[center][h2][color=fff200]Keith Eldridge[/color][/h2][b][color=fff200][Downtown Raccoon][hr][Jack's Bar] => [Jack Street] => [Jack's Bar][/color] [color=00a651][Well, Guess It's Time To Leave.][/color] [hider=STATS & INVENTORY] [color=00a651][b][HP: 100/100][/b][/color] [b][u]Slot 1: empty[/u][/b] [b][u]Slot 2: empty[/u][/b] [b][u]Slot 3: empty[/u][/b] [b][u]Slot 4 Memento:[/u][/b] [i][Bridge Camera:] Your trusty ol' camera... well, not that old, but still. If you scrapped some stuff together, could it be possible to modify this?[/i] [/hider][/b][hr][/center] [center][b]A Couple of Hours Earlier[/b][/center] Uurrgh... how much did he drink this time, seriously? The blonde boy moaned and groaned over what felt like a whole friggin' hour, but he was probably in such a sorry state for what, like five minutes? Pressing the palm of his hand against his forehead, Keith slowly rose up from the... wooden landing he was lying on? His vision was spinning a bit as he gradually opened his eyes and blinked a little. He didn't even bother to try and recognize his environment as he sat there, trying to recover for the most part. The first thing he tasted was the sterile dryness of his mouth as he eyed the multiple shapes that littered this... this was definitely a bar. There were a couple of human looking shapes - patrons and servers... ugh, hello horrid breath, his old friend. Propping the arm onto the counter that held his head up, and raised his other hand up. [color=fff200]"Blegh... mind if I get some... water,"[/color] he groggily sputtered out before letting his arm fall onto the counter with an audible clunk, his head falling back down. A few seconds later, he felt a smooth surface touch the tips of his hand. Moving his head up, he blinked for a bit before slowly grasping the glass and chugged it down, bit by bit. Pressing the glass back onto the counter, he raised a hand, weakly smiling, "[color=fff200]"th-thanks for the water mistur... [/color] [b]"Miss."[/b] [color=fff200]"... right, sorry 'bout that miss,"[/color] he mumbled, slowly shaking his head so he would get this friggin' headache off his... head. Removing a hand from the glass, he pointed directly at a temple on his head and swirled his finger around. [color=fff200]"I'm sorta outta' it... jus' give me a bit and I'll be outta' here..."[/color] With that said, he lurched a little more, turning his head down to the bar, making himself comfortable for a bit... it's too bad a little Southern Comfort wouldn't make this all better... ... ... ... After an hour or two of resting, watering himself down, and a piss here and there, he felt rejuvenated... well, for the most part. The pangs of pain in his head had decreased to a very, veeery tolerable amount and he was more than ready to find out how to get back to those apartments! His friends had to be there, right? Downing one more glass of water, paying off whatever he owed, he excused himself from the bar stool before going into a lengthy stretch. From what he observed, most of the patrons were gone, and only a few people remained. The ones that stood out, however, were a group of people who looked anxious... it was as if they had the devil at their heels. For now, it didn't matter, as he walked towards them at a leisurely pace. Just as Keith was about to pass them, he noticed something rather... peculiar. The blood he noticed trickling down one of their arms was rather... fresh... i-it was better to probably ignore it... rude'n all to ask about what happened. Pretending not to notice anything, Keith tipped his head away, eyeing his supposed server and giving the lady a polite, but nervous smile. [color=fff200]"Th-thanks,"[/color] he murmured, nearing the door. [b]"Hey, y'aren't plannin' on goin' out thar', are yeh?"[/b] Keith froze mere seconds as he was lifting his arm up. Were they talking to him? Another one of their group members? Yeah, yeah, the latter [i]had[/i] to be it! No reason some randoms would holler to some guy leaving the bar, right? [b]"Oy' Cameraman, y'got cotten in yer ear's,"[/b] the voice said one last time. Oh gods, please don't let this be like last time, please don't let this [i]end[/i] like last time. Slowly turning his head around in their general direction, Keith tried to avert eye contact as he kept his head bent downwards, staring at the floor. [color=fff200]"N-no, nothing like that,"[/color] he sputtered almost mutely, unnoticeable chewing at his lips and rubbing his thumb against his balled up hands fingers. [b]"Well, don't, else yer gonna get yerself killed."[/b] That... gave him some pause... was this a subtle threat, or was it because of that whole "cannibal disease" thing he heard of... He begged that it was the latter as Keith nearly made eye contact with the fellow, popping one of his eyebrows up as he mused over it all. [color=fff200]"Uhm... are y-you talking about the cannibal disease this city is havin'?[/color] [b]"Disease,"[/b] one of the others forcibly chuckled, their voice tense. [b]"That's jus' putin' it lightly... it's more like a damn epidemic![/b] ... that couldn't be true, right? I-it wasn't that bad... I mean, that menagerie of people were mostly... fine... He stayed quiet for the majority of this all as the on-goer continued to make a mountain out of a molehill, saying how their landlady was eaten alive and myriads of other things. Honestly, they just sounded like a raving madman at this point... which would of been fine if it wasn't for the look plastered on their friends faces... [b]"It was all like that.. erm, uhm, that one Romero movie,"[/b] the same speaker spoke, snapping their fingers trying to recall it as they focused on the windows. Hmm. [color=fff200]"Uh, N-Night of the Living Dead,"[/color] he mumbled out just loud enough for them to catch as his constant fidgeting continuously increased. [b]"Right, yeah, tha's it!"[/b] They gave a particularly loud snap, pointing in Keith's direction, putting the spotlight onto him. [b]"So, fer yer own safety, it's best if you hold out with th' rest of us."[/b] As much as there was a cannibal disease reported, he still had his doubts over how bad it was. He nervously shook his head, shrinking away towards the door as he reached out towards it. [color=fff200]"I-i'm sorry, but I c-can't; I've gotta find my fr-friends,"[/color] he mumbled, fumbling around with his camera a bit as he sped out of the bar, hearing one of them plead for him to stay. [b]"Hey kid, hold on, you d-"[/b] [b]"Jus' cool it Gerry,"[/b] one of the group members sighed, walking towards the bar and nonchalantly took a seat and called for a beer. The person known as Gerry was dumbfounded. [b]"There's no way he's g-"[/b] [b]"Listen, we gotta focus on us, so we shouldn't worry about 'im,"[/b] the person said, before taking a small swig, letting out a breathy [b]"ah."[/b] [b]"Besides, soon'r or later, he'll learn like the others after gettin' his ass chewed out,"[/b] the person shrugged and shivered a bit before downing another bit of beer. [hr] The air felt a bit chillier as the young man stepped outside... maybe that was his intuition telling him not to doubt those folks and head back inside? Keith took one step forward, perishing the thought as he slowly looked around. There... there wasn't a soul in sight, surprisingly... then again, it did sort of make sense. Goosebumps formed on his skin, patting them down as he carefully trudged out passed the strewn cars and into the opening. Most of the street was barren, save for a few... hobbling people? He could barely make out some of the silhouettes in the street, but clearly there was an inhuman air to them... people infected by the cannibal disease he presumed. [color=fff200][i]"Looks like their nervous system is shot... poor guys,"[/i][/color] he mused, breaking into a light enough sprint as he passed by as car. As he studied the car and the shambling humans, his skin grew hot, Keith's heart felt like it was going to pop out of its chest as he gave pause for a few seconds. He whipped his head around, taking the view up behind him and... oh holy shit... it... it wasn't as bad when him and his friends came here! There were a couple of more vehicles strewn down the street, some abandoned, broken, and tipped over pieces here and there... but for the most part, it looked as if a storm blew over... and what made it even worse was the amount of people congregating farther down the road... they were all moving similarly to those up ahead, but for the most part, they weren't trying to tear each other apart... Keith had his doubts, finding it pretty peculiar that they were acting in a certain way. Shoving his hands into his pocket, he decided to go away from what he assumed was north away from the crowd of people and went south... which lacked most of those afflicted. Every time Keith neared one of them, he ducked behind some vehicle, getting out of sight as he listened to the bits of shuffling and... oh god, that smells. Squeezing his hand into a tight fist, Keith suppressed the urge to vomit as well, listening to the wheezing of it all, his teeth chattering as he continued to duck down. When he was for certain he was in the clear, he slowly lurched forward, taking one small silent step after another before shuffling at a swift rate before the cannibal infectee could catch wind of him. Eventually, he took shelter behind another banged up vehicle... except there was blood partially staining the window. As he lurched over, he stood as still as he thought he heard something rapping and tapping at the window. Yeah, no, he wasn't having any of that as his breathing began to pick up. Crouching down, he slowly backed away from the car... before discovering [i]what[/i] was causing that ruckus. His pupils dilated in utter horror, uttering a rather loud [color=fff200]"Jesus,"[/color] in surprise before realizing what he has done and slammed a hand onto his mouth. Sadly, that was too late with that bridge crossed. Scrambling to get up Keith, didn't bother looking back, noticing those so called "cannibal's" slowly limping towards him. He got a fresh look, one after the other as he made a mad dash past each of them. Just like the one in the car, they all had similar looking cataract-like eyes, obvious signs of necrosis on their face, and other crap he didn't bother remembering at the time because he was [i]not[/i] putting up with this bs! As Keith sprinted back to the bar, he came to notice a couple of things... mainly over the fact that the huge horde he was avoiding earlier had gotten even closer than he saw previously. That's all he got out of it as he looked to the side, noticing a similar, dimly lit establishment with the letter J set on top. The student didn't even bat an eye as he stumbled forward, his breath dry as he dispersed from the sight of those cannibal's... th-they were still cannibals right? Not something outta Romero's movies, no! [color=fff200]"They're just sick, avoid contact,"[/color] he repeated in raspy breaths to himself as he stumbled forward towards the light, lurching forward as panted and grasped at the door. [hr] As he entered the familiar area, he noted that it was a lot more... populated than before. Shrinking back, he kept his head down as he passed by the duo lurking near the front door, listening to presumably the owner of this bars proposition. Taking a seat near said duo, he slumped down, sitting himself on the floor as he looked at his camera, firmly holding it as he rubbed it a bit. ... ok, get it together and focus Keith! His breathing began to slow down a bit, thinking on the huge amount of... zombie's to the north and how there might be more hordes like that was not a very comforting thought... hell, even this old man's "pep talk" wasn't enough to get him out of this frightened rut... ... well, at least until the old man brandished a shotgun, indicating even more so that they needed get to work providing some coverage for this place or get out. Shivering he buried his head into his knees, thoughts going to the fact that he had to go back out there and possibly get his ass killed to keep this place safe... [b]"Well fella's, y'heard the man, if we gonna stay here, we gotta make sure this place is packin' heat,"[/b] a familiar voice spoke up, followed by other grunts as the stools began scooting out of the way and feet began to pick up, coming towards them. Coming out of his sorry state, Keith peered up, noticing the group of guys and girls heading out. [color=fff200]"... h-hey,"[/color] the young man spoke up in a muffled voice, grabbing the attention of the person in the back. The man paused for a second, looking down on the student before chuckling a bit. [b]"We-hell, lookie who came back; get yer ass chewed out,"[/b] he quizzed, amused as he watched the young man shake his head. [b]"Well, coorse' y'didn't, you're still livin'... now whazzup?"[/b] Pressing his hands against the flooring, Keith weakly pushed himself up, averting eye contact with the much older looking man. [color=fff200]"U-uh, there's a h-huge crowd of them up the street outside of h-here,"[/color] he murmured, blinking a bit as he shoved his hands into his pocket, leaving his camera dangling from his neck. [color=fff200]"... th-that's all."[/color] The man gave a nod and uttered a thanks before leaving the bar behind, easing the door onto its frame... great, now he was definitely in a rut. [color=fff200]"Crap... h-hey, you two,"[/color] he anxiously murmured, staring in the general direction of a greased up fellow and the musclebound man with a cap. [color=fff200]"Y-you don't mind if I, er, tag-along, d-do ya?"[/color][hr] [center][@Dark Lugia][@Kazemitsu][/center]