Realistic or Modern The Beginning of the End

[DrTrollinski]

There was a brief pause from Carl while he finished up and tore some toilet paper from the dispenser. ".. Well... I don't like fightin', and stuff... Can you teach me to help people like you did?" He called back. Tom could tell just by his voice that he was smiling. (@DrCompton)

 

[Aldur]

She got up and went to her bed. Caitlyn picked up what looked like a picture of her parents and another older man. Probably her grandfather.


"This is it!"


She showed him the picture. She pointed at the people in order.


"This is daddy...mommy and grandpa. Oh and here's Matty!"


On the back of the picture there was a small and quite accurate sketch of Matty and Caitlyn. A little more cartoony.


The drawing was accompanied by a written message.


"Dear,Caitlyn


Never forget that your parents and I love you very very much. I would have adored to watch you grow up and see you turning into a strong young lady that your parents and I could be very proud of. I am so,so sorry I cannot be there to raise you. I want you to know that you will always be the most beautiful little girl I ever laid my eyes on and I wish you the very best in your life. Do not ever blame yourself for my departure. You are the daughter I didn't have the chance to have. I want you to know that I am very proud of you. Please never forget me or your parents. I'm sorry."


With love,


Matthew Vaughan


Never give up."


Towards the end there were two shapes which looked an awful lot like dried tears on the paper.


"I can't read very well and I don't know some words. Can you read it to me?"


@DrTrollinski

 

[DrCompton]

Tom smiled. "I sure can bud... I'm not a very good at teaching, but we will do what we can... I had to deal with a lot of blood, you ok with that?"

 

[DrTrollinski]

He read it and tried to hold back the tears. He smiled at her and nodded; he pulled her next to him and put one arm around her. He held the picture in front of them and began reading it all out loud, but stayed as quiet as he could. Once he was done reading it he hugged her tightly for a second while looking down at her. (@DryPunishment)


---


"Uh-huh..." He paused while he cleaned himself. Once he was done he hopped off the toilet and flushed it before pulling his pants up. He walked out and went to washing his hands; he looked at Tom and smiled. ".. I've seen a lotta' blood before, if I can help people like you do, they won't bleed no more which means they won't die, too. I wanna' save people, kinda like the ambulance guys do." He smiled enthusiastically and then dried his hands off on his PJ shirt. He didn't know that Matty was dead just yet, so someone was going to have to break the news to him at some point. Maybe later. (@DrCompton)

 

[Aldur]

She sniffed a few. Of course she didn't fully understand words like 'departure' and 'adored', but she still started sobbing a little towards the end.


"Will he ever come back?"


She hugged Alex tightly and looked up at him with puppy eyes that were watering.


@DrTrollinski

 

[DrTrollinski]

"I..." He sat her in front of him. "Caitlyn... I'm going to be honest with you... Last night, when me and Eric went out, we were attacked by something. Matty... He... He tried to help us and..." He paused and looked away for a moment, taking a deep breath. "He died last night, Caitlyn." He said, he didn't know if she had any knowledge on death. (@DryPunishment)

 

[Aldur]

"Does...does it mean he went to my parents?"


Her eyes watered more and tears rushed across her face as she realized Matty wasn't ever coming back.


She started crying. She was sad,but Matty told her not to be.


@DrTrollinski

 

[DrCompton]

"Yup, that's actually what I did a couple of years after high school, before I joined up, I rode around in an ambulance." He took Carls hands as they walked, "you didn't wake me up last night, did you not have a bad dream?" He looked down at Carl.

 

[DrTrollinski]

".. He's never coming back, honey... He's gone. I'm so sorry." He said and hugged her tight again. (@DryPunishment)


--


"Nope. I had a happy dream last night!" He said cheerfully, squeezing his hand. "When can you start teaching me that stuff, daddy?" He asked in anticipation as he hopped once on the spot. (@DrCompton)

 

[Aldur]

She partially stopped crying and wiped her tears.


"What do we do now?"


Caitlyn stayed in Alex's arms and tried to process what happened.


Matty was not coming back. She didn't know what to do anymore. She'd be with Matty almost all day. Sometimes Caitlyn would play with Eric and Carl,but ever since Matty was unable to help too much around the mall they were in she'd just stay with Matty.


They used to have lots of fun toghether. Matt would play with her and then play the sax and everything was fine.


Until now.


@DrTrollinski

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Well... It looks like I'll look after you. I imagine Hunter will as well." He smiled at her and stroked her hair back, still hugging her. "We're thinking about moving into a little town. It'll be nice for us there." He chuckled softly under his breath and lifted her up as he stood. He began walking out of the store and towards the toy store. "But I think until then, you deserve a little gift for being such a brave girl over the past few months... When's your birthday, by the way? Do you know?" He asked. (@DryPunishment)

 

[Aldur]

"I think Matty said it's in three days...there."


She pointed at a small journal besides her bed. It was her mother's journal that Matty had taken and kept writing in it.


It had dates and all that good stuff. He hadn't made entries for every day,but there was one for today actually.


"If any of you reads this,except the kids...turn to the last page."


@DrTrollinski

 

[DrTrollinski]

He quickly went to the journal and ignored the rule. He hid it from Caitlyn and quickly flicked to the last page of the journal to read over whatever it said at the back. (@DryPunishment)

 

[Aldur]

(@DrTrollinski I'm gonna cut the suspense because I need to go soon and won't be able to reply


It was a possitive message reffering to everyone in the group and one regarding Alex alone which told him to be careful with Hunter. Tsk tsk tsk. At the end he specifies that he wants his body burnt and some of his ashes kept while the other one thrown over the Colorado river. And some more messages talking about how stupid his request was along with some sketches of the people,in the group. And another request to not let Caitlyn forget about him and her parents. Sorry I couldn't write it all) 
(Oh wair did I say besides the kids? I meant to say that only the grown ups should read it. Fuck me. Sorry)

 

[DrTrollinski]

(No problem.)


Alex sighed and took a deep breath. "Okay... Let's go..." He said to Caitlyn while holding the book under his arm. He carried her off to the toy store and told her to wait while he went into the storage. He came back a couple of minutes later with a stuffed monkey toy and crouched down before her, handing it to her. "This is for you. It's a gift for being such a big girl during all this." He smiled at her. (@DryPunishment)

 

[DrTrollinski]

(Alex would have read it regardless. I know what you meant, don't worry.)

 

[StarrySkyofLostSouls]

The Next Day



Eric got Jenna up at eight in the morning. Usually it'd be much earlier, but they all had a late night and slept in for a little while longer. Everyone was still in bed when he got up - Carl was snuggled up with Tom, Caitlyn was fast asleep, Skyler was pretty much passed out - she looked more tired than anyone, surprisingly. Alex and Hunter weren't anywhere. He cringed to think about what they might have been doing during the night. Regardless, once he got Jenna up he kitted her out with some different clothes - this consisted of some jeans that were comfortable to run in, a long-sleeved shirt, and a hoodie. He also gave her a fairly large backpack that she could throw everything in if they found anything; once she was ready, Eric took her out to hit the town. The morning had a bit of a chill to the air, but it was still somewhat warm - Eric made sure they didn't go in the direction of the sniper, just in case, and luckily he had a car that he drove every time they went out - he drove North.


"We're going to the edge of that quarter section I drew up on the wall. We'll start from the top and search the first row of houses, then we'll check out a general store." He said to her while looking at her for a second or so, smiling. "You good?" He asked. (@Soul OMU


--


Alex awoke not too long after Eric and Jenna left. The realization hit him - he was lying face down on top of Hunter. His body ached, and he was cramped up from sleeping on the couch. He didn't know what was going on until he saw the used condom on the floor in front of the couch. He opened his mouth to scream but no noise came out. He slowly got up without waking her, slipped on his clothes, and then picked up the condom and dashed out of the store to dispose of it - his body was sick with alcohol, but he didn't care. Christ, what did he get up to last night? He'd been with Hunter for no more than a day and this had happened? How much did they drink?!


He threw it in the trash and took a breather. Okay, that was one problem dealt with. He decided to go up to the food storage room and wrap a blanket around himself. He was just going to sit there for a few minutes and sip some water. (@Soul OMU)


--


Carl was up before Alex. He'd woken up Tom and dragged him to take him to the public restroom - he wanted him not only to wait, but he wanted to talk to him about stuff as well. He was locked behind the door of a stall and sitting on the toilet - before the incident when they were attacked, he was usually happy to take himself to the bathroom for this, but since then, he was worried about something happening, so every use of the bathroom required Tom to be there just for him to feel safe.


".. Daddy--.. What kinda' job did you do before?" He called out in question from within the stall. (@DrCompton)


--


(@Rifleman - You need to take control of where our characters went next. I don't have any dictation in that on our side Write up where they'd be on this morning, etc. and I'll respond )


--


Dominic had a somewhat restless night with Daniel. Daniel woke up several times in the night crying his eyes out, but seeing as he was in bed with him, he was quick to get a hug and fall back to sleep after some words of reassurance. When morning finally came, Dominic was happy to wake up and find that Daniel was curled up under the covers and fast asleep without a care in the world. That gave him a chance to go and look for Conner - he went to his ground-level apartment and called out to him to wake him up. It was around eight o'clock, mostly because Dominic, Daniel, and Conner had a pretty late night last night.


"Conner! You gonna' get up?! I need to see this monster you killed last night!" He called out across the room. (@Beowulf)

Jenna had been listening to his instructions and had gotten changed into a long sleeve shirt and hoodie as she followed him out of the mall and into the car as they headed north. "Yeah, I'm fine mate, don't cha worry." She said and grinned a bit.


--


Hunter slowly woke not too long after he left and winced slightly as the pain settled in her back and head from last night's drinking and her position on the couch, she shifted slightly when she felt a cool breeze before she realized she was naked, she froze and started to shake with horror and fear of what happened and quickly got up before nearly collapsing from the pain but didn't let that stop her as she slowly pulled on her clothes from last night and slowly made her way out of the store she had been in and snuck out of the mall slightly and into the lower level of another building before collapsing and throwing up her stomach contents from last night. The only thing on her mind was that she needed to run as far as she could from this... Which meant leaving.


---


Scarlet woke up slightly after Jenna and Eric left and stretched a bit as she got up and went out for a bit of a jog around part of the mall before coming back in to sit down and have some water.


(@DrTrollinski, @DrCompton)

 

[DrTrollinski]

(Soul. I'm pretty sure you don't get morning sickness the night after. She can't even know she's pregnant yet... @Soul OMU)

 

[StarrySkyofLostSouls]

(Soul. I'm pretty sure you don't get morning sickness the night after. She can't even know she's pregnant yet... @Soul OMU)

(Snot morning sickness! It's from all the alcohol she drank last night! You usually throw up if you didn't last night. xD )

 

[DrTrollinski]

(And she'd run away... Why?)

 

[StarrySkyofLostSouls]

(It's one of her mechanisms from when she was younger, if she was scared she's run from the problem scaring her.)

 

[DrTrollinski]

(She's running away because she was drunk and got laid?)


---


"Good. First place we're hitting is the biggest house on the street and then we'll make our way down." He smiled at her. "We stick together, try and stay quiet, and we make sure we grab everything we can before leaving. Food and water are the essentials, obviously." He explained. "Sound like a plan?" He asked.


--


When Alex and Caitlyn left the toy store he caught a glimpse of Hunter walking out. He frowned and sent Caitlyn off to the mattress store before going to follow her. When he got to the door he saw her entering a separate building opposite. (@Soul OMU)

 

[StarrySkyofLostSouls]

(She doesn't know that, she knows she was drunk but doesn't know what happened.)


Jenna nods and smiles a bit. "Yeah, sounds like a plan." She said as she listened to him explain.


---


Hunter sits down on a chair as she runs a hand through her hair, trying to remember what happened last night, knows that had a couple of drinks but after that... She can't remember a thing. (@DrTrollinski)

 

[DrCompton]

"Well it'd be hard to train with just us, we would need someone else to help so, so I can show you what to do on a person. Tom looked over and saw Scarlet, grinned and asked her, "Hey Red, wanna play doctor with Carl and I?" He stopped for a second realizing how bad that sounded, "ER... We uh.., I'm showing Carl some... First aid... Stuff."

 

[StarrySkyofLostSouls]

Scarlet raises a brow at the nickname but sighs and walks over. "I suppose..." She said and stood by them. "What do you need me to do?" She asked while watching them. (@DrTrollinski, @DrCompton)