Heretic

Phalanx Rising (Open!)

I'll have to read up on this when I have time, it looks fun.

DEAD ISLAND 💀🌴

Charlotte DeWitt

Charlotte quirked a brow at the mention of a motorcycle. Just about the only positive factor about riding on one was its speed, which would be helpful given the circumstances. But then again, that one memory buried in the back of her mind scared her into the belief that it wasn't such a great idea, nowhere near what Cole made it out to be.

She was 24 and roughly halfway through graduate school. Her boyfriend at the time, Mitchell, was giving her a ride to a friend's relative's dinner party on his new bike before he had to go to work. It was 9 or so in the evening and quite chilly, the couple both wearing leather jackets and matching helmets for safety. But even with the precautionary gear the couple had donned, they both sustained injuries when Mitchell took a sharp turn a little too fast, his recklessness sending them stumbling on a more secluded road in the Paramus area. Mitchell caught some blunt trauma when he collided against a tree after the fall, and Charlotte had some bruising and minor road rash on her hands. After the incident, they were both taken to the hospital and recovered relatively quickly, although it took some time for Mitchell to eventually start riding again; not because he had hurt himself, but because he had hurt Charlotte as well. She was even more apprehensive after the fact given that the incident had been out of her control. She trusted Mitchell, but only rode with him one more time before their break up a year or so later.

The decision weighed back and forth in her mind and kept her silent for some time. It was true that she only rode one more time after the accident, but now that this emergency had developed, she should at the very least reconsider.

"All right, I'll go with you," Charlotte spoke up enough for Cole and some of the others in the room to hear her. She hoped that later on she wouldn't come to regret her decision.

DEAD ISLAND 💀🌴

This will be an extremely busy week for me so I don't think I'll be able to post. Feel free to move forward as I don't want to hold anyone back.

DEAD ISLAND 💀🌴

Charlotte DeWitt

"Moresby is a no-go then."

Charlotte turned away from everyone else and took a few steps towards the control monitors, leaning forward to rest some weight on the edge of the panel. She gazed at whatever footage was available, that which hadn't been blacked out by the chaos and destruction going on outside. But this time, Charlotte didn't pay all that much attention to Alex's lifeless body. She sighed, looking instead at the hordes spread out throughout the hotel. The others were right, the town would be crawling with the undead left and right. Every corner, every home, every store... She was not too fond of the fact that their options were extremely limited, but it was what they needed to do in order to survive.

On the other hand, their chances were a little better with Cole carrying a handgun. She was glad Mike had been that generous, even going as far as presenting them with a map. The layout didn't look all that complicated, and she made a small mental note to bring up the marina at some point. All they needed was for one key to be left behind in order for them to leave the hellhole they were in.

"Also, who's driving?" she suddenly chimed in, turning around to face the others once more after Eliza made her comment. "We might as well figure out seating arrangements now because an extra few seconds out there could turn deadly pretty fast."

DEAD ISLAND 💀🌴

Charlotte would more than likely go for the island. Even though the lighthouse is secured, she wouldn't be at ease with the number of people there. She'd rather grab water, food, and supplies and get them over on a boat to the island.

DEAD ISLAND 💀🌴

Charlotte DeWitt

"Pleasure making your acquataince, Eliza, I'm Charlotte. Though you make a good point, I think we should at least drive by," Charlotte chimed in, watching some of the survivors in the room but not reading too much into their emotions. If they favored one option over the other, then that was their prerogative. "We catch a ride to Moresby and gauge the situation. Worse comes to worse, we could go on a boat but then we'd have to stock up on rations. If that's the case, we might as well get some while we're in town, so it's not a wasted trip."

Charlotte then addressed the security guard who had suggested the idea in the first place. She didn't know his name, but she didn't need it to get him to do his part. "I hope you have enough rounds to spare for us to be able to get to the garage safely, because otherwise there'll be at least one of us looking like one of them out there, and I'm sure all of us want to leave the hotel grounds unscathed."

Charlotte stood close to Cole the entire time. She agreed with him regarding his opinion of the others. Their close call with the middle-aged gentleman had occurred only moments after their arrival, and she already didn't like him. If they had to sacrifice someone for whatever reason, he'd be the first to go simply because of his selfishness. The French girls also worried her a bit. They weren't a threat per se, but she had some concerns on whether they could pull their own weight. Charlotte quickly pushed that thought aside though since she hadn't gotten her hands dirty just yet, so to speak. She'd had some close calls, but nothing crazy enough to make her stare death in the eyes.

DEAD ISLAND 💀🌴

Charlotte DeWitt

With the two men struggling to get the upper hand on each other, Charlotte took a step back, frantically watching as the additional guests hurried into the room. She mourned her friend, wishing that somehow, Alex was one of those making their way inside the room, but it was too late for that. When the security guard fired off the last few of the rounds into the undead and ordered her to close the door, she did just that.

Once the door was shut all the way, Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief. She eyed everyone in the room, glad they were safe for the moment. But that didn't meant there couldn't be a new threat from within.

"Hey, let him go now it's alright."

She had turned to Cole, pulling on his arm to get him off the man who was practically asking for trouble in an attempt to diffuse the situation. Once there was some distance, she grabbed his chin and pushed it to the side, noticing what might become a bruise but nothing the slightest bit serious.

"That was a close call."

DEAD ISLAND 💀🌴

Charlotte DeWitt

"Damn, they're closing in!"

Charlotte put her back to the door, the same door Cole was attempting to get through as he yelled loud enough for those on the other side to hear him and allow them inside. The seconds felt like minutes as two of the undead continued making their way towards them. The look in their eyes was an unsettling one, something that Charlotte might possibly never be able to scrub from her mind. She gripped Cole's arm out of fear, the idea that she only had a few moments left to live floating around her head. Her breathing grew shallow and she started to shake, but it was then that the door opened, making her nearly lose her balance.

She practically ran inside, rushing past Cole to the wall farthest on the left. There were two men already inside, one of them being a security guard. Charlotte thought she was safe for a second, but the man near the door caught on rather quickly as to what was going on just outside, and she simply watched as he fought of the couple that had been on their tail and were now trying to get inside the security room. After a few moments spent struggling, he kicked them away from the door before it closed shut, finally securing their safety.

The security guard then spoke, Charlotte noticing right away that he had a pistol on his person. If they were going anywhere any time soon, she would want him in the group. Before she could respond, a loud thud nearly made her heart skip a beat. Charlotte immediately turned to the door but it still remained shut. She let out a sigh, shaking her head before speaking.

"We're alright, thanks for asking. And thank you for letting us in."

In the midst of the chaos, Charlotte hadn't paid much attention to the monitors behind the man. Instead of introducing herself, she walked over to the screens and frantically scanned each one, searching for her friend. Although not all cameras were operable, Charlotte paid close attention to the halls, the lobby, and the areas outside surrounding the hotel.

"Excuse me, but have you seen my friend? She's about--"

Charlotte stopped, her eyes squinting as she tried to make out the female figure lying face down on the lobby near the main entrance. The woman had on a floor-length floral dress, the same style that Alex was wearing the previous night. She was also a blonde...

"Hey, come here, can you zoom in on this?" She turned to the security guard, desperately grabbing his wrist to pull him to his work station and with the other hand pointing at the female lying in a pool of blood.

@Delphio

DEAD ISLAND 💀🌴

Posted on mobile, so excuse any errors.

But anyway, I'm down for a collab as well as Charlotte will step outside on my next post. @Slim Shady your guy would catch Charlotte's eye so maybe they are already familiar with each other or something.

DEAD ISLAND 💀🌴

Charlotte DeWitt

A notification, and then another. Charlotte grumbled some gibberish, and turned away from the source of her annoyance. She now faced the window, that which was floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall, allowing a hell of a lot of sunshine into the room. Was it possible to get any sleep whatsoever? She’d only been in the for a handful of days but at the rate she was heading, the odds were against her. She should have stayed in New York where she’d get more rest.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang from the room adjacent to hers, as if someone had thrown a piece of furniture at the wall separating her bed from those hellions next door. Charlotte sighed and got up on her knees, one hand resting on the bedframe while the other banged against the wall.

“Hey, knock it off! I’m trying to sleep!”

She waited for a moment, but was met with silence. Maybe that was their way of apologizing, and if so, she liked their strategy. But by then Charlotte was too wound up to go back to sleep. She unintentionally ignored her cell phone on the nightstand, the original culprit, and decided she’d have some icy water to help with the hangover from the previous night. She walked over to the kitchenette to grab the ice container, hoping no one was out in the hall. The full-length mirror hanging from the main door allowed her to see she was decent enough to step outside without eliciting too much of a response from any guests wondering outside. Charlotte had on an oversized shirt she received upon her arrival at the resort, because at nearly 4 in the morning, she wasn’t about to change into her lacy nightie.

Opening the door, she took a peek outside before walking out. The sight before her, however, was not one she was expecting. Something that looked an awful lot like blood staining the walls and carpet, bits of clutter here and there scattered in a disorganized fashion, someone lying face-down on the ground… Charlotte immediately closed the door and put the container down, walking over to her phone to call her friend Alexandra who was staying two doors down. Maybe she would know something, or at the very least she'd be able to verify that Alex was okay in the midst of whatever the hell was going on.