Realistic or Modern Patient Zero (A Zombie Survival RP)

[Corgi]

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November 12th, 2019
Roughly 9 : 0 0 A M

Aubrey has woken up at the break of dawn, which wasn’t odd for the girl. What was odd was the lack of sleep she had gotten the night before. A large majority of the evening she spent studying the dull ceiling of the barracks, wondering when she would find peace in the darkness, but never reaching it. Eventually, the blonde got tired of not being tired and decided to do something productive with her energy- moving corpses.

So in the chilly air, the girl dragged corpses to the burn pile. It was strangely normal to her at this point. After the battle with the Hazzies, she assisted the others in the clean-up process, and it felt no different than it did now. This time, though, it all seemed to happen a lot faster. One minute she was by herself, and the next others were dragging and piling with her. She wasn’t sure what time it was when they all finished, but the energy she once had was zapped from her body. The day had just started and she felt like she could pass out any second now, but there was work to do.

Specifically finding Colt. After yesterday’s charades of being stuck outside the lodge while those Things moved in on it, she felt like she owed the woman both a thank you as well as an apology. Unsure of where she was located, Aubrey figured Colt’s room would be a good place to start. It was incredible possible that having to take care of the lodge while Andy and Luca were away was absolutely exhausting. If Colt was still asleep, Aubrey wasn’t sure she’d have the heart to wake her.

Either way, she figured it was worth it to check. Staggering her way to the lodge, Aubrey made her way up the stairs and promptly to Colt’s door. Lightly wrapping on the wood, she listened for any sign she was already awake, “Colt…?” She asked, voice barely above a whisper, “I-It’s Aubrey. Can I come in?”

Vanessa, who had been laying on her bed, mulling over the million scattered thoughts within her mind, jump at the sudden sound of knuckle against wood. Quickly she reached into her bag and produced a small wooden handled hatchet, though she felt silly for doing so. With a quite breath to mentally ready herself she set the hatchet on her new bed and limped to the door, turning the knob and opening it just a crack so she could peer through. Aubrey was taken with surprise as she saw a tired, blue eye stare back at her. Colt didn’t have blue eyes, did she? She opened her mouth to say something but figured it’d be best to just wait till she was invited in.

On the other side of the door was a blond woman Nessa had yet to meet. No doubt one of the other lodgers. Vanessa cleared her parched throat before speaking, pulling the door further from its frame so as to gain a better view of the person on the other side."She's asleep. Any way I can help ya?" She said in an overly cheerful tone that was matched only by her smile, but did not reach her eyes.

Aubrey stared at the rather pretty woman in front of her, her dark tresses and bright eyes caused her to be even more confused. When did this woman get to the lodge? Has she been here the whole time and Aubrey just hasn’t noticed? She felt her hand shoot to her hat at the sight of the stressful situation, grinding the worn fabric between her fingers as her hues moved to look anywhere but at the woman. “Uhm… Yes. I-I mean, no? Uh…” Her throat was surprisingly dry as she stuttered out a nervous laugh, “Ehe, uhm, I’m Aubrey.” She stated quickly, letting her other hand launch in front herself towards the brunette.

Vanessa looked at the woman’s hand nervously for a moment before gently giving it a shake with her own. "Vanessa the Acrobat, pleasure te meet ya!" She said, her smile returning. "So how can I help ya?" Aubrey’s smile withered slightly at Vanessa’s hesitation, but quickly replaced it again.

“Oh, uh, right. I just wanted to talk to Colt…” The girl paused for a moment before making eye contact once more, "Where did you come from?” The question was with little to no context but she really didn't remember her from the previous days. Unless she was losing her memory, which was very possible, she didn't know this Vanessa

"I got here just the other day. I was with the Russian circus until all this started." Vanessa replied truthfully. This woman seemed friendly enough, and nothing immediately stuck out about her that bothered the acrobat. "My ankle was sprained and I was starvin when boss Luca found me…." Aubrey nodded slowly, taking in what she said. She found it odd Vanessa referred to the Italian as ‘boss Luca’, but wasn’t one to judge.

“I see… Well, I'm glad you’re okay.” Aubrey replied, glancing at the woman’s ankle before looking back up at her, “Uhm… Right- I should come back later… Probably.” It seemed as if she was having and internal debate as to what she should do.

"Well I suppose ya could wake her up, but I'd be careful… " Vanessa retorted. "Might be the safer way te come back."

The veteran was drunk, not deaf. Her sleep had already been disturbed by nightmares so waking her up was easier than one would think. At Nessa’s last remark, Colt was awoken mid-snore, resulting an a hard snort as she sprung upright, wiry and sweaty hair pressed to the right side of her face from lying on it and her pink eyes glazed.

“Fuc-wha-? Whothefuck’sthere??” Her head swung to the door, her vision blurred to the point of opening her eyes under water would get a better picture, she spotted the blonde and blue and her rigid frame settled into a slump as in her attempt to stand up, she slid down the bed and onto the floor, her backside hitting the floorboards hard.

“Ack- fuckin’ floor… Aaaubrey? Y’neeed meh?” She looked up to the younger woman, after the shit-storm that had just happened, it wouldn't be a surprise.

Chuckling softly, Vanessa moved out from in front of the door so that Aubrey could get a better view of Colt. After all, that's who she had come to see. "Good te see ya awake. I'd give ya a hand, but it looks like ya need a Leg up instead." She joked lightheartedly, still making sure she wasn't within fist range of the drunken woman.

“Shuddup.” The woman growled, she was lucky in the fact that she was in no state to retaliate or she would really get it. “Good t’know ah am nothin’ but a fuckin’ joke t’all ya people.” Aubrey watched the two bicker back and forth, unsure of what to do. She didn't know the relationship between the two or if there even was one seeing as Vanessa came in a day ago, but she didn't feel comfortable stepping in to say what she needed to quite yet.

"Don't be like that Colty Wolty." Vanessa teased, a somehow kind smile creeping across her visage. "Everythin is a joke silly, even life. And that one? It's funny as hell!"

“Stop it.” Colt snarled sharply. The woman was already making light of something Colt both hated about herself and wished to forget, she didn't need to feel bad about it too. “Aubrey, what is it? Y’okay?”

Once Aubrey’s name was said again, she figured it was permission to talk so she shuffled a bit closer through the door frame, keeping her distance from Vanessa for personal space, “Uhm, yeah. I'm alright. I just wanted to, uh, speak to you a bit about yesterday and the run we'll be going on.”

“Mhm?” The woman grunted, feeling around near her for her flask or any kind of bottle, wanting to suppress the rising thoughts she had wanted to get rid of but had been brought back up by Nessa’s teasing, “whatchu wanna talk’bout?”

Having been told to stop, Vanessa figured it best to stop making jokes at her new roomate’s expense. Instead she watched Colt stumble about as if drunkenly looking for something. The acrobat didn't know much about her one legged companion, but from what short time she had known the woman, Vanessa was able to come to a conclusion she felt confident in. "In me bag there, I got about a quarter bottle o whiskey. Nothin fancy, just the cheap stuff I had yesterday but yer welcome to it."

“I wanted to say thank you for yesterday and making the tough decisions, and also that I’m sorry for getting stuck out.” She stated simply, not paying mind to Colt’s search for a liquid depressant, “I, uh, also wanted to say that we’ll be leaving within the next few days, I think. If you’re ready, that is.”

Colt looked to Nessa, considering her offer before finally taking it. Just as she did, she heard Aubrey finally answer her and tilted her head towards the blonde. The veteran was a little surprised at her apology and thanks. She could understand both, but perhaps it was the drink but she couldn’t quite place where this came from.

“Y’don’ need t’thank me. Just did what I had to.” she spoke laconically, “And don’ apologise fur nothin’. Y’were a mighty big help.” she looked to the blonde, the corner of her mouth twitching in the closest variation of a smile. That smile then faltered as she mentioned the run they were going to go on. Colt rubbed the back of her neck with a sigh, right now she didn’t feel like she could do anything. But she had given the woman her word. With a few shifts of her eyes, she looked back to the woman as squarely as she could.

“Sho. I’m ready fur it. Are ya? We should be fine. Unless my good stream of luck continues and some’dy fucks it all up. A woman can hope, right?” Aubrey returned the small smile Colt gave with a nod.

“If ready is what you'd call this, then yeah. I suppose I'm ready. It'll all be fine.” She wasn't sure if she said that for herself or for Colt, but it gave her a bit of comfort, “But, uh… That's all I needed to say. Thanks.” She muttered, letting her hand fall from her cap with a tiny wave.

Aubrey took a few slow steps back before turning to Vanessa, “Uhm, nice meeting you.” With that, she turned on her heels and disappeared down the hall.

“Get some sleep, y’need it.” Colt called to the woman, “Y’did well yesterday!” she added as she disappeared from sight. The woman sighed quietly and stood up. Part of her wanted to have the blonde stay. Having a more familiar face would help settle the veteran but she couldn’t expect her to stay for her sake. With a sigh, Colt stood up and started climbing back up to her bunk, hoping she could sleep this off, but with her record so far, it seemed unlikely. Not to mention she expected Nessa to pipe up like she seemed to do a lot.

And pipe up Nessa did. "Sorry if I went too far with me jokes. I don't mean nothin by it." Vanessa said, looking down a little. "D'ya smoke at all?" She said asked. Moving to her bunk and sitting on it, she opened her bag and began sifting through its contents.

As she was half-way up the stairs, Colt looked down at the woman as she apologized for her jokes. The woman’s shaggy brows lowered a little in confusion. An apology? That was new. Not knowing what else to say, the woman grumbled in her throat.

“It’s fine. Just watch it.” she was about to continue her climb when the acrobat then asked if she smoked, “Sometimes. Why?”

"Well, Yu.. my old Ringmaster… use to smoke a lot of Cubans. Big cigars, and apparently they're good but I don't smoke. I've got a couple of boxes if ya want some?" Vanessa said calmly, pulling a wooden cigar box from within her bag.

“Never smoked a cigar… but could give it a go.”

Nessa retrieved from her bag a silver zippo, engraved with the lettering 'YSR' on its surface. Pulling a cigar from the box, she passed both it and the lighter to Colt.

"I hear it's good for the nerves or some shite like that. Figured it may help ya a bit."

Colt took the cigar up with her to bed as she lit it on the way up. Once in the bed, she took a long puff from the large thing, the second the smoke her lungs, she coughed hard, striking her chest with her fist as it struggled to settle. Smoking has never been something to settle the woman, but it was worth a go.

“Fuuuuck, thaaaat's some stroooong shiiiit.” She choked on it before it finally settled.

Interactions: Rumble Fish (Colt) and TheMightyRedLemon (Vanessa)

 

[BloodLightning27]

Shinoa Bradford - Simpler Times

Upon arriving back upstairs, Shinoa went straight back into her bedroom, thinking about the brief conversation that she had with Colt while relaxing downstairs. As she entered her room, Shinoa watched as her newborn child slept in her little basket. She proceeded to look back at her new Wrist Blade. She definitely needed to train more with it, especially with the situation she was in. But why did Brian give it to her? Why not someone who would be more qualified to use it? She then sat down on her bed, continuing to stare at the Wrist Blade as she thought about the attack. How was her Grandmother faring? Was the elderly woman in hiding? Did the hazmats get her? Or did the infected get her? Her Grandmother may have been adventurous and loved the outdoors, but the young teen couldn't help but wonder how she was. She wasn't young anymore..Sure, she was athletic, but she doesn't retain as much stamina as she did well over thirty to forty years ago... Because not very much time has passed, what of her Father...or the rest of her family? Or what about her boyfriend? Being in the dark and the unknown left Shinoa unsure about the future. Did the parasite overtake the rest of the United States within the short amount of time? Or were the National Guard successful in holding the barricades and keeping the infection contained in Aurora. So far no one was coming to save them and they've dealt with a few attacks on the lodge and a few people have died as a result. The young woman then slipped into a flashback as the numerous questions and scenarios ran through her mind.

Summer Break, July 17th, 2017

School was out and Shinoa was in Aurora for her annual visit to her Grandmother. Since it was Sunday, that meant Gunday! For the afternoon, Grandma Bradford decided to take Shinoa to the gun range. Unlike the previous week, Grandma decided to show her Granddaughter her small gun collection. There used to be a lot more, but Grandpa had sold his collection shortly before he died so that Grandma could live the rest of her days more comfortably and even a quarter of the money for Shinoa to help with College Tuition in the future. The only gun left from Grandpa was that Colt Army 1860 with the Scorpion engraving on the grip. "I haven't fired that beaut since your Grandpa passed on a few years ago."

Grandma looked at the Revolver with sadness. "Maybe in a few years, I'll let you fire it. I'd like to see my little granddaughter fire it at least once before I go join your Grandfather.

Anyway dear, help me pack up so we can get to the range on time." The elderly woman smiled before grabbing a few boxes of ammunition to put into her range bag and then grabbing a Winchester Model 9422, one of her favorite rifles.

As she had gotten Shinoa started on learning how to use firearms the previous week. While Grandma thought that she was ready for Rifles, she shook her head when she looked at the last two remaining guns in the small safe aside from the Revolver. The last firearm that she grabbed would be a Glock 17 which she had customized. Glancing at the handgun, Shinoa was simply amazed and looked at it like a young child would at a candy bar. "Will I get to shoot that one today, Grandma?" She asked. "And what does 'Ronin' mean?"

The elderly woman smiled a little as she set it on the dining room table. "A 'Ronin' is a Samurai without a Master or a Lord back in the feudal era of Japan. You'll get to learn more about it during the fall. Or later this week, I have a few movies and documentaries about them that you can watch." She smiled before putting the gun into a hard case with the others. "For the record dearie, yes, you will get to shoot that one today." She smiled. "I'll just have to be sure to buy more rounds when we get there so we don't run out."

Shinoa smiled as she helped her Grandma with the Bag of Ammunition while the older woman grabbed the hard case with the firearms. As the young woman locked the front door, she ran a little ahead of her Grandmother to open the car trunk in order to store the guns and ammunition. "Has your Mom or Dad started teaching you how to drive yet?" The elderly woman asked.

Shinoa shook her head. "Not yet. They want to put me in Driver's Ed for the School Year, where I'll be going to Driving School on the weekends and after school. "Why?"

"Once you have your permit, I can start teaching you before you get your license. Maybe help you get your first car if you have good grades." Grandma smiled as they exited the neighborhood and got out onto the road.

Thankfully for them, the Gun Range wasn't all that far. After talking to the Range Master, both women put on their eye protection and ear protection. As they entered the range, two people were already firing their firearms, mainly pistols and rifles, while the people using shotguns were using a separate range. "Alright dearie, we're gonna start with the Rifle. You did good with Pistols last week. Next week, hopefully I can get you started on Shotguns after I let you fire the AR-15, but we'll see how you handle the Rifle first." She said as she started loading the Winchester.

While her Grandmother started loading the gun, Shinoa took a target to put it up at their lane and sending it down range at around ten feet. By this time, Grandma was finished loading up the Winchester. "Alright, since this is my Rifle, I get to fire it first. Watch closely so you know what to do when its your turn." She said with a smile on her face while getting ready to fire the weapon at the target that her granddaughter had put up.

Shinoa put on her shooting gloves before watching how her Grandmother handled the Winchester, switching back and forth between the rifle and the target. Despite her age, Grandma went through those fifteen rounds rather fast, amazing the youngster. "Alright, I'll help you load it up and then its your turn, darling."

Present Day
The flashback soon came to an end and the young woman took a deep breath. She looked at her newborn, before walking towards the window and looking outside. "I promise I'll find you, Grandma, if its the last thing that I do before I leave Aurora..." She had a somber look on her face, but nonetheless continued staring out the window, thinking about how life was before the zombie outbreak.

Her thoughts shifted between Brian and her Grandmother. Shinoa then proceeded to make a mental note of asking one of the people in charge to go into town so that she can search for her lost relative. Several scenarios played through her head, she then prayed that she'd have the best outcome possible, even if she had her doubts.

Mentioned: Brian, Baby Valerie, Grandma Bradford, Colt ( Rumble Fish )

 

[Rumble Fish]

Colt’s eyes had never been as red as they were today, her skin was blotched from not enough sleep and too much drink and she could have sworn Nessa had glued ankle and wrist weights since they got here since everything felt at least twice as heavy as usual. With a heavy groan, the woman pulled herself to her foot, struggling to stay up as she did. She looked to her flask that was hanging loosely in her grip.

“This is yeeer faaault…” she growled at the hunk of metal before putting it in her pocket. Seeing the crack of dawn, the woman figured she would need to try and wake up enough to be lucid and useful. Swallowing another four paracetamol pills, she stumbled out of the room, heading for the bathroom to wash up. A cold wash would do the trick, surely. But whether it was a lack of balance, a wet sole or just bad luck, Colt felt her false foot hit the her actual ankle, sending the veteran flying flat, nose down onto the landing. Too inebriated to fully process what had happened, she stayed down, releasing only a long groan at her bad luck. First she bashed her shoulder around Marcus and now this.

“Ah fuuuuckin’ hate mah fuckin gaaaawddamn motherfuuckin’ liiife…”

When she looked up, Owen was standing in his bedroom doorway, large head poking out from behind the cracked door. His eyes blinked several times at the scene in front of him before he let out a chuckle and opened the rest of the door. He was sore from the day before, but Colt’s weight was nothing compared to the work he had done yesterday. Owen reached his hand down to her to assist her in coming to her feet.

“Are you gonna live?” Owen asked with a smirk. It was entertaining to see the woman have this rather human moment. She spent so much of the time yelling, upset and angry. For once it was over something totally normal. Owen would likely have far more expletives for falling, or even just hitting his big toe on a coffee table for that matter.

“Are you okay?”

Colt let out a relieved sigh upon seeing the chuckling red mop of hair emerge from the door. Accepting his help up, the woman stumbled backwards, her back hitting the wall as she leant against it. Colt put a hand to her head and sighed lightly, waiting a moment for her mind to clear before answering.

“Craaaap.” She slurred in a tone akin to Eeyore, “Whaaaat’s new?” She added before turning back to the man, red eyes settling onto his face. She let out a sigh before she finally noticed the blood trickling from one of her nostrils. The alcohol was doing a good job in filling down the pain as she hadn't noticed until now. With a flop of her arms, she sighed before wiping the blood off with the sleeve of her army jacket.

“Weeeell… fuckin’ yest’rday was t’fuckin’ pits fuckin’ wa’nt iiiiit? Y’okay?”

“Peachy,” Owen assured her with a laugh. The male hoisted the woman to her feet and helped her into his bedroom. Taking a seat on the mattress. It was only ten in the morning, which meant that either Colt was still drunk from the night before, or she had gotten a very early start. He gestured for her to join him, patting the bed.

“Take a seat Colt, at least until your sea legs kick back in.” When it appeared that she had gotten comfortable the male raised an eyebrow looking her up and down. The real question was if she was okay. Colt was strong and capable, but violence seemed to dredge something up for the war veteran, understandably so. Each time there was an altercation, she seemed to take a while to recover.

“How are you recovering?”

Colt coughed into her fist as she wobbled to the bed, sitting as Owen had instructed with a heavy groan as her bones settled as her foot was sore from the fall. As soon as she had sat, everything stopped spinning and she could collect her thoughts. It seemed that he could see through her answer and that her mind was racing. Her mind was a buzz while her tongue was loose and free.

“Well,” the woman glanced out of the window, “I’m really no’ tryin’ t’complain or nothin’ but bin feelin’ rather hung up about… things lately.” She simply could not shake off the memories that had been invading her sodden brain for the last seventy-two hours. The words came out too easily, her chest raising slightly from a slip of emotion as she turned to Owen, unable to keep it back anymore.

“Hung up about what?”

“Jus’... memories. Yesterday brought ‘em back.” she breathed harshly through her teeth, “That’s all.” The redhead nodded thoughtfully, he knew a thing or two about memories.

“I think it’s natural they come up,” he offered. “We are literally living in what could be considered my childhood home, it’s hard to not get nostalgic.” His large, calloused hand went up and played with the gold chain around his neck. The locket on the end of it was hidden beneath his shirt, but it served as a constant reminder of those he had lost. Owen knew he couldn’t be alone in that sentiment.

“Sometimes talking about it helps.” the male stretched, leaning back against his headboard. “It’s obvious that your normal coping mechanisms aren’t doing the trick.” He didn’t say that to be condescending, but rather as encouragement. He had gotten the impression that talking didn’t come naturally to Colt.

“Yeah. It isn't.” Typically it did, but not today it seems. Despite her intake from yesterday, everything was still clear as a bell. Colt was quiet for a moment before finally letting out a sigh and rolling her neck back, feeling a crack. The man was right. She could not keep avoiding the inevitable. If she didn’t say anything, it’d keep festering. But at the same time, she felt unable to say anything. The same was too much. Her red eyes turned and stared at him. It was Owen, if she was going to talk to anyone about this, it would be him.

“If I tell ya. Y’gotta promise me it won’t leave this room. Y’got me?”

“Cross my heart,” Owen drew an ex over this chest in an exaggerated motion. He gave the woman a smirk to encourage her on. Whatever it was, he wouldn’t tell anyone, it wouldn’t be his story to tell.

Featuring: Maj (Owen)
Mentions: TheMightyRedLemon (Nessa)

 

[Maj]

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Her gaze did not break. There was no going back now, he had opened that door too far wide out of her reach. With another inhale and crack of the neck (She slept on it badly) the woman took off her army jacket, not interested in the fact that all the scars, bullet, burns, all of it was on display on her arms. But that was not what she wanted to show him, turning her right shoulder, she gestured to the faded tattoo embedded on the dented and leathery skin of her upper arm. It was a circle of stars and in the middle was the earth, like a blue marble and the silhouette of a bird of prey in the middle.

“I was… a sargent, back in the Marine Corp. And I commanded a squadron of myself and twelve others. We were Carrying Atlas. That was our patch. I dunno the guy who designed it but it’s pretty cool if ya ask meh. Anyway. Carrying Atlas had thirteen of us. We all went through bootcamp together. All from the Mid-West, ‘xcept fur me of course and they’d tease the life outta me fur it. Bumkin. That was a favourite of theirs. ‘Course they knocked it off once I became their leader. That r’they wouldn’t say it t’mah face.” Her gaze blanked for a moment, head tilting away as she thought about it. Despite everything, she could remember them all. Every single one.

“I was good at mah job. Kept ‘em in check. We were one of the best, at least that’s what ah was told, dunno if it was just t’keep moral r’somethin’. I like t’believe it. Razor sharp, fast on their feet. Bein’ a squad of all women we had t’be. We did a bit of everythin’. Front lines, search n’rescue, patrollin’, the lot. Those women… meant the world t’meh. They carried meh as much as ah carried ‘em. Suppose our squad name was accurate. I was Atlas and they held me up as much as I did them.” Once again there was a moment to collect her thoughts and drink from her bottle of water. Colt inhaled once again, shakey now, her red eyes glanced down.

“Well… One day. Just over a year ago. We went on patrol in an M1A1 Abram. It was just meant t’be a milk-run. Go ‘round the territory, mark what we see, bring it back t’camp. Easy.” her discolored hands began to shake as her grip on the water-bottle tightened. She did not want to go on. But she had committed. “Jessie saw somethin’. Just off the trail. I...dunno whit it was but it got their attention. I didn’ wanna follow it. I wanted t’git back and tell Lt. Lorrie, that was it. Well, they started arguin’ wif meh. Sayin’ it could be dangerous. What if it was an ambush? We ‘ad the Abram; we could take ‘em. And fur some reason… I said we could.” Eyebrows furrowed as she stared, wide-eyed and empty past Owen, the wall behind him and beyond the horizon. She was looking at nothing.

“What happened? Why did I do that? T’this day, I have no idea.” her tone was softer, distant, a tinge of a break in her voice, “I guess they...scared me. If anything’d ‘appen t’them, I’d never forgive myself. So I said ‘sho, let’s check it out.’ promisin’ ‘em I’d take the fall from Lt. Lorrie.” The woman inhaled heavily, her hands shaking like a quake and she could feel the beads of sweat threaten to trickle from her clammy forehead.

“We got about… a hundred feet from our usual trail and…” her eyes suddenly widened, her body becoming rigid, “White. Just...White. There must’ve bin a… mine in the road. Everythin’ was in flames, mah ears were ringin’ but I could still hear them screamin’. Fur their moms… their husbands… Molly cried fur her boys, she was… engulfed. Completely.” Flashes of the woman convulsing, crying, her once fair skin charcoaled as it peeled from her muscles and bones reducing her to a darkened skeleton. Her tone became monotonous, it was the only way to speak of them, “Jess, Becca, Alex ‘nd Rachel were killed immediately. Or I hope they were. Everyone else? Engulfed in flames, blown up from the initial bomb, bleedin’ t’death, crushed under the tank… Lucy, on mah left, was crushed,and Janie on mah right just… a fountain of blood n’guts.” she could still hear the muffled and doomed cries and the twitching hands, clinging to life under the metal and the thought of their bodies crushed, disfigured and mutilated caused a twitch in her eye.

“Blood. Just… blood everywhere. On the road, on fire… I was covered in blood that wasn’t even mine. I tried t’keep ‘em calm, call fur help, git ‘em out and ju-j-just ANYTHING!” She suddenly shrieked, “ANYTHING T’SAVE ‘EM!” the open water bottle was launched across the room in a fit of emotion, cracking against the wall in an explosion of aqua on the wooden planks. Colt stooped forward, elbows on her knees and head in her hands, gripping either side hard and her eyes shut. It was at this point the woman became comatose, not even a flutter of her nostrils or rise of her chest as she delved back to that day. That one day that should never have happened.

Owen let out a heavy sigh, listening in silence. He had been afraid to interrupt the girl, letting the momentum carry her through the conversation. Worried if he paused her, that she would lose the resolve to continue. One of his heavy hands moved on top of hers, resting on her leg. He gave her rough knuckles a gentle squeeze.

“Colt, I can’t imagine the horrors you experienced, but you can’t carry that guilt with you. No matter how it feels, you aren’t to blame for their deaths.”

“I know. But I do. I can’t not carry it.” Colt resumed, eyes still shut, face pale, but squeezing the man’s hand back tightly, “Anyway… that mine took ‘em all. My whole squadron. M-my family. My-” there was a deep sigh, “It was… only after I freed ‘em and pulled ‘em outside that, I-I had only one leg. Dunno how long I’d gone without it but, it was gone. Blown clean off. By the time I got ‘em out, they were dead. Most of ‘em I couldn't even recognise.” Colt squeezed the man’s hand tighter as images of her team, who had been alive and laughing only seconds ago lying there, many burnt, most missing limbs or their head and all mutilated beyond recognition.

"They wouldn’ wake up. I… shook ‘em, cried t’em. Anything. Except fur,” the woman sighed with the shake of her head, she couldn’t bear to think of her. But she had come this far.

“Sasha, she… she and I were close. Very. Once our tour was over, we were gonna get a ranch, git horses ‘nd dogs, rear ‘em y’know?” the woman’s frame shook, struggling to keep composure, “I, I pulled her out the tank, she’s fuckin’ screaming and clingin’ t’me, her fuckin torso’s lyin’ ten feet from us, she’s got me by the fuckin’ face, bleedin’ everywhere,” a broken sob escaped as a fist connected to her face, kicking out so hard the fake leg dropped off with a clatter on the ground in a moment of self-loathing and grief, lurching Colt into a further fit of sobs “ She keeps fuckin’-fuckin’ cryin’ a-and screamin’ ‘I can’t Collette- I wanna go home! I want to go home! I want my mom! I want our ranch! Our horses! I want my dogs! Sonny and Cher, where are they!? I need them!’ What the fuck was I supposed t’SAY?! She’s fuckin’ screamin’, I’m screamin’ fur help, but…” the woman couldn’t keep going and put her head in one hand, struggling to keep her breath steady and tears back. The image of the woman’s last few seconds were too much for her to think about.

It was some long and painful minutes as the woman sobbed quietly, eyes still directed forward and away from the man until she was finally able to speak again, red-faced, she aggressively wiped her face with an arm and cleared her throat. The silence from the red-head unnerved the ex-Marine. Nervously, she was finally able to keep going. Unbeknownst to her, she had been holding Owen’s hand the entire time.

“I spent the next six months in the hospital and physical therapy. They put me back together. Well, mostly. I can’t even remember the service fur them… did I even go? Anyway, once I was discharged, I came t’Aurora. Sasha was raised ‘ere. We were gonna get our ranch ‘ere. I… So I came ‘ere. And that’s it.” The woman was exhausted, her chest heaved painfully and her eyes stayed hot and flooded.

“Sorry y’had t’see that.” She mumbled with a deep breath, inwardly cursing herself for allowing herself to be overwhelmed. Colt glanced up at Owen finally, trying to gauge his reaction. As she did, she could feel the roil within her stomach and her face go a shade of green as a mix of the aggressive leaping of her diaphragm and her inebriation had aggravated to the point of threatening to vomit. Belching into her free fist, she sighed heavily and spoke quietly, exhausted.

“I know what yer gonna say. What everyone else has bin sayin’. ‘It ain't yer fault, y’shouldn’ feel guilty, ecetera.’ But, imma tell ya. It doesn’t help. I dunno what can.” Taking the flask from her pocket, she ran her scarred fingers across it, staring blankly at her distorted reflection in the metal, “After, after they were gone… I guess I'm lost. I should’ve died with’em.”

“I understand,” Owen said after several minutes of thought. “Or at least to some extent. I’ve never been in a war, however when I found my mom, I had similar thoughts. She was just this ball of sunshine and light and dedicated her life to helping others. Not like her drug slinging son. I should have been the one alone and dead, not her. It’s impossible not to carry them with you. I get it. I do.” The redhead reached over and grabbed the flask from her hand. Calloused fingers carefully removed it from her grasp. In its place, he put his palm in her hand and gave it a squeeze. When he released his grasp, in her palm was the locket he had been wearing around his neck.

“It’s okay to carry them with you. You just can’t let it get so heavy it crushes you. When it does, its okay to share the load with someone else. I’m glad you told me. I’m not going to lecture you, I’m not going to try and tell you a bunch of well meant words that mean nothing. All I’m going to do is ensure you that you know that you're not alone. We’ve all lost. The only thing we can do now is try and stay together and share the burden.” Slowly he lifted the chain out of her palm, and put it back around his neck. Colt carried a flask and Owen the locket, both were a reminder of the weight of what they had lost.

The world-weary veteran finally looked at the man as he had removed the flask from her grip, holding her hand. She gave his palm a squeeze before he removed it and she saw the locket. Neither red-head had ever mentioned their mother, just as she hadn't mentioned her team. She listened to him as he continued. It seemed that under his exterior, he was carrying the same weight as herself. Under different circumstances, but weight none the same. They had a better understanding than she had expected and it did indeed allow the veteran’s nerves to be settled a little. As he took out the locket, the veteran reached her holster, pulling out the Colt.45 with its horse engraving and gold trimmings.

“This was hers.” She sighed deeply, “Didn’ have it with her on… anyway. They said I should take it. It's all I got left of her.” She thought back to the day where she could have killed Michael for losing it. Her tone was gentler than anything thought possible of her. The woman sighed through her nostrils as she took her flask back and put it in her pocket.

“Just knowing that… I'm the last of Carrying Atlas, I’m stuck ‘ere and I can’ even go to ‘em. And that they could be,” the woman growled and stopped herself before she could continue. The thought of them coming back as those Things was too much. The woman took out her flask again, hands shaky as she tried to open it.

“I-I’ve t-talked too much- I’m sorry.”

Owen chose not to respond. Instead he just wrapped one of his massive arms around Colt, pulling her into his side. Sometimes words made things worse, Colt had said what she had needed to. He was sure there were a slew of people who had tried to give her uplifting comments or comforting phrases. In his short twenty two years of life, Owen had yet to find anything that needed to be said that couldn't be conveyed in body language. He leaned head and mop of red hair down to rest on top of Colt’s, which was easy with his large size. He intentionally mellowed his breathing, evening out inhales and exhales so that Colt’s body would instinctively try to match.

The silence was welcomed as upon feeling herself being pulled close, and Owen resting his head on the top of hers. Instantly, a wave of warmth washed over Colt as she heard both his heartbeat and breathing, mellow and settled. Within moments, her harsh and shallow breaths calmed. Her scarred arm swung around his neck as she sat, with no more words to say. With a deep sigh, she closed her sore eyes, just allowing herself to settle into his protective grip. Having never spoken to another living soul about what happened, the woman was exhausted. Still, sitting here with one of the few she trusted may not change what happened, but it helped.

Owen didn’t move, allowing the woman to lean on him. He had the impression that it was a luxury she hadn’t had in a long time. Owen was grounded to his room anyway, there was no rush to move. With all the death she had seen, it was no wonder than this new world was hard. She was afraid of losing others the way she had lost her old family. He sighed, settling into the back of his headboard, keeping the woman close. They might be a bunch of crazy, dysfunctional assholes, but the lodge was the closest thing to family that any of them had left.

Collab: Rumble Fish

 

[Corgi]

​

November 13, 2019
1:39 A.M.

Shining metal glinted under the streetlamp, gruff voices saying something but not forming coherent words. The harder she tried to focus on the voices, the tighter the knot in her stomach became. More voices came from behind her, jumbled but louder. She continued to look straight ahead until she found herself on the ground. Her legs hurt, as did her back, but she didn’t say a word. She simply pulled herself back up and stayed. The slick concrete was pretty, shining bright reds and blues as the young girl sat on the damp ground. Overwhelmed, the sounds around her seemed to grow in volume, overtaking her senses.

BANG BANG BANG

Loud explosions shook her brain, shattering her sensitive eardrums. Her hands cuffed her ringing ears as she stood to her feet, vision suddenly white as she stumbled in an unknown direction. Without warning, she was jerked by the arm. Eyes clenched shut, she opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

All at once, the chaotic sounds deafened. Slowly, she opened her eyes and recognized the woods she had visited with Owen. Relief flooded through her as she realized it wasn’t real. It had been just a dream.

Taking in the woods around her, she felt like something was off but she couldn’t put her finger on it. What was she doing in the woods in the first place? Aubrey couldn’t remember. It was only apparent how silent her surroundings were when the rustle of leaves sounded from behind her, breaking the spell. Her eyes darted in the direction, reaching for her crowbar, instinct working when cognition wouldn’t. She searched for her weapon, reaching for something that wasn’t there as a figure stepped out into the clearing. Long brunette hair fell over fair, young features.

Aubrey tilted her head to try and get a better look at the girl. The way the tresses fell in front of her face made it hard to tell for sure if it was her. A smile lit up the youthful face of the brunette as her hand went to tuck the hair behind her ear, revealing her identity. Aubrey balked, the side of the girl’s face was torn back. White gleam of cheek bone and dark burgundy of coagulated gore shone back from the twisted and distorted smile. Her lips didn’t seem to be connected to her swollen gums any more, exposing parts of her eroded, feral teeth stained with blackened carnage.

“Hello, Aubrey.”

~~~
​

A raw scream escaped Aubrey's cracked lips as she jumped awake, wild eyes darting around the barracks. Her hands fumbled with the bedsheets and threw them off her shaking body. It wasn’t until she was standing that her frazzled nerves started to settle. Her quickened breath calmed as she felt the cold air nip at her sweat covered body. What the hell was that? She hadn’t had a nightmare to that extent in years. And why now? Yesterday she had a simple day of rebuilding the Lodge and reading. Unnerved, Aubrey sat on the edge of her bed, running her hands through her damp hair.

None of it made sense. Aubrey didn’t dream, never mind have nightmares. By the end of the day, she’s exhausted from all of the repairing and worrying so as soon as she lays down, she practically passes out. A chill ran down the woman’s spine as she recalled what happened. She wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep at this point. The imaging was so real. It was as if she could reach out and touch her.

Mindlessly, the blonde pulled fishing boots on over her sleepwear and exited the barracks into the early morning air. She knew of one person who wouldn’t mind her crashing on the floor.

 

[Maj]

​

Aubrey made her way up the stairs, her chunky boots surprisingly quiet on the lodge’s wooden flooring. Taking light steps was something she got quite good at over the course of a month. When her sole tactic for avoiding those Things was to hide, improvement came naturally.

Soon the blonde stood in front of the door she had come to know far too well, but hesitated to enter. She had spent all this time creeping up the steps in order to not wake anyone, knocking abruptly on the door would surely stir some people… But barging in wouldn’t be called for either.

Weighing the two options in her head, she eventually let out a small sigh and slowly stepped into the room. The moonlight filtering through the dusty window illuminated the space just enough for her to traverse it. It was different at night, somehow softer. During the day the room was brighter and warmer, much more awake and present than it was now. Seeing the redheaded man curled up in his sheets made the nightmare disappear from her mind. A part of her felt guilty about waking Owen, but she wouldn’t want him to freak out at the sight of Aubrey on his bedroom floor in the morning with no word.

Slowly, Aubrey crept to Owen’s side, laying a cold hand on his shoulder to gently shake him, “Owen…?” She called quietly.

The man jarred awake, having to forcibly control the urge to swing as the ice of the woman’s palm touched him. Her hand immediately retracted, wide-eyed as his large hues blinked several times in an attempt to focus on the silhouette. All at once her voice matched his vision and he realized that the blonde in front of him was nothing to fret over. Owen let out a relieved sigh, trying to quiet the pounding of his heart.

“Oh Aubrey,” He breathed, keeping his voice low. Owen reached out and put a large hand on her shoulder, grasping it lightly in the navy darkness. There were no loud noises nor the mulled sounds of chaos below. The lodge was still sound asleep, so there was no immediate cause for alarm. However, that still raised the question of why Aubrey would wake him up in the middle of the night. It wasn’t normal behavior for her. “What’s wrong. Are you okay?”

“Oh, uh…” Her once chilled cheeks felt like fire on her face. She hadn’t gotten that far in her plan as to prepare what she was going to say. Aubrey couldn’t tell him she had a nightmare, that would seem childish, “Uhm, right… Yes, I am okay.” She started off with, her front teeth catching the edge of her lip as her right hand rose to her cap, “I just… uh… wanted to see how you were doing.” The words were slow and deliberate, as if the lie was forming in her head as she said it.

“At…” Owen paused to look at the alarm clock on his nightstand. “Two in the morning?” The boy shook his head, sitting up. His eyebrow was cocked, looking at her as he flicked on the lamp. The woman turned her face to the side, attempting to hide the embarrassment clear across her cheeks. He knew that there was no chance that this was a late night, apocalypse booty call since Aubrey had shown no interest in all of his very clever attempts to woo her so far. Something was up.

“No chance.” He pulled back the covers so she could sit next to him. The lodge had been reserving generator power at night, and so the fireplace downstairs was all that kept the place warm. His room was chilly and the girl was still dressed in her pajamas. “Either talk fast or get under here, you are letting all the cold air in.” He teased, a smile playing across his pale and sleepy features. Aubrey continued to look everywhere but at the redheaded man, slowly taking a seat.

“I just…” Her lips thinned as she settled on the bed with a low squeak. It all felt so real, like she was that young girl again. It wasn’t a good feeling. It had been nearly two decades, but the thought of it made her want to throw up.

“I couldn’t sleep.” She said quietly. It was truthful, she knew she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep after what happened, at least not with some sort of comfort. Was Owen a comfort to her? She wasn’t sure why she thought of the man before anyone else at the lodge. Colt surely would have let her sleep on the floor, same thing with Lelianna. Her stomach twisted in an odd way. There wasn’t any point in wondering now seeing as she was already seated in the man’s room, “Can I, uhm… Can I sleep here? I would only take the floor, you wouldn’t even know I was here.”

“Just sleep in the bed Aubrey, I don’t bite.” He didn’t press her for what had happened, Aubrey kept a lot to herself. All he knew was that she didn’t want to be alone, and that much the man could help with. It was a queen sized bed afterall and he was a gentleman. Her tiny frame would barely take up a fraction of the space.

Wide hazel eyes stared at Owen, mouth slightly agape as her cheeks lit up a fiery red, “Wh-Uh… N- What?” She stumbled out, her lips not racing nearly as fast as her mind was. Did he just ask her to get into bed with him? The only people she knew to sleep in the same bed with one another were married couples or those who want to… engage with one another.

Aubrey slowly turned her head to the wall, words stumbling out of her mouth like a newly born deer learning to run, “Uhm, well… I, uhm, am flattered but I don’t- I don’t think that is, uh, appropriate.”

Owen grumbled sleepily, sitting the rest of the way up in bed. He rubbed his eyes as he kicked back the covers and slid from the blankets, swinging his legs to the floor. The wood was chilled against the warmth of his bare feet but he did his best to ignore the spike of goosebumps that traveled across his mostly exposed flesh. He stood in a pair of boxer briefs, without his shirt on but paid little mind. It was Aubrey who had wandered into his room at night after all.

“Then you take the bed.” Owen came to his feet, gesturing to the mattress. Aubrey felt a flood of confusion. Did he not hear what she said about taking the floor?

“Owen, I-I meant I’d sleep on the floor.” The elaborated once more, brows knit.

He grabbed one of the two pillows from his bed and threw it on the ground. With a shrug, the man also reached for the throw blanket that was draped haphazardly across the foot of the queen sized mattress. Owen chose to keep moving despite the girl’s protests, taking a seat on the cold hardwood floor.

“There is no way I’m letting you sleep on the floor. My mother would haunt me in disgust. I’ll be fine down here.” He didn’t want to think about what Hector would say on the matter. The hard floor was likely not the best solution for his still healing body, but no one would ever be able to tell the man that chivalry was dead.

“It’s fine Aubrey. This isn’t the first time I’ve slept on the floor, and I’m sure it will not be my last.” She watched as he settled into the makeshift bed before looking down at her lap. He was insisting, and it would be rude to say no. Silently, she laid on the mattress and placed the covers onto her. They were warm, comforting on her shivering form. The anxious feeling in her stomach slowly dissolved as she glanced towards the redhead.

Words spun in her head, unsure of which ones to choose. Her mouth opened and closed several times over the course of a few minutes before she finally mumbled, “Goodnight.”

“Night Aubrey,” Owen replied, a yawn distorting his speech. “Sleep tight.”

Another moment passed, her eyes slowly finding the wooden ceiling. After a night of panic, there was finally peace. This room was becoming familiar to her, almost like a second home. Aubrey felt her lids grow heavy and for a moment could almost swear that Owen’s curtains looked yellow, “Thank you.” She murmured, her eyes fluttering shut. The red head boy on the floor muttered something incoherent in response. His breathing was already evening out, a steady pace of inhales and exhales. As she listened to the rhythm of his breath, Aubrey found it difficult not to fall in time with it. Without warning, the two were fast asleep.

Collab: Corgi
Mentions: shadowz1995

 

[TheMightyRedLemon]

The Scars We Bear

Colt groaned and stood up, cracking her back as she looked up towards the sky, her forehead dripped in sweat from her labour. The frost around her was stained with the red drippings from the innards of her kill; an impressive stag. She had spent the last few hours both dragging the carcass back to the Lodge and properly skinning and gutting it. The furs were hung to dry out and the fresh meat sat on a tray next to the veteran, but while warmth and food was important to the Lodge, but there was one real reason she had chosen that particular stag to take back. His antlers were large and un-damaged as she had killed him swiftly with a lung shot. Andy’s advice was not lost on the veteran, and it was because of that red-head that she took that stag. Her uncle’s trophy had broken and she had seen her reaction. While it would not bring it back, she still wanted to give her the antlers; at the very least for what both she and Owen had done for her over the last few days. All she had to do now was clean them off and give them a polish.


Leaving the meat and furs in the back-garden, the alcoholic wordlessly trudged through the Lodge and up the stairs to her room. She wanted to get this jacket off first, she was sweating under it and she didn’t need to smell worse than she already did. Once inside, she threw off her jacket and took out a handkerchief, giving the fabric a wipe to get the worst of the blood off of it.


"Hey what's green and tan and red all over?" Came a voice from above, the tone ringing out in a whimsical and playful manner. Vanessa sat with one leg dangling down from the rafters above the center of the room, her back against a support beam. She chuckled as she watched the veteran throw her jacket to the side.


“...Wut?” Shaggy brows raised at the question, expecting some sort of stupid punch-line.


"You" Vanessa responded simply and in a dry tone, no hint of humor behind the word.


“Funny.” Colt got down on a knee to inspect the antlers before getting to work. There was some skin and muscle left clinging to the base which had to come off. How she hadn’t noticed it was beyond her. Grumbling a cadence under her breath, she whipped out her combat knife and got to work.


Vanessa watched from her perch with mild curiosity for a moment before speaking up. "Yer gonna cut yerself, or fuck up the antler." Vanessa said with a wry smile. "Knife is too big fer the job. I'd use a smaller blade if I were you. More control over what yer doing close up. Should be an assortment of knives in my bag… I think I've only got four left. One should be the right size."


“I know mah knives. Y’don’ go through militery- Aw fuck.” Colt reached into her boot, pulling out a small knife as the woman spoke. However, as she inspected it, the edge was rounded from use. With a sigh, she glanced up to the woman, eyebrows knitted so low they could have passed as a unibrow, “I’d better no’ hear one. Fuckin’. Word outta yer mouth, gurl.” she grunted before going into said bag and fetching one before continuing her work. Sweat glistened over her forehead and scar-stained arms as her eyes stayed down as she cut the muscle away.


For a while, the sounds of Colts labor were the only sounds to fill the room as Nessa milled the new information over in her mind, choosing her next words carefully. "Is.. that how… you got them?" She finally finished. Her tone did not elude to a joke nor did it have a jovial undertone.


“For twenty brave men all fishermen who, would make for him the Antelope's crew…” the woman’s husky tone paused at the question both in shanty and in actions. “Got what?” she asked, hoping it would be something else. After speaking to Owen and Andy, she was mentally exhausted about talking about it.


"I think we both know what I'm talking about Colt." The acrobat shot back quickly. "Ya don't have to go into details… I'm just.. curious how it happened."


There was a period of silence as Colt continued to clean the antlers, struggling to come up with an answer. She did not want to answer, but at the same time, she knew the woman would not give up. “...I don’ wanna talk about ‘em.”


"At least tell me if ya got them in the service?" Vanessa pleaded, her tone becoming softer and more gentle than any point before in their conversations.


“No.”


"No yer not gonna tell me or no ya didn't get them in the service?"


“I did.”


"Oh…" Vanessa trailed off for a moment before piping back up. "I won't press ya for more details. I can only imagine how horrible it must've been. I've… never been in war… but I have had to fight all me life…. I know I poke fun at ya a lot…" she said, looking up and away from the woman below her. "Just remember that I'm often the butt o me own jokes…"


“For fuck-!” Colt growled, putting the antlers down, “Fine. Y’really wanna know how I got these?”


Vanessa nearly fell off of her rafter in surprise from Colt's sudden spike in aggression "..I I'm… I mean… I did ask, but ya don't need te tell me."


“Y’did ask!” The woman’s tone suddenly settled as she stared up at the girl in the rafters. Not breaking her gaze with the acrobat, she pulled up her shirt to reveal a long, white scar along her stomach, “Hostage rescue.” She then directed to her right shoulder where there was a darkened bullet wound, “Jumped on patrol.” Her tone remained scarily calm, still not breaking eye-contact. She continued for almost a minute, the further she went, the more her frame started shaking in frustration.


“Molotov.” she had just pointed to her foot, before refering her prosthetic and the rest of her face, “A. Fucking. LAND-MINE!” The woman stopped herself at her final shout, hands grabbing each side of her head with a few hard sighs. Not speaking, she squatted to grab her flask.


“‘Pologies. That just, well,” she did not speak further and opted to sip from the metal container.


Vanessa slowly lowered herself from the rafter and moved quickly to Colt, grabbing her wrist gently. "Ya've been drinkin since I met ya. Non stop." She said calmly. She looked into Colt's eyes for a moment. "I.. I've got somethin te show ya…." She said, letting go of the veteran's wrist.


“I’ve ‘ad a few bad days, ‘ight?” Colt gently pulled away but she was surprised by the woman’s words, “What?”


Vanessa took her gloves off and showed the woman her wrists. Faint but visible abrasion scars wrapped around them. "Same on me ankles… from being bound by ropes and chains…" Vanessa gave the other woman a moment to process what was just said before turning around and dropping the shoulders of her purple outfit, letting it fall down to her waist. Her back was covered in horizontal and vertical slashes, long since healed. "This is from… I… sometimes I had bad performances… and I was punished for it...." she continued. "I've got one more..…" she said as she stood for colt to examine her back.


Colt stayed silent as the woman revealed her own scars. Part of her could not help but be confused about this amount of trust she was putting in the veteran, given they had only known each other for a few days. As she showed her last scar, the woman frowned.


Vanessa turned to the veteran and used the inside of one of her gloves to wipe away the makeup over her left eye, exposing the last scar she had to the woman fully.


“What was that one from?” she only asked out of principle as she sat on the bottom bunk, flask still in hands.


"When I was six…." Vanessa began. Every ounce of joviality was gone from the acrobat. Her right eye seemed to darken a bit as she collected her thoughts. "I was slashed…. By a knife…" she finished. As she did she picked up the mirror shard she had brought into the room and used it to aid in taking out her contact. "I cant see color in me left eye anymore…"


“Hm.” Colt frowned, quite stuck on how to respond to this. “Hm. Can understand that. Can’t see too well out mah left eye. Or hear too well out that ear.” Her gaze was still directed forward, the conversation had left the veteran feeling pretty uncomfortable, and admittedly quite annoyed. If the acrobat had scars akin to hers, what made her think it was alright to make fun of her while having her own? However, she had neither the will or emotional strength to consider arguing the point.


"Like I said…" Vanessa started as she pulled her outfit back onto her shoulders and straightening it out. "I'm often the but of me own jokes. My scars are of shame…. You got yours fightin. Wear them with pride, lass."


“Not all of ‘em.” The veteran lamented before getting back on her knee to finish the antlers, the one that took 90% of her body was one of shame, the same of not putting her foot down. As she scraped the last piece of flesh from the bones, she stood up with them, looking to the acrobat with a light shrug. The antlers were pristine. Even after years, she hadn't lost her taught hunting skills.


“D’ya, um. Think Owen and Andy’ll like ‘em?” Her brows lifted up in questioning, “Andy hunts so, I hope so.”


"Well she was yellin somethin fierce about broken antlers. I think it will be a thoughtful gift." The Nessa replied with a smile.


“Yeah. Yeah,” Colt mumbled whisfully before setting the antlers down gently onto the bed, admiring them. “Me too.”

 

[Rumble Fish]

Date: 13th November
Time: 12:36PM

This game was all about concentration and planning. You had to know what your opposition was going to do. You had to play mind games and mentally trap them into the corner that would pave your way to victory. Milly's gaze towards the checkered board hadn't broken for the last minute as she planned her move. Rubbing her chin with a finger, her thin brows raised suddenly as she took her checker and hopped it over a chain before pulling them to herself.

"Okay, your turn!" she chirped to her opponent, who sat limply with no response. The younger girl pouted a little, "You still asleep?" No response once again. With a sigh and roll of her eyes, the girl span the board around. She had been doing this since the beginning of the game. Clearly the other player knew nothing about the game. That was annoying.

"Fine. You're so lazy, Snowy." she sighed to the white teddy who sat on the table in front of her. They had tried scrabble, which did not work, then dominoes and now checkers. Nobody else was around, being too busy so for now the youngster only had the bear for company. She was used to playing checkers on her own though, so had gotten pretty good at it. Still, it was pretty lonely having nobody to play with. "This is boring." She concluded as she hopped from the table, grabbing her navy parka jacket (not really hers, the sleeves went past her hands) and scarf before grabbing Snowy in her arms.

"Come on, let's look at the chickens." she spoke in a melodic tone at the word "chickens" before leaving through the back door. Ignoring the pile, the young girl walked to the chickens, pecking around in their make-shift pen. "Hi henny-pennies! How are you doing~" she cooed as she reached into a bucket, pulling out several handfuls of seeds and showering the hens with them. How they survived that assault was beyond her but she was so glad they had. Chickens were strange animals, oblivious and only interested in the seeds that had been spread but they were friendly to people and happy just to forage and wander. They clucked contently and occasionally pecked one another over the seeds, but the three bigger ones going for the smaller one. The youngster let out a small squeal of defiance and leaned in.

"Hey!" Milly pouted, swatting the bigger hens away, "Don't be mean! You can all share." The three hens bawked as their discord was interrupted by the youngster, grumbling as they waddled off to peck elsewhere. The smaller of the hens crooned happily at her newfound stash and tucked in. While they were distracted, Milly peeked into their make-shift house, finding a few eggs inside. After gingerly putting them in her pocket, Milly sat with Snowy in her lap as she watched the four of them. They were interesting to watch. She adjusted her glasses to see then clearer out of her cloudy eyes. She had been lucky enough to not lose them so far, Velma Dinkley eat your heart out. Kids used to make fun of her for them, trying to take them from her and calling her names. It got to the point where she had to tape them to her ears to stop it. At least Adryen was not mean. But she had also left her with no goodbye or even a warning. The younger girl was conflicted. She was relieved to have her back, but at the same time it still hurt. Maybe she should talk to her about it, she still wanted to be her friend.

As Milly was considering going back inside and asking Beth for advice, there was a snap from a bush, causing the younger girl to whimper and spring up. She had left her knife inside! What if it was a monster? Clinging to Snowy in both arms so tightly she was surprised her head hadn't popped off, she backed away from the bush, wanting to shout for someone but no sound came out. But instead of an undead form, bones rattling and unholy maw agape with a monstrous howl, out popped...

Another chicken. But one unlike anything Milly had seen before. Rather than a standard brown fowl, the hen was black from head to foot, feathers so fluffy and soft it looked like a burst pillow, with only the tip of its beak visible through the plumage. It bawked and looked around with its little bead-like eyes, seemingly bemused at this new place. It turned its head to look at the girl, who herself resembled the chicken with her fluffy hoodie visible through her open jacket and the furry hood of the parka over her head. It clucked and tilted its head like a dog. Milly's fright melted and she knelt down in front of the hen.

"H-hello," she chirped silkily, "Where did you come from?" the chicken crooned and pecked around the ground, taking a couple of steps towards her. She reached into the other chicken's run and took a small handful of seeds, holding them out to the wild hen. Upon seeing them, the newcomer clucked happily and jogged over, eagerly pecking from her hand. She was thin under her plumage, she must have been alone for ages. Maybe she came from a farm or was an escaped pet. Her eagerness to approach a strange human almost confirmed the latter. Once she had finished the seeds, the silkie chicken continued to scratch around Milly contently, not afraid in the slightest.

Milly gently put her hands under the hen, lifting her up. While the hen kicked a little, she was content to sit in the girl's arms, trying to root under her jacket, feeling its warmth. The friendly hen looked up at the girl, eyes blinking occasionally. Milly watched her for a moment, before looking around. It may have just been a chicken, but the thought of any being having nobody else and being all alone caused a weight in her chest and pain in her wrists. She must have had a farmer who loved her and a flock of chicken friends, and yet was alone. Not wanting to imagine what could have happened, Milly blinked back tears as she looked back to the hen, snuggled in her jacket, craning her neck to rest on the girl's shoulder, letting out the occasional happy croon at being warm.

"You like hugs too?" the younger girl giggled a little as the hen's feathers tickled her neck. She did not want to leave the hen outside, not now. Jumping up, she gathered some more seeds, putting them in her pocket and gently jogged back to the lodge, hen and Snowy in arms, running springily and gingerly to avoid harming the eggs in her other pocket back inside the back door, "Beth! Beth! Look! I made a friend!"

Mentions: Maj (Beth) Meredith (Adryen)

 

[The Mad Queen]

The following is a collab between myself and FireMaiden​

12th November

The lodge apparently had a few new arrivals, something that eased Fisher if only a little bit. However, he had little time to introduce himself. If they were going to get a head start, he needed to be quick in retrieving the subject. After doing his best to help with the cleanup, he made his way to the edge of the woods where he awaited the arrival of Leliana. He sighed heavily, reflecting upon the last conversation the two had with Hector. Had the man been more willing to accept Kypher's help simply because the troubled child stroked his ego? It was a possibility Ralph wasn't about to dismiss anytime soon.

Leliana had just been able to get away from the house, after making sure nobody was injured and taking care of anyone who had been, she was wondering what the hell Ralph planned to do. There were a million and one tests they could do, but since they weren't the ones with the equipment, they were now severely limited. Honestly, as she walked thinking about it, the tests would probably be about the bleeding, the way it reacts to stimuli, etc etc. Her wondering wouldn't be left up in the air for very long as she spotted Ralph, and the infected in question. "So," She started, coming to a stop at the older man's side. "What are we doing?"

"First thing's first, we need to get the thing down." Ralph's gaze was focused on the woods "It's still there. Last time I checked was the day of the raid, but given how I handled it, the particular infected should be nearby even if Kypher's trap snapped."
He shook his head "After that we should find a place to contain the thing. I doubt Dr. Stubborn will allow us to use his lab, and I imagine one or two of the people here would kill the thing at a glance...Not that I would blame them for it."

"I don't think that's a good idea. At least not until we have something else for it on hand," Leliana said, "Unless you got something I can't see." Her gun was on her hip, and her bat was in one hand, it wasn't smart to come into the woods like this unarmed. And, in the event that they were attacked by their test subject...she could make sure that neither one of them died. Ralph may have said he took care of it, but Leliana had a bad feeling. It never seems to go away nowadays.

Fisher reached into his coat pocket, pulling out some rope "It's jaw and arms have been removed already, but I brought this along just in case. This has to be done properly." He glanced over at her "That's why I asked you. Half the lodge would be against the idea, and the other half might lack a... How do I put this nicely? Certain level of caution. That, and you're the only person who understands this thing aside from myself." Placing the rope back in his coat, he peered into the woods. In amongst some scorched trees he saw that the body remained. It's decaying skin was scorched, and the leg caught in the snare had been sliced as the dead muscle beneath held the body dangling in the air by a thin thread.
He did not look away, for Fisher had accepted that the infected were no longer human long ago.

Leliana followed his eyes, finding the body just barely moving. It hadn't seemed to notice the two of them, perhaps the fire had damaged its hearing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ralph put the rope back in his pocket, a slight sigh. "You have a point. Does anyone else know about this? Or the fact that we're out here?" She questioned, eyes not leaving the dangling form. "I know you took care of the arms and the jaw, but there's no guarantee it still cant cause damage."

"As far as I'm aware, only Hector knows of this thing's existence." Ralph slowly shook his head "And I doubt that he will come running to to rescue if something goes wrong." He took a few steps towards the thing, and only then did he notice just how damaged it had been by the fire. It's eyes were gone, scorched out of it's sockets and yet it still clinged on to life, swiping at the air with stumps. Turning away from the creature, he scanned nearby only to find nothing. No dead, and no animals to speak of. Hobbling back over towards the nurse he gently shook his head "Coast is clear."

"There's...there's no way this thing is alive. Not really, not like Hector thinks they are." A person would have bled out by now. Be screaming in agony, begging for it all to come to an end. This was...it was still moving. The ends of the stumps had been burnt, the stench of burning decay hung in the air, Leliana was terrified to figure out what caused this. When Ralph said the coast was clear, her head swiveled around to confirm. Not that she didn't believe him, but it had become a habit to check everything. "Alright. I uh, I have a pocket knife we can cut it down with."

"Exactly." Ralph nodded "My only hope is that after some tests that man can see what the rest of us see. Narcissist or not, you can't ignore the truth as a scientist when it's starting you in the face. Until then though, we're on our own with this." Upon the mention of a pocket knife, Ralph reached for his belt and drew a carving knife. "This'll cut it quicker, and it'll take the two of us to grab and tie this thing up anyway."

Leliana watched him, eyeing the carving knife in his hand before she turned back the infected hanging before them. It made her stomach churn ever so slightly, the smell and the sounds...the idea they could all end up like this was haunting. "How are we gonna restrain it? I know you have the rope, but are we trying it to the tree, or are we just roping its neck?"

"I suppose we'd better tie it to the tree. I don't want to drag this thing back to the lodge." He rested his hands on his hips "You're absolutely right, despite what it's sustained it could still be a threat if someone gets too close." He tugged at the rope in his hands "And if Hector believes this thing to still be alive, no doubt he'd want to put it out of it's misery. Heck, I would."
He took a few more steps towards it and wrapped the rope around it's head, covering it's mouth completely in a gag. The jaw was gone, but Fisher wasn't about to take any chances. "You can cut it down now. I can't exactly reach the trap in my state." He gestured to his leg.

Leliana was hesitant. Scared, actually. There was no telling what exactly this thing was still capable of, and after all the weird mutations they had seen, she didn't want to take any risks. But, there was no progress without risk, and Leliana didn't feel she had much choice. So, the nurse moved closer to the rope holding the infected up, holding the carving knife so generously offered by Ralph, she looked to him. Half asking if he was sure, and half making sure that he had the rope in hand. She raised herself, standing on tippy-toes, the tip of the knife just barely reached the rope she needed. It took a good minute, maybe two of struggling to get a good cut, before the top finally broke and the infected fell.

The infected tried to reach for both Ralph and Leliana, acting unaware of it's missing arms as it writhed around on the ground. As it tried to stand, Ralph knocked it back down with his cane. "This thing's blind..." Fisher thought out loud "It's nose is almost gone too, so maybe these things can get by on hearing alone?" He shook his head "Question for another time."
He moved quickly, tying it's legs as it was still down with another piece of rope. As the creature tried to stand once more, it toppled over.
"Not exactly the brightest, but we knew that already." Ralph tutted "Alright, let's get this thing tied to the tree. Almost done."

Leliana jumped back when the body fell, stepping closer only after Ralph had knocked it back down. "I would agree. But the infected rely on their sense of smell too. When I went on the supply run, they must have smelled Nile, and they attacked him. Be and Colt were behind a truck, the wind would have put us in danger." She paused, "I mean, we don't smell dead. It would make sense." Anyway, it was time to get it tied to the tree, like Ralph said. Leliana knew he had a third piece of rope, but her job was to get the thing in place.
It didn't have a shirt, and the pants seems to have fused to its body, but it wasn't dangerous. Leliana managed to get it to its feet, and push it against the tree, she kept it in place with her bat. "Hurry up Ralph."

"Hmm. If their sense of smell is something they rely on that much, maybe we could use that? Find a way to mask our scent to remain undetected." The doctor thought out loud once more and then got to work. Within moments, the infected was tied to the tree. As the scent of the nurse it tried to reach towards her but it was unable to move as the ropes held it in place. Stepping around to the front, Ralph couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the creature.
"I was right. These things seem to only have one drive. Nothing beyond the hunger." He shook his head, tutting "It's hard to think that this thing was a person once. But we must remember that this is just a corpse. Puppeted by a plague. Unlike our associate, we can't afford to get wrapped up in other thoughts."

He turned towards the nurse "Thank you for all your help. I do have one question bugging my mind though."

"Biological camouflage would be helpful. We could make supply runs a lot easier." Leliana was just thinking out loud at this point, nothing really directed at the Dr. "They don't experience fear or pain, and they have no regard for any other infected. Then the horde attacked, they just trampled the one's stuck on the fence. Which means the brain activity needed is extremely low. Hector is technically right, they check every box needed to be considered alive. But then again, in some respect so does fire." She paused, looking to him brows furrowed. "What question?"

Ralph was taking notes as the nurse theorised, underlining the camouflage idea with a few broad strokes of his pen.
"How are we going to explain this..." He raised a hand, gesturing to the infected "To the others? It is as I said, most of the people living here would gun this infected down the moment they lay eyes on it. That is something we simply can't risk."
He lightly shook his head "Given they seem to be relying on the stubborn fool it might make our task even more difficult."

"We go to Andy, Colt, and Luca first. They're the ones holding this little group together, why not let them in on it? They need to hear both sides, come to their own conclusion...as for everyone else I'm not sure. If Hector makes a cure, I don't think it would be able to reverse this. Maybe it would work on people who were just bitten, or prevent it from turning us, but my gut says this part is irreversible." Leliana said everything with the conviction of a woman twice her age. She knew she could be wrong, and it would be irresponsible to ignore that fact, but at this very moment, given the limited data they had, she could afford to sound sure.

"You seem to be doing a fair bit to keep us together yourself." Ralph smiled. "At best all Hector could achieve is a vaccine that prevents us from returning as..." He gestured to the infected once more with an open palm, frowning "But that's unlikely. The man has his head shoved so far in one direction I doubt he'll get anything done. Not at least till he accepts the facts laid directly in front of him, clear as day."
He sighed, squeezing the ridge of his nose "Alright. The only way forward is with the truth. Let's just hope Michael doesn't get himself killed by poking the thing before we can fill them in."

"If he does, is it really a loss?" Leliana asked with a slight chuckle, before looking back at the infected. "No, I think he can make a cure. Just like another other disease, I think it's possible...you just can't cure death."

Mentioned: Luca Brax Andy Maj Colt Rumble Fish Hector shadowz1995

 

[Togy]

A professor, an archer, and a doctor walk into a lab...​

Picking a chunk of snow off the ground, Harriet molded it in his gloved hands, turning it into a misshapen ball stained with blood. Seeing that his gloves were now clean, or at least cleaner than before, he tossed the ball over into the zombie pile. Nile had wandered off already, having not bothered to clean themself despite Harriet’s protests about how unsanitary that was.

Looking at the still blood stained lawn, the white and red of the blood and snow mixing together with other bodily fluids, Harriet realized just how much he wanted to go back to his safe, perfectly clean townhouse. Well, the word “Safe” was used loosely given how his dead ex-wife, or undead first ex-wife, was currently trapped inside his home office, but still, it was home. Thinking back on it, he hadn’t even grabbed his family pictures. Hm, well, that settled it. He’d have to go back eventually and grab those, but the day’s been exhausting enough. He’d get to that tomorrow.

Looking aimlessly at and around the Lodge, Harriet felt lost as to what to do next. Then he spotted the distinct red hair of his pupil, and he figured that Andy was his best bet at getting a rundown of this place.

Trudging up behind Andrea, Harriet greeted her by asking “You’re all staying here?”. Looking down at his boots, he lifted his foot up a little and gave his foot a small shake, flinging blood stained snow off the sole of his shoe and onto the snow. “It’s, um, charming. Well, as charming as a mass grave can be, anyway” Harriet said through the Gas Mask he had yet to take off.

“It’s my uncle’s lodge.” Andy explained. Professor Hennigan would have known about the funeral. She had been out of work for almost two full weeks during that period. "It used to be in much better repair, but we've had our share of zombie and soldier attacks alike. Thankfully, it has served us well and has been at least moderately defendable."

She looked at the man in the gas mask and rose an eyebrow. Hector wore one as well, she wasn't sure why. It was obvious to her whatever this sickness was, it was lingering in all of them. All it did at that point was obstruct their vision.

Speaking of Hector. Andy reached down as the radio on her hip sounded. It seemed that Hector was at least mostly established in his lab, or trying to get set up at least. The professor was far better put to use connecting equipment than lifting bodies, and thankfully for him Andy was smart enough to put people where they were most successful

"Come on. I have something far more productive for you to do than lift bodies."

“You’re Uncle? Didn’t know he was the outdoors type” Harriet said. Given, he’d never met the man, only heard of them, so he wouldn’t know anything about them.

“Great, great. Anything’s better than moving my dead neighbors” Harriet said in response to the better use comment as he gestured to the body pile. “It’s sad really, swore I saw the cashier from the supermarket in there” Harriet said, casting a glance to the pile before looking back to Andy.

“Probably,” Andy offered unhelpfully. She had never grown close to anyone in Aurora except the people that lived with her now, and even most of those relationships had been forged after the dead started coming back to life. She had little else to say until she reached Hector.

The sound of the door softly clicking open caused the doctor's head to turn up towards the cellar entrance. At first he thought it was surprising that someone responded that quickly to his call. Upon seeing long red locks descending the stairs, it made more sense. "Ah, Ms. Jordan." He said, "And Professor Hennigan if memory serves." The man added with a nod to the slimmer male.

The duffel that had contained the equipment lay empty on the cellar floor. Hector had already set to positioning everything to his personal preference, practically mirroring his personal set up from when the world wasn't overrun with infection and pestilence. What was impressive was how fast the doc had set everything up. "I'm mostly done down here. I'm just going to need extensions and additional outlets to power everything. It should be noted that this lab is going to be a fairly heavy drain when in use. So, I would suggest using the generator sparingly in the days to come."

At the mention of the limited power usage of the generator, Harriet’s mind drifted towards energy sources he could use. He didn’t do so intentionally, his mind just shot to trying to solve what seemed to be a problem at hand.

A car battery array? That might work, but really, those batteries would be better used for cars. What about a wood powered generator? That could work, and there wasn’t really a shortage….

Shaking his head a little before he was completely lost in thought, Harriet focused his attention on the two people in the cellar with him.

“Next time someone goes into town I’ll see if someone can find you another generator. It might not be as powerful as the one we have here, but if you are the only thing drawing from it then it might be okay,” Andy thought out loud. “I need a few things for my ATV as well.” Aaron had gotten close to repairing it, but a full fix would require items from town.

The woman came further into the room and made herself at home. There were still many of her own items down here. Racks of old wine that she hadn’t been desperate enough to open yet, some storage items of her uncles, and most importantly the large industrial freezer where she kept the deer meat. With little effort, Andy hoisted herself up onto the freezer, pushing up on her palms so she could sit with her legs hanging off the edge.

“Are you ready for samples from me, Hector?” Andy addressed the doctor. “I heard you call over the radio.”

"Well, now would be a good time to collect and centrifuge the samples. While things are still quiet down here."

Wordlessly, the doctor hastily set up a phlebotomy kit and laid down 3 clear tubes next to the young woman. It wasn't anything near as sanitary as Hector was accustomed to but a paper towel for the kit to sit on and rubbing alcohol was going to have to do. At least the needles were sterile.

Drawing the blood was a simple matter. Getting a vein was five times easier than putting together a fragmented knee in an emergency surgery, blind. "Done." He said after a minute had gone by. No second nor movement was wasted as the doctor quickly put a bandage on the venipuncture point and set to placing the tubes into the centrifuge and flipping it on. The electronic humming filled the cellar's airspace and would have been mildly distracting if Hector wasn't completely adjusted to the sound by now. "You may remove the bandage in roughly five minutes." He explained as he set up multiple clean slides next to the microscope.

Watching curiously from near the cellar door, Harriet’s quizzical look could be seen even beneath his mask. “I’m missing something here, obviously. What’s the purpose of the blood test? Is it a requirement for everyone here?” Harriet asked as he watched the centrifuge.

“No.” Andy answered plainly. “It’s just me.” She flexed her arm, holding the bandage down, and applying pressure. The Doctor was good, she had barely felt the skin break. Emerald eyes flashed up to the professor’s quizzical gaze. It hadn’t occurred to her that she had no idea what was going on. However, Andy had known Harriet for years. He wasn’t a threat to their plans.

“Something in my blood was valuable enough they sent a hoard of soldiers to get it. Hector is trying to figure out what that is.”

"Yes, and I wouldn't suggest just openly speaking about it with people who only just arrived Ms. Jordan." The doctor warned. The last thing they needed was information like that getting around to untrustworthy ears. Any undesirable could attack them and try to turn Andy over to the military for some kind of reward and the professor wasn't worth anyone's trust yet. Much less with information that could affect the entire species.

“Harriet isn’t a threat,” Andy vouched for the man. “I’ve known him longer than anyone else here. He sort of used to be my boss.” She rolled her eyes as she looked back at Hector, arms crossing over her chest in an almost pouting demeanor. “I’m not a moron and likely have a far better judge of character than you do.”

“Not a threat, I swear, but let’s move back to the blood bit” Harriet said, his interest peaked. “So, you probably either have the cure in your veins or a mutated super virus that you most likely know nothing about. That’s what I’m getting at it here, correct me if I’m wrong” Harriet said, his blue eyes flicking between the centrifuge and Andrea. His student seemed to be in a rather...daunting situation to say the least. No wonder they wanted to learn more about it, he’d want to as well.

"I don't doubt your judge of character, Ms. Jordan. What I worry about is who has the steel to remain silent should the worst come to pass." Hector then cast the man a cold glance before returning to the final adjustments of the laboratory. "But at the end of the day, it is your blood. Doctor-Patient confidentiality dictates that I cannot divulge information to others but If you wish to tell everyone, then that is none of my concern. I'm just giving a word of caution."

With a low sigh and without looking up, the doctor continued, "As of right now, nothing is confirmed. It's just a suspicion of mine. But I suspect the secret to cracking the viruses genetic code lies in Ms. Jordan's blood. Given enough time, I am certain I will be able to come up with a serum that could save us all. That, or at least understand the disease on a microscopic level and possibly develop countermeasures."

“...wow, just, wow” Harriet said, very much stunned. He hadn’t been expecting in the slightest to become involved in the development of a cure, and with his student no less. “Who else knows this?” Harriet asked.

“Officially?” Andy asked, tilting her head in thought. “Luca and Leliana that I know of. Although many of the others here knew we were setting up a lab and that the government wanted my blood so,” the redhead shrugged. “If they have any ability to reason they could probably put it together.” The girl hopped down off of the freezer, boots leaving little clouds of dust as they hit the ground. She dusted her hands and looked to Hector.

“Do you need anything else from me? I have a few things to finish up before I can rest.” She had been awake since the crack of dawn on watch, so the idea of a shower and sleep sounded almost tantalizing.

"No, we are done here. If possible, try to make it clear to the others that I want as little intrusions as possible. If they aren't here to volunteer laboratory specimens, then I don't want them here. I won't have the luxury of time or patience to deal with any curious cockroaches."

“You have such a high opinion of us,” Andy said with a smirk. “I am a willing subject, so just let me know when you need more blood. I’ll be around. Let me know if you find anything interesting.” She turned to her professor and shrugged, it seemed that the doctor had most of the equipment set up already, unless he wanted to donate blood to Hector’s cause maybe he wasn’t needed after all.

“Owen is upstairs, if you haven’t said hi to him yet,” she informed Harriet. With a curt flick of the wrist, the girl exited the lab and left to finish her work so she could crawl up under her covers and pass the fuck out.

Interactions: Andy Maj Hector shadowz1995 and whoever that blonde guy was who tagged along @Me

 

[Brax]

The night before...
(Tre and Aderyn)​

Aderyn couldn’t sleep, and the shuffling of footsteps upstairs was absolutely not helping. She threw her blankets to the side and checked the clock on her ipod. 3.07am.

The girl flopped back down on the bed. The top of the stairs was just barely visible through the dark of the night. Dust filtered down in the half-light as somebody thumped down the steps, two at a time. She ground her teeth. Throwing open the door of the cupboard under the stairs, she whirled to the living room, eyes locking on a teenager sporting dreadlocks.

“Do you mind?”

Upon hearing the voice of a small girl yelling at him, Tre was caught off-guard. He let out a short yell and practically hopped off both of his feet in the process of turning around to see where the source of commotion had came from. When his eyes locked onto a rather small girl he had not seen for quite some time, the teen’s fear turned to anger.

“What fuggin’ hole did’ja crawl out of, you lil rat!?” He growled. It had been quite some time since he’d seen Luca’s cousin around. For a little while he had forgotten the girl had even existed. There was no tension; he was not angry with her, nor did he have a grudge. Rather, the unexpected intruding of someone still awake in the lodge had been enough to warrant his response. Others stirred in the wake of their conversation, which prompted Tre to turn quickly and walk outside. The last thing he wanted to do was argue with a child while others attempted to sleep.

He was bundled up. A pull-over hoodie to adorn his torso with a jacket over it. Baggy sweatpants that covered the entirety of his legs, with thermals on underneath. His backpack was on, though only to be taken off and placed beside him on the steps of the front porch. He took a seat and removed a bottle of beer from its depths. It was one of only a few. The boy made no qualms about jacking Warren’s booze, even if he would be angry come the morning. However, it wasn’t like there weren't any more to be found. Within the next few days he would be creating his own moonshine for the rest of the lodge to indulge in.

“Under the stairs,” Aderyn noted helpfully, following the teen outside. “I sleep there. You know, when nobody’s stomping up and down them.” She hadn’t meant to startle him.

“You jus’ been layin’ low in your lil cupboard for a few weeks, huh?” The teen asked sarcastically. The girl sat down on the steps beside him. She could almost convince herself that she could see the glow of the streetlights on the horizon, but of course, she couldn’t. She let out a soft sigh and seemed to disregard his comment. “How are you holding up? You got pretty fucked when the soldiers came.”

“Huh?” He turned his head to the girl who had sat down next to him. For a moment, he stared at the side of her face. Why did she follow him outside? She went from yelling at him about making his way down the stairs to asking him how he was holding up. He took another drink from his bottle of beer before letting out a loud burp. “I’m fine. Good to go whenev’. I ain’t never thought a day in my life I was gonna make it in the long run anyway. There ain’t nobody lookin’ after me, not upstairs and not here in hell. So when it’s my time to go, I'm good for it.” He finished his drink and placed it on the deck before reaching into his bag and pulling out another. There was no way in hell he was about to offer the child sitting next to him one - while he was not of age to drink, the four year age difference between the two was quite a gap due to their limited time on Earth.

“That’s kind of sad."

The girl gave Tre a sympathetic look. She seemed to be at a loss for words as she toyed with a string hanging off of her jacket. What would it be like to just not care if you lived or died? The thought made her head hurt.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you. Haven't been sleeping well, I guess." Her face burned. Aderyn hated apologizing, but sometimes, it was necessary. Or at least better than sitting in awkward silence.

“You jus’ got me at the right time. I wasn’t expectin’ a lil gremlin to pop up from under the stairs to yell at me for walkin’. No one else does.” He exhaled deeply through his nostrils as he took another gulp off of his beer bottle.

"Do you want to play a game? Seeing as you woke me up, I mean. I grabbed dad's gamecube from the store. It's got…" she paused, trying to think of a game she'd stowed in the closet that Tre might actually want to play.

"Smash. I think."

Smash? Without the context, a normal person would have probably been confused. However, Tre knew immediately as to the game that the girl had been referring to. The light lit up behind his eyes at the idea of a video game that wasn’t a 2-bit piece of shit hovering around an empty screen. The thought of being possibly entertained for any extended period of time was enough to have Tre salivating with delight. It was night time, but Luca had been missing for a while in the sense that Tre hadn’t seen him. How could anyone be mad if he just escaped for a few minutes?

“Ay, you don’t gotta tell me twice!” He jumped up, squeezing both fists together with a big grin on his face. “It’s been long as FUCK since I been able to get my mind offa this shit. Do you have a TV, Harry Potter?”

 

[The Mad Queen]

​

12th November

As Jack peeled back his shirt, the blue eyes of Caoimhe widened. She almost missed the thing, but sure enough on the man's back were teeth marks.
"How bad is it?"
"You've been bitten." She walked towards the door "So you need to leave."
He spun around
"What? Lemme see for myself, get a mirror or something!"
She crossed her arms, but as the man's eyes met her own Caoimhe sighed heavily "Alright. But only if you're sure." She walked deeper into the church "You comin' or what?"

Standing in the bathroom, Jack was able to see the mark for himself but rather than panic or cry as Caoimhe had expected, the man smiled at what lay in his reflection.
"It's not even that bad!" He chuckled "Thing barely scratched me."
"I don't want to take that chance. If you turn while I'm asleep..."
"I'm not going to turn! Look at the bite for yourself, it's barely through the skin!"

Uncrossing her arms, Caoimhe took a few steps towards Jack only for the man to try to grab her. She saw his blow coming from a mile off and was able to dodge it, grabbing him by the arm and shoving his face up against one of the bathroom walls.
"Really? You saw how sh...I fought off those undead feckers and ya thought you could drop me?"
He groaned in pain as she twisted his arm "Okay! Okay! I'm sorry. Just...Don't throw me out. At least not till we're sure."

With a slight nod she released him, and the man started to caress his arm.
"Look lady, I've seen people turn after getting bitten but it was always a lot deeper. If it comes to it..." He nodded slowly, and pointed to a pistol attached to his belt "I'll do it myself. You don't have to worry."
"You just tried to attack me."
"It's not something I'll try again." He gave her a worried smile "Where the hell did you learn to fight, anyway?"
"Derry." Caoimhe answered bluntly "I'll be taking the gun, for now."

With a groan, Jack handed it over and the woman walked back into the Church hall. Opening a notebook she scribbled something down, tore out the page and placed it in her front pocket.

Maria:
His name's Jack. He might be infected
Please be careful. Idiot tried to jump me.
-Caoimhe

12 November, later that day

As Caoimhe tucked into a can of beans with a spoon, Jack wandered into the church hall with a can of his own. He offered her a smile and sat across from the woman in one of the pews.
"Sorry about before. Just got worried you were going to throw me to the wolves." He chuckled
"It's fine. Just don't do it again."
"Believe me, lady. I won't be. Arm still hurts."
"You try it again and I will break it. Alright?"

He threw up his hands "You don't have to tell me twice, don't worry."
Tucking in with a spoon he glanced up once more "So, if you're from Derry how'd you end up in this mess?"
"Do you always ask this many questions?"
He rolled his eyes at that and just kept eating. Caoimhe raised a spoon towards the urn, which sat atop the church altar. With a slight sigh she turned to face Jack again.

"What about you?"
"Me?" He asked, his mouth full
"I mean, where'd you come from? What makes you...Tick?"
"Aurora born and bred." He smiled "I'm a mechanic. Or I guess, I was."

He raised an eyebrow at the woman "I must say, you seem familiar. Could swear I saw your face before."
"I just have one of those faces." She shrugged
"Yeah, I guess so." He paused, starting down into the can "Shit." He coughed "Now I remember, you're the Beast of Derry, ain't ya? Would make sense, given how you knocked me on my ass."

Caoimhe scoffed, and ran a hand down her face. She wanted to go upstairs and seal herself away from the man, but she also knew that she had to watch him.
"I'm sorry about Martin."
That peaked her interest, and the woman faced Jack once again.
"You knew Martin?"
"Everyone around here knew Martin Shaw." Jack laughed "Man could be almost as scary as you are when he wanted."

That last comment managed to force a smile out of Caoimhe.
"Most of the time he was a big teddy bear though."
"Hmm. Sounds like Martin." She got to work writing another note

Jack chuckled, but this quickly turned into coughing.
"I'm fine. Honestly. I think the beans went down the wrong way." He smiled

14 November
Morning

While Caoimhe had kept to the back room the past few nights, Jack had managed to find a comfortable enough spot in the pews. Surrounded by old bibles the man had wrapped himself in a cocoon of blankets. She had tried sleeping in another pew the first night, but the man's snores shook the walls of the church. When Caoimhe found him, the man had his mouth wide open and was as white as a sheet.
"Jack?" No response "Jack?" She called again, and yet there was nothing from the man. Slowly, she reached for the gun only for his eyes to slowly open
"Morning." He groaned "What are we doing today?"
"You rest up, I'll do the morning checks."

With a light smile, the man fell back asleep.

14 November
Afternoon

There had been a slight buildup of the dead since the incident, but nothing too major. It wasn't like they could get inside anyway. The temple of God was a fortress for the living, or at least it was after both Maria and Caoimhe were done with it. The woman wrote another note as she stared down at the horde. They had grown to be a part of life now, but she just hoped it was temporary.

Jack was still asleep by the time of the second check, and Caoimhe did a double take to make sure the man was still breathing. She reached out towards him, but quickly pulled back before forcing herself to touch the man's forehead.
She let out a heavy sigh as his eyes opened once more.

"Hey."
"Hey." She offered him a smile
"Perimeter okay?"
She nodded
"Yup. I reckon we can stay here a while. I'm sorry again about before. I just got a little scared is all."
"It's okay." Caoimhe shushed him "I'll take care of the evening checks, and stick us on some food."

She marched into the bathroom as the man drifted back off to sleep, a smile on his face.
"Maria." Caoimhe called, staring into her eyes through the mirror "I need you to wake up. I-I don't know if I can deal with this." Her voice cracked "Please." She stared down into the notebook and wrote down a few more lines.

14 November
Evening

After the last check of the day, Caoimhe made her way down the steps, concealing something behind her back "Hey Jack, I was savin' this for a rainy day but I think you might as well have it." The woman drew a can of pudding, and stepped forward in front of the sleeping man "Jack?"
There was no response from the man, no mumerings as he slept or even any snoring. It was a sound Caoimhe missed.

His eyes opened, but they were not the eyes she had grown to know. They were cold, and empty. No different from the eyes outside. From his cocoon the man sat up, dropped his mouth wide open and started to shuffle towards her with a growl.
Dropping the can, Caoimhe clenched her teeth and fists.

At first she pushed him back, but he just shuffled forwards again. She backed up, making her way towards the barricade while still keeping Jack's body in view. Grabbing a piece of one of the broken church pews she drove it into his skull. It wasn't enough, for the body kept moving, but a second strike that sent a piece of jagged wood straight through the eye socket was enough to drop Jack.

15 November
Afternoon

The shovel made impact with the dirt as Caoimhe scooped the last of it away. Clearing out the cemetery and ceiling it off from the dead outside had taken up the entire morning, but it was worth it. With a sigh, she climbed out of the grave and carried a body wrapped in sheets into place. Covering Jack up, and leaving a makeshift tombstone made out of spare wood from the barricade the woman stared out at the dead before her.

"You were better at this kind of thing, Maria." She muttered to herself "But I'll do my best."

16 November Morning

The blue eyes of Maria shot open, finding herself no longer in the main hall of the church but in the back room. The notebook lay on a table beside her, with a note sitting atop.

If you're reading this, you've missed a lot.
-Caoimhe

The woman raised an eyebrow and rubbed her head. How long had she been out for? There was never any real way of telling, not until she looked at the time for herself. It could have been hours, a day or even longer than that.

13th November
Morning
I might have been wrong about Jack. He seems nice, and you know if I'm saying that about a person I'm usually right. Don't be too hard on him, and don't kick him out.
Please.
-Caoimhe

With a raised eyebrow, she kept reading.

13th November
Evening
He's getting worse. I really hope it's just a fever
-Caoimhe

She kept reading, up until the notes stopped.

Jack's gone. Buried him outside. I hope you wake up soon, because I don't know if I can do this.

With a heavy sigh, Maria started to write a note of her own.

Caoimhe
Jack sounded alright, I'm sorry you had to go through that all over again. I know how hard it must have been.
I'm going to writing more notes from now on just so you don't fall behind.
Please, don't give up. I know it's been hard, and I know I haven't been the most helpful but you can't afford to quit. Not now.
-Maria

Closing it tightly and pocketing the notebook, Maria got out of bed and made her way into the main hall of the church. After noticing a pile of blood where Jack had been put to rest, the woman sharply shook her head.
"Feck it."

Grabbing a rucksack, she threw everything she could carry from the donation boxes inside. Food went in first and the remaining blankets followed. Tucking the urn under one arm and throwing on a winter coat, the woman made her way into the cemetery and, while standing by Jack's grave wrote one more note.

Not waiting around in there for both of us to die. There's bound to be other people out there, so I'm going to have a look.
-Maria

With the dead clawing at the front doors of the church, she snuck out through the cemetery and started to make her way off of the city streets.

 

[Maj]

​

Part 1 of 2​

November 13th, 2018
9:23 AM
The Lodge

“You want me to what?” Andy was standing with her hands on her hips, eyebrows raised as her brother looked at her with pleading eyes. Why in the world he would ask her of all people to attempt to comfort a little girl was beyond her. She was the opposite of warm and fuzzy and was more likely to only hurt her further than to be able to offer her any sort of comfort. Even her cousin, as prickly as he was, had more capacity for it than she did.

“Andy, I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think it would be helpful to her. She had to shoot Cletus, I just thought maybe some fresh air might do her some good.” Owen rarely asked his sister for favors, but at the end of the day he wasn’t able to relate to what the girl was going through. Not to mention, he was worried about her. He shuffled his feet in the dirt, kicking a rock into the sheet metal siding of the shed.

“Then take her outside and play catch or some bullshit. Why in the world would I take a five year old on a hunting trip?”

“She’s twelve.”

“Whatever.” Andy rolled her eyes. “My point is that I have no need to babysit while I’m trying to beef up our food supply. Why don’t you spit out what you really mean.” Her brother scratched the back of his head uncomfortably before letting out a sigh and locking sympathetic eyes with the woman.

“I don’t know. She killed a guy...you killed a guy.” The male gave a shrug. “I’m just saying maybe you can offer some advice?” Andy’s eyes widened and then she laughed. Owen wasn’t sure if it was genuine or sarcastic, but was scared at either prospect. Finally Andy threw up her hands in defeat.

“I fucking guess, Owen. Where is she?”

Moments later, Andy threw open the cupboard door so hard that the hinges whined in protest. She was standing in the small door frame, arms crossed over her chest and clad in quivers and hunting gear alike. Inside was a small child, wide awake staring at the dark wall like some sort of sociopath.

“Get up. My brother is tired of you being a mope and has tasked me with dragging you outside.”

“You can shoot me in here just as well.” Aderyn provided unhelpfully as she glanced over at Andy. “Easier cleanup, too. Shut the door and walk.”

“But then your corpse would stink up the vents. Come on. I’m not going to ask again,” Andy retorted, holding out her hand to help Aderyn to her feet. If she chose not to oblige, she would just grab her by her foot and drag her into daylight.

“I’ll face the firing squad with dignity.” Aderyn reached out, grabbing the woman’s hand, and took up her mostly-empty bag from the floor.

“Atta girl.” Andy helped the child to her feet, keeping a firm hand on her wrist in the event she tried to flee from her kindness. The little thing had fled after the Hazmat raid and she was sure that being forced to spend an afternoon with Andy was just as terrifying. She led them outside and back to the shed where Andy had left most of her items on the ground in a fit of frustration her brother had caused her.

“Stay,” Andy commanded, pointing to a spot in the dirt near the shed doors.

“Oh, so now I’m a puppy.” The girl did as she was told, checking her bag twice, and raising an eyebrow up at Andrea.

“A puppy has better manners,” Andy retorted, opening the doors of the shed. It didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for. Inside a box labeled “Kid stuff” Andy retrieved a small compound bow. It looked almost like a toy in comparison to her own, but it worked just as well. It was the same one Andy had used when her uncle had taken her on hunting trips. She threw a handful of other things on the ground of the shed, baby blankets, old broke Star Wars action figures, even what looked like a child sized baseball bat all were tossed to the wayside. Finally she pulled out a handful of shortened carbon shaft arrows and a small quiver.

“Put that on.” She handed the bow and quiver over to the girl. “With any luck, you are going to need it.”

Aderyn slung the quiver over her backpack, winced, and checked the stitches in her left arm - still intact. She took the bow in her hand as if weighing it and slid the pistol into a side pocket of her backpack.

“I haven’t used one of these in years,” she mused.

“If you’ve used one at all you are in better shape than I thought. Can you draw it?” Andy asked. “Make sure the test isn’t too high.”

The girl drew the string back, although she strained against the clockwork of the bow, left hand shaking slightly. She frowned at her arm and steadied herself slowly, right hand pulled back.

“Seems fine to me, if I’m honest.”

“Not bad,” the woman agreed. She reached down to adjust the child’s drawing arm, pulling it so her hand with the string rested just at her cheek bones. Then without much warning she also used her foot to widen the girl’s stance, pushing against her left foot slightly to nudge it into place.

“You are going to want to use the same spot on your face as an anchor, that way you can avoid having too many variables to adjust when your aim is off.” Andy nodded approvingly. Aderyn laughed to herself, loosing the string, and touching a dark line on her cheek.

“Perfect spot for an anchor, you could fit a fishing hook in it.”

“Maybe that will teach you not to rip down prized mounts off my walls.” The woman said with an exasperated sigh. “Let’s get going, you aren’t going to learn anything valuable shooting at nothing.”

Collab: Meredith
Mentions: Hyped_Taco

 

[FireMaiden]

This is a collab between Maj and FireMaiden

November 13th, 6:52 am​

She was still tired, but sleeping in was a luxury they no longer had. Weird dreams, warmth, Leliana had to abandon every comfort of that queen bed and force herself up and out to get dressed. In clothes that desperately needed to be washed, Leliana was playing with the idea of talking to Ralph about doing more tests or maybe teaming up with him to go bug Hector for use of the lab. Either way, a fun day was in store for her. She figured that maybe other people could enjoy a few extra minutes, stretching that "sleeping in" thought she had a few minutes ago. Sitting down on the floor, Leliana began to process of putting her shoes on, her bloodstained and slightly muddy shoes.

"Where are you going?" a sleepy voice came from behind her. Sitting up in the bed, blankets pushed down to her waist was the other blonde who called this bed hers. Beth's blue eyes were glossy and dulled by the sleep she had left behind, hair tangled and frizzy around her round face. A hand came up to rub sleep from the corners of her eyes, as the other went to the air as she stretched and yawn in the early morning light. She smacked her lips, mouth dry from the night of slumber.

"Oh, uh, not sure. But this lot always needs something done. Either I'll be helping Ralph with something, or stomach the idea of letting Nile boss me around so that fence gets fixed." She tugged at her shoes, up until that moment, Leliana hadn't turned to look at Beth. When the nurse did, she couldn't help but laugh a little. "You are rocking the bed head. A great look, honestly." She chuckled, standing up and stepping back to the dresser, she opened the top drawer, and pushed aside the stuff inside, grabbing the pillbox. Beth knew about the Zoloft and the fact Leliana didn't want others knowing about it. But she could trust Beth. "You uh, you can go back to bed. It's not even 7:00 yet." She placed the pill in her mouth, dry swallowing as she closed the drawer.

The older woman smiled at the compliment, hands nervously going up to attempt to smooth the frazzled nature of her hair. She pushed the blankets the rest of the way back and swung her legs out of bed, yawning a second time. The chill of the room washed over her bare legs, shooting up her nerves as her feet touched down to the floor.

"No, no," Beth said through another yawn. "Whatever you are doing can use a second set of hands. I am not about to sleep in while you go overwork yourself." Beth began to busy herself around the room, searching for her own clothes, socks, and shoes. In the dresser opposite Leliana, there were a variety of clothes that had been brought back from the runs, some of which seemed to fit the slim woman. She pulled a sweater on over the tank top she had been sleeping in and began scrounging around for jeans.

"I think you need a break. There are other people here who can do the dirty work you know, "

"You know if I take a break something bad is gonna happen," Leliana replied, sitting down on the foot of the bed, eyes following Beth as she searched for clothes. "It always happens when Colt takes a nap, or Andy and Luca leave, someone is gonna break an arm or something. Besides, I'm fine. Dirty work is my specialty remember?" Moe's was certainly the farthest thing from clean, and nobody ever seemed to leave a room in good shape. Helping put a fence back up or board up some windows would be a piece of cake.

Leliana then stood again, opening one of the drawers to you'll out a pair of jeans. Acid washed in ridiculous spots, but, fashion sense wasn't something they were trying to stay on top of. Not since every article of clothing would be covered in blood at some point. "These might fit. The tag got ripped off though, so who knows." Leliana said them down on top of the dresser before she sat back down, her eyes once again on Beth. Leliana was still convinced it was a nothing short of a miracle that brought Beth to the lodge. She had lost so much, but then to see her best friend, someone she held very dear, just shows up? Leliana couldn't thank whatever higher power there may be enough. "You know I'm serious, you don't have to be active yet. There's still a good little bit before the Luca alarm goes off."

Beth slid into the jeans, wiggling the fabric up and over the curve of her hips. The denim stretched around her, fitting snuggly as she buttoned them into place. Picking up the hairbrush up off the top of the dresser she began the process of working the tangles out of her hair, starting at the ends and working her way to the roots.

"Friends don't let friends wake up this early alone," the woman teased. If there was any luck, maybe whatever job Leliana had would allow the pair some alone time. She felt like she rarely got a moment with just the two of them. They worked while there were daylight hours to spare and when it got so dark it was hard to see, they would retire to their bedroom, exhausted and weary. The only solitude Beth had had was watching the gentle rise and fall of her friend's chest as she slipped off to sleep. They were well overdue for some girl time.

Leliana stared for a moment as Beth got dressed, looking away after a few seconds. "How have you been holding up?" The nurse asked, looking back to Beth when she started brushing her hair. "Everyone has been on edge, and I know we haven't actually had time to talk recently. Maybe we can hang out with Milly, I think she's lonely." Milly actually always seemed a bit lonely, and Leliana could understand why. There was only one other kid here her age, Tre and Shinoa obviously didn't count. Leliana leaned back, letting herself fall onto the bed, her legs hanging off the end. "You know, my mom's birthday is this weekend. We were planning on inviting you out to the fanciest restaurant in town." Leliana's hands went up, palms out. Sarcastic jazz hands. "Red Lobster. She wanted crab legs, and we figured out next-door neighbor would let us borrow his old wheelchair for her."

The blonde giggled, a hand coming up to her face to hide her features as she did so. She didn't think she needed to tell Leliana that Red Lobster wasn't, in fact, the fanciest restaurant in town, but her mother likely thought so. Mrs. James was one of the kindest people she had ever met and had always welcomed Beth in with open arms. Her passing pained her, but not nearly as bad as she assumed it did Leliana.

"I'm as good as to be expected," she assured her. Zombie fights and blood weren't exactly her forte, but the new world had forced her to do many things she never thought possible. Sometimes at night, sleep would be elusive and Beth would stand in the bright fluorescent light of the bathroom staring at her pale hands and wonder if the blood would ever really leave her cuticles. Despite the hues of red being long gone, it seemed to haunt her, as if the smell of pennies and death would never quite leave.

She reached out and ran her fingers through Leliana's hair, pulling the light locks to the side. It was hard not to study her features. The curve of her button nose, the softness to her face and light in her eyes despite the dark circles that threatened to mar what was otherwise perfection. Beth smiled down at her.

"Living with my ex and fighting zombies isn't exactly the future I would have asked for. But it could be far worse. How are you?" That was far more important to Beth.

"Hey, I'm smart enough to know what that giggling means. Red Lobster is the nicest restaurant we can afford, we can't go to that uh...that French place. I don't know how to pronounce it. Don't judge mama." Leliana had to chuckle as well. "I did my sarcastic jazz hands! And you cannot lie to me, you would have loved to go to Red Lobster with me and Ms. Diana James." Leliana looked to Beth with a smile, not questioning why the older girl was running her hands through her hair, mostly because it felt nice. However, here's the thing. She didn't know that Beth had an ex living here in the lodge. "You're ex?" Leliana said up, turning over to face Beth, "Please tell me it's not Micheal. I'll fight you if it is." She was making a joke, but at the same time, she was very worried about that. Anyone else would have been ten times better. No matter what.

"Definitely not!" Beth's nose scrunched in disgust at the prospect of dating Michael. Joke or not, sure Leliana thought better of her than that. "Owen, actually."

Leliana couldn't help her mouth dropping. It only dropped for a second, the nurse readjusting so that she was sitting right next to Beth. "Oh my god, really?" She hid a laugh behind her words, "I mean I can see why. Guess that's why it's a little awkward between you and Andy."

"I've never spoken to the woman," Beth said truthfully. "She doesn't really go out of her way to speak to me either so there doesn't seem to be any reason to try. It doesn't matter, it was a long time ago. We've been broken up almost a year." She shrugged as she explained. "You remember right? That night at Moes? The 'mystery boy' I broke up with? That was Owen. I guess it was pretty serious at the time, at least to him. He wanted more from me than I could give him."

"Well yeah, but you've been in the same room with her. It's tense. Though I'll be honest, it's always a little tense around her." Nothing against Andy, she was just a very intense person. "So, Owen. The mystery boy, why didn't you ever tell me about him? Like, truthfully? He's not that...okay, he's cute. But I'm not charismatic enough to steal him away from you." Leliana laughed softly, dramatically throwing her hand over her forehead, falling back slightly before sitting up again. "So, why did you two break up? Really? You're one of the most caring people I know, you go out of your way to take care of anyone who can get your hands on. Well, you know, if they deserve your kindness. You can be very mean when you want to be."

"We were pretty toxic together I guess," Beth admitted after a laugh at her friend's dramatics. "Owen is a really caring person, sometimes to a fault. He wanted me to change jobs, which is hard to blame him for, he didn't like seeing me being taken advantage of, but I'm pretty stubborn. I don't like being told how to live my life if I did I would have stayed back in Kansas with my parents. Owen loved me or at least told me he did. He wanted me to say it back but I couldn't." She turned and looked at Leliana's caring blue eyes and faltered. A sad smile pulled at the corners of her chapped lips and she felt her chest grow tight.

"That's stupid. So what you were a sex worker? You are a grown-ass woman living your life, and I would assume very good at your job. Sure, it sucked that you hot hurt sometimes but," Leliana look at Beth, a smile on her face, "You must have had the best blackmail material of all time." Leliana had to pause again, brushing some hair out her face, then meeting Beth's eyes. "Why couldn't you say I love you back?"

It felt like someone had sucked all the air out of the room. Suddenly the chill was gone and all Beth could feel was the hot flush of nerves boiling under her skin. Her face leaned into Leli's grasp as if magnetized to the soft feel of her hand on her cheek. Her heart pounded and suddenly it felt like her throat was sticking to itself as she tried to swallow.

Bethany had been avoiding this question for so long. Leliana was her best friend in all of the world. She was the only person who had loved her unconditionally in her whole life. It didn't matter what she did or what mistakes she made, Leli would patch her up and hug her and tell her that the world was okay. That amount of unwavering loyalty hadn't been replicated anywhere else. Not with Owen, not with other boyfriends, and definitely not with her parents.

However, Bethany was running out of time to tell her. At first, she had just vowed to keep it to herself. Leli's friendship was far more important to her than coming clean about deep adoration that bubbled under Beth's surface. She never seemed to turn away her advances, but girls were so fluid. It was hard to tell if the girl felt the same way or if she was just being a good friend. Straight girls slept in the same bed, they undressed in front of each other, held hands, and cuddled. None of it was weird, but it had always been different for Bethany.

"You," She said after a moment of silence, her hand coming up to cup the side of Leliana's face. "I couldn't say it back because of you." It was clear by the warble in her tone that admitting that was hard for her, like some deep dark secret she never thought would see the light of day. The blonde woman leaned in slowly, allowing Leliana all the time in the world to pull away if she wanted to.

She didn't.

Beth blushed. The two of them had been friends forever, Leliana had to wonder why she would be feeling nervous, they told each other almost everything. The other blonde leaned forward, Leliana not moving, just watching her move, she didn't say anything at first. Leliana didn't want to interrupt, to say anything that might make her saying anything harder, Leliana could see the wheels turning. Beth was nervous, her body language made that so clear, but Leliana wasn't expecting her answer.

Part of her felt like she should have.

The moment the word "you" left Beth's lips, Leliana felt her heart explode. Her face got hot. The nurse never, never in her life, had someone confess that they liked her. And obviously, Beth had liked her for a long, long time. The other girl's hand cupped her cheek, she kept getting closer and closer, but Leliana didn't move backward. Out of shock perhaps, but she felt that it was something more. Without Leliana even realizing, Beth's lips were on hers.

And she couldn't help but return it.

Rumble Fish (Milly) Brax (Luca&Tre) BloodLightning27 (Shinoa) Hyped_Taco (Micheal) Togy (Nile)​

 

[Meredith]

​

A few hours had passed and the pair was still walking. Aderyn, still full of energy and momentarily distracted from her pity party, was bouncing on her heels. Andy seemed much less thrilled.

The pair hadn’t spoke much during the walk, barring a bit of bitching back and forth, mostly to the tune of - “Is it actually possible for you to be quiet,” and “I don’t know, what do you think?” It was nice to go on a walk where she didn’t feel the looming threat of death following her.

Really, hunting was perfect survival training in the new world. Both required you to be quiet and to be alert in your surroundings. Despite the child’s ever running mouth, Andy was impressed at how well she was able to creep around the forest with her with minimal disturbance. She supposed after years of being on the run that you had to learn to be silent. A skill that Andy wished she would utilize now.

Finally a sound caught Andy’s attention. You could almost see her head tilt toward the sound, much like a dog whose ears perked up at strange noises. Emerald eyes scanned the treeline, and through the frost covered branches and fall colored leaves, the glossy brown eyes of a doe could be seen. Andy put up a hand to make sure Aderyn knew that if she moved or spoke, that the redhead would string her up from the trees in penance.

But Aderyn had frozen nearly as quickly as Andy had heard the noise. Slowly, she raised her arm, millimeters at a time to point it out to the woman. Andy curled her finger to gesture for the girl to come closer as silently as possible. When she drew near, the redhead crouched so her lips were right in the child’s ear.

“Line up your shot,” The woman encouraged. Everyone had to learn somehow, and to keep Aderyn from trying out of fear of mistake was to do her a disservice. Through their travels, Andy had let her attempt to shoot at a few stray squirrels and rabbits along the trail. Enough that if the girl had a knack for the sport, she would have a decent idea of how to adjust her aim.

“If you can’t get a clear shot, don’t do it.” She waited for the dark haired tween to draw the bow and helped her to adjust her shot. Pulling her elbows up, straightening her stance. When she was sure that Aderyn had a handle on the situation, she stepped back, ready to draw her own bow in the event the child missed.

The girl steadied her breathing. She’d always liked deer, in fact, there was a time where she had hand-fed them at the local wildlife sanctuary. She tried to console herself with the stories - probably hearsay, but what if they weren’t - of deer biting off unaware children’s fingers thinking they were carrots.

“It’s painless if it’s done correctly,” the woman assured her.

Aderyn loosed the shot, and with it, exhaled sharply. She hadn’t realized she had been holding her breath. The arrow thunked into the deer’s side, but it did not fall.

Instead, it took off running, blood trickling down its side. She looked over at Andy, swallowing hard, but couldn’t meet her eyes. Instead they fell to the ground in front of the woman. “I’m sorry,” she breathed, barely audibly, “I’m sorry.”

Instead Andy put her hand on Aderyn’s shoulder. It was a firm gesture, but oddly affectionate coming from the redhead. She only shrugged in response, a small smirk on her lips. The woman could have pulled her bow at any time when she saw the shot wasn’t going to be enough to kill the creature, but instead she chose to let it be a learning experience for the young one.

“The hunt isn’t over yet.”

It didn’t take them long to track it down. The scent of blood was easy enough to track in the cool November air. Unfortunately that meant the meat would be a little gamey, but ultimately it would be a far better teaching experience for Aderyn. Andy and Colt couldn’t be the only ones capable of providing game for the lodge forever.

Exhaustion had taken the creature, it was laying on its side, breathing heavily. The soft brown fur rose and fell with each labored breath. Blood leaked into the snow, the warmth of its life source steamed and melted the frost below it, turning the ground pink and damp. Andrea made sure that the girl was still at her side, before reaching down into her boot and retrieving the large blade and approaching the creature. She gestured with her head for Aderyn to join her as she knelt beside it, holding down on its neck to keep it calm. Slowly Andy handed the knife over to her, keeping her green eyes locked on Aderyn’s familiar Brasi blue eyes.

Aderyn's breathing was ragged. She took up the knife from Andy in her dominant hand, abandoning the bow, and stroked the creature's face gently as she lined the knife up just under its temple. Andy reached out and grabbed her hand, her slender calloused fingers, over the child’s. With expert guidance, she made sure that Aderyn was positioned correctly for a clean kill.

“A slow death is undoubtedly much worse,” Andy assured her.

She shoved the knife through just above its ear, and was absently surprised by the amount of resistance it offered. The redhead loaned the girl her strength, forcing the knife deeper into the meat of the neck and watching as the doe’s eyes slowly shut.

The child continued to stroke the back of the deer's head, eyes squeezed shut. She wiped away the tears with her sleeve self consciously, but she knew that Andy knew, either way. Andy sighed and pulled the knife clean. Wiping the blade on her thigh and smearing the blood across the denim. She folded her hands in her lap, looking for the words. Comfort didn’t come naturally to Andy. As a matter a fact, interacting with children in general didn’t come naturally to her. However, she knew the weight of what was on the girl’s shoulders.

“It was a mercy,” Andy finally said after several moments.

"I know."

“It’s not meant to be easy.”

"I know."

A deep breath, and Aderyn let go of the animal laid before her, pulling her hands into her lap and rubbing them together. Once the few rough hairs fell from her palms, she hugged herself, knees pulled to her chest.

"It's harder when there's a reason to it, somehow." A pause. "A reason you have to think about."

“We do what we can to survive,” the redhead said with a deep sigh. “I’m not sure what happened that made you act like a thirty year old midget instead of a child, but it doesn’t change the fact that you are young. The world isn’t going to take it easy on you because you are a kid. I think you know that.” She looked down at the girl, staring into her face. “Cletus was bitten. He was dead before you shot him.”

“That’s why I did it,” The girl grit her teeth, nails digging into her arms, and she peered fiercely up at Andy. “Or maybe it’s not, maybe I’m just a murderer, or didn’t you hear?”

“I don’t give a shit about that.” Andy said plainly. The idea was ridiculous to her. Didn’t Aderyn notice that she and Luca shared a bedroom? There wasn’t a way in hell she would be intimidated by a per-adolescent asshole after that. “Realistically, there isn’t a thing I can do to make you feel better about it. I know.” She remembered when she was on the porch having this same conversation with Luca. “You will have to work through this in your own way. “

The child shook her head. “Stop - before you say something both of us will cringe to remember. I get it, you hate kids and showing affection, and that’s fine.” She turned her sad expression into an antagonistic smile, reaching out to grasp Andy’s hand. “There’s a reason we’ve never spoken before. It’s not me.”

“You give yourself too much credit. You are no different from the rest of the populous. Being a kid has nothing to do with it, ” Andy offered. A smirk tugged at the corner of her full lips as she gave the girl a small pat on the top of her head before raising to her feet. She reached into her bag to grab the rope and tarp that would be necessary for dragging the doe home. Her hand brushed against something inside the confines of the embroidered duffle bag and she paused.

“Here,” Andy offered. She handed Aderyn a small stuffed animal in the shape of a squashed bunny. It was still stained with her blood from where Aderyn had left it on her chest when she had been shot, but otherwise was in mostly good condition.

“It was good company while I was being useless too.”

Aderyn shook her head, her smile taking over her face as she pushed the stuffed animal back to Andy.

“His name is Topo. An old good luck charm.” With a tilt of her head, Aderyn turned to start fastening the tarp, her back to Andy. “Just pass him to the next person who ends up near-mortally wounded.” A shrug of her shoulders, and she kneeled to fasten the ropes around the deer’s leg, leaving a moment of silence.

“With any luck I’ll never get him back.”

 

[Rumble Fish]

12th November
3:25PM

She hadn't seen Colt all day. Leliana realized it was a good bet the woman was taking advantage of not being immediately needed and getting some rest, but something told the nurse that wasn't true. So here she was, climbing the stairs after finishing an inventory of their remaining food, medical supplies, and ammo. They didn't have a comfortable amount of any of them, food especially, but that was Michael's fault. Anyway, since there was nothing that could be done now, Leliana had to focus on other things, like making sure the vet was okay.

In her hands were a water bottle and a box of animal crackers. And odd choice, but they didn't have a lot she could easily take upstairs or force an intoxicated woman to consume, so here we go. Leliana was face to face with Colt's door once again, poised to knock. She hesitated only for a moment, in slight concern for getting shot, but she figured Colt wouldn't hit anything too vital. Three sharp raps came from Leliana’s fist as it collided with the door, silence following for a brief moment after, her voice then breaking that silence. "Hey Colt, you up? I brought you a snack."

Being with Owen was a big comfort to the vet. After spending a good long time just in his arms, allowing everything she had said to simply wash over, she had finally gotten the strength to stagger back to her room. Nessa was gone, leaving the veteran alone. Once there, she sat against the corner of the room, drinking a mix of water and whatever whisky was left in her flask. It had been a hour since she came back, and her spirits had lifted very little. At this point? She was sat with knees up, arms folded over them and head in her arms, too stuck in thoughts and inebriation to fully process the knock at the door.

"Wah? Whosa?" She only glanced up slightly with her red eyes towards the door.

The door opened a crack, revealing the small-ish face of Leliana. "Hi, it's me, your friend. I'm coming in, please don't throw anything." The door opened wider, the nurse slipping into the room and shutting the door behind her, she hesitantly walked further into the room. It didn't smell all that great, the scent of alcohol heavy in the air, but it wasn't as bad as it could be. And, Leliana noticed Colt had been drinking the water she brought in earlier. "I brought you some animal crackers. And some more water figured you hadn't really eaten today." Leliana placed the red box with the circus print and the bottle on the nightstand, looking over the older woman. "Maybe I should have brought some aspirin, everything okay? You feeling alright?"


"Ah." Was all that Colt could answer with as the nurse walked in with the crackers and water. While the woman had nothing resembling an appetite, she knew the blonde wouldn't take 'naw' for an answer so took the crackers once they were on the nightstand. Just as she was about to open them, Leli's question reached her muffled ears. After explaining everything to Owen, the woman was too exhausted to even attempt to replicate any of it to the nurse.

"Eh." She took a swig of water, "whatabo'chu?" She slurred, amazingly able to keep her gaze on the woman for an extended period.

Leliana stood there, her arms loosely crossed as she watched Colt. Full on alcohol she probably didn't feel hungry, but Leliana knew Colt needed at least a little something that could count as food. The vet looked tired, not really a shock, but more tired than was desired. Leliana was worried but knew pressing wasn't the best way to get answers out of Colt. At least not while she was like this. "I'm okay. Our supplies are running low, but that's a problem we seem to face constantly. Our medical supplies are currently occupying the title of most stuff. Minus my Zoloft of course."

Colt slowly placed a giraffe on her tongue as Leliana answered her question. It didn't surprise her. Once she had started chewing on the endangered species, her eyes glanced back up as she mentioned Zoloft. She felt her stomach tighten even further, remembering the nurse speaking to her about it. With a rough exhale through the snout, she took another cracker.

"Aw yeah the Zoloft... y'um." She paused, her drunk head trying to figure out what the nurse meant. Did she mean she was out of them or that that was the only medical item not being used by the others? Not wanting to say something stupid that could upset her, she snorted again, more akin to an anxious equine than any form of disgust, "How y'uh... doin' wif that?" The second those words tumbled from her mouth, the veteran shook her already pounding head and waved a hand around.

"N-no-no, no don't-" a palm connected to her face, "Fuckin'- Ah'm sorry, ah'm a fuckin' idiot." The woman grumbled into her hand. She out of all people should know better than to just ask some personal question like that. Her arms flopped back to her sides, breathing heavily. She hadn't put her jacket back on so was only in a black t-shirt, rendering all scars to be on full display. But it was Leliana, she knew. Kind of.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Out of everyone, I'd rather have you asking me that." Leliana chuckled, but she meant it. Colt and Beth were the only two people she wanted knowing. Ralph knew she was on something, and well, Jenna. But Jenna wasn't here anymore. But she didn't want anyone else knowing about it. Sure, keeping secrets wasn't good, and withholding drugs could make a bad impression if they were found, but she'd be seen as a liability. They didn't see colt like that because she could still shoot them in the head no matter how drunk she was. Colt was...a terrifying woman. "I'm doing fine. I still have most of the boxes Jenna grabbed, so I'm not gonna be feeling bad for a while." The nurse paused. "You know, no nightmares or anything like that." Her nightmares were actually more akin to night terrors but Leliana always felt the need to downplay. So nobody worried about her

Colt sighed a little at the mention of nightmares. The woman shook her head, or more swayed it dramatically from the alcohol's influence than anything. She was relieved to know that she still had the medicine. She had started to worry that she had run out. The nurse had helped her before, so if it had been true, she would have made those meds her priority. She shuddered a little.

"Hm. That's good. I still get 'em." Her eyes scrunched as a muscle in her cheek twitched, "Had one last night. Or more like a fuckin' terror. Some... bullshit like, I was choppin' a tree down and saw somethin' further away. Big and black and it leapt a fuckin' stupid distance from the ground to the trees. Ran back inside and lied down hopin' it'd leave. Opened mah eyes t'see the fucker starin' down at me. Didn' move or nothin'. Just... stared at me, snarlin'." The woman shook her head, she remembered that so clearly. Picking up an elephant, she bit its head off before taking some more water.
Leliana said nothing, just listened as Colt explained. But she moved to the bed, taking a seat at the foot of it so Colt could have her space. "That's awful, I'm sorry." Leliana fell silent again, in thought, before she looked at the vet. "The Zoloft doesn't really make the nightmares go away. But...they're better. I have a hard time telling what's real and what isn't when I'm having one, and when I wake up it's no pretty. Like...I could still feel what was happening. But, with the pills, it-it's better, I don't really know how to explain." She looked away from Colt for a moment, her eyes drifting around the room before they found the older woman once more. "Maybe you should try it. Zoloft helps with PTSD symptoms, it's why I take it. But my dosage is so small, we can share."

"I've had worse." Colt sighed, but when the woman spoke back up, telling her she indeed had nightmares despite the Zoloft. At the mention of this, the woman's brows raised. So she still got them? But she just said she didn't. The woman's eyes almost widened and her expression shifted to that akin to a kicked puppy rather than her normal expression.

"Please don'... lie t'me. Please." she mumbled as her eyes glanced down. It was a minor thing, but in her state, it stung more than it would have before. When the woman went on to explain the effects of the drug, finishing with an offer to share them, she blinked in surprise and shook her head a little more in shock.

"Uh... I-I- dunn- y-y'need 'em more than ah do." She rubbed the back of her neck, a little anxious. "Y'shouldn't haveta do that." her tone carried an air of shame. She shouldn't be depressed in the first place, so taking the woman's medication just felt wrong.

"I-I wasn't lying, I just haven't had any in the last...the last few days." Maybe her mind was too occupied with what had happened, or maybe she was just too exhausted for them, Leliana didn't know. And she sure as hell didn't want to understand it in case they started again. Her luck had probably already run out, who knows. She ran a hand through her ponytail, matted blood still hanging on some of the strands, she couldn't get it all out. "Don't say that. I can tell you've been through something a lot worse than what most people would experience, but I know what you're feeling. You don't think you deserve help, that everything was your fault and so you should have to deal with it by yourself. You turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms to gain some sense of control back or to punish yourself." One of Leliana's hands ran over her upper arm, the part that was always hidden by her shirt no matter what, the nurse not even realising what she did, her hand dropped back into her lap.

"It took me so long to accept the fact that I needed help. I was so focused on not being a victim, on-on making sure that I was the one in control, I only ended up hurting myself and the people around me." She paused again, looking for Colt, hoping to catch her eyes so the vet could see how serious she was. "I want to help, Colt. And I can't do much, but I can share something I know works."

"Y'said y'weren't havin' nightmares. But y'are." the woman mumbled, realising the stupidity of her statement. "Fuckin'- where is-flask? Y'there-I saw ya!" she waved a hand vaguely in its general direction but couldn't grab it from her position. However, she stopped as the nurse spoke back up. Colt shuddered a little and rubbed her arm as the woman went on to explain practically everything that the veteran had thought about herself, even though the nurse knew practically nothing about her or what she had been through. Her words were right, however. The woman's gaze glanced down to the scattered cans and bottles that took up the floor. The woman sighed and stretched out her burnt arms, feeling clicks in her spine and shoulders.

"Hm." she thought for a moment, "Slap meh if this is outta line, ma'am. But, how did y'like, uh," she rubbed the back of her neck. Seems the liquor had a limit on tongue loosening.

"Not having in the past few days counts as not having any." That probably didn't help explain it any better, but, in her mind, it did count. Leliana followed Colt's eyes and waving of her arm to the flask, of which the nurse reached for and picked up. But she didn't immediately hand it to Colt, as the vet's next question sent shivers down her spine. The nurse froze, her mouth suddenly dry. Despite not being able to ask the full question, Leliana knew what she wanted to know.

Leliana then did something that might have surprised Colt. She uncapped the flask, took a swig of whatever was inside, before handing it over to the vet. "I was...well, I was diagnosed three years ago. There's a reason I don't like Moe's and it's not what you'd think. The shifty people, the fact the rooms got left in such a mess. I found an entire kilo of coke under one of the beds, and then had my life threatened by some guy who thought I turned it in." She paused for a moment, shifting on the bed so that her hands were under her thighs. She could accidentally hurt herself this way. "I was 16, I had just started working there, not even there a month. I was cleaning upstairs, the right side of the building when this guy comes up to me and asks for towels. I didn't have any on my cart, so I told him to tell me his room number and I would get some." She paused for a moment, her hands clutching the blanket under her legs. Leliana looked scared.

"He said he could just follow me, that someone had already cleaned his room there as no point in stopping by again. And for some stupid reason, I agreed. He followed me to the storage closet, and I could tell that something wasn't right, but I didn't do anything about it. As soon as I stepped inside he followed and the next thing I know he's on top of me and-and-" Her voice cracked, the nurse releasing one hand to wipe her face. "He didn't even shut the door, but nobody heard me scream...or nobody cared. When he was done, he left me laying there in a pool of my own blood because I tried to fight back, I did but he just kept slamming my head on the floor. M-my manager Michelle found me a few hours later." She fell silent for a moment, "He came back one time after he left, he had a gun, I thought he was going to kill me...guess I looked pretty bad cause he left."

​

Colt had reached a hand out for the flask, but her red eyes widened as she then took a long swig of it. If anything, it un-nerved the woman. This must have been bad if she had taken from her flask. The woman blinked and scooted close to her as she began to speak, telling her everything. The longer the woman spoke, the wider her eyes became and the paler her face became. The sense of fear in the woman's rising voice and the distress the memories gave the nurse only fuelled her fury and horror as she vividly imagined the events as Leli spoke.

"My fuckin-" she couldn't finish as a hand clasped over her mouth as the nurse described the attack. Her expression was a concoction of horror, sympathy and rage. She wanted to find that bastard, even though she was barely lucid and unable to walk, she wanted to kill him. If she had ever seen him, it'd be the last thing he'd experience. "Leliana... Ma'am... I-I'm so," she stopped, unable to speak further. Her sore eyes glistened as she could only attempt to imagine what had happened. All she could do was reach and give her skinny shoulder a sympathetic squeeze, choosing to be silent until the woman felt like she could continue or ask her anything.

Leliana didn't look away from her legs, the dried blood that was unable to wash free from the fabric, her eyes only moved when Colt touched her shoulder. Her eyes looked watery, but she forced a smile. "Thanks. You're one of the only people I've ever told, I was so scared that if I can forward he'd find me again. Or worse my mom...so I didn't go to the police. They don't really help anyway." Her voice cracked again, causing the nurse to turn her face away and cough. "Sometimes I still feel his hands around my throat...I just want it to go away, but it never does. And I, well, like how you started drinking to cope, I hurt myself. I couldn't even be alone upstairs without freaking out, because I couldn't quit. We needed money, so I was stuck there at Moe's, it was the only place that would hire me...my mom didn't even know."

"Naw. Not really." Colt grunted as she mentioned the police. She had her own story about them but now was not the time. As she continues to speak, her eyes widened a little as the woman mentioned how she had tried to cope unhealthily. A hand scratched the back of her neck as Colt cleared her throat in awkwardness. When the woman finished, the veteran looked down and took a drink from her flask before finally speaking.

"Y'dont hafta smile, y'know. I know it hurts. But... I'm glad y'told me." she spoke in a low tone, "I'm jus, I'm sorry that happened t'ya. Nobody should go through somethin' like that, 'specially someone like yerself." As much as she wanted to try and assure the woman she understood, she decided against it. Fear of misinterpretation or assumption of trying to one-up scared that thought out of her head. She let out a deep sigh, keeping her hand on the woman's shoulder not sure if she could say anything else. If anything, in her current state, she was the last person who should be giving advice like this.


"If I smile, I don't cry. And I really don't want to cry right now." She had work to do downstairs, and if she cried then everyone would be asking her what was wrong. Or worse, maybe they would think she's infected. Colt was right though. It had been three years, three long years and it still hurt. Outwardly she never key it show, but she hated being in a room alone with men. She knew that the people here wouldn't hurt her, but she couldn't help that knot that formed in the out of her stomach every time. Honestly, she never tried to acknowledge it. It felt wrong to be so paranoid and judge everyone she interacted with but Leliana couldn't help it. "Colt...could I stay in here for a few minutes? I...I don't wanna go back downstairs like this." Leliana liked Colt, she trusted the vet, and for the moment, she just wanted to be in the company of someone she could say that about.

"Hm." Colt grunted with an eye-dart, she could not blame the woman for thinking that way. People expected her to be drunk, angry and yelling, typically wound up or upset. But the nurse had a different reputation. As she questioned her if she could stay in the room, the woman snorted with a slight twitch of the lips. She understood how the nurse felt. The woman had helped her the day before, it was only fair that she returned the favour.

"Sho. Yer good company." she spoke. "'sides. I need someone t'elp me with these crackers." before taking another sip and leaning back against the wall with a groan as her bones settled. She decided to say nothing beyond this. If the woman wanted to say more, she would. Colt knew it was not her place to push the matter. She took the box and gave it a rattle to prove her point, one brow raised more out of an invitation than anything else.

Leliana smiled again, this time it was more genuine as she reached for a cracker. "Thanks, Colt...I mean it."

"Don' mention nothin'."

Featuring: FireMaiden (Leliana)

Mentions: TheMightyRedLemon (Nessa) Maj (Owen)

 

[Brax]

November 20th ​

As day turned to dusk, Luca found himself patrolling the woods behind the lodge. It had not been a habitual event but with the recent commotion around the lodge he figured it was a good precautionary measure to temporarily keep. The nighttime sky was usually not well-illuminated by a half moon. While the stars were easy to see in a sky not surrounded by buildings, lights and fog, it provided no help when it came to the pitch black dark that came with the forest. Had it been any later there was no way Luca would have bothered with his rounds in the same fashion.

The strap of his gun hung around the back of his neck, the weapon resting between both hands. A cigarette burned between slightly parted lips. It’s cherry became more illuminated with each and every pull. For the past hour, the silence provided by being alone among nature brought a calm sense of being to the man. This same feeling wasn’t easily replicated as he rarely took time to himself. The lodge being packed full of people with only a small surface area certainly wasn’t helping. From time to time, it almost felt claustrophobic.

Aside from Andy’s perch, he had no place to escape for quiet. Even then a few souls had managed to traverse up its latter only to find Luca camping out. As the people who lived in the lodge and barracks became more comfortable, their willingness to explore would become increasingly eager. When Luca took his last step he stopped. The man observed his surroundings, feeling the cold breeze on his face. In the winter there were no bugs sounding off, no animals to match. The dancing of the trees were the only sounds to accompany the flow of air between them.

MROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW​

Two blinks. The blue-hued Italian looked down at his feet to see a cat hobbling along, unable to properly set it’s weight on one of its feet. It hadn’t bothered looking up at Luca, nor did it rub against his legs. The damn thing just continued walking by as if he didn’t even exist in the first place. This prompted the man to raise an eyebrow before he dropped his gun and instinctively reached down to wrap his hands around the stomach of the cat. In response it hissed, quickly turning in his grasp and swatting at his face. At the last second the man was able to lean back so its paw missed, but it effectively took the cigarette out of his mouth in the process.

​

Luca groaned as his fingers grasped the fur at the back of its neck. His opposite hand sat underneath the cat’s bottom, holding it up so that it wouldn’t attempt to do further damage to him. Together, the two made their way back toward the lodge. More specifically, he could let this guy heal up in the shed. Within a few minutes he reappeared from the forest. He kept as quiet as humanly possible, even as he made his way into the shed. Had anyone seen Luca holding this cat, there was a good chance he would lose a decent amount of his street 'cred' and he couldn’t be having that.

He placed the cat down and closed the door behind him. Then he retreated into the kitchen to grab a can of tuna, because it was the only damn thing in the lodge that could possibly appease the wild animal that had come across him. He popped the tab open and walked back out of the pantry equally as fast. Before long he was back in the shed and the cat was slurping those disgusting canned juices without a care in the world. Nearby, he leaned against the workbench with a bottle of rum pressed against pursed lips. He stared intently at the lion midget wondering from which angle he could attack it. With some medical tape, he could fix that paw right up. The question was, would it let him?

The man slowly advanced toward the cat. Each careful step followed another until he was at its side. The little furry beast’s attention was still set on the can of tuna, enough for Luca to slowly lift a hand up and place it on the cat’s back. He pet it a few times, slowly. When he came to the conclusion that the cat no longer saw him as an enemy, he began getting to work. First, he removed the empty can of tuna and tossed it into a nearby trash can. Then he carefully placed a hand underneath the hurt paw. The cat hissed and swatted his hand, its nails scraping down the top of his hand. This resulted in Luca shouting obscenities in Italian.

“You little fucking bitch.”

Luca glared down at the cat, who had been staring up intently back at him. It was purring, but the fur on its back was standing at full attention. Without haste the man’s hand grabbed the back of its neck, grasping a handful of fur and forcefully shoving it down on its side. Once the cat was motionless on the table, he let it go and began wrapping up the hurt paw. With a small piece of wood to prevent it from bending, chances were things would be fine.

​

 

[Togy]

November 18th, 2018
8:00AM
The Lodge

The fresh air felt great on Owen’s skin. Even the brisk chill of winter felt refreshing after weeks of being confined to his bedroom. Cleared by the doctor, he was looking forward to making himself useful once again. He had a decent amount of recovery to work toward before he could leave, and he had a promise to uphold. Aubrey was counting on him.

His work outs with the doctor had been going surprisingly well and he was feeling more like himself day by day. The ugly pink scaring would take time to fade, but at the end of the day he was back on his feet. That was a miracle that shouldn’t be squandered. Owen rolled his shoulders back, stretching in the sunlight and feeling his muscles flex and pull in a satisfying way.

The sounds of construction filled the air, coming from the border of the property. Hopefully this meant that the work on the walls and fences was back in operation. If their defenses had been in place, perhaps they wouldn’t have had that huge hoard to deal with a few days ago. There was a lone man, bent over his work and focused. Owen was having a hard time remembering his name, but recognized him as the man who had attempted to steal pain meds off his nightstand.

“Hey man,” Owen greeted. The redhead gave him a wave as he walked up, quickening his step.

“Do you need any help?”

Sparing a glance at Oscar before turning back to his work, Nile nodded as he bent low to grab a medium sized log stripped of bark. “Yeah, help me pull this up will yeh?” Nile said, his words only slightly slurred. Sure, he was still in mind throbbing agony because of how much his muscles ached, the smooth wood he was grasping felt like sandpaper, and he was freezing cold, but hey, art least the slur was clearing up. He couldn’t wait until he got this over with, the cold wind felt like knives on his skin after all.

Owen raised an eyebrow before reaching down to grab the wood that Nile had been speaking about. It wasn’t all that heavy, but his prolonged inactivity over the last few weeks made it a sort of awkward endeavor. With a huff he was able to haul it into place, feeling the familiar ache in his chest.

“You good man?”

“Peachy” Nile assured them as he trudged over to another log half buried in the snow. “I’ve got some aches, but they’re jus’ aches, I don’t have a Terminal illness or some crap” Nile said, bending down to grab the log. “At least I hope not. Hey, what’re the symptoms of Lung Cancer again?” Nile asked, pulling the log out of the snow.

The redhead however, was unconvinced. He knew what the symptoms of withdrawal looked like. Someone desperate enough to steal his pills just a week prior obviously had a nasty habit. How many times had he taken the money from some poor sap, shaking and aching as he gave them that all important fix they craved.

“Yeah you look great,” Owen said sarcastically. “I take it you took my advice.”

“Uh, what advice? I get a lot of advice, like “You should learn when to shut the hell up” or “Figure out how to be bearable, you two-bit druggy”. Stuff like that” Nile joked.

“No.” Owen shook his head and laughed. “About not stealing any more pills. Looks like it’s been a while since you’ve put anything in your system.”

“Yeh, well, that wasn’t really my proudest moment. I haven’t been very keen on repeating it. It was like using Toilet paper to wash your dishes because you ran out of paper towels. An act born of desperation” Nile said, bending down to pick up another log. “Log” Nile reminded Oliver as he began to lift the wood up.Owen obliged, lifting the wood as he spoke. The rough nature of the untreated wood scraped against his softening hands. Callouses that once protected him fading during his time of recovery.

“You look green,” Owen admitted with a shrug. “Have you thought about telling Hector? He’s a doctor, I’m sure there are things he can do to help this be less brutal for you.”

“Hector who?” Nile asked, searching his mind to remember who that was. He wasn’t sure, but a name like Hector sure did fit with the kind of guy he’d seen around. “You mean tall dark and brooding? They’re a doctor? You’re shitting me” Nile said, setting the log down at it’s desired spot.

“He’s a doctor,” Owen confirmed with a chuckle. He supposed that Hector did look a little intimidating. With his gas mask and dark aesthetic he looked more like a modernized plague doctor than anything. The redhead had gotten used to his condescending turn of phrase and there were few that were able to intimidate Owen, but he could see how maybe he was less approachable to others. The thought of him practicing bedside manner in a hospital was almost laughable. Maybe he made Owen’s mother do it for him.

“He might be able to help you. If you keep going like this you are either going to fall down or end up stealing from someone else. Likely someone less understanding than me.” Owen lifted another log into place, holding it for the other man to work on.

“I’ll think about it” Nile said with a frown, annoyed that they’d think he’d steal again.
Owen sighed sympathetically. He had never been in his shoes, but so many of his friends had. The days that would follow for Nile would be among the hardest. As far as he knew, Owen was the only one that knew about the struggles the man was going through. He stopped his work to look at him, kind, serious eyes gazing down at him.

“I mean no disrespect. I’ve just watched a lot of people go down this path.” At the end of the day, what he needed was support and that much the redhead could provide him. His head tilted in thought, before his eyes widened in recognition.

“I’m actually going on a run in a few days. You should come with me.” Owen offered. “The change of scenery would do you some good.”

Setting the log down and turning to Owen, Nile said “I’m tired of Pine trees and red snow. It’s bland, the place reeks like hell, and the air is goddamn near unbreathable because of all the gasses the dead bodies are releasing. Oh, and ash is still occasionally blowing across the lawn because of the whole Napalm Incident”.

“God yes a change of scenery would do me some good” Nile finished, looking at the pile of rotting flesh in the middle of the lawn.

“Great. We leave the day after tomorrow, early. Try not to set anything else on fire before then okay?” He gave the man a wry smile.

“Don’t worry, you guys banned me from being in the same room as a container of Gasoline, petrol, Fuel thickener, Diesel, Propane, Electrical outlets, stoves, TVs, any kind of electrical device-I don’t think I’m allowed inside anymore” Nile said with a shrug.

Interactions: Nile (Myself) Owen ( Maj )

 

[Maj]

Part 1 of 4​

November 13, 2018
8:23PM
The Lodge

“Colt!” Andy called her name. She knelt down beside the shed, working on the deer that she and Aderyn had brought home. When she saw the woman walk through the yard, she called out to her. The redhead had meant to approach her after she and Aaron had spoke, but unfortunately the fatigue from the days before had won out before she had the chance. Her hands were stained crimson from the deer blood. The headless carcass was at her feet, skin pulled back with surgical precision. A stainless steel bowl was by her knees, filled with organs and tendons that wouldn’t be useful for feeding the lodge.

“Do you have a minute?”

It had taken the veteran a day and a half alongside a bottle of Hangover-B-Gone and more water that should be considered healthy for a person to recover from her Memorial Day binge, so had removed herself from much of the activity buzzing around the Lodge. After her talk with Owen, solitude was preferable over the constant barrage of other humans to deal with. Preferable until she heard the call of the red-head.

“Hm?” Her still somewhat-pink eyes turned to the huntress before trudging over, hands deep in her pockets, “Do seconds count?”

“I’ll make do with what I get.” The woman stood, grabbing a towel and trying her best to wipe some of the blood from her arms and hands. It would take soap and water to fully remove the carnage but at least this way she wouldn’t accidentally smear any more on herself. Discarding the towel with her other tools, she finally turned to the veteran.

“Listen, I need to go on a run. Nothing major, with the right people this can be an in and out operation. Luca just got back from a run and Hector is busy in the lab. I thought about going by myself, but I would feel a lot better with someone I can trust watching my back. Would you come with me?” The way she spoke was as if she was just stating facts, recounting her thought process. Her emerald eyes studied the woman’s face as she spoke. It was clear she was fighting a hangover, something that Andy was all too familiar with. However, aside from Luca there were few people in the lodge she trusted. Colt was among those numbers.

“Aw that's mighty purdy sweet of ya t’think of me after all them fine folks, dahrlin’.” her exaggerated drawl and the slightly upward crease of her sore eyes signified her lack of seriousness. Any other time and the Marine would have internally been offended, but given her performance (or lack thereof being practically comatose yesterday) she saw no reason to be. If anything, it sounded pretty attractive.

“Sho. Beats havin’ a pimped up spider monkey for company. When we goin?’” Nessa was not all that bad, at least she thought so given she had been drunk as a said monkey when she agreed to let her bunk with her. Hopefully without bunking with her but with her inebriation, anything was possible.

“Tomorrow. Early.” Andy stated plainly. She didn’t feel the need to comment on the woman’s mock offense of choosing her after Luca or Hector. Colt was her third choice, was that really so bad? “I’d like to try and make it back home before nightfall tomorrow. The city is getting pretty dangerous and I don’t want to be out there longer than necessary. I’ll pack up the car tonight and meet you outside at first light. Sound good?” It was a genuine question. She respected Colt’s abilities and if there was something wrong with the plan she also assumed that the woman would speak up and say so.

Colt lulled over the woman’s words. Going on a one-day run was ambitious. And if it had been anyone else suggesting this, they'd get a guffaw to the face as a response. But Colt knew better than to do that with Andy. After a brief moment of thought, she had reached her verdict.

“Eeyup.” She spoke bluntly, “If ya want this t’be quick, better plan where we’re hittin’ so we ain’t out in the open running ‘round like that fuckin’ chicken.” The woman rolled her eyes at the feathered fur-ball. The woman loved chickens, but not ones that jumped on her head while she was coming around from a night terror.

“Still. With two of us, should be doable. Did enough of these on a duty tour in Syria t’know mah limits.” Her eye twitched a little at that mention but pushed back the urge to get her flask. That would need to wait for this.

“I don’t go anywhere without a plan,” the redhead said confidently. In reality, it was just a few stops. First to the auto parts store to get a battery for the ATV, then to the gas station to fill up a few tanks of gas for the generator for Hector. Andy still had the piece of paper Aaron had given her with the info of what to get for the four-wheeler and even a few parts he needed for his car as well.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Andy said, turning back to her work. She paused, reaching into the duffel bag at her feet. It was the same one she carried everywhere. Inside was a large bottle of Walgreen's brand ibuprofen. It was mostly full, and as she picked it up the pills rattled around inside. As an afterthought she stood back up and called Colt’s name.

“Catch.” The woman instructed, tossing the bottle to her. “Take some of those and drink some water for god sakes huh? I can’t have you hungover tomorrow.” It would be easy to take offense to Andy’s words, but the teasing, knowing smile on Andy’s lips was enough to ensure she meant no harm.

Colt had taken Andy’s turning of the back as a cue to leave, but not before tossing the ibuprofen at her. The veteran caught the bottle, raising one hand up like a mantis without so much as a flinch. A flick of her wrist almost sent the bottle flying before her brain had clicked that it wasn't a grenade and wouldn't end them if she held onto it. The woman’s words caused a shaggy brow to raise. What did she think she had been doing for the last forty-eight hours? Oh well.

“Aye. I'll see ya in t’mornin’.” Was the only response she could come up with. It was not as if she could argue with the woman.
Collab: Rumble Fish
Mentions: Brax shadowz1995 RayPurchase

 

[TheMightyRedLemon]

Nov 14th, 2019
8:45 AM
Lodge, 2nd Floor

Vanessa held her mirror shard, formerly part of one of the bathrooms mirrors, and used it to help apply the makeup to the scar over her eye. Once finished, she looked into her own eyes in the shard's reflection for a moment with a sigh as her blue orbs gazed back. The contact in her left eye was always uncomfortable, but the eyedrops helped quite a bit.

Standing up, she slid the shard under her pillow and shoved the makeup back into her bag before turning and walking to the door. Cracking her fingers, she turned the knob and stepped out into the hallway. She had stopped bothering poor Colt so much after their exchange the other day, so Vanessa was definitely in need of a new hobby. She decided today that she would need to find some way to entertain herself, lest her restlessness lead her to bother the wrong person.

Owen trudged out of his room, sleep still clinging to his fair features. He was shirtless, clad in nothing but a pair of worn Colorado Rockies branded pajama pants. The drawstring was loose, letting the pants fall low about his hips as he rubbed his eyes and yawned. Scars were prominent across his chest and arm from the bullets that had been surgically removed only weeks before. Pink and ugly hues maring his otherwise pale and perfect skin. He smacked his lips, feeling the cotton mouth that normally followed waking making his mouth sticky and uncomfortable and started for the bathroom.

He faltered, glossy, groggy eyes narrowing as they settled on the form of a woman. The lodge picked up stragglers so quickly that Owen was having a hard time keeping them straight. Owen had no idea when this woman had joined their ranks. The redhead gave her a small wave, hand barely moving at the wrist.

“Uh hi,” Owen greeted dumbly. He didn’t want to startle the woman. “I’m Owen.”

Once the acrobat had stepped into the hallway, she straightened her outlandish attire and started to turn, her intention to descend the stairs. Just as she began to move down the hallway, she saw a motion out of the corner of her eye, followed by a voice she had not yet come to recognize. A wry smile crept across her face as she turned. Perhaps she wouldn't have to go very far to find something interesting. Spinning around to face him, she gave him a showy bow. "Pleasure te meet ya. I'm Vanessa McUlann, circus acrobat!" She stated cheerful.

Her eyes scanned over the large man before her. He was tall for sure, possibly as tall or taller than doctor Hector was, albeit much younger. She held the bow for a moment longer as she let her good eye examine him. Looking at his own attire, it seemed to her that one long or heavy step might cause the pants to ride further down his hips. Giving a mental shrug, she stood straight and met the man's gaze.

Did she just say circus acrobat? Owen blinked several times as his sleepy brain tried to process through that new information. He supposed if nothing else, it explained her attire. The lodge was really becoming inhabited by people from all walks of life. Mob bosses, College students, drug dealers, veterans and now they could add performer to their ranks.

“I’ve been hiding up here in my room for the most part so I must have missed when you got here.” For some reason he found it hard to imagine Andy giving the woman a warm greeting. He could almost see her annoyed visage glaring the woman’s outfit up and down. The idea amused him, but also made him feel bad for Vanessa. He gave her a cheeky smile. “It’s not much, but welcome regardless. Make yourself at home.”

"Not much?! This place is fuckin huge!" She exclaimed, her scottish accent becoming every so slightly thicker as she shouted with excitement. Her whole life she had lived in either a small apartment, a small basement room, or a tent. "It's bigger than any house I've ever seen." Nessa stated truthfully. "And the wooden beams above us are great for staying out of the way. I can see everythin' from up there."

The idea of some rogue woman chilling in the ceiling made Owen a little uneasy. Looking up was not something he made a habit of, which he assumed Vanessa used to her advantage. At least now that she had told him, he could make sure he wasn’t walking through the hallway naked in the dead of night for a late night piss.

“Uh yeah,” the man said hesitantly. Crossing his arms over his chest as if he was suddenly self conscious for no reason. Walking around without a shirt on had never bothered the man before. “I guess as an acrobat there isn’t much you can’t climb. Were you part of that traveling troupe that came to Aurora a while back?”

There was a short silence that followed the man's question. Vanessa looked down, thinking back to the events that transpired since the outbreak. Finally, she gave a small nod. "I was in the air ya know… when it happened. I was on the trapeze.." She told the man, a melancholy expression overtaking her visage. With a shake of her head she looked back up at the redhead, all sorrow gone from her face and replaced with a smile.

“I suppose that was safer than most,” Owen said with a sympathetic smile. A room full of that many people? He didn’t want to think of the carnage that had taken place. They had all seen so much. Andy at the hospital, himself and many of the others at the middle school. Death was becoming second nature.

“I was on the ground.”

She looked the man up and down yet again before meeting his gaze once more. "Getting back on the ground was the hassle for me. We never used a net." She stated with a chuckle. "But I can't imagine being on the ground with those things once they attacked."

"D'ya think the rest of the worlds… like this?" She asked. She wasn't sure why she asked him, but she felt she should move the conversation along before she ended up telling this complete stranger to much about herself. She had a bad habit of being forward and very honest about herself.

“I think there is a good chance that we are alone in this,” Owen speculated. “The soldiers are trying too hard to keep us from the rest of the world for it to be destroyed too. If the monsters were elsewhere what would be the point of setting up the barricades and quarantine?” It was obvious by her accent that she wasn’t from here, although he couldn’t quite place where she came from. Not everyone was Aurora born and raised like him, Luca, and his sister. He imagined many of them were worried about families outside these walls.

“Are you worried about your family?” the redhead asked kindly.

"Family?" She asked simply, a look akin to bewilderment on her face. Such a foreign concept to her, the thought of family, that his question seemed absurd to her. "All me family is dead. Have been for a long time. Mother killed me father, then killed herself. I'm told me brother died in the orphanage of sickness. I was raised on the road by Yuri and his circus from the age o eight." A heavy sight escaped her lips as she reached up to her neck and spun a small, silver ring on a thin bit of twine around her neck. "No… I'm the last McUlann."

Vanessa realized what she was doing and stopped fidgeting with the ring, looking back to Owen. "Didn't know they had the place blocked off. I've not really tried to leave. I figured it best to hold up in an apartment. Would've starved to death if not for boss Luca stumblin in like he did."

‘Boss Luca?’ Owen thought bewildered. Great, another poor girl caught under Luca’s thumb. He suppressed the urge to laugh. The girl had been through enough already. He knew what it was like to lose family, but was fortunate enough to still have Andy. Even with her prickly nature, it was far better than not having anyone.

“We have our share of abrasive people here,” Owen explained, shrugging. “But I guess the people here have sort of become like family. You are one of us now.”

"Not sure I really fit in. I see the strange looks people give me. Especially that Andy…. She glares at me almost any time I see her it seems." She scoffed, then offered a shrug of her own. "I get it though. I'm outlandish, a freak. Not a surprise people stare. I do like Colt though. Despite her bein drunk all the time and her bein all grumpy, he has been real nice to me."

“Oh so you really are one of us then,” the redhead said with a smirk. “Andy is my sister, and she glares at everyone, even me. I wouldn’t take it personally. You shouldn’t call yourself a freak either,” he added. “Who cares if you look different. I get looks all the time for my height and hair color. A 6’4 ginger, bad boy is hard for some people to accept I guess.”

He paused, looking down the stairs. Hector hadn’t fully cleared him yet, but surely the man would be okay with the short trudge down the stairs. It wasn’t like he hadn’t taken them before. Owen turned to Vanessa with another warm smile before nodding down to the kitchen.

“Do you like coffee?” He asked.

 

[Rumble Fish]

Part 2 of 4

November 14th 2018
7:23 AM
Downtown

The drive had been as peaceful as it could have been. Routes were occasionally blocked by a stray abandoned car or pile up, but Andy knew the roads of Aurora better than most. Colt rode in the passenger seat, Andy navigating the landscape, mostly in silence. The truck was packed full of gas cans and empty bags for transport. With any luck they would be able to fill everything up and bring it back without much hardship.

The streets became more narrow as they entered the most central part of the city. Walkers were easy enough to avoid in the car, although she was well aware that the sound of the engine was currently acting as a beacon for them. However, it was still better than having to run back to the car with arm fulls of heavy supplies. There were a few of the monsters on their tail when Andy pulled the car into the parking lot of the O’Reily’s Auto Parts store.

Andy gave the woman a nod as she reached back into the backseat and retrieved the crossbow that was laid across it. It wasn’t her first choice for weaponry, but she knew it would be quick to load in tight places which came in handy now. When she was sure that Colt was ready, the redhead gripped the stock of her crossbow in one hand and used her free one to throw open the car door.

Unfolding out of the driver’s seat, Andy stood in the still open door. The melodic chime of the car sounded, keys still in the ignition. Pulling the handle of the crossbow securely into her shoulder and cocking her head to line up the sight, Andy aimed toward the closest monster. To her knowledge there were only three walking up on the car. If they could be dealt with quickly, then they could get in and get out without having to expend useless energy. Andy pulled the trigger and watched as the bolt found its mark, going through the monster’s eye and all the way out the back of the thing’s squishy skull. It buried so deep that it dropped the monster to the pavement with a sickening thud.

Colt had said very little through the whole journey, and virtually nothing as they had entered the city. If anything she was rather anxious, given her last experiences. However, Andy was not an idiot. So this had potential. She had clocked onto the Things just as the red-head had and stepped out of the car, her metal foot clinking on the pavement as she raised her silenced pistol. The woman had chosen the Glock over her Colt, for as reliable as the latter was, the Glock was quieter.

As Andy shot the first Thing, Colt pulled her own trigger. A small “psh” escaped from the firearm with a trail of smoke as the bullet soared straight into the black and gunk-riddled eye of the next nearest Thing. The monster squawked and stumbled back, causing the vet to fire again, this time hitting her mark. Black blood poured from its wounds as the Thing crumpled to the ground, twitching but very much dead.

Andy didn’t hesitate. Her shot on the third monster happened just as Colt had felled the second. Three freshly killed corpses spilled coagulated blood onto the pavement, goopy and revolting. Andy scrunched up her nose as the smell assaulted her nostrils. Reaching into the car to grab the keys, she used the keyfob to open the trunk, producing an empty duffle bag for each of them.

“Let’s go.” Andy commanded, and nodded toward the front door of the shop.

“...Piss take.” Was all the veteran could say about what had just happened. She had heard the British streamer say it before and never got a chance to replicate it. Grabbing the duffle bag, Colt only grumbled a “Mmh-hm.” As she followed her in, wanting to get as far away from the smell as possible. It brought back too many memories.

When Andy walked up on the door, she reached for the handle and then paused. Most storefronts had bells or alarms to alert someone that a customer had entered. She looked up and saw that there was in fact a sound box attached at the top. It would still likely be less loud than breaking in through a window, and that also raised the risk of sounding off an actual security alarm system. With any luck, the box was electrically operated and not battery, but they would need to be ready just in case.

“Cover me,” Andy instructed, pointing up to the box to show Colt her findings. It wouldn’t be loud enough to alert more zombies near them, but if any were lingering in the store, they would likely hear the noise and come running. With a slow exhale, the redhead reached down and pushed grabbed the handle, swinging the door open.

Ding Dong

Just as she had feared. The woman kept her cool however, holding the door open with her foot and positioning the crossbow at the ready. After several minutes of held breath, nothing seemed to stir. So Andy nodded into the darkness and entered.

The second the door’s chime reached her ears, Colt’s form jumped from cautious to square, gun up and eyes directed forward, wherever her gaze went, the gun went. She walked slowly, almost mechanically as they went inside. Even as Andy nodded, the woman couldn't relax. Her gaze continued to scan the room.

The light from the window was suddenly intruded upon by a lumbering shadow, causing the vet to spin on her heel. A Thing must have been just lurking around the corner outside and heard it. Not wishing to alarm the red-head, the scarred woman released a short “Ch!” Sound before promptly firing once, hitting the unwelcome intruder once between the eyes, sending it down like a sack of bricks before it could do anything else. The door was undisturbed by all of this. There shouldn't be more.

“That’d teach ya to poke yer nose where it don't belong.” The woman growled to herself before rejoining Andy, the weapon still cocked and ready for any more nasty surprises. If she had gone with anyone else other than Andy, they would have had a re-encounter like the Hunting Shop. It was a welcomed breath of fresh air.

Featuring: Maj (Andy)
Mentions: The Mad Queen (Jenna)

 

[shadowz1995]

November 15, 2018
12:34 PM
Hector’s Lab

The light drone of electronics slaving away and the scratching of pen on paper was the only sounds that could be heard coming from cellar door. Otherwise, there was nothing but silence. Like a tomb beneath the survivor's lodge.

Dr. Salazar had been working tirelessly for three days without rest and it showed. The makeshift lab was in nigh perfect conditions. A stark contrast to the doctor himself, who certainly looked the part of a man possessed by his work. Deep shadows set under his eyes and his normally deep, tan skin tone was a few shades lighter from the lack of sleep. His grayed, frayed hair was tied back into a messy ponytail and at some point, the doctor removed the bandages that covered his face. He just kept the eyelids for his destroyed eye closed. It looked unnatural and even more disturbing than when he had it wrapped up but it was clear the man was beyond caring. The wound was looking better though and it was obvious he had not neglected its upkeep.

Underneath his hunched frame was a yellow folder that had "Andrea Jordan" written on the first page and several dozen pages worth of hand-written information inside of it. In 72 hours, Hector had not only written dozens of pages worth of info in the chart but also had a fairly sized stack of pages at the corner of the table with the researcher's personal notes, thoughts, and suspicions.

What was funny was how one would expect the scene to look like chaos but it was all very organized and neat. His one-eyed ire flickered upwards to glance at whoever's footsteps were coming down the cellar steps. "Ah. Welcome back." His gravelly, overworked voice called out as he lowered his head back down to continue his work.

“You look like shit Doc,” Andy commented casually. She was bracing herself on the hand rail as she came down the stairs, but careful not to slide it over the unfinished wood to avoid splinters. A lesson she had learned in childhood time and time over. When her converse covered feet hit the ground she looked around the room.

She had come down almost every day to check on him, but it seemed that he was starting to make himself at home down here. The girl found her normal seat, pulling herself up to sit on top of the industrial sized top loading freezer. Her legs dangled over the insulated material, heels kicking back against the white ceramic.

“So what is the word? Do I have magic blood?”

"It's too early to tell but something is undoubtedly in your genetics that is causing some kind of a reaction in the virus." The man then stood up and crossed the room to peer through the microscope. A lens was already set up that had some of Andy's plasma mixed with extract of infected fluid. He watched how the cells interacted for the 80th time and recorded his results without taking his eye off the scope. "There is some good news and two bits of bad news. Which would you like to hear first Ms. Jordan?"

“Does it matter?” Andy asked, a bored expression clinging to her features. “It’s all pertinent or you wouldn’t have brought it up.” Her legs were crossed at the thigh, blood stained jeans pulled tightly over her legs as her foot dangled in the air. Her fingers laced through her hair, pulling the tresses into a neat braid down the side of her neck. It was a habit she had when she was thoughtful or anxious, almost like a nervous tick. Someone had told her once that they wanted to hear bad news because then they could be the first to know. Good news wasn’t as hard to hear from a third party. The woman sighed tilting her head and looking up into the man’s obviously exhausted eyes.

“I guess the bad news first,” she said as an afterthought.

Without turning around, the doctor continued, scribbling his elegantly written notes, "Bad news is as follows. I suspect there is more than one virus at work here, you are not immune to any of them, and these viruses have never been studied underneath a microscope in all of human history. I can personally attest to that. There isn't a virus on this planet I haven't studied as part of my research. This… virus or viruses are something completely unheard of. Unrelated to any other virus."

The scratching of pen on paper paused and the doctor spun back around to the desk he was sitting at prior and began writing in Andy's file once more. The number 167 being the one he was currently on. "We are handling a virus never witnessed by mankind."

“No shit,” Andy said with a roll of her emerald eyes. “I think a virus that brings the dead back to life would likely make a few headlines.”

"I think you misunderstand." He replied, pausing to look at her properly for the first time. "Viruses generally tend to share some genetic code. H1N1 being a derivative of influenza, common cold and bronchitis, varicella and shingles, and so on. When I say this is unseen before, I mean it has no connection whatsoever. It may as well be alien in nature."

The doctor then turned to the personal notes on the corner of the table and started jotting down as many theories as he could come up with, regardless of how ridiculous they sounded. Getting pen on paper and sorting out the details after was how the man organized his thoughts and separated crazy from the probable. "There are no similarities here that I can see. I am working in the dark."

Yet, the prospect of mapping out an entirely new and unique virus or viruses was one of the most stimulating challenges Hector Salazar had ever faced. It had been years since something challenged his wits and intellect like this outbreak had. He felt like he was 12 again, soaking up all of the otherworldly knowledge his mentor lectured him on.

Fascinating was the word that came to mind.

“Okay, so the bad news is that we are in the dark as I assumed and that you think their are two viruses?” Andy asked, tilting her head in thought. Her nose twitched as she tried to make sense of the comment. The girl was too smart to think she knew anything useful about diseases or viruses, but still the idea was intriguing. She watched him write in mild interest, eyes narrowing.

“Why two viruses?”

"Because the virus I am studying now gives no indication whatsoever of being able to 'resurrect' " he said with air quotes, "those that were bitten, scratched, or otherwise infected by those fully contaminated by the virus. It does not display such behavior. Instead, it seems to focus on being incredibly volatile, infectious, fast-acting and perhaps the most defining trait, lethality."

The hispanic's pen then stopped moving and one could tell that he was deep in thought. "All viruses have a common goal. Infiltrate, hijack the healthy cells, replicate, and spread as fast as possible to other organisms. This virus follows the same track but it does not allow for the final step very efficiently."

Dr. Salazar turned in his chair towards Andrea and flipped through some of the pages before him until he landed on one specifically and then passed it to her. The page was full of information, circled and crossed out with "disproven" or "unlikely" written above the crossed out sections. "It is essentially an STD." He described in layman's terms. "But the lethality of the virus is so potent, that there is no realistic chance of infection. The virus would not be able to spread in time. It would only be able to affect one perhaps two victims maximum before it dies out…."

"Assuming there are no cannibals or necrophiliacs in the area." He added as an afterthought. It might be taken as a joke but there was no trace of humor in his face. The doctor was dead serious. "My own blood suggests I would be unresponsive within several hours of initial infection. It is incredibly fast acting. Though I have noticed it seems to vary substantially between individuals."


"It does not display the necessary traits to create the symptoms we see in the common infected person stumbling about in the city." He reiterated. "So, my tentative, unconfirmed theory is that this is what causes people to become fatally ill. This is what 'kills' them. This is not what turns them into the…. Walkers outside." He needed to come up with a proper name to call the fully infected individuals. Things like zombies or undead was just too…. Ridiculous for his taste. Even if it made sense to call them that for simplicity's sake.

"While another, unconfirmed entity is what causes that undead-like behavior. This is still a…. 'Shot in the dark' as English speakers call it. Grasping at straws. But at this time, I can't see any other plausible alternatives and I have no way of confirming this. Not without collecting brain matter, nerve tissue, and spinal fluid. All things I can't do here to an uninfected subject. Not without major risk. It's also why I asked for a couple of those infected corpses."

Andy nodded thoughtfully. This made sense to her. In fact, it explained perfectly why people like Dixie, who had been bitten got sick so quickly and why people without bites who died like the people in the middle school rose back up with fatal injuries. She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, elbows on her knees creating a sort of perch for her chin as she processed through this new information.

“So what is the good news?” Andy asked after several minutes of silence.

"The good news is that while you are not immune to the virus, your genetics shows a staggering amount of resistance to it. Even now, the blood sample you gave me have still not been completely infected yet. Its gradual but for some reason, your defenses are able to hold strong. This can lead to many possibilities. All of them beneficial."

The doc paused before continuing, "That being said, I doubt you have any resistance or immunity to the second aforementioned virus."

Andy recoiled, nose scrunching in confusion as she crossed her arms over her chest, shifting uncomfortably. So her fear had been rightfully founded. The soldiers had in fact found something in her blood, and by refusing to go with them she had deprived them of blood samples they needed and gotten many at the lodge killed or hurt. They could have been more communicative with her and not tried to gun down her lodge and take it’s residence captive, but if she had gone quietly maybe the others would have been unscathed.

“Why?” Andy asked, one hand turning so it was palm to the sky, eyes coming back down to meet the doctor’s. “Why in the hell would my blood be resistant compared to the others?”

"Perhaps it is due to your exposure to Subject Zero. Perhaps you and your brother have some kind of strange genetic mutation in your DNA." The doctor turned back to his notes with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose and muttering some unintelligible spanish. "Or perhaps this is all a fluke and you just happened to get lucky. I don't know Ms. Jordan. I simply do not have the data for those kinds of questions. As we confirmed, we are wading our way through the dark on this one. The hope is that your blood will give us an ember of clarity and my research will be the spark that MAY shed some light on all of this."

Lord above, he was beginning to sound like his mentor.

Maj

 

[TheMightyRedLemon]

The Doctor And The Harlequin

"Yes I'm sure I won't get into trouble for it Yuri!" Vanessa said in a harsh but hushed tone as she opened the cellar door. She had found the entrance as she was walking around and had become curious as to what could be on the other side. "Besides, Luca said I was free to do as I please, remember?"


"I don't care if ya like him or not, he is the only reason I'm alive." She continued her argument to seemingly no one as she descended the steps. Her right eye had finally adjusted to the darkness as her silent feet found the final step. As she walked forward looking about, it became clear that it was mostly used for storage. That is what made sense, but something else caught her eye. Something far more interesting.


Nessa reached out and cautiously picked up a small glass container full of an oddly colored liquid. "This is the stuff from the college isn't it?" She asked to no one in particular. The fact that she had no idea what any of these things were made it all the more intriguing to her. She brought the strange liquid closer to her nose so as to smell it.


"Breathe that in and I cant guarantee you will see the next sunrise." A voice suddenly called, deep and intimidating. The sound originated from behind her to reveal a eye-sunken Hector Salazar and it was obvious that he was anything but amused. "You have no business being down here, Niña. Go back upstairs with the others and do not touch," the man then snatched the virus vial away from the young woman, "vials that you have no idea what is contained within. For all you know, you could have just killed everyone in the lodge."


"Yebena mat'!" The young woman exclaimed with a flinch. She had not heard the older man coming up behind her. "I.. I'm sorry! I just got curious about what was down here." She explained quickly. "Shut up Yuri.." she whispered under her breath at the voice inside her head as it taunted her. "What is all this for anyway? Is it really all that dangerous?" She inquired.


"This is all for research, study, and the possible creation of a cure or serum against the virus that is infecting everyone." The doctor narrowed his eye at the woman with what could only be described as a soul piercing stare. It lasted all of a few breaths but must have felt like an eternity. "I was able to get you eyedrops but I have no medication for schizophrenia. I'm also not a psychiatrist. So, don't listen to whatever your auditory hallucinations are signaling towards." It wasn't the first time that Nessa looked or said something odd and with that final comment, the doctor could put two and two together nearly instantly. Sadly, he truly had no remedy for it as of now. It had never occurred to him to bring antipsychotics. It also seemed like that revelation might as well have been non-existent, judging by the doctor's reaction.


"I presume you didn't bother my work just out of mere curiosity."


"I'm not schizo-whatsit!" Vanessa complained



"Of course not." Came the deadpan reply.


"And I don't need medicine. I was just explorin… no one bothered to show me around the place, and since you and Luca keep tellin me te make me on decisions, I decided to look around the place." She looked away from the doctor for a moment. "Would that stuff really have killed me?"


"Yes, it would have. You would have been exposed to the virus inside of a walker's body, gotten incredibly sick, no one would know why, then you'd turn and attack the nearest person, possibly infect them, and the cycle goes on." The scientist explained with an almost bored expression. "So, you learned to make your own decisions today and also learned that your actions have consequences. Good or bad. Welcome to the land of sentience and free will."


"Curiosity killed the cat…" she muttered, choosing to ignore his almost patronizing comment about free will. "But the virus brought it back, eh?" Vanessa looked back up at Hector. "It's a good thing someone smart were down 'ere te stop me then." She concluded.


"So, your trying te make a cure?"


"That would be the hope, yes, but in reality I am trying to study and understand the virus on a fundamental level." The doctor stepped past the small woman and placed the vial back to its original spot before sitting down with a tired sigh. "That being said, no one is supposed to be down here for those exact reasons. So, Ms. Vanessa, if you are not here to provide me specimens for study, I would like to be left in peace to my study."


"Samples?"


"Urine, blood, hair, saliva, fecal matter, and most other manner of excretions." Seems like she didn't hear his message a few days ago.


"Well if ya need somethin from me doc, just ask." Came her reply. "I'll help how I can. I think a cure is important. The dead walkin are very inconvenient."


The doctor nodded, his appreciation genuine. "If you can provide any of the aforementioned specimens, you will be helping more than most have."

 

[Dragonlord318]

Interaction: None
Mention: TheMightyRedLemon - Rumble Fish

A lone, shadowy form hunkered on a high branch just past the visible treeline behind the lodge. The head moved slowly, back and forth, scanning the darkened building for any signs of life. There had been noises coming from this direction for a couple weeks now, and the smell of blood had wafted on the air more than once. There had just been muffled voices coming from inside the cabin - there was definitely a cough followed by some harsh-sounding words that were most likely obscenities - and just now, one figure walked around the structure and opened a cellar door.

David Listman watched silently from the shadows, trying to judge the friendliness of these characters. He didn't see any sentries or other type of guarding personnel, so that meant they felt very comfortably safe in their current location. His brow furrowed as his thoughts ran: It won't stay like this forever. There will be some of the horde that find this place. Let's just hope they stay away long enough for everyone to get out of this dump.

His supplies were still stocked at the treehouse, and the oak, spruce and beech that littered the forest provided enough sustenance to get him through this bitter winter safely without digging into his reserves. Being trained at a Shaolin Temple in the middle of nowhere made you ready for anything - including sieges by the Triad, where they had to wait the enemy out until they found the oppurtune time to strike and break the siege.

He breathed a sympathetic sigh before turning around on his branch and leaping silently to the next one, and the next until he was clear of the snares he had already mapped out, quietly lowering himself to the ground. Before he left, though, he left them a present on the back porch, ensuring to stay out of sight of the cellar-goers: Cooked Venison that was salted for storage and wrapped in paper, one slab for each person. He also left five bags that each contained boiled, salted forest salad (oak, dandelion and rose leaves with rose buds), salted acorns and boiled female pine cones in case any were non-meat eaters.

Hopefully this would be the start of him communicating that he was friendly. He would monitor them and see their reaction to his gifts. He turned around after he had gotten to the ground and looked one last time at the cabin he could now barely see due to the brush, then silently traveled back to his tree house. One or two alert souls may have seen a black shadow leave the cabin and enter the woods around 4 am.

 

[Maj]

Part 1 of 3​

November 19th, 2018
6:23PM
The Lodge

Andy stood with her hands on her hips, hair in messy, unkempt braids on either side of her face. Her eyes were skyward, as if excessive rolls had gotten them stuck in that position. Owen stood staring at the dirt, awkwardly shuffling his feet like a child getting scolded. When she finally looked back down at him, all the girl could do was scoff, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Owen, you are just now back on your feet. This isn’t a good idea.” She spoke bluntly, as if she felt that her brother’s intelligence wouldn’t allow for her to be kind. However, she knew that all her concerns and complaints would ultimately fall on deaf ears. That was her brother’s way. He would go off riding his white knight high horse to his demise.

“I promised her, Andy.” There was a cigarette between his lips as he spoke, mixing with the warmth of his breath and trailing upward into the sky. It was a clear day, but the cold of winter had settled in putting a chill in the man’s bones. His leather jacket was great in the wind, but did little to insulate his shivering body.

“You can’t go off risking your life for every blonde that bats their big blue eyes at you!” She retorted, obviously irritated at her brother’s lack of self perseverance.

“They are actually a really nice gold color,” Owen responded with a sheepish smile.

“Oh my god, shut up.” Andy snapped. “My point is that we don’t know this girl, you do not need to be hauling your ass off into the unknown for some stranger because you think she’s cute.”

“Just because you are anti-social doesn’t mean we don’t know her. I know her fairly well,” he retorted. “I’m not asking for permission, Andy. I’m just letting you know what my plan is.” Andy crossed her arms eyes fluttering in disbelief.

“Then why bother telling me at all?” Turning on her heels, the girl left him standing dumbly in the yard. She grumbled to herself all the way back into the lodge, her brother’s stupidity an ever growing thorn in her side. The last time she had let him go into town unsupervised, his dumb ass had decided not to come back. Andy did not feel like going on another multi day Owen rescue mission. With a slam of her bedroom door, Andy let out a frustrated groan. A quick glance into the armchair by the wall alerted the girl that she wasn’t alone. Aubrey was nestled in the worn fabric of the blue chair, book in her lap.

“Speak of the fucking devil,” Andy growled with a roll of her eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest, as she gazed down at the female who seemed mostly undisturbed by her entrance. There was something odd about this one that Andy couldn’t quite put her finger on.

“Didn’t we build a whole fucking barracks for you so I didn’t have to entertain you in my space?” the redhead asked, contempt dripping from each syllable. Aubrey was nose deep in the book, unbothered by the woman’s words. She assumed by their last conversation that Andy didn’t exactly enjoy her company, yet she couldn’t be so rude as to not reply, “The barracks don’t have books.” She looked up briefly, only to address her before going back to the paperback story. Owen’s words echoed in Andy’s head, she supposed that he was right to an extent. It was only her own fault for not knowing Aubrey more. She seemed like a sweet enough girl on the surface, even if a bit dense. The redhead narrowed her eyes and crossed the room to her dresser. On top of it was a mostly full bottle of rum that she had scavenged from her dorm room. Andy unscrewed the lid before taking a drink right from the bottle.

Without warning, the twin reached down and jerked the book from Aubrey’s hands. She stood with one hand on her hip, the other holding the bottle out to the blonde. There was no better way to get to know someone than through drinking. They called it social lubricant for a reason.

“Drink.”

Aubrey quickly looked up, her source of enjoyment being quite literally ripped from her hands, “Wh-” With the drink then pushed in front of her, she finished her thought, “What?” One minute she was sitting in the room, complete silence all around her as she engaged with another world, then the next the red headed woman bursts through the door and demands her to drink?

“Did I fucking stutter?” Andy asked with another roll of her eyes. “ Drink. You know, to consume beverages. To take liquid into one’s mouth and fucking swallow.” She pushed the bottle further under Aubrey’s nose to accentuate her intentions.

Aubrey’s brown knitted further together, “I know what drinking is…” She mumbled, gently taking the bottle out of her hand. She had seen people drink on TV, in movies and shows, but she had never tried it herself. It never seemed to lead to anything she wanted, whether it be arguments or time in bed, it didn’t interest her.

“It’s rude to let someone drink alone.” The woman cooed with fake sincerity. In reality, there was no better way to see through someone's facade than to get them drunk, and the Jordan girl had a good feeling that she could hold her alcohol better than Aubrey could. The blonde slowly nodded at Andy, her eyes glancing from the bottle back to the woman. She didn’t know that it was ill-mannered, and she certainly didn’t want to come across as insolent to Owen’s sister.

Her hazel hues looked back down to the coppery bottle tight within her hands, the scantily clad pirate lady adorning the side. It wouldn’t hurt to try it, right? It would be bad not to. Her sister always told her she needed to take on more experiences, stop saying ‘no’. Slowly, she lifted the bottle to her lips and took the umber liquid in a large stride. As soon as the drink entered her mouth, Aubrey pulled the bottle away, grimacing. The warmth ran down her chest and into her stomach, a cough escaping her burning mouth as the fumes rose into her nostrils. It was disgusting. People on TV always made it look so easy, throwing the drink down their throats before ordering another. She figured it would’ve been the same, but she was absolutely wrong. The coughing didn’t cease, even when she felt the bottle yanked from her palm.

Andy took the bottle back, laughing at the woman’s misfortune. She lifted it to her lips. Emerald eyes never broke contact with Aubrey’s hazel ones. She took a long drink from it without making a face. Blackheart rum was 93 proof and not for the weak, which Andy assumed her drinking companion was. However, nothing Andy did was without intention. She sat down on the edge of the bed and smirked at the girl.

“Are you going to live there, Blondie?” she asked. Aubrey gave a weak thumbs up, shaking her head as the searing sensation died down, even though the terrible taste still lingered.

Coughing once more, Aubrey touched her nose, gurning once more before mumbling, “I… I think my sinuses have been assaulted…”

“The first drink is always like that,” the woman lied. “You just haven’t drank enough. Here.” Andy passed the bottle back to Aubrey. She wasn’t sure why it was so amusing to her to get this girl drunk, but entertainment was hard to come by in the apocalypse. Andy wouldn’t cause the girl any harm, and at least she would get a few laughs out of the ordeal. A hesitant hand wrapped around the bottle once more, cautiously bringing it back to her face.

“Are you sure…?”

“Why would I lie to you?” Once more, Aubrey gave a slow nod. She was right, she had no reason to be untruthful. Taking a deep breath, she brought the bottle up, taking a larger drink this time. The blonde, for just a moment, thought everything would be fine. She was wrong and so was Andy. Another coughing fit ensued as the flames felt even hotter against her poor taste buds.

The redhead laughed.

Featuring: Corgi