[IC] The Walking Dead - Among the Ruined - Season 3

[Myst]

Katie - Baton Rouge - Tyler and others

Things happened so fast Katie didn't know what to say or do so she kept quiet. People were talking and shouting so she just cuddled her kitten and tried to keep her daddy in sight at all times.
She didn't like Adam. He looked funny, like something was wrong with him. And he called her daddy by the wrong name.

She stood near Jacob and Liam, since they were kids like her. They found a new girl who made her think of Emma.
Where was Emma now? Katie missed her an awful lot. She missed talking to her and how Emma used to tuck her in at night.

While everyone was talking Katie's stomch growled. She was hungry, and thirsty. The seven year old bit her lip. When her daddy got down to ask her what she wanted to do, she hugged his neck.
"Daddy?" she said in a loud whisper. "I'm hungry."
She didn't say it in a whiny or complaining voice, just stating a fact. She said it almost apologetically, like she was sorry for being hungry.
She looked at Adam and her eyes widened. "He scares me," she told her daddy. She knew her daddy would never let anything hurt her, but Adam still made her uncomfortable. "He looks funny." By that she meant he was acting funny. Katie didn't know what drugs were or what being 'high' meant so to her Adam was just acting strange and that made her nervous. She saw Adam looking at her and shied away, trying to make herself smaller against her daddy's side.

Her kitten needed food and she wanted food. She didin't know what to do. She wasn't used to making decisions.
"I want to stay with you," she said, clutching Tyler's arm. "You're not leaving me, right?" she asked fearfully. "Don't ever go away again."

[Atomyk]

Tyler - Baton Rouge - Scarlett/Liam/Katie/Jacob

"I don't know who you really are Tyler," echoed in his head. While it could be said none of them knew each other, Jacob's words resonated with Tyler. Adam, the dumbshit, had blurted out Thomas when they ran into each other, and Tyler knew either Jacob or George had to be thinking about it. Tyler considered the idea of playing off the event as some fevered mistake from the junkie, but Tyler had no idea if Adam was willing to play along. At least it wasn't so bad; As far as Adam knew, Thomas had just been the nice guy who had become the leader of the scouts. Of course, that was the entire reason Adam left in the first place, so Tyler couldn't be sure how the man felt about him or not.

It was nice to see most of the group wanting to stick by him, though Tyler knew it was only because he had a daughter. A family man was stereotypically a good man, after all. Tyler could barely contain his laughter at that. When Katie expressed her desire to eat, Tyler knew he'd have to make the tough decision here. "Okay... Okay." Tyler muttered to himself for a moment before placing a hand on Katie's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Katie. We'll get food, and I think... we'll go with you, Adam."

The guy let out a cheer. "Awesome! Stick by me everybody--"

"But, wait," Tyler said, standing up and letting out a heavy breath. "Before we all start travelling together, I think I need to address something." Adam looked confused and Tyler resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I've met Adam before. In New Orleans. I was using a different name then, because... Well, for a lot of different reasons. I thought I lost my daughter and I... was depressed. But I've been reunited with her and now I'm here, with all of you. My name is Tyler. I haven't intended to deceive anyone." Whether they all believed that or not, it was all Tyler could come up with. Hopefully it would be enough.

Thankfully, Adam responded positively to the news. "Look, man. Reggie was a good dude and I was pissed that he died. There's no issues here. If you wanna be called Tyler, then that's what I'll call you." Tyler nodded and expressed his appreciation.

George shrugged. "It's fine with me, but I think we should really hurry." He turned to Adam. "Take us to this illusive group."

Adam nodded and quickly jogged away, leaving little time for the group to follow after him. They travelled in a criss-cross manner, going deeper into the city than Tyler expected. They spotted a couple of walkers here and there, but Adam opted to sneak by them than open fire. At the corner of Pickett and Perkins, they encountered an odd sight; From their left, an undead individual stood chained to each utility pole on the side of the road for as long as they could see. Adam paused at this sight, but didn't look particularly surprised to see it. In fact, he started leading the group across the street without comment, but George spoke up to stop him. "Hey, what's the deal with all the walkers?"

Adam stopped and hesitated on an answer. "They, uh..." He shook his head. "Just stay away from them. They're a warning."

Tyler wasn't sure he liked how vague Adam was being. In fact, this was probably the biggest clue indicating what Tyler feared. "A warning for what?" Tyler asked, trying to hurry Adam along.

Adam nodded toward the undead. "North of Highway ten is Tremblay territory. You guys don't want to go around there. Thankfully, my group are on the outskirts." He then moved completely across the street and gestured for the group to follow. He then looked guilty. "I guess I should have said something sooner. We're going to have to cut behind this building and through the bush. I'd hate to be seen by their patrols, especially with all of you."

Whatever this Tremblay group was, they sounded like Tyler had feared. A raider group, one that probably controlled most of the city. That they had run into such a low amount of walkers on the street indicated someone was regularly clearing them out. The backpacks of supplies and the gutted buildings... this city had some history, and they were walking straight into it.

Adam led the group behind the parking lot and stopped at a large field of tall grass that towered over everybody. He took a step toward it and listened for a sound. "... Okay. We'll lose sight in there, so everybody just run as fast as you can and book it across the street on the other side."

"What?" George blurted out. "This sounds like a really dumb idea."

Adam pointed his gun into the grass. "I've done this before. You're faster than anything in there, okay? Just hold on to the kids." Without waiting for anyone to comply, Adam ran into the grass and disappeared. Tyler exchanged a worried glance with George.

"... I guess I'm going for it," George said, plunging inside. Silence.

Tyler had little interest in bringing Katie in there, but the sky was already bleeding red from the setting sun. He wasn't sure he wanted to risk the patrols at all, if Adam was so freaked out by them. "One of you hold on to Liam," Tyler said, lifting Katie so that she was sitting on his shoulders. "And you hold on to that cat." Without a second thought, he went for it and ran into the grass, The long blades slapped at his face and the ground sunk under his feet slightly with every step he took, but everything seemed relatively calm otherwise. "Just keep holding on!" he grunted, his hands squeezing around Katie's legs.

[HellHoundWoof]

Enrique and Amanda-Outpost

"What the hell is going on?!" Amanda said angrily her arms crossed standing in the opposite corner of the room. Enrique had closed the door immediately after Rhonda left and was already packing his things in preparation of a speedy exodus. Enrique was preparing for anything. He looked towards Amanda and shook his head.

"Amanda, Myriah threatened you, and me. " Then she told Rhonda I threatened her, and I admit that I responded slightly irrashionally but she threatened us."

" So you fucking tell her your going to burn Outpost to the ashes?" Amanda said her voice raising.

Enrique stood walking over to her and reaching out to hold her, she pulled back and slapped his hands away. He put them over his head and let out an exhausted sigh. He looked at her and sat on the bed they shared.

"You dont understand it now but you have to trust me, I am trying to protect us. Im just trying to be prepared, I know they will send the scouts after us but some of those boys will back me and warn me ahead of time." Enrique said.

"Im putting my life in your hands Ricky, and if you mess this up I will kill you," She sat on the bed and continued, "You watch the door, Im going to rest on the bed. If anyone comes in you had better use that pistol like never before."

With that she closed her eyes and Enrique grabbed a chair and positioned it where he could see the door, he rested his pistol hand on an arm of the chair perfectly aimed at the door. He sat there waiting for any to open the door, to try and take her away from him. His grip tightened on his pistol and he let his anger feul him.

[Atomyk]

Myriah - Outpost - Fire

She sat in her cabin, alone. She could spot the sun setting if she positioned herself by the window right. She was desperately trying to take her mind off the events of today and all of the horrible mistakes she made in such a short span of time. The council members had been unable to come to a unanimous decision regarding anyone's guilt, but enough screaming and shouting had gone on to put everyone on edge. Citizens were already talking about her, she knew. With all of the council members wearing their emotions on their sleeves, everyone knew something was up. Matt-- Or perhaps even Isaac-- had probably started telling people their side of the story, planting the seeds she knew would come. It didn't matter that a few people were talking about Enrique as well, that anyone was starting to believe she had betrayed them all was a major blow to her character.

Everyone was still on edge about Samantha. About Reggie. They would be out for blood.

She wouldn't have much time to fix this, if that was even possible. She had people who would think the best of her no matter what she did, but it wouldn't amount to much. She was thankful Rudy had left when he did to miss all of this nonsense.

A knock at the door set Myriah's heart racing. She stood up sharply and gripped the edge of her seat, her mind racing at the possibilities. It could be someone waiting to chew her out, or--or possibly--

"No, no. Calm down." She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. She waited until her heart pumped at a normal rate before cautiously walking over to the front door and opening it. The person knocking turned out to be Michael, who stared at her a moment, before suddenly rushing her. Myriah screamed out, but the man put a hand over her mouth and silenced her. Her adrenaline soared all over again and she roughly shoved against him, but she found it was like pushing against a brick wall. She kicked out with her feet and ineffectually hit Michael in the shins, who started shoving her around as a response. He managed to pull her close to the front door so that he could close it before pushing her against the wall a second time.

"Just stop," he said, his French accent sounding thicker than usual. "I have not come to hurt you." He said this with slight amusement, and Myriah glared daggers at him. She tried to bite at his hand, but he manoeuvred it under her jaw instead. She grunted and groaned, but still Michael would not relent. "Oh, Myriah, I honestly thought you had died. Jonas seemed so sure of himself, at the time." He stared into her eyes and squeezed at her jaw. "I had grown tired of Outpost. It was not the place for me. I was in the area on some... business, and I decided to see how the old place was doing."

She continued to relent, even though exhaustion was already starting to bring her down. For all her effort and strength, she hadn't managed to do a thing. "You got your second chance, Myriah, but I don't think it will last you much longer. I just wanted to let you know that. You got your hands dirty so clumsily, after all. Like you said, you are not very cut out for being a leader." He let go of her now, and all she could manage to do was shakily lean back against the wall. She placed her hands behind her, unwilling to slip to the ground in front of this man. "I have been around the block, so to speak, and you're probably one of the worst, even. If you plan on continuing this, I suggest you lock your door tightly from now on."

Michael turned to leave, shaking his head. "Unbelievable. Not even worth my time." He left the cabin after that, closing the door softly behind him. Myriah felt her strength give away and she finally fell to the floor, her glasses bouncing off her face once again and her hair falling into her eyes. She hugged herself and sobbed.

***

It was later that evening when a spark was ignited. It caught hold of one of the cabin's out of sight from the watchers on the wall. It grew quickly, growing into a rapid and blazing fire that overtook the cabin. Thankfully, the cabin was largely isolated from the others, but that still didn't mean the others were safe. The wind managed to carry debris far enough to set fire to a second cabin, this one dangerously closer to others. People became aware of the fire soon after the second cabin caught fire, crowding around the source and becoming fearful of what was happening. A contingency was not in place for a fire, as Outpost had never suffered a massive one before. Now two cabins were ablaze, and the people of Outpost were scrambling to prevent it from spreading further.

Rhonda instantly knew the first cabin to be Myriah's, and she screamed over everyone for someone to save her. Unfortunately, by the time she and the others had gathered, Myriah's cabin was too far gone. The second cabin was not so dangerous, so a group of scouts ran inside to save the occupants...

[wolverbells]

Scarlett - Baton Rouge - Tyler/Liam/Katie/Jacob

Scarlett listened quietly as Tyler explained something that must have happened before the group had ran in to her. She didn't seem troubled by the fact that the man had given a fake name before. She had actually thought about doing the same if she had found any group while looking for Samantha. Scarlett listened closely as his daughter spoke to him quietly and she frowned, the strings in her heart being pulled. She missed the sound of her little sister on the phone and her little brother barely beginning to talk. She felt somewhat protective when the little girl mentioned Adam scaring her. Having gone what she went through, she could imagine what Katie was feeling.

As Adam took off along with the group, so did Scarlett, keeping near the back just in case anything happened. She picked up small details like empty streets, empty stores, and the biggest sign of them all, the biters on the chains. Immediately she felt her gut and the small voice in the back of her head yelling, practically screaming, for her not to follow anymore. She couldn't stop now though. The sun would be setting soon and if she didn't find shelter, she might not even be lucky enough to see the next day.

"Tremblay group?" She whispered quietly, confused. She felt sick to her stomach as she put the pieces together and felt her face go pale. "Oh god." 'No more thugs, please no more.' She wanted nothing to do with any raiders or thugs. Wasn't one encounter enough?

"Through... the grass?" Her voice came out slightly more annoyed than she had planned it but as the guys began running in, her chances of objecting seemed to be slimming down to nothing. Sighing she reached over and pulled her gator machete out, holding it tightly with one hand. She turned to the small boy which she guessed was Liam, "Ok... Liam, sweetie, I know you don't know me but please trust me. I can get you across this safely." She gave the boy a reassuring smile and held out her empty hand for him to take it before running into the tall grass.

[HellHoundWoof]

Enrique-Outpost-The Scouts

Enrique felt his lungs fill with thick smoke and let out a few rough coughs and then opened his eyes. Immediately he recognized that the door was being slammed against by someone, then his mind snapped back. The cabin was on fire, he looked towards Amanda and leapt from his seat. He felt an object slam down on his head and wood creak and crash, he felt dizzy and tried to stand but faltered. He heard the door come crashing down and saw Colton move through the smoke. He immediately moved through the smoke and began dragging Enrique out the cabin. Enrique's vision was blurry but he could see the beam that had knocked him to the ground, it was now laid over the bed pinning Amanda down. Enrique saw her struggling to push the beam off of herself, he fought Colton to get to her and threw wild elbows.

"Let me go!" Enrique shouted his voice raspy, it felt like the smoke was choking him but he had to get to her. He saw the sides of the door next to him. He dug his elbow into Coltons gut then grabbed the door frame, he felt two sets of hands grab him and pull him back. He watched as Colton and another scout. He had assumed they had gone inside to get Amanda while the other two scouts dragged him away from the fire, he watched as Colton came out with Enrique pistol axe and bag, Enrique didnt spot the other scout and still held hope they were going to pull Amanda out. He sat there waiting then the other scout came out with burn marks on his hands. He had tried, but the screams were still there and the house still burned, Enrique was screaming. His voice was hoarse and hardly audible. He was struggling against his scouts so that he could go in and save her. Eventually the screams stopped and the house collapsed its supports burned to ashes. He sat there breathing heavy, tears in his eyes. He slumped down and the scouts relinquished their grips, he sat there on his knees defeated. Enrique was a defeated man, he had once again lost the thing that was keeping him human. He had no reason to be a good mad anymore, all he has to do was exist now. To kill, to get his revenge, to vindicate his life, he was going to get the world back for his misfortune. He stood and took his pistol and axe from Colton, Enrique caught his eye and recognized the worried expression. He gave him a pat on the shoulder and fastened his axe to his belt then dusted off his pistol.

"Colton, inform any of the scouts who still hold loyalty to me, that we are leaving. This place has nothing for us anymore, I want them to take anything they can. Ammo, guns, food, supplies, and we are taking the vehicles. I don't care what they do to the people here, but I want my scouts rallied up."

Colton nodded and smiled, he jogged off signaling for some scouts to follow him. Enrique tucked his pistol into his belt line and headed towards the vehicles, he had two of his own boys who were behind him. He saw one of the men on guard duty for the truck and motioned for him to stand.

"Fred, I'm taking these vehicles," Enrique said approaching the man. Fred raised his gun and aimed his gun towards the group of three.

"Enrique I can't let you do that, we need these vehicles," Fred said, "Wheres Amanda?"

Enrique clutched his axe and swung at the mans hands, cutting some fingers off and knocking the pistol away. He grabbed the mans arms and raised his axe then flipped it so the pointed side was aimed at the mans face, he brought it down hard and pierced the skull.

"Never mention that name to me," he said back to the scouts behind him, "Get the keys and fuel we are going as soon as the others get here..."

Within 5 minutes Colton returned with near ten scouts and they all carried guns, rifles, shotguns, one had a bow, each had some odd number of bags and each was prepared to go. The two scouts Enrique had with him were loading the two trucks they planned on taking set the fuel in the back. Enrique motioned for his boys to load up, he sat in the shotgun seat of one of the trucks with Colton in the drivers seat. The trucks started and Colton drove to the front gate, the boys who had been positioned there were not there, he told two of the scouts in his truck to get out and open the gates.

"Let's fucking go, we don't have all night Sylars boys will be after us, hurry the fuck up." Enrique shouted from his window, when the gate was open they all mounted up and drove off, Enrique watched the light behind outposts walls combat the dark sky, he hoped it burned to the ground. He hoped nothing would remain of that place. He looked ahead at the road seeing a few walkers move towards the light and screaming, he knew they would fall. He smiled as he and his drove away, he knew where they were going too. His plan was to check the cabin, where he and Bex and Tyler had made the promise to watch out for one another. He had hopes that Tyler would be there, however irrational that hope was he still hoped. He wanted the bastard to be there, to be the recipient of Enrique's fury.

[Roran Hawkins]

Alex Clark - The Outpost

He had wanted to report Rudy's 'loss' to Enrique, but he couldn't get a hold of the man, and knowing of his temper, decided to wait it out untill tomorrow. He spent the evening alone at his cabin, and only heard through the walls of his small home that the councilmeeting of that night had been quite the fiasco again. It mattered strangely little for him. He still found it really weird to sleep in this cabin. He had received it after the previous owner had been killed during their raid on Haywood, and it still made him uncomfortable to sleep here.

But he did. Briefly. The smell of smoke and the screams of men tore him out of a dreamless sleep, and a few confused moments in his dark cabin later he found his way outside. Two cabins were ablaze. He began helping the men in extinguishing the fire at first, without any succes. The first cabin's roof had already collapsed and there had been a rapid conclusion that it was unsalvageble. Saving the inhabitants of the second cabin was all they had to do now. As they hacked at the door in order to get it open, for it jammed due to the heat of the fire or something blocking it from the inside, a large splinter got stuck in his forearm as they worked. He yelped and retrieved his hand in surprise, and before he knew it another man had taken over his place while he patched up his arm with some alcohol and some bandage. He could hear screams of pain or fear, and hoped that it was from a bystander and not from whoever was inside. By the time he returned Enrique, still heavily coughing was outside of the house, whose roof had also collapsed. It had been Enrique's house he realized, and immediately spotted that Amanda was not there. Only now did he realize that the screaming had stopped. Slamming his fist against a cabin wall next to him he realized that out of two burning cabins they had managed to save only one man. Next to Enrique lived Myriah, the woman he had visted only a few hours before to tell her about Rudy's decision. Now dead. He cursed and watched the house burn when one of the scouts bumped into him as he walked away. He saw several others walk away from the fire too, but he himself felt drawn to the raging inferno that was burning down two cabins, now safely stopped from spreading by the people of the Outpost.

Untill he heard the cars leaving.

[DELETED324324]

Jacob- Baton Rouge, Tyler, Katie, George, Liam, Scarlett
As Tyler explained his story, Jacob still felt he wasn't getting the whole story and reminded himself to talk to Tyler about it later. For now he was focused on getting to wherever this Adam guy was leading them to. So he followed behind the group and kept quiet, that's when he saw the things tied up to telephone poles. "Clever" He remarked. "If anyone gets into their territory they know it. They would also draw more of those things, to defend their territory and when you want to leave you just kill them." He stowed that little tidbit away for later just in case they had to go into their territory he was already thinking of moves and counter moves.

The group slowed to a crawl when they stopped at a field of large grass, they debated for a little while about going in and before Jacob could ask why they didn't go around George, Adam, Tyler, and Katie had already entered leaving him alone with Scarlett and Liam. So he stayed with the two of them all three of them were new to each other but he still was going to watch their backs. "I'm going to stick with you guys." He said quietly.

[Rithas]

Liam-Baton Rogue-Tyler,Katie,Scarlett,Jacob,Adam,George

Liam was still in the back, quietly minding himself as they found...another person. This group was getting big quite quickly. It hadn't even been that long since he was in these people company. He quietly peered at the woman behind everyone else. It seems that she too...was alone. And, like him was...joining. His eyes went to Tyler...Tyler didn't like him. Which was unfortunate. Perhaps downright dangerous since he seemed to be the leader.

Liam listened as Adam once again offered to go to this mysterious group. The group had their opinions, Liam wanted to voice his opinion. but his quiet voice was overshadowed by all of the adults. Apparently it was quickly decided. Not before Tyler announced why Adam called him Tyler. Liam tiled his head to the side. Perhaps it was true. he wasn't sure. Tyler seem very protective of his daughter. Well, anyone parent would be protective of their.....their.....

Liam fazed out for the next few minutes, for one minute they were talking to the new person, and then suddenly it was just Him, Scarlett (as she was named) and George. With Scarlett offering him her hand....for something. "oh...umm...sure..." Liam tool her hand. Before suddenly she started running, causing him to run as well. He didn't understand, but they were running into the grass...for some reason or another,

Rob-cabin-Emma,Finch,Shannon,Rudy,James

Rob was sleeping...well, resting. it was kinda hard to sleep when the bloody door was open. (Which, to be honest was his fault) His eyes opened as he heard voices. He slowly staggered up with his gun. he wasn't exactly hundred percent in reality yet. Before suddenly James came running in. His gun dropped.

"Oh hey James...and Shannon...and......Shannon's boyfriend....who shot at me....."

Matt- Outpost-People

It was all too easy to be honest. All He had to do was tell Micheal, it was a true wonder he came. And then Rhonda had to make it even easier. He wasn't even there, and everything fell into place. Surely he won completely now. Myriah was ruined. Everything was truly great. Aside from the fact that he couldn't sleep.

Perhaps it was inevitable then when shit hit the fan.

Fire...Something that Matt had stupidly not predicted at all. Myriah....was most likely dead. Which, wasn't the worst thing to happen. She was already dead in his head. But, the cabin was a bad lost.

What happened next was worse.

Enrique and Amanda cabin was set on fire as well, thankfully it had been contained then. But Amanda...seemed to have perished as well. "Damn it" Was the only thing he muttered. That would make Enrique even more unpredictable. Where was he?

Issac, told him. "No...." Matt hands curled up. "No....no..." Matt ran to the supplies. so much was gone. "No...." Guns gone. "No...." Food gone "No...." Everything gone "NO"

He should of just killed him. He had a valid excuse. Why the hell did he let him stay. He had killed scouts, why would he think that wouldn't straight up steal and take. People he stole as well, everything was lost. "NO!" Matt was furious enough to kill. How did this fire start? Why....This was not supposed to happen....this was.....not...

[Atomyk]

Tyler - Baton Rouge

He sprinted fast, practically jumping over any small body of water. The ground here was almost like a small marshland, causing Tyler to almost trip over himself once or twice, but he managed to right himself each time without spilling Katie or her small companion. There were rustles in the bushes as he ran, but surely that was just the others running through as well. He heard Adam call from somewhere beyond the grass, "I knew it! There's a patrol coming around! Hurry, guys!" That news didn't do much to help, as Tyler imagined everyone was running as fast as they could. There was a growl at Tyler's right and he nearly stumbled over a walker laying on its stomach. He jumped away from as it reached its hand out to grab him, but it was too tangled in the grass and buried in the soft ground to move much at all. He assured Katie that they were okay, and they finally broke free of the field.

Adam and George were waiting at the other side. "I told you it was fine in there!" Adam said, but Tyler barely listened. They waited the few precious seconds it took for the others to come out the other side and ran quickly across the street. Adam commanded the group to duck into a hunting store and led everyone to crouch low behind the counter. Tyler took a look around the store as he got into place and found it was completely bare, though the walls were painted with large black X's. From their position behind the counter, they could just see a large truck pass by the store's front windows. The vehicle appeared modified, sporting metal and spikes that increased its bulk and ferocity. After the vehicle passed, Adam waited a minute before standing to his feet.

"They do patrols often a round sunset. Sucks to be us." He made his way around the counter, but Tyler stood up and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"No," he commanded, pulling roughly on Adam's arm. Adam's brow furrowed and he looked toward the others. Tyler continued anyway, saying, "We're not going anywhere until you tell us more about this group."

"I, uh, we don't really have time--"

"We already risked our lives avoiding them. We have time."

Adam made an annoyed grunt and pulled away from Tyler. "Fine, fine, okay? Tremblay, they, um... Those biters they got chained up, that's not all they use them for. They use them like watch dogs all over the place. It's like... some of them keep as pets even, or something. It's fucking weird, man. They got a hold over this city, and they live all over Mid City South-- But, that's not all. They're always doing patrols throughout the city, killing biters or-or taking them for their stock." Adam let out a shaky breath and shook his head. "You guys... are lucky. New people travelling through the city-- They tend to be killed by the patrols. All of you, you should be happy you ran into me."

George considered this and tapped on the counter. "Okay, but how is your group still alive then?"

Adam's voice caught in his throat. He looked wide-eyed at everyone. "I... my group was in the area before they came into power. We leave them alone and they leave us alone. They used to be two groups who were at each other's throats, but they were brought together by a man named Tremblay, or something." He held up his hands. "Seriously, I don't know all the details! I got here after this all happened! All I know now is that he runs them all, but both groups got their own leaders." Adam licked his lips and went silent, apparently finished with his explanation. "Just... They're bad news, and you guys would be better off with us."

Tyler sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, thank you, Adam."

Adam clapped his hands together. "Look, no problem! I'm just trying to help." He then moved toward the front door and held it open. "After you guys," he said.

They pushed on down the road and came to a more business focused sector of the city. Small shops and stores lined the streets in accompany with a couple of apartment buildings. At a bar with both its front door and the sign above the door shot out, Adam led the group inside and to the back of the building. Tyler expressed confusion at where they were, but Adam revealed a door that opened to a staircase leading upwards. At the top of the stairs was a door, which Adam eagerly knocked on. An asian girl opened the door, practically jumping out of her skin at the sight of everyone. Adam quickly spoke up, saying, "Tina, I found these people wandering around the city. I couldn't leave them out there."

The girl's mouth fell open and she slowly nodded. "Okay..." She stepped aside and held the door open so that everyone could shuffle inside. As Tyler passed by her, he found her to be rather short, almost short enough to be a teenager. However, something told him she was older than that. She and Adam led the group down the short hall and to the right, where a living room was in place. It was a clean space, with a ring of couches facing the wall to their right. Strangely, the wall was painted with a half-finished mural of all kinds of things-- Flowers, space ships, animals, buildings-- and a high definition television was pushed off to the side so that it was propped up against a window. Half of the room was a kitchen, and a dining room table and kitchen counters were in this area. Two men sat there, talking amongst each other, while an elderly woman sat nestled into the living room couch. All three turned to the group with varying looks of awe and confusion.

"So, everyone..." Tina stepped into the middle of the room and shrugged. "Adam has brought friends."

George quickly stepped forward and held his hand out to the closest person available, the elderly woman. "I'm George," he said. "It's so nice to see other people." The woman smiled graciously and took his hand. "This is Tyler," he continued, pointing. He introduced everyone in turn except for Scarlett, who hadn't a chance to introduce herself up to this point. Once their introductions were out of the way, Adam began naming off his own group. "Tina," he said, pointing to the girl that let them inside. "Elyse," referring to the elderly woman. "Jace," referring to the older man at the table who Tyler guessed was in his thirties. "And Caleb," finally referring to the other male, who easily was about a decade younger.

Once introductions and greetings were out of the way, the two groups were left awkwardly standing amongst each other. Tina smiled at everyone before taking Adam by the arm. "We need to talk for a sec'," she said, pulling him into one of the side rooms. Tyler then chose to step forward and mention that they had a cat with them. "... And after dragging it across the city, I don't think it's doing well."

Elyse commented on the cat being lovely, but neither she or Jace seemed sure what to do with it. Caleb left the kitchen area to kneel in front of Katie so that he could get a good look at the cat. "Does the cat have a name?" he asked in a slight southern drawl. "Let's try feeding it with the supplies we have, okay?" He smiled a bit cautiously and offered to take Katie by the hand.

Tyler cleared his throat and mentioned the oral syringe. This got Jace's attention, who stood up and made his way for the second side room. "We have those. Let me go check." In the brief glance Tyler got of the room, it appeared to be a bedroom.

"Well, Adam told me everything that happened," Tina said, entering back into the living room. "He's right, you know. You guys will have to stay with us. It's safer that way." She pointed behind them toward the entrance hallway. "Keep going right and you'll find the bathroom and a room we're using to keep supplies. We don't have plumbing, obviously, but we have water so you can wash. Use the downstairs bathroom in the bar if you guys need to relieve yourselves." She scrunched up her face in disgust. "We rotate turns on keeping it clean, so keep that in mind."

"We have a garden out back," Elyse said, almost dreamily. "We've made up a greenhouse."

Tina nodded. "Yep, and we have more than enough supplies for all of you. Food, medicine... If you all help out, we should be able to maintain it." She then pointed to the two side rooms. "Those are bedrooms. We use both, but there's room to fit more. You guys can sleep in the living room if you want, but the living room has to stay clean, all right?"

Jace then returned with the syringe and handed it to Katie. "Here you go, kid." Caleb smirked at this and gestured for Katie to follow him to the kitchen cupboards. Jace stood where he was and looked between the group and Tina. "Tina give you the run down?" he asked. "You guys are welcome to stay with us, don't worry."

Jace

Tina

Caleb

Elyse

[wolverbells]

Scarlett - Baton Rouge - Others

Running through the tall grass was more problematic than Scarlett had expected. With the blade in her hand, she stayed alert as she ran with Liam next to her and Jacob right behind them, refraining from cutting the grass in front of them down so the raiders wouldn't see the trail. Not even when they came across a biter on the marshy ground did she use it, reminding herself that if anyone were to come across a dead biter, it could give them away in the end.

Since she didn't know where they were going, she followed the sound of the grass rustling in front of her, the voice that came up giving her two affirmations. One, that they were headed in the right direction, and two, that this was a bad idea. "Patrols?" Scarlett hissed, running across the street and following the group, her hand still firmly around Liam's. "This is ridiculous." She whispered at no one, leaning her head on the wall as they waited for the patrol to pass by. She stayed quiet even after the group continued, her blade already sheathed.

She kept a hold of Liam's hand until they had made it to what seemed to be Adam's group; She felt protective of him, as if anything happened to him after they got out of the tall grass that it would be her fault. Once inside, she let go and stood a bit more in the back, quiet while the introductions were made. She listened as Adam's group introduced themselves and explained the rules of the house, along with how they maintained it and what they had. Scarlett felt relaxed, her mind slightly at ease at the sound of a stable shelter. Her legs had been shaking even before making it to the city they were in from walking for hours. She decided to speak up after Jace spoke, offering the new group a warm but tired smile, "Thank you for your hospitality. It's nice to find people who still care." After a taking a deep breath, Scarlett walked over to the nearest chair, sitting down and massaging her thighs calmly. "My name is Scarlett." She was introducing herself to everyone in the room, but speaking mainly to Adam and Tyler and the rest of the misfit group. "Thank you for allowing me to come with you. You don't even know who I am. It means a lot to me."

[Atomyk]

Shannon - Cabin - Emma/Rob/Finch

James hugged Rob despite the presence of the gun in his hand. "Is Emma here?!" he asked excitedly. "What about Valentina?!"

Shannon stood at the end of the hall with her hands raised, but began to lower them at the sight of Rob. Danny stepped up beside her, scowling at him. Shannon found herself breaking into uncontrollable laughter. "Boyfriend?" she said incredulously. "No, no... that's not... No." Danny rolled his eyes at this, as she expected, and stepped past her. He proceeded down the hall, barely containing himself as he pushed past Rob. Shannon smiled. "That kind of thing gets him going, don't worry about it."

It turned out Danny was heading for a stash at the back of the cabin, where some guns and supplies were stored in an electronic safe. "Luke figured out the pass one day," he explained to them once they had gathered. "So we removed the fucking useless cash inside and put our own stuff in there for emergencies. I don't feel right taking it now, but I think we need it more than they do." After that was settled, Danny got to work collecting wood for the fireplace. Shannon asked James, who was dejected to learn Valentina was still missing, to go help him. Both the boy and Danny didn't like the idea, but she knew they'd comply if she was the one asking.

That night, they enjoyed a fire in peace, though Danny suggested they block the front door in case something decided to push it down. Beyond that, their night was relatively quiet. They even got to enjoy a nice meal thanks to the supplies in the safe.

---

Outpost

It only took about thirty minutes for Myriah's cabin to burn completely and fourty-five minutes for Enrique's. Content that the fire would not spread further, many of the community's citizens stood huddled a safe distance from the fires. Some were crying over the loss of life that was a certainty at this point. Myriah could not be found, so everyone knew she had to have been sleeping in her cabin at the time of the fire. As for Amanda, Enrique's confirmation that she was inside made the situation further grim. Soon, even the watchers on the wall were watching the fire in hypnotised awe, unaware of any other events that may have been going on at the time.

It wasn't until a few new screams erupted from across Outpost that everyone was alerted to the new threat inside their walls-- Biters. The gates had been left open, allowing a herd that was attracted by the light of the fire into the community. The scouts that were still left worked quickly to arm themselves and take on the biters, but the situation turned dire as citizens scattered in fear, spreading the biters out across Outpost. Amongst the scattered fighting, Lucas and Chris managed to gather a small group to assault the gate so that they could at least close it, but they were met with heavy resistance outside the scouts cabins. Elliot, certainly never allowed to fight with the scouts in a regular situation, grabbed a rifle off of dead scout and joined in on the fighting.

[DELETED324324]

[b] Jacob- Baton Rouge, Tyler, Katie, Liam, George, Scarlett
Jacob kept behind Scarlett, trying to keep pace with her through the mushy swamp land and obviously he wasn't doing to well as he would sink in "Man I liked these pants." He muttered quietly but kept running. They made it to their destination just in time for a patrol to pass by, after that Adam brought them upstairs to meet the other survivors. They seemed nice but Jacob couldn't help but feel this was too good to be true, he would also mention that to Tyler and try to get the older mans answer. Because one just does not build a green house without those raiders noticing and even if your on fragile terms with them doesn't mean they won't come and take it.

After Adam and the apparent leader left, and the cat was being taken care of Jacob approached Tyler "I need to talk to you." He said quietly enough only Tyler can hear them he didn't want to make a scene in front of these people or make it seem like he wasn't grateful because he is. But still he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that something bad was going to happen, but his main reason was getting the whole story from Tyler not just bits and pieces.

[Atomyk]

Tyler - Baton Rouge - Scarlett/Jacob

Finally allowing himself to relax, Tyler let out a strained breath and rested his arms against the back of the couch. He nodded at Scarlet when she expressed her appreciation. "None of us know one another, but we're going to change that." He said it for her, but he also meant it for himself. He was still unsure about Adam and Liam, but Tyler realised he was just going to have to grin and bear it for now. "Oh, and--" Tyler looked toward Elyse. "Scarlett is looking for her sister."

Tina had taken a spot next to Elyse, and this news perked her attention. "Really?" she asked, turning to Scarlett. "We don't see too many people come around here. Adam and Elyse were the last two to come around."

Elyse had her eyes close, nodding. "Tell us about your sister," she said. "Maybe I'll have seen her. When were you two last together?"

When Jacob approached Tyler, he stepped off to the side to let those on the couch talk amongst themselves. Jacob wanted to talk, it seemed, and he sounded concerned. Tyler nodded to him and turned to Jace, who had joined the others by the couch. "Mind if we check out that bathroom downstairs?" he asked.

Jace looked up and squinted in their direction, as if he was scrutinizing them. "... That's fine, just don't exit the bar, whatever you do. It's dangerous."

Thanking him, Tyler led Jacob back downstairs. They moved to the front of the bar, where a couple of stools still stood intact. Tyler took a seat on one and began leaning over the counter. "I hope they don't keep booze stashed around," he mumbled. He then let out a sigh and rested his arms on the counter. "What did you want to talk about? Is it about your cell phone?" Tyler tried to look amused; Tried to be friendly. "Or is it about the group upstairs? I'd like to hear your thoughts on both, you know."

[SheriffLlama]

Sylar - Outpost

Sylar was awaken by a startled cry, and he bolted upright. He saw Meghan standing on the doorway, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. "Sylar, Myriah's cabin is on fire!" The girl shouted. The man jumped from his bed, dressed only in his dark blue jeans. His heart raced as he tore past Meghan and towards the blazing cabin.

By the time he reached the cabin, the inferno had spread to Enrique and Amanda's cabin, lighting that building ablaze as well. As Sylar was about to rush into the building, despite his lack of a shirt, the doorway collapsed and Sylar jumped backwards. He landed hard on the ground, scratching his back. It was then that Meghan appeared above him, holding his leather hooded jacket. She helped him stand, handing him his coat. He put it on and zipped it, turning back to face the cabin "Sylar!"A voice came behind him. Cody ran towards him, carrying a large blue barrel that they used to store water. The kid set it down and Sylar forced the lid away. The two of them lifted it up and began to pour the water over the fire.

Almost half an hour later, the fires had been extinguished, but gunshots replaced the noise of the people fighting the fires. Zane sprinted down towards Sylar and Cody. "Sylar!" He barked and slowed to a half. "Enrique to half of the scouts, the fuel, and the trucks and they bailed! Biters are swarming the gate!"

He carried an assault rifle in his arms, and turned back to run towards the gates. Sylar dashed towards his cabin, pulling Meghan close in tow. The man pulled the girl inside the cabin, closing the door when Cody followed in behind. "Stay here! Cody you wait with her!"

"No way! I'm coming with you!" Meghan objected. Sylar shook his head.

"Like heck you are. You stay here, or I will tie you to that bed." Sylar quickly laced on his boots and picked up his crossbow and quiver, then shut the cabin door behind him. Sylar took off in a sprint towards the gate, where shots were being fired. He loaded his arrow and pulled up beside Lucas, who was firing his rifle at the walkers that were swarming the gates. The man fired his crossbow, downing the closest walker. He dashed to the body and retrieved the bolt. He loaded another arrow and downed a second walker. The man looked at the scouts and then at the walker.

When the horde was thinned out enough that the scouts had time to close it, Sylar rushed to lock the gate with its heavy bolt. When a walker jumped at him, he stumbled backwards into the gate. A single shot was fired, and the walkers head exploded onto the gate. Sylar turned his head to see Meghan standing with a pistol in her hands. The man took a breath, and picked up his crossbow. He turned to Meghan with a swallow. "...I told you to stay inside..." As the walkers pounded on the gates, the scouts stuck their weapons through the cracks and began to shoot.

Meghan stared at him incredulously, bewildered at his reaction; shed saved his life! She took her pistol in hand and she and Cody went to help with the gates. Just as she stepped over the corpse of a fallen walker, a hand roughly grabbed her calf. She let out a cry as she fell forward and hit the ground. The walker that had grabbed threw himself on top of her, gnashing his teeth.

Before Meghan could turn around, the walker sank its teeth into her shoulder warranting a pained scream from her mouth. As Sylars arrow pierced the walkers head, he dropped his bow and ran to Meghan. "No!" He bellowed. He sank to the ground and pulled the girl up into his lap. His eyes were filling with tears as Meghan looked into his eyes.

"Sylar..." She grimaced. "It hurts..." Tears rolled down her face as she heaved an enormous sob.

"I know- I know, kid. It's gonna be okay, we can get through this..." He said with false hope. "We've made it out of everything else, well make it out of this!" He said it as if he was commanding her to be okay. He sat there with her until she drew her final breath, and her eyes went still. It was when Cody stepped towards them that Sylar snapped. His eyes burned with anger as he stood up. "Sylar, I'm sorry we didn't listen-"

Cody hadn't been ready for Sylar's blow. The man's fist connected with the boy's jaw, and he staggered back. "Sylar! Stop it!" Charlie shouted, supporting herself on her crutch. Sylar ignored her objections and reared back sending his fist into Cody's jaw again. Jerry ran to the man, seizing his wrist before he could throw a third punch. Jerry threw Sylar back with one hand. "Sylar!" Jerry barked loudly. "Take another step towards him again and I'll put you down!"

When Cody staggered to his feet, Sylar didn't charge again, but rather bent over, bracing his hands on his knees. The man let out a forced sob, tears streaming from his eyes. The scouts watched as their leader stood, broken and enraged.

As the scouts at the gate finished the walkers attacking the gates, they turned to watch the scene. Murmurs from the people of outpost arose as Meghan's body moved slightly, then she rose. Sylars head turned ever so slowly, and he paced towards we she had fallen, picking up her pistol. He watched the sight as Meghan finished turning into a walker. Jerry moved to raise his gun, but Cody hastily thrust up his hand, signaling for Jerry to stop.

His eyes still watering, but Sylar pulled he trigger and put Meghan down for good. As his eyes glimpsed the ruins of the two burnt town cabins, one thought echoed ferociously in his mind. Sylar was going to kill Enrique.

[DELETED324324]

Baton Rouge, Jacob- Tyler,Katie, George, Scarlett, Liam

Jacob and Tyler went downstairs, Jacob looked at Tyler and began to study his face. Trying to get a read on him, Tyler brought up his cell phone and the group and Jacob wanted to speak about Tyler so that would be three things to bring up in a conversation. "I will answer both of those if you answer something that's been bothering me about you." He said and continued speaking "For cell phones, satellite phones will be the most useful as the orbital decay of satellite's is 6-8 years. Depending on atmospheric drag. If i had electricity to charge it more I'm sure i could get GPS coverage on it." He said he seemed to have trouble letting his next thought become clearer.

"I don't think we are safe here, there's something their not telling us and I don't care how close they are with these raiders if you have a green house one of them is going to rob it. So what if these people are working with them or at least one or more of them are, normally I like to believe people are nice and trusting but not like this and As long as those guys are out there I don't think I'm going to trust the people here." He said quietly his voice losing confidence he almost didn't want to ask Tyler what was on his mind, which was rare for him. But he did it anyways. "The other question I have is, you just kinda told us part of your story. I want to know everything that happened, just so I can trust you." He said meekly, but he awaited a response.

[Rithas]

Liam-Baton rogue-Too many people

Liam ran with Scarlett, quite a few strands of tall grass hitting him in the face. "ppft" was te only sound he made as they kept running. It was made worse when they had to stay super quiet to avoid the patrol. This....group seemed to be a lot more dangerous...Anything that could have patrols was dangerous. But alas, they arrived to tis mysterious group. Normal people it seemed. He wondered if there was something crazy about. If they would suddenly turn around and say "Surprise! Were cannibals!" and then proceed to eat him. That wouldn't be nice.

Liam had been staying close to Scarlett, but more at the back. always at the back it seemed. He listened about the rules...He was never good at keeping anything clean.

Aoife-Outpost

This was unbelievable, She couldn't believe it first the fire. then Enrique left with a number of scouts. and now the biters were pouring through. She was standing her ground, but there was many. Even Elliot was helping (not that he shouldn't) But she kept shooting. trying to protect as many people as she could. That went she heard rumbling where the supplies were, not another person or group running away. But, she couldn't just go. Tapping Elliot on the shoulder (making sure he wouldn't shoot her) Aoife pointed to the him, then the biters, then to her, then to the supplies. She didn't know sign language obviously, but she hoped he would get what she was trying to say. "I'm going to check who's in there, you stay there" She mumbled, as if Elliot would suddenly become not deaf. She ran off to see what was going on.

Rifle raised, she walked into the supplies, and certainly there was someone there. An alive person as well. "Stop and turn around" She ordered, it made her sound like an police officer. The man stopped, and like she ordered. Turned around, she felt like shooting the man right there. especially Matt.

"Taking the supplies huh? You think you can fucking do that! We already had a lot of our supplies stolen, Myriah's dead and there's biters coming in! and now your planning on leaving Matt! What happened to being a leader? or whatever you were" Aoife had her gun directly pointed toward's him. "Your despicable!" she looked him up and down. strapped with supplies and a few guns as well.

"It's not like I enjoy this? You want to know how much work I put into this place...this community. It's a shame really. Kill Reggie, Samantha...destroyed Myriah's reputation. Only if that was such a short thing. But this place.....it's gone to shit. And I need to leave now. Perhaps find another group. I couldn't of foreseen this...but I'll survive. You know it's funny, Thomas was such a helping to my plan. but perhaps also led to it's downfall. I would call it Ironic but I can never remember what that word actually means." Matt took a step forward.

Aoife felt shocked, she never trusted Matt. He was like a snake, slithering behind the scenes. But to this extent. She suspected him of many things...but for everything to be. She really had to resist the urge to shoot him right there and there. She should. "But, why the hell would you do that! Just to gain a higher place? You destroyed this. And Reggie....I fucking knew it!" She was furious. Upset at the same time, both for the same reasons.

"I hate to sound like a evil villain before being shot in the face, but really it was easy. Maybe it's just a human natural instinct to distrust. There was noting there yet you all wanted to believe. I mean sure, I had to deceive and make up a few things. but so can everything really if you think about. There's really no escaping the fact you all of you are truly idiots. I'm going to leave this place. Once again I might feel myself sad. This had potential, but it seems that I've screwed it up. Ah well, I'm angry that I messed up a good thing. But blame Enrique, he just left...and also killed a lot of scouts....and deceived a lot of people-You know what. I really don't see why we didn't kill that guy." Matt took another step.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Aoife screamed, she could still hear the gunfire and biters. they need her help. Was he delaying? what for? "You...Why would you tell me this?" She needed to get outside and help. They needed her help.....they needed her help.

Matt smiled, "Oh come...I think we both know the answer to that" She didn't have time for this...they needed her help.

A single gunshot rang through the air, truly disguised through the sounds of moaning and other...louder guns.

Rob-Cabin-People

Rob gave James a pat on the back, he was getting a lot of hugs in the last while it seemed. Though it was nice he guessed. Danny (that was his name wasn't it?) seemed to go straight for the safe. He wondered what the hell was in that thing. If not in reality he completely ignored it's existence. When Danny opened it, Rob laughed.

"That's neat, we have a safe...woo...." Rob raised his arms up for a couple of seconds. before awkwardly letting them fall to his side. Shannon ordered them to collect firewood, well James and Danny. Shannon did seemed to have authority over those two. "totally boyfriend" Rob muttered quietly.

They did have a good night, though that broken door did worry him. Again...his fault.

Matt

He was long gone before anyone noticed. A disappointing adventure it had been. But now he would be by himself, it seemed so long since that had been a reality. But it was now. He couldn't help but smile to himself. If he wasn't killed immediately by Raiders or biters. Perhaps he would do something. Something...

A fitting end to Outpost he thought. Fire, biters...Him leaving. that all it needed he thought. But he didn't care. It was time to leave all of that behind him.

[Roran Hawkins]

Alex Clark - The Outpost

He had never been so glad he still had that old pitchfork lying around now the crawlers were getting inside. His gun had been taken by the scouts that had left with Enrique, and there had been no time to start looking for a new one. Those crawlers needed killing. In a coordinated effort the remaining scouts combined forces once the worst of the fire was dealt with to beat back the walkers and close the gates before more could get in. Alex was in the frontline with the pitchfork, stabbing one in the chest, then using the pitchfork as a tool with which to control the walker, and sent him into the firing line of the other scouts.

"Blast the bloody asshole!" He yelled, and soon felt the pressure on the pitchfork drop as a second crawler lunged for him. Swirling the thing around he managed to knock down the walker and then jab his knife into the base of the skull before it could get up. The pitchfork's teeth were really bad at actually killing crawlers because they couldn't penetrate the skull deep enough. Only a stab to the face has any chances of taking down a walker for good with it, and even then you'd need some luck. Absentmindedly he wished for a real spear. As the gates were closed by Sylar Alex focussed on finishing off the remaining crawlers, using his pitchfork to immobilize and pin down crawlers for the others to put down.

It felt as if it took an eternity, but probably just a minute later it was mostly silent again inside the Outpost, except for Sylar's enraged screaming. He wanted to help, to do something, to say something, but it seemed evident that Sylar needed a moment now, and that everyone staring at him didn't help at all. With a sickening noise he pulled the pitchfork out of the crawler and rattled it against the wall as he put it down, drawing the attention of some of the people.

"We still got a job to do." He said, drawing his knife, stabbing it in the head of a downed crawler to be sure, and dragged it to the now empty parking lot. Some scouts started helping him clear the mess to prevent any more such unlucky casualties. The work was done in an eery silence, as most people were too shocked after the events of the night to spend any words on it. With hollow gazes marked with exhaustion they rounded up all the corpses and piled them up in the parking lot to clean them up the net day. Tomorrow would be a really tiresome day, Alex realized as he leaned against the wall he was patrolling on, and failed to surpress a yawn.

[wolverbells]

Scarlett - Baton Rouge

Scarlett turned to Tyler as he mentioned her sister. She hadn't forgotten about her but she was taking a quick break from all the madness that had occurred to her in the last 48 hours. "Um. Yes, I lost Samantha." Scarlett frowned as she heard that there hadn't been any strangers since the last two that came and stayed here. "She looks exactly like me. We're identical twins, except that she's kept her hair long. Never really been a big fan of change." She smiled slightly at the faint memory of when they had gone to cut their hair but she backed out, before the madness ensued. Scarlett then frowned as the most frequent events came to mind.

"We were taken by these men. A bunch of thugs. Sam didn't know at the time. It all happened within a matter of days. Maybe a week or two and everything we had worked for gone." Anger and sadness filled her as she began talking about it, her eyes looking down as she explained what happened. "We were in a group full of our colleagues. We had one soldier who had been going part time there, two former Marines, an older woman studying to be a vet tech, a few athletes including my sister, and then there was me. A pretty decent sized group. The athletes were the ones that did supply runs since they could literally run for miles without getting tired. The ones with military experience kept us safe and showed us how to handle weapons, and the vet tech would take care of us and show us how to administer and IV or give shots if needed. But one day on a run, they found a young man. Probably around my age. He seemed lovely when we first met him. My sister, Samantha, isn't exactly the most open person. She takes stranger danger to the max.... But something about this guy made her ignore every rule she had set up." Scarlett made a face as if she was still confused and annoyed.

"She was the main leader of the group, mainly because she had such great intuition and said things straight up. She wasn't afraid. But this guy sweetened her up, confessed his love, and made her in to a total girl. I noticed that he would disappear a lot. He'd come back with animals he'd hunted but I knew there was something up. The others thought so too, but of course Sam didn't want to hear it."

Scarlett shrugged and rolled her eyes then looked up at those who were listening, mainly Elyse. "He was in a group of thugs. He had been playing us and Sam and they raided our camp in the woods one night. Killed most of our group. Kept only the young women. I haven't seen her after that... I was lucky to trick those pathetic men and run for it. I could only hope she had the same luck. This happened the night before? I don't know.. It's been a good day or so. I've been walking for miles." Scarlett smiled kindly at the older woman and the others before leaning back on the chair and holding in her tears. She took a glance over to the door and saw Liam still stood there quietly. "Liam, come sit down. It's okay." She grinned and gestured to a chair across the table from her.

[Atomyk]

Elliot - Outpost

Thankfully for Aoife, Elliot probably understood her better than most would at the time, as the lack of loud distinct sounds allowed him to easily focus on what she was saying. Reading her lips, he gathered she said, "I'm going to check who's in there, you stay there." He then moved himself so that he could guard the door while she went inside. It was an easy enough task, as most of the biters had been drawn to other places within Outpost. He considered checking the back door as well, but decided against it when he remembered it should have been securely locked that day. Eventually, though, Elliot heard... well, he couldn't be quite sure as he couldn't really hear much at all, but a sudden heavy vibration alerted him to something going on inside. He moved to head inside, but someone came up from behind him and shoved him away. He yelled out and tried to point his gun at the enemy, but they got their hands on it first, roughly pulling it away from him.

It was Joe, the man that wasn't much a fan of Elliot. He began to scream, and Elliot could easily read his exaggerated expressions. "The fuck are you doing?" he yelled. "You're going to kill someone with that you deaf idiot!" Elliot could do little more than stare back at this man, as he had always refused to understand what Elliot was trying to say, even with the most simple of hand gestures. Joe shoved him again. "We let you on the wall and you think you can do anything! Why do you think the military had fucking hearing tests? Huh? Huh?! Answer me!" Elliot stared defiantly, unwilling to be pushed around by this man. He had never allowed himself to be intimidated before, but especially not here and not now when Outpost was on the line.

Joe got closer to Elliot, pushing his face right up close to Elliot's. "Do you need me to yell into your ear? Do you want me tooo taaalk slooowerrr?" A dull sound to Elliot's right caused him to turn, but Joe grabbed him by the shirt. "Over here, dumbass!" He continued to talk, but Elliot stopped reading him and looked back to the door of the cabin to see Aoife stumbling out. Horrifically, a gun shot wound was adorned on her chest, and the woman's eyes had turned a sickly shade of yellow. Elliot cried out and tried to gesture toward her, but Joe grabbed his face and forced him to look at him. "You're going to get someone killed one day, and then everyone will stop with this fucking PC bullshit." Aoife then fell into them and Joe finally realised what was happening. The man screamed and shot his gun wildly, or at least Elliot believed that's what happened as Joe let him go. Free from the man's grasp, Elliot stumbled over himself to get away from them and turned around a few feet away to find Aoife on the ground biting into Joe's neck. Elliot felt like retching.

The gun was now pinned between her and Joe, with no others sitting idly by. Thinking he had a chance with Aoife busy biting into Joe, Elliot moved up to them and landed a kick to the undead girl's head. Her head snapped backward and she flailed her hands in an attempt to grab him, but Elliot spun around her, shoving her aside with a kick to her abdomen. The gun now free, Elliot hastily picked it up and fired a shot into Aoife's forehead, ending her time on Earth for good. He then looked down at Joe, who was wildly touching at the wound in his neck. He was screaming, yelling out for someone, but Elliot didn't bother to read who he was calling for. It made the task of mercifully ending his life a tiny bit easier.

---

Tyler - Baton Rouge/Bar - Jacob

Tyler dropped his attempt at looking amused, completely not even meaning to. He turned his body to face Jacob and opened his mouth to speak. "You, uh..." He then let out a cough, rubbing at the back of his neck. Jacob had managed to surprise him, indicating to Tyler that he was someone that he should be looking out for. The whole story was never something Jacob would get to hear, but Tyler had to say something to keep things smooth between them. "If... If this group as as bad as those people say, you're right, it's doubtful they'd be left alone." Tyler knew first hand, obviously, and he figured he could make use of that knowledge. "... I don't want you to mention this around my daughter, but I was captured by a group like that, once. They put men into this fighting pit they made, and offered them to join if they survived. I never accepted." He cleared his throat and turned to look outside the bar's front window. It was hard to talk about, but not for the reason he wanted Jacob to believe.

"Anyway, that group controlled a large section of New Orleans and harassed a lot of people. They pissed enough people off that eventually someone decided to wipe them out. So, I was saved." It was at this point in the story that Tyler knew what he had to say. He had to pretend to be Thomas Zuchowski again, even if not using the name. "But, I had been down there so long, that I was scared of being outside. With my daughter missing, I had nothing left of the old me-- Tyler." A pause now. Did he want to say all of this? No, but he had to say it. "Me and two other survivors started living on our own, and I began to use a new name. We eventually found a community for us to live. These people were... they were nice. They took us in, and we joined in their military force. I made enough friends, so that when the previous leader died in combat, they promoted me to lead the group instead." He looked back toward Jacob and nodded above them. "Adam was a part of that group, but he idolized the previous leader. When he died, Adam booked it."

It occurred to Tyler that Jacob could easily ask Katie to confirm what he was saying. Tyler wouldn't have put it past him. Not wanting Katie to lie for him, and knowing she would probably not understand anyway, Tyler was forced to come up with some semblance of the truth. "We, uh... We were on a patrol, when we ran into a new group. They were good people, but... they had my daughter. They were taking care of her, but she's my daughter, you see? They didn't believe me-- Wouldn't let her go with me. I was... forced to take her. I'm not happy with it, but it's what I had to do to get my daughter back. I feared that they would try and take her back, or-or attack my own community... so I left. Katie and I left and headed North... until we came here."

He stopped now, and let out a deep breath. Tyler had to admit, he was happy with how it came out. "Now, if our friends upstairs have the amount of supplies they say they do, they're doing something to keep this Tremblay group off of them. I'm not sure what that is, but we need to be wary of it, all right? You sleep with one eye open, because... well, they may be giving people to these raiders. We just don't know."

With that out of the way, Tyler stepped off the stool and stretched his arms upward. "We better get going before they think we've wandered off. But, um--" Tyler looked Jacob over to see where he was keeping his cell phone. "I thought I saw you talking on your phone earlier. How is that possible?"

---

Baton Rouge/Apartment - Scarlett/Liam

Tina's immediate concern were the thugs Scarlett had encountered. "Who were these guys? Did they have a name? They-- Were they related to Tremblay?"

Jace shook his head. "Tina, let the girl finish talking at least." She shot him a look, but the older man only smiled back at her. All three continued to wait until Scarlett was finished, and it was Jace who grunted in disgust when she was done. "Jesus, that's disgusting. I can't imagine what that had been like for you."

Elyse was shaking her head. "No, you can't. None of us can." She leaned forward and placed on arm on Scarlett's shoulder. "You're so strong, to have made it here on your own. I don't know what I'd do in that situation."

Tina was looking upward, thinking. She bit her lip unconsciously. "You sure you've been walking for miles? You must not be from the area, then."

"Whatever the case," Jace said. "We'll keep a lookout for your sister. When we do supply runs. We never know what we'll find."

Elyse nodded and leaned back in her seat. "If you need anything, we will get it for you. All of you. We want you to feel welcomed, like Adam and I were welcomed." She laced her hands in her lap and smiled at Tina. "We were taken in by these people, and I am forever grateful. In fact... I was alone for some time. I was with a group who abandoned me. Left me to die. But dear Adam found me, and we came up here, where these three found us." From his place in the kitchen, Caleb turned to the group and grinned. "So, Scarlett," Elyse said, turning back to her. "I personally want you to feel comfortable after your ideal, and this group knows that what I say goes." They all laughed at this, but it was good-natured laughter. There seemed to be little animosity between them, at least with these four.