenuous. However, he still understood that the sacrifices he made - mostly to his own morality and sanity - came with rewards far larger than he could have ever dreamed. Rewards that meant nothing in this apocalyptic world, synonymous to the piece of paper that Andy had spent years working so hard to earn.

“Let’s go.” The man growled as he turned from the window, steps leading him from his night stand to the master bedroom’s door.

The doctor grunted his agreement, walking out the door behind Luca. He bent down and grabbed all of the bags, save one. He probably weighed more than Luca and Andy combined and had the build to show for it. So, he took it upon himself to act as the muscle for this particular run. As much as he was able to anyway.

"Let's leave quickly. I'd rather not have to say farewell to everyone." The big man said, checking to make sure his knife and sidearm were secured properly against his body.

Andy was close behind, in the moments it had taken Luca to get ready she had shuffled around the room and dressed as warmly as possible. Her coat was pulled up and buttoned tightly around her neck, scarf wrapped around her face. She had been able to tame her hair into a ponytail that hung loosely at the back of her neck. Her jeans were tucked into her boots, laced up and ready to go. The hunting knife that had once belonged to her uncle was tucked into its usual place, the hilt sticking just above the fold of her leather boots.

She didn’t feel the need to chime in. Andy had never been a morning person and there wasn’t time for her to fight with the campfire coffee she had made the morning before. She ensured her messenger bag was strapped tightly across her chest, followed by the bow sling. Strapped to her hip was the quiver full of arrows she had inspected the night before. With a nod, the girl led the way out of the room and into the silence of the living room.

If anyone was awake, they were being stealthy enough that Andy couldn’t hear them. The steady sound of breaths, in and out, assured her that most of the lodge was sleeping soundly. Dark lumps on the couch and futon rose and fell in time as the redhead stepped carefully through the living room and out the front door.

Hector lugged the bags out behind her and couldn't resist the urge to stop and take a deep breath of that frigid air. He loved the cold and wanted to savor its bite on his skin.

After a moment, Salazar sighed and adjusted his thick parka around him. He grabbed the gas mask he came to the lodge with and pulled the straps over his head, fastening it and making sure the seal was air tight. He double checked his grey cargo pants to make sure he brought extra filters before finally pulling his graying locks into a ponytail and yanking the hood over his head. He stomped the ground with his boots a few times to get the blood flowing and picked up all the luggage once more, "Ready." His spanish-tinted, gruff voice declared, now warped by the mask's presence.

The redhead was already loading her items into the trunk of a nearby car. She wasn’t sure who the car belonged to, but the keys were in the ignition and that was good enough for her. It was likely that it had been brought back to camp by one of the various lodge members during a run. Once packed up, Andy took the driver’s seat and turned the key, letting the engine roar into life. She waited for everyone to pack their items into the vehicle before putting it in drive and taking off down the dirt road.

“Do we need to make any other stops other than the school?” She asked her companions. Most of the items that she was sure they needed were obtainable at the university, but Andy hadn’t made rounds to talk to everyone.

“I’m sure that I'll find what I need where we’re going.” The Italian responded as he tossed the last bag into the spare seat in the back of the car. It was a college campus. If he couldn’t find any booze or cigarettes, well then they wouldn’t be too hard to locate after they were done there. He was certain more people than just himself were looking for these items. In addition to this, Tre had asked him specifically to retrieve cigars for Warren. It wasn’t something he cared to do for the man, but Luca spent many years of his life going out of his way for the kid and he would continue to do so until he died, more than likely. Luca was quick to blame himself for the way Tre’s life turned out, especially after the passing of his father. The least he could do was help him in small ways.

The car’s suspension moved haphazardly over the inconsistent bumps in the dirt which had varied in size. For a little while, the three sat in silence. Luca had lit another cigarette as the car rolled along, using his hand to turn the crank on the door of the older vehicle. As it spun, the window descended. Once it was open a few inches he readjusted the rifle on his back so that it was sitting in his lap. The man flipped the safety off and pulled the lever back on it to put a bullet in the chamber. He let the lever go, forcing a spare bullet to fly from the top of the gun. Somehow it had magically made its way through the small opening provided by the window. Luca’s eyes trailed the bullet as it went, looking at the window in astonishment for a moment afterwards. How the hell did that work out?

Much like they had found on their previous outing, the roads were bare. The closer the three got to the city, the more likely it was that they would run into the same lines of abandoned cars. It was unlikely that they would run into hazmats given the outcome of their raid, but Luca’s eyes were peeled. If there had been any conversations to be had in that car, he was too busy completely ignoring them for the time being. After the incident with Luca driving the truck on their last run, he had absolutely no intentions of driving this time around. Andy must have known that. If not, she had no interest in him driving because of that. It might not have been his fault that those spikes had popped their tires, but ever that event he had absolutely no intention of handling any vehicles. No way.

The doctor had been silent up until the point they passed near the hospital where it all began. That was when a sigh could be heard from the big man. "I need to return there at some point. The files and reports on Patient Zero may still be there." The doctor absentmindedly tightened the filters on the mask before adding, "And I also need to bury Ms. Jordan. She is one of the only individuals that I believe did not deserve that end."

It was clear Hector wasn't really speaking to anyone in particular. Just musing aloud as his gaze lingered on the building meant to heal others. Now, it was just a death trap. A death trap she rested in. One of the few things that Hector could say was truly a shame. It was hard to see his face behind the eyeglass of the mask but one could tell that he had a pensive look on his face. As if he was trying to decipher a puzzle in a language he didn't know.

Andy looked up into the rear view mirror at the sound of her name. However, it became quickly apparent that Hector wasn’t addressing her, but instead talking about her mother. Had he known her? The girl surmised it was entirely possible, since they both shared the same place of employment. She would have commented on it, except something had caught her gaze.

A familiar truck was just off the road, crashed into a ditch. It was the same hunk of junk she had driven herself, Hector, Owen and the others back in during their last hellish run. However it was the same truck that had been stolen because Colt had left all of their supplies in the hands of two perfect strangers. It was hard to be mad, because ultimately her intervention at the lodge attack had been the difference between victory and defeat. Still, the action was stupid to say the least.

It appeared that maybe some of the bags were still in it, but Andy didn’t pull over to check. It could have been a trap and they already had a destination in mind. Instead she picked up the radio and signaled Colt.

“Colt, you awake?” She called over the radio. Once she received a response Andy continued. “That truck the bitch ran off with isn’t far from the lodge in a ditch. It might pay to send someone to scout after it and see if we can recover any of the goods.” Satisfied that Colt would handle the situation from there Andy put the radio back down in the console and shifted her attention back to the road.

"We should attempt to stop for gas before the university,” Andy commented looking down at the gas light that was illuminated on her dashboard. “I don’t want to be stranded if we have to make a quick getaway.”

"Understood."

Collabs: Brax shadowz1995
Interactions: Rumble Fish

 

[The Mad Queen]

November 11th, 2019
The Lodge
5:00AM

The one thing the girl appreciated about being cut off was the lack of light pollution, and although she couldn't remember the names of the stars she spotted Jenna took them in regardless. She looked at the drive and placed it into a pocket of her small bag, the one containing her meds, makeup and one or two other things she held close to her chest. Carrying it on her person was simply too risky. Making her way over to the rental she opened the door and put her seatbelt on, placing the key in the ignition she leaned over the steering wheel and took a deep breath.
"Okay Gem, you can do this."

(credit goes to Corgi for finding this image)

She opened the passenger side door and Cammy jumped in, staring at Jenna "Get in the back. Dogs can't sit up front. Too dangerous." The German Shepard did what she was told, barrelling into the back seat and curling up in a ball.
Reaching behind, she patted Cammy on the head gently and turned the key in the ignition. As the engine came to life she leaned back in her seat and gasped, for somebody stood on the dirt road before her.


Leaning on his cane, Ralph had a raised eyebrow as he stared into the car. He took one moment, and walked to the passenger side door where he opened it and sat down.
"Where are you going?" He asked
"Just for a drive."
"I may not be a good liar Miss O'Connor but I can still spot a lie. Especially a bad one." He said, his voice stern "Now, you are going to tell me what's going on. I have been nothing but patient but it looks like you're about to do something incredibly stupid. As such, my patience is wearing rather thin."

She was silent for a few moments, turning off the engine but still looking to the dirt road ahead.
"I gotta go, Ralph."
"And why is that? Look, if this about someone at the lodge that frightens you..."
"It's not that." She scoffed, shaking her head
"So what is it about?" He reached one arm out, resting it on her shoulder.

More time passed, and neither one said anything. It was eventually Jenna that broke the silence.
"Brian's gone."
"Gone?" His brown eyes widened with concern, his skin going slightly pale
"He left."
"Oh." Fisher let out a light sigh of relief. After seeing a child of all things turn, so suddenly and not that long after losing Ray he wasn't prepared for any more deaths.
"Must've felt guilty about the attack, but he did leave me something." She reached into the smaller bag, and into one of it's more secure pockets where she withdrew the drive. "Evidence. It's got details on the mercs and their CIA connections. He took it as insurance in case they turned on him."

Fisher reached for it but Jenna pulled it away.
"No, Ralph. Unless you've got a working computer this thing is useless to you."
"So, what, you're skipping town to upload that stuff?"
"Something like that." Jenna shrugged
"Well, that's not something you can do alone. We talked about this, remember?"
"Yes, and I said I didn't want you putting your family in danger. Brian's gone, so the plan's changed."

"You're being ridiculous." He scolded "We're going back inside that lodge and bringing the drive to everyone else when they wake up. I'll drag you back in by the hair if I have to."
Jenna sighed heavily "You'd just hurt yourself, Ralph."
"Better than you doing something this stupid."

He shook his head "Mission or no mission, there's something going on with you. You've been different since the attack."
"Ray..."
"I told you I can spot a lie." He cut her off "He's part of it, obviously. But the whole thing? I know there's something else."

She stared down at the dashboard, and took one more deep breath.
"Ralph. I killed someone."
His stern expression turned to one of confusion as his eyebrows raised. This look quickly shifted to one of concern. "Oh. Well I know it would've been in self-defence. Let's just step out of the car and talk about it, okay?"
Without saying a word, Jenna climbed out and shut the door while Ralph struggled a bit with his cane, resting his arm atop the beat up rental. Jenna had her arms folded, looking away from Ralph.

"I could've maimed him instead of killing him."
"In moments like those you don't always have a choice."
"And how would you know?"
"I've never killed anyone but I have spent a great deal of time around those who did. Let's just say my family's route out of Europe wasn't a exactly a clean one. And my great-great Uncles, well they stayed behind and joined a partisan group. The one that survived the war, well he joined his brother in America when it was all over...And that's just within my own family. I've been around service personnel too." He took a few steps towards Jenna, reaching out a hand but she took a step back. "Taking a life doesn't make you a bad person, Jenna. It's the how and why you do it."

For the first time, her eyes met his
"That's the thing Ralph. If it stopped with that one Fascist things would be different."
"You killed someone else?" His eyes grew a bit more with concern
"God no, but I came very, very close." She turned away once more "Nile...He."
"Did he try to hurt you?" Ralph took one step forwards, trying to hide the anger in his voice
"Not me, no. He...Killed an innocent creature by burning it alive with napalm. For fun. Near set the whole damn forest on fire." She took a breath to compose herself "The axe was in my hand, and all I wanted to do was plunge it into his skull or throat and end him."

Fisher took one step back.
"That's the thing. Sometimes when you kill someone it stays with you but you don't want to do it again. I know that much, I've spent time around military folks too." While Fisher remained silent Jenna paced around the car "But I wanted to do it. Just for a second, but I still wanted it. I told Nile that if he or Cletus put the lodge in danger I wouldn't hesitate to let either of them die, I wouldn't try to save them from being charged by a moose that was on fire or whatever."

She looked up at Fisher "Because their idiocy has nearly gotten people killed, but fact of the matter is I realise that I'm a threat too."
"Jenna..."
"No, Ralph. For the longest time I was worried about sociopaths at the lodge. I damn near didn't speak to Luca. At all. Until he was digging bullets out of me because I thought he broke peoples legs for a laugh."
"Well, you were right about Marcus at least."
"Doesn't change the fact that I'm a threat."
"You had one moment of anger because Nile did something stupid and sentenced an animal to a painful death!" Ralph hit the top of the car with his fist "We both know you wouldn't have really attacked him!"
"That's the thing, I don't know that. And neither do you. I never thought about killing anyone, even people who doxxed me until after I put an axe into the throat of that Fascist."

"But..."
She raised a hand "How long before Nile or one of the others does something like that and I lose control? We're packed together in a small space and we're running out of food, even more so given that fire has probably scattered all of the wildlife away. Tensions are only going to get higher, so somebody is going to snap eventually. I'm getting the fuck out because it's pretty obvious it's going to be me."
"You don't know that for sure. There's no way of you possibly knowing that."
"And there's no way of you knowing that it won't turn out like that."

He stepped towards her. "I'm not your father, I'm your friend so I can't force you to stay but...We'd be down somebody helpful if you left. You may not see it, but we do need you at the lodge."
"I'm more useful to the lodge away from it than staying under it's roof."
She produced the drive, looking up at Ralph.
"You need to get out of town first, otherwise it's useless. If you stay with us we can leave together. You can stay with us and help,"
"I will help them by holding this data as ransom."
"I don't know if that's possible." Fisher shook his head

She said nothing and stepped away, making her way back to the driver side door. Fisher reached out an hand, gently grabbing her by the arm. Jenna gasped slightly and spun round, a fist raised but as her eye's met Ralph's she relaxed it, slowly lowering it as he carefully embraced her in a hug. Her arms rested by her side.
"You're not a bad person."

Jenna allowed the hug but pulled away after a few moments, making her way back towards the car.
"Hey." He called back "That car won't get you very far." She spun around once more, seeing that Ralph held keys in his hand "So take mine."

He tossed the keys towards her and watched as Jenna unloaded the rental, placing everything into the jeep Ralph had borrowed back at the motel. He sighed heavily as it drove off and sat inside of the rental, looking out at the dirt road and watching as the jeep's lights faded into the distance. Resting his head in his hands, he noticed something out of the corner of his cow brown eyes, for sitting atop the dashboard were four envelopes.


-

Off in the distance, and far away from the lodge Jenna pulled the jeep over to the side of the road and, purely out of habit turned on the radio. As it happened, a CD was inside and the radio burst to life with music. It had been weeks since the girl had heard any music, and it was only in that moment that she realised how much she'd missed it. Glancing into the backseat she stroked behind Cammy's ears and faced the road once more, driving into the distance.