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Aru Fuujinn

{The silent one}

0 · 450 views · located in Post Apocalyptic Earth

a character in “Uninfected”, as played by FaddedFox

Description

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NAME
Aru Fuujinn

NICKNAMES
Ru | by friends and acquaintances | very often | likes
Shadow | by Friends and acquaintances | varied | likes as code name
AGE
seventeen

GENDER
Male

SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Homosexual

ABILITIES
Erebokinesis | The ability to manipulate the shadows around him. This translate to being able to make himself less noticeable in the dark and blend into the shadows. In the middle of the day, this doesn't work as well unless he is indoors or in a heavily tree dense area. At night, he can become practically invisible which helps when running away from humans, but his scent could still draw the infected. He can also pull the shadows away from areas to reveal something that is hidden.

Advanced Hearing | Aru is able to pick up sounds in the distance and distinguish the source. This is limited by how much other noise is going on around him at the time.



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"In a world of vanishing acts, the power to reveal or hide can make a difference."

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HEIGHT
5'7

WEIGHT
155 lbs

HAIR
Aru has the traditional black silky strands. It cuts off at the nape of his neck but he tends to like growing out his bangs and often has them long enough just to brush his eyes. He parts it to one side for visibility but the wayward strands often find their way back in his face.

EYES
Aru sports almond shaped orbs a dark mocha in appearance and are almost black depending on the light.

APPEARANCE
Aru is not the strongest and he certainly doesn't look at all intimidating. His features are angular with a boyish touch making him look young as his age would imply and his feminine lips and lean frame don't add much to help him. Aru is athletic however and he is quick on his feet to counterbalance the lack of bulk and he isn't a pushover. And though the world has gone to shit, he still tries to look somewhat civil and clean. He can't stand not being hygienic considering other diseases and infections that could spread in filth. Aru is always on the look out for suitable clothes that may come in handy later. And even if it is hot, Aru can often be seen wearing a jacket; just in case he'll need one later and would rather not carry it or stuff his bag with bulky clothing if he can help it.

Markings
Aru doesn't have many scars, just a few scratches on his arms where a tree limb may have gotten him leaving thin lines as reminders. The young man does however, have tattoos. On his right shoulder and extending half way across his black, is a sketch of a raven in flight that his lover had sketched and Aru was obsessed with. The raven's right wing extends partially onto his chest.

Aru sports a second tattoo on his left arm of the solar system's rotation. They are the last things he has of his lover and he cherishes them dearly. And it is the only form of artwork he can carry with him since it would be far too risky and stupid to try and carry actual art with him.



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"This is a hopeless situation. There is no 'happy end', just survival."

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Introverted | Realistic | Loyal | Shy

Aru is a generally shy person. He likes quiet things such as reading and being home alone to enjoy art. This doesn't mean he can't be social, but on a general basis he is on the quiet side and doesn't like to get involved in arguments. Around people he doesn't know, he doesn't speak much and speaks little even when prompted. This may make him seem aloof or stuck up, but really, he is just self conscious and doesn't want to say something that may get on someone's nerves or make a situation worse. Plus, he learned early on that some people just assume stereotypes and doesn't feel confident enough to open up and share his thoughts. With friends however, Aru always has a smile on his face and likes to join in conversations.

He is also a very loyal person and doesn't give up on people. He will do anything he can to aid his friends and those that have helped him. He won't leave anyone behind and though reserved and shy in the social arena, he does not shy away from an actual fight. He will stand up for his friends and will jump in the fray of zombies to save people. He should be more afraid for his life but in his mind, the lives of others are just as important or more important than his own. He is selfless by upbringing and has no qualms about bravery.

And Aru is also quite realistic, bordering on pessimistic. Aru makes decisions based on what he sees, not by what he hopes to see. The world is a dark place and there is no reason why he should sugar coat it. On the outside he can be quite the downer but he is just calling it what it is. Beneath it all however, he does like sweet things and people. He is a romantic though he doesn't often let that side of him show anymore. He has buried it and often wonders if people being sweet to him are really just trying to get something out of him.

LIKES
Art | Though he isn't much of an artist, Aru loves paintings, sketches, and body art.
Music | Music is the beat of life. His parents had him take piano lessons and he has come to love it though he doesn't get the chance to play considering the circumstances.
Pillows | It may sound weird, but Aru loves pillows. They are soft and comfortable. He misses having them.

DISLIKES
Selfish people | He can understand the mentality but he hates people who think this way. People working together would have a better chance of surviving this hell.
Guns | They are loud. He hated them before but with his ability, the bang is almost deafening and leave his ears ringing so he can't pick up the sounds he is looking for. And it attracts too much attention.
Hot food | He doesn't have much tolerance for spicy food and it often makes him very sick, besides very, very red.

FEARS
Suffocation | He has a huge fear of dying by suffocation.
Being Eaten | Considering the world he is currently living in, it is not a strange thing to be afraid of.
Claustrophobic | There is less room to maneuver and get out. He fears being trapped anywhere.



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HISTORY
Before the infection spread, he was the average high school kid. His parents were hoping to have a well-rounded child and tried to give him various kinds of experiences. From a young age, he had been given piano lessons and archery. His mother had plans for her son so she home schooled him for most of his education. He liked reading and private study and his mother always made the lessons fun so he never much minded being home schooled. He was a quiet kid though and his lack of school friends were a bit isolating. He did end up with two very close friends though; Marianne and Kyle Colleen. Kyle was 2 years older than Aru and Marianne was Kyle's mother though considering how often Aru was at their house, he dubbed her his 'second mother'.

Kyle was an artist and that immediately drew Aru to him and the two often spent a lot of time together. Over the years, Kyle grew in his ability and picked up body art. Much to Aru's parents chagrin, the two became a couple and Kyle drew some of his art on Aru. Kyle was rather supportive of Kyle and was a good influence on him, often encouraging him to continue school and go for his dream to become a pianist. The two worked well together but the good times were coming to an end. Kyle had gone out one evening to an art gallery that was out of town. The night he was supposed to return, a truck driver struck his car and Kyle ween careening off a cliff. The truck driver was saved. Kyle was not.

Upon hearing the news, Aru and and Marianne supported each other through this hard time. And now, a year later, the two are still close and Aru continues to go over to Marianne's house to fill her life with a bit of sunshine and allows her to mother him now and again. Aru honors his lover's memory and wears the tattoos the other boy gave him and often spends time looking at his drawings and paintings.



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WEAPONS
Bow and arrow | They are silent projectiles. What is not to like? He uses the shadows to his advantage so a bow and arrow suit him well. He can sharpen wood into arrows so he doesn't have to worry about buying ammo and they don't attract a lot of attention.

Dagger | He does have a dagger that was given to him as a gift and he uses it mostly to sharpen wood for more ammo. He would prefer not to use it in a real battle though. He is not that skilled with it yet.



HEXCODE0 #8E388E 00|00 FACECLAIM0 Yuya Matsushita 00|00 CREATOR0 FaddedFox

So begins...

Aru Fuujinn's Story

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Mika Blackfoot Character Portrait: Beatrice Folley Character Portrait: Jolene Carter Character Portrait: Matthew Vernon Character Portrait: Thane Rutherford Character Portrait: Jed Carter
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

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#, as written by mjolnir
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JED CARTER
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Intangibility & X-ray Vision
#837A23 | Outfit
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SALVATORE DE LUCA
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Superhuman Agility, Endurance & Strength
#678773 | Outfit
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JOLENE CARTER
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Ergokinesis & Telepathy
#72B0B4 | Outfit




PRE-INFECTION
The sound of the alarm blared in Jolene’s ear. She groaned as she slammed her hand all over her nightstand, missing the damned noise maker each time. After the seventh try she grabbed her spare pillow and pressed it around her head as she cocooned back under the blankets. She knew she had work soon or else the alarm wouldn’t be shouting its blood curdling wail right in her ear. But did she care about going to work? No.

Jed was already awake, dressed and nearly on his way out of the apartment when he heard the struggle with the clock going on down in his sister’s room. He sighed, setting his crossbow down on the couch before trudging down the hallway towards the bathroom. Before going straight to Jo, he bee lined for the medicine cabinet. He grabbed two pills from her prescribed pill bottle and a glass of water.

He then headed towards her bedroom, throwing the bedroom door open with a single good bump of his hip. “Get up you lazy ass.”

Jo groaned. “I can’t hear you… There’s an odd buzzing in my ear,” she said with dry sarcasm.

Jed rolled his eyes, before walking over to her nightstand, switching off the clock. “Get up before I get you up.”

She sighed, rolling over in her bed before sitting up. Her short dark hair standing up in every which way except for the right way. “Why do I have to?”

He took her hand, setting the pills into the palm before holding out the glass of water towards her. “Because you need to go make money.”

She blew air out her lips before taking her medicine. “I don’t see you going to work.”

“It’s Saturday. Shop’s closed.”

“I knew that.” Jo said while rubbing her eyes.

“Go to work Axe.” Jed walked towards her door, stopping just before he passed the threshold. “Shower first though. You smell worse than Ms. Bernice on litter box day.”

“Please. I don’t smell–” She turned her nose towards her armpit and took a big whiff. “Yeah, yeah, fine.”

Jed smirked before heading back towards the living room. He snatched up his crossbow and duffel bag full of all his hunting gear. “I’ll be with Wyatt. I should be back before you’re home from work but if I’m not I’ll be down by the crick.” He gave Jo a quick two finger salute before exiting their apartment and heading out to his old Ford pickup.

It took Jolene longer than it should to shuffle her butt into the shower, clean herself decently enough and then climb back out. She truly detested her job, and in a town like Mullen there wasn’t much in the offering of jobs. Getting ready and going to work was like pulling teeth. She wasn’t as lucky as Jed who had a good set of skills to get him a fairly decent job. No one in town wanted her working for them because of her “instability.”

Mr. Johnson knew her father and were really good friends long before Jed or Jolene were a sparkle in their parents’ eyes. It was probably only because of that that Jo was able to get a job at his hardware store. It wasn’t glamorous and didn’t pay very well. But it got her out of the house. Since she’s been there her conditions gotten better. Only on a couple occasions of customers knocking over the shovels has she had a serious melt down.

Maybe it wasn’t so much her job she hated but the looks she got from the people who came in there to shop. Her and Jed were definitely some of the more talked about it town. Probably why they both worked so hard to save money and get out of there. This is at least what she told herself everyday as she dragged herself through the ritual of getting ready.

Once she was groomed and decently enough dressed, Jolene headed out of her place and down the street towards the hardware store. It only took her a whopping two minutes to get to work and assume her post. Saturdays were particularly slow, so when no one was in the store Jo tended to read to pass the time. The poison of the day was The Iliad.

***

A few hours had passed since Jed and Wyatt got themselves deep in the woods around the outskirts of town. So far as the day had gone neither one of them had got anything. They spent most of their time bullshitting and smoking up half of their cigarettes.

Jed was about to suggest wrapping it up and calling it a day when they heard a rustle in the woods several feet away. Wyatt grinned, tapping his nose with his index finger. A silent gesture the pair made up years ago to call dibs on prey. Jed sighed, deciding to light another cigarette and lean back against an adjacent tree as his friend disappeared into the brush after the noise.

He quickly lost track of time at how long his friend had been gone… ten, fifteen minutes? At least enough time to make Jed start to worry. He didn’t want to make a bunch of noise and potentially scare off their only prey all day, so instead of calling out he held his crossbow at the ready and headed in the direction his friend disappeared in.

Jed quietly followed his friends trail. He wasn’t particularly worried until he saw Wyatt’s hunting knife laying on the ground, the blade covered in blood. Not wasting anymore time, Jed called out, “Wyatt!?”

His pace quickened as he continued to follow the trail of not one but two sets of foot prints now and blood. Jed cursed at himself for waiting too long before chasing after Wyatt. “Dammit man where are you?” he mumbled to himself before calling out once again, “Wyatt?!”

By the time Jed reached the creek the trail had disappeared and he was left just staring in all directions without a sign or clue. “Man if you’re pulling a prank on me I swear to God I’ll kick your mother fucking ass when I find you!” He shouted out towards the forest.

Not trying to let himself get too worried, he placed the strap of his crossbow over his head before deciding to head back to his truck. Although he was becoming more and more certain that this was just some shitty trick, he couldn’t help still look around, hoping to see Wyatt tucked behind a tree or something.

Jed’s pace slowed as his truck came into view along with a person seeming to be hidden behind the truck bed. “I see you ya fucking prick! Have fun walking your ass home!” He tossed his crossbow into the passenger seat of the truck. He sighed before walking around towards the back of the truck, “Dude stop with the damn games I’m tired of your sh—”

Jed nearly fell as he stumbled backwards at the sight of Wyatt on the ground soaked in his own blood. His throat looked like it had been torn open by some sort of wild animal, the wound too rigid to be created by a weapon. His hands were trembling as quickly fell to his knees beside his friend, pressing his hands to the gash in his throat. He tried with everything he had to stop the bleeding but deep down he knew it was too late.

Before he had a chance to even shed a tear a strange and inhuman snarl caught his attention. Just as he looked over his shoulder a blood covered man with flesh falling from his face sprinted out from the forest towards him. “Shit! Shit!” Jed didn’t have a chance to stand up before they reached him. He put up his hands to barely catch the person by their chest as they growled and reached for him vigorously. With a swift shove he threw them from him and scrambled to his feet.

“Hey man… You’re not in your right mind. Just… Just calm down. I can take you to the hospital, get you some help.” Jed said as he backed away, holding his hands up in a surrendering manner. But the person didn’t hesitate to get back up and dash towards him.

“Fuck.” Jed ran around his truck and hurdled over the truck. He quickly pivoted on his heels, reaching in through the open passenger side window to grab his crossbow. Just as he grasped the stock he felt a sharp pain flare in his right shoulder.

“Ahhh!” He glanced over to see the thing hungrily chomping at his deltoid. Jed threw his elbow back into its head before spinning around with weapon in hand. Without hesitation he pulled the trigger, lodging an arrow right through its eye. The… thing fell to the ground with a thud.

Jed leaned back against the passenger side door, his hands shaking more furiously than before as he tried to catch his breath. As he pealed back his torn shirt to look at the bite another snarl came from the woods. He tried to pull back the bow string to nock another arrow but the pain in his shoulder quickly flared up making it harder for him to exert any strength with his right arm.

Just he pulled out his hunting knife and turned towards the rustling branches, he saw Gunner Jackson sprint out of the woods towards him. “Jed! Run! They’re coming!”

His brows furrowed and just as he was about to ask what was coming, another crazed person busted out of the tree line behind Gunner, getting it clutches on him and digging its teeth deep into his neck. His blood curdling screams echoed through the forest. Jed prepared to take on another one of… Well whatever it was but it looked up and saw him standing there another five came barreling out after it, the growling sending the hair on the back of his neck straight up.

“Fuck this.” Jed quickly opened the passenger side door, climbing in and closing it as quickly as possible. Although it killed the bite in his shoulder he rolled up his window as fast as he could manage, getting it closed just as the first one slammed into the door. He slid down the bench seat while his hand trembled as it searched his pocket for the keys. Jed nearly dropped them on the floor when he found them and tried to stick them in the ignition. Without wasting a second he put the truck into drive and floored it, not giving two minds to the things he ran over as he sped out of there.

***

Jolene was nearly finished with her book by midday without a single customer stepping into the store. No surprise there but Mr. Johnson always wanted the store open in case anyone needed something. Not like they couldn’t call him up and ask him to open up. But Jo didn’t mind getting paid to sit around and do nothing.

So it was safe to say she was a bit surprised when she heard the bell ring indicating that someone had entered the store. The smell reached her nose before she had the chance to glance up. “Hello Ms. Bernice what is it this week?” Jo turned the page in her book, not caring to look up. “You know if you’d just call Mr. Johnson either him, his son or I could come over and take care of whatever is wrong. Then you wouldn’t have to keep coming in here every day.”

Ms. Bernice didn’t say anything, just snarled in a deep and quite frankly, disgusting way. “There is no need to get sassy with me ma’am. It is you who keeps spending all your money on the wrong things. I’m just trying to—” Jolene glanced up from her book, stopping mid-sentence as her jaw dropped. Whoever it was, it wasn’t Ms. Bernice. They stood there in the entrance just staring at her as blood and whatever else kind of excrement dripped from its mouth.

“Uh… Excuse me? Do you need help?” Jo set down her book and walked around the counter, heading towards the young woman. “I can call the Sheriff if you—” Then in the blink of an eye the estranged woman sprinted towards her. She didn’t have a clue what the woman was doing but she sure as hell wasn’t going to stick around to find out.

Jolene ran down the aisle, grabbing on a shelf, using it to whip herself around and run down another. She kept swerve and zig zagging through the aisles but the strange woman wasn’t far behind. She turned down another aisle coming to the tool section. Jo grabbed the first thing her eyes locked out, a crowbar hanging on a peg hook. She gripped it in her hand like a baseball bat as she turned to face the woman.

“Don’t you come any closer!” Her hands shook so much she could barely grip the iron. Her breathing grew uneasy as she felt an attack creeping up her body and scratching at her brain. She had to keep it together. She can’t melt down now. “Leave now… And I won’t call the cops. Ok?” She pointed the hook of the crowbar at the woman.

But almost as if taking it as an invitation the oozing woman ran for her. When she got within round house range, Jolene slammed the crowbar into the stranger’s gut, sending her back into a shelf and knocking it over. She quickly backed up until she bumped into a shelf, her eyes fixed on the woman.

“Stay down.” Her hand fumbled around for her phone, but before she could get it out the woman was back on her feet and coming for her. Jo sprinted down the aisle, turning left at the first opening but then waited just out of site with the heavy iron still in hand. When she heard the woman nearly about to turn the corner, she swung the crowbar at her, this time slamming her right in the temple.

The woman stumbled over into another shelf, nearly knocking it over but then regained its footing and came at Jo. “What are you? The Terminator?” This time Jolene had no choice but to make her swing count, aiming the hooked end right at the side of her head. She lodged it in her brain which made the woman’s body go limp and fall to the ground, nearly taking Jo over with her.

Jolene’s began to hyperventilate as her shaking hands dislodged the crowbar from the lifeless skull. With jello knees, she made her way towards the entrance of the store, gripping the crowbar like she was in the major leagues. She looked out the window of the door seeing people running down the street screaming as more crazed people oozing and indestructible chased after them. She gasped quickly spinning around so her back was pressed to the wall beside the door, gripping tight to the shaft of the crowbar.

The bell to the entrance dinged and instincts kicked in. Jolene swung the crowbar at head level hoping to catch one as they entered. Jed’s hand barely was fast enough to catch the hook before it made a home in his face, “Jesus Jolene… Check before you try killin’ people.”

Her eyes widened when she saw her brother, “Jed… Oh my god this wo—”

Jed cut her off, grabbing her by the arm. “No time. We gotta go.” He let her take back the crowbar so he could hold his bow at the ready, wincing slightly as the butt pressed against his wounded shoulder.

“What happened?” Jo grabbed his good shoulder, turning him towards her.

“One of them bit me. I’ll be fine. Come on.” He motioned for her to followed as he ducked out of the store. He ran towards his truck looking down the sights, ready to shoot anything that came close to them.

They were nearly to the truck when Jolene saw at least a dozen of them running at them from an alleyway behind the truck. “Jed…”

“Run!” He called over his shoulder to her. She slid the crowbar through her belt loop before running as hard and fast as she could to the truck. Jed was in the driver’s seat and starting the engine as Jo reached the truck. She couldn’t risk running around to the passenger side and getting in, so instead she stepped up on the bumper of the truck and climbed into the bed.

Just as she was nearly in, one reached the back of the truck grabbing hold of her leg and sinking its teeth into her thigh. “Jed! Go!” She fell back into the bed, using her unharmed leg to kick it in the head so hard that their neck snapped and they collapsed to the ground as Jed sped away.

Jed quickly opened the window that lead to the bed of the truck. “Hey! Are you alright!?”

“That bitch bit me!” Jolene put pressure on the bite, wincing at how tender it already was.

“Jolene Axel are you ok?!” He asked again looking back at her.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” She looked towards him. “Jed look out!” Jo pointed forward where numerous cars sat unoccupied, half smoking in the middle of the road. Jed didn’t have time to react before the truck crashed into one of the idle cars. The airbag deployed against his face while Jolene was sent forward, slamming into the back window of the truck with a loud thud.

It took a few moments for Jed to shake off the effects of the airbag, the taste of iron spilling into his mouth from a bloody nose and split lip. He raised his hand to wipe away some of the blood before stumbling out of the truck. “Axe?... Jolene!?”

Jo was dazed, a gash in her forehead dripped blood down across her brow. “I’m ok…” She coughed.

“Come on.” He nearly pulled her from the back of the truck. Jed went to put her arm over his shoulders but winced when she touched his bite.

“I can walk.”

He didn’t have to look behind him to know they were coming. He could hear their growls and snarls. “We gotta go…” He looked around trying to find answers but was coming up short.

“This way, come on.” Jolene grabbed her crowbar and ran, slower than before, towards the police department on the corner.

“Jo?”

“Trust me.” Just as she nearly reached the door, a former cop came running out. Jo barely had enough time to slam the crowbar into its head, sending it to the ground. Once down, she continued to beat its skull until it was a pile of mush. She pushed her way into the police station. It didn’t look anyone had been in there since probably everyone in town started calling 911 about the lunatics running around.

Jed hurried her in, glancing back over his shoulder to see them closing in. “What now?”

Jo rubbed her temple, her brain was becoming fuzzy. She couldn’t tell if it was because an attack was creeping up on her or what. “I…”

“Jo…”

“Let me think.”

“Jolene!?”

They busted through the door, charging towards them. Jed, making a quick decision, pushed Jo towards and into the prison cell, quickly following after her. Once inside, he slammed in shut and stumbled back to be out of reach of the hands that reached through the bars towards them.

“Now what?” Jo looked towards her brother who doubled over and fell to his knees. “Jed!”

Jolene tried to move quickly to his side but ended up falling to her knees beside. She blinked her eyes as her vision started going black. “Jed…? J…ed…” Her eyes rolled back and she fell unconscious beside her brother.


POST-INFECTION
Jed eyes slowly blinked as he became conscious. He rose a hand to rub his eyes, wincing when he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He glanced over at it seeing it gnarled and torn but his brain started to hurt when he tried to remember how he got it. He looked around as he tried to get his bearings.

It didn’t take long for him to notice he was in a jail cell with the iron bars prominently keeping him locked where ever he is. He went to curse under his breath until he saw a woman unconscious on the ground beside him. His brows furrowed as he tried to recall if he knew her or not.

Just as he reached out his hand to try and wake her, she coughed before sitting up quickly, smacking away his hand. “Watch your paws buddy.”

“Sorry… I was just seeing if you were… Alive.”

“Why the hell wouldn’t I be?” Jo asked, shifting so that she was sitting up. The bite on her leg dragged on the ground causing her to curse, “Damn… What the hell?” She looked over the wound confused. “What happened to me?”

“I don’t know.” Jed shook his head. “…Who are you?”

“I’m…” Jolene’s face scrunched up as she tried to remember her name. “I don’t know. Who are you?”

Jed parted his lips to speak but found no words to say. He just sat there frozen for a long moment. Then an idea struck him. He searched his pockets until he found his wallet. He opened it and read over his I.D. “Jedidiah Carter.”

Jo’s hands patted all over her clothing finding no wallet and she definitely didn’t see a purse. Although something in her gut told her she never carried one of those stupid things anyways. She scratched at her neck when she felt a chain. Her fingers followed it to a pair of dog tags that rested against her chest. Her lips pursed as she read the name, “Jolene Carter.”

They both sat there staring at their single forms of identification and each other. Somehow they were related or something but yet their faces were new to one another.

Jo was the first to break the eye contact to look around. There were obvious signs of a struggle that went down outside the cell. There was blood dried on the iron bars and she thought she could see feet of a corpse over by the entrance but no sign of anyone else in there. She clicked her tongue to the roof of her mouth as she stood up. “How d’ya think we’ll get out of here?” Her hand reached out to touch the iron bars, but when her skin met the metal a spark shot from her fingers causing her to jump slightly, rubbing her hands together. Hoping the static electricity was gone, she grabbed the bars, looking around outside the cell to see if there was anything of use.

Jed didn’t say anything as he moved to his feet but thought of how a key would be an obvious way out.

“Well do you have one on you?” Jolene asked.

“Have one what?”

“A key?” She looked over her shoulder at him like he was stupid. “You said it’d be the obvious way out so I assume you have one on you right?”

“I didn’t say that…”

“Yeah you did…”

Jed shook his head, waving off the weird situation as he walked towards the bars to look around. After a moment or two his eyes settled on a set of keys on top of a desk. “There.”

“Great. Now just shimmy through the bars and go get it.”

“You’re smaller than I am.”

Jolene sighed. She was able to get a leg through but once she got to her hips she couldn’t squeeze no matter how hard she tried. “Dammit.” She slammed her hands on the bars causing another spark which made her squeal slightly. “What the—”

Jed’s eyes widened slightly at the sparks that flew from her hands. But he pretended not to notice as he tried to think of a way to get the keys. He sighed and went to rest his forehead on the bar. But instead of being stopped by the cold metal, his head passed right through it causing him to stumble forward until his hands reached out to catch himself against the desk.

“What the— How’d you just do that?” Jolene pressed her forehead against the bars trying to follow after him, even giving a little less than gentle knocks of her head against them.

“I–I don’t know.” He held up his hands staring at them confused. He reached over and grabbed the keys, his hand tangibly grasping them. Maybe they were on some seriously good drug trip? He had no clue, but he didn’t stand around thinking on it and instead went to the cell and unlocked it.

Jolene grabbed the crossbow that was on the ground and held it out towards him, “Don’t forget your weapon Casper.”

Jed took the bow and headed towards the door, his pace slowing as he got sight of dead bodies scattered throughout the street. “…What happened?”

“Ummm…” Jolene looked between Jed and the wall he was staring at. On the wall was a cork board with bulletins. “Mrs. Nebraska is coming to Mullen for the county fair? Or Deputy Peterson got employee of the month?”

“What?... No. Out on the street?”

“I don’t know… I’d need to see it.” Jo watched Jed curiously because he was acting like he was a few French fries short of a happy meal. She didn’t hesitate to walk right out the entrance onto the sidewalk. She stopped dead in her tracks as her jaw dropped in complete shock.

Too surprised at her surroundings, Jolene didn’t see the estranged person that emerged from around the corner and sprinted towards her. Jed was just fast enough to pull out his hunting knife and slam it into the forehead of the person.

Jo turned around to make eye contact with them as they growled at her before collapsing to the ground. She gasped, stumbling backwards. “What the fuck was that?!”

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Character Portrait: Marianne Colleen Character Portrait: Aru Fuujinn
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ARU FUUJINN
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Erebokinesis & Advanced Hearing
#8E388E | Outfit
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MARIANNE COLLEEN

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Hydrokinesis & Hind Sight
#FF92BB | Outfit




Pre-Infection

Marianne was applying the last of her makeup when she heard the familiar rat-a-tat-a-tat that signified that Aru had arrived. Marianne smiled to herself. Aru really was like her son and she was happy that he included her in his life. He didn't have to come by here and have a meal with her. He was a sweet kid and there were times where she wondered if he came by out of pity or if he really saw her as a mother to. Regardless, she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. The blond set her make up down and hurried down the stairs of her quaint little home and opened the door for the teenager.

"Good morning Aru. You are here a bit early." she greeted as she stepped aside.

Aru gave her a small bow as he came into the house, his hood falling forward over his dark hair. "Morning Mom. Chichi and Haha are at work so I decided to come over here. I have so much homework!" he said as he showed her the books he had brought over from his house. I have calculus, anatomy, and English homework, but I do like anatomy best."

"Good! I suggest you do the stuff you don't like first. Then you'll get it out of the way and then you'll have anatomy as a treat to clear your head. Go sit at the table and spread out your stuff."

"Okay," he nodded as he hurried to the kitchen table to get himself situated.

Marianne watched the boy a moment, smiling and aching. She remembered when her son and Aru would sit at the table together and do homework or just talk. Their laugher had always brightened up her day. Marianne pushed her hair away from her face, various bracelets clinging against each other at the movement. She walked over to the table and ruffled Aru's hair, earning a 'hey!' for the trouble. "Did you already have breakfast?"

"Yeah. I am good."

Marianne went to her coffee maker then and started that up while she fussed to get some breakfast for herself. Ugh, she needed to go to the grocery store. She was running out of edible food. Unless she wanted to eat a block of cheese and creamer for breakfast lunch and dinner. She did have some eggs, so eggs it was! When her breakfast was ready, she sat at the table across from her Asian son as she liked to refer to him. She had her black mug of coffee in hand with a poorly crafted white cat and the scrawled words 'Number one Mom' on it that her son had made for her a while back. She sipped her coffee, more milk and creamer than coffee, in relative silence, not wanting to disrupt Aru's studies too much.

"Hey Aru, I am going to go into the garage to work on some cleaning. If you need me, call me, all right? And when you are done, we'll go shopping and maybe hang out somewhere."

"Sounds good," Aru answered with a smile. Aru watched Marianne head into the garage before he went back to his studies, pencil tapping on the notebook as he worked through the reduction assignment for Chemistry. He sang to himself as he worked on the problem. At least until something caught his attention. It had been distant at first but more and more a heavy breathing noise was interrupting his thoughts. He frowned and looked up and tilted his head to the side trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. And was that a growl? He got up from the table and headed outside as he searched for the noise. Had the neighbor's dog got all tangled up again? He went around the house towards the neighbor and the sound was getting louder. "Mr. Anderson? Fluffy?" As he reached the short fence, he rested his hands on the blunt tips and leaned over to see if the dog was stuck in the space between the fence and the dog house. His deep mocha colored eyes settled on the dog's leg kicking but it looked like only its hind legs were behind the dog house. Was the silly thing dreaming? He could hear the growls and he chuckled.

Aru pulled himself over the fence and moved to go around the dog house to wake up the dog but stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wide. There was blood everywhere in the grass and painting the side of the dog house. Fluffy was lying in the grass giving soft whimpers as someone leaned over the dog. It was quite evident that the blood was the dog's blood and the person was eating out of its side. For a moment Aru was struck dumb. He'd never seen anything like this except in horror movies. His mind was blank and he didn't know what to do. His heart was hammering in his throat and he felt claws of fear crawling down his back. He took a shaky step back trying to be quite but as he tried to shuffle back, he kicked the chain that kept the dog in the yard. The growling stopped a moment as the bloodied human looked up and stared at Aru. In a second it started to growl as it came rushing towards Aru.

"AHH!" Aru cried and shuffled back before finally turning and running. He jumped over the gate but the creature was on his heels. He tried to run behind the house to get into Marianne's back door but skidded to a halt when another one of those things rounded the corner. The creature saw him and immediately ran towards him. Crap! LUKA!" he screamed as he tried to run back. He barreled over the first creature but the other one quickly caught up to him and grabbed at Aru's hood. Aru stumbled with the creature on top of him. He struggled but the thing bit down on his shoulder, earning another pained scream from Aru. Aru could hear screams from various places in the neighborhood and saw people and creature running. He rolled with the thing and managed to kick the one that tried to join the creature already at his shoulder. The biting one tried to claw at him but his jacket helped deflect the thing's claws.

Marianne didn't know what was going on outside her home as she organized some of the things she had in her boxes but she herd Aru scream her name. Marianne's blood ran cold when she heard that sound. She dropped her box, uncaring if its contents broke, and rushed up the stairs. She grabbed her Smith & Wesson M&P Shield 9mmout out of the drawer she kept it in and rushed into the kitchen. Aru wasn't there. "Aru! Where are you!?" she cried.

She heard a muffled cry and rushed outside and to the side of her house where she saw Aru struggling with two people. Marianne didn't even think twice. She aimed her gun and fired. She hit the first thing Aru was keeping at bay in the arm. It turned towards her and she fired another shot into it in the chest when it got closer to her. The creature flopped onto the ground and she ran to Aru then and kicked the second one until it let go of Aru and then she fire another shot into its head. "Aru! Are you okay?" she asked frantically and looked at the throbbing red bite on Aru's shoulder. Aru winced and shrugged away from her touch. It was obviously very tender. A sharp pain erupted in Marianne's ankle then and she cried out, stumbling and gripping Aru's arm. She looked down to see the creature she had shot in the chest growling and biting her ankle. She turned her gun and shot at it a two more times, one time getting it in the head. At that point the thing finally stopped moving.

"What the fuck are these things?!"

Marianne turned to see a couple more of the creatures running towards them. "RUN!" Marianne rushed Aru towards his parent's house where she knew they had a cellar. She was very happy that they had just recently invested in a bullet proof door for the cellar in exchange for the rotten wood one. The two of them rushed towards it and Aru yanked open the cellar door and hurried inside. Marianne heard the things right behind them. The two managed to get into the cellar and yanked the doors closed before the creatures got to them and used the interior lock and chain to bolt it. Aru lit the candles in the cellar as tears filled his eyes.

"W-What's happening? What about my parents?" he asked. He was beginning to sway back and forth. Was he passing out?

Marianne hurried over to him to catch him before he toppled over. "Everything is going to be okay. I am sure they are safe. We'll go look for them when whatever this is passes," she assured him. She was starting to feel woozy to. She held onto Aru but it wasn't long before the both of them fell to the ground and went unconscious.


Post-Infection

Marianne groaned as she slowly woke. Her head was pounding. She slowly sat up, her golden locks falling in her face. What the hell was going on? She looked down at herself and saw the various chains on her pants and the bracelets. She touched the feather tattoo bracelet around her writ and the scar that it covered and frowned. She couldn't remember getting that. Not the scar and not the ink, though it was pretty. Then she saw the words 'never look back' on her arm. Was she into tribal stuff or something? what else would describe the feather on her wrist? She heard a moan and looked over to see an Asian looking boy moving. She backed up a bit and watched as he woke. The boy blinked at her and rubbed his eyes. He looked young. "W-who are you?" she asked.

"Who am I? I... I am..." Aru frowned. He didn't know who he was. That was disconcerting. Aru patted himself down but he didn't have any ID on him. "I don't remember..." he answered with a frown. "Who are you?"

Marianne opened her mouth but she too stuttered. She patted herself down much the way Aru had and took out her wallet. A flash of... of something touched her mind but she couldn't quite grasp what it was. She took out her ID then and another flash and nothing. She traced the letters of her name. "Marianne Colleen," she answered then. Marianne. There was something about that name she didn't quite like but she couldn't remember what it was. "Do you remember what happened? Where we are?"

Aru just shook her head. Marianne sighed as she got up and stumbled a little. She looked down at the bite mark on her leg. Ugh. That wasn't fun. And it stung. She saw a gun then and picked it up. Another flash and this time she saw herself shoot at bloodied creatures and then the image was gone. "I think we were attacked. Stay close to me. Maybe we can figure out what is going on."

"Okay. Thank you." Aru got up and dusted himself off. He winced and looked at the bite on his shoulder. What attacked them? That looked like a human mouth. He looked up, his dark hair falling into his face. Marianne was already heading up to the cellar door. He pushed his hair away and hurried after her. He swallowed dryly, a bit nervous about getting out of what looked like relative safety considering they had been attacked.

Marianne unlocked the door as the image of her locking it came to mind, and very slowly opened it to peer outside. A blast of cold air reached them but nothing alarming just yet. Marianne got out of the cellar and helped Au up as well before she shielded her light blue eyes to scan the scene. There was blood on the street and covering some of the walls. It made her a little queasy. She didn't want to know where that came from and what caused it.

"Well fuck me..." she murmured.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Mika Blackfoot Character Portrait: Marianne Colleen Character Portrait: Aru Fuujinn
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ARU FUUJINN
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#8E388E | Outfit
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MARIANNE COLLEEN

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Hydrokinesis & Hind Sight
#FF92BB | Outfit




Marianne sighed to herself and rubbed her arm, feeling a chill across her body. It wasn't cold out but that didn't stop her from shivering. They needed a game plan. Whatever happened wasn't good obviously and from what she could see, all she had on her was a gun. The Asian kid looked like he didn't have any weapons and they were both bitten. They needed supplies and attention. She doubted they'd get help at a hospital though considering most of the town was probably there seeking attention if this little hamlet of blood and guts was any indication. At least they had houses around here. Time to collect some gear. Marianne gripped her gun tighter and got the next shot ready before pointing it to the ground for now.

"We are going to raid these houses and see if we can get some information and gear. Specifically, look for some weapon to arm yourself and medical supplies. I will collect weapons and food." When she received a nod from the kid, she motioned him to follow her and brought her gun up in case whatever maniac was attacking came out at them. Since they were already beside a house, she figured it was a good first stop. She moved to the front of the house and saw it was already open. She quietly moved up the stairs to the porch and glanced around before entering the abandoned home. It looked pretty normal aside for the few items that were scattered about. It looked like it had been tidy and organized before this. There had obviously been a struggle. She moved to one of the tables against the wall to look down at the photographs there. They were scattered as if someone had been interrupted from a project. Marianne's eyes widened. Some of the pictured looked like the Asian kid behind her. Well, that was good and bad. She was not hopeful that the kid's family escaped.

"Hey kid, be real careful. This looks like it is your house. Try and find an ID or something to identify yourself."

Aru looked up from where he had been staring at a streak of blood on the wall. This was his house? "...okay," he answered quietly. He was getting a very ominous feeling about this. Was his family dead? He swallowed dryly as he made his way up the stairs. Might as well start there to look for his identity. At the top of the stairs he saw a door right in front of him. He opened it up as quietly as he could and peeked inside. It wasn't the master bedroom but it was rather spacious. It looked like a teenagers room; his room he had to assume. He left the door open as he entered and did a turn to make sure nothing was hiding in the room. Once he was sure he wasn't going to get jumped, he turned his attention to a bow and accompanying arrows mounted on a wall. Well, that was a good weapon. He hurried over to the bow and rested them on his back. He sifted through his papers then and found a name: Aru Fuujinn. Aru. He did feel better now that he had an identity, even if he didn't quite remember it.

Aru turned his attention back to the task at hand then. He opened his closet door and found a backpack. He dumped the books out of the bag and set it on top of his bed. he quickly took off his ripped thin jacket and replaced it with a heavier black coat that also had a hood. It may not be hot now but he didn't want to be caught in a situation where he froze to death. He could bear some heat. Plus it had more pockets to store things. He placed the empty bag on his good shoulder then and adjusted his weapons. He was about to leave the room when he saw a dagger sitting on a shelf. That would be good in a pinch if he needed it. He grabbed it and used the belt harness beside it to attach the weapon to his hip.

He exited the room and found the bathroom next where he tossed the first aid kit into his backpack along with the alcohol and Iodine disinfectant. He even threw in some pain killers and cold medicine. You never knew when you'd need it. He was about to go back downstairs but the other room up here was beckoning him. What if his parents were there? He was sure he was going to regret this. He took a deep breath before he headed towards the door at the end of the hall that was open a crack. He slipped inside but found that there was no one there. The place did look like someone had been in here, but he saw no trace of anyone else there now. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or upset that they weren't there. He didn't even know where to look for them. With a sigh, he headed back down the stairs.

Marianne had grabbed a fire poker during the tour of the house before she entered the kitchen. She quickly stocked up on some canned goods and non-perishables. They'd hold them for a little while. They were going to have to find some place to stay and accumulate more things. She did not want to stay here and she doubted that cellar was going to be safe forever. They needed a real place to haul up and safe resources. She didn't know if other places were like this after all. She wanted them both to be prepared. She shook her head before she grabbed the bag she found and stocked with supplies. She looked up when she heard someone enter the kitchen and smiled at the kid."You got what you needed?"

"Yes. My name's Aru."

Marianne gave a nod before she led them out of the house. The two of them raided two more houses then and stocked up on some lighters and brass knuckles. All good things to have on you person when shit hit the fan. "Once we have secured a good place to hole up for now, we will get our wounds treated. I don't want to use our supplies just yet. I want to see if there is anyone else around that needs help to." Aru simply nodded. Dang, the kid didn't talk much. She supposed that was better than a chatter-box. Marianne began limping down the streets with Aru, using the houses as some shelter as they scanned the area. And no matter where they went, they were met with the same scene. Carnage was everywhere. Though she didn't really see too many bodies. It was mostly blood and items thrown about. She felt like she was in some sort of survival video game.

Aru reached out and grabbed Marianne suddenly to get her to crouch down behind a large boulder they came across on their way away from the houses. Marianne turned towards him confused. Why had he stopped her. He placed a finger to his lips and pointed straight ahead. Marianne looked up over the rock but she didn't see anything. What the hell was he seeing? Aru drew his bow but it was several minutes before she saw a woman walking in the distance with two weapons. She couldn't exactly see what weapons she had but from the stranger's right, there were four of the crazed things racing towards her. Before Marianne could process all the information, Aru had moved forward with the bow fully drawn. He loosed an arrow and hit one of the creatures in the stomach. It went down but it didn't stop crawling towards the other girl. Aru fired more arrows at the others, slowing them down and hopefully alerting the girl to what was happening and giving her time to attack and defend herself. They were just too far for Aru to feel confident in aiming for their heads. They were fast to. Aru rushed towards the scene then.

"Aru!" Marianne hissed as she tried to catch him before he got too close but he was too quick and she did have a bum leg. Damn it, she wasn't sure if she was happy Aru was quick to fire so easily in a situation where they had no idea who was friend or foe without a second thought.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Mika Blackfoot Character Portrait: Beatrice Folley Character Portrait: Jolene Carter Character Portrait: Marianne Colleen Character Portrait: Aru Fuujinn
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MIKA BLACKFOOT
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Regeneration & Healing
#771100 | [url]Outfit[/url]
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BEATRICE FOLLEY
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Sonic Scream & Push
#87758F | [url]Outfit[/url]
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THANE RUTHERFORD
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Metal Manipulation & Sharp Shooting
#003366 | [url]Outfit[/url]





Mika hadn’t really known what she was supposed to do. She was soaking wet in blood, so a shower seemed like a good option, but then there was the problem of not knowing where she was or what had happened to her. She had hoped that maybe she just had amnesia from smacking her head in the truck crash, but that wouldn't explain all the blood, the dead guy with the machete in his head, or the lack of any other injury on her body. With no real ideas of what to do, Mika went to the road and began to follow it towards some kind of civilization.

Halfway down the road Mika spotted the beginnings of what looked like a town. Towns meant people, and people meant that she could get help. Mika marched onwards while trying not to feel numb at the confusing thoughts in her head. When she got into town, she was nothing less than confused. Of course it was a little town, but shouldn’t there have been some kind of community here? The streets were empty and in disarray, as if something had blown through and caused a panic.

Mika set out to find someone or something useful, but she didn’t have to search long because a person ambled out of a busted up store and started walking towards her. Mika let out a sigh of relief and waved, “Hello? Would you be able to tell me where I am right now, or maybe why the town looks like such a disaster?” Mika waited for a response but only got a growl back. Now that the thing was closer, Mika could see that the guy wasn’t looking so great either. His eyes looked weird and he had scratches all over him, not to mention the weird black liquid falling down his chin. “Hey! Are you- Oh hell.” She had reached out to meet the man but as soon as he looked up, his face twisted into a feral snarl and he began running at her.

Mika relied on her instincts, because without them she would have been dead. She grabbed her machete, raised it up and brought it down on the mans head before he could grab onto her. He fell flat to the ground and blood oozed from his cracked head. Mika covered her mouth and looked away for a moment to compose herself. Had she used to be a murderer before? If confused her how fast she had reacted. The man had sen coming to attack her though… So it was only self defence.

After composing herself, Mika grabbed the machete again and set off down the road. She walked until she found herself at a small housing neighbourhood. She looked around curiously but was only seeing the same things; disaster and abandoned homes. Mika was almost suspicious of how quiet it was, because she got the feeling that the crazy man from the store hadn’t been the only one.

Mika jumped when something whizzed by her arm. It had gone by so fast she hadn’t seen what it was. She peered down the street, only to see a small boy jump out from behind a boulder, notching another arrow into his bow and pulling back the string to aim. Was he going to shoot at her!? She dove out of the way when he let the arrow fly, only to hear it sink into something behind her. She turned and cursed herself for being so stupid. There was four people running at her, two takedown by the little archer. She grabbed her machete again and let out a breath. At least she wasn’t the only murderer around here.

Like cutting through butter, Mika’s sharp machete sliced though the torso of one person and she finished the other one with a sharp stab to the face. She pulled her machete out of a person for the third time that day and turned to see the archer boy, and someone else coming behind him. Mika was regularly cautious, so of course she decided to keep her machete unsheathed as she slowly walked towards the two. Of course she was outnumbered, so she had to be careful.

“Hello… Thank you.” She said slowly as she looked the two up and down. The boy was small, shorter than her and the woman who accompanied him seemed to have a messed up leg. Meanwhile, Mika was in perfect shape. If it came down to it, she may be able to handle the two of them on her own.

-x-x-x-


Beatrice didn't know how long she was curled up under the bed, listening to the snarling woman in her room shuffle around, looking for something. Looking for her. Bee wanted nothing more to crawl out from under her bed and ask the woman that lived next door what was wrong, and if she was okay, and most importantly; where was her parents? Just when Bee was going to give in, a woman's voice shouted from the area of her bedroom entrance. "Hey!" Bee flinched at the yell and curled up more. What was going on?

There was a snarl, sounds of shuffling around, a terrible cracking noise, the sound of something dragging and then silence. Bee peeked her eyes open in time to see the tattooed ankle being dragged out of sight by another pair of feet. The shoes didn't look like her mothers or fathers, so it was someone she didn't know.

Bee began to shake in fear when the footsteps returned to her room, coming closer to the bed. The person lowered themselves to the ground slowly, as if to show that Bee wasn't to be afraid of them. Slowly a face appeared; a woman's face by the look of it. "Hey there. Are you ok?" The lady asked softly. "It's ok, you can come out now." Something about her voice was rather soothing, and she didn't seem harmful, but Bee could hear her parents words of wisdom in her head. "Beatrice, honey, if there is ever a person who comes to you that you do not know, and wants to talk to you or take you somewhere, you make sure to always say no and go find mommy, daddy, or someone you do know." The lady in front of her, though she did seem nice, was still a stranger. As if reading her mind, the lady smiled at her and said, "Your parents probably told you not to speak to strangers. I'm Jolene... So now I'm not a stranger."

Would that really be okay? Her parents wouldn't get mad right? Maybe this Jolene lady could help her find her parents. "Okay..." She whispered nervously. Cautiously, Bee took ahold of the ladies hand and let her help Bee slide out from underneath her bed. When Bee was pulled up to her feet, she looked up at the lady who was much taller than her. Upon closer inspection, Bee decided this lady was very pretty, and had kind eyes just like her mommy had.

"I'm... I'm Beatrice. Beatrice Folley." Bee said slowly as she looked around her room. There was splatters of weird looking black liquid everywhere and some of the things in her room had been knocked over. Her eyes stopped on the puddle of blood that was pooled at their feet, soaking into the carpet. Bee looked up at Jolene. "Who are you? Do you know my mommy and daddy? Where are they?" She blurted out, still shaking like a leaf. Tears of fear threatened to pour, but Bee refused to let the flood gates open. Bee nervously stepped forward and grabbed the ladies hand, "M-Miss Jolene... Can you help me find my mommy and daddy? Please?”

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Mika Blackfoot Character Portrait: Beatrice Folley Character Portrait: Jolene Carter Character Portrait: Jed Carter Character Portrait: Marianne Colleen Character Portrait: Sadie Rosette
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ARU FUUJINN
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Erebokinesis & Advanced Hearing
#8E388E | Outfit
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MARIANNE COLLEEN

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Hydrokinesis & Hind Sight
#FF1493 | Outfit




Aru gave a sigh of relief when the girl he was trying to help turned and finished downing the crazed people running towards her. He didn't exactly know what was going on around here, but he didn't want something bad to happen to people. The crazed ones were sad enough as it was. And he did feel bad for hurting them but it came down to the fact that it was either them or his little group here. He wasn't about to let his sympathies end up with him gurgling in the grass. He put his arrow back in its place and settled the bow on his shoulder again as he slowed his approach. His eyes shifted to look down at the machete she did not put away. That was a clear warning if he ever saw one. Aru stopped walking forward to make sure they had some distance. If things turned ugly, he didn't want to be in range of her swing. He did give her a cautious nod when she thanked him for helping her but otherwise didn't offer much else in the way of conversation.

Marianne panted a bit when she finally reached Aru's side. She reached out and used his good shoulder to lean on him so she didn't have to put pressure on her ankle and catch her breath. Damn she needed to get in better shape. She pushed her hair away from her face and rested some of her weight on the fire poker as well. She too eyed the machete the stranger was wielding. With her poker she could hopefully counter her swing if she tried anything. She didn't know who was friend or foe around her and just because only some people were crazed and running around didn't mean that those who weren't were automatically safe. And the stranger didn't look injured. At least they didn't have to worry about that to.

"Hello," she called back to the stranger. Now to see if she had any information about what the hell was going on around here. "My name is Marianne and this is Aru. I am glad we got to you before... those.... they did. Do you happen to know what is going on around here? The town is pretty much deserted. It looks like it was part of a war zone or something." She wasn't sure how much information she should give but there really wasn't much else to say. They didn't know anything else. "You aren't injured right? I don't see anything on your person. Since we haven't seen many people, I am assuming the hospital is pretty crowded. It probably isn't the safest place to go. What is your name? Are you a local to?"

"JED!"

Aru stiffened when he heard the shout. He quickly turned back towards the town, forcing Marianne to lose her grip on his shoulder and she stumbled till she got her footing back. She frowned and looked over at him. What was up with him? He was like a jumpy little ferret. Aru was even tilting his head to the side, his eyes scanning the houses and streets that he could see from here. "What? What is it now? she asked. Damn she felt like she was asking a dog if he had sniffed something out.

"Didn't you hear that?"

"No. Hear what?"

"Someone's in trouble." Aru took off running towards the shout then.

Marianne's eyes widened in surprise. What the fuck was up with this kid!? They couldn't go running around when they had no idea what was going on! He was going to get himself killed! "Aru!" she hissed. But just like before, Aru wasn't listening. He just kept running. "Damn it..." Marianne looked at the stranger behind her. She should have never turned her back to her considering she had her weapon out. Too late now. "I don't know about you but I guess if there is someone else out there, we should help and stick together." Safety in numbers until they got their bearings. And next time, she was going to put a leash on that kid. Marianne started to run after Aru as best she could. She didn't know what it was, but she didn't want anything bad to happen to Aru. The thought of him dying or getting injured tightened something in her stomach and heart. She couldn't lose him. Maybe she knew the kids parents before or something and she owed them. She made sure not to call after Aru. Whoever was in trouble was running for something and she didn't want whoever was doing the attacking to hear them and attract more people.

Aru himself wove through the alleys without a second thought, his bow out and ready. He knew that what he was doing was dangerous. But if he could help someone, why shouldn't he? The more people he saved, the better they'd be in the long run. As he got closer, he slowed himself down and moved quietly, hoping to catch the attacker unawares. He followed the voices he heard then. There was more than one person that was for sure and he could hear them breathing. It was strange how clearly he could hear everything. Aru pressed up against the side of a house and peaked out then. He saw two women and two men and a child together then. Had whoever screamed been saved? Should he make his presence known? He wasn't sure what to do. He was alone and he was outnumbered this time. He knew Marianne was coming but she was slow right now with her injury. He couldn't pretend that she would get to him in time. Maybe he'd just watch them, get feel for who and what they were doing. Maybe they could find out more information about this situation by tailing them.

When the woman with the child began to move in the other direction, he watched if the group followed suit and when they moved, he began to stalk them. He briefly wondered how he knew how to be so quiet and how to stalk people. It was a bit unnerving. Had he done this before? Maybe he hunted animals or something. Aru pressed further against the wall, hiding in the shadows created and considering his clothing, Aru seemed to vanish in the darkness. Marianne arrived shortly, eyes scanning around quickly. Where was Aru? She was about to walk past him and into the line of sight of the other group when Aru's hand reached out from the darkness and pulled her back. Marianne gasped, barely keeping a shout locked in her throat. She raised her poker and nearly slammed it into Aru until she realized it was him. How had she not seen him right next to her?

"Don't do that! You scared the shit out of me," she hissed.

Aru raised a finger to his lips and nodded for her to look out from behind the house and she took a peek at the group walking away. She frowned, her eyes lingering on the child before the woman disappeared behind another house. "Why are we hiding?" she whispered to Aru.

"We can watch them. See if they know what is going on," Aru answered her.

"Good point," she mused. Aru was a little sneak, wasn't he? That could prove useful later. "Don't run off like that anymore. I don't want us separated and then end up in trouble." she warned.

Aru just gave a nod, slowly moving to the next house as they began to follow after the group, Marianne looking back to see if the girl from earlier was following and listened to her advise of sticking together.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Mika Blackfoot Character Portrait: Beatrice Folley Character Portrait: Jolene Carter Character Portrait: Thane Rutherford Character Portrait: Jed Carter Character Portrait: Marianne Colleen
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#, as written by Arrow-
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MIKA BLACKFOOT
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Regeneration & Healing
#771100 | [url]Outfit[/url]
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BEATRICE FOLLEY
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Sonic Scream & Push
#87758F | [url]Outfit[/url]
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THANE RUTHERFORD
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Metal Manipulation & Sharp Shooting
#003366 | [url]Outfit[/url]




Mika looked at her new acquaintances and watched the blonde woman seize her up. At least she had the right idea. Survival was what they should be looking out for and even though this new woman threatened Mika, Mika could at least respect the fact that she had her head in the right place.

"My name is Marianne and this is Aru. I am glad we got to you before... those.... they did. Do you happen to know what is going on around here? The town is pretty much deserted. It looks like it was part of a war zone or something.” The lady, now known as Marianne, said to her. Mika nodded, placing names on their faces. “You aren't injured right? I don't see anything on your person. Since we haven't seen many people, I am assuming the hospital is pretty crowded. It probably isn't the safest place to go. What is your name? Are you a local too?”

Mika sighed. She sure was a talkative lady. Then again, she couldn’t blame her. When the world was going to shit and there was no explanations, it was only natural to ask as many questions as possible. Mika really wished she could have explained but she couldn’t. “I’m unaware of what is going on as well. I’m not hurt… I just woke up like this, covered in blood.” She sighed. It didn’t make much sense to her either and it was starting to get uncomfortable. The blood was drying and flaking on her skin and the smell stung her nose with the scent of iron.

“As for my name…” That was a good question. How had it not occurred to her until now to identify herself? Oddly enough, she really couldn’t remember who she was. She caught a glimpse of dog tags around the woman's throat and reached up to see if she had her own. Luckily she did. “Mika Blackfoot.” She read out loud. “I suppose thats me.”

The smaller boy who had been quiet up until now, jerked wildly and looked around, asking them if they had heard anything. Mika hadn't and the woman hadn't either. Mika briefly wondered if the kid had already lost his marbles from the pressure. "Someone's in trouble.” The boy pressed and then turned and ran. Did he not realize the woman he was with was also in trouble of bleeding out from her wounds and causing more problems because of her hurt foot? Marianne turned her back to Mika and for a moment she considered making a move, but something about the two of them screamed innocence. Besides, innocent until proven guilty, as the old saying went.

"I don't know about you but I guess if there is someone else out there, we should help and stick together.” Marianne told her and with thats she began limping away after the kid. Mika knew she was right. Power in numbers was a valid tactic. Mika still wasn’t sure about them but she followed anyways. She kept her distance behind Marianne and watched out for anything that could pop out and harm them.

Mika watched as Marianne caught up to the boy, Aru, and seemed to have a bit of a talk with him. Not wanting to intrude, she hung back and kept watch. When things seemed resolved, she walked closer and got the gist that they were following the group in the distance. Mika paused when she saw the child and winced. That girl could be barely older than ten. At least Aru was old enough to take care of himself… A small child like that had no chances of protecting herself. Mika got a bad feeling in her stomach. She would have to worry about that later though.

“Look, if we are going to follow them, we have to make sure we don’t get caught. It will only look more suspicious if they realize we have been tailing them. Not many people I know would want to have strangers tag along, much less people who have been stalking them.” Mika stated and then looked at Marianne’s bitten leg; bite wounds she assumed only came from the crazy lunatics around them. Slowly, so to show the lady that she meant no harm, Mika leaned down to look at the wound. “We will have to get this covered as soon as possible. We don't need you bleeding out.” She looked around before grabbing her own shirt and ripping the bottom off and leaning forward to wrap it around the woman's leg. The moment Mika’s hand touched the bite mark though, a painful burning sensation dug into her own leg, making Mika want to scream. She instantly pulled her hand away and froze at what she saw. Somehow the bite wound, within the seconds Mika’s hands had covered it, looked half healed. The bruising had gone from a purple to a yellow, the blood had stopped oozing and was beginning to clot and lead to a scar. Mika looked at her own hands in shock. What the hell had happened?

Before she or the other two could question her, she quickly tied the cloth around her leg and stood up, backing away. Had Mika just done that? That was impossible. She looked at her hands and then at Marianne and Aru. “Right… lets keep moving.” She ushered and tried to keep her mind off of what just happened.

-x-x-x-


Beatrice sniffled nervously as Jolene squatted down next to her. "I... I don't know where your mommy and daddy are. But I promise you that I will keep you safe until we find them.” She told her. Bee nodded. The lady was being very nice. We're going to go meet up with my friend. He'll help keep us safe and find your parents.” Bee nodded again. Any friend of hers was sure to be nice. She stuck next to Jolene and clung to her nervously, trying to stay quiet as Jo had indicated.

In the kitchen Beatrice felt Jolene pause before going to close the curtains before Bee had time to look outside of them. She came back to her and bent down again. "I found your mommy and daddy. They... They are sick.” Beatrice felt her stomach drop and she wanted to cry. Would they be okay? Did they just have a cold or something worse? The way Jolene looked at her made her realize it was probably worse then the common cold."They are going to a better place though. They wanted to say bye but don't want to get you sick... And asked me to look after you now. I promise to take good care of you, ok?” Bee nodded and sniffled. A better place would be good. Her parents always complained that they didn’t get enough vacation days. Maybe this would be a vacation for them? Besides, Jolene seemed like a good person to hang around.

Bee followed Jolene out onto the porch and ambled onto the woman's back when she dropped down. "I need you to hold onto me really tight and don't let go.” Bee wrapped her arms around her shoulders and carefully pressed her face into the woman's back. She felt Jolene creeping slowly before taking off at a sprint. "Close your eyes Bee!” Jolene yelled and Bee did as she was told, shutting her eyes as tight as she could and pressing her face into the woman's back.

They were running for a while before Jolene yelled, “JED!" Soon enough Jolene came to a halt and let Bee slide down from her back. Even though Jo looked tired she instantly leaned down to Bee and asked if she was okay. Bee nodded again and looked around nervously. What had her so shaken up?

"Beatrice, this is Jed.” Bee looked over at the man and gave him a shy wave. She would have stuck close to Jolene the whole time but within the next few moments Jolene was turning, telling her to stay with this new man and then she was running off.

Beatrice watched as Jolene ran away, probably off to go save someone else like she had saved Bee. Bee was kind of amazed. The woman was just like a super hero, defeating all the bad guys. Bee decided that if the woman was a super hero, she would like to stay around her a lot longer.

Bee looked over at the man who Jolene had left her with. Mister Jed. He looked kind of scary, and dirty, but she could see in his eyes that he was soft. She was an innocent girl, but she could read people very well. His whole appearance screamed stranger; someone who she should run away from. But Bee knew better than that. The way he held his bow, as if he was ready to protect them from anything that came, and the way his eyes grew softer when he saw Jolene made her know for sure that he was a nice guy on the inside. She briefly wondered if this man was Miss Jolene's super hero side kick. If that was true, she would be safe with him too.

The other two people that were with him looked nice as well. A kind looking lady with rich skin and another boy who looked younger than the others. Bee shyly waved at them and adjusted her backpack straps nervously. "My name is Beatrice Folley. It's nice to meet you." She introduced herself, just like her parents had always told her to do when meeting new people. She didn't have much time to say anything else because a loud noise from nearby made her jump. Her automatic reaction was to scramble beside the older man who was Jo's sidekick.

Bee nervously pressed beside him and grabbed onto the bottom of his shirt nervously. "Mister... you won't let anything hurt me right? Please and thank you." She whispered and looked up at the man with her big, scared eyes. "Will Miss Jolene be coming back soon? She will be ok, right?" As much as she believed that this man could protect her, she felt very comfortable around Jolene. The woman was so sweet. Beatrice only hoped she would be ok.

-x-x-x-


Thane winced as the afternoon sun pierced into his eyes upon his entrance into the open world. He supposed he had been in that dark drug store for a while if the sun was doing such a number on his eyes. Said eyes barely had enough time to adjust to the light before his whole world was thrown upside down again.

He heard her coming before he saw her and just as he turned his head to figure out who was running closer, she had already arrived and was thrusting her crow bar at his face. Thane flinched and dodged out of the way before the metal rod could find its way into his brain.

“Woah, woah!” He yelled as he backed up. He looked over to see the person pulling her iron crowbar out of another persons head. “Wait a damn minute!” He yelled as he tried to understand the situation. He pointed his bat at the now deceased person on the ground. “Who the hell is that!?” He then pointed his bat at the living person. “Who the hell are you!?” He hissed.

The person in from of him was… questionable, to say the least. Was it a boy? Was it a girl? Somehow Thane hoped it wasn't a boy because somehow he found this person roguishly attractive. Usually short cropped hair, tattoos and dirty hick outfits didn’t really turn his gears but something about the way it had just killed a person unflinchingly was kind of… hot? Did that make him messed up? Probably. Did he care? Nah. He looked over the person again as they stood up and his eyes landed on their, or should he say her chest. Not the biggest he had ever seen, but tits were still tits. Turns out it was a woman after all. Unfortunately from the looks of it Miss Tattoo’s and Attitude didn’t look like she played the field of men. Rather, she looked like she batted for the same team as him.

Of course, considering she had just saved his life, he should have been thankful and compassionate towards this woman, but being the standoffish, entitled asshole he was, he began to run his mouth.

“Listen here Pixie Cut, I don’t know who the hell you are or why you just downed that man… My theory being that he forgot to pay you child support for your bastard kid, or that he didn’t have enough of your favourite drug, but you need to start talking. What the fuck is going on here?” He rested his bat on his shoulder, ready to swing at any time if the he-lady decided to make a move at him next.

Somehow the distant memory of the area rang in his mind and he snorted to himself. “I get it. A whore from hooker county. How very classy?” He snorted and looked at her. She looked tough, then again it could be the whole butch persona, but she was smaller than him. Even if she was strong, his weight alone could pin her down if need be. Not that he would be opposed to having her under him. She was hot in a I-Could-Turn-Your-Girlfriend-Gay kind of way.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Mika Blackfoot Character Portrait: Beatrice Folley Character Portrait: Jolene Carter Character Portrait: Matthew Vernon Character Portrait: Thane Rutherford Character Portrait: Marianne Colleen
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MATTHEW VERNON
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Telekinesis & Binding
#d48848 | [url]Outfit[/url]
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ADAM LAUREN
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Pain Suppression & Empathy
#967575 | [url]Outfit[/url]
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SADIE ROSETTE
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Mimicry & Camouflage
#319345 | [url]Outfit[/url]







"Me and this woman, Jolene... We woke up in a cell in the PD together. I can't remember anything before but... I don't think I was a prisoner or anything." Sadie tried not to take his gesture of glancing around as anything but face value. Despite the way, her nerves seemed to be getting the better of her. [color=#837A23"There were bodies everywhere when we woke up. I can't explain how... but I was able to kinda just walk through the bars. And when we got outside one of those charged us."[/color] Sadie had been mostly concerned at the start of their talk, but it had now grown into full blown internal panic. She couldn't believe how unconcerned Adam seemed with it, his own interest having waned the moment that Jed confessed to having no clue how he could walk through solid objects.

"Sounds like a real shitshow," she interjects, quietly.

If Adam had any guess, they'd all drank the fucking kool-aid. Whatever happened next would be a product of this shared psychotic break.

"I don't know what's wrong with them. It's like they're-" Jed had stopped speaking as they walked, seemingly distracted. This was all just too perfect. In a way that made her want to curl up in the fetal position behind several layers of padded walls. Empty streets abandoned homes, and people attacking each other. If she didn't know any better she'd think this were a horror movie - would that make her the star? There always has to be a final girl.

"JED!" The scream caught both Adam and Sadie off guard, Adams hand coming forward to steady before she overbalances. A new form of adrenaline kicked up in his heart, a thrill of it pulsating in his blood. While Jed took off, Sadie tried to keep Adam rooted in place. There was no way they could follow him to a certain death.

"Let me go." Adam hissed while clenching his teeth, something dark crossing into his expression. Sadie, fully disarmed by the aggression let him. Watching him follow quickly behind Jed. She only had a split second to think about how it isn't her problem that the kids ready to run off into certain death before following right behind him. She'd be damned if she wound up alone.

A woman was running down the street towards them now, with a very small child on her back. Neither Adam nor Sadie were firing on all cylinders enough yet to realize that she was running away from something. When she finally noticed, Sadie felt as if someone had sucker punched her with a fist made of fear. God, what the hell was happening to people? Without a weapon neither of them could fight, so Adam relented this time when Sadie halted his pace, determined this time not to let him rush into a fight he couldn't win. She doesn't get why she cares - he's not her problem - but she can't stop herself.

Not when she's afraid for herself just as much as she is for him - and even to some extent these strangers she doesn't even know. Maybe its leftover instincts from a life she can't remember. It has to be right?

"Damn, that's a little scary, but also fucking awesome." Adam had thought Jed's moves before had been awe inspiring but seeing him take down two of those things? Legendary. This guy is definitely someone to stick around. Not to mention the whole phasing through walls ability, useful as hell...If only the world hadn't suddenly flipped on its axis, Jed would have made a hell of a bank robber. They didn't get too close, not wanting to interrupt the family reunion going on here. Adam however, itched to know what the next steps would be.

"Oh god," Sadie grabbed his attention with the rough way she spoke, her eyes glued to her hands when he turned to look at her. He had no idea what was going on but the skin of her palms seemed to be swirling. Rippling and suddenly fading, showing through in some places like a hole showing the landscape behind it. It didn't look painful but she was wincing anyway, watching her palms distort and almost disappear completely to show the pavement just below.

"What the fuck is - " Adam began to ask, but just as abruptly as he spoke, her eyes snapped up to his and her palms returned into full view. As if speaking had broken whatever weird thing had been happening. They shared a look, and Sadie tried to quell her mounting fear - because at this point it's simply becoming more annoying than useful to be afraid.

Never speak of it again. Sadie had to be hallucinating, maybe it hadn't happened at all. Nothing felt right anymore. Everything had become a topsy-turvy mess of emotions that left her feeling vaguely drained the more she thought about how much things suddenly don't make sense anymore. She's almost glad for the lack of memories, knowing that if she had them the feeling of being displaced would be that much worse.

~*~

Big fucking mistake.

Whatever he thought he could achieve by yelling at some barely visible person from halfway down the street had not come true. In fact, if anything he could say the opposite of his goals had come to light. The second he had taken a moment to notice the man's lack of regular movement it had already been too late. He barely had the time to start running again before a handful of them were heading his way. Matt felt like a rat trapped in a damn maze as he started dodging down side streets as best as he can. Lungs burning with the exertion - damn, he really needs to exercise more.

He knew he couldn't exactly outrun them if he tried he'd likely just bring more attention. He needed a better plan, or, as angry as he is to admit it help. No way in hell he'll let the latter happen till shit has well and truly hit the fan. Not that he knew if there would be anyone out there to help anyways. The streets were far too empty besides the crazy rage monsters lurking about.

Matt thinks hard about how he's going to lose this crowd, he'd have to pick one or two of them off either way. They were fast, and as fast as he thought he could be he wasn't fast enough. He didn't want to lose his only weapon, so he kept the knife at his side. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to make any close range attacks without losing it entirely. What he really needs is a gun, which of course he doesn't have. Damn bad luck is what it all comes down to.

While he contemplated on just exactly how shitty his day happened to be going so far he rounded one more corner. Coming to a light jog as he started looking for anything suitable as a longer weapon. He didn't want those fuckers anywhere near him if he could help it. Nothing but sticks and rocks, the farthest thing from helpful he could find. Hell, maybe he could stone the things to death.

"Useless," He mutters, his anger at the situation growing exponentially as the one that had been nearest to him rounded the corner as well. Where could he go now? Nowhere really. More fuel to the flames ever burning in his gut. He didn't notice the slight shaking of the gravel nearest to him. Not until he clenched his fist and started as one of the rocks went whizzing into the air of its own volition. Embedding into the nearest creatures skull. It fell to its knee's as another rock flew, hitting it harder. Several more rocks followed, a torrent of them pelting the people at full force until none remained standing.

Surprise had suddenly overcome him, as well as a weariness he had never felt before. Sinking him for the moment to his knees, where he gathered his head in his hands and groaned. He recognizes the feeling as something similar to drinking too much paired with a hangover, only much worse than either of those things, a fuzzy-ness in his head that clouds everything else over and leaves an ache deep in his skull. That certainly made things much harder to deal with. He didn't know what had happened or how the rocks had flown like that, but there was no time to stop and decipher it. He had to keep running -

Mere moments later salvation finally came in the form of a drugstore, a surly looking man, and a woman embedding a crowbar into the head of one of those creatures. Matt recognized danger when he saw it, he doesn't know how exactly but he does. And these people may not be thugs in everyday life, but right now with his head on fire, holding weapons that could easily best him and his knife - he'd rather not take the chance.

So he stood and observed, prepared to approach only when they proved to be anything other than dangerous.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Mika Blackfoot Character Portrait: Beatrice Folley Character Portrait: Jolene Carter Character Portrait: Matthew Vernon Character Portrait: Thane Rutherford Character Portrait: Marianne Colleen
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#, as written by mjolnir
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JED CARTER
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Intangibility & X-ray Vision
#837A23 | Outfit
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SALVATORE DE LUCA
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Superhuman Agility, Endurance & Strength
#678773 | Outfit
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JOLENE CARTER
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Ergokinesis & Telepathy
#72B0B4 | Outfit




“Woah, woah!” The man yelled towards Jolene as he backed up. “Wait a damn minute!" She sighed, slipping the crowbar through her belt loop before crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Who the hell is that!?” He pointed his bat at the dead thing on the ground that she just pommeled, then pointed it at her. “Who the hell are you!?”

Jolene rolled her eyes as she looked this guy over. Straight up city boy no doubt about it. Probably spent more on one bottle of hair gel then she'd spend on a fucking car. She scoffed when she noticed him looking at her chest. Jo snapped her fingers and motioned for him to look back up at her eyes.

“Listen here Pixie Cut." Jo inhaled sharply, resting her hands on her hips as she clicked her tongue in her mouth preparing for, no doubt, his rant. "I don’t know who the hell you are or why you just downed that man… My theory being that he forgot to pay you child support for your bastard kid, or that he didn’t have enough of your favourite drug, but you need to start talking. What the fuck is going on here?” He adjusted his bat like he was prepared to swing at her in any moment, causing her to raised a brow. “I get it. A whore from hooker county. How very classy?”

Jolene ran her tongue along her teeth, nodding her head as she turned to just walk away. "No, fuck this." She spun around balling up her fist in the process. As she turned to face him, she slammed her fist into his nose feeling the bone snap under the blow. "Listen here city twat!" Before he got a chance to swing that bat at her she reached up and grabbed it. When her skin touched the metal electric sparks shot from her hand, rand down the shaft and electrocuted its owner.

She cocked her head to the side in curiosity and then smiled as she yanked the back from him. Jolene grasped it in both hands and slammed the butt of it into the guy's gut before throwing the bat on the ground. "You are on my turf Paris Hilton!" Jo hooked the back of her heel behind his knee while her hands shoved against his shoulders sending him to the ground. She quickly moved down so that she was straddling him, each one of her knees pinning down his hands. "I'm not a whore!" Slap. "I don't do drugs!" Punch. "And I don't have ANY FUCKING KIDS!"

***

Adam and Sadie caught up with Jed not long after he laid waste to the crazies that were chasing after Jolene and her new little shadow. He nervously watched Jolene run off towards something that she heard and he didn't. He doesn't remember anything about her prior to the black out but something inside him said this wasn't all that strange. Well the running off, hearing things he didn't hear was odd.

"Damn, that's a little scary, but also fucking awesome," Adam said towards him. Jed gave a slight nervous laugh and a shrug of his shoulders. He wasn't quite sure how he knew that he could do that, but he did it.

His grip on his crossbow tightened when he saw a man and one of those... things come out from a store. He blinked a couple times realizing he was seeing what others couldn't. Depending on how much he squinted he saw the brick wall of the building or... Through it towards the insane person, the new person and Jolene. He knew if he ran he wouldn't be fast enough and shooting with his bow was frivolous, it'd just break against the wall. But Jo was on it, sinking her crowbar right into its temple.

Before he could head in that direction he felt a small body press against the side of his leg and grabbed the bottom of his shirt. "Mister... you won't let anything hurt me right? Please and thank you." Her little voice was a whisper as she looked up at him with terrified eyes. It broke his heart. A child with no parents in a world like this. Jolene was kind enough in her heart to take this child no questions asked and now she relied on them for survival. It was the right thing to do but deep down he also felt a sinking feeling in his gut. How long could a child really survive in... Whatever this was?

Jed rested his crossbow back on his right shoulder while he hesitantly lowered his left hand to softly pat the girl's head. "Of course."

"Will Miss Jolene be coming back soon? She will be ok, right?"

He smiled slightly. "Oh yeah, she'll be fine. She's tough, like you."

Jed stood upright getting the strange feeling like he was being watched, like eyes were drilling into the back of his head. His arm protectively hooked around Beatrice as he squinted his eyes glancing around. He stopped when he thought he something move. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust before he was able to see them as clearly as day through whatever it was they hid behind. He cursed under his breath, glancing back towards Jolene who looked to be dealing with the other guy.

"Hey," Jed whispered towards Sadie, motioning her closer so he could whisper in her ear. "Don't look, but I think we're being watched." He nodded in the direction slightly. "I'll be right back, just wait here."

His gaze shifted between Adam and Sadie to Beatrice. Jolene asked him to watch the little one. He might not remember Jo but they're related somehow. He meant no offense towards the other two but at this point he wasn't taking any chances leaving the little girl with them. So he crouched down in front of Beatrice, "Hop aboard little miss."

With Beatrice on his back, he lifted his left leg and pulled out a small hunting knife from his boot and held it out towards Sadie. "It's not much... But it's something."

Jed adjusted Beatrice on his back before walking straight towards the group in the shadows. When he got close enough he put the cross bow strap over his shoulder to free his hands and held them up to show he meant no harm. "Hey... I'm not going to hurt you." He waited a minute, glancing over his shoulder towards the girl then back to them. It was a group of three, a young oriental man who couldn't be a day over eighteen and then two women. Jed tried to keep his voice calm and friendly even though he was never that friendly of a guy. "Look, no one likes being followed. So it'd be in all of our interests you guys just joined us... Safety in numbers and all that."

Before Jed could say anything else he heard a low grumbling growl in the distance. He held up his index finger to his lips, signaling everyone to be quiet. He slowly stepped towards the alleyway. When he glanced around the corner, the shock had him frozen in place until the adrenaline kicked in. It wasn't one, not even several over dozens of those mindless people running straight for them. "We gotta go... Now." He turned back towards the new group of three, "Run..." He then called out towards Sadie and Adam, "RUN!"

He had no time to worry about shooting them, instead he held tightly to Beatrice as she sprinted in Jolene's direction. Jed came upon her on top of the guy she had just helped, beating the living shit out of him. "Jo!" She didn't hear him, obviously in a blind rage. "JOLENE!!"

Just as Jo was about to lay another devastating punch into mister-perfect-hair's face, she finally registered Jed shouting towards her. He leaned down, practically yanking her arm to get her up. She stumbled to her feet, glancing back towards the direction he came from with the others and saw the mass hoard of those crazy things coming after them. It was like the wind was knocked out of at the sight. She leaned down, aggressively yanking the city boy up. "Come on fucker!"

Once Thane was up on his feet, Jolene grabbed his bat and threw it at him before she began running. "I know where to go! Come on!" She ran as fast as she could down the main road, Jed hot on her tail holding Beatrice tightly to him so she didn't get left behind. As Jo went to turn down at alley she screamed coming face to face with one of them. As fast as she could she slammed the crowbar into its gut then plunged the end of it into their head. She kicked them off her weapon before taking off again.

Jo cursed under her breath when there wasn't a dumpster under the fire escape. With as much of a running start as she could get, Jolene ran towards it, jumping and hooking the crowbar on the ladder. As she came down she pulled the ladder down with her. It stopped about three feet off the ground. "Up here!" Jo gently but quickly took Beatrice from Jed's back and his crossbow.

Without hesitation Jed hoisted himself up the ladder. Once on the platform, he caught his weapon that Jo tossed up at him and set it aside. He laid on his stomach holding out his hands, "Hurry!"

Jolene held up Beatrice towards Jed who lifted her up onto the fire escape. "Follow me, ok?" He hurried up the stairs to the top window. His hands shook from the adrenalin rush which caused him to fumble as he opened the window. "Don't come in until I say it's clear," he said towards Beatrice as he climbed into his and Jolene's apartment. Even though nothing looked familiar, he knew his way around with ease. He raced through every room making sure it was empty. He then through open the door and ran all the way downstairs to the main entrance and made sure ever lock and bolt was done.

When everything seemed clear, Jed sprinted up the stairs taking them four at a time. He slammed the apartment door shut, calling back towards Beatrice, "It's ok sweetie, you can come in." But even in the safety of the apartment he still furiously locked the door. Jed then pressed his back to the side of the bookshelf and used all his might to scoot it in front of the door in case any of them got through.

Jolene stayed on the ground, quickly motioning for everyone to get up the ladder. "Go! Go! Go!" As she herded everyone up the fire escape, she heard something else. Not a crazed person but someone else... A new voice in her head? It seemed to be coming from around the corner. Was he watching them?

She cursed under her breath, "Just get up there and help Jed! I'll be right there!" Jolene pivoted on her heels as she headed towards the voice. She knocked down one of the things that ran at her before she reached a blonde male who looked to be around her age. "Come one!" She didn't have time to ask him questions about why he was watching them or whatever else. He wasn't one of those things and that was enough for her. "If you stay here you'll die! It's you choice!" Jo took out another as the guy pondered his options.

Once he started moving towards the fire escape, Jolene was right behind him. When the guy was up the ladder, she hooked the crowbar on her pants and climbed. She was nearly to the top when one grabbed her foot causing her grip to slip and knock her down a couple rungs. Jolene held on for dear life as she kicked at the thing with all her might. When she was free, she scurried up the ladder and then quickly pulled it up so there was no way any of them could reach them.

Jolene took a second to catch her breath before making her way up the stairs to the window. "Jed," she said with a hoarse voice. "I need a chain, duct tape or something." Jed nodded towards her and disappeared into the kitchen for a moment before returning with rope. Jo descended the stairs again and tied the ladder up in its locked position so there wasn't even a chance of it sliding down.

When Jolene entered the apartment, she closed the window, locked it and even moved another bookshelf in front of it, finally reaching a more paranoid state. She turned around to face the room but wasn't all that ready to let it soak in. "First aid," she mumbled to herself before hurrying down the hall. She stopped by a door that felt familiar and slowly opened it. As she walked inside she looked around seeing the walls plastered with band posters, and military memorabilia. Jo made her way over to a desk where she saw a picture of two very young kids hugging as they held up fish they had caught. The image sent of flood of memories back to her mind. She nearly fell to the ground as they overwhelmed her, causing her to stumble, using the desk for support.

In no time Jed was there next to her. "What's wrong? What is it?" His eyes fixed on what she saw and like a freight train his memories came back to him too. In that moment they both realized they bond to each other, brother and sister. He grabbed Jolene, pulling her into an embrace. "Oh thank god," he whispered. The realization that they forgot each other but somehow still stuck together sunk in. They could have died but here they were.

Jo slowly pulled away, wiping a tear from her eye. She wanted to break down and cry because of everything that happened. Something gnawed at the back of her mind, her silent PTSD that she just slowly began to remember she had. But Jo wasn't going to crack, she couldn't. "First aid."

Jolene raided the bathroom of anything medical they could use and rejoined the group in the living room. She handed out some of the supplies before sitting on the ground and motioning Beatrice over. "Hey there... Did you get hurt anywhere? Doctor Jolene will fix you up." She tried to smile and stay as positive and somewhat silly that she could for the young girl.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Mika Blackfoot Character Portrait: Beatrice Folley Character Portrait: Jolene Carter Character Portrait: Matthew Vernon Character Portrait: Thane Rutherford Character Portrait: Marianne Colleen
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ARU FUUJINN
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Erebokinesis & Advanced Hearing
#8E388E | Outfit
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MARIANNE COLLEEN

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Hydrokinesis & Hind Sight
#FF1493 | Outfit




“Look, if we are going to follow them, we have to make sure we don’t get caught. It will only look more suspicious if they realize we have been tailing them. Not many people I know would want to have strangers tag along, much less people who have been stalking them," Mika mentioned as Aru began to move after the other group of people. He gave a silent nod in understanding as he slowed himself down. In all honesty, he was a bit nervous about all of this. With the blood and crazed people running after them, Aru was unsure who to trust. These humans could be different, could be like them but what if they weren't? What if they killed them to get supplies? Being in groups provided protection but too large a group could also be a detriment if they didn't have enough resources and larger groups were harder to move about without detection. In this unknown though, he wanted to be among more people.

Marianne herself nodded and gripped Aru's shoulder to slow him down. She didn't want him to get ahead of himself. She let go however when the boy winced and shrugged his shoulder. The movement revealed the bite hidden beneath the clothes. She had forgotten that he had the injury. And speaking of injury, Marianne looked back at Mika when the woman mentioned her own leg injury. She hesitated a moment before she offered up her foot for her to wrap. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the wound begin to heal rapidly until Mika pulled her hands away. That was... that was unexpected. She looked over at Mika who also looked startled about the action. Marianne didn't say anything as Mika quickly finished wrapping up the wound and pulled away as if nothing had occurred.

"Thank you..." Marianne whispered.

She didn't want to bring it up now. They had bigger worries right now. They could talk about the wonder healing when they had the luxury. With her injury taken care of for now, the party of three hurried after the other group of people. The three of them hid behind one of the houses and Aru peeked out from the edge to watch the interaction between the man and the little girl. He couldn't see where one of the girls had run off to. The man seemed gentle enough towards the child. That was a good sign at the very least. Aru was about to relay that bit of information to Marianne and Mika when the man in question turned to look straight at them. Oh shit. Aru tensed, his eyes narrowing on Jed, trying to figure out if the man was going to run at them or attack them. His heart was hammering like a jackrabbit in the claws of a wolf. How had the man noticed them there? They had been quiet! Aru had hardly peeked out from the corner.

"Look, no one likes being followed. So it'd be in all of our interests you guys just joined us... Safety in numbers and all that," the man announced. Aru swallowed hard and glanced back at the other two, the silent question being what they should do. It was obvious they had been spotted so coming out seemed like the best idea. And then there was the growl. Aru gasped and turned his attention to the noise. That didn't sound like just one growl. Now that he was paying attention to it, he could hear a variety of scuffling feet, growls, and haggard breathing coming in their direction. They weren't all that far away.

"We gotta go... Now. Run...RUN!"

"Run!" Aru echoed the stranger and hurried out from the hiding place after the other group. He glanced back to make sure Marianne and Aru were behind him and his eyes widened when he saw the horde of the crazed people. They really hadn't been that far away. If they hadn't run, they would have been the first to be attacked. How had he not realized how close they were?

"Just run!" Marianne cried to get Aru to stop looking back. If he kept turning he'd trip himself and she didn't want anything to happen to the kid. She grabbed his hand as they ran away from the crazed thing. As they rounded the corner with the other group, they saw the girl that had run off earlier and another stranger that was added to the party. Marianne didn't know where they were going but she had to trust that they would make it to safety. She could hear the nasty little things behind them getting closer. She wanted to look back to see just how close they were but knew that if she did that, she would slow herself down and it really didn't matter how far behind they were as long as they didn't reach them.

Then they reached another building and the guy who had spotted them and the other girl pulled down a ladder. It was probably only seconds, but it felt like hours before everything was clear and the group began to rush up the ladder. "Come on come on come on come one," Marianne muttered as each person went up the ladder. She shoved Aru up before her and then Mika before she jumped up behind the girl and they scrambled up to get away from the creatures in human skin.

Once up in the building, Aru leaned against a wall panting, hands on his bent knees and just breathed. He was shaking from their close call. They were safe in here, but were they really? What if those things got in here? They would be sitting ducks and how long could they stay in here? They wouldn't have enough food and water for all of them for too long. They would have to venture out again and wouldn't those things stay around the building until they came out? What were they going to do?

Aru looked up when Marianne came over to him and rested a hand on his uninjured shoulder. She looked terrified to but it was obvious she was trying to give him some support. He sighed before he let himself slide down to sit instead of lean against the wall the way he had been. Marianne sighed and looked around the rest of their party. They were quite the hodgepodge of people, weren't they? She heard someone mention first aid before leaving the room where the rest of them were crowding about. It wasn't long before the woman returned with the first aid kit and handed out supplies. Marianne accepted what was offered to her and looked over at Aru and Mika. They were her first priority in this situation.

"Are you injured to, Mika? I didn't even ask if you were. I am sorry." Marianne offered her the antibiotic jell before she walked over to the sink and grabbed a bowl and filled it up with water before she returned to her tiny group and ripped a piece off her pants and wet it to wash Aru's wound before applying some of the antiseptic on it and wrapping it up.

"Thank you," he said softly. Marianne just smiled and patted his arm.