Zara's Story

Ayden shuffled awake, his eyes fluttering open. For a moment, he had forgotten where he was. The grim reality quickly came back to him, as he sat up from the run down couch he had been sleeping on. It was still dark, probably an hour so so before the sun would come up. He remembered how they got here to this run down apartment. They had tried to get out of town at the southern bridge but there were just too many infected. They ran for a long time before being comfortable enough to stop here for the night and come up with a new plan.

Ayden peered over and sad Zara sitting near the windowsill, looking down at the darkened streets below. Her eyes seemed to be drooping a bit; it must be around time to switch watches.

“Hey, Zara,” Ayden said quietly. “I’m up. Anything eventful happen?”

Ayden sighed. “Not great.” He pulled up his back backed and unzipped it.

“A few water bottles, some granola bars, some pop tarts, about 8 can of various vegetables, a bag of jerky, and an apple.” Ayden tosses the apple at her so she can catch it. “Here. It needs to be eaten before it goes bad. If you’re tired you can get some sleep now before it’s dawn. When you wake up, we’ll have to talk about a new plan of attack.”

“It’s just an expression. It didn't mean actually attacking them. I meant we have to come up with a new plan out of the city.”

Ayden walked over and peered our the window. He saw a few shuffling forms in the distance but nothing to get worried about.

“Maybe another one of the bridges, or the tunnel, or... God I don’t know. They’re probably filled with infected like the bridge we tried to cross.”

Alyson started to stir on the bed on the far side of the room. Ayden walked over to pull the covers back onto her, but her eyes opened. “Is... is it time to wake up?” She whispered. Ayden shook his head.

“No, we still got a few more hours until we have to get up. Go back to sleep,” he said softly. Alyson gave a sleepy nod, a shallow yawn, and laid her head back on the pillow. Before long she was back asleep.

Ayden gave a slight nod, though he wasn't feeling very optimistic. He was just about to speak again when the loud bang echoed across from down the alleyway to the side of the apartment. Ayden instinctively grabbed Zara's shoulders and pulled her low, so they couldn't been seen through the window. Then, slowly, he peaked over the windowsill.

Out from around the corner through the darkness, he saw three dark figures sprinting pretty fast.

Other survivors? What are they running from? He thought to himself.

His eyes grew wider when he realized they weren't normal; they were the infected! Three of them sprinting down the road and then off into the distance. Luckily, they did not stop to notice three people in the second floor of an apartment. After a full minute of silence after they had run off, Ayden spoke.

"What the hell was that? Those were infected, but they were running. I've never seen them run like that before..."

Ayden stood back up, a worried look over his face. “Hyperactive infected? Jesus, that sounds horrible. You’ve run into a few before?”

The thought of a infected horde was mostly troubling due to their numbers, but they were manageable because they never could reach the speed above a slow jog. It was easy enough to out run them if you only found a couple. But these running ones filled with adrenaline? It had the potential to be very bad.

Ayden nodded. “The less she knows, the better.”

He glanced at his sleeping sister wondering how she could possibly be processing all this. To be so young, and to go through so much... it would only be worth it if they could make it out of this alive.

“You tired? You can catch some sleep before it’s time to move in the morning. There’s a market around the corner that we should scavenge when day breaks.”

If there’s anything left to get. he thought sullenly. Chances are, it was looted long ago.

“Maybe it would even be a good idea to check the other apartment rooms.”

Ayden stood for a while in the same spot, glancing out of the windows towards both ends of the street. He was watching to make sure those hyperactive infected wouldn’t come back. Up until that point he assumed all infected were the same. If some were special, could there be others? Stronger infected? The thought made him shudder.

After about 15 minutes of standing there, and making sure Zara had fallen asleep, he walked over to the couch and took a seat. Everything was dangerously silent, with only the quiet noise of nocturnal insects chirping outside.

Another 20 minutes passed before he noticed a quiet whimpering noise. He approached his sister whose face was contorted in fright. She was having a nightmare. He gently rubbed her forehead and stroked her head until she stirred awake.

Her eyes were filled with tears as she looked around frantically.

“Shh, it was only a nightmare. You’re fine,” Ayden comforted.

That seemed to calm her down, and she took a deep breath before reaching up for a hug. Ayden hugged Alyson gently. “Do you want to try and sleep some more?” Ayden asked. Alyson shook her head no. “I’m awake now,” she said simply. “I’m hungry though.”

Ayden looked through his backpack and fetched her a granola bar. “It’s not much, but it will have to do for now. We’re going to search for more food and supplies when the sun comes up.”

“This will be fine...” Adyson whispered. She ate the granola bar in silence. Then she joined her brother on the couch and waited for dawn to break.

*Time skip 2 hours, morning*

Zara woke up with a light headache, everything was blur to her as she looked around. Confused, and with little sleep for the third time, it took her a while to recover.
My head, wish I had better dream at least but no…
She slowly stood up, noticing Ayden missing from where he should be.
"Where…" She muttered, as she slowly began to realize where he was. While she was near window, he was on the couch with his sister.
"You do realize...you could’ve killed us, right? "
Then she chuckled.
"At least me, considering I’m closest to the door and window now, I guess it makes sense why I had such a bad dream…"
She looked around, searching for baseball bat, only to realize it’s where she left it.
Zara slowly turned around, and peered through window, one hand reaching for bat.
"You know…we should stay away from main street for now" Her grip became stronger as she holded bat.
"Uhh...on second thought all streets" Zara added stroking strands of hair.

OOC - How much can I assume when it comes to your characters? I'm asking cause I'm not sure what I may write about them (to some degree that is...for example I wanted to assume that Ayden would be hugged by younger sister searching for comfort, though I left it out cause of being not sure if it's that's fine with you).

OOC - That’s fine with me. Basic things that your character could assume are fine. Just make sure it’s from your own character’s perspective. “Ayden looked comforted when hugged by his younger sister” is better than “Ayden was comforted when hugged by his younger sister.” The first implies your character notices the emotion and is simple reading it, the second is taking control of my character. I’m not very strict though so I can let a lot of things slide lol.

IC - Ayden nodded. The main streets were too wide and not very much cover, except for the cars that were littered everywhere. Of course, many of them were useless as their gas was ciphoned long ago. Gas was pretty scarce nowadays. He brought out the city map out of his backpack and unfolded it on the table. On it were several red marking noting where they ran into trouble, and places to avoid. They wouldn’t need to go far to get to the market he wanted to check out today, but they should try to find a way through the alleyways and backroads.

“Here,” he said, pointing down at the map. This series of alleyways is probably our best bet, as long as we stay quiet.”

Alyson peered over down onto the map. “Will it be safe?” She asked.

“We’ll be as safe as we can,” Ayden assures her.

OOC – Kay, this helps a lot, thanks :)

IC – Zara had a bad feeling about this, and no matter how many precautions she came up with, it just wouldn’t go away. Surely she could agree that this choice is the safest, but if they know it…so could others, recently bitten ones included. Later she'll have chance and time to tell him about sewers, possible way out about which she almost forgot. She used Ayden's map to memorize some places worth going to if they end up splitting for whatever reason it may be, it's easier risking just one life.
Ayden, I wonder if he's...nevermind.
"Fine, though we need to remember about possible infected and uninfected…" She thought of what else to say, what else to keep in mind.
"We should check other apartments as you said and put on some more clothes, I hope we’ll find something we could use." With baseball bat in hand, she couldn't be more ready, though she still could use some sleep.

"Ayden?" Zara said, glancing shortly at Adyson.
As much as he may hate it, we will have to tell her eventually...

“We’ll be fine,” Ayden assured. “We’re quick, quiet, and stealthy. This building should be clear because it only has two ways in: the front door which we can see from the window, and a back fire escape exit that is barred. We should be able to look through the rooms in peace. If we ever need a distraction, I made this...”

Ayden pulled something out of his backpack that was bulky and sat in his hand. It appeared to be one of those old alarm clocks with the bells that would ring loudly when the alarm sounded, and the whole thing was wrapped several layers in bubble wrap. Taped to the clock in the middle was a small baggie filled with a red liquid.

“This is our distraction if things get scary. You wind the clock and pierce the red bag with something sharp. It’s pigs blood, and will cover the clock in blood. You throw it as far as you can and the alarm bells start ringing. Any infected in the area are drawn to its noise and the smell of blood. While they rush the clock, it gives us a chance to escape. Though it only works if you haven’t been spotted yet.”

He put the contraption back in his pack and zipped it up. “We shouldn’t need it. At least not until we’re out in the open streets.”

OOC - hey sorry for being a little slow with the replies this weekend! This weekend is the one where I'm moving to a new house so there's lots to do.

IC - "We had to use it once before, and it worked pretty well, and they're pretty easy to make. You can use anything that makes a loud noise," he said, while putting his pack over his back. "We should get searching. Do you think it's smarter to split up while we search the apartment?"

Adyson shuffled uncomfortably; the thought of going back out there were they could get killed was frightening to her.

OOC – Hi, I understand and np, I have to study so I may happen to reply slightly slower now :)

IC – Zara carefully listened, knowing it was actually used calmed her slightly. Apartments could save them with supplies or doom them with hidden infected, question was different though, Zara wondered whether splitting will be profitable or troublesome.

" I see, about apartments…we will search them faster if we split, but it may be more dangerous, so it’s a matter of how sure you are of being able to keep her safe" Glances at Adyson.

OOC - Just finished my move and got my internet set back up, sorry it took a few days! It's been pretty hectic here lol.

Ayden glanced down to Adyson, and then back up to Zara. "You let me worry about her. I've kept her safe so far, and I won't let her get hurt now."

"I'll be ok. I will be very quiet," Adyson added.

"Alright then, let's get to it," Ayden nodded to Zara. "We'll take the the rooms on the first floor, you check out the second. If anything happens, this room is the fall back place. If that's not an option, the next meeting point is the market a few blocks over."

"Alright, grab kitchen knife if you lack any kind of weapon…"
Zara moved to door, first checking through eyelet, then slowly opening door. Corners seemed clear to her.

I wish there was more light here…

She stepped outside, stairs up and down. Naturally she moved up, wondering whether will it be infected or nothing upstairs.

OOC -Np, after all you mentioned moving to new house earlier.
Oh, and Merry christmas/ Happy holidays :)

OOC – Hi, np and actually not searched by these three yet :)
P.S : I'm not sure when will Glory be back, which is kind of bad, so for the time being I'll shoot and assume his characters went to check other floor. We can always correct it later :)

Step by step, she reached next floor. Quiet it was at first, too quiet one would say, but something caught her attention. A corpse lying, face to the floor, she kicked it.

Nothing…

Zara used her bat to turn corpse onto it’s back, first noticeable thing was head wound.

Enough to kill infected, but who…

She heard a sound, as if someone was doing something in hurry, question was who it was and what was that person doing. Zara took an easy way out of this situation, risky one as well, she began to speak and hit nearby wall lightly yet loud enough.
"Come on out, infected or not, I don’t care…"
She heard scratching coming from behind one of many doors on this floor, risk of checking it now was something she wouldn’t take. She decided to stay where she stood, simply to be sure that nothing unexpected catches her of guard.

Thwack! She didn't think she'd ever get used to the sound of a skull cracking. The baseball bat in her hand swung out again to make contact with the creature one last time. Just to make sure. Lucy Quinn breathed heavily from the excursion. Beating an infected really took it out of you. Standing as still as a mouse she listen carefully. Bright green eyes studying the surrounding. Silence. Dead silence.

She almost laughed at the pun but that was dangerous. Just as this silence was both haven and the sudden possibility of immanent danger. Right now Lucy was running on adrenaline and this was no time to stop. If there was one, it was more than likely there were more. She'd gathered in her travels they came as a collective however one didn't have the time to study them when one was constantly fighting to survive.

And that was how Quinn had survived, constantly on the move. From one place to the next. Never staying anywhere too long to get cornered because somehow, someway . . . They always found you. Sighing, the Pharmacist cleaned her bat on the infected at her feet. Her face contorted in disgust at the beast and yet a wave of sympathy shrouded it as she thought for the Grace of God I. It wasn't as if these poor people had wanted to turn into creatures of nightmare. It had been out of all their hands, yet sometimes she wondered if they were the lucky ones and not her.

Rounding the corner of the derelict building she threw the duffel bag she carried in a dumpster for safe keeping. If this place was safe she'd come back for it. Carrying around a big bag like that didn't help when being attacked by zombies. Tightening the straps of her backpack, Lucy un-holstered the gun from around her waist. The same gun she had taken from Terry the infected security guard from her work. Poor Terry. He hadn't deserved what happened to him but this was no time to think about that.

Slowly, testing it, she attempted to open the door to the apartment block. The other hand lifted to hold the gun directly out in front of her. The door gave easily, creaking eerily as it opened into a darkened hallway. Reaching into the back pocket of her jeans Quinn pulled out a flashlight and unfaltering, switched it on. Her arms now crossed out in front of her, one shinning a light, the other holding the gun steady. Too many rooms in this building. Too many meaning more chances of a surprise and not the kind she liked and yet the height of the building and the additional escape route of a fire exit staircase would do nicely for a couple of days. If, Lucy thought, she hadn't just made herself somebody's dinner.

Zara waited, who would it be she did not know, and would they really come out? No one could be sure, but indeed someone came out, a man in a lab coat.

“Who would have thought…scientist?” Zara asked smiling.

I wonder why is he here…


OOC - btw, you can tag characters in post, very useful and something you already know :)

OOC- Oh sorry, I didn’t realize I wasn’t.

Malcom jumped, fully expecting to either be shot or torn apart as soon as he stepped out the door. Rather, it was a small girl that couldn’t have been older than twenty. This was probably the last thing he was expecting. Was she with a group? Was he saved? “Why yes,” he managed to get out. “I am a scientist. May I ask who are you?” He eyed the girl’s bat nervously.

Zara didn’t expect him to be so seemingly calm when he replied, she wondered how he even managed to survive until now.

“Just a girl that wonders whether to kill you or not…” She replied with a cold voice.

I don’t trust him, but it feels like…he won’t be a problem.

Question is...what will he do? His choice will determine what she will do.

OOC- I see, and sorry for late reply :)