Realistic or Modern Patient Zero (A Zombie Survival RP)

[Togy]

“Crayman, Nile Crayman” Nile said without even looking over to Colt as he carried out marking down measurements on the window he was hunched over. He’s gotta be honest, when he stole that line from Bond he could inwardly here James Bond’s music playing.

Colt blinked as he continued marking measurements as if he had been hired or lived here. And him not turning around only frustrated her more. What was running through this man’s head? Where did he even come from?

“Could ya at least turn round or somethin’? Talkin’ to a rat’s nest ain't ideal.” She grumbled with a fold of her arms. She was not in the mood for any bullshit after the day she had alongside Andy and Leliana.

“Fine. Why do you wanna talk with me though? Why does anyone actually?” Nile said, whispering the last part to himself as he turned to face Colt, having yet to notice the missing leg. He refrained himself from asking just what she meant when she said “Talkin’ to a rat’s nest”. Kay, I’m a rat, but other than that, what the hell was that supposed to mean?

“Well yer waltzing around the lodge like ya live here so yes I'd like t’talk t’ya.” She watched him as he turned around. She blinked a few times as she simply watched him, waiting for a response.

Nile just kind of observed her as if she were a strange animal from a zoo. Well built, tall (Compared to Nile), had the look of a vet, and spoke like a true hardcore American. From what Nile could tell, this woman seemed to be bursting forth with Americanism. “Okay little miss freedom, I’m waltzing around the place cause these here windows” Nile said, gesturing to the windows, “Are shit in every way. You need to board these things up. Just watch this” Nile said, flicking the window. A crack as long as Nile’s thumb appeared. “See? You really need to-where the hell is your leg?” Nile asked, finally noticing the obvious.

Colt was so strongly taken aback by the man’s tone that she honestly had no idea how to respond until several seconds into his speech before she finally gathered herself enough to speak.

“That's Colt t’ya, boy! And who the fuck do ya think yer are t’come ‘ere and-!” She paused abruptly at the mention of her leg. Her face darkened and the woman visibly bristled at the question.

“None of yer FUCKIN’ BEESWAX what happened to my leg!” She snarled through her teeth. Her voice hadn't raised but her tone could cut carbon, “Git the fuck out b’fore I shove this fake foot so far up yer ass folks’ll be thinkin’ yer a unicorn!”

“Okay, okay! Chill woman, chill! I’m leaving” Nile said as he sidled the hell outta there. To be honest, Nile barely understood anything Colt said cause of the raging Southern accent, but he knew she was Pissed off with a capital P, so he got the hell out of there.

“Good!” Colt barked angrily, “Dunno who the fuck ya are but yer lucky I ain’t shot ya yet! I’m in my right!” She shouted after him before grumbling and rubbing her headache annoyingly. The nerve! The veteran took a moment to calm down from her outburst, still watching him to see what he did.

NIle, keeping to his word, left. Only to come back with a claw hammer minutes later. Looking to the floor, Nile crouched down and hooked a nail holding down one of the floorboards and pulled. The nail only moved a millimeter, so Nile pulled again. “So, I noticed that you guys don’t have any nails, and I got to thinking, and I realized that the floorboards didn’t really need to be nailed down. Ah, here we go!” Nile said as the nail finally popped free. Nile proceeded to take out his measuring tape and measured it’s height. “4 inches. Great, these’ll do just fine” Nile mumbled as he hooked the claw of the hammer around another nail.

Colt was jumped from her thoughts as she noticed the man return, now meddling with the floor. The veteran was thoroughly frustrated at this point. She took a few steps towards the man.

“The fuck do ya think this is? ‘Home Improvement’? GIT OUT!” At this point Cotl couldn't tell if this was real of if there was something that had been put in that wine she was drinking to be imagining this.

“Hold up, I’m almost finished with this one” Nile said, yanking on another nail.

“Then are ya gonna fuckin’ leave!?”

“Yep” Nile said as he finally pulled out the nail. It made a grating sound as it popped out of the wood. “1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10, eh, good enough” Nile said with a shrug as he counted the nails. “Hey Captain America, you know where an axe is? Feel like choppin’ down a tree to get some wood” Nile said as he started heading for the door.

Colt gritted her teeth at the sound, “No! Ya got one minute to explain to me where the fuck ya came from and what makes ya think I’m gonna just let ya weasle in!? We got enough mouths to feed ‘ere!”

“Eh, you don’t have to worry, I’ll just eat the fucking tree bark” Nile said with a shrug, ignoring everything else Colt just asked.

“Are ya lookin’ t’git shot, boy!? ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION!”

“Fine! Nile Crayman, 34, inhabitant of Brooklyn NY, convicted for the posession of drugs, had their prison bus get stopped, and is stuck in this shithole. Happy?” Nile asked, a little annoyed at the yelling because it was starting to hurt his ears. “Now where’s an axe?” Nile asked.

“Ya’ll be gittin’ an axe in the back! Y’come ‘ere, eat our food, mess with our only shelter despite sayin’ its a “shithole”?! Where do ya git these ideas?” Colt was rubbing her temples, seriously finding it hard to keep her cool at this point.

“Man, I am so done with this. Look, just trying to help here, okay? I’m so out of here. I’ll find an axe myself” Nile said frustratedly as he walked outside. He was hit with a rush of cold air as he stepped outside, causing him to shiver a little. Hopping off the porch and trudging through the snow, Nile started looking around for any type of cutting tool. Hell, he’d try to make do with a shovel.

“Good.” Colt growled, “Maybe next time ya wanna help? ASK!” she snapped at him as he walked outside. The veteran sighed harshly through her teeth and took a sip from her flask before, again, taking a minute to calm down. Why he was saying this, as if she was in the wrong here was something she could not understand. Despite him being outside, Colt was still frustrated at his attitude. Still, she had to calm herself down. She had promised to help Jenna.

“So ugh… grab that Glock and we can get a good hour in, ‘kay?” she turned her attention back to the purple-haired lady as she grabbed the said firearm and escorted her outside to begin. They were losing daylight thanks to that time wasted.

Interactions: Rumble Fish (Colt) The Mad Queen (Jenna)​

 

[The Mad Queen]

Jenna O'Connor: The Lodge​

The girl stood back while Colt and Nile went back and forth, wincing after the incredibly recent ex-con called Colt 'little miss freedom' and actually letting out an involuntary, mortified squeak when he asked her where her leg was. This mortification turned to her having to hold in a laugh after Colt's unicorn threat, a look of fear turning into what could best be described as aggressive constipation from a distance.

She wasn't on her A-game when it came to insults and comebacks due to events of the past few days but topping that on a good day would be as difficult as trying to de-claw a cat that hated you without getting scratched. Thankfully, Nile was too busy playing Tim Allen and Colt was too busy berating him for it for either of them to notice, or if they did give a damn. It seemed that way anyway.

Jenna felt a wave of relief wash over her when she held the laugh in but had to do a double take at Nile. After mentioning that he was a prison escapee, he asked where he could find an axe. The guy brought up he was a prison convict in conversation as an icebreaker!
They'd need to have a long talk later about running his mouth about that though it could have been a lot worse. If it was something like one of the big three: rape, murder or human trafficking there was no way Ralph would have let him into the lodge.

That, or someone would have left him out in the cold by now at the very least. It seemed too stupid to be a lie.

With Nile out of the way, Jenna let out a light sigh and followed Colt outside, zipping up her hoodie to keep out the cold.

Interactions: Rumble Fish (Colt), Togy (Nile)
Mentioned: Ralph (me)

Doctor Ralph Fisher: The Lodge​

Ralph stopped, resting his arms against one of the walls just outside of Owen's room while he processed everything. Most of the lodge had probably killed someone at some point. Colt, Marcus and Ivan were soldiers, Brian was ex-CIA. They had blood on their hands, but they'd done it believing they were serving their country, or in self-defence.
Heck, there might even be the chance that some of them had gone to war and come back without any blood on their hands. Owen and a few of the others had probably killed too, fighting off the hazmat soldiers but that was in self-defence as well.

He thought back to the man he'd killed in the alley. That had to be different too, it was mercy after all. To prevent him from turning. That had to be it, right? That was what separated them all from Luca, at least according to what Owen had told him. Running a hand down his face, Fisher started to make his way downstairs. Killer or not, there was a chance Luca could be hurt and he wasn't about to lose another, least of all due to a stupid fight.

Still, given the situation it wasn't like Luca could stick to his old ways. Maybe the one good thing to come out of the outbreak could be him turning over a new leaf. Stressful situations like these brought out worst in people for sure, but sometimes it was an opportunity for people to do good.
As he thought about how he'd deal with this information, he heard it.

"Bethany...Bethany! Can you go find Lelianna? I think my water broke!"

With his brown eyes widening, Ralph dashed back up the stairs.

Interactions: BloodThunder27 (Shinoa)
Mentions: Maj (Owen, Bethany) Brax (Luca)

 

[Brax]

(Aderyn / Luca)​

The trip back to the lodge had been long and somber.

In reality, it hadn’t been that long at all, but the air had a heaviness to it that Aderyn could not quite explain – even to herself. She had felt this energy once before, and it had been the most traumatic night of her life.

Her idle chatter with the military woman had come to an abrupt halt. She had not made a fuss, screamed, or even protested. There was no love lost between her and Dixie – the woman had wanted to shoot her, after all – but the inevitable empathy she felt for Cletus ached in her chest. She knew that feeling.

Yawning, burning loneliness, searing pain. It was physical, tangible, and it was all rushing back. Her head hurt.

She was quiet. When they indicated they’d arrived, she got out of the truck, checking her hands for shaking and stuffing them into her pockets. Her bag was slung over her shoulder, as per usual, and she started on her way. Murmuring a quiet “Thank you” as she passed Andy, she took a few steps from the car.

She let Leliana talk, but didn’t take in much of it, even if she tried. There was too much going on in her head. Waiting a polite second after the other girl stopped talking, she started to speak, pausing and somehow speaking up. - “I’m going to check it out inside today.”

Her voice shook, and that angered her. It’s fine, it shouldn’t fucking matter, she was a bitch anyway.

She didn’t wait for an answer, affirmative or negative; her mind wasn’t clear enough. Instead, she began her listless wandering. Getting the lay of the land. If I need to run… She shook her head, willing those thoughts away, forcing herself to some degree to believe in a chance of safety – or even comfort.

Half-opened eyes peered to the door of the master bedroom. Luca was pretty inebriated. His lack of a natural reaction to blink upon moving his head was the dead giveaway. Sitting in the same chair he had been since Hector left, the Italian didn’t notice it. However, once he pushed himself up to his feet he found his assumption to be quite correct. Luca had no way of knowing that Andy, Colt and Leli had made their way back home. Even further, even Luca had no way of being prepared for the person who was but a few feet away from him. A thin layer of sheetrock was the only divider.

Aderyn had been wandering for at least an hour. She couldn’t find a place to settle, in fact, her nervous energy had been propelling her forward. She had, with time, managed to somewhat quiet her mind.

Luca pulled the door open to see his cousin absent-mindedly pass by his bedroom door. For a moment, the man couldn’t believe his eyes. In his stupor, he even lifted both hands to his eyes in attempts to rub them. However, when he was finished, Luca found that the girl before him was of his own blood. She continued walking for a brief moment, but the ex-capo proved to be faster. He took a step from his door and reached a hand out to grab the girl by the back of her shirt collar, practically lifting her off of her feet and quickly pulling her back into his room. She felt her sweater being grasped for behind, letting out a sharp “Ay,” but she did not struggle. Being pulled into the room, her anxiety surged, and she took in a few slow breaths. The man did a quick scan, looking around the room to ensure that people were too busy with their own shit to be worried about what he was doing. Then he shut the door quietly behind him, leaning against it so that no one would be able to walk in unannounced.

Cold blue eyes stared down at the girl who was over ten years his minor. The very same blue eyes that he shared were staring right back up at him. Luca’s father had a brother with those blue eyes as well, one whom he had not known for very long before his untimely death. While Luca was no stranger to resorting to violence as a means to an end and had no shortage of questions to ask the girl, part of him felt relieved. Months before the outbreak even started, Aderyn was as good as dead. To see her very much alive in front of his eyes provided him with something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

As the door closed, she looked up, eyes meeting a pair quite like her own. She stared at the man, wide-eyed, opening and closing her mouth. A few startled steps back, and the gears turned in her head, almost visibly. He looks like dad...

The Italian moved from the door, taking a few steps toward the girl. As he got closer, the man instinctively took a knee. He extended his arm out toward the girl. At his full height, Luca was exactly a full foot taller than his young cousin. By keeping himself low, the man aimed to show the girl that he was trying to converse with her on equal footing. Luca placed his hand on her head, guiding it towards him so that he could rest his forehead against her own. He was so relieved, his tough exterior couldn’t help but give way to a genuine smile.

Something compelled her to allow him to come closer, especially as he got down, showing her above all that he was not a threat. Still, her hand wavered near the gun at her hip, shaking like the bough of a willow tree in a windstorm. He pulled her forehead to his, and she stared into his eyes for a moment, studying his intentions.

“You’re very much a Brasi.”

Her breath caught, hand abandoning the gun, and for a moment her arms rested stiffly at her sides. A second passed, and she threw them around his torso, moving her head to rest her chin in the crook of his shoulder. It has to be him, doesn’t it?

She was frightfully skinny, underweight an understatement, and her arms and back were bony. She held on fiercely, desperately wanting to believe that at least somebody was in her corner, that against all odds she had found what she was looking for. “My dad.. Told me to run until the family found me.”

Her hands knotted in his shirt, forming a grip that would be a fight to break loose. She shook her head slightly, her breathing uneven. “You’re Luca.”

“You’ve grown a lot since I last saw you.” He responded as she threw her arms around his upper torso. Luca froze, his arms lifted slightly in the awkward embrace momentarily before one dropped down to his side. The other hand cradled the back of the child’s head, his digits slipping underneath a few ragged strands of hair. Part of him was skeptical of the person who had taken hold of him, just by nature. This wasn’t the same toddler he had seen all those years ago. Though, he was sure he could relate to her struggles all the same. After so much time had passed without someone to care, Luca was sure that was what the girl needed most now.

“All that’s left of the family is me and you. Shit is real bad out there, but I can take care of you here.” Despite his aching muscles, injured body and soon to be partially-hurt ego, Luca wrapped both of his arms around the girl and lifted her up. The Italian had felt how weak she was. If Aderyn was anything like himself, she was far too proud to admit when she needed help. The man was similar through and through, but his young cousin didn’t look like she was doing particularly well out in the wilderness.

There were plenty of questions left. Where did she come from? How did she find the lodge? What was she doing sticking around Aurora after all this time and how did she avoid the police for so long? Society was different now. Aderyn was the perfect example of the type of people who are bound to be around for a long time. Those, like cockroaches, who withheld the ability to thrive in the worst of situations are the ones who would inevitably come out on top.

Holding the girl up on his side with one arm, Luca walked Aderyn out of the master bedroom. Ignoring the rest of the lodge’s populous, the man made his way into the kitchen before sitting Aderyn down onto the Island table’s marble countertop. Two minutes later, Luca was slathering a few globs of peanut butter onto the last of the bread that was left, closing the sandwich and cutting it in half on a paper plate before sliding it beside her.

“Eat up, Aderyn. You look like shit.”

 

[Maj]

The following is a collab between Maj and shadowz1995
​

They came back with some new blood, fresh kills, and expressions on their face that suggested something had gone wrong. Perhaps that was why Colt had been wandering around outside without coming in to get warm.

Especially on that leg he fixed, much to her dismay. He had to mentally archive that if he wanted to treat Colt's issues in the future, bulldozing through the "walls" she has erected around herself was one of the more efficient methods. As long as it wasn't anything ridiculous, it seemed a soldier's instinct to follow orders never truly went away. Though, the doctor hoped to simply have her openly accept treatment from him as opposed to having to force her to allow herself to be healed.

Speaking of…

The other red head, Andy, seemed to have earned a fresh new injury on her cheek and she was currently elbow deep in blood and organs. A quiet sigh slipped through the doctor's lips at the sight of it, along with seemingly favoring one of her sides for some reason. He had heard there had been an accident so it's possible she had some lingering damage.

Hector didn't bother to think about whether or not he was going to need his bag. He just went back into the lodge and grabbed it before heading back out to where Andy was. With how the day had been progressing, chances were he was going to need it for one reason or another.

"Niña." He called out to her as he set the bag down behind her, "Let me see the cheek."

His eyes drifted to the viscera of the deer and funnily enough, the scent of fresh blood was a comforting one as opposed to the constant stench of rot and decay that he had been exposed to for several days now. He reached into the bag to pull out several plastic bags. The kind you store sandwiches in with the ziplock at the top.

They held sandwiches about as well as organs. The doctor got some disinfectant wipes to clean his hands picking up the edible organs like the liver and placing it into one bag.

Andy looked up at Hector as he approached her. Normally she would greet him with an exaggerated roll of her emerald eyes, but this time she only glanced up before turning her eyes back down to her work. She hadn’t anticipated anyone coming to bother her while she was cleaning the animal, most were turned away by the smell of blood and entrails. After some thought, she supposed it wasn’t all that surprising that Hector wasn’t. As he helped her bag the organs she found herself watching him, ready to chastise him for doing a poor job. However, it was stupid to think he would treat them with anything but care. Hector was a doctor, if anyone here could be trusted to help her, it was likely him.

“I’m fine.” Andy answered responded to his request to examine her cheek. She wasn’t in the mood to be social, and she was far from in the mood to deal with Hector’s less than ideal bedside manner. “Leliana already took care of it while we were out.” She didn’t explain the injury, she surmised there was no real need to if he wasn’t going to be examining it anyway.

When the organs had been cleared from the carcass, Andy came to her feet to begin her work of attaching the deer to the hook her uncle had built on the side of the shed. It was made for this specific reason as the skin was much easier to remove when the deer was hanging, and the crank meant she didn’t have to try to hoist a fully grown doe into the air. The bar she had fastened through both of the doe’s back ankles seemed to be holding well enough, and the hook looped securely through. Andy did her best to avoid wincing as she maneuvered the dead animal, any sign of injury and the doctor would be impossible to get rid of.

"Clearly." He replied in a cold but sarcastic manner. Something was bothering her and Hector couldn't tell if it was mental or physical and until he could rule it out, he would have to stick around.

He eyed the deer curiously and would offer to put his build to use for the twin sister but he didn't want to risk messing it up and merely opted for watching.

As it turned out, it was better to observe because while the woman could hide the wince, she couldn't hide the fact that she was definitely favoring one side over the other. The human body compensated for damage and pain that were nearly undetectable unless you knew what to look for.

"Still, I have an ointment that will help prevent infection and I would also like to see why you are preferring your right side."

“Isn’t there someone else you can go harass?” Andy snipped, but her normal heat was absent from her voice. She just sounded tired if anything, almost like she was just going through the motions of being irritated. “Like oh I don’t know, a pregnant lady who is literally ready to pop at any second for instance?” The redhead didn’t stop her work to speak to him. In fact, with nothing left to hide she began turning the crank with more vigor, using her frustration to hoist the deer from the ground. When the thing was dangling a few feet from the tarp, she kicked the lever that worked the lock into position so the deer would be secure. Finally, the twin turned to face the doctor. It was obvious he wasn’t going away despite her protests.

“Are you going to at least let me wash the deer blood off first?” She raised her sticky red hands for his inspection, head cocked to the side in exasperation.

"I am personally unbothered but yes. I would rather not risk infection by getting blood in your wounds." He stated, rubbing the slick, scarlet liquid between his fingers. He stood up, towering above the young woman and looked down at her for a breath before turning and carefully fetching the same wipes to begin cleaning his hands off, offering them to her.

She took the wipes from him and giving a half hearted roll of her eyes she began the work of cleaning the red fluids from her hands. When she was done, the girl threw the wipe to the ground for later clean up and sighed.

“Well, let’s get this over with.” She still needed to skin the deer who had been dead for longer than she would have liked. Thankfully the weather was cold and she knew that the meat wouldn’t spoil, but it wouldn’t be the best quality it could be either. Andy turned her face to the side, so he could get to the gauze that Leliana had so tenderly taped there to keep it clean in the dampness of the forest.

Hector removed the dressing with a practiced hand and even at a glance he could tell it was cleaned properly. It was just a matter of proper "post" wound care to prevent any infections from surfacing. "Seems alright." He commented neutrally before applying a dab of the ointment to his finger and gently applying it to the wound. She had to consider herself lucky because normally bullet wound grazes were nothing to laugh at. Even if was a joke.

As he was reapplying the gauze, a hint of an unnatural color caught his attention from his lower peripherals. When he looked down, he found out the reason for her right leaning tendencies along with something else that was more on the concerning side.

Of course to everyone else, it would just look like Hector was peering down her shirt.

"You're far more injured than you let on. Come. You need to get that shirt off so I can properly mend those injuries." He said very matter-of-factly. It might have even sounded downright creeper like coming from someone his age but the look of disinterest in his eyes spoke volumes.

The heavy sigh that erupted from Andy’s lips was telling to how fed up with the situation was. Of course she was injured, she had gone through a car accident, a blizzard, and had almost been shot by a redneck with no idea what a deer looked like.

“It’s just bruising.” She brushed off his comment and jerked away from him. The fact of the matter was that she wasn’t in any pain further than being sore. After hiking through the woods all day of course she was favoring her body. Andy wasn’t fond of the idea for stripping for another doctor after the way she had been treated at the middle school.

“Can’t you go bother Owen?” Andy chided crossing her arms uncomfortably over her chest. She could tell her brother liked the doctor well enough, while she held about the same amount of disdain she did for any of the other lodge residence. “I’m sure he won’t mind being your little science experiment.”

"He and Luca are resting after their brawl.. So, no. Besides, the one who came into contact with Patient Zero before the outbreak occurred was you. Your blood is the interesting one but that is for another time. Right now, your well-being is the main concern." He replied without missing a beat. It had slipped the doc's mind that Andy and the others in the hunting group were not present for that whole debacle.

Well, at least it was already taken care of.

 

[shadowz1995]

Collab between ze doktor and ze redhead

Andy’s eyes shot back to the doctor’s face, widening. Did he just say that Owen and Luca had a brawl? She shook her head in disgust. What in the world could they possibly have to fight about?

“How bad is he?” Andy asked evenly, but the worry was evident on her pale face. “What happened?”

"They both took a good beating but Luca was the ultimate victor. I've already mended both of their wounds and both of them are confined to bed rest for the rest of the day. Colt was also advised to rest. Her leg was developing sores from improper maintenance.

As for what happened, Owen apparently found contraceptives and jumped to conclusions. Not that it is any of his business but what's done is done. The issue has been settled."

She chose to ignore his comment about her blood for now, there was more important business to be discussed. While she knew that the two boys shared some love still, no matter how deep it was buried, Andy had also seen what had happened to the last guy Luca had decided to ‘brawl’ with. Andy shrugged off her jacket to comply to the doctor’s wishes, she was too invested with what he had to say to refuse him now. She struggled to pull the thin, stained white tank top over her head, but managed all the same.

The air was frigid without a shirt, leaving her in only a green cotton bra with intricate lace around the edging. Despite the cold, she didn’t shiver. Andy was accustomed to the weather and a few moments without proper clothing wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. Her worried green eyes stayed on his face while he examined her bruised body.

The worst of it was the deep purple hues that had surfaced across her torso in the shape of the seat belt that had held her in place when the car had flipped. It had been healing over the last few days so it mixed with a variety of colors, like someone had blended a bunch of pigments together across her skin. The shoulder was still dressed and covered, the white gauze speckled pink by the still weeping wounds.

"And from the looks of it, you are going to have restrictions as well." He said during his scrutinizing examination. The bruising would be alright with time. There were no signs of concern there. The shoulder on the other hand was a different matter. "The nurse is the one who cleaned this wound correct?" He asked as he began to undo the dressing to clean the blood and replace it with new one.

“Most recently,” Andy responded flatly. “Although she had to work around Luca’s handywork.”

"Yes, the patchwork does seem on the rough side but it is satisfactory. The problem is you. You aren't allowing the wound to heal and every time you do that, you are increasing the risk of infection." Hector explained with a cold tone. "At the very least, you are making us burn supplies that could be saved up otherwise. Avoid activity using this arm until the lacerations have closed. Right now, they are still open and actively bleeding thanks to whatever it was you were doing."

“I’m not planning on going anywhere for a few days.” The woman stated. It was the truth, she was at the end of her rope. Andy had fought too hard and done too much and was ready for some well deserved rest. There were enough bodies here now to do the heavy lifting.

The doctor cast a glance behind himself to make sure no one was staring at the young shirtless woman. Hector personally didn't care but she did seem rather out of it at the moment and he didn't need some degenerate making comments that would irk him. He then looked up to meet her gaze and it was obvious the worry there was not for herself.

The Hispanic man shook his head with a sigh and waved a hand dismissively to her, "They're both perfectly fine. No concussions or broken bones. Bruises and bleeding but nothing ice and rest won't fix." He wanted to add the fact that Owen very well may have been killed if the doc hadn't intervened but he kept that to himself. He didn't need the possible emotional outburst that could lead to.

There seemed to be a trend among this group of pushing themselves too far and Hector's hunches were rarely wrong but he felt that it was going to cost someone their life.

“Thank you.” Andy spoke softly. It was uncharacteristic of her to offer gratitude to a stranger, but it appeared this particular one had gone out of his way to keep her brother safe twice now, so it was well deserved.

“For keeping my brother alive in the hospital, and for patching both of them up after their idiocy. I appreciate it.” She let Hector work on her wounds, mind elsewhere entirely. Andy was exhausted, and was looking forward to collapsing in her bed as soon as the deer was skinned and put in the freezer.

The doctor took another glance behind him to make sure no one was watching before handing the girl her tank top back. The new dressing was on firmly and he wiped away the fresh blood that had welled up due to her recent activities. "I don't need gratitude." He replied bluntly, his eyes locked with hers in an icy glare. "I need you to follow my instructions. Don't use that arm until the wound has closed. Then you can jump off a cliff if you so please."

The doc then eyed the deer on the hook and gave it a nod, "Would you mind if I observed? I would like to learn how to do this myself."

Andy merely nodded. She didn’t feel the need to explain that as a surgeon, he likely already knew how to properly skin something, or that she would have to in fact use her arm to complete the task. Hector could figure all that out for himself. Instead, Andy picked up her knife once more, and got to work without speaking, allowing the doctor to shadow her while she worked.

Maj

 

[Meredith]

(Part 2)
(Aderyn / Luca)​

Luca had grabbed Aderyn, picked her up to go to the kitchen, and she had nodded as he’d talked about the world going to hell. “I’m not sure what’s actually going on. There was gunfire near the middle school, and they were sweeping the streets after, but I mean it’s not hard to hide when you’re… me.”

Her accent was thin, nearly non-existent, and in truth that was an accurate summary of all of her knowledge of her culture. She barely knew enough of the language to order a drink, much less have a conversation, and her dad never talked about the family. She regretted not asking more directly. For all intents and purposes, she was just a generic American.

“There was gunfire near the school and you couldn’t figure out what was going on?” Luca asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I mean why, dumbass.” She sounded cross, tired, and scowled at him.


He set her on the counter, and she looked around the kitchen, patiently waiting for him to finish making the food. Aderyn didn’t grace Luca’s comment about her appearance with a response. It was a given, honestly, and not something she liked to admit. Instead, she grabbed the sandwich in front of her, scarfing it down while she considered what she actually wanted to say. There was a list.

• - Her father’s death. More suited to a private place.
• -Her time on the streets. Some of it public, some of it private.
• - The gun she carried.
• - The man from what she could only assume was from his organization. Italian accent - he’d got pushy with her, she shot him. She wanted to apologize. Also not a public event.
• - The fact that she’d seen him doing… work, but had never approached him, as it had always seemed like a bad time. Probably not something he’d want her to discuss out here.
• - Generally, questions about Luca himself. She didn’t know her cousin well.
• - Why he wasn’t angry with her or didn’t think she was guilty of the crime that the public had pinned on her.
• - What the fuck was actually going on.

A “thank you” was in order first, and so it was said, with as much cheerfulness as she could muster. She looked Luca up and down.

He looked like shit, too.

Hungover at the very least. Looked like he might be sore or in pain. “You know.. The booze is going to run out eventually.” A teasing smile curled up the side of her lips, but with a deep sigh, it disappeared. She’d heard about Luca. He was more feared than loved by the street people, although nobody disputed his uses, nobody wanted to help a twelve year old girl find him either. Wouldn’t want to feel responsible, she guessed. And of the jobs she’d caught him on - well, they weren’t situations she wanted to insert herself into, at the very least.

“Who cares? I don’t need it to survive. The better question is, how the hell have you continued to avoid getting killed up until now?” Putting the finishing touches on his own sandwich, Luca took a bite. It had been quite some time since he had eaten. After his long slumber and his tussle with the ginger boy, Luca found that he was relatively drained of energy and had not properly attempted to refuel.

“I honestly don’t know how nobody caught on to me, either.”

She looked at Luca steadily, giving her head a slight shake, and let out a harsh breath. She was amused, or disappointed, but it was hard to tell which. “Did you know - did you know that all it took to avoid your people and the cops was to put some colour contacts in, dye my hair back natural, and tie it up in a goddamn ponytail? As long as I wasn’t out in the open past eight, and tried to keep as clean as I could..”

“I sent people to look for you when your body didn’t turn up next to my uncle’s. When I didn’t hear anything back, I figured you were dead.” The man responded honestly, taking a bite out of his sandwich and leaning against the opposite countertop. He watched the young girl calmly, wondering what cogs were turning in that little head of hers.

“Yeah. I probably would’ve too.” A shrug. “...was one of them killed when they were looking for me?” She drummed her fingers on the table, almost nervously, but she felt a fondness for Luca already. He’d been kind to her so far. “I wasn’t trying to avoid you, but somebody killed my dad, I was there. I was in the room, Luca. They had to know I saw them - even though I hid.”

“It’s possible. People in my line of work didn’t usually stick around because they enjoyed the risk. The money is what made it worthwhile. Your dad wasn’t in the family, though. I didn’t know him well. He came around a lot when I was a kid and always had a present to bring, some shitty thing I never would end up using. Looking back, it was nice of him.” If nothing else, conversing with Aderyn so far had been much like speaking with someone ten years her elder.

“I was never under the impression that it was you, but the shit you’re talking about happened a lifetime ago. It’s not relevant today. You have to come to grips with the fact that whoever did that to your dad might be dead now. There’s no law, no one to chase you but bandits who want your shit and the undead who want to convert you like those fucking mormons who had to learn the hard way that knocking on my door in the name of Christ was unacceptable.”

Aderyn turned to the cupboards behind her, looking for a cup, and when she found one she filled it with water. Taking a sip, she looked back at him, face set more grimly. An expression of pent-up stress, at the least, eyebrows raised and a slow breath in. “I would’ve had to be fucking stupid to throw my name around back then. I went by Lila out there, hoped somebody would put it together, they liked me okay in the… what do you even call them. Commune isn’t right, but you know, like a.. The tent towns?’

“I’m unfamiliar with that peasant shit.” Luca looked at the girl inquisitively.

 

[Maj]

​

​

Sleep had come easily for Owen, fading entirely out of consciousness when Ralph had left his room. He had no way of knowing exactly how long he had been sleeping, but woke to the feeling of someone sitting on the edge of the bed. He turned, groaning as his body stretched, all his muscles sore from resting them after the fight. His green eyes fluttered open to lock onto a matching set. Andy was back.

He was relieved to see her back in one piece, even if seeing her in a tank top revealed all sorts of freshly dressed wounds and bruises. Owen gave her a sheepish grin, glad that she had returned, but honestly he had been dreading this reunion. If anyone had the right to lecture him about his fight, it was Andy.

“Are you proud of yourself?” The woman sneered, using her hand to brush his mop of red hair out of his face so she could see how bad the damage was. Her eyes somersaulted in an infuriated eye roll.

“Andy…” His voice creaked with the strain of having just woken up. But she was still examining his bruised and bloodied face.

“You look like shit.” Owen couldn’t help but laugh at her comment, pulling away from his sister’s grasp to sit upright in the bed. He switched on the lamp on the nightstand to combat the dim light in the room. Andy shook her head sadly as the light illuminated the rest of him.

“What were you thinking Owen, he could have…”

“Killed me?” Owen asked, meeting her stare with hard eyes. “So you know exactly how dangerous he is then.” The girl threw her hands up, exasperated, nostrils flaring.

“Yes! I know how dangerous he is. The difference is that I’m not an idiot. I don’t go trying to trade blows with him and expect to come out unscathed.” In truth, Andy knew that Luca would never kill Owen unless Owen was trying to kill him. If Luca had wanted to kill Owen, he would already be dead. The mutual respect that the she and Luca had built over the last few days was not enough to spare her brother if he really felt like brutalizing him.

“I know who and what Luca is Owen. Why does it matter? He has done nothing by save my fucking life, so I don’t understand why you are so hellbent on the fact that he’s going to hurt me. He hasn’t done anything to me but keep me alive.” She stressed the word anything to make sure he knew that she had been told what the fight was about.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt.” He replied softly.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt!” Andy growled. “And yet you keep doing stupid shit. We’ve established that Luca isn’t going to kill me in my sleep, so what are you worried about? My feelings?” Andy let out a bitter sarcastic laugh. “Have you ever known me to date anyone, or care about what anyone’s feelings? I’m a heartless bitch, remember?” The woman snipped. Owen could tell that Andy was more upset than normal, more frustrated, more angry. She had been mad at him when they had reunited at the hospital, but this was different. Andy was being uncharacteristically cruel.

“I never..” Owen started to defend himself but the woman put up a hand to shut him up.

“So why does it bother you so much for me to be around him?” Andy stared him down, her eyes cold and unwavering. They were going to get to the bottom of this so she could live her life in peace if it took all night. Andy was exhausted, the days had all run together in strings of unnecessarily violent and dangerous events. Her body ached, she wanted to curl up under her blankets and not come out for days, but mostly she was tired of having Owen breathing down her neck about Luca.

“I’ve already told you,” He muttered, crossing his arms like a scolded child.

“I don’t think you have Owen. Suck it up and just tell me, because I’m all fucking ears.” The two stared at each other in silence for several moments, Andy gluing Owen in place before he finally let out a frustrated sigh.

“You like him better than me,” He finally stated. Andy blinked several times at the ridiculous statement, squinting her eyes in confusion.

“What?” The question came out dumbly. She was absolutely flabbergasted by such a ridiculous statement.

“More like, you respect him more than me.” the male corrected. Andy laughed, mocking her brother with an intentionally exaggerated eye roll.

“So you are what? Jealous?” He didn’t know what was wrong with her tone, but he could tell that something was eating her up. Normally she wouldn’t sound so mocking.

“Maybe! You never talk to me Andy. When something is bothering you, like something obviously is right now, you won’t tell me about it.”

“And what, you think I spill all my feelings and worries to Luca like he’s some sort of fucking diary?” Andy asked, she was yelling now. “Do you know me at all?”

“No!” Owen admitted, seething. “That’s the problem isn’t it. One day you decided to start hiding behind a bunch of hate and sarcasm and you quit letting anyone know you. And I’ve tried Andy. So, yes. I’m jealous. What fucking bothers is me, is that even with everything I’ve tried to do for you, you respect a murderer more than you do your own brother!” The silence that fell between them was almost deafening. Owen rarely yelled, and Andy couldn’t remember the last time he yelled at her. If it had been any other day, she would have handled the situation with more grace, but it wasn’t. Andy’s lip trembled and she hated herself for letting it happen.

“If that is what you think,” Andy spoke softly, but the venom dripping from every syllable she spoke, low and articulated. “Then you are a fucking moron and I should break your nose. But it looks like Luca already did that for me.” The bite to her words could not be ignored as she stood slowly off the bed and walked out of the room, leaving Owen with his thoughts.

​

Mentions: Brax

 

[Brax]

​

“I get the feeling I’m a lot better at making friends than you are, Luca.”

"Of course you are, you're twelve. You don't know shit about people. Only a moron would brag about an ability like that."

Aderyn’s voice was simple, matter-of-fact, and she set her empty glass on the table with a clank. It was not a lie - she had many acquaintances, a lot of whom she figured were looking out for her, at least before everything went down. “I used to ask about you, you know. Around. And nobody would tell me shit ‘cept for some horror stories.”

She hopped off the counter, legs thumping into the ground solidly, and took a few steps towards him. “I didn’t use my name so other people didn’t when they talked about me. I thought that was reasonable. But let’s be real, everyone knew, you can’t keep contacts in while you sleep.” Another few steps, and she grabbed the front of his sweater, grabbing his attention and looking up - hoping to catch his eyes again. It’s hard to lie when you have to look somebody in the face. “They knew you were my cousin. I know you’re a killer. What were they protecting me from? It doesn’t seem like you want to hurt me.”

Luca didn't audibly respond to that question, mostly because it would be an insult to his own intelligence to do so. With a little bit of luck, Aderyn would be able to figure out that just because his motivations didn't align with the people she was speaking about, didn't mean that his intentions seemed less-than-desirable, even if it seemed that way from the surface. Instead, Luca looked at the little girl like she was an idiot before moving his attention back to the sandwich in his hands.

The gears were turning in her head - perhaps not in the most accurate way, but in a way that might make sense to a confused twelve-year-old girl. He didn’t want to hurt her. She’d survived that night. It didn’t seem to be as simple as it looked to her, and while she doubted any of the.. family, had been involved.. Well, she had to know, at least before she put it behind her.

“On that note, who the fuck have you been fighting with? Everyone seems pretty decent here.”

His cousin continued speaking while Luca ate his peanut butter sandwich, he put attention to her words, but the sandwich he had made almost brought tears to the Italian´s face due to all the emotions it gave him. He had used Skippy´s creamy peanut butter his favorite and only available version at the moment, it pleased his palate with its ¨authentic peanut butter taste¨, there was no other way to explain it´s taste than with those words, in his opinion this peanut butter was the best option out in the market. But it wasn't just its taste that made him emotional, no, it was its softer, almost velvety texture along with a perfect balance of saltiness that it had. he had heard some of his goons speaking about the creamy butter before they said that ¨It was on the gluey side¨ but that the ¨great roasted taste kept them coming back.¨. The sandwich truly reminded him of home ¨Just as Mamma used to make ´em¨ He told himself while finishing his sandwich

He was only snapped out of his peanut butter thoughts when his cousin asked about who he had fought ¨I fought Andy´s brother. The idiot thought we were ... Playing together too much.¨ Brasi coldly responded.

 

[Brax]

(Finale)​

The van rolled back into the driveway, with a full tank of gas. Inside, were five people. Michael, Tre, Warren and Jonas were not in the best of shape - Michael had a big black welt over his left eye. Tre had fucked up one of his hands. Jonas was left walking with a slight limp and Warren’s clothes were stained with blood. Kypher remained relatively unharmed, sitting in the third row of the van. In the small space the trunk had provided the group, they had managed to grab enough alcohol to last Warren a few weeks as well as extra for the lodge. The group had made an additional two stops, one of which allowed them to grab so many clothes that they littered every square inch of floor space that the van had to offer. Even though they had managed to gather a massive amount of supplies, it did not come without trial. It started immediately after Tre shoved Kypher into Marvin’s.

"This is what I'm talking about!" Warren came upon a plentiful amount of alcohol, still on the shelf and in perfect condition. "I had a feeling we should come back here.. Look at this." His hands grabbed what they could and shoved it all into a bag. This was really no time to be picky because many people had looted this store beforehand. The tall man didn't mind the scraps though, as long as there was some beer left.

Just outside of Marvin’s, four men with bandanas over their faces walked up to the convenience store. Each one had a different weapon to match their height. The tall one was holding a crowbar. Next to him, the shortest of the four was holding a switchblade. The third man, who happened to be the thiccest, held a baseball bat - its tip wrapped in barbed wire. Their leader stood before the rest. Using one hand, he cocked the shotgun in his possession before taking aim at the door.

Kypher was holding his nose as he tiptoed over various broken bottles. The stench of alcohol singed his sinuses so much so that his eyes watered, clearly someone had been in a rush to take what they’d wanted. Swiping a few bottles of clear spirits for sterilising, Kypher’s eyes widened as he noticed the telltale shadows cast from the store’s entrance hinting at the arrival of silent approachers. From the sound of their footsteps, something Kypher had learnt to pay attention to in the past days, the lack of shuffling and dragging feet told him that their latest visitors were likely human. Crouching down in one of the aisles, the child genius kept his head out of sight and listened out for further movement. With any luck, they’d assault one of his new ‘friends’ first and give him time to escape.

Tre had been gathering a few bottles of alcohol from the middle shelf when he turned his head toward the door to see the men on the other side. After immediately noticing the shotgun aiming at him from afar, Tre dropped both bottles of alcohol that he was holding and leaped out of the line of fire. His body hit the ground, skidding a few inches just as the shotgun fired. The bullet-spread immediately shattered the door belonging to the front glass, bullets breaking various bottles of alcohol, hitting the metal shelving, as well as sinking into the sheet rock and glass behind the check-out.

The shot immediately stopped Warren and he put the bottle he was holding into the bag, which he laid on the floor gently. His hand immediately found the metal piece on his side and brandished it, crouching down a little to stay below the shelves that divided the aisles. He was on the far right of the store, not sure of where the rest of the group was, or if someone got shot. His body slowly made its way to the end of the aisle, towards the entrance. The lot of bandits could be seen now when he peeked over the top of the shelf.

Jonas's head whipped around to the sound of a shotgun fire, fear prickling though him as he dropped the bottles he'd been grabbing, causing the glass to shatter on the floor. He clicked his tongue quietly at the noise he'd caused and looked around for a new spot to hide, quickly hopping a nearby counter and crouching down next to the register. Once he was sure they'd either forgotten he was there, or went on to more interesting things, he peeked his head up in front of the register, using its odd shape to hide most of his head as he looked at the assailants.

Flinching at the sound of the shotgun blast, Kypher fell backwards in shock before carefully getting to his feet with knees bent as chaos began to unfold around him. Keeping his sharp wits about him, his intelligent eyes immediately darted about for anything readily available for him to wield as a weapon. His focus laid to rest on a large nail gun. Apparently he’d ducked into the hardware section. Snatching up the heavy tool and a screwdriver, Kypher quickly got to work prying off the outer casing of the device and fiddling with the inner mechanisms within.

Tre, in the meanwhile, found his breathing had become labored. In a panic, the young teen quickly pushed himself up to his feet and ripped the machete from its sheath. He ran as fast as he possibly could. Soon after, the teen was making his way around the opposite end of the convenience store and pressing against the wall. The four goons walked into Marvin’s Mart, the leader kicking in the frame of the broken door and laughing in the process. Tre was slowly inching his way toward the group of four. He was far off to their left.

“I know there’s more of you left! Come out with your hands up, and you might live!”

The man’s yell was muffled behind the bandana around his face. He lifted his hand to aim his shotgun at Michael, who had been the closest target at the time. In that very same instant, Tre instinctively took a pitcher’s stance, reaching his arm back as far as possible before carefully throwing his machete at the man’s arm. At about thirty feet away, the teen was desperate to get the man’s attention off Michael at any costs. It was nothing other than pure luck alongside his meticulous accuracy that the machete perfectly flipped around in time for the blade to cut clean through the gunner’s wrist.

With nothing but a blood-curdling yelp to accompany it, half of the man’s forearm alongside the shotgun fell toward the ground. His finger had continued to remain close to the trigger. The shotgun turned slightly as it fell. When the back of the gun hit the ground, the weight of gravity forced the severed hand’s index finger to push down on the trigger. The shooter’s yells were soon cut out by the spray of bullets which at close range exploded the man’s head across a small radius. The ceiling, the floor of the isle before his feet, the faces of the men that were with him and the remnants of the man’s body were painted red as his lifeless corpse fell to the floor.

The spray of blood that lead into a gut-wrenching scream and additional blast of the shotgun was Warren's queue. He recognized the blade that flew through to be Tre's. "Hell of a fuckin arm, kid" he muttered to himself before turning the corner. As he did, he was met with surprise as a man almost as tall as him came sprinting up on his position. Less than a second did not give Warren a chance to get a shot off and he took the force of the charging man head on. The thug's body was tossed to the side, using his momentum in Warren's advantage. The shelf against the wall rattled as the bandit's back slammed into it, cracking the wood upon impact. Bottles fell to the ground, shattering and spilling their contents over the surface of the tile. Warren wasted no time and briskly stepped up to the man as he lay winded on the ground. A boot kicked the man's crowbar across the floor and Warren grabbed his jacket with both hands. The bandit's body was lifted off the ground and thrown into the adjacent shelf, knocking it over and allowing Warren to set up his next move. A club of a fist came down on the poor asshole's face and was followed by six more, leaving his head a swollen, broken, and bloody pulp. The screams to stop that came from him didn't let up the blows from the towering terror. Warren stood up to examine his work. No movement could be seen from the cripple now, save for a slight rise and fall of his chest. Warren was done with this one and left him with a bullet in the head before leaving the trashed aisle to find the others.

While everyone else had been grabbing all the beer they could from the store, Michael had been enjoying eating a snickers bar near the entrance of the shop just moments before shit ended up hitting the fan. He heard the shotgun´s shot which was directed at the door, with the sounds of it ringing in Michael´s ears he turned around just to be greeted by 4 men with bandanas on their heads ¨….shit¨. He was supposed to be guarding the door, only for this to happen.

The neckbeard put his hands up in the air while the man armed with the shotgun aimed directly at him. But moments before the bandit could shot him, a machete flying through the air cut through the man´s wrist as if it had been made out of butter. But he was not gonna stick around long enough to see how bad had the machete cut the man. As fast as a nearly 400-pound man could, he ran to the counter and threw himself to the other side of it, hitting himself in the head and leaving him unconscious for a few seconds.

Jonas' eyes shot to the machete as it came into view, slicing through the leaders arm and making him drop the shotgun. He covered his ears quickly as the second shot went off, before a blunt, but also slicing pain struck his left thigh. He instinctively shot upwards with his good leg, and swung his staff in the direction the pain had come from as he turned his entire body. The fatter of the bandits had miraculously managed to sneak up on him and hit him in the leg, which was bleeding now because of the barbs he wrapped around it. Despite the situation, a short chuckle came from the teenagers lips as the fat one held his bat.

"You stupid sons of bitches. Even after you're all dead, which you will be, we're gonna have to hightail it because of the noise you made... I know! How about we don't kill you, so the incoming horde will eat you alive!?"

The smirk that had unconsciously spread across Jonas' face faded quickly before he cleared his throat. The bandit had a simple 'What the fuck' expression plastered on the parts of his face that wasn't hidden by a bandana. The fat one looked about ready to charge, so a quick thought ran through his head.

'He's fat and likely inexperienced. I'll just use his momentum against him.'

As he finished the thought, the fatty came tumbling towards him with the bat raised. He was faster than expected, but still slow enough for Jonas to move out of the way and stick his staff out, tripping the fat bandit who then slammed his face into the tile floor, knocking himself unconscious.

Michael abruptly woke up after having been knocked out for a short time. The neckbeard rubbed his left eye which felt sore while he struggled to stand up. He saw how Jonas disposed of the fat guy with his own momentum; thinking that the fight was already over he walked to the other side of the counter to grab his snicker bar and finish what he started. But low and behold one bandit remained, and he was trying to escape through the door they had busted a few minutes ago. Warren, Tre, and Jonas seemed to be too far to be able to get to him on time ¨Oh no you won't!¨ Michael said while running towards the bandit. He saw how the bandit's eyes expanded in terror while Michael threw himself over him; a low bang could be heard when both men hit the floor. The bandit struggled to get out but after a while finally gave up ¨G-Guys! I got him¨ Michael told the rest of the group.

Looking up from his hiding position, Kypher silently sighed to himself in relief that he wouldn’t have to actually do anything himself. Discreetly placing the modified nail gun, Kypher approached the ensnared assailant. He did what he assumed an immature child would do in this situation if they had no concept of fear - as he couldn’t be bothered with the scared act for yet another encounter - and stuck his tongue out at the man being sat on. With the four men relatively taken care of, Kypher glanced outside to see if they had any backup or other nasty surprises waiting for them.

Tre stood up tall, walking past the scene to grab his machete off of the ground nearby. He crouched down at the body of the man who was killed first. As the teen checked his pockets, he came to the realization that he was no longer living in a world where money mattered. Checking his victims’ pocket for any extra cash or valuables had become such an embedded habit that even in a world where money was no longer valuable, Tre still found the behavior repeating itself. He pushed himself up off of the corpse, spitting on it in passing.

One was confirmed dead and Michael was sitting on the other one. If his bones breaking wasn’t enough to kill him, that bandit was sure to have it worse than the rest. The young man moved to check Warren, who was fine. The man who had decided to fight him however, was also deceased. Two were already down. A quick check-in on Jonas confirmed he was also fine, which further relieved the young man. After being sure his friend was all right, Tre checked the man’s pulse who was nearby. He was still alive. Without hesitation, the dread head plunged the blade of his machete through the front of the man’s neck, resulting in blood spilling from the wound. Soon after, the man had choked on it and was too deceased. There couldn’t be any survivors. Anyone left who had seen their faces would attempt retaliation. That was to be avoided at all costs.

The boy then walked up to Michael, tapping him on the shoulder as to inform him that it was time to move. Michael looked back at him inquisitively, resulting in Tre lifting his free hand and gesturing his intentions with a slight wave to the side. Soon after, the fat man rolled off of the bandit’s back, resulting in the man taking a moment to regain his breath before attempting to take off. Before he got the chance, however, Tre dug his knee deep into the man’s back. This forced him back onto the ground. The boy’s digits found themselves wrapping around various strands of the man’s hair and pulling his head back. His extremities violently swinging around in attempts to get the boy off of him. Just as pleads for his life commenced, Tre brought his sharpened, blood-stained blade across the man’s neck - sure to cut deep. As the last bandit’s life drained from his body, the teen shoved his face down into the tile, using it as leverage to get back up to his own feet.

Tre stood up off of the corpse, turning to the broken window of Marvin’s. He made a call to the three men who were still alive, letting them know to grab as many things people in the lodge could use as possible. Clothes were of the top priority, anything else the van could fit was a win. Together, the four men spent the next few minutes grabbing as much shit as possible. Then, they hit the road to the department store a few blocks over in hopes to avoid a hoard. After gathering more items from there, Tre was able to siphon gas out of a few of the abandoned cars to fill up their own. Once they determined they couldn’t fit more items into the vehicle, the four piled back into the van and left Marvin’s. The ride home was silent. Warren was driving, drinking the entire way.

Grabbing the passenger-side handle, Tre got out of the seat as the car rolled up the driveway. He moved to the trunk to grab as many things as he could before heading inside of the lodge. It was going to take a while to grab everything from the van, but he figured he wouldn’t be alone for very long.

 

[Meredith]

​

"Oh yeah. 'Playing' together." Aderyn raised her eyebrows at Luca, lowering them with a shake of her head, and letting go of his sweater.

He had nothing to say, and she figured Luca wasn't the kind of person to gentle things, especially if there was a reason for them. Good.

Fighting your girl's brother was pretty low. Though, she supposed it was low to come at your sister's guy, too. It was amusing to her, in a dark way, that fistfights were what Luca was focusing his energy on.

"Oh, sweet, sweet cousin of mine, teach me your ways. I so want to sport bruises like yours on my face." She'd had time to ruminate on Luca telling her she knew nothing, and decided she was more amused than offended - but he hadn't grown short with her yet, so teasing it was.

“I don’t mind teaching someone a lesson, even if the price is a fucked-up face. Are you insinuating that you’ve got nothing to learn?” Luca retorted, extending his hand out and grasping Aderyn’s chin with his hand. He lifted her face so she continued looking at him, turning her face from one side to another before parting his lips to speak once more. It was obvious that the girl was unaware of who she was talking to, regardless of his relation to her.

“No, I-”

“Your face has never looked like mine? It must have been nice to never have to lift a hand to keep from someone extinguishing your fire, even while you were running from the law.” Those cold eyes peered down at the girl.

“It has, I was just-”

“You were accused of killing someone and spent months running for it. I’ve been killing people for years, people knew it was me and there was nothing they could do about it. That’s the difference between me and you. This isn’t the first time I've had my clock cleaned, and it won’t be my last. However, I never lose. After Aurora’s entire population was gunned down at the middle school, I guess I could have just ran for the next eight months and hoped for the best, but I've never been a little do-nothing bitch. Even now, even though I’m stuck in a house filled with people I don’t know, i’m getting my hands dirty to try and figure out how to survive.”

“I do want to learn, Luca, I’m.. sorry.” Aderyn pulled her face away from his grip, looking hurt, uncertainty permeating her features. She’d hit a nerve, it seemed, although she hadn’t meant to. She didn’t feel threatened, but certainly scolded, small. He had control of the situation and she wasn’t sure she liked it. Still - he seemed trustworthy, to her, and was still alive. If being agreeable was the price for being around, she could live with that.

“Eat some more. We’re in the process of building an addition to the lodge to have people sleep in, but for now there’s not much space. If you don’t want to sleep on the floor, you have to figure it out yourself.” Luca put the cap back onto the peanut butter and placed the knife in the sink. He gave one last look to his cousin before hearing the front door open. Instinctively, Luca walked away from the girl and out of the kitchen to see who it was. When a head of brown-dreads emerged from behind the group of men, Luca was relieved. However, they didn’t seem to be in the best shape and had brought with them an extra person. Another snot-nosed fuck, to be exact.

“If we keep finding children on our runs, we might as well open up a fucking daycare.”

Tre, exhausted, plopped down a handful of clothes onto the couch. There was dirt on his face. He had been sweating for hours. He looked up at Luca. An exaggerated expression brushed over his visage as he looked back at the man, lifting both arms and flailing them in a show of his frustration.

“Luca, shut the fuck up!” He growled.

The Italian looked back at the teen for a moment, keeping his mouth shut. He took a moment to think about what it was that Tre was saying to him. Then, after a brief time on deliberation in regards to what the young man had to offer as a rebuttal, Luca came to the conclusion that it was, in fact, time for him to shut the fuck up.

“All right, that’s fair.” He shrugged, turning around to be faced with the fury of a thousand redheads.

Andy was still fuming from her conversation with Owen as she made her way down the stairs. All the girl wanted was to find her room and disappear, avoiding people had been her sole intention since she had returned from her hunting trip, and somehow she kept getting caught in conversations she wanted no part of. This continued to prove true as she looked up from her feet to lock eyes with the icy blue ones that belonged to Luca Brasi.

His face looked similar to Owen’s, bruised and bloodied. Andy knew that Owen had started it, no one had to tell her for her to know that was the case. Still, it was a stupid reason to fight and an even more idiotic reason for the two of them to be injured. The redhead blinked slowly before habitually rolling her eyes. They landed on the girl she had gone out of her way to bring here, Aderyn. The young girl glared at Luca in almost the same way that Luca did at others when he was unhappy. Andy was surprised she hadn’t noticed their similarities when she first happened upon her in the forest.

The woman opened her mouth to speak to the Italian. There was plenty she wanted to say to him, but instead she let out an audible heavy sigh and closed her mouth, turning on her heels to head toward the sanctuary of her bedroom. She had gotten into enough arguments for one day and exhaustion won out over aggression. The door shut louder than she had intended behind her, and the soft click of a lock sounded as she secured that no one would follow in behind her.

 

[FireMaiden]

This is a collab between Maj and FireMaiden
​

Beth quickly came to her feet at the first sound of panic in Shinoa’s voice. The blonde had spent much of the afternoon doing her best to keep the poor woman company. She had watched as the pains had become more and more intense until finally, it appeared that the time they had all been waiting for had come. Shinoa had started labor.

The young girl had asked for Beth to find Leliana, but she hadn’t seen her come back yet. Ralph who she knew to be a doctor of sorts was climbing up the stairs and Beth directed him to Shinoa.

“She might need help, I’m going to find Leliana,” the girl informed him, jumping down the steps almost two at a time. Her eyes found her friend almost immediately, sitting down with a journal and, busying herself with writing. There was no time to tell her how relieved she was to have her back home safe and sound. “Leli, Shinoa’s in labor!” the woman called.

"...What was her temperature? Definitely in the 105 range, maybe more?" Leliana muttered. "I should have brought a thermometer." The piece of a paper she had taken for her notes was now full of her neat scrawling handwriting, concentration unbroken until she heard Bethany call for her. "What?!?" Leliana exclaimed, rushing to stand, leaving her notes on the den coffee table. The moment Leliana was very, very worried about was now upon them, and while she was fully aware that Shinoa was even more panicked, Leliana was not exactly prepared to assist in, well, this. "Alright, Beth, honey, you're going to help me out yeah? Shinoa likes you, so you can help keep her calm. Or as calm as possible, we don't have any painkillers safe enough to give her." Leliana was making her way to where the medical bags were unceremoniously stored for the moment, taking the nearly empty on to fill with supplies from the other two. "We're going to need towels, warm water, and hopefully someone to make sure nobody else but us few get into that room." A focus had come over Leliana, the type that happened when she was cleaning or, like not many of these people had seen, situations like this. She stood, pulling her hair back and up into a bun, "First Colt is drunk and angry, then Andy gets shot, and we have to deal with a redneck...at least this is better than dealing with a redneck."

“You can count on me.” Bethany agreed. She didn’t have any medical training, and she wasn’t sure how much help she would be when it came down to it. But she would support her friend in any way that she could. The woman busied herself grabbing the things Leliana had asked for from the kitchen. The towels would be upstairs, but the warm water could be easily obtained.

“You head upstairs, I’ll be right behind you.” The woman commanded Leliana, waiting for the water from the faucet to heat up in the large bowl. Once it was full, Bethany made her way upstairs after her friend. She grabbed her right before they entered Shinoa’s door.

“Hey. You are going to be great. Don’t even worry about this.” She gave her friend a warm smile, giving her a soft squeeze on her shoulder. “I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

Leliana smiled, giving Bethany a quick nod before she headed upstairs, ignoring anyone nearby as she went over her checklist. Even her grandmother had better equipment than what they had at their disposal, and Leliana could only do such during an emergency. And she was unsure if Hector or Ralph knew anything about childbirth. Jenna had claimed to be able to help but seeing as how that woman still didn't like Leliana, the nurse wasn't going to ask her for help unless absolutely necessary. So, when Leliana reached the top of the stairs, she entered the bathroom Shinoa was in, ignoring Ralph for the moment, as she led the pregnant woman into the bedroom she, Milly, and Bethany shared. Leliana made up a comfortable spot on the floor, well as comfortable as she could make it. She would have out Shiona on the bed, but since Shinoa wouldn't have been able to move much after having this baby, keeping the bed clean was a good idea. Once she was settled, Leliana briefly stepped out if the room.

She went back to the bathroom, hurriedly washing her hands. She should tell Bethany to do the same...then again she was there for moral support. If Leliana needed her help, they always had hand sanitizer. From the bathroom cabinets, Leliana grabbed what towels she could, along with a washcloth, before she left to make her way back to Shinoa. Before she entered through, Bethany stopped her. "You have no idea how comforting that is," the girl smiled, "Oh, come on, we really can't waste time."

@Kawashima Lighting (Shinoa) The Mad Queen (Ralph)
Mentioned: Rumble Fish (Colt) shadowz1995 (Hector) The Mad Queen (Jenna) Maj (Andy)​

 

[King Vioogra]

Ivan Zamarozka

Ivan slowly laid down the axe he was holding, a bead of sweat running down his forehead. He’d lost himself in his work for a minute, and his face quickly hardened into a glare of annoyance. Everyone else had fucked right off! He looked around quietly with a short sigh, seeing the work he’d done without his realization. Six trees out of the metric shit ton that littered the forest lay on the ground. The cuts that severed them from their stumps were far from pretty, but they worked to say the least. With a short groan, the Russian gripped the axe once more, swinging it upwards before bringing it down hard on the stump he stood near. The blade of the axe was buried in the wood, unmoving given the few wiggles Ivan sent its way. Once he was positive that the axe would stay where it was, he stepped away from the stump and took a quick look at himself. The entire front of his shirt was drenched in sweat, stiffened slightly because of the cold, but still wet. With a short shiver, he trudged through what was left of the snow before finally getting to the lodge. The man raised his hand to the doorknob and was met with the sound of someone shouting and a few people clattering. He swung the door open quickly, hand on his knife as he expected some sort of attack. When he was instead met with both runs having returned, Tre’s clothing run and Andy’s hunting run, he was shocked to say the least. Before he had a chance to greet anyone, however, he looked around at the people clattering, hearing the words ‘labor’ and ‘water broke’ being thrown around wildly. It took a quick moment before he realized what they were all talking about. The balloon had popped. The Russian took a deep breath in and simply walked back outside. There was no way he could possibly help, as childbirth was something he’d been exposed to only one time, and that was his own. There were plenty of people here who could help Shinoa during labor, but Ivan wasn’t one of them. As he stepped back outside, he looked down at his drenched shirt and sighed quietly, taking it off slowly and deciding the cold would be easier on his bare skin than it would be on a soaking wet shirt, and then on his bare skin. He dropped the shirt onto the porch with a sickening squelch before walking back out to the stump he’d buried that axe in, wrestling it from its resting place earlier than expected as he walked over to another tree and buried it in its bark. It was hard not to be worried, but there really wasn’t much he could do except get in the way. Plus, he wasn’t that great with kids, so knowing himself, he knew he’d end up dropping it or something out of fear of dropping it or something. Ivan let his thoughts wander once again as he lost himself in the melodic thudding of a metal blade in a thick tree.​

 

[The Mad Queen]

Doctor Ralph Fisher: The Lodge​

Fisher almost collided with Beth on the stairs, and was about rush in to check on Shinoa but stopped. For just a moment, he was no longer in the lodge but back in a hospital room in New York.
A woman with green eyes and blonde hair smiled through the pain as she clutched his hand. Ralph himself had to smile through the pain as June was crushing it. Two midwives stood nearby, tending to her but both simply stared into each other's eyes.
"Doc..."
"It'll be over soon."
"Mom was in labour for ten hours with me." She gave a shrug
"I don't think my hand could survive that..." Ralph winched, yet still smiled
"You want to talk about your hand!? I'm the one pushing a..."

"Oh God." Ralph finally looked up from his wife's eyes, seeing the pale expression of a midwife
"What's?" He stopped, his own brown eyes growing at the sight of stained sheets, caked in blood. From there, as his vision blurred all he could focus on were the sounds coming from the monitors as they spiked.
"Get the husband out, now!" He managed to make out

Following that, he was led out of the room by another midwife as it filled up with hospital staff. Doctors, nurses. Some he'd seen before, some had known his wife for longer than himself. Instead of asking what was going on, or trying to get back in he just stood on the spot outside the hospital room as they shut the curtains around his wife's bed and closed the doors behind him.

Coming to his senses, he tried to push through the door but was quickly held back by a nurse.
"Sir. Sir you can't come in here." She was stern, standing her ground
He reached for inside of his jacket, trying to take out his ID card for the CDC "I'm a Doctor with the..."

It clattered to the ground and Ralph suddenly became aware of his shaking hands "Sorry...I didn't mean to drop-."
Noticing the hands herself, the nurse looked with concern at Ralph "Are you okay sir."
"I just...I just dropped my ID. Give me a moment."

He used his other hand to rest against his face, his breathing slowly but surely becoming rapid.
"Are you okay?" She repeated
"I just need to...Pick up the..."

He lost his footing, but steadied himself by leaning on a vending machine, using his other hand to clutch his chest.
"We got a code blue!" The nurse yelled

Fisher managed to find his way back to the lodge, scrubbing his hands in the bathroom and placing protective plastic gloves over them before following Leli and Beth into the room with Shinoa. The room was as clean as it could have been, and Leliana had already prepared what she could, that was if the birth was to be clean.
"Ah." He smiled over at her "I see you've got everything ready. Good. We'll, um..." He cleared his throat "Sorry. We'll get started then I suppose. Hopefully you don't need me."
He winched a little, realising what he'd said "It's vital to make sure this room is closed off. Outside of us the only two we should let in are Hector..." He stopped himself again, taking a few more deep breaths "Jenna. Anyone else could contaminate."

Ralph looked at Shinoa directly "Unless, of course there's anyone else you'd like to be here out of the lodge."

Interactions: BloodThunder27 (Shinoa) FireMaiden (Leli) Maj (Bethany)

 

[FireMaiden]

​

Location: The Jordan Lodge
Interaction: The Mad Queen (Ralph)
Mentioned/In The Area: Maj (Bethany/Andy) BloodThunder27 (Shinoa) shadowz1995 (Hector) The Mad Queen (Jenna) Brax (Luca)
"Ralph what makes you think that I asked for you help?" Leliana told him, glancing up from the duffle bag she was rummaging through. "You look like you are about to pass out, be sick, or both. And furthermore," she snapped a latex glove on her left hand, standing and slightly turning to face him, "Hector is the only one I'd accept help from anyway. At least when it comes to any actual medical issues. It's nothing against you, but you would seem more comfortable making sure that nobody, and I mean nobody unless I or Bethany specifically say so comes in this room for the next few hours." She gave him a slight smile, but one that didn't exactly have her typical sweetness behind it. "I don't want anyone who could be a possible stress inducer for Shinoa, or me, so Jenna can't come in either. Keep everyone out, and I mean everyone, unless there is an absolutely unavoidable emergency, you understand me? I can't be distracted by anyone coming in, and unfortunately, anyone else that Shinoa would want in here would only cause problems." Leliana's tone was flat, stern, telling Ralph that if she wasn't listened to, she would have someone eat him alive. Probably Andy, maybe Luca if she could convince him. Anyway, Leliana moved past Ralph, using her ungloved hand to open the door before ushering him out. "So, stay out here, and do what I told you to. It's a very easy job, no blood muffled screaming, and probably an upside for you, you won't faint, not stand there and don't let anyone in!" Leliana accidentally shut the door a little harder than she meant to, hopefully not hitting Ralph with it, but she also didn't care at that moment if she did.

 

[The Mad Queen]

Doctor Ralph Fisher: The Lodge​

Fisher's smile shaped into a bit of a glare, placing his foot in the door to stop it from closing on him.
"You never asked, I offered. Have you done this before?" He asked calmly. He didn't seem to mind the teenager talking down to him, his main concern was that of Shinoa. Did Leliana actually know what she was doing? She seemed to, but he hadn't seen her handiwork up close so he couldn't be certain. For Shinoa's sake, he kept his voice low so as to not alarm the expectant mother. "If you do have issues with another person here, I suggest you put that aside. We're stuck here for now, so..." He cleared his throat "I suggest you get over yourself."

That may have sounded a little bit more harsh than he wanted it to, but he stood by his point with his arms folded and a very slight glare.
"I would tell her exact the same thing. You're both grown women. Act like it." He scolded "This isn't school, and given our current situation neither of you can afford to be petty."
His voice raised back to normal "I assure you, I'm fine. Just tired." He was a poor liar, always had been "And although I specialise in..." He stopped, leaned in and whispered "Diseases." He didn't want Shiona to hear about that, not now. "I do have training across a long career."

He took a deep breath, composing himself. His chest didn't feel as tight now, and his breathing was slowing down.
"But Hector would be more experienced in this area." Even if he hadn't seen Hector in action, at the very least Ralph knew the man who had taught Hector and given their shared notes he trusted him if things went wrong "I'll go find him, but don't worry..."

His smile returned, looking over at the mother to be "I'll make sure nobody else gets in."

Closing the door tightly, he dashed downstairs.
"Hector!" He called "They need you!"

Interactions: BloodThunder27 (Shinoa) FireMaiden (Leli) Maj (Bethany) shadowz1995 (Hector)

 

[shadowz1995]

It was interesting to observe the skinning of an animal. Hector had confidence he could mimic what he had seen Andy do but he would write down the procedure regardless. Just in case forgot a step in the future.

The large Hispanic man was in the kitchen and enjoying a moment of relative peace. He had gotten himself a bottle of water and was quietly nursing it to himself.

The day had been quite eventful for him if no one else. These individuals were quite literally starting to rip at the seams for a multitude of reasons. He had no doubt in his mind that their numbers would have been shaven by a few if someone didn't give them the aid they needed. The nurse had done an admirable job considering how adamant most people seemed on insisting that nothing was wrong. Luckily for them, Hector cared very little about pride and would find out the root of their problem.

Speaking of problems....

Some raised voices floated downstairs and the doc couldn't exactly make out what was being said and it was also of no concern to him what was being said as long as no one was physically fighting again. Otherwise, he might end up making someone handicapped from the irritation.

This was one of the reasons Hector preferred to stay in the labs. Viruses, blood, bacteria, and DNA didnt complain and express so many problems. They werent annoying.

"Hector! They need you!"

"Dios Santo estas enserio...." he growled before calmly approaching the sound of the commotion. Ralph was there waiting for him with a look of urgency and frustration that didn't really match his face. "Yes?" he asked, expecting an explanation. A female cry and another female voice giving directions piqued his attention. Hundreds of possibilities ran through his mind before ultimately ending up at the only logical conclusion if Ralph wasn't in a full blown panic. No one was getting stabbed but there was a woman that was in more potential danger with each passing day.

The pregnant one.

The large Venezuelan rubbed the back of his head irritably and let out a heated sigh before nodding his head to his fellow doctor, "I see. I'll see what I can do."

Hector went up the stairs quickly and silently pushed open the door. He set his bag of medical supplies down and looked around the room. The floor was about as good as it was going to get. Warm water was there and so were towels so the obvious was taken care of, "I have surgical supplies in the bag along with antibiotics and morphine but I think this lady is going to have to deal with the pain of a natural birth. We have towels and hot water already. Are we lacking.... the noise. The noise may attract the undead. Ralph!" he called out to the door, "Have some sentries placed along the perimeter of the lodge! Her screams may bring some unwanted attention!"

With that, Hector got to work.

The Mad Queen FireMaiden Maj @everyonewhoisinvolved

 

[Hyped_Taco]

​

While Andy quickly explained to Cletus why killing Dixie was technically considered an act of mercy, there could only be one word which could express his feelings at that moment, pure and utter Shock. The thought of killing another human in the name of mercy was terrifying, and even more the thought of it being his wife. He wanted so badly to stop this, but for some reason, he could not bring himself to even move a single arm of his; and really deep down, he knew that what the girl was saying was more than probable truth. The red-head asked for Leli´s gun while she started to enter his RV, ¨I- I'm sorry¨ were the only words he could say before the coup de grâce was made.

The ‘Funeral’ for his wife was quite a short one, which only involved him and Andy burying his now deceased wife in the middle of nowhere in the woods of the shitty town. Before he returned back to his RV, he left his wife´s favorite and only jewelry with her.

The trip back to the lodge or wherever the hell were these gals staying at was completely silent. Not that he was about to start a conversation at this precise moment, but the silence was almost unnerving to the man. Andy helped him navigate to their base, and although the instructions were clearly helpful, he would much rather be hearing anybody else at the moment than her.

Eventually, they managed to get back to the lodge and he was instructed on where to park his vehicle. Leli explained to both him and Aderyn the way in which the lodge worked, but honestly, Cletus could not give less of a shit at the moment.

He saw how Leli cleaned his RV with bleach, and decided to not intervene on her work. After she finally got out Cletus closed the entrance to the RV; sat down on after holding back for all this time, he finally broke down in tears while he repeatedly said the name of his wife. Unbeknownst to him while he cried inside his RV, the redneck continuously kept hitting the horn of the vehicle.

Upon hearing the racket outside, Luca felt his face turn red. After Andy had locked the door behind her and the others were bringing shit in, he would be the only one capable of dealing with such shit. He walked past the group bringing shit inside and made his way down the stairs of the lodge in a fit of rage. As the honking continued, Luca noticed a small group of zombies emerging from the darkness provided by night. The Italian quickly ran up to the driver’s side door. His fingers grasped the handle, the muscles in his forearm tensing up in pain as he swung it open. The fight with Owen was proving to be more problematic than he had originally anticipated. His arms were in bad shape. Picking up Aderyn proved to be just as problematic, though he ignored it at the time. Immediately after, both of Luca’s hands found themselves wrapped within the fabric of the hick’s shirt before pulling him out of the car.

The crying wreck continued to be inconsolable, being dragged through the dirt of the driveway by Luca who would eventually settle on leaving him on the ground near the staircase. Even though he was without a weapon, Luca decided to take a step up in front of the grieving man, ready to face the handful of reanimated beasts with his fists alone at the same time that Tre walked up to his side. Neither of the two exchanged any further formalities as the teen handed over his second machete to his older counterpart. When the zombies got closer, the two began hacking away. This continued until each one was dead. Tre then gathered up a few of the bodies, disgusted as he placed them in the wheelbarrow that was still on the driveway from the last hoard they had to get rid of.

The bodies could sit overnight, but getting rid of them immediately was top priority. It would certainly work as a deterrent for any other zombies that were in the area. Warren and Jonas stepped up to handle the task after the van was cleaned of belongings acquired from the supply run. As they set off to carry out the task, Luca turned back to face the redneck with blood in his eyes.

“Are you trying to get everyone here killed, you inbred fuck?”

Cletus was mourning the death of his wife, at the only moment in this day in which he was truly alone, and nobody would see him cry. But then the door of his RV was opened by an Italian looking man ¨Ah shit¨ Cletus said with his tearful eyes moments before the other man with both of his hands grabbed around his shirt started to pull him out of his car.

He didn´t know what was going on, or why the other man was doing this. The redneck wanted to fight back but he simply didn´t have the energy to do, it almost felt like he had just… given up. The Italian ended up leaving him near the staircase; he seemed like he was getting ready to fight someone; but lo and behold the reason for all of this had arrived, a small group of zombies came through the woods and although slow in pace, they seemed to be approaching the lodge right at this moment. A kid then got out of the home and gave the Italian a machete. If this fight had occurred nearly a few hours ago he would have been the first to start battling these fuckers. But at this time he was to much of a broken mess to be bothered with this.

The two men battled the zombies with ease, it´s not like the undead fuckers could think of a better strategy than walking straight to their prey so their victory wasn´t exactly a surprise. He saw how the kid started gathering the bodies on the older man´s orders. The Italian approached him and asked him if he wanted to get the people in here killed; Cletus just had enough for today so he responded back quickly

¨Well no, I ain´t tryna get you folks killed, but it don´t help that the red head fucker killed mah wife¨ Cletus said while he wiped his tears off his face.

“Explain to me what happened.” Luca responded, immediately recognizing who it was that the man was talking about. Andy had just gotten home and ran straight into the room, looking more pale than usual. This man was someone Luca hadn’t seen before which meant he likely had a connection with Aderyn randomly showing up as well. Luca didn’t want to make any assumptions, but he knew Andy had never taken an innocent person’s life before.

¨Well, alright I´ll tell you errythin’ that happened today¨ Cletus said, this man had just… well technically he saved his life when he along with the kid fought off the small zombie horde so he probably deserved to know what the fuck he was doing here ¨So mah name is Cletus Huckleberry, n’ me along with mah wife traveled here for a vacation. All that shit wit them undead sons of bitches and all of that went down, you know?¨ the man seemed to know how to fight off zombies well, so he could probably get the idea that he got trapped in the city ¨Anyway, this mornin’ when I was returnin’ from huntin’ along mah wife somethin’ wurd happened; a lil girl was at mah darn camp stealin’ stuff. When she saw us she kinda charged at me n’ I done gave her a fixin’ for it¨ Cletus chuckled a bit while telling that part ¨Dixie wanted me to… take drastic measures against her, but mah momma said I should never hit no womans; so I gave ‘er some warm soup and told ‘er she could stay with us, n’ you know? our conversation was really great, I like that kiddo… but it done left me a bit concerned when she tried to intimidate me with her name ¨Aderyn Weber¨ - yeah that´s her whole name.¨ He told Luca, with not a single clue that the girl is in fact his cousin.

“Uh-huh. Continue.”

Mentioned: Maj Andy
Interacted: Brax Tre

 

[Brax]

(Finale)​

¨The last hunt we were at was a failure, so I went out huntin’ with the girl. For some weird reason she uhhh… decided to climb trees for coverage or somethin’¨ that decision still had him clueless ¨Soo after a bit we done found a deer, it wasn’t anythin’ out of this world but It coulda fed us for a while. Lookin’ back at what I done did was stupid, but yeah. I shot the deer ‘n missed the shot, but the deer done fell anyway!¨

“Get to the fucking point, guy.” Luca said as he removed a cigarette from his pack and handed one over to Cletus.

¨Oh, thanks¨ Cletus said while grabbing the cigarette ¨ the deer done fell ‘n I thought I actually got him. I was s’darn happy when I saw another deer and shot it immediately… only to realize it wasn´t no deer, it was a red headed gal. Luckily I didn´t get her. But we discussed due to, y´know, that n after things calmed down I offered to give em summa mah guns since they weren’t armed wit’ usable shit. We got back to mah camp, done told em that mah wife is sick n… she shot her¨ Cletus teared up a bit while saying the last part ¨n’ I just can´t bring myself to hate this woman… cause deep down I know mah wife woulda done turned into one them undead fuckers.¨

“Your wife was bit and Andy shot her?” The Italian asked, bringing a lighter up to the end of his cigarette before igniting the end of his own. He understood to an extent what it was that Cletus was going through. Despite the fact that he was experiencing empathetic, Cletus still made a mistake by sounding off the horn in the front lawn.

¨Uhhh… ya¨ Cletus briefly responded while he ignited his cigarette as well. ¨Ay don´t hate her, I´m just fucking mad… I couldn´t even tell her goodbye¨

“There’s nothing I can really say to help you here, other than I’m sorry it happened. However, if Dixie actually loved you, she wouldn’t want you to throw the rest of your life away because she’s not around. She would want you to fight.” The Italian tried his best to keep any sort of advice for the man short, mostly because he knew there was no easy way to deal with the loss of a loved one. Each person had their own grieving process, and that was acceptable so long as it wasn’t detrimental to anyone else’s well-being.

“Come with me. I want to get back at that red-headed demon you were talking about. I’m sure you can be on board with that, right?” The man slapped a hand onto Cletus’ shoulder, guiding him back inside of the house. Both Michael and Tre were standing in the living room, among a pile of the shit that the group of five had brought back. Luca beckoned for both of them to come over, before looking between the three men with a small smile on his face. “I have a favor to ask. But, if you pull it off, it’ll get you guys off my shitlist. Even you, rolley polley.”

“I wasn’t on your shitlist anyway.” Tre reminded Luca, crossing both arms over his chest.

“Shut up and do what I say, you little shit.” Luca snapped back him, before continuing.

“Here’s the plan…”

 

[Meredith]

​

Owen sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. That conversation could have gone better. It made sense that Andy would be angry with him, his behavior had been overkill and ultimately had been inconsiderate of her feelings. Something was really bothering her, he couldn’t remember the last time he had seen her so frustrated. He exhaled heavily through his nostrils, letting the sigh take over his sore soldiers. Andy had been slowly drifting away from him for years, it had always bothered him. Now he worried that he had pushed her away even further.

The sound of the door to his room opening broke through his thoughts and forced him to lift his head toward the sound. His eye wasn’t swollen anymore thanks to Hector’s handywork, but it still hurt to move his head. His emerald eyes finally focused on the girl who stood in the doorway. She couldn’t have been more than eleven or twelve.

“Do you know where the bathr- wow, you definitely didn’t win. You alright?”


Owen let out a chuckle that forced him to grab his ribs in pain. For someone so small, she had a large mouth, but he didn’t mind so much. A lifetime of dealing with Andy had made him a pro at taking these kind of comments. He recognized the girl immediately from her time on the local news. Aderyn Brasi, the girl on the run for killing her father. He would have recognized her for a Brasi without seeing her on television, she had those characteristically cold blue eyes and dark hair.

“I’ve seen better days,” The redhead admitted. If nothing else could be said about Owen, he took his losses with class. The male had spent a large portion of his life around killers, and this girl didn’t look like one to him. Although, he would have never pegged Luca for a killer before he saw him put a bullet in someone’s head.

“The bathroom is one door over. When did you get here? We have so many new faces lately, I have a hard time keeping track.”


“Uh, one second. I really do need to piss.”

The girl left for a minute or two, did what she needed to do, washed her face. She brushed her teeth, too, something she hadn’t been able to do for a while. Her clothes smelled, a bit, but she supposed she’d have to ask somebody for something to wear while she did her laundry, and she wasn’t comfortable with that yet.

She came back into the room, and after a moment of hesitation, she sat down on the bed a foot or two from Owen. She pulled her legs up onto the bed, sitting criss-cross, and shrugged her backpack off to root through it.


She pulled out a two litre bottle of ginger ale, unopened - and a half-empty bottle of vodka. “If you want a drink, go for it. It looks like you might need it.” She also grabbed her water bottle, recently washed in the bathroom and empty, and rolled it over to him. “Your sister - I’ll assume you’re the brother - she brought me’n another guy home from what I guess was a hunting trip. He’s nice. Kinda a redneck, though.”

So Andy had found her and brought her back. That at least explained why he hadn’t seen her around the lodge before now. Owen was pretty sure he would recognize her face, given her time on basic cable. It was possible that the girl might have some insight about why had his sister so pissed off as well since she had been with her.

Aderyn’s eyebrows knitted, and her head tilted as she contemplated the man; he seemed friendly, not like the kind of person who was normally a brawler, but she could admit to wanting to smack Luca too. They’d only been reacquainted for an hour, and already, she’d managed to piss him off.


“I was actually trying to find you ‘cause I wanted to ask you something,” Aderyn looked like she already regretted speaking, but she pressed on, talking as fast as she could while still being understandable. “I, uh.. I don’t have a very good reading on my cousin yet. I’ve only seen him once for twice before. Is he… usually alright? I think he’s mad at me.”

The redhead ran his fingers through his hair and let out a large sigh followed by an awkward laugh. He knew that the pair were related, but this girl was Luca’s cousin, and not one he had met before.

“I’m not sure I’m the right one to be having this conversation with you, kiddo,” The redhead hesitated. “Since it was your cousin who ‘won’ this particular fight.” Still, he likely did know Luca better than anyone at the lodge. It must have been confusing for the young girl, first her dad’s awful murder, then the world falling into chaos, and now being reunited with a cousin she barely knew. Family was family, but it must have really sucked to have your last relative be Luca Brasi.

“That’s why I wanted to ask you. I don’t think many people would throw punches at Luca, so like, you gotta know him.”

“He’s rough around the edges,” Owen offered finally, sitting up to cross his arms over his chest, head cocked to the side in thought. “I doubt you made him mad, he’s just always like that. I don’t think he knows how to talk to anyone without sounding like he’s threatening them.” It was common knowledge that Owen thought poorly of the capo. Owen could accuse him of a lot of things - murder, sleeping with Andy, but harming a child? No. That was too low even for a scumbag like Luca. Especially not one of his own blood.


“I’m sure he’s glad to see you.” He turned to look at the frail child sitting beside him, offering her a small smile. “Yeah. I guess so.” Aderyn’s eyes flicked down to the bed, and she bit her lip, thinking.

“So you came over with Andy, huh?” He didn’t know how to explain his sister’s change in mood to someone who didn’t understand her. “Did something happen? She seemed off.”

“Um..”
Aderyn grimaced, eyes moving back up to meet Owen’s, looking uncertain. Her first thought was ‘you should ask her’, but she stopped herself; it wasn’t like Dixie’s death was a huge secret, nor was she shouting it to the rooftops, she was in confidentiality with Andy’s own brother. “Cletus’ wife was, like, really really sick I guess.”


She reached over to grab her water bottle. Opening its lid, she held it in between her legs, twisting off the top of the ginger ale with a slight hiss. She poured about a quarter of it into the bottle, then closed it, throwing the soda on the bed. Similarly, she poured in the vodka, mixing roughly about a double shot drink. She took a long swig.

Aderyn never drank. The alcohol was exclusively for sharing; liquor was a good way to make friends, and although she didn’t like the taste, she saw the value of having some on hand. She offered the bottle, now only half-full, to Owen. “So um… the doctor girl and Andy looked at Dixie, and they decided she was long, long gone, and Andy had to shoot her.”

 

[Maj]

​

Owen wasn’t sure which item he had been presented with deserved his stunned silence more. The fact there was a child on his bed making mixed drinks, or the fact that Andy only hours ago had shot and killed someone. It was no wonder his sister was in such a foul mood, killing someone in self defense was one thing, but putting down an innocent woman was something else entirely. The redhead raised an eyebrow at the odd child to his side, keeping the bottle she handed him in his lap.

“How old are you anyway?” He asked. It shouldn’t be so surprising that someone who came from Luca’s family felt it appropriate to show children how to mix cocktails. Death was no mystery to this young girl, she talked about it casually, and it made him sad. The way she acted and held herself was of someone far older than she was. The idea that Milly was about the same age was downright bizarre to him. Aderyn didn’t seem the type to play with toys.

“Twelve.”

She looked at him, an odd expression on her face, a mixture of amusement and bafflement. “I turn thirteen in January. Why?”

“You look twelve,” Owen admitted. “But you seem so much older.” He was suddenly thankful for his mother, who treated him with warmth and compassion. At twelve he cared about his gameboy and baseball. He most definitely wasn’t trying to befriend mob bosses and drug dealers. That came later, and thanks to his friendship with the girl’s cousin.

“I get that a lot, yeah.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about Luca. You are a Brasi, so you are in no danger with him, even if he gets his balls in a twist over…” Owen shrugged. “Well everything really. You are safe here. We have a lot of people at the lodge, none of which make a habit of hurting children.” The male laid back down on the bed, he wanted to go find Andy, but after their conversation moments ago he doubted he would get far even if he tried.The best course of action likely was to let her blow off some steam and catch her when she wasn’t as agitated.

“Yeah. People don’t really tolerate people that hurt kids. Normal people, anyway.” She hopped off the bed quickly as Owen laid down, grabbing her backpack and hauling it, open, over her shoulder. Instead, she crossed in front of him, sitting against the wall. “Where did you guys come from? I have this feeling I know you, or I’ve seen you before, or something. Not to be weird or anything.”

He noticed her skittish behavior, but chose not to comment on it. It made sense, he couldn’t possibly imagine all the things this girl had gone through and ultimately he was a stranger. She had no reason to know that he meant her no harm.

“Aurora born and raised,” Owen offered, staring up at the ceiling. “Me and Andy both. I don’t know if you could tell, but we’re twins. I’ve lived here my whole life, so it makes sense you would have seen me around. Me and Luca used to hang out a lot back in the day, but since you said you guys only met a few times, I doubt that’s where you’ve seen me. I’ve of course seen you on TV.” The male turned to give her a knowing smirk, but didn’t press further. “You must be pretty resourceful to have made it by yourself for so long.”

“I have the feeling I saw you on the streets - a runner, maybe?”

She got defensive, realizing what he meant by being ‘seen on TV’. “I’ve never hurt nobody, you know, nobody that never hurt me first. And my dad never hurt me.” She took a breath. It was hard on her to be recognized, even if it couldn’t hurt her anymore, even if it didn’t matter now. “He was a good man. People liked him.”

“People like me, too.”

“I didn’t think you did hurt anyone.” He defended. She paused for a second, her tirade interrupted, and look up at him - startled. “Thank you.”

Her attention flicked back to what she was saying before, and she shrugged, sitting with her bag between her legs. “I don't know. Maybe I’m charming. Maybe people just fancy the idea of somebody to take care of. You know, though, there are as many bad as good people that are interested in kids…”

Her hand moved, unconsciously, to finger the cross around her neck. Her voice hushed, though she didn’t mean it to, and her other hand gripped the collar of her sweater. “Do you know of, like… a small space I can set up some blankets to sleep with? Everything is so open here.”

The male’s eyes darkened, but he didn’t say anything to press her further. There was no telling what this poor girl had suffered, and it wasn’t his place to pry it out of her. They were barely more than strangers. The idea that someone would…

Owen shook the thought away, disgusted.

“There are plenty of hidey-holes if that is what you are looking for. Andy normally handles sleeping arrangements, I think, but she’s particularly grumpy today. I don’t know if the futon downstairs is already taken, but it’s in a nice sort of cubby. There is a cupboard under the stairs if you feel like being Harry Potter.” The man shrugged. “Really just make yourself comfortable, anywhere you see that you want to huddle up is fair game. It’s going to be cramped for a while.”

“A cupboard sounds okay to me.”

Aderyn nodded, pushing herself to her feet, and shouldering her backpack. Taking a few steps towards Owen, she swiped her water bottle out of his lap deftly, but left the other two containers. “Do whatever you want with those, I don’t care. I don’t make a habit of drinking.”

Considering him more face-to-face, she studied him. He looked put off by something, and she nodded a little bit to herself, turning away. She knew she looked upset, too.
“I might seek you out later, if that’s alright, you’re decent. But, uh - I never caught your name?”

“Owen,” The redhead replied. “You can hang out anytime. You seem decent too.” Owen gave her a smirk as she left. At least one of the Brasi kids wasn’t a total dick.

 

[Kloudy]

The Genius and The Druggie​

Kypher was sat along the far corner of the porch towards the right side of the house, leaning against the wall as he fiddled with something he was obscuring from foreign view by turning a little. He had just arrived in the van after having been picked up by four hooligans that had managed to get into a bloody fight right from the get-go. He had almost felt need to get involved, as demeaning to his genius as that would be. It was only natural that brutes should do all the physical activities while those who had bothered to enrich their minds with knowledge handled the harder tasks. Of course, Kypher was superior to even those intellectuals due to his natural acuity.

Smirking to himself as he fiddled with the makeshift device in his hands, Kypher glanced about once more to check no one was sneaking up on him before returning his attention to his tinkering. He was currently attempting to dig into the back of a handheld radio with a screwdriver. In his lap, various orange-sized balls of playdoh in multiple colours were innocently collected. After apparently digging out the particular component he had been looking for, Kypher placed the electronic piece on the ground next to him and delicately placed a green playdoh ball in the space left behind. Apparently satisfied with his handiwork, he began fiddling with the radio’s back casing, working to refit the panel back.

Nile, having just come outside after his first encounter with the hospitable Colt, stopped and stared at the child fiddling around with a radio and playdoh. Normally, he couldn’t give two shits about children because all they were annoying little idiots, but this one peaked his interest because they were, for some inexplicable reason, unscrewing a thingamajig from a radio. What kid does that? Shouldn’t they be playing with dolls or something?

Walking closer, Nile crouched down a few inches behind the kid and watched them take out the whatever-the-hell out of the radio. When his curiosity peaked, Nile said “Watch’a doin’”.

Suspicion immediately crossed across his features in an irritated scowl as he sharply turned to glance at the source of the unexpected question. To his surprise, it was a fairly built man who was only slightly taller than Kypher himself. He seemed to have an annoying way of talking that made the young genius certain that his curiosity in what the boy was doing was going to prove insanely annoying. It was probably too late to feign innocence, but Kypher decided to give it a go anyway. His expression turned into blank confusion as if he were a child that didn’t understand the question.

“Isn’t it obvious, Mister? If I put my playdoh in here, I’ll be able to call the Gingerbread man to come and save us! He’s made of dough and he likes to play, so it makes sense.”

Nile got a little chuckle out of that. “Cut the crap kid. If you’re dumb enough to believe that, then you can’t have the miniscule amount of cognitive power required to use a screwdriver. That was a god awful try” Nile said as he stood up, giving Kypher’s device a little oneover. “And besides, I’m pretty damn sure you’re either making a bomb or a detonator” Nile said, looking down on Kypher.


Kypher’s expression morphed from the innocent childlike look of ignorant hope to a barbed glare as his act had been seen through. The child sighed irritatedly and looked back to his radio, finally done with screwing the back of its casing on again. Kypher had hoped he could keep his act up for a little while longer until he had been given the chance to properly put his safety measures in place. As he was technically a child, he was more vulnerable to physical intimidation and abuse from other people. This of course led to his reasoning that he’d need some kind of bargaining chip of his own, in case things went hostile. It always paid off to have a smart plan.

“Terrific. The most braindead-seeming muscle-head of the herd is interested in why the new kid is playing with radios and playdoh. Call the newspapers.”

He phrased it almost as if he were talking to himself, but his words had an edge of bite aimed at the carpenter as if his presence was proving extremely offensive to the young genius. The dark scowl on the boy’s face did nothing to help the lack of likeability present in his personality. Most people from before he had become ensnared in this godforsaken Amish backwater village were either entirely surprised and confused or went into denial upon discovering his true nature for the first time. Even his own mother couldn’t quite believe what had become of her son upon reuniting with him in the very town that had now become his undying nightmare. Placing the radio in an inner pocket within his thick jacket and gathering all the playdoh balls into his side pockets, he returned his scowl to Nile.

“Well? What the hell do you want?”

“Hell’s a no-no word, and don’t take that tone with me” Nile said, shaking his head in a mocking way that screamed “Haha, you can’t cuss, eff you”. After Nile was done mocking Kypher, Nile just gestured to the radio. “What the hell is that. I know my bombs, but that one slips my memory” Nile said. In response Kypher merely sighed as if he had already tired of the conversation before giving Nile a withering glance and gesturing at him with the radio.

“This, pea-brain, is an IED. I suppose I should dumb it down for you: it’s an improvised explosive device. Well, the detonator for it. I assume you’re not going to ask me how I constructed it too?”

“Why bore myself with the details?” Nile said, not caring in the slightest as to how a child was able to make a remote control detonator. “What I wanna know is how you’re going to use it. How many explosives do you even know how to make?” Nile asked, leaning a little closer because this part would actually interest him.

“More than you have brain cells, but I suppose that’s not saying much.” Kypher retorted snarkily, annoyed at how presumptuous this man was about his intelligence. If only this village bumpkin knew the pure genius he was talking to.

“So over 100 billion? Kid, quit your bullshit. How many really?” Nile asked, taking the comment seriously.

“I see you’ve regressed to a pre-sarcasm version of the homosapien,” Kypher gave the older man a sour look that suggested he had become unamused even with making fun of him. What kind of question even was that? How many does he know how to make? How long is a piece of fucking string?

“I can create as many as I have the materials for... I have no necessity to tell you anything else.”

“Uhuh, so you know how to make a pressure cooker bomb? Or turn a propane tank into a remotely detonated shrapnel bomb with one hell of a boom? Or use a microwave and car battery to make an electrical flurry of sparks that superheats everything in a couple dozen yards?” Nile asked, making it sound like he made those things every other weekend before bed when in actuality he only had very vague ideas on how to make them.

“Yes, yes, and that last one is not a thing. Don’t take me for some third-rate dabbler like you, I could construct a nuclear warhead if I had a team of assistants and the necessary materials.” Kypher also made this sound like something he did everyday, but in reality he had never done any of these things in practice. Even the IEDs he had just made were only his first attempts, some of them probably wouldn’t even work. While he could remember literally everything he’d ever studied, including electrical engineering and various other related fields, knowing how to do something and actually doing it were proving to be very different.

“I smell bullshit, but I don’t know why” Nile muttered, buying Kypher’s act. Shaking his head, Nile gave Kypher a doubtful look. “How would you even be able to get the stuff for this? And where would you make it Little Einstein?” Nile asked. Kypher gave Nile a quizzical look as if he were entirely unsure if this guy was genuinely mentally handicapped. Where would he get nuclear material? Was he stupid? A nuclear plant, underground, the black market, South Arabia - did the man actually think he was planning on building a nuke? He didn’t give the man the satisfaction of an answer and instead moved swiftly on without missing a beat.

“What do you want. I don’t know who you are but you appear to be annoyingly interested in what I know. If you’re trying to manipulate me in some way, I will combust you with this.”

Kypher waved the radio about fairly carelessly considering what it was.

“I wanna know why the hell you want to make explosives. What in god’s name would you use it for?” Nile asked, trying to the best of his ability to ignore the “Are you mentally disabled?” look he got a few seconds prior.

“Stop asking me stupid questions about why I do what I do. You couldn’t possibly understand my brain. If you used yours for once and actually thought on it, you’d realise why someone of my stature would benefit from a little extra security. I don’t have time for this…”

The child muttered the last part and got up from his sitting position in a huff. Hands in his pocket, Kypher walked past Nile and began to make his way into the house to get away. He’d had enough of people who couldn’t take a hint that he wasn’t interested in answering the same question asked over and over. This guy must seriously have had never socialised before or something, there was something annoyingly jarring about his persistent nature.

“Kay, fuck you too boy wonder” Nile said as he stood up. After considering just heading off to cut down a tree with his claw hammer, he realized something: That kid can build him a hand grenade. Who doesn’t want one of those?

“Hey, hold up! You’re making me a pipe bomb, got it?” Nile said as he followed after Kypher.

Togy​

 

[Rumble Fish]

The following post is a collab between The Mad Queen and Rumble Fish
Colt’s tongue clicked numerous times as the flakes of wood dropped from the tree like brown flakes before stepping back and flicking her knife back into its holder. Now there was a sizeable target on one of the large oaks, akin to a dart board. Once done, she dusted her hands and returned to the purple-haired woman, pulling her jacket collar further up to protect her neck from the cold.

“‘Kay,” she pulled out the glock and began filling the magazine, “Main thing t’remember about guns is; ya gotta treat each one like its loaded. That means always pointing it away from ya when handlin’ it, no pointin’ it at people unless you intend t’shoot and most of all; even when ya’ve emptied it.” she tapped the barrel with a finger for emphasis, “There’s always still one in the chamber.”
Once she had screwed on the silencer, Colt took her position, arms raised with the nozzle facing the target. Her stance was almost square and the gun was raised to eye level. After a second, she fired a round of shots towards the tree. The small firearm recoiled in her hand but the shots remained consistent, hitting the target in its centre.

With a satisfied smirk, Colt emptied the chamber and began reloading, “Think you want a go?”

Placing her hands out of her pockets, Jenna gently rubbed them together to stave off the cold.
“I’ll give it a try, I suppose.” Her eyes glanced towards the Glock “I’ll just make sure not to shoot myself in the foot.” She lightly chuckled, and held out her hand. So long as Colt stood back, there wouldn’t be an issue, at least she hoped so. Paintball, Airsoft and VR were all the girl could count as so-called experience but she wasn’t stupid, knowing full well what she was about to handle was something different altogether.

“As long as ya keep yer finger off the trigger around yer feet, ya’ll be fine.” Colt answered as she took a drink from her flask, “Keep yer eyes open and don’t hesitate. The gun’ll do exactly what ya think it’s gonna do. Take a deep breath and shoot on the exhale. Let yer hands and the gun do the work.” She spoke while watching the woman, “If ya want me t’stop talkin’ just say so.”

“Okay. I can do this.” Taking the Glock in hand, she let out a deep breath. Clutching both hands around the gun, Jenna pointed it towards the target. At first she noticed her hands were shaking too much but she was unsure if that was the cold or her nerves. Taking one more deep breath in, she focused on the target once more. It wasn’t just a target, it was a chance. Shutting her eyes for a moment she felt the gun in her hands. It was colder and heavier than the fake guns she’d handled before, but that at least was something the girl expected.
Opening her eyes, she pulled the trigger.

Jenna had expected to miss completely but actually struck the tree. By no means had her shot struck the centre, meeting Colt’s accuracy but at the very least it was within the lines of the makeshift target. Her blue eyes widened with disbelief as she stared down her work, and then she looked at the gun, studying the weapon once more and flicking the safety on. Without glancing back at Colt, the girl approached the target and felt where her bullet had stuck it.
“Not bad.” She muttered to herself, a slight smirk growing on her face. She looked behind her, and started to walk back towards her position in front of Colt.

Colt watched as Jenna took aim at the tree and after a moment of contemplation, fired a shot. She watched the small explosion of splinters on the target and approached it alongside the twitch streamer. She took a moment to figure where Jenna had shot and when she finally saw it, the veteran grunted with a nod.

“Hm. Not bad, not at all.” she spoke lowly, rubbing her chin before turning to the woman, “Wait.” she turned without another word and started rolling snow into balls and building mounds, the intention to carefully perch a ball of snow on the top.

“Ya keep shootin’ that tree, I’ll let ye know when I’m done.” she said over her shoulder, “Got questions just ask.” she finished making snow-people after a few more minutes.

“Shootin’ targets is one thing. But we got other problems.” she approached the woman, “How y’feelin’?”

Taking the safety off, she lined up another shot. Breathe in, exhale and fire. The next shot was a little bit closer to the centre this time, but it wasn’t quite there yet. And this was just a still target, actually hitting something moving. Well, that would be a different problem. “How am I feeling?” Jenna asked “Eh. Shit. We may be down a man due to that one eyed creep buggering off but...That hasn’t changed much.”

Line up. Breathe in. Exhale. Shoot. The shot barely moved this time, and Jenna cursed herself under her breath. “I’ve got less than two months left before my meds run out, if I even live that long that is. That hasn’t changed.” Breathe in. Exhale. Shoot. It moved slightly towards the centre of the target, but not by much.
“I’m still avoiding Luca like the Catholic Church avoids all those kiddie-diddlers. Bound to get a few bruises the first time we talk, so much like the Church I’m focusing on something else and trying to stave off the problem as long as I can.”

She glared at where the bullet had struck, and took four steps back before lining up again.
“Of course, unlike them I’m not gonna get away with it.”
-
Colt frowned a little, “Meds?” she asked as she stood back up, “What are they for? Yer heart or somethin’?” she asked, her brows furrowed with an air of concern. The veteran was a little taken aback by her words against the Catholic Church; being a Catholic herself, Colt mumbled something along the lines of “Christ alive…” before turning back to the woman.

“Try not to worry about Luca too much. If he does say somethin’ to ya, I wanna know.” she glanced away hoping to change the subject, “Wanna try the snowmen?”

-
Jenna lowered the gun, flicking the safety back on as she continued to glare at her work. “Hormones.” She admitted “Estradiol if you’re being technical. I got six weeks, then I’m out. Side effects should kick in about a week and a half, maybe two if I’m lucky. I gotta be the fuck outta here before then.” She glanced back over at Colt, and then fixed her gaze onto one of the snowmen. Jenna raised the gun up once more.“Fuck you Olaf.” She muttered, following the steps once more and blowing a hole in the snowman’s head.

“Estradiol, what do ya-? Oooh…” Colt paused and her pine hues blinked before with a raise of the hand, she hummed thoughtfully, the realisation kicks in. “I see. I see.” She gave the woman a nod as she folded her arms. At this point, Colt was mentally kicking herself for not seeing it sooner. However, that meant very little to her. Colt had conflicting views on the subject. However, the veteran knew when to swallow her pride and do what was right for the woman.

“Well, next time I’m out. I’ll remember that. Can’t promise ya nothin, but I can try.” she said, doubting it would help to assure the woman, but what else could she say? She then watched as Jenna shot the snowman in the head, insulting the mush of frozen rain. Colt snorted a little as she went to one of the other snowmen, making the head smaller. “Aye… Never liked that film either.”
-
“Thanks.” Jenna smiled “I’m lucky at least. It’s only hormones. Blockers are, at lot harder to come by. That and, with some of them you have to inject yourself into the buttcheek..."
Clearing her throat, she glared the snowman down, following Colt’s steps and shooting. Rather than straight through the head like the last one, this shot struck the side of it, tearing a hole as the bullet pierced into a tree behind the snowman and what was left of it’s head fell to the ground. “Thank fuck I’m past that.”

“Buttcheek-?” Colt snorted, putting a gloved hand over her mouth to disguise it as a cough, “Well, I’ll do what I can… In the ass, really? Yer braver than I am. Y’should’ve seen me gettin’ my shots before joining the Marines. I don’t like those things.” She knew the irony was enormous in her statement given who she was.

She re-adjusted the snowman, putting the head back together, “Yer holdin’ yer arms straight, keep a bend in the elbow.”
-
“It’s not like I had to do it all the time, and after a while I got used to the pain.” She bent her elbows, clutching the gun tightly “It was either piercing pain every once in a while, or…” She cut herself off. Joking about having to inject blockers into her own arse was one thing, but she wasn’t going to share that. Talking about in front of a camera was different. It always had been. She took a shot, destroying the head.

“You should be glad to have me around.” She gave Colt a half-smile “Never know when the snowmen might revolt.”

“Oh I am, believe me.” Colt smirked at the woman. “Hmm… I’m gonna go get an assault rifle. Dunno if yer quite ready to use one. But I can still show ya how.” she put her flask away before heading to the back door. But for a second she paused, her hand still on the door before turning to the woman.

“For what it’s worth… If ya never mentioned them meds, I wouldn’t have been able to tell.” She turned to give the woman a semi-not-so-quite-smile before heading inside, the door gently shutting behind her.

“Well, I didn’t think I was ready for this.” She pointed the gun into the air “So, maybe today is full of surprises.” She glanced back at more of her work as Colt made her way inside, running her hands along where the bullets had struck the tree, measuring the distance between them and the actual centre in her head. She got distracted when Colt spoke once more.

The girl didn’t say anything in response but genuinely smiled to herself, letting out a light chuckle. Maybe, outside of perhaps one person the lodge wouldn’t be so bad after all. For how she’d viewed Jenna as a useless veterinarian, the nurse didn’t seem to mind an aspect of her that many others had taken issue with before. Heck, even the one-eyed, possessive creeper had known who she was and didn’t take issue.

It didn’t mean she was safe there, but at the very least nobody seemed to have a problem with her as a person. Just what she could do. With a few more lessons from Colt, she might make it after all.

Mentions: Luca Brax ​

 

[Rumble Fish]

The following collab is between Kloudy and Rumble Fish
Colt had been satisfied with Jenna’s progress and was heading to the back of the lodge to retrieve another gun for her to try out. She had seen an AK-47 in the armoury and it was worth teaching her how to use an assault rifle as well as a pistol. Though it would be more a demonstration than allowing the woman to use it, that was for another day. But upon entering the lodge, she saw Nile coming inside, muttering something about pipe bombs and- wait PIPE BOMBS!?
Colt’s head shot up like a bird’s, “What the fu-?” she stormed to the front door, shoving Nile on the way as he was in the road. Reaching it, she saw the child that had been brought back by… somebody, at this point Colt was losing count. As she approached the door, the boy Nile had been conversing with walked in. Him maybe?

“Ho!” She approached the boy with a tilted head “Whatchu doin’?” she asked in a low yet firm tone. First that maniac and now this? Was there something else in her flask that someone had snuck in?

Upon being spontaneously confronted by what appeared to be another ham-brained idiot, Kypher couldn’t help but feel a sinking feeling in his stomach that he’d been rescued by a bunch of uneducated lunatics. Was there not one sane person present in this entire town?! He turned around coolly and met her eyes with a bored gaze, having had enough of being questioned over and over since he’d arrived.

“I’m walking into this building. Even a chimp could decipher the concept of entering an establishment.”

Almost as soon as he looked and spoke to her as if she was somehow below him, Colt was instantly aggravated. Her distaste in kids had already been punctuated by the presence of many in the lodge, but his tone and lack of respect tipped the scales. But Colt knew a lashing of the tongue would do nothing. She wasn’t stupid.

“Don’t blow up on me.” She bluntly retorted, “Just heard Nile talkin’ somethin’ about ‘pipe bombs’ after talking t’ya. Know anything ‘bout that?” she questioned. Just the mention of a potential explosive within the proximity of the lodge was sending shockwaves through Colt’s system and she could feel her heart-rate pick up. Even if it was a joke, she needed that assurance.

“I don’t know what you mean or who he is. I don’t have time for people who don’t even have the cognitive ability to speak properly. Go bother him if you have further questions.”

“The man y’were talkin’ to, who else would it be?” she answered, her tone growing sharper, “And I’m no’ askin’ him, I’m askin’ you. And cut that attitude, boy. Why would he be going on about pipe bombs after speaking to ya? I know he ain’t doin’ anything with ‘em.”

“I don’t think you understand. Maybe you have a brain injury. He asked me to make a pipe bomb and I have no idea what he’s talking about. Do you need to know anything else?”

His offer to answer more questions was obviously hollow as he immediately turned around and began walking over to the nearby sofa, sitting on one side. Everyone here was too nosy and too pushy. ‘Cut that attitude’ as if she had a damn clue who he was! Kypher had half a mind to show her exactly what he’d been building firsthand, but he wasn’t really one for murder personally. At least not for something as trivial as being a gargantuan nuisance.

“The fuck-?” Colt gritted her teeth, her patience wearing even thinner, “Ya’ll need to learn some serious manners, boy. Mouthin’ folks off like that’ll only get ya a sixth hole in the head!” At this point, Colt had swept away the fact that this was indeed a child she was speaking to. She did not care. Anybody with that level of arrogance and motor mouth would not survive long in this world. “This’d better be some wild joke. Cause if it ain’t.”

Kypher ignored the woman and pulled out a yellow ball of playdoh, twisting it about in his fingers just to give himself something else to focus on. If Colt thought Kypher was just going to reveal his cards and tell her he had just made armed explosives then she was dumber than he’d originally suspected. Her apparent obsession with his attitude was almost as annoying as Nile’s persistence, but for some reason this particular individual thought it was a good idea to threaten his life too. It made him wonder just what exactly it was that had hit this woman in the head to make her capable of attempting to intimidate a child with violence. Crazies, madmen and sadists, the lot of them!

“So for the sole reason that you are older than me means I should spontaneously start respecting you with civility? Because you have some invisible right to talk freely and I have to bite my tongue? Don’t make me laugh, you neanderthal.”

He glared at Colt from across the room.

“If you don’t like, stop bothering me. I have more important things to be doing than to suffer interrogation from each individual in this terrible lodge.”

“It’s about bein’ a decent human being, nothin’ t’do with age, boy.” Colt growled, staying where she stood as he walked away from her, insulting her further and calling her a neanderthal. The woman at this point was fighting every fibre of her being to not grab the kid by the ear and give him the spanking of a lifetime. That’s what her grandma (God rest her soul) would do with her father and uncle, and she had been on the receiving end of one thankfully only once.

“Two things, boy. Watch who yer talkin’ to. And if ya think this lodge is “terrible” why don’tcha just leave? Nobody’s keepin’ ya here hostage, y’know. Y’can fuck off whenever you want.” She growled before grabbing the AK-47 from the armoury and, after flashing him one last glare before leaving through the back door back to Jenna. At least she could take her frustration out on the tree. Stupid kids. If he wanted to blow himself up, he could do just that. Just not in the Lodge. She didn’t want to go through that again. Why Luca allowed that little ego-maniac to stay was beyond her. She'd have to ask, regardless of her lingering animosity towards the Italian.

Good mood ruined. Stupid kid.

Mentioned: Nile Togy Luca Brax ​

 

[Brax]

Eight hours later.
3:00 AM.​

Cletus hung around the kitchen and waited until everyone had made their way to sleep or dwindled out. Then after a bit of searching, took coffee out of its plastic bin before dumping some in a bag. Soon after, Cletus lit the bag with a lighter he had taken out of his truck. The redneck then ran to Andy's room and repeatedly knocked on her door while he yelled.
¨Help, there´s an emergency out here!!¨ At the same time, Luca watched the redneck in action before opening the front door and walking out. Michael and Tre began shouting obscenities at one another in the same instant. As smoke billowed out of the kitchen sink and began to cloud the room, the argument ensuing in the living room had grew even more heated.

¨Well uhhh… Screw you buddy! I like, totally hate you now¨ The neckbeard said to Tre, never having been good insulting people other than in 4chan.

“You’re an idiot, yo! I don’t know how the hell you fuckin’ made it this far, but your daddy shoulda left you in a wrapper!” Tre retorted, balling both of his fists up as he watched Michael’s face turn red. Initially, they were supposed to be joking. While what Tre said held a bit of truth, Michael had seemingly taken it to offense.

For a moment Michael took what Tre said personally, not having been expecting such a harsh comment ¨jeez dude¨ The neckbeard whispered moments before remembering this was set-up ¨Uhh… Well, at least I ain´t following Luca´s orders like a bitch yo!¨

“I bet the underside of yo tiddies smell like moldy cheese and nacho-flavored doritos.” Tre replied, pointing at the man in response before there was a pause. Then, the teen continued once more. “You’re also followin’ Luca’s orders right now, you fuckin’ mook!”

¨First off, they aren´t tiddies, they are overinflated muscles, second of all they still must smell better than that dirty mess on your head you call dreads yo¨ then there was a pause before the teen pointed at the fact he followed Luca´s orders as well ¨Well then that just makes me the bigger bitch!¨ he said in the heat of the moment before realizing what he had just said ¨wait no...Fuck!¨ he then got even madder due to Tre´s comment of being Luca´s bitch as well, so the neckbeard slowly charged at him.

The teen watched Michael go through his progressions with pity. His facial expression reflecting his lack of enthusiasm, Tre watched the man waddle over from the other side of the room in attempts to tackle him. When Michael got close enough, the boy leaned over to the side just in time for the fat oversized baby to hit one of his legs. Due to the sheer mass of this man, the teen felt a bit of pressure on his leg. However, Michael’s consequences proved far worse.

In the last few days, Michael had fallen down more times than what he would like to admit, and if the Moose fight had not happened, this would have definitely the most embarrassing from them all. The 300-pound man then fell down with full force on top of the fold out couch inside the living room. It would have been ok if it had been unoccupied, but Ivan was there. The neckbeard quickly got up after realizing what he had just done and said ¨Ah shit, we fucked up¨

"You fucked up, you fat fuck!"

The rapping sound of someone knocking on her door, was heard over her headphones. Andy had been curled up in her arm chair, listening to music on her phone and drawing in her sketch pad when she was interrupted. At first she figured it was Luca trying to get in, but heard the voice of the redneck informing her that something was amiss. The woman flew to her feet, grabbing the first weapon in reach. With her hunting knife in her hand she unlocked the door and slung it open.

“What the fuck is going on out here?” The redhead hissed, hearing the commotion. Her eyes settled on Michael and Tre and she let out a frustrated growl and rolled her eyes. “I’m going to need you children to knock your shit off. It’s 3 am in the morning, people are sleeping and I’m uninterested in your bullshit right now.” She pointed the knife at them as she talked with her hands.

Tre raised both hands into the air as the smoke’s reach began to extend out of the kitchen. They had taken proper precautions to ensure the smoke alarms were off beforehand. The last thing that needed to happen was a zombie attack in the middle of the night. While Tre and Michael had certainly caused a ruckus, it was far more contained and short-lived than the chirping bells of the house’s security system. The teen turned his head to the kitchen before taking a deep breath.

¨So yeah, ay was tryin' ta make coffee at the same time ay were tryin' ta lit my cigarette, and one thing ended up leading ta another ayn' here we are now¨ Cletus gave his bullshit excuse as to why the bag of coffee was in flames right now ¨Ay should uhh. like open a window, so the smoke doesn´t stay inside ayn' stuff¨ Although he was a part of the plan, the redneck was not about to have the entire lodge smelling like cheap smoke.

Luca, in the meanwhile, had walked around the house to the window that separated the master bedroom from the outside. Just as Andy had begun to make herself busy tending to the others out in the living room, he placed both hands against the glass and slid it upwards. Once it was open he popped the screen out before sliding his gun butt-first onto the carpet beside his nightstand. Then he lifted himself over the edge, his hands pushing over the alarm clock and closed bottle of alcohol that had been left there. Luca had to continue sliding further over the nightstand, his hands touching the carpet before he tucked in his upper-torso and rolled up onto his feet. Despite moving as quietly as he could, there was the inevitable possibility that the small sounds he made were audible to others out in the living room.

“How the fuck do you even do something so stupid?” Andy growled, heading into the kitchen toward Cletus and his flaming coffee beans. “Only an absolute moron accidentally catches coffee on fire…”

With Cletus having successfully led Andy out, the man turned quickly. His fingers found some leverage around the edges of the wooden nightstand before pulling it over to the door. Then he left the door cracked slightly, placing the nightstand at the edge of it so that when Andy attempted to open the door, she was stopped. Luca didn’t have the intention of locking the girl out of her own room, rather he wanted to make it difficult for her to get in, much like he had experienced himself. After a quick brush of his hands, the Italian then walked to his side of the bed and plopped down onto it. With both hands resting behind his head, Luca crossed his legs at the ankles and stared at the door, waiting for Andy to come back.

Busy berating the redneck for his stupidity, she almost didn’t notice the familiar creaking of her bedroom door behind her. The girl stopped hurling insults at the man suddenly, eyes widening in recognition. It was a fucking prank.

“Put this shit out. If I find so much as a scorch mark on this kitchen I’ll be sure to dismember you in such a way that you are useless to womankind.” Andy barked at Cletus, poking him fiercely in the chest with her pointer finger. The woman stormed back to her bedroom ready to throw open the door and begin her well overdue conversation with Luca. However, the door merely sounded with a thwack as it bounced off the nightstand he had put in front of it. She poked her head in the crack to see the Italian’s handiwork and rolled her eyes, glaring at him from her position on the other side of the door.

“Really?” She asked sarcastically. The redhead then pushed the rest of her body weight against the door, shoulder pressed against the wood and felt the nightstand scrape against the hardwoods in turn. With enough space her narrow frame could slide past she entered the bedroom and slammed the door shut behind her.

"Yes."

“Did you have fun?” She asked, frustration saturating her tone. “I didn’t realize I was deserving of so much of your time and energy. I’m flattered.” But the way she spoke hinted that she was anything but. Luca had nothing to offer back but a wide smile, showing off a bit of his (semi) whites in the process.

“Yes.” He rolled over, covering himself with his part of the blanket and closing his eyes.

​

Featuring: Hyped_Taco Maj
Mentioned/Included: King Vioogra

 

[FireMaiden]

​

Location: The Jordan Lodge
Interaction: King Vioogra (Ivan) Hyped_Taco (Micheal/Cletus) Brax (Tre)
Mentioned/In The Area: Maj (Bethany/Andy) BloodThunder27 (Shinoa) shadowz1995 (Hector)
7-ish hours, plus cleaning up and making sure that Shinoa was all set on the bed with her newborn daughter in her arms, Leliana was finally able to sneak downstairs in order to get something to eat. She wasn't sure what Hector or Bethany had planned to do, or was doing currently, but Shinoa had maybe already fallen asleep. Speaking of which, Leliana maybe should find another sleeping bag or just a different room to sleep in general, Milly was probably the only one who wouldn't accidentally cause issues, since that baby would need a spot on the...what the actually shit? Halfway downstairs, with a good, almost uninterrupted line of sight to the kitchen, tired eyes fell upon Celtus, Micheal, and one of the younger newcomers she hadn't met yet. And what they were doing was well beyond anything she could think of. Celtus set fire to a bag of something, and then Micheal and that kid started fighting...Leliana just sighed, raising a hand to rub her temples. "What the hell are those idiots doing?" She muttered. It was just why? What was the point? People were trying to sleep, and if they were smart, those boys should be sleeping to. We're they trying to puss off angry drunks and the ones who knew how to shoot?

Anyway, with another exhausted sigh, Leliana just finished walking downstairs, making her way through the living room to the kitchen to just, keep watching. Micheal and the kid, wincing as Micheal tumbled over the back of the couch and falling onto the fold out right on top of Ivan. "Ouch." It was around this time Andy appeared, and Leliana had no intention of making herself known. Mostly in case she was accidentally mistaken for having a part in whatever these boys were doing. Andy was smarter than that, but who knows what people thought at 3 in the goddamned morning. There was a small fire in the sink, a poorly acted out fight by Micheal and that kid, and now Andy. Who, was also ready to castrate them by the time she was done, and storming off back to her room. Leliana yawned, stretching her arms upward as she moved from the shadows like a little blonde ghost, right past Cletus as she turned the kitchen sink's faucet on, putting out the fire. "Next time you decide to pull off some wonderful scheme like that, you may want to consider death as a wonderful alternative," She said, her voice low, tired, but very clear, "Andy will make good on that promise." With that, she went for something to eat, one of the various bags of salt and vinegar chips that Owen had gotten a few days ago. She grabbed three of those bags, and a drink before she wandered into the living room. "Micheal, take your friend and fuck off, alright? Your bedroom isn't inside, " Leliana told the two teens with a sweet smile, moving around them to get to the fold out, where Ivan was. She squatted down on the side, poking his cheek. "Ivan, Ivan, I can't tell if you're alive or not. You good buddy?" As one may be able to tell, Leliana was exhausted.