Alexis and Rachel -- Dorm

((Sorry about the wait!!!))

Rachel felt awkward as she lead her and Lexie down the stairs towards the exit of their dorm: luckily, their dorm had been a smaller one, with only a few floors. She would hate to see the kind of contamination in the larger university dorms. She sniffled slightly, not due to sadness or a stuffy nose -- it was more to fill the "silence". Now that they had finished their encounter, Rae had began to notice the sounds of shuffling and moaning down the halls of the dorm. There were obviously more infected and they were lucky to not have drawn attention. She was sure that Lexie felt the same thing, that they were lucky. When Lexie had tripped, Rae barely noticed, her attention only being drawn at the awkward sound shoes made when you didn't step quite right and the nervous laughter of Lexie. She was startled from her thoughts as she was spoken to.

"Thanks for... staying with me. Helping me."

She turned to the young woman, a small grin upon her features. Then Lexie began to gesture at her own head as she mentioned the probable suicide, a fate many others have probably met on this day. A lopsided grin graced her features, but faded as she noticed the look in Lexie's eyes. She thought about venturing in with an I'm-so-awesome-here's-an-equally-awesome-speech about friendship and having each other's back. With a loss for words and knowing that she probably wasn't that awesome or inspiring, she settled for a weak, "You're welcome." Normally, she would have swatted the gun away from Lexie's head and told her she was being dangerous and careless, but the time for that was gone. She had a form of trust in Lexie, now that they had killed together (even if they were zombies) and trusted Lexie not to leave her alone in this hell.

When Lexie asked her about getting high, Rachel, again, took an abnormal path. Instead of flipping out and shouting, she paused to think. "Wouldn't you pass out again? There is no way in hell I'm dragging your unconscious body through the hordes of the undead, we'd both wind up dead and I'd much prefer us both alive and awake."

At her statement, she stopped mid-step. They were going to be facing hordes of undead outside of their dorm. There was no way that they would be nearly as lucky as they had been. Her face lost some of it's color, but she cleared her throat and resumed her walk towards the exit of the dorm.

"Do you really think we can survive, Rae?" Lexie asked nervously. The gun was still being held tight. Her heel had stopped making a bloody track- the remnants of the zombie in Jerry's dorm. A small mercy, and Lexie was thankful for it. The less blood the better. It worked as an assurance that life would never be the same. The gun was already a dreadful reminder of that.

"Like, honestly... if we're going to die, I'd rather die high. Hey, I've got two shots left. You can have one too, if things get hopeless."

But now, Lexie was already reluctantly going into the survivor mentality. Always thinking about what to do next- the smartest route, the smartest plan, the best way to survive. She couldn't help it, and she hated it. Already two locations seemed to work for her, however.

The Hospital. There would be a lot of people there. Staff workers, etcetera. There is safety and numbers, and not to mention all the supplies there. In a last ditch attempt for survival, even if the hopstial gets overrun, the helicopter for flying patients in and out will hopefully be there. And preferably someone who knows how to fly it. But with a higher population, there would be more zombies in there. More infected.

The bank. Bulletproof windows, a plethora of guns. Chances are, people wouldn't go there, maybe they might find one or two others. They could also hide within the safes if the zombies attack. Wait there and try to wait it out- atleast until the infected leave or die.

Lexie nervously tried to take the onus off, and with a light (but terribly fake) tone of optmimism, she told Rachel her thoughts about a place to hold out.

Rachel regarded Lexie incredulously as she offered her poor excuse for her drugs, her arms crossed in front her instinctively and the corner of her lips pulled into a frown. "We'll definitely have a better chance of surviving if we aren't high. And things are never hopeless."

Lexie seemed to register something at this point and her mind began to work through their position, Rachel waited patiently as Lexie thought and absorbed the information as she spoke. The bank and the hospital...

"Not the hospital. Never the hospital. Everyone who got sick probably went there and then the doctors and nurses and custodians probably got turned. Too dangerous." She took a deep breath, brows furrowed as she thought. "The bank would be solid, figuring we could get in and that only a few people were there, in case they got turned. There are a few recruitment centers around here too and my family is in the mountains to the east, if we wanted to go for a higher altitude..."

The young woman bristled as thoughts blazed through her mind, "I mean, we also needs supplies, too. But do we want to try and get them now or later? Is it safer to try and wait them out or get out of here on our own...?" She sighed, what good is a leader that can't make decisions? No good, it made them useless. "Let's get out of here first. I'll think about it as we try to get ourselves off campus."

Rae made her way to the front door of the dorm and stopped a few feet back from it. This was it. This was the door that lead to their fate, whether they lived or die. "You ready?"

"Okay." Lexie said, feeling slightly disappointed but resigned to it nonetheless. No drugs for now. She took a long, heavy breath, as her fingers twitched and tried to reach for the shots, but she restrained herself. She didn't want to die. Not yet. Prferably not ever. The dark walls of the dorm seemed to appeal for them to stay, to stay and wait. Lexie realized thickly that neither of them would ever see those wals again, most likely. She glanced fearfully at the door, and wondered why she had become so humble. On any other given day, she'd be raging about this.

"Okay." Lexie repeated, her voice thin and weedy now. "I still have some ammo, enough to last a while. And if I get bit you better shoot me."

Lexie had tried to inject some of her old force into that alst statement, some of her old strength, but it only sounded weak and terribly fake. It has to be shock. Definately. She wouldn't stay weak... because only the strong can survive in a time like this. Someone who wouldn't give up and would fight until the end. Someone who would know when to get supplies, where to go, what to do if so-and-so happened. That person didn't seem to be the timid Rachel, but not the brash or afraid Lexies.

Who she used to be.

She cocked her gun and clicked the safety off again, and slowly aimed it in the direction of the door. Her hands were trembling and she forcibly told them to hold still.

"Okay. Supplies." The dark clothed girl muttered. "Definately supplies. But, let's get out of here, okay? I'm getting sick of it."

Rachel sighed, her chest retreating into a shallow cavity that the lack of air in her lungs had created. "Same thing here, no way do I want to turn. I'd much rather eat a bullet then find myself nomming on brains."

The 'geek' came reeling back into her voice as she spoke, the word 'nom' really bringing it to the surface. She was still shaky and stared at the door with a hardened glare. There were noises from outside, but they remained muffled so long as the door was shut; Rae was thankful for this fact, not sure if she could have mustered the courage to walk out the doors if she could hear the screams and moans full force. As Lexie mentioned supplies, thoughts began to click through Rachel's head. There was one advantage to being a complete nerd, the amount of information she had stored away in her brain.

"There is a camping supplies place right down the road, and on the same road in the other direction is a food place -- they had some dried food last time I went shopping..." She paused, tapped her chin in thought and readjusted her grip on the heavy golf club, she should have grabbed two... these things look solid and can definitely hit a ball, but bashing in a skull? Probably wouldn't hold out so well. "There is some sort of hunting store past the camping supply place, too. We shouldn't go there first though..."

She had seemingly ignored Lexie's comment about wanting to leave as she thought through their options, she was startled from her spoken thoughts as a sound echoed behind the two girls. Turning away from the door, there were four individual zombies back down the hall. They had just noticed the two girls standing by the door and had started making their way towards them. Rae let out a surprised shout and it seemed to set the zombies off, each of them beginning a run at the stationary women. Rachel would have said something clichéd, perhaps "Well, time to go!", but that was far from her available skills at this point.

Instead, she pulled the front door open and exited, Lexie close at her heel. The door clicked shut behind them and the girls could hear the zombies run directly into it, seemingly not intelligent enough to open it. "Running, we should definitely be running." With an affirmative nod from Lexie, she took off at a run to the closest campus exit -- north towards Mulberry Street. She paid hardly any attention to the scenes surrounding her. Zombies were roaming the campus, student and faculty lay dead and half-eaten, and living students were pounding on the thick, plexiglass windows of rooms that they were trapped in. Guilt set in, much too quickly, and Rae realized that she and Lexie would have an extremely rough time ahead of them.

Her lack of attention spared her from scenes of zombies currently eating what used to be professors and classmates, but it had unique downsides. As she rounded the corner of a building, she flew directly into a person. The force of the collision sent Rachel sprawling backward, the tell-tale sign of what sounded like her laptop cracking filling her ears as she landed hard on her backpack. She cringed, if they hadn't been in the middle of an apocalypse, she probably would have started crying. Her baby was tough, probably only suffering damage to the cover -- it wouldn't look pretty, but it should still work. Regardless, it had cost her two years of savings to pay for it -- it was perfect! Her thoughts flooding back to the present, she realized that the person she had run into had also been knocked over.

Rachel pulled herself to her feet, crimson creeping into her features. "O-oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Let me, let me help you up." She extended her hand to the individual as she approached her, obviously not considering if this could turn out badly in the least.

((It's a zombie, obviously... >.>;;; Alexis can notice that though.))

The world outside was in ruins. Lexie was in shock- just pure, unadulterated shock. Dead bodies everywhere, people she knew, people she used to go to class with… She even saw her dealer lying dead on the road, but that was a slight upside. He had deserved it. The last thing he said to her was that Lexie is a filthy whore who would never amount to anything. But rather be a whore than dead. Lexie spared a quick bitter glance at his direction as she followed Rachel, who appeared to be running at full tilt.

“Hey, um, Rae? I don’t shoot them, right? Save my ammo, right?” Her voice had taken on a shrill quality, like the sound of breaking glass.

She looked back at the stricken faces of former classmates trapped in the University, pounding desperately, their faces pleading for help but there was no help to be given. They would die, Lexie thought. They would die horribly. But a strange feeling filled her. Not guilt, she knew she was making the smarter choice by leaving them, but she had a small reluctancy to leave nonetheless. But staying in that building would definitely be a bad idea. She and Rae had almost been attacked by four more right before they left.

The pair ended up running north once they hit Mulberry street. Lexie was panting now, struggling to keep up, wanting to stop and breathe but terrified that Rae would just keep running. Terrified of dying alone at the hands of these savages. Dying like the other students, trapped in their dorms with no hope of escape or rescue. Alexis didn’t even notice the stench anymore- that stinking aroma of ether and more, darker and sinuous substances.

She then thought about Derek. She didn’t know what their relationship was. Romantic? Best friends? Friends with benefits? Lexie had no idea. She didn’t even know what she thought of him. Sexy? Cute? Friends-only? She hoped he was okay. It’s been a few weeks since they’ve last had contact with each other. She hoped he was alive right now.

Three weeks ago. Midnight. The Park.

“So tell me.” Lexie said, staring into his eyes, confused but slightly satisfied at the same time. “What do you think of me?”

The perfect night. Alone, at night, with the one person in the world Lexie truly loved. She didn’t know what kind of love, but she supposed that was hardly important. As long as they had each other everything would be okay.

“You always say that.” Derek laughed, laying down on the dewy grass as if there was nothing wrong with life. But there was something wrong. Terribly wrong. Derek was moving.

New York City.

Lexie wanted to set their connection straight before he went. She didn’t know how to approach it, and it’s been bothering her ever since high school when they first met. Life back then had been so easy. But now, Lexie found herself in the hard world of drugs. Not to mention the scum that comes with it.

There’s this boy. A coke user, nice and simple. He didn’t seem to have any inhibitions against touching Lexie in certain areas. That’s the issue. Lexie felt she wasn’t ready yet. If she didn’t have Derek, coke-guy would probably be having his way with her.

“Oh shit, remember coke-guy?” Lexie asked, and almost giggled, but she kept her composure, which seemed to amuse Derek.

“I whupped his ass for ya. Are you thankful?

“Of course I’m thankful! I love you, big guy.”

With that, the two young adults just looked at each other, questioning and hoping the other would speak. Things always got awkward when the L word came up. Because neither of them knew what exactly they were. Both of them were afraid. Neither of them would admit it to the other. But they knew anyways.

A mumbled goodbye later, a strong hug, and Derek was in his car, driving home. Lexie grinned softly to herself and headed back to campus.

Present Day. Mulberry Street.

Rachel had run into a woman. The rushed apologies threw Lexie out of her stupor. She glanced uneasily at the woman. Something didn’t look quite right. Instinctively, she drew her gun and aimed it carefully at her forehead.

Blind instinct this time. Not even thinking. I guess I’m getting used to this shit.

((Sorry for the wait. DX My computer is back up though! Yay~))

Rachel hadn't heard Lexie's question, though if she had it would have been a definite 'yes'. You always conserve your ammo, and from the lack of shots being fired, Rachel assumed this was Lexie's thinking as well. Rachel's hand still waited for the woman to respond, lying on her side with small twitching movements. Rachel leaned forward slightly, her open hand turning to tap the woman's shoulder. "Excuse me... miss?"

Then everything happened at once, the woman shifted with her mouth wide open, letting out a blood curdling screech. Rachel's hand pulled back instinctively, covering her ears to protect them from the intrusive noise. Her eyes screwed shut and she was, once again, left nearly helpless. If there was any time for Alexis to pull the trigger, it would be then.

BANG.

What just happened I've got no idea I didnt press the trigger I swear I didn't

BANG.

That... that thing, it's... it's still moving, it's still moving! Why won't it die and leave

BANG.

Oh, oh god where did it's HEAD go?

A bright flash of blood, and Lexie instinctively shut her eyes and her mouth as the think red liquid showered over here. The body fell to the ground with a plop, a dull mailsack thud. Lexie oggled at Rachel, not knowing exactly what's happening but having that dim feeling that, no matter what, it couldn't be good. A few of the infected millng around seemed to have been awoken by the gunfire. They were coming... coming...

Lexie screeched and began to run, dragging Rae by the arm, but was prepared to let her go if things got too bad and only one of them could make it. Top priority: make it back to Derek. Alive.

"You idiot!" Lexie shrieked. "Why did you do that? Why did you touch it?!"

Rachel froze, eyes widening, as the bullets decimated the woman in front of her. The whining tone from earlier, when Alexis first fired the gun, dulled her sense of hearing again as she watched the woman's head explode. Blood and brain matter coated the wall and sidewalk, bouncing back and spattering the two women standing there. Rae fails to respond to the notified zombies, staring at the corpse in front of her. When Alexis grabs her arm, her body responds by keeping pace with the woman, but Rachel's mind is a blur.

She almost died. She was sure of that fact. Where she was, how she got there, what she should do now, where they were going... nothing else registered in her mind. Alexis screamed at her, but the words made no sense. They sounded garbled and confused, so Rachel responded with a worried look followed by her lips curling into a confused frown. She looked around at the street they found themselves on, but nothing was making sense... in fact, Rae was having a hard time telling up from down at this point. Information whirled through her mind, she could recall information, but couldn't make sense of it if she tried to.

"Laporte... We have to go to Laporte street..." Her eyes narrowed, "Where the hell is Laporte...?"

The zombies were all slowly ambling closer, except for one or two quick ones, that Lexie thought about shooting but decided to just run, run as fast as she could, dragging a helpless Rachel behind her. She felt sick with the blood and grey matter smeared on her clothes, and as she glanced at Rae, she thought about how disgusting she must look, as well. It took her everything she had in her to keep from puking.

Rae looked completely out of it. A dead weight, now. In shock? Most likely.

"What are you talking about?!" Lexie hissed, quiter this time, but still filled with anger and incredulity. "What are you, suicidal? You retard!"

As the two women were sprinting to god knows where, they saw a small boy, staring with confused curiosity at the infected humans inching closer. Lexie didn't even bother to help him, as the boy was too afraid to even move, a small patch of darkness spread around his crotch. The last thing Lexie saw before turning away was a frantically writhing arm, before it was brutally ripped off, and you could still see the bone that once attatched the arm to the shoulder.

Lexie felt a tear inch towards the surface of her face, and the shut it out with a surprising coldness, a cold fury that succesfully blocked out her emotions whenever she needed to. She shook herself all over, wiped off a piece of skull, and stared listlessly into Rae's eyes, still somewhat confused and vacant.

"Explain..." Lexie panted, realizing how tired she had been from their sprint. "Explain... w-why you decided it would be a... a good fucking idea to try and kill us?"

She glared testily at Rachel, almost daring the woman to answer and challenge her.

The insults infiltrated the odd mist of Rachel's mind, slowly emptying the fog from her head. She was starting to think more clearly, but not nearly clear enough to figure out what was still going on. When they stopped, Rachel's eyes had a hard time focusing on the woman in front of her, staring her down with cold and calculated eyes. She blinked a few times as Lexie spoke to her.

"Explain...Explain... w-why you decided it would be a good fucking idea to try and kill us?"

The glare and challenging tone of Lexie's voice brought Rachel back into reality and she took a sudden step back from the woman. Her eyes narrowed slightly and her jaw clenched in a tense anger. "Why I tried to kill us? What. You think I did it on purpose? I just decided to offer myself up? Huh? Is that what you think? I just gave up and decided to drag you down with me?" Her voice rose slightly, wavering considerably as she through her arms up in Lexie's direction. A finger jabbed out at the woman, "Just because YOU can abandon all sense of being a responsible and moral human being just so you can make sure you survive and give a shit less about everyone else, doesn't mean I will."

Her nostrils flared as she took a few deep breaths before her hand dropped back to her side. She swallowed, contemplating an apology, but that would make her look weak, wouldn't it? No one wants a weak leader... or a rude one... She sighed, eyes drifting closed for a second.

"I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." Her apology was sharp, still agitated with the woman before her, but not wishing to chase her off or inspire her to leave Rachel behind in spite. "Now, we need to head north, towards Laporte. That's where the store will be." She remained square with Alexis, waiting for a response.