|
Tueor
Sept 19, 2014 14:06:36 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by ashestoApples on Sept 19, 2014 14:06:36 GMT -6
Lorna was VERY aggravated. For one, she wasn't short enough to be carried around all the time. Just because everyone else was taller than her didn't mean she was short. Second, and most importantly...
"Where the HELL is your shirt???" she asked angrily. He was wearing a jacket, but his front was still completely bare and she had just been held up against that. Her nose wrinkled in what she thought might look enough like disgust. Her face felt like it was on fire. She was about to say something else when he set her down and she heard a walker or two clawing at the chain link fence.
"Shit," she muttered, forgetting all about Rick's blatant shirtlessness. She pulled out her knife and looked around the gas station. It was a shame, this place was stocked up good. Assuming, though, that there wasn't a herd outside, they might still be able to load up. Plus, she'd seen a car outside. Maybe, just maybe, with the gas from that car and the one in the jeep, they could make it to her place with trunk space and a closed in shelter just in case they ran into anymore.
After finding what she was looking for she dashed to the counter, foot crying out in pain, and smashed the glass with the back of her gun. There were some decent looking knives behind the counter, and now that she was over here she could see a crow bar down an aisle with car 'essentials.'
"Here's how we're gonna do this. Conrad, you sit tight for a minute and keep gathering this stuff up."
"Are you INSANE?"
"We've COVERED this already, and we will COVER you. We don't have time to be arguing right now, dammit!" she yelled, hearing more walkers at the fence.
"Short stop," she said as she picked up the crow bar and swung it toward Rick. "You're gonna help me clear out these god forsaken skin-eaters outside so we don't lose this place." Looking a bit wild, she turned around and glared at them. "Any objections?"
Conrad shook his head, officially terrified.
|
|
Andy
Full Member
Rufus probably
rick gets all his ideas from the sorting hat's cousin - the bad advice bag
Posts: 119
active character(s): Rick
|
Tueor
Sept 19, 2014 14:26:18 GMT -6
Post by Andy on Sept 19, 2014 14:26:18 GMT -6
Having totally forgotten his state of dress, Rick looked down at himself to realize, 'Oh ya, dat's why'm slightly chilly.' Why Lorna felt the need to point it out besides the obvious "Rip organs out of here" level of access he was giving to the zombies though, he couldn't presently fathom.
"Long story," He shrugged, dropping the subject as everyone sprung into action. He caught the crowbar thrown to him with ease, slightly pleased with himself for how bad ass that must have looked to everyone else (not that they were paying attention, he sighed internally). He gave it an experimentally twirl with his fingers, happy with the weight of it in his hands. He gripped it firmly and nodded towards Lorna, sparing a moment to wipe the junk off his face and adjust his hat.
"None what-so-ever, commander." He saluted sarcastically, before bracing himself for combat.
|
|
|
Tueor
Sept 19, 2014 14:54:08 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by ashestoApples on Sept 19, 2014 14:54:08 GMT -6
"Good," she said before handing one of her glocks to Conrad. "Fully loaded. Shoot it only if you're in trouble and we'll come running. I personally don't want to be overrun by these shits by using my guns on them unless I have to." Conrad nodded feebly and tucked the gun in the back of his pants.
She grabbed her knife and another solid looking knife from the counter she destroyed and carefully made her way around the broken glass unsuccessfully. "Shit!" she cried. "Fucking glass." She tore off a piece of her leggings and tied it around the cut spot and hopefully covered up enough of her foot for it not to hurt like hell when she ran outside.
"Let's roll," she said after jumping over the first set of glass, successfully this time. God, she was a mess.
|
|
Andy
Full Member
Rufus probably
rick gets all his ideas from the sorting hat's cousin - the bad advice bag
Posts: 119
active character(s): Rick
|
Tueor
Sept 19, 2014 16:15:23 GMT -6
Post by Andy on Sept 19, 2014 16:15:23 GMT -6
Seeing her fumble with the glass, Rick frowned and muttered, "Shoulda let me carry ya."
Following her out the front door, they were greeted with the sight of at least a dozen or so zombies clawing at the chain link fence. Luckily, none of them seemed to have noticed the gate yet, so that bought them some time. However, some of them put together ones had figured out how to use their feet and hands in unison, and were scaling the fence with a degree of difficulty. Some of the more rotted ones watched them, and tried to copy the motions, but were missing the parts or lacked the motor skills to pull it off. So most of the horde settled for gripping the spaces between the metal links, their rotting fingers sinking into it and oozing putrid blood. If zombies somehow knew anything of psychological warfare, they suddenly used their stench to their advantage.
Wrinkling up the bridge of his nose, Rick charged towards one of the fences and kicked directly over a set of undead fingers, the fragile bones snapping under the force of his boot and the rest of the zombie falling uselessly to the ground as its grip was lost with its remaining hand. The fence shook, some of the ones that had started to climb tumbling off in a similar messy fashion to fall on the ones beneath them. For such a simple strategy, Rick was impressed with himself for the amount of good it momentarily did.
Swinging up his crowbar, he shoved it through one of the fence holes into the eye socket of one of the remaining zombies. It sunk in with a muted splorch, and made just as nasty a sound as he wrenched it out and moved away to do the same to another neighbouring walker. He went around like this, only kicking the fence again once or twice as some of the more persistent ones pissed him off with their grabby fingers or climbing shenanigans. When he was done, he had put down at least five, with more of them uselessly staring at the fence as they no longer dared to come near it or attempt to climb it. He shouted at them, daring them to come closer to no avail.
Frustrated, he set his sights on the ones that had wandered closer to the gate, though thanks to Lorna they were no closer at getting into it. Coming up beside her, he tilted his head in such a way he hoped conveyed "Where do you want me?" Seeing as she was swinging a knife around and he didn't want to get between her and the business end of it when it was meant for the undead.
|
|
|
Tueor
Sept 19, 2014 16:59:16 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Sept 19, 2014 16:59:16 GMT -6
"Check around back!" Lorna called as she stabbed her knife up through the ear of a walker and pulled her knife back through the bars. It fell on the ground only for another to climb on top of it. There were probably only about twenty of them, and compared to what they'd seen earlier, that wasn't as bad as it could be. But she hadn't checked the back.
A small- what was once a child's hand, probably- pushed through the fence too hard. The part of its forearm near the elbow was scraped badly on the metal, leaving gore and gunk behind. It was still able to thrash wildly around and grab the back of Lorna's jacket with a strength that no child could have had. She was pulled backward and some fingers grabbed her hair, pulling it out of the bun she'd had it in.
"Son of a bitch," she said before cutting off some hands and then stabbing the corpses who owned them up through the nasal cavity and through the eye. Her hair fell around her shoulders now, and she knew that wasn't a good thing. She had half a mind to chop it off, but there wasn't a way for her to do that right now, and she had an unwillingness to part with it that made her stubborn to the thought. She kicked the fence, basically just jostling some of the walkers while she brushed her hair behind her shoulders, pulled it together in a messy bun and tucked the pen that had been behind her ear into it. It was messy, it was loose, and it was seriously a liability, but she'd been fine up until now. She'd deal with it later. She sliced off another small, rotting hand that'd made it through the fence and realized with a look of half-disgust and half-depression that this group was mostly kids with some adults. These were probably from an elementary school or a daycare. It was the only way to explain the little hands poking their way through the chain links.
|
|
Andy
Full Member
Rufus probably
rick gets all his ideas from the sorting hat's cousin - the bad advice bag
Posts: 119
active character(s): Rick
|
Tueor
Sept 19, 2014 18:05:34 GMT -6
Post by Andy on Sept 19, 2014 18:05:34 GMT -6
Doing as instructed, Rick hurriedly made his way to the back, running so fast he almost slide when he stopped. The sight that greeted him made him hold his breath, unintentionally gasping the last one in audibly.
More shamblers were walking in a line, headed towards where they thought all the action and potential food must be because of the noise. But because of his intake, they now spotted him, several of them turning their heads and shoving their hands at the fence in earnest. It was at this point Rick noticed the same thing Lorna had, all the small, child-like hands reaching through the fence. They couldn't reach nearly far enough to even be close to touching him, but the morbid sight of ashen grey, bloodied children's hands fumbling through the fence and clawing towards him was terrifying on its own.
A hand rising up to his mouth, he felt his eyes stinging and blamed it on the junk pouring with a renewed ferocity down his face. He took a moment to remove his hat and wipe it off, using the palm of his hand. It smeared upwards into his short, messy hair, not like it mattered, and the residue left on the heel of his hand dripped downwards onto the skin of his wrist. It was black again, by now. He'd really have to ask Lorna what this mess was.
Putting his hat back on with a sigh, he approached the fence without his usual gusto and unclipped one of the bats from his belt. Angling himself, he lifted it slowly above his head before swinging downwards with as much force as he could. He didn't know when he closed his eyes, but it was the chorus of high-pitched, zombified screaming that reached his ears that let him know his plans had worked. He opened his eyes to see an assortment of disembodied, child-sized arms on the ground below him. The severed stumps from where they used to be attached spurted what little remained of their rotten blood, some of the fingers still twitching. Most of the walkers on the other side of the fence backed off, heading towards the other potential meal source instead. Some more forcefully shoved their arms and fingers through the holes, a renewed sense of whatever passed for urgency in their decomposing bodies. Rick gave a vicious snarl before shoving his crowbar through a hole in the fence, over and over and over, as many times as he could until the crowd that had gathered there was gone or dead.
With an enraged snarl of frustration, Rick came back around to the side of the building Lorna was on, grabbing her by the shoulder and wrenching her backwards and out of the way before she could react. He slammed his crowbar forward, which connected with the jaw of a walker, and he twisted it. The sound of metal grinding against bone and flesh ripping as the jaw cracked and popped out of the socket. He pulled his crowbar back, and the zombie just wobbled there, jaw hanging slack from the rest of its face. Rick didn't even bother acknowledging it with a laugh before he tried again, successfully getting it in the eye this time and the body slumping sideways on top of one of the tiny zombies beside it.
Rick's entire frame was shaking as he turned around to shout at Lorna, "Why're ya jus' standin' dere?!" Ignorant of the fact that he had been the one to push her out of the way in the first place, and was now taking up the most room.
|
|
|
Tueor
Sept 19, 2014 18:13:05 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Sept 19, 2014 18:13:05 GMT -6
Everything froze around Lorna for a split second- long enough for her mind to go into overdrive. His forehead was leaking that black gunk again, just like it had before. What did it mean? Why was a tumor having this kind of effect...? As she was about to form a conclusion, she heard Rick distantly and he faded into focus. His eyes were red- it could be that the gunk had gotten into his eyes, or it could be... a hundred other things. She turned away and stuck her knife through the fence again, with less force than before.
Somehow, though she was downing corpses left and right, she managed, in a voice much softer than her usual, angry tone, ask, "Are you alright?" Her brows were tilted up- a stark contrast to the deep wrinkles that had formed on her face from how often they knitted downwards in a hostile expression. Something told her he was very not alright. She didn't even know why she was asking. She smashed another head in, nose wrinkling in dismay at yet another child-sized corpse falling to the ground.
|
|
Andy
Full Member
Rufus probably
rick gets all his ideas from the sorting hat's cousin - the bad advice bag
Posts: 119
active character(s): Rick
|
Tueor
Sept 19, 2014 19:30:55 GMT -6
Post by Andy on Sept 19, 2014 19:30:55 GMT -6
"GREAT!" Rick shouted, unneccessarily loud as they continued to down the zombies surrounding them and the volume of the chaos decreased, "WONDERFUL! Nothin' at all could be wrong wid me, 'cept fer de fact dat dis is de goddamn apocalypse we're livin' through n' we jus' killed a school bus fulla children! BUT AT LEAST I'M FUCKIN' IMMUNE, RIGH'?!" He finished, his voice echoing off the sudden silence around them.
His chest was heaving, his eyes moist and stinging, and his face twisted. He shoved the crowbar into the side of his belt, the blood on it smearing on his pants. Not that they were in much better condition to begin with. He looked away and pulled his hat down as far as he could, rudely brushing past Lorna and into the store to go find Conrad.
|
|
|
Tueor
Sept 19, 2014 21:14:53 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Sept 19, 2014 21:14:53 GMT -6
Lorna was... actually kind of hurt. She frowned and looked around at the bodies on the ground and looked down at her knife, covered in gunk and blood. Tears filled her eye and she held her arm up to her face and crouched on the ground when he left. She gave herself a few minutes, reminding herself that her fluids were valuable now and she didn't need to be wasting them on things she couldn't change and had nothing to do with-- which made it worse. She swore under her breath and her shoulders shook as she curled over. After a few minutes, she stood, straightened and followed Rick inside, face blank. The hollowness in her eye was all that was left from her break down.
Conrad had loaded up most of the store in their absence, and had found a tube and a gas can that would be helpful for transferring gas from vehicle to vehicle. He hadn't had any issues, it seemed.
"I haven't checked the back of the store yet, but I got most everything up front." He looked back at them for the first time since Rick entered again and frowned. Something was off about them, but he reminded himself that he wasn't exactly an expert on them. He'd known them for less than twenty-four hours after all. Maybe this was normal. He turned back to the last few bottles of medication on the shelf of the mini-pharmacy.
"It's fine. We can always make sure this place is locked down so we can come back for it later," Lorna said flatly. "I don't know how much more we can fit in the vehicle- even if we were to take both. Which I'm not too keen on." It was just a waste of gas to take both, especially since there were only three of them. This place was a gold mine. If they had to leave something behind, she would definitely be sure to come back for it another day.
"We should go," she said after a minute, picking up a few bags in each hand.
|
|
Andy
Full Member
Rufus probably
rick gets all his ideas from the sorting hat's cousin - the bad advice bag
Posts: 119
active character(s): Rick
|
Tueor
Sept 19, 2014 23:29:21 GMT -6
Post by Andy on Sept 19, 2014 23:29:21 GMT -6
Grateful for Conrad's ditiful ability to carry out orders, Rick stood away from him as he finished off packing up. Rick monitored his breaths, breathing in for so many seconds before holding it, and then breathing out slowly. Gradually, the tension in his shoulders lessened and the stinging in his eyes went away, the moisture of his eyes falling with two silent tears, one down each cheek. He didn't bother wiping at his face - his hands were a disgusting mess and it'd only make things worse.
Re-adjusting his hat, he stood awkwardly stiff, like a soldier just starting training. He tensed again when Lorna began speaking, looking like a guilty child. He may or may not have felt a little guilty for his outburst now that his head felt a little clearer, but he wouldn't breath a word of that in front of Conrad, who clearly didn't seem to have heard him screaming like a lunatic at the Fuhrer.
Glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes, he watched her carry out the bags ahead of them. Waiting for Conrad to pick up his own share, Rick picked up as much stuff as he could carry last. He dragged his feet to the jeep, pulling himself inside with some difficulty as his arms were full and he just kept all of in his lap, rather than try to find room for it in the rest of the car.
"Where to?" He asked quietly, to no one in particular.
|
|
|
Tueor
Sept 20, 2014 0:57:25 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Sept 20, 2014 0:57:25 GMT -6
Lorna looked away from him, still slightly hurt. "Home," she said. "Or at least as close to it as we're getting for now." She scribbled down an address and a few trivial directions for when he got close in her notepad before tearing it out and handing it to Conrad. "Just head for this area. I'll trade if you get tired. You don't look very tired right now though. Adrenaline?"
Conrad nodded and tucked the directions in his pocket before jumping out of the jeep with the hose and gas can and dashing toward the other car. Lorna watched him for a minute and then decided he'd be fine. He still had her gun and could shoot it if it was bad. Lorna very carefully avoided Rick's gaze and laid down in the back seat, turning her back to him before closing her eyes. She knew she couldn't sleep- she was way too awake and attentive for that, but she could take a break from imagining what it will be like living with this jerk-- at her parents' home nonetheless. She could feel from his mental instability (and her own) that she was in for a long apocalypse.
Conrad returned eventually and gassed up the car with what he found, returning to the driver's seat to start driving after that. He thought he got the place closed up enough so no one would be able to get in, but he couldn't make any promises. He didn't exactly have a lock, and even if he had, someone could always scale the fence or something.
|
|
Andy
Full Member
Rufus probably
rick gets all his ideas from the sorting hat's cousin - the bad advice bag
Posts: 119
active character(s): Rick
|
Tueor
Sept 26, 2014 22:35:11 GMT -6
Post by Andy on Sept 26, 2014 22:35:11 GMT -6
Rick felt like he was vibrating under his skin. He stared at the things gathered in his lap, wondering if he was noticeably shaking or not. He couldn't tell - it felt that way, though. In truth, he'd kept the things on his lap as a way to ground himself. The weight was almost comforting, if uncomfortable. Trying to shift, he sighed irritably and tried to focus on something, anything, to take his mind off things. Conrad drove onwards in silence, the sounds of the engine blurring together despite Rick's desperate attempts to focus on them. His ears started ringing from the effort and he scrunched up his face, lifting a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. He stayed sitting like that for awhile, till he felt curious eyes on him and dropped it, staring ahead at the road. After several moments, for lack of anything else to do to distract himself and still desperately needing a distraction - least he start doing something crazy, like crying - he started humming. Softly at first, but gradually increasing in volume until he was mouth the words, and then singing them. "I will be home, again..."
|
|
|
Tueor
Sept 29, 2014 13:07:08 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by ashestoApples on Sept 29, 2014 13:07:08 GMT -6
Lorna's eye fluttered open, but apart from that she made no movement. She knew that song- she knew it from the first three notes. If they could see her up front, they would have seen her face go through several emotions almost at once, first mournful, then anger, then hopelessness, and by the end they would have seen her eye glisten with telltale tears. Before long, they would have seen her mouth the words, but since she made no movement apart from her facial features, she was quite sure she went unnoticed.
Conrad didn't know the song, but some part of him thought it sounded familiar, like maybe he had heard it on the radio or on one of his mother's many cd's. He listened, but concentrated wholly on the road, not looking over at Rick for fear he would stop. It had been so long since he'd heard music of any kind.
Lorna couldn't help but silently mouth the words that Rick sang, really. It was a force of habit.
"So won't you dry the tear The promise in your eyes Will see me through There'll be brighter skies When I come back to you
A-a-ah sweetheart The love you're giving Thrills my hungry heart You make my life worth the living Although we are apart I will be home again We'll start anew Darling until then Our dreams will have to do"
Eventually, she sat up in the back seat, practically sulking as he repeated the ending again to complete the song. Who did he think he was, singing Elvis songs anyway. The scenery went by, Conrad dodging accidents and spills in the road with ease on the six lane highway, almost exclusively staying in the middle lane. She was almost home, but was worried of what she may find there. Of course she'd checked it out and boarded up the windows and doors before moving into the facility nearby the hospital, but since then she hadn't touched it. All she knew was her family wasn't there anymore. She had resigned herself to being alone- she even had been named fittingly for it. Lorna, of course, meant alone.
But she didn't have to be.
Conrad had hit the checkpoint he established for himself and yawned widely almost as soon as they passed the Wisconsin sign. It was probably just psychological, but considering the barest traces of a sunrise were dotting the sky, he figured he had a right to be tired. He turned his head slightly. "Anyone interested in driving?"
Lorna, who was still fighting back tears, shook her head, aware that maybe no one had seen her, but she couldn't risk speaking.
"I can keep going," he said, "But probably not forever."
|
|
Andy
Full Member
Rufus probably
rick gets all his ideas from the sorting hat's cousin - the bad advice bag
Posts: 119
active character(s): Rick
|
Tueor
Sept 29, 2014 20:28:40 GMT -6
Post by Andy on Sept 29, 2014 20:28:40 GMT -6
Though he gave off a tiny yawn himself after Conrad's (what? They're contagious!) Rick gave a quick movement of his head that indicated he could do it.
"Jus' stop fer a sec n' we'll trade seats." He offered, sorting out the mess on his legs as Conrad slowed down and quietly got out to come around the jeep.
Rick faced the back as Conrad got out, trying to find a place to put the things in his lap. As he did, he noticed Lorna was upright again now. He'd assumed she might have fallen asleep or something, she'd been so quiet. But then again, he supposed he couldn't really be making judgements of character yet - maybe she was always this quiet.
Her posture was off, though, he noted as he inspected the back to determine there wasn't much room to pick anything else. Unless Lorna planned on sitting upright the whole time - which secretly he didn't want her to do. Crazy woman had passed out earlier and then just woke up out of the blue to fight HOW many zombies? With a grimace, a quick flashback of the recent memory resurfaced and he surpressed it. Well, no wonder her shoulders were so tense. He hadn't exactly acted like a reasonable human being. (Although, when had he, since they met?)
"I don't mean ta be dis way." He said, very quietly and very quickly before Conrad made it to his side of the jeep. The door popped open, and he shifted to face the other man, climbing out of the seat with the supplies in tow. Conrad didn't seem to question it as Rick waited to put the items on his lap instead. It wouldn't be terribly comfortable, but they didn't have a whole lot of options. For his past, Conrad just gave off another huge yawn, his head leaning against the back of his chair sleepily.
Closing the door for him, Rick wound his way back around the car and climbed inside. He started the drive up again, silence reigning supreme for the time being.
|
|
|
Tueor
Sept 30, 2014 1:23:45 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by ashestoApples on Sept 30, 2014 1:23:45 GMT -6
Lorna started. What did he mean he didn't mean to be this way? What way? Was this some sort of apology? Once she was pretty sure he wasn't watching her, her eyes followed him around the vehicle. Maybe he was referring to the tumor. If that was the case, she was mad. But she had a feeling it was more like... some sort of apology-without-being-an-apology.
She was all too used to those.
Often times, her husband would do the dinner dishes instead of apologizing for a fight that was blatantly his fault. Once or twice he'd started an impromptu dance with her, effectively peeling her from her book after not being home three hours past the time he'd said he'd be there. Even though she had two left feet, she couldn't say she had really minded.
She had a sick feeling in her gut. Elvis, and apologizing without apologizing, not to mention the green eyes and dark hair. Granted, Brad hadn't been quite as tall and his jaw hadn't been as strong, but Lorna was worried now, for reasons she didn't want to think about.
Conrad's mind was clear of such thoughts, and he was well on his way to dreamland. When he was younger his brother had taught him a trick for when he couldn't sleep, something he'd learned in a book. Conrad used the trick now, an in his mind he was walking through his old high school, remembering what had been in each classroom and who had taught there to the best of his knowledge. It was a good way to keep memories alive.
Lorna stared out into the sunrise as Rick drove, remembering the way back home. If they made it, she decided, she'd make sure Rick had some new clothes.
"Left at the inoperational light," Lorna muttered, barely loud enough for Rick to hear. Her eye was drooping, but she could stay awake for some time longer. She didn't want to camp. She would, if they had to, but there was little else she wanted to do less.
|
|