Name: Eliyahu (Eli) Hightower
Age: 28, January 20th, 1992
Gender: Male
Dominant Hand: Left
Physical Description: Eli is 5'10" and weighs in at 195 lbs. His long dirty blonde hair extends past his shoulders in shades of brown to gold. A disheveled beard shows how long it's been since he had the time to clean up. With blue eyes showed the only color his body had anymore. His skin, dark, from the layers of dirt that caked his skin. His lips always seemed dry and lifeless. The clothes he wore were tattered and dirty, it was honestly more difficult to find fitting clothes than you might think. The bracelet he wears on his right wrist was Elise's.



Personality: Eliyahu will purposefully show aggression and intimidation towards any travelers they meet. He has a strong will to be a pack leader and won't back down for anything unless Casey says otherwise. He feels a constant need to train his body and mind to conquer any situations he faces so that he may protect Casey. His drive to protect his 'pack' is fiercely competitive. On his downtime, he tries to spend most of with Casey. The company and support from Casey is all he cares about in this broken life.

Demeanor: To others, Eli comes across as a pushy bodyguard. His stance is true and his confidence in what is best for the group sets others on edge or earns respect depending on the other person. He is very knowledgeable, but will not risk any danger, even small amounts, for important necessities.

Obscurities: Things only those close to Eli would know, if anyone, Eli will not eat in front of anyone. He will face away from people or move to a different location entirely if he needs to, but if someone catches him eating he stops until they go away. If they don't go away then he doesn't finish eating. Eliyahu also collects bottle caps and has become extremely fond of them. Having no two of the same kind, his collection of 55 currently is a very large priority in his mind and will trade or pay for more if the opportunity arose. There is a scar along the spine of his back that no one has seen, even Casey, which is why he will not take off his shirt in front of anyone.

Equipment:
Tattered long sleeve shirt and brown torn jeans with heavily used, white tennis shoes.
The bracelet given to him by Elise.
A traveler's backpack which holds:
Two blankets,
Two very small sofa pillows,
Can Opener,
Flint,
Four cans of spam,
Two decent sized water bottles,
One map of the USA

Strengths: Eli's strengths are physical fitness, keen senses, strong detective skills including: searching, information gathering, and puzzle solving. When he has the time, he can probably solve anything.

Weaknesses: The reminder of past failures still haunts Eli, causing doubt. His ability to perform when someone's life is at risk, other than his own, is severely hindered. He gives into what Casey wants no matter what, even against logic and his protective nature. He is just a giant teddy bear to her. Time constraints is not something Eli likes to be under. Forcing him to move faster than he should causes him to make several mistakes and possible fail at the task.



History: Born into the 90's meant Eli's generation was one of the first to grow up with a technologically advancing society. Computers, gaming consoles, and science were reaching new heights every year. School's used more computers, and having a name online was starting to mean something. Eli took to technology well like anyone else, but where he really shined above the rest was his observational skills. After graduating high school he became a full time detective for people who had their possessions stolen, helping to find lost or runaway kids and pets, as well as murder investigations. His personal favorite was tracking lost or runaway kids because uniting families together again was unquestionably the best part about being a detective.

The most memorable case of his life was the case of Elise's kidnapping in 2011. Elise was a 3 year old girl, born into the wealthy Williams family in New York City. She had been missing for 3 years after being abducted from school grounds. They were told that a man claiming to be her Uncle came to pick her up and as Elise showed no fear of the man, she was released with him. The parents came 15 mins later to ask for their daughter only to understand that her 'Uncle' came to pick her up. They called all 4 of her uncle's and each one said they had no reason to and wasn't their. After a grand total of 72 hours, the police called off the investigation as it was already well past the 48 hour period which they gave to missing children. They placed an amber alert, and prayed someone would find her, but nobody came forward with information. The parents never lost hope and had was currently hiring any detective they could find to help as they had plenty of money and no Elise. Eli had just finished his personal website 2 days earlier when he got a message from the family hiring him offering him a full time position as a PI. He accepted the job and was given an all expense paid flight to New York with room and board so he wouldn't have to worry about anything except finding the daughter in 2014. After arriving, meeting the parents, and starting his investigation; he realized a dark secret that was hidden from them. The detectives had formed a secret alliance to not look for the little girl and use the family for their money as they paid for everything they needed. Eliyahu informed the parents of this alliance anonymously, which after investigation caused all but three PI's to be fired.

Eliyahu started his search and immediately found several ground breaking clues, which taught him everything. How he did it and more importantly, who else was involved. The man responsible was a long time husband who's relationship had a long history in the fertility clinic in West Virginia. After surveillance operations over the couple. They seemed to have been totally unaware that Elise was not their child. They were literally raising the child as their own. It was truly sickening and with that information, he took it to the police of West Virginia and the parents. With little hesitation they had arrested and apprehended the man and woman. With Elise returned safely to her parents arms, she was a little confused for a few months as to why she was living with a different mommy and daddy. It was disheartening but after enough time, she had become accustomed to the life she was suppose to have.

With the reunion of family, Eli wanted his own and over the course of a year, looked for a women and more specifically, The One. Coming up with no one he wanted or wanted him, he looked to other options of family such as fostering. He applied and with some shock was accepted into the program where he was given a daughter named Casey to look after. He showed her around the house he had recently received with the generous reward of finding Elise, and made sure he ended with her room last.

"Explore all you want, it's your house too now." He mentioned with a grin he couldn't hold in very well.

When Elise turned 8 in 2015, she asked if she could see the detective who found her as a birthday gift. He had told them already about his new daughter and they were excited to see her so they invited them both. They met in NYC, and after the birthday party, Elise gave Eli a bracelet.

"So you can remember me." She told him. With a solemn thank you he gratefully accepted the gift and adjourned to the other room with Mr. and Mrs. Williams.

"I'm just not sure why they picked me, in the eyes of the state, I'm just a kid. I know that I'm well off for guys my age, but don't they take things like maturity and responsibility into..." He had been interrupted with a giggle from Mrs. Williams who responded by saying,

"The reason they accepted you into the program was because we recommended you. You aren't that old, but you understand a great deal about what family truly is. You saved our daughter and probably our money too, if that's not maturity than the world should be blown to pieces. You have a father's heart, and te reason you are questioning your worthiness is exactly why you are ready for this change."



When the pathogen had gone viral, Eli was not initially worried since it wasn't in his immediate vicinity. It took only a week for it to reach his doorstep... A man on the train station with him had been acting woozy and was losing his balance anytime the train came across a bump or turn. Nearing the end of the trip, he sneezed and white foam had encased several occupants... Including Eli's right side. With the next month passing by, Eli cut all communications with his only family Casey and hid in a hotel room where he wouldn't infect her or anybody else. Strangely he never felt any symptoms of the pathogen and eventually decided on an anonymous doctor visit. The Doctor asked if he had been exposed but as to not scare anybody he said he wasn't sure and wanted to be checked anyway. The doctor found no signs of the pathogen and Eli went home confused. He began searching for more information on immunity and others who were exposed and did not show symptoms. The result of his search led him to believe only intellectually advanced humans were immune because the brains antibodies were stronger. He muttered to himself why would a higher IQ keep people from getting infected? He was no doctor but maybe his blood could be used as a cure? But this had amounted to avail as well as the antibodies somehow grew to powerful eventually turned the recipients into zombies that don't see, or hear anyone they once loved. but instead craved food and ate everything they could get their hands on. Eli always considered this a failure to not give his blood to that doctor, as it could have been THE cure. Maybe he could of stopped it all before it to late...




Character Models: Ben Dahlhaus (Older), Emil Andersson (Younger)