Eden Valley IC

((OOC- This is an IC area of the Board where we RP in a more traditional way.

Eden Valley is a pretty safe area, there are no zombies here and really no conflict of any sort.

Plot development will take place in the main IC thread this is kind of a side show.

That means The Eden Valley IC will sort of take place in a “perpetual now” where the latest mission posted in the main IC will (to your characters) have just occurred. This is to account for the differences in timelines that will certainly occur.

Obviously posts will be a lot shorter in the Eden Valley topic

At the moment Eden Valley is made up of Caravans an office for the site manager, a non fuctional communal shower block and a small corner shop that has been picked clean.

The perimeter is mixture of chain link fence and parked vehicles. The leader operates out of the manager’s. The shower block is used for storage, the shop as communal space out of the elements. The caravans are where most people sleep although some prefer to sleep in tents. There is continuous work going on to improve the area. ))

After the attack-

Her hands moved swiftly. She worked on bandaging the cut with as little of the gauze and tape as she could efficiently use. It hadn’t been deep enough to stitch but it certainly needed a bit of covering. Allison had gotten very good at taking care of the wounded with as little of the supplies as she could. Back in the hospital there was never any reason to be overly concerned. Now though things were different. Sure they had supplies but it didn’t mean one could just waste them.

Allison kept a keen eye on everything that came in and everything that went out. Nothing got used without her say so. Jane had made sure of that. It wasn’t that Allison was a bitch but medical supplies were precious and she was the one with the knowledge of how to use it.

“There you go. Keep it as clean as you can.”

Allison looked up at the man and shrugged. With everything that had happened keeping a bandage clean was the last thing anyone had to worry about.

She walked away, hands on her hips. It had been long night and now the sun was coming up. The true extent of the damage and destruction was becoming apparent.

When the alarm went up Allison had just finished the day’s inventory and was going to head off to do some reading. She had helped fight at first but when the first injured began appearing she turned to that role. She had seen broken bones, cuts and scrapes. One body was replaced by the next on the desk turned medical table just as outside one dead body followed another into their camp.

It would have seemed daunting, overwhelming if Allison had given herself time to think about it but she was too focused. While the yells of others went up outside Ally worked with a calm and focus that allowed her to only see one thing, the injury before her.

Now as she stood and looked outside did fear creep in. Her arms crossed her chest and she shivered. How will we recover?

“Did you hear? Jane’s dead.”

Allison turned to look at the woman. “What? Mary tell me you are kidding.”

Allison hadn’t heard anything but the groans of pain from those she had helped. She was completely unaware of everything that had gone on in the camp proper after she had started treating people. The idea that Jane was dead filled her with a sense of dread. Who is in charge? “What happened?”

Mary shrugged, “Don’t know for sure but she is dead. I just heard. everyone’s over there with Tam.”

That is where everyone went.... Only now did Ally realize that people weren’t milling about. Tam. He will tell us what to do.

“Thanks Mary.”

Ally pulled her sweater around herself as the woman walked away. Clean up, caring for injured, fix the breach.... Ally felt sick. So much to get done and there was not enough building supplies to fix everything and then there the dead. We will never get it all done. Ally shook her head. It would do no good to go down that line of thought.

She moved back inside and began cleaning up what little mess she had made while tending to the others. She also began to prep a few small first aid kits. Simple, small they would make it possible for anyone going out to treat very minor wounds quickly until they could get back to her. Ally knew they’d be sending people out. She also readied a bag for herself.

Ally was tired. She ran a hand into her hair and pulled out the elastic. The brown waves fell freely only to be scooped up once more into a messy bun. Everyone is tired.

Her hands pulled things off of shelves and out of drawers as she readied the kits.

After the Attack

Each shovelful of dirt reminded him of the events his actions had caused. His eyes fell to the bundled form that mere hours earlier had been a vibrant young woman. Yet another life ended far too soon, Karen hadn’t deserved her fate, she had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Luca kept telling himself over and over that it had been a tragic accident; though he could only hope that one day his conscience would agree.

Slowly he made progress carving out a final resting place in the frozen ground. Other Caravanners had offered to help him dig, but he had turned each away. He gave no explanation as to why he wanted to do it alone, merely telling them that it was his duty to bury her. Few people in the camp had really talked or knew Karen very well except for Luca, who had immediately befriended the woman when she had turned up at their gate one night. So they allowed Luca to dig alone and mourn her in peace.

The hours crawled by as Luca stabbed his shovel angrily into the earth. He knew it was useless to wish for a different outcome, the past could not be changed, but he still found himself replaying the scene over and over in his head. Luca feared it would stay with him for the rest of his life, just another burden of guilt amongst the numerous others that weighed heavily on his mind.

Finally satisfied with the depth of his digging, Luca dragged himself slowly out of the grave. He sat on his knees staring straight ahead, desperately hoping that he could will away the inevitable next step of his grim task. Eventually he let his eyes fall on the bundled form, he crawled closer and he felt his emotions try to break free from the prison in his mind that he had created for them. Luca’s hand brushed Karen’s shrouded shoulder and his emotions were released in a rushing torrent. Clutching the cold woman to his chest, he rocked back and forth, in between gasping sobs he whispered “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” over and over again.

Luca found himself teetering on the edge of madness, the countless tragedies in his past weighing him down and threatening to drown him entirely. Tobar, Luca’s son was what snapped him back to reality, the thought of leaving the boy alone sent a jolt through him. Luca stood up straight as a rod; he scanned his immediate surroundings to see if anyone had witnessed his near breakdown. Assured that he was indeed alone, Luca began to gently lower Karen into the freshly dug grave. Considerably more composed, the work seemed to move faster as Luca dutifully filled back in the grave with the earth that he had just taken out.

A simple wooden cross marked the final resting place of the young woman. Luca dipped his head, saying a final goodbye.

With an aching back, shoulders, and arms, Luca entered the small caravan that he shared with his son. Tobar was out with Freya, so he had the cramped place to himself. Sliding his mud caked shoes off, Luca walked to the back bedroom and reached beneath the bed, pulling out a trunk; he carefully placed it on top of his bed. The extremely detailed carving on the outside with songbirds and intertwined tree branches was one of his best pieces; he had given it to his wife as a present.

The trunk had miraculously survived the journey all the way to Eden. While Luca felt attached to the chest itself, it was the contents inside that truly mattered to him. Luca carried the key to the trunk’s heavy padlock on a thick cord around his neck. The key swung next to a gold chain that held his wedding band and his wife’s diamond ring, he had kept them close to his heart. Their cool touch reminded him of what he had lost.

Removing the key from around his neck, Luca slid it easily into the lock. He paused before opening the lid. A voice began calling his name just outside. Luca snapped the lock back into place and quickly slid the chest back under his bed. Putting the key back around his neck, he stepped out into the daylight, sparing only a single glance back before heading to the caravan office.

After the event of 'Haven a bad day' & ''Gettin' our shit back together'

Elliot had storm off to a corner of the caravan park, can't handle being around people or hearing them talk. The sound of them pissed her off. Heavy breathing and clenched fist, she looked for anything vertical, be it a wall, a tree or a caravan, she would give it a hard punch, arms raised in a fighting stance and began to repeatedly kill her knuckles against the hard surface. It was her way of venting out excessive moods or emotion that she had kept simmering inside her.

It had been a long night then day that's close to night, feeling the adrenaline still present in her veins as she made more swipes towards the metal wall in front of her. She thought about what happened that night and earlier this morning, frustrated on the situation they were in and they weren't getting anywhere. She felt anguish for those who had died recently and in the pass but the most dominant feeling she is plagued by the most is fear, which was and still is the biggest enemy of Elliot's, even before the apocalyptic nightmare had began.

The thing she feared the most though was losing her self-control, knowing what she was capable off yet not being able to stop it was terrifying to her and what's worse is that she would know she's lost her herself and not even care. It's bad enough that the environment was stressful but the her little white friend that helped keep her mellow was dwindling in numbers each day.

Gritting her teeth, Elliot gave a out a growl of anger mixed in with frustration, feeling her blood soaked clothes crackle with each movement she made, her face spotted with blood and hair dried up by the red stuff. She must've looked like hell and she doesn't even know how she got like that, one of her moment of losing control that day and hope it'll never happen anytime soon.

After-Haven: A Rough Day

They dropped off the tools and other things they found with Tam. Ally took a few basic stationery items, a few pencils, pens and a paper clips but left the rest to be handed out to those that needed them.

She managed a smile to Luca before heading back to the makeshift medical area. Ally entered, closing the door behind her. She hadn’t even looked around to see how things had gone with clean up or if the others had come back with the lumber. She was too exhausted.

Crossing the room, she moved to the small back office area where her bed waited. Stripping out of her dirty pants Ally climbed under the covers and curled herself up into a ball.

She pulled the blanket over her head and only then in the darkness did she let herself cry. The mission hadn’t gone spectacular. She had made a fool out of herself by being so jumpy and the way she had cowered against Luca did not help. Add to that hugging him and then there was Valerie.

Allison’s body shook with the heavy sobs. The woman had been nice to them, friendly and talkative. She had done her best to fight and where had it gotten her? If she couldn’t survive what hope did someone like Ally have?

If I didn’t know medicine they probably wouldn’t even let me stay.

Allison cried until her already tired body simply shut down. Emotionally and physically drained Ally slept like the dead.