Realistic or Modern Patient Zero (A Zombie Survival RP)

[Hyped_Taco]

​

After having barely survived the attack on the lodge by the large horde of undead, not being able to eat for two days straight and still disturbed by what Luca and his little mobster sidekick had done to him previously just had Michael fed up already. Knowing that he still was forbidden from eating, the neckbeard went straight to plan B… drinking coffee.

He looked around the lodge for the coffee bag, but when he found it in a cabinet inside of the kitchen, he found them all burned up; Michael then remembered that he had helped in burning them before, and felt pretty stupid for not remembering it. But the neckbeard was not about to surrender in his mission, specifically, cause it would help with his current hunger; since there were none to be found inside of the cabin, or well none that weren’t burned as fuck, he would need to find it somewhere else.

Michael first searched his RV, yet found that there was nothing in there, for all he knew it was either taken out of there before he arrived or he himself has used it yet couldn´t remember; with seemingly most of his options discarded he only had one left… the RV of the redneck.

Michael quickly jogged towards the vehicle, and while he felt bad in entering the house of a deceased man his hunger was just too much, so he entered anyway. The neckbeard checked everywhere, and finally found it, a jar containing coffee beans. He started preparing them in the coffee maker, and once they were done drank it black, usually, he would add milk and sugar to it, but the milk that was inside the RV was already expired and there was no sugar to be found, so he would do with what he had at his disposal. Surely no one would have a problem with the coffee… probably, so it would be better if no one saw him, just in case.

Aderyn was back to patrolling the perimeter after the most recent zombie attack. She wound through the shed and the fences that were (slowly) being propped back up, if not fully repaired, and made her way over to the RV. The sight of the motorhome made her frown. She stepped up the stairs and rapped on the door, tilting her head for the sound of somebody inside.

When nobody answered, she pushed the door open, and stopped in her tracks as she saw the man sitting at the dinette in Cletus’ trailer. They’d never spoken before. She grimaced.

“Uh, if you’re busy, I can leave you to it?”

The girl had felt bad for him after hearing what Luca had done, but wasn’t sure he would want her company, seeing as she resembled her cousin closely.

¨SHIT¨ Michael thought after a little girl entered the vehicle, now that his plan of nobody seeing him had failed, he needed to act natural… somewhat.

¨I-Uhhh- no no, not busy at all, sure come in… if you wanna¨ Michael replied, hoping that this girl whom he had never seen before would ́not snitch on him to Luca or somebody else.

“Sorry, I uh, didn’t know you were staying here now.” The girl’s voice was awkward. She sat down on the couch, shrugging her backpack off, and started to root through it. After a moment she produced a bag of cheese-flavoured taralli from the variety store. She busted it open, taking one for herself, and offering the bag to Michael. “The name’s Aderyn. You mind grabbing me a coffee?”

¨Haha,̈ the man awkwardly laughed ¨So uhh- the thing is… I’m actually staying in the other RV, you know to sleep and such, I’m just here for the coffee.¨ he decided to tell her the truth, since seeing that each time he had tried to lie before had ended backfiring on him then he would attempt to do the opposite.

The pretzel looking snacks that she then offered to Michael tempted him more than any food in his life had ever done before but after a moment of reflecting about it he answered ¨Oh, no thanks, they would beat the crap out of me if they found me eating or something.¨ Although they never actually told him that they would beat the shit out of him if he ate, it was extremely insinuated beforehand, and the neckbeard was not about to take the risk right now.

¨y-Yeah sure¨ Michael said after the girl requested a coffee, although in his opinion she seemed to be too young to be drinking it, but in the end, who was he to judge her decisions in the middle of the fucking zombie apocalypse.

̈Oh, my name is Michael, by the way,¨ the neckbeard said ¨So uh…. Sorry for not remembering but when did you arrive at the lodge?¨ Michael asked her.

“Don’t worry about it, if you want some have some,” the girl started, taking another for herself, “I went back to the variety store to get these and if Luca tries to tell me who to share them with I’ll beat the shit outta him.” She shrugged. “A month and a bit ago, but I headed off after the hazmat raid, and got back just about the time the zombies fucked us up. So you’ve probably not seen me around much.”

¨Welp, since you insist.¨ Michael said while quickly grabbing some of the tiny pretzels and proceeded to chug them down his throat as if there were no tomorrow. He heard the girl say how she was gonna beat the shit out of Luca and snickered about it ¨Well I wish you luck with that then, cause from what I heard he beat the fuck outta the big guy- what was his name again?... oh yeah, Owen, he beat the hell outta him.¨

"I know." Aderyn shrugged. "But what's he going to do, mortally wound his little cousin? Hold me back because he doesn't want to be smacked by a kid? Nah. It's a matter of reputation." She grinned at Michael. "He'd only hit me once, I bet. That'd be all it takes."

She took the coffee from him and blew on the top, taking a slow sip. The cup was pleasantly warm in her hands.

̈ ̈Well, I guess one punch of his would hu-¨ Michael stopped himself mid-sentence when the words of her being his cousin sank on him; ¨If Luca finds out I talked to his cousin he is definitely gonna kick my ass¨ Michael thought to himself. Beginning to panic Michael tried to find a way in which not to interact with the Italian today. If he ran out of the RV then Aderyn would probably tell someone about it, so that plan was quickly discarded. After not being able to find an alternative, Michael sat back down in his place trying to hide his panic as well as he could just so maybe, only maybe he wouldn´t have to face Luca´s wrath today.

​

The girl looked at him oddly. He looked suddenly uncomfortable, but surely her relation to Luca wouldn’t be new information, if he’d even looked at her when she’d come inside.

“Anyway,” she stressed, “Did you work at, like, the GameStop? You look really familiar.”

¨Wha-¨ Michael was about to ask; being asked something about himself in a non-threatening matter seemed almost rare to him these days ¨y-yeah I did, for at least 8 months actually, ¨ the man told Aderyn ¨Sorry for not being able to recall,l but were you a regular or something?¨

The girl laughed. Shaking her head, she went for another pretzel, seemingly unbothered.

“Nah. Too many cameras in there for me. Just used to peer in the windows a lot, you know, reminiscing. Really just full of angst.” The girl shrugged. “Was before, though. You play anything in particular, or just like, it was work?”

¨Afraid of cameras or something?¨ Michael jokingly said, not knowing why she would stop going to a specific store that had cameras… If almost all stores had cameras in the first place. ¨Oh, I worked there part-time, you know, due to college and stuff.¨

The girl stared at him in disbelief. Did he really - it didn’t matter, and nobody cared, but did he really never watch the news? Turn on the radio? Still smiling, but now more in a confused way, she spoke slowly.

“Does the name Aderyn Weber-Brasi mean anything to you? Like, really. I want to know.” She distracted herself with more crackers and another sip of her coffee.

¨Well...¨ With his entire available brainpower, Michael tried thinking from where he may have known or meet this girl before, in the way in which she had asked the question it almost seemed as if she was someone well known around the area, but due to only having lived here for like a year he didn´t know, but he still needed to reply with something ¨Well... I know you´re the cousin of the guy that beat my ass a few days ago, but other than that, sorry, I can´t say I know who you are¨

​

“You know, honestly, I’m happy with that.”

¨... Rude¨

Starring:
- Hyped_Taco as Michael the Lard Lord
- Meredith As that other Kid

Mentioned:
- Brax As Luca "Hold her tighter, she's a fighter" Brazi
- Maj As Andy, The Hawkeye of the team (Too lazy to go check if she was actually mentioned, but just for good measure I mentioned you here)
- shadowz1995 FireMaiden The Mad Queen As the medical team that´s required to check both Michael and Aderyn since they drank that MF coffee right after it was made, goddamn they probably burned their mouths
- Togy Cause he needs to be reminded to finish the freaking wall as Nile
- Corgi Moist Panties (Your message is currently hidden, to see what it is you need to click with your mouse right after your name, and then drag it to the right)

 

[The Mad Queen]

The following is a collab between myself and TheMightyRedLemon​

Fisher had managed to gather a moment of peace and found himself limping around the lodge. He needed to get used to the brace as it was, and the man hated just sitting around. Doing laps around the lodge, he caught a glimpse of one of the new arrivals. Yet another young girl, who looked younger than eighteen. What had happened to her parents? "Hello there." He nodded.

The colorfully attired woman looked up to find the source of the voice that had spoken. Bright blue eyes met with those of the man in front of her momentarily before looking him up and down. "Fuckin hell, is everyone here on their last leg or what?" She inquired in a jovial manner, her smile stretching across her face.
Ralph replied to the woman's comment with little more than a glare, resting his hands on his waist.
"Language." He tutted, gently shaking his head "Flipping heck, is everyone here just rude and nosy?" He asked with light sarcasm.

"I'll say whatever the fuck I want! I'm not some Child!" Vanessa growled back, giving him a death stare.
"And yet you're acting like one." Ralph tutted. He just hoped that this wasn't another Kypher situation.
Nessa's right eye began to twitch slightly. "Exactly how am I bein childish ya crippled bastered?"
Ralph sternly folded his arms "Are you really that dense, young lady? Do you wish for me to spell it out for you?"

"I told a joke and you insulted me! Mudak!" She spat back with malice in her tone. This man was really starting to piss her off. What started as a simple joke to her was quickly escalating. Vanessa could not stand being talked down to like a child, especially since she didn't even know this man.
"Mudak?" He raised an eyebrow, and tutted once more "Are you always like this, or are you just having a bad day, kid?"

"Are you always a condescending PRICK?"
Her left eye continued to quiver in its socket as she became more riled up, her Scottish accent seeming to become thicker.
What was with the lodge and the kids they brought in?
"No." He shook his head "And I'm not being either now, you're just..." He shrugged "I guess working through some things."

Vanessa leaned back against the wall and folded her arms over her chest. "I was making a joke and you called me a kid. Don't light a fire and complain that it is hot." Came her reply after a couple of seconds to compose herself. She had to stay calm. If she did anything to hurt someone, she was sure Luca would end up being angry with her. He had said something akin to fighting FOR the people here, not against them.
"I never actually said you were a child. You're the one who brought it up. All I said was that you acted like one." The man kept his arms folded, his brown eyes peering down at Vanessa.

She paused for a moment, looking as though she were deep in thought. After a short time of deliberation, she looked back up. "Why did ya tell me to watch my language?" She spoke in an even tone, no hit of anger left in her voice, but no more was her carefree tone.
"I've never been a fan of it. I always thought that one shouldn't swear without good reason."
"Shouldn't go tellin people you don't know how te live their life just te make yourself more comfortable. That's called being selfish." She said in an almost teasing manner, a smile creeping back onto her face.
"It's not just about my comfort, but okay." Ralph shrugged

She then kicked off the wall and gave a slight bow to the man "Vanessa the acrobat, at your service." She supposed she would try to at least be civil. After all, she had been the one to jump to conclusions.
Fisher shrugged lightly and gave a bow of his own "Dr. Ralph Fisher. At your service."
"Ooooh. Another doctor then?" Nessa mused. "Can I propose a hypothetical question?"
"Of course." Ralph gave her a light smile.

"If a person could only see color in one eye, how do you think that would affect their perception?" Her head tilted as she asked her question.
"I imagine it would, though obviously not as much as not having other conditions that would affect vision." He rested a hand on his chin "Being colour-blind in only one eye is incredibly rare though, but not unheard of. Why do you ask?"
"Imagine it would what?" Inquired the acrobat curiously
"Affect their perception, I mean."
"But I asked ya how it would affect their vision"

"I'm saying it would affect depth perception, mostly. It wouldn't be too limiting for their actual vision, not like actually being blind in one eye for example."
Vanessa considered his words for a moment. Her head tilted the other way as she continued her line of questioning. "And um..." she started. "What the fuck is schizo-whatsitcalled again.....?" The acrobat trailed off at this, trying to remember how to pronounce the word she had heard from the other doctor.
"Do you mean schizophrenia?" Ralph asked, his eyebrow raising once more "That would be a mental condition. Although I am not that kind of doctor I could tell you about it, given I have studied it purely out of curiosity."

The young woman shook her head. "Just heard someone say it, didn't know what it ment. Figured you might know." She said looking away from the man casually.
"It's a rather complex mental condition with many different potential causes. In general though, someone with it might be out of touch with reality. To different degrees, of course. They might just hear things or even see a varied degree of hallucinations. Depression and anxiety are common among those with the condition too..." So wrapped up in his jargon, he almost missed something that the girl said. There had to be a reason she was so interested in the disorder.
"Who mentioned it?"

Vanessa began to look uncomfortable after the mention of hearing things. Ignoring his question entirely, she voiced her own. "What kind of things do they hear?"
"That's hard to say, given it would heavily depend on the person. The common thing seems to be voices through. Like maybe someone whispering. At least, that's what my colleagues would tell me." He gave the girl another light shrug "Wish I could be more help on that front."
"No no, you were a big help lad." She said as she began to ponder his words. "It's not a good feelin... ya know." Vanessa looked up to meet his gaze. "... Not understanding things... I mean. So thank you for explaining it. I mean it. Maybe yer not s'bad."

He offered the girl a smile as a small comfort. "I like to think I'm not that bad." Ralph chuckled "If you ever want to talk more about this stuff, I'm around."

Mentioned: Brax (Luca)

 

[Brax]

Postaraysya ne krichat' na etot raz​

Vanessa woke with a start. In her fright, she almost fell from the rafter above Colts bed, where she had been resting. Looking down to see Colt asleep for the moment, the acrobat carefully climbed down so as not to wake the sleeping veteran. Who knew how much actual sleep she might get, after all. With a practiced hand she applied the makeup over her scar and popped the contact lens in. She was glad she had shown colt all of her scars. At least in this room, she didn't have we cover her eye, but she made it a rule to not walk out without the contact and makeup in place.

It seemed like tonight would be another sleepless night. Her dreams offered her no end of torment as she heard the words play back through her head. Yuri of course knew about what Reznos would do to her. She no longer had a doubt about that, but it was Reznos himself that had haunted her dreams this night. She remembered all too well the sting of that curved silver knife.

Nessa had exited the room quietly and started to wander. She was intent on going outside to get some fresh air again. She so loved the cold air and the way it felt as it passed through her lungs. Before she knew it, her feet had carried her to the lodges front door. With a calming sigh, she stepped outside.

“Who are you?” Tre asked as he turned back to see a female he didn’t recognize. He spent practically every night standing watch out front and he had yet to see this person once in his life. The young man did spent a significant amount of time sleeping during the day which would partially explain it but just how long has this one been stomping about the cabin without him knowing? Were there others?

The young man stood up and turned to face the woman, crossing both arms over his chest. For Tre, it had been a night like any other. It was quiet. Not too many people were up in the lodge at this hour on a normal basis but sometimes there were irregulars. Oftentimes people found him to converse about life. Part of his job description was becoming the nighttime psychologist for the residents at the lodge. The only issue with that was Tre’s clear lack of experience in regard to the nature of human beings.

The colorfully dressed woman looked startled by his voice for a moment before she smiled warmly at the young man who had spoken. "I'm Vanessa McUlann," she said, offering the man a showy bow. " Acrobat by trade."

He raised an eyebrow before continuing. “Okay. When did’ju get here ‘n how?” This had been the information he had wanted to get when asking the woman who she was but the unspoken words hadn’t exactly translated the way he wanted them to. She had come from the inside of the lodge so there wasn’t really a need for her to answer his questions. Someone knew she was here and people were obviously fine with that. It really just came down to his own curiosity.

“How have I not seen you til now?”

"Hmm." Nessa tilted her head to the side slightly, deliberating her answer. "Well," she started. "I've only been here a few days. Boss Luca saved me and brought me 'ere." Her head tilted the other way as she continued to gaze at the boy. "As fer why ya've not seen me, I've been in the rafters. Feels much more cozy up there." Her Scottish accent rang out in the cold night air.

That explained it. This was a stray that Luca had brought in. It had been quite uncomfortable for the boy to have to hear the woman refer to him as ‘boss Luca’, but in a world full of crazy people this was a minor transgression at best. It was a correct title, even in the past to an extent, but it was still weird to hear people refer to him as such. As far as Tre understood it, Luca hadn’t done jack shit since he got back. Typically he was one to get his hands dirty with the rest of his people but that hadn’t been the case recently.

“Power in numbers.” Tre repeated the mantra, turning his head to look back out into the darkness with a snicker. “The only thing that cranky dude knows how to guide is a stick up his own ass.” Placing his hand into the front pocket of his bag the boy retrieved an apple. He took a wide bite and spat out the skin before he began to eat away at the inside. With a mouthful he continued.

“Welcome to the lodge.”

She offered the young man a small smile and said, "So ya know who I am now, care te tell me a bit about yerself?" Looking over at him, Vanessa studied his expression as best she could in this lighting. "Why're ya out 'ere so late?"

“When I got here Luca told me to keep watch of the lodge at night so erryone else can sleep. I’m used’ta not sleepin’ until real late anyway so it was no big. I known him long before shit went upside down. He might be an asshole but he’s helped me through a lot so I’m out here tryna do right by him. Things could be better and they sure as hell could be worse…” His voice trailed off as he rubbed his chin with the use of his index and thumb fingers. Then his fingers snapped emphatically.

“Oh, and my name is Tre.”

"Well Tre, it's a pleasure te meet ya." Vanessa said with a genuine and joyful smile. Leaning her weight against the wall, she cast her blue spheres back upon him. "So… ya said ya've known the boss a long time? Could ya tell me a bit about him?" She asked hesitantly.

“His family is off-the-boat. Italy. Joined the mafia in Aurora when he was a street rat. Started as an associate making hits. Made his way up to caporegime and held that title for ‘bout four years ‘til now. I am pretty sure he’s closer to thirty than he is to twenty, but I dunno his exact age. When he ain’t tellin’ me to do somethin’ we don’t really talk. My pops worked with Luca when he was younger, before he passed away in a cell. Luca was his best friend. He’s psychotic but I done learned a long time ago that if I stay loyal to him then he won’t hurt me.”

Vanessa let out a low whistle. "Capo?" She said in amazement. "That's pretty high up in the ranks init?" It was now obvious to her that the decision to call Luca 'boss' seemed all too accurate.

“He wasn’t at the top of the food chain, though.” Tre pointed out as he took a seat on the top step once more before leaning over to rest his arms against his kneecaps. “His Consigliere used to call him ‘Lucky’. One of Luca’s soldiers tried doin’ the same and it pissed him off to no end. He ain’t about killin’ his own but he thinks of the weirdest shit to torture people. Legit. While he was out of town Luca sent us to this dude’s house to flip every piece of furniture upside down, steal the plugs from his televisions, and cut holes in the back of all his shirts.” The boy clicked his tongue before hanging his head back to look up at the woman.

“You probably don’t wanna piss that one off.”

Featuring: TheMightyRedLemon

 

[The Mad Queen]

​

The suburbs were a ghost town, decorated with the signs of war. Blood splatters on the walls of family homes, smashed windows on people carriers, and the occasional shuffling corpse of a child still dressed for soccer practice. One caught the attention of Maria, who caved in it's skull with a swing of a bat. The silver from the aluminum was painted red, the mark of previous battles.
The Beast of Derry rarely lost a fight, and wasn't about to start.

With the growl of a beast, a corpse shuffled up the road towards her with it's arms outstretched. A large woman with short hair with one of her eyes dangling out of the socket. Maria waited for it to get close and kicked the body back before bringing the bat down three times to crack the skull open like an egg. Her blue eyes caught glimpse of house with a chest-high fence and she walked towards it, her gaze open for any figures. Alive or otherwise.

Pushing the door open, she found the front room empty. Half-eaten food was scattered across a wooden dining room table. Mould covered an untouched birthday cake with eight candles that had never even been lit. Maria tutted, shook her head and peered into the kitchen where another body awaited her, it's back facing at first.

It slowly turned and dropped it's jaw as it's cold eyes widened with hunger.
"Oh...Shite." Maria took one step back, her eyes moving towards the back garden of the house. Shattered glass doors led towards half a dozen bodies, all of them children.

The clown took three steps forwards, and was promptly dropped but the woman didn't stick around as the half a dozen child bodies started to close in. Moving around the long table she allowed them to get closer and shoved the table forwards. As each child tried to reach over it she brought the bat down. A few minutes later, every body had been dropped.
She would have sat down to catch a breather, but the sound of something moving upstairs caught her attention. Making her way up the staircase, passing by family photos the woman moved quietly and slowly. Every door in the upstairs landing was lying open, revealing empty rooms. Half-made beds, a bathroom with the toilet seat still lying open and a child's bedroom with an empty crib greeted her.

To her left, however was a shut door. It was not closed for long, as Maria kicked it open. Greeting her on the other side was the barrel of a pistol, held by a man in yellow hazmat gear. He sat against a chest of drawers, several tears in his suit.
Widening her blue marbles once more, Maria raised her hands and dropped the bat.
"Alright." She nodded, forcing a smile "I'm just looking for a place to sleep, I'll go somewhere else..."
"You aren't going anywhere."
"Was worth a try. Even with you lot." Maria sighed "I heard about the school."
"I wasn't there for that." He scoffed, aiming the pistol directly at her head
"Well, you've not shot me yet ya wee fecker. Ya must want somethin'."
"You're going to help me, or I'm going to put one between your eyes."
"How'd ya get hurt? Picked a fight with some of these soccer mums and lost? They can be nasty, after all."

He shook his head, and chuckled
"You're funny."
"I like to think so."
"Here's what's going to happen you Leprechaun piece of shit...You're going to help me, and if you don't piss me off during the whole thing I'll let you live."
"No." Maria shrugged, slowly turning around
"Do you want to die?"
"Of course not. But ya won't shoot me."
"Wanna bet?" He hissed
"You fire that off and the whole neighbourhood will hear the dinner bell and come lookin' for ya." Her blue eyes glared through his helmet "So I'll make ya a deal."
"What do you want?"
"Well, if the dead were the ones who beat the shite outta ya...You'd 've used that gun on yerself. I reckon it was the living. So...I'd like to know where they are."

He scoffed
"Are you serious?"
She nodded
"I mean, sure. If you're looking for a bullet to the skull. I'll tell you. If you help me, that is."
"What do ya need?"
"I need to leave Aurora. Before they find me. So I need you to make a distraction..."

She sighed heavily
"That sounds like a horrible idea. Ya might as well shoot me now and kill us both."
"If they find me out here, they'll kill me."
"Who, the people that did this to you?"
"No, they're held up in a fortress. I'm talking about the people I work for."
"You did a runner, didn't ya?"

He slowly nodded
"Well, let me give ya a bit of piece of mind. They won't be lookin' for ya."
"You don't know that!"
"Ya said ya lost contact. They might think yer dead, depending on how the battle went."

He slowly lowered the gun
"Oh, shit...I"

That was exactly what Maria had been waiting for. One moment of hesitation was all it took for her to gain the upper hand, kicking the gun from his hand and sending it flying across the room. He tried to get in a hook but she stepped back and punched the mercenary in the ribs. Next, she struck him in the other arm and dropped him by grabbing it and tripping him over. With his arm now clutched in a tight lock, she pressed a boot against the side of his face.

"This fortress, where is it?"
"Why do you care so much?" He grunted
She twisted his arm in response "Tell me ya gobshite or I'll break this off and shove it up yer hole!"
"Fine! It's in the woods. Outskirts of town."
"Narrow it down. I don't want to wander straight into an angry moose."
"Okay, fine..."

He was quick in giving his directions, but the more he gave the less pressure Maria applied.
"What now? Are you going to kill me?"
"Of course not. But, I can't have you following me so..."

She tore off his mask, and stuck the man on the side of the head several times until he fell to the ground. With the mercenary out cold, and his pistol tucked into her belt Maria barricaded the room he lay in and made her way outside. She stooped in the driveway of the house, taking down the directions in the notebook.

There are other people alive here. I'm hoping they can help.
You don't have to like them, just don't be too much of a bitch.
-Maria.

 

[Rumble Fish]

Part 3 of 4

November 14th, 2018
2:12PM
Grab and Go Mini Mart

It had taken a lot of work, but finally the gas was flowing from the pumps and into the empty canisters that Andy had brought with her. Colt kept watch as the redhead was bent over, busy watching the flow of chemicals. Eventually the gas would all run dry and without it they wouldn’t have power. She wasn’t sure what could be done about that, nor did she pretend to be smart enough to be able to rig another power source. There were a couple of relatively intelligent people at her lodge though. Hector’s expertise was mostly in medicine, but Nile, Harriet and even that Aaron guy seemed to know their way around machines. It would be worth asking them when they got back.

Batteries, copper wire, car parts, and various other tools that Andy thought looked useful were all packed safely away in the trunk. Food was in good supply, but she also found a handful of protien bars in the impulse buy section at O’Reilys and had loaded them into the car as well. They needed crops, ways to keep food at the base and not have to venture out into the city any more than necessary. It was far easier to protect their own borders than to defend themselves out in the open.

“Last one,” Andy commented, sloshing a bit of gas as she moved the nozzle from the full canister into the last empty one. She was sure her hands smelled of gasoline by this point. However, she found the smell somewhat comforting. It reminded her of her uncle. “We probably have room for one more stop before we need to be driving back. I don’t want to be caught out here after dark if we can help it.”

“Me neither.” Colt grunted. The woman hadn't said much over the last few hours, if she had no reason to speak, she wouldn't. Colt had simply been co-operating with Andy as she gave her instructions; something the veteran was very accustomed to doing. The woman was a hot-head who hated being under an idiot’s attempt at authority, but of course Andy was different. She knew what they were here for. As she packed her things, she looked around the area, at all the go-karts. As she did, something caught her attention. Two golf karts were next to each other. One had been stripped of everything down to the axles aside from the steering wheel, and the one next to it was missing one, meaning someone had gone to the effort if dismantling the machine and leaving the wheel, and someone had stolen the wheel from the other kart and the idiots running the place didn't think to simply stick the steering wheel onto the other kart. A short chuckle escaped the woman as she snorted through her nostrils.

“‘Ere, Sasha, come look at this shit.” She spoke before stopping to examine her bag, ensuring they had everything. It was such a minor thing, but even then, they had to appreciate the little moments more and more, “I’ve seen better beef bein’ run over by a combine.”

Andy raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t the first time Colt had called her by this name. A Freudian slip of sorts that intrigued and confused the redhead. She chose not to comment on it, they would have plenty of time to converse in the car on the way back. The less noise they made out here the better. Instead, the woman finished up her work of filling the gas can and then walked over to where the veteran stood.

“You can’t fix stupid,” Andy said in a low tone, her emerald eyes rolling skyward. Although the fact that someone had stripped a couple of stray golf carts concerned the woman. Sometimes the old people liked to ride them around town, so it wasn’t that out of the ordinary to find them at the gas station, but it was odd that someone had broken them down. She hoped whoever they were that they weren’t too close by.

“Let’s not linger, I don’t want to have to shoot anyone for trying to shake us down for parts too.”

Featuring: Maj (Andy)

 

[Maj]

Part 2 of 3​

November 19th, 2019
7:45PM
Andy’s Bedroom


The tingling started shortly after, both in Aubrey’s head and in her extremities. It felt like she was both in her body, and outside of it at the same time. A smile was more clearly presented on the blonde’s face as she soon forgot about Andy’s trickery. Even Andy was feeling the effects, underestimating the power of Blackheart rum for what was not the first time in her life. Freckled cheeks were pink and flush, emerald eyes sparkling in amusement. She had long changed into pajamas. Dressed in a pair of short, cotton shorts and a “may the force be with you,” T-shirt, the girl was stretched across the mattress, playing music off her charged but mostly useless smartphone. Aubrey had joined her in the discardment of clothes, now only in her t-shirt and jeans. Her equally, if not moreso, rosy cheeks smiled even harder than they normally did.

“No, no, no,” Andy said, head hanging down off the edge of the bed. She liked the way it felt when all the blood rushed to her temples, making the room spin and airy. The redhead watched as Aubrey tried to follow her instructions, looping the hair into a rather poorly constructed braid. “You are doing it wrong. Here.” She tried to sit up, but found that her head was now too heavy to be lifted, and instead had to roll onto her stomach, disturbing the pristine nature of the made bed as she floundered about to come to her feet.

Aubrey, who had found herself splayed across the worn armchair, giggled in response to her failed attempts at person-ing. While her hands fumbled heavily and didn’t work in cooperation with her head, she felt as light as a feather. Andy stumbled forward, enjoying that feeling of finding that she was actually more drunk than she thought, the room trying to spin out from beneath her feet. After a few steps toward Aubrey, she went to her knees, thudding into the rug covered floor.

Expert hands began to unlace the hair that Aubrey had been working so hard to fuck up. She unwove each strand of the silky tresses, running her fingers through it to remove the tangles. Her eyes were focused and looking at her, it became almost difficult to remember the contempt her eyes once held. She shook her head at Aubrey, tutting in disbelief.

“It’s over under,” the girl explained, twisting the strands of hair so quickly it was hard to even see what she was doing. It almost appeared that her wrist was doing all the work as her knuckles hooked in the strands of golden hair. Aubrey giggled once more.

“Oooooooh…” She drew out, her head attempting to turn in order to face the woman, but failing when she bumped into Andy’s hands, “I thought that’s what I was doing!” She slurred, her hand gestures much more animated than they typically were.

“Jeeze,” Andy shook her head sadly as she kept working through the girl’s mane. “It’s not hard. Didn’t your mom teach you how to braid?” Aubrey felt her stomach sink at the mention of family, though it was short lived.

“Nah, taught myself. My family and I don’t really get along.” She stated in an upbeat manner. The bad feelings often felt worse, so she was glad the alcohol had worked it’s magic in the moment. It made it a lot easier to talk about the subject at hand.

“Then fuck them,” Andy said haphazardly. “Just because someone is family doesn’t mean you owe them anything.” She didn’t look up, instead choosing to finish the braid in the girl’s hair, tying it off with her own hair tie that was cinched around her wrist. “Blood doesn’t make someone special.” The words came as a shock to Aubrey, her head immediately whipping around to face Andy, the braid flopping to her back.

“What…?” She mumbled, confusion taking over her alcohol-dulled mind. The redhead rolled her eyes.

“I said what I fucking said. If you don’t get along with them, fuck them. You don’t have to feel guilty for that shit man,” her words were slurring, but not as bad as expected for someone who had as much to drink as she had. It had never occurred to Aubrey that the ‘fuck them’ view point even existed, nevermind it being something she could take on.

“I mean, they tried to get along with me. I was kind of difficult.” Once again, the matter-of-fact statement, though sad sounding, took an upbeat tune.

“I’m difficult all the fucking time.” Andy shrugged. “Who cares? You shouldn’t have to put on some ‘fairy princess’ facade because you are afraid of being difficult. Who has the energy for that? Not I.” Andy leaned back on her palms to examine her handy work. The braid wasn’t her best work, but it would suffice. Aubrey stared at Andy for awhile, her hazel eyes making their round across the fair features. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for but she felt like she found it.

“But you’re different from me. You can… like… talk to people and you want to go out and do things. I was an antisocial mess that blocked out everyone, including my family.” She muttered, the happy tune slowly disappearing from her voice as the knots in her stomach came back.

Andy laughed, it was a somewhat musical sound coming from the redhead. A rarity to her tones that lightened her features and softened her in a way that little else could.

“Oh shut up,” Andy said with a shake of her head. “You think I can talk to people? You think I like to go out and do things?” The laugh was a bit more sarcastic this time as the woman shook her head. “You got me all wrong chicka.” Andy picked up the bottle from her nightstand, forgotten until that moment. Slender fingers wrapped around the neck and raised it to her lips, drinking a long, thoughtful drink from the glass.

“You can do it better than I can!” Aubrey called out defensively, “I stand there fiddling with my stupid hat, waiting for my mouth to catch up to my brain.” The slurring in her letters was still very evident, though the clarity in her voice seemed much more sound. Andy passed the bottle to the blonde, eyebrow raised.

“Hun, I think you are confusing bitching with talking. I’m an asshole.” Aubrey rolled her eyes playfully, letting out a chuckle.

“Looook, whatever.” She drawled, “You were never an asshole to me and I think that’s all that counts right now.” Her hands grasped around the glass neck before taking another long drink, coughing a few times more before sticking out her tongue, “How’d you convince me to do this?!” She spoke, trying to form the words around the muscle that was flopping outside her mouth.

“By being an asshole!” Andy threw up her hands. “Man, you are really dense sometimes, you know that?” Aubrey scoffed before attempting to stand to her feet. Gravity took hold of her body before her balance could kick in and she fell back onto the armchair. Now using Andy as an anchor, she managed to stand, the tingling in her forehead becoming much more clear as she felt her limbs become almost useless. The blonde patted Andy on the shoulder and cheek before pushing off towards the door.

“I’m gonna go tell Owen!” She declared, raising one arm in the air with a thumbs-up as she stumbled towards the wooden door.

“Yeah, yeah, run and tattle to your boyfriend,” Andy said leaning back against the bed, still seated on the floor. Aubrey immediately turned on her heels and gave a loud gasp, eyes wide as her pink cheeks deepened.

“What?!” She squealed, taking lousy steps backwards, “You’re being a little-”

“It’s okay Aubrey, you can call her a bitch.” Owen said from the doorway. How long he had been standing there was a mystery to both girls. His face was amused and confused as he looked at the flush-faced blonde. His eyebrow raised.

Featuring: Corgi

 

[Rumble Fish]

Part 1 of 2

​

November 17th, 2018
10:45PM

Colt was not looking forward to another night of attempting to sleep through a barrage of nightmares/night terrors and staving off a hangover the next day. As everyone began to turn in, she was just returning to her room after a trip to the bathroom. Once inside, the woman grumbled a few obscenities under her breath as she climbed up the steps to the top bunk and got under the covers, not bothering to take off her jacket or prosthetic. If she was going to have a proper sleep, she had to try now or it would not happen. The veteran grunted as she rolled off of her bad shoulder onto her good one. Today had not been as terrible as others but there was still a melancholy and angry aura around the veteran.

A foot dangled down from the rafters and over the top bunk while Colt attempted to turn in for the night. "Yer turnin in early. Long day?" She looked down at the veteran with a smile that caused the lower half of her scar to stretch slightly into a curve around the edge of her lips.

An angry growl was the response as the veteran simply lifted then thumped her head back down onto her pillow to prove her point. At this point she was strongly considering ear-buds. Or having another drink to drown out her nonsense.

"Hey, s'do the people here have a habit of leavin food at the back door?" Vanessa inquired, her tone becoming serious in a matter of seconds. She had discovered a number of food items the night before placed by the back door, and she thought it was suspicious, but had to be sure. "I know I'm not the best judge o normal, but it seemed odd te me when I found it."

At the mention of food, Colt snarled something and rolled onto her back, pulling her cap up, her red eyes now confused at the acrobat’s words. Either she was pulling her leg or she had misheard her.

“Huh? What?” Her shaggy brows furrowed, her scar tissue creasing, “What’s that? Food?” she propped herself up, her posture now more severe.

"I don't really get a lot of sleep at night." Nessa began to explain. "Went out last night te enjoy the cold air and there was wrapped food on the back porch…"

“Hrmmmmph…” the veteran rolled her eyes and jumped from the bunk, landing on her knee hardly, “Fuckin’-” she grumbled as she got up angrily. She had no time to go and ask Luca or Andy, it could alert the Lodge and after the shit they had been through, they didn’t need to fear anything else. What took the damn acrobat so long to mention this? She dug through her duffle, pulling out her sawed-off shotgun. She had not touched the firearm since the assault on the middle school.

“Ah. Missed ya.” she breathed out as she stood up, loading it with a couple of shells. She had her Colt in its holster so was well armed. “I’m gonna go out fur a look. Did anyone touch the food?” she asked, it was not to be trusted and could contain God-knows what to harm any of them.

Vanessa had already lept from the rafters, landing without a sound. "I hid it in me bag. Didn't know what else te do with it. I was gonna bring it to Luca but I couldn't find 'im all day." Vanessa informed the shotgun toting veteran as she armed herself with the hatchet she had leaned against the bottom bunk. "I'm goin too. Wouldn't want ya te go alone. "

“No. I-” she paused upon seeing that the woman had already armed herself. The woman frowned with a frustrated sigh through the nostrils, “Fur fuck- right. Okay. If ya hafta come at least be quiet. Don’ do nothin’ I don’ tell ya to.” She took the Lupara and with that, left the room, her steps strangely quiet and springy unlike the usual clumps of her boots. Colt knew how to be silent when she had to be.

Vanessa's quiet steps could not even be heard behind the veteran as she followed close behind. Don't do anything unless told? Mentally, Nessa scoffed. She wasn't Luca. Did she really expect Vanessa to obey her? The veteran had her respect, but wasn't the boss of her. Soon they had come out onto the back porch and the acrobat tapped Colt's shoulder, pointing to the ground near the door. "That's where I found it."

“Hm.” Colt grumbled as she got down to look at where the food had been left. While the snow was less, the wind was soft and nothing was disturbed. Despite the dark, Colt looked towards the trees. “C’mon. This way.” She spoke lower than a whisper, almost virtually silent as she began to make her way through the woods. Her actions were now slow, alert and mechanical. With the Lupara raised to eye level, she scanned the area, pausing every few seconds to look around.

Sticking close by her side, Vanessa silently and effortlessly made her way into the wooded area as well, her eyes scanning over ever inch of her field of view for signs of life or movement.

David watched from the shadows in his perch high above the forest floor. He saw that the food had been taken, and that didn't tell him anything. He had posted himself at this spot since just before dusk, guaging the residents' reaction to his gifts. He had been waiting for about an hour when the back door opened and a raven-haired well-built woman stepped out, followed by a slender brunette, both armed.

The first one looked possibly military or law enforcement, by the way she carried her shotgun and had the pistol strapped to her hip at a very reachable and comfortable height. Definitely not a novice. If her jacket was any giveaway he'd say she was Army or some other service. The second one was very...flamboyant to say the least. Stealth definitely was NOT in her arsenal at the moment, wearing a black and bright purple corset that looked like it belonged in a museum.

The military woman raised her shotgun and headed for the trees. David smiled. She had good intuition. Definitely a combat veteran or saw action as a cop. She and the skinny one trailing behind her entered the forest a few feet to the north of his vantage point, not far at all. He noticed them stepping over the traps and such, and nodded in silent approval of their vigilance. He didn't see any evidence that they had received his gifts with joy. If anything, they were suspicious. He shrugged. He wasn't expecting a parade.

He heard something and his head jerked up silently northeast, behind the two women. Any change in this forest never went unnoticed. He knew every cricket, squirrel and winter bird, and he knew something was off. There were two runners standing dormant in the foliage just a few yards from the investigative pair. A goose flapped and honked above them, stirring the two from their proverbial slumber. His eyes widened. The pair of women hadn't looked in their direction yet. He had to do something.

He leapt from his spot above the girls and grabbed a branch, then dropped and kicked off a tree. Just as the first zombie got a scream out, its head was separated from its shoulders after the shiiing of steel being released from its home was heard. The second one had just gotten a running start when David twirled with grace and brought his 19" Dao sword up through its neck and head, then stepped gently to the side and let the halfway-bisected corpse fall to the ground.

He was facing away from the girls when he finished and dropped his sword from his left hand, then raised both to show he was unarmed. "I hope you found my gifts edible."

Colt was alarmed at the sound of the bird and had turned to see the runners, but before she could react, the man had jumped down and… decapitated them with a sword? It happened too quickly for the woman to react completely until it was over. As the man spoke up, Colt finally reacted. The scarred woman shook her head.

“What in the fuckin’ name of the fuckin’ great Lord above was that fuckery?!” She whisper-shouted as she raised her weapon up again, spit flying from her teeth from the furious force “Right y’fuckin’ seven-samurai bastard, the fuck y’think yer doin’ so close t’our fuckin' territory?” Her tone was steady but with a clear vein of a threat and cautioning to tread lightly.

Featuring: TheMightyRedLemon (Nessa) Dragonlord318 (David)
Mentioning: Brax (Luca) Maj (Andy)

 

[Rumble Fish]

Part 2 of 2

November 17 2018
11:00PM

A quiet fit of laughter ensued after Colt's response. After Vanessa managed to reign in her laughter, she looked the man up and down. "Well at least we solved the mystery of who left the food. Who knew it would be a smelly yeti with a sword?"

David stayed stock still. He didn't want to irk the ire of the veteran, as he valued his life a little too much to do anything stupid with a double barrel at his back. He breathed in and out slowly before responding. "I live in these woods, about a mile and a half that way." He nodded his head sideways. "I heard people nearby shortly after the outbreak, so I decided to see who was on my doorstep. I saw a team scavenging for rations and overheard talks of needing food, so…" he pointed at the back porch.

"So ya thought ya could poison us did ya?" Came the thick scottish accent from behind him as it drew closer. Vanessa feet made almost no noise in the snow as she walked forward, hatchet raised slightly. She bent over and picked up the sword that he had dropped to the ground before quickly retreating back to the safety of Colts side. She had seen the shiny sword when the man had dropped it, and had immediately decided she would take it for herself the moment the opportunity showed itself.

David did nothing as his weapon was taken. He had more. He mentally shrugged, physically remaining still. "If you want, You can take a piece of every item and I'll eat it. Just to prove that I'm not hostile. By the way, If I considered either of you a threat - which I don't - I'd have done something already."

He breathed for a second. "I know we're all on edge and there are people who want everyone but themselves dead." He turned his head while keeping his body still. "History shows those people pretend to be in need or just outright attack you." He noticed the coloration of Colt's jacket. "Isn't that right, Marine? My granddaddy served." He nodded once in respect and turned his head back to the front.

A sinister chuckle escaped the brunettes lips. Stabbing the tip of the sword in the ground, Vanessa leaned on the hilt as her mismatched eyes rose up to look at her companion. "Ya 'erein this Colt? We got some big bullocks on this one 'ere now, don't we?" Within seconds Vanessa had crossed the space between her and the trespasser, the sword still embedded in the ground. Pulling a knife from her legging, she slid it up past his shoulder and to his cheek, pressing the cold metal against his skin. "I'm not on edge ya gobshite, I'm Unhinged, and yet talkin a bit more than me friend there would like. Only I'm allowed to annoy the piss outta her."

“Vanessa!” The veteran finally broke her stunned silence as she barked at the acrobat before turning back to the stranger, having heard what he had said before. As soon as he mentioned the military, the woman frowned with a quiet blow through her nostrils, causing them to flutter and a jet of steam to fire like a frustrated bull.

Hearing her name shouted out so sharply, the acrobat leapt back, looking almost sad. "I was just 'avin a spot of fun…." She complained in a low tone.

“That’s Sargent t’ya’ll, tree-man.” she grumbled before her pine eyes looked back to the man, “We’re no’ savages. But y’show up out of nowhere in our land and leave food like we’re just gonna fuckin’ accept that? Yer right, people want folk dead and we’ve ‘ad a fuck-ton of that so, yeah I’ll say we know a fuckin' thing’r two! Am I clear?” Her tone was soft but dangerous.

David's entire body became loose as soon as he felt the steel on his cheek. If it trailed any higher or lower...his left hand twitched involuntarily, but he relaxed with a silent sigh when the Marine shouted her partner's name and she leapt back suddenly. He nodded. "Roger, Sergeant."

He decided to ignore the brunette and was silent as the military woman gave her survival speech. He nodded again when she stopped. "I do sincerely apologize for sending the wrong message. Just wasn't sure how else to introduce myself without getting a chest full of buckshot." He looked to the side so the two were in his peripheral. "And I completely understand your point, Sergeant. Crystal clear."

“Good.” The soldier grumbled before turning to her associate, who seemed to have grabbed the man’s weapon while the pair were talking. After a flash of a brief smirk in her direction, she cleared her throat. “Nessa, a word with ya?” She turned somewhat away from the man to face the acrobat.

“I dunno what t’do ‘ere. We can’t take ‘im in, but leavin’ ‘im out ‘ere won’t work either. I’m no’ puttin’ the Lodge in danger, that’s for damn sure.” she gravelled lowly to the woman.

"Well…." Vanessa leaned in towards Colt, her eyes not leaving the man. "I've got some rope in me bag. Could tie em up?"

“C’mon gurl, gimme a little fuckin' credit.” The woman grumbled with an irritable shake of the head, she should have known that would be the nature of her answer. Taking out a cigarette, she looked back to the man “Where did’ya say y’were livin’?” she folded her arms firmly, still ready to reach for her side-arm if she had to.

He turned around slowly, then lowered his hands just as slowly, still keeping them where she could see them. He raised his eyebrows at the girl’s suggestion, but let it lie when the Sergeant dismissed the idea. “About a mile and a half that way.” He pointed northeast, toward the woods between the lodge and the edge of town. “It’s more than two miles from the blockade, so there’s no fear of getting sniped. By the way,” he said to Vanessa. “You don’t have to worry about me trying to get that back.” He pointed to the sword in the ground. “It’s yours.”

"Yer damn right it mine now." Vanessa quipped before looking to Colt. "Oi, He said he would eat the food and prove it's safe aye? I say we tie 'im up so there aren't any funny business, then we force feed em te see if he tells the truth. After that we see what the other want te do with 'im."

"Yeah…" he shook his head. "Let's skip the tying part. But I'll gladly eat any of the food I gave you."

“Naw, I said no to tying already.” All Colt wanted throughout all of this was to go to bed and this was dragging for so much longer than she wanted it to. With a sigh, she pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. What could she do? She could not bring him to the Lodge but did not feel comfortable with simply leaving to him to his own devices. He could be lying and her instinct would not let her forget that potential threat; especially after the last month they had. With a sigh, she took out her flask, eyes still looking to the man.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen. Yer gonna git outta here.” she growled, taking a moment to take a drag of the cigarette she had been talk around, “And do not come back. If anyone needs ya, they’ll go to you. If I see ya skulkin’ uninvited ‘round these parts again, I’m not gonna be so generous.”

David bowed at the waist slightly. "The name's David. If you ever need help of any kind, I'll be more than willing to assist you. And," he nodded once respectfully, "I will honor your terms. Farewell." With that, he nodded at Nessa and stepped back, then jumped and kicked off a tree, scaled it and headed back to his home. He looked back after he had gone about a quarter mile or so. Weird bunch, he thought with a smile. They'd have fit right in with the monks back home in China. He turned toward home and departed without a sound.

When he got there (minding his bell strings and traps), he sat down in the leather recliner in front of his fireplace and let out a loud sigh that was reduced to the house, thanks to the extra insulation he added to aid him in hunting. It enabled him to double his dwelling as a hunting perch. He unplugged his LG smartphone from the solar powered wall outlet and plugged in his earphones, ensuring to keep the volume where he could still hear any disturbances.

He had the bells inside that were hooked to his traps and strings outside, so he didn't have to open a window or door to hear an intruder. He went to his song downloads and played one of his favorites as he settled in, thanking God for the mostly peaceful results he experienced tonight and praying for his new acquaintances' safety, as well as positive interactions going forward.

Spoiler

Colt watched as the man vanished into the forest, her gaze not living him until he was out of sight. The woman sighed and turned to the acrobat. “Ya should head back t’bed. I’m gonna sit out fur a while. Who knows what else could be lurkin’ around this area.”

"Ya sure ya dont want me stayin out with ya?" The acrobat said, picking the sword up and setting it on her shoulder.

“Yer younger, y’need sleep more than I do.” Colt sighed, “I’ll just be on the porch. Don’ wanna learn he’s bluffin’ with my guard down.” she took one last sip from her flask before putting it away and clicking the pocket shut.

“That there was a fine gold-plated piece of fuckery.” She grumbled afterwards, still trying to wrap her head around it all. It still did not make sense, even after having it sink in.

"Alright then, I'm heading back up te the room then. Be safe..." Nessa held the veterans gaze for a moment before turning and walking back towards the lodge. The ex-marine sighed as she lowered herself onto her rear on the step, groaning a little at the effort. Once she was down, the veteran puffed at the cigarette a few times before taking a drink from her flask. However, she had no interest in getting drunk. Or more drunk, whatever. With a long, drawn out sigh, she turned back to the forest and watched the trees. A brief chuckle escaped her lips.

"Professors, acrobats and now fuckin'... Tarzan men." the Marine grunted, "I'm fuckin' lookin' forward to Kruger and Voorheese next. Fuck me, all theses fuckin'..." her many given fucks continued into the night. How was it now that it was not the fucking Things that was the most extraordinary thing she had seen.

Features: TheMightyRedLemon (Nessa) Dragonlord318 (David)

 

[TheMightyRedLemon]

"Блядь!" Leliana yanked her hand back, the sewing needle having stuck into her palm, the tear in her jacket currently winning. It had gotten caught on something, and ripped straight up one of the seams, and Leliana had no other jacket. She was thankful she found the small sewing kit buried in one of the kitchen drawers. Thank you Andy's uncle. Anyway, she started again, ignoring the little poke to her hand. She was using the last of the pink thread, leaving the black thread for someone who didn't want a brightly-colored patch job.

"Хитрость не в том, чтобы порезаться." Came the jovial tone of Vanessa from above the nurse. "Ya want some help lass?"

Leliana looked up, eyebrow cocked shaking her head slightly. "W-what?" She didn't understand what the girl said. And honestly, she was surprised the newbie was talking to her. Leliana looked back at her jacket. "No, I'm fine. It's just a little poke. I don't even need a bandaid."

A roar of laughter came from the woman in the rafters overhead. "Sorry lass. Fer a moment I swore ya spoke russain, but I must've been mistaken." She hooked her legs over the rafter she was seated on and leaned back, hanging upside down and reaching out for the jacket and needle. "C'mon then. Hand it o'er . I've had to stitch many outfits in my time with the circus, so it's no bother te me."

"No, just a little. Cuss words really. One of the guys who used to live here taught me, " Leliana replied, bringing the thread up to her teeth after she tied it off, and bit through it. "I'm already done. I'm the nurse, and I also had to sew up a bunch of my stuff before the world went to shit." Leliana looked at the acrobat, tilting her head to one side. "How did you even get up there? Please don't fall, that would be bad."

"Init obvious? I climed. I'm an acrobat ya know. Not many places I can't get." The colorfully dressed woman replied. "I use te do the trapeze with no net. Trust me, I'm not gonna fall. That's why Yuri use te have me help with heis.. n..nevermind." Vanessa cleared her throat and tried to act like she hadn't just said anything.

Leliana nodded, shifting so that her body was facing the girl so her neck wasn't strained. "Alright. That makes sense and sounds very fun, but it is my job to worry about everyone and how they could get injured." Leliana smiled, reaching up to brush hair of her face, smoothing it back into her ponytail. "Oh, um, I'm Leliana, by the way. We met very briefly outside the other day. Though I didn't catch your name...I don't think anyway." The girl then mentioned Yuri, Leliana cocking her eyebrow. "Who's Yuri?"

"D'ya wana know the truth, or somethin funny as hell?" Vanessa asked, looking the woman directly in the eyes with a soul peircing gaze.

Leliana narrowed her eyes slightly, straightening up in her seat. The girl didn't tell the nurse her name, which didn't exactly raise any alarms but Leliana thought it was a little rude. Actually, no, not really. Leliana didn't mind. "How about...both? Tell me the truth and something funny as hell."

Vanessa glared back at the nurse through squinted eyes for a moment, giving a very grim and serious expression before suddenly bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter. After a few minutes of swinging back and forth with Laughter from the Rafter, she curled up and unhooked her legs, shifting her weight forward into a curled up flip. She landed on her feet and rose up only to bow to Leliana. " I'm Vanessa McUlann." She said, and with a chuck she straightened back up. "As fer who Yuri is.... " she paused, looking away. "He was the Ringmaster. He was also... the man that raised me. Yuri Sylvester Romanoff...."

The laugher was just a bit off-putting. Leliana was truly unsure of how to react. But it would be rude to react negatively, so she managed to keep a straight face as she watched the girl, who very quickly introduced herself as Vanessa, flipping off the rafters. "Very impressive flip, I'd break my ass if I tried that." She gave the girl a smile, letting her continue without interruption, Leliana gestured to the chair next to her, asking Vanessa to sit. "What was he like?"

The acrobat seemed to grow uncomfortable at her last question. The nurse had begun to ask for more personal details than Vanessa would like. "How should I know?" She said bitterly, leaning in and looking deep into the nurses eyes. "After all, I'm just some circus clown. That's how Andy put it, isn't it?" Nessa remembered the redheads words to the nurse after pulling up to the lodge on her first day here, and hadn't gotten over it.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry." Leliana had to wonder how Vanessa knew Andy called her that. Just how close was she during that conversation? She guessed it didn't matter, the newbie looked hurt, so Leliana decided to change the subject. "How are you settling in? I know it's a bit cramped, but you probably aren't going to find running water anywhere else. Just, watch out for Micheal when you're eating. He steals food."

"Michael? Ya mean the fat man what greeted me when I got 'ere?" Vanessa made a face of pure disgust, remembering the scene she walked into in the downstairs bathroom. "If that fat fucker wants te eat me food, I'll eat him." She proclaimed matter of factly.

"Yep that's him. Threaten him all you want to, he deserves it." Between making sure they never had a surplus of food to royally fucking up no matter how much they tried to get it into his head he can't do that shit, he kept fucking up. Maybe Vanessa would get through to him. "Anyway, you're set up in Colt's room right? If you ever need anything and she's asleep, my room is just diagonal, next to the smaller bathroom. Just, make sure to be quiet if its at night, Beth would kill both of us."

The eccentrically attired woman flinched slightly at the mention of the smaller upstairs bathroom, where she had broken the mirror before. She hadn't been back to it since, out of fear of getting into trouble for breaking things. "I do appreciate the warning about that Michael person," Vanessa stated. "but who is Beth? I dont think I've met her yet."

Leliana smiled. "She's the other blonde girl. The pretty one with long hair." The nurse was still over the moon about what happened, but that wasn't really any of Vanessa's concern. "Have you take a look around the lodge yet? If not I can give you a tour." That way she would know where she could go and where not to go. Hopefully, it would keep her out of trouble for a while.

She seems happy about something, Vanessa thought. Must like to give tours. "I would love a tour, actually. I've been fumblin me way around this place somethin crazy."

Leliana stood, swinging her jacket on, since the lodge was just a little frosty. Leliana didn't exactly know why she offered to do this, but it seemed better than letting her just wander around. Something was weird about Vanessa, Leliana wanted to know what. If it was just her being eccentric or if it was mental...the tour would give her a little more time to figure it out. "Follow me then."

 

[Maj]

November 20, 2018​

“Who are you berating now?” Andy’s voice called. The sound of the aluminum door scraping across the concrete floor followed shortly after. Repairs to the hinges needed to happen long ago, the slant of the door caused Andy to have to throw her body weight behind it to get it to open. Soon she had made it inside. Her hair was pulled into twin braids, fiery red and wild from the wind. Red and flushed from the cold, her freckled face was smeared with what had a fifty percent chance of being dirt or deer blood.

Emerald eyes went from Luca’s face down to the cat on the table, a smug smirk on her lips. It immediately obvious to her that Luca had been attempting not to be found. Likely because his fragile ego couldn’t deal with someone catching him doctoring what looked to be a rather cute feline.

“Can you talk to anything without being an asshole?” the redhead asked.

“I talk to you without being an asshole like five percent of the time, and that’s hard enough as it is.” The man responded, not bothering to turn back as he crossed his arms over his chest and examined his handiwork. It seemed as though the cat was able to walk around freely now. This was something that brought Luca satisfaction. When he was satisfied with the amount of work he had done he turned his head to look at the woman.

“What are you doing?”

“Right now?” She asked. “Arrow maintenance, this is my workshed remember?” Andy shrugged out of her cross body bag and sat it down on the work bench near the door. It had been a while since she had cleaned and retipped the arrows she had. Since the number was dwindling, the girl would have to be more careful with the ones still in her possession.

“Whatever, just don’t sprain an ankle doing it.” Luca grabbed the cat from the table and put it down on the floor where it had been itching to go. He continued standing around for a moment as the cat rubbed itself up against his legs. Undoubtedly spreading its dander and fur on his pants. He worked hard to keep them clean, too.

“Not to worry, I think you've collected enough wounded strays without my help." Andy snipped.

“What’s that smell?” The man asked, turning his head away and sticking his nose into the air. He obnoxiously sniffed a few times, ultimately resulting in him shrugging before looking back down at the female. “It’s like jealousy mixed in with a sprinkle of salt. Are you salty, Andrea?” The corners of his lips turned upward at the idea that him merely speaking with a female she didn’t know would be enough to bother her.

The woman scoffed, rolling her eyes so hard that Luca could see the whites of them. Her arms crossed over her body, hip cocking as she turned away from the work table. She raised an eyebrow as her eyes locked onto his, her arrows forgotten behind her.

“What an absolutely ridiculous statement.” The woman said, scrunching the bridge of her freckled nose in disgust. Andy didn’t get jealous, but she knew it well. It was an ugly emotion that often got her glared at in the dormitory hallways. “You must be mistaking me with someone who actually cares what you do.”


“Maybe.” He exhaled carbon dioxide from his nose at a faster rate than usual before turning and pushing open the shed door. Much like a dog, the cat had been following closely behind him. It wasn’t until his hand pressed on the door and the little furry fuck ran out the door before Luca noticed. Instead of continuing on with its business it just stopped and stared up at him. The poor thing must not have eaten in quite some time.

“I’m going to cook some food up in your perch. You’re welcome to join me, I hear salt really brings out the flavor in meat.” He turned his head back slightly, the same half-enthused expression dripping off his visage as it had been when she first walked into the shed. Then he made his exit, sure to close the door behind him before he made his way through the darkness toward his destination.

Upon getting to the top he was able to flick a desk light on, which provided just the right amount of illumination so he could see. It wasn’t long before Luca had relit a cigarette and placed a few pieces of cut-up chicken on the collapsible camp stove.

Featuring: Brax
Mentions: TheMightyRedLemon

 

[shadowz1995]

November 16th, 2018
7:30 AM
Hector’s Lab

Andy was careful as she walked down the unfinished steps into the cellar. With each hand wrapped around identical cups of coffee, the girl moved with as much grace as possible to keep from sloshing the liquid out of the cups and over her hands. She was here to assist the doctor, not to be treated for burns. The soft padding of her boots on the wood alerted Hector to her entrance and soon she was within sight at the foot of the steps.

“Good morning,” the redhead greeted. She was aware it was lost on Hector who had been hard at work down here overnight, but there was no greeting for stubborn assholes who disliked sleep so it would have to do. Gently, she sat the cup down on his table before taking a sip out of her own. “I didn’t know how you like it, so it’s black.”

The man peered at the mug with some measure of scrutiny, "I don't really partake but…" he reached over and grasped the ceramic handle, gingerly bringing it to his lips and taking a gracious sip of the bitter, black lava. "...I haven't tasted anything in days. Thank you, Ms. Jordan." He finished with an appreciative nod.

Hector leaned back in his seat, letting a long breath of exhaustion out. He ran a hand through his thick hair and undid the messy ponytail he had made for himself, allowing the black-grey waterfall to cascade over his shoulders once more. "No one has died upstairs in my absence I hope?"

“It’s been quiet.” The girl answered truthfully. “I think everyone is resting after all the chaos the other day. Which is all the same to me. I don’t like having to put out the fires they make.” She thought back to when Cletus and Nile had set a chunk of her woods on fire and scared off a large bit of her game. “Sometimes literal ones.”

It was obvious that she had just come from the shower. Her pale skin was pink and scrubbed and her damp hair was intricately woven into a thick braid down the side of her neck. Water spots shone under her shirt where her hair touched, turning the navy shirt black in little splotches. It had become a habit to come down here and check on him. Not always to provide the doctor with food or coffee as she often used as an excuse, but because the work interested her. Since he had told her that there was in fact something lingering in her blood, Andy couldn’t help but continuing to check back, hoping for more answers.

Her eyes fell on the table as he fiddled with his hair. Lots of equipment, tubing and other various medicinal looking items were carefully placed among it. Nothing that meant anything to Andy who had barely gotten her first aid certification, and only because it was required of her as Archery Captain. Her gaze halted as something familiar jumped out at her. The tab sticking out off of the folder that Hector had been scribbling on was labeled A. Jordan. Without asking permission, the girl reached over and snagged it, pulling it to reading distance but careful not to shuffle the papers. She was supposed to use her glasses for reading, but her sight wasn’t that bad. She focused her eyes and began to read, curiously through the file.

The most recent additions were about her blood work, although nothing stood out to her. Either the notes were above her comprehension or it was information the doctor had already shared with her. Her blood was different that some of the controls, that much was certain and the infected cells were taking a long time to kill them off. Nothing new there. It was the later entries that bothered her.

It was like reading about herself in the third person. Tons of notes about her personality littered the page, information about her relationships and interactions with others. Andy’s eyes widened and her nose wrinkled in disgust. What gave him the right to make these judgments?

“What the hell is this shit Hector?” the woman snipped. “I gave you permission to use my blood, I did not give you permission to fucking stalk me. This is some Ted Bundy level of creepy.”

"I beg your pardon?" The doctor asked, looking up from the cup of coffee. Once he saw that she was looking at earlier entries, he understood. After all, it was in the notes. Andrea Jordan did not appreciate people knowing her on a deeper level. "It's not just you, Ms. Jordan. I have files on everyone here in the lodge. Also, stalking involves following secretly. Those are from interactions I have had with you, witnessed, or inferred from your interactions with others. It helps with giving appropriate treatments, as well as rooting out inconsistencies."

“That doesn’t make it better Hector. We are not about to debate the level of which you stalked me.” Her eyes scanned back over the notes again, eyes rolling as she did so. She smacked the paper with the back of her hand before looking back over the file and into Hector’s eye.

“Abrasive, quick to anger, sexually involved with Luca Brasi? I don’t see how that is any of your fucking business. Masks affection with sarcasm? Unknown event in teenage years caused notable shift in mannerisms?” the girl scoffed. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t know you in my teenage years, so you’ve had to do some digging. Hence stalking.”

As cool as the snow outside, Hector quickly replied, "That was something your brother told me in passing, actually. Which seems to coincide with your drinking and the next note under that one. 5th line."

“Heavy Drinker. Emotionally incontinent.” the girl continued. Andy rolled her eyes again, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. “I’m not sure if I’m more appalled that you have these notes or that you seem to have them fucking memorized. It’s creepy and some of this shit isn’t even true.”

"For example?"

Her eyes scanned the page once more to retrieve the bits that she had noticed. There were various notes on his list that she disagreed with, some more than others. Unsociable had been written, but then crossed out. Next to it read ‘talented manipulator.’ The girl snorted in disgust.

“Talented manipulator.” Saying it out loud seemed only to spur on her anger. “Talented manipulator? What is this even fucking supposed to mean? I don’t care enough to talk to any of you let alone manipulate you.”

"And yet, nothing in this lodge happens that you don't have your fingers in. Every operation since I was brought here and presumably every one before I came here has had you pulling the strings. Even if you weren't directly leading or in charge." The doctor leaned back and set the mug down on his table, keeping a level gaze on the young woman. "Observation is a critical trait to possess in science, Ms. Jordan. And I am among the best in my field."

He then added, "Which, if you would have not skipped over the positive things I wrote, you would have noticed that it applies to you as well. Which hints at the abrasiveness and emotional incontinence I spoke of."

Andy opened her mouth to retort but nothing came out. Her lips closed once again and she exhaled sharply through her nose, glancing back down at the paper. In truth, there were some kind words here. ‘Observant, talented artist and gifted hunter’ were scribbled down along the others. Her eyes scanned the rest of the page before they settled on the last line.

‘Indications of trauma or depression.’

The woman tossed the folder back on his desk, disgusted with it. It was such an absolute invasion of her privacy to make such assumptions about her. However, she couldn’t fix crazy and she had a hunch that no matter how much of a tantrum she threw here, Hector would continue adding things to his log.

“Try to think of it this way,” Andy said after a moment of silence. “What if my mother had found out you had a file on her?” Mary Jordan seemed to be one of the few people whose opinion Hector seemed to care about. Surely realizing that she would be upset to find such a grossly inappropriate cross of boundaries would help him realize why this hobby was not okay.

To the question, Hector's eyebrows shot up in what seemed like a pleasant surprise, "Mary Jordan was actually well aware of the file I kept on her. She actively helped me keep accurate records and was consistently giving me updated information. To this day, I believe it is the most detailed file I have on any person I have ever documented. It was… pleasant."

Andy blinked at the man several times. It was still odd to hear him talk about her mother in such a familiar way. Hector could almost see the gears turning in Andy’s head as she processed this information. As much as it pained her to admit it, his comment made sense. She thought back to all the times her mother had spent drawing faces and scribbling notes of her own in the sketchbooks. It was private for her, but for all Andy knew there was a book full of doodles and notes on her back home as well. Her mother had been odd, but in a charming and warm sort of way, which made the act less threatening. Finally, the redhead softened shaking her head.

“You two weirdos would have been perfect for each other."

 

[Rumble Fish]

Final Part

November 14 2018
4:50PM
Hardware Store

That was the last of it. Andy loaded the last bag into the car. The beat down thing was backed up almost too the door for easy transport. They had run into a few mobs on the way in, but their corpses now littered the parking lot in wet heaps. A little stealth and brains went a long way at keeping them off their ass and soon their car was packed full of some gardening tools and vegetable seeds. Andy knew nothing about gardening, but she could learn if no one else at the lodge was capable. Maybe Aaron had a knack for plants? The woman took little time to get to know the people she lived with unless it was beneficial to her. She had even been kind enough to load up on a few extra power tools for those who had been working on fixing her lodge and fence. With a slam of the trunk, it was time to go home.

“I told you we could do it in one day,” Andy commented nonchalantly, opening the drivers door and climbing inside.

“Eeyup.” Colt threw a large sack of chicken feed into the back with a hard grunt before joining Andy in the front, “Didn’ need carryin’ over roofs or puttin’ mah ass on the barbey t’keep junkies’r jsckasses alive. I’d call that a win.” Once in the seat, the woman looked out the window, stroking the Glock sitting on her lap just in case.

“Well, thats because you didn’t have the three most idiotic people go with you this time.” Andy said mildly. “My brother was the best of those three and he’s a fucking dumbass, so that’s saying something.”

“Maybe. But he saved my life. I owe him fur that. Though, I never wanna go with Nile again. Shiftless bastard’s more trouble than he’s worth.”

“Owen is good at saving lives, but at the cost of his own,” the redhead stated with a shrug. Colt drank from her flask before turning to the woman.

“C’mon. The ‘fuckin’ dumbass’ would be worried if we’re no’ back soon.”Andy nodded in response and turned the key, letting it roar into life. It wasn’t long before they were back on the highway. Dusk was upon them, the winter nights coming in earlier and earlier by the day. However, as long as they didn’t run into any large obstacles, they would be home before the stars were visible. The two rode in silence for a while, Andy weaving in and out of parked cars with relative ease. Finally she parted her lips and broke the silence.

“So who is Sasha?”
Colt had been sipping when those words left the red-head’s mouth, sending some down the wrong pipe and resulting in a spluttered cough from the veteran. She coughed with a hard punch to her chest before even attempting to re-collect herself.

“Howd’yaknowaboutSasha?” The words flew out of her mouth, launched in panic. Had she said something about her? She couldn't remember.

“You literally call me Sasha all the time,” Andy said with a shrug. “Why?”

“Ah have?” Colt gulped anxiously, “Uh-It’s nothin’. Slip of t’tongue y’know.”

“She must have been important to you,” The redhead continued. “For her to be on your mind so much. So out with it.” There was a silence. Nothing more than the trundling of the truck’s wheels against the tarmac that eventually slipped to gravel. Taking another drink from the flask, Colt released a long sigh. First Owen, now Andy. She could not avoid the question.

“Ugh. Fine!” a charred hand ran down her scarred face slowly, prolonging the answer for as long as possible “Fuck sake...Sasha was my girlfriend back in the Marines.” she spoke tiredly and lowly, eyes directed ahead at the road as she spoke.

“Oh.”

Andy didn’t seem surprised, or even perturbed by this particular information. A fair share of girls had found themselves into her own bed over the years. They were easy when you kept them at arms length, but Andy found that the ones that wanted to pursue relationships with her were more trouble than they were worth. If anything she was confused further as to why Colt would mistakenly call her by her girlfriend’s name.

She didn’t need to be a mind reader to realize that Sasha wasn’t with them anymore. The scarring on Colt’s face, the alcoholism and the missing leg were enough for Andy to fill in the missing blanks. Andy was good at recognizing people who drank to forget, and in that way her and Colt were the same.

“You-” She faltered, unsure of what to say. It was as if compassion was some sort of foreign language and Andy had only taken an introductory course. The words felt odd on her tongue. Owen was better at these situations. “You must miss her.” Andy said finally.

“Oh, God…” the woman pinched the bridge of her nose and her head stooped in an attempt to push back the rush of emotion, but after a brief moment she raised her head back up, “Yeah. I do. Every day.” She sighed heavily, shakily and looked to the road again. It was more than that, it was every second of every hour of the day. What she wouldn't do or give to have her back. Even now when looking at the road, she could almost see her walking towards them. Or when she would wake up and look out the window, she could imagine her trotting up to the porch. Even sometimes seeing Andy from behind was enough to punctuate her pining.

“I was… gunna ask her t’marry me. After our tour was done.” Hands clasped the flask harder, creating a small ‘chink’ in the metal as she did before puffing through her nose. “Y’look like her. Jus’... less freckles.” Even just the thought of her face, the cheeky glint in her eye and the sprinkle of freckles across her nose as if lightly seasoned with cinnamon. As she paused, she unscrewed the flask but did not touch the liquid inside, opting to stare vacantly out of the windshield.

So that explained it. Andy looked like someone she had loved and lost. The girl gave a heavy sigh, she could relate to an extent. Andrea knew how hard it was to be haunted by people who were no longer in your life. Eyes focused on the road she kept driving home, unsure of what to say.

“And then you ended up stuck with me?” Andy let out a sympathetic laugh. “I’m not easy to be around to begin with.” Andy knew she was difficult, even without looking like someone’s dead lover. At the end of the day, she liked Colt. The woman could be hot tempered and lacked emotional control, but she was a good woman and she fought hard for the lodge on various occasions.

Colt’s head whipped slightly as Andy spoke again, but calmed as she finished her words. For a few seconds, all Colt did was blink a few times. Her gaze went downcast once again as her shoulders raised and lowered in a sigh.

“Yer no’ that bad.” she spoke finally, and her tone meant it. The red-head did have a bitch-streak but Colt had only seen it when around frustrating people; something she could completely get behind. Aside from when Owen was missing, Colt had little qualms in talking to her. Even though both of them would need to be tanked up to open fully, there was still a level of comfort between them. If there hadn’t been, she would never have talked about Sasha.

“Better than most of em.”

Andy let out a playful snort, a small smirk pulling at the corners of her lips. She reached down and turned on the radio. The signals didn’t work anymore, it seemed, but thankfully the car had an aux cable and Andy had a habit of keeping her phone charged despite the lack of cell signal. Fumbling with the electronic while keeping her eyes on the road, finally soft music began to play, breaking the silence.

“I’ve definitely had worse company,” the girl agreed.

"Yeah... Yeah. Me too."

Featuring: Maj (Andy)
Mentions: RayPurchase (Aaron)

 

[RayPurchase]

Coffee Crusade
Aaron and Nessa​

With the sun at its zenith, the lodge was filled with light. As the days grew shorter daylight was at a premium, and Aaron has already been up for some hours, and his mind was set on one thing and one thing only. Coffee. He hadn’t had any since he’d arrived in these god forsaken parts, and if he was being honest it was one of the things he’d been missing the most. Even in Iraq they’d had coffee, not good coffee mind you this was the sort of stuff that could dye your boots black, rot your teeth and give you the caffeine boost equivalent of a kick to the crotch. But boy did it get the job done. As such Aaron was methodically opening and closing various cabinet doors in the kitchen, combing through the supplies, and as of yet his quarry was alluding him.

“Come on got to have a bag sittin’ around somewhere…”

Whilst it would have been a damn sight easier to just ask, there was no one readily about, and he wasn’t about to go interrupting people to fuel his latent caffeine addiction.

"What t'hell are ya lookin fer so vigorously then?" A voice called out in a thick Scottish accent. The sound seemed to emanate from somewhere nearby but not from behind him or from the sides.

The voice took him by surprise, and he caught his head on the corner of the cupboard he had been rummaging in, taking off his cap he gave the throbbing spot on his head a vigorous rub.

“Just lookin’ for some damned…. coffee”

Aaron glanced about as he trailed off. The owner of said voice was noticeably vacant despite its proximity, he slowly pulled himself up to his feet, glancing about the kitchen. He hadn’t touched any alcohol so he couldn’t blame it on that, and he had slept pretty well last night, so he couldn’t chalk it down to sleep deprivation. Maybe he’d finally just gone mad, whole world had gone mad, maybe it would be easier this way.

“Don’t suppose you know where it is?”

He asked tentatively, still not completely sure if this was a conversation he was having with his own warped mind.

A slight chuckle echoed around the kitchen as Vanessa watched the man from above, seated comfortably in the rafters. "Can't say that I do. I'm about as lost as you are in this place. Word of advice, don't go in the downstairs bathroom... Ittle scar you for life."

Well unless his conscience was going for walks about the house without him and investigating downstairs bathrooms, then this clearly wasn’t a conversation Aaron was having with himself.

“Well I’ll take that under advisement then, could do without adding to my collection of scars for life,”

With one last sweep of the room revealing no one, he finally looked up, locking eyes on the woman seated a good distance above him. He laughed and shook his head.

“Jesus Christ, you can’t go sneakin’ up on someone like that. Give me a goddamn heart attack spyin’ on me like that,”

Vanessa looked up, leaning her head back against a support beam. "Weren't spying on ya. I was already up ere when ya came in."

Aaron gave a shrug of his shoulders.

"Well I suppose if you put it that way it's technically true. Don't suppose you'd be able to give me a hand before I tear this place apart? Need a hand gettin' down?"

Laughing heartily, Vanessa slid down from her perch and landed in front of the man, transitioning the motion of her landing into an effortless bow. "Vanessa McUlann. Acrobat by trade, Survivor by circumstance." She said before straightening her posture.

Aaron didn't quite know what to say. To be brutally honest given the outlandish outfit of the woman he didn't quite know where to look either. Hard wearing or concealing it was not.

Her wrists moved to her hips and she leaned forward to get a better view of his face as he averted his gaze. "What, then? Hard te look at a freak like me?" She asked, her tone no longer sounding as whimsical as it had previously, but rather much more harsh and cold as she spoke.

"Freak? Nah not freak just…"

He looked her up and down.

"You can't be tellin' me you're warm in that get up. My mammy raised me a good christian boy and all that, I'm just tryin' to protect your modesty is all and not oggle you," He said, his eyes remaining locked with hers. This one was definitely an odd one. He could deal with the alcoholic veteran, or even the angsty cabin dweller, to be honest they were his kind of people. This was something else.

Vanessa let out a quiet scoff at the man's words. Protect her modesty? As if she was ever allowed to have any in the first place!

"No offense intended though, Aaron Jones, mechanic by game and to be honest poorly paid for it. But I chalk that down to Uncle Sam scrimpin' money where he can, Army Mechanic is definitely down the bottom of the hierarchy. Hardly ever get any free drinks for that in bars,"

He laughed somewhat forcibly trying to diffuse at least some of the tension.

The acrobat raised an eyebrow at the man. She could pick out a real laugh from a fake one. She was in the entertainment business after all. "In the circus, you are put on display for people to gawk at. I'm use to it, trust me." Nessa retorted in an even tone. "And the cold doesn't bother me all that much really. Wouldn't matter if it did though." At her last sentence she gave a light shrug. As she stared back into his eyes, her left eye began to quiver back and forth in a fast, darting motion. She was finding it hard to understand this man. He seemed nice but in her experience, nice people always had an ulterior motive.

"S'your the type what fixes machines?" She inquired, partly to change the subject and partly to try and get a better read on the man. "I happen te know a little about machines myself." Finally Vanessa had returned to her usual jovial demeanor, no trace of hostility left in her posture or voice. A wry smile crept across her face as she delivered her next line.

"I know that any machine is a Smoke machine if ya use it wrong enough."

“That’s the one. Other’s break it and I end up pickin’ up the pieces and then inevitably get blamed when it all ends up goin’ wrong again. Like I said pretty thankless task,”

He relaxed a bit, her smile matched by his own, the tension that had been growing dissipating as quickly as it had arisen. She was odd. No question about it. But then again he hadn’t exactly met many circus folk, maybe they were all like this, a couple of tumbles too many. He began rummaging through another cupboard, sifting through a number of chipped mugs.

“So how long you been with these guys? Any weird characters I should look out for, I don’t know, like whose mug to avoid usin’?”

Looking up in thought for a moment, Vanessa tried to recount how many night she had been at this place. "Four night I've been 'ere." She finally said. "Andy, the redhead with a bow? She isn't exactly the nicest person I've met. Avoid her when ya can I says." At this, the acrobat looked back down, casting her blue spheres back onto Aaron. Her tone and expression got extremely serious once more without warning. "And don't piss off boss Luca. I'd have te hurt ya, if he doesn't first."

Aaron nodded his head. Well Andy hadn’t been that bad, bit sharp round the edges mind you, but maybe he’d just caught her at the right time and place. This Luca on the other hand, well he sounded like a whole different kettle of fish.

“Luca eh? Well I’ll make sure not to tread on his toes then. I’m generally a convivial sort, never go lookin’ for trouble, generally the problem is that trouble finds me first.”

He turned around momentarily, grinning with almost an element of pride.

“But don’t you worry I’ll clean up the mess, same as I always do. Hell it’s what I’m paid for, speakin’ of which Uncle Sam is goin’ to owe me a shit ton of holiday and backpay once all this mess calms down and I get my arse to Cali…

Aaron continued to root away in the cupboard, as he did his fingers brushed past something in the darkness.

“Ooh I think we’re in business!”

Unhinged laughter filled the kitchen. It wasn't long before Vanessa was doubled over with her hands clutching her stomach from laughing so hard. Slowly, her laughter died down and she managed to catch her breath.

Aaron wrestled out the as of yet unopened packet of coffee. Fair enough it was instant coffee, he would have preferred the ground variety. But right here and now, beggars couldn’t be choosers. His eyes flicked up to Vanessa as he turned round, his prize in hand. Confronting the belly laughing acrobat. A pang of pity gripped at his stomach. She was odd, and not all there, but clearly this girl had been through some stuff, she was up and down like a yo-yo. He attempted to laugh along with her, even if his own laugh sounded hollow, at least to his own ears.

“Well finally found it” He tapped the bag of coffee with his index finger. “You fancy a cup?”

Even though now he thought about it the combination of her evidently fragile mental state and a dose of caffeine may not be the most successful match.

"No no lad, I'm still stuck on the part where ya think ya can get outta 'ere." Vanessa responded through sporadic giggles. She leaned in close, the soft warmth from her body invading his personal space as she looked him in the eyes. "Your 'Uncle Sam' walled us in, don't ya know?!" She backed up and gave the man his personal space back. "No ones gettin out."

Aaron stood his ground as she sidled up to him, cocking an eyebrow as she did. His arms were folded pretty quickly, instantly on the defensive.

“No freakin’ way. Those lot out there, that’s some corporate shit show tryin’ to clean up their own mess. Army wouldn’t be shootin’ civies, or hell even at me. These guys will have everythin’ locked down, radio, phones, internet, but word will get out. And when it does you’ll be seein’ humvees, tanks and lord knows what else can be thrown at the problem, comin’ over them hills. The Army never leaves a man behind, and they’re sure as hell not goin’ to leave us,”

There wasn’t a hint of doubt or waver in his words. Up until now the thing that kept him going day in and day out was that help was coming, the organisation that he had given his life to was comin’ to save him, all of them in fact. And nothing was going to make his conviction waver, especially not the words of this waif from across the pond.

"You really believe that? Doc said this virus is able to kill ya in a short mater o time. Those people are wearing hazmat suits…. Put two and two together and ya realize its airborne, aye?" Vanessa started her rant. It was clear she was getting angry now. "You ignorant American's will only think to blow it up! Why risk more lives to save the few left kickin? Why risk the world?" The acrobat glared harshly at the man. "Yer gonna be left behind like the rest of us. The sooner ya wake up and realize it, the better."

Aaron’s left eyelid flickered for a moment. His hackle was up now, his left hand tightly gripping the bag of coffee. He’d tried to be polite, laugh at the jokes, but she was pushing buttons that opened doors he had long sort to keep shut and locked.

“So lets just say the shit you’re spoutin’ here was true, what’s your solution? Roll over and die? Crawl into some sordid shit hole and dash your head against the rocks? Be my fuckin’ guest, dyin’ here ain’t my destiny. I’ve been through the wringer in places worse than this and I’ll be damned if my tombstone is goin’ to say Aurora.”

He stood up jabbing a finger into her chest with just enough force to make it painful.

“We ain’t bein’ left behind, and help is comin’. You can spout your negativity all you like in your own time and place, but in earshot of me, you better cut that crap. This is….”

"Who the HELL are YOU te tell me what the fuck I can and cannot say ya wee bastard?!" Vanessa cut him off. His poke had enraged her further, prompting her to step forward once again, pushing him with both hands into the counter. "And what give ya the right to Touch Me?!"

The poke had been a step too far. If Aaron had been thinking about this logically, this would have been the point to get an apology together and defuse the situation. At this moment in time however he was not thinking logically. The push caught him off guard, for such a skinny thing there was some strength behind her. He grabbed her by the shoulders, the bag of coffee falling to the ground with a thud, long forgotten. He stepped forward, raising her off the ground, he easily had a good 6 inches on her, but held aloft her eyes were level with his own. The deep blue depths were still there, but there was something else there now, something that had always been there, lurking below the surface. It had risen now, a hardness, a darkness, buried but never forgotten. It was visible now, eyes that had seen too much, witnessed things best not spoken or seen. His grip tightened, and his face was beginning to flush a vivid red.

“Who the fuck am I?!” He growled through clenched teeth. “I’m the one who’s going to fuckin’ survive this shithole, just like I survived the rest of ‘em. And I really don’t give a shit whether you’re left behind or you’re dragged along kickin’ and screamin’,"

The dangling acrobat struggled in vain against his grip, and soon she gave up on wiggling. Looking him dead in his eyes, she spat in them to disorient the man before forcing all of her weight behind a headbutt aimed directly at his nose.

The wad of saliva projected into his eyes, caught Aaron by surprise, and as such he didn’t see the headbut, but he sure felt it. A sickening crunch followed as her forehead connected with his nose, and near immediately he felt the warm salty tang of blood flowing over his lips. It was broken, of that there was no doubt. This psychotic bitch had broken his nose. Still blinded by the spit, he was not equally blinded by rage and pain. As he had recoiled back, he had dropped Vanessa, but he lashed out with his right fist at where he expected her to be, throwing his force behind the wild right hook.

Vanessa stumbled backwards, holding the left side of her face while trying to regain her balance properly. A mismatched set of eyes glared back at Aaron as her head snapped back towards him. His fist and her hand had smeared the makeup over her scar, exposing large portions of it. She leg out a guttural sound as she rushed towards him with her entire body weight to try and push him back into the counter.

Aaron had just managed to wipe the last of the spit from his eyes, his eyes opened to see a quite wild looking Nessa charging him, Eyes wild, and screaming like a wounded beast. She was coming at him fast, so he didn’t exactly have a lot of time to decide on what to do, so he let his instincts take over, and met her head on. Lowering his shoulder he met her charge with his own, his shoulder impacted with her midriff, and his momentum and low tackle resulted her in rising up into the air for a moment. This was very much momentarily however, as they crashed down on the kitchen floor, Aaron near enough driving her down into the ground with a solid thump, even knocking the wind out of him.

Vanessa's vision went black for a moment from the force of the impact. All of the air had been forced out of her lungs, causing the acrobat to grasp for air as her vision returned. She weakly reached up, forcing her palm into his throat.

"YA tebya ub'yu!!"

With his knee on her chest, he batted away the hand at his throat, coughing hoarsely as he did, air rushing into his lungs once more. Now the fighting was close and dirty his weight and strength advantage was apparent. He remained there motionless, holding the wild girl down. His breathing slowed, and steadily the red mist began to clear from his eyes. He blinked several times. As if becoming aware of Nessa again. He kept his hands against hers, and his knee braced against her chest. His breathing was still heavy, his chest rising and falling. His nose was a mess, and at an angle which clearly wasn’t right. The blood now slowly oozing, that which had dried was now matted in his beard, a red shock amongst the brown. He stared down into her mismatched eyes, seeing the scar bisected grey eye for the first time, amongst the smeared makeup. He frowned for a moment, and with his hand still gripping hers, he used his sleeve to wipe away the smeared makeup. The length and depth of the scar becoming apparent, it was a wicked looking thing, old by the looks of it, but clearly still fresh. He looked back down into her eyes, the deep blue of his own reflected in the grey.

Vanessa had continued to struggle until the man on top of her wiped away her makeup. All at once, the anger faded from her face and was replaced with a look of fear as the situation became more clear in her mind. He was holding her down, exposing her secrets. Terror gripped her heart as memories of the orphanage flooded her mind. Turning her head, she tried to hide her exposed scar in vain. Her chest rose and fell with a steadily increasing tempo along with her pulse as her body began to quiver beneath him.

He placed his fore and index finger on her chin, turning her head to meet his gaze once more. He was particularly forceful, the fight had largely gone out of her. He didn’t say anything, there wasn’t pity or sadness in his eyes. They simply matched her gaze. He pushed himself up off the ground, and stood above. The room was silent aside from the intermittent patter of blood dripping off the tip of his chin and onto the floor below. He grasped her hand and pulled her onto her feet with some force, as he did he finally spoke. His voice soft, almost a whisper, far flung from the normal bombasity of his Texan drawl.

“Don’t fuckin’ hide it. It’s who you are now. Up to you to claim it and wear it with goddamn pride,”

(Interaction: RayPurchase Aaron, TheMightyRedLemon Nessa
Mention: Maj Andy, Brax Luca)

 

[Togy]

Harriet and Milly
Getting Off On The Wrong Foot​

It had been a relatively uneventful week for the youngster. She spread her time between being with Beth, playing her board games and looking after her new, still to-be-named chicken friend. On this particular day, she had ventured back inside from seeing to the other fowl. As she came through the door, she was met with a happy croon from the silkie hen as she waddled over to the girl, knowing she would have a supply of chicken feed for her.

“Hi!” She chirped to her feathered friend as she stooped down, digging her hand into her parka pocket and pulling out a handful of seed which the hen happily started to peck at. The girl giggled at the sensation and stroked the hen on her head.

The door to the Lodge creaked open, revealing a man clad in a Hazmat suit. Awkwardly stepping inside the lodge, the professor spared a glance at the Entrance Hall/Living Room, seeing that the only other living beings in the room with him were a child and a black chicken. That was … unexpected, to say the least. Offering the kid a wave, Harriet looked around expectantly, hoping someone would come in and tell him what he was supposed to do. But alas, no one came, and after a minute of just standing in front of the door, Harriet realized he must have looked quite odd to the child. Walking over to the couch and taking a seat, the Professor briefly considered taking off his mask, before remembering the fact that there was a pile of rotting dead bodies just outside. What kind of putrid miasma do these people have to deal with? Harriet wondered, idly staring at the clock on the wall.

Milly paid no mind to the door opening, but as she looked up, spotting the hazmat suit, the younger girl jumped up with a slight gasp. How did one of them get here!? Her breath became frantic as she scrambled backwards, dropping the feed in the process, earning her an indignant squawk from the hen at having her dinner interrupted as Milly turned on her heels and fled with a frightened yell.

“BEEEEEETH!”

Jumping at the child’s sudden yell, Harriet watched dumbly as they ran off. Looking at the chicken that they’d left behind, which looked as confused as he, he watched as it pecked at the seed scattered across the floor. Once again turning his head back to where the young girl had been, Harriet slumped into his seat with a defeated groan.

“Great, haven’t even been here an hour and I’ve already terrified a little girl” Harriet muttered as he held his forehead. “Good going, Hennigan”.

“Go away!” As the man had been muttering, the youngster whirled back around the door, now wielding a large kitchen knife she had retrieved from the kitchen after fleeing the room, “I-I’m not joking!” Everything other than her words gave it away that this was a bluff. Breath was rapid and her fair skin had gone a painful green with tears streaking down her face. Where was everyone!?

“Colt? Andy? Anyone!?”

Eyes widening at Milly’s sudden arrival with a knife, Harriet stood up upon the go away comment. “Now, uh, I think you’re pretty confused about what’s going on here. I’m Andrea’s teacher, Professor Hennigan. Or Andy, whatever she’s going by here” the Professor said, taking a step towards the girl. “You-you’re not looking so good, I think the stress is getting to you. But, uh, don’t worry! I’m a harmless History teacher. But if you’re terrified of History or school in general, then please don’t hold that against me” Harriet said, holding up his hands placatingly.

Milly stared at the man, taking a step back but keeping the knife raised as he walked towards her. She did not want to believe him as he spoke about being a teacher. But, he was a Hazmat? The youngster whimpered something under her breath before finally speaking. He was unarmed, she was so even if he was lying she would have the advantage? That's how it worked, right.

“Y-you're not a Hazmat?” She squeaked, “Be-because Luca, Andy and Colt said that-uh-we-” she could not speak much longer from the strain. Hazmats were supposed to be killed on sight! What was she going to do?

Hazmat? Were they supposed to be some hazmat wearing special agents set on killing any survivor they meet? That was like a huge jump in logic, he’ll admit, but that was just cliche enough for him to genuinely consider it. “Nope, not a Hazmat” Harriet assured, pushing back his yellow hood and reaching for the straps of his mask. “I’m just harmless old Professor Harriet Hennigan, who realized how practical a protective suit is nowadays. Really, there’s no need to stress out. You should take some deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth, that’ll help” Harriet said, pulling off the mask to reveal his bespectacled face and blonde hair. Now that he could actually smell, he confirmed his suspicions that the Lodge did smell terrible, not completely unbearable as he would’ve thought. Meanwhile, the black chicken poked around his feet at the seeds scattered around.

Milly was frozen as she watched the man strip off the suit to reveal himself. He was telling the truth? The youngster mumbled with a step backwards, still holding the knife’s handle tightly. After a moment of consideration, she finally took in a few deep breaths. The hen happily pecked around the man’s feet, ruffling her feathers and bawking. Milly slowly put the knife down on the table before looking towards the man, tears still streaking from her eyes, now out of guilt.

“I-I'm sorry,” she rubbed an arm anxiously, “I just, the suit it- its scary.” She scooped up the hen, nuzzling into her feathers for comfort.

“Bad memories attached to it? Well, uh, I’ll make sure to just wear regular clothes” Harriet said. “And don’t worry about it, a reaction like that is entirely understandable when what looks to be extreme trauma is attached to the decision-making process” Harriet said, momentarily forgetting he was talking to a kid. “What I mean is that it’s fine” Harriet reassured. And they were still crying. Crap, he needed to change the subject to something more lighthearted.

“So, um, that you’re chicken?” Harriet asked, looking at the hen pecking around his feet.

“Mhm.” Milly muttered, “They attacked us a while ago a-and tied me and Beth up with blindfolds… without Andy and Owen they would’ve killed us.” she added as she cuddled her hen. The small girl blinked as he then asked about her. She nodded eagerly, seemingly forgetting about their previous conversation.

“I found her in the woods. Don't have a name for her yet.” She giggled as the hen playfully nipped her fingers.

“Have you thought of any?” Harriet asked, crouching down to look at the little scene.

“Colt wanted to call her Chick Norris. Whatever that means. But I dunno. I was thinking of maybe Penny. Get it? Because it rhymes with henny?” she turned back to the hen, shoogling her like an infant, which the chicken seemed to enjoy as she sat contently in her arms.

“Penny’s a good name, it was my Aunt’s after all” Harriet said, awkwardly stretching out a hand to the chicken. How do you pet chickens? Do you scratch them or rub them or pat them….? The confusion was pretty evident.

Milly giggled, “They like it when you scratch them with your finger around their chin, and along the top of their heads. Like cats!” she stroked the chicken in such a fashion, “Try it! It’s like stroking a fluffy pillow.” As she stroked her, the newly named hen nuzzled into the girl’s neck.

Placing a hand on the Hen’s head, Harriet began to scratch it. Judging by how it wiggled it’s head towards the hand, he guessed the Chicken liked it. “So, are there any others your age around here?” Harriet asked.

“There’s Adryen. She’s nice.” The girl answered bluntly, now more interested in Penny than the man who she had almost intended to stab a few moments ago, “But there aren’t any others. I don’t mind, though. I didn’t really have friends before anyway.”

A little surprised at the bluntness of a comment like that, Harriet retracted his hand. That comment was a little...sad, to say the least. “Well, hope you and Penny have fun, I’m going to go check in on Owen. Bye, uh” Harriet began to say, standing up, before realizing that he hadn’t caught the girl’s name.

“Okay. Um, sorry again about the, uh, knife.” she rubbed the back of her neck, her face going pale once again from shame.

“Don’t worry about it, really, it’s fine” Harriet assured her one last time with an easy little smile before stepping up the creaky stairs.

Milly was still uneasy about the whole interaction. Was it really fine? It did not feel like it. She sat on the sofa and tried to distract herself by playing with Penny, but the feeling just would not go away. She was going to feel bad about this for a while. She just knew it.

Interactions: Milly ( Rumble Fish )

 

[Brax]

November 14th​

Light hues looked down at his own fingers, which had been gripping the handle of a knife. Eventually his eyes traveled upward to the tip of his blade where they focused on the white powdery substance that had littered the tip like debris. His hand guided it up to his mouth, before Luca’s tongue escaped his lips to press against the cold metal. It hadn’t been a particularly clean blade but with his stash depleting rapidly the man was going to ingest every last bit he could. Immediately afterward he slipped his knife back into its sheath around his leg before looking up. He pressed one of his nostrils shut and snorted oxygen up through the other.

Luca had been seated at the top of the stairs on the back porch, looking out at the scenery before him. There were barracks, a half-built fence and a forest. The sun had just risen, providing the Italian with a front-row seat to the show as he had gotten outside just minutes beforehand. He followed through with his morning run. Ended up grabbing a cup of coffee after a quick shower. Had gotten dressed in warmer clothes so he would not be forced to face the cold weather without proper protection.

When he first got to the lodge, the Italian hated the wilderness. He made no attempt to visit nature. Aurora was his stomping grounds. There was no reason to ever leave it. Camping trips weren’t going to get him paid or make his bosses happy. Nor would his men be pleased with a day off the street. Between constant war with rival gangs and the drug trade even a few hours off could mean an imposition on their turf. Though, that was long ago. After having spent time beyond the borders of the city, Luca found himself oddly fond of its location. It was remote. Nature provided beauty. Standing outside for a few hours in the middle of the forest, even the Capo himself could feel the rhythm of natural life. It provided a certain level of silence that the city could never achieve on its own - even the apocalypse couldn’t silence the city of Aurora.

Still, the man found himself reminiscing on old times.

Like when he was nine. He and one of his school friends had taken two bikes and rode out into the city. They would go out to arcades for hours at a time running kids off fighting games for small amounts of cash. Grab Bison burgers from Ted’s Montana Grill; some of the best damn food he could remember came from that place. They’d close up nights by stealing candy from the Corner Store before sneaking into the movies. Those times were absolutely careless. Eventually that kid moved away and they lost contact.

Other friends came around. When Luca first became a hitter for La Cosa Nostra, he used to hang out with the same three guys. Hell, he must have been around the age of fifteen at most. They spent countless nights just riding around in an old Monte Carlo, listening to music and smoking blunts. Chasing after girls and attending parties they were never invited to. Standing outside the Corner Store and selling massive amounts of Cocaine, or running people off the block who had been lingering about a bit too long. Those guys were super protective of Luca back in the day. Even if they didn’t realize he didn’t need anyone to watch his back, they did their best to make sure no one was able to run up on him. When it came to any sticky situation, they were able to bail Luca out without issue. Eventually all three passed away at varying times throughout Luca’s life.

Even more recently, being able to propel himself into the role of Capo was life-changing. Fifteen years before Luca’s time the boss of La Cosa Nostra and the boss of the Sicilian mafia were at odds with one another over a deal that saw large quantities of heroin being shipped from Italy over to Miami. The Sicilian Mafia’s boss believed that they had the right to purchase the stock when La Cosa Nostra ended up buying the supply up on one shipment. From then on out the two had been at war.

The hierarchy in both crime families were virtually identical, as La Cosa Nostra was once a part of the Sicilian mafia before defecting. Luca eventually devised a plan with a few of his guys that would see him elevated to the position of Capo so he spent an entire year making distinct plans to take out three influential leaders in the Sicilian Mafia. These plans were all executed as designed. Then Luca’s crew grew from four men to twenty. Having an unlimited amount of money after spending most of his life robbing and stealing just to survive was something that no other experience in his life could possibly parallel. His problems were limited when money wasn’t one of them.

​

Spoiler: The Killings

Alessandro Buciaretti took his car in for servicing at his normal mechanic before heading to the butcher for meat. He walked out of the shop and put the key in the ignition and turned it - blowing his entire car up. Luca had paid off a few of the guys at the mechanic to plant a car bomb that was timed with the engine turning on. He bet the asshole didn’t wonder why they gave him the car back while it was running.

Gianmarco Fenoglio was strangled behind bars in prison, during a six-month stint. Luca had paid off two of his own hitmen in the slammer to get it done. This was arguably the most influential death to the Sicilian mafia in Aurora, as Gianmarco was to be effectively named Consigliere - second only to the boss - upon his release from Aurora Correctional.

Niccolo Labriola was the newest capo of the three and the supplier of heroin that trickled down over the entire organization. He foresaw shipments coming into Miami from Italy, cooked his own cocaine and put men out on the streets to sell. He was shot multiple times after being forced to say goodbye to his fleeing wife and children, after Luca and crew raided his compound.

​

​

Even though his life had been riddled with complex situations and bad times, the good passed him by without a second thought. He spent so much time living in the future that he let the present pass him right by. Still, reminiscing for the moment brought a small smile to the man’s face as he gazed upon the grass. He could sit around wasting time all damn day but that fence wasn't going to finish building itself.

​

 

[Corgi]

Part 3 of 3
​

November 19th 2019
8:19PM
Andy’s Bedroom

“OWEN!” Aubrey yelled, turning on her heels before throwing herself full-force at the tall man, her arms smacking around his torso.

“Speak of the devil and he doth appear,” Andy said dryly.

“What in the world is going on in here?” Owen asked with a chuckle, wrapping his arms around the woman in response. Seeing his sister sprawled drunkenly across the floor and his sweet little Aubrey stumbling around her bedroom was among the last things he had expected to find when he came to investigate the rather loud, slurred voices coming from behind the closed door.
Before he could go on, it seemed as a light bulb went off in Aubrey’s head as she remembered what she was doing, “Oh! Andy said she was being an asshole to me before we started to drink and stuffs.” She tattled, one arm quickly unraveling from Owen to point accusatory at Andy. Her other arm was still tight around the redheaded man.

“You traitor,” Andy called from the floor, but not unkindly.

“What the hell Andy?” Owen asked. “You got Aubrey drunk?”

“Yeaahhhhh…” Aubrey slurred happily in response.

“She’s less weird when she’s drunk,” the woman responded matter of factly. “Sue me.” Owen seemed to protectively pull Aubrey closer to him, as if he was afraid his sister was going to peer pressure her into further shenanigans.

“Oh stop it, if anything I should be protecting her from you. This girl is a marshmallow. She is too good for you and you are not to taint her with your dudely urges.” Andy leaned her head back over the bed, looking at him upside down and pointing at him accusatory.

Aubrey ‘aw’ed at Andy before turning against Owen, drunkenly stumbling and landing at Andy’s side, pointing at the redheaded man, “Yeah! You already asked to have sex with me once!”

“Wha-?” the man threw his hands up defensively.
“Owen!” his sister scolded.

“Right?!” Aubrey said in response to Andy, mouth and eyes almost equally as wide.

“I did not!” he defended himself. What in the world was she even referring to. He supposed that he had thrown a few suggestive jokes her way, but all in all he had been a perfect gentleman.

“Did too!” Aubrey called back, “I came to your room late at night and you told me to sleep in the same bed as you!” She stated this in the confident manner of a child who was telling a teacher that someone had pushed them off the swings.

“I-” Owen stuttered. “She came into-” Finally the man threw up his hands, defeated. It didn’t matter what he said or the fact that in that particular instance he had meant nothing nefarious. The girls were having too much fun humiliating him to care.

“That’s how it starts Aubrey. Good girl,”

“Oh come on, you know I didn’t Andy,”

“Are you saying you don’t want to sleep with her?” Andy asked coyly, blinking her eyes rapidly to feign innocence. Aubrey turned to Owen, a small gasp of shock escaping her lips once more as she reached for the bottle again.

“That is not what I’m saying.”

“So you do then?”
“What? I mean-” Owen growled. “This is not fun for me, I hope you know that.”

“He’s avoiding the question...” She mumbled, lips finding their way to the glass rim as she took another drink.

“It’s fun for me,” Andy said with a shrug.

“That’s because you are a sadist,” Owen responded. The redheaded girl flinched in fake hurt, clutching imaginary pearls.

“Aubrey, can you believe what he just said to me?” her voice dripping in fake sadness.

“How rude.” Aubrey huffed, taking a good minute to stumble up out of her seated position before staggering towards Owen, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all!” She pouted, taking the man by the shoulder and lazily pushing him out of the room. Owen wasn’t sure what was happening, but leaving was suddenly more attractive than having to explain himself. Therefore he did not protest as the small blonde shoved him from his sister’s room, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Good girl,” Andy called to Aubrey, giving her brother a playful wink as the blonde shut the door on him.

Featuring: Maj

 

[Maj]

November 20th, 2018​

It was about a half hour later before Andy made it to the base of the ladder. She had to take the rungs slowly, hand over hand, as the winds blew through her skirts. Andy had taken her time to clean up. She had just come from a hunt when Luca had addressed her earlier, and she was sure that she smelled of sweat and animals. Carefully, the woman made it to the top, with only one small mishap where she had stepped on the hem of her own dress and slipped.

The smell of food hit her as she opened the door to the perch. Warmth from the stove had taken the chill from the small enclosure and it spread over her, smoothing out the goosebumps on her skin. Andy could hear the faint sizzle of food already being prepared as she walked inside and closed the door behind her.

It was clear that she had showered, the scent of lavender and vanilla still clinging to her skin. Her flesh was pink and scrubbed, void of all the blood and dirt stains from earlier. Her red hair was fluffy and brushed, falling down around her shoulders. It appeared that she had even bothered to blow dry it, although that was more for function that cleanliness. Wet hair in a Colorado winter was a bad combination. There were even signs that she might have been wearing makeup, although it was hard to tell in the dim light of the perch. Thin black lines were drawn over her upper eyelid, accentuating her more feminine features.

“Do you even know how to cook?” Andy asked, coming in to take a seat in one of the folding chairs. “I figured you had lackies to do that for you.” Luca wasn’t hard of hearing. He heard her climbing up the stairs. When she took a seat and began flapping her lips, the woman did so knowing that the Italian would definitely provide her with a response. He looked back at the girl briefly.

“I don’t see you wearing an apron.” Nonchalantly, Luca flipped the meat over before lowering the temperature of the stove. “Italians don’t take pride in other people preparing food for them.” He grabbed the two bottles of alcohol off the nearby countertop before taking a seat in his own lawn chair beside Andy. Then he handed her one. The bottles of alcohol were of varying amounts but both were at least more than halfway full. A cigarette still hanging limp between his lips, the man unscrewed the cap off his bottle. Then he tapped the neck of it against hers and took a large sip.

“At least you clean up well.”

Andy laughed, almost spewing alcohol from her nose as she did so. Her hand went up to hide her face as she tried her best to keep from coughing and transferring the burning liquid into her lungs. Her eyes were were lifted at the corners as the outburst lit up her features. She rolled her eyes skyward as she regained her composure.

“Wow,” Andy whistled sarcastically. “Has anyone ever told you that you suck at compliments?” She lifted the bottle to her lips once more. Her emerald eyes were on him as she took a long sip from the neck of the bottle before sitting it down between her thighs. The coolness of the glass was muffled by the soft, cotton fabric of her dress. Something soft brushed up against her ankles. Andy looked down to see the cat that Luca had been helping earlier. It butted its head against her leg, forcing affection upon her. The woman reached down and scratched it lightly between the ears in response.

“What’s on the menu anyway?” the girl asked.

“A framboise gateau, garnished with a smidge of poivre, pomme de terre, roquette. It’ll be served Au gratin, a compote of coulis confit over a bed of jamon.” The man said in the snottiest way possible, using the moment to take another sip of his drink before placing the cigarette back between his lips. He cocked his head to the side so he could look at Andy, his smoke held in place by his teeth.

“It’s chicken.”

“What?” The woman teased. “Is my deer meat not good enough for your sensitive pallet? There is a whole freezer of it in the cellar.” The truth was that after weeks without much variety, the chicken smelled fantastic. Andy hadn’t eaten since she had left for her hunt that morning. Each time the meat popped or sizzled within the pan, the woman could almost hear her stomach growl in response.

She propped her feet up on the crate, crossed at the ankles. Her skirts spilled over her lap, exposing her smooth legs to the cold. With a long exhale, Andy stretched back, feeling her spine crack over the back of the metal folding chair as she relaxed. Most of the redheads cooking experience was over a campfire or in a microwave, so she had no issue letting Luca do the heavy lifting.

“No, it’s disgusting.” The man replied, leaning forward so that both of his elbows were resting on his kneecaps. “Deer meat is gross enough that not even the reanimated want to consume it. Back in the day, we had our men hunt deer for our dogs, so we wouldn’t have to waste our good steak on them.”

He stood up off the chair, placing his bottle of alcohol beside Andy’s feet. The man made his way back to the stove top, picking up a fork and a knife to cut a slit in the chicken. It was still pink inside. More likely than not, it would have to remain cooking on low for quite some time. The way chicken cooked on a grill was completely different than any variety of red meat. It needed time to cook from the inside, so running the stove on a lower temperature was important. If the outside burned it would be completely inedible. In the case of steak, however, it was good practice to sear one side at a high temperature. Then, flip it over and cook through the meat at a slightly lower level of heat. It provided for a much faster cooking time but there was no rush to eat this meal.

“Be honest.” Luca broke the silence, turning back to the girl as he leaned against the built-in desk in the perch. He cocked his head slightly to the side, his eyes narrowing slightly as he continued studying her features. “You seemed to take issue with me bringing Vanessa with me into the school and back here. It’s obvious. Why?”

“What a stupid fucking question,” Andy scoffed. “We have basically picked someone up every time that we’ve left the house. Why would I care that you brought back another one?”Andy shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She didn’t like the way his eyes looked at her, analytical and searching. In honesty, something about Vanessa did irk Andy, but it wasn’t her presence at the lodge. She had long been over the irritation of having strangers in her home. If nothing else, the hazmat raid had made her grateful for the numbers. There was strength within them.

“We need people Luca, I’m not stupid.”

“I didn’t say anything about your intelligence.” The man responded calmly as he watched her move. “Another question for you.” He put out the cherry of his cigarette out on the glass makeshift ashtray he had left in the perch. The man took the chicken off of the grill and set it on two separate plates but let them sit on the countertop to cool down. In the meanwhile he made his way to the crate. Luca bent over to remove Andy’s feet, instead taking a seat on top of it. There was but a few feet between the two at this point. The man leaned forward toward the girl, practically invading her personal space as his elbows once again found his kneecaps.

“Why are you in a dress?”

“All my jeans are covered in zombie guts,” Andy answered truthfully. It didn’t matter that there was more to the story. She repositioned her legs, having them forcibly removed from her foot rest. Crossed at the ankles, her legs tucked up under the chair as if she was trying to scoot away from the Italian. The woman pulled at the hem of the green dress, straightening the garment. Subconsciously, she continued to fidget with the fabric.“Why does it matter? And why are you fucking interrogating me all the sudden? I was under the impression you liked it better when I didn’t talk.”

“The food is cooling down; I’m just making conversation.” He continued watching the woman’s body language, before he resumed. “You don’t seem to mind how I feel normally. Is there a reason we’re pretending that’s the case, now?” His other hand moved to grab the bottle of alcohol that was set between her legs, slowly lifting it out of their grasp to take a sip for himself.

“That’s a beautiful dress. You look beautiful in it.”

Emerald eyes shot up from the hem of her dress to Luca’s face and then quickly back away into the darkness. She shifted backwards, her instinct was to keep renewing the distance that the Italian was attempting to close. Her hands went to her lap as if she couldn’t quite decide what to do with them. Full lips parted to speak, but only a scoff could be heard before she closed them once again. Silenced, Andy rolled her eyes, lashes fluttering.

“So what?” The woman asked after a moment. “You are making fun of me?”

“We’ve spent the last month looking at nothing but death. To me, you grow more beautiful with each passing day. Makeup, dirt, or whatever won’t change that. Regardless, I appreciate the effort. So, no. Not this time, Andrea.” He handed the bottle back, the neutral expression on his face apparent as he pushed himself up to his feet and turned to grab the two plates of food off the desk. A moment later he had handed Andy hers, alongside the utensils, before sitting down in the chair next to hers.

Featuring: Brax
Mentions: TheMightyRedLemon

 

[Brax]

November 20th, 2018; Part II​

Andy didn’t have a response but her gaze softened. The buzzing in her head intensified, but a look at the bottle on the floor would assure her that she hadn’t had that much to drink. She took the plate from him, a soft smirk playing on her lips.

“Andy.” The woman corrected. “Are you ever going to stop calling me Andrea?”

“Andy is a preposterous name.” He said, while placing a piece of chicken in his mouth. “It’s the name of a children’s toy from a movie. Who is a man. I’m not calling you that.” He found himself amused by his own rebuttal, licking his lips before taking another bite off his plate.

“Well you are going to have to come up with something else then, because you can’t call me Andrea.”

“I can think of equally infuriating things to call you, woman.”

“Do I even want to know what that means?” She asked as Luca smirked.

“I’m going to have to teach you how to speak Italian.”

“How do you say ‘Jackass’ in Italian?” The girl teased. She turned down to her plate. Eager to taste the food that had been teasing her, the redhead picked up the fork she had been handed and used the side to cut a chunk of the chicken into a bite sized piece. When she took the first bite, her eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise.

“This is actually good. You weren’t kidding.” She wasn’t sure if it was just the relief of having some variety back in her diet, or if Luca was actually an excellent cook, but the meal was delicious all the same.

“It’s just chicken. There’s no seasoning on it.” He scraped the rest of his plate before placing it down on the ground beside his chair. Then he took a nice hearty drink of alcohol to wash it down. The Italian wondered if Owen had told Andy about the most recent conversation they had. There was a moment that he thought about bringing it up, before ultimately deciding not to. If that conversation had taken place it was highly unlikely that Andy would have kept quiet about it. There would have been something he heard after all this time, even if it came in the form of a teasing statement.

“When we first got to the lodge, I believed everyone was incompetent. We carried on this past month through multiple attacks and persisted together. Many people have proved me wrong. There has to come a time in my life where I accept my faults." He began.

"I learned a long time ago that I happen to have a corrosive effect on things that I touch. I cannot form bonds with people in the same capacity as other people. I’ve shed too much blood, both directly and indirectly.” He stuck a hand into his pocket to remove the pack of cigarettes from its depths. As his opposite hand moved to flip back the container, he found that it was involuntarily shaking. Luca was relatively inebriated but not enough for this response.

“I thought I would have Colt assume command of the group when the time was right. I was wrong. I think that you need to assume control over our operations and you should do so immediately.” The breeze whipping through out the forest hit the back of the perch, forcing the partially-cracked door leading from the ladder to hit the wall beside it. Luca brought the light to the end of his cigarette and took a long drag.

“So you are making fun of me?” A slight snort escaped as she chewed through another bite of food. Her eyes darted up to Luca’s form. She noticed the shake in his hands and the sincerity in his face and recoiled. “Oh you’re serious?” She asked, a hand coming up to cover her mouth as she finished chewing her bite.

“This is the second time you've asked me that. The only thing that’s a joke here is your own insecurity.”

“Luca, I’m a twenty-two year old college student with 75 percent of an art degree.” the girl reasoned. “I have no combat training, no leadership abilities and if you want to talk about corrosive,” the redhead guestered up and down her sitting form. “You are looking at it. What in the world makes you think that I am even remotely qualified?”

“I’ve seen you keep a level head in dire situations. You have established relationships with a lot of people in the lodge to the point where they don’t fear you. I’ve seen you take lives in the name of yourself and others in the group. You know how to get people to act when you carry out orders. Colt has had plenty of combat training and leadership abilities, but she drinks far too much and cannot control her emotions. I cannot lead without fear and this is a particular situation where we are dealing with regular people. My form of leadership is not as effective. The writing is on the wall. If you want to be negligent and pretend your perspective is correct, that’s fine. But it’s only a matter of time.” The bridge of his nose crinkled slightly as he found himself spilling out his stream of consciousness.

“You don’t know the first thing about living in toxicity. You're not corrosive. You’ve had a cushy life in comparison to mine. You should be happy for that. The opportunity to be an art student at college was a gift among the other achievements you had in life. Meanwhile, I’ve had plenty of conversations like this with people I've pushed into positions of power who’ve just gone on to die. People underneath me who have died. As you can imagine, the life expectancy of someone in the mafia is not as high as the person who works in a cubicle. Even worse, those associated with us were destined to be put in danger. However, in constant war, the side with the best strategies win despite the number of lives lost. So long as I draw breath you know i’ll never let anything happen to you. It’s a distinct advantage you have to those in the mafia who had conversations with me along the same lines. When the people in this lodge listen to you, It’s out of respect. When they listen to me, it’s out of fear. Form your own opinion. I don’t doubt that when the time is right you’ll understand where I am coming from.” The man took a deep breath, crouched over slightly and staring at the near-empty bottle of alcohol he had been sipping off of up until this point.

“I’m too tired to keep pretending like I’m the best option. In a few days, I'm going to get really sick and i’ll be incapacitated for quite some time. It’ll be up to you to figure it out.”

​

Concern washed over her features as she sat the plate aside. Her brow furrowed as she tried to dissect the rather vague comment. Her bottle remained by her feet, mostly full and mostly forgotten as she sat forward in her seat to look at Luca more closely, scanning him as if to find some sort of clue.

“What the fuck does that even mean?” When her uncle had come to her four months ago and told her that he had Cancer, it had been the second most devastating thing that had ever happened to Andy. Even more so, because he had intentionally kept it hidden from her until there was nothing that could be done. She felt a familiar weight on her body, like the tension had turned the air to soup, hot and unbreathable.

Her instinct was to reach out to him, force him to look at her. However, her extended hand lowered before it reached him. Luca didn’t mince words, if he had planned to tell her he would have just done so. He owed her nothing.

“Make sure you see Hector. Get ahead of it if you can.”

“Don’t worry about me. Whatever’s coming is all that i’m owed.” The man picked up her plate alongside his, moving to the small waste bin to dump the paper products. In the case of the utensils, they were set on the table. Every so often the lodge had to burn their garbage as there were no other services to get rid of it. They used the same pit they did to burn bodies. That was the easiest way. Anything that couldn’t get burned was buried, but that pile was not big enough to be considered a landfill just yet.

“While you call the shots, keep in mind who I am.” He turned back to the woman, stone faced. “You may run the show, but no one decides how I act. We’re not staying here for much longer and as much as you don’t want to accept that, you’ll have to come to grips with reality. Take the safest option for your people despite how you may feel. Leave your ego at the door. Do what I couldn’t.”

Silence.

​

“I’ve never been in love, I figured that companionship of that nature was off the table for me. Sex by itself is completely meaningless. It didn’t stop me from feeling alone. With you, I'm not alone. You should know; I love you more than anything. Anyone that exists in this life, or the next.”

The woman’s hands trembled in her lap. It was hard to look at him. Her emerald hues stayed fixated on the floor, bloodshot from trying to keep the hot, angry tears at bay. At first, she didn’t move, the only sound between them was the wind through the rafters of the perch and the rustling of the leaves outside. A creak from the metal folding chair broke through the silence as she slowly stood from her chair. Painted nails pressed into her palms so deeply that crescent moon shaped welts rose under them. Her gaze fell on him for a moment, before her lime eyes rolled skyward.

“You don’t have to lie to me.” Her voice broke and she was disgusted at the sound. “It sounds like you are already planning to leave, so just go. You owe me nothing.” Crimson hair spun as she turned to the door, a vault of angry words locked in her throat. Luca said nothing as he watched her leave. Instead, he picked up his whiskey and finished the rest of it before turning his back to the ladder.

Featuring: Maj
Mentions: Rumble Fish
Relevant to: Everyone

 

[BloodLightning27]

Shinoa Bradford - November 20th, 2018 - Restless Night

Just as Shinoa thought that she could get a good night's rest, falling asleep was the last of her worries. Valerie woke up crying, prompting the young mother to sigh before getting up and walking over to her darling little angel. "Awww, what's wrong?" She asked, looking at the infant and cradling her close in hopes of getting her to stop crying.

To her dismay, the crying didn't really stop? Was she hungry? Maybe a bad dream? Still, a bad dream sounded kinda silly to the seventeen-year-old. If the zombies and hazmats don't get to her first, stress and sleep deprivation definitely will. The good only barely outweighed the bad since she was surrounded by a lot of skilled people, but caring for an infant during a stressful time was taking its toll on her, even if Baby Valerie was usually a quiet little bundle of joy, only crying if she was hungry or needed a diaper change. Surprisingly, she hasn't gotten sick yet, but Shinoa credited that to super dumb luck, because who was vaccinated and who wasn't was not specified, and Shinoa definitely felt like asking would be an invasion of privacy. Well, there was that time when Milly got sick and Shinoa had to keep the baby away from her, but that was a given. And so far there were no signs of a weak or compromised immune system. Grabbing a blanket, she covered up so that she could feed little Valerie. Seemed like the little infant was hungry, but the young mother could not help but think that the poor little baby had a nightmare with how loud she was crying. She then started to think about all the scenarios that could play out when she finds her Grandmother.

Scenario Ending 1
Shinoa finds her Grandmother, who had been staying in their apartment the entire time and reunites with her happily...

Scenario Ending 2
Shinoa finds her Grandmother, but there are dead hazmats and her grandmother is both wounded and bloodied. She passes away peacefully in Shinoa's arms, who then inherits her cowboy hat and weapons cache before leaving...

Scenario Ending 3
She finds her Grandmother, but there are dead infected in their apartment. Worst of all, her Grandmother has a large bite mark on her arm. The elderly woman chooses to take her own life rather then be among one of the infected.

Scenario Ending 4
On the abandoned streets of Aurora, she finds her grandmother, seemingly safe, but the elderly woman is already among one of the infected. Unable to fight what was once her grandmother, she is soon tackled to the ground and her infected grandmother tries to bite her before being kicked off of her and finished off. But she doesn't see who does it...

Snapping out of it and back into reality, Shinoa sighed as she took note of Valerie being done feeding. The young mother proceeded to adjust her bra and her shirt before removing the blanket and using a piece of cloth to clean little Val's face. "Its okay, Mommy's got you." She said as she continued to relax in bed, rocking the baby until she fell back asleep. She looked out the window, wondering when dawn would come. With Valerie by her side, she slowly got comfortable and had hoped to get some sleep before dawn.

Interactions: Open
Mentions: None

 

[Dragonlord318]

DO NOT ATTEMPT
To Harm the Innocent
Part 1 of 2​

David was stalking some prey through the brush, his arrow notched in its bowstring. The deer was upwind, grazing in some grass. The infected hadn't yet got this one. It would make a great addition to his meat reserves, as well as the skin, fat and organs that could be put to great use. He had been tracking it for several days, finally catching up to it earlier that morning. He almost stopped pursuit a few times when it came near civilization, thus near zombies and raiders. Now he finally had it in his sights. He pulled the arrow back and let it fly.

It hit high just missing the heart, and the cervine took off. He made a face, disappointed that he missed, but pursued. He wasn't a crack shot by any length. In fact, he had just recently learned how to use the bow in the last few years. He had wanted to hunt. Though he knew the basic function of a pistol, shotgun and rifle and how to use them due to the evolution of self defense in the modern times, he desired a more basic option. And his bow was pretty basic. A simple oak drawstring bow he built himself. It was difficult and took many failures, but he having fashioned many a wooden weapon handle at the temple helped him eventually to succeed. Since starting to hunt with the bow he had gotten decent enough to hit a target standing still from a good distance. He still hadn't learned how to hit a moving target, as all his training came from a "For Dummies" book.

He followed the blood trail the deer left behind, the red liquid very abundant. He noted that he must've hit a major blood vessel, so it couldn't go very far. He followed the trail for several minutes, making sure to be careful and quiet. He didn't know who or what else was in these woods. He heard the deer cry out, and froze. It was close, but that wasn't a dying last breath. That was the cry of struggle. He scaled the nearest tree to get a better vantage point.

When he got a good ways up, he was able to see what the commotion was. Two zombies were diving right in to the body of the still alive deer. David sighed, shaking his head. Apparently he'd have to dig into his stores to eat this winter. As he climbed down, one of the zombies spoke between mouthfuls. "'Ey Earl."
"Mm." Came the muffled reply.
"S'pose we find tha one dat shot dis here deer. Whatcha think 'ed taste lahk?"
David turned his head in their direction, gazing through the last few leaves and branches. Zombies don't talk. He saw the "zombie" on the side of the deer opposite him lift his head and wipe his mouth clean of blood.
"I 'unno Jeff. Bet I won' know till I try 'im."

David's eyes widened. Those were not zombies. Those were scavengers. And nasty ones, too. They had abandoned all sense of humanity, essentially relying on their gut instinct to survive. He saw the two men look at the trail of blood that the cervine had left, look at each other, and leave the partially eaten deer. David noted what barely looked like a knife stuck in the deer's neck, most likely a crude weapon fashioned from scrap. That's why it struggled, he thought. He returned his gaze to the two men, who had now disappeared from direct sight, but they were definitely upwind from him. Ugh. These goons stink.

He slowly made his descent, cautiously casing his surroundings. The trees here were thinner than around his home and deep in the country, as they were a less than a quarter mile from civilization. That limited his options of travel, and took away his ability to attack or defend from above. He followed the sound and smell of the cannibals, easily tracking them, but staying far enough away to not be noticed. He found that they had stopped at the place where he struck the deer, then one looked at the ground and said something to his comrade, and they started off again.

When he arrived where they had just been, he looked where the one cannibal was investigating. His eyes widened. There, in the freshly moved dirt was his boot-print. He looked in the direction the two men had gone and narrowed his eyes. They were actually going to try to track him back to his tree-house! He wasn't going to let that happen.

As he was about to move forward, he heard steps behind him and whirled around to meet two other individuals just the same as the first two he was tracking. "Hey, Jerry look what we got here," the one on the right said. The one on the left chuckled as he held a hunting knife in his right hand twirling the tip of it on his left index finger. "Seems he thought there was jus' two of us, 'ey Mark?"

David realized these men were smarter than he initially thought, as they had brought backup with them on their little hunting excursion. The first two approached from behind, and it became apparent that they had been intentionally trying to draw him away so they could trap him. "Earl 'ere is an expert hunter an' tracker, and we been watching you quite some time there youngin, almost since we came into these here woods bout a month ago," said 'Jerry', a 50-something man if the facial features said anything. Then again, he may just have looked older due to his dirtied, wild state. "And," he paused to spit some tobacco or some other substance from his mouth, "we also saw your lil trip to the cabin there at the edge o' the woods." He chuckled. "I bet there're some gals in there-" "And guys" interrupted Earl. Jerry looked annoyed but continued with a smirk. "that'd love ta see wut I gotta offer." He accentuated this with some demonstrative gestures while the others guffawed.

These guys have been tracking me this whole time and I haven't heard or seen them? David's grip on his bow tightened as the revelation finally hit him. They knew where the lodge was. At first, he thought about possibly beating them up and sending them on their way to make sure they didn't bother him any longer. But now, it seemed that they were intending on threatening the lives of the people he had just barely met less than a week ago. He couldn't have that. He honestly thought he was the only one living in these woods, and that arrogance had just nearly cost him his life. He would never make the same mistake again.

 

[shadowz1995]

WINTER BITES​

Steady, rhythmic clouds of moisture had been gracing the cold night air for several hours until the colors of dawn began to paint the dark sky in vibrant hues. Dr. Salazar's breath never stuttered nor did his teeth chatter from cold. In fact, he had taken his first real break from the lab research and decided to spend it in a tank top and jeans out in the frigid air. Everyone had been asleep for the most part and forests were eerily silent. The nights he spent at the lodge were some of the most relaxing he had ever spent. Not to mention that his current project is the most intellectually engaging challenge he has faced in the last 25 years.

The sounds of bodies stirring awake was the sign that his break was coming to an end. Some raised voices here and movement. Probably someone arguing about coffee again. A long breath of contempt left his nostrils as he forced himself to stand. He brushed off the light layer of snow that had collected on his shoulders and took a few final moments to enjoy the ambiance before the hellish research began once more.

The back door of the lodge flung open with some measure of force as the purple clad acrobat rushed out, running around the building in a panic. Her chest felt tight, and breathing was becoming an ordeal unto itself, but she had to get away from Aaron and the kitchen. What if he came at her again? It was clear she wouldn't win in a second fight. Mismatched eyes darted about, and she frequently turned her head to look behind her to be sure she was not being chased. Horrible memories of the orphanage played through her head on repeat, causing her fear to slowly escalate more. In her panicked attempt to escape the situation, she didn't even notice Hector in front of her.

The doctor turned around in time to see the scantily clad harlequin sprinting out the door but not to evade. The small woman ran face first into his chest and recoiled as if she had hit a brick wall. Muscular arms quickly wrapped around her frame and caught her before she fell backwards and cracked her head open on one of the steps, "Epa!" The spanish man exclaimed in surprise, "Que paso, Niña?" He questioned. She was trembling like a leaf and hyperventilating something fierce. He could even smell the familiar scent of blood on her person though whether it was hers or not remained unknown. His grip tightened as he pulled back to examine her person, one grey eye scanning and the other hollow socket seemingly staring through her.

Vanessa let out a sound of panicked surprise as she bumped into Hector, causing her to stumble back. As his arms wrapped around her, the pounding of her heat quickened even more and her breathing became more sporadic. "O...otpusti menya!" She stammered out in a shaky tone as she pushed with all her might against his chest, wriggling in his arms in an attempt to be freed.

"Hey, hey…" the doctor said as soon as he realized what was happening. His normally deep, gravelly voice softened a few layers, as it normally would for a distressed patient. "Vanessa, it's okay. It's the doctor. Let me take a look at you. You're injured." His hold on the woman stayed strong because she was currently unstable. If she were to run off in such a state, she could potentially hurt herself or others and the woods was no place to wander aimlessly and in a panic.

The sound of his voice was a blurry background noise to the beating of her heart in her ears. Soon it was all she could hear. She gasped for air frantically as her chest began to feel more and more constricted. The doctors grip handle loosened even slightly despite her desperate plea and her effort to push away from him. She began to beat on his chest with all her might as she screamed and ranted in broken bits of unintelligible Russian. Her blows felt useless against Hector, seeming to glance right off of him. Reaching up she grabbed his cheeks and began to dig her fingernails into his flesh, dragging downwards.

That drew a sharp yell from the man as he clamped down on the small woman and pulled her tight against his chest, where her limbs were locked in place against his torso, "Vanessa!" He called out, "No one is going to hurt you." It burned where her nails dug into his skin and the doctor found himself wishing he had more time to assess the situation. He had just found himself thrust into this one and she quite literally landed in his arms. He also couldn't just let her run off in her frantic state. "Please, young lady be still!"

The terrified woman struggled hopelessly against his grip as he pulled her to his chest. The pressure of his tight embrace only worsening her already frantic breathing. As she continued to struggle her teeth met his shoulder and clamped down hard onto his flesh.

A grunt of pain left the doctor's lips but his grip never faltered. Her teeth broke through his bared shoulder's skin and started to taste the beginnings of flesh. The pain went from burning to piercing quickly and all Hector could do was bare the pain. He relaxed the muscle in his arm and brought his right hand up to gently touch the back of Vanessa's head. "Calmate, Niña. It's okay. It's okay. Just breathe Ms. Vanessa. Breathe. Everything is alright?" He repeated in the same, soft tone.

After a short ten minutes that seemed an eternity, Vanessa's breathing started to slowly return to normal. As her breathing calmed down, she stopped struggling against the doctors grip. With a quiet sniffle, her arms shakily wrapped around the Hector, lightly squeezing him. The tears that had been welling up finally spilled forth from her blue orb as she pressed her head against his chest, her breathing now slow but shaky.

Hector eased his grip off of the woman and pulled back to get a good look at the now calm woman. Blood stained her lips and she had a rather bad black eye. But more than that, was a vicious scar running down the woman’s now mismatched eyes. Almost as hard to look at as his own. With a grunt of pain, the doctor brought a hand up to his bleeding shoulder gingerly felt the depth of the bite. Thankfully it wasn’t too deep but it was definitely a good bite. Every tooth clearly indented in his skin and about a millimeter of flesh missing from its place. “What happened, Nina. How were you injured?” he said, gently touching around the bruised area to emphasize exactly which injury he was referring to.

"F..f..fight…" she stammered out through soft sobs. Her grip on him tightened slightly as she clung to him for some semblance of security and reassurance.

“Fight? As in an altercation? With wh-” he cut himself off because he supposed it didn’t really matter who the opponent was. “Where you struck anywhere else?” he asked coolly. He thankfully didn’t have to shift around much clothing as her outfit was rather revealing on its own and he couldn’t visibly see any other bruising.

Nessa's head shook against his chest. "N..no… I'm okay now… I'm sorry… I.. I didn't mean to..."

Hector shook his head, “No need. You were having a panic attack. These kinds of things are expected.” With a sigh, the older gentleman let the young girl borrow his chest for a few more minutes until the shaking eased up. Then he pulled Vanessa back and gestured for her to take a seat on the stairs where he had been, the doctor taking a seat next to her.

Normally, company was something the doctor did not want but the female acrobat sat in silence, staring at the snow and no doubt lost in her thoughts. It was a comfortable moment with both lightly clothed individuals enjoying the silence and the frigid bite of winter’s chill on their exposed skin. The sky had gotten much brighter in the brief exchange the two had but Hector decided a few more minutes like this wouldn’t hurt. A fact the young lady seemed to appreciate. Silent companionship.

TheMightyRedLemon RayPurchase Maj (special thanks.)

 

[Maj]

November 19, 2018​

As the researcher had promised, Hector pulled Owen out into the lab to do some morning exercises. It was some light therapy for the red-headed male and a return to the morning routine for Dr. Salazar. Given both of their respective injuries, The very familiar, sweet ache of effort radiated through the muscles of the gentlemen. Not the "I'm fighting for my life", post-adrenaline rush ache but the burn of a good workout.

They had been going at it for roughly an hour now. The larger of the two men was beginning to pant heavily from the effort, sweat layered on his skin and dripping to the hard floor underneath his frame. Owen was currently tasked with one handed push ups, alternating arms with every repetition. The boy was a smoker and it had been some time since he got a normal, not-potentially-fatal workout in.

"Control your breathing, Niño. Slow down the repetitions. Your muscles need to return to their former strength and your lungs already had damage built up before the bullet went through them." Came the spanish voice just next to the younger man.

It was already impressive what Owen could do straight out of the gate. A testament to his strength and tenacity. But it was clear he was struggling and his breathing had become ragged. "Breathe. In through the nose and out through the mouth." Hector repeated, accentuated by graying man's deep, steady breaths.
“I know how to breath Hector,” the boy snipped through ragged breaths. His arms ached but it wasn’t anything he was unfamiliar with. A lifetime of crazy scheduling and lazy days stretched out on his mom’s couch playing video games made his work outs in the past anything but consistent.

“The problem,” Owen said between push ups, “is that I’m not very good at it.”

"In light of current events, endurance is becoming more and more important. The ability to keep on pushing through exhaustion." The doctor said with a slow exhale, "Your strength and tenacity are admirable, Niño. No one can deny that. But your stamina needs work."

“I hear you doc,” the redhead replied. “Lay off the cigs, I got it.” In truth, it had been almost a week since he had one. Someone had told him once that it only took seven days for nicotine to leave your system and everything after that was mental habits. Owen would tell that person they were full of it. Every time he walked through the lodge and smelled smoke he felt like a rabid animal. It hadn’t been easy but he had done his best to be a good patient and listen to what the doctor had told him when he had returned.

“Hey Hector,” Owen heard his sister’s voice before the door even swung open at the top of the stairs. She stopped before she stepped down, gagging. When she appeared at the bottom of the steps she was holding her nose and glaring at the pair of men, obviously offended by their workout.

“It smells like dude in here,” the woman commented. “I’m sure it's super sanitary to sweat all over your lab.”
"It smells like wood." The doctor retorted, his head jerking to the corner were a small pile of fresh lumber lay, "and we are away from the equipment."

“Wood and man armpit,” Andy corrected. She went to her normal spot on the freezer, sitting on top of the lid. “Anything new to report?” The woman asked, crossing her legs at the ankles and finally releasing her nose. It scrunched at the smell but she made no further comment.

Hector sighed, the gesture blowing the dust under him a distance away. He had wanted to do a few more reps but it seems like he wasn't going to get that luxury. His arms straightened to finish the last repetition and he held it for a moment, the handstand as perfect as a gymnast before tucking his core in and rolling out into a sitting position. His loose hair covered his shoulders and he rested his right arm on his bent knee. "I confirmed the existence of a second virus from the spinal fluid and brain matter of the infected corpses you brought me. Again, unlike anything mankind has ever seen before. Completely uncharted waters but my suspicion is that this is the one that animates the infected individual against their will."

After a pause the doctor added, "Also, I named the viruses."

“What did you name them?” Andy asked. She wasn’t sure why it was important, but the doctor didn’t mince words. If he felt the need to bring it up, likely it was impactful in some way. Owen finally finished his set, and collapsed on the ground. His breathing heavy, but controlled. This was all relatively new information to him. He rolled onto his back and sat up, ignoring the ache in his chest.
"The animation virus I had a hard time deciding a name on. Nothing seemed to give it an official ring like Creutzfeldt-Jakobs. I didn't want to name it after myself either. Far too egotistical. So, I named it the Lazarus Plague. After Saint Lazarus of Bethany and the phenomena known Lazarus Syndrome. Which is also known as Autoresuscitation after multiple failed Cardiopulm- …. CPR attempts. A bit on the nose but it's the most accurate name so far."

The scientist then turned to look at the exhausted Jordan twin with a critical eye, "The first virus I named The Jordan Pathogen."

“The Jordan Pathogen?” Andy sneered, turning up her nose in disgust. This miserable old man named the virus after her? Sure she was rude to him sometimes, but surely he didn’t think her name deserved to be slandered in such a way. It was her mother’s name too after all.

“It’s not exactly flattering to have the zombie virus named after you doc,” Owen added in defense of his sister. He knew that Hector had been studying Andy’s blood, but many of the specifics were lost on him.

"Of course it is." The doctor said in what could be the closest thing to offended one could get him. "The progress my research makes is only because of Ms. Jordan." He then turned his head enough so that his right eye could find where she liked to perch. "Which means when I eventually make a cure, it will be because of you. Nothing is more flattering." He said with a mildly defensive tone.

“Fine,” Andy replied cooly. Although, it was apparent the doctor had intended to use her name with or without her consent. She rolled her eyes and kept her arms crossed but didn’t contest the matter further.

Featuring: shadowz1995

 

[shadowz1995]

“Wow,” Owen said with an impressed whistle. “I’ve never seen anyone get Andy to shut up before. Can you teach me how to do that?”

"Owen, Ms. Jordan would probably skin us both if I did that." The older man replied with an arched brow to the male twin.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Andy rebuked, holding a hand up. She chose to ignore her brother’s rather backhanded insult, and instead focused on a far more important inconsistency. “Why the hell is he Owen, and you go around addressing me as Ms. Jordan all the time. Why isn’t he Mr. Jordan?”

“It’s because he wanted to be Mr. Jordan,” Owen said with a stifled laugh.

“That’s not how last names work Owen,” Andy growled, pointing a finger at her brother to get him to shut up. He obliged, lowering his head but still silently laughing at his own joke. Hector then glanced at Owen, "No. I did not want to be Mr. Jordan. You literal child." Owen’s silent laughter exploded from behind his hand, no longer able to contain himself. Andy rolled her eyes and turned back to the doctor, getting back to the topic at hand.

“I have a first name you know.”

Hector turned to face the woman fully and looked as if he was perplexed for a moment before responding, "Owen prefers to be called on more familiar terms and is a far more sociable person. If I were to refer to you by name, I could get a normal response or I could get a verbal lashing for a perceived slight. And as much as I love our verbal jousts, Ms. Jordan, I don't like getting yelled at."

“It’s simple really,” Andy retorted. “I have one first name. Andy. As long as you don’t use anything else I won't yell at you. Don’t you have some note about that in your little files to help keep you straight.”

"Volatile is also in there."

“Files?” Owen asked, his composure finally settling.

“Oh he didn’t tell you? Hector is a fucking stalker. He goes around gathering information on everyone he meets and puts it in a file like Dr. Hannibal Hector over here. In fact, why don’t we see what yours says?” Andy hopped down from the ice chest and helped herself to the neatly stacked pile of manilla folders. They were in alphabetical order, because it appeared that nothing Hector did was disorganized. The only one missing was her own which was on the desk. Right after where her’s should be was the one labeled “O. Jordan.” Andy snatched it up and opened it without any regard for her brother’s privacy.

Owen cocked an eyebrow at the doctor and then at his sister, not fully comprehending what was going on. Hector was a doctor, it made sense for him to have files on his patients. In fact, he would feel a lot better if the dude performing operations on his lungs knew a thing or two about him. There was no telling what information might keep him from making a wrong move with him on the table.

“Oh here we go,” Andy began, dramatically clearing her throat as she began to read. “Protective, sometimes overly. Oh he’s got that right,” the woman commented. “Brash, quick to anger when it comes to others. Self-sacrificial,” Andy looked up over the folder and made a pointed look at her brother as if to say ‘see, I told you so.’

“Street smart,” The girl rolled her eyes “Possible affiliations with underground elements. Rivalry with Luca Brasi. If that isn’t an understatement I don’t know what fucking is. Overly concerned with the wellbeing of others, tendency to be invasive.” The girl laughed. “Tendency seems a bit light. But see, this is what dear old Dr. Salazar does for fun. He goes around and keeps notes on all of us. Creepy huh?”

“I don’t know,” Owen replied, scratching the back of his head. “Sounds about right to me.”

"Thank you, Owen."

“Oh get a room you two,” Andy said in disgust. Her eyes scanned back down the page to the final line that read ‘Has expressed multiple concerns on Andrea Jordan’s mental and physical well-being.’ The girl exhaled audibly through her nose and closed the folder, carefully sitting it back down in the stack.

“We literally shared a room for weeks Andy, that’s not an insult.” Owen stated, a cocky smirk pulling at freckled cheeks.

“Whatever. I-” the woman faltered as she looked back at Hector. Emerald eyes settled on his shoulder, narrowing. The crescent shape of a mouth shone red and angry back at her from his flesh. Each divit where teeth should go still weeped. It wasn’t as bad as some of the bites she had seen on the corpses, but it was unmistakably a bite.

“You’ve been bitten.”

Her voice was cool but soft, as if all the heat had been taken from her voice all at once. The cocky smirk she normally wore when she frequented the lab was replaced with stoney features. She wasn’t sure if she was more upset that he had been stupid enough to let it happen or angry that he hadn’t told her. Andy shifted uncomfortably.

“How long ago?” The woman asked, her gaze meeting his hesitantly.

His eye shot down for a moment to think before returning in the same cool fashion, "Two… maybe three hours ago." He replied.. It felt like someone had their hand around her throat, it constricted and tightened as she tried to swallow. Her head tilted as she processed the gears in her head turning so hard you could practically hear them. Hector had already told her that while it varied, most humans had a very limited time before the pathogen would take their life. Her blood being the exception to that rule. Was there anything that could be done? He wasn’t close to a cure, not anything that could be found in a few hours. If she gave him some of her blood would it slow the process? Her eyes stay fixated on the floor.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Owen growled, coming to his feet. “That’s cruel Hector. It’s a human bite Andy. Vanessa had a panic attack and latched on to him.”

The woman’s eyes shot up to look at Hector in the face. When she examined his features to see a full open mouth grin, teeth and all, she growled and rolled her eyes so hard that he could see the whites of them and growled. The steel of her nerves was replaced with annoyance, her nose crinkling in frustration. She shook her head in disbelief.

“Normally I would say she is a psychotic bitch but it sounds like you probably deserved it.” Andy stormed off, turning on her heels and walking back up the stairs, slamming the door on her way out.

“Dude, your sense of humor is seriously warped,” Owen said after she was gone.

"A lesson in life for you, Niño. The pendulum always swings back." Hector replied with a chuckle.

“She must actually kind of like you,” Owen added, tilting his head with a laugh. “I think I would have gotten another broken nose for that one.”

Maj Fallen

 

[Corgi]

​

November 20th, 2019
7:17AM
Living Room

The lazy sun shined gold and pink hues over the cabin’s yard, dewy grass crunched underneath the strawberry-blonde’s foot as she trudged back from her early morning workout. She had a massive headache. Her eyes felt five times bigger, and the pounding in her temples that followed each heartbeat made it nearly impossible for her to go on any runs or do push-ups. How did the others drink like that and not feel like death each morning? Getting up was a nightmare and falling back asleep was out of the question due to the pain, so she laid in bed for however long till she finally decided that doing something might help. She was wrong. All she wanted to do was lay down in the barracks and hope sleep takes her away, but she understood that wouldn’t be fair to everyone else who would be working while she was being lazy.

Instead of succumbing to her wants, Aubrey made her way to the lodge’s door and swung it open. She would go beg Owen to let her use his shower and then… talk to Milly. A small sigh escaped her lips as she closed the door, leaning against the sturdy frame and rubbing her face with a low groan. The past two weeks she had been meaning to talk to the little girl but every time she thought about asking her to draw her home, her stomach would twist and she’d avoid the idea completely. There was something the sweet girl didn’t want to remember and Aubrey didn’t want to be the reason she had to face it.

“Nyeeeh…” Milly grumbled as she tossed and turned in the makeshift bed within the tight confines of the cupboard. Light was peeking through the cracks of the door, meaning the sky was awake so she would now have to properly wake. The younger girl let out a quiet squeal as she stretched out her muscles before looking to her limited wardrobe. Her cyan and fluffy hoodie with the cat ears, that was the girl’s choice of clothing today. The small girl shook herself out before grabbing her rucksack, pulling out her large sketchbook. The book itself was filled with drawings horses, rabbits, the views outside the windows from the lodge, and the last few including the chicken flock and, of course, Penny. The hen had wandered into her room and was now trying to root in a stack of newspapers, scratching them apart. The small girl, unsure of how Adryen would react to it, cleared her throat and gathered the hen in her arm. She needed some more light. However, she was met with a new dilemma. She could not carry her book, crayons and Penny at once. She looked to the hen with a tilted head…

A few moments later, Milly emerged from the cupboard, book and crayons in arms, Penny bobbing happily in her hoodie’s pouch, her head poking out of one end and feet kicked out lazily out of the other. The hen crooned as her black and fluffy head cocked back and forth, taking in everything despite her little bead eyes being practically invisible. Entering the living room, she spotted the strawberry-haired woman.

“Hi, Aubrey,” she chirped happily, “Look! I knew this pouch was good for something!” Aubrey jumped at immediately stared wide-eyed at the girl as she perched herself onto the sofa and allowed Penny to climb out and settle next to her. Milly blinked a few times curiously at her.

“She lays white eggs. Like a duck.” she tilted her head with the blunt response, she had spotted it in the nest she had watched the hen make. She had not shown Andy it yet, she worried that they mistake it for an infected egg or a reason for the monsters. Tension was already high in the Lodge, they always seemed to be attacked at the most relaxed times, so how were they supposed to ever fully be happy with the constant threat looming over them? Aubrey, unknowing to the girl’s worries slowly nodded, eyes flickering to the hen, Milly, and the stairway.

“Oh, that’s... Good.” Aubrey said quietly, wondering if she’d be able to book it up the staircase and not leave the poor girl confused. Silence lingered for a moment before Aubrey pushed off the wall and took a seat on the ground across from Milly. Her fingers found themselves around her cap as she tried to focus on the words she wanted to say. The stabbing in her got worse as she opened her mouth to speak.

“So we’re leaving soon so go look for my sister and uhm… I promised you a bit ago I’d look for your house while we’re we’re, uh, in the district.” Aubrey glances everywhere but at the girl in front of her, “Uhm… I don’t really know where you live or, more specifically, what your house looks like.” Her voice faded to be quieter and quieter as the sentence tumbled out of her mouth. Finally, she looked up at the girl and took a deep breath, “I’m trying to ask if you’d draw your house.” Aubrey tried to prepare herself for the worst, but she truly didn’t know what the girl’s response would be.

Milly’s sunny disposition faded at the woman’s words. She turned away from her, her eyes glazed over from the thought. The youngster sighed as she wrapped her arms around her torso, hoping to comfort herself. She had pushed the thought to the back of her head, but now they had been brought back forward, her skinny frame shook. Repressed memories flooded back and while she wanted to run back to the cupboard and curl into a ball in the hope they would pass, she should have seen this coming. The young girl sighed and wordlessly flipped the book open to a blank and crinkled page.

No words were exchanged as Milly slowly drew a sketch of her house. An askew square with a dark-brown prizm roof, two windows at the front with a dark blue, almost royal blue door. The grass was a vivid green and short with her mother’s flowerbeds under the windows. At this point, the small girl paused, a sigh escaping her chest. No doubt the garden would be overgrown, the flowers would be dead and her mother would not be there… hot tears trickled down her pale cheeks, leaving pink trails. Her grip on the crayons tightened and her nostrils fluttered as she fought back the urge to cry. She had not thought of her mother properly in a long time, and now trying to remember her house, all she could think of was her face, her voice, her scent, everything she missed horribly.

That certainly wasn’t the reaction Aubrey expected. She stared at the crying girl for what felt like hours, frozen in shock. While she had promised the girl she’d look for the house, she regretted following through. She did this to Milly. Her shaky hand fumbled with her cap as she sat up on her knees. Instinct took her as she scooted closer to the small girl. Slowly, Aubrey removed the sketchpad and crayon from the girl’s hand and pulled her trembling frame into a hug. Her eyes clenched closed as she placed a hand on the back of the child’s head, scared as to what her response would be. The only reason she could think of as to why she did this was because when she hugged Colt and Owen it seemed to help. With any luck, it would so the same for the small girl.

Milly was surprised at the sudden hug, but upon being pulled into the woman’s safe grip and feeling the closeness of another person, Milly wrapped her own arms around Aubrey, burying her face into the crook of her neck. She did not cry but there was a rhythmic hiccuping as she suppressed it. She could not keep back the dream of approaching that same door, the garden trimmed and flowers bloomed and Eleanor opening the door with her bright smile, arms open and welcoming her into a hug.

After a few moments, Milly finally felt like she could pull away. As she did, she glanced back to the sketchbook before clearing her throat. “Uh-sorry, um. Y-you can’t miss it. It’s the only bungalow on the street.” She finally spoke. Penny hopped and scrambled up onto the sofa, perching herself between the two girls, looking between them with confused blinks. Milly took her bear and held it loosely in her grip, chin resting on top of its white head.

“If… if you find it, would you go in it?” Aubrey’s words were caught in her throat as she watched the heartbreaking scene.

“Yes…” She said quietly, glancing down at the ground for a moment as she nodded, “Yes, of course. Thank you.” Aubrey took the sketchpad and carefully tore the page out. Standing with the slip of paper in her hand, she placed her other palm on Milly’s shoulder and gave it a light squeeze, “I’ll bring back whatever I can. Are there, uhm, any requests?”

It took a few moments for the girl to answer. “Um, just, oh a couple of toys, I don’t mind which ones. As long as they’re cuddly. A-and my blanket. It’s dark blue and velvet, i-it’s a bit heavy but not too bad- it’s weighted I mean.” Still holding herself, now rocking back and forth a little in her seat. “Oh and uh, in the kitchen freezer there should be… things that… mum…” her words faltered as she once again glanced away, before giving herself a light shake.

“I-I mean food. There should be food. And jigsaws. I dunno. Whatever you think we’d need.” she finished. At this point she did not know if she wanted those things. They would bring great comfort, but at the same time would remind her of what had been lost. It was something she had to figure out when they got back. Aubrey had found a crayon and wrote the list on the back of the drawing, nodding along. It was crude scrawlings, but legible nonetheless. She wished she could say something to make it all better for the girl, something that may give some sort of comfort… But all she could do was give a sad smile.

“Thank you, uh, again. And… Sorry.” She said, slowly backing up and giving a small wave as she went to the stairs. Before she stepped up, she hesitated and turned back to her, “The little pouch you put the hen in was very, uh, very resourceful.” With an approving nod, she disappeared up the steps.

Featured: Rumble Fish

 

[Maj]

November 21st, 2018
Owen's Bedroom
2:15AM​

There had once been a time that Owen had slept soundly. When he was young and would stay up late watching cartoons, his mother would be forced to carry him to bed because she couldn’t physically wake him enough to get him to walk on his own. However, that was a long time ago. Years of watching over his shoulder had made the redhead jumpy, even in the twilight of slumber. When the eerie feeling that someone was watching him broke through the thin veil of sleep, Owen’s emerald eyes shot open. He slept with his bat near his bed, a habit earned from many nights wondering if he would have to grab it in a hurry. Instinctually his hand reached for the leather wrapped handle, careful to move slowly as to not alert the dark silhouette in his bedroom doorway.

The room was blanketed in thick, navy darkness. It was hard to see, but the outline of a person was illuminated by the moonlight coming in through the window in the hallway. The muscles in his hand flexed around the handle of the bat, knuckles turning white. He rose quickly, bat at the ready, ignoring the slight pang in his side.

“I’m sorry.”

The waterlogged voice stopped him in his tracks. Owen lowered the bat, cocking his head to the side. Adrenaline still surged, trying to break through the fog of sleep. Something didn’t feel right but it was as if he couldn’t quite hold onto the fleeting thoughts long enough to make sense of it.

“I didn’t mean to wake you. I’ll go.”
“Andy?” The woman’s voice was so strained that he almost didn’t recognize it. His large hand went to fumble with the chain of the lamp on his nightstand. She was already turning from him when the light flickered on, features hidden behind a veil of messy, damp red hair. Large eyes blinked repetitively as one of his massive fists came to rub the remnants of sleep from his corneas.

“Wait. What are you doing here?” Owen asked. The girl paused, but did not look up from the ground. He tilted his head, trying to get a look at her face but she was careful to keep it hidden as she walked into his room and sat down next to him on the edge of the bed. The mattress creaked, sagging slightly under the weight of the extra body. Tension fell over him as he waited for the ball to drop. Looking at her was like getting an unexpected phone call at 4am, it only meant bad news. The subtle sound of a sniffle broke through the stillness of the room.

“Andy, what is it?” Slowly, she looked up to meet his gaze. Her freckled face was red and splotchy. Eyes, normally smug and irritated, were bloodshot and lime, as if the heat of her tears had leached the color from her hues. An unsteady hand pushed her hair back before coming up under her button nose, wiping it on the back of her sleeve. It was impossible to tear his eyes away from her, wide with worry. Owen had to fight the urge to reach out to touch her, afraid to spook her like a wounded, feral animal.

“Are you okay?”

“No,” came the watery response.

“Do you want to talk about it?” her brother asked.

“No,” her voice cracked, frayed and fragile, hanging on by final threads. She leaned on his shoulder and the male stiffened, unsure of how to act. He hadn’t seen his sister cry in the greater part of a decade. Slowly, he shifted, wrapping his arm around the girl’s shoulders. He could feel her body convulse, trying to stifle silent sobs. When she didn’t pull back, Owen wrapped his other arm around her, palm cradling the back of her head. The tears were hot, soaking into the thin material of the Iron Maiden T-shirt he wore. Her fist was clenched in the fabric, cracking the graphic beneath her nails. He leaned his head down on top of hers, allowing her to cling to him for whatever she needed.

As a brother, Owen had expected to spend his teen years comforting his sister from heartbreak. He had been prepared to threaten the ones stupid enough to hurt her and to warn her away from men he knew to be bad for her. However, it had never come. Andy never had boyfriends and she never cared about anyone enough to let them affect her in any meaningful way. She probably broke far more hearts than she ever connected to. He had been resentful once, like she had deprived him of some sacred duty, but looking at her now frustrated and aching he was glad no one had ever gotten to her before.

Owen reached down and gently brushed his sister’s hair from her brow. It stuck to her face, the tears adhering it to her cheeks. He put his thumb under her chin and forced her to look up at him. She rebuked at first, trying to turn her eyes from his, ashamed. Owen smiled gently at her until she calmed. His heart ached alongside hers without knowing the reason in its entirety.

“Aren’t you going to blame this on Luca?” She asked, voice weak but sobering. Owen shook his head. It was obvious to him that this had something to do with the Italian, but somehow Owen doubted this was his fault.

“Whatever insensitive thing he did, I know that he didn’t mean to hurt you,” Owen spoke gently. “He can be an asshole, but he means well.” It felt weird to defend him, but as he said it, Owen knew it was true. The male thought back to the conversation that he and Luca had shared only days before. Brasi’s statement had confused him then, but it didn’t now. Whatever Owen had thought about Luca, it was obvious the man cared for his sister. Once he had known both Andy and Luca better than anyone, now there were days that he felt like a total stranger to both of them. However, he knew well enough to know Luca had meant what he had said to him that day.

“He loves you, Andy” She didn’t speak but nodded in agreement. That only brought up further questions, but the male chose not to press her. Andy leaned back down to Owen. He froze at first, unfamiliar with the affection. However, he was honored she had chosen to come to him. It had been so long since she had relied on him for anything, yet here she was in her moment of need. Maybe the rift between them had never been as bad as he had feared.

And so, for the first time since she was sixteen years old, Andrea Jordan laid her head in brother’s lap and cried.