Realistic or Modern The Living Among The Dead

[JokerValentine]

With the herd thinner by this point, Blake retired his bat and exited the store. He was out of breath, his bodice hunched over on his knees. His bat was dripping with the blood of those toxic creatures. Yet, they were alive. But, the noise of bullets had no doubt attracted further residents. But where were they? Aside from the remaining lurkers in the store, most of which were moving at an extremely slow rate, or struggling to climb the stairs, Blake and Mik were alone. "For a science student, you are a moron," Blake said with a spit, finally catching his breath. he wasn't exactly sincere, but it could easily be interpreted as such.


@Hollowed Kadaver

 

[The Mechanist]

Mik only sighed and started walking around to the back of the store, "justify your response first before insulting me mister im gonna use a loud ass weapon." He didnt want to deal with the stranger anymore, he just wanted his bike pump, nothing more. The alley was clear, quite open, no signs of disruption either, it looked completely untouched. Mik was already walking through it, eyes darting from one direction to the next, taking in the surroundings 'hmmm the air here is quite dry, all moisture gone, no sign of fungi.' It was cloudy, and all Mikhail could see was the grey color that was left behind. He sighed, aside from his annoyance he was quite content, 'might start raining soon....rain would be nice right now.' He reached the end of the alley and turned his eyes to the left, to where the cargo area was, "time to get my bike pump."


@JokerValentine

 

[JokerValentine]

@Hollowed Kadaver


Of course Mikhail was leaving. He gets his ass saved, and is so ungrateful to Blake's aid. "You really want to go it alone? You meet someone alive for the first time in weeks, and you think you ought to break away from him? Of course you would," Blake said with sarcasm, following behind Mikhail. He was not going to let him go that easy, after all. Truly, the survivor was going to keep company with his friend. "Perhaps we ought to talk about ourseolves, get to know each other, before you decide you want to be Mr. 'I go it alone.'"

 

[The Mechanist]

Mik examined the rear doors, "sure why not ask whatever you want, doesnt matter to me anyhow." 'Hmmm, if i had something to wedge under the door i could force the door up.' He began to look around, trying to find something he could use. His eyes passed over only trash, a few abandoned cars and the empty parking lot. 'Could be something in one of those cars.' He walked over to the cars but paused for a second, "before you judge me, I've always been alone, even before the outbreak."


@JokerValentine

 

[JokerValentine]

"Well boo-hoo, your life must've been so terrible" Blake said with heavy sarcasm, "let me get you the f***ing choir and serenade you on your loneliness." The man was now without restraint, probably as a result of the copious amounts of adrenaline in his system at the moment. This definitely could only end in a few ways, one of them being his death. "You think I had anybody to lean on? I did, but I didn't. You can have nobody, and then you can have those who pretend to care. You think you had a tough life?"


@Hollowed Kadaver

 

[The Mechanist]

Mik growled under his breath, "will you shut up already?! Youve been bitching and bitching and bitching, dont you have anything productive to say? Youre worse than some of my lab mates when the required materials werent around, in fact, i prefer their bitching compared to yours. At least they had something useful to say every once in a while, now if you wanna help then by all means help me, if not, then shut the fuck up, turn around and walk in the other direction, capiche?" Mik turned back around and began searching through the car, only to find a wheel lock and a tire iron. 'Hmmmm these could work.'

 

[Gladius]

Elias pushed open the rusty school gates and stepped outside, feeling the bitter and stale air upon his face. Six months ago, he would not have called this a pleasant sensation, but that was when the world had been easier to understand. Since then, the wound on his arm had swollen up until it had become an open disfigurement. He had already lost all feeling below chest level. Now, the slightest touching against his skin was something to savour. It was something he could feel, connect with the world on a basic level. What was left of it, anyway.


Dead, blackened leaves crunched beneath his feet. He didn't feel them either. If not for the sound, Elias would have scarcely known they were there. His most recent mutation was for sensing living organisms, after all.


He stared down the open road before him, hollow eyes gazing out from beneath his hood. Cars lay smashed, freshly-dead corpses lay rotting by the pavement, and dried blood caked the grass at his feet.


Elias didn't sense anyone living here anymore. Even the dead had moved on.


Running out of food, he thought. But...why bother? If I stay here long enough, I won't need food anymore.


A spasmodical twitch ran down his left shoulder and arched down to his numbed thigh. Elias' mouth was dry from lack of water. No fluids. His last two rations. It was just going to be downhill from now on. If he encountered any looters, any hostile members of the living, then he could say goodbye to his last provisions. People became desperate and animalistic in a changed world like this.


He almost smiled. The living frightened him more than the walking dead. Maybe he was closer to the other side than he thought.


Shaking his head, the wounded boy made his way down the road and searched for a better means of survival.

 

[JokerValentine]

Blake was extremely irate. If it was anybody who was bitching about anything, it was Mik. "Oh, I'm the bitchy one? Complaining about complaining is still complaining, shithead. You clearly don't give a shit about anyone about yourself, but at least consider the possibility of survival! You honestly know why you are alone? Even now, you prefer to think that nobody understands you, that nobody was there for you. But of course, it's always someone else's fault, no?" he said in a scolding tone. He took steps toward him, remaining quite close behind.


@Hollowed Kadaver

 

[The Mechanist]

Mikhail started to laugh, "you think im blaming someone for my lonelinesss? Wow you really are full of shit. I dont care if anyone understands me, youre right, i dont give a shit about anyone else right now. Right now all I want is my damn bike pump, as for the possibility of survival? To me all this, its nothing more than a giant experiment. Try to see how long i can go before i join the after life with everyone else." Mikhail stopped at the door, "Seeing as how you havent left yet, here take this tire iron and wedge under that side of door while i do this side." He turned and handed the stranger the tire iron.

 

[JokerValentine]

@Hollowed Kadaver


He wasn't making much sense anymore. Maybe he struck a chord with him. You never know. "OF course, thinking as you are better than anyone else. Losing your shit, and all because i elbowed the poor baby in the face," he jeered, taking the tire iron. Maybe he could knock him out with it? No, that would be ridiculous. Blake was not that type of person, to kill for no reason. This was for the better, working together. "You had someone, maybe. You had a girl to call your own, and she walked out of your life," he said with a general remark. Perhaps his probing would render an understanding.

 

[The Mechanist]

Mik stopped, "actually you elbowed my wrist, as for the girl. She didnt walk out of my life, rather a walker took her out of my life." Mik jammed the wheel lock under the door, kicking it in a few times to ensure it was really in there. "We werent together, but...there was something there." He bent down and gave the lock a few pulls, "Alright, once you get the tire iron in the door we can open this thing up."


@JokerValentine

 

[JokerValentine]

At last, the truth came tumbling out. Looks like he had not been so alone after all. Having exposed Mik's story, Blake felt rather satisfied to see how his reaction changed. Quite astonishing what a few words will tell you about someone. Taking the tire iron, the man touched the door of the automobile, and began to winch it up. "This might be illegal," he said, as the winch became a bit taut.

 

[The Mechanist]

Mik smiled under his bandanna, "aint no law around to stop us." He gave it a hard pull up, bringing the garage door slightly off the ground. "See any cinderblocks around? We could place one under the door to keep it propped up." He began to look around, trying to find the cement blocks.

 

[JokerValentine]

@Hollowed Kadaver


Looking around the block, Blake soon spotted a single block. The problem was: it appeared to be holding up a table, most likely set up as renovations for the building across the street. The survivor made his way to it, and examined the yellow standplank. This wouldn't especially be easy. With the easy lift of the yellow platform, Blake tried kicking the cinder block away. No use. "Mik," he called out, "help me out over here!"

 

[The Mechanist]

Mik released the lock, the garage door once again closed. "What is it?" Upon walking over he saw what it was that the stranger wanted to show him, "that looks like its gonna be loud, maybe we should find something else to use, I mean we could use the rims of the cars. We do after all have a tire iron."

 

[JokerValentine]

Of course. The tire iron. "Mik, use the tire iron to reach under the door. There might be a spare jack on the floor. We might be able to use that to prop the door up," he said, putting the walkway down. He walked back over to the man, who was struggling to keep the door up. "I can hold it, maybe try slipping in?"


@Hollowed Kadaver

 

[Catharsis]

(** Time Skip. One week later. Anyone who has not responded within the past week or so's characters are now being reserved back. Message me if you would like to start participating again. **)

 

[Catharsis]

Nathan sat in the upstairs part of a old shop; trying to figure out how to move forward. Three days ago, he wrecked his truck in a large ditch and was unable to pull it out. Up and down his arms were the scars from busting out windows to help everyone inside climb out; around those scars, there was a bright pink rash from the poison ivy that he unfortunately had to crawl through in order to get out of his wrecked truck. Everyone turned out to be fine with little to no injuries, but his truck had to be left behind. Now, as he looked out the window of the old shop he pondered what to do next. With a pregnant woman and his siblings to feed, he was left with very few options.


Hailey wondered around the outside of the old shop with Nayla by her side. It had to be over a hundred degrees outside, and Hailey wanted nothing more than to get in some air conditioning, but of course, that no longer existed. Nathan had made them stop their travels for the day to protect Kiara and her baby. She knew he felt really beat up over his truck, but it wasn't his fault. Red had been mouthing off to him and caused him to lose focus on the road and he ran straight into a walker. The force on the truck made him swerve, thus putting them in the ditch. It was more Red's fault than his. It sucked either way. Right now, Hailey was looking around for any kind of supplies that they could make use of while on their trip. So far, the small town that they had arrived to yesterday had been seemingly quiet. The quietness scared her more than any noise could have.


Nayla panted as she walked alongside her master. Sweat ran down her long coat and caused her to breathe heavily. She really wanted some water, but for whatever reason, the humans had not watered her in days. She sniffed the ground for any sign of a creature that may have been there recently, but only found old scents that could've been left there weeks ago. The place was dead, and Nayla had not seen a single creature scurrying around for miles. There was no use in even searching. She looked up at Hailey and began to whine, jerking her head back in refusal to walk any farther. She was the hungriest and thirstiest she had ever been, and would much rather be inside away from the heat.


Red sat in a swivel chair at the front desk of the shop, spinning around as he read through old papers that had been scattered around the floor for god knows how long. There was really nothing interesting. He handed most of the old newspapers over to Maizy, who liked to color or scribble on the papers. This whole ordeal sucked ass, and there was a long list of things that he would much rather be doing than sitting in an old shop surrounded by people. "This fucking sucks." he mumbled, barely loud enough for anyone but Maizy to hear.


Maizy gripped her crayon tightly as she listened to Red's pointless complaints. She hated it when he cussed, and knew he would be getting a mouthful from momma if she were there. If she was there.. Maizy moved around so that her belly was pressed against the cool tile floor, and she moved the paper aside so that she could see her own reflection. Her face was covered with dirt and grime, and her hair was even worse; tangled and dirty. She had never really liked baths much before, but now she longed for one. She smelled as if someone had poured a large bucket of sweat and fish all over her, and she hated it. The grime made her feel itchy, and she had ringworm all over. She would've given anything in the world to be clean or to see her mom again.





Allison lifted up the large blue tarp that she had used to cover her water bins with days before. She had taken the liberty to fetch and boil enough water to fill the bins, so that she and Johnny would have enough to last them for a while. "When do you think it'll rain again?" she asked Ranger curiously; filling up her bottles as she spoke. She stepped aside so that Ranger could do the same and practiced balancing herself on her tip toes. Her feet ached as she did so, but she had gotten used to the pain. She hummed a song as she jumped and skipped around the bins carefully, attempting to cure her boredom.


@Hollowed Kadaver


Sam leaned back into a couch as she dug into a can of potted meat. She, nor Christopher, had gone hungry in days. She felt content in the small neighborhood, as there had not been any unfortunate surprises since they got to the community. She had actually been able to sleep comfortably for the last few days, and that said more than anything else. She was also clean. They had filled buckets with enough water to fill one of the bathtubs and she managed to scrub away all of the dirt that had covered every inch of her skin; the water, had been black by the time she was done. Christopher had done the same, and both of them were practically glowing at this point.


Christopher was outside of the house that he and Sam had chosen to call home, working the garden area outside. He had came up with a few seeds after going through the houses and was now working to grow fresh food. He already knew that the canned food was bound to run out eventually, and was now arranging a back up plan. He would soon have to find a solution for all the water that they were using as well.


Joseph trudged around the streets of Memphis, Tennessee once more. He was a bit strung out, and could barely get himself to move forward. He looked up at the light blue sky that gave shelter to the sun and begged that it might give him shelter too. His beard had grown past his chin and was only getting longer. It seemed to be a sweat trap now days, and he would've given anything for a razor, or a chocolate bar.

 

[JokerValentine]

@Hollowed Kadaver @Lonelytaco


(Blake)


Alas, poor Joseph was no longer alone. It had been quite the eventful week indeed. The duo had made their way to Memphis, where they encountered the lovely lonely male. Of course, relations were still fresh, so it definitely was not quite the pact just yet. Blake and Mik seemed to be all but reconciled. As they walked down the street, Blake found himself in dire need of water. "We need to rest," he emitted, panting and out of breath. He was not that athletic, although everyone had plenty to run from.

 

[BloodThunder27]

A whole has passed since Waverly woke up inside an empty and desolate mall and learn that the city, if not the world, has been affected by a virulent man-made virus that turns its hosts into post-human cannibals. During the last week, she had spent it rediscovering her identity. Prior to the Apocalypse that has taken over, Waverly had been drifting around doing Security and Bodyguard work. The car she had taken from the mall broke down during the week, so she was back to traveling on foot. Her Apartment was no longer safe. She was also currently looking for her Younger Sister. That was her priority now since her parents were no longer around and God knows what happened to her extended family. And even if she tried to track down everyone, her chances of success were slim in the current situation.


Today was her last day in the apartment, so she decided to go ahead and just take all her keepsakes, most of it being small jewelry and photos, and just left the Apartment to go find her sister. There wasn't anything left of value in there anyway, so she just left the door unlocked, allowing looters to just go ahead and take what they please. Materialistic things were no longer an issue. The last thing she took was her Katana with a Silver Cross attached to the hilt. Slinging her rucksack over her shoulder, she left the Apartment Building with Discretion. She started walking away from the Apartment Complex, her gun unstrapped just in case she needed to do a quick draw and fight off the undead or bandits. As she continued walking, Waverly started wondering about her younger sister as she started moving closer towards the woods.

 

[The Mechanist]

Mik kept his distance from the new stranger that has joined their pack, all his biological training pointed to the fact that the man was not healthy, both physically and mentally. He watched Blake take a seat, "hmm lets see if my water vaporator has got anything." Mik got down on one knee and pulled out a makeshift apparatus, inside it held some dirty water in one orb, but clean water in the other. "Ive got enough for a couple of swigs, make use of it." He handed Blake the orb.


@JokerValentine


Ranger helped Allison out with their new chores, "I dont know but it would be nice if it was soon, we could use all the water we can get." He wiped his brow and breathed out heavily as he pushed the barrels into place. "Do you think anyone else is out there? Maybe they could use some water too, I mean I think we have enough to share."


@Lonelytaco

 

[SavingStar]

Kiara and Logan were in the building with Nathan and the others, only they were on the bottom level rather than the top. The two were currently lounging near a large window that let the sun shine in, but was closed to prevent visibility from the outside.


Kiara's body was littered with small scratches and bruises from the incident, but she was fine. At first, they thought the baby had been hurt, but he was still kicking, so they thought he was alright.


Peeking through the blinds, Kiara sighed and put her free hand on her hip, the other still separating the blinds. "Great. Just great. In the time that we've been here, so many damn walkers have gotten outside that I honestly have no idea how we're going to get out of here, if we do."





Logan stood up from the plush chair he was sitting in, walking over to his wife. He stood behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders and beginning to rub them gently, in an attempt to relax her.


"Remember what we said about your stress levels. Even though you're over full term, doesn't mean that stress won't hurt you." He said in a low voice.


He felt sorry for the French woman in front of him. She was carrying a baby while constantly running for her life. If he could trade places with her, he would do it in a heartbeat. And she knew that. She felt the same way about him. She'd do anything for him.





"Hey, Nathan! We may have a small problem." He called, seeing all the walkers outside.

 

[Catharsis]

Joseph shrugged and continued forward. Rest was for the weak. Besides, he would much rather be away from these bastards anyways. He reached in his pocket and played around with his pocket knife; flipping it in and out as he continued on. His mind was a bit blurry with jumbled thoughts and ideas, like "whatever became of my cousin's dog?" or "If I lost enough weight, could I make a soda rocket that could fly me far away?" . So many questions, so little time. Joseph bowed his head and chuckled at his own thoughts. He really could've used a milk shake at that moment, nothing like mom's cookin'.





Nathan lifted his head as he heard his name being called downstairs, he stood up stretching before wandering down to the bottom floor where his siblings, Kiara, and Logan waited. "What's up?" he asked, approaching the front side's windows. He immediately saw what was up, and drew the blinds. "We should probably all move upstairs, I don't know how long that door will hold, and there's a window we can use as a escape plan if things go south." he whispered, quickly moving a shelf to the door. If they were quiet enough, they wouldn't have anything to worry about, however it was always good to take precautions.


Maizy scooped all of her crayons and papers, and headed upstairs like her brother had instructed. She looked around briefly for Hailey and Nayla, but didn't see them. "Nate, where's Hailey?" she asked, stopping on one of the lower stairs while she waited on an answer.


Hailey examined the back part of the shop, where a large garage door hung just barely ajar. She had noticed Nayla's nervousness, but paid no regard. The dog had always had bad anxiety. She peeked under the door, but only saw darkness. She decided it would be something that would be better checked out with Nathan, Red, or Logan.


Allison ran her fingers over the side of the brick building that they were standing by, allowing herself to relax a bit. "I'm sure there are people, but if they wanted it, don't you think they'll find it? I mean, I'm not gonna go searching for anyone." she answered back calmly.

 

[JokerValentine]

@Hollowed Kadaver @Lonelytaco


(Blake)


Graciously accepting the gift of water, Blake took a drink. He was definitely tired, due to the fact he had not had enough water. The war water, although uncomfortable, had to do. Continuing on the complain train, Blake sighed deeply. "Where are we even going? We have been walking for too long, and the more we walk the more exposed we are," he said, asking the rather strung-out male.

 

[SavingStar]

Logan and Kiara both nodded, before heading upstairs with him. Of course, this was after Logan had helped Kiara through a few slight stomach twinges. She had been having those a lot lately.


As the two followed, Kiara spoke suddenly. "We're screwed if they get in here. We wouldn't be able to get out. You could jump through a window, but I couldn't." She sighed, leaning on a table as they reached the upstairs room.