True Self

The Walking Dead - Last Life

Josef listened to Chloe's tip and closed his eyes. He attempted to take deep breaths, but he felt like he wasn't getting enough air. He sat up a little, so that he could try and breathe better and he just let himself sink into the pillows that were now sitting up against the bed frame. Happy thoughts. Josef tried to encourage himself. After several minutes, he finally distracted his mind by thinking of baseball and his old high school baseball team. He remembered all the homeruns he use to hit and how many trophies he use to have covering his bedroom dresser. Josef imagined himself at the batter's plate and looking down at his cleats before looking up to see the pitcher readying the throw. Josef fixed his grip on the bat, but realized he was only holding it with one hand. He looked down at his jersey sleeve and saw that his other arm was missing. His heart began to race and he opened his eyes in a panic. His forehead was sweating and he decided that he must've fallen asleep and had a short nightmare. After closing his eyes, he just started to visualize his old baseball bat. That's when he remembered he left it back in the city.

"Ohh! He is not Chillio then." Isabella said with a gut tickling giggle. Nathan just shut his eyes to roll his eyeballs up in the back of his skull in order to distract his mind from causing his mouth to blurt out something harsh.

Gabrielle joined in on the laughter and just smiled warmly again at the Doc. "Mucho gusto. Mi nombre es Gabrielle." She motioned her hand toward the kitchen and dining area with an encouraging smile, so that the Doc would know to join them. Gabrielle then walked through the living area to the back room where the twins were moving around in bed (just waking). She looked to see that Joan was still sleeping on the couch before she stepped in to get her sons, and she was surprised her startled scream didn't wake her. Anton was hogging the covers from his brother Emilio and they were both playing tug-a-war over the blanket. Gabrielle spoke in Spanish towards them and they just continued to lay there without budging. As they pretended to be asleep, Gabrielle leaned over the edge of the bed to jerk the covers off completely. Both twin boys sat up to pout and Anton even crawled over to steal back the covers, but Gabrielle kept them from him. When Gabrielle told them about breakfast, it immediately grabbed both of their attentions and they both hopped off the bed to race out the door. Gabrielle just shook her head with a light laugh.

When the boys got in the dining room, they both froze in place in unison when they saw the two new faces. They ran over to Isabella once they saw her and sat in the two seats on her right that were empty. Anton made a face at Doc by crossing his eyes and his tongue out before picking up a tamale with his bare hands. Emilio was already finished stuffing both tamales in his mouth before reaching over to steal a tamale from Isabella's plate. She wasn't paying attention when he did and she looked down at her plate with her eyes wide and looked at her fork. She wasn't sure if she ate both of her tamales already or not and she just looked at Chloe with a blink. Anton finished his two tamales and both of the boys left the tomatoes untouched. Anton bravely reached over toward Doc's plate in an attempt to steal a tamale in the process. Gabrielle came in without noticing the twins behavior and she sat down at the head of the table. She carefully observed around the table to see if anyone had tried Thiago's salsa and she watched their reactions. She hoped more than anything that Chloe and Doctor Johnson would enjoy the taste.

Doc spoke up just as Nathan was taking a bite of one of his tamales and he was prepared to answer every one of Doc's questions. "Staying's the only option we have right now." Nathan answered his first question. "Plus, Isabella and Gabrielle don't want to leave their home anytime soon." Isabella nodded in agreement and Gabrielle just smiled without truly knowing what was said. "Biters rarely stumble across this place and we haven't had any major problems with them. This house is the safest place there is as far as I'm concerned." Nathan replied and listened to the doctor's next question while taking another bite of his tamale. "Gabrielle used to own some goats with her husband, but that was before the walkers came and feasted on them. Goats make too much noise and they attract the fuckers. We do have hens, and we're lucky enough to have a somewhat quiet rooster as well. Rooster's name is ARNULFO. Gabrielle's favorite chicken." Nathan said and Isabella giggled uncontrollably. She even thought it was a silly name. "No need to worry about a garden doctor. Isabella and Gabrielle dedicate a lot of their time to their garden out back. It practically has every vegetable that can grow in the fall and they even keep vegetables from other seasons frozen in their natural cooler." Isabella's face lit up when Nathan talked about her garden and she blushed a little. Nathan waited for the Doc to finish before he answered the rest of his questions, "We go on raids to renew supplies and Cabin fever won't be too big of a deal since everyone spends most of their time outside during the day. As far as personal space, that's just something everyone will have to deal with. I'd give up my privacy over dying any day of the week, wouldn't you?" He asked the doctor and then lastly stated with a crooked smirk, "We're low on toilet paper, but you could make your own homemade rags from t-shirts that we find. Just tear them into strands and a couple of shirts will last quite a while. Or you can use some leaves if you have too. Just be sure not to mistake them for poison ivy. I did it once, and my ass itched for two weeks straight." Isabella swallowed a bite of tomato with a disgusted look on her face.

The Walking Dead - Last Life

Home from work, I'll get a post in, in a bit :P

The Walking Dead - Last Life

Before Josef could respond to Chloe's question, he began to slowly but surely feel a fiery pain in his left forearm and hand. When he tried to lift his left hand up, all that came up from underneath the covers was a bandaged stub starting at the bottom of his upper arm. There WAS NO hand and there WAS NO forearm. What he didn't realize, is that he was experiencing phantom limb pain that made him think that he could still feel pain in his removed forearm. He began to feel sick in the pit of his stomach as the memory of the bite all came back to him and he felt like panicking. "It's missing... My arm is really GONE." Josef said in disbelief. He knew he needed it off, but it still didn't feel real and he felt like he was trapped inside a nightmare. Josef felt like passing out, but just covered himself up completely with the quilt. He kept his eyes focused on one of the specs on the ceiling and he tried to calm himself down before he would freak out completely. His eyes began to water and they wanted to leak tears down the sides of his face, but he tried to hold them back, because he wanted to be a man and show that he could handle it. It was overwhelming though without question, so it was hard to resist crying. He felt like an alien and he felt an unusual discomfort within himself that made him feel insecure. He felt like a freak, and he knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help it. Josef put his left upper arm up again and wished that his full arm would come up from underneath the covers this time, but it was the same bandaged stub. He covered it again and felt highly nauseous and uneasy. Josef looked to Chloe in a panic and then back to the spec on the ceiling to calm himself. Man up. Josef thought inside his head, but still felt sick. "Damn, this really sucks." Josef let slip out of his mouth and he felt like losing control. All he could think about was how much more difficult it would be now to survive in this risky world. His missed his whole arm badly.

Isabella came running into the room and she wanted to squeal with happiness when she delivered the news, "The Carnitas Tamales are ready for eating!" Isabella half way squealed. She was so excited, because tamales were her favorite and they had to eat them sparingly ever since the outbreak happened. Just then, she noticed Josef with his eyes opened and she smiled excitedly "Ohhh! I can not believe this! I will get all of the others!" She said heading for the door happily.

"Wait." Josef said loud enough to stop Isabella. He shook his head and tried his best to control the irritability in his voice. "I need to be alone."

Isabella didn't argue and then walked over quickly to take Chloe's hand, "I want you to try my father's salsa!" She smiled big and led the way downstairs. Downstairs, Gabrielle was in the doorway of the kitchen. She was on her way to wake the twins and she looked at Chloe with a joyful smile. She was just as happy to have another woman around the house as Isabella was. Gabrielle turned back into the kitchen and ordered Isabella to help her fix the plates. Six plates were fixed up with two tamales and three slices of tomatoes each and Gabrielle twisted open a jar of Thiago's salsa to pour into mini dish bowls that were placed beside each plate for trying. Josef's plate would be fixed for later since he didn't appear to have his appetite at the moment and the eighth plate would be fixed for Doc once his existence was discovered by Isabella and Gabrielle. Joan's plate would be fixed whenever she woke up and no one knew exactly when that was unless one of them woke her. Isabella excitedly hopped over to one of the chairs on the left side of the table and encouraged Chloe to sit beside her. Gabrielle stepped out of the kitchen again to retrieve the twins finally, but let out a startled scream when she almost ran into Doc as he came though the door.

"It's alright-" Nathan said quickly as he ran into the hallway when he saw what happened. "He is chillio!" Nathan tried to make his sentence sound Spanish, because he barely knew anything other than hola. Two Spanish courses in high school was wasted by flirting with the high school girls and cheating off his buddies papers. He pointed at the Doc and made sure Gabrielle was paying attention closely. "Senor." He put his thump up and said "Amigo." Nathan said with a calm face to show that everything was alright. Gabrielle sighed with relief and let out a heart warming laugh. She held out her hand for the doctor to take and she smiled welcomingly.

Isabella was standing in the doorway with a relieved expression and said, "Hello, Mister Chillio. We have tamales for everyone." She said with a friendly smile. Nathan wanted to face palm himself and he just convinced himself (whether true or not) that she was joking.

The Walking Dead - Last Life

Good afternoon!

The Walking Dead - Last Life

That's my last post until Espa replies again :P Btw, Espa, you can post what the doc chooses to do, but (keep in mind) practically 2 hours have passed now since Nathan welcomed Doc in. The tamales will be ready in my next post. That's where everyone will come together and talk about future and living plans.

The Walking Dead - Last Life

"That's good enough for me." Nathan said with a smirk. It seemed Chloe had a snippy side and he kind of liked it. He stood from the bed and began to walk out, "You can come downstairs. Nothing's going to get him." He suggested, but had a feeling she wasn't leaving Josef's side anytime soon. He left the room to find something to do. Isabella was busy setting the table for when the tamales would be ready, so she stayed downstairs for quite a while, popping her head in upstairs to check on Chloe and Josef every once and again.

An hour and a half or more seemed to go by and Josef stirred in his sleep. His eyes opened groggily and he stared up at the ceiling. He tilted his head to look at Chloe and he couldn't stop his first thoughts that escaped his mouth, "You're beautiful." Josef looked at her with his eyes starting to halfway shut again, but then he shot them back open once he realized what he said, "-I mean, I'm beautiful. No." He said as his eyebrows drew in together in frustration and embarrassment as his mouth betrayed himself. Josef was still slightly drugged up and he couldn't understand why he couldn't say anything right or why he couldn't stop saying his thoughts aloud. He rolled over and looked around the room, "Are we dead?" It finally registered where he was and then he said, "Wait." He then figured it out and he hoped Chloe didn't catch what he said when he first spoke, but then he felt groggy again. He slipped his eyes shut one more time, but then opened them to see Chloe's face. He couldn't believe all that just happened and he would beat himself up about it later. Josef's eyes were sleepy as he traced her face, and he completely forgot that his arm was missing. Both of his arms were under the covers and he didn't even think about looking at them. He decided to keep his mouth shut, because he was afraid he'd let his thoughts slip again.

The Walking Dead - Last Life

Isabella smiled brightly when Chloe said she liked the eggs and she replied "Eggs are so good to eat." Her face lit up when Nathan walked into the room and she couldn't help, but giggle when he walked over. She noticed Chloe's face twitch when Nathan made his joke and she felt it was in bad taste too. She looked over to see Chloe was finished with her plate and she asked to take it. "The tamales are so good too.", she said before leaving to go clean the plates. Isabella blushed as she walked by Nathan and tried to hold back another giggle.

"Likewise." Nathan said and didn't think twice of Chloe's remark. "So what's your story?", Nathan asked after sitting down at the foot of the bed. They all had one. When it came to meeting new people, Nathan talked a lot and that would be evident to both Chloe and Doc soon.

The Walking Dead - Last Life

Awesomeness. I'll go ahead and start on another reply.

The Walking Dead - Last Life

"Uhhhhh... Yeah. Yeah, I believe so." Nathan said, even though he hadn't seen how Josef was doing ever since he helped take him upstairs. He assumed the Asian chick would come running if something happened. When the doc asked if he needed anything else, he piped up, "There's a couch inside that's unoccupied. J's knocked out on the other one." Nathan offered. "The inside of that truck doesn't sound the most relaxing," Nathan said and began to leave toward the front door. "Do what ya want man, but the doors unlocked if you want to join us." He said it all in a chill way and did his best to conceal the awkwardness in his voice. He sucked in a breath of relief when he got inside and threw in a pair of jeans near the door, so that he wouldn't be walking around in his boxers anymore in front of strangers. Nathan didn't feel uncomfortable for wearing his boxers in front of others, because he was quite proud of what he owned below the waist - he just thought it was the appropriate thing to do. As he walked passed the kitchen, he heard the back door opening and Isabella was holding it open for Gabrielle to walk out with the steam pot. When Gabrielle walked out, Isabella walked over to get the basket of eggs and followed after her with a frying pan in hand. She smiled happily at Nathan before closing the door and she walked with Gabrielle as she put the pot on the camp stove. Outside, the sun was rising even more and the morning became lighter and lighter. Isabella twisted on the propane tank, to get things heated up and then she placed the pan atop the other burner. She began cracking open the eggs and cooking them.

Isabella returned inside after scrambling the eggs and put them on a plate for Chloe and another plate for herself. "There are more eggs, if you want, Nethan." She giggled and quickly ran up stairs, so that Chloe could try them. Nathan was in the hallway about to change shirts, and just cringed when she pronounced his name wrong like always. Isabella got up the stairs and saw Chloe with her hand on Josef's shoulder. Chloe was saying something to him, but she didn't quite catch it all. Isabella couldn't help but wonder if Chloe liked Josef, but she decided it wasn't her business. "I forget to ask you how you like them. I hope you like them scrambled." She said with a hopeful smile. She waited for Chloe to take a bite and watched for her reaction before eating herself. She ate the eggs slowly and enjoyed each bite. Josef remained asleep as the two ate their eggs. Isabella stayed inside the room to keep Chloe company and she really enjoyed being around another young woman her own age. She forgot what it was like.

Nathan entered the doorway to the room upstairs and found Isabella and the Asian girl eating. "He still breathing?" He asked them and observed Josef's chest falling and rising slowly. Nathan looked over at the two women. "Luckily got that arm off in time. I'm still imagining him as a biter." Nathan joked. "Name's Nathan, your's?" He asked the Asian girl eating her eggs.

The Walking Dead - Last Life

Ok, cool. Just got home.