Peter "Penfold" Berry's Story

Wayne let her help him up and mummbled, Thank You. He leaned his head back against the seat as the police lady pulled a U-turn and got the hell out of dodge. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was feeling a bit light headed from the gas, but it was slow starting to fade. He just wished the headache from hell would fade too. He turned and looked in the back of the van; what a sight they were. Here was all these people crammed into the back of a van with the hopes that they would be okay. Ironic isn't it? There was a big burly man in a trench coat, a drunk, and chick with a big ass dog, the girl who was quite a good shot with a bow and 3 other girls. Then there was a girl who couldn't be older than 12, asleep on her sisters lap; just a tossing and moaning. Wayne looked at her and a sadness flooded over him. She would never have childhood; forced to grow up too quickly. Her dirty blonde her rested on her face and it made him think of his girls. She looked just like his girl Roselyn. Wayne turned around as he felt a tear slide down his cheek. He looked out the side window and the baren landscape before them. Everything just looked so .. Bad. He looked at the woman next to him driving and tried to figure her out. When he couldn't he looked back at her and quitely said, My name's Wayne, by the way. Thank you for what your doing for these people. At least I can die knowing there's still some good left in people. He said and looked out the window. He rested his elbow on the window ledge and cradled the gun in his lad. He rubbed the back of his head and thought to himself; I wonder when she's going to ask why I'm here? He sighed and shook his head. He turned back to the lady, When we get to the outskirts of town and I'm feeling better, would you stop for a minute? I'm going to ride my bike. You could use someone on the outside to help cover you. He said. All of what he said was the truth and honestlly, he just wanted to get out of the van. It would be helpful when we came upon another town or city. I could go in first and I could watch from the back and sides down the back roads. Also, If you need it, I have a map to Dellwood in my pack. Ask and it's yours.

Hayley sat next to a girl with dark brown hair and either looked to be older than herself or the same age. In the back of the van there were a lot of people but Hayley didn't really care about them at the moment. She decided that she would just have to wait for a better, calmer, and safer time when her head didn't hurt so much and her head would be clearer and make her a little less irritable.

She was suddenly awoken up and brought back to reality when the brunette next to her said, "Hayley right? Come here, if you don't want that to get infected." She looked at the girl funny, confused by the offer but wanting to take it even though she didn't even know the woman. Not even her name and she was going to get help from the lady anyway, because even though Hayley wasn't as experienced as the others in some subjects, the will to survive for her was strong.

Another rule in her survival guide was, "Always evaluate your situation. Make sure it is safe and there will be nothing that can distract you from the situation." And another one also came into play here, "Always accept help. Never be too cocky in a time of dire need. Accepting the aid might just save your life." And in this case that rule was the main thing she was thinking of when she was deciding whether to trust her head wound in the hands of this woman in the back of this other police woman's van.

The woman stared at her with the supplies already prepped and ready to start the procedure. "Look kid, I served two terms in the army, I can sew up that cut on your head and properly clean it so we don't have to shoot you later and you just deal with a crappy headache and worry about getting infected. You choice."

"Oh um well yes my name. My name is Hayley Humphrey. And I'm not afraid of pain. As I always say 'Pain is only temporary'. I'd very much appreciate the offer. Thank you. " Hayley replied and took off her backpack, bow and sheath from her back and placed her pack on the ground beside her and her bow and arrows in her lap. She turned her back to the brunette with the medical supplies to help her and she waited for her to start the painful procedure.

The brunette handed Hayley a bottle of alcohol. Hayley looked down at it skeptically then looked behind her shoulder at her. " My names Blair Blake, and most of us aren't afraid of pain, but it can mess up your shoot so take a drink of this." Blair said, as Hayley gave her the bottle back. Then Blair went to work. Hayley waited a moment for the procedure to begin and then Blair started to clean her head wound. Hayley held her eyes shut tightly gripping her bow tightly as the scraping and rubbing as well as the stinging sensation sent by the alcohol to disinfect and clean her wound was very painful. Hayley let out a long breath of relief as the pain stopped with the cleaning. Now only came the hard part. She braced herself for more pain and shut her eyes tightly. When Blair inserted the needle that would begin the three-four stitches needed to patch her up, Hayley gasped loudly and clenched her teeth hard and willed herself not to shout, yell, or scream out in pain, in fear that she would wake someone up. "Alright! your good." Blair said quietly from behind her. Then Blair wrapped some gauze around her head and left the van quickly. Hayley watched Blair as she set the bloody rag used to clean the wound on fire with the alcohol and then run back fast to the van again.

"Thank you Blair." Hayley said as she watched Blair get comfy and fall asleep beside her. Feeling nothing but gratefulness towards Blair for helping her, Hayley couldn't help her motherly type instincts. She took her soft back pack and lifted Blair's head up and slid the pack under it. Hopefully, she hadn't woken anyone up or disturbed Blair, but from the looks of it, it was safe to say that Blair wasn't going to be waking up anytime soon. Lucky for Hayley she had gotten a little less than the appropriate amount of sleeping hours about 4-6 hours since the emergency Broadcast was announced and this whole chaotic world crept up on everyone like it was thunderstorm that hadn't been predicted correctly. Hayley's secret or was when she was in the wilderness, was yet another rule from her trusty survival guide taught to her by her father. "If stranded or without another to create night watch shifts, its best to either be on high ground, but better than that in a sturdy tall, well built tree and strap yourself in tight. That way not many things can get you or your supplies in the night, well except maybe the birds and flies." Her father's survival rules and guidance has kept her alive so far and hasn't failed to help her out of any situation, ha, even in a zombie apocolapse.

Suddenly Wayne the kind man who saved her life about an hour before hand whispered to her in a quiet voice, "Hayley, Would you mind riding with me to a farm to check for gas?" He asked with a pleading look in his eyes. "I need someone with a good shot to accompany me."

She stared into his eyes and replied in the same soft whispery voice he asked her,"I'd be a pleasure. Besides I need to own up to my debt to you for helping me out before." She gave him a small smile that was kind and sincere.

"You be careful! The both of you! If you're still hurting, maybe you would be better to bring with" The driver and owner of the van, Police woman Jennifer said in a stern yet wary voice looking back and nodding towards Blair instead. It was kind of insulting to be asked y a person to go on a mission and then another to question their ability to complete the task given. "Thank you but I feel perfectly fine. And my shot won't be affected at all. I've gone hunting in worse conditions than some tiny wound on my head. I can do it. " She said sternly and confidently, holding her bow and sheath tightly in her hands and sitting up straight, she kept her voice low and quiet, so as not to wake any of the others up. She stared back at Wayne and smiled at both Jennifer and Wayne with a quick nod of confidence.

Heather dreamed of home. Though, unlike most people, home was not a comforting thought for her. The constant moving, the smell of drugs and booze, screaming between Violet and her father, her father getting angry and swinging at her sister, whores in and out of the house every night. Her home had been a living hell. Even before the virus had broken out, her life had never been easy.

Then the dream shifted. It was later, just before the 84K virus had gone airborne. Violet was out getting their fathers latest fix while she sat at home coloring a picture, her dad laying knocked out on the couch behind her. They didn't have television in the tiny house, just a little radio, so they knew a little about the virus, but not a lot. Not as much as they should have. They knew it was deadly. That it was practically incurable, but not what it did to the human brain. Not that it turned people into monsters. Afterall, the disease had just started to spread.

Their father had been sick for days. He'd died in the middle of the night only to come back to them, perfectly healthy and demanding his drugs. Not a few hours later, he started getting sick again. Three days later and there Heather sat, on the floor of her living room, coloring a picture, while her dying father screamed and moaned in pain behind her on the bed.

She hadn't even noticed when he'd started to get up. Slowly, deliberately, the man rose and clasped Heather on the shoulder, making her jump, throwing her crayons everywhere. He chased her through the house and backed her into the kitchen. His skin was bleeding where he'd scratched himself too hard and, from his mouth a terrible noise gurgled.

Crying and shaking, Heather grabbed a kitchen knife and backed into the corner of her kitchen counter, holding the knife before her. "Daddy?" She cried as he advanced on her. "Daddy, please. Do you need something? Vi-" She choked. "Vi's getting you your stuff. Just wait, she'll be home soon. It's okay." She tried to speak to him in the same voice one would use for a child, but it came out all wrong because in this case, she was the crying child.

He came towards her, closing the distance and, just as his teeth sunk into her neck, she jammed the knife forward with a shriek, into his stomach. It caused him to stumble backwards, holding his stomach, but it only took a second before he was on her again. Her neck was bleeding a lot and she was already starting to get lightheaded. Weakly, she made a grab for the knife, but her grip slipped and he caught her in his arms, crushing her little body to his.

He was squeezing her. Like a boa constrictor squeezing the life out of it's prey. Slowly, she gave up kicking, her attempts becoming nothing more than short twitches of the muscle as spots started to cloud her vision.

But there was another sound in the room now. Running feet.

Her fathers grip on her loosened and there was a loud crash. The last thing she remembered before falling unconscious was a metal baseball bat crashing to the gound and Violet, bending down to catch her safely as she always had.

Heather woke with a start, sitting up abruptly, panting like a dog. Her chest heaved and her hand instinctively flew to her neck. Sticky liquid still ran down it, but she was thankful to find that it was only sweat. Just a dream. She told herself as she looked about. They were all still in the van, driving along steadily. Bee softly fingered the scar on her neck from that night. That was how she'd become a carrier. She'd been bit by one of them. Luckily, she hadn't gotten the virus though.

She sighed and dropped her face into her hands, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with a yawn. "Damn nightmares." She hissed and looked at the others. Hayley and Wayne were missing, but the sound of a motorcycle in the distance confirmed that Wayne was on his bike. Hayley was probably with him.

Heather looked at Wess. Now that he was no longer threatening Vi, he looked like nothing more than a teddy bear and she instinctively wanted to crawl over to him and give him a hug. Instead she looked at Violet. "Vi." She said, speaking softly. "Vi I'm hungry..." Bee looked at their bag tentatively. Violet had this thing about food rationing. They'd shared one can of cold chicken noodle soup between the both of them for three days. "I mean really hungry." She said, wringing her hands in her lap. They didn't have much food left, but she really wanted a full can of something to herself. Nothing half-assed.



Violet watched the others for a while in silence, eyes quietly observing them as they went about sleeping, talking, singing, hopping on motorcycles, whatever. The closeness of the van was driving her absolutely crazy and she mentally kicked herself for not volunteering to hop on the motorcycle with Wayne. Riding out in the open air would be great. It was exactly what she needed. She'd never been great with a lot of people or crammed spaces.

It was all she could do not to wring somebody's neck.

She'd never get any sleep in the van, that was for sure. Biting her lip, she tried to focus on her sisters breathing, the voices of Penfold and Jenn in the front, anything but the fact that she was in a van with seven other people. Then her sister sat up suddenly, sweating and panting like a mad man. "Woah Honey-bee." She said, kissing her sisters forehead. "Chill. Just a bad dream."

"Vi." The girl spoke quietly. "Vi I'm hungry..." She watched her look at the bag and Violet let out a huff, running her fingers through long blonde hair. She glanced about. Great. Another perk about having so many people around. Judgement. If she didn't give her eleven year old sister a can of food, she'd look like a jerk. What the fuck ever. She thought to herself. I'll raise her how I want. She was about to say no when Heather spoke again. "I mean really hungry."

"Oh you're really hungry are you?" She rolled her eyes and reached into their bag, grabbing a can of Spaghetti-O's and rolling it in her hand. "I'm pretty sure the rest of us are too, but.. Since you're so damned special..." Violet flicked out her knife and cut the can open, handing it to her sister with a smile as she rumpled her blonde and pink hair.

"Don't waste it." She said with a sigh and leaned back against the side of the van.

Suddenly a thump on the roof made her sit upright. What the hell...? She thought as something jammed claws into the metal and began to tear, a loud, earsplitting metallic shriek filling the air. Violet cringed. A Hunter. They had much sharper claws than most infected and were the only ones with enough speed and balance to be able to stay up there. He'd probably leapt from a nearby tree.

Wasting no time, Vi whipped out her gun and raised it shooting three times. The first got her a shriek from the creature, but it persisted. The second shot was a miss, but the third shot seemed to have work because there was a thudding noise as the creature rolled off the van into the street. Heart pounding, Violet sat down again and sighed.

A moment later, Wayne pulled up on his bike and informed Jenn that there was a town up ahead and him and Hayley were going to head in first to scout. Good. A town. Violet thought with a sigh. "Jenn?" She asked, leaning forward. "Think we can stop in the town? Maybe find a hotel?" She glanced at the others. "I don't know about you guys, but I really need a good shower and a meal in me right now." She said with a smirk before looking back at Jenn. The woman merely nodded and pulled off to follow Wayne and Hayley on the bike.

Maybe Violet could find some car dealership or a Harley's so she could get herself a motorcycle. She'd only driven one a few times, but she would give anything to be out of the van with so many people.

Penfold ignored janni's order to not let her fall asleep and let her have her small nap and cry gently stroking her back he sat there staring at his injured hand examining the burns that were healing up slowly "with luck i wont need to fight for a day or two" he thought to himself, if he foughtt he blisters from the burn would burst and he would start bleeding again but he had no problem with that if he was needed when jenni awoke and got the can he frowned a bit "i hate tinned food....but i have no meat to roast for the moment, just grin and bear it penfold "do you need me to feed you?" he put on a smile and flexed his good hand "appears so seeing as your intent on keeping my arm" when jenni moved he kept his hand there and used his injured arm to feed himself one eye shut tight as he took the pain

he was going to vollunteer for the patrol but he knew everyone would say no due to the fact his fighting arm was hurt, he gave a shiver and slide the blanket from the bed they sat on over him and jenni "cold" he said to himself, he was always cold he knew that but that didnt mean he had to like it he sat there eating food he didnt like and shivering. he looked down at his shrit which had been ripped open, penfold was always dangerously thin, so much so that his ribs were showing despite him eating alot. no one -not even penfold- knew how or why he is so strong, but he had lifted people twice his weight before when in a fight he then had a breif flashback to his collage days having seriously injured another student when he was picking on penfold and started the fight "that was fun" he thought to himself as he got away scto free from the fight. jenni moved and his attention snapped to her as she made the toast and started to drift off again

"lie down if you want jenni ill move onto another bed if you want, if not ill stay" he shrugged with a grin he then watched the others and back to his hand, he scanned the room for wayne but it appeared he already left as did everyone else. he sat there staring at his hand while jenni slept either led down or sat next to him he started when wayne knocked on everyones door and gave jennifer a gentle shake "time to get up jenni....how are you feeling, did you sleep well?"he slid from the bed removed his ruined shirt and struggled to put another one on giving a breif "ow" every few seconds he could have changed elsewhere but chances are everyone else would have been awake by now. "showing one person my torso is one thing, showing a bunch of people its another, one that i dont prefere" he had a few scars on his back but they were quickly hidden by the shirt, he tugged his trenchcoat on and buckled his katana to his belt and hefted his rifle up onto his shoulder "ill give you some privacy to get ready and make yourself look pretty...or try to make yourself more so thought i doubt you could" he knew that flattery nearly always cheered a woman up and he wasnt wrong. he then made his way towards the door and opened with with his good hand...well he said good but it was numb because of jenni but it worked better than his strong hand, he stepped away and yawned eating a few more biscuits "god i could do with a bacon sandwhich...theres an idea, if there is any food in the kitchen i could prepare some sort of breakfast....well try to prepare anyway" he wasnt talking to anyone in particular but just anyone in the main room that branched to the others if anyone gathered there he waited by the door of his and jenni's room keeping an ear out if she needed help

As Hayley finished her meal, she felt the sensation of sleepiness creep up on her. She was suddenly asleep and then got half awake and got the odd feeling she was being carried somewhere. The next thing she knew was she woke up to Wayne saying softly, "Wakey, wakey. Time to get up." She smiled and opened an eye looking up at him. He smiled at her and left to wake everyone else.

Hayley decided that she really needed a shower. Besides when was she going to get the opportunity to get a real peaceful shower in the future from now. Hayley slid her jeans off and unbuttoned her red plaid shirt. She saw her boots were already off and she figured that Wayne had brought her to bed and tucked her in. 'Ok I honestly have to thank this guy somehow.' She thought to herself. She took off her tank top and put it in the pile with her pants and shirt. And walked into the bathroom. It was already wet and she chuckled quietly to herself as she remembered hearing the faint sound of water running and thought that it was rain. She took of her bra and panties and stepped into the cold yet refreshing water. She looked at the motel complimentary soups and washed her hair thoroughly through. She then washed her face and her whole body letting the suds of soup cleanse her filthy and tattered exhausted body.

When she was finished she towel dried her hair and that made it curlier than it would have been. But anyways she dried off her skin and put her bra and panties back on. She walked over to her bed and heard Wayne doing something outside. She took a new tank top on and her second pair of pants on. She decided to wash her pants in the shower and then let them dry in the sun. She had also rubbed them down as best she could with her dampish towel to help speed up the process. She buttoned up her shirt and brushed her hair with her fingers making it presentable enough.

She grabbed her baggy of jerky and went out to Wayne. She saw him taking a smoke on his motorcycle and went over to him. She smiled and got on his bike with him. She straddled the bike sitting on it and facing forward right in front of Wayne. She grinned and laughed a little. "Hey Wayne guess what. I have some dried venison if anyone would like some fresh real meat? It's pretty good, and I should know I hunted and made it myself. And there's enough for everyone to have a strip of the stuff. Ya know a somewhat normal breakfast." She smiled and handed him the bag. "Ya know it's the least I can do since you've been taking such good care of me. And you may deal it out to everyone too." She smiled happily and looked at Wayne.

penfold flinched at the scream and raised a brow to jenni then chuckled "i take it you like coffee then?" he then looked to the small asian girl and patted her shoulder "its fine chances are there is no electricty so the fridges probably have been off a while, ive had rubbish warm bacon....its not nice"he smiled to the kid and offered the child a biscuit giving jenni a smile he flexed his arm looking at the healing marks made by wayne, they were going to scar but he didnt care, his arm worked and that was all that mattered, he grasped his katana hilt getting a feel for it, it didnt hurt too much so he would be able to use it, but not for heavy hits, if he had to it woudl be to slash at the legs to debilitate infected.

as wayne entered and apologised he released his hilt and gave him a wave "it'll be fiiiine, ill get you back for it when your not looking" he grinned at the man and watched as wayne gave him some food "i could hug you man" as everyone came out of their rooms he gnawed on the deer meat and devoured it, as he finished his stomach growled and wne into a side pocket of his bag and pulled out some ham which he proceeded to eat. snacking was fine but he had to eat alot to keep his weight the same, he found it very difficult gaining weight and he lost it very easily getting a hit flask from his pocket he took a drink of the juice he kept stashed and put it back, it was very strong juice to make sure he didnt drink it all, he laughed as wayne made a soldier out of the little boy and saluted him "your doing it wrong. -this- is how you salute" he then did the british salute to him and smirked "maybe if you could spell correctly you could figure out how to do things properly there is only one U in nuclear" he chuckled knowing that for the most part he was surrounded by americans and he gave a wink to jenni remembering their argument about how to spell colour while in the van, he scanned the hall way and then looked up for a moment stretching he cracked his neck and then his back looking back to the group he groaned "ahhhhhh thats better, so whats the plan. are we staying here to recover and repair for a day or so or are we hitting the road now? oh if youve not fixed the van yet i have a favour to ask, chances are we will get more infected onto the van and we cant afford to keep breaking it, so could you fix some bars to it and ill hold onto them outside the van and fight off infected as we drive....or put some on top and ill stay ontop of the van. dont want hunters tearing at the thing again"

he knew what he asked was crazy but it would work, sitting on the van would be better with bars to hold onto to keep him there, and when he needs to fight he could slide his feet under bar so he can stand and fight. "nothing could go wrong" he thought, he was too stubborn to fall off he waited assuming jenni could call him crazy or an idiot, and expected wayne to do the same and both would probably decline if so fine he will just have to lean out the window to protect everyone again