Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Atomyk
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Sarah - Winchester Rd off the 27

Sweat beaded down the face of Sarah Ziegler and she blinked uncomfortably behind her large, almost comical, round sunglasses. She took one delicate hand off the steering wheel of the bus and swiped it across her forehead, using the other to turn the bus narrowly through the remains of a four-car pile up. It was one of those unseasonable heat waves she would read about from like the 1980s, smack dab in the middle of March, as if the Earth itself was trying to imitate the level of Hell they had all found themselves in.

Winchester Road had done Sarah and her hopeful passengers well, especially after the setbacks she had found trying to go North on the 27. There were less abandoned vehicles scattered about and it seemed apparent she was not the first traveler to come this way. The narrow passageways between vehicles seemed almost too miraculous to have occurred naturally and the amount of corpses seemed to imply a couple of gunslingers had swept down the road.

Regardless of their good fortune, Sarah had to temper her optimism, especially after seeing the disasters further down South. She had remembered rumors of Indianapolis burning in the early days and it hardly took even going near the city to see the proof. People had fled the city in droves, creating horrible vehicle pile ups along major highways like the 70. Many of the smaller cities and towns toward the center of Indiana seemed overrun with the dead, leaving one to hope nothing would ever incentivize them to spread out from their graveyards. It was only now that she was coming up toward Fort Wayne that the land seemed relatively calm by comparison.

Sarah had just passed through a small town called Poe. Quaint, but eerily quiet. A total dead zone that reminded her of home. Might have been a good place to settle down, if that had been Sarah’s intention. She was more interested in finding an established community, having spent the last year in isolation and finding it terribly abysmal. Sarah had never spent a day alone before everything ended and now… well, now all her old friends were gone. This little bus venture, the pilgrimage of one lonely girl, had a very clear goal in mind. Everyone on board, the poor stragglers Sarah had picked up along the way, knew this goal clearly.

There had never really been any intention to pick up people along the way. Some abandoned green school bus had just happened to be the one vehicle available to Sarah at the time and she figured it would provide her some level of protection that her old, beaten up VW could not. One person there, another here… Every time, Sarah told each one that she was looking for a community and they all agreed to come along for the ride. It occurred to her in the few weeks she had been driving that she probably already had what she was looking for now, but she simply wanted more.

Now Sarah was the ferryman, bringing people to the land beyond the end of the world.

“Hold up, Sarah,” said Carl as he leaned forward in the seat behind Sarah to get her attention. She was about to switch over to a side road, so she slowed to a stop to give the man her attention.

When Sarah turned around, she caught Carl’s gaze in the sunlight. His green eyes seemed to shine and his light brown hair turned almost to gold. He was a bit older than Sarah but somehow looked younger and boyish. He was one of the first she had picked up, a poor lonely man on the side of the road, who seemed to love his mobile radio as if it was his child.

Carl was pouring over that radio right now. Sarah was happy he was so on top of it, in case it was the breakthrough they needed. Something in Carl’s voice made him seem excited and he was practically bouncing in his seat now.

“I picked up something,” he continued, a grin lighting up his face. “They gotta be close. A community called Faith. They gave yesterday’s date too, so it’s not an old broadcast.”

Sarah let out something between a laugh and an exhale of breath. Finally, after so long, was this the community Sarah longed for?

“Oh, my god,” she said, excitedly reaching out to squeeze Carl’s shoulder. “What should we do?”

“Keep driving,” he said, nodding toward the road ahead. “I missed their directions but I think if you keep going North, we can keep catching the signal.”

“Right!” Sarah gave Carl another squeeze and turned back to the road. She was no longer tempering her hope.

A community called Faith. It sounded beautiful.

***

Danny - Taco Bell on Jefferson Blvd

“Why is it seriously so fucking hot today?” Danny asked, a frustrated tone to his voice. He let out a small groan, one hand on his stomach and the other holding him up against the take-out counter. Something about the heat was making the cramped building smell rancid and Danny could absolutely not believe they chose to wait out the next few minutes in a goddamn Taco Bell.

Sean shot him a withering look, which was definitely a step up from Sean’s usual practice of pretending Danny didn’t exist. It didn’t last long though, as the man then turned away to take a peek at the parking lot outside. Danny could see the guy was starting to get antsy, which really meant he could start being an asshole any minute now. Danny could hardly stand the guy. Sean was always so no-nonsense, but in a nonsensical and less-than-endearing way. He just seemed to pick out people to dislike and Danny happened to be one of them as far as he could tell.

Not that Sean was doing anything right now but giving him the cold shoulder. Danny was just feeling restless himself and starting to feel pretty sick. He let out a heavy sigh and made his way for the front entrance.

“Gonna be just as hot out there,” Sean said as Danny was leaving. Danny just ignored him.

Sean was right though, the sun was beating just as harshly outside. Not a single brush of wind for any kind of relief. At least it smelled better.

Danny caught sight of Brooke and Paul coming up from behind Harrison Square, a group of the dead, about fifteen or so, fumbling along behind them. Considering their numbers, it looked like the plan went well. Danny gestured for Sean to leave the restaurant and the pair of them moved to attend Brooke’s little party.

Danny unhooked his hammer from his belt and met the first biter with a furious blow to the head. The creature dropped almost immediately and Danny had to step out of its way. Blood had splattered down his arm and a smell that reminded him of Taco Bell hit his senses.

Brooke and Paul turned and began to get into the fray as well, with Sean following after. Sean had this huge machete that Danny always felt was excessive. Paul and Brooke had knives to combat the dead, able to dance around the creatures with finesse and stab them in just the right spots to dispatch them quickly. To Danny, it felt like these people had been doing this for a lot longer than he had, when really they hadn’t.

One biter got in close to Danny, performing a quick lunge he hadn’t expected and reaching out with a gnarled hand to grab his shirt. “Ah, fuck!” Danny exclaimed as the creature pulled them together, mouth snapping in anticipation. Danny managed to get his hammer in between him and the monster, his other hand reaching at the back of its head to pull on it. There was not much to grab on to considering the creature was bald. Its cold, lifeless eyes stared into Danny’s as its jaw gnawed at the hammer.

The pair stumbled like drunken lovers for a moment before Brooke stepped in and stabbed the biter in the back of the head. It collapsed lifelessly into Danny and he threw it off him, feeling disgusted. He was gonna smell like shit for a while, huh?

Whenever anyone left Faith, the general rule of practice was to avoid guns. They tended to just attract more of the dead than they disposed of and ammunition was tight enough as it was. Melee combat was always risky though, no matter who you were. All it took was one stray bite for you to get sick and die.

Not everyone agreed with the practice necessarily, but whenever a group left the community’s walls with Brooke or Ray within their ranks, they respected the pair enough to do things their way. At least, for the most part.

Paul let out a relieved sigh once the final biter had fallen. He seemed like a tough guy, with dark eyes and darker hair. He was older and seemed to have had a career as a boxer when he was younger. Danny had been wary of him at first, though the man had turned out to be quite the sweetheart. He cared about others a lot and was now giving Brooke a pretty genuine smile when she touched his arm as a sign of asking if he was okay.

Sean gave the all-clear on his condition, as did Danny. Brooke nodded and signaled for them to follow her, back behind the square in the direction she had come from earlier.

Back there was a baseball diamond that once looked pretty beautiful, according to people like Ray. Faith had one of its supply caches hidden under one of the stadium seats. It was a system they had set up for a couple of the areas surrounding the community. If someone was doing a supply run and found the way back to Faith too dangerous, they would drop off their supplies in the meantime. They even had a safe house in the nearby farmer’s market in order to wait for situations to blow over.

A large group of biters had been hanging around the diamond, forcing Brooke and Paul to bait a few to separate. That had been the plan earlier, with Danny and Sean waiting to help them ambush the dead. Now, the remaining biters had wandered over to the other end of the diamond, giving Danny and the others quick access to the supply cache.

“Shit,” Brooke said, having climbed behind the seat to pull out a black box. It was rather uncharacteristic of her, but once Danny saw the box, he let out a swear himself.

The box’s lock was broken and its contents cleaned out. Danny knew there had been medical supplies in there, considering he had been part of the last group who stashed the stuff.

“That’s the second one now,” Sean said, his gaze wandering to look suspiciously around the diamond. “Someone’s messing with us.”

Brooke gripped the box tightly and shut her eyes. She appeared very earnestly devastated. Missing supplies meant a few things, none of them were good. Danny shared her sadness, for this was not the first community he’d been a part of to face such a dilemma. It tended to spell out a troubled future for them all.

“We can’t stand around for long,” Danny reminded Brooke, catching the nearby biters out of the corner of his eye. It took a moment, but eventually Brooke nodded. She put the box back where it was and stood to her feet.

“Ray’s gonna be so disappointed,” she said, before briskly leaving.

***

Ray - Faith Church Building

“... walk with Christ as you leave today. Take in the sun and know that today is beautiful. You are loved.”

A couple murmurs and whispers of “Amen” followed and those around Ray stood to their feet. Ray stood with them, leaning over the pew to shake hands with Elyse and Ben. There were not many of them here. There usually never was.

“Thank you for coming today,” said Craig, the self-styled priest. He was just a kid, barely an adult, but had a staggering amount of religious faith that Ray could only describe as earnest. He took pride in being a part of a community named after a church, even though most of the residents now were not particularly religious.

Ray himself had not been particularly fond of religious establishments before everything came to an end, much to the chagrin of his late mother. He had always been uncomfortable with it all, whether it was the crowd at Sunday service or just the way the people acted. Recently though, Ray had found comfort in the few services that Craig did. Perhaps the small turnout helped.

Craig met Ray as he was leaving and gave the man a smile. “It’s really great that you show up for these,” Craig said. “Not many care, but those that do are emboldened by the fact that their leader shares their faith.”

There seemed to be some implication there, something accusatory toward Brooke’s usual absence from these services. Ray chose to not let it get to him and gave Craig a comforting squeeze on his shoulder. It surprised him all over again how small and frail the boy was. He looked younger than even eighteen with that short-cropped blond hair and youthful green eyes.

“My pleasure,” Ray said, giving the boy a nod. He then excused himself and left the building, going out the usual back entrance that led to the parking lot outside.

The sun hit Ray as soon as he stepped outside and he found he had to shield his eyes from it. As Craig had said, the day really was beautiful. He saw Elyse and Ben chatting nearby and gave them a quick wave, though they did not respond to him quite so warmly.

“Do you know what’s happening at the gate?” Ben asked, sounding worried. He gestured over to the front gate next to the security office, where Ray finally noticed a school bus sitting idle. The gate was closing behind it, evidently having just let the vehicle in. Ray had never seen that bus before.

“One second,” he said to the elderly pair, jogging over toward the scene. He passed a few of the other residents chatting about it, looking just as confused as he was. When he finally reached the bus, a girl was stepping out of it.

“Ray!” came a male voice and Ray looked up to find Derek gesturing at him from the outlook point at the gate.

“What is going on?” Ray called back, an edge of concern in his voice. He turned to find the girl who had gotten off the bus staring at him and giving a polite smile. She couldn’t have been very old. With braids in her hair and sporting red-tinted glasses, the girl looked like she was on some kind of Spring Break trip.

“I’m sorry,” Derek said, jogging up to them. He looked apologetic. “The girl said they had been driving for weeks and wanted to stay and like, I didn’t feel like we could just leave them outside the gates…”

He trailed off as Ray shook his head. Derek was supposed to be head of security, but making that kind of call without telling anyone was quite clearly a boneheaded move. There was no time to really deal with him though, considering this new development.

The girl was still waiting politely, smiling away.

“... What’s your name?” Ray asked.

“Sarah Ziegler,” the girl said, holding out her hand. Ray acquiesced and shook her hand. Once he let go, the girl turned to look at the bus. “We’ve been out there for weeks, just driving. Some of us haven't even bathed in a while. All we wanted was to find a community, and, well…” The girl turned back to Ray with a smile. “When we heard your radio broadcast, we were so… so happy. I’m so happy to be here.”

Ray’s first thought was that the girl at least seemed honest. That they heard the broadcast explained how they knew where to find Faith. Still--

“What is this?” came the sharp tone of Samuel Barlow, who was jogging up to the scene himself now. He was the last person Ray would have liked to weigh in on this right now.

“They heard the broadcast,” Ray explained, but Samuel did not look any less upset.

“Why the hell did we build these walls if you just let anyone in, huh?”

Ray found that Samuel loved to bring up the walls, considering he had been the biggest manpower behind that operation.

“It’s still being discussed,” Ray explained. Samuel leaned in to whisper forcefully into Ray’s ear.

“We haven’t seen a soul in a month and then these people show up? Are you out of your mind even considering this?”

When Samuel leaned away, Ray had to admit he had a point. Still, he was not inclined to take the cold approach. Sarah looked a bit less happy now, though she was still waiting politely. Ray looked behind her to see a young man standing in the bus’ doorway, looking concerned.

“Sam, can you just give me a minute to think?” Ray finally said, letting out a deep sigh.

Just his luck. Today was supposed to be a beautiful day.
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Rithas
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Rithas Professional Screamer

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Isabelle - Winchester Rd off the 27

The streets were emptier then the last place they had been. At least they seemed to be as buildings rolled by the bus window she was looking out of. Some corpses blotted by the wayroad. She noticed some in clusters. usually a sign of a coordinated killing. There was usually a few in a place, but the higher frequency here made her wonder if they really were close to a community.

"Wow, that's crazy! Shame about the hammer though, shoddy workmanship even gets us here." The kind laughter of her brother ruptured beside her. Currently turned around talking to the dark haired woman sitting behind them. She had heard the woman's name, or at least a name being said somewhere in the time of her staring out of the bus and not listening. Something with a C. Catherine or Catrina or something. The moment they had gotten on this bus he had been socialising with all these strangers. Most of them ragged and smelling of sweat and dirt. Not that she was much better, she adjusted slightly trying to get her shirt to unstick from her skin. It was hot outside, and somehow hotter in this bus.

There was another laugh. From the woman this time. He had said something funny apparently, the grime on the bus windows still felt more interesting to her. In the corner of her eyes she saw Rory turn back around to her. "Do you believe that, Claire-" Oh that what it was. "Fended off more then six walkers with just a hammer. This bus has bravery in spades." He smiled wide. She supposed she couldn't fault him for his optimism. They were the newcomers. When they had walked on the bus most of the passangers seemed tense from a mix of mild hope of something better and yet the tiredness that everyone who lived in this hell felt. The thought of giving up in the back of their heads.

So Rory had kinda stuck out a bit there, grinning and slapping the seats with humour on the road. But he was turning them around, as he often seemed to do. She hadn't even said anything to anyone on the bus. Rory had introduced both of them to the group for her. She felt like she should be nervous of the people surrounding her. She was, but maybe not as much as she should be. Afterall, Rory was carefree as ever. And he wasn't that stupid. She hoped at least.

This was actually giving her a rather unpleasent memory of all of highschool. Somehow many years after she left plus more then a year into the apocolaypse those memories were still popping up. She frowned somewhat, deciding that busses in general were a poor vechicle of choice.

The bus driver who she knew had told her their name and another person spoke. Actual evidence of a haven somewhere. She looked at her brother, who raised an knowing eyebrow at her. Perhaps suprisingly to someone just meeting them. It was actually Isabelle's idea to meet up with the bus. They had spotted them from a roof on the fringe of town with bionoculars (Which Rory had stupidly left behind). Rory didn't seem keen on the idea. Yet he had conceded and she had, mapping the streets wide enough for a literal bus. Had simply made their way to the likely path and waited for pick up. Rory had made some comment being experience doing this while they waited.

She hadn't really decided yet on why she made that decision. Given what had happened in the past. They usually travelled by themselves. This whole thing was a little insane to be fair. But the news of a community did make her a little happy. Of course, it completely neglected on the logistics of the community accepting them.

Rory chuckled to himself. "To think we find a place as soon as we get on the bus. Lucky us."

---

Rory - Faith Front Gate


They had let them in just like that. Susprisingly easy even for him. And he was the type of perosn to look on the brighter side of life.

Sarah had gone to speak to whichever figurehead was going to represent this 'faith' place. A place that everyone on the bus was placing faith in. Haha. He would save that for Isabelle later. Speaking of his sister, she seemed agitated. More then was usual state of existence, anyway. As if on cue, she spoke quietly to him. "The gates are closed. If they decide they dont want us but our items we have no way out!" She almost hissed the last part.

Rory looked around at his fellow bus riders. Hope on their face. "If they wish to obtain a lot of mud and hoodies on the hottest day of the year. Then we may be in trouble, yes."

There seemed to be a little debate between a few people of the faith community, and he see Sarah's body language slump a little bit. Okay, so not completely trouble free then. There was hope that whatever energy had convinced Sarah to fill a bus of people and drive it around in search of something for god knows how long would simply transition into letting them settle down here scot free.

Alas, he wished to hear more of what was happening. If not just so he could meet his new peers. So he patted his sister on the shoulder and stepped off the bus. He glanced at the radioman carl, who had been one of the few people Rory had not had time to talk to and had simply said "Neat radio" at him on enterance. His face spelt concern, which was probably the right face to have on right now. He opened his mouth to say something to him, paused, proceeded to shrug and waltz right up to where Sarah stood.

"Sup." He said to her. His eyes flicking to apparently the lead man and her. Good, now any apparent negotation had gone one on one to one on two. Their number beats theirs, which gave them an advantage on decision making. This was certain to be in one of the sociology books he pretended to read. Sarah would definitely appreciate his help anyway.

"I do hope that broadcast wasn't false advertising." He piped up. "Or have a lot of people been conned?"

Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by Darcs
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Darcs Madama Witch

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Leda - Faith Open Area (earlier)

"Come on!"

"No," responded a deadpan voice.

Leda Kieu followed the tall man as he tended to the few crops it was his job to manage. He had greasy brunette hair, a face scarred by past struggles with acne, tanned from time spent working outside, and a lanky frame with wiry muscle. He went by Charlie-- and he was beginning to get too used to Leda pestering him for things like this in here short time in the community. For her part-- Leda knew his type, and knew he couldn't say no to her-- so long as she was the right character.

"But Charliiiiiiiieee." She pouted.

"I'm serious Leda," Charlie wiped a bead of sweat from his head, with a mustard gloved hand, "Elyse would never approve it, we need all the space for plants we can--"

"So what you're saying is you'd help me as long as I don't..." Leda rolled her hand in the air, "You know, whatever-- do that thing you said?"

"W-what?"

"You know-- I wont use her dirt! I'll just grow them in buckets, or pots, or whatever-- you know?" Hell-- Leda had to admit to herself that growing them that way would be better for making the whole things a surprise.

"Okay." The youth adjusted his backwards baseball cap, "What about the water?"

"What?"

"Water, plants need water--" Charlie leaned against his shovel, firmly planted in the loam, eyes glazing over as he prepared to repeat talking points from Elyse herself, "But we have to conserve, so--"

Leda cut him off, "I get it--" Her smile was forced as she continued speaking to the teenager,"Look, man, I'll use run-off if I need to, okay?" That was a legitimate point Leda hadn't considered, but she'd come too far to give it up now. She didn't quit projects before, even if they were complete failures, she didn't plan on starting now. "They're flowers, how hard can growing a few be?"

Charlie sighed, "You're really not giving this one up, are you?"

"The soul has needs, dear Charles." Leda posed like the world's shittiest ballerina as she spoke. "Without beautiful things I will shrivel up and die!"

He laughed, "You're supposed to be older than me. You're so dramatic."

"I am dramatically, fervently alive." She shrugged, "And perhaps craving a few narcotics-- but mostly! I am alive!"

Charlie was silent for a time, before relenting, "Alright." Leda gave a rehearsed 'squee!' as he continued, "But I'm not going out today. I just want to do my chores and get some sleep, honestly."

"Well, then--"

"Relax, I'll ask my big sister about it. She'll have your back-- she loves killing those things. Now leave me alone."

***

Leda - Foellinger-Friemann Botanical Conservatory (present)

Charlie's sister was bit older than him, but otherwise resembled him to a T, very much fitting into an 80's mall goth style. She didn't have a gun, instead, she figured Leda's would be enough for a quick run for flowers (officially seeking plant supplies). She instead wielded a crowbar, that had seen enough use that it had a handle wrapped in grip tape, and an end sharpened for ease of cold body killing. She was dressed much differently than her lanky gardener brother, though-- she wore aviator shades, a jeans, boots, and brown leather jacket, despite the weather. Leda, dressed more modestly in a T-shirt and Jeans, was only not sweating thanks to time spent in LA. She gave the girl 10 minutes before the jacket came off. The woman in the jacket, Charlie's sister's name-- was Charley.

"Fuck. Here we are." Leda stood before the overgrown entrance of the botanical garden-- the pair weren't overwhelmed on the walk over, fortunately. Only encounter a couple of walkers on the road that Charley could dispatch quickly. Now that Leda was here, the dramatic part of her wanted to cry-- the overgrown shrubbery and vines having grown over, and began to twist the thin metal of the entryway's fences and signs. The other part of her, that manic comedian wanted to rush in and laugh about whatever happened. She had to temper these feelings.

"We've been headed here the past 10 minutes, bound to get here eventually." The deadpan manner wasn't lost between the Charlies, at least.

"You think there's many inside?"

"I don't know-- how many people do you think took shelter in a botanical garden-- with no food?"

"I don't know, man." Leda felt like a speck standing at the precipice of hell as the overgrown gate seemed more and more like a tunnel of barbs and brambles to her. Was she stalling? "Plenty of space for growing food-- if someone got that idea early on... oof. They'd... sure have some plants-- you know? Lots."

Charley merely nodded.

Leda sighed, better to just dive in. "Okay, so yeah, like I said before-- we aren't really gathering stuff-- we're just looking around. If there's seeds, or plant food or nutrients or shit like that, we grab what we can, but hopefully there's enough that we'll need a bigger group."

"Okay..." Charley continued to nod slowly, "So... I get why I'm here-- but then why are you?"

"Volunteered to check it out." Leda gave another brief-but-nervous sigh, before taking a shaky step forward, one step soon becoming many, with Charley close behind, "I had a few installations with flowers back in the day."
Hidden 4 yrs ago Post by PiePizzle
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PiePizzle Profiteering. Racketeering. Buccaneering.

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Ray - Faith Dormitory/Housing

Anxious, not a good look on Percy, but after the outbreak, he was never really relaxed. Checking his gun, he was made to be even more anxious, by being told what he already knew, he had no ammo. He wasn't a particularly good shot or good with his firearm, but it was a crutch, he would have been almost as at risk if he did have ammunition.

Suddenly as he came out of his own head, he noticed a bus in the lot outside the walls, a woman he did not recognise talking to the other Ray. Suspicion of this group obvious, however, they seemed peaceful, hopefully.

A rough night, Ray had been wondering why they had kept him, he had no physical skills, his intellectual capabilities, limited for usefulness by his current situation. He worried if someone came along with his own skills and more, which ould not be hard, he would have to survive on his own, a guaranteed death sentence.
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