Post by Alexandria Winters on Jan 27, 2015 20:00:45 GMT 10
With the wind in my face All problems disappear
It was early noon as Alexandria paced along the grass nearby a worn two lane road, not daring to actually walk on the road for easier footing as the heat emanating from the grass was far more bearable than that of the black line stretching into the horizon. A thin linen fabric taken from an abandoned bed was draped over the young woman’s neck and shoulders, protecting her fair skin from the sun beating down overhead, as she had long since run out of sunscreen and didn't denote skin cancer as being a more immediate threat than a trip into the nearby town markets.
Sweat beaded on her forehead, her white fringe held up in her cap feeling like a gross pile of soggy noodles, as her head swam with thoughts of… swimming. She’d never been big on swimming; that was her brother’s deal. The younger-older brother… The one that wasn't dea-
She shook her head. It did her no good to think of her family. Not now. She had to focus. Focus on her feet. On moving one foot in front of the other. Her book. It said there was another lake a few kilometers further… Maybe this one wouldn't have those damn rotting corpses splashing about in it. She’d never be that thirsty… She hoped anyway. Although she thought she would soon get there, as she stumbled and nearly toppled over, pausing for a moment to rest her hands on her knees, exposed from the tight shorts she wore, yet still mostly protected from the sun by her white sheet. She looked over her shoulder, and saw nobody following her anymore. She’d outran her only pursuers hours ago, unsure if they would keep going until they caught up or if something else would get their attention, but as long as she didn't see them, she didn't care right now.
Dabbing the linen on her arm over her sweaty face, she straightened up and continued further along the road, praying to whatever god there could be anymore that she could fill her water bottle soon. A few minutes later, she came across a signpost which had faded from the sun, but, squinting, she made out the name of the town she was looking for, and started following the loose dirt road that branched off to the left of the road she had been following. She walked onward, and as the town finally came into view, she forgot her aching legs and sweat-stained shirt as she smiled hopefully, breaking into a jog as she entered the perimeter, eyes peeled for a shop, a well, a pump…
Post by Magella Jones on Jan 28, 2015 14:38:03 GMT 10
It is easier to know where you are going... ...When you know where you have been
Magella had been walking for a few hours, eyes peeled for creepers walking around in the surrounding area. So far it had been quiet. It was oppressively hot, and sweat was beading on her forehead and top lip, making her hair feel heavy. She made a note to cut it off again when she got back to Sanctuary, to keep it out of her eyes and off her face.
Jeans clothed her legs, a pair of slip-on boots half-hidden under the denim. A long sleeved shirt, tight-fitting with a high-collar covered her top-half. She had a large backpack on, flat and empty. There was a bottle shoved into the side of it, only a quarter of it was filled with water. A tradie belt was looped around her waist, her usual weapons, a pair of screwdrivers and hammers, tucked into the front. Her crowbar was held in her hands, held close to her chest. It was a little worse for wear, dried blood and bits of flesh stuck to the edge of the metal.
The highway was hot under her feet, but she didn't want to move off the road and risk turning her ankle in some grass-hidden hole and be unable to fight or run. Sometimes she wished that she could change her clothes, wear something shorter and cooler, but it was too dangerous, thin as it was, her clothing still gave her some protection from bites and scratches.
Something caught her eye up ahead and she froze. It moved again and she saw it was a sheet. What on earth was a sheet doing in the middle of the highway? Was it caught on a zombie somehow? She crouched down, jogging as she moved forward. Finally she decided to move off the road, crouching low enough to hide behind the slight mound.
It wasn't a zombie, the sheet was moving much too smoothly for a zombie,and it was off the side of the road. Creepers usually used the road, it made it easier on their rotting legs. She decided to follow whoever it was, to see where they were going and help from a distance if she could. Perhaps she could gain another helper for Sanctuary.
Post by Alexandria Winters on Jan 28, 2015 15:20:14 GMT 10
With the wind in my face All problems disappear
Alexandria continued into the town, unaware of being followed, so eager was she to sate her growling thirst that her usual careful view of her surroundings was being hampered.
Moving away from the road to approach some of the more detached houses that made up the outer edges of the town, her bright blue eyes soon spotted a fridge as she peered through a dusty window, the concept of a bottle of water being kept within not too far-fetched for her to carefully round the sides of the dilapidated flat.
Finally reaching the front entrance, she squinted in slight annoyance, finding the door locked, its design a small border of wood set mainly around yet more cloudy glass. She couldn't spy the hinges from the outside, and after knocking on the window to disturb any unfriendlies within, she took the linen sheet from around her neck and shoulders, temporarily exposing her paleness to the world, the white of her skin quite comparable to that of the linen. Pressing it against the glass and adjusting her backpack such that the handle of her steel baseball bat was within reach over her shoulder, she leaned into the door with her elbow raised, about to smash through to attempt unlocking the door that way.
Post by Magella Jones on Jan 29, 2015 10:29:41 GMT 10
It is easier to know where you are going... ...When you know where you have been
The person continued on to town, Magella following a short distance away. The bright white sheet made them clear to see for ks around. She paused as she reached the outskirts of town, ducking down and taking her drink bottle out of her side pocket to take a sip of it. Recapping it and shoving it back into its pocket, she was about to move forward when a movement from the corner just up the street caught her eye.
A ground of zombies were making their way down the street, their rotting legs shuffling them along. She shuddered a little, the way they moved making her feel sick. Something had their attention and they started turning down towards them. She wasn't sure how many their were, many ten or so, but more than she cared to handle herself.
Her eyes moved back to the person she'd been following, and noted that they'd removed their sheet. The person under the sheet was male, their skin and hair whiter than she had ever expected. It didn't look like they'd noticed the zombies either and they were starting to get dangerously close.
Making a decision, Magella sprinted across the street, her footsteps fast and quiet. She reached the boy, grabbed his shoulders and threw her shoulder against the glass, tackling him through the now empty space and into the house. Her body flipped, cushioning the boy. A split second later, she shoved him off, rolling back to her feet, being careful of the glass underneath them.
She crouched by the door, peering through to try and spot the zombies. Her head turned and she flashed the boy a winning smile and a wink. "G'day mate." she chimed, turning back to the door to keep watch and make sure they moved if they needed to.
Post by Alexandria Winters on Jan 29, 2015 11:31:47 GMT 10
With the wind in my face All problems disappear
Alexandria had no clue that zombies had managed to get so close to her, the first inkling of trouble hitting her with the weight of a young woman as she felt herself being protected from the fall. Oddly, her first thought was how foreign it now felt to have someone so close, as she had managed to avoid contact with anything living or dead for the past year since the outbreak began. This was mainly due to the fact that she had not found any other survivors, her social skills deteriorating, and it took her a moment after the sly wink and grin from the woman to manage to find something to say.
"Wha- Who... The hell was that?!" She exclaimed, remembering her vocal disguise halfway through the sentence and making it sound as if her voice squeaked like a pubescent boy's. It sounded convincing enough in her own ears, as she took in the woman crouching by the door. She looked tough, Alexandria realised at a glance. Her arsenal of makeshift weapons was surprising but intelligent, and she seemed to know how to use them, she concluded, as she saw the gore sticking to the end of the woman's crowbar. More so, the woman could have killed her without pushing her into the house, she realised, meaning that she wasn't hostile... At least not yet, she amended, hearing the shuffling and groans from outside approaching the house.
Panic started flooding through her system, as she quickly hunched up onto her feet, checking herself for injury from the glass. She had a slight cut on the back of her right hand, a small line of barely bubbling blood trying to escape it, and she paid it no heed for now after giving it a quick lick, such a minor thing less to worry about than what was approaching them. She carefully untangled herself from the sheet and shuffled down the hallway, mimicking the experienced looking woman, and whispered under her breath, "Should we run? I usually just run..."
She was rather proud of herself, her voice sounded pretty calm given the circumstances, and she wondered if she was finally getting used to this new world, or still in a state of shock from meeting someone else with such an impact. Completely forgetting about why she had wanted to enter the house in the first place, she carefully drew her baseball bat from her pack and cradled it in her hands, careful to avoid dropping it as her hands shook slightly with anticipation.
Post by Magella Jones on Jan 29, 2015 13:07:12 GMT 10
It is easier to know where you are going... ...When you know where you have been
Magella barely noticed the change in the boy's voice, all her senses focussed on the shuffling group of corpses heading their way. Waving her hand a little at the boy to make him be quiet, she shifted back from the door, the glass crunching a little under her boots.
"You need to thay quiet." she whispered, her 's' turning into 'th'. "Juth thay near me and I lead you thomewhere thafe. There'th about ten of them out there, too many to fight with juth uth. But I need to be thure they won't try to follow uth. Any that come through that door get killed. Underthood?"
She glanced at the boy, noticing the cut on his hand. Reaching out, she grabbed it, turning it over a little to look at how deep and how much blood there was coming from the small injury. His sheet was lying on the ground and she picked it up. A piece of glass joined the sheet in her hand and she held the fabric taunt between her fingers. Sawing the glass against the edge, she made a tear in the fabric.
Taking hold, she ripped the sheet, tearing off a thin strip of material. Taking hold of the boy's hand again she started wrapping it up, eyes still on the doorway. Once she was done, she knotted the fabric, pulling it tight and tucking it into the wrapping so there were no bits hanging out. The group was getting closer, she could see the leader on the street now and she bit her bottom lip, hoping against hope that they would keep on walking.
They were lucky this time, whatever had gotten the zombies attention wasn't them, and they just kept on going. She let out a very soft sigh of relief, head leaned back against the wall. Though the danger had past, she still had her eyes on the door, stragglers were no rare occurrence with zombie groups.
Post by Alexandria Winters on Jan 29, 2015 13:29:13 GMT 10
With the wind in my face All problems disappear
Alexandria frowned slightly at the strange way the woman was talking, wondering if she either had a lisp or was trying to avoid the sharp 'st' sounds, the latter option giving her more regard for the woman. She held her bat in one hand as the woman tended to her cut, surprised by the gesture, which eliminated any lasting suspicions regarding her potential hostility.
Nodding a silent thanks with a slight smile, Alexandria clenched her hand around the fabric and found it wound around just tight enough to not be a hindrance, before taking her bat in both hands once more. Her blood was boiling through her veins, the thought of having her first fight with a zombie filling her with equal parts of dread and excitement, though she'd intentionally avoided such confrontations in the past, just in case she couldn't handle putting down what used to be human. She avoided thinking about it on her own when there was no threat around, but in tight situations, the doubts that she could actually kill one of them caused her no end of worry.
She saw the woman relax slightly, and she released a breath she didn't realise she had been holding in. Not too eager to be the potential damnation of them both, she waited for the woman to give the all-clear before daring to open her mouth again, instead following suit and gazing at the door, her pulse settling down along with the fading sounds of the zombies... Until a breeze rustled the leaves of the surrounding trees, the long grass waving as the wind rushed towards the shattered door opening, brushing passed the two crouching survivors only to disturb a year of dust from within the previously sealed house.
Squinting from the breeze as it dried her eyes slightly, Alexandria didn't notice the dust until it found her nose. Her eyes widening with surprise, she hid her face in her armpit and tried to mute her sneeze as best she could against her shirt, though it still made a sound along the otherwise silent street. She froze in horror at her own stupidity, unable to look at the woman for fear of her disapproval, as her ears burned for any approaching, dragging footsteps.
Post by Magella Jones on Jan 29, 2015 14:40:19 GMT 10
It is easier to know where you are going... ...When you know where you have been
There was silence. Blissful silence. No groans, no shuffling, no noise except the birds in the trees at the edge of town. And then the hiss of a sneeze. Her eyes snapped to the boy, her teeth grinding down in frustration. Her fingers curled tight around her crowbar. There was a slight tickle in her nose, the dust brewing up a sneeze in her own nose.
Her mouth closed and she clenched her jaw. There was a slight jerk and her eyes closed, but the sneeze was silent. Shaking her head, she looked back to the door. A very faint sound reached her ears and she hung her head. There had been a straggler and they'd heard. She stood up, creeping closer to the door, the glass only moving a tiny bit as she stepped over it.
"Get up, move back from the door, let them come inside, they can only get through one at a time, don't get trapped against a wall." she snapped at the boy, adrenalin racing through her veins. "Aim for the head, they looked pretty rotted so their skulls should cave without too much effort."
She readied her crowbar, lifting it over her shoulder to get ready to swing it at the zombies. One appeared in the doorway and her muscles tensed, ready to attack. It took a few moments, the creeper getting stuck on the door frame before shuffling its foot over the small barrier. A second appeared behind it, taking less time than the first, its arms reaching for the boy.
Her leg stepped forward and she swung the crowbar, it hit hard at the first zombie's head but it wasn't enough, it kept coming her way. "Die you son of a bitch." she hissed, kicking it to make it stumble back so she had some more room to fight. She swung again and this time its skull caved, brains scrambled and smeared across her crowbar.
Post by Alexandria Winters on Jan 29, 2015 16:07:57 GMT 10
With the wind in my face All problems disappear
Alexandria felt a deep sense of shame as she hung her head, screaming insults silently to herself at the dust, at her nose, and at her stupidity to not bite her tongue or choke off the sound, like she saw the woman do. Shaking her head, she focused once more on the approaching zombies, finally looking at the woman and nodding at her instructions, heart pounding once more.
She briefly watched as the woman engaged the first one, stepping forward and powerfully swinging the crowbar into its head. She felt a horrible thrill as she saw the creature stagger back, before fear as it didn't go down, making her flinch before focusing on the one reaching out towards her. Taking a quick breath, she put both hands on the handle of her bat and stepped towards the zombie, thrusting the bat's tip upwards into it's jaw with a solid, wet thunk, and a crack as some fetid teeth trickled to the ground from the broken jaw of the creature.
She felt sick, her stomach churned with bile from a mixture of the sickening stench of rotting meat from the creatures filling the entrance of the house, and the gross feeling of destroying part of a human so viciously. But as the creature reared back and again reached for her, she clenched her jaw and jumped back, only to charge at it while fiercely yelling, swinging her bat in as wide an arc as the walls would allow for, closing her eyes a second before hearing a sickening, crunching sound, feeling a jarring sensation run up her arms and shake her shoulders, before coming to an abrupt halt, leaving her wondering why her arms suddenly felt incredibly heavy.
Opening her eyes, she soon found out why, as the caved in head of the zombie had her bat sticking out of it, the corpse now once again dead weight as she pulled on it. Coming free with a wet, slick sound, gore spilled out of its head before the zombie found its final rest on the ground, Alexandria stumbling back a few steps, staring at what she had done. After the final exhilaration passed, she turned and vomited the meager contents of her stomach against a wall, the motion painful as there was no water and little bile to help out the can of cold spaghetti she ate that morning.
Post by Magella Jones on Jan 29, 2015 20:47:54 GMT 10
It is easier to know where you are going... ...When you know where you have been
As her zombie dropped to the ground, Magella took a quick step back, crowbar raised again to defend herself if the other zombie happened to turn her way. The boy's yelling took her by surprise and she had to step back quickly to avoid being accidentally clocked by the baseball bat he was swinging around.
Just before he hit the zombie, she saw his eyes close tight. A frown creased her brow and she was glad to see that the second hit had incapacitated the enemy. She was about to move forward and grab the boy by the collar when he moved again, the zombie slipping from his baseball bat. He turned to the wall and his body heaved.
With a shake of her head, she crossed the hallway to the door, poking her head out to make sure nothing else had heard the boy's loud yelling. Silly kid, she had a suspicion that this was his first zombie kill. Considering the way he was hunched over at the wall with puke streaming out of his mouth, she didn't hold very high hopes for him being a zombie killing veteran.
She knelt down, plucking at the zombies' clothing, checking their pockets for anything useful. She found a few coins and pocketed them. In another pocket, she found a battery, she turned it over, making sure it wasn't leaking and tucked it into her pocket as well.
"You're hopeless kid." she murmured, straightening up. She retrieved her crowbar from the floor and flicked a few pieces of brain from its surface. "You were making so much noise when you were fighting it. It was one, did you want to bring more? That could have happened. We could be swimming in the creepers right now. You're lucky they had all gone past when you sneezed. My name's Magella. You're welcome."
Her eyes swept over the boy, taking in his overly pale complexion. It was so strange and he was so pale. It definitely wasn't natural, she knew she had a god awful tan from being out in the sun for over a year. "What's wrong with your skin? Are you an albino?" she asked, completely ignoring how rude it might sound to have the question coming out in that way.
Post by Alexandria Winters on Jan 29, 2015 21:05:32 GMT 10
With the wind in my face All problems disappear
Alexandria wiped her mouth with her uninjured hand, grimacing at the brain matter dripping from her bat as she wiped it against the wall. She scowled with annoyance from the woman's words before turning and watching her check the dead ones' pockets. Another good idea, she noted, but it didn't improve her mood.
"You can talk, Miss 'I'll smash a stranger through this glass door'." She huffed as she straightened up from her crouch. "Besides, since you hate glass so much, you could've just thrown me through the kitchen window if more came..."
She trailed off as she rubbed at her dry throat, the words making her remember how thirsty she was, as she swayed slightly on her feet. The exertion of jogging into town and taking down the zombie hit her as she rested an arm on the wall and caught her breath, murmuring a soft "Dammit... Ah, name's Lex. Lex Winters."
After taking a moment for the room to stop spinning, she slowly nodded to the woman's last question. "Hammer on the head. Is that gonna be a problem?" She looked over at the woman, eyes stern and confident, the earlier uneasiness gone. Almost as an afterthought, she added, "And... I'm not useless. I've just never killed one before. I've hit em, sure, but running is what I know, and I'm damn good at that." She nodded to herself, not doubting for a second her skill with her legs. "Thanks for your advice though... I- uhh... Shit..."
She trailed off again, trying to say too many things at once, and rubbed the back of her head, a sliver of her pure white hair showing from the back of her cap as she did so, and she paced her way to the kitchen, making for the fridge.
Post by Magella Jones on Jan 29, 2015 21:33:41 GMT 10
It is easier to know where you are going... ...When you know where you have been
"If you had rather I just let the zombies come up behind you and eat your face off, that could be arranged." she called as Lex walked away, a grin evident in her voice. "I could just go out onto the street and shout a bit and they'd come running."
She followed the boy, eyes checking every corner of the rooms she was walking past until she got to the kitchen. It seemed relatively untouched to her. Crossing to the pantry, she pulled it open. A soft hiss left her mouth and she jumped back quickly. A hangman's noose was attached to the ceiling of the walk-in pantry. The noose itself was looped around the neck of a man. And he had turned.
The moment he saw Magella and Lex, it started groaning, arms and legs flailing about in the air, making its body swing from side to side, desperate to get at them and have its feast of their flesh. Completely ignoring the jerking body and the putrid smell, Magella peered into the pantry, trying to decide if there was anything worth killing the zombie for.
In the back of the cupboard, almost hidden in the gloom, she spotted some tins, neatly stacked out of range of the zombie's swinging feet. "Well, big boy, you've done such a good job protecting all of this for me. Now you sit still and let my friend here practise their kiling techniques and we'll let you have a rest, okay?" she reached out and patted the zombie's leg gently, setting off another explosive round of kicking and groaning.
"This is your chance." she said, turning and grinning brightly at Lex. "Kill it." She looked him over again and held out her almost empty drink bottle. "If you puke this up, I will murder you, okay?"
Post by Alexandria Winters on Jan 29, 2015 21:49:26 GMT 10
With the wind in my face All problems disappear
Lex ignored the woman following her, eager to regain her composure as she moved to the fridge. She took a breath, hand on the door, when she head the commotion coming from the pantry. Whipping around, her eyes widened in surprise to see the poor soul hanging from the ceiling, widening further as she heard Magella's proposal.
She scowled at the woman further, thinking of just running out the door and leaving the crazy lady alone with her new zombie pal, but the guarantee of water was too great for her to ignore as compared to the chance of the fridge, and she gratefully snatched the water bottle and emptied it, careful not to waste any precious drops by letting it leak down her pale neck. She felt the lukewarm trickle ease her thirst, and gave the bottle back, before she sighed and slowly approached the zombie, bat raised in the air like a kid about to swat at a piñata.
Frowning for a moment, as if in hesitation, she lowered the bat instead, reeling back only to slam the bat against the zombie's kneecap, hearing a disgusting snapping sound as the limb began limply flailing around, the creature's snarling unchanged from the pain it couldn't feel, and Lex turned to smirk at the woman.
"There," she murmured, "At least now if I somehow screw this up you have an easier time with a crawling dead person." Sighing to herself, she felt less like these things were people... Nothing would ignore a leg breaking, nothing alive anyway. It helped her, consciously and unconsciously, and without asking, grabbed one of Magella's hammers, finding it much easier to swing above her head than the bat.
Waiting for a gap in the flailing arms, her hand snapped forwards with the hooked side of the hammer pointed at the zombie's head, Lex this time keeping her eyes locked on the creature to ensure it didn't jerk at the last second and catch her with it's arms. Her aim was true, however, and the hooks of the hammer sunk through the decaying skull and into the goopy mess of brain within, the creature shuddering before gasping its last.
Pausing for a moment to ensure no bile was rising in her throat, and being pleasantly surprised, Lex twisted the hammer and pulled it free, before holding it out to the woman, smiling rather proudly. "Guess you won't get to murder me today, Magella." She stated matter of factly, though she was silently grateful of the woman and her odd test.
Post by Magella Jones on Jan 30, 2015 10:59:56 GMT 10
It is easier to know where you are going... ...When you know where you have been
Magella took back her now empty bottle, her stomach reminding her of her own lack of water with a sharp pain. If she didn't get more water soon, she'd get a headache and it would be almost enough to cripple her. Her fingers ran over her forehead, rubbing as if to try and ward off the headache she didn't have.
The hesitation as Lex raised his baseball bat made her want to snap at him but she was impressed when he broke the creeper's leg in case of a bad situation. The borrowing of her hammer didn't move her, letting the boy take it, curious to see what he would do with it. The kill was a little messier than she would have liked, but the boy still got it done. Reaching out she took back her hammer, wiping it clean on te zombie's shorts.
"Great, you know how to break a zombie's leg, and kill it with a hammer." she stepped up behind him, pressing a screwdriver into the boy's hand. "Now, show me how you would kill a zombie with this. Take your time, there's no danger here for now. Be creative. How could you kill a zombie with a screwdriver. What could you use in this room to kill it? Do you have anything in your pocket that could be used? What happens if you lose your baseball bat?"
She knew she was being hard on the boy, but there was no gain in being soft. As far as she could tell he only had one weapon. Loosing his weapon in a fight would mean his death. She'd seen it happen before. She'd watched someone die because they weren't prepared enough to face the zombies that came after them. The guilt of standing by and not lifting a finger to help the stranger would be with her until she died, and she was trying to make up for it, trying to protect others and prepare them for whatever situation they might face.
Post by Alexandria Winters on Jan 30, 2015 11:25:10 GMT 10
With the wind in my face All problems disappear
Lex took the words quite seriously, already having decided that Magella seemed to know a fair bit more about dealing with these things than she did. She palmed the screwdriver and tried holding it a few different ways, including palm upwards and psycho style, deciding on the latter as she looked up at the silenced zombie again.
"Unless pocket sand can help anything, my pockets are useless... Maybe if I had some more tins of food in my backpack, that could throw them off balance, or some pots or pans from the kitchen..." Her eyes widened the more she thought about it, amazed she hadn't put much effort into it beforehand. "Or searching the utensils draw, even it is empty, I could pull the whole draw out and use that, it'd weigh a nice amount for a good whack! Or throwing a chair... Opening a fridge door on them... Hell, throwing a chair at them to make them fall against the open fridge and closing the door on their heads!!!" She found it rather fun thinking of it now, her earlier nausea at such things gone.
Making sure she wasn't simply fluking this confidence, she again turned to the hanging corpse, and forced the screwdriver into its eye. She grimaced as the rotted contents of the pierced socket dripped out around her fisted hand, but she felt the same gross texture of brain meeting the tip of the screwdriver, before pulling it free. "I guess that works... You have to get pretty close though, I guess that's your last resort?" She asked, turning to look at Magella expectedly, utter admiration flashing on her eyes now out of gratitude for the woman awakening such thoughts for her own survival.
Thinking again, she turned to the dead creature and pressed the screwdriver against it's jaw, metal side skywards, testing the length to see if stabbing through the bottom of the jaw might reach far enough. She frowned, unsure if the length was safe, murmuring "Maybe with a knife..." to herself, before stepping back, rather pleased.
