Max Paiges's Story

Max’s eyes fluttered open, the light from the window above him hitting him right in the eye. He picked himself up, scooting a few inches to the right, before blinking a few times and letting his eyes adjust. It looked nearly the same as when he has fallen asleep.

His sister, Taylor, was perched by the small window, a Marlin 1894 CB in her hands and settled on the window frame, her eyes staring somewhere through mirror sunglasses, always ready for anything. And by her crouched legs, Scout, their German Sheppard dog, sat, ready for whatever Taylor needed.He sighed, rolling his eyes at his sister before standing up and stretching, then walking over and pulling her away from the window.

“There wasn’t anything last night, and there isn’t anything now.” He said, his voice hoarse from a cold. His sister pulled up her glassed, placing them on the ground, then looking at her brother and smirking.

Max hated this look. So much. He didn’t know why, perhaps because he didn’t know exactly what it meant, or perhaps it was because it meant that she did. He sighed, watching his sister stand up aswell, and in turn, Scout. She turned to her bag, grabbing out a bag of what looked like beef jerky. She handed Max a piece, and took one herself, then put it back in her back.

He took a bite. Yeah, this is not beef jerky, he thought, cringing, but eating it anyways. Taylor picked up her back, pulling out their glock, and handing it to Max, then putting her backpack and larger gun over her shoulder. “Let’s go,” She said, her voice low, and quiet, as she turned around and hoped down the flight of stairs, Scout following after.

Max tailed along, squinting as they exited the abandoned building, and entered an alley off the side, his sister following. It may not seem it, but these tended to be the safer ways to get around. The dark, creepy alleys tend to be displayed as zombie heaven, but in reality, they aren’t. The small amount of human life roaming around in the towns the three made a trip to wouldn’t be caught dead in an alley.

They trekked for about two hours, heading east and ending up near a forest. Taylor paused, grabbing her canteen and taking a few drinks before tossing it to Max and letting him do the same. Sighing, he glanced around, seeing not much except and forest one way, and an empty (looking) field the other. He took a seat on a stump, Scout sitting next to him, and looked at the frustrated expression Taylor showed.

“We are taking a break. Whether you like it or not.” He said, smiling with satisfaction as she sat down on the ground, leaning back against a tree. “We will rest for 20 minutes, and that’s it.” Taylor said, Max simply nodding off her words.

Taking a deep breathe, and checking her watch yet again, Taylor glanced at Max, glaring slightly. "We need to get moving. Now." She said, standing quickly, cracking her back.
Max just looked at her, biting his lip, then slowly shaking his head. "This is the longest we've ever been without seeing an infected. Don't you want to embrace it?" He looked at her, hoping his words would change her mind, but his hopeful looks were only met with blank stares back, so reluctantly, he stood.
Grinning at her brother, Taylor looked around them, before making a strange decision to enter the forest. Max followed slowly, Scout by his side, as they breached 40 or so feet into the forest, then starting to go parallel to the woods end.
Taylor immediately paused, holding her hand up quickly to pause Max's walking, then putting it to her lips to silence him. She closed her eyes slightly, listening closely to muddled voices she heard in the distance.
Max did the same, hearing them and silently stepping closer. They were at least 100 feet away, but close enough to hear. The three made there way closer and closer to the sounds before pausing 15 or so feet away, kneeling behind trees and observing the group of three.
Max and Taylor made quick eye contact, then looked back at the group.

Alex paused... He was sure that he heard something. The noise was faint and could of been anything, but Alex decided not to ignore it.
"Aarti," He whispered, and the girl looked at him curiously,
"Why are you whispering? Scared the trees will hear you?" She sneered.
Alex narrowed his eyes, that was actually true.
Not the afraid part, just that fact that something might be listening, something might hear them.
Alex didn't feel like taking chances.
He pressed his index finger against his lips, signaling for Aarti and Leo to be quiet.

Aarti didn't understand the warning.
"What?" She snapped, wanting to know what was going on, "You better not be telling me to shut up!"

Leo looked at Alex in confusion and mouthed the words, What?
He didnt have the slightest clue what was going on, was there an infected nearby?
Surely he would of heard it as well... maybe his hearing was off?

"You better not be telling me to shut up!" Aarti said rather loudly, and Leo flinched at the noise, if something was hiding in the bushes somewhere, Aarti was probably drawing it towards them.
"It'd be nice if you did..." He muttered in a low voice, shooting a glare at her.

Taylor's eyes met Max's quickly, before soundlessly signaling him to take out his gun, pulling her knife from her halter. She mouthed, Get ready, before slowly standing up, then looking back at him. One, two, Taylor pauses in her place, looking back at the three. They had started whispering, well one of them had, which meant they were genuinely scared.

Max glanced at Taylor, confused by her pause, but he kept his gun up. Taylor looked at each of them quickly, noticing they were all around her and her brothers age. A small smile crept onto her lips as she bit it in thought. Could this be our opportunity to find someone to help us along? She knew it was far fetched, and most likely stupid, but being on the run for so long nearly made you crazy. She took the knife and made a long, but thin cut on her arm. At least this way, if they killed her, infected would be drawn closer.

She looked at Max once more, his head slowly wagging back and forth to signal no, and said aloud, "I'm hurt, tired, and pretty defenseless. I'm coming out," and taking a deep breath, loud enough for the three to hear, she tossed her knife onto the ground in the middle of the opening, walking in with her hands slightly razed to show she didn't have another one. Taylor made sure not to do anything to signal her brother was there; if this didn't work out the way they wanted, she didn't want him getting hurt.

She looked at the three strangers, searching for emotions she knew would cross their faces. And if one of them looked too scared, or furious, or any sort of a strong emotion, she could easily be in trouble.

Taylor knew just how stupid this was, but she didn't care. She was sick of running with just her and her brother, and even the thought of another chance made her happy.

Leo was getting annoyed.
Here he was, standing out in a forest, and was wondering what the fuck was going on.
Alex had heard something, obviously, but it had probably just been an animal or the wind or something, nothing to take caution of.
... Unless the animal was infected, then there would be a slight problem.

But to Leo's surprise, there actually was something there with them. His eye's darted to where the bushes started moving and a knife was tossed to the ground, he stared at it in confusion.
"Wha-" Leo shut up when a girl, probably nineteen or so, stepped out of the shadows and into view, her hands were raised a bit like she was trying to show that she wasnt a threat. Her face looked cautious and Leo realized that she probably expected either Alex, Aarti, or himself to pull out a gun and demand who she was and why she was here.
Leo didnt do that.

"Um... hello..." He said, then did a slight wave rather awkwardly.

Aarti looked at the girl in surprise, and then her surprise changed quickly into suspicion.
From what Aarti could see, the girl was alone, how did she manage that?
A group of three had a hard time getting by, surely a group of one would be even worse...
[i] The others might of died recently, [\i] Aarti thought, trying to make sense of it, [i] Or maybe they're somewhere else.. [\i] Those were both equally realistic possibilities, now Aarti just had to find out if she was right.

"Um... Hello." Leo said, Aarti was thankful for him breaking the silence.
Alex didn't say anything and Aarti guessed that he was deciding whether to play nice and find out who the girl was, or kill her on the spot.
Aarti hoped that he'd play nice.
However, when Alex reached for a pocket inside his jacket, Aarti knew immediately what he had chosen.

Before he could even had the gun in his hand, Aarti quickly stepped infront of him and put on her most convincing smile,
"Don't you dare." She whispered so softly it was difficult for Alex to hear.
Then, as if she hadn't spoken to Alex, Aarti spoke again,
"Hi there... It's not too often that we run into people who aren't trying to kill us, so it's nice to have things changed up a bit for once!"

Taylor looks the three back over, hearing one of them break the silence, but not saying anything back. The other two seemed to be examining and evaluating her, as if to see if she was a threat or not. And then she saw one of them, the other boy, reach for his pocket. This was an obvious sign of attack, and instantly, Taylor's mind went into power mode, think of how to defend herself if he pulled a gun.

I can snap up, she thought, and flick my toes to a firm point so it goes up at an angle and lands_ Her thoughts were cut off as the girl stepped in front of the boy, and put on a huge smile. Taylor out on a smile as the girl said something to her, nodding slowly, then realizing they probably weren't used to the silent type, and muttering a small "Yes." Then her mind floated back to Max. what to do, what to do.

It seemed as though they weren't going to kill her right away, at least not here and now, and that meant they were probably safe for the moment. And besides, they would be out of their way as fast as possible, and as soon as both she and her brother were rested and at full health. At least, she hoped it would work out that way.

Taking a huge breath, she leaned her neck back, stretching it, then made eye contact with the one who almost pulled a weapon. "I'm not alone, as I'm guessing you have assumed. I have my brother, and a dog here too, both healthy, not infected. They are close enough to hear us, but not close enough for you to see. If you're going to kill me, I suggest doing it now, although I strongly suggest not doing it at all. "She said this with a black expression, the type her brother knew her for, and kept her eye contact with that boy until now, looking to the girl to see her reaction.
[i] Hopefully, all goes well....[\i]

Taylor looks the three back over, hearing one of them break the silence, but not saying anything back. The other two seemed to be examining and evaluating her, as if to see if she was a threat or not. And then she saw one of them, the other boy, reach for his pocket. This was an obvious sign of attack, and instantly, Taylor's mind went into power mode, think of how to defend herself if he pulled a gun.

I can snap up, she thought, and flick my toes to a firm point so it goes up at an angle and lands_ Her thoughts were cut off as the girl stepped in front of the boy, and put on a huge smile. Taylor out on a smile as the girl said something to her, nodding slowly, then realizing they probably weren't used to the silent type, and muttering a small "Yes." Then her mind floated back to Max. what to do, what to do.

It seemed as though they weren't going to kill her right away, at least not here and now, and that meant they were probably safe for the moment. And besides, they would be out of their way as fast as possible, and as soon as both she and her brother were rested and at full health. At least, she hoped it would work out that way.

Taking a huge breath, she leaned her neck back, stretching it, then made eye contact with the one who almost pulled a weapon. "I'm not alone, as I'm guessing you have assumed. I have my brother, and a dog here too, both healthy, not infected. They are close enough to hear us, but not close enough for you to see. If you're going to kill me, I suggest doing it now, although I strongly suggest not doing it at all. "She said this with a black expression, the type her brother knew her for, and kept her eye contact with that boy until now, looking to the girl to see her reaction.
[i] Hopefully, all goes well....[\i]

Taylor sighed, looking at the boy with the gun, and the girl defending her. "Yeah I'm a huge threat. Theres a gun on my back used for at least 20 yards away, that would take me at least 15 seconds to get ready for, not to mention again that you are far too close to shoot it with. Oh and lets remember I already threw my knife onto the ground, and my arm is gushing blood." She stopped herself there, realizing that was probably the most she'd said at one time since the infection started, but it was also rather sarcastic and snippety.

She sighed again, rubbing an eye with her clean hand. "To answer your question," she started, looking at the boy with the gun again, "He's hiding behind a tree about 20ft away, with a dog crouched at his feet. He's probably shaking his ass off from fright. LOwer the gun and I'll call him out." She finished.

At this point, she could not have regretted showing herself any more than this. Seriously, you'd think that after being a trio for however long they had been, they'd be happy to see a new, fresh face. Then again, she thought, If i was them, I would have shot me by now. She bit her lip slowly, watching the boys face for any emotion to be shown.

Max was still pushed back against the tree, gun in his hand, breathing as slowly as he could. He was scared, to say the least. He didn't know why his sister would be so stupid as to wonder into a group of strangers, assuming they would let her in. But he had to trust her. He glanced down at Scout, and for some reason, the sight of the dog calmed him. Now all he could do was hope for the best.

---Aarti---

Aarti laughed,
"See? You're such an idiot, Alex." She snickered, nudging her friend in the arm, "Now put away the damn gun."
Alex scowled but put the gun back in his pocket.

Aarti gave him a thumbs up and then turned towards Leo,
"Can you see if there's any medical equipment in the backpack?" She asked.
Leo looked like he wanted to protest, but he did as he was told and managed to find a few bandages, he handed them over to Aarti, "Here." He muttered.

Aarti rolled her eyes, was she seriously the only one who didn't think of the newcomer as a threat?
She was harmless... aside from the knife and the brother with the gun, but those weren't problems at the moment, so they didn't matter.

---Alex---

Alex's eyes drifted over to where another person appeared, for a second he thought it was the girls brother, and then he realised that they looked nothing alike.
So who was he?
"Aarti," He said, tapping his friends shoulder. She looked back at him with an annoyed look, "If this is about-"
"No, look." He pointed to where the new boy was, "Another visitor."
Honestly, where were all these people coming from?

Taylor saw the new boy, and slightly chuckled. "And I'll tell you, he's not my brother." She said, giving him a once over, then looking at the other three, about to ask if he was one of them, but the shocked expression on all of there faces, clued her in that they were certainly not together. A smirk worked its way onto her face, as she looked back down at her arm, now covered in blood.

I should probably fix this soon, she thought, but her eyes floated right back up to the new comers face. He looked so young, probably even younger then Max, and it seemed as though he was on his own, as this encounter was not planned out by him. It was so strange, this whole meeting all of a sudden, but Taylor didn't believe in fate. This was just something that had happened, possibly resulting great, possibly horrible.

She glanced at those around her, slowly picking up her knife and putting it back in her halter. Then, she looked back at the three, only praying that Max was still there, watching.

And he was. Although, now he was less pressed flat against the tree, and more leaning around it, and watching the scene unfold. He was still far enough away that there was nearly no chance of them seeing him, but he could hear and see them. And it was quite interesting. For example, how this boy had come out of no where, like his sister, except he had not planned his entrance, or so it seemed, from his shocked and confused face. Max looked down at Scout, the dog silently panting and watching him, then looked back at the clearing, watching his sister and the others.

---Aarti---

Aarti shrugged, "One more person, so? He's just a kid." She asked Alex, who didn't look overly thrilled about the new guest.
Then Aarti walked over to the other girl and without asking grabbed her hurt arm, "Don't stab me." She muttered as she examined the wound. It didn't look too bad, but Aarti decided that it could use cleaning... and that it needed to stop bleeding.
Also without asking, Aarti began to wrap up the girls arm, she'd tend to it later, but hopefully the bandages would stop the blood flow.
"You should really take better care of yourself. This, " She said, holding up the girls arm, "Is a perfect example on how not to do that. You're lucky that the zombies haven't found you!"

---Alex---

Alex rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the new boy, who he guessed was a complete idiot.
He looked surprised like he hadn't expected to run into other people, and he probably wouldn't have if he hadn't been listening to whatever was playing on his earphones.
Yes, Alex decided that the kid was stupid, didn't he know to be more careful then that? Obviously not.

"You," He said, pointing at the boy, "Can put your hands down."
Alex didn't kill, shoot, or harm children, that was his rule. So unless the kid gave Alex any reason to, he was fine.
"What's your name?"

Taylor watched the girl helping her, not objecting, allowing her face to fall into a blank stage, nodding a thanks at her, then turning towards the trees she'd come out of, and watching and waiting for her brother to come out. Max did as he knew he should, slowly making his way out, glock still in his hand, Scout in step with him.

He had the gun by his side, looking at the scene closer and moving to stand with Taylor, glancing only quickly at her now wrapped wrist, smirking at how her petty attempt to look wounded had actually worked. But it was smart. He too knew that they both needed rest, Taylor especially, and with only the two of them, there was no way that would be possible. Max stood right next to Taylor, glancing at the boy who had just entered the clearing, and wiggling two of his fingers, signally Scout to sit by his feet.

Taylor watched Max come out, turning to face the group again, glancing at her now wrapped and covered arm. Well now what were they to do? She had no idea, other than the fact that she continued to hope she had made the right decision by exposing her brother and herself. Either they would join up with the four infront of them, and conquer, or they would be dead within days.

Leo had given Aarti bandages when she had asked for them, he watched as she didnt think twice about helping the blonde haired girl, and he noticed that Alex was trying to actually be nice for once, which would hopefully not be a short-term thing.
But Leo... he was doing nothing at the moment, he was pretty much useless.
So he decided to continue on with what he had been doing before the uninvited visitors had arrived.

He rolled up his sleeping bag and was just about to put it away when another person and a dog appeared. Leo looked up and saw who he guessed was most likely the blonde haired girls brother and the dog she had spoken about.
Hopefully, anyway.
Leo wasnt very keen on having another random visitor show up out of nowhere.

Belial was perched up in a tree, looking down at the newly found individuals. Two women, four males. One of the men was approaching from a hiding place, probably having been observing the situation, as well as covering fire. At least, Belial was assuming it was covering fire by the way one of the women looked over at the man as he approached. All of them looked quite young, in their twenties at the least, maybe early thirties. He wasn't to sure, nor did he really care.

He normally would have assumed them to be rebels, considering they were so far away from any places of civilization. He only went on that assumption, because after six years of this mess going on, people had usually migrated to safe zones and such. Only people who wanted to stay away from prying eyes, hence resistance members, usually braved the wastelands were infected roamed.

Kneeling down so he could get a better look at them, he cocked his head to the side. Few of them actually seemed to know one another though, and that was the only reason Belial had decided not to attack. If most of them were strangers to one another, then they just had to be a bunch of unlucky schmucks just lost and wandering about. Course, even random individuals Belial might have attacked, but over the years he had certainly simmered down a bit. Least in regards to randomly mauling strangers. He'd only do so if the thirst was really strong or he was particularly hungry (the two did kinda go hand-in-hand). The only people who ever met his unwarranted aggression were those he had been tasked to kill or those who had decided to turn hostile upon himself.

Remaining up in the tree, he smiled some as he shouted down to them. "You know folks, it might behoove you to know that there is a fuck-ton of infected coming this way. Largest horde I've ever seen to be honest. But before you depart, would it be rude of me to ask if any of you are members of any known/unknown resistance groups working against the NDO? An odd and random question yes, but it's very important for me to know."

"You know folks, it might behoove you to know that there is a fuck-ton of infected coming this way. Largest horde I've ever seen to be honest..."
Leo paused and looked at the group behind him, for he second he thought that it must of been one of them who had spoken, but no one seemed to of heard the voice and it definitely hadnt sounded like anyone he knew.
Great... Leo thought, shaking his head, Im going crazy.
And then the voice spoke again, at first Leo wasnt able to catch what it was saying, but the last few parts he understood,
"...Any of you are members of any known/unknown resistance groups working against the NDO? An odd and random question yes, but it's very important for me to know."

Leo blinked and looked up, since he realized that that was where the voice had been coming from.
Leo was surprised to find a man sitting way up in a tree.
He couldnt see him clearly, but from what he did see, the man didnt look quite human... odd.
NDO? Leo thought,
No... him, Aarti, and Alex werent exactly working against them... but they werent working with them, either.
They were just kind of... not really doing anything.

"Uh... no. I mean... I dont think so." Leo called back, not sure of his answer.

Barnaby watched as Mando fired off the gun, before he started to panic himself. While he and his guards knew that Mando was not firing at him, those on the wall may not realize this and Barnaby didn't need this turning into a shootout he wouldn't survive. Quickly turning around, Barnaby looked up at the wall and held his hand up, trying to signal to the men up on the wall not to fire. To be safe, he looked at one of the guards nearby. "Tell the guys up on the wall the man is just having a spaz attack please!" One of the guards quickly hoped on his radio to inform, Barnaby watching before he suddenly felt someone grab hold of him.

Barnaby was caught off guard as the young woman hugged him, Barnaby just standing there before he awkwardly patted her on the back. "Yep...you are welcome miss." She then quickly scampered behind him as Mando approached again. Barnaby looked at the woman before back at the slaver. "So, do we have a deal here or not Mr. Ortega?" Barnaby was still unaware of who exactly Mando had attacked, as the woman in question was out of his sight and so it left him with little go on. He did hope they got out ok, in fact he kinda hoped they could find their way to the wall. Atleast that way they may have a chance to get noticed by the guards.

One thing the walls did have was various ladders and rope variants as well to allow quick access in and out of the city. The only thing was that these ladders were under heavy guard, and could only be deployed form the inside and only in certain circumstances were they ever deployed. Hopefully the guards would feel somewhat merciful on the unlucky sap running for their lives.

***Belial***

Belial chuckled as the boy's uneasy response. Belial decided to get down to their level more, so began hoping down the branches before landing a few feet away form them. He wasn't surprised at the odd and uneasy looks. He got plenty of them from people who lived in relative safety, so he'd expect people who had to watch their backs for infected and slavers twenty-four/seven to be even more cautious. "Well least it means we won't be trying to kill each other then!" Belial said with a smile

"None of you know where any might be, hm? I've got a very important job to do and it would really helpful if you did let me know." Honestly, Belial was really only making conversation cause he was bored. He wasn't really expecting any solid information out of these people, but it was a good way to break the ice, at least Belial thought it was. "Don't let my odd appearance put you off! I've had my fill of meat lately, so I'm just looking for any bits of info people can give me and maybe a nice conversation while I'm at it!"

(OOC: Ignore the Alexis Rivera tag, that was me accidently clicking it while trying to get Alex. Sorry!!)

***Barnaby***

Barnaby pinched the bridge of his nose, looking over at the little firestorm that was started. "Fuck a duck and call me a monkey..." he mumbled to himself. He looked back at Mando, "Right then...I'll go get the stuff rounded up, then we'll finish this business. See you in a few." Barnaby said before he turned around. He looked at the slave girl and gestured to his guards. "Just stick with them if he scares the bageabis out of you." Barnaby said before he turned and began making his way back towards the gates. "Oy...I am one lucky son of a bitch aren't I..."

***Belial***

He looked around at the group, still getting the uneasy looks from them. None had spoken up yet, and it was somewhat irritating him on the inside. "What? I heard you guys have some good chit-chatting earlier! Fuck the boy was brave enough to speak up, come on! Besides, not like you haven't seen disfigured folks like me before!" Course he should be smarter than this, to realize how these folks were not exactly going to be forthcoming with him. After all, he certaintly wasn't the prettiest of guys on the block nowadays.

Nicholas was looking around, he put his hands down since it looked like no one was attacking him. Suddenly a man jumped down from the trees, and one of the men said something to him. Nicholas could not hear anything. The strange man looked as if he was really angry and like he was telling everybody off. Nicholas had no idea what he was say, the earphones were still in his ears and all he could hear was his music playing while the man was telling him off. Nicholas wasn't really afraid of him. Well, he had been living in an apocalypse, so this should normal according to everything else that had been happening in the passed years.

Nicholas took his earphones out of his ears, and walked back slowly, so that he wasn't in the middle of everyone else. "I was just passing by, I don't want any trouble. I got sloppy just for a minute, but I'll get out of your way." He said to the strangers and also to the strange man. He turned his mp3 player off and put it in his pocket. He couldn't handle all of the staring, and he was pretty sure that the other man was getting tired of it as well. "Sorry I didn't answer you, I just couldn't hear you."