Realistic or Modern Apocalypse

[Cronos]

Colette Angeliqué​

Colette watched as they moved chairs and desks out of the way, clearing the space around her and Anastasiya. She moved slightly to help them, bringing the smaller girl's body closer to hers and into her lap. It would be easier to carry her this way, if she had to, and though Angeliqué was quite strong, her arms were shaking and she grinded her teeth together because of the cold. Her eyes wandered through the room, focused on Nikita's actions. "It's not smart if we left you here overnight, and Will wouldn't be happy about that either. If we finish making this fire then we can all get out of here soon." A sigh left her lips as her attention was directed to Francesca and just when she was about to respond, the man in the room spoke. "Bring her closer to the fire." She felt the grip on her hand tighten and heard muttered words in a familiar voice. "Thank you," Colette whispered something back, her voice so low that only the girl in front of her would be able to hear. "It's the least I could do."

So as she scooted closer to the small fire, she brought the other girl's body with her, sliding it off her lap and helping her sit down when she got close enough and still stood at a safe distance. "Can you tell us what you need? The cold can't be the only reason you fainted or you might have not woken up. Well, that's what I believe, at least." There was a reassuring smile on her lips as she supported Anastasiya's body with an arm around her waist.

AttackOnTak The_Omega_Effect spacient

 

[spacient]

Francesca​

The_Omega_Effect Cronos AttackOnTak
Of course the cold isn't the only reason she fainted. Just by looking at her I can tell that she doesn't have any food. She looks like she has nothing but the clothes on her back, Frankie thought this to herself as she turned her head to roll her eyes

Well, they had a fire going now, and that was something. Frankie took the opportunity to warm up as well since her nose was still tingling from earlier and her hands had the hardest time staying warm when it was snowing. She looked around, taking a look at the exits as if it were one final check for zombies, and she finally stuffed her gloves in her jacket pockets and took off the leather. Underneath the leather jacket she was wearing a thick gray sweater, and there was a hint of another layer underneath that as well. It was rare she took off her jacket when they didn't make a proper shelter, but they seemed to be safe enough inside the building and it would make her feel warmer before they would go back into the snow. She squatted by the fire and rolled up her sleeves, revealing her colorfully tattooed arm.

She looked at her thin arms now and wondered just how much weight she had lost from walking around hungry, she had been hungry with the group for a little while now, but she thought it was still better than going through the world alone. She could stand the hunger, but she needed more nutritious food in her diet or the weight loss would prove to be unhealthy. She hoped that Nikita wouldn't comment on it - she wasn't stupidly starving herself, they just didn't have enough food the last week and a half to feed everyone properly. If she wanted to leave the group because of their lack of resources, she was sure she would be fine... for a while. The group took her in after she had been alone for months, and being alone for that long with the beasts around you changes who you are as a person, and she still carried some of those effects with her now. As she stared absentmindedly into the fire, she reminded herself of that fact that she needed people around her to stay sane.

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Nikita Vissarionovich​

Nikita constantly adjusted the fire by moving the things inside the fire that he had created using his crowbar so as to make sure that the fire does not spread onto anything else. "Once Anastasiya is awake, we should take some of these newspapers to see if we can make a fire in the apartment." It was pretty cozy in the book store. At least for Nikita. Him being surrounded by books and sitting near a warm fire while it was cold outside, reminded him of some of his days before the apocalypse. There was nothing more he would enjoy. But the circumstances of the situation certainly reminded him of the times being different now. Nikita's mood was not any more ruined by this realisation however. It was just another one of the hundreds and thousands of acknowledgements he registered in his mind. He then watched as Francesca sat down by the fire and took her coat out. She then rolled the sleeves of her sweaters back to reveal her tattooed arms. Nikita never got why people did that. Why would anybody draw on themselves an image that would last forever unless removed surgically? The things that a person likes change constantly. Something one might find great today might be considered to be the most vile thing in the world by that same person the next day. What interested him more than the tattoos were her arms. They seemed to be very thing. He now understood why she had trouble moving the desks to make space for the fireplace. "I think you might want to keep the soup for yourself."

Cronos AttackOnTak spacient

 

[S n o w]

Will Harris​

Will glanced around the alley, waiting for something to pop out at him. Something that would tell him what they were doing out there. He followed her finger to the fire escape, and then looked further up. Somehow, all of it seemed to be relatively intact. He knew what Kate wanted him to do, but he couldn't help but think of all the ways this could go wrong. It looked stable, but a lot of things looked that way right before they collapsed. He hoped the ice was thick enough to keep everything locked into place. He let go of Kate and moved closer to it. He would prefer to go up and test it himself first, but he couldn't be sure that Kate wouldn't follow him anyway. He wasn't happy with it, but he bent slightly and cupped his hands together.
Human__Ramen

 

[spacient]

Francesca​

The_Omega_Effect
Frankie was still lost in thought for a bit as she just stared into the fire. She thought about winters with her family, all of them huddled around the fireplace as she curled up with her German Shepherd, Ajax. She loved that dog, and it was heartbreaking for her to lose him. She curled up in a fetal position and wrapped her arms around her legs with her face pressed right up against her knees, her nose was a cold button that sent a chill through her leg. She thought about how she was just a semester away from graduating, not even a full 15 credits away from getting her degree, and she had jobs waiting that she wanted to start. She thought about her plans to travel and see family overseas. What a waste all of it was when it only led right to this moment.

She had to force herself to come back to reality or else she would just get upset, thankfully Nikita started talking to her again. She didn't really register the first thing he said, something about the newspapers, so she just nodded in that way people agree to things they don't hear what you say. She actually caught the next thing he said though and she lifted her head, "I found more than one." Sure, she was thin and hungry, but there were others in the group hungrier than her - she saw that look in Cole's eyes earlier, he looked like he was going insane

 

[S n o w]

Cole Bishop​

Cole was in the middle of rummaging through a drawer in the kitchen when he heard the solid thump from above him. He jumped, almost whacking his head on one of the open cupboards. He looked up, Kate's situation flashing through his mind, but the ceiling didn't cave in on top of him. He sighed in relief. Though if the roof did decide to fall on him anytime soon, he hoped it would be nice enough to kill him fast. He glanced warily at the ceiling again. Still, what was that? A zombie stage-diving off a bed? He waited, but didn't hear any other suspicious noises from whatever was upstairs.

He moved on to the small the living room, barely sparing a glance at an old family photo on the wall. Two parents and a kid, making silly faces at the camera. He would bet his nonexistent money that they didn't survive past the first week. Cole stopped in front of the couch, debating whether he wanted to risk sticking his hand between the cushions when something grabbed his foot. He made a sound he wasn't proud of and kicked at its hand until it broke off, scrambling back as it dragged itself out from under the couch, horror-movie style. Cole reacted by ripping his hammer free and chucking it. Then he stared at his empty, weapon-less hand. The zombie went quiet as the hammer slammed into its face, as if just as surprised as he was for his stupidity. The hammer fell uselessly to the ground, and the zombie happily crawled over it, making sure he couldn't get it back. Cole was sure his brain had taken a sudden vacation, because his arms decided the best course of action was to throw the comforter over it. Now he had a muffled, groaning mound moving towards him. He was more than a little tempted to slap himself.

His instincts told him to grab the nearest thing and throw it. Cole stared at the couch cushions. His instincts sucked. He kicked it, hearing the offended moan as he got it in the face again. Three kicks and an annoyed stomp later, it was dead. Again. Cole slowly pulled the comforter up, but once he saw what was underneath he made a face and turned away, coughing. It took a few seconds before he could look again, nudging the remains just enough out of the way to grab his hammer. He left the comforter. He found an orange blanket on the floor of the bathroom, spotted with dark stains, and used that instead, quickly abandoning the apartment. He spotted Liam outside. He was sure the other boy heard his high-pitched yell, but he would rather pretend none of that ever happened.

"You heard that, right?" Cole looked up. He wasn't scared. Just... mildly concerned. "Think we should go check it out?" And by we, he really meant Liam.
Rumble Fish Fizz

 

[Fizz]

Liam Grove
Liam was looking for Will when he heard an extremely high pitched scream, along with four other stomping sounds that came from the apartment's direction. The other guy... Cole must've had an encounter with an undead just then. As Cole walked towards him with a "mildly concerned" expression, Liam stopped and waited for Cole to approach him.

Liam knew Cole's question was directed for him to do it, but pretended he didn't notice anyway. With a slim smile, he replied "Yeah, we should check it out. You can lead though, I'm not sure where exactly it came from." He gestured Cole back into the apartment, offering the most innocent expression he could muster.
S n o w

 

[Rumble Fish]

As she got to the third floor, Rumble moved through the rooms one by one. She still had the rucksack she had taken with her over her shoulder. She did not find anything remotely interesting on this floor. But as she went to go down another floor, she was too busy letting her mind wander she felt the floor give way under her. "Uh-D-Dah!" She yelped as she felt herself go down, her right leg going right down into a hole. She growled and pulled up before scrambling back up onto the safety of the third floor. She growled and looked at the foot that had gone down the hole. Her ankle had been gashed and she had splinters in the ball of her foot. Christ... That hurt. But she could still stand up so that was good. Her only worry was that she was heard. Maybe it was a good idea to leave. She went to one of the windows and started climbing out of it, which was more difficult now with her injured foot. S n o w Fizz

 

[S n o w]

Cole Bishop​

Cole chuckled nervously, glancing at the door. He really didn't want to go back in there. "You're the one with the dagger and the brass knuckles," he held up his blood-covered hammer, tapping the back of it. "You see this? It's all rusty, barely staying intact. I can direct you to the spot from back here-" He fumbled the hammer when he heard a very distinct crash from the way the stairs were.

He quickly picked up his hammer and shifted back a little. "I'll watch your back. Make sure nothing comes up behind us," he tried to look sincere.
Fizz

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Nikita Vissarionovich​

Nikita started to get extremely impatient. Just sitting around the fire, waiting for her to wake up annoyed him as he knew that his time would be better spent elsewhere. But he knew he was stuck there and complaining or thinking like this about it would not change anything. "Thats good. With the new food that the mute girl has, we can pretty much feed ourselves for quite a bit. What did you study before... all of this? Or did you study at all?"

spacient Cronos AttackOnTak

 

[spacient]

Francesca​

The_Omega_Effect
That was right, Katherine did have quite a lot of food, that made her very valuable. She thought Nikita may have disapproved of her decision to let the woman live, but she stood by her choice, and that way they would all survive. With luck, she could have her soup and eat it too, maybe gaining a little energy and weight back. That would be something good to come out of today. When he asked what she studied and she grinned, "Medicinal botany, herbalism, whatever it is you want to call it. I take the meds out of plants to give to people like you," If it wasn't the dead of winter she might be of a little better use to the group. It wasn't that she could just pick out plants and herbs for medicines, but she also knew which ones were edible with some sort of nutritional value

 

[AttackOnTak]

Anastasiya Griggs​

Anastasiya looked up to Colette with half-open eyes, a soft whine escaping her lips before she shifted in the girl's arm. "Food. I need food. Just something to get me on my feet. I don't want to take too much and start any trouble," she threw a glance to Nikita. She closed her eyes. She shifted and grunted softly once again before she spoke to Colette, each word seeming like a struggle to get out of her mouth. "This is the only time you'll see me like this. It's been rough out there. I've saved people. Been attacked before this. Had no food. That's why I'm here. Food. I guess I'm lucky to have run into you guys, huh? Who knows what could've happened." Ana chuckled and caught her breath - talking that much was taking a lot out of her. Her form rose and fell with each breath, but barely.

Her mind wandered. She was in this girl's arms and she was weak and Colette was taking care of her and it was almost like she wasn't alone anymore. Almost.

Cronos The_Omega_Effect

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Nikita Vissarionovich
​

"Medical Botany. It would be extremely useful, if not for this sickening cold. Although I am used to administering mostly manufactured medicine, I do know a few things of applying more traditional, plant based ones as well." A sense of relief hit Nikita as he heard the girl wake up. He then turned back to Francesca. "If you have any of the soup with you here, now would be a good time."

spacient Cronos AttackOnTak

 

[Human__Ramen]

Katherine Powell
​

Kate was struggling to stand on her own, but she fought through the pain as she approached Will.
She hesitated for a moment, unsure of which foot to place in his hands. She eventually chose her good leg, putting al of her weight on the injured one.
The pain was sharp, which made Katherine want the procedure to end as fast as possible. As Will boosted her up, she reached for the ladder. The moment her fingers grazed the metal it was like her hand was being frozen with liquid nitrogen.
She attempted to pull the ladder down, already losing her balance. She gave it one good yank, but it didn't budge. She pulled it even harder this time, and it came down very quickly, the metal scraping against itself creating a painful noise.
Kate fell backwards as the ladder came down. She was kind of relying on it to keep her on her foot, so when it came down as hastily as it did, she was caught off guard.
Hitting her head against the freezing ground, she grimaced in pain. You'd think that the snow would cushion the fall, but you'd be wrong. Nonetheless, the pain was still more prevalent in her leg injury. She sat up and attempted to lift herself from the ground, to no avail.
S n o w

 

[spacient]

Francesca​

The_Omega_Effect Cronos AttackOnTak
"Really useful, so let's hope the rest of winter is kind enough to let me get to spring," Frankie's tone was pretty light when she spoke, so she didn't really mean for that to sound morbid. It was a fact of life today that any of them could die to the cold or starvation any time now, she had come to terms with that a while back.

When Anastasia woke up asking for food, she sighed softly, knowing she would have to give up some soup. She would do it for any member of the actual group in a heartbeat, but some stranger she never met was some other story. She had to get up and walk over to her bag she left on the table, and she brought out a can of Progresso chicken noodle soup, ripping off the sticker as if it were some old habit. She walked back with the can and her bag so she wouldn't need to get it again, "Well, you can chance this cold, or we can heat it up really quickly."

 

[AttackOnTak]

Anastasiya Griggs​

She looked up to the stranger, not really concerned as to who she was. Names weren't the priority at the moment. She probably would've felt that way whether she was practically dying or not. With a quick nod, Ana cleared her throat and spoke, "Let's try and heat it up if it's not too much of a problem." Most of the sentence was really directed at the ground, but when she gazed up to meet the stranger's eyes, she felt a lot more concerned that this wasn't something she wanted to do. Like it was some type of moral obligation, and not even her own. Anastasiya could see that if it were up to this girl, she would've been just as good as hanging with the doctor.

Ana didn't like being weak, and definitely hated being taken care of. It wasn't a pride thing, either. She didn't want to be a burden. Especially in this world. Even before the apocalypse, needed help was taboo in her world. In boot camp, it was a sin, and afterward, all that mattered was getting the job done. Maybe that still carried over. Just get the job done. She shifted again, but made sure keep herself in the warmth of Colette's arm. It helped. A lot.

Cronos spacient

 

[S n o w]

Will Harris​

Will cursed as she tipped backwards, trying to catch her. But it all happened too fast. She was on the ground before he could do anything. He quickly bent down next to her, inspecting her injured leg. The bandages were stained red, but staring at it didn't tell him anything about what was happening internally. A lumpy patch of snow a few feet away groaned, roused by the noise. He reached back for his crossbow automatically, only for his fingers to close around empty air.

He kept forgetting he was weaponless. There was no telling how many more of them were going to get up. He scooped Kate up, and ran back around to the front of the building. He glanced around, eyes landing on Vanessa first. "Take her somewhere safe until Nikita gets here."
Human__Ramen Vanessaaah

 

[Cronos]

Colette Angeliqué​

"Food. I need food. Just something to get me on my feet. I don't want to take too much and start any trouble," Colette nodded as she glanced towards Francesca, she couldn't leave Anastasiya's side for the moment. "This is the only time you'll see me like this. It's been rough out there. I've saved people. Been attacked before this. Had no food. That's why I'm here. Food. I guess I'm lucky to have run into you guys, huh? Who knows what could've happened." A small chuckle left her lips, more on the anxious side than anything. Her mind was a mess. "It's fine. Even if it happens again, I'll help you. I swore to my mother that I would live on with a code and I can't let her down, not again." And there it was, all the memories came rushing back and hit her like a truck. There was no escape. She couldn't focus on her task anymore when the girl was relatively okay.

It happened on a saturday morning when they were still in their little town in France, rays of sunlight crept through open curtains and into the hospital room. Six year old Colette had spent the night next to her mother, talking about school and other banal little things, as if everything was okay and it was just another day at home for them. She had told her father that she would be fine left alone, that she wanted to be with her mommy and that he needed to work the next day. She always cared for her family for as long as she could remember, little things like checking if her parents had packed everything before they left for a hunt or if her father had eaten breakfast before he left, had become a routine to her but she could never have guessed what happened the day before.

Everything was still so confusing to her child brain, all that she knew was that her parents found someone living near a pack of wolves and they had to escort the person out of there but just as they were about to leave, a wolf found them and her mother stepped foward to protect the innocent and unarmed link of the group which resulted on the animal attacking her. It had bitten her side and her father had managed to kill it before it caused any more damage but it had torn open major veins and she had to be taken to the hospital immediately. Colette was picked up from her second day in kindergarten early, Chris saying something about her mother needing her.

Victoria managed to survive the night before she died at 8:54AM on a saturday morning were the birds didn't seem to chirp and the flowers didn't seem to blossom. That was the first trauma in Colette's life. She remembered her mother's last words vividly to this day. "Angel, promise me something. Promise that you will live by this code and make me proud of you. Nous protègons ceux qui ne peuvent pas se protèger eux-měmes. I know that you can do this because you're my strong girl, you can do anything."

When she was back to reality, her limbs were still and her throat was dry. She fought back tears as she noticed Anastasiya shifting in her arms and saying something about heating another thing, in honesty her mind was somewhere else, she just hoped that they would not ask any questions. Colette was strangely quiet, the will to talk just seemed to leave her body.

The_Omega_Effect AttackOnTak spacient

 

[Fizz]

Liam Grove

Liam rolled his eyes when Cole backed off at the second crash. How much more timid could the guy be? When Cole said he would stand back and "watch his back" it was clear he had no intention of going back in. "The thing is, how am I supposed to get up there? With the stairs broken and all. I'll need someone to at least boost me up. " Liam was fine with exploring the sound himself, plus the broken stairs would give a viable excuse for Cole to not follow him.
S n o w

 

[spacient]

Francesca​

Cronos AttackOnTak
Frankie looked between the fallen stranger and her freaking out team member. What a fabulous pair they made together, no wonder why they were drawn to each other like this, and why Nikita didn't like either of them. Colette must have been attracted to some kind of emotional strength within Anastasia, and vice versa. She sighed and looked at the girl on the floor, "Sure, lemme just figure out a way to put this over the fire."

She didn't think there were any sticks around here that would create a good structure - this was a bookstore after all. Still, if the girls wanted how soup, like they all did, then she needed something to hold it up. Well, luckily for Anastasia she had some wire hooks in her backpack she could use to make a crossing structure to hold it up, but now she needed something to keep it up, "Alright, uhhm, any ideas how to get this over the fire without having it spread everywhere and burn the place down?"

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

Nikita Vissarionovich​

Nikita got annoyed. Not only did they save her, build a fire for her and were going to feed her, Anastasiya had the audacity to ask for the food to be warmed. He figured that the sooner they shut her up and left, the sooner they would be able to leave this place and not be trapped with those they dislike. "We could leave the can closed and roll it close to the fire. And at that point we could just bring it back with like a stick or something. Make sure not to heat it for too long as the compressed gas inside it might give."

spacient Cronos AttackOnTak

 

[S n o w]

Cole Bishop​

Cole was all for helping Liam up while he watched from a safe distance, but he wasn't sure if he could. He looked dubiously at the taller boy, and could already feel his arms hurting. He would be the first to admit he wasn't all that strong. He could probably manage to boost someone shorter and lighter than him up, but Liam? He shook his head. "I like my arms better unbroken, thank you. But you don't need me for this."

Somehow, it all lead back to the apartment. Cole sighed deeply. He slowly pushed open the door with his hammer, but nothing jumped out at him. He moved fast, grabbing the first intact chair he saw and quickly carrying it out. He dragged it under the broken staircase. "I'm sure you can climb up there from here," he leaned back against the wall, shooting Liam a smile.
Fizz

 

[Human__Ramen]

Katherine Powell
​

Kate didn't even have time to process what happened when she was already being rushed back inside. Will handed her over to a girl she had not gotten to know before, which automatically displeased her. Gathering what Will said, she was supposed to trust her safety in the hands of a total stranger.
Granted, it was two strangers that helped her escape her death trap, but that was different.
The only thing Kate could do was nod in agreement to Will.
S n o w Vanessaaah

Allegra Sauvagess
​

Allegra decided that the best course of action would be to search the rooms on the top floor. She sprinted her way up the stairs, grateful for the exercise. It had been a long time since she could sustain a long run without having to worry about drawing the infected in closer to her position, although she was probably doing just that.
Arriving at the top floor, she took in exhasperated breaths as she observed what was in front of her. Most of the doors had a bland, pastel green color that had chipped away to reveal a dark, probably rotting wood material beneath.
So far, not so good.
But then her eyes landed on a room, in the far end of the hallway. The door was boarded up, which peaked her interest.
Allegra approached the door and began pulling on the boards. She had to exert a tremendous amount of force to remove them from their protective stance.
Finally done with removing them, she placed her hand on the doorknob, only to stop for a second to analyze the wooden planks. If someone boarded the room up to protect themselves, wouldn't the door be boarded up from the inside?
She hesitated to open it when she came to this realization. Reaching over to grip her bat, she took in a deep breath before she pushed the door open.

 

[spacient]

Francesca​

The_Omega_Effect Cronos AttackOnTak
Actually, Nikita had a point. It was just an open fire, and close proximity to it with a metal can was pretty good on its own to warm it up. She didn't want to roll it over, she could just ventilate it by cracking open the top, and they could pull it back with her crowbar with they started seeing steam. That's what she did, she pulled the tab on the top and cracked it open a quarter way, then she scooted the metal can toward the fire, "I dunno how long it'll take like that, but I guess we'll see."

 

[AttackOnTak]

Anastasiya Griggs​

Ana's eyes followed the nameless female whenever they were open. She was grateful. Her lips parted to produce words louder than before. "Thank you... What's your name?" She groaned ever so slightly after finished the sentence - unaware that doing so would strain her that much. She shifted again, but with a little more complication than before; Colette was stiff. Glancing towards the girl, Ana could see she was in distress. She decided she'd ask her about it later; that particular moment wasn't the best. Instead, Anastasiya squeezed the girl's hand, hoping to symbolize her support.

Cronos spacient