Realistic or Modern Patient Zero (A Zombie Survival RP)

[Togy]

NILE CRAYMAN
"Hold the door! Hold the door! Ho door! Hodor!"
​

Wish it was Summer. I wouldn't be sitting in snow and getting frost on my stubble if it were Nile thought, reaching up to the growing hair on his chin. It'd grown since he'd last decided to give it any mind, now making his chin look quite hairy. He should get that shaved. He would've done so before, but the apocalypse doesn't really leave time for it. Did the Lodge even have shaving cream? Well, it'd better, or else shit was going to get dicey.

Repositioning himself against the tree he was sat against, Nile closed his eyes with a sigh. The aches in his body were rebounding with every movement, and he didn't exactly know what to do about it. Ignore it, maybe? Eh, he'd done that with pretty much everything in life, and that's worked out so far.

While Nile was searching for the sweet, sweet realm of unconsciousness, a very close by and very loud CRACK was heard, followed closely by a loud thud and the crunching of snow. Looking confused, Nile popped his eyes open. Picking himself up with just a little effort required, Nile turned around him to see a sizable section of the fence surrounding the Lodge lying on the ground, just about a couple feet from him. Panic immediately set in, with Nile realizing how astronomically fucked he was if he didn't get moving. It had to be zombies, and it had to be a lot if they could push down a fence.

Adrenaline must've kicked in, because Nile momentarily lost the feeling of all the aches in his body as he took off at full speed for the Lodge. By the time he reached the front door, he was panting and had a new coat of sweat on his forehead.

Barging into the lodge, Nile began desperately looking for the rifle he'd picked off that dead hazzie during the raid. It took him a second or two to realize that he'd left the thing back in Fort Nile the Barracks. Staggering over to one of the windows, he peeked through the boards to see that the horde was about two feet from the Barracks, making getting the rifle a non-existent option.

Stumbling into the kitchen, Nile rifled through the drawers. He remembered tossing his Glock into one of the drawers after the raid, and right nmow it seemed like his best weapon choice. Finding the Glock among the forks, Nile didn't have enough time to ponder the sheer stupidity of leaving a firearm in the drawers everyone, including the kids, opened to grabbed their silverware before he was trudging upstairs. "Ey' uys, ord" Nile slurred at his normal volume of voice to anyone upstairs. He didn't risk raising his voice due to the vain hope that the horde had yet to learn that they were in the Lodge.

People in the area: The Mad Queen (Ralph) Hyped_Taco (Micheal) Rumble Fish (Milly) Maj (Owen/Bethany) Corgi (Aubrey) TheTreForce (Warren) Whoever else is in the lodge

 

[Brax]

Andy was running down the staircase when she heard Luca’s voice come through over the speaker of the walkie. The urgency in his tone did not go unnoticed. In the cool darkness of the stairwell she couldn’t see outside, but she was sure that Luca had brought his share of trouble with him. Her leather boots padded softly as she made her way toward the door. Every sound echoed in the emptiness of the hall and as she neared the doorway Andy could hear the commotion outside.

As if on reflex, she was already pulling her bow off her shoulder. There was no telling what waited for her down below. She could already see Luca’s profile as she neared the glass door. Much as she expected, there were dead ones following close behind, and a girl she didn’t recognize. Andy assumed this to be the survivor he had mentioned on the radio. The sound of air was heard as the compressor released, allowing Andy to push the metal bar down and swing the door toward the Italian.

The redhead propped the door open with her heel, holding the weight of the metal frame with her boot. Andy reached to her hip, fingers lacing around the chilled carbon shaft of an arrow and knocking it in place. She could feel the resistance of the string as she pulled it back, anchoring the shot to her cheekbone. With careful aim, she loosed the arrow. It went spiraling through the air, whizzing just passed Luca’s cheek and into the squishy skull of the zombie that was coming up behind him. With decomposition already beginning, the strength of her arrow was more than enough to penetrate into the monster’s brain, and it fell with a wet slump to the pavement.

Luca kept tight behind Vanessa as the two slipped in through the open door, allowing it to close. He took a moment to catch his breath. Hands reached up to rub his face momentarily before the man looked over to Andy. She’d done well getting here, just as he did. The Italian assumed that Hector was somewhere close by, probably already attempting to get to the reason he had decided to come on the run in the first place. While the man was physically imposing, it wasn’t often that he opted to use the gift of his size.

“Thanks.” The man uttered, looking over at Vanessa briefly. She seemed fine.

“I found this one holed up in the building across the street. No food, busted ankle. Pretty much as bad of a position to be in alone as it gets.” He remarked, walking past the two and beginning to head down the hall. Luca was sure that her leg was probably bothering the girl now as opposed to when they were sitting in the apartment, but she didn’t have a choice but to keep moving forward. Sticking around one area for too long was not a good idea when zombies were outside; some of which had already began banging on the door that they had used to enter the building.

Vanessa looked over to who she assumed must be the woman from the radio. She gave a friendly wave to the other woman. "Hello. I'm Vanessa the acrobat. I was with the circus that set up ere in town few days ago." She said with an overly showy bow, her left leg with the brace lifted and crossed in front of her other leg. "Thank ya for savin me life." Her leg was throbbing but he held pose for a moment longer, looking at the other woman to gauge her reaction before straightening up and gently applying a little weight to her leg again. Make mental note to study these people hard and figure out what ticked each person's tock, she thought to herself. "So what's the plan from ere?"

Andy eyed the newcomer but did not return the wave or did she offer any response to the woman’s gratitude. The redhead couldn’t help but wonder if Vanessa knew how ridiculous she sounded introducing herself like that. She tried to imagine herself going up to strangers and introducing herself as ‘Andy the Archer’, or Luca introducing himself as ‘Luca the mob boss.’ Ridiculous. However, the woman was a literal circus clown, so Andy shouldn’t have expected anything else.

“Andy,” the girl introduced herself cooly. She wouldn’t have introduced herself at all, but at least this way it kept Luca from incorrectly introducing her as Andrea. It would be a shame to have to hit a crippled girl. With a nod of her head toward the stairs, the girl turned on her heels and began to climb them.

“Hector is waiting up in my dorm room. Once we rendezvous with him we will head out to grab the rest of the supplies we need.” She cocked an eyebrow at Vanessa as she shifted her weight back and forth uncomfortably. Andy paused, her hand still on the railing of the steps. “Are you going to be able to make it up the flights of stairs?”

"With minimal pain most likely" came Vanessa's chipper response as she followed behind them. "I think that I only sprained it, but I'm no doctor."

“I figured we would go through the cafeteria first,” Andy was addressing Luca, despite not looking directly at him. “It’s the most direct route to the lab and we should probably stock up on canned goods and the like. I haven’t seen many signs of life here, so I think the likelihood of this place being looted is slim. Most of the students must have heeded the quarantine call.”

“Mm.” Was the man’s only response as he continued carefully down the hallway nonetheless. Eventually this led to him walking straight into Andy’s room, provided a bit of her direction. There, a certain friendly neighborhood middle-aged latin man would be found muddling about. He gave some space for the girls to pile in after him. Then, he dropped his gun with his posture at-ease before offering the man a small smirk.

“Thanks for dropping that kit. I'm as surprised as you are that it was useful.”

The hispanic nodded, "Better to be over prepared than under. I'm just glad I didn't get shot again in the attempt." He replied neutrally. His eye found the limping female and he merely nodded in understanding.

Interactions: Maj TheMightyRedLemon shadowz1995

 

[RayPurchase]

“TRE STOP-!” Colt had whipped around with her pistol raised and aimed towards the teenager, seeing the spark in his eyes. He was out to get this stranger, and despite their limited contact, the veteran could not afford to have any more bloodshed on either side. Just as she was about to pull a trigger for a warning shot, the sound of spit and Tre tumbling to the ground froze her. Something else was here! Internally cursing herself for doubting her intuition, she ran to the young man, seeing the concrete like substance keeping him in place. Eyes raised, Colt took the rifle from around her back, taking careful steps towards him.

The boy sat down on the ground with a grunt, fixated on trying to get the gunk off of his foot.

“Is it burnin’?” she asked him, it did not seem acidic but who knew. She turned to Aaron with a sharp glare, “Right, you! Git yer gun and cover him! Try and git him unstuck!” She pointed at the trucker as she barked at him. Rifle raised, Colt frowned deeply as she stared down the barrel, scanning the area. Silence. It had to have been close to attack Tre that easily. It was still here. Just from that spit, this was not like any Thing they had encountered before.

“No, but… I can’t get… this fuckin’ shit off!” He grunted, hands wrapped around his calf as he tugged at his foot in attempts to remove it. Eventually, Tre was able to slip his foot from out of his boot. He felt the uneven bumps in the road, alongside various other debris such as little pebbles poking through the underside of his sock. The other boot still being on had him standing at an uneven angle. This prompted him to remove it.

“Keep yer eyes open… where are ya, y’shit spittin’ bastard…?”

Aaron's eyes had widened as the kid had run at at him machetes raised. The thought that perhaps this kid was a couple of cows short of a herd suddenly crossed his mind. He wasn't able to think any further along those lines however the noise of what sounded like someone spitting rang out and Tre was halted in his tracks. He wasted no time in sprinting over to his pistol, snatching it up from the ground.

"You got it Sarge,"

In his spare hand he grabbed the machete that had come to a halt by him. Pistol firmly grasped in one hand he knelt next to Tre, tapping the firm substance with the point of the machete, attempting to gauge the strength of the material.

"How's that foot feelin' son?"

Tre inched slowly toward his second machete as his eyes scanned around the road and forest that immediately surrounded it. He couldn’t spot the thing. For a brief moment he bent over to pick up his fallen weapon, only to find himself facing back-to-back with both Colt and Aaron. The three moved back extremely slow. No stone would go unturned until this bastard was dead for good.

“It don’t feel no different.” He remarked softly, after a small pause. Eyes continued tracing. “Whatever it is sticks, but it don’t hurt.” In the silence surrounding them, aside from the sounds of various wildlife and insects sounding off, the labored breathing of the reanimated beast was rather hard to miss. After a few seconds it let off a growl. Then, it launched itself off a nearby tree - As it moved, its camouflage was unable to keep up with its surroundings - easily making its outline visible in the process. It landed on the ground before shooting off and attempting to swipe at Colt’s torso.

The harsh breathing alerted Colt, causing her to raise her rifle and aim towards the noise. But as she watched… the tree moved? What was going on? Before the woman could react, the Thing lunged, causing the woman to jump back with a few loud profanes. The veteran, in her panic fired a few shots in the general direction of the Thing, whether or not she hit it, Lord only knows.

One bullet missed. The other two struck the zombie; one in the torso, the other in the shoulder. This did not slow it’s progression whatsoever, as it’s attention had been completely turned to Colt. It moved to pursue her, lunging forward with a single claw in attempts to sink it’s abnormally large nails into the neck of the girl. Tre, on instinct, saw its pursuit had continued and got in the way of its strike. He slashed downward to lop off the hand of the zombie, the camo of which worn off as the dismembered limb flopped onto the floor. It continued to wiggle, but its color was completely gray now. It was easy to see. Tre stomped on the hand, breaking the bones in its extremities further before whipping around his body and sending a heel into the zombie’s chest, pushing it back.

“Git in the truck! NOW!”

The zombie fell back into a roll, regaining its composure relatively quickly and ejecting a thin string from its mouth in retaliation. The string hit Tre’s torso, then wrapped itself around his arms so that he was unable to move. As quickly as he had been hit the spit continuously spun around him as though he were a spider’s prey. It was a very short window of time before the bottom of his neck to his hips were completely covered and rendered useless. However, this attack wouldn’t last long.

Aaron pulled the tire iron from his belt loop, brandishing it in his right hand. He raised his pistol, letting off 2 shots in the Creature’s direction, before sprinting towards his Humvee. Whatever this thing was, it was a hell of a lot more dangerous than the shamblers he’d encountered so far. He swung round before reaching the Humvee, having closed the distance somewhat, and fired another round in the Creature’s direction.

In response, the zombie had to cut Tre loose. On the move as a result of the constant fire, the zombie ducked into the trees again and became untracable. While the string was no longer connected to Catelyn’s deceased corpse it was still impossible to escape from. Tre took a seat on the ground as he was completely unable to walk at this point.

“Get the truck warmed up, I’ll try and keep our new pal occupied,”

Most definitely a job for Colt at this point. Tre chuckled at the notion of him being any use at this point. Had he been alone, he would have been long dead. Not but a second later, the zombie reappeared - launching itself from a tree and landing on top of Aaron’s Humvee. Then it began mercilessly banging on the top of the truck, slowly denting it inward as it continuously stomped at the steel before hopping off of it with the intention of landing on Aaron.



Interactions: Brax Rumble Fish

 

[Corgi]

​

As Aubrey’s hand outstretched towards Nile, the sound of wood snapping caught her attention. At first, she thought it was a squirrel or bird somehow breaking a branch, but as she looked up- she felt her stomach twist. Those Things… what seemed like hundreds of them stumbling towards the two. The watery, pale eyes lolling in their head, the grey tongues dangling from their mangled jaws, or lack thereof. She couldn’t look away. She couldn’t move her legs, her mind was held hostage by the terrors before her.

After the past weeks being stuck in the lodge, she had almost forgotten the horrors that now held the world. How horrific these Things were up close and… Aubrey felt her gag reflex kick in, but she managed to clamp a hand over mouth as they inched closer- The smell was vile.

Move.

The smell was enough to put her brain in gear, the weight of the situation punching her in the gut. She instinctively started to back up as the Things drew nearer.

Nile.

Aubrey immediately looked around, seeing the man booking it for the Barracks. She wanted to follow, but she couldn't bring herself to. The Things were close and if she drew them to the Barracks, who knows what would happen. Dread drilled into her bones as her breathing quickened. She was alone again.

You’ve been alone before. Figure it out.

Her hand clamped around the crowbar, knuckles white from fear. Her other hand taking its place on the rim of her hat.

Look for a way.

The brown, frantic eyes looked back to the lodge, but the doors were already closed. She couldn’t risk everyone’s life for her own. Whipping her head back around, she scanned the forest line, looking for anything. Suddenly, she spot a tree she had used to exercise before. The branches were low and sturdy, at least sturdy enough for her to do pull-ups.

Hide.

She felt her legs itching to sprint, to book it and get away from these monsters… but she was able to suppress the sensation. She hadn’t gotten this far by being careless.

Think of the town.

Yes. She took it slow. After she almost died by running into a mob of those Things, she decided to watch them. They didn't see. They heard. Be quiet and slow- that's all she had to do. Taking a deep breath, she pried her eyes away from the creatures.

Looking at the ground, she found a spot she could move with making much sound and took a steady step, glancing from the ground to the Things to keep an eye on their progress. Even with that little time spent, they were closer than she thought they’d be. The sound of the ragged gurgling and tongues slapping against saliva filled her senses. It was almost all she could focus on. They were so close. Aubrey wanted to whimper. She wanted to fall to the ground and curl into a ball- forget the world like she had for the past few weeks. Go back to the ignorance and bliss she had, being surrounded by people she felt connected to…

But she couldn’t let herself do that. She had to live. She had to find her sister, had to help these people that risked their lives for her- who trusted and cared for her.

Yes. For them.

One foot in front of the other, she pursued her destination. Aubrey couldn’t allow herself to glance behind her. She needed to focus on getting herself safe so she could help the others.

As she neared closer and closer to the tree, she felt the grip on her guts loosen. She was going to be fine.

Crunch.

Aubrey instinctively turned her head around to see a stray Thing heading straight towards her.

No… No-no-no-no.

She did everything she could to keep this situation from happening. She was quiet, she was being ration. Why was this happening?!

Her hand clutched the crowbar in her hand. There was no point in wondering why it was happening. It was heading straight for her and she needed to think fast. If she climbed the tree and made noise, she would be stuck in a tree as this Thing tried to claw its way to her. She couldn’t take the chance.

Casting a glance over the creature, she felt conflicted. Something was familiar. The clothes were too big for its frail frame, it looked like it could be blown away with a gust of wind. Its hair was stringy and blonde, the face having a twisted nose and pointed features…

Aubrey felts her muscles lock in place as an image of a girl entered her head.

Claire.

She knew this girl.

She’s known this girl since elementary school. They never talked to one other, never batted an eye at each other- but she knew her. Through her whole schooling she had classes with this girl, saw her in the halls, and here she was, right in front of her.

Aubrey wanted to call out to her, but she knew what she had become. Every Thing Aubrey had killed up to this point had been just that- a Thing. She had no connection and saw it was a monster-under-the-bed type of deal… But those were people. And this was Claire.

But she was a monster, right?

The once healthy skin now pulpy and decaying- the coagulated blood dripping from her it’s gaping maw. She It wasn’t Claire anymore. Claire had died when she turned into this Thing.

Aubrey took a deep breath. It was either she let this Thing kill her because it was someone she knew, or she kill it to continue living.

“I’m sorry…”

Her voice was shaky like her arms as she grasped the crowbar and swung.

The squishing sound that followed almost caused her to gag. It’s head snapped to the side as the skin peeled back to reveal rotted sinew and tissue now softer than mud. The head slowly rotated back, dangling at a weird angle as ichor dripped down it’s brow. She raised her arms again, taking a step towards it as she swung down with her body this time.

It crumpled to the ground, it’s outstretched claws reaching for her, as if it was begging for mercy.

No time.

Aubrey shook her head and clamped her eyes closed as she swung down. A sharp crack sounded, and when she opened her eyes, the crowbar was lodged deep into the skull. A ghastly image stared back at her and she couldn't help the bile rising in her throat. She managed to keep it down and pull her eyes away from the picture, casting a look towards the hoard that was beating its’ rotten hands against the lodge.

She felt her stomach drop as a couple heads twisted her way. This was it. She had made too much noise. If she was going to die, the least she could do was run. But if she ran now, there was no recovering and finding a place to hide.

Aubrey felt the shaking reach her legs, almost taking her to the ground but she stayed still and standing, trying to quiet her heart that was beating too loudly in her ears.

As the heads slowly turned back to the lodge, she felt relief flood through her. She wasn’t going to die. Not today.

Looking down at the Thing, she wanted to apologize to it again, it felt like it was the right thing to do- but she couldn’t cause any more noise. She needed to stay quiet.

I’ll come back and bury you… I’m sorry.

Letting her eyes linger on the figure’s gruesome scene, she wanted to cry. She did that to her it.

You can’t focus on this right now. You have to save the others.

Taking a short breath, she turned to the tree. Aubrey was about to climb it, hoping to get a better view of the area, but she heard pounding against metal. Confusion took her visage as she turned towards the sound, seeing a Thing beating a truck. At first, she thought maybe an animal snuck under the truck, but she saw figures inside the truck, one she had come very familiar with.

Colt.

Adrenaline pumped through her body. She had to help them. The girl jumped up and down, waving her hands to try and get Colt’s attention. Aubrey figured she could get the Thing's attention and run, give Colt and whoever else time to get out of the car, and when she came back, they could take care of the Thing together. Aubrey could handle running away from one thing. It wasn't a great plan, but it was all she had. And at the moment, that was good enough for her.

Mention: Togy (Nile) and Rumble Fish (Colt)

 

[Maj]

​

Warren watched Owen plop himself down and took a glance out the window. A large portion of the inhabitants presently here had gone outside to do some shooting. The days were getting colder and darker at an exponential rate now. The moon crept onto the scene sooner and sooner with each passing of the sun. There was still ample time to enjoy the sunshine today, but Warren took a seat across from the other man. A thought flickered through his mind, "Actually," he rose just as soon he landed on the cushion, "Do you want some coffee?"

“That sounds awesome,” Owen said gratefully. Andy had been known to bring a rare cup up over the passing days, however that was before the power was back on and the coffee had been less than ideal. The twin gave Warren a warm smile before moving his hand to the back of his head to scratch it sheepishly. Truth was, he could do for something stronger than coffee but Hector was already going to string him up from the rafters when he got back. There was no reason to give him more reason to lecture him. He gave the girls each a pleasant wave as they walked by him in the living room.

“Actually, you don’t happen to smoke do you?” Owen gave a sort of sheepish shrug. He had gone from a pack a day smoker to being almost two full weeks without one. It would have been easy to quit, but the taste of the smoke he shared with Luca earlier had reignited his desire for them. Warren was turning out to be more kind than the red head had anticipated. He had kept to himself and oozed ‘do not fuck with me’ vibes. However, it would have been far easier to let him face plant than it was to go out of his way to help him, not to mention he had no obligation to bring him anything.

The coffee maker was already on and ready to go, fortunately. Warren retrieved two ceramic cups from the cabinet and filled them up with the bitter black substance. "Hope you don't mind it straight." His index fingers wrapped around the handles like hooks and carefully transported the drinks to the seating area. They were brought down before the table by his fists which made them look like childish tea party arrangements in comparison. One was set before the handicap and the other was kept in hand as he took a seat.

"I do smoke.. In fact I'm down to two.." He brandished the two well kept cigars and held them in thought for a moment. The hesitation made it quite obvious that he was weighing the option of saving the last one for himself, but with a brisk motion, he reluctantly set it beside Owen's coffee. "Have you ever smoked one of these?" A small device was pulled out that looked somewhat like a guillotine and it was used to snip the mouth-end of his log.

Owen picked the mug up off the table and took a careful sip of the scalding liquid. It was dark and bitter, which led him to believe that it was the remnants of the pot his sister had made before she left to the University. The girl loved strong coffee and he didn’t really see her getting up before dawn without it. The younger male gave Warren a wry smile as he placed the cigar down on the coffee table. This dude was like a walking stereotype.

“Yeah man,” Owen assured him. “I know what a cigar is. Thanks.” Gingerly, the redhead picked up the wrapped item. It had been a long time since he had smoked one. The last time might have been when Bert had his kid. Owen had always preferred cigarettes, but in the apocalypse beggars couldn’t be choosers. He held the cigar out to Warren so he could cut his as well.

“So what’s your story?” the twin asked his larger counterpart. “I’ve been in Aurora all my life. It’s not a very large town, I think I know almost everyone that lives here, but I don’t think I know you. I have a good memory for faces, and a big dude like you is not likely something I would forget.”

Warren leaned forward to snip the man's cigar and followed up with opening a pocket to remove a lighter. It was the typical squarish shape with the flip top, plated with a silver finish. He gave it a flick of the thumb and brought the flame to the end of the cigar, giving it a few puffs and rotations to get a uniform burn.

"My story? I'd be surprised if you had seen me around, honestly." Warren sat back in his seat once more to get comfortable and tossed the lighter, after closing it, to the red head. "A secluded lifestyle like the one I was living, doesn't allow for much face time with the locals. Before this, my ass was doing time in the pen. What about you?" A puff of smoke seeped from his nostrils as he eyed the man across from him.

That definitely peaked Owen’s curiosity. He was pretty well versed in most of the crime circles in Aurora, depending on when Warren went in Owen would be surprised if he hadn’t at least followed Warren’s case, or at the bare minimum had heard about it. The boy raised an eyebrow as he flicked the lighter to life and ignited his own cigar.

“Honestly? I’m surprised I wasn’t locked up with you. I worked for Luca for a while and then Bert and Ernie after. I have a habit of running with less than desirable circles. Dumb luck has saved my neck more than I care to admit.” He pulled the cigar from his lips as he exhaled, sighing in relief at the prospect of finally having the nicotine back in his system.

“But none of that matters now I suppose,” Owen admitted. There was a touch of bitterness to his tone. He thought back to his conversation with Luca the day before and shook his head. Maybe Andy had been on to something that whole time. It didn’t matter what people were like before the world changed, they were all survivors now. It didn’t surprise him, his sister was often more intelligent than he was.

"Oh yeah?" Warren replied to Owen between drags of his cigar, "You don't really seem like the type to be meddling with those kinds of people.. Not that you're not physically capable of handling shit.. You seem pretty able bodied to me, when you're not broken." He gave Andy's brother a cheeky grin.

“When I’m not broken,” Owen agreed with a smirk.

Warren hadn't actually sat down and talked with many of the residents for an extended period like this. It was always Tre, who was nevertheless, good fun to talk to, but didn't provide another manly presence that Warren could kick the shit with and talk about grown up stuff. There was a lot about this guy that intrigued the larger man and pushed him to inquire further.

"In the dirty business, dumb luck falls on everyone at one point or another. Good or bad, that's what it's all about. High risk, high reward. I've had my fair share of shit storms and calm seas. It's not for everyone and I've known more people that died or went to prison than got what they wanted out of the lifestyle and disappeared." He took a moment to pause and take a few long puffs of his tobacco, "That's what it's all about though, right? Fuckin' get knee deep in the muck, wade through that shit, and run for it when you get to the other side.."

The man leaned forward in his chair and grabbed a bowl across the table, pulling it between the two of them. A few taps of his cigar dropped a small amount of ash to the bottom of the plastic dome and he sat back in the seat once more. "Andy's your sister, right? The cute one with hair just like yours?"

Owen raised an eyebrow at the comment. Warren seemed alright once he started talking, but anyone curious about his sister always put him on the defensive. There was no way to tell however, Owen kept the same cheesy grin.

“What you can’t see the family resemblance?” he asked with a touch of playful sarcasm. “She’s my twin. We were born less than five minutes apart.” He scratched the back of his head and gave the man a sheepish smirk. “But obviously she ended up with all the brains. Andy’s a good kid, sorta mean and rough around the edges but I’ve never met anyone else I’d rather have around in a bad situation.” He thought back to the raid, and how no one else had stepped up with any sort of plan. Andy had made all the hard calls, and even though it had ended up with him on his back for a few weeks, Owen knew that he would do it again if she asked.

“There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.”

"That's cute." Warren responded to the man who was obviously speaking from a deep part of his heart, from his profound love for his sister. But there was no true understanding of the feelings Owen expressed because they had never been felt by Warren on that level. The best answer he had was to poke fun and almost seemingly dismiss it altogether.

"I do admire your bravery and conviction to stand up for what you believe. I think you just need to be careful about how willing you are to lay your life down for just anybody. Can't afford to lose someone who can actually get shit taken care of, eh?" His tone changed from a light hint of edification back to the careless monotony of his typical prosody. The man cleared his throat and took a sip from the cup before him. The extra warm liquid soothed his throat as it went down, leaving a comforting pool of heat that could be felt from the bottom of his stomach to the aftertaste that lingered in his mouth. The beverage was set down onto the table where it previously had been and he brought the cigar back to his mouth with the other hand.

“Then what’s the point?” Owen asked seriously. He held his own coffee cup in one hand, balancing the white ceramic mug on his knee. “I’m put to better use protecting who can’t protect themselves than I would be chopping trees or swinging bats. If we can’t take care of each other, then there is no point to any of this.” The redhead pulled the cigar up to his lips to take another long drag, letting the smoke fill his lungs before slowly seeping between his parted lips. The bottom of the cup was leaving a brown ring on his jeans where some of the spillage was pooling in the tattered denim. They hadn’t won their fight against the hazmats because they outnumbered the soldiers, or because they out gunned them. The reason that the lodge was still standing was because many people like him, were willing to risk their lives for the good of everyone.

“The world was full of people only concerned for themselves long before any of this shit started. The only way we survive is by staying together.”

As if on cue, loud voices could be heard from outside. Owen went to rise, as if on instinct but winced at the sudden movement. His hand instinctively went to his ribs causing coffee to slosh over his hand. He fell back down onto the couch with a soft grunt. Sadly, he was still in no shape to be fighting any battles. The redhead gave a nod to Warren to assure him that he was alright and urge him to check on the others outside. With Luca and Andy gone, he wanted to ensure everyone outside was safe.

Collab: TheTreForce
Mentions: Brax shadowz1995 FireMaiden Rumble Fish

 

[Brax]

The party of four soon found themselves traversing from the girl’s dorm room. It had been laid out almost exactly as Luca had imagined it would be. He spent very little time examining each corner, however, the idea of the type of person that Andy was before the outbreak made him recollect how she had acted around the time the group had arrived at the lodge initially. In such a short amount of time, she had grown far in a far more preferable manner than her former self was on track to be. Especially given the shape of her dorm room.

The man lit a cigarette as he walked. Leaving a small cloud of smoke in his wake, Luca reached a hand out to push a metal bar in, opening one of the cafeteria doors. The man entered and made it about two steps before he instinctively lifted a hand to cover his nose. His fingers batted the burning cigarette out of his lips in the process. With this came a small cough, followed by a gag that was rather well-hidden. In the middle of the floor was a half-eaten corpse. Its face had been mangled beyond recognition. This prompted the Italian to speak out loud, to no one in particular as he bent over to pick up his smoke.

“If aged frozen chicken patties were laid between two buns made of dogshit, I imagine this is the stench it would birth.”

Peeking out from around Luca and looking at the corps Vanessa let out a low whistle of amazement. "Poor sod looks about as bad as the last time the bear got out o' the cage n got to someone." She said, her tone low and morbidly amused.

The doctor strode passed the onlookers, knife drawn and positioned himself over the head of the corpse. He made sure there were no other threats before kneeling down and with a well-practiced hand, slicing open the mouth from cheek to cheek, rendering it impossible to bite down. "Grizzly bear attacks tend to be worse than this. They have a tendency to try and eat their prey alive." His muffled voice declared from behind the gas mask. Hector had personally operated on those fatally wounded by animal attacks in the past.

"Oh, good. We can rule out the idea that a fucking grizzly bear is running rampant in the school."

With the zombie's main weapon gone, it could be easily ignored, since its arms seemed unresponsive. "Let's keep the talking to a minimum." He ordered. "Someone is keeping the power in this place running and there is no guarantee they're friendly."

"You're right, Yuri, he is a spoilsport." Vanessa said in a whimsical manner as she looked up at the ceiling, her arms crossed behind her head.

“Who the fuck is Yuri?” Luca asked seriously, turning his head back to face the woman with an eyebrow extended. Perhaps her time alone had driven her into insanity, over the past few months.

Vanessa glanced back at her savior as the joy drained from her face all at once, leaving behind a baleful gaze. A grin stretched back across her face, but did not brighten the rest of her expression. "Do ya want the truth, or somethin’ funny as hell?"

Hector then turned his towering frame towards the newcomer and addressed her, "If push comes to shove, jump on my back or into my arms. You'd be a liability on your own with that leg. I'm strong enough to carry you without much discomfort." Again, Hector wasn't saying that with spite or scorn but as a simple, matter-of-fact rule that he expected her to follow. The woman tilted her head to the side as she looked at the behemoth of man before her. She seemed to consider his words for a moment before responding with a true smile this time. "Well I wouldn't want to be a liability. Very well sir, I shall do as you say."

He responded with a curt nod of acknowledgment.

“Last thing we need is Hector’s head to blow up bigger than it already is.” Luca warned in response to the woman. Hector did a fine enough job gassing himself up.

The doctor cocked an eyebrow at the boy but ultimately dismissed it with a minor shrug of the shoulders. If the boy wanted to interpret simple fact as "bragging" then by all means. It's not like anyone here could refute Hector's words.

He wondered whether he should mention that the chances of her being left behind should she become a liability were high. Given that her only three options of salvation were not altruistic by any extension of the imagination. As it was, Hector had a feeling that Luca saved this woman on a whim.

“Oh my god,” Andy hissed. Her emerald eyes rolling skyward. “How is it that none of you are able to shut your fucking mouths?” She had remained silent until now. While her companions had bickered like children, she had been using her time more productively. Couldn’t they hear the sounds of movement in the hall just on the other side of the cafeteria? Her bow was already drawn as she shoved past them.

The cafeteria wasn’t a threat to them, other than the assault to their nostrils from the smell Luca had so eloquently described. The swinging doors were shut, and as far as she could see there was nothing on their side of them that was an immediate problem. However once there was a moment of silence it was easy enough to tell that she was correct in her assumption that there was trouble waiting just on the opposite side of those doors. It was also the most direct path to the Lab. However, this run wasn’t just about medical supplies. The Lodge was in desperate need for food. Andy knocked an arrow and kept her eyes and bow focused on the door in the event that the group’s mindless chatter had already tipped the corpses off to their location.

“Grab whatever non-perishables you can easily carry and lets get the fuck out of here,” the girl hissed. They would have to deal with the zombies eventually, but it would be easier to loot the cafeteria without interference.

Luca removed the smoking cigarette from his lips briefly to stare intently at the female. Sure, she hadn’t been in quite the position to look back at him, but the Italian sure hoped the woman felt his gaze burning through the back of her head. She was correct; it hadn’t been the time to continue bickering about when the group was unsure of what lurked just past their field of vision. However, his rage knew no bounds. That being said, this only delayed the inevitable spanking that Andy would most likely be receiving once they got back to the lodge. Or, hell, even in the clear for that matter.

“Hold this.” Luca cooed, whistling to grab Vanessa’s attention before tossing the bag full of food that was on his back. She might have had a busted leg, but he knew that he was in a better position to defend her than vice versa. He then looked over to Hector who had been busying himself about before defaulting back to Andy, who had been watching the door for any signs of movement. Absentmindedly, the man held his rifle down at one hand as he walked over to the doors that Andy had been watching. He looked back over to Andy before pointing at the door with one of his thumbs.

“Are you worried about this, Andrea?” The man asked loudly, his bored expression being complemented by half-open eyes as he waited for her facial expression to turn.

Andy knew what was happening long before Luca opened his mouth. It was the same moronic behavior he had shown when he had been ready to storm the front doors of the hospital, with chaotic smile wide across his face. She gave another characteristic roll of her eyes.

“Considering every time you decide to get into a dick measuring contest with death-”

Luca lifted his foot and smashed it into the metal bar, forcing the door open. On the other side, a horde of zombies turned their heads collectively to the sound of the large metal frame opening. This was followed by the man lifting his gun up and holding down the trigger, until the automatic rifles’ clip was completely empty.

Interactions: Maj shadowz1995 TheMightyRedLemon

 

[Rumble Fish]

Aaron let out a growl of anger as the creature leaped on top of the Humvee the metal bending under its relentless assault. He raised his sidearm.

"Oi asshole. Get the hell off my ride,"

He only managed to get a single shot off as it lept towards him. The fucker was strong that much was clear, if it grabbed a hold of him, he was royally screwed. Clearly it was fast as well, a veritable double whammy. Guess he had to try and wrong foot it. Instead of scrabbling back out of its way, he dropped his pistol and stepped forward, swinging the tire iron for a home run, the creature's head being the ball.

The few bullets that had been aimed in the zombie’s direction hit, but none of them fatal. Its movements hadn’t slowed in the slightest. While the two were aiming at the beast in the form of ‘spraying and praying’, these tactics were clearly not working. The zombie had moved to swipe at Aaron but missed; instead opting to grab him by his clothes and toss him over the hood of the Humvee before redirecting its attention back at Colt to attack.

Colt continued her war-dance like attempt to escape the Thing’s scuttled attempts at attacking. Taking out her handgun, she fired towards it. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Aaron and Tre. There was no telling how powerful this Thing was, given its uniqueness.

“Git! In!” She barked, “Git out of here! I’ll handle it!” She snarled at them, more authoritarian than malicious or demanding. It was better that the two of them escaped than all three of them die to this Thing. In the side of her worse eye, she spotted a jumping figure and had to move back, able to see both them and the Thing at the same time. The blonde-haired woman in the red cap caused the veteran to briefly pause in disbelief. What was she doing out here?

“How am I ‘posed to do that?!” Tre growled angrily. His appendages had all been tied together by the substance the zombie had spat out previously. He had just been sitting on the ground without a way to move. As the easiest target, he wondered why it was that this unique zombie hadn’t worked on finishing him off yet.

“Aaron! Grab him! GO!” She turned back towards the Thing, it was still moving erratically, preventing her from getting a proper shot, “Ho! Ugly!” She stopped shooting, now tracking it, gun up to the face and staring down the nozzle as it faded in and out of view. She had its general location. But getting an accurate shot was almost impossible unless it slowed down, but then it would be camouflaged again. It was a hopeless situation.

“Rollin’, rollin’ rollin, keep movin’ movin’ movin’...” she mumbled tensely, a nervous tic of hers, as far back as Bootcamp.

Aaron pushed himself up off the ground, letting out a low grunt as he clutched at his ribs. That was going to a nice bruise in the morning. He half jogged, half stumbled his way over to Tre, sliding to a halt next to him.

“Right come on bud, no time like the present,”

He began tearing at the weblike substance that had him confined, moving to prise it away with both his hands and his tire iron. He kept on flicking his eyes up, keeping an eye on the Creature’s presence and Colt’s.

In a flash, Aubrey was by his side, gloved hands tearing at the matter alongside his, “What is that Thing? I-I mean, I’ve seen Things before but...” She rambled, wide-eyed and glancing back at it while trying to help the boy. There was a first time for everything, but seeing one of these specialized zombies wasn’t on her bucket list. She didn’t even know they existed up until this point. She could’ve lived her whole life, however short-lived it may be, not knowing about these genetic-hybrid-monstrosities, but here she was. Aaron grinned at the new arrival as she mucked in.

“No idea, but it ain’t friendly and it can take a hell of a beatin’. Whatever it is, it has no place in bein’ on God’s green earth,”

“SHUT UP ‘N GET THIS SHIT OFFA ME!” Tre yelled, still forcibly immobile.

Allowing her to continue tearing off the webbing he grabbed his pistol once more. He’d lost track of his shots, but he was definitely running low now, time had come to put the bugger down for good. He flicked the safety off and rose up from his squat, his finger resting against the trigger guard. His eyes narrowed, slowly roaming over the undergrowth and thicket.

“Come on you slippery bastard…”

BANG.

Aaron’s finger pulled back on the trigger. His last bullet exited the chamber, spiraling through the air before lodging itself in the middle of the zombie’s forehead. It’s camouflage ability flickered out as its body dropped lifeless to the floor, ceasing all movement. Tre’s eyes opened wide as he kept fixated on the sight, waiting for the woman’s corpse to move. However, it provided him closure in the way of its lost conscious.

“... You did it?” The boy asked, half in bewilderment.

The bang tore through the forest, causing Colt to stop on the spot. She looked to the dead Thing on the ground, finally getting a good look at it for the first time since it attacked. Catelyn. The veteran glared down at what once was the woman. Anger pulsed through her veins as she thought about what she had done; deceiving them and even beyond death, trying to kill them. The only consolation was that she hadn’t been the one to pull the trigger. The veteran hacked, spitting into the hole that was on what was once the Thing’s head. With a sigh, she turned from it.

“C’mon.” She spoke to nobody in particular, “Let’s just grab this shit and go home. I need a drink.”

Featuring: RayPurchase (Aaron) Brax (Tre) Corgi (Aubrey)

 

[Meredith]

​

--------------- A RECAP---------------
Aderyn had returned to her room to pack her things shortly after breakfast.

Milly was nowhere to be found, which pleased her, as she wasn’t one for awkward goodbyes. She’d made her peace with visiting Owen during the week. He was getting better, and she was glad for it, but had no intention of telling him where she was going. The man had made it very clear that she shouldn’t be going out to retrieve things on her own. Luca was a different story. Aderyn knew, logically, that if he cared at all he would know that she could take care of herself.

Stuffing most of her blankets into her backpack, she stared at Milly’s bed, and the blanket she’d offered the other girl. After a moment of deliberation she decided to leave it there. If what she had wasn’t enough - well, she’d find something.

If she didn’t make it home, then an extra blanket wouldn’t help her anyhow.


Without further ado, she tightened the straps of her backpack, and zipped up the ninja turtle coat Owen had given her. She quietly left the lodge, stuttering out an excuse to Cletus when he asked her to shoot with him, circling around him in a wide berth to leave. And so began the long trek back into Aurora.

Aderyn did nothing to shorten the trek. She looped back often, checking for followers, and dove down into the snow or bushes when she heard a noise. The last thing she wanted was to be spotted, and for the most part, she was successful. Occasionally she needed to move around hordes - especially once she entered the city - but her lack of a loud vehicle seemed to keep her from being noticed. She had only one goal, and stopped when she reached the street, staring at it from a distance. Her fingers were numb.

The Hello Corner Store sat surprisingly undisturbed in the chaotic, tangled mess of bodies littering the streets. Apart from a few bullet marks - which could only be expected - the store seemed to be fully intact and untouched.

Aderyn was exhausted from days of travel. Home was a welcome sight, even though nobody was there, and the girl tried her best to ignore the aching of her arms and legs as she climbed up the roof access ladder. Her bedroom window - no screen - was still open just a crack, the way she had left it. She pried it open with her fingers, then pushed it enough to crawl inside.

Her room, too, seemed to have been frozen in time. The lack of noise - from traffic or the store below - was unnerving. The zombies did not take this from me. In fact, they may have improved my life. But.. it doesn’t feel that way.

She closed the window behind her. The house was cold, but not quite as cold as outside, and she hoped it would warm up as she worked. Sitting down on the bed, she spilled the contents of her backpack onto it, untangling her belongings from her blankets and making the bed. Leaving everything but her gun behind in the bedroom, she crept downstairs, intent on finding something to eat.
It wasn’t exactly difficult to do so. The corner store was very close to the middle school, and it was unlikely that survivors would be eager to visit it. There wasn’t much shelf-stable food at any point, but she managed to scrounge up a dozen or so cans of soup and a couple more of tomato sauce. She ate her soup cold, barricaded her bedroom’s door and window, and went to sleep.

Aderyn spent about a week in the corner store quietly organizing usable materials and foodstuffs from the store and house and relocating them to her bedroom. She ate as little as she could to keep her energy up, but she felt invigorated; for the first time in the last two years she felt like she was being useful to somebody.

When she was ready to leave, she loaded up a sled from the small garage, using the reins as a way to pull it. She filled it with essentials - some food, soap, deodorant - and pushed it out the front door before locking it and exiting the way she had come in. And so, the walk back began.

--------------- TODAY ---------------
The front of the lodge had been a sight for sore eyes - even if she couldn’t see it much in the dark.

Aderyn had pulled the sled up to the lodge, parking it on the porch, and let go of the string. ADRYN was carved into the wooden toboggan - spelt wrong, but close enough - and she assumed that the others should know who it was from. She spent the night out in the woodshed, not quite willing to speak to the others yet, and when she finally woke up it was because of a remarkable amount of noise outside. She rubbed her eyes, grabbed her pistol from its spot beside her, and slid off the wood pile with a thump. If she could get inside, the lodge would be a lot warmer, but she had to make sure everyone was alright first.

 

[Hyped_Taco]

Michael Schmidt
(Image of Michael I was too lazy to include)

When Michael approached Leliana, he believed his plan had worked, she has not said anything when he approached her after having destroyed that piece of meat that Tre had been working for the last few hours and that he would get out of this one with no consequences. But then he realized that she just went into shock for a few seconds when she asked: "Micheal, did you not realize we could see you?" This caused Michael to go into shock for a few seconds as well due to having been seen, only being able to respond "I uhhhh...Perhaps?".

But only did he go into total panic once she told him he should consider himself lucky that the piece of meat should be considered salvageable cause if not she would shot him. This caused him to sweat a lot and to stay on his place without moving, and although he knew the Nurse kept on berating him he just stopped paying attention. The only words he manager to hear tho was to have him Run in laps and then shot him in the legs which just Made things even worse.

He then saw that other dude, Rolph maybe? Approaching, the only thing he knew was that he was a nice doctor so Michael thought he was coming there to save him from the fury of the nurse "See that tree over there?" The man said to Michael "Uhhhh...yeah?" The neckbeards responded "See the bullseye? "yeah I see that, pretty cool tho" Michael only to realize the doctor hasn't finished his speech yet "That was me. And you're a much larger target than that. Don't test me, boy!" Well shit, he was there to berate him as well. The doctor proceeds to poke Michael's fat with his cane which just Made him uncomfortable. The neckbeards proceed to ignore most of the doctor's speech as well until he heard something that he actually cared about. Ralph had a note from Jenna to him but he would only give it if he did not rat for 2 consecutive days. Now, this was blackmailing if he had ever seen any, but what was he gonna do now? Call the police, go to court for It maybe?, His only option left was to comply with his demands.

And just when he thought this day could not get even worse for him, Leliana began to push him into the lodge, what were they going to do now? Even more berating now?. But It took him just a few seconds to realize why she has pushed him, inside… zombies. They have just destroyed their defenses as if they were nothing, just as if the zombies were Ottoman soldiers destroying the walls of Constantinople in 1453.

Michael ran upstairs into the room where he had left his katana. Now feeling prepared for this new siege he grabbed his M1911 and began to shoot a few zombies through the window, either failing all His shoots or managing to hit the zombies in non Lethal areas. With his own ammunition mostly depleted Michael said "...shit"

 

[The Mad Queen]

Fisher saw the dead approaching and moved his hand towards his belt, reaching for his pistol. He glared at Leli when she ordered Michael to help him get inside.
"Please no, anyone but him." He muttered. A tiny bit of relief washed over him when Michael just pushed past him and went upstairs. At least now, he only had to deal with the dead.
He unloaded three shots into the oncoming horde, downing three with precise headshots. However, two more took their place as they moved through the trees, the snapping of twigs alerting Ralph like alarm bells. He shook his head. The gunfire was making too much noise, for every infected he downed it seemed that another would take their place. In amongst his three shots, somebody blind fired into the horde and didn't drop a single infected. In fact, they came closer to hitting Ralph himself. A few inches to the left and one of the bullets would have struck him in the back.

He glanced up, first in shock in then at anger at Michael when he realised who it was. He would deal with him later.

At least most of the windows were boarded up already, and the set of pikes somebody had set up along the outside of the lodge could prove useful. Both would buy them time, but sooner or later the dead would burst through. Ralph unloaded one more shot, taking out another infected as he limped inside and Leli slammed the door behind him.

"Get in contact with Colt now! They could be back at any moment and we need to warn them." He told the nurse, trying to move a table in front of the door as the dead drew closer. With his injury, it took quite a lot of effort but he just about managed it. "Also, Michael darn near took my head off a second ago." He panted, resting a hand on his knee as he attempted to caress it "We should probably take the thing off of him till he learns to shoot. The man will just keep burning through ammo supplies otherwise."

Interactions: Hyped_Taco (Michael) FireMaiden (Leli),
In area: BloodLightning27 (Shiona), Togy (Nile)

 

[FireMaiden]

​

Every shot that echoed through the November air only added to the lodger's problems. Dead hands best on the side of the lodge, trying to claw their way in the doors, they knew their prey was inside. Bloody handprints stained the wood, the bodies fought against each other for a place as close to the wall as they could get, the went unbothered when the sound of another fence segment breaking caught the lodger's attention. More bodied flooded the yard, adding to the already large number, the most recent gunshots had drawn them. They were ready, hungry, not knowing where they were walking but they didn't care. The sound of the other undead surrounding the lodge has their full attention, Aubrey and her retreat went unnoticed. To many bodies were packed up against the lodge, the new additions to the horde taking over the yard, aimlessly wondering the remaining fence kept them corralled inside, and none of them were leaving as soon as they got there, the party had just started. But something that should be very obvious to every member of the lodge at this point, they shouldn't make a lot of noise.

No. Guns.

The Mad Queen (Ralph) Hyped_Taco (Micheal) Togy (Nile) Rumble Fish (Milly) Maj (Owen/Bethany) Corgi (Aubrey) TheTreForce (Warren) Meredith (Aderyn) ​

 

[FireMaiden]

​

Location: The Jordan Lodge
Interaction: The Mad Queen (Ralph) Rumble Fish (Colt) Hyped_Taco (Micheal) TheTreForce (Warren) Togy (Nile) Maj (Owen)
Mentioned: Brax (Luca) Maj (Andy/Beth)
Nonononono, Leliana couldn't deal with a horde again. Not like this. Not with every competent person away or out of commission, she was spiraling. Anger and panic, hidden behind her hair as she kept her entire body weight against the back door, she had to calm down.nobody would get anything done panicking but Leliana couldn't help it. Ralph had just used his gun outside, Micheal had gone and abandoned what she had told him to do and used his gun, she knew exactly what was going on outside. More of those undead bastards would be invading the lodge and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Her heart was racing, breathing uneven, Leliana didn't if she was going to start screaming or crying, it was Moe's all over again. They were trapped inside their own home. But at least they had Colt on the outside to help.

After a few moments, just after Nile burst in, the nurse finally spoke. "Ralph, you don't use that fucking pistol again, got it?" Leliana's voice was low, an almost growl, the nurse finally looked up. Her face was surprisingly calm, but her heart was pounding in her ears. "Warren, I need you to move something heavy in front of this door, and I need that done immediately. Owen, it might have to be you." She was, of course, talking about the couch he was laying on, but she wasn't expecting the redhead to get up. The windows were boarded, and they would only have to worry about the ones on the porch since they were the easiest to get to. "I'm going to call Colt. Nobody uses a gun, grab a knife or something you can get through the slits of the window boards. We don't need more undead wandering around out there."

She didn't realize just how hard she was pushing against the door until she moved away and her hands felt weird. Like she had been white knuckle gripping the steering wheel for an hour, but Leliana couldn't just stand there. Grabbing the walkie talkie she had left on the kitchen counter, the nurse hurried upstairs, her first stop the room Micheal was in. "Downstairs, now. If that sword can actually cut, use it for zombies that get to close to the windows, I know a blade can fit through the boards. And if you use that gun again, I'm going to use you as bait. Give it to Owen." She waited for him to go downstairs, before moving on to Nile. "Don't use your gun, but stay up here and keep an eye on them. Update us if anything changes." And last but not least, her final stop, her and Beth's bedroom.

She needed her bat, and for some reason, it was upstairs. But it would give her a moment to think. This was a mess, an absolute mess. She should contact Andy or Luca...no. They were doing something important and Colt was closer. They were safe enough inside, and the people who were still able-bodied could hold their own for a while until help arrived. Grabbing her bat, Leliana sighed. They would be fine, she had to believe that. The nurse didn't, to many different thoughts and fears of death scurried through her thoughts, but she didn't have time to dwell, she was already on her way back downstairs. "Hey Colt, it's Leli." Leliana pushed the call button about halfway down the stairs, "The lodge is surrounded by zombies, a horde. I have an idea, but first off, please tell me you have that truck."

 

[Rumble Fish]

Placing her hands on the bonnet of the truck, Colt took in several deep breaths to steady herself. This seemingly simple mission had taken a turn, and it was disturbing her in the mind. Simply abandoning the truck and locking herself in her room with the company of a six-pack and one- no a couple of bottles was the only solution she could come up with. Unfortunately, stupidity was not a luxury the veteran had. Leaving them alone would only cause more chaos. With a sigh, the woman drank deeply from her flask, the corner of her eye catching Aubrey. Eyebrows lowered, she put it back in her pocket and approached the younger woman. Aubrey sat on the ground, hands still piercing away at the odd substance covering the boy, frantic eyes quickly looking up to catch Colt’s.

"Aubrey, what the fuck are ya doin’ out ‘ere?” She put her arms akimbo. Her voice desperately trying to be assertive or angry, but with a tired air as if she was about to fall asleep on the spot, “Y’could’ve been killed!” Aubrey’s voice, on the other hand, was steady but a higher pitch than it usually was.

“I… Uh, yes. I-I could’ve been.” The girl’s brows creased as she glanced back at Tre’s form, still tearing off the material, either as a way to see what she was doing, or more likely- to avoid Colt’s stare, “I got stuck. I didn’t have time to get to the lodge without putting others in trouble so… Better one gone than all.” She explained. It wasn’t exactly the truth but it wasn’t necessarily a lie either.

“Get to the-?” Eyebrows raised at her response, “Aubrey what are ya-?” her question was interrupted by a whoop as Aaron was standing over the corpse of what had once been a human. His arms raised high, his empty pistol gripped in his right hand, a coil of smoke still emanating from the barrel.

“WOOO! That’s right, don’t mess with Texas honey,”

“Shut yer face, Jones!” wiry hair whipped around as the veteran glared at the military man, spit flying from the intensity of her tone “She was once a woman. Show some fuckin’ respect!” Granted she had spat onto the corpse, but that was for trying to kill them. Despite her hatred for the woman, she was still a person; somebody’s daughter. Aubrey couldn’t help but send a weary look the man’s way. Glancing down at the body, she felt a pang of nausea. Seeing as she just had the debate over what she did was right or wrong, watching him practically dance over the Thing’s dead body caused the grip on her gut to twist further.

Aaron opened his eyes, remembering himself, a sheepish grin plastered on his face.

“Sorry Sarge, just been a while since a win. I mean I’ve been tryin’ to stay respectful and all that, but hell that there… that was somethin’ else altogether, that’s goddamn unnatural. But I get ya point,” He holstered his empty pistol on his hip. His hands on his hips, slightly defensive as he stood by his Humvee, surveying the dented roof, giving it a rub with his hand.

With a growled response of “Good.” she turned back to Aubrey a hand running down her scarred face, “Look just, uh… I dunno why yer ‘ere but, look. We could use an extra pair of hands to fill the truck. I’m glad yer okay.” The girl gave a nod, still looking past Colt at the body.

“Y-yeah…” Aubrey wanted to say more but expelling the air for one more sentence felt like she would be suffocating her. It already felt like she wasn’t getting enough air, so she left the conversation like that and placed her attention back to the boy. Tre was still sitting on the ground, eyes trained on the unmoved zombie. At this point, most of the shit that had tied him up had been scraped off. He had a hard time believing it went down with one shot; though, if any of their attacks were going to be effective, the boy supposed it made sense that the headshot was the one to do the poor bastard in. Tre recalled a conversation he had with Luca about the stolen truck a few days back. He did mention that a stray woman had made off with the vehicle. Perhaps there was some kind of connection here?

He pushed himself up off of the ground, using the little mobility in his arms he had to scrape off the grime and dirt from his pants. That was about as much fun as Tre was willing to have for one day. After that affair, he found himself rather tired. He raised both of his arms out from his side as hard as he could. His extremities shook as he broke through the last few pieces of web-like spit that had confined his arms to his sides. Then he let out an angered groan.

“I’ont ever wanna live through that shit again. Not never. Next time a zombie spits on me, fuckin’ dome my ass please.” He felt his face get hot from embarrassment, his eyes moving from the ground over to Aaron with a glare. While Tre was appreciative for the help, he was waiting for the motherfucker to say something about what he had just said.

“I doubt any of us do, son.” The melancholy alcoholic breathed before turning to everyone, “Get what’s in the truck into the Hummer. It’s lost. We need the stock more than the truck. Git goin’!”

Aubrey pulled herself off the ground, about to oblige the directions given before muttering, “Uhm… The lodge is pretty, er… surrounded by these Things. Taking a car may be too loud.” It was a matter-of-fact statement, one she figured the rest here already knew.

“THERE’S WHAT?!” Just as she cried, her radio buzzed and she could hear Leliana on the other end, “Oh fuck-fuck, fuck FUCK! Everyone grab the guns, silencers and ammo! Now!” Pulling out the radio, she listened to the nurse.

“We got a truck. What’s yer plan?”

Featuring: Corgi (Aubrey) Brax (Tre) RayPurchase (Aaron)
Interaction: FireMaiden (Leliana)

 

[Togy]

NILE CRAYMAN
​

"Don't use your gun, but stay up here and keep an eye on them. Update us if anything changes."

"Ye, ill' do itchface'" Nile slurred at a low volume, making it sound like a mumbled whisper. He stood in Owen's bedroom at the moment, his face pressed against the glass to a good look of the yard. Hearing a muffled crack in the distance, Nile turned his gaze to see another section of the fence fall down. Piss poor excuse of a fence, knew I should've made something else. A Viking wall sounded nice Nile thought as he watched zombie after zombie crawl out of the woods. He might as well start taking count.

1...5...11...

CRACK, another section of the fence fell.

14...17...20...

CRACK, another one bites the dust.

23...25...28...

CRACK

32...33...34...

CRACK, the last of the fence fell to the snow with a crunch, leaving nothing but the moans of the dead filling the air as the crunched across tye snow, milling about the yard.

35...36...37...

And they just kept coming out of the goddamn woodwork. This was...this was bad. Like, really fucking bad. Nile was genuinely fucking scared, his breathing becoming a little louder and his hands becoming just a tad bit shaky. Okay, so, if they break in, which they'll do if they hear the slightest peep, than everyone inside will be subjected to a slow and agonizing death. Given, he couldn't give two shits about the stupendous fuckbuckets in the house with him, but the important people, himself for example, could die. Okay, he'll admit he doesn't mind some of them. Like Oscar, they're his dealer of course, and that girl Ally, they showed genuine concern when he felt like shit, and that felt kind of goo-

Wait a minute.

Deciding to head downstairs to report this clusterfuck, Nile headed to the Lodgers down under. Stopping halfway down the stairs, Nile said, in as loud a volume as he dared, "Ere's a' least ree' dozen, more comin'". Looking around the collected the group, Nile asked "an' where's the new blondie?".

In the area: Whoever the hell's in the Lodge I'm not writing all those names.

 

[BloodLightning27]

Shinoa Bradford - Cannibals At The Gate

Before Shinoa could really say anything else, Lelianna had grabbed her and pulled her into the home once more. When she looked back, all she saw was a scattered horde of undead. Perhaps all that gunplay practice attracted the zombies. At the same time, it wasn't like anyone had thought to put suppressors on the firearms. Shinoa didn't either, so she wasn't about to say anything about it. Everything was happening rather fast too. First, she was peacefully re-learning how to use firearms, then Lelianna pointed her gun at Michael and threatened him, albeit justifiably. The fatass was completely and utterly useless from what she saw since coming to the lodge. All he did was raid the fridge and eat vast amounts of food, constantly diminishing their food supply. Before she could really do anything else, zombies began showing up. No doubt the gunfire from earlier had attracted them to the lodge. Before she opened fire on the approaching undead, Lelianna warned not to use firearms as the gunfire would attract more of the undead. Shinoa would then reluctantly holster the gun behind her Jeans in the waistband since she didn't exactly have an actual holster.

Her thoughts quickly turned to Valerie. Hopefully the infant was alright, but no doubt the ruckus had woken the baby up. Shinoa then proceeded to run up the stairs and grabbed the wrist blade that Brian had left behind for her upon leaving. She gave it a nice, long look before putting it on and then concealing it underneath her sleeve and then checking on Valerie. Shockingly enough, the little infant was still sleeping. Then again, the gunfire was outside, so she didn't necessarily have to worry about it waking the little one up. As it was too dangerous, Shinoa grabbed Valerie and quickly made her way back down the stairs to regroup. One of the guys mentioned that there was three dozen infected, which left her a little concerned. Unfortunately, getting close enough to a zombie with her Wrist Blade was too dangerous and the risk of her getting infected was too high, especially since she wasn't a skilled fighter like... half the lodge seemed to be. She cradled Valerie close. "If we have access to suppressors, then we can shoot the zombies. I have a wrist blade, but getting that close to a zombie is too dangerous."

Interactions: Lelianna FireMaiden
Mentions: Michael Hyped_Taco , Colt Rumble Fish , Nile Togy

 

[Maj]

​

The monsters did their best to funnel in through the door, only to be met by the spray of Luca’s bullets. Each shot echoed within the confines of the cafeteria with its repetitive booming noise. Andrea’s instinct was to cover her ears, but her hands were preoccupied with her bow, ready to grab any of the monsters that filtered in and managed to get past Luca’s rather disgusting display of dominance. Since he wasn’t aiming, many of the bullets seemed to rip through the decaying flesh of the monsters, leaving the smell of the cafeteria even worse than they had found it. The doorway soon resembled a splatter painting with splotches of rust and burgundy.

When his clip was empty, the silence that fell over them was almost more deafening than the gunfire. Andy did her best to listen for other signs of life. It didn’t matter that there were none now, the redhead knew that with the amount of chaos Luca had caused, there would be others soon. Her hands shook in a quiet rage and she could feel the heat of her heartbeat in her cheeks. Luca had done a lot of shitty things to assert himself as uncaring in a situation, but he had never done anything so ridiculously reckless.

A million insults threatened to pour from her lips. However, Andy knew that it would be in vain. He had acted the way he had because at the end of the day, Luca Brasi didn’t like anyone telling him what to do. The girl slung her bow back over her shoulder, and walked over to the door that was now held open with a small pile of corpses, shoving past Luca in the process.

“You don’t have to endanger all of our lives just because you agree with me,” the girl snipped. Her voice was icy as she pushed through the door, making sure to step away from the monster’s mouths in the even life still clung to any of them. Hopefully the others had grabbed what they could, because Luca had just assured that staying in this room any longer was a death sentence.

Vanessa fumbled with the bag that Luca had tossed her way for a moment, positioning it on her back and she watched the loud display of aggression from the man. Surely there was a reason for it? She gave a mental shrug before pushing it out of her mind entirely. It didn't concern her in the least, and at the end of the day, she was alive. That's all that really mattered. Limping swiftly through the doors, Vanessa moved about the back cooking area looking for food. Finding a few canned goods in the back, she began to load as much as she could into Luca's bag. "Found some food back ere!" She called out in a low shout, only loud enough to make sure the other three could hear her.

“At one point, there were thousands of kids wandering this campus. I’m almost positive some of them made it out of the middle school or avoided it altogether. There won’t be much more to find. Grab it and keep it moving.” Luca responded as he eyed the barrel of his rifle. The suppressor did a great job at keeping relatively quiet outdoors, but inside it was not much better. For a military-grade attachment, it seemed as though this particular variant was severely lacking.

The Italian would be surprised to find anyone else in the school alive. With the amount of zombies that had seemingly moved about, alongside the near-dissection of a human in the middle of the cafeteria, meant that no one could possibly continue living in such conditions without taking care of business appropriately. Though, it was odd - when Vanessa and himself had both walked in and made their way down to Andy’s room, there wasn’t a foreign body, even among the reanimated, to be found. Why were all these zombies pooling in the same area?

“Something drew them to this side of the building. It wasn’t the body lying here, either.” The man turned back briefly to survey his surroundings once more. He found multiple fast-food establishments; dealing in fried chicken, burgers, sushi and even a pizza place. Luca looked on in disgust for a moment before peering back to the first zombie he had killed, which was a fat slob of a human being at one point.

“Must’ve been all the lard.”

Vanessa came limping back to the group, having grabbed every can she could stuff into her and Luca's bags respectively. "Could have been another person commin through, couldn't it? Like if someone came lookin fer food and ended up getting eaten?" She asked, looking at Luca. "I mean… its possible isn't it? The mortverts attack living things…"

The other’s voices seemed to fade out of focus as Andy left them to finish their work. She was out of the cafeteria now, stumbling over dead bodies with her bow at the ready. If she hadn’t been so worried about causing further noise, irritated mutterings would have escaped through her lips. Instead, she kept her eyes forward and her head on a swivel, checking out the long hallway and rounding corners with caution. Each time she rounded, her arrow pointed before her body did, ready for anything.

It seemed like Luca’s idiocy had done a decent job and drawing most of the nearby dead things to the cafeteria. The only ones left were the two that were clawing at the door to the lab. Whatever was in there seemed to keep their attention because they didn’t even notice as her body squared up only a few meters away. Feather fletching brushed against her cheek bone as she locked the arrow into place. With her target so close she barely had to aim, letting instinct take over she loosed her arrow.

The arrow buried it’s tip into the monster’s temple with a sickening thwack. It crumpled to the ground as she knocked her next arrow. Her arms drew the string back, a motion as natural as breathing. Her second shot landed directly between the eyes. With the groaning of the monsters gone, Andy could hear movement within the confines of the lab. She put her fingers in her lips and let out a short whistle to alert Luca to her whereabouts and walked up to the gore covered wooden door.

Hector rounded up to her left flank with pistol and knife at the ready. He lowered the sight on their current object of interest, giving the red head a quick nod of encouragement.

Luca and Vanessa walked up last, seeing Andy and Hector on both sides of the door ready to tactfully enter. He raised an eyebrow as he watched the two before deciding to cross his arms over his chest. In reality, he wanted to kick the door down and storm in. However, he had a feeling that Andy would have more than likely hung him from the rafters if he had decided to show off again. So he decided to keep his mouth shut and waited for the two to proceed after a short scoff. If the rumbling coming from inside of the lab happened to be another person, chances were relatively high they had a gun. That and they probably wouldn’t be too receptive to the four just storming in.

Andy pulled on her ID badge, the soft whirring of the bungie cord releasing was the only noise between the group. She touched the piece of laminated plastic to the sensor and heard the door unlock. She turned back to Luca and Vanessa with the unspoken warning to be ready. With a slow exhale the redhead opened the door, her other hand already gripped around an arrow.

At first glance, the room appeared to be empty, even if it was in a state of disarray. She knocked an arrow as her eyes fell on the overturned table, breath caught in her throat as the movement of the top of someone’s head dipped just below it. When the figure rose, Andy almost fired her arrow on reflex. The gas mask that covered his face reminiscent of the soldiers who had tried to take her captive and murder her companions.

The yellow suited man, it turns out, was holding something. A giant plastic Coca Cola bottle filled with a strange looking white substance with a white rag coming out of the top was ion his left hand, while a lit lighter was in bis other, pressed close to the rag. Just as they were in the motions of throwing, they stopped, becoming stock still. They stared at the redhead archer for a good second and a half before blurting out one word.

“Andy!?” They said, obviously surprised and confused. Through the black tented goggles of their gas mask, you could see their eyebrows knitted in confusion. The woman paused at her name but did not lower her bow. He didn’t call her Andrea so the likelihood of him being one of the soldiers was growing more slim. There was something familiar about his voice.

“Andy!” They said again, this time more pleasantly surprised. “Don’t shoot, alright? Hold on, the mask is hard to get off, give me a second” the man said, placing his bottle on the ground and putting his hands to the back of his neck where the straps were.

“It’s me, Harriet!” They said before pulling off the mask and pulling down the yellow hood, revealing their frazzled blonde hair and jovial grin. The girl lowered her arrow.

“Professor Hennigan?”

Collab: Brax shadowz1995 TheMightyRedLemon Togy

 

[The Mad Queen]

He nodded at the nurse, watching as she went upstairs. Given he didn't hear a gunshot go off, it meant that she'd spared Michael. The man was the biggest liability the lodge had, but Ralph still didn't want to see him get hurt.
They were down to melee weapons, not his strongest suit by any means. Guns were out of the question completely, but if he used a knife and got grabbed Fisher knew that it would be the end of him. He just didn't have the strength to wrestle himself from their cold, iron grip. He was still recovering, and the lack of a functioning knee wouldn't help matters either.

With the dead clawing at the walls, he had to act quickly. His brown eyes scanned the kitchen, finding a drawer and a large knife presented itself to him from within. His searched through the other drawers, finding a roll of duct tape. With the speed of a man possessed he fixed the knife onto the end of his cane, and tested it by plunging his makeshift weapon through the eye socket of an infected female.

Yanking the "spear" out, he watched as her body collapsed and almost fell over himself as his knee acted up again. Thankfully, he grabbed hold of a table and steadied himself before marching back towards the boarded up window and taking down another infected. With the dead at a distance, and his back against the table to steady himself Ralph got to work against the ever-growing horde.

With his ears alert to any other possible threats, he overheard Shiona talk about her wrist blade. There was no way she could use that thing without getting grabbed, but it wasn't like he could stop her from fighting either.
"Use this." He handed her the roll of duct tape "Attach that thing to something and make a spear. Be sure to keep at a good distance."

With a nod he turned around to face the infected again.

Interactions: BloodLightning27 (Shiona),
In area: Togy (Nile), Hyped_Taco (Michael),
FireMaiden (Leli),

 

[TheMightyRedLemon]

January 21st, 2005 - 9:23 pm
Location: Perth, Scotland: outside city limits.

The bitter cold bit through the emaciated child's thin frame as she ran frantically away from one of the performers trailers of the circus. A man in a long black coat chased after her, screaming profanities in russain, a long knife held in his grip. The young child clutched the the warm loaf of bread to her chest tightly as she ran away, praying to any god that would listen that she would get away. Her weak limbs felt like jelly as she willed herself forward with all the might she could muster, but it was all in vain. The grown man soon overtook her stride and grabbed her by the hair, yanking her backwards, forcing her to look at him.

"Malen'kiy vor!" (Little thief) The man shouted in a gruff voice, tossing the child to the ground by her hair. "Teper' ty zaplatish'! (now you will pay)"

A flash of silver arched threw the air with a quickness as the young girl screamed in pain. A line of blood appeared along the child's forehead and cheek, dragging down across her left eye as the warm substance began to run down her face. Her small hands moved instinctively to cover the wound as she continued to scream, writhing in pain. Blood ran down the blade of the knife as the Russian man raised the knife again, preparing to bring the it back down upon her. A gloved hand gripped the man's wrist, stopping the tip of the blade just befor plunging into her right eye.

"YA uveren, chto etogo dostatochno.(I'm sure that's enough.)" A calm but stern voice spoke to the black coated man. "Voz'mi svoy khleb i ukhodi. (Take your bread and leave.)"

Grumbling, the man straightened his posture, yanking his arm back. He looked to the bread that now lay on the ground and spat on it. "You are lucky Yuri has soft spot for children, Vor!(thief)" he said befor turning on his heel and storming off back to his trailer.

Gloved hands wrapped around the child's tiny wrists, gently pulling her hands away from her eye to inspect the damage. She resisted at first, but was ultimately too weak to put up any sort of a fight against the man. The cut stretched from two inches above her left eyebrow down to her left side jawline. Her eyelid had been cut, but not split open, although it was spasming uncontrollably. The man began to hum a soft tune in an attempt to soothe the wailing child. Her screams and cries had begun to attract the attention of the rest of the troup, with performers and freaks alike comming from various trailers and tents in an attempt to see what the commotion was about. Ignoring the onlookers, the man removed a glove and gently forced her eye open. As he had feared, the eye had a thin slash down its surface. He turned and started barking out commands to the other people gathered. "Bystro seychas. Vozmozhno, my ne smozhem spasti glaz, no ya sobirayus' poprobovat'(Fast now, may not be able to save the eye, but I'm going to try.)"


January 22nd, 2005 - 2:09 pm
Location: Perth, Scotland, outside city limits.

"Good! You are awake. How do you feel?" The man asked in a thick Russian accent. The child did not respond to him, instead raising her hand to her led cheek and eye, now covered in bandages. She then looked up at the man. "It will take some time to heal, although you may never have sight in that eye again. Reznos cut you deep. He is always bad of temper. I do apologize..." he paused for a moment, the child's gaze was still nervously lock onto him. He let out a soft sigh. "My name is Yuri. I am the... how do you say in English.... Ringmaster, of this troupe. What is your name child?"

The child parted her dry, cracked lips to speak, but her hoarse throat made speaking a difficult task. Seeming to have expected this, Yuri handed her a bottle of water, opening it for her. Without a second thought she took the bottle, gulping down the liquid as fast as she could. She sloshed the bottle away from her mouth as she began to cough, choking on the water for a moment due to drinking too fast. Once she caught her breath, she looked back up Yuri. In a weak, cracked voice, she spoke. "V..vanessa... van..essa... Mc...Ulann...."

"Well, little Vanessa, where is you mother and father?" He asked, already fearing the answer. Looking at her, it seemed as though she was malnourished, parhaps even starved. The child shook her head, looking down.

"I see..." Yuri sighed. He would pry no further into that matter for now. "What is your age?" He asked. She held up eight fingers slowly, looking up at him again.

"We can drop you off a the orphanage, but you must promise not to speak of what happened last night. Da?"
Yuri spoke calmly to the child, so he had not expected the look of panic she shot back at him as she shook her head. It seemed to him that she was afraid. Something must have happened to her at the local orphanage, he thought to himself. "Right then, no orphanage eh?"

January 21st, 2012 - 7:30 am
Location: Moscow, Russia, outside city limits.

Vanessa stared at her own reflection in the vanity mirror of the small tent she shared with an 18 year old woman named Natasha. She was kind enough, but understandably avoided eye contact with Vanessa at every opportunity. She had become use to this in the past seven years. The only one who looked at her without sympathy or without looking away was Yuri, after all. She found herself tracing the deep scar along her face with her fingers. Her mix matched eyes stared back at her solemnly. Her left eye had turned gray after the attack so many years ago, but at least her eye hadn't completely lost vision, it had just been slightly blurry ever since. It was still quite hard to loon at, making the left side of her face seem slightly mangled from the jagged scar. The sound fabric rustling caught her attention. Natasha had already left out for breakfast, so it couldn't have been her. Turning to her right to Look at the tent's entrance, she was shocked to see Yuri standing in the tent, holding a small box wrapped in colorful paper. "Happy fifteenth birthday Nessy!" He said with a warm, fatherly smile. I got you a little something. He handed her the small box and waited as she opened it slowly. When the box was uncovered, she looked back up confused.

"It is a colored contact, so that you can look more normal. I know it upsets you, the way others look at your eye. I thought this would make things easier. If you put this in, and use the right makeup, you should be able to conceal the scar just fine. Not to mention, now that you are old enough, it's time for you to take on some more... official jobs here. We cant have a potential performer as young and pretty as you out there with a mangled face eh?"

Vanessa looked back down at the small box in her hands as tears stared to well up in her right eye, threatening to overflow and spill onto her cheek. It was parhaps the most thoughtful gift he could have gotten her. Finally, she thought, she would be looked at as a normal girl, and not as a hideous thing.

Her voice shook as she spoke, the tears now spilling out from her right eye. "Thank you....."

PRESENT DAY:

Vanessa shook her head to clear the memories. She did her best to keep up as she followed Luca after Andy and the tall man in the Gasmask. She had to stay focused on the now.

 

[Meredith]

​

Oh, fuck.

As she crept out of the woodshed, Aderyn stopped to rub her eyes again, taking a deep breath and loading the pistol in her hands. A lot of movement was happening. Not good.

A cacophony of groans filled the air as more of the monsters neared the lodge. They seemed to be coming from the treeline, as if summoned by the sounds of life and gunfire. As their weight pressed against the fence, the wood creaked and moaned in protest. It was a mystery how long it would hold.

SNAP
One of the stakes in the ground buckled and gave, allowing the creatures to filter in, stumbling over each other as the promise of a fresh meal hung over their heads. The icy yard did little to slow their momentum as they shuffled forward into the yard and toward the lodge.

The girl crept forward. It seemed there was a straight shot to the front porch, although there were a lot of… for lack of a better term, undead around. The smell made her gag.
She rifled through her pockets in the shelter of the doorway. A few half-crushed packs of nice cigarettes to keep the lodge going, likely stale. She’d packed a carton onto the sled, although she didn’t know anybody who really wanted to smoke them; they came in plastic and were less likely to get ruined on the walk. An old subway gift card that wouldn’t do her much good now. A medium-sized glass paperweight she’d grabbed for sentimental value - her father had kept it on his desk. A small, squishy dog stuffy that had made her think of Milly.

With a heavy heart, she fingered the paperweight, swapping her gun into her left hand and winding up with her right. She aimed at a piece of fencing away from where she wanted to go - into the lodge.These things didn’t see. They heard.

The glass smashed, disintegrating against the fence, and she watched in front of her as some of the horde seemed to move toward the noise. Others ignored it - why, she wondered? - but she took the opportunity to pace toward the lodge. The walk was excruciating, the horrors right there, but she kept her nerve long enough to open the lodge’s front door.

It clicked closed behind her, and she let out a sigh of relief.

------


There were a lot of people downstairs.
Ralph, Michael, Milly. Bethany. Warren.
Everybody that could use a gun looked to have one.

But Aderyn was not hoping to find herself in close-quarters combat again.
Her intention was to go upstairs and start shooting off the roof. They couldn’t reach her, then, but she could still help. She strode through the kitchen, intent on going upstairs, but her eye caught on the red of Owen’s hair on the couch.
And she halted.

Her mouth opened, and for a moment she stood like that, speechless and wired. Adrenaline was roaring through her veins. She shook her head, shoving her free hand into her pocket, and pulling out one of the packs of cigarettes. “Please don’t be mad, I needed to do something, and I got ammo and some food and cigarettes and soap and-”
Stopping herself, she took a few timid steps towards him, offering him the smokes. “-and I’m going to shoot-” Leli’s orders came through, and the girl paused, considering again. “I’m going to help move the couch and get a kitchen knife.”

Aderyn? Owen had been watching all the chaos unfold, when the child’s small frame had entered the front door. He hadn’t seen her in weeks, and while he had spent most of that time bed ridden the worries of her whereabouts had not missed him. No one had been sure where she had gone, but after all the gunfire at the hazmat raid no one had blamed her for wanting to leave.

“I’ll help you,” he offered, grimacing as he removed his weight from the sofa. The child was going to have a hard time moving it with his giant ass on top of it. He waited until the girl was positioned and then he leaned down and grabbed his end of the couch. It wasn’t heavy, but with his injuries Owen wasn’t dumb enough to try and move it by himself. Especially not with Leli within arms reach.
“Where in the fuck have you been?” His voice was labored as he slid the couch across the wood floor. The scraping of the legs on the natural pine sounded over the sounds of his grunts. He sounded like he was lecturing but more than anything he was just glad to see Aderyn in one piece.

“Variety store,” She countered, pulling the couch towards the door with Owen’s aid, and seemingly considering his question. “Lots of stuff there for us to use. Food, smokes, time to think.” As the back of the couch hit the door, she rifled through the front pocket of her backpack, pulling out a kitchen knife. She kneeled on the seat of the couch and peered through the small gaps in the planks of the door. The pack of cigarettes lay on the couch beside her. “It was nice to be back in the city, actually. Peaceful. At least, if you’re quiet enough to avoid… well, everything back there. Seems like you’ve been less lucky here.”

She wasn’t wrong. The quiet that had fallen over the lodge for the last several weeks was now broken by the sounds of moaning undead. Someone of her size and street smarts probably found it easy enough to traverse through the city with little difficulty. The monsters were easy enough to outnumber if you were quiet and even if the soldiers were still stalking the streets, they had no reason to mess with Aderyn, if they could even find her.

“Out of the frying pan and into the fire, huh?” Owen grunted as he dropped the couch into place. It would help keep the door shut for the time being at least. “Yeah, pretty much.”

Nile’s voice was heard over chaos of the lodge. What was he asking about? Owen’s eyes scanned over the crowd of people in the lodge and he quickly realized where Nile’s worry was coming from. Aubrey wasn’t among them.
“Has anyone seen Aubrey?” Owen asked, mirroring the druggie’s concern. He and the girl had become relatively close over the last two weeks. Aside from doctors, she had visited him the most while he was on his deathbed. If she wasn’t among them, it likely meant that she was still out there with the monsters. The urge to move the couch back and go look for her himself was overwhelming, but even leaning down to grip the sofa once more shot pain through his chest and back.

Aderyn looked over to Owen, exasperated. “No, but we’re sure as hell not going out there to find out if she’s alive or not until we’ve thinned them out. I barely made it here - and if you can’t move a goddamn couch, you’re not suitable to go on some heroic idiot’s rescue mission.”
The girl might have been biased, as she’d never met Aubrey before, but she certainly wasn’t going to open up the lodge’s front door for anything. She gestured to the seat beside her. “If it stresses you out so much, have a smoke and sing kumbaya or something. I’d bet real money we’re more attractive to those things than one person outside, as long as she’s smart enough to stay quiet.” And if she’s not, well, no big loss there.

Owen didn’t like being told what to do by a child, and if it was anyone other than Aderyn he would have likely said as much. Furthermore, he hated that she was right. He was of no use to anyone out there, and he would have to hope that Aubrey was capable of taking care of herself. He didn’t verbally agree, but his shoulders slumped, defeated.

“Aderyn, go get my bat from upstairs.” It came out as a command even if it was more of a request. She was right, they needed to thin the monsters out before anyone could go back outside.

 

[Maj]

​

Like every one before, the chaos came crashing through the quiet morning like a thunderclap. Everyone piled in, Leliana was shouting orders and everything was wrong. The youngster, still on the stool, glanced towards the window and saw the hoard, waving like violent white horses on the sea towards the Lodge. Her flushed face drew cold as she gripped her bear to the point of almost breaking her in half.

“N-no- No! Not again. Not again!” Milly whimpered too low for even herself to hear, frozen as all she could do was watch and pray that somebody, anybody would do something! But they were trapped! Colt and Tre were gone, and Luca, Andy and Hector would be too far to hear any of this! There was no way out!

“Hey now,” Beth cooed. Her eyes were on the room around her, watching as everyone moved in and out of the room with purpose. A firm hand was on Milly shoulder, grounding her. She wasn’t comfortable fighting, and with as many people as there were in and out of the lodge, bustling about the blonde was unconvinced she would have to. Still, long elegant fingers wrapped around the handle of a blade. The kitchen knife would do little to defend them if it came down to it, but she had promised Milly that she would keep her safe. No matter what Beth planned to follow through on that promise.

“It’s just the slow ones now,” the woman assured her. “They will be much easier to deal with. There is nothing to fear.”

The firm but familiar grip on her skinny shoulder stopped the youngster in her tracks. Large and baby blue eyes traveled up to look to Beth’s. Milly hated direct eye contact, it was frightening. Except for Beth. Upon hearing her, Milly turned back to the window. They were advancing; but as the blonde said, slowly.

“They can't run and they can't climb. They can't run and they can't climb…” Milly spoke quietly but firmly on this mantra. They were not like what Rogue had turned to. She had seen them gunned down like fiberglass shells before. It could happen again right? But it could also backfire. Like the saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will not hurt me”, words ingrained into Milly from her school days. It was wrong. But this was different, at least she hoped it was.

“They can't run and they can't climb…”

“Right,” Beth agreed. “Plus look around us.” The blonde gestured to the kitchen that was now filled with adults and makeshift weapons. Undead would find it far more difficult to make it through their lines of defense than thinking soldiers with guns.

“We are safe. Leliana, Owen, Ralph… none of these guys are going to let anything happen to you.” She handed the little girl the knife, placing the sleek handle in her hand and wrapping the girl’s fingers around it.

“You hold onto this for me, I’m going to check on Leliana okay?”

Milly stopped chanting long enough to turn to Beth as she handed her the knife she had been holding, wrapping her fingers around it before letting go. As Beth’s warm grip left and the cold air hit her skin, Milly gulped as she stared at the blade. She had seen people stab the monsters, but could she? She could only respond to Beth with a squeak and a nod before turning back to the weapon. There was something about it. Something familiar. She had seen her mother with one. It was so blurred from a vintage memory but that was clear. Why did she have it? Why was she screaming? And why did everything hurt as if she had fallen down a flight of stairs?

A strange, yet quiet growl fluttered from the girl’s throat as she turned the blade down, stabbing a phantom a few times before looking from the weapon back to the monsters. Maybe it was easy. Her mother had done it. Could she?

A loud bang spiked the girl’s fear back into reality. What happened? With a shake of her sore and damp head, she watched Beth, still shaken but no longer crying. They had gotten out of worse, right?

Beth kept close to the girl, but approached the blonde woman who was calling the shots. Gently, Bethany put her hand on Leliana’s shoulder to announce her presence. Her blue eyes were focused, but she gave her friend a comforting smile.

“What can I do?”

Collab: Rumble Fish
Interactions: FireMaiden
Mentions: The Mad Queen

 

[Rumble Fish]

"The lodge is surrounded, and there's only so much we can do from inside. I need you to use the noise to draw them away from the doors. It will let the able-bodied get outside, and the noise from a truck won't draw as many from the forest as gunshots would. We just need to get outside to actually deal with them, and we can't without a distraction."

Colt thought for a moment, the nurse was right about the gunshots. "We got silencers, and picked up another guy, please don't ask me about it, I'm fuckin' done. But I'll see what we can do. What's the damage? Are they trying to break in? Everyone in?"

Leliana let out a sigh of relief upon hearing the older woman reply. Silencers and another pair of hands would go a long way in clearing the yard out, they just had to make it work. "The fence is down, they completely broke it. And yeah, they're trying to get inside but thank god they don't know how to use doors." She paused for a moment, looking around to do a headcount. "Uh, no. We don't have everyone. Aubrey isn't here, she must be stuck outside. But she's pretty smart, I'm sure she's gonna be okay."

"I have Aubrey." She responded bluntly, " Shes fine. Okay. Here's an idea. We'll rush past, get their attention onto us. We'll use the truck as cover and start shooting, that'll give y'all a chance to get out. I'll send Aubrey to give y'all the silencers. Get everyone ready. We're no' losing more."

"Colt hang on a sec." Leliana moved across the room, making her way to one of the windows out of reach of the undead so she could look outside without worrying. "These things are up and moving around, but they're still decaying. Which means they're gonna be soft, squishy. I know that trust can handle it, all we need is for you to get them distracted. We can't use guns, it's what drew them here, I'm more comfortable with the truck. But, question is, how comfortable are you with running them over?" She paused for a moment in case Colt needed a minute to process. "You don't have to run all of them down, but it would decrease the size of the horde and give us a chance to clear the porch so we could all clear the back yard and any stragglers."

"Leliana, the second one of them fall they are going to turn around and see you and it's game over! There's too many to take out with melee!" The woman snarled into the radio, taking a moment to pause to hear her out. At her suggestion, there was little she could say. It wasn't her truck. But it was them or her community. "Isn't my truck. But... I'll get it done." She hadn't not noticed her seeming authority over the serviceman. With an angry shake of her head, the woman spoke again, "Ya better be right about this!"

"Since it's my plan, if something goes wrong I'll take responsibility, but we don't have the supplies to shoot our way out of this, or the time to spend slowly killing them off." She took a deep breath turning away from the window, "Trust me Colt, we'll get through this.”

"We do! But... if ya say so." The woman grumbled, "Fine. We're coming."

She sighed, "No, the hoard came out of nowhere, took us by surprise, I couldn't grab the ammo bag from outside before we had to run in. I and Nile might be the only two will full clips, Micheal is either low or out, and Ralph used three. I'm not sure if Warren has a pistol on him or not. Anyway, my point is, we're stuck and we don't have many options." Another pause, followed by a loud thud. There was silence for a few moments before Leliana’s voice broke through static. "We don't have the supplies on our half to help the way you'd want. I want to limit guns to only using them if we have to."

"No. WE do! As in me and the others! What I mean is, if we get 'em on on us, we can pick em off, keep their attention and ya'll can go in from behind, like a pincer attack." She spoke lowly despite her rising anger and worry, "either they're stabbed or they're shot."

"You do realize that's what I was talking about? Me, Warren, Nile, and...Micheal I guess, would be attacking from the house once you guys get them off the door." Leliana asked, almost audible pinching the bridge of her nose. "My concern is that nose from the guns draws in more of them and we get overrun. You guys would either get killed or trapped in the truck and then we would get trapped in the house and..." She released the call button, taking a few deep breaths. Leliana could hear the shake to her own voice, but she raised the walkie talkie again regardless. "When you pull up to the driveway, call me. I'll get the one's that I can ready between now and then. We'll be waiting for the signal. I want whoever is driving to keep as close to the treeline as possible so you are surrounded, but drive-through as many of those fuckers as you can. Twice, once in reverse, then get in position. Once they're off the door, me and my team will exit the lodge and I'll have whoever is left inside keeping the one's out back distracted so we don't get flanked, okay?"

"YES I KNOW THAT'S WHAT YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT! I'M NOT STUPID, LELIANA JAMES!" Colt paused after that answer, her breathing shaky and anxious. She knew about risks. She knew more about risks than the nurse or anyone else possibly could have. With a furious inhale, she listened to the woman as she continued on. There was little she could do to argue. She had caused this. How stupid could she have been to have them shoot without silencers? What could she possibly say or suggest that would be better? Nothing. There was nothing she could suggest that would fix this. This was her fault. "Fine. Fine! We'll be there ASAP!" She furiously shut off the radio, not intending to answer further.

Leliana nodded, despite Colt not being able to see it, "Alright. We'll be ready."

Colt refused to answer, knowing the next answer given to the nurse would be profane filled and she did not want to put that upon her. She turned to the trio, cheeks red and eyes brimming with fear and fury, "Listen up. Now!"

Featuring: FireMaiden (Leliana)
Nearby: Corgi (Aubrey) Brax (Tre) RayPurchase (Aaron)

 

[Meredith]

​

Bat in her hands, Aderyn descended the stairs two at a time, keen to get back to where she’d left Owen with her butcher’s knife. She took the last four in a jump, feeling the adrenaline from the situation flow through her as she hit the ground, and made her way back over to the front door.

She rolled the bat into his lap, grabbed two cigarettes out of the pack on the couch, and lit them simultaneously - handing him one and taking a drag off the other. Aderyn didn’t smoke, but people claimed it calmed their nerves, and she had a lot of them at the moment.


The groans from outside were growing ever louder, but Owen knew he needed to conserve his strength. With the familiar weight of his bat now across his legs, he looked up and took the lit cigarette from Aderyn. He raised an eyebrow as his eyes darted down to the matching one between her lips.

“That shit is bad for your lungs,” he offered unhelpfully. Owen wasn’t sure if she had always smoked or not, but this came from the same girl who had mixed cocktails out of two liter bottles on his bedside only weeks before. Nothing surprised him anymore. “Yeah, you can talk,” the girl shot back.

“If you aspire to have smoker’s lung like I do, then help yourself.” Owen stood slowly, grimacing slightly as his chest protested to the movement. This was only the start, and he needed for his body to cooperate for at least a few minutes more.

“Maybe I do. You ever heard a raspy woman sing?”

“You need better role models, kid,” the redhead retorted.

“Those are in short supply.”


Owen shrugged as if to agree before nodding toward one of the few unbroken windows near Andy’s bedroom door. The glass wasn’t going to hold up for long against the weight of the monster’s fists. Really, the boarded up windows were going to be far more effective at keeping the predators at bay. Owen started toward the window. They had work to do.

After a moment of hesitation, Aderyn grabbed one of a couple brooms propped in the corner of the kitchen. She was going to need something with better range than a kitchen knife. Owen followed her train of thought, taking the item from her briefly. Grabbing the end, he broke it over his knee, leaving the girl a sharp, spear-like end. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” he sighed. “You’re the one who’s going to have to use it.” The idea of the kid being on the front lines bothered Owen. However, unless the world drastically changed for the better, Aderyn would be forced into similar situations again and again. At least if he was here with her, he could do what he could to keep her safe.

“I’m going to open this window,” he informed her. “Hopefully we can thin them out before they bust it open. I’ll swing high, you hit low.”

“Sounds good to me. If we hit the biscuit, I’ll meet up with you in hell.”


Owen blinked at the girl, unsure if she was mixing two idioms or not but gave her a wry smile in response. There was no use delaying the inevitable any longer. Giving the girl a small nod to assure she was ready, Owen gripped the bottom of the window sill. With a heavy exhale he swung it up and opened it, leaving nothing between them and the bodies outside.

It didn’t take him long to reach down for the bat at his feet. The leather grip felt all-too familiar in his hands. After weeks of being on his ass, the weight of the aluminum was almost soothing in his hands. His muscles tried to protest as his body found form on instinct, drawing the bat back over his shoulder. The monsters could smell them and with nothing to keep them from attempting to climb in through the window, they came for the pair. Owen swung hard, feeling his hit connect with the side of the closest monster’s skull. Decay softened the bone and it caved in from the blow, leaving a dent where Owen’s bat once was as it crumbled to the ground, torso folded over the window sill.

Aderyn used her broom handle to push it to the ground outside, not wanting to touch it, and aimed a jab at the next creature attempting to push in from the side. It didn’t respond much to a spike in the gut, so she swept the broom handle, and recoiled as a sickening crunch sounded at its kneecaps. “Gross,” she mumbled, glancing up at the man standing over her.


“Aim for the head,” Owen instructed, swinging at the next monster. He could feel the skull crush with relative ease. “If you can reach,” he added after looking down and noticing her meager height.

“I mean, the broom’s long enough, but they’re people-” She stopped herself, shook her head, and aimed at another behind the creature Owen massacred. It crumpled as the broom slid through the decomposed flesh of its neck and a soft, wet crack was heard as she severed its spine. She tugged the stick out, and the creature fell.

“Not anymore,” Owen said with a grunt. The tension in his shoulders and back was building, but now that the window was open he knew that he had to keep working until the job was done. It hadn’t occurred to him that Aderyn felt that way about them. It was something that each of them had to work through in their own way. Owen had felt similarly until he saw his mother’s decaying and legless corpse crawling it’s way across the floor to attempt to eat him. It was easy to forget that the girl was only thirteen.

“They’re already dead, Wren.” He wished they had more time to have a more in depth conversation about it, but there wasn’t time now as each undead corpse tried to climb in through the window toward them. “You can’t hurt them.”

“It’s just a disease, isn’t it? They could be cured - someday - right?” She smacked another as it tried to climb in the window, going again for the neck, and kneeing its shoulder to thrust it out the window once it was slack. Goddamn, they’re never-ending.


How did he explain this to her with the flood of bodies trying to get in through the window? Owen swung at the next, connecting his blow to the side of another skull. Part of him was grateful she had made it this far without having to see what the others had, but he knew that if she was going to continue to survive with things as they were he had to rip the blinders off.

“Look at them,” he urged her. “Even if there was a cure for the disease, it couldn’t bring them back from the dead.” Owen reached down and grabbed the broom from her. He didn’t know how else for her to see the severity of their situation without seeing it first hand. With a sigh he waited until the next monster walked up to the growing pile of bodies, and shoved the broom handle all the way through the monster’s gut. It didn’t even phase him, he just kept trying to claw his way up it to Owen’s arms. Black, coagulated blood seeped from his wounds, staining the wood handle of the broom.

“There is no curing that.” He gestured to the corpse. “And yet he will still do his best to eat us. They may have once been people, but now they are just corpses.” He pulled the broom free, causing a wet suction noise as the monster’s guts came with it. Owen handed Aderyn back her broom and gave her a sympathetic look as the monster continued it’s path forward. The redhead picked his bat back up, and swung - the bat bounced off the monster’s head with a metallic twack.


"But why do they become like this," the girl pleaded, voice desperate, as she swung the soaked handle into another creature's neck. "Surely - surely the population of Aurora didn't all die from this, not just like that, not right away." Her voice was rising as she spoke. Be quiet. They hear. They hear.
She shook her head, taking another swing at the next, and it hit her - there were so many of them, right here, right now. Enough to fill one of the lecture halls she had aspired to attending as an adult, enough to fill an eighth of the local stadium, just wandering around amid what the military had already shot down. That was.. insane.

“I don’t know,” He admitted. “But when they die, they end up like this. The soldiers that attacked us the other day? They rounded up the people in Aurora and gunned them down. I watched them die, Aderyn, and as much as we wish we could - we can’t bring them back.”


Another strike at a creature that had moved too close for comfort, and the girl turned from the window, catching Owen's eyes. The end of the cigarette she'd so stubbornly taken smoldered against her lips. Her eyes wide, and filled with dread, she considered her last question carefully.

“Are we next?”
“Not if I can help it.”

 

[TheMightyRedLemon]

Cathleen, David, and Vanessa McUlann
Feburary 2, 2003 - 8:00 pm
Location: Perth, Scotland - city slums

Cathleen McUlann tucked Vanessa into bed, humming a soft tune. Placing a kiss upon her six year old daughters forehead, she turned to exit the room, flipping the lights off and quietly closing the door. With any luck, she would be asleep before her father came home. Cathleen moved quietly through their ramshackled little two bedroom appartment. As she sat on the livingroom sofa, she looked up at the analog clock hanging on the wall. It was now 8:04. She had another two hours befor David came home from the bar, plastered as always. She let out a heavy sigh befor opening her book, previously sitting on the coffee table. Removing her bookmark she began to read. She would enjoy these next couple of hours of silence while she could. As Cathleen immersed herself in the works of Dean Coontz, the world around her seemed to fade away. So blissful were these small moments of escape. Soon she had become so engrossed in the book, she didn't hear the front door open.

"Oi Bissh! Wherema feckin food?!" came David's heavily slurred voice from the kitchen. Cathleen jumped a little in supprise. She hadn't even heard him enter. She looked up at the wall clock quickly. It was only 9:13, and he was home a whole hour earlier than usual. "I.. I'm sorry dear... I wasn't expecting you home so soon..." she replied nervously. She placed her bookmark in the book and closed it, setting the it back on the coffee table. "I'll make something now if you want..."

David had already made his way into the living room. The smell of strong liquor emanated heavily from him, burning Cathleen's nostrils as he came closer.

"Izzit too much te' ask fer a warm meal when Igit home?!" David inquired, his tone becoming much more harsh. As she stood, Cathleen began apologizing immediately. "I'm sorry! I must of lost track of the time.... I'm sorry..."

A loud smack echoed around the living room as David hit his wife across the face, knocking her down to the floor with the force of his blow. "Yew stupid bish! 'ow many time I gotta tell yer dumb arse te have me some dinner ready when I get 'ome?" He shouted, his face turning more red by the second. Cathleen held her cheek, not daring to move or make a sound. After so many years, she knew that if she did anything when he got like this, it would only make things worse. If she just took it without resistance, he would tire himself out and pass out eventually... just like every night before...

Except, this wasn't an ordinary night. David had come home an hour early for a reason. His knuckles were bloody from a fight he had gotten into at the local pub. The man had spilt his beer down the front of David's shirt by accident... a mistake that proved to be his last.

In the distance, the faint sound of sirens could be heard, but David could not hear them in his drunken rage. Pulling Cathleen to her feet by her curly brown hair, David kneed her in the stomach before slinging her forcefully towards the kitchen. "Hurry up wiff that food ya feckin bish!" He slurred as he turned back to the livingroom, seating himself in his reclining chair and turning the old box tv on using the remote on the arm of his chair. The tv blared to life with a staticky hiss before displaying the scheduled programming.

Vanessa couldn't stay asleep for all the shouting. Slipping out of bed, she quietly opened her door and snuck down the small hallway, staying low to the ground so as to not be spotted as easily. She watched in silent terror as her father beat her mother yet again. It had become a nightly occurrence, but it still scared the little girl half to death every time. In the exchange, neither of her parents had seemed to notice her.

Cathleen stumbled into the kitchen, holding her stomach in pain as she moved about the small space. As she leaned against the sink her eyes fell upon the plastic handle of a carving knife. Slowly she reached out and wrapped her thin fingers around the handle, pulling it out of the sink. She stared at it for a long moment. How easy would it be, she thought, to simply plunge this knife into his chest. She had but to sneak up behind him and do it. One well placed stab could set her free. Cathleen attempted to shake the thought from her mind, but it lingered still. Why shouldn't she? How long had she been pushed around and beaten by her husband? Enough is enough, she thought to herself. Turning the knife in her hand, she slowly crept from the kitchen back into the living room, comming up behind David's chair, knife raised, and unaware of her daughters presence. In one swift motion, her left hand coverd David's mouth as her right hand brought the knife down into his chest. The man roared in pain, but Cathleen didnt stop. She pulled the knife out and plunged it down again and again as she screamed, tears flowing down her cheeks. Over the past nine years, David had pushed her to the limit, and she had finally snapped.

Vanessa watched in pure horror as her sweet, loving mother continued the assault. The wailing of the police sirens was growing steadily louder as David finally stopped moving.


Blue lights flashed outside, visible through the window. They had come to arrest David McUlann for the murder of Patrick Gallagen. When they busted down the door, they were not ready for what they found.

"What are we lookin at in there?" The directive asked as he got out of his car and started walking towards the appartment building. "It seems like we have a 273D turned murder-suicide. Their six year old daughter and thirteen year old son are the only survivors. The daughter is the only witness, but she is unresponsive to questioning." Retorted one of the policemen. "Just my luck." Said the detective sourly. "Let's hurry this along, we're gonna have mounds of paperwork to fill out!"

 

[TheTreForce]

Warren

​

The commotion and racket outside was enough to pull Owen and Warren from their coffee party with haste. The door slammed open and the tenants rushed inside; it meant another wave of trouble. Warren stood and gathered enough information by the panicked voices to know that the dead had found them. His first instinct was to retrieve his melee weapon from the kitchen, but stopped short to oblige Lelianna's request. Not that he answered to her, but he knew it was a good call.

With an inaudible grunt, the sturdy man pushed one of the couches into position by the door in a single shove. A body check was performed to confirm his usual sidearm still resided under his belt and he hustled into the kitchen to snatch his trusty crowbar that rested in the corner. There was no need for a firearm when it came to the undead about ninety nine percent of the time. Plus, melee weapons were more fun. A vertical helicopter swing brought the iron piece up to above his waist and he made a sweep of the area to find an area he was needed.

The sound of a board snapping brought his attention to the backdoor, where a pale arm reached through what was once a window on the door. Warren stomped over and with a high lift of his right leg, kicked straight out and snapped the arm against the frame like a twig. The bone completely fractured in two and the forearm hung from rotting flesh and tendons. The man cocked his crowbar back and swung it straight at the hole where the arm emerged from. The hook-end of the tool went clean through the gap and sank into the being's skull with a satisfying crunch, like teeth into a truffle. The end slid out with ease and Warren wedged it between a couple more boards over the covered up window. He used the weapon to further dismantle the repair job by prying off the boards to get a good look at the demons on the back porch.

Another one shambled up to the plate and was knocked into the left field by a hulking down swing that didn't bother to take a break inside of the creature's head. Instead, the swipe went clean through like tissue, sending bone fragments and brain matter across the back porch deck. "Fuck off, piece of shit!" Warren swung back the other away as another one tried climbing through the opening. The hit wasn't the most planned, more reactionary, so it only seemed to crack the cranium and daze the zombie. The remedial blow left the lifeless corpse hanging in the door with large globs of gore dropping onto the inside floor. He felt like a child at a party who finally got his turn to unleash his toddler rage on the birthday boy's piñata.

"There's a fuckin' RV just on the side of the lodge, is there not?" Warren called out in the midst of the crowd, mostly aimed at Lelianna who seemed to be the one who wanted to make the calls. "We might wanna consider another plan in case these bastards get in or start growing in numbers!"

Interactions:
FireMaiden

 

[Rumble Fish]

“Right.” Her tone was monotone and devoid of emotion, purely to mask the hurricane racing through the woman’s head, “Here’s what we know. They got at least three dozen Things, we’re gonna keep to the tree line and plow through as many as we can so they can get out. No guns. There’s too many.” It had only been at least an hour since they had left the Lodge and already shit hit the fan. What a fucking day this was ending up to be. They had silencers, but since the nurse insisted on no firearms, what other choice did they have? While the veteran had nothing but respect for Leliana, she was not just going to watch as their plan potentially crashed and burned in front of her face. If push came to shove, she would resort to guns. It was that or death. Before continuing, she pointed to the newcomer. Despite her mistrust, she had little choice.

“Jones. Ya know how to drive this thing and do exactly what I say, got it?! This is life or death, boy, no fuckin’ around!”

Aaron was still leaning against the Humvee, turning from the dented roof which he had been pawing over.

“Do I know how to drive this thing?! Please what I don’t know about this old girl ain’t worth knowin’!”

He slapped his hand against the aluminum bonnet.

“She’ll be able to plow her way through a fair amount of those buggers no problem, I’d say a good 12 to 15 maybe. Anymore than that and we’re gonna risk the engine or the wheels gettin’ choked with limbs and what not,” He paused for a moment, his grin widening as a lightbulb near enough audibly clicked inside his head. “I suppose this means you trust me enough to tag along as the newest compadre to your ragtag crew?”

“Ain’t like I got no choice, is it?” Colt grumbled as she got things together, grabbing a silencer appropriate for his gun and handing it over. “Once we’ve run it’s limit, drive it away from the Lodge. It’ll give them inside a chance to come out and get ‘em from behind.” She watched as the blonde got into the back seat of the truck. She was not surprised at her lack of contribution to their conversation, at this point all Colt could hope was that she would be able to keep it together while they did this. They had to get this right.

“I’m goin’ to need a few spare rounds if you’ve got ‘em to spare, 9mm. Used the last on our friend over there. Unless you want me to club the things to death. Mind you I don’t mind takin’ that route if its needed, its worked well for me so far,” Aaron unholstered his pistol and began to screw the silencer into place.

“This shit is really gettin’ old, man.” Tre yelled from the bed of the truck through the open window. It was freezing outside, but he had been more aligned with Colt’s line of thinking. The Lodge seemingly could not go more than a handful of days without falling into some sort of misery pit. If it weren’t people who were still alive trying to kill them, the ones that were dead somehow found their way porch side. All the while, the boy was still far from forgetting just how badly he needed to punish Michael. Without the okay from Luca, however, he was a sitting duck. Laying a hand on the whale without permission could lead to a bad time for Tre.

“We really gotta find a safer place to live.” He spoke absentmindedly, not bothering to think about the fact that it was an impossibility at this point in his life.

“Yer on my wavelength, boy. But we can worry about that after.” The woman got what she could gather from the doomed truck and hopped into the passenger side. "Let's git this over with."

Featuring: Brax (Tre) RayPurchase (Aaron)
Nearby: Corgi (Aubrey)