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

[Atomyk]

Danny - Cabin

He flinched at the sudden resounding slam against the door and sharply shoved his backside harder against the wooden wall in response. As the door was kicked in soon after, Danny lamented the fact that the door was definitely a lost cause at this point. Danny couldn't reveal his hiding spot behind the alcove in order to get a look at the intruder, but his voice clearly outed him as Enrique. Strangely, the man was looking for Thomas, even though Danny knew that Thomas hadn't been spotted in the area since the incident at Haywood. While it was possible that the council had sent Enrique to hunt down Thomas-- maybe even to only get the man out of their hair-- Danny didn't think it was very likely. No, Enrique had probably gone rogue, and who knows what happened in the brief evening Danny was gone.

Thomas, of course, was not there. They could come out and allow Enrique to search the place, but Danny was worried Enrique would become angered once he was seen. If the man held a grudge against Outpost, Danny couldn't possibly expect to reveal himself without issue. Even more troublesome, Enrique seemed trigger happy enough to shoot for their cover any second now, wounding them before they even got to utilize their surprise. It was all-around pretty fucked, and Danny felt his heart beat harder and harder against his chest, as if begging to burst out of himself at any moment. Danny felt himself panicking as he pointed to Shannon across the hall and gestured for her to step forward and reveal herself. Her eyes went wide and she looked at him like he was crazy, which maybe he was, but he simply mouthed at her, "Lure him."

He saw Shannon bite her lip and wait momentarily. She gave Danny a final look he couldn't quite identify and spoke up. "Tyler's not here. I'm going to step out, so you can see me. I don't want you, me, or my friend to be hurt here." Cautiously, her shaking hands aiming her pistol at the ground, Shannon stepped from her place behind the alcove and took a step into the room. From Danny's position, he could only see the edge of Shannon's back. "You, uh... You know me," she continued. "You met James and I once, and you talked to him in Haywood. He's here, with me."

[User]

Charles switched the car up a gear and drove down the long, crowded streets. he looked at the walkers grabbing at his door, he signed as he remembered all the civilians who tried to get in when he last made a break for freedom. he looked up at the skyline, he hadn't seen anybody for at-least a month now, they always bolted when the car pulled up. he could never be sure if it was him or the fact that the car had military logos and marking on it, and that they thought that a quarantine was being set up near by, he was driving past all manner of houses and shops whizzing past, he hoped that the new truck horn he had fitted would work, or at a push create enough noise so he could test out his guns.

with a flick of the wrist the loud horn filled the streets, bouncing off shops and houses alike.

[HellHoundWoof]

Enrique-The Cabin-The OG Group

Enrique heard a womans voice and tensed his trigger finger. He stopped himself from raising his shotgun, he recognized the woman. She was from the mechanic shop, then haywood, and now. She and several others had ditched him on a road. He wasnt angry, even then he had recognized it was the rational decision. He recalled the boy he had given a chocolate bar too.

"Why the fuck are you here?" He said angrily. He shook his head and forgot his own question.

"Look, if you dont want me and mine killing everyone in here, tell anyone you have in here to get out and kneel outside, weapons will need to be dropped of course. Ill have two boys search this place, and ill keep you company outside. If you dont comply, the pack will open fire. Few of these boys care for the lives of children much less adults."

[QT]

Broken

Nothing had been the same since that day, everything changed. The entire group was in a state of reluctant silence. It was broken from tip to toe. Even those not involved in the incident were affected severely. That relationship that took time and effort to build seemed to have just been shattered. They were now just individual survivors looking out for each other, but not entitled to being a family.

First off was DeSean and Jennifer. At first sight one would continue to think they were that perfect couple - nothing but love. But despite what they showed the others, the inevitable truth was that it wasn't going all that well. Jennifer started to realize that DeSean seemed to be more worried about his best friend more than her. Could be noted as jealousy, could be noted as greed. But in the end, this little fact was tearing both of them down. On the other end, DeSean noticed her abrupt behavior - always questioning him unlike before. His irritation grew when at a certain point, she started being sarcastic about his relationship with Hank. It just wasn't going great in that SUV they drove.

In the other vehicle was Seth, Aiden, and Aaliyah. Even though Seth's feelings for the girl hadn't changed, he wasn't his usual self. He had been affected by the sight of Heather back when they were attacked, about three days ago. They were headed to Baton Rogue, near the highways. The plan was to still continue north, but nobody seemed to be taking the lead anymore. Anyway, Seth changed his outlook on life. He started to believe that he needed to become more courageous, stronger. But not like Hank or DeSean, but better than the two. During those three days, every time they stopped to rest, he would go ahead and scout with Floyd. He started noting all his movements, the way he did things, because despite the guy's silence, he was probably the only person not affected by the events - as though he'd been through worse. Seth never asked though, he understood his place at the moment.

Floyd was riding with Hank, Imogen, and Heather. Like just stated, he didn't change much, still did things the way he'd always done them. In fact, he was the only person that remained cool. He was trying to get Hank back on board, but it had t worked yet. Hank was still lost in that void in his head. And it was dark, not a glorious place to be. And it was visible, all over his glazing eyes, leaving him with only a dim light in them. He was hurt, destroyed by what he'd let happen. But for him it wasn't about strength like for Seth. For him it was about his decision making. He made the wrong call, putting his people in harms way. And every time he looked through the truck's mirror to the backseat at Heather, he just imagined her looking back at him with anger and fear in her eyes. It was destroying him. He couldn't even talk to her at all. Every time he tried, words just wouldn't come out. He was a prisoner of his own faults.

"Is it up here?" Hank asked Floyd, pointing at the intersection in front of them. Floyd looked at the map and used his finger to follow through to their destination. "Yea" Floyd responded, still short on words, but making up through his actions. "Three blocks then left" Floyd followed up. "Alright. We stop there see if anyone needs a brake. If not, we keep going" Hank responded. Floyd nodded and folded the map back up, started staring at the sky.

Seth had allowed Aiden to drive the car for a change. He was in the backseat with Aaliyah. But he was sleeping, just there doing his little snoring. He had his head planted on the window, face palmed against the glass. DeSean was grumpy, driving down the rode behind the truck. He hadn't slept the night before because Jennifer decided to sleep in a separate tent. He just had this frown in him that would piss anybody who saw it off.

So that's what the group was dealing with at the instant. They weren't what they originally had become, it had gotten bad. They just all hoped it wouldn't get worse.

[User]

Charles kept hammering down the road, he hatted himself more and more as he went, it was still burning daylight he still hadn't seen a survivor. we was expecting at-least a car or a bike to come whizzing down the road from the intersection. he was wearing a full set of millilitre armour. the only downside of this armour was he got it from a zombie, a zombie that went down with a fight suffering huge holes in it. he smiled, diddnt know why he was smiling, he diddnt really care to know.

all he knew was he was smiling, and while he was photolytic smiling everything would be fine. what had that man said during the attack on Hudson? "People are less likely to put a bullet through your skull" he repeated to himself, shame he was bitten, he would of made great company.

he looked down a the fuel, it was a few meters from upping and dieing, he eased his foot off the pedal and looked behind him to see a long line of jerry cans. the car eased to a stop, right in-front of a truck. he stopped, had a rabbit vision in the headlights and just looked at it, reaching over for his pistole.

[Xenonia]

Warren Anderson - The Road - Various Car Survivors Nearby
Warren had been running for... He didn't know how long. It must've been a long time, because his sides were starting to hurt, and because he had forgotten how long it had been, which was a general indication that it had been a while. He was running from perhaps the most pissed off group of undead men he had ever seen, and he had seen a large number of pissed off walkers. If only he hadn't tried to make coffee... The burns all over his arms still lingered painfully, and the sounds of his own screams echoed in his ears. That didn't matter anymore, though, as all he could think of was finding safety.

It was at that point in his self reflection that he came upon a road, and could not believe his luck: There were people. Probably, at least, unless the dead had learned to drive cars in groups. This was a godsend, a chance to join up with a group of survivors. Then again, he also realized the horrifying truth: Every single person he had ever been near had met awful fates, some at the hands of the undead, some by his own incompetence. This time would be different, though, he was sure of it. And so, he began attempting to wave down the traveling herd of trucks... Managing to fire his nail gun directly at the front-left tire of the SUV leading the pack, causing it to emit an awful hiss.

[Professor_Wyvern]

Enter on Stage: Daniel Solomon Zinger - Setting: The Open Road.
Additional Characters Onstage: Warren Anderson, Pack of Roaming Vehicles Containing Various Survivors

Popping a piece of butterscotch into his mouth, Daniel Zinger was wandering down some road, carrying a metal baseball bat which had quite a bit of blood on it. OF course I'm in Ekvelt. Someplace, I should manage to find a radio, establish a connection and contact the fellow Heymish. He licked around the butterscotch piece around between his dentures. He squinted his eyes and adjusted his glasses, as he noticed a pack of moving cars down the road.

Daniel smirked at the sight, as he thought of the use that would bring. He glanced on the other side of the road, as the cars drove by, where he saw a young man running and, doing something like a klutz, followed by a loud pop. He swirled the piece of butterscotch around as he lifted up his bat, and kept walking forward, as he kept his eye on the situation.

Well then, this should be interesting. Daniel thought to himself.

[Atomyk]

Danny - Cabin

Great, Enrique wasn't fucking around. Sending Shannon out probably wasn't the best idea, in hindsight, but Danny wasn't sure what was the best idea at this point. An idea had occurred to him, but Shannon's ranting earlier kept him from carrying out with it. Now that she was being threatened right in front of him, her concerns about his own safety seemed like the least important thing in the world. He swivelled his head toward Emma and let out a defeated breath. "Get James," he mouthed. "Sneak out back." At the back of the cabin was a section near the floor that had been damaged when the scouts took out the generator hooked up out back. They'd boarded it up, but it was still notoriously weak, as Danny had pointed out to everyone when he was opening up the safe. Hopefully Emma would get what he was trying to infer, or hell, maybe she was smarter than him and had a better idea of sneaking out. Either way, he wanted her to go.

"Are you serious?" Danny heard Shannon ask. "I don't know if you remember, but Tyler killed my friend. Why would he be here? Why would I line up my friends for you to-to..." He heard her voice falter as she took a step back. Danny let a shaky breath, wishing he could at least reach out for her or something. "Just leave us alone," she continued. "Your scouts already attacked me once, and now you're doing it again." Danny wondered if Enrique saw the irony in that. He looked across to Rob and raised his hand to get the man's attention. He mouthed for Rob to grab Shannon and pull her back in a few moments. God, did he wish he could just sign to these people.

Shannon took another small step backwards. "James is hiding right now. Scared. Just... go. Please."

---

Tyler - Plaza - Jacob

They'd managed to clear a couple of blocks without incident, though Tyler noticed that a couple of walkers were chained up in the area. He figured they alerted other walkers to their location, but thankfully few got the message. The clothing store they eventually entered had its windows thoroughly smashed, giving Tyler the impression that they wouldn't find much here, but Jace assured him that the store connected to a couple others, like a plaza. Apparently the bulk of the stores, including a super market, were behind the building and on the next street over.

They moved to the back of the store and stepped into a crisp white hallway. Blood spatter lined the walls and a couple of idle corpses littered the ground. In the middle of the hall stood a single walker, standing in place and looking at the wall. "Do you think the others will be getting up?" Tyler asked. Caleb shrugged, before stepping forward and stabbing the first corpse in the head. Jace followed after and the group methodically moved by each corpse until they got to the lone standing walker.

"These ones always freak me out," Jace said, staring it down. It didn't move to look at them, strangely. It almost seemed dead standing up. "I think they get like this without a lot of food in the area. A few of the chained ones Tremblay has do this." He turned to Tyler and Jacob, frowning. "They replace them for ones that make more noise eventually." When Jace stepped forward to kill it, it finally moved. However, its reaction time was sluggish at best, allowing Jace to easily dispatch it. With that out of the way, the group continued through the hallway.

They stepped into a pitch black store and Jace told everyone to turn on their flashlights. Tyler flicked his on and looked around, finding racks of plastic bowls and utensils. Kitchen supplies, which indicated this was probably a department store. "We'll probably find blankets and sheets around here," Caleb said. "Maybe even a pharmacy. If not, I know there's one in the super market."

Jace nodded and pointed his flashlight down the aisle. "I don't think we have to worry about the dead in here, but be careful anyway. You never know what's hiding in the shadows." He stepped forward and nudged Caleb to follow him. "You two stick together. Whether or not you find anything, meet back at this door in fifteen minutes."

Once they had left the aisle, Tyler turned to Jacob. That the others had gone off on their own was a little suspicious, but finding supplies was more important at the moment. "Where should we look first?" Tyler asked, desiring to defer to Jacob for the time being.

---

Tina - Apartment - Scarlett/Katie/Liam

It was unusually quiet, she thought. Adam was usually so much louder, always talking about whatever came into his head. That he seemed too tired to say anything at all was actually somewhat concerning. She'd thought the presence of new people would make things a lot more lively, but aside from Elyse's small talk with Scarlett, everyone in the room were acting like the corpses outside. She finally couldn't take it any more and stood off the couch. "Does anyone want to do anything?" she asked.

George turned to her and lifted an eyebrow. "What is there to do?" he asked.

"Well, lots of things..." Chores popped into her head almost immediately, but Tina didn't want to start proposing work right away. The new guys deserved to relax, she thought, at least until their friends came back. Instead, she directed everyone's attention to the mural on the wall. "I mean, like, we should do some painting."

"I meant to ask about that..." George mumbled.

"Tina did most of it," Elyse said, beaming. "She's very talented." Tina blushed at this. Compliments always sounded nice coming from Elyse.

"Yeah, and you guys can help," Tina said. She looked toward Katie and Liam in particular. "What do you guys say? Just... don't paint over what I've already done." She laughed at this, though she'd probably not be laughing if they did paint over it.

[User]

the cars wheel went down like a sack of bricks, he climbed out the car grabbing his Rifle and pointed it at the boy "what the sodding hell man!" he cocked it, "now unless you have a spare tyre to replace it, and i suggest you do, id start running" he pushed the barrel closer. it would be about 1 meter from him so he couldn't grab the gun. "now im without fuel but i feel as if you'll be very useful indeed" he pointed the gun down at the kids leg and lightly tapped the loose trigger, it diddnt fire butmane a light 'click' as it ht the back of the gun.

[SheriffLlama]

Emma - The Cabin - OG Squad VS The Pack

Emma rose just enough to peak out of the window, and she saw two trucks in the distance. She listened as Shannon debated with this Enrique guy. She manuvered herself so that she could see the man standing behind the door. She glanced at his face, and she instantly remember what Shannon was recalling. He had been there with Tyler when Danny's people had attacked Haywood. She watched Danny as he instructed her and james to go out the back. She nodded and crept to the back room, pulling on James' arm. She motioned to where the escape route was, and she leaned down to pull the boards away.

When she found that she couldn't get them to budge, so she moved enough to let James help. She might have been stronger-minded than he, but he was definitely stronger in body. When they pulled the boards free, Emma crawled through the opening, pulling out her knife as she stood up. When James was out, the two began running away from the cabin. The two kept running as fast as they could.

After a minute, Emma heard heavy footsteps behind them, but she didn't turn to look. She knew there was someone right behind them; she could hear him breathing and his footsteps were loud against the leaves. When a hand pushed against her back, she tumbled to the ground and rolled a few feet. When a large man descended on her, she looked at James, who stopped a view yards away. "Run!" She screamed, the man shoved his hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming anymore. Satisfied that James kept on running, Emma tried to fight the man off of her, but his hand curled into a fist and she was struck in the right temple. Emma blacked out as the man picked her up and carried her back towards the trucks.

[Rithas]

Rob-Cabin-Can't be bother to name all of the people...

Rob knew something was wrong when Emma ran in like she just saw a giant dragon...which he would probably me smiling at but never mind. They were all worried, but what it turned out to be was bad...very bad. Why did this always happen when he was around.

Three knocks on the door, three little knocks. Then the man spoke. Wasn't he the crazy axe murderer guy? that wasn't good. Rob was rather quiet for the next bit. Well, so was everyone else. But as the man suddenly shot his way into the Cabin. He sighed lightly. Shannon selected herself to talk to him. oh this was going to bad.

his eyes flickered to Danny, then back to Shannon. and from his angle not much of the intruder. not that he wanted to look at him but...it was tense to say the least. They were surrounded, and it was quite hard to see a way to escape.

Rob saw what Danny was trying to say to him. And, he had a point. "Sorry" He muttered to himself, (He didn't want anyone to hear him) As he grabbed Shannon and pulled back far back. "Shh for a second"
Liam-Baton Rogue-Peeps

Liam eyes mainly remained towards the ground, not wanting to awkwardly make eye contact with anyone.Making eye contact was hard. Social things were hard. He was just sitting waiting, when suddenly the word painting came into his ear. "I like...art....I w-was planning to do Art....." Liam barely spoke, still his eyes focused on the ground. "Art...is good"

Aiden-Driving.....

Times were tough, but they had to keep on trudging along. He just kept on following, kept on driving. He kept him distracted from thinking about how in honest sense how shit things were right now. He didn't want to think about how shit things were. but they just were....all that.

At least he had his bouncy ball.

Matt-Walking

It's not even hard, He even already found more supplies. Just boring....very....boring. Very. He missed people, figuring them out so he could toy with them. Soon, hopefully....soon enough. And hopefully this one wouldn't burn. that would be a nice feeling.

[Atomyk]

Danny - Cabin

Jesus Christ, he screamed inside his head. He wasn't cut out for any of this. Danny was the furthest damn thing from a leader he could even think of. All he'd wanted to do was listen to Reggie for the rest of his days, but now he was forced so far out of his comfort zone that he knew he had to be making mistakes. As Rob finally moved to pull Shannon backward, Danny turned the corner and fired on Enrique, aiming at his upper body. They were relatively close to each other, but Danny wasn't the best shot, and he truly didn't desire to murder Enrique, no matter how much he didn't like the guy. During this, he cried out, "Move, Shannon!"

[HellHoundWoof]

Enrique-The Cabin

"Im checking the fucking cabin," Enrique said angrily, "Tyler can talk his way into many things, even his enemies care. I dont care if the boy is scared, if I wanted to hurt you all I would have had us all rush through that damn door guns blazing."

Enrique raised his gun and watched for any movement in front of him.

"If you dont all go outside and kneel on the ground I'll blast everyone in here, so move your asses out. Because I can have this place in splinters."

With that a man grabbed Shannon pulling her aside, and anotjer man popped up. Enrique couldnt quite be sure but it looked like an old scout named Daniel. The man had a pistol and fired at Enrique, the bullet struck him in his left shoulder making him hold up the shotgun with one hand. He squeezed the trigger and blasted in the general direction of Shannon and the other man. The pain in his shoulder was kicking in, he took a few steps back cocked the shotgun with a wince and fired once more towards Daneil. Enrique walked out the door and waved towards his men.

"Fuck em up!" Enrique said moving behind the trucks, he threw the shotgun down and grabbed a rifle. He set the rifle on top of the car hood and shot out the windows of the cabin. He felt his rage boil inside and squeezed the trigger aiming the gun in the air.

"You want led flying you fucking got it," Enrique said angrily, "Pack! Fuck em up!"

[Myst]

Katie - Baton Rouge - everyone in the apartment (long day)

Katie's bottom lip pushed out into a pout when her daddy left. Scarlett seemed nice, but Katie was afraid to trust her. People who seemed nice at first usually turned out to be mean later.

She sat on the couch after he left with her arms folded and her lip stuck out and her eyebrows furrowed in a Super-Mega-Pout-To-End-All-Pouts. She was going to stay that way until he came back. She didn't know why he wanted to go off without her. They were supposed to be together from now on. He had promised.
Well she wasn't going to talk to anyone here. She was going to sit in this spot and not move until her daddy...

As soon as someone mentioned painting the seven year old was up and running.
"Painting? Actual painting?!" she asked excitedly. Katie loved to draw and color but hadn't been able to do so since Haywood.
She grabbed a paint brush and some pink paint, getting a good distance away from Tina's painting so she wouldn't ruin it. She started to paint a flower. She'd make a nice picture for her daddy when he came back. Katie decided she would paint everyone that had gone away : her mommy, her brother, Lauren, Bull, Daniel... even people that she didn't know if they had gone away like Floyd and Emma.

She had finished a park scene with flowers and grass and trees and her mommy, big brother and daddy when she had to go to the bathroom.
She put down her paint and looked at Tina. "May I go to the bathroom please?"
Once she got permission and promised not to go outside she went down the stairs to the washroom.

[Atomyk]

Tina - Apartment - Katie/Liam/Scarlett

Happy that her idea was going over well, she quickly grabbed a tarp out of the storage room and laid it down in front of the mural so that they wouldn't get paint on the carpet. She then got out her collection of paint and let the kids go at it. She offered George a brush but he politely refused. Adam was too out of it to participate and Elyse enjoyed watching others paint. Tina began adding to her side of the wall, but she found herself distracted by the kids more often then not. Liam seemed too self-conscious and afraid to paint on the wall much, but Katie took a quick liking to the idea. Tina smiled at their pictures, paying particular interest to Katie's, who was drawing what appeared to be a large family of people. She decided to ask who they were, and Katie responded that it was the people she missed.

Elyse made a noise at this, and Tina also felt sadness for the girl. Family, friends... Tina couldn't quite imagine losing all those people at Katie's age. She leaned down and suggested that Katie put their names above the picture, but Katie responded that she needed to go to the bathroom. Tina nodded and put down her brush. "Okay, let's go." She stepped outside the front door with Katie and waited at the top of the stairway to give the girl privacy. "Don't go outside, okay? Call for me if you run into trouble."

---

He'd been waiting for her. The girl. Katie. He'd seen her before... fleeting glances. Down. Down in the filth. Her daddy wouldn't dare let her go near him, but he saw her. He remembered her, just as he remembered every face that crossed his path down there. Down in... He stepped cautiously, his foot brushing against a broken bottle. He'd been squatting under the bar ever since he left. That man. That bastard. He'd trapped him in the filth, forced him to fight. Join or fight, they said. He always fought. He'd never join such filth. They lived in filth, for they were filth.

It was no wonder the filth eventually died out. Their filth crushed and smothered them. He was freed... but no, not truly. He would never be free, not while that man still lived. Tyler. Leader of the filth. He stalked that man for as long as he could, thinking of all the ways he'd remove his filth from the Earth. He'd ended up losing him for some time, but he found him again and again. The leader of the filth was always spreading his filth wherever he went. That little girl, she was filthy too. She'd been with him for so long... how could she not be? So he followed them both, the filthy leader and the filthy girl. He didn't know why he waited so long... perhaps he felt bad for what he had to do. Perhaps waiting made it all the more better.

Tyler had found new people to corrupt, and he couldn't wait any longer. He had to do it now. He had to make Tyler cry. Had to make him bleed. When the little filthy girl stepped off the stairs and into the bathroom, he knew this was his chance. He crouched, walking silently on two feet. He crept up behind her, grabbing her before she could do her business. His foul-smelling arms wrapped around her and his dirt-stained hand covered her mouth. He knew he'd gathered quite the look in his travels. He hadn't had time to bathe, not lately. Still, no matter how dirty he was... this girl was simply filthy. He began pulling her roughly and brought her outside the bar. He kept low to avoid the eyes of the tenants upstairs and pulled Katie down the side walk. The filthy man wasn't too far away. Soon, he and his girl would be gone and the Earth would be clean.

---

Tina

She waited on the top of the stairs with her arms crossed. She'd worried that Katie wouldn't know what to do with the pails in the bathroom, but the girl's silence indicated that Tina hadn't needed to worry at all. Eventually, though, Katie took longer than Tina would have liked. She moved down the steps and called out Katie's name. "You okay in there?" she asked. She waited for a response, but none came. Sighing, Tina stepped into the bar and slowly moved her head into the bathroom. "If you need help, I--"

She wasn't there. Katie was gone. Tina stumbled backward as if struck and felt her heart suddenly leap at her chest. "Katie! I told you not to go outside!" she cried. She spun around and looked over the bar counter, but didn't see her. She stepped out of the building and whipped her head back and forth. Fuck! Fuck! How could she--

She ran around the building and din't find Katie around the greenhouse either. She didn't understand how this was happening. She'd not expected anything to happen! The barbed wire on the windows kept the dead outside. Even then, Katie hadn't made a noise. If she was attacked, there would have been a noise. The only other explanation was Tremblay, but that didn't make any sense either. "Katie" she cried one last time, turning around and running back into the building. She sprinted up the stairs, not knowing what she would tell the others.

[DELETED324324]

Jacob, The Plaza. Tyler

They had cleared out the plaza and moved inside the walkers inside were slow, almost lethargic, one of the two guys they came with remarked about food and how they do that when they don't eat. Jacob kept this down in the back of his mind making mental notes about what could cause such a thing. Shortly after that they separated leaving Tyler and Jacob standing there alone Tyler asked a question about where they should head. "The pharmacy would be nice." He said, he didn't even wait for Tyler to reply before he walked off.

Things were quite at the pharmacy, but even if there were walkers Jacob probably wouldn't of noticed as he was to busy looking at medicines and throwing them in. Medicines for children, anti biotics, disinfectants, anti foot fungus medicine, and finally pain relievers both over the counter and prescription. "I hope nobody abuses these." He said throwing a bottle of Norco into his bag. "Where to next?" He asked Tyler looking over his shoulder long enough to look at him.

[Atomyk]

Tyler - Plaza - Jacob

He was busy finding what he could for the cat when Jacob spoke up. Tyler straightened up and looked over what Jacob was grabbing. "Watch Adam," Tyler said. "He may already be abusing the supplies they got." He then busily began shoving what he'd gathered into his bag. In addition to what the cat needed, Tyler made sure to add to the children's medicine Jacob had already gathered. He wanted to make sure there was enough for Katie in case she ever got sick.

The pair then left the pharmacy and stepped into the super market. Considering food was apparently not a priority, Tyler figured they should head back to the department store. "We still have time to grab something before we meet back up. If you can't think of anything, I have an idea." They traced their steps and began navigating the department store's aisles, shining their flashlights down each one. They found a few corpses along the way and were forced to deal with each one before moving along. Eventually, Tyler came to the section of the store he'd been looking for: the toys.

"Something for Katie," Tyler mumbled as explanation. He hastily added Liam to the end of that to not seem cold. He wasn't quite sure what Katie would have wanted, but he figured a stuff animal would do. Maybe? It'd been so long since Tyler had found himself in a toy aisle. Back in the catacombs, it had been Lauren who had found belongings for Katie. Tyler had always been so busy with his nonsense.

At the end of the aisle, Tyler found elaborate toy mansions and a large assortment of dolls. Those might have been appropriate once, but Tyler felt dumb even considering giving Katie dolls to play with considering everything that was happening. He instead instead moved on to the next aisle, where the toys gave way to arts and crafts. There, like it had been waiting for him, was an art set laying against the rack. He grabbed the box and examined it, seeing that it was partly for kids, as it had black and white drawings to be colored in. Tyler figured Katie would rather a blank piece of paper to work with. Nonetheless, the set contained a large assortment of pencil crayons and markers. Happy with it, Tyler flashed his light in Jacob's direction and told him he found something good. He made sure to grab a stuffed giraffe on the way out for Liam.

Medicine and toys in tow, they returned to the door to find Jace and Caleb waiting for them. "A little late," Jace said.

"We went to the pharmacy in the super market," Tyler explained. "Found everything we needed."

Caleb grinned. "Well good, you guys can sleep comfortably tonight." He pointed to the bloated pack strapped to his back. Jace nodded and directed them back into the hallway, but a loud bang from the clothing store across the hall made them stop. Tyler asked what that was, but the noise of what was unmistakably gunfire answered him. Jace swore at this and moved everyone back into the department store.

"That's an issue," Jace said, flashing his light down the aisle. "Most of the stores on this side are blocked off. The only exit is at the other end of that hallway."

"We don't know that for sure," Caleb said. "We haven't explored the buildings enough."

"Well it's damn unlikely!" Jace let out a shaky breath and swore again. "Okay, okay, stick behind me and we'll head into the next store over. We have to find another way out."

The next store over turned out to be dedicated to electronics. They were forced to shove the automatic doors open manually in order to get inside. Jace quickly led them toward the front of the store, but a loud bang from the department store made Jace jump. He ducked behind a row of televisions and gestured for everyone to follow suit. "Whoever's back there probably isn't friendly."

"How do we know?" Caleb asked.

"They're damn arrogant, making all that noise!" He turned to look at the group. "Just stay low and quiet. If we're lucky, they'll pass by us and we can sneak out behind them."

Tyler turned to Jacob beside him. He shook his head and asked, "Do you think...?" He leaned in closer to whisper. "Maybe this was on purpose?"

---

Tina - Apartment - Liam/Scarlett

Tina burst into the living room, her breathing already ragged. Most everyone turned to her, startled. "Katie," she mumbled, trying to find her voice. "Katie's gone."

Adam jumped to his feet. "What? Gone? What do you mean, gone?"

Tina touched at her hair and felt like heaving. Katie was only a little girl and Tina had lost her. What was wrong with her? Words began tumbling out, "I was waiting on the stairs for her to go to the bathroom, but she was taking so long! I checked on her and she wasn't there, but there wasn't any noise or-or anything! I couldn't find her anywhere near the bar!"

Adam looked down at the ground, his mind reeling at the news. "Did someone take her? I don't..."

"Could it have been the Tremblay group?" George asked.

Both Tina and Adam shared a look. "Well, uh..." Adam mumbled. "I... don't know. Maybe..."

Tina began nodding to herself. "You know what? Maybe she... Maybe she went to find her dad? She could be heading for the plaza!"

"The poor girl doesn't even know where that is," Elyse said.

"No, no, I guess not, but..." Tina made a frustrated noise and began pacing the room. "We just... need to focus. We need to go out there and look for her." As she paced, she looked toward Adam. "You're getting up and searching the area. You and George." She then looked to Scarlett. "You and I will start heading to the plaza. It's not that far and it's entirely possible she might end up there." Tina then stopped in her tracks. "And, uh, Elyse. You have to look after Liam. And the cat." The old woman nodded. "Everyone, shake yourselves off and meet me downstairs. I'll grab us some equipment." Tina then quickly barrelled out of the room, leaving the others to get ready.

[Myst]

Katie - Baton Rouge - Taken

Katie hurried down the stairs and into the bathroom, but before she could do anything someone grabbed her from behind. Someone really smelly. Katie tried to scream but it was muffled by the man's dirty hand. She struggled but the man pulled at her roughly, lifting her off of the ground and carting her out of the building in the blink of an eye.
Her eyes were wide with terror as she continued to pull at the man's hands over her mouth, trying to get free enough to scream.
Daddy?! Where was he?! Where was this smelly man taking her?
She scanned the area as they went, looking for some sign of her father in the different buildings, but there was no one not even another person.

Her fear and the man's tight grip hurting her caused her to start crying, her little girl tears falling on the man's hand and making clean spots.

When they got to where they were going and the man finally relaxed his hold on her she pulled her mouth loose and screamed.
"Da-!" she started to scream only to be cut off by the man forcing a dirty rag into her mouth. Her wrists and ankle were tied up while she struggled and cried. The ropes wer so tight. They cut into her skin, making red marks. She looked up at the dirty man with her large deep water blue eyes, pleading with him to stop hurting her, pleading wordlessly for him to let her go and stop scaring her. Her tears fell down her cheeks, making clean tracks from where the man's grime had rubbed off on her face. She blubbered and sobbed beneath the gag, her small body trembling violently.

[wolverbells]

Scarlett - Baton Rouge - Tina

Scarlett had smiled and watched Katie run off with Tina behind her to go to the restroom. She didn't want to cause any distrust between the people so she stayed put and talked with Elyse about what they did before everything happened.

"I actually went to school for dancing. I used to be really big into gymnastics but that kinda turned into dance. Maybe one day I'll be a dance teacher. When everything becomes normal again."

Scarlett smiled as they spoke, listening to the others intently. She kept Liam in her sight as she waited for Katie to come back. It had taken them a little more longer than expected but Scarlett merely pushed the bad thoughts away and assumed Katie didn't know what to do with all the stuff downstairs or Tina had began talking with her and showing her stuff. Her attention on the conversation broke when a muffled 'Katie' came from downstairs but Scarlett tried to dismiss it as them playing a game.

Before the small group could change the conversation, the sound of footsteps running made Scarlett turn around quickly. The face on Tina as she came in made Scarlett's heart drop and blood freeze in her veins. Even before the young woman said the little girls name, she already knew. "No." Her mind began racing and she stood up, running over to a side of the room where she had placed her blade and weapon away from everyone else. 'Tyler's going to kill me!'

After grabbing her weapons, Scarlett walked past Tina as she broke everyone in to groups. "Liam, don't leave!" Her voice was a few octaves higher than normal form the sudden stress. Scarlett nearly took two steps at a time as she went down the stairs and ran outside. She didn't care about any patrols or renegade thugs running around, Katie was the only thing on her mind. "Katie?! Tina, where'd the others go to?" Scarlett turned around to wait for Tina, ready to sprint wherever she pointed.

[DELETED324324]

Jacob - The Plaza. Tyler

As they met up the sounds of gunfire drove the four into an electronics store which made Jacob smile he was lost in paradise but Tyler's question quickly brought him out of his dream land. "I don't know." He whispered back "But what i do know is that I'm low on ammo." He continued frowning at the pistol in his grip. It was at this point that Jacob thought of a plan that might work for the group.

"I have a plan." He said loud enough for only the group to hear and when everyone turned their attention to him he continued "We should confront this guy, if he's alone we out number him and we can get answers. If it's the raider group that frequents this area we can scare them off and escape by acting like a much bigger group or a group of walkers. Of course we would have to rule out these two." He said gesturing to the other two guys "On confronting the guy just in case it is the raiders we wouldn't want them going after home base. But I will confront him as long as Tyler takes my bag just in case. So this way home base won't suffer reprisals, because they don't know who I'm with." He said looking back towards the exit of the store.