[b][u]MALIK & KALI THORNTON[/u][/b]

“Y'know, sis, we still have time to turn back.”

As he spoke, Malik's dark eyes fluttered from side to side, wide-open and ever-alert. Ever since he'd seen those things attack with his own two eyes, hours before the spread of the infection– disease– [i]whatever it was[/i] became a pandemic, he was determined not to be caught unawares and find himself on the receiving end of blunt teeth and bile. A lack of attention and an overabundance of thoughtlessness. That was how it had multiplied into a doomsday event – a goddamned apocalypse – as quickly as a wildfire in a bone-dry woodland.

With his dad's – no, he corrected himself, [i]Eddie's[/i] – old army jacket over the thickest woollen jumper he could find, he hoped and prayed it would stop any unwanted scratches and wounds from the newly ressurected dead. Whatever poison their fluids and teeth and fingernails carried, it was a nightmarish way to die. Victims begging for just a little comfort from the nausea and pain would tend to cling to their family members, and when their hearts stopped beating, when the mourners were left with the body for hours as some unseen catalyst festered within the corpse, that was when they would begin their indiscriminate attack, starting with their loved ones. Flashes of locked doors in bustling corridors with [i]screams[/i] inside would haunt his dreams for as long as he lived, he was sure.

Trapped in morbid musing, he wondered if that was the same reason why Eddie pickled himself with drink and never, ever, ever spoke of his time in the war.

With a cough, Malik realised they were standing out in the open, sheltered only by a hedgerow at the side entrance to Emory University. Kali, his younger sister, looked unimpressed, arms folded in an equally padded parka. He held his hands up placatingly. “Jus' saying. We don't know what's in there. We don't know if there's survivors left or those... [i]things[/i]. Might even be bandits, preying on weak little maidens like yourself.” He tapped his forehead knowingly, with a worried smile that bordered on a grimace. “You gotta think sometimes.”

“Don't be a cynical bastard, Malik,” Kali commented lightly. She must've known how much he hated that term, given that it was Eddie's weapon of choice in a war of words; however, if she took any pleasure from it, Malik couldn't see it. She wore a stoic mask – there was no twitch of enjoyment in her thin lips – and she simply tapped her nails lightly against the dustbin lid she'd picked up as a shield. “We can hardly survive alone on whatever scraps are left in your cupboards.” An accusation.

A non-confrontational person by nature, Malik simply turned around and led her around to the back end of the eerily silent building, knowing his way to the cafeteria – barely. He'd only been for two or three lessons that required the use of university equipment; his college dealt with the rest of his course. Maybe if he'd studied a little harder...

Kali interrupted his pity-party (and what a welcome relief that was) with a quiet, “If there's nobody there, we'll scavenge for some supplies.” Somewhat appeased, Malik simply put his finger to his lips and shushed his younger sister, pointing to his ear. Dead silence followed, broken only by the distant shambling feet of what he assumed to be corpses and a few low, mindless groans.

A car horn sounded in the distance, turning their moaning into a cacophony of noise.

He leaned over to whisper very carefully in her ear, “Coming from the right. Cafeteria's on the left. Watch your flank.” Gripping Kali's free arm at the elbow, he maneuvered her in their intended direction, careful to ensure that his massive backpack made as little noise as possible during the effort. A dark figure sprinted around the side of the building, prompting a swift intake of breath from his sister but Malik didn't even blink. “We're not checking it out. Could be a Thing.”

With a deep breath, Malik moved over to try and push the door open only to find it wouldn't budge. He tried again, exhaling through his nose in frustration, before Kali wordlessly nudged him out of the way and rapped three times on the bloodstained door. “Hey, wanna let us in? The dead – uh, walkers – they'll see us if we're out here any longer! Please open up!”

Malik raised an eyebrow sceptically. “How do you know there's anyone in there?” he asked, to which Kali smirked.

“Boarded up from the inside. They're still in there, dead or alive.”