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Conparo
Jul 25, 2014 0:56:08 GMT -6
Post by kryss on Jul 25, 2014 0:56:08 GMT -6
May 6th, 2026 _______________________ Conparo: Verb. 1. provide 2. prepare 3. unite _________________________ "Hi! I'm Skylar Evans!" "Did I ask who the hell you are?" "..." "Who the hell are you??" "H-hi. I'm, um... Skylar. Evans." "Well, hel lo Skylar. I'm looking forward to getting to know you very well." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Skylar stumbled through the broken asphalt of the street, her feet sending pangs through her entire leg. So tired. She'd been walking for hours. Blood still stained her clothes from the walker she'd encountered earlier that day. She should wash them. Maybe at a river. Were there any rivers here? Who knew. They'd probably be all messed up if they were. Highly doubtful that there would be any electricity, either. She hadn't been to a place with electricity in two weeks. Two weeks. Really? Only two weeks? It felt like months. It felt like it had been years since the entire apocalypse had happened. Sitting in the Seattle apartment, reading an e-mail from her mom. The news on in the background, talking about an outbreak of some new virus. She hadn't even been paying attention. Over the next week, how quickly the panic grew. When they realized exactly what the virus was, what it did. Hiding in her apartment, hearing screams in the streets. Looting, violence. And then the first reports of it spreading to Washington Into Seattle. And then "Extreme Quarantining", and finding out what that meant as she saw the planes flying low over her city. She'd only had time to grab her bag and her dad's hunting knife. How she'd wished that her father had owned a gun. And then wishing that her father had simply been there, instead of in L.A., which was also subjected to "Extreme Quarantining". And then nothing but traveling. Her hair a dirty mess, her leggings ripped, and her knife always tap tap tapping her side. And always, always with her cornflower blue Beats by Dre headphones and her iPod mega. The headphones were, far and away, the best thing to have happened to her out of the apocalypse, although the good things that had happened to her wasn't exactly a tough list to compete with. Traveling, with vague thoughts of reaching Chicago, where her mother had been in a business conference with a new company who was thinking of picking up her line of fashion. Now who knew what was going to happen. The sun was only barely beginning to reach the western side of the sky, but she was exhausted. Couldn't sleep outside. But all of the buildings were too rundown to offer real protection. She began pulling at the doors of the very few vehicles lining the side of the road. Every one was locked, and she wasn't sure she was up to breaking a window. She found a supermarket, but they were too large and full of nooks and crannies to be trustworthy for eight or four or ten hours. But there was a old, beaten up black van sitting outside. She wandered over and tugged on the driver's side handle. To her relief, it opened. She crawled inside, checking for keys, on the off chance it was operational. Not finding any, she instead crawled over the seat to the back, figuring the back seat would be better for sleeping. She made certain to leave the door cracked so she wouldn't suffocate in her sleep. To her surprise the back was empty of seats, instead there was a dirty mattress and a couple of cans of food. It must have been a survivor's van, abandoned when it ran out of gas. She flopped on the mattress, wincing as the fresh pain of relief throbbed through her feet. Her head swam a little in dizziness, and she knew sleep was only seconds away. She sleepily grabbed one of the cans and pulled it close, using the other hand to halfway tug the sheet available over her. She would open the can when she woke up.
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Conparo
Jul 25, 2014 1:20:21 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Jul 25, 2014 1:20:21 GMT -6
Holding a small can of gasoline like it was liquid gold (and it may as well have been- She hadn't found any gas in months), Lorna approached her vehicle with determination. It was still here! All the tires looked fine. She could only hope that it would start. It had been stagnant for over a month now, and she knew all too well what that did to a vehicle. She opened the flap to access the vehicle's gas cap and twisted it off, ready to pour whatever there was in this can down the spout. It was a sickeningly small amount and Lorna didn't want to think about how quickly her monster of a van would polish it off, but it was a true survivor van. She had lived out of it for days at a time when the outbreak first started and she trekked her way over from California.
After she was satisfied that there wasn't a single drop left in the can, she dropped the can and began rifling through her cargo pockets for her keys. They were in here somewhere, just-- Ah! She pulled them out of the small pocket above her right breast pocket and fiddled with them for a moment. It felt foreign to her to have her set of keys for her cars. It added a sense of normalcy to life that she wasn't comfortable with anymore, but that was neither here nor there, she decided before leaning down and retrieving the empty gas can (it could come in handy- there were several zip ties around the handle and other small things she had found while scavenging). She stuck the key in the driver's side door and turned it. It clicked and she went to open the door, only to find that she had locked it, and the door was slightly propped open by the seatbelt. Her brow furrowed. Had she left the door open?
Lorna climbed up onto the driver's seat and looked around. She didn't see or hear anyone, and to be quite honest, there hadn't been anyone in sight for miles, so she wasn't too concerned. Walkers probably couldn't open doors, and they would be loud.
Praying silently to whatever deity still cared about the earth (if any), she stuck the key in the ignition and hesitated before turning it. The car whirred for as long as the key was turned, but when Lorna pulled it back it was silent again. Frustrated that she wasted gas on a car that wouldn't start, she turned it again and again and again, hoping for the engine to turn over, only to end up sitting in the seat, staring at the logo on the steering wheel. After deciding there was nothing she could do, she punched the steering wheel (resulting in a short honk of the horn) and swore loudly.
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Conparo
Jul 27, 2014 1:30:25 GMT -6
Post by kryss on Jul 27, 2014 1:30:25 GMT -6
Skylar sat on the couch, legs kicked up over the arm and leaning back with a can of whipped cream clutched possessively in her hands. Her mother stood off to the side, hands on her hips disapprovingly and saying something very motherly. Someone started doing construction outside, drilling into the side of their building. Skylar quickly stole a large mouthful of the sweet cream, and her mother let out a loud curse.
Her eyes snapped open, instantly recognizing the situation. Someone was in the car. Whether they were wanting to loot it or it actually belonged to them she didn't know. She shouldn't have been so stupid as to assume that a car clearly outfitted for living was abandoned. She froze, breathing as lightly as possible. She heard the car cry to start again. She lifted the sheet by her eye by one inch and peeked around the car. There, her possible salvation, on the ground was an unsupervised hand gun. She had no idea what kind, and she could only hope it was loaded. She readied her arm and sat poised, waiting for the curses to end and another vain attempt to start the car or a journey outside was taken. Suddenly she heard it, the WHRR WHRR WHRR or the dead engine. She darted her hand out, grabbed the gun, and sat up as quickly as she could, cocking back the trigger as she did. She hadn't used enough guns to be used to how heavy it was and how much force everything took, but she managed to get it back.
"D-don't move!" she shouted, leveling the gun at their head. As long as they were friendly, she wouldn't hurt them. But this was too vulnerable a position to be in, and she had to win power back quickly. The person froze in their seat. A woman. She was wearing a thick jacket and vest. Her hair was bright red, pulled back into a scraggly bun. One of her eyes had a patch over it, one of many injuries Skylar had witnessed since... wait... it couldn't be...
"M... mein fuhrer?" she asked in disbelief. It couldn't be her old college professor, could it? She must still be dreaming, that was it. An anxiety dream from her situation. And now that she had recognized it she would wake up soon. Wouldn't she?
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Conparo
Jul 27, 2014 1:46:34 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Jul 27, 2014 1:46:34 GMT -6
Lorna's brow furrowed. It had been ages since someone had called her that name, and she had to admit that, as strained as they were, their voice sounded familiar. The memory was distant, but it was there.
Still rigid as a board, Lorna turned to see a girl with striking blue eyes, covered in dirt and scrapes of all kinds, partially covered by the sheet on her mattress. Her eye squinted as a flurry of faces went through her head like an impossibly fast slideshow. Brow furrowing, she frowned for a moment before a memory registered, resulting in her face expressing a look of both realization and further confusion. She didn't remember all of her students, but she sure as hell remembered this one. Evans. Quite possibly the loudest student she ever had (not to mention the smartest and also the laziest) in her teaching days in California (which was over 1,500 miles away) had been asleep in the back of her vehicle.
"Skylar Evans?" Her voice started slightly quiet (though very enunciated), and grew in volume until it was a regular speaking tone. "What in blue blazes are you doing in my van?!"
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Conparo
Jul 27, 2014 1:55:20 GMT -6
Post by kryss on Jul 27, 2014 1:55:20 GMT -6
"What are you doing with a van?" she asked, "You drive a little... sliver.... thing!" She looked vaguely around the van. Her arms lowered, her elbows still locked tight. "I was... sleepy." She could see outside that the sun had sunk nearer to the horizon. She had gotten at least an hour, maybe two of sleep. The burst of adrenaline kept her from wanting to lay back down and sleep, but she found it hard to focus and her thoughts were disjointed. A strange thought wandered across her mind. "Where's Mr Whiskers? Or... I guess he'd probably be..." A sinking feeling settled in her gut at the thought of the small fluffball that had stood nervously on Mrs Fuhrer's desk being dead.
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Conparo
Jul 27, 2014 1:59:25 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Jul 27, 2014 1:59:25 GMT -6
She blinked several times quickly. "I've had this van for years. It just doesn't get good gas mileage. And Mr. Whiskers is fine, he's at-- No, wait, what are you doing in North Dakota, in my van, sleeping?!" she asked again, a bit more fiercely this time. She actually didn't blame her terribly about sleeping in her van, she was more focused on the beginning of that thought. Specifically, 'why on earth would a girl from California be in North Dakota???' was what Lorna was interested in.
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Conparo
Jul 27, 2014 2:05:07 GMT -6
Post by kryss on Jul 27, 2014 2:05:07 GMT -6
"I'm in North Dakota?" Skylar asked curiously. It was nice to get an update on her location. She could have been in Texas for all she knew, but she was pretty sure North Dakota was in the north. So at least she was on the right track! "My... mom was in Chicago." she said in a vague of voice, not really wanting to get into it. For the past two months, every time she brought up her mom, she had an odd aching echo in the back of her mind, telling her that by now, she was probably dead or worse. Her mother was not built for survival. "What are YOU doing in North Dakota?"
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Conparo
Jul 27, 2014 11:13:43 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Jul 27, 2014 11:13:43 GMT -6
Lorna's brow furrowed a microscopic amount more deeply as she looked away. She regretted asking now that she knew, and quite frankly, she should have known better. Sometimes she wondered if there really was someone behind it all, especially lately since she'd been meeting (it seemed) everyone that she was supposed to meet.
"I live here," she said simply. "Or, I used to, before California. My parents and siblings lived in the area, so I came back." Lorna stopped herself from going on. She had already gotten used to the fact that her family was most likely gone, and was about to say so, but something in the back of her mind told her that wasn't a good idea. She knew full well that she didn't even need to say anything. It was implied, and that would be hard enough on Skylar without spelling it out for her. After a short moment of silence, Lorna knew what topic she needed to switch to.
"Mr. Whiskers is back at my house."
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Conparo
Jul 27, 2014 22:24:18 GMT -6
Post by kryss on Jul 27, 2014 22:24:18 GMT -6
Skylar was surprised. She'd only encountered a handful of permanent settlements in her wandering. "You live here?" she repeated back. She wasn't sure how to respond to the next part, when Mrs. Fuhrer thankfully changed the topic.
"Oh, Mr. Whiskers!! Can..." suddenly she felt odd. She hadn't interacted with anyone she knew since the Apocalypse had happened, and she wasn't sure what social rules still applied. "Can I go and see him?"
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Conparo
Jul 27, 2014 22:30:49 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Jul 27, 2014 22:30:49 GMT -6
Lorna's mouth formed a thin line and she looked away. On the one hand, Skylar was still basically a kid. On the other, she was also a previous student. If she was trying to go to Chicago to find her mother- and she had heard what had happened in Chicago- she would most likely be disappointed. The best choice was to take her back to the base, she decided, though it would be hard to coerce her into asking if she could stay. She had discovered that people rarely stayed if you asked them, but if you let them stay they would be helpful.
"Alright," she said after a moment. "But, you wouldn't happen to know anything about cars, would you? I was hoping to get this van back there." She didn't know why she was even asking. Skylar was a Cali girl who listened to music through her class and rallied for the rescue kitten to be named Mr. Whiskers. There was no way someone like her could also fix a car.
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Conparo
Jul 27, 2014 22:42:26 GMT -6
Post by kryss on Jul 27, 2014 22:42:26 GMT -6
"Um, maybe." she said, biting her lip. "I got a couple lessons from this guy I stayed with for a couple weeks." She crawled out of the car and went around to the front, getting Lorna to pop the hood. She leaned over it and looked around for a while, gingerly moving things out of her way from time to time.
"Oooh," she said, wincing, "It looks like that's... yep, that's wearing through. You got mice or something?" without explaining herself she climbed right back into the car and reached over the passenger seat, popping open the glove compartment and digging around inside. She extracted a nearly-used, dusty roll of electrical tape and went back to the engine, ripping off a piece and wrapping it firmly around the chewed wire. She stood back up and called, "Try it now!" The engine whrr'd several times before finally rumbling to life. "Yes!" she said, pumping one fist into the air. She closed the hood and made her way back to the car. "There you go, can we leave now?"
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Conparo
Jul 27, 2014 23:37:46 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Jul 27, 2014 23:37:46 GMT -6
She couldn't help but be surprised. Lorna realized that Skylar would be very useful, indeed. She knew she was smart, she just didn't realize how smart until she just did... that.
"Well, yeah. Sure thing. Hop in."
After Skylar had gotten into the passenger seat, Lorna took off down the road and hung a right. It probably only would have taken 15 minutes on foot, but it was only going to take a minute or two this way.
The van approached the house and Lorna parked it in the driveway next to the "little silver thing" that Skylar had remembered. Mr. Whiskers was already clawing at the screen door with his (actually pretty tiny for a cat his age- she was starting to wonder if he was just a small breed of cat) paws, excited about Lorna's return.
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Conparo
Jul 28, 2014 0:17:22 GMT -6
Post by kryss on Jul 28, 2014 0:17:22 GMT -6
Skylar sat in the car, not saying anything on the very short drive over to the house. When they arrived, she saw a tiny paw poking up over the edge of the doorway, clawing at the screen. She hopped out (not having bothered to put on her seatbelt) and rushed over, throwing the door open.
"Mr. Whiskers!!!" she squealed, scooping the cat up and burying her face in her fur, "I missed you!!!" she continued in her high pitched voice. The cat's eyes were extremely wide and he held his tail out straight, but after a few minutes he began purring like an entire hive of honeybees.
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Conparo
Jul 28, 2014 0:34:49 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Jul 28, 2014 0:34:49 GMT -6
Lorna allowed herself a bit of a smile as she walked up to the door and saw that Mr. Whiskers was actually being appreciated like he should be by someone other than Conrad.
"Should I give you two a moment?" she asked, suddenly serious as she walked into the house. She found Conrad in the kitchen who looked at her blankly.
"Are you talking to me?" he asked quizzically. Lorna looked over at him, her brow furrowing.
"Why would I be talking to you?"
"You-- I--" he stuttered. Without another word, he made his way around the corner and saw a-- pretty, actually, girl snuggling Mr. Whiskers.
"Oh... uh... h-hey," he said, suddenly nervous.
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Conparo
Jul 28, 2014 0:47:17 GMT -6
Post by kryss on Jul 28, 2014 0:47:17 GMT -6
She stiffened at the new voice. Mrs. Fuhrer hadn't said anything about there being other people here?? But she still seemed relaxed and the boy didn't seem threatening. As she got a better look at him, she saw that the boy was very cute, albeit with a slightly childish face and positively enormous eyes. He was also very toned and looked like he hadn't been missing many meals despite the end of the world. he looked to be in even better shape than Mein Fuhrer over there. Finally Mr. Whiskers let out an upset meow at her tightened grip, causing her to break her reverie and release him.
"Hi!" she said back, "I'm Skylar!"
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