Realistic or Modern Adults Know Best...Right?

[Sugary_Paragraphs]

It was quiet in Brassville.

...Too quiet.

Bryan closed his eyes as he laid his back against the wall. He used to like the quiet. No alarms, or loud blaring TV screens downstairs, or the sounds of a vacuum through the house. It was always just him laying in his bed or on the internet, lulled to sleep with the only sounds being the AC blasting cold air into his room. That was the life. Opening his eyes, he looked at a broken shard of glass lying at his shoes, a kid with dirt on his face and clothes with brown hair that was matted with sweat.

You never know what you have until its gone.

With a sigh, Bryan took a deep breath and quickly peeked around the last shelf leading out of the soups aisle. He was at the supermarket, but not doing errands with his parents. No, No, No. He was scavenging. Scavenging for food like he did every Wednesday. It was what he had to do now. After all, the adults in town won't exactly cook dinner for them anymore. And what made things a bit more stressful was the fact that everyone was back at the convenience store. Expecting him to come back with food that'll last them a few days or maybe even a week and a half if they remain resourceful.

With a silent grunt, he ran a hand through his hair and looked around. The market was empty, except for the lone cashier that just...stood there at his post. No expression whatsoever. The adults did crazy crap like that now-a-days. Talk to themselves, or Claim to see demonic kids trying to tear their eyes out, or The ones who just sit there. No eating. No talking. Just waiting for a kid to walk by or noise to sound. But not Bryan. He had been doing this for too long to get caught now. Not making a sound, he slowly walked through the aisles, grabbing food, band-aids, and other supplies they might need for the long run. The shelves were getting more barren, though, with all the kids and sometimes adults who come by here. With a duffel bag full of supplies, he smiled to himself lightly and nodded before beginning to make his way down the aisle toward the back exit.

CLANG!

He stopped.

...Did he just...? Eyes wide, they slowly traveled downward to see a can that must've jostled out his bag roll down the aisle slowly. It was quiet...too quiet...

"WHO THE HELL IS THERE?!"

And the sound of hard and rapid footsteps sounding closer and closer was all Bryan needed to get the hell out of there. Bolting down the aisle, he slid and made a hard right, dashing for the back doors and busting them open before running down a parking lot that lead toward a dark alley. With speed, he ducked behind and dumpster and waited a few minutes, breathing heavy. If there was one thing he knew about the adults of today now...it was that they never give up on a chase that easy. Hearing the footsteps just a few minutes later, he held his breath at the sounds of frantic pants and pacing.

"~Wheeeere areee yoooou?" The cashier said, a playful tone not at all clashing well with his pizza face. Think, Bryan, Think! Seeing a beer bottle, he took it into his hands before quickly peeking over the dumpster, seeing the adult looking at the side. Perfect. With a small breath, he threw the bottle high in the air, landing just a few feet away in front of the adult. And when he jumped and turned to broken glass, Bryan immediately booked it, running through the alleys like they were a maze.

After awhile, he slowed down and let out the breath he forgot he was holding. Turning from the corner of the last alley, he sighed in relief as he saw the back entrance of the 'Abandoned' Convenience store. He fast walked up to the door, duffel bag over his shoulder, and stood in front of it for a second. All right...what was the knock he told everyone he was going to use again...?

Right! Holding his fist up toward the door, he made sure there was no one around before he knocked, banging the knuckles of his fists against the door in a rhythm that was similar to the door knock of that annoying Frozen movie. But if it was the right one, than someone would push away the shelf blocking the door and unlock it for him...

He chuckled to himself weakly. They really needed a cooler knocking password.

Raku Olivier NekoQueen49 RIPSaidCone Colorless Spectrum Keaira Webs Elk Andy Samberg

 

[Webs Elk]

Kliffton Beid
Kliff was doing his best not to crack under pressure. He'd been tortured all his life but never once did his parents ever try to kill him. Kliff looked over at Alana.

I hope she's fairing well ... He thought to himself.

Kliff was playing Rock-Paper-Scissors with her. There wasn't a whole lot they could do since it wasn't Kliff's turn to scavenge, so Kliff tried to make sure Alana's mental state was better than his. Suddenly, he jumped at the knock, before relaxing. He moved over to the door and pushed the shelf out the way. Before the outbreak the shelf worked best for holding snacks and foodstuffs. Now it's used to keep adults away. How a shelf can change its role in life, one may never know.

Kliff continued pushing the shelf until it was out of the way of the door. Then he started unlocking the multiple locks, before opening the door, smiling when he saw Bryan with the duffel bag, " It's not that I don't like Frozen, but how about changing the lock to something not so ... Frozen once in a while".

Kliff grabbed the duffel bag from Bryan and walked over to the storage area, where they put all the supplies & stuff. He started to catalog the things Bryan brought back.

 

[Colorless Spectrum]

|| Mizuhara ||​

It was a fine morning, the birds were chirping and the wind was blowing nicely. She washed her self up and brushed her teeth, all while humming her favorite song. She went down the stairs and cooked some eggs, when she saw her parents by the garden nudging each other happily by the bench. They look like those young couples having their public display of affections moment, not that the thirteen year old minded. She liked seeing her parents like that, it just shows how much they love each other. Once she finished cooking up the eggs and getting some bread to go with it, she hurried to her parents side. When she got there, she dropped her plate, a mix of shock and disgust was painted on her face. Her parents smelled of blood, and blood covered their body. They had a wicked smile plastered on their faces, another kid lying by their feet... Dead. Fear was instantly felt by Mizuhara, in an instant she ran and ran and ran but when she looked back she saw her parents still sitting by the bench their arms stretched out just to grab her. Mizuhara felt herself fall, she opened her eyes and found herself by the door being knocked, suddenly music started playing out of nowhere, "Elsa, do you wanna build a snowman?" A little voice sang.

Mizuhara quickly opened her eyes, she can feel the sweat still dripping from her forehead. Shit... Having a nightmare while living in a nightmare is not the life that I wanted. She saw Kliffton unlocking the door and approached him, from the door appeared Bryan with his trusty duffel bag. "Other than the password needing to be changed... I think we should be leaving this place, soon." She wiped off her sweat with the use of her hands, "It doesn't really provide much comfort and I feel as if they'd look into this place sooner or later." She gave them a frown and started helping Kliffton with the stuff Bryan bought back. She gave a heavy sigh and ran her fingers through her hair. She took out a loaf bread and ate a loaf, she help out the bread to the other two. "Anyone?"

Sugary_Paragraphs Webs Elk

 

[Webs Elk]

Kliffton Beid
Kliff smiled and accepted the loaf. He, however, didn't eat it. Instead he walked over to Alana and gave it to her.

"I know it's not much, but you need to keep your strength up as much as you can." Kliff told her. Kliff then went around the room handing out pieces to everyone else, who was awake to recieve it, as it was still early morning. He mentally did a headcount while doing so. Once he finished he went back to Bryan and Mizuhara.

"All 9 of us here and accounted for." Kliff said, before eating some of the bread himself. While chewing, he brushed the hair from out of his eyes.

"Anyway, Mizuhara is right. This place isn't going to be a good stronghold for very long. Especially if we find other children. We need someplace bigger, as we're cramped as it is." Kliff continued.

Kliff looked out the window, "Not to mention supplies. Looking over everything in our storage, including the stuff you brought back, we only have enough for about a week, maybe two if we skip a few meals."

Kliff looked towards Alana, " But we have younger children and I don't think they'd be able to do so."

"And all of us who's been assigned to scavenging duty knows that the surrounding area is running bare. Unless we start breaking into people's houses, but that wouldn't seem like a good idea. It may be time to start looking for a new place."

If they needed to make a quick getaway, Kliff still had the SUV he stole from his parents. He made sure to fill it up the last time he went scavenging so it still had a full tank of gas. Since he parked it behind the store, it's be easy for everyone to get in.

Good thing we practiced with everyone getting in and out of the vehicle. That solves one worry. Kliff thought to himself, still staring out the window.

"I guess ... we should talk about this after everyone finishes eating. But we definitely need to talk about it. Especially all of us that scavenges." Kliff told the two.

Kliff then smiled. He never expected to end up having to take care of so many people. He thought he'd grow up alone but he ended up caring for 8 other people. He thought of himself as the big brother to all of them, despite being the 5^th oldest.

Talked To
Colorless Spectrum Sugary_Paragraphs Keaira
Mentioned
Raku Olivier NekoQueen49 RIPSaidCone Andy Samberg

 

[Raku]

Raymond Jackson
Raymond lifted his head from it's position between his legs. He had fallen asleep against a wall. It had been a rough time for them. Having to hide from those they should trust the most. It felt as if they were in a zombie apocalypse. Scavenging for supplies, jumping to cover whenever they heard a noise, and not to mention the deafening silence that plagued Brassvile. Ray put his hat on backwards and arose from his spot against the wall. He did some stretches and cracked his knuckles. It seemed as if Bryan had just returned from a run. "So, what now?" he asked, just wanting some kind of answer from anyone.​

 

[Keaira]

Alana
​

Alana was enjoying the game of Rock-Paper-Scissors with Kliff. She was so happy when he came to her house and picked her up once the outbreak started. She was still confused as to why the adults were acting so different, but trusted Kliff, so listened when he said to stick with them and avoid the grown ups. She missed her mommy and daddy, and hoped they got better soon.

Alana was getting tired of the games they play inside day after day and wanted to play outside. She missed the sunshine.

Once Kliff got up and walked over to help with the supplies, she just sat and watched. She wishes they would let her help them go for supplies.because she could.fit in tighter places and find things they may miss. Once Kliff brought her the bread she smiled and took a bite.

"Thank you Kliff. I was getting hungry." Alana ate all of the small piece of bread Kliff gave her. Her stomach finally stopped growling and she was happy. She didn't eat much anyway, but it is still difficult sometimes to have enough food right now.

Alana grew tired of sitting still, so she got.up and started roaming around. She didn't know if she wanted to play with Olivier, if he was around, or if she just wanted to roam around alone for a few. Kliff was busy with helping, so it gave a good opportunity to walk around. She kept as quiet as possible so she didn't wake any of the others that were sleeping.

 

[Webs Elk]

( Sugary_Paragraphs Reaper 1-1 Olivier NekoQueen49 RIPSaidCone Colorless Spectrum Keaira Webs Elk Andy Samberg Is everyone still in? ...)

 

[NekoQueen49]

( Sugary_Paragraphs Reaper 1-1 Olivier NekoQueen49 RIPSaidCone Colorless Spectrum Keaira Webs Elk Andy Samberg Is everyone still in? ...)

(Oh. I forgot *rubs head sheepishly* I'll start on writing a post)

 

[NekoQueen49]

Clarissa sat in the corner quietly as she had been since the group arrived. She didn't really know how to react to, well, any of this. She was scared, but didn't want anyone to see it. She was scared of the adults, but also of the others. Clarissa didn't trust them in a different way than she distrusted the adults.

Hunger gnawed at her belly but Clarissa didn't dare approach the food. Instead, she drew out a voodoo doll out from her pocket in her knee length dress and watched eerily as one of the other girls passed by. Clarissa wasn't sure about the girl's name as Clarissa hadn't spoken to anyone since coming here. It might have started with a vowel from what she overheard.
Keaira

 

[Keaira]

As Alana walked around, she caught eye of a girl watching her and holding a doll. The girl's look scared Alana as she is shy and reserved. Alana runs back to Kliff to let him know she was awake and probably needed food.

She gets over to where the others were talking and tugs on Kliff's shirt a little. "Kliff, I think that girl needs food and I too scared to takes it over." Alana hides behind Kliff so the girl can't see her. She buries her face into Kliff's leg.

Webs Elk NekoQueen49

 

[Webs Elk]

Kliffton Beid
"So, what now?"

Kliff turned towards Ray, " Well ... everyone is either sleeping or eating so I guess you can do one of those," Kliff said, handing him some of the bread.

After handing him the bread, Kliff started daydreaming about what a perfect life would have been. He's been having this specific situation pass through his mind a thousand times and it always changes. In one, he was a wizard. In one he was an angel. In one he was a basketball player. The only thing that remained consistent was that his parents loved him. Kliff sighed as he tuned back into reality, when he felt a tug on his shirt.

"Kliff, I think that girl needs food and I too scared to takes it over."

Kliff looked over to where Alana was pointing and spotted the grey eyed, brown haired girl, "Clarrissa ..." Kliff mumbled to himself. Kliff wasn't surpirsed that Alana was scared as Clarrisa liked scaring everyone. Kliff grabbed a piece of bread and grabbed Alana's hand and walked with her over to Clarrisa.

"Hey, Clarrisa!" Kliff began, holding out the bread, "It's not a lot but you should eat something. We need as much strength as we can just in case we have to make a run for it."

Talked To
Keaira - Alana
NekoQueen49 - Clarissa
Raku - Raymond

 

[NekoQueen49]

Clarissa jumped at Kliff's call. She was rather surprised that he knew her name. She knew his because the others repeated it enough for her to catch.

Her mouth twisted into a smile, looking at the older boy out from underneath her bangs. Standing and moving towards the group, "The spirits thank you for your offering. This fleshy body needs substance. It is acceptable," Clarissa said in her own twisted way of thanks. She took the bread and took a large bite.
Webs Elk Keaira

 

[Keaira]

Alana walked over with Kliff to take Clarissa the bread, but hid behind him the whole time. She would peek around his leg a little, but if she caught her looking at Alana any, she would hide her head back behind Kliff's leg. Then once they were done giving her the bread, she pulled on his hand trying to get him to pick her up.

When she feels they are where Clarissa can't hear her, "why did she say spirits thank us? What she talking bout Kliff?" Alana didn't know what a single thing meant that Clarissa spoke about, but didn't know if she wanted to. Clarissa scared her, but so did everyone except for Kliff and Olivier. She hadn't spoken to anyone but those two the whole time.

Webs Elk NekoQueen49

 

[Webs Elk]

Kliffton Beid "The spirits thank you for your offering. This fleshy body needs substance. It is acceptable,"

Kliff smiled, despite being a little creeped out by the young girl, " Well, if this fleshy body needs anymore substance, just let me know, okay?"

He gave her a final smile before walking back over to Bryan, Raymond, and Mizuhara, with Alana in tow.

"why did she say spirits thank us? What she talking bout Kliff?"

Kliff sighed as he squeezed her hand, "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure but if it makes her happy then I'm fine with going along with it. It makes it easier for her to trust us."

Talked To
Keaira - Alana
NekoQueen49 - Clarissa

Talked About
Raku - Raymond
Sugary_Paragraphs - Bryan
Colorless Spectrum - Mizuhara

(Is this officially dead now? v.v)
Sugary_Paragraphs Raku Olivier NekoQueen49 RIPSaidCone Colorless Spectrum Keaira @AKKaleb Andy Samberg

 

[Sugary_Paragraphs]

Watching everyone distribute his findings, Bryan couldn't help but smile a little. It always felt good knowing his scavenging was getting better and better everyday. However, his smile soon fell as he thought about Kliff's words. With a sigh, he shrugged and scratched his hair before looking at Kilff, waiting for him to be done talking to the smaller children of their bunch before he began to speak. "Listen. You're right. The convenience store isn't all that big, and yeah, an adult could come here and check..." He trailed off and looked down at the floor before shaking his head and looking back up at Kliff. "But for right now, this might be a good place to hide for awhile. We'd have to go out further into the town and find someplace that isn't crowded with adults. And even if we do find something, we'd have to find a way to transport this many people."

Bryan then shrugged. "And we could look for a car, but these guys are getting crazier by the day." He looked at the boarded up window, imagining the black street right there in his mind. "I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to get a car to and ram-" His eyes widened as he looked over at the kids again. Right. Probably a poor choice of words. "Never mind." He looked at Kliff. "But, yeah. You get the gist."

Webs Elk NekoQueen49 Keaira Raku Colorless Spectrum

 

[NekoQueen49]

Clarissa looked up from her chewing. She couldn't help but overhearing the older boy's words. He was one of the 'leaders' of the group. A leadership that wasn't assigned but rather taken. Not that anyone really minded seeing as how this was a group of terrified children, herself included.

She fidgeted before speaking up. "If the day is too much of a risk, the cover of darkness has always served me and my fiends well," she said quietly, just barely loud enough to be heard. She didn't sound as nearly as confident as she would have liked despite the truth of her words. Clarissa has had often gone around at night, sleeping in class during the day to do so. The night was one of the few things she wasn't scared of, and considered her own domain.
Sugary_Paragraphs Webs Elk Keaira Raku (Don't know who's hearing this so...)

 

[Colorless Spectrum]

Mizuhara Jones​

Mizuhara watched everyone. Listened to what they have been talking about, it's one of the rare times when she is quiet. Seeing Kliff give bread made her smile, to think that a group of different kids could come together like this and hide from their batshit crazy parents. That last part of the thought made her frown.

She took note of Clarissa's statement and agreed. "I agree with Clarissa. We can make use of the night to our advantage. As for transportation... A van should do for the lot of us but wouldn't that attract attention? The sewers could be useful." She gave a questioning look to Bryan and looked at the faces of every person in the room. There must be some other... way.

And with that an idea came to the young artist mind. She got closer to Bryan and placed a hand on his shoulder and grinned widely. "The studio! My uncle has a gigantic studio that he hasn't used in forever! We can use it. It also doubles a a house and is a lot more larger than this store. It's a few blocks away, if I am correct." Telling Bryan in a loud voice so that everyone could hear.

Sugary_Paragraphs Webs Elk NekoQueen49 Kaerri Raku

 

[Webs Elk]

Kliffton Beid Kliff smiled as Mizuhara mentioned the studio. Kliff remembered the one time he went over with Mizuhara to work on a song for school, before Mizu's uncle moved away and basically gave it to Mizu's family. Just like she said, it was more than big enough to hold them all and not only that but it was also secure. The walls were soundproof as well as harder than concrete. He learned that the hard way. The basement was stocked with supplies because of how paranoid Mizuhara's uncle was about the end of the world and there was even a backup generator if the power went out. Upstairs there was also 4 bedrooms.

Overall, it was definitely a perfect place. If they managed to get there, they'd be good for a while. Key word : If.

"Mizuhara is right but we have to determine whether it's worth the risk. There are definitely a bunch of pros. It's huge, well stocked, has a lot of stuff that can entertain people, there's comfort, and most importantly no adults as only Mizu's uncle and Mizu or her parents have a key. However on the other hand, unless Mizu took it, Mizu's parents do have a key so if they went over to the studio while we were there, we would be compromised. I'm not worried about her uncle, however, as he lives in another state and one thing I've noticed, ever since the virus broke out, most adults tend to stick to one place though a few do tend to travel. Also, getting all of us there will be extremely tricky. We obviously can't travel by road, which leaves traveling by alleyway and climbing an 8 foot gate or traveling by sewer and not knowing what's happening above. Or, of course, doing both. No matter what we do we should probably scout it out first. We also have the problem of getting in without being noticed, even if Mizu has a key as a group of 9 is bound to make some noise, even while being extremely quiet, especially since we can't just leave our supplies, unless we just come back for it, but again, that's risky. "

Kliff then thought back to the SUV, " I've also filled up the SUV, so if we do choose to go to the studio, I can siphon out the gas to use for the generator. Unless, everyone would rather save the SUV until we need to use it for a quick getaway, which can happen at any time."

Kliff stared out the window, "There's also a supermarket around the corner from it. We haven't begun hitting it yet due to its popularity with the adults but if we do stay at the studio it'll be easier to scavenge from there. Although it's also a con as many adults go there, especially during the morning."

Kliff rubbed the back of his head, " Overall, I think that it's definitely a possiblity, but we should keep strategizing for more. "
Keaira - Alana
NekoQueen49 - Clarissa
Raku - Raymond
Sugary_Paragraphs - Bryan
Colorless Spectrum - Mizuhara

 

[Andy Samberg]

"Overall, I think it's definitely a possibility, but we should keep strategizing for more."

That word. Strategy

Killian knew it. At one point. He knew about... strategy?

What did that word even mean?

Who had said that word?

He opened his eyes, looking to his right and finding the barren dust-covered shelf he was sleeping next to. He remembered when they had first arrived here, looking at all of the food. There was just so much. Was.

He pictured his favorite foods on the shelves. Honey Cakes, Ho Ho's, Swiss Rolls.... TWINKIES!

He clutched the small package he held closer to his chest, in his jacket pocket. Inside that pocket were two smushed Twinkies that could have been better for wear, and they were some that he had smuggled without the group noticing for this long. He would eat them, yes, but not now.

Of course he felt bad about keeping the Twinkies, he really did. But it wasn't his fault the world had gone to shit and the good people at Hostess stopped stocking the shelves. But it also wasn't as if every other kid had something they were hiding. He wasn't the only innocent one, he knew that much. The little ones must be hiding some kind of food, how else would they remain as full as they are?

Killian shook his head, thinking about his conversation with himself. This is the root of insanity, talking to yourself. He wasn't insane, he just had no one to talk to. No one here shared some of his common interests. All they were worried about was survival. At the basic level.

You can't be human by just worrying aobut survival. That just isn't the way. Humans are too advanced to be thinking about survival in and of itself. But still, everytime he tried to put together canned foods and come up with a dungeon for the kids to play, they rejected him. The cans were put back on the shelves, not to be used as markers for figurines, and he was shunned to the corner.

He looked at Kliff, taking into account what he was thinking and said, "I think we should move. Power isn't a necessity, so draining the SUV for generator juice isn't a smart move, especially considering that there are batteries we can still scavenge. Fuel is harder to come by, however. We're draining this place dry of its nutrients, and since you all are so bent on survival, we should move. If you're worried about adults, be crafty. Take up arms. They're all insane, anyway. Rough 'em up if needbe."

HIs hand drifted out of his pocket, fiddling and intertwining his fingers awaiting a response.

Talked to:
Webs Elk