"Well another thing I don't like the taste of...."
Standing and wiping the greasy remains of the small animal from his unkempt beard Thomas kicked the remains of his meal into the dwindling fire, standing and shouldering his oversized sledgehammer he did a quick survey of the horizon noting the dwindling sunset.
"Damn better hit the sack, this desserts been getting dark faster and faster."
Allocating another day of travel before he hit town Thomas hastily dragged the salvageable bits of his fire to a small natural cave.
Taking a quick swig from his flask he settled in back to the fire in order to preserve his night vision.
Feeling himself dosing off Thomas dragged himself out of the cave to stare out at the night.
A small figure was quickly moving in no particular direction that he could tell yet it was moving to fast to be one of them.
"Its not your problem lad get back inside.." no sooner had he said this then his conscience started up as it usually did. Stooping he picked up a large burning cactus husk and waved it toward the figure hoping to catch its attention.
"I hope you didn't just get yourself killed Tom....by the way stop talking to yourself." Only thing to do now was wait.

Em had been running for two days straight through this God-forsaken dessert. She was tired and almost out of water and food. She looked around and saw a glow up on a hill, it looked like a fire. She was so surprised by this that she tripped over a rock. She felt the familiar sensation of falling and rolled into a ball. She landed and with a small slap of her hands was back on her feet again. She stopped and looked at the hill again, was that a figure walking towards her? She readied her shovel wondering if it was one of the infected.

Thomas slowly started down the hill hands raised palms up in a non threatening gesture, concern played out on his face as he saw the girl trip. He started forward until she agilely jumped up shovel raised in a defensive posture.
"HEY ITS ALRIGHT IM NOT ONEA THEM!!"
Still slowly moving forward Thomas gestured toward the fire and made eating gestures, he then turned his back and slowly walked up the hill cursing himself sure he was gonna get a bullet to the back.

She didn't expect the thing to talk. She hesitated and then realized that the man wasn't infected or at least the virus wasn't showing yet. She was about to turn and run anyways when her stomach growled and she felt a sharp hunger pang. Food wasn't something she could turn down. She walked up behind the man and stayed back a ways as they marched up the hill. From what she could see so far, this man did not pose much of a threat besides his sledgehammer. She talked to the back of his head as they walked up the hill. "I don't trust you, so don't turn around or make sudden moves. I'll bash your brains in in a second if you do." She wasn't sure if she would bash his brains in, but it sounded tougher when she said that and she felt more in control of the situation. In truth she was just a scared and lost little girl with no family or home.

Settling down at the fire Thomas dragged his sledge a tad closer to him before setting out the better half of a dessert lizard on a large flat rock on the other side of the fire. Pulling one of his last eight cigar's from his case he sat back contentedly puffing until a small slip of a girl walked into the cave dragging a shovel.
Thomas couldnt contain a laugh
"Bash mah brains out will yer? BWAHAHAHA!!"
Blinking the tears out of his eyes he grinned sheepishly as the girl gnawed on the lizard, clearly not amused.

She just sat in her corner eating the lizard. Before the zombies, she would've never eaten anything like this, but over time she'd taken to eating worse and this was actually a good meal for her. She slowly ate and surveyed her surroundings. The cave was pretty small and in the back there were some supplies. The fire would keep away animals but it might do the opposite for the infected. All in all she thought it would be a safe shelter except for the man himself. He didn't seem to be all right in the head, A few zombies short of a horde. She finished the lizard and sat back for a second before saying, "Name's Em, who're you?"

"Ahm Tommy nice tah meetcha, were yah headed?"
Watching the girl eat the lizard spurred a fatherly note in Thomas's chest and he fell silent for a moment thinking of his own daughter. He liked to imagine Eva would've turned out like this lass, self sufficient and able to take care of herself.
Thas no way tah be thinkin, she could still be alive not all the kids were injected.
"Ahm headin tah Vegas sometime in the next few days, care tah join me?"
Suddenly a low moan drifted out of the desert, causing both Thomas and the girl to leap to they're feet.
The girls shovel was in her hands before he could blink and she had adopted a defensive stance placing the fire between her and the sound of the moan.
"Quick lil bugger aintcha?"
She angrily shushed Thomas as the moan steadily grew louder, a decayed bluish hand slowly forced its way into the campfires light.
"Tah hell with this."
Picking up his sledge hammer Thomas expertly swung his sledge toward the sound of the moan, a sickening thump told tale of the hit. Thomas turned his back to reassure the girl only to see her flying over his head and bringing the blade of her shovel down on the neck of the zombie.
"Ah......Uhm......Er.........good.....job?"

"Ugh, I hate these things!" Em yelled after they'd finished fighting. "They just keep becoming grosser." She threw the blade of her shovel into the fire to get rid of the infection. Then she remembered Tommy's question. "Vegas, the city of sin? With a crazy old man I just met? Don't you think there will be a horde of zombies waiting there for us? Are you purposely trying to put me in harms way?" She wasn't one for diplomacy in the best of times and right now her tone was abrasive and angry. She nearly stormed off when another moan in the distance cut her short. She stopped for a second, crouching low, then she stood back up and turned towards the man. "Fine," She said in a low voice. She needed to restock anyways. "But let's just hope you're good in an actual fight."

OOC (I hope you dont mind me using yer charachter a bit, I looked over your page and did what I could see her doing, I didnt wanna have my guy steal the spotlight while she stood around like a lump, thanks for your understanding. =D)



"Old man?" With a laugh Thomas stepped out into the night to return moments later with a large cactus, placing it in front of the cave entrance facing out it formed a crude yet usable barrier, in the very least it would stop something long enough to wake the two up.

"I aint that old, just been legally drinkin fer five years now."
Pulling himself up to his full height of a little over six feet he adopted what he imagined was a scary face and in a gutteral mocking voice added
"AND AH AINT CRAZY NEITHER!"

Searching the girls face for the barest hint of a smile Thomas found none to his dismay.
Oh what a world we live in, never though Ahd see the day when a little one wouldnt readily laugh, they grow up to fast.

Figuring he ought to elaborate his reasoning for tackling Vegas Thomas simply said,
"Yah heard o' them mass immunization clinics? I sighed me darter up when Ah scrapped together enough, worst choice Ah ever made, anyway one still exists in Vegas and thats were they took her, Ive heard not all the kids were injected so Ah aims to go in there and get her....or in the very least bury her."

Turning his back so as to hide his tears Thomas forced his shoulders from quivering because of the sobs he knew would come. Tossing the girl his bedroll he pulled his pack over to serve as a pillow before laying down back to the fire facing outside.

Life had prepared Marisa for quite a few things. Funnily enough, the zombie apocolypse was one of them.

Her parents had always maintained that she would never get anywhere whilst sitting around in her one bedroom flat watching old movies and playing video games where the single objective was to blow as many heads up as possible, and granted, Marisa still couldn't fire a gun to save her life but when everything had gone to hell and people had started using other people as appatizers, she had known what to do and what she needed.

The first thing she had done was get the hell out of Dodge as quickly as she could. She'd taken to ground and gone out into rural Nevada, after stopping off at her parents house to give them a sound and hearty chorus of 'I Told You So's' she discovered that they had drank the Kool-Aid (Well, gotten the injections) and were no longer her parents. She'd been running ever since, ducking back into towns when her supplies began to run low.

Swinging her bag around, she looked at the contents neatly packed inside. Damn, almost out of the water tablets. She'd tried drinking water with using the purification tablets first. Never again. It's why she now carried a carton of loperamide that she'd filched from a pharmacy after a raid on a town one evening. Sitting in the little crop of rocks that had been her bedroom for that night, she pulled the whetstone out of her bag and ran it across the blade of her machete. It rang with a low trill as Marisa made sure the blade was still sharp. Good. Now for another day's travel across this expansive wasteland.

*****

Night was falling and Marisa was beginning to wonder if she was going to find anywhere to sleep tonight. Her feet were tired, her arms were sore from having to swing the machete and the machete itself was a little bit more stained than it had been when she'd woken up this morning. Dragging her feet through the sand, the sun was beginning to sink lower and lower under the horizon. A glint of fire caught her attention from an outcrop that looked like it had a cave inside. Marisa swore she saw movement, but was it friendly?

Sheathing the machete on her belt, where she could get it at a moments notice, she rummaged in her bag for a shirt that had once been white, and began walking towards the cave, ever vigilant for those flesh eating bastards, waving her shirt towards the glow of the fire trying to get the attention of whoever was inside.

"Hello?? Anyone in there??"

NO DADDY NO!! DONT LET THEM TAKE ME!!!!!
Its fer yer own good love please understand...
A large smocked woman with an expression of distaste carried Evangeline towards the van that already housed most of the other children on the street.

Choking back a sob Thomas turned back to the house slamming his fist through the drywall.

******
A piercing sound woke Thomas form his nightmare, but something was wrong, he wasnt awake, the cave had become the house, the cactus the door and whoever the hell was talking was the sadistic bastard who took his baby.

(Please understand Thomas is slowly going insane due to his guilt as well as progressive alchoholism, this is sort of a "Vietnam Flashback" experience I'm not literally trying to kill you.)

Roaring Thomas lept to his feet he ran out into the night brandishing his sledge.
"GIVE HER BACK YAH BASTARDS!!!!!"
Through the red haze Thomas saw a woman waving one of those goddamn smocks.
Pointing at her Thomas screamed
"YOU GIVE ME MAH DAUGHTER NOW!"

The woman quickly jerked something from her belt causing Thomas to leap forward, unluckily he tripped over the cactus he had placed earlier and conked himself on the head on his way down.
YAH TRIPPED???? SERIOUSLY?????
Yea its time to stop drinkin
And then there was nothing.

Marisa was watching the cave intently as a man with a remarkably scraggly beard came out towards her. She stuffed the shirt back into her bag ready to introduce herself when he began screaming something about his daughter and wanting her back. Daughter? What the hell? Was he Harrison Ford? The only reason she knew he wasn't one of the undead was the fact that he was still talking. But still, he was posing a threat and hey, beggars can't be choosers. She wrenched the machete from her belt, ready to take a limb if he tried anything when he tripped over a cactus that had been placed over the entrance of the the cave and smacked his head on the rocks.

In any other situation, Marisa would have found that hilarious.

Sighing, she wandered over to his prone form, keeping her machete at her side ever ready to slice and dice if she needed to. Approaching him lying on the ground, she nudged him with her foot a few times, peering into the darkness of the cave.

"Oi....Redneck....You awake??"

She poked him a few more times with the toe of her boot before taking a step away from him in case he leapt up, her ears still listening out in case any undead decided to come and chew on them.

Em had been sleeping, but fitfully. The sight of a grown man crying had really jarred her and she'd had trouble keeping tears from her own eyes. She was not having dreams like the 'old man.' Instead, she tossed and turned, passing from sleep to being half-awake. She had heard the woman coming up the hill. She had readied herself to fight a horde of the undead when she heard "Hello? Anyone in there?"

The woman's appearance surprised her so much that she'd had no time to react when the man screamed and tripped over the rock. She snickered as the man went to sleep and poked her head out of the cave. "I see you met my...friend." She looked the older woman up and down for a second. Then she just stared at her for a while before breaking her own silence with,"How's it hangin'?"

Marisa looked up from the sleeping, (or was he unconcious?) form of the crazy bearded redneck guy to the young girl standing in the mouth of the cave. She blinked once more, looking from him to her and back again.

"You ain't his daughter are you?"

She sheathed her machete once more, her left hand never leaving the handle of it as she relaxed a little.

"It's hanging pretty well. Or as well as it can when your livin' in the desert scavenging supplies from pokey little towns and drinking water from....well....you don't want to know where..."

She dumped her bag on the floor and rummaged about inside, pulling out a small silver foil packet, one of the few precious ones she kept for special occasions. Meeting other people, no matter how crazy, was a special occasion. She held the packet out to the young girl.

"Oreo?"

Waking up groggily Thomas rubbed his eyes and with a grunt hauled his not inconsiderable girth up off the floor, swaying he managed to keep upright.

"The hell happened?"

Ahm tired o' alla these damned cactususes, needs some good pine out here and a river or two wouldn't hurt neither, Ahm starting tah miss Oregon, soons Ah get mah Eva back Ahm never leavin.

Swooning Tom shuffled back to the cave dragging his sledge. With a start he was taken aback by the strange woman sitting next to Em. His eyes traveled back and forth between the two.

"What are yah breedin now?....them Oreos?"

Tom was beginning to like this new person, or mebbe it was just the Oreos.

Munching happily on one of her precious Oreos, Marisa watched carefully as the perculiar man dragged himself to his feet.

"We ain't breeding. I'm the person you just ran at screaming about wanting your daughter back."

She took another bite of an Oreo, savouring the flavour, damn it had been a while.

"Then you went and tripped on that cactus and bonked your head. I came up here and met this girl and offered her cookies. Seemed the right thing to do."

She stopped speaking holding one of the silver packets out to him. Hell, she decided, he bonked his head and was obviously distressed, he clearly needed sugar of some sort.

"I'm Marisa. Marisa Rosengren. Pleasure to meet you, even if you did come after me with a sledge."

Gently taking the packet from the woman Thomas mumbled his thanks and sat down near the caves entrance.
"Ahm sorry about that sometimes Ah wake up thinkin its happenin all over again, Ah sighned me darter Eva up fer them immunizations, it was the last thing my wife wanted."

Thomas fell silent for a moment.

"Anyway thats why Ahm here to try and get her back, the chitlin over there happened by a few hours before you did,
Names Thomas, Thomas MacGruddy, cept you can call me Tom cause yer kinda pretty....damn whats it take tah get a laugh around here? Yah act like Ah just tried tah.....oh.....yea....once again Ahm sorry."

Marisa watched as he sat himself down with the cookies and explained his situation, then introduced himself.

"Well, like I said Tom it's still a pleasure to meet you. And apology accepted, I'm just glad for once I wasn't being attacked by something that wanted to take a bite out of my butt."

She finished her last cookie and dusted her hands off, reaching into her bag for her canteen of water, giving it a shake. Still half full. Good. Popping the top, she took a mouthful and then slid it back into the bag. The bag was decorated with the kind of patches you find in tourist shops, "I ♥ Las Vegas" and all that jazz. It was also remarkably travel stained and had been sewn up more times than Marisa could remember. But she loved the thing, it was her security blanket now.

"Where you out here from Tom? You heading up to Vegas?"

She stretched out a little, leaning against her bag as she relaxed properly for the first time in a few weeks.

"Well Ahm from Oregon, were known fer salmon, flowers and alchoholics."

Almost as to prove his point he pulled a flask from his pocket and took a deep draft, almost offering the flask to Marissa he reconsidered as she didn't seem the type. However who knows? Hell everybody should have a drink nowadays and Tom wasn't one to be stingy. Noticing Marissa's bag Thomas assumed she worked in a casino before the outbreak, she could be a valuable guide.

"Aye Ah think Vegas is the way to go, If ah knows were Ah am then were about sixty miles outside of Pahrump Nevada. Its a trek through the mountains n' we can be to the outskirts of Vegas in a few weeks, although we could take the roads but it'd be a hell of alot more dangerous."

Motioning toward Emily Tom whispered,
"An between you 'n me Ah dont relish the idea of gettin the chitlin hurt."

Scratching at his beard Tom said
"Thats assumin o' course you care tah join us, Ahm lookin tah head out at dawn, in case yah havent noticed ah needs a shave.

Almost draining the rest of his flask he quickly added
"And a refill."

As soon as the adults had started to talk, Em had remained silent. She ate a few Oreos before setting the silvery bag into her backpack. She had never liked the company of adults because they always ignored her. Neither of these two had even asked where she came from-not that she knew-but it wold have been nice to be acknowledged. She hadn't realized that she'd crossed into the Mojave until Tommy had told her of his intentions to head to Vegas. She stood up, she had learned how to get enough rest so that she could almost constantly be on the move. She had never stayed in any place for longer than a few hours.

"Maybe we should go, I don't like the sound of those moans in the distance." She had never been a very calm girl, but the apocalypse had made her twitchy and on constant alert. She looked at the two, wondering if she should just leave them.

Looking over at Emily, Thomas nodded.
"The lass is right itl be daylight in a few hours, bes' be headin out befer it gets to hot."

Standing and popping his back Thomas buckled on his tool belt and bedroll then shouldered his sledge.
Watching Emily and Marisa pack Thomas stretched his hand out to Emily non verbally offering to carry her pack.

Hope she dosen't feel unwanted, its nice to be useful again.

Em shook her head at the outstretched hand. It was one thing to accept food from someone, quite another to hand over your only possessions. Even if it was a sign of good faith, Em didn't feel trusting enough of Tom. She hadn't taken anything out of her bag so she simply put it on her back and moved the cactus out of the way so no one would trip over it again. Then she waited for the others to finish before following Tom along the route that he had told them about.

Stepping carefully forward
Thomas took a moment to survey his surroundings before crouching and inspecting the corpse of the undead Emily had disposed of the night before.
It seemed to be a trucker, crossing himself Tom rifled his pockets before coming across a small cardsized map of the mojave. "Now aint that a kick in the head?"

Reila walked alone holding her violin case in front of her looking around being very cautious and calm. A undead creature ran toward her and she swung her case hitting it with the edge of it with enough for to smash in a living humans skull. She then spin kicked one that had been creeping up behind her. She frowned slightly. "Was I making too much noise...." She mumbled to herself and kept walking forward making sure each step was quiet and not stepping on anything that would snap. There was a small puppy in her backpack looking out it then hiding back in the depths of her bag for safety. She smiled softly. "It's okay Demon we'll be okay, I hope...." She mumbled softly trying to find a safe area to rest for a bit.

"You got a map?" Em asked as she watched Tom. When he nodded she smiled, she hadn't seen a map in a long time. Things seemed to be looking up for her now, she had people watching her back, she had food and some water, and now she had a place to go even if it was zombie infected.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts and turned to Tom, "So are we going or what?"