Realistic or Modern Patient Zero (A Zombie Survival RP)

[Hyped_Taco]

Part 3
​

“Okay so maybe we could…” Any hope for formulating the rest of his plan stopped dead when his eyes fell on Nile in the corner.

“My man,” the twin began, trying desperately to keep all frustration and bewilderment out of his tone. “Did you build a throne out of rotting meat and boxes?” He knew Nile to be an expert at building impressive feats out of less than impressive materials but the disgusting and ridiculous conglomeration in front of him was enough to send the most patient men over the deep end.

“This is our life now. We live by the happy meals, and we die by the happy meals” Nile rattled on blankly, leaning against the pile none-too-affectionately called a ‘throne’. “All because of fucking hentai”.

“How the fuck did you even manage to build that so quickly?” Owen asked, clearly questioning the priorities of all involved in this clusterfuck they were calling a supply run.

Squinting suspiciously at the redhead, Nile slowly said “It’s been like two hours, man. Or something like that. I dunno, I don’t have a watch.”

“Oh my god.” Owen slumped against a nearby wall, and threw his head in his hands. “I’m going insane.”

“Mhhh… Impressive, most impressive.” The neckbeard said while examining the crudely made throne of Nile.

“But it matters not. For your throne does not manage to compare to the engineering might of- of...” He had not yet thought of a name, so Michael ended up using whatever came up in his head first.

“Of Michaeltopolis!” the man said while standing over the so called ‘structures’ he had started creating a while ago once he had noticed Nile building up his throne. He hadn't had the time to build anything as big, so the most impressive building in Michaeltopolis thus far was it’s few roads. They were made out of patty boxes and some paper in it’s less developed areas, but they did their job; they connected the fridge to the door of the freezer, and both of them connected into a slightly bigger ‘road’ that led to the pile of boxes where Michael had laid down earlier.

Truly, all roads lead to McRome.

“Told you” Nile said, eyes lifeless as he slumped against his throne, “Three hours. Or four.”

“So instead of trying to come up with anything helpful, you guys have been playing minecraft with rotting mcdoubles?” Owen was beyond frustration now. The absolute ridiculousness of the situation had taken the redhead from irritation to manic laughter.

“Well, actually we’re mostly playing minecraft with rotting Big macs” Michael said, having decided to correct Owen.

“That’s it, open the fucking door. I’m fighting my way through. I am not going to rot in the freezer along with your damn playdough.” Owen tossed his hands up and came to his feet, a man ready to face his fate. “I’d rather become zombie food than stay here a second fucking longer.”

“I second that” Nile said blankly.

“I third that” Michael got up from where he was and quickly prepared himself to face whatever was outside the safety of the freezer. He would not be missing the smell of this place.

Owen readied his bat, pulling it tight over his shoulder. He was ready to do whatever it took to get out of this idiocy infected hellhole. The redhead nodded to Michael to open the freezer door.

Michael nodded back to Owen and began walking towards the metal door of the room. His hand reached forwards to the handle of the door and he began pull it.

“Open it Mikey. Let’s get this over with.”

The neckbeard began to pull harder and harder until he realized that for now, the door would not buckle.

“uhhhh… guys.” Michael slowly began turning around to face the pair of men in the room. “I think it’s locked.”

“Locked?” Horror consumed Owen’s freckled features. That would be about the most tragic thing that could have happened to them. Who would even find them? They were in a McDonald’s walk-in freezer of all places and a ways off track from the plan he had told Andy before they left. The radio didn’t get a signal within the metal walls of their new prison. Owen was sure, he had tried several times.

“No, no, no,” Owen’s hands went up to his hairline, grabbing a fistful of it in a fit of frustration. “Try it again. Nile, don’t you have anything you can use to take the door apart maybe? We can’t get fucking stuck in here.”

Nile laughed, bordering hysterical, as he stared distantly into space with a manic look of masochistic amusement. “With what? Wet cardboard, big macs, some PVC piping and a couple shelving units more plastic than metal? My middle name might be Macgyver, bu-hang on…” Nile trailed off, muttering incoherently to himself as he jumped to his feet and started frantically taking inventory of the resources at hand, shutting off any outside interruptions.

“Welp, we’re fucked aren’t we” said Michael in an unusual nonchalant way while raising his hands in surrender.

Turning on his flashlight, the man walked towards where he had left his backpack and just like Nile, began to take inventory of whatever resources he had brought from the lodge.

“Alright I have uhhh...” the man reached into his backpack “oh- half a bottle of water, an unopened old can of ravioli Chef Boyardee I found on the RV, and an open bag of Doritos. I say that if we ration this correctly we could like, probably survive for like a week more in here guys.”

While it may have looked like he was indifferent right now, Michael was freaking the fuck out as much as the two other men in the room.

Owen did his best to keep his breathing under control. He felt the panic swell in his chest, hot air trapped in his throat. His mind raced, trying to think of literally any solution out of the smelly, revolting prison that the three of them had managed to trap themselves in. Nothing came. Owen had fought special zombies that could climb walls, he had fought hoards and soldiers, been shot through the lung and somehow a locked freezer door was the way he was going out. He shook his head and laughed.

Collab: Maj Togy

 

[Maj]

PART 4​

---Three and half hours later---

To be honest, Owen wasn’t sure how he ended up here. The brute of a man was eclipsed by what was a surprisingly elaborate structure. His strong arms were supported by armrests made out of the finest cardboard that McDonald's happy meals had to offer. Despite the fact that he was a few inches over six feet, the throne was even taller. While sitting, his feet barely touched the floor and the back rest seemed to make him look small in comparison. Expertly hand-crafted out of whatever vile materials Nile and Michael had found, the throne was truly a sight to behold. Upon his head, nestled among his wavy ginger head was a crown. One of them had carefully punched the serrated edges from one of the happy meal boxes, and then added material to it so it would fit on his massive skull.

Owen had long given up trying the radio, which now could be heard faintly beeping from his bag as the battery slowly died. After demanding Nile figure out some way to take the door off the hinges, he had realized that too was in vain. With no other options but to succumb to the madness, he sat regally in his rotting throne.

The loud reverberating sound of banging metal had been echoing through the small freezer for the past twenty odd minutes. Nile, either out of raw fury or in some vain attempt to end his suffering, had been ruthlessly bashing his forehead against the door as hard as he possibly could.

Once he reached the thirty minute mark, he slammed his head against the door one last time before groaning pitifully and slowly slumping to the floor. After a few minutes of doing nothing but stare silently into space, completely still, he began slowly banging his head against the door again, this time much more quietly and softly.

Slowly yet steadily, a wall of Mcdonald’s cardboard packages continued being built between the border of Owen’s new yet rising freezer empire and Michael’s realm. While he had helped Nile build Owen’s throne, he wouldn’t lower himself and his lands to be annexed by the expansionist ginger’s empire, not now and not in a million years… or to be exact, and never within the next 72 hours, since that’s the time it would probably take for dehydration to finish them all.

Owen’s right hand man, Nile, seemed to have succumbed to madness, while Owen himself had sat immobile on his rotting golden throne, most likely having surrendered to the dark times that had loomed over all of them. Pathetic. The neckbeard would refuse to give to the dark forces of chaos and would stand strong and protect his newly reformed Imperium of Michael.

His realm covered at most one third of all inhabitable space inside the freezer, with most space behind the wall being cluttered with ‘marvelously’ placed McDonalds packages, each symbolizing a building for his nonexisting subjects. The Imperium of Michael had inside it two settlements, which his god emperor had spent the last three hours building. It’s first, largest and oldest settlement was Michaeltopolis, which had begun being constructed at the same time as Owen’s current throne; meanwhile, it’s second settlement, Schmidttopia, was still under construction.

Yet all empires face times of darkness. Once Michael had become satisfied with the size of the wall keeping out the barbarians from his Imperium, he stood up. Unfortunately for the emperor, he slipped, and with that he sealed the fate of his beloved Imperium. With his fall, the neckbeard took alongside him nearly half of Michaeltopolis and one third of Schmidttopia, along with parts of his just finished wall. Several boxes were thrown across the freezer by accidentally having kicked some after having fallen down.

Witnessing the state of his beloved Imperium after having stood up, Michael slowly sat back down on the ground, put both of his hands on his face, and began to weep.

As if the sounds of Michael’s wailing were some sort of reverse siren’s song, Owen’s eyes fluttered in annoyance. There was no telling how many hours had since passed with them all slowly driving each other mad, but this was his breaking point. He would rather tear every muscle in his body trying to rip the giant freezer door from its hinges than sit here and listen to a single second more of Nile and Michaels insanity.

The ginger rose from his compost throne, shoulders squared with the determination that only came from a man ready to give up his life for freedom. Strong hands wrapped around the leather grip of his bat and it felt good in his hands. He stared at the door with wide, dilated eyes.

Mere moments after he had finally given up, Michael heard the noise of several boxes falling, a sound he had become too accustomed to hear, and the sound of steps away from his direction. Curiosity getting the better of him, Michael slowly took the hands away from his face and began to look up.

He saw the redheaded man approaching the door, and realized what he was about to do next. Realizing that either his success or failure to open the door would make or break them, Michael decided to finish his half eaten bag of doritos. If the door opened they would serve to celebrate their victory over the metallic door, and if he failed… well, at least he would get to taste them one last time.

Owen began wailing on the door with everything left in him. The display honestly could have put the smashing of his vehicle to shame. Each muscle in his back almost groaned in protest as he smashed wildly into the hinges. Nothing he did seemed to make a dent. He let out a guttural yell, before literally clawing at the screws that held the door in place with his hands, cracking nails against the metal. He threw himself into the door with vigor, yelling and cursing in a violent display.

“Let. Me. Out. Of. Here.” Owen growled, each word cut off by the weight of his massive form slamming into the door with all his might. Again, there was no success. In fact, the only evidence of his display of strength was the bruising that was starting to grow on his shoulder under his jacket.

“This is fucking hopeless!” He yelled, but it was clear the fight was gone from him again, his massive form sliding down to the floor to rest, possibly forever. He braced himself against the door as he slid to sit, his weight pressing on the handle of the door and pulling it inward.

CLICK

Owen’s eyes widened as he looked at the now slightly ajar door. He blinked several times as he looked at it in utter disbelief. It was open. Owen had pulled the handle open. Upon further thought he realized that he hadn’t even tried to use the handle. It had been Michael who had tried to open the door.

“Michael…” Owen began, his head turning eerily slow and his voice laced with false honey. “It’s a pull handle. Did you try to pull it before telling me it was locked?”

Collab: Hyped_Taco Togy

 

[Togy]

Supersize Me
Part 5
​

The neckbeard’s face lighted up faster than it ever had before. He had done it, the crazy redheaded son of a bitch had actually managed to open the door. Quickly getting up on his feet, Michael wanted to approach the man to congratulate him, hug him, or simply say thanks to the man for managing to get the door open, yet he stopped once he got another good look at him.

Even though the man’s voice sounded sweet… perhaps even too sweet considering the situation, it could do nothing to hide the way in which Owen now looked at Michael. He looked… angry? no, that would be too lax. He looked enraged at him. And upon considering the question… yeah, he was as good as dead.

“Haha… you see- uhm, that sure is a good question you know” the neckbeard began nervously backing away from the man. “One which, uh- If you really think about it, there is a certain possibility that I may or may not have tried to pull the door befo-”

“You can kill him later!” Nile said, desperate as he nearly fell over Owen trying to leave the freezer, “Let me out!”

"Honestly?" Owen said with a heavy sigh. "Same." All desire to wring Michaels fat neck evaporated at the scent of fresh air. The smell of rotting corpses was almost welcoming compared to the smell of damp cardboard and rotting hamburger.

The ginger halted in his steps at the sound of his radio finally coming to life. His sister’s frantic voice was on the other side of it. While Owen didn’t have a watch, and time was a concept that only barely existed anymore, it was clear that they had indeed been locked in the freezer for quite some time because a damp darkness had fallen over the restaurant.

“Owen?” He heard her call. “I think I just saw his radio come online.” He wasn’t sure who his sister was talking to, but it was clear she had been trying to get in contact with him for a while.

“Yeah, I’m here.” He responded. “But this radio might die any second.”

“Where in all of fuck have you been?” She snapped, obviously irritated. “We've been trying to find you for hours.”

“Apparently walk-in freezers don’t respond well to radio signals,” her twin responded. “Sorry to worry you Andy. We got stuck between a hoard and a potentially locked freezer, but we are out now.”

“Colt, wait, he finally picked up. Don’t leave yet.” She was distracted, talking to others as she addressed him. “Get your ass home Owen, you were supposed to be back hours ago.”

“Yeah I know, we are almost done. We haven’t made it to Michaels house yet,” Owen’s tired voice came over the radio to explain.

“I don’t care, there is nothing there important enough to be out in the city at night. Come home.” Andy pushed.

“That’s going to be a negative Ghost Rider,” Owen cooed, eyes on the window to the street. He gestured for Nile and Michael to look where he was. The hoard that had chased them into the freezer hadn’t gone far, in fact it seemed like the dead were just outside the doors, still in far larger numbers than he could deal with.

“As much as it pains me to admit it. We are going to have to stay here tonight.”

“If it’s all the same to you,” Nile hissed, gently stepping around the kitchen area to find anything helpful, “I’d much rather die.”

Pressing his face against a window, the shorter man frowned. “Sign’s a bust, operates on a fusebox at the base, not even guaranteed to have power...same goes for the car alarms, could work if we had anything that reached 315MHz, but the radio only reaches 250...Fuck, I dunno, either of you got a universal remote? Maybe I can flip on a TV from here” Nile mumbled, head clutched in hands as he sagged against the counter.

“Alright, so first off and If that documentary I saw like a decade ago is right, shouldn't all energy be out by now for us to even plan anything with electricity?” Michael replied to the short man’s mumble while carefully looking at the horde from the fast food restaurant's window.

“And second off… are you really trying to suggest we pull a telltale right now with a universal remote?” Michael asked in a low tone while slowly backing away from the windows.

Owen nodded approvingly at Michael’s response. He didn’t even know that Nile played video games. Maybe he didn’t, but it did feel like a big ass coincidence.

“I’m being hopeful here, Michael,” Nile drawled.

“I’m just glad no one took a page out of that book and smashed anyones heads in the walk-in,” the redhead admitted. Although, in annoyance and frustration, there had been times he thought about it.

“Places like this often have backup generators. You think big daddy corporate McDonalds lets their employees go home during a power outage?” Owen asked with a sarcastic laugh. “Not on your life. It’s a decent plan. If you think you can get it up and running Nile, I’ll help you find it. Maybe we can use it to draw the zombies in so we can get the fuck out. I’m so tired of the smell of rotten b-grade beef.”

“Assuming, for whatever goddamn reason, this McDonald’s has a backup generator it’d probably be some hardware store portable piece of shit. So, it's probably hooked up to the building by some cables out back, or something, which is where all the zombies ar-Have I mentioned this has been a really shitty fucking day?” Nile said, voice almost cracking, “As in, this is breaching my top ten.”

"Mine too, although it might be topped by that time you forced me into a zombie infested apartment at gunpoint, but that's just me." Owen said with a shrug.

Incredulous, Nile motioned to Michael a few feet away, miming 'DUDE'.

"Come on man, let's go check it out. We will both do what we do best yeah? I'll handle the zombies, you, handle the generator." Owen grinned mischievously as he threw the bat over his shoulder.

Tags: Them fellers

 

[Maj]

PART 6​

It didn't take long for Owen and Nile to spot the generator in question. He had been right, it was less advanced than the one at the lodge. Most of the zombies had hoarded toward the front, but that wouldn't last long if the two of them made too much noise clanking about.

They stood at the back door, the large metal thing cracked just enough to see what was going on outside.

"How long do you think you'll need to get it running?" The redhead whispered.

“I dunno, I haven’t seen it yet. Maybe I just have to press the on switch” Nile whispered.

Very promising. Owen resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Wordlessly he handed Michael his radio and bag of supplies.

"Here is how this is going to go down," Owen began in a no nonsense manner. "I'm gonna go get the corpses that are in your way out of your way. Nile, you are going to haul your ass to that generator and do whatever you can as quickly as you can. If it's hopeless, you are to haul your ass back to the door as quickly and silently as possible. If we start attracting too much heat, I'll keep them off you till you get to the door. Michael?" The redhead turned to the larger man and sighed.

“It's your job to keep this door ready for us when we come back. It doesn’t open from the outside. Those bags I just gave you have a lot of the supplies we gathered while we were out, if I tell you to get the hell out of here, take that and the radio and Nile and get back to the lodge.” Owen stretched his right arm over his left shoulder. “We are going to hope it doesn’t come to that, but let's be honest-” the twin let out a sarcastic laugh. “I have a habit of taking on a bit more than I can chew.”

“That...” Nile narrowed his eyes, “...wasn’t funny.”

While not exactly ecstatic about being assigned the equivalent of guard duty, Michael understood that while not glamorous as either keeping the zombies at bay nor checking the generator, making sure that their only escape route was secured was equally as vital as either of the other two.

“Got it.” Michael stretched his hand to grab the bags Owen was passing to him before heading to the door.

“Alright, let’s get this over with.” The former baseball star picked up his bat, rotating it through his wrist with a fluid and practiced motion. He did his best to control his breathing which threatened to quicken under the adrenaline that always came before a fight. With three heavy breaths the man exited the back door.

There weren’t many, but he knew that depending on how much noise Nile would have to make working on the generator that it might not stay that way for long. There were three of the monsters in the immediate area between the backdoor of the restaurant and the generator and at least five more within sight. Thankfully his bat was far quieter than any of the firearms the others were packing. He walked down the stairs with intention, wasting no time but doing his best to move quietly. The sound of the door alerted the closest corpse and it tilted its head in Owen’s direction, like a dog perking up its ears. Owen swung the bat back over his shoulder and let his weight step into the swing as he let the bat connect to the monster’s skull. It didn’t crack like he was used to. Almost as if months of being dead had softened the bone. It did the job though causing the thing to fall lifelessly in front of the twin, landing on the pavement with a satisfying plop.

He turned on his heels to his left, the next one becoming aware of his existence either by smell or by sound, Owen wasn’t sure. Ultimately it didn’t matter. He mimicked his earlier actions and swung his bat, connecting it to the monster before it could get close enough to grab him. His long arms came in useful for that at least. The large man raised his hand in a signal for Nile to head for the generator as he turned toward the last zombie in the back area.

As calmly as he could while a dozen walking corpses were in eyesight, Nile knelt down next to the generator and flicked the on switch. Nothing happened.

Letting out an annoyed sigh, he muttered “Well there goes that hope…”

Owen did his best to keep his heart rate steady as he heard the bad news over where Nile was. He kept his focus on the zombie in front of him, and two others that were now rounding the side of the building. It wouldn’t be long before the hoard found their way stumbling towards them. Owen hooked his left leg under the right knee of the zombie. They had little balance to begin with so it took almost no effort to know the monster to the ground. After that, one hard swing to the skull was all it took to fell it.

“What's the verdict Nile? Do we have any hope to get that POS running?” Owen didn’t yell, but he did talk loud enough so that the man could hear him.

“I dunno, I’m working with my hands here. If the generator’s fucked, it’s fucked. Nothing I can do without tools.” Huffing, Nile fiddled with the back of the generator.

“Whatever you are gonna do, do it quick,” Owen snarled back. It wasn’t Nile’s fault, but the stream of zombies wasn’t stopping. “Or if it’s not gonna work call it so we can lock ourselves back in before this gets out of hand.” His breath was becoming airy as he did his best to keep the monsters from getting close to Nile, but the numbers kept increasing and it would be seconds before it was too much for Owen to keep at bay.

“Just, hang on, maybe-Oh, that did something,” Nile trailed off into a mutter before a steady hum began to emanate from the generator.

“Nevermind, I guess that worked.”

Michael had been observing from inside the safety of the building what his companions were doing to turn on the generator. The neckbeard had difficulty understanding what the two were saying, and started to worry about if he would even be able to hear Owen’s signal. Yet before worry could continue to eat him from the inside, the sound of the generator turning on could be heard as clear as day from inside the fast-food restaurant. Without a moment of hesitation after hearing it, Michael quickly opened the door so that both other survivors could enter.

“What the hell are you waiting for then?” Owen called. The sound of the generator did exactly as they had predicted and the zombies were now flooding around both sides of the buildings.

“Get the fuck back inside!” The redhead stopped trying to kill them, now the trick was just getting away. He was faster than most living humans, and that gave him a pretty good advantage against ones with rotting muscles.

Nile, the coward he was, had already made it inside before Owen had even told him to.

Owen was just behind him, closing the distance between himself and the door where Michael held it open for him. Just a few steps to clear and hed be back inside the safety of the restaurant, they could wait for the zombies to flood to the back and then quickly try to slip by and into the next safe house on their way to Michaels. The plan had worked, they were so damn close.

It made the plummet to the concrete all the more tragic.

Owen wasn’t sure if it was a misstep of his own, or a monster who had managed to grab at his leg, but the stairs quickly came to meet his face. He felt the pain of his lip busting on the rough concrete, but didn’t have time to focus on it. His bat fell to the ground as he did, and there was a monster clinging to his ankle.

The bat clattered forward and rolled into the building, with Nile stepping on it and almost tripping over it. Catching himself seconds away from faceplanting, the shorter man looked back to Owen. Cursing, he bent down, grabbed the bat, and channeled all the games of baseball he never played into one half-decent swing over the corpse’s head. Jaw catching on a concrete step due to the downward force, the creature fell limp in a small spray of blood and broken teeth.

Mere moments after Nile entered the building, Michael could see Owen falling face-first into the ground, being pulled back by a crawling undead. However, it seemed like Michael was not the only one to notice it, given that Nile quickly grabbed the baseball player’s bat before quickly returning outside. Although scared of heading outside where the horde was ever so slowly gaining ground on them, Michael quickly left the bags Owen had given him near the edge of the door so it would not close before he too ran outside to aid the redhead.

Nile was seemingly taking care of the creature, so Michael headed straight to the fallen man. Once in front of him, the neckbeard extended his hand towards Owen so that he could help him get up. “My guy, Mcdonald's is no place for you to die.”

Owen was still catching his breath as he took Michaels hand, never more grateful for either of the two knuckleheads he was traveling with. He used the leverage to pull himself quickly to his feet. The redhead gave Michael a sheepish smile.

“Thanks man, I was about to be fast food,” Owen joked with a self-deprecating laugh, his own pun too lame for even himself. He shook his head sadly. “Can we get out of here? I don’t like what this place is doing to me.”

“You’re making me regret helping you, you know that?” Michael jokingly replied to Owen. “Yeah, let’s get the fuck outta here man, I always preferred wendy’s anyway.” The redhead laughed again in response

“Do either of you ever eat at home?” Nile asked incredulously before handing the redhead his bat.

Collab: Hyped_Taco Togy

 

[Hyped_Taco]

Part 7​

The plan worked more or less like they had anticipated. The hum of the generator and the now active beaming McDonalds sign had lured the zombies into the restaurant. It took some careful maneuvering and quick feet but the trio was able to slink past most of the herd and only had to take on a few stragglers as they escaped the hellish walls that had been their prison for more than half a day. With undead hot on their tails, Owen hotwired the nearest working vehicle and the three were off to Michael’s house. This time, with Owen behind the wheel and determined not to get off course any further than necessary.

The redhead followed Michael’s verbal instructions and drove as carefully as he could through the neighborhoods. Thankfully he knew the streets well and when they came to a road block of cars or more corpses, he was able to quickly reroute them. It wasn’t long before Owen was pulling into the driveway of their large friend’s home.

The house was located near the edge of the suburbs, not too far from the main street that lead to the city. One floor tall and with a sort of stone exterior, it could be easily described as a rather average middle class home.

Owen grabbed the handle of the driver's side car door and popped it open. There wasn’t going to be enough gas in the tank to get back home. However, there were plenty of parked cars around here, and with some rubber hose and a gas can, Owen was sure he could siphon enough gasoline to get them back to the lodge.

“Mikey, you or your folks have a shed or something? I’m going to deal with our getaway car while you gather up the rest of the things you need from here,” Owen instructed.

After more than a month away from it, the neckbeard was back home, albeit it would be for a short time. Sure, it didn’t technically belong to him, but still, for nearly the last year and a half he had lived there. Seeing it brought both a small smile and some amount of nostalgia to the corpulent man

Hearing Owen’s voice brought Michael back to the present. “Oh, sure dude, there’s one in the backyard just let me go unlock the door for it.”

“Alright, cool deal.” Owen nodded his head in Nile’s direction. “Why don’t you come with me, yeah?” The redhead asked his companion. “You saw what happened the last time I was left alone with a car. I’d rather this one not break down on us.”

Hesitantly, the shorter man shrugged in acceptance. “Eh, honestly? I only know the basic shit. Electrical engineering only gets you so far with a car engine.”

“I think between the two brain cells we have left we can figure out how to siphon out some gas,” Owen said with a sad laugh. “Come on, we aren’t much help to Mikey grabbing his stuff.”

Walking towards the front door, Michael was careful not to step on the rather disgustingly liquified and decaying bodies of the two undead he had somehow managed to kill when he had left his house the month prior. Once near the front door Michael saw the thing he least expected to encounter while looking down.

It was his keys. He had believed back then that he had locked himself out of the house and left the keys inside, yet now he knew it was only half the truth. Apparently in the time between him fighting the two undead outside his house and him running away from a small horde of them, at some point he’d accidentally dropped his keys. The neckbeard looked at them, and they mockingly looked back at him.

In response to this revelation, Michael chuckled while picking them up from the ground and opened the door.

Collab: Maj Togy

 

[Maj]

​

Owen led the way over to the shed that Michael had pointed out to them. Nile was in tow, although it seemed somewhat begrudgingly. The day had been shitty for everyone, that much wasn’t to be contested, however things between him and the engineer had felt tense since they came back from the run into town. Despite their attempts to talk it out, things hadn’t gotten much better.

He rummaged around the shed in silence, grabbing the gas can and ripping some old rubber hosing off of an abandoned machine of some sort. It would do for their task anyway, and Owen figured Michaels parents weren’t going to need whatever it was he just dismantled anytime soon. He hadn’t asked, but the fact that Michael didn’t talk about his parents was a pretty good indicator that they were likely no longer among the living.

There were plenty of abandoned cars on the suburban streets, one or two of them were bound to have the gasoline that they needed. Owen nodded wordlessly toward the cars and took the charge over to the road, bat in one hand, can and hose in the other.

“I never thought I’d look forward to the smell and taste of gasoline,” the redhead joked. “But after our time in the freezer, I’ll take anything that can help wash that memory from my senses.”

“Have you ever even siphoned gas before?” Nile asked, entirely unimpressed by the joke.

“Yes.” Owen turned to give Nile a pointed look, speaking very to the point. “I have. Plenty of times. Gas is expensive and I spent a lot of time driving in my line of work.” He shrugged as if to convey this was no big deal and pointed out a car ahead of them. It was parked outside of a very nice-looking garage, the tarp still pulled over to protect it from the elements. With the tarp still intact, the chances of someone else already doing exactly what he planned to do were minimal.

Saying ‘Oh, great, you can do it for me,’ sounded too mean even for Nile, so he wisely chose a different topic.

“You’re telling me. I siphoned enough to get me from Brooklyn to here, never paid a gas station a dime,” Nile said idly, kneeling down next to the car and lining up the hose.

“That’s fairly impressive,” Owen said with a half laugh. “That’s a lot of hose sucking.” The man stopped, cocking his head in the realization of the crud joke lurking under his words, and judging by the way Nile cocked his head, he got it too. “Don’t read into that.” He reached down and began the siphon, hoping he was able to get it flowing without accidently swallowing any gasoline.

Owen could smell it before it got to his lips, and thankfully was able to remove his mouth before too much of the gas got inside of it. He put the tube into the gas can as he spit on the ground, sticking his tongue out and making a face at the taste.

“Here, let me,” Nile insisted, taking the hose. “My tastebuds are dead and gone anyway.” Without further insistance, he started sucking on the hose.

“Thanks man,” Owen said gratefully. “Does being nice to me mean you are done avoiding me?” he asked pointedly as he stood over Nile.

Nile suddenly convulsed. Gas spitting from between his lips, he let go of the hose and unexpectedly hacked up what looked like a lung full of gasoline. After a concerningly long amount of time of coughing up gas, he wiped his lips and, as calmly as he could after nearly choking to death on a gallon and a half of Gasoline, asked “What was that?”

“You’ve been avoiding me.” Owen repeated, without breaking eye contact. “Are we ready to move past that? Because I honestly find it more tedious than anything.”

“Y’know, the natural response would be wanting to see me around a lot less” Nile stressed, lining up his mouth with the hose again if only to have an excuse to stop talking to the taller man.

“We sort of live together,” Owen retorted. “And as long as you don’t go kidnapping anyone els98e it appears we might be doing that for a long time. I’d rather not have to do our chores together in awkward silence anymore. You can’t keep avoiding this forever and that includes your guilt about what happened on our last run.”

Nile cringed more and more as the man kept talking, forgetting the hose in front of him entirely. “I can, and I will,” he would know, he’d done it before, “And besides, soon enough, you won’t even have to worry about me. I’ll be out of your hair in no time.”

“Yeah?” Owen asked, leaning against the car with one hip and crossing his arms. The vehicle shifted slightly under his weight as he did so. “You gonna run off into the sunset with some siphoned gas and a stolen vehicle? Where are you going to go Nile? What’s going to happen when the hazmats stop you at the quarantine around Aurora or you get yourself in a situation where you have another hoard to navigate around? Or worse. What are you going to do the next time you are so damn high you can’t even tell human from corpse?” Owen let out a sarcastic snort. “You need us Nile, and as weird as it sounds we need you at the lodge too.”

“What you need,” Nile stressed, standing up, “is as much distance between me and you as possible. I’m not your goddamn problem, Owen, and you would be a lot better off if you stopped TRYING to make me your problem.”

“No, you’re right.” Owen nodded thoughtfully, with his arms still crossed over his chest. “You aren’t my problem, nor am I going to make you my problem. I’ve been around more than my fair share of addicts Nile, and if I’ve learned nothing else I do know this.” He paused to make sure he could look the man in the eye when he spoke.

“No one gets to fix this for you, even if they wanted to. Nothing I do or say will make a lick of difference until you decide you want something better for yourself. I just wish you did.” The large man sighed before relaxing his posture. Owen wasn’t trying to lecture Nile, in fact he had told himself he was actively going to try not to. He was right. Until Nile wanted to change he wasn’t going to, Owen just didn’t want things to be tense between them.

“I happen to like you Nile. I enjoy talking to you, I don’t know if you knew this but you are funny as hell.” The twin let out a sad chuckle, “Humor is something a lot of people at the lodge are severely lacking in lately. It’s just nice to be around. So yeah, maybe the smart thing would be to put distance between us, but I just don’t want to.”

The softer words hit harder than the ranting, tugging at Nile’s heartstrings and making him feel like a piece of shit. But, as Nile was, that wasn’t a foreign feeling.

“Look,” Nile began, tone full of irritation, “it’s a nice sentiment, but not appreciated. If you’re looking for a friend, go talk to Michael. Right now, you’ve got the wrong guy.”

The words felt like gravel, forcing them out, but he’s done this before, he could do it again. “Whoever you think I am, whatever you think you see ‘deep down inside’ or some dumb bullshit like that, you’re wrong. I’m a…” Nile swallowed, hard, “I’m a bad fuckin’ person, Owen. I do bad shit for bad reasons, alright? All there is to it.”

“Okay.” Owen said, nodding thoughtfully. “That doesn’t make you any worse than the rest of us. It's not some badge of dishonor that you get to wear on your chest to push everyone away. Luca is a literal mob boss, I used to beat up addicts for money, Andy is an ass to everyone she walks past without reason or provocation. We have all done bad shit man, but it doesn’t have to destroy us. It doesn’t have to destroy you." Owen stood up tall, the difference in the height of the two men becoming more apparent as he straightened his spine. His words were blunt, but there was still something akin to softness in his features, understanding even.


“You can run from me, and from the lodge and from the only people who seemingly have had your back in a long time, but you can’t keep avoiding this.” He waved around to gesture at everything. “It’s going to catch up to you, and I personally would rather keep you around to berate me about shitty car repairs.” The redhead reached into his bag with one of his massive hands and it returned holding a large bottle of pills. He tossed it at Nile. The man let it fall at his feet.

“I got these from Hector. It's part of why we went to the pharmacy. Luca’s going through some similar shit. Apparently whatever is in that bottle helps with the side effects of the withdrawals. What you do with that bottle and where you decide to go is ultimately up to you. I hope you make the right call.” Owen took a deep breath and left Nile with the gas can, walking to go rejoin with Michael at the house and bunker down for the night. He had done all he could and at this point and Owen was no longer interested in wasting his breath.

Nile stared after the man in silence, muttering a few choice curses before kneeling down to continue siphoning gas. He wasn’t even mad the man had left him to do all the work himself, he wanted to be alone just as much as they did.

He spotted the pill bottle in the corner of his vision, slowly rolling under the car from where it’d been dropped. Nile stared at it, long and hard, until it had rolled almost completely out of reach under the vehicle.

Giving a long, drawn out sigh, he stretched his arm so far under the car he feared it would never see the light of day again and snatched the pill bottle.

Collab: Togy
Mention: shadowz1995 Hyped_Taco

 

[Corgi]

Part One
​

It had occurred to Aubrey that over the course of the supply run, there were a lot of questions she had that went unanswered. It had shocked her to find out that Owen knew her sister- so naturally, she wondered how well did Owen know Charlotte? Due to many reasons, most of which she regretted now, Aubrey wasn’t present in her sister’s life growing up. She didn’t know the kind of people Charlotte kept around, who her friends or hobbies were. In fact, she barely knew the kind of person her sister was. If Owen knew Charlotte well, then he could inform her about her sister’s interests.

As soon as the woman remembered the question she had been dying to know, she wasted no time finding the redhead. She raced to the lodge, ran up the stairs, and swung open Owen’s door. In poor Aubrey’s excitement, she forgot all manners. She was on a mission and pleasantries like knocking weren’t going to get in her way.
And for poor Owen, that meant a blonde burst into his room right as he was changing.

Owen reached for his unbuttoned pants much like a teenager whose mom had barged in on him changing. His shirt was still mostly off, but luckily for Aubrey, he had just gotten his pants up around his hips when she had thrown the door open. He let out an awkward laugh as he finished buttoning them and straightened in posture.

“It’s nice to see you too, Bre,” Owen greeted with a chuckle, a light pink hue threatening to burn under his cheeks.
“Uh…” Aubrey stuttered, her bright red face now accompanying an agape expression. She certainly didn’t expect this, and therefore had no idea how to respond,
“I- uh… This is… I’m so- God-” She tripped over her words, one hand coming up to grip the rim of her cap and the other shielding her eyes, “I’m so sorry!” The blonde squeaked, attempting to leave the room with her eyes clamped shut but failing miserably.

“Don’t apologize to me,” the man said, reaching over to keep the blonde from slamming into his dresser as she covered her face. “I’m not the one all flustered,” he lied.

“R-right.” Aubrey muttered, averting any and all eye contact but slowly dropping her hands to her side, “Uhm- Can I ask you a question? Right now?”

“As opposed to later?” the man teased. He finished buttoning up his shirt in an attempt to make her more comfortable and stuffed the tails in the waist of his jeans. “Sure, but on one condition.”

“I mean, you may have been busy so yes, as opposed to later; however, what’s the condition?” The curiosity got the better of her.

“Next time I get to barge in on you changing,” the man said with a raised eyebrow.

If Aubrey thought she was flustered before, she had reached a new level. Stammering and stuttering, she fumbled through several gibberish-filled sentences, her face alit like a Christmas tree. Owen suddenly busted out laughing and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“That was a joke Aubrey,” he informed her knowingly. In his experience with the girl, she took most things very literally. “What’s up buttercup? What’s your question?” he urged her forward past the embarrassment that seemed to be growing to catastrophic levels on her face.

The girl’s slow nod allowed her to process the fact that everything she experienced in the last 30 seconds was not to be taken seriously. The embarrassment slowly melted off of her face before taking a deep breath, “Okay- so while we were on the supply run, I found out you knew my sister but I never figured out how well, so essentially: how well did you know Charlotte?”

“Oh uh….” Owen paused, reeling as how to answer such a loaded question.

~~​

As the sound of the engine to the Camaro quieted, Owen could feel the car grow cold. It became easier to catch his breath without the vibration of the vehicle egging him on. His body had been working purely on instinct, causing his fair skin to be hot and flushed. As adrenaline left him, the redhead could feel the strength of his body fading. He slumped against the steering wheel, arms crossed over the leather grips and head pressed into his wrists. Fingers trembling, he took a last shaky breath and watched as his breath fogged up the cracked windshield.

That was far too close.

He was grateful that the glare of red and blue was no longer reflecting off his rearview mirror. The sound of the sirens still echoed in his ears. Owen could still hear the ringing of the gunshots and the whiz of bullets. Relief came in the form of silence. He was sure his uncle wouldn’t appreciate him hiding at the lodge from the cops, but having a place that was off the grid did come with its advantages. Slowly, Owen lifted his head and turned to his companion in the passenger seat.

Since the car stopped, Charlotte had been silent. Her brown eyes peered through the Camaro's windshield at the darkness, searching for something that wasn’t going to be there. Her drumming heart had not quieted, pumping red hot blood through her veins as she tried to calm her breathing. The girl had her fair share of bad relationships, hits being exchanged in return for spiteful words, but she had never faced something quite like that. The coppery taste was still overwhelming her swollen lip, her cheeks adorned in a distasteful black and blue. It was the first time she had been in such a life-or-death situation.
Honestly, it was a miracle the two were alive. It was even more surprising that she wasn’t sobbing in the passenger seat of Owen’s car.

“You okay?” There were no jokes. Owen’s words were concise and controlled as he tried to keep the warble from his tone. His eyes had been so focused on the road that he hadn’t had an opportunity to check on her. Even in the dim starlight, he could see the swelling to her cheekbones, discolored and distorted. Despite the events that followed, he was glad the men who had struck Charlotte were unconscious and bleeding on their kitchen linoleum. The words pierced through her daze, drawing her back to the present. She couldn’t help but let out a meager laugh at his question.

“If you count getting beat to hell by disgusting men and running from the cops as being okay- then yeah, I’m doing great!” She smiled sarcastically. After a moment, his tone processed and she let out a slow sigh, taking her trembling hand and wiping her eyes, “I’m… Sorry. You don’t deserve this shit right now.” She mumbled, soon crossing her arms for comfort. Pain shot through her arm and she let out a small gasp, distress clearly showing on her visage. Ignoring her commentary, his emerald eyes darted down to her arm and pulled her hand from it. The blood that flowed from her flesh was still warm against his cold fingers as he gently reached out to her. He had been so focused on driving, he hadn’t even noticed that Charlotte had gotten shot. Apparently, Charlotte hadn’t noticed either.

“Fuck me,” Owen growled. It wasn’t enough that these assholes had bruised her face and busted her lip, now her normally flawless skin was marred by the gore of a bullet wound as well. He felt his face grow hot as his anger surged, ears ringing.

“I need to see if the bullet is still in there.” What he chose to omit for the time being was that if it was, he was dragging her to the hospital. Even if he had to do it with her kicking and screaming over his shoulder. “I need light, and bandages. Let’s go inside.”

Now that the wound had been pointed out, the searing pain spread like a tidal wave. What pure adrenaline had masterfully masked was now raw, white agony. Despite this, she swallowed her strife and shook her head.

“It’s fine.” She assured, whether it was herself or him, who knows, “It’s not as bad as it looks.” In reality, it looked bad. Blood continuously oozed from the wound, turning the once green fabric into a sickly brown.

Owen was already out of the car, rounding on the passenger side. His brow was knit, worry consuming his normally goofy features. He pulled on the handle and pulled the door open in a swift motion, holding his other hand out to Charlotte. His eyes were tender, and it was a wonder how an expression so gentle could belong to someone who had brutalized three grown men only moments before.

“Come on Lettie,” Owen urged. “Either you let me patch you up or we go to the doctor. Your choice.”

“You’re kind of terrifying, you know that?” She said, ignoring his statement and mustering out a small smile, “One minute you’re the knight in shining armor, could do no wrong- the next you’re beating the shit out of scumbags.”

“I don’t see why the two things have to be mutually exclusive.” Owen’s hand was still outreached. He would feel better once he knew she was okay. It was impossible to see the extent of the damage in the blue moonlight, but the smell of pennies was enough to tell Owen it couldn’t be ignored. Another torrent of pain rippled through her and she clamped her eyes shut for a moment, letting the wave of dizziness pass. As she took his hand, Owen helped Charlotte to her feet. The dirt driveway was soggy from all the frost, and he held himself steady to catch her if she stumbled. Before long they were walking up the steps and into the unlocked door to his family's lodge.

Collab: Maj

 

[Maj]

PART 2​

The house was warm. Despite his uncle often moving from his home in town to his hunting lodge, he seemed to always have it ready for company. Maybe he knew that Andy often frequented its location while he was away. It didn’t matter, he was grateful to feel the warmth spread across his cheeks, smoothing out the goosebumps that crept across his flesh. Owen braced Charlotte with one arm while leaning forward to flip the switch on the wall. The lights flickered into life and for the first time, Owen could see the extent of the abuse Charlotte had endured.

“Oh Lettie,” Owen breathed. “What in the world am I going to do with you.” The vibrant red on her palms seemed to wash out her pale skin. Garish tones of blues and violets smeared her face, dulling the chocolate color of her eyes. Lips that Owen remembered pulled into playful smiles were now busted and broken. His large hand cupped her chin, pulling it up to look him in the eye.

“Put me outta my misery, I suppose.” She managed to joke once more, casting her eyes towards the room to avoid his bright green gaze. The typically devilish grin only peeking through her bloodied chin.

“Not a chance Mannox.” He nodded toward the couch in front of the fireplace, gesturing for her to take a seat. The girl obliged, lowering herself on the sofa and trying to position herself so that the cozy chair didn’t get assaulted by the gory display.

“So what, we’re gonna get convicted for assault and B&E?” She asked, cocking an eyebrow in his direction as she glanced around the welcoming room once more. Owen pointed to the picture on the wall behind him. Familiar mops of red hair shone from behind the glass of the picture frame. He shook his head.

“I live here,” He explained. “Believe it or not, I’m too classy to bring a girl of your caliber to a crime scene.”

“Oooh, what a gentleman!” She teased, making a scene of her ‘swooning’ before asking, “What exactly is my caliber anyway? Broken and abused?” She tried to lighten the suffocating mood with a dark joke. Charlotte had a hard time looking pity in the eye. Each time she did it was her mother’s gaze she found looking back at her.

“Not for long,” He assured her. Owen disappeared into the master bedroom that his uncle often used. Since he used the lodge more than anyone, there was a higher likelihood that his medicine cabinet would contain the supplies he needed. Soon Owen remerged from the depths of the room, his large arms cradling a variety of items. Tweezers, gauze, alcohol, Neosporin, and medical tape were all sat down on the coffee table in front of Charlotte. He gave her a sympathetic smile before taking the seat next to her on the couch. Begrudgingly, she pulled herself into more of a seated position, half-heartedly offering her arm.

His gaze was analytical as he gently took her arm in his hand, rolling the limb to examine the wound. It was hard to see anything from the blood that bubbled up as he shifted it. The girl inhaled sharply at the movement. She appreciated his gentle grip, but it didn’t make Owen’s grasp less painful.

The redhead muttered apologies as he reached down to grab some of the gauze, tearing open the sterile packaging with his teeth. He spit the paper to the side and with surprisingly practiced hands, he wiped away the blood. Charlotte’s eyes studied the man’s movements, the precision with his actions and intent was rather endearing.

“Y’know... You’re kind of cute when you shut up.”

Owen raised an eyebrow, freckled cheeks rising as a smug grin took over his face. As he pulled the gauze back, relief washed over his features. It was clean through, barely a graze. It would take some time to heal, but it barely looked like it would need stitches and it was not nearly bad enough to fight with Charlotte about professional medical care.

“You aren’t going to think that in a second,” he warned. A large hand reached for the clear bottle of rubbing alcohol. He grabbed a clean square of gauze and poured it over the fabric. The chemical smell burning his nostrils in such a confined space. Charlotte’s eyes widened when she recognized the bottle.

“Owen… I swear to-”

The male cut her off by pressing the cloth to her arm, holding it in place. The heat from the chemical reaction with the wound on her arm filtered up through his fingertips. He ignored her curses, giving her only a sheepish grin in response.

“You’re fuckin’ enjoying this you asshat!” She yelled, her face still red from her attempt to hold in a scream.

“Well now we are both wounded,” he teased, but his smirk remained. Carefully, he used the rest of the gauze to finish wiping the wound clean and before Charlotte could decide to smack him, he grabbed the medical tape and ripped off a chunk with his teeth. His hands worked quickly, wrapping the wound with enough pressure to help staunch the blood flow. The overwhelming stinging sensation slowly fizzled out as the bandage was wrapped. The pain was still there but considerably lessened from his assistance. Her brown eyes flicked over him once more, holding his gaze intently.

“Thank you.” She said earnestly.

“Wow,” He said with mock astonishment. “You do still know how to be nice.” Charlotte’s stare turned annoyed as she playfully hit his arm. Owen didn’t attempt to dodge out of it, instead letting the woman smack his bicep.

“Don’t make me regret it.” She cautioned.

“Oh sure. After everything that happened tonight, being nice to poor little Owen is the thing you regret.”

“Oh my god, do you ever stop talking? If I could go back thirty seconds ago, I’d be in bliss.”

“I think we both know that we would need more than thirty seconds.”

Charlotte raised a brow towards the man, “Oh, really? I think 16 year old you would say otherwise.” She jeered.

“I challenge you to find a sixteen-year-old boy who-”

Owen was forced back into silence as Charlotte pressed her lips against his. The woman placed one hand along his neck and the other to assist her weight as she moved forward on top of him. His surprise was quickly replaced with instinct as he wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her close.

-------------------------------​

Current Day
The Lodge

Owen realized he was still staring Aubrey in the face, stalling for words that wouldn’t come. There was no easy way to explain his and Charlotte’s relationship.

“I guess I knew your sister pretty well,” Owen let out a self-pitying laugh and turned red.

​

Collab: Corgi

 

[Corgi]

Part One
​

The bitter winter air nipped at the tip of Andy’s nose. Her freckled flesh was rosy and raw from the damp air. She couldn’t hunt, but it didn’t mean she hadn’t spent a lot of time outside. Between teaching Colt and Milly how to use the bow, helping as she could with repairs, taking watch outside, learning how to shoot, and a few of her other pet projects she felt like she had been outdoors more than in. That suited Andy fine. There were fewer people to crowd her or bother her with unnecessary chatter. Those who needed her for something could always find her, but she had little energy for idle conversation.

The light flurry of snow had begun to cling to her braided curls when she finally made it back to her perch. Andy had given up sleeping on the futon, and she still couldn’t bring herself to sleep in her bedroom so she had taken solace in the next best place she could find. The cot was hard, the blankets were scratchy but it felt like home when her tired bones slunk into the makeshift bed at night. In fact, with the help of a little weed she had Owen go to get her, the girl had finally been able to catch a little sleep at night. The nightmares often woke her, but at least now they had the decency to wait a few hours before setting in.

The ladder was still hard to climb one-handed but got easier as she got more comfortable using her non-dominant hand. Andy couldn’t always rely on Owen to carry her up the rungs, and if she pulled any more stitches Hector was likely to threaten to stitch her arm to her side permanently. With some difficulty, the girl pulled herself up the final bit and into the doorway of the perch. She opened it and immediately recoiled, her hand reaching to her thigh where the small firearm laid.

Aubrey sat on one of the folded chairs, hugging her knees to her chest, eyes locked on the single woman she was hoping to talk to, “Andy!” She exclaimed, jumping up and offering her a hand, “I was hoping I’d find you here if I waited long enough.”

“Jesus fucking christ,” Andy gasped, releasing her grip on the handle of the gun. “Girl, I about put a bullet in your fucking skull. What in the world are you doing in here? First my bedroom then this? Is nothing sacred?” She shook her head angrily before entering and closing the door behind her. “Do you make a habit of ambushing everyone you talk to?”

The blonde took a deep breath before answering the questions in order, “I wanted some advice, I suppose? And yes, your bedroom, now this because your bedroom is no longer necessarily your bedroom anymore- but nothing seems to be sacred anymore, I agree. And no, not a habit to my knowledge.” Once she finished, Aubrey gave a worried smile, “Are you okay though?” She asked, motioning to Andy’s arm.

“This is a thing you do isn’t it?” Andy asked, blinking slowly in Aubrey’s direction. “Just like info dump answers to rhetorical questions?” She put up a hand to pause Aubrey who was about to answer yet another rhetorical question.

“I’m fine,” the redhead confirmed. “Just a love bite from a lion, nothing Hector hasn’t already patched up.” Andy removed her hand, which still hovered above the gun secured to her outer thigh and collapsed in one of the frigid, metal folding chairs. “You said you needed advice? What’s up?” Her voice was tired, but it wasn’t Aubrey’s fault. As if he was led by some sort of premonition, ever since Luca had told her that he thought she should be in charge of the lodge, the questions, opinions, and advice-seeking seemed to be never-ending.

Aubrey slowly sunk into the other folding chair, visible confusion on her face, “It’s about Owen.” She muttered, a hand immediately going up to the rim of her hat as she thought about how to word the question.

The blonde had thought about it for a while now, wondering if feeling like jelly in front of someone was a normal feeling. It had gotten to the point that thinking of Owen made her nervous and was impeding her daily activities, “Anytime I’m around him, my stomach twists and my face gets really warm. It’s almost like my insides are being tickled and it isn’t the most pleasant feeling- so I guess I’m wondering if that’s, uh… normal? O-or should I go to Hector to get checked out?”

Green eyes stared at the blonde in absolute disbelief. The joint, which was unlit between her fingers, almost dropped from her grip as the woman spoke. Was this a prank? The urge to ask Aubrey if her mother had never had ‘the talk’ with her rose, but she remembered their last encounter. Hadn’t Aubrey said her parents died when she was young? It was possible that she never had the chance. But surely, this grown woman in front of her wasn’t that clueless. Andy thought back to the brief interactions she had with the woman and then tilted her head in acknowledgment. Actually, being oblivious seemed almost part of her core personality.

“Oh, I wish you had gone to Hector,” Andy muttered. The woman sighed deeply, Andy was probably the absolute worst person to come to when it came to matters of the heart. In fact, she was still trying to deny that she was even capable of having any.

“Didn’t you like…” Andy trailed off as she fought the urge to cringe at herself. “Take sex ed in school or anything? I feel like they probably covered this in middle school.”

Aubrey’s brows furrowed in confusion, “What does sex ed have to do with-” She cut herself off. Andy could almost see the gears turning and clicking together in the blonde’s head, “Oh.” She simply stated, eyes falling to the floor, “I was afraid of that being the answer.”

“You are the one coming in here talking about your insides being tickled,” Andy balked, heat rising to her cheekbones.

Embarrassment flashed across Aubrey’s face, “What? No! Not like that!” She squealed, pulling her hat over her face to cover the mortification, “I meant that I get nervous around him, not- not that.”

“I mean, isn’t it though?” Andy asked finally putting the joint into her mouth and flicking her lighter into life, sparks of orange lighting up the darkness of the perch. “It’s attraction, Aubrey. It’s all tied together. If you are wanting to talk about emotional attraction I’m really the wrong person to come to. I’ve never moved past the physical stage.” A lie, and one that felt heavy as she said it. Being distant from Luca felt weird and the longer she was the harder it was for her to deny that things between them had never just been physical.

As Andy’s words processed in the blonde’s head, she couldn’t help but think of the relationship between the redhead and Luca. She knew vaguely of his illness, but outside of that, Aubrey was in the dark. Luca was one of the first people she met at the lodge- she considered him a friend and not knowing was difficult for her; however, she knew how close Andy and Luca were, so she couldn’t imagine the difficulties the redhead was going through.

“How’re you holding up? With, uh, Luca and everything?” She asked hesitantly, allowing her hands to fall to her lap, resting on the baseball cap.

“Oh,” Andy started stunned. Aubrey was the first person to ask Andy how Luca’s recovery had affected her. She had thrown herself into a million projects so she didn’t have to focus on it, but it absolutely had an impact on her. She was worried, she was angry, she wanted it to be over so he would be better.

“Well you know, I’ve had to pick up a lot of work because he decided to throw his dick around and be in charge just to go slack off for a few days.” Another half-truth. She did have more work, but it wasn’t how she felt. The girl took a long inhale off the burning paper, filling the perch with an earthy scent.

“It’s hard,” she said again after a few minutes of silence. “To see him like that. Someone so fucking strong suddenly reduced to a heap of blankets. It leaves a void, not just with me, but with everyone. I am a sorry excuse to fill it.” She wasn’t sure where the words were coming from, or why she offered them so freely. Maybe she had been waiting for someone to ask her, or maybe something about Aubrey’s soft features and genuine voice made it hard for Andy to think she had any ulterior motives for asking.

Aubrey listened quietly, allowing a small silence to fill each break Andy took. She didn’t want to cut her off before she was done, but once the woman expressed that she didn’t feel good enough, the blonde couldn’t help but speak up, “I don’t think any of us expected Luca to be out, especially not for this long. With everything going on, you definitely didn’t have to step up, but you did. That’s not an easy decision, and not one of us could make any better than you did. You’re strong, Andy. Juggling the responsibilities and weight of the lodge on top of trying to deal with Luca’s sickness, and that’s not even mentioning the fact you fought a lion.” The girl offered a small smile, “You should give yourself credit where credit is due, I don’t think the lodge would be where it is without you.”

Collab: Maj

 

[Maj]

​

Andy let out a waterlogged laugh. The tears that rolled down her face were hidden by the darkness of the perch but were ever evident in the sound of her voice. Everyone in this godforsaken lodge had been so nice to her since everything had happened. She often felt the urge to recoil, thinking that they were being kind out of pity. However, logic refused to let her. They didn’t pity her, these people respected her, and Andy for the life of her couldn’t figure out why.

“Aaron, Hector, Owen, Colt, Leliana, and now you. I’ve done nothing to deserve kindness from any of you. I run around this place with my nose in the air, barking sarcastic and rude comments at all of you, and when I fucking start to stumble each one of you has done your part to keep me from falling on my face.” Andy shook her head. She looked at Aubrey, unsure of where her features were in the dark, searching for her face. A shaking hand pulled the joint to her lips once more and she took a long drag, coughing as she exhaled. The woman regained her composure to say:

“I think you guys are the closest thing I’ve ever had to real friends.” It felt cringy to admit it, but somehow she couldn’t keep the word vomit from flowing from her lips. Aubrey was easy to talk to for whatever reason and Andy had been feeling and thinking about it for days. These people, no matter how idiotic or infuriating they could be, had become so important to Andy. No matter how she twisted it, Andy wasn’t in charge because Luca said she should be. Andy just wanted to do right by the people who mattered to her.

Before Andy could react, Aubrey’s arms had wrapped around her frame, pulling the redhead to her chest. Owen had done it to her before, an act of comfort that she had returned, and it helped. All Aubrey wanted to do was help Andy feel better, “I never felt like I’ve had friends. There were kids, when I was younger, that I’d hang around, but it never felt like they cared. Y’know, I’m… odd. They did it out of obligation, not out of want.”

Carefully and hesitantly, Andy let her own arms move from her sides to around the girl's back, letting her face bury into Aubrey's blonde locks. Embracing people wasn’t something she was used to, but it was comforting. Maybe it was the warmth or the blonde hair, Andy wasn’t sure, but it brought back memories of the hugs her mother used to give her. She relaxed into it and allowed herself to return it, slowly and then all at once, her arms squeezing the small of Aubrey’s back, careful to not let the smoldering end of her joint touch the girl.


The blonde sighed, suddenly realizing how tense she was. She never told anyone that before, Aubrey didn’t enjoy talking about herself, but it felt like a release she didn’t know she needed. Tears slipped down her own face.

“But it doesn’t feel like that with you guys- we have each other’s backs. Everyone can depend on one another because that’s what friends do.”

“You are odd.” Andy voiced, both girls chuckling into one another. “But it’s part of what makes you so damn endearing.” She sniffed and untangled herself from Aubrey’s embrace, running the back of her hand under her nose to wipe it clean. God, she was tired of crying. It felt like all she had done for weeks. She took another slow drag from the burning wrapped cigarette and sighed as it exited her lungs.

“You don’t have to worry,” the redhead broke the silence. “About Owen?” she added to make sure the blonde could follow her train of thought. “He feels the same way about you. What you are feeling isn’t weird or bad.”

“Are you sure?” The blonde felt conflicted about that information. A part of her screamed with joy at the idea of Owen feeling some type of way about her, but another part wondered if that was the truth. She didn’t want to get her hopes up if it wasn’t.

"Positive. In fact, I'm surprised my brother hasn't acted on it sooner." Andy let out a laugh. Although she supposed timing would be hard in today's circumstances.

Aubrey would deal with that doubt later, allowing a small smile to stretch across her features, “Thank you.” The blonde gave a small squeeze to Andy’s knee before realizing how close they still were.

Clearing her throat, she stood and backed up onto the chair she occupied previously, “Do you know that because Owen told you, or do you know that because you’ve experienced it before? This, uh… Feeling.”

"Attraction?" Andy laughed awkwardly. "Yeah. I've experienced it."

“Towards Luca?” The blonde asked, genuinely curious.

“Uh,” a hand went up to the back of the twin’s head in a gesture that was very similar to how Owen reacted when he was uncomfortable. “Yeah, I mean we sleep together if that’s what you are asking.” But it wasn’t and she knew that. Aubrey was a woman, and while sort of an airhead at the best of times she was still capable of sexual attraction. However, Andy didn’t take her for the kind to feel this way without something else attached to it. If she was capable of that, she wouldn’t be here asking what it meant.

“Yes,” Andy amended. “I haven’t figured out a good way to put any of it to words. But I feel that way about Luca too.”

“I knew you were the right person to come to!” The smugness evident in her voice before relaxing into more appreciation, “In all seriousness, thank you for talking with me about all of this. You’re a good friend.”

“I-” Andy stopped herself from denying this. Old habits created from a lifetime of pushing people away rose up and she fought the urge to tell Aubrey that it wasn’t that deep. But maybe it was. Maybe that was okay. The redhead shifted uncomfortably for a minute, before hugging her knees to her chest. She nodded, a smirk playing at the corner of her lips.

“Yeah, you too.”

Collab: Corgi
Mentions: Rumble Fish FireMaiden shadowz1995 Howzer-Black

 

[FireMaiden]

Part One of a Collab between myself and Maj ​

Owen was half asleep as he exited the bathroom. The shower had been nice, especially after all the shit he had gone through with Nile and Michael in the Mcdonald’s. That run had been especially gross. He had showered as soon as he had gotten home too, but that didn’t seem like enough to scrub all the rotten hamburger meat and sweat out of his pores so he showered again upon waking. He had a towel wrapped around his underwear. Not that it was really necessary. Most of the people at the lodge had seen him as some form of nude or half-dressed over the past months, but there was still a child that lived with them.

He spotted Leliana in the kitchen, either cooking or cleaning he wasn’t sure. However, the blonde girl had been someone he had been meaning to speak with. Andy had told him about their run together, and it appeared that the large ginger oaf had more than a few things to apologize to him about.

“Hey Lels,” Owen greeted, using his height advantage to reach over her into the cupboard for a coffee cup. “You sleep alright?”

Nothing seemed good enough to keep her hands and mind busy for long. There weren't too many dishes, breakfast had been made not too long ago, and there were only so many times she could clean the counters. So for the last little bit, Leliana was just standing there in the kitchen, slowly picking at her plate of eggs and toast. The nurse had thought back on her run with Colt, which led to her thinking back to her run with Andy. Which of course...made her think about Liam. How long had he been back in Aurora? Him surviving the infected and hazzies wasn't exactly a surprise, but he should have still been in prison. The idea of him getting out early or being let out as a mercy during the beginning was one that made her skin crawl, but it was the most likely reason he was here right? The nurse let out a huff, trying to focus on something else. Like the horse outside or what she should be doing today.

Inventory wouldn't be a bad idea, it had been a while since she'd been in charge. Or perhaps she could just clean up today, maybe ask whoever was doing repairs if they needed an extra hand. Hector might need some help today, or at the very least she could finally give the man the eye patch she made him a little while ago. Leliana would let out a sigh, her fingers gently drumming against the counter. The sound managed to cover up the footfalls of someone coming up behind her, Leliana stiffening a little when she suddenly heard Owen's voice.

Looking up as Owen reached over her head, she gave her cousin a smile before looking back down. "Yeah, I slept okay." After Liam appeared and was promptly removed, Leliana had been avoiding Owen. Not going out of her way to do so, but the nurse had been scared of having to talk to him. After her run with Andy, not so much but she could already feel nervous butterflies forming in the pit of her stomach. "You want some breakfast? I could make some more eggs."

“Breakfast sounds good,” Owen agreed with a small smile. He continued his work of pouring powdered creamer and sugar into his cup before reaching for the still-warm pot of coffee and letting the steamy beverage swirl down into the powder. It caused it to clump up in weird spots, but it was nothing a spoon couldn’t fix. Personally, Owen preferred liquid creamer. But without a cow and without most of the city having any kind of refrigeration that was just out of the question for now.

“So listen,” Owen sighed. How many girls in the lodge was he going to have to apologize to? Andy, Colt, and now Leliana too? It felt like his stupidity knew no bounds sometimes, despite all his well-meaning intentions.

“I owe you an apology. I had no idea who Liam was to any of us. If I had, I wouldn’t have brought him here without at least radioing in. I’m really sorry for all the grief it caused you, and Andy for that matter.” The redhead scratched the back of his head nervously with one hand while stirring his coffee with the other. “Andy told me that he’s your uncle too. That makes us, what? Cousins?”

When Owen said breakfast sounded good, Leliana would nod and grab her plate. The nurse would finish off her eggs before sitting the plate down next to the stove. She'd then move to the fridge, and from inside grabbed two eggs. Someone would need to go take care of the chickens today, maybe she and Milly could take care of it. The chickens needed a better place to call home too, yet another task in a mountain of others to take care of. Leliana would grab the bowl she had used earlier, cracking the eggs so she could add in a little salt and pepper before mixing them up. Once they had been, she would start heating up the pan. Leliana would wait a minute or so before she started to move the eggs around. Diana always had Leliana make eggs, so did her grandma. Apparently, Leliana had a knack for making fluffy scrambled eggs in comparison to the burnt mess their eggs would end up being.

When Owen spoke up, Leliana didn't look at him, focused on his breakfast for now. She was expecting an awkward conversation but...she finally looked when he said he owed her an apology. "It's...I know, Owen," Leliana said, giving him a gentle smile as she looked down again. "Andy mentioned you guys didn't grow up with him, so... it's okay. Really." It really wasn't Owen's fault, Leliana knew that. He didn't know Liam, he didn't know what would have happened upon seeing that monster again. "You got rid of him, that's what matters." Owen could have fought Andy on letting him stay. He could have let Liam stay out in the RV or maybe in David's treehouse. But he didn't. Owen made him leave, and that meant a lot more than the redhead might have realized.

But Leliana couldn't help but laugh when he awkwardly asked if they were cousins. "Sure does. My mother was his younger sister. We moved here to Aurora when I was in 6th grade. We'd been visiting him and grandma for years though," She spoke, giving him a glance to gauge a reaction before focusing on the eggs again. "How much did Andy tell you?"

Owen visibly relaxed at his newfound cousin’s words. He was afraid that she might be angry with him, although the idea seemed a bit ridiculous now. Leliana wasn’t the type to hold something over someone's head, especially if it genuinely wasn’t their fault. He sat down in the chair with his coffee as Leliana worked on breakfast.

“She told me enough,” Owen replied, his voice sort of hallow. In the end, she never explicitly stated what Liam had done to her, but her inference had been more than enough. She didn’t come straight out and say he had done anything to Leliana either. Only that she had found out that Liam was her uncle. But that paired with her reaction being so similar to Andy’s when he walked up the driveway was enough evidence for Owen.

“Although, she didn’t say anything outright. I sort of came to my own conclusions.” The redhead man sighed deeply. Liam had seemed so kind too. It had been hard to swallow when Andy was so adamant about him leaving. His personality had changed so quickly once he saw her too. Owen supposed that most men like him didn’t come across like the monsters they were all the time. He just felt stupid for not realizing the type of person he was sooner. Owen typically fancied himself a pretty good judge of character.

“How are you doing?” He knew it was a loaded question, but if his sister was anything to base Leliana by, then the last few days had been hell for her.

 

[Maj]

​

"Enough huh?" Leliana mumbled as she reached over and turned the stovetop off. Pulling the egg pan off, she'd then move to grab Owen a plate before transferring the eggs over. She didn't seem satisfied with that answer, not exactly anyway. It was clear that the nurse felt conflicted, though it wasn't clear about what..."She mention you look like him?" Leliana asked, looking up at Owen as she handed over his plate. "You don't look exactly like him though, I think your eyes are different. Kinder," She stated, letting out a small sigh after handing him his breakfast before she shifted to lean back against the counter. "Liam likes little kids, Owen. Specifically little girls. You... understand, right?" She asked, glancing at him. Back when Liam appeared and Owen came demanding answers, Leliana had told him Milly wouldn't be safe. And, perhaps that was true. Could be Liam's attention was focused on her and Andy. Leliana would prefer shouldering that on her own so that Andy and Milly and anyone else who captured his interest would be safe. But that unfortunately wasn't the case.

"Honestly, no. When I was 12, Liam was sentenced to ten years in prison. I had hoped he was still there. And then seeing him outside..." She trailed off, her arms crossing over her chest. "It's not your fault Owen, you didn't know...but he knows where we are. It makes it hard to sleep you know?" She said, giving him a little shrug. Even though she felt safe with Beth, and had faith in the people there at the lodge...Liam always found a way to hurt her. "Did you know...that Andrea is a family name?" She asked, wanting to change the topic some. "That was our Grandma's name. Liam apparently wanted to give me something similar but my mom insisted on the name my dad wanted."

Owen didn’t feel like he could comment. Of course, he had realized that Liam had likely abused both his sister and cousin, but he had been trying to keep from having to say as much. Instead, he listened to her speak and only nodded when she questioned him. He didn’t like that he kept being compared to Liam, but he supposed that it was impossible to ignore the similarities, it was his father after all. Leliana’s comments did make him feel at least slightly better.

“I didn’t know that before the other night,” Owen confirmed when asked about Andy’s name. “All I know is that she hates being called Andrea. She didn’t always, but I guess that makes sense now. She probably didn’t want anything to do with him. I’ve always called her Andy, I was really happy when she started wanting everyone to call her that.” He laughed sadly.

Owen had been so blind to what his sister had gone through.

“Speaking of family,” the redhead took Leliana’s cue to change the subject. “That’s not all I have to apologize for. I didn’t realize we were family, if I did I wouldn’t have…” he trailed off and gave an embarrassed laugh. He hadn’t even flirted with her too much, but the intent had been there more than a few times.

“What I’m trying to say is, can we just forget all the mildly flirty things I said when I first met you? I obviously didn’t realize you were my cousin and I definitely didn’t know that you weren’t…” he trailed off again, cheeks growing red.

“I mean you are with Beth you know? I didn’t know you weren’t into me.” It was a really awkward and convoluted way to say he was sorry for assuming she was into men, but he hoped she got the point because Owen just felt like he was digging his hole deeper by the second.

“God I’m fucking this up so bad.”

"Andy suits her. Grandma was badass, but Andrea is too fancy," Leliana said with a small chuckle. It didn't fit Andy at all...maybe if she was a little less wound up it would, but it certainly didn't feel like her name. If they had all grown up together, no doubt Leliana would have called her Andy instead. Anyway, as Owen changed the subject, Leliana couldn't help but chuckle. She knew this part of the talk was coming, it was...so hilariously uncomfortable, the nurse crossing her arms as she chuckled. "It's alright Owen, really. I didn't know until Andy confirmed it the other day. Not entirely anyway, after Liam showed up and did his thing it was kind of obvious." Leliana wasn't able to face them that soon though, having to process her worst fear standing at the foot of the porch. "So, consider your terrible flirting forgotten."

Though honestly, it already had been. Leliana couldn't remember anything he said trying to pick her up so, it worked out. When he mentioned Beth, Leliana would blush a little, smiling to herself as her gaze dropped. "Yeah, that's a pretty recent development," Leliana giggled. Who would have thought it took the dead walking for Beth to confess? "We've known each other for a few years, and I really didn't know Beth liked me until she basically spelled it out. I've never really had a real relationship with anyone. The few boyfriends I had ended up being a uh...a dare on their part," She paused briefly, sighing a bit. "That or I've always been to scared to confess..." Not to mention the nurse didn't even realize she had feelings for Beth until she confessed. It was odd, her sense of romance was a bit skewed, unfortunately. Maybe if it wasn't, maybe if Liam hadn't done what he did, Leliana would be different.

"You're...okay with that right?" Leliana would suddenly ask. "I know you two use to date."

“Me?” Owen asked, stunned, pointing to his own chest. He was surprised his opinion on their relationship even mattered and was honestly a little touched she had thought to ask. “I don’t have any hard feelings. It was a few years ago and it was never that serious, to begin with.” The redhead paused thoughtfully and then continued, “In actuality, it gives me some insight into the many reasons it didn’t work out. She never seemed as into me as I was her.” He smiled sadly and shook the thought away before returning to his normal goofy grin.

“I’m glad you guys are happy. You seem to bring out the best in her.” He paused as if considering if he should say his next words before beginning again, hesitantly.

“Just be careful okay? Beth seems to be in a better place now but anytime shit has hit the fan she has always been fairly selfish. Shit hits the fan a lot these days and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

"Yeah you," Leliana chuckled. His opinion... honestly didn't matter. It wouldn't change her feeling about Beth, nor would it cause the nurse to go and break up with her girlfriend to spare his feeling. Leliana just wanted to make sure it wouldn't make things any harder between the two blondes and Owen. Leliana liked him, he was fun to be around. Not to mention he was skilled, and...well, they were family. Leliana didn't want that to be ruined by hard feelings. But as Owen spoke, Leliana smiled in relief. According to Beth it had been a few years since she and Owen broke up, and it was good to know he was under the same impression. Some men were...weird about that. Leliana chuckled softly when he grinned. "I think that's just part of who Beth is. Honestly, for the first few months of knowing her, I couldn't tell if she even tolerated me or not."

Leliana smiled again when he then said he was glad they were happy. She nodded a bit, glancing toward the stairs. "Yeah...we are. I am at least, I hope Beth is too." There was a lot they couldn't do together now the world had ended up, but it was still nice to have someone there for you.

Leliana focused on him again though, when he told her to be careful. "I don't believe that," The nurse spoke. "There's a lot she put herself through that she doesn't think I know about. Probably doesn't realize her customers were at Moe's before her..." Leliana trailed off for a few moments, chuckling to herself. It was a mystery that some of the men who frequently visited Moe's were pervs. Their gazes wandered beyond Beth or the other girls working. "Who do you think has been patching her up all these years? I pay more attention than she thinks I do," Leliana chuckled again, looking at Owen. "Don't worry, I'll be okay." After all, what was the worst that could happen?

She had faith in Beth, in everyone here. Owen of course had good reasons to be worried, but he'd be right to be worried about anyone. After all, when you came right down to it, humans were pretty selfish. Leliana was about to ask him something, something funny when she paused hearing a familiar voice calling her from somewhere else in the lodge. "Oh speak of the devil, I think that was Beth. I'm gonna go check on her, but if you need me later just come find me, 'kay?" The nurse said, pushing off the counter to turn on her heel and head out of the kitchen.


“Of course,” he smiled at her and ushered for her to go, but as she turned his smile fell. He hoped for her sake that she was right.

Collab: FireMaiden

 

[Maj]

​

Inserting his recently refound keys on his front door’s knob, Michael turned it sideways until it finally made a clicking noise, unlocking the house’s main entrance. With his hand reaching out towards the knob, Michael slowly opened the door. The wooden door, after a near month of inactivity and lack of proper care during the winter ended up making a creaking noise while being opened, one which slightly unnerved the larger man.

The inside of the house was dark, extremely so. Instinctively Michael attempted to turn the lights of the house through the light switches near the door, yet quickly realized that due to rather obvious reasons this would not work. The neckbeard grumbled at this and proceeded to grab the flashlight he had brought with him from his backpack.

Turning the flashlight on, Michael took a quick look around just in case any undead had managed to break into the house through one of the house’s windows. Luckily the coast was clear as far as he could tell, although strangely enough from what he had been able to see, stuff which he had believed had been somewhere completely else before laid either in the wrong spot or was simply missing. Could it be that… no, no it could not. He barely got out of his room before the apocalypse, changes were made on the regular in the Schmidt house, so Michael simply rationalized that he must have remembered his living room differently.

Making his way inside, Michael headed straight into one of his top priorities; the refrigerator. He opened the metallic door only to be received to a smell nearly as putrid as the most rotten undead. The refrigerator had been recently refilled once the infection had hit, and that had been about a month ago, add that the electricity went shortly after that and you get a smell that could kill a man. But Michael had an objective inside there; a can of coke. Grabbing the can before he started to barf, Michael slammed the door shut.

The neckbeard cleaned the edges of the can with his shirt and quickly gulped down the room temperature soda inside it. This was possibly one of the last times he would be able to taste a can of coke, so he decided to might as well enjoy it after all the shit he had gone through in the last few hours. Feeling a slight increase in energy after it, the neckbeard felt ready to finally go grab his shit.

It was shortly after that Owen came in the door. He held one gas can, the other was left behind with Nile. He nodded a greeting in Michael’s direction and sat his bags down on the floor near the entryway. The redhead was exhausted, both physically and mentally. He would be glad to be back at the lodge in the morning.

“Do you need help bagging anything up?” Owen asked Michael. “I’m ready to get this done and crash. We will be leaving here as soon as the suns up tomorrow, or Andy will have all of our heads.”

“Nah, doubt you guys will be able to help much with that” Michael replied to Owen while throwing the coke can into the kitchen’s trashcan “Although, you should probably tell Nile to like, get inside once he’s done outside, and maybe close the curtains while you’re at it too. I seriously don’t want us all to deal with a second horde today, please.”

“No fucking kidding,” Owen said with a sigh. The redhead started the work of going around and checking the windows and doors, ensuring they were locked and that no one, living nor dead, would see them on the inside. Whatever blinds and curtains Owen could find were pulled shut. Owen was settling down on Michaels's couch by the time Nile came in.

Nile trudged in a moment later, gasoline dripping from his boots and lips as he lugged a full jerry can in one hand.

“Lock that behind you, yeah?” Owen asked, the exhaustion now very clear in his tone. “We might as well bunker down and get some sleep. With any luck, the car can get us home without too much incident and we can be home before breakfast.”

Nile just grunted, kicking the front door closed and walking past the taller man and falling face first down on the couch, jerry can clattering loudly from his grip and onto its side. He didn’t move after, either genuinely unconscious or just a ploy to get out of talking to Owen anymore.

He also hadn’t locked the door. Jackass.

The redhead blinked at the heap on the couch several times before sighing and standing back up, back cracking as he did so, to move to the front door. He muttered a variety of things under his breath, locked it, and then came back into the living room. Owen fluffed his messenger bag much like you would a pillow and then laid down on it on the floor. It was as comfortable as he was likely going to get tonight.

“Nobody bitch at me when I wake you guys up in the morning,” He muttered, already dozing off himself.

While he didn’t exactly appreciate Nile dirtying his living room with gasoline, Michael decided just to let it be. The neckbeard wasn’t exactly in the mood of starting trouble with the equally exhausted and annoyed man, plus, he wasn’t gonna be coming back to this place any time soon so why even bother with that.

Once the front door was locked Michael proceeded to go to his bedroom. Opening the door of the room and illuminating it with his flashlight’s light, the neckbeard was greeted by the sight of his old room. It was exactly as he had left it, disorganized and urgently needed to be cleaned. The only thing that had become different was the way it smelled; apparently, after a month of being away from it and becoming unaccustomed to its scent, he could finally smell what literally everyone else did whenever they came inside it. Even Michael wished he had cared more to put on deodorant before now that he had to face the aftermath of not doing so.

But right now he didn’t either had the time nor care enough to do something about it, he had to use whatever strength he had not used at the restaurant to pack his shit for tomorrow morning.

The first order of business was his stuff with entertainment value. Life at the lodge for him could be described as mostly boring with a few spikes of terror here and there, whether it was dealing with hordes, freaks of nature such as David, or any of his interactions with Luca Brasi. There wasn’t much to do outside of helping around the house or rewatching the same old films that were there before the apocalypse. And god help him if he had to watch the same movies that they kept Milly watching.

Opening his backpack Michael went to get his gaming laptop, art supplies, several hard drives filled with torrented films, shows and… more adult material inside his backpack before being forced to choose between his anime figurines. If he could he would bring them all, yet there wasn’t much more space in his backpack, and he had more stuff to pack than that, so even though unhappy with it, Michael grabbed his two favorite figurines and stuffed them in there with everything else.

By the time he was done putting the figurines inside the backpack, it was too full to carry anything else. And as such would need to grab something else to carry the rest of the stuff he wanted to bring along.

Second-order of business would be clothing. Even by his standards, Michael could not stand the disgusting smell of some of his clothes. Bringing in a suitcase he filled it with as much clothing as he possibly could. Why in god’s green earth he hadn’t brought more with him a month earlier he couldn’t remember.

Once that too was filled, he only had one last thing in mind to bring back with him to the lodge; his collection of manga.

Grabbing a box where he kept some of his junk, Michael emptied its content into his room’s desk to make room for his manga collection. Curiously with it, he saw a few folders fall with it to the desk. They were his zombie survivals guides that he had made a while back. Honestly, while quite silly now that a zombie infection had actually occurred, he felt a bit nostalgic from the countless hours he had spent on all 12 volumes, so even if they were borderline useless, he didn’t lose a thing from bringing them along, and as such put them back into the box. After that, he proceeded to fill the box too with his manga.

Having finished packing everything of importance by now, Michael went to the living room to leave all his luggage into the table in it, so they could be closer to the front door when it was time to go.

In the living room, he saw his two companions sleeping on both the sofa and floor respectively. Feeling a bit bad seeing them sleeping in the cold like that, Michael went to get some blankets he had in his room; after all, they wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for him bringing them along, so this was the bare minimum the neckbeard could do for them right now. While that wouldn’t make them a damn bit more comfortable, at the very least they would not feel as cold as they would before.

Too exhausted to do literally anything else, Michael went into his room to finally sleep.

—

The sleep was awful. Like truly awful. Something about the stagnant air and cold temperatures made what little sleep he was able to get feel like a fraction of what it was. He tossed and turned most of the night. At some point, it appeared that someone had thrown a blanket over Owen while he slept on the floor. He appreciated that, even if it also smelled musty. At least they had four walls and a roof though and so the sleeting rain that came in the night was kept off their backs and they were able to stay as warm as could be expected without heaters or a fire.

Owen was the first to rise. He didn’t bother trying to wake Nile softly, instead the redhead just threw his blanket on Nile’s face. It wasn’t much payback for him rudely waking him up at gunpoint weeks prior, but the sound of him startling awake and muttering dark curses did bring a small smile to his sleepy features. Nile’s dual middle fingers went ignored.

He found Michael in what Owen supposed was likely his bedroom. It was pretty much a dead giveaway from the gaming posters and the anime girl body pillows on his bed. He was sleeping in his own bed, one of the waifu pillows under his arm and the other laying over his face as if to block out the daylight that was streaking in through the blind-covered window.

He had been half-kidding when he told Michael he wasn’t willing to die for hentai, but now Owen was coming to the realization that he did in fact risk his life for lewd anime girls. He sighed, grabbing the body pillow that was over Michael's face and smacking him with it to get his attention.

“Rise and shine you weeb,” Owen cooed, his own voice deep and croaky from the lack of sleep. “We gotta get home before Andy mounts us on her wall like hunting trophies.” The redhead shuttered at the thought. He waited to make sure that Michael was actually waking up before exiting the room and ensuring Nile hadn’t ignored his wake up call either.

“I’m going to heat up the car. Grab your shit and lets get the fuck out of here,” He called over his shoulder, unlocking the door they had entered the night before. Owen picked up the gas cans, and his own bag. “Don’t dawdle. I’m so ready to put this fucking run behind us.” And then he was gone and into the cold morning air.

NIle stumbled out after Owen, bleary eyed and pissed.

Michael grunted after being hit with his own pillow, slowly sitting on his bed.

“Yeah yeah… I’m up” The neckbeard replied back to Owen, who at this point was already outside the room.

Even though his bed was as comfy as he had remembered, Michael hadn't gotten nearly as much sleep as he needed; not helping with this was the fact that his entire body ached from everything that had transpired yesterday.

Michael then proceeded to get up and walk to the living room, not before he had grabbed both of his body pillows. Once in the living room with the body pillows at hand, he started carrying everything he was gonna bring back to the lodge into the car’s trunk.

That should have been it; he had already put everything he had packed yesterday into the trunk but yet…

He wanted at least one family photo album. Michael wasn’t the emotional type, and Nile had even made fun of him the day prior for wanting to bring back some sentimental items back home, but even if he was embarrassed about it, the neckbeard would be damned if he didn’t at least bring one album with him.

“Sorry sorry, forgot something inside. I’ll be right back” he informed Owen before getting back inside.

Quickly running back into the living room, Michael headed straight into the cabinet where his mom kept the family photo albums. More specifically, the neckbeard wanted his mother’s favorite photo album, the one in which she always added her favorite photo’s in, no matter how corny they were.

Yet once he opened it… nothing was inside it. Eyes widening in surprise, Michael was sure they were here- no, he wasn’t just sure about it, they should be here.

The only reason for them not to be there would be…

“Oh god.” the large man’s eyes began to water up while he backed away from the cabinet, hands above his mouth while he did so.

“Michael! You coming?” Nile called from outside the house. A few minutes later Michael joined them in the car and the trio made a fairly uneventful trek back to the lodge.

Collab: Hyped_Taco Togy

 

[FireMaiden]

A Collab between myself and Maj ​

Beth was right where Leli expected her to be. She had woken up shortly after her girlfriend had left the bed, but had laid under the covers staring at the ceiling and soaking up the warmth for as long as she could. Finally, she knew she could put it off no longer and rose from the comfort of the blankets and dressed. Clothes were still scarce for her, but she found a pair of leggings and a large sweater. It felt weird going from the lavish clothes she had always worn to more functional and comfortable clothing. With all the broken windows and holes in the lodge, even Beth would happily choose warmth over fashion these days.

She had been hoping that Leli wouldn’t get up so quickly. Beth had been trying to give her a little space while she coped with seeing her uncle again, but knew that they would have to talk eventually. It put her on edge, the anticipation of hard conversation hovering over her like a rain cloud. Bethany stared at her face in the mirror as she brushed through her long hair. She had lost weight. She assumed most of them had. Thankfully there hadn’t been much fear of a food shortage thus far. Between Andrea’s hunting ability and the constant supply runs there was always enough to fill empty bellies, but variety was not a luxury they were given. That mixed with the constant labor had caused her to lose some of the roundness to her features and plumpness of her hips. She supposed it didn’t matter. The days of worrying about every aspect of her body were behind her.

She sighed as she put the brush down. They were running out of time. Bethany had to talk to Leliana now, despite how the girl might be feeling. She called down to her girlfriend, hearing her voice faintly at the bottom of the stairs. It wasn’t long before she opened the door, greeting her with the same warmth she always did.

“Good morning,” Beth said softly. She sat down on the end of the bed, patting the spot next to her for Leliana to join her. “Close the door. Can we talk?”

Leaving Owen with a small wave as she headed up the stairs, Leliana had to wonder what Beth needed. Maybe she felt sick and needed something? Or the baby was fussy again and Beth needed a break? Then again, Leliana also didn't know how long Beth had been up. It was easier to distract herself from Liam's return when she was focused on doing something else, so Leliana didn't let herself lay under the blankets for an hour like usual. Which was a bit sad, she enjoyed spending a little extra time with Beth in the morning. But sitting still, not doing anything, was never good for Leliana's mental state. Anyway, as she reached the top of the stairs, Leli looked around to see if she could spot Beth. Not seeing her, Leliana assumed she was still in their bedroom and headed right for it, opening it after her hand got shocked by a little static.

"Good morning!" Leliana spoke with a smile, it taking a few seconds for it to click that...Beth didn't look too happy. Her smile dropped, the nurse gently closing the door as Beth patted the spot next to her. Without a word, Leliana moved to sit down next to Beth, her brows furrowed a bit in concern. "Are you okay Beth? What's going on?" Leliana asked, one hand moving to gently rest on Beth's shoulder.

“I’m fine,” She tried to smile. God she had been dreading this conversation. “I just had some things I wanted to talk to you about. I’ve sort of been avoiding it because I know you have a lot on your mind with Liam showing back up, and I didn’t want to open any old wounds.” She reached out and grabbed her girlfriend hand, squeezing it softly.

“He’s the one who…” Beth paused, not really wanting to put words to the vile-ness that she knew Liam was capable of. “You told me about your Uncle. That’s him, right?”

Leliana sat there quietly as Beth seemed to have to work herself up to say what she wanted. It must have been hard if Beth just didn't come right out with it, it wasn't something that happened often. Beth was pretty open, with Leliana at least. Watching her hesitate caused a ball of worry to start forming in the pit of the nurses stomach. "You could have talked to me anyway, there's always a lot going on," Leliana replied, giving her a warm smile as Beth took her hand. Liam returning had caused Leliana more than enough stress, but Beth could talk to her any time. It didn't matter what was going on.

When Beth asked for her to confirm if Liam was her uncle, Leliana paused for a few moments as she let out a soft sigh. "Yes. Yes, he is." Leliana had never really be able to tell Beth the whole story, but the nurse had told the other blonde enough the gaps could be filled in with her imagination. Or a simple Google search with the right words. "What did he do Beth?" Leliana asked quietly, looking to her girlfriend. Leliana had a bad feeling about this. It almost felt like she was being watched, just that looming sense that something wasn't right. And Leliana wasn't sure if she wanted to know why.

“No it’s nothing like that!” Beth softened her features immediately. “I just, know your uncle wasn’t good to you. I figured that was what was going on when you reacted so violently when he showed up the other night. You’ve been so jumpy since, like you are scared he is going to come back.” The blonde girl locked eyes with Leliana.

“Are you?” She asked. “Scared he is going to come back?”

"Of course I am," Leliana answered without hesitation. She'd be an idiot not to be scared. Maybe he had changed, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. But if she wasn't scared for herself, she was scared for Milly. For Andy. "It almost feels like a matter of when instead of if...he always comes back," Leliana added, running a hand through her hair. "Only this time I'm not...you know, a helpless kid. I might actually be able to defend myself..." That kind of thought always made a comeback. What if she was stronger? What if she called for help? What if she tried harder to fight back? Well this time she could. Leliana knew it. And maybe...maybe bad things would still happen, but she also wasn't alone anymore. "I already know Colt will kill him if she gets her hands on him. It's actually a lot more comforting than it would seem...oh wow that makes me sound like a psychopath."

“It doesn’t.” Beth comforted, shaking her head. She stayed silent for a while more, as if trying desperately to find the words to say next.

“We could leave you know?” She offered, her eyes on the floor, scared to meet Leliana’s. “We could just run and find someplace else to be. You and I would be fine out there, Milly too. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about him finding us at all. Wouldn’t that be safer? You wouldn’t have to be as scared anymore.” Bethany finally looked up, placing the palm of her hand on the side of Leliana’s face. It was hard seeing someone she loved so broken up and so afraid.

Leliana let out a short laugh. "Oh no, it totally does. But...well, with the end of the world I guess nobody really needs to worry about that," She said, expecting a witty remark in return from Beth. But instead, her girlfriend stayed silent. Leliana watched, observing her features as she had a million times before. Beth was beautiful, she made Leliana feel at home. The world wasn't so bad with Beth around...but when she spoke again, Leliana let out another short laugh. "What? Why w-" She was cut off as Beth started speaking again. Talking about running away, taking Milly with them. It was confusing, Beth had never mentioned anything like this before.

When she finally fell silent, Leliana smiled softly, leaning her head into Beth's hand, her own moving up to gently rest on the back of it. "I'm scared Beth, but I'm not running. I'd be scared anywhere, but here...we have food. Shelter. It's safe enough, and there's people here we can trust. A majority of them are assholes but, you know, loveable assholes," She chuckled, leaning in to kiss Beth's cheek. "Everything's gonna be okay. We don't need to leave."

“There is safety in numbers,” Beth agreed. “But it also causes us to be a larger target. We don’t owe these people anything Leli. You’ve given them more than enough. You aren’t safe here. We can go. I’ll go with you. Please go.” She looked up into Leliana’s eyes, tears brimming in hers. “With me. Please.”

Leliana watched Beth, confused and...a little thrown off. Beth had never begged her about anything before, this was a first. That worry was only growing, so was that looming feeling of something just wasn't right. "I know I don't owe them anything, but these are the people I've been with since this all started, I'm not just going to abandon them," Leliana said, her brows furrowing some. "Beth, what's going on? We-we don't have all the skills necessary to survive on our own, you know that. Especially if we brought Milly with us, why are you pushing so hard?"

“I don’t want to see you get hurt!” Beth protested. “Surely that isn’t that hard to believe. I love you. Running from here and trying to make our own way seems a lot better than sitting here waiting for Liam to come back.” She gripped Leli’s hand tighter.

“Please Leli.”

"Beth he'd find us no matter what," Leliana protested. Beth wanting to protect Leliana made so much sense, she'd be doing it for years. But the best way was to stay here. Here they weren't alone, they'd have food and shelter. And they hardly had any issues with the infected here. If they left, the chances of them getting killed was just...Leliana didn't want to think about that. She didn't want to think about Beth or Milly dying. Leliana didn't want to die. "I love you too Beth, but I'm not leaving. I can't."

Tears slowly rolled down Beth’s face as she nodded in acceptance.

“I was so scared you would say that.” The blonde put her wrists up to her eyes to dry the tears, but it felt like they wouldn’t stop coming. She let out a watery chuckle. “But you wouldn’t be you if you didn’t.” That much was true. Leli wasn’t like her, she was good down to her very core. Deep down she knew it was in vain to ask her to leave, there was no way she would abandon the friends she had made here.

A small lump formed in Leliana's throat watching those tears roll down Beth's cheeks. It didn't answer why she had been pushing so hard for her to leave, why Beth wanted to run. Liam was terrifying but there was only so much one man could do against a group their size. "If it makes you feel any better...I know there's been some talk about leaving the lodge. That's kind of left up to Andy, but this place is busted up and...well, not as warm as it was a few weeks ago." Leliana said, watching Beth. "I'm... I'm sorry to disappoint you though."

“Oh, that’s good!” Beth tried to be excited about the premise of warmer and nicer living arrangements, but the tears flowed all the same. She tried to regain her composure, there was no sense in hurting Leli any more than she already had.

“You could never disappoint me,” Beth defended. She pushed up, arching her back to kiss Leliana. She wrapped her arms around her neck, pulling Leli down into the kiss with what felt like desperation. It was deep, and when Beth pulled back up, she had to take a long breath of air.

“Well,” She smacked her thighs and went to stand, changing the subject. “I’ve slept in long enough. I might as well go find something to do to make myself useful.” She gave Leliana a smile, her tears already drying. Bethany extended her hand to Leliana so they could go together.

And without another word, Leliana would take it.

 

[shadowz1995]

Unexpected Gifts​

After talking with Beth, the two blondes would make themselves busy with one task or another. Leliana decided working on inventory would be best, given she didn't know when the last time anyone did it was. This was, she would knew for sure that supplies gathered from recently runs were absolutely on record. Inventory wouldn't take too long, even with Leliana sorting and organizing their supplies so they could keep better track of them. In all honesty, they weren't doing too bad. Some of their medicine needed to be refilled, but the good stuff was doing much better than she originally thought. As many injuries as there was here, Ivan grabbing that huge bag of supplies in the school was turning out to be a saving grace. It would have been handy if the school hadn't been burnt in the process, but panicking made people do crazy shit. Speaking of Ivan...Leliana briefly wondered what happened to him, it was like he up and disappeared one day. But that was pretty common in their group.

Her thoughts turned to Jenna, anger flushing her cheeks for a few moments before Leliana let out a breath. Then that Maria girl...though Leliana didn't particularly care about her leaving, that was for the best. Ralph tried to make what she did seem like an accident, but she wouldn't have run if that was a the case. And then of course, Ralph himself. Probably still at the college but Leliana didn't know when the last time he contacted someone was. That was a little concerning but...it was his choice to leave. Letting out a small sigh, the nurse absentmindedly tapping her pencil against the inventory notebook, she would suddenly perk up with a small smile. Thinking about Ralph made her think of the infected experiments he must have been running. Which in turn made her think of Hector. And then, the eye patch she made for him a little while ago. -



With inventory finished, she had no qualms putting that handy little notebook down and hurrying off upstairs to grab the eye patch. She had out a few finishing touches on it without Milly being around, adjusting a few things to hopefully make it more comfortable. She knew it wasn't medical grade, but.it was better than nothing. Getting infected gunk in an eye hole sounded like a pretty bad idea. Once she grabbed it from the dresser in her room, Leliana would hurry back downstairs to the basement door, where she knocked. Not too loud to startle the man...hopefully, but loud enough for him to definitely hear her.

There was a brief moment of silence after the lady knocked before footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. The partially functioning door swung open and the large doctor's frame filled the door way. The shadows of the basement still clung to his form, making him seen unintentionally menacing if not for the neutral expression he had on his face.

Hector had not really spoken to the young lady since the whole situation with David. Save for a few passing greetings now and then. They maintained a courteous and professional relationship that he was far more comfortable with than anything else.

"Ms. James." Hector answered in an even tone. "Is there something you need?" He asked respectfully.

Leliana didn't really hear him coming up the stairs until he was about half way up. When she finally noticed, she'd take a half step back to make room for the door to open. When it finally did, she greeted him with a pleasant smile. In spite of the conversation with Beth earlier worrying her, the nurse was in a fairly decent mood. "No, no I don't need anything," Leliana spoke first, wondering if he expected her to be there with a problem that needed solving. Unlike most of the times she or someone knocked on the basement door for her behalf, this was purely a friendly visit. "A little while ago, I made something for you. This is the first chance I've gotten to give it to you though," Leliana explained as she produced the handmade eye patch for him to see. "I'm not sure if we have any safety glasses here in the lodge, and with your experiments and such, protecting your eye is important."

Safety glasses would be the better bet since it would protect both eyes, but this was also for general use outside of him being cooped up in the basement. "If it doesn't fit that well, I can always make adjustments so it's more comfortable."

​

The scientist looked down at the eyepatch with a blank expression for a few seconds before remembering that it was a gift being offered to him. He blinked back to the present and grabbed the eyepatch wordlessly.

The Venezuelan held it up closer to his functioning eye to get a good look at it. It was nicely made and seemed comfortable to wear. Hector had never even considered keeping the new hole in his eye covered nor the potential effect it may have on others with him just walking around like that. The implications had just dawned on him.

"Yes..." He said finally, "It would probably be wise to wear one of these. I hadn't even considered it until now for some reason."

The older gentleman reached around his head and fasted the patch to its new home, covering the dark hole that was now a part of his face. The damage around the eye that followed along the side of his face and finished with a piece of his ear missing still told the story of what happened, but at least it probably looked more pleasant to speak to him.

"Thank you very much, Niña. This is a very thoughtful gift and I do appreciate you making this for me." The graying male said graciously, a low incline of his head showing his gratitude along with his words.

​

Leliana watched Hector as he seemed to process the fact he was getting a gift. Though, Leliana didn't exactly see this as a gift, maybe...repayment for everything he's done? A small token of her gratitude? A random peace offering on whatever day of the week this was? No, no. It was a gift. As he held it up to examine, Leliana wondered what was going through his head. Did he like it? Hopefully he didn't think she was trying to say anything negative with it, really her goal here was to make sure he was safe. They might not have the best personal relationship, but Leliana cared about the well-being of everyone here.

"Maybe you're too focused on the basement of secrets," Leliana chuckled as he began to put the eye patch on. For now he would have to make do with the strips of cloth to hold it to his head, but at some point Leliana would find some buttons or maybe a buckle to make it easier to get one and off. Once it seemed like he has it settled and he spoke again, Leliana smiled once more. "You don't have to thank me, it's the least I can do considering everything you've done." He did a lot for the lodge and the people here, even if it didn't seem like he did. Dealing with David and helping her through a panic attack was just a small part. And she knew he was trying to fix the world all by himself. A task she would help with if he asked but...the nurse knew her skills weren't nearly where they needed be to do that. "Do you need anything before you head back down? Water maybe? I refilled the bottles this morning, some of them should be cold by now."


"No, this is more than enough. I have everything I need. Thank you again. I really do appreciate this." the older man stated sincerely.

 

[Maj]

PART 1​

Vanessa had taken to watching Andrea Jordan, stalking her the Lion she killed days ago at the circus. From the rafters she would wait till Andy came out of her room. She would watch as she got her morning coffee, and even took to hiding behind and in the trees or any cover she could find to stay out of sight of the huntress she was stalking. Though she made great effort to hide from the redhead woman, she made no attempt to hide her staking from others. A precaution not taken that might easily land her in a hard situation to explain, though the acrobat gave this no thought.

Andy had felt Vanessa’s eyes on her for over a week. It seemed to be never ending. When she was in the lodge there was always the eerie feeling that the acrobat was watching her from the rafters. The girl was like a spider who had made its nest in the corner of her room, watching silently with her dual colored eyes anytime that Andy moved. Despite the creep factor that came from being stalked, the huntress didn’t feel any alarm. This was far different from the feeling she had gotten from her at the circus. There wasn’t any detectable maliciousness from the girl, if anything it almost felt like curiosity.

When she went outside, the redhead could almost catch glimpses of Vanessa’s hair around corners. Always seeming to be a few steps behind her or just around a corner that Andy herself had just visited. For a time, there seemed to be no real reason to approach her about it. It was harmless. Either the medication was working or her threat had, but there was no longer any reason to fear being left alone in a room with the russian female.

Still, even mothers eventually grew tired of children that followed them from room to room and so it was for Andy. She was up in her perch, leaned against the wall and inhaling deeply from what looked like a hand rolled cigarette, allowing herself a few precious moments of solitude. The last weeks had been exhausting. A social creature Andrea was not, and somehow she had ended up being forced into conversations with almost each person that lived in her family home. Her hands shook as she pulled the joint from her lips, exhaling and coughing as she did so.

The branches around her tree seemed to buckle and move. Sometimes a stray bird or squirrel would come climbing through and around her little treehouse. However, if this was a bird it was a rather obese one. More likely, it was the thin frame of the carnie that never seemed to leave her alone. Andy sighed deeply.

“You might as well come in,” she called out, knowing good and well Vanessa could hear her. “I already know you are here, there is no reason to suck at being stealthy any more.”

"H..how did you know?" The carni asked with a slightly surprised tone. She leaned her head in slowly to look at the redhead. This was the first time she had let herself be in Andy's direct sight since their conversation in the cellar. She was trying to gauge the other woman's expression, and in a sense determine how much danger she might be in, should she get too close.

“I’ve spent my life learning to stalk prey,” the redhead said idly, not looking up at the woman as she emerged. “Do you really think I don’t know what it looks like when someone else is doing it?” She took another long drag from the smoking paper between her fingers and sighed, exhaling slowly.

“I have honestly just been waiting for you to quit skulking about. But after a few weeks I realized you weren’t going to just come out with it on your own.” It was only then that Andy turned her head to look at Vanessa, eyes mildly bloodshot and half open. She was more relaxed now than she had been in weeks. With a quick flick of her head she offered an open fold out chair to Vanessa.

“Say what you want to say,” Andy instructed, but her words held no contempt or bite. The command was more an offer than an order. “I’m not going to bite.”

The acrobat's eyes darted between Andy and the chair in a nervous, almost uncertain manner. However, she felt obligated to do as the redhead said. Without another word, the young harlequin was seated awkwardly in the chair. "I um.. Sorry…"

“For what?” The huntress asked with a light cough. “For stammering so much?”

"For everything, okay!" She retorted, sounding almost offended.

"Oh, you are talking about that whole, ‘tried to feed you to a lion and then stabbing you to death’ thing?” The redhead asked, amusement to her tone. “Water under the bridge. I got a pretty sweet lion head out of the deal.” The sarcasm was thick, but not unkind. Any heat to her tone muffled under the thick layer of smoke that now filled the walls of the perch.

Nessa simply stared at Andy for a few moments, unsure of what to say or do. As she looked down at her own hands, she stated quite openly "I do not understand you… You are mean with one hand yet are kind with the other." Her heart was thumping in her ears as she tried to keep her breathing even. It was clear that she was scared of the huntress, but she understood quite adamantly that the only reason she was still alive was Andy. This whole thing was hard for her to wrap her head around.

“Welcome to the club,” Andrea replied with an airy laugh. “I give everyone emotional whiplash. It’s not just you.” The redhead sniffed before idly passing the joint over to Vanessa, as if the gesture was the most natural thing in the world. In reality, she didn’t even know if the acrobat knew what it was she now held, but also Andy didn’t really care one way or the other. After a moment of staring in silent contemplation, Nessa took the offered joint.

“Although, I suppose you may have gotten a tongue lashing worse than some of the others,” she admitted. “To be blunt, you just sort of rubbed me the wrong way when you first showed up. I’m not sure how to explain it honestly. Luca is the first person I’ve ever…” she paused, scrunching up her face as if the next words made her physically ill to utter. Her expression softened as she changed trajectory. “I’ve never been around anyone long enough to feel jealous, but I guess maybe I was. It’s really fucking stupid.” Andy leaned back against the wall, kicking her feet out to rest upon the plywood and old crate that had been used as a makeshift table. The weight of her converse was almost enough to send the thing toppling over. She stretched, letting her back crack over the chair in a satisfying way, a series of pops that seemed to visibly relax her even further.

“I’m not really all that mean,” Andy finally replied. “I say mean shit sometimes. I’m good at spouting venom, but that’s just because it's easier when people stay the fuck away from me.”

Vanessa pressed the joint to her lips, mimicking the way Andy had been holding it as she inhaled deeply. Vanessa had never smoked anything before, not even tobacco, but she didn't want to turn it down and ruin what was possibly the first civil conversation the two have had since meeting. As soon as the smoke hit her pink, untainted lungs, Nessa began to cough, puffs of smoke escaping from her mouth as her shoulders shook with the force of her lungs rejecting the smoke. Her outstretched arm bouncing about as she attempted to pass the hand rolled herb back.

The redhead let out a hoarse chuckle at the display, taking it from Vanessa and pinching it between her lips once more. She exhaled into the air and sighed as if she was finally able to really breath for the first time in weeks. The air was cold as it was drawn into her lungs, but comforting as she settled into comfort, pulling the scratchy blanket up around her collar bone.

“So what now?” She asked the acrobat. “Are you just going to follow me around forever?”

"Maybe. Probably not… I don't know.." Vanessa replied, shaking her head lightly. After a short moment of silence between them, the carnie looked over to Andy. "Why did you shoot that man back then.. when you dragged me off of him?" She said, voice shaky and confused. "Why not let me kill him?" She paused for a moment, looking into the redhead's emerald eyes. "Why spare my life after I attacked you? I don't understand.."

“Honestly?” Andrea laughed. “All of those things just seemed like the right thing to do in the moment I chose to do them. Keeping you from killing that creep when he first arrived was just because I didn’t have all the answers yet. For all intents and purposes, I thought you were sorta insane, maybe this dude hadn’t actually done anything wrong.” Her emerald eyes hardened when she finally took her gaze from the ceiling and allowed it to meet Vanessa’s gaze. The woman stared into the multicolored irises with an intent that seemed almost analytical.

“When I got you alone, I knew differently. Sometimes we aren’t crazy for the sake of being crazy. Sometimes people make us that way.” The huntress spoke plainly, like she knew exactly what she was talking about. With a sigh she softened once more, wiggling deeper under the blankets until the old wool thing came up under her chin.

“I had planned to let him go with just the warning, but I lost my cool. He knew my name which meant he knew….” Andy paused again and looked at the acrobat before she continued. “How much of the other night did you put together?” The question was an Ernest one, both to dissect how much the younger woman knew and to decide how much detail she should speak herself.

Collab: TheMightyRedLemon

 

[TheMightyRedLemon]

The acrobat turned her gaze away from Andy, recalling the night she heard the mighty huntress exhibit fear. "I was… up in the rafters… That night." She began nervously. "I never saw him, but I heard your voice change.." She looked back at her red-haired companion. "It was a tone I recognized far too well.." Her mismatched eyes held Andy's emerald gaze with a look of woeful understanding.


"I remember thinking 'What makes her so scared?' Because to me, you are something to be feared." Nessa admitted, dropping the gaze again. "I had a general idea… but I wasn't sure… So I followed you around…"


"I'm something to be feared?" Andy let out a hollow laugh. The idea was utterly ridiculous. She knew that she could be off-putting, even intimidating in the right light, but feared? She was a twenty-something art student with daddy issues, she wasn't a monster or a soldier or anything that warranted fear. Then she thought back to the events over the last several months. No matter the circumstances, Andy had survived ground zero, she had survived the middle school massacre, she had killed soldiers in the name of her allies, rounded them up and brought them here. She had provided for and defended her home. Andy had saved hostages, made hard decisions and won a fight against a lion. No one could question her will to survive. Maybe there was something to fear after all.


"I'm not a threat to you, Nessa. No matter what anyone says." She made pointed eye contact with her companion, to ensure she knew she was talking about both real and imaginary voices. "Everyone has demons. Mine just happened to walk up the driveway," she finally responded, answering the girl’s question.


"So it was a demon?" The acrobat asked genuinely. Even she thought it sounded dumb to ask, but the dead were walking and as far as she knew that was supposed to be impossible, so maybe this wasn't too far-fetched. Or perhaps the young carni was overthinking things way too much. After all, she did feel quite strange right now. She felt a slight pressure under her eyes and her mind was swimming at a slower pace than the woman was used to. Vanessa shook her head lightly and refocused on Andy, not wanting to lose focus of the conversation.


“My father,” Andy amended, forgetting how literally the acrobat sometimes took things. “Although I suppose he is as much a demon as Renzos or whoever that other guy is that seems to haunt you.” The redhead had noticed that some of her ‘voices’ had names from the way she sometimes talked back to them.


"Your father must be really scary then.." Nessa responded after a short moment of silence. If he was anything like Reznos or Yuri, that man would come back. "So… what do we do?"


Andy couldn’t help but laugh. It was a simple question, it could even be argued a very logical one, and yet this one thing had haunted her for weeks. Ever since she had seen him her mind had reeled, desperately trying to come up with some plan that would ensure her safety. She had talked to all of those she felt closest to, begging for some sort of input that would help her decide the course. Ultimately they had all had the same advice.


“Nothing,” Andy replied after several moments. The small perch was filled with the haze of her smoke, her red eyes and croaking voice evident even through the veil. She smiled, a look that seemed forced and foreign. Andrea was never the type to smile for anyone's benefit. It drew attention to the harshness of her cheekbones and the sunken dark circles under her eyes.


“We can prepare and strengthen our base, which is all we should be doing regardless. But there is nothing to be done about him. He may never show his face again, and if he doesn’t then we are all better off.” However, even as she said it the comment didn’t sit right with her. There was too much weirdness around it. So many signs that the girl had been dying to ignore for her own sanity. She was sure that her father had men, and even more sure that they had been looking for her long before he showed up on her doorstep.


“That Renzos guy,” Andy said after a few moments of silence. “He knew my real name. You didn’t tell him, did you?” she asked. The question was moot. Andy was fairly certain that Nessa hadn’t even known her real name, but there was some hope that maybe Luca had told it to her. He and her father were the only people who still used it.


The men at the gas station had used it too though. Perfect strangers. There were men around that had been looking for her by name, a name only her father used.


Vanessa shook her head slowly. "I didn't really speak with him… I wanted to end him…"


The redhead nodded thoughtfully but didn’t respond verbally. It was as she thought. Likely he, along with the other men at the bare minimum knew her father and knew what she looked like well enough to keep an eye out for her. The thought didn’t set well. The urge to run had come up like vomit over and over again the past two weeks, but she quieted it down now as she had before. Abandoning these people wasn’t an option and neither was running from her problem any longer. If it reared its ugly head, they would deal with it the best they could and that was the best she could do.


"It's strange, you know?" Vanessa began, staring at the floor as she clasped her hands in her lap. "I can't remember the last time I have had this much freedom. It's scary… and I don't know what to do with it." As she spoke, she folded her arms together as if to comfort herself. "For as long as I can remember… I've been told what I must do, when I must do, how to do. Even when I must sleep was decided for me…"


That was something Andrea just couldn’t relate to. Even with all her problems, the girl had a loving wonderful mother who had done nothing but try to guide her through life. However, what Andy chose to do and when had always been of her own volition. The girl exhaled slowly, shifting down even further under the blankets as the chill began to set in.


“Okay,” the huntress said thoughtfully. “What is something you’ve always wanted to do? It doesn’t matter how stupid or far fetched. Just name anything that you wanted once, and were never allowed.”


The acrobat was quiet for a moment, thinking as hard as she could. Was there ever something She wanted to do? She wasn't sure. Much of the time, Vanessa simply acted on impulse in accordance with her emotions. "I don't know…" she admitted. "Haven't given a thought to wanting something in a long time… It's always been what Yuri wanted.." Vanessa said in a somber tone. "Obedience at all times… that was what I had to give. It was only way I could survive."


Andy sighed, Hector hadn't been kidding. Vanessa really was her responsibility now. What they had was the equivalent of an abused child, or maybe a dog. She only knew how to follow orders and it was clear she was desperate to cling to someone, if nothing else for some sense of normalcy and security. That was why she had given Luca the "life vow." Vanessa didn't know what to do with herself otherwise.


"You can be your own person here," the red head assured her. "Even if you don't know how to at first. We have plenty to do and I'm not going to pretend I'm not going to bark orders at you at some point or another. If you feel like you have to serve, then I have plenty for you to do but you never have to sacrifice your boundaries again. If I step on your toes, you can tell me to fuck off. I know I'll give you the same courtesy." The joint was burning close to her fingers now so she took a final hit before passing it back to her companion.


"I really only have a few "rules" I guess. Don't hurt anyone here unless it's in self defense and don't do anything that might cause harm to the people we have." Andy shrugged as if that was simple. "Now that might take some progressive thinking. Sometimes things we do in the moment don't seem like they would hurt anyone, but they could long term. Like breaking a generator, or pissing off a stranger that could come back and retaliate. We have to do our best to keep everyone here safe, even if we don't like them."


Vanessa nodded as she took the smoldering joint from Andy, paying close attention to every word she spoke. This woman had not only spared her life. Luca had listed a good many rules to her when she got to the lodge, but in a way, the huntress was offering her a purpose again. The acrobat felt her eyes begin to sting, causing her to blink hard to keep the hot liquid from spilling out. Even after all she had done to cause trouble and even harm others at the lodge, this woman was offering her a place in earnest.


She pressed the joint to her lips once again and inhaled. The heat lightly burned against the tips of her fingers, though she didn't mind. The coughing fit that came with the hit was far worse to the carni. After taking a moment to recover, she tried to pass the burning roach back. As she did, her mismatched orbs bet Andy's own brilliant green eyes. Vanessa didn't know how to properly display the emotions she was feeling. They were feelings so foreign to her mind now that she could scarcely identify them. Her eyes conveyed a sincerity reflected in her tone as she spoke. "Thank you…"


"You don't have to thank me," Andy replied awkwardly. It was obvious whatever she had said had meant something to the acrobat, but honestly the redhead had just been talking out of her ass. "I didn't do anything that I wouldn't have done for anyone else here. We have to watch each others backs, you know?"


The acrobat nodded slowly, her eyes partially squinted. "You saved me from my demon when he came for me… so I’ll help you with yours, when he returns once more." She said in a somewhat slow but matter of fact way. Her shoulders dropped fully and she leaned back, finally fully relaxing. She felt something deep within that seemed alien to her now, for how long it had been. At least for this moment, alone in this treehouse with a woman she tried to kill, she truly felt safe.


“For both of our sakes Nessa,” Andy replied, sinking lower under her blankets. “I hope that isn’t something either of us ever has to deal with again.”


Collab : Maj

 

[Maj]

​

December 16th, 2018
02:03AM
Outside the Lodge

The cold winter air nipped at her cheeks and burned her eyes as the blonde woman tore through the woods. The navy darkness seemed to envelop her like a blanket, much like the one wrapped tightly around Valaree’s tiny body. It would keep her warm at least until Beth could find a better place to hunker down for the night. She felt like she had ripped her own heart out and left it in the upstairs bedroom where Leliana slept, but her girlfriend couldn’t be reasoned with. She had tried the day before and it felt like in every hour that had passed since, but the nurse wouldn’t budge. Leli loved these people and wouldn’t abandon them.

Not even for her.

Bethany didn’t want to think about the horrors that would befall the lodge once she left. She didn’t like most of the people there. In fact, Bethany actively disliked a few of them, but Leliana and Milly were still there and there was nothing she could do to save them. At the bare minimum maybe she could still keep the baby safe and escape the lodge with her own skin intact before Liam returned. And he would return, of that she was certain.

In fact, Bethany had likely wasted too much time already trying to get Leliana to leave with her. When Liam had sent her out looking for settlements she never expected to find the redhead girl he had been looking for, furthermore, she had never expected to find her oldest and best friend living at the lodge. However, the thing that Bethany had expected least was that she was the other girl he had been looking for. His daughter and his niece. Liam wanted his family back together. However seeing the way both of them reacted upon seeing him, she doubted how kind of a reunion it actually would be.

She had quit answering his calls weeks ago. Bethany had hoped that maybe Liam would just think she had died and wouldn’t come for this place. The last she had reported they had been attacked by soldiers, so was that really too far-fetched? But Liam had gotten desperate it seemed, and came out of hiding on his own to find the lodge and bumped into Owen. Once he had shown, she knew that she was in danger. Liam would never forgive her for betraying him, and she also knew that if she stayed at the lodge her fate was the same. Hector and the others would never let her live knowing that she was the reason Liam knew they were there in the first place.

Her pace quicked at the thought, dodging tree branches and doing her best to keep the bundle of the baby away from anything that might snag the fabric of her swaddle. She had just been fed, so with any luck, the young babe wouldn’t sound off and alert anyone, living or dead, to her whereabouts.

The sound of branches snapping somewhere in the distance caused Beth to stop cold. It was likely just an animal, right? Didn’t Andrea go hunting in these woods a lot? That must mean there was any number of beasts lurking within them. However, on the off chance, it wasn’t it could mean death for both Valaree and Bethany if she wasn’t careful. The blonde continued her journey, although this time being more careful with her footing. It wasn’t long before her suspicions were confirmed, however, as the beam of a flashlight could be seen in the distance. Live humans were far more difficult to deal with than the dead ones. Bethany found the thickest patch of a bramble she could and crouched in it, waiting for the group to pass.

She couldn’t make out the voices. Beth didn’t recognize them, nor could she make out what they were saying. The only thing she knew for sure was that there was more than one person out here and they talked in the hushed whispers of people who knew they weren’t alone out in the woods. Bethany felt her heartbeat quicken. She was too late, Liam’s men were already staking out the woods. The blonde resisted the urge to curse under her breath. She dared not make a sound, holding even her breath as she waited for them to pass.

She felt sick. They would be on the lodge soon and that meant that Milly and Leliana would be caught in the crossfire if nothing else. Liam’s men rarely left anywhere without causing casualties and damage. She pushed her mind from the thoughts as much as she could, fear gripping her in reality. If they found her, the fate awaiting her might be even worse. As the voices became more distant, Beth waited to breathe slowly and shallowly, trying to avoid giving them any reason to come back.

Valarie wiggled slightly in her arms. The lack of movement roused the babe from her sleep. Beth looked at her in abject horror, slowly and steadily moving her arms up and down, to try and soothe her back to slumber but the small child only moved more. She pleaded in a whispered voice, trying to keep the panic from it as she rocked the child, looking up constantly at the flashlights that moved further and further into the woods and away from her. Just a bit further, just a few more minutes and they would be in the clear.

Valarie opened her eyes, the long lashes fluttering over her large infant eyes. She locked on Beth’s face who attempted to smile at her despite the fear that racked her body with shakes. The child’s face scrunched up and there was nothing Beth could do to stop the wail that escaped the child’s lips.

The blonde began running immediately, the child in her arms. However, she knew she would never make it. The flashlights had turned in her direction and no matter how long and hard she was able to run, they would find her. It was over.

​

 

[Maj]

​

December 16th, 2018
10:23am
The Lodge

Owen felt like he had barely recovered from his last run. It didn’t seem to matter how he stretched his muscles or tried to pop his back, everything still hurt and so he had resigned to just feel mildly uncomfortable. Sleeping on Michael’s floor, combined with all the work at the Mcdonalds and so on had ultimately caused the poor redhead to feel exhausted. He missed the lazy Sunday afternoons he had prior to the outbreak. At least, Owen thought it was Sunday. It was becoming increasingly harder to keep track.

Sundays were a day for lazing on the couch with a beer and his headset on, grinding in whatever game that had currently held his attention. They were for helping his mom around the house and dinners with her and Andy all around the table. However, the days of lazing about were over. Owen had been up and moving since the early morning. There was plenty to do and that meant plenty of things for his sister to bark at him first thing. She was still mad at his disappearing act the other night, so he supposed it was only fair that she make him do extra chores as penance.

"Hey Owen?" The nurse's familiar voice broke the relative quiet of the redhead's surroundings, breaking his focus. He had been in a fog of chores. Perimeter checks, inventory supply, and finally refilling the generator. He looked up at Leliana, his brow creasing as he saw the look on her face.

“What’s up buttercup?” He asked.

"Have you seen Beth at all today? I can't find her." Leliana sounded concerned, her brows furrowed in worry for her girlfriend as they would be with anyone else she cared about. "I can't find Valerie either, so I thought maybe Beth took her on a walk but she usually stays within sight of the lodge."

"Oh, Uh." Owen paused, pulling the can from the generator to look at the blonde. "No I haven't seen her, but I'll keep an eye out. Should we be worried?" The blonde seemed nervous, and he figured she wouldn't be coming to him unless there was reason to be concerned. Still, the yard was safe and there hadn't been any hoards around during the checks. Where would Beth have wandered off to, with a baby no less?

"I...I don't know, maybe," Leliana spoke, looking around before walking closer to Owen so she didn't have to talk so loud. "Last night Beth kept trying to convince me to leave with her. She wanted to take Milly as well, Beth seemed...terrified. I don't think she would have gone off on her own. At least not without saying goodbye..."

That did not bode well. Surely the woman wouldn’t have run off, but Owen’s gut didn’t settle. In fact, this was just the kind of thing he had tried to warn Leliana about. Beth was never willing to stay when things got hairy. Owen ignored the sinking feeling in his stomach, hiding it with a warm smile. One of his large hands reached out to pat his cousin on the shoulder.

"Don't worry cuz," the redhead commanded. "I'm sure she's around. I'll reach out to the others and we will find her in no time. Promise."

Leliana tried to match his smile, but it was clear she didn't believe him. It was hard for her not to worry, and of course, she thought about a recent conversation between the two of them.. "Okay, good. Just...have someone let me know, alright? I really don't want her getting hurt."

“Of course,” he assured her. Owen watched as the blonde walked away, likely eager to busy her hands and distract herself. He waited until she was out of earshot before reaching back down to pick up both the gas can and his radio.

“Has anyone put eyes on Beth this morning?” Owen called over the walkie. He held the radio in his right hand, and the gas can for the generator with his left. “Lels says she hasn’t seen her or the baby since she woke up.”

“Nothing in my neck of the woods,” Andy’s voice came through the radio static.

"Me and GI are out in the boonies right now, we're just finishing something up. Haven't seen her." That was Nile’s voice.

"Shut up! No, we haven't seen her. We're a bit out trying to deal with something. We've got Arthur, once we're done I can take a look around the area. Y'ask anyone else?" Colt came over the radio next.

"Na, not yet. I'll look around here and let you know if I can dig anything up." The redhead responded as he finished his work.

"Good. We'll not be much longer,” He heard Colt respond. Owen nodded but didn’t call back. Nile and Colt both had the other two radios. It sounded like the two of them were together. He found that odd, but maybe they would finally work out whatever bullshit the two had between them. Since all parties were out if anyone saw her they would call out. That left Owen to check the more local hiding spots. The redhead put the empty gas can back at the door of the shed for Aaron to deal with at a later date and headed into the lodge to ensure she hadn’t wandered back inside while they worked.

With a hard push, Owen was able to open the front door. It didn’t move as fluidly since Nile put it back on the hinges. It wasn’t his fault, the whole frame had ended up out of wack after David’s attack on the lodge. He forced his way inside, feeling the warmth from the fireplace on his face as he did so. The redhead rubbed his hands together, putting them to his mouth and blowing as he glanced around the lodge. It was actually fairly silent. No one seemed to be inside.

Their numbers had been dwindling over the months, that much was certain, Ray, Jenna, Ralph, Tre, Ivan, and others had all come and went. Shinoa and others had been killed. It wasn’t as crowded, but the absence of bustling life combined with the holes and damage made the lodge far less inviting than it had been previously.

Hector was likely down in the cellar. The open master bedroom door showed that even Luca was finally up and about. If Milly was around, she had also herself scarce. It gave the house a sort of eerie feeling.

“Beth?” Owen called, but his voice only echoed up through the rafters. The large man cocked an eyebrow and stepped further into the house, pushing the door closed behind him to help keep in some of the warmth. Who in their right mind took a baby out in December weather anyway? Owen rolled his eyes at the thought. He never really saw Beth as the brightest or most maternal, but she probably had her reasons.

“Bethany?” He called again. Still nothing. Owen began his way up the staircase, the creak of his weight on the wood loud in the vacant silence of the lodge. Surely if she was up there Bethany would have answered him, but he walked up the stairs all the same. Maybe she was sleeping? If that had been the case though, wouldn’t Leliana have already found her? It made sense to check their room regardless so Owen climbed up the rest of the stairwell and entered the bedroom at the far end of the hall.

It was clean in a way that was clear that Leliana was the last person to be in it. The bed was made, and the sheets tucked. The dresser was littered with hairbrushes and ties, along with a variety of other hygiene items. One of the nightstands had a sketchbook with Milly’s name scrawled across the front in marker. He smiled slightly as he looked around. It was as if a little family lived in here. Owen supposed in some ways, there had been one. Leliana and Beth had become the primary caretakers of both the baby that had been left in their care after Shinoa’s death and Milly. Although, it seemed like the girl had been spending a lot of her time with Andy and Colt as of late.

The important part was that Beth was not in the room. He had hoped for ease that she had been, but honestly hadn’t expected it to be that easy. Owen walked over to the window of their room, overlooking the backyard. The ginger scanned the treeline for Beth and shook his head in vain.

“We might want to go send someone out in the woods to look for her. I still haven’t seen her.” Owen buzzed over the radio.

“I’m already out here with Luca,” Andy responded quickly. “We can do a quick scan. Leli says she hasn’t seen her all morning?” His sister’s voice came over the radio.

“She was gone when Leli woke up,” Owen confirmed.

"We've got GI's horse here. If she hasn't gone far, we could probably do a runaround and grab her before it gets dark,” Nile came back through the static. Owen smiled at the nickname. It seemed he wasn’t the only one keen on giving them out.

"I already said that you fucking-! Ugh... look, tell Leli we're gonna do everything we can." It was Colt again. Owen laughed, but thankfully no one could hear him. He was sure any teasing from him wouldn’t help the two of them get along any better.

“Sounds good,” Andy came back. “I’m on the far side near my perch, you guys do a quick scan. Just be careful and quiet and stay away from the north end like I’ve been telling everyone. I have a bunch of bear traps out there and I would hate for Arthur to get his ankle broken.”

"Augh fuck- Arthur! Shit! He's just run off! Something's spooked him... Nile, keep your head down." Colt’s voice rang out.

"I think something's moving-”

Owen flinched back as the glass broke in front of his face, seemingly for no reason at all. It shattered, sending spiderwebs up the glass in an intricate, almost artisan design. The loud crack that followed after sent the redhead to his knees, covering his head with his hands.

A gunshot?

He glanced up to the window once more. Hidden among the spiraling cracks was a small hole where the bullet had passed through, seeming inches from Owen’s head. He stayed down and reached for the radio once more, hands trembling.

“Someone just took a shot at me through the upstairs window.” His voice wavered as he stupidly kept it low. As if the gunman could hear him from the distance he just shot. “Please tell me that someone is really fucking bad at target practice.”

“Get everyone back to the lodge and regroup.” That was Andy’s voice, strained and urgent. Owen could hear the sounds of gunfire in the background of her call. “We’re under attack!”

Featuring: Togy Rumble Fish FireMaiden
Mention: shadowz1995 Howzer-Black Hyped_Taco

 

[FireMaiden]

​

Location: The Jordan Lodge
Interaction: Open
Mentioned: Maj (Beth/Owen) Hyped_Taco (Micheal)
The nurse really didn't have a good feeling about this. Something was wrong, she could feel it in her gut. Beth had always gone out of her way for Leliana, the nurse really couldn't place a time when Beth had just outright...abandoned her. Maybe it was some kind of prank, or...or maybe she actually had just gone out on a walk and gotten stuck. You never did know what would happen while away from the lodge. Hell, they could hardly tell what would happen at the lodge. From Hazmat attacks, to zombies, to Micheal, things were always a bit chaotic. Looking back over her shoulder at Owen as he called out over the radio, Leliana let out another soft sigh before heading inside. Before finally going to ask someone about Beth, the young woman had been working on laundry. As far as the nurse knew, it had been a while since anyone had done any. And clean clothes was always a morale boost. At least Leliana always liked clean clothes, they made her feel better.

Washing clothes by hand however, was a bit rough, especially in the cold, but Leliana had managed for the most part. Granted she still had a lot to do, but the first two loads of washed clothes were ready to be hung out to dry. Which would give them another issue. It wasn't impossible for clothes to dry out in the cold air like this, but Leliana knew that if she didn't wrong then out as much as possible, they would most definitely freeze. All it meant was a little extra work, but work Leliana was going to hate. Taking a deep breath once she reached the back door, she pushed it open and moved to keep it open with her hip as she dragged the basket of wet clothes outside. It actually wasn't too cold out at the moment. At least, it wasn't as cold as it could have been which may bode well in their favor. Clean clothes were right around the corner!

Once the basket had been pulled out onto the back porch, Leliana stepped and let the door swing shut as the nurse bent over and hoisted the basket up onto her hip. Immediately she felt some of the water soak through her jacket and t-shirt, but Leliana would deal with it later. Descending the stairs carefully incase they were covered in ice, the nurse let out a little hum of success once her feet hit the ground. She let out another small sigh, looking around to ensure there were no lingering infected in the yard. Once she was satisfied she was alone, Leliana began to make her way to the clothes line set up nearby. It would be useful if there was a dryer to us, but that would also take a lot of power. Power she wasn't sure they could spare for now. So the clothesline would have to do. Leliana would drop the basket when she was next to it, reaching up to knock a few leaves and small clumps of snow from it before bending down to grab a random article of clothing. It immediately chilled her hands, a shiver running up the nurses arms as she twisted the cloth. Excess water fell to the ground, she sound of it pattering onto the ground repeating a few times before Leliana flicked the shirt and reached up to attach it to the clothesline. "I wonder if we could find one of those rolling presses," The young woman mused. "Or maybe someone could make one..."

Any extra help for laundry would be appreciated. Especially when the weather got like this. It only took a few minutes before her hands started to sting uncomfortably, Leliana pausing to rub her hands together to warm them up. Of course doing this allowed her mind to wander a bit, once again thinking about Beth. It had been maybe three years since they had met first. Shortly after Leliana had been attacked at Moe's...if not for the other blonde, Leliana might have done anything to just escape her own mind. That attack had triggered a serious regression in all the progress she had made after Liam has been arrested. Once again sleeping in the laundry room, unable to eat most of the time, ignoring her personal hygiene and overall health...Leliana didn't remember exactly how Beth and her had met. Nor did Leliana remember how exactly Beth gave her a little bit of spark again. All the young nurse knew, is that without Beth, she might have given up years ago. So the thought that maybe Beth left, just abandoning them was...hard. She didn't like it. But that was probably a universal feeling, unable to accept what might have been the truth when it came to those you loved. After all, it wasn't like the nurse couldn't say that it wasn't a possibility. Especially after the talk they had the night before. Beth had been so adamant about leaving...Leliana frowned, her brows furrowing again as she began to blow on her hands. No. No, Leliana was sure Beth was just stuck on a walk. Everything was going to be fine.

A familiar sound echoing through the air immediately pulled Leliana away from her thoughts, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling. Of course, that could have been nothing, Owen taking care of an infected who wandered too close. But he could have done that silently, Leliana's brows furrowing. Letting out a small huff, she started to move to pick up another piece of clothing but stopped. Owen didn't use guns, she knew that. But he was the only other one outside right? It sounded too close for comfort, Leliana patting her thigh a few times to try to calm her nerves before the young woman suddenly turned to head back inside. Something felt very wrong here, and Leliana needed to figure out what.

 

[Rumble Fish]

Part 1
Written with Togy
Mentions: Maj (Owen and Andy)

It was a chilly morning, but that had been expected. The frost sprinkled across the grass like icing sugar, only disturbed by the hooves of the stallion marching across the grass, leaving little green patches as he went. It was not long before the cold would reclaim the grass however, leaving only a white indent where the hoof had been. Colt shuddered and brought her scarf up over her nose as a chill ran down her shirt. There was no real purpose to this ride, other than to warm both herself and Arthur up. He hadn’t been ridden for several days as Colt had been recovering from her bruised ribs and busted shoulder. He was in a flighty mood today, not helped by the cold saddle and continuous bite of the wind. For now Colt was walking him in a circle, trying to regain her bearings.

“Relax you big dumb beast,” the veteran spoke in a voice of mock-insult, “once we’re out the woods we’ll go for a run, how’s that? Just lemme warm up first, huh?” Arthur tossed his handsome head with a frustrated snort. He was pushing against the reins, and Colt knew that if she relaxed her grip too much, he’d take off at a flat gallop. She could not blame him for wanting to run. Who wouldn’t? Besides, Colt was relieved to be alone. Having spent days inside under Hector’s strict eye, she could not escape the other residents. But nobody else knew Arthur, so this suited her to the ground. Once he was a bit more emotionally stable, they would set off.

The smell of smoke and another unrecognizable something creeped through the leaves towards the pair. Through the surrounding foliage, the faint glow of orange was recognizable as well as muffled noises that sounded vaguely like curses.

Arthur’s head shot up and his ears erected. Colt looked in the direction he was facing. The horse’s nostrils were flaring and his body went rigid. She gave him a light click with his heels and Arthur let out a fierce snort and began to scuttle backwards, tucking his head to his chest. Knowing better than to push it, Colt dismounted. As soon as her weight was out the saddle, Arthur retreated to his spot under the big pine tree behind the lodge. Cursing in frustration, Colt made her way to the source of the commotion. Having heard everything Jenna said about the coffee beforehand, she had a good idea of who was behind this idiocy. Rounding the corner she spotted it.

“Oh wur the frrk?” Came the muffled snarl under the scarf.

“Ah. Ah, ah fuck. O-oh, oh fuck me-” The New Yorker cursed silently, pinch his nose between his fingers as he kicked dirt into his makeshift firepit. Sticks and dry leaves were clumped together, burning quickly as the plastic of cocaine baggies melted into the smouldering wood. The smell was ungodly, the fumes made his eyes water, and he could barely breathe if he got too close. He hadn’t thought very far ahead, but he rarely ever did.

Mumbling another string of curses as he knocked over an empty green jerry can in his blind stumble to escape the fumes, the druggie haphazardly tossed a small sandwich baggie into the flames before ducking for cover.

“What,” Colt pulled her scarf down, “the fuck are you fucking doing?!” She asked aghast.

Rubbing at his eyes furiously, he trudged away from the fire, directly towards Colt. Looking up, he stopped mid-curse as he took in the sight of the woman and her horse.

“Oh. Hi?” It was more of a question than anything, avoiding eye contact before patting down his pockets in search of something.

“Oh hi?” Colt took out her flask but didn’t drink from it, “oh hi-!? You trying to burn down the whole fucking forest or something!?” This was not what she had expected today, and frankly it was the last thing she wanted. She hadn’t spoken to Nile since that run and frankly she had wanted to keep it that way. It was hard enough to talk it out with Owen, especially when he seemed hellbent on defending this walking Chernobyl for reasons Colt still could not understand. Despite making peace with the redhead, Colt was still very angry about everything.

Looking up to the woman, a little startled, Nile shrugged in confusion. “I...don’t know? Fuck, man, I didn’t really think this one through, that’s...on me”. He sounded physically pained to finish his sentence, resuming his search of his pockets instantly.

“Fuckin’-it was right there…” he muttered, trailing off as he held a hand up for Colt to wait.

“Damn right this is on you.” was all the veteran could growl in response. “What are you even trying to fucking do?” She took a drink from her flask, not taking her eyes off of the man.

“I don’t know!” he said, throwing his hands up in exasperation, “I thought I made that clear!”.

“You never fucking know.” Colt growled as she turned her back, intending to go back to Arthur, “Just don’t fucking burn the lodge down while you’re at it.”

“Waitwaitwait, Hang on, really, just-just a second. One second. Gimme one second here, that’s all I’m asking.”

“No. Go ask your best friend if you need help!” Colt snapped bitterly.

“Who?”

“Owen! You need anything, go to him! Fuck knows he’d be fine with this and fucking rip MY head off for giving you lip for doing this dangerous shit. Well I’m not going through that again! You’ve got no fucking idea what your little stunt-!” She drank from her flask again, feeling a tension in her chest. She was trying so hard not to explode with the pent up fury that had been building for ages.

“Hey, look in my defense, I,” Nile began, trailing off as he ground out the word before painfully stopping himself from continuing, “am not going to come to my defense. Let’s, let’s not start shit, for, two, three! Three minutes! Three blissful minutes. That sounds good, right? Just let me find this stupid fucking-”.

Victoriously he pulled a tiny handheld notebook from his coat pocket and hoisted it into the air. “Finally!”

“I start shit-!?” Colt spluttered furiously, did he want to be pushed into the fire? Because that is how you get pushed into a fire! But as he found his notebook, Colt stopped. What was he doing? With her back still semi-turned, she looked at him through one eye suspiciously.

“Was’n-Wasn’t the takeaway!” he said, in some attempt at placation while he flitted through the pages of his notebook. “I wrote this down, somewhere. Just, ah.”

Colt blinked at the notebook but did not move. What the hell was he playing at?

Scratching his hair with one hand, Nile winced as his eyes roved the notebook.

“Fuck, um, now that I’m looking at this, kinda humiliating to actually put it to words-Look, do you want long, eloquent sentences, or do you want me to get to the point?”

Colt blinked a few times in confusion, “...What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Real conversationali-either or, please.”

“...Conversational?” Colt put a hand up to gather her thoughts, “Nile just… what are you trying to tell me right now?” for the first time she was actually curious about what he was on about. For such a mouthy bastard he was awfully tongue tied. “Just… read off that damn paper I dunno! Probably a load of shit anyway…” she added in a mumble as she took her flask out. She was questioning internally why she was even giving him attention? Sipping from her flask, she waited. Though at the first sign of bullshit she was just going to walk away.

Nodding, Nile looked at his notebook. He stared for a good thirty seconds before he actually thought to move his mouth.

“Fuck me sideways, this is mortifying. I’m not reading this shit out, I’m just gonna fast track it.” taking a deep breath, Nile struggled even more to form the words.

“I am… I…am…sorry”" he grounded out, the words feeling like bile crawling its way out of his throat.

Colt blinked. She was not expecting that at all. Sorry? Turning, the woman faced him fully this time, and folded her arms. This was new.

“You’re sorry?” The woman answered finally, “For what?” she added with a slight growl. It was still an immense effort to not just walk away. Behind her she heard Arthur shuffle around and swish his tail, no doubt snuffling about for something other than grass for once.

“For being a generally insensitive prick, for not taking anything seriously, for being a fuckup, need I go on?”

“Yes, actually!” Colt barked before she could stop herself, “You have a lot to amend for, I’ll tell you that much!”

“Alright then, let’s hear it. List my sins for me, will you? God knows I’m not self-aware enough to know all I did”

“Why should I? I’ve tried with you and all I get is insults or being told to back off! And if you think some fancy words are gonna change anything, you’re thicker than pig shit!”

“Ooookkkay,” Nile said, slowly. “I’m, uh, sorry I’ve given an impression of hostility and unapproachability,” Nile continued, as if reading off a script, “And, um, I’m not really good at this. At all. So I’m sorry…that I don’t…know how to…. Say sorry”.

Nile looked to be in physical pain as he forced the words out.

“…Owen made you write that, didn’t he?” Colt folded her arms and glared at the man. Part of her almost enjoyed seeing him crumble over having to actually admit fault. Or at least that seemed to be what he was doing.

“...No?” Nile said, hesitantly. “This one’s all me, honest.”

“My ass!” Colt growled, “if you’re not gonna be honest and actually own up to your shit I don’t wanna hear it! In fact, even if I did hear it I wouldn’t like it! I won’t like anything until I actually see some fucking results!” Colt rolled her eyes.

“I dunno why I’m even bothering.”

“Alright, if this isn’t a good time, I can just try again later.” Nile said placatingly, hands up in surrender.

“It will never be a good time!” Colt threw her hands up, more fed up than angry, “Never! Until you actually fucking mean it and not just say it cause it’s part of your 12-steps or some shit! I know Owen’s been protecting you, fucking forcing people to fucking-!” Colt stopped, taking in a deep breath, catching her words before they were blurted out, the veteran sighed. “Y’know what, I have had it up to here with everyone fucking acting like you’re some fucking golden child cause you gotta- got… what?” In the middle of her tirade, the veteran’s eyes had wandered to the tree line.

“...Is that smoke?” she squinted her eyes hoping this was just a trick of her less-useful retina.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, don’t look directly at it. The fumes do some funny shit to your eyes,” Nile said, making a dizzying motion with his hand. “And don’t breathe it in, either, they’re weed fumes”.

“Not that, you dummy. That!” the veteran pointed beyond the treeline. Sure enough, a thin stream of smoke was rising up into the sky. Colt stood up on the tree stump she and Andy had previously conversed at for a better view. Now that she had a better vantage point, Colt could get a better idea as to where it was coming from.

“...Fuck. Arthur,” she grabbed the horse’s saddle and whistled a very specific tune loudly, “Arthur! C’mere son! We gotta get there ASAP!”

“Um, clue me in here?” Nile asked, side eyeing the smoke in the distance. “Someone’s out camping, so what?”

“These fuckers aren’t here just to camp, but I don’t have to explain anything to you,” the woman growled as she put on the horse’s saddle, “just… I dunno go and tell Andy I’ll be away for an hour or something.” The vet frowned as she looked back at the smoke. It looked fairly new but she was still concerned. She tightened Arthur’s cinch, muttering to herself.

“Yeah, I’m…not too sure about that,” Nile said, scratching his hair, “pretty sure someone should go with you.”

“No.” Colt growled, knowing what he was thinking, “I’ll be quicker alone. I know these bastards… fucking told them not to come back.” She muttered at the end. She could only hope that there weren’t too many of them.

“You’ll also die quicker alone” Nile pointed out blandly. “Look, I can go grab Owen or someone else, I get there’s not a chance in hell you’ll let me tag along.”

“Don’t you fucking talk to me about dying.” Colt grumbled, before looking back to the tree line. She could ask Owen, but at the same time… Nile was already here. And she still felt a bit unsure around the redhead. With a gruff sigh, she looked back at him. “…I might not have a choice.”

Holding his hands up in surrender, Nile trudged towards Colt. “Alright, just don’t off me in the woods while no one’s looking,” he huffed, sparing the distant smoke another look, “and be hopeful, will you? Might just be some campers.”

“Hope is something we can’t afford. If you actually took your head out your ass and looked around for once you would know that.” Colt, with some effort, hopped aboard Arthur. She looked down at him with ill-hidden contempt, “Don’t act like a damn fool and I won’t have to.”

“Y’know, you are making it REALLY fucking hard to be nice” Nile grumbled to himself.

Colt chose not to dignify that with a response and prompted Arthur into a march towards the tree line.

“Alright, I guess I’ll walk,” Nile groaned, following behind the veteran.

 

[Togy]

Two Idiots die alone in the woods​

The trek did not take long as the route was well known to Colt by now. She kept Arthur at a good but controlled pace. When they reached the small stream that ran through her turf, she allowed Arthur to wade through the shallow water. She was making mental notes the whole time, planning. Hoping. What she had not told anyone else was the fact that this was not the first time she had done this. After that encounter with those hillbillies, it appeared they had more reinforcements than she had initially expected. Hopefully this could be the last time.

Nile, unaccustomed to the woods and on his feet, did not enjoy the trip nearly as much. His feet hurt, he’d been whacked by a dozen branches, and he nearly got lost three times. He was half tempted to ask ‘Are we there yet?’, solely to see the look on Colt’s face.

Another moment later, Colt gently pulled Arthur to a stop near a big oak tree. With a grunt, she dismounted and tied Arthur to a twig with enough give so he could snuffle for leaves. Or, and he may want to do this if things became hairier, flee back to the lodge. Grabbing the shotgun from his saddle bag, she finally turned back to Nile.

“There’s a house just ahead, think that’s their main hub. We wipe them out, that’ll be the end of that inbred bloodline. Fucking family tree must look like a wreath…” the woman grumbled. Realising that he was absolutely going to make some smartass remark about not knowing what she was talking about, continued, “This is my land. I took it from these jackasses last month and they keep trying to come back. They’d absolutely come to the lodge to kill us. So, I’m gonna beat them to it.” She loaded the shotgun as she spoke.

Backing away slowly, Nile gently tucked his own pistol further into his own handcrafted holster. “...Right. You…want to go in alone-because I can’t help, I don’t have a stomach for killing and I’d probably shoot you on accident-with a shotgun, on a spur of the moment Clint Eastwood esque quest. That about right?”

“Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the fucking donkey!” Colt snapped, “You can’t weasel your way into coming and then fucking act like a little jackass! Fuck me, can’t understand why Owen likes you so much…” she gave Arthur one final stroke on his handsome face and began trudging towards the house, not looking back. The quicker they got this done the better. Arthur turned one of his big brown eyes to Nile and fluttered his nostrils in a quiet nicker and his ears swiveled to the back of his head, as if sizing him up- questioning him about exactly why his one-legged human was so displeased.

“What…” Nile squinted at the horse, “What’s it doing? I think the horse is doing something.”

“You leave Arthur alone.” Colt grumbled without looking behind her. The horse let out a chuff and flipped his top lip to show his teeth before stooping his head downward to graze. Colt continued until she reached the edge of the woods and crouched behind a log. She swore under her breath.

“I knew it…” she grumbled. In front of her was a big and decrepit house. It was falling apart just from looking at it. Broken fencing lay scattered around, and most concerningly, alongside the smoke, there were moving shadows in the windows.

“You still haven’t explained a thing to me” Nile pointed out, crouched behind the log. “You’ve only given me the vague warning of inbred murderers.”

“Hmm…” Colt sighed gruffly, deciding against her better judgment to tell him to shut up, “I’ve… I went hunting once. Months ago. And I had an encounter with members of this brood. I killed them. This has been my land since, our hunting grounds. But,” she ducked down further just to be sure she was out of sight, “seems there are more of them than I had thought. They keep coming back. But, if I’m right… this’ll be the last of them.”

“...you know that sounds bad, right?” Nile asked, concerned. “I’m…sure I’m just getting that out of context, but you must know why that wording sounds bad.”

“I don’t care how it fuckin’ sounds.” The veteran growled darkly, “I’m not exaggerating when I say that if they ever find us, they’ll do… worse than just kill.”

“Can we get people for this? Anyone? I, for one, do not want to get, um, whatever you're implying, by inbred hillbillies.”

“If you do the smart thing and not stand up to give away our cover,” Colt spat, giving him a furious glare from the corner of her bloodshot eye, “this’ll be a cakewalk…” slowly, silently, she removed the rifle from her back and fished into one of her cargo pants’ many pockets, pulling out a silencer.

“Fuckin-” Nile pushed the silencer away, “stop for a second! Think, they’re all inside the house. You shoot one through the window, even completely silenced, then you alert all of them while they’re in a defensive position. Try drawing them out first, you maniac.”

Colt had to force herself to not yell as Nile pushed the silencer out of her hand, and even more so as he berated her. Shaking her head she fought for words to answer back with. But… as much as she hated him, he was right. And she hated that too. Fucking asshole…
“You… have some gall to call me a fucking maniac.” she spat through her teeth as she readied her gun and looked through the sight for something she could use to drive them out.

Nile just counted himself lucky she didn’t punch him in the face.

“Fuck, hang, on, lemme see…” Nile trailed off into a murmur. “Woodshed, tool rack, might draw someone out from the back.”

Colt did not answer as she screwed the silencer onto the gun like her initial plan. Putting her eye up to the sight she found what Nile had mentioned. There was indeed a tool rack. A bullet hitting something metal would do the job.

“...This’d better work.” she growled. Then fired her shot. Less than a second later, there was a loud CLANG! as the bullet struck metal. As the man had predicted, it caused a stir of activity within the house. The backdoor flew open and four people ran out. She directed her eye back to the house, looking through the windows, “Hm… something tells me that’s not all of them. We’ll need to be careful.” she straightened up before letting out a sigh, resigning to her fate.

“...How good are you at shooting?”

“Don’t look at me, man,” Nile said, hands up in surrender, “all I’ve got is a Glock and I can’t stomach killing people. I’d just pussy out.”

“Fine!” Colt growled, “sit here with a thumb up your ass while I do everything, again!” She put her eye back to the sight and took aim. Though, something about what Nile said made it a bit harder than it usually would be. Not that she would voice it. She took aim and…

One of the hillbilly’s heads burst into a red shower and the body crumpled like a rag doll. As expected this caused the reaction Colt had expected of the scramble back to the door. She shot at the one nearest the door, sending them to the ground. The last two suddenly stopped, looking around frantically. As they did, Colt ducked behind the log, hopefully out of sight. Her eyes were wide and unblinking, and her breathing was harsh. Colt didn’t like how easy killing had become. But it was this or they may find and attack the lodge.

There was still a wince on Nile’s face when Colt had ducked down. He obviously hadn’t enjoyed the show.

“You should go reposition, I can draw their attention from here while you get an angle” Nile suggested, huddling by the log. “I’ll be fine, probably.”

Colt couldn’t answer beyond a blunt nod. Slinging the gun across her back, she moved on at a crouched run, making a conscious effort to keep herself lower than the logs and hedges. She could only hope Nile could keep himself alive long enough to get a good shot.

As soon as the woman was out of sight, Nile lifted his arm over the log and blindfired two shots towards the house, not intending to hit at all. The rednecks in the yard scrambled towards cover facing his direction, one firing a rifle round that splintered the top of Nile’s cover, who instinctively made himself as small of a target against it.

“Shit-!” Colt quickly popped out of a bush, firing at one of the rednecks, striking him in the ribs before popping back down. The last of them turned and instinctively shot in her direction. Colt watched the bullet whizz by and hit the trunk of the tree next to her. The woman did not move, quickly trying to think of what to do. If she exposed herself now, that would be it. Bracing herself she jumped up and fired the last shot. It struck him in the chest, making him collapse, squealing like a stuck pig.

Colt, determined to finish off this wreath tree bloodline, strode out from the bushes, cocking her gun threateningly at the man while keeping her eyes on the house. She was still expecting there to be more. The man on the ground looked up at her in terror.

“Aw hell,” he managed to cough out, “not you…”

“Damn right it’s me,” Colt aimed the gun between the man’s eyes, “how many of y'all bastards are left?”

“Ya mad psycho bitch-”

“I said how many of y’all are left!” Colt snarled, not moving. After a second, the man cowed and gasped in pain.

“...Nobody. I’m the last one.”

Nile, seemingly having noticed the sudden lack of gunfire, interrupted with a shout of “Is it clear yet!?” from where he was crouched behind the log, unable to see Colt or the man from his angle.

“Clearly!” Colt barked, bristling again, “jackass…” she added quietly before turning her gun back to the man. “The damn hell y’all doing coming back here when I’ve killed every last one of ya?”

“You killed my nephews-!”

“They tried to kill me! Or did ya happen to forget that? Right, I’m done with this.” She aimed at the man’s forehead.

Nile ran into view just as Colt was going to pull the trigger. His eyes widened at the sight of the man on the ground and the gun in Colt’s hand. The fact that the man was one of the hillbillies Colt hated so much didn’t process, all he saw in the moment was an injured man about to be killed.

“Whoah, Jesus Colt!” Nile said, panicked as he mimed for them to stop.

“What!?” Colt demanded, whipping her head around.

Genuinely thinking the woman would whip the gun to aim at him, Nile immediately through his hands up in surrender. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

“Well?” Colt snarled, not moving the gun away from the man, “What is it!?” The man looked confused between the two of them. He squirmed slightly as if to make a run for it. Colt growled and pushed her gun closer to him.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” she snapped.

“I…don’t think he’s going anywhere, Colt” Nile said, not willing to look at the blood blossoming on the man’s chest. “Look, let’s just…let’s just go, alright? We’ve done enough as is.”

Colt blinked at Nile, then looked back at the man. Then back at Nile. Through her bloodshot eyes it was clear that she was thinking. The man was going to bleed out from his wound, and come back as a hostile. And one single hostile would be easy enough to deal with. Slowly, the woman took a step back, and holstered her gun. She turned to face Nile.

“Fine.” She growled grimly, “We should check out the house though, see if there’s any-“

BANG!

“Augh!!” Colt grabbed her arm and dropped to her knees in shock, the prosthetic leg’s imbalance making her fall onto her side. The bullet from the man’s gun had grazed her arm, ripping the material of her jacket. The man fumbled with his gun, trying to aim again now that the woman was down.

Nile, somehow, was faster. Elbowing the man’s firing arm to the side, a shot fired off into the treeline before the pistol was slammed into the man’s chest. Nile wasn’t particularly strong, or big, and the other man was at least a head taller than him, but they were also bleeding out. Strength was leaving them quickly and even Nile found it easy to force them to the ground.

Putting his knees on the man’s writhing legs, Nile tried his best to contain the struggling man. “Down, assha-” Nile tried to say before his grip slipped on the man’s arm, who promptly used the opportunity to pistol whip Nile directly in the face, garnering him a bloody nose. Taking aim, the man was about to fire before Nile regained control over the struggle and forced the gun back down, the barrel now tickling the man’s chin. In the panic and swiftness of the motion, the man had pulled the trigger.

A final gunshot went off, a bullet from the man’s own misfired weapon tearing through the bottom of his mouth and directly into his brain, killing him instantly.

Nile was shocked into silence for a long moment, staring wide eyed as blood poured out from the gaping hole in the limp man’s head in torrents.

“You…” Nile began softly, slowly taking his hands away from their death grip on the man’s arm. “You fucking idiot…I was trying to help you” Nile muttered, a small amount of horror creeping into his voice as he silently climbed off the man’s body. He’d been trying to avoid their death the entire time, and then they pulled something like that.

Colt did not stand up immediately. The surprise attack from the man left the woman in a state of shock. She winced and shut her eyes at the sound of a second gunshot, but when no bullet came she found herself able to move again. She sat up, her eyes wide and empty looking and the unscarred side of her face pale and clammy. She looked up at the man before her eyes traveled to the now dead one at his feet.

“Mother of Christ,” she muttered as she struggled to her feet and limped over to them, holding her left arm. She was about to ask Nile if he was okay but that answer was obvious. ‘Stupid bitch’ she cursed herself internally. So instead she let out a grim sigh and stood next to Nile. Noticing the look of terror on his face, it was pretty clear to the veteran that, despite what she thought of him, he had never done something like this before.

“Did he hurt you badly?” She asked finally, noticing the blood trickling from the man’s nose. She looked around worryingly before speaking again, “Listen, we can’t stay here. Those shots would’ve been heard by every hostile around and they’ll be making their way over here. We… We need to search the house for bandages, then go home.”

“Nah, nah, I’m fine, just a nosebleed” Nile waved it off, shakily getting off the body. “Fuck, man, alright, these guys look like moonshiners. Go check the kitchen for disinfectant or some shit, I’m gonna rip some sheets for your graze.”

“Hm…” Colt turned and whistled shrilly. Within seconds, Arthur trotted over, his head held high and his ears erect. He seemed a bit on edge, understandably, “Okay. Let’s make this quick.” she cocked her pistol and made her way through the door toward the kitchen.

The moldy, rotten floor boards creaked under Nile’s feet as he trudged through the hall, peeking into any open room with his pistol in hand. Gagging, he put his shirt over his nose. “Jesus, I mean, I don’t wanna speak ill of the dead, but christ almighty did they piss on the floor in this place?” Nile muttered, stepping into a room with empty sleeping bags littering the floor. The cloth seemed clean enough, so he quickly began ripping one of bags into sheets.

“And I thought my place was shit. At least I didn’t piss on my floor… I think, I dunno.”

“Every word that comes out of your mouth is pure poetry, do you know that? How do you do it?” Nile called from down the hall.

Colt sighed with an eye roll as she pulled open a cupboard, spotting a bottle of scotch. “Ah. Told you these people were depraved. They’d slit a dog’s throat just to prove a point.” she found a place to sit, -a moth eaten armchair- and took off her jacket to check out the graze. It was bleeding but not too severely. It hurt like hell though. She also took that moment to remove her prosthetic and rolling her pant-leg up. The woman groaned and looked around.

“Place looks pretty barren. Best check downstairs. A lot of these folks living remote have big freezers for meat.”

“I can feel the smell wafting up from down there. Wouldn’t go into that shit hole if my life depended on it” Nile said, coming into the kitchen with a roll of carefully ripped sheets which he lazily tossed to the veteran.

“Hmm… I don’t like how often you’re right today.” Colt grumbled as she took the roll and tied it tightly against her wound. She took out her flask and took a long drink from it to help with the pain. As she did, her radio buzzed on her belt, prompting her to pick it up.

“Has anyone put eyes on Beth this morning? Lels says she hasn't seen her since this morning.” Owen’s burr broke through the static. A couple of seconds later, his sister’s voice answered.

“Nothing in my neck of the woods.”

Colt blinked a few times, a little worried. Just the idea of Leliana being worried upset the veteran.

Nile, on the other hand, didn’t look very concerned. He didn’t know the woman, and while he hoped they were okay, didn’t dwell on the problem for long.

Pulling his radio out of his belt loop, Nile pressed the talk button. "Me and GI are out in the boonies right now, we're just finishing something up. Haven't seen her."

“Fuck sake,” Colt took her radio, “Shut up! No, we haven't seen her. We're a bit out trying to deal with something. We've got Arthur, once we're done I can take a look around the area. Y'ask anyone else?"

“Na, not yet. I'll look around here and let you know if I can dig anything up."

"Good. We'll not be much longer." Colt switched off the radio, and glared at Nile, having a bone to pick with him, “Would it kill you to use my goddamn name? What do you have against me!”

Nile rolled his eyes then, seemingly fed up. “What do you have against me? I know I’m an asshole, and I know I’ve been a dick to you, but you have a special sort of loathing aimed right at me. I’m not trying to claim I’m being a good guy by trying to work with you, but you’ve obviously got something against me but you won’t tell me what. You cuss me out every chance you get, and sorry if I’m a bit fed up with it, but that gets grating after a while.”

“Fuuuck…” Colt ran a hand down her face, “You just don’t get it do you!? You honestly think I’m just gonna just forget everything you’ve done? Think, Nile!” she pointed at her temples for emphasis.

“Think about how you almost got Leliana killed? And yet Owen still defends you! He fucking defends you! They all defend you! If I pulled half the shit you’ve done, I would’ve been kicked out or had my head shot off ages ago! Just because you have your fucking head in the clouds, I’m just supposed to let that all go! Well I can’t! I just think it’s fucking funny how, whenever I fuck up I get shit for it but that doesn’t seem to fucking apply to anyone else!”

"You know what? You're right." Nile gave a breathless, humorless laugh before sitting himself on top of the counter. "I fuck up, I take advantage of people, I abuse their kindness, and I don't give them shit in return. I'm a bad fucking person, despite what Owen says, and he's a goddamn psychopath for keeping me around. And, you know, the more you go on, the more I realize that a cock-eyed apology and a half-assed attempt to play nice was NEVER going to make you stop hating me. Honestly, I feel pretty stupid for trying, now." Nile laughed again, still no humor. "But you know why I tried? Because I finally, fucking finally, realized I don't wanna be that kind of guy anymore," Nile leaned back, hunching his shoulders.

It was one thing to realize that, looking back on it, you were an asshole. It was an entirely different thing to realize, in the moment, that you're an asshole. He'd said he was an asshole, he'd known he was an asshole, but he never did anything to rectify his behavior. He'd taken a lot of long looks at himself over the years, and he never liked what he saw, but now was the only time he ever acted on that thought. He barely knew Owen, and he'd fucked the guy over too many times to be forgiven, but they were giving him a chance out of the kindness of their heart. Nile realized he was tired of wasting them.

"Thought getting on good terms with you woulda been a good start. Shoulda known that was a crapshoot at best. Look, you don't owe me shit alright? You don't gotta like me, cooperate with me, or even tolerate me. I'm not gonna force the issue."

Colt stayed quiet as the man spoke, letting out a breath through her nose and leaning back in her chair with folded arms. Her expression did not change, though it did harden once he finished. She turned her head away slightly, growling a bit at the pain in her arm.

“I think… you have no fucking idea how lucky you fucking are.” she growled, “Look. We’re not that different and I think you know how so I won’t bore you. I just… You’ve been given so many fucking chances when nobody else has! When I havent!”

“I’m not saying I deserved them. God knows I don’t. And yes, I do know how lucky I am. We’re only having this conversation because everything worked out. If the worst happened, I would’ve been dead long before now.”

“Do you have any idea how much pressure I’m under? To help keep these people alive? I can’t fuck up! NOBODY can fuck up! Because when you do- People! Fucking! DIE! I have no idea what you and Owen were fucking doing that day, but the fact you both could have been killed, had me fucking worried sick that I might have to tell Andy her brother is dead- and the fact not only do you both get out alive, but he turns it around onto ME?! Like it’s MY fault!? If you both had been killed it would have been MY head! You have no fucking idea what that did to me, do you!?”

“...Did you want to say that to me, or to Owen?”

“I COULD HAVE LOST OWEN THAT DAY!” Colt blurted suddenly before she could stop herself, her brows creasing into an expression of upset, “The same way I almost lost Leliana that other day! It might be hard for you to fucking believe cause you think I’m just some… big, drunk, angry beast but… I- I need them! I need them and…” her glare darkened but she turned her face away from Nile, but the gap in the air was clear as to how she would have finished that sentence.

Nile looked thoroughly out of his depth. In all his twenty-six years of life, he’d never once had to talk about feelings. He had no idea what to say whatsoever, so he defaulted to his usual response: If they want consolation, then they sure as hell don’t want it from him.

Colt frowned and shook her head, “...Fuck it. None of this is getting to you, is it?” just as she said this, the radio buzzed again and Colt quickly brought it to her ear.

“We might want to go send someone out in the woods to take a look. I still haven’t seen her.” Owen spoke.

“I’m already out here with Luca, we can do a quick scan.” Andy responded, “Leli says she hasnt seen her all morning?”

“She was gone when Leli woke up,” Owen confirmed.

Nile, grasping for a change in subject, grabbed his radio. "We've got GI's horse here. If she hasn't gone far, we could probably do a runaround and grab her before it gets dark."

"I already said that.” Colt frowned at him, but her expression was tired, and her voice like she just wanted to go to sleep, “Ugh... look, tell Leli we're gonna do everything we can.” She was becoming worried. It must have been a while if Leliana was beginning to freak out. This was not good. Opening her flask, she took another drink from it before attempting to get to her feet.

“Sounds good,” Andy came back. “I’m on the far side near my perch, you guys do a quick scan. Just be careful and quiet and stay away from the north end like I’ve been telling everyone. I have a bunch of bear traps out there and I would hate for Arthur to get his ankle broken.”

Colt did not respond further to this, her mind racing.

“Why’d you look for scotch if you had a flask?” Nile asked.

“Because shut up.”

“Fair.”

Colt groaned as she tried to re-attach her limb, but with her rising nerves, it was hard. Giving up she sighed and looked at him, an eyebrow raised, “...You were up early. Did you happen to see her?”

“Which one is she again?” Nile asked, genuinely curious.

“Fucking…” Colt rolled her eyes but managed to suppress herself, “Slim with blonde hair… been here for weeks.”

“There are three blonde women living with us,” Nile pointed out, “But yeah, I can figure out which one it is. Already know the other two. And no, I haven’t seen her.”

“See? This is what I fucking mean! You’re so far up in your own damn clouds that you can afford to not pay attention to this.” Colt sighed as she finally did open the scotch, but held the bottle as opposed to drinking from it, “Walk a mile in my fucking shoes and you’d know.” she looked out of the window, just in the off chance that Beth might pass the window.

“Rather not. Never liked boots,” Nile said dryly, kicking himself off the counter. “Let’s get the hell outta here, grab your horse, and find Beth. I just wanna get today over with.” Nile headed for the front door before he stopped noticing something through the grime covered window. “Is that your horse?”

Colt’s head jerked just in time to see a black and white blurr race past the window. Forgetting she was currently legless, she leapt up.

“Arthur- Augh!” she fell against the wall as she fumbled for her radio. Just as Nile said, the horse was running as hard as he could into the trees, faster than she had ever seen him go. She fumbled for her radio, “Wha- Damn- shit!” She managed to grab it properly and speak into it.

"Augh fuck- Arthur! Shit! Hes just ran off! Something's spooked him…” she blinked as a prickly feeling crept across her neck, something was wrong “...Nile, keep your head down." she looked at the man, her eyes devoid of any light and were hard with complete seriousness.

“Put your leg on, I can’t take you seriously like that” Nile said peering through the kitchen window, body pressed against the wall. Thin moving shadows deep in the treeline were barely noticeable through the foliage

“This is NOT THE FUCKING TIME, NILE!” A tumbler smashed against the wall next to Nile’s head, earning the woman a startled look that screamed ‘What the fuck?’

"I think something's moving in the trees over here." Nile said into his radio, ducking down under the window.

“Hide! Now!”

Interactions: I posted eleven pages, just try and stop me bitches

 

[Maj]

​

It had been a quiet morning. Andy spent the first half giving out orders, (most of them to her brother) and had settled into her perch afterward, Irish coffee in hand. The burn of the alcohol mixed well with the heat of the beverage in the stainless steel travel mug. Her delicate fingers stuck out of knitted fingerless gloves, her appendages wrapped around the cup for warmth. The redhead sighed happily and let herself sink into the chair.

“You are too comfortable amore,” Luca’s voice cooed from the doorway. “I figured someone who prides themself on being a hunter would be more aware of who was coming in their doorway.” Andy scoffed, letting her emerald eyes roll skyward.

“I heard you,” the redhead retorted, taking a sip from her cup. “Your feet were so clunky and loud I just assumed you wanted me to hear you fumbling your way up the ladder.” The corners of her lips were turned behind the mug despite her words. It was good to see the Italian up and moving again.

“You’ll have to forgive me for being less than graceful since you’ve let me scare you away from your own bed,” he paused and looked at Andy whose cheeks slowly grew pink in color. He nodded, victorious, and closed the door behind him.

“I wasn’t aware you needed my tender loving care Luca,” Andy snipped, but there was no heat to it. The girl wasn’t embarrassed, but ashamed at her lack of attention to Luca. It had just been so hard to be around him. On top of feeling helpless and useless at his condition, Andy knew they had a lot to talk about and none of it was stuff that she felt like conversing about.

“You ready to quit being a little bitch about this? Or is this what you like, me chasing you about. If that's what you are after all you had to do was-”

“Stop,” she growled. The redhead thought she would be glad when the fire had come back to Luca and they bantered the way they used to, but there was too much hanging over them to ignore and let things feel normal. Liam aside, the air between them was thick and Andy felt like she might choke on it.

The last time they had really spoken, Luca had told her he loved her. He had told her about his addiction and how she was the best person to lead this lodge. Not just because he would be out, but because she was better suited for it than he was. None of these words had felt real, but she had seen him lying in the bed fighting his own demons. His addiction had been real enough, why would the others not be.

There were plenty of people who had told her that they loved her in her days. Drunk people, sober people, liars, and maybe even some people who told the truth. None of it had mattered to her. Andy’s day continued the same no matter how they felt. When Luca told her that he had loved her, it felt like he had taken all the air out of her lungs. It had been hard to look at him since. She didn’t know how to articulate how she felt, up until recently she wasn’t even really sure what that was. Then paired with the fact that he likely now knew all of her darkest most kept secrets, Andy wasn’t sure how to speak to him. It's why she had avoided him, why she would have continued to avoid him had he not cornered her in her own perch.

“It's just interesting to me that you normally run your mouth so freely, and what Daddy comes back and suddenly you..”

“I said stop” she hissed. He obliged this time, settling down into the chair next to her wordlessly. Luca reached for her coffee cup and Andy handed it to him, letting him gulp down a sip of it. He winced.

“Oh I forgot it had whiskey in it,” she said apologetically.

“No, it's not that,” he said unwrinkling his nose. “It's just that you still make the worst fucking sludge I’ve ever had the misfortune of drinking.” She did smile then, her shoulders relaxing and taking back her coffee cup with a quick roll of her eyes.

“Shut up Brasi.” Andy looked over to him, her eyes scanning his face. It was true. Luca still didn’t quite look back to his full self, but he looked much better. There was some color to his cheeks again and his icy eyes seemed a bit warmer than they had when she last saw them open. Andy reached out to touch him, realizing how much she had been craving his company all at once. She let her fingers brush his cheek before letting them fall on his shoulder. Andy leaned in just as the radio sounded off.

It was Owen’s voice on the other end telling her about Beth’s disappearance. Andy’s eyes darkened immediately and she removed her hand from Luca’s form.

“Nothing in my neck of the woods,” Andy called back over the radio. However, the girl was already standing, looking out the window of the perch for any signs of life. Beth missing didn’t sit right with Andy. The girl had been a sore spot for the huntress ever since the encounter with Renzos. She listened as the others spoke back and forth and decided that Colt had it handled before sitting back down.

“Are you tired of it yet?” Luca asked. Andy’s brows knitted together in annoyance at his smug tone.

“Tired of what?”

“Me being right. Sounds to me like you’ve handled things just fine for someone who hated the idea of being in charge so badly she stormed out of our date.”

“That's not why I…” She stopped and closed her mouth, realizing she was being baited again and sighed heavily.

“To think that I missed you. You can go back to being a blanket heap now. I think I preferred you that way.” She collapsed back in her chair, the joy of the morning seemingly sucked out by the pestering annoyance that was Luca.

“So are we going to talk about this or are you going to just keep hiding out here with the smelly musty blankets?” Luca asked pointedly.

“They smell better than you did when I dropped off meds the other day,” Andy retorted. “Your stench is what kept me from that room.”

“No, it’s not.” They both knew he was right, and it was becoming increasingly clear he wasn’t going to let it go. “It’s because you have been a coward Andrea.” She tensed immediately.

“For the love of God Luca, don’t fucking-” Luca put his hands up defensively, almost apologetically.

“A habit amore, perdonami.” So he did know about Liam. At least enough. It was the first time he had apologized for using her legal name. She softened, but her knuckles were still white around her cup.

“What is it exactly you are afraid of?” He asked. It was a loaded question. One that Andy had spent days trying to figure out as she stared at this very ceiling playing through fake conversations with Luca about everything that had transpired. Was she scared of the implications of Liam returning? Absolutely. Did the pressure of being in charge scare her? Less than she had expected if she was being honest. It was all the other shit that scared her. It was almost losing him that had scared her. However, no matter how many fake conversations she had with the ex-mobster, Andy couldn’t figure out how to put that into words that didn’t make her want to throw up.

The radio broke back through Andy’s thoughts, and she was grateful for a distraction from their current conversation. They still hadn’t found Beth. No one knew the woods like she did, if the girl had genuinely wandered off and gotten lost, between Colt on the horse and Andy and Luca on the ground it wouldn’t take long to find her. However, Andy’s gut told her that wouldn’t be the case and it was seldom wrong. This was a gut feeling the girl had been trying to ignore for a while, she hoped desperately that she was wrong.

“Come on Brasi, as riveting as this has all been, I gotta go pick up all the slack you left for me and find some blonde bimbo.” She motioned for him to go first down the ladder, her shoulder still made it difficult for her to climb or descend it with any sort of speed. He obliged, climbing down the ladder with Andy not far behind.

Mentions: Togy Rumble Fish

 

[Corgi]

Part 1
​

The past few weeks had been uneventful for Aubrey. It wasn’t much different than her routine before the apocalypse. Usually, she would wake up before dawn, run around the lake, do her workout routine, shower, and then go to work. Some of the details had changed in the past months. Now feeding Tuna was an important part of her morning, and instead of running around the lake, Aubrey found herself running the perimeter of the fence. She would take over Hector’s watch until Colt came to relieve her and then shower if any hot water was left for her. The work had changed slightly as well. There were no more lines and nets to maintain; instead, she helped out around the lodge, doing chores and repairing the bullet holes, or in general, just doing whatever Andy or Hector asked of her.
This morning was no different, coming and going without a hitch. Working out in the icy weather didn’t come without its challenges, and Aubrey’s sore muscles were pleased to find enough hot water for a quick rinse. The pitter-patter of the shower covered her senses, water cascading down Aubrey’s tired face. While this shower had become familiar, it was nothing like the one on her boat. Life, in general, was nothing like it had been on the ship. The similarities of her routine were like threads of her old life that she tried to cling to, but Aubrey couldn’t deny how drastically things had changed. Over the past four months, she had changed, and her priorities right along with her. Her solitude, the lake- two of the most important aspects of her life barely touched the front of her mind anymore. Everyone’s safety and survival suddenly came first. Not that the change was bad, just different. Something was comforting in the newfound comradery. Aubrey was sure that most people felt the same; no one’s world was the same as a few months ago. So why was it such a complex concept to wrap her head around?

Shutting off the shower and stepping out, she pressed the white towel to her face. Next on the agenda was to talk to Owen, let him know she was headed out, then go for a walk in the woods. The quiet helped her observe her thoughts instead of question them. Perhaps she would ask Colt to accompany her, seeing as she finally returned. Sometimes having someone to talk to helped her think out loud.

Aubrey swiftly dressed, throwing her wet hair into dual braids and topping it with her trusty old hat. The dingy, worn red cap had seen just as many challenging situations as she had- so much so that it barely appeared red anymore. Frayed fabric and stains of only God know what dyed the hat through years. A dismal little ‘CA’ stitched on the front face. Aubrey had become increasingly fond of the hat; she didn’t expect to have an emotional attachment to it when she first got it, but it somehow became a part of her new identity.

She rubbed the edge of the cap with her thumb as she had done many times before, taking in a deep breath. Overthinking wasn’t going to do anything but cause more hurt. Plus, Owen was probably waiting for her back at the cabin, and she couldn’t keep him waiting.

Aubrey reached down to grab the cat that was trying to lap water out of the makeshift faucet. Tuna turned more liquid than cat and tried to slink out of the girl’s grip. She rubbed his ears, which caused him to rub up into her hand, and used it as an excuse to remove him from the shower. Aubrey was sure Nile and the others wouldn’t want a buddy the next time they decided to use the bathroom in the barracks.

BANG

A singular bullet rang out and froze her in her tracks. The shock caused her to drop the cat, which landed with grace on its feet on the floor. Someone might have shot the lurking dead, but that seemed out of place. Usually, the lodge residents tried to deal with the dead in more quiet manners. If it wasn’t that, then what could it have been? Her question was answered when the onslaught of shots continued, echoing to the shed. Acting on instinct, Aubrey darted to her bunk, where her bag and trusty crowbar were left waiting for her. She grabbed them, throwing the strap over her shoulder and exiting the barracks and into the yard to check on her fellow lodge mates.

“Don’t move!”

Aubrey froze at the sound of a hefty voice from behind. Should she run for it? They probably had guns, and humans weren't known for being bulletproof, but they hadn’t shot at her yet. If they wanted her dead, wouldn’t they have already pulled the trigger?

“Turn around.” The man called out again as more footsteps approached from behind her.

It was too late to make a decision. Aubrey wasn’t a fighter- in fact, she was still holding onto the hope that it was one big misunderstanding. The blonde slowly turned on her heels; her hands raised slightly in the air as she turned to meet five people, two of which forced her to the ground on her stomach as the other three approached, guns at the ready.

“What’s your name?” It was the one who had initially ordered her, it was hard to see his face, but Aubrey could see the sheen of his bald head and the curl of his beard.

“Oh,” Her immediate response was to attempt to offer her hand and introduce herself, but seeing as one of the men was currently binding her wrists behind her back, that was going to be a problem.

“Uhm… Why?” Aubrey asked, tilting her head quizzically. The man seemed displeased with that response, mumbling to the two next to him.

“What do you think?”

“She’s blonde,”

“Have you never seen a blonde before? It’s not like she’s the only fucking one in existence.”

Aubrey exhaled through her nostrils in an amused snort. She was known for laughing at inappropriate times, so she was used to the dirty looks. However, she was not used to a steel-toed boot being driven into her side. The pain caused all of the air in her lungs to be forcibly removed as she gasped loudly, unable to grab her now bruising side. Hot and radiating, the pain lingered in her ribs, making Aubrey worry that it might have broken.

“You think this is funny, you little bitch?” One of the men sneered. His companion sighed in defeat.

“I guess you are right. The last thing we want to do is shoot the wrong one. I don’t want to know what he’d do to us if we fuck this up.” He turned his attention to one of the people pinning her down, “Stay here and make sure she doesn’t go anywhere. We’ll come from behind.”

Mention: Maj , Rumble Fish , Togy

 

[Rumble Fish]

Written with Togy

The approaching footsteps slowed considerably. The horse’s panic alerting them to the human presence nearby. The men exchange silent looks with each other and now approach cautiously. The stocks of their weapons pressed against their shoulders as they closed in on the small cabin.

A vague hand gesture from one to the other causes them to start spreading out and surround the small structure. Their firearms never waver from any potential lines of sight. There is movement and voices on the inside, confirming their suspicions. Trigger fingers tighten on their namesakes, the slightest of squeezes able to send thundering death into the windows or doors.

Humans. Whaddya know? Armed too, that put Nile on edge. He’d been shot at enough times in the past month not to want a repeat, so avoiding confrontation was a great idea. The cellar was a bad call, one way in and out, the attackers would have the high ground, and he didn’t even know if there were places to hide down there.

Nile’s eyes trailed across the hall to the rotten wooden stairs. That’d do. Motioning for Colt to catch on, Nile silently crept towards them, mindful of any windows and head as low as could possibly be.

Colt had put her leg on in the few seconds they had and nodded to Nile. She put up her scarf over her nose and mouth to muffle her breathing as much as possible. It meant breathing in her own BO but it was that or they were given away. Her gun was already loaded and cocked from before. Staying low, she followed Nile. Once they were at the foot, she put a hand on Nile’s shoulder and gestured up the stairs. The fifth one was broken. She jerked her head to tell him to go first as she was armed and could watch their backs.

Nile hopped up the stairs, two steps at a time to minimize the amount of creaking. The wood was old and rotten, so creaking was unavoidable, but with gently placed steps Nile was halfway confident the noise didn’t echo outside of the house. Reaching the top, he waved for Colt to follow. They didn’t have much time left before they reached the cabin, and the last thing he wanted was for them to be seen and go into an open firefight. He doubted they could survive that.

Tip toeing across the rotten boards, fearing each step would cave the floor in, Nile slid into an open room missing its door and hesitantly approached the window. Tinted yellow and covered by grime and dirty curtains, Nile could barely make out anything peeking out of it. Hopefully that meant they couldn’t make him out either.

From what he could make out, little as it was through the decaying window, Nile could spot two men approaching the front of the cabin, long guns gripped in their hands. They wore black vests of some kind, likely kevlar vests. The idea they had sweater vests on was just too stupid to consider. Their belts were just colorful enough to differentiate from their pants, and from the way they extended downwards to the men’s hips, he could guess they were holsters. They probably have sidearms too, then. Great.

A third man, not immediately noticeable, was breaking off to the side and going around the house. One was coming for the backdoor then.

Nile couldn’t tell if there was anyone else in the treelines, he’d have to stand up in the window to check. He wasn’t willing to test his luck.

Tip toeing out of the room and across the second floor hall, Nile looked into each room he passed. One, at the very end of the hall, was tiled. Stepping in, Nile made an approving hum at what he’d found. A bathroom, with enough water damage to convince him the floor would cave in with one wrong step. Against the wall and above a sink was a dirty shattered mirror. Picking up the largest shard he could find, He spat on it before wiping it against his pant leg to clean it.

Satisfied, he returned to the previous room and held the mirror high in the window, reflecting side aimed at an angle to give him the best view of the outside he could get. Standing to the side of the window, covering his extended arm with the dirty curtains to hide it, Nile craned his neck to see the reflection.

The man pushing the door was out of sight but his buddy behind him was fairly visible. He was an older gentlemen, mid 30s to early 40s with a rugged look about him. The clothes he wore under the, now visible Kevlar with "Police" in gold embroidered on the front, were reminiscent of an average everyday urban get up. The weapon in his hand looked like the kind that you would sometimes see in SWAT movies. An MP5 by the looks of it. It could be assumed the others had similar grade weaponry.

Colt stayed very silent, listening to every small noise below them. She tried to keep track of where they were in the house but it was more difficult than she had expected. They did not seem to be speaking but she guessed they would soon find the evidence of their presence and begin searching. They did not have long, not long at all. They would soon be cornered then God knows what else. She had to assume the worst- it was something that had been drilled into her from the beginning of boot camp. Assume any hostile you meet is armed to the fullest extent and won’t show mercy. She tilted her head so that her good ear was closer to the ground.

They would only have seconds before they would want to investigate upstairs, then they would be trapped. Trapped… already her heart-rate spiked and Colt knew what was coming. She reached for her flask- but stopped. Her flask… She turned to look at the stairs. She had the scotch. Forcing her mind to keep thinking, she looked at the rag on her arm covering her wound. There had to be a distraction. She waited on Nile’s verdict before saying anything.

Colt would hear the rattle of the rusted door knob downstairs as the first man pushed open the wooden obstacle. It swung open with a horror movie creek which did not deter the armed men. They weren't here to try to be quiet. They had a goal to accomplish and whoever got in their way needed to be put down.

The gunman behind the point man had been watching the downstairs window and had been surprised there was no movement until an out of place shimmer caught his eye.

He looked up and saw nothing but the adrenaline flooding his veins given the tense situation made him paranoid. His eyes stared at where he saw the shimmer and once again, a glint. He aimed his weapon up towards it and squinted hard at whatever it was.

It was only a few seconds before he realized it was a mirror and he could narrowly make out the features of a face in it.

"Shit. Someone's upstairs!" He yelled, immediately followed by gunfire.

The man had sent a few rounds into the window, shattering both the window and the mirror Nile was holding. Shards of glass from both sources fell onto the addict but only caused negligible scratches as a result.

The other two, now alerted and ready, primed their weapons and made a fast but cautious approach up the stairs where Colt and Nile resided.

Every. God. Damn. Time. Seriously, just his fucking luck. Letting out the most exhausted groan heard by man, he clutched his lightly bleeding wrist as he army crawled across the room, 9mm rounds bursting through the thin wooden wall above his head and spraying splinters across the room and into his hair.

The mirror had been shot, bursting in a shower of broken glass in his hands. Miraculously, it hadn’t sliced an artery or done all that much damage at all, but it was fucking disgusting and Nile hadn’t had a tetanus shot in months so he was probably going to die of gangrene or some shit.

Bursting to his feet once the gunfire stopped, Nile sprinted across the second floor hall, plucked the bottle of Scotch from Colt with a quick “need this,” and dove into the bathroom. The doorframe was busted and half the door itself was hanging off, but it faced the back of the staircase and didn’t have windows so comparatively it was a half decent hold out. Frantically gesturing for Colt to find cover in another room to cover a different angle, Nile heaved the rusty metal tub sloshing with a strange, unidentifiable liquid off its flimsy purchase on a broken metal pipe and across the room to cover the door. Ducking down and levelling his Glock at the staircase, the engineer crossed his fingers, knocked on wood, cursed in three different languages, and hoped for the best.

Colt could only watch Nile’s hand be shot, and breathe a silent sigh of relief that his hand had not been blown off. But this was quickly becoming a worse situation by the second. Her mind clicked as if a switch had been flipped. Without responding to Nile taking the scotch, the veteran quickly swung her rifle from her back and crouch-ran as springingly as she could into one of the bedrooms. It had a simple layout; bed, closet and dresser. The dresser was wide, a good place for cover. There was one window. Colt quickly opened it before preparing herself by the dresser, taking out her spare magazine for the rifle and facing the door. The dresser was thick and hopefully full of clothes which would cushion shots fired- she hoped. The men seemed willing to attack. Quickly, she took out her radio and put it up the scarf covering her mouth, hoping to muffle her voice but have it be clear for the Lodgers on the other side.

“I’m under attack, they know I’m here,” she spoke quickly and quietly without waiting on a response, choosing her words carefully, “I might not make it out. I…I’m sorry.” She switched off the radio and clipped it back to her belt and stayed ready to fight. If what she heard was right, they assumed there was only one of them up here. If they heard her, they’d come for her and hopefully not notice Nile.

Colt was seething at having to rely on Nile of all fucking people, but what choice did she have?

​