Tannaleah’s Comments (group member since Apr 03, 2016)

Tannaleah’s comments from the Dead To Me group.

They'd been driving for about two hours when Dante noticed something in the side view mirror. He glanced at his rear view, seeing a red sports car nearing them in the distance.

"Ani." Dante said, getting her attention.

"Hmm?" Ani asked, looking up. Mei was asleep in her lap, sucking her thumb like she'd been doing since she was just a baby. Usually 6 year olds didn't have this problem, but Ani never really saw it as a problem, but rather something endearing and sweet. It showed her innocence- and it made Ani feel just that much worse about taking it away.

Dante nodded his head toward the back of the car, insinuating that Ani should look out behind them. Ani gave him an odd look but tuned slowly to see what it was Santa seemed worried about.

There, about a hundred and fifty feet behind them, Ani could see a red car creeping along, seemingly going pretty slow. Ani looked back at Dante.

"They're following us." She said quietly, looking back at Dante. Ani took out her radio and held down the green button. "Hey, we've got company. Red sports car a hundred fifty feet behind us."

"Okay, so these things are like cannibals?" Hunter asked from the back seat of the truck.

"What?" Ember asked, a little shocked. "Is he serious?" She asked Jacks who sat next to her in the front.

Jacks shrugged. "I found him in the woods. He was living in a cabin- don't think he got out much by the looks of it."

"I will have you know, I only went out when I needed to, anything more was just askin' for trouble. People are trouble." Hunter said, defensively.

"They still are." Ember said grimly.

"What do you mean? It appears now that the trouble is the dead." Hunter inquired.

"The dead are the last things you should be afraid of. Obviously you need to put them down... But people?" Ember shook her head, "People are beyond fucked up."
***

"Yeah- there's only two of you. You'll be fine." Jacks chimed in, getting into the other back seat.

Ember peeled off once the doors were closed and drove off in the wrong direction as to mislead the boys.

"We could have brought them with us- they were young." Ani said, considering other possibilities now.

"We can't trust everyone, Ani. You know this." Ember replied, taking some back roads trying to find their way back to the highway their group was waiting on.

---

They'd been waiting about two hours when Ember's green truck pulled back up to their camp. Ember parked and got out.

"Here, these are for Reesa." Ember told Dante tensely, seemingly rushing.

"Everything ok?" Dante asked, observing Ember's behavior.

"Yeah- it's fine. We just need to go."

"What now?"

"Nothing, we just ran into a couple of guys. I don't trust them to not follow us." Ember replied, "Just give those to Reesa. We're going.

"Let's go!" Brody called out to everyone so they knew it was time to go.

Beck and Shelby started to get back into Ember's truck, but she stopped them.

"Nope- you two are going with Vuk and Brody. I'll take Jacks and Hunter." Ember stated, shooing them away.

"Are you mad at me?" Beck asked, confused.

"Nope." Ember replied, getting in and shutting the door behind her.

Beck and Shelby exchanged looks and went to get into Vuk's car. Beck told Jacks and Hunter to get into the truck, and Ani went back to Mei in Dante's car.

Ember took off once everyone was in, and she headed down the road, taking off across the boarder toward Nevada.
***

(guys, this is just like a walmart type store- not the super store. We're getting there.)

"We're headed somewhere." Ember said, getting in her truck after the two strange guys moved away. Though they looked to be about her age, and not really capable of too much, she didn't trust them for anything.

Ani followed Ember's lead, getting into the passenger's seat without a word.

Ember looked at Vuk and Jacks expectantly.

"Why are you here?" Amber demanded as the blonde guy switched his position where he was standing against her truck.

Ani was close behind, her crossbow aimed at the guy.

"Oh, hey." Jacks said, looking up at Ember as she arrived. As she went past him to go through the clothing and sizes, Jacks went back to ripping open packages of socks and things of that sort.

"So your name is Ember, right?"

"Yup."

"How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"How long have you been... On the road?"

"What do you mean by on the road?"

"How long have you been out here? Living like this?"

Ember gave him an odd look. "Since the beginning. Is there any other way to live?"

"You know there were communities, right?" Jacks asked her, standing up. "Ones with walls and guards. They're safe."

"I don't trust anyone to take care of me."

"That's not what they are-"

"Jacks, I've come across enough fucked up people to know that you're better off in small groups. Not a herd."

"You can trust people, you know..."

Ember looked up at him through the corner of her eye.

"You can trust me." He said earnestly.

"...We'll see."

"HEY!" Ani's voice could be heard from far off down on the other end of the store.

Ember glanced at Jacks before sprinting off back toward where Ani and Vuk had disappeared to.

Jacks was quick to follow, and just in time, too. Ani and Vuk had been caught by around seven walkers who'd come from the back room they didn't think they needed to bother clearing. Vuk was now struggling with two of them while the other five chased Ani.

Just as Ember and Jacks ran up, Ani shot one in the head with her bow.

Ember wasted no time taking two of them out, and Jacks ran over to Vuk, stabbing one of the things in the back of the head with his knife. That was the one thing they realized everyone had nowadays. A knife.

Vuk nodded at Jacks as a thanks once the walkers were dead, and Ani finished off the last one with a bow in her hand, plunging it into the deadhead's eye and jerking it back out.

"You think there are any more of them?" Ani asked Vuk.

Vuk looked toward the back and shook his head. "Probably not, but we should hurry anyway." He said and picked up his gun that had fell when he was attacked.

"No one got bit, right?" Ember asked, looking around.

"No, I'm good." Ani replied, looking at her bare arms.

"Same here." Jacks chimed in, wiping some sweat form his forehead.

Vuk shook his head.

"Good. I'm gonna go grab the rest of the guns and ammo. Let's go, Jacks." Ember said, taking off toward the guns again.
---

Ember and Jacks cleared out the ammo and guns- as much as they could manage. Ember left him there to finish up as she went back to the men's section and stuffed the bag the rest of the way with underwear, socks and boots for the guys.

Once Vuk and Ani had found a big bag full of fiction books for Reesa, along with some other things, the four of them hurried out of the store.

Ember was first exiting, and as she neared the truck to hop in the driver's seat, she could see someone there.

He was tall with long blonde hair, holding wooden staff. He had some blood on his neck and arms, and a smile on his face.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Ember demanded, her axe at the ready.

"I suppose that question is better than asking if living is worth it." Ani said thoughtfully, keeping pace with Vuk.

"It's not stupid. It's good to remember who you were...who you are. Even before all this shit. I taught in a high school. And I would see kids do the cruelest things to each other. It really made no sense. But now I see people killing others for the hell of it. And it reminds me of my old life in some ways... But I know that now it's different. Now the whole world is dangerous. Now most of the people in the world are dead and they want to eat us, and the people who are still alive want to kill us for one reason or another." She tucked a piece of her hair back behind her ear.

"I would say it's worse now. People... People aren't the same. They never will be. That wasn't so bad before- people weren't driven mad because of walkers and death... But that's coming from a high school teacher and a suburban mother, so I really couldn't say I've seen much before this." She laughed.

---

"Look, you and blondie over there can flirt all you want just as soon as we're not in the middle of the road, out in the open, ok? We're vulnerable right now. Don't let your guard down... You know what happened last time."

Beck looked away from Brody, his mind wandering to their last...accident.

He and Ember had been wrestling outside about a month ago, and they were heard. Since they were wrestling, they were off guard, not ready for anything to come at them, threaten them.

It ended...very badly.

"Yeah. Sorry..." Beck replied and nodded. "I wasn't uh... Flirting. Just trying to make friends."

"Uh huh." Brody grunted, giving Beck a 'yeah right' look. "Just keep your ass on watch. And don't let THAT piece of ass distract you."

***

"Kay. I'll keep an eye on him. I need to find some shit for Beck and Brody anyway." Ember said. "Wait here, I'll get Ani."

Ember hurried away and grabbed Ani for Vuk.

"Vuk needs you to go with him over to find some books and stuff. I'll get the guys some clothes and shoes, too." Ember told her.

Ani nodded and jogged off to meet Vuk. "Hey." She greeted him with a smile. He didn't give her much of a response as they began walking. "Ok, what's wrong? And don't give me that 'It's nothing, it's not important' shit. I know it's important."

---


"Hey, Jacks." Ember said, walking over with the full girl's duffle bag and the empty one she had ready for the men's clothes. She wasted no time stocking up on shoes, jeans, shirts, everything she could find.

"I believe so, I've scavenged with groups before." Jacks replied, readying himself.



Ember waited as Vuk went inside the large store. He motioned for her and Jacks to follow, and Ani was just behind them. They slowly and silently made their way through the bank, hoping to evade any walkers that may still be inside. Ember's mission was to find some shoes for Reesa, and some extra clothes for everyone else, as it had been a while since any of them had found any. She knew roughly everyone's sizes by now, and she was almost excited to find some new things. It went a long way with keeping her sane.

Vuk lead them down the main isle separating all the departments.

A walker could be heard coming up behind Ani, and she was almost too quick to turn and stab it in the eye with her knife.

The others turned to look at her when they heard everything and she gave them a nod, telling them they could keep moving.

As they continued, they ended up clearing all but the back rooms where the store's employees would have taken break and had offices.

Vuk let them know they were all free to roam around, and everyone needed to call when they were ready to take off again.



Ani and Ember took off to the women's clothes section to stalk up on more weather appropriate clothes, as it was the end of May and they were still in winter clothes.

"Does Mei need any shoes?" Ember asked, walking over to the half empty wall of shoes. This place must have been sort of ransacked at some point. There was still plenty of supplies and clothes, but one could tell people had been here before.

"Um, yeah, that would be a good idea. I keep forgetting how fast kids grow." She smiled and pulled some clothes and a couple duffle bags off the racks nearby.

"Okayyyy sooo..." Ember murmured as she looked for the shoe sizes. She picked up a pair of neon pink converse and looked back at Ani. "How fast would these get you spotted and eaten?"

"I'd say about .5 seconds." She replied, amused.

Ember smiled and set them down. Reesa wouldn't be caught dead in those shoes. She was much more of a tom boy. Ember could see a lot of herself in Reesa. That's why she liked to spend so much time with the girl. She was like the sister Ember never had- as was Ani. Ember loved her group more than anything, and she'd do anything she had to to protect them.

Even if that meant killing people.

"How you is this?" Ani asked, laughing.

Ember turned to find her holding up a tank top that said 'groupie looking for talent' with guitars in the middle of the text. She laughed and nodded. "Yes that's perfect."

"It's so nice to feel clean clothes again." Ani mused as she continued filling up a bag with them.

"It's nice to feel clean anything." Ember agreed. Something silver caught her eyes, and she did a double take as she spotted some black biker boots on a bottom shelf.



"Perfect." Ember said after seeing they were size six. She stuffed them in her bag. "We should find another gun for the new girl. Beck gave her his revolver because all she had was a knife." Ember told Ani.

"Are you serious? No wonder she was about to die. That girl's crazy."

"Yeah, well." Ember shrugged. "I'll be over in the back if you need me." Ember replied, walking off.

She took off toward the weapons section in the back, finding Vuk there, rifling around in the ammo.

"Hey." She greeted him, taking down a few guns from displays and cutting off their cords with her knife.

"I've been alone for about a week now." Shelby replied.

"So all that stuff that happened with your group wasn't long ago?" Beck asked.

"No." She replied, taking out her knife and playing with it.

"Is that the only weapon you have?" He asked in surprise.

"Yup."

"We're gonna have to find you a gun." Beck said before sitting up and taking out his revolver and handed it to her, figuring that would be easier for someone who might not be so used to guns. "I assume you've used a gun before?"

"Yeah, plenty."

"You know how this one works?"

Shelby shook her head sheepishly, pressing her lips together.

Beck smiled and gestured like he was asking for the revolver. She handed it to him, and he held it to show her how to use it. "Okay, so this is how you open the cylinder." He said, pushing the small lever above the handle forward, toward the cylinder. The cylinder popped open and he showed her that it was loaded. "To unload, you take the cartridges like this," He continued, pushing back the stick like lever coming out of the cylinder, dumping the cartridges out in his palm. He then held them up to show her the right way to load them. "This is the tip, and this is the end. You wanna make sure they go in like this." He said, loading them all in. "Then you close it back up," He closed the cylinder. "You wanna look down these sights here to make sure you're getting a good aim." He said and handed it to Shelby. "Take a look down the sights and aim at the rear view mirror."

Shelby took the revolver and aimed it at the rear view, her arm fully extended. There was a lot of space between the front and back seats, so her hand barely reached the space between Ember and Beck's seats. Ember looked at Shelby in the rear view as she took her aim.

"Good. " Beck said, implying she could put the gun down. "And here are some cartridges." He handed her a nearly full box. "AKA, bullets. But hey, you need to be really careful with that one, kay? It's been used a lot, and if you're not holding it properly, you're gonna hurt yourself." He took her hands in his to demonstrate, "You need to hold it like this," He said, holding bother her hands on the grip of it, "or like this." He said, removing one of her hands and having her grip the gun tightly in one.

She smiled and looked into Beck's eyes. Beck did the same for a long moment before letting go and pulling back. Shelby put the bullets in her backpack. "Thank you, Beck."

Ember could feel her eyes begin to roll to the back of her head, but she stopped herself and managed an irritated sigh instead.

"So where is your group headed?" Shelby asked Beck.

"We're headed to Nevada to find a super store. We had these crazy ass guys following us around, and we're trying to lose them."

"Oh jeez. I hope the stores aren't all run over and ran sacked by now, but they probably are." Shelby said in thought, holding her gun in her lap.

"Guess we'll find out." Beck replied, turning to sit back in his seat.

***


"Uh, yeah. I'm pretty good with em." Said Hunter, looking out the window.

"I do pretty well with them, too. Had a daughter of my own back before..." He trailed off. "Still trying to find her."

Vuk and Brody exchanged looks, both thinking that the chances were probably very very low. But they kept to themselves, not wanting to start off on the wrong foot with their newest members.

---

"Mei, I'm going to teach you soon. But you need to listen to me when I say this. This is very serious. Guns and weapons are VERY dangerous. You have to use them properly or you and others could get very hurt, or even killed. Do you understand?" Ani asked her daughter.

"Yes mommy."

"Good. I trust you, you're a good, smart girl, Mei."

"Just like your mommy." Reesa added from where she sat in the front next to Dante who was driving.

Ani smiled at Reesa and then changed her shirt so she wasn't covered in walker guts.

"Mommy, I think Reesa needs new shoes." Mei said loud enough for Reesa and Dante to hear.

"I'm fine." Reesa replied, looking down at her very worn out blue vans. They were nearly falling apart, the fabric torn up all over, the laces fraying. But she wasn't about to admit she needed anything anyone would have to risk their lives for.

"No, I think you need some new kicks." Dante told her, glancing down at her shoes.

"Was that you trying to be cool?" She asked him, bemused.

"I'm the coolest cat around." He replied, giving Reesa a wry look.

Reesa shook her head, laughing at her father.

***


"We need a lot of things." Ember admitted to Ani as they stood outside of the nearest town, readying to go in. "Remember? All we got on that last run was a few cans of food, thanks to that idiot." She continued, gesturing to Beck where he stood, flirting with Shelby.

"Okay, well who's going?" Ani asked, ready to roll.

"I'll go, mommy!" Mei cried, running up to her mother with her large knife in hand. She hardly knew how to use it, but she was as brave as they come.

"Not this time, baby, ok? But soon." Ani smiled, patting Mei's head. Mei sighed and went back to sit in the car with Reesa and Dante.

"It's a small trip. So it might as well be you me and two others." She said, kicking a rock under her truck.

"I'll go." Vuk offered.

"Me, too." Said Jacks, walking over to join the three of them Any chance he could take to search for his daughter, he was down.

"Alright then. Reesa, what size shoes do you wear?" Ember asked the girl.

"Size six." Reesa replied. "You sure you don't want me to come with?" She asked once more. This was the third time she'd asked, and she was sort of antsy to go, but she knew Dante didn't want her to.

"No, you hang back this time. Help fight off the walkers if they come around." Ember called back, wanting to give Reesa a useful position. She wouldn't want to be treated like a child if she were almost 13 in this mess, so she saw no reason in treating Reesa that way.

"Let's go." Ember said, getting in the driver's seat and waiting for everyone else to load in.

The four drove off down the road and entered the small town. This wasn't their last stop. but one of many on their way to Nevada. They were out of water and medicine, and they'd be screwed without it, going into the desert almost blindly.

"So are you mad at Beck?" Ani asked Ember from where she sat in the passenger's seat.

"Mad?"

"You seem less than happy with him."

"What are you implying?"

"That you're mad, Ember. Did he say something? Or is it because of that girl?"

Ember furrowed her brows. "You think I'm jealous? Of that little girl?" She asked in disbelief.

"I'd get it. She's really pretty."

"I'm not jealous. There's no reason to be jealous. If a 21 year old wants to chase after someone who's barely legal then good for him. That's none of my business." She said, failing to sound indifferent. "I honestly don't care." She back tracked. "She seems like a nice girl." She said, tho it was hard for her to say.

"Well I think he really pushes your buttons a lot." Ani said, resting back in her seat.

Ember shrugged and watched as they came up on main street. "Bingo..." She muttered and pulled off to park on the side of the street, leaving the keys in the ignition.

Everyone unloaded and walked around to the side of the truck.

"So I say we stick together for the first building, then pair off to clear the others. Sound good?" Ember asked her group.

"Sounds good to me. You know what to do, Jacks?" Ani asked, loading her crossbow.

the head and pinned to the side of the RV. She didn't bother yanking the arrow back out as she turned around and pierced another's skull with an arrow, causing it to fall back on top of another one.

Beck used his screwdriver to stab that one through the eye, and he turned with his axe to side swipe another in the temple, quickly yank it out, and do the same to another who was touching his shoulder.

Vuk was still spraying bullets at everything but the humans, perched on top of a small car, content with his life.

Ember ended up killing the last of them with one clean swipe of her machete, catching two in the back of their heads, whatever they still had left in there spilling onto the ground.

"Well. We must smell lovely." Beck commented, wiping some gore off of his face.

"You still look pretty, no worries." Ember chimed in, shaking some brain matter off of her hands.

"You're pretty." He said with a wry look. Ember rolled her eyes, assuming he was being an idiot per usual.



"Are you ok?" Jacks asked as he helped the young blonde girl out of the car.

"I think so. Thank you guys. I don't know... Who any of you are... But thank you." She said, pretty shaken up.


"We were just doing for them what they were doing for you." Beck said, walking over to the girl. "Hi, I'm Beck." He introduced himself.

Ember raised a brow before rolling her eyes and sheathing her machete.

"Shelby." She replied with a look that said "you're really hot."

Ani exchanged looks with Ember. Ember gestured like she was fake vomiting. Ani laughed.

"I'm Jacks, this is Hunter." Jacks said, gesturing to his long haired companion. "We saw you before and-"

"And you were trying to help me, yeah, I saw that. Thank you. So much. It's nice to see someone who's not just after whatever I have in my backpack." She replied, genuinely grateful.

"Might as well intoduce the rest of us, if we're all getting cozy here." Ember said, a note of something not cheerful to her tone. "I'm Ember, this is Ani, Brody and Vuk."

"Nice to meet you." Shelby replied, all smiles.

"So how old are you guys?" Ember asked the two new men, stepping up to them.

"Oh, um. I'm 22." Hunter replied, holding up a hand.

"I'm the magical age of 32." Jacks said with a smirky look.

Ember looked at Shelby expectantly.

"I'm 18." She said, unsure. Ember made her a little uncomfortable.

"Ohgood, so she's legal." Ember said flatly to Beck before looking back to Hunter and Jacks.

"How many people have you killed?" Ember asked them.

"None?" Hunter replied like it was even in question.

"One." Jacks said, his head down.

"Why?" Ember asked him.

"Because he tried to kill me."

Ember stared him down before looking at Shelby.

"A few." Shelby admitted timidly. She figured it was best not to lie right now.

"Why?"

"They hurt my friends..."

"Define hurt."

"Okay, we really don't need to do this right now, do we? Beck asked, giving Ember a look.

"I don't know, Gunner, do we need to stick with a psycho just because she's hot?" Ember asked, cocking her head.

"Why did you kill them, and exactly how many did you kill?" Ember asked again, firmly.

"There were five. I killed them with a gun because they shot and stabbed my friends to steal their things." Shelby said, her eyes closed. She opened them. "Does that make you happy?"

"Violence doesn't make ME happy. That'd be Vuk." Ember replied, pointing a thumb to Vuk, who had lit a cigarette and was now sitting with his legs dangling off the car. "Sorry your friends got hurt. Mine do all the time. Sometimes it's my fault." She muttered, shooting a look at Beck. "Anyway, we should get going."

Ember began walking back to the truck and got inside.

"Wait, are we bringing these guys?" Beck asked his group.

"Do they even want to go with us?" Vuk asked, watching the three new comers.

Beck looked at the three, waiting for their answers.

Hunter and Jacks exchanged looks and shrugs before looking back.

"I mean, if you'll have us, we're in." Jacks said with a happy shrug.

"Um- me too." Shelby said quickly, afraid to be left behind on her own again.

"Alright then." Ani said. "Let's go."

***


Ember had to put up with Beck and Shelby making goo goo eyes at each other for the next two hours, almost giving the truck to Beck a few times to make him drive Shelby himself while she escaped to find her own car. She'd been driving with one hand on the wheel the whole time, playing with a sharp knife in her free hand, not caring if it sliced her.

"So how long have you been on your own?" Beck asked in his most interested voice, turned around in his seat to talk to Shelby.



---


"So uh... You guys good with kids?" Vuk asked the new guys who rode in the back of their car.



---

"Mommy why do you smell so bad?" Mei asked, trying to pull away from her mother to escape the smell.

Ani laughed and looked for a cleaner shirt somewhere in her bags. "Because mommy went and fought the monsters."

"When will I fight the monsters?" Mei asked excitedly.

Ani had never wanted to bring Mei close to one on purpose, but she knew after watching Adam and Jae die that she had to teach Mei to protect herself.

Ani had always been so much better at protecting herself and others than her husband Adam had. He tried, bless his heart, but he was just never strong enough. And that's what'll kill you. You have to be stronger than the monsters.

---

*** OKAY before I start, I'm sorry for writing for everyone's characters in advance, but we really need to move this shit along. Please pick up from where I leave off. Hopefully this'll motivate everyone to write more often if ya can. ***



"I know yer in there." Said the rugged man outside, his southern drawl thick and arrogant. Brody didn't have the best view of him through the tiny hole, but he could see that it was most likely the same guy they'd had a run in with across the city. This guy was bad news. One of those really twisted people- the ones who couldn't keep a sane mind in the extreme situation they all faced.

Brody motioned to Ani to come forward. When she did, he pulled her head towards him so her ear was at his mouth- meaning only she could hear him.

"The man from across the city is outside the door. And he brought company." Brody whispered very quietly to Ani.

Ani's eyes widened in fear.

"I need you and Beck to go find everyone and hide up on the seventh floor. We'll come find you all when it's safe. Bring the walkies and pass em out, too. I've got mine on me." He told her.

"What are you gonna do?" Ani asked, hands shaking ever so slightly.

"We'll hold em off." Brody said, looking back to see Ember and Beck standing there, backs together, looking at all the entry points. He looked back to Ani. "Go!"

"Come on, Beck." Ani said to Beck, pulling him to the stairs.

Ember looked to Brody.

"We can either do this the easy way or the hard way, buddy." Said the man outside. "And just so you know, the hard way involves your head gettin' cut the fuck off."

Ember made a face when she heard it. Brody quietly walked over to meet her. "What's the plan?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know, but we gotta hold them off."

"I know you got them little girls with ya." Said the old man in a gravelly voice. "It'd be a shame if one of em was ta... Disappear."

Ember didn't even think as she walked over to the door, gun in hand, pointed it out of a space in the wood and shot the man. She could hear him grunt and fall as the bullet hit him, and Brody quickly pulled her away.

"Shit, plan B." He muttered as he lead her up the stairs.
***


"God damn it, now what?" Ani asked as she carried a half asleep Mei on her hip.

"Swear jar..." Mei murmured, her small thumb in her mouth.

"Mei, where did Reesa go?" Beck asked her, a hand on her arm.

Mei gave a tired shrug, her eyes closed.

"Did she say where she was going?"

"Hmm mmm." Mei replied, not remembering if Reesa had said so or not.

Beck, thinking quickly, pulled out his radio and held down the call button. "Vuk, Dante, Reesa, we need you to meet us on the seventh floor ASAP. We'll explain up there." He said, panic clear in his voice.

He then pushed Ani to run up the stairs ahead of him with Mei, not looking back to see if anyone had heard them.

When they got to the seventh floor, they found Vuk already waiting for them.

"Well, one down, two to go." Beck said, looking around.

"What's going on?" Vuk asked Beck and Ani, absentmindedly rubbing his arm where he was burnt.

"There are some shit sticks outside who wanna fuck us over." Beck said angrily, headed for a window to see if he could catch a glimpse of anything. He couldn't see a thing past a certain point- just pick black darkness. He sighed and busied himself with reloading his guns.

"Hmm..." Vuk said in thought.

"We're here!" Dante called from the other set of stairs on their end. Reesa had been ahead of them and she now fell back to walk next to him, even holding his hand for comfort.

"Reesa, how come you didn't stay with Mei?" Ani asked, slightly exasperated.

"I'm sorry, I just needed to find Dante- I didn't mean to leave her. I thought she'd be safe." Reesa tried to explain, knowing it probably didn't even matter.

"It doesn't matter now, nevermind. I'm just glad you're okay." Ani said, rubbing Reesa's arm.

***


"That, was a lot of stairs." Ember complained as she walked down the hall towards where her group was holed up in the offices.

"Whoa, that was fast." Ani said.

"Yeah, turns out Ember isn't a fan of threats." Brody said, wiping sweat off his brow.

Beck gave him a questioning look.

"Guy threatened to take one of the kids, and Ember shot him."

Beck's brows shot up. "What?"

Ember huffed and adjusted her gun strap. "It's not like he didn't deserve it." She said in her own defense. "And it probably bought us some time."

"Time to do what, exactly?" Dante asked from where he stood near a door to another office room.

"Get the fuck out of here." Ember replied.

"We can't just leave, it took us a full day and a half to even clear this place. It's secure, it's safe." Beck argued.

"The kids love it here." Ani agreed with Beck, "We can't just take off into the woods again. That's bound to get us killed."

"Ani, everything is bound to get us killed. That's how it is. Those guys down there? They wouldn't bat an eye if one of theirs got killed. They don't care, they're the fucked up type. They're not survivors, they're killers. They're worse than the deadheads." Ember argued, trying not to get too loud. She knew more about those types of people than anyone else. And she wasn't about to tell those stories.

Ani looked at Dante and then at Reesa and Mei.

"We have to get away from them. Far, far away. Then they'll stop following us. But until then, they'll be able to find us around here, and they won't leave us alone until they get every single thing they want. And you don't have a clue what they're really after- especially now that I've shot their ring leader..."

"She's right." Brody said. "We can't stay here. They'll separate us and kill us off one by one."

Ani sighed. "Okay. Then what's the plan?"

***


"You ready?" Beck asked Ember as they stood on top of the roof, a shit ton of random bottles and tools in boxes they'd carried up.

Ember nodded. Beck threw a large pair of metal scissors at a car parked below, creating a very loud noise, as if someone or something was rifling around in there.

A couple of guys below shouted to each other and went to check it out. That's where Vuk and Brody came in. They sat in the third story at the windows and sniped off the men who came out of their hiding spots to "sneakily" check out the noises.

Brody caught one in the back, and Vuk got the other in the head- being the master sniper that he was.

Ember tossed down a large metal can of some type with a ball in it. It made a noise like a deadhead was caught in something when it hit the ground, just as she wanted.

Some guy walked over to check it out on another side of the hospital. Brody spotted him on his own and caught him twice, once in the arm and once in the leg.

This continued until they had shot pretty much everyone who'd come to terrorize their group.

That's when Brody gave the OK to Ani and Dante to get the cars and get the kids somewhere safe- not even waiting for them.

Soon after, Ember and Beck, and Brody and Vuk made their way downstairs and outside to get more vehicles and take off to the location they'd all planned on.

Ember hotwired a large green truck and Beck got inside with her and they took off while Brody and Vuk found a sedan that would run with the keys still in the ignition. Vuk had to kill a small deadhead that was stuck in the backseat, but they managed to get out of there unscathed.

***


It was starting to get light out as the three cars drove down the road, one right behind the other. They'd all stopped an hour before to talk everything out and plan where they were going, and they'd decided on heading to Nevada or Utah to a mostly untouched Costco or something of that sort if they were able to find one. They figured if they stuck to small enough towns they'd be able to find one somewhere.

"Okay, but what if it was a gross foot, with like blisters and shit?" Beck asked Ember as she drove.

She made a face as he went into detail. "Oh, God... Maybe I'd go with the razor blade, then."

"You'd lick chocolate off a razor blade?" Beck asked her in disbelief.

"Well it's either that or a nasty deadhead foot." She laughed at his disbelief as he'd asked her to choose.

"I'd probably pick the razor, too." He smiled, looking off down the road ahead of them.

"Would you rather..." She trailed off in thought. "Make out with a healthy Brody or Jennifer Lawrence- who might be infected?"

Beck made a face. "What are the chances she's infected?"

"Fifty fifty."

"Jennifer." He replied, still making a face.

"Really? You'd rather get infected than kiss Brody?"

"Ember, I would rather FUCK a deadhead than have Brody on my lap, kissing my neck."

Ember laughed so hard she almost swerved off the road.

"Whoa there." Beck smiled, teasing her. "Didn't think I was funny enough to get us killed."

Ember smiled but sobered up enough to keep her mind on the journey ahead.

"To be honest... There is someone I wanna-"

Ember stopped the truck suddenly, lurching to a complete halt in the middle of the road. Ahead, they could see a horde of deadheads and a couple of guys on an RV trying to fight them off.

She and Beck got out, turning the truck off.

"What the..." Beck muttered, watching the men down the road.

Ember waved her group down as their cars neared hers on the road behind them.

"What's up?" Brody asked out of the driver's side window of his sedan.

"I think these guys need help." She said and returned to her truck to grab her weapons. She strapped her AK to her back and slipped her machete into its sheath at her hip.

Beck Stared at the horde ahead as it went after the two men on the roof, practically piling up on the RV. He could feel his hands start shaking and his knees going weak. This was one of his biggest fears. He was fine with them in smaller doses, but a horde? A giant mob of those things, all coming at him at once? He was already overwhelmed.

"Hey." Ember said, getting his attention, "You've got this. You're stronger than them."

Beck watched her for a moment before swallowing and nodding. He grabbed his weapons right before getting back into the passanger's seat. Ember drove fast down the road, gaining enough momentum to plow through the deadheads nearest the RV. When she got through the horde, there were bodies stacked up on her hood, and blood everywhere. She backed up quickly, the bodies sliding off to the pavement. When she backed up, she hit more deadheads, most flying into the bed of the truck. She made a face knowing she'd have to deal with those soon or they'd break through her windows.

"Beck, could you get those, please?" She asked her companion. He turned around and opened the back window just enough to shoot each monster's head when it got close enough. He didn't stop until she was done backing up again, and they quit getting into the bed.

Ember continued driving around into the deadheads until she couldn't anymore because of the build up of bodies and blood. Then she got out of the truck with her AK and began shooting the things down.

Brody, Ani and Vuk were there, too, shooting and hacking away at the horde, trying to save the strangers on the RV.

Beck stayed in the car for a few long moments before sucking it up and getting out, hacking away at the deadheads with his axe.

When they were able to, the two men got down off the RV and helped the group kill the rest of the creatures. They made sure to get the ones off of the teal PT cruiser and kill those first, as to make sure they didn't get the girl that was inside.

"Could use some help!" Ember shouted as she ran out of bullets and let her AK swing to the side. She quickly pulled out her machete and began slicing off heads.

Ani came quickly to her rescue, kicking one off of Ember and into another up against the RV. She used her crossbow to shoot the two of them through

(FFS WHERE IS EVERYONE?)

(no?)

(he can want whatever you want him to, it doesn't matter. This is what he looks like:



We just need to make sure he's got at least 4 guys with him around the hospital- malicious intentions would be preferred.)

(chris it's still night, goober)



Ember, Ani, Beck and Brody all looked at each other, not sure what to do.

There was another knock.

Brody signaled for them to stay behind the wall as he went to the barricaded front doors to see who was there. He peeked out of the hole in the wood that covered the glass door. It was just big enough to use as a peephole- where they couldn't tell if you were on the other side or not.

Brody could see a man outside with a huge gun. "Shit." Brody said under his breath.


(if anyone wants to take over the bad guy, feel free. Make as many bad guys as you want, I'll probably make one, too, but I figure this would be a good way to let everyone else write some more.)

"Ani!" Brody shouted quietly, quickly turning out the gas lamps and candles they had on.

"What?" She asked, walking in, gun in hand.

"There's someone out side. A lot of someones."

"Shit. Where are Vuk and Dante?"

"I don't know, but we need to find them. You go wake up Beck and Ember, I'll keep an eye out down here. Make sure everyone's quiet."

Ani ran up the stairs and woke everyone up, getting Reesa to stay in the library with Mei and keep quiet, hiding in the closet.

"What's going on?" Ember asked, putting on her jacket which was full of weapons and ammo.

"Brody said he saw people outside."

"Are they robbers?" Beck asked, loading his gun.

"I hope not. But they could be." Ani replied, looking out the hall window, hiding behind the curtain as not to be seen by the intruders.

Ember put her boots on and swung her ak to her back. She picked up her axe and snuck down the hall. She motioned for Ani and Beck to follow her.

The three made it downstairs to find Brody still looking for Vuk and Dante. "Did you guys find them?" Brody asked the three.

"Find who?" Beck asked.

"Vuk and Dante. I can't find them anywhere. We need them here in case shit goes bad." Brody said, looking out the windows.

There was a knock at the door.
***

***
"What do you think is going on with them?" Ani asked Brody as he helped her clean up from dinner.

"Ember and Beck?" Brody asked, not looking at her.

"Yes. They've been acting weird lately- mainly Beck."

"They're young. Hormonal. Especially Beck." Brody replied, not looking up from storing things in a cooler.

"And?"

"And they're probably doing things in secret that they'd rather we not know about."

"They better be using condoms." Ani scolded. "The last thing we need to worry about is a pregnancy."

"Whoa I didn't say sex." Brody nearly laughed.

"What else? They're college kids. What were YOU doing in college?"

Brody shrugged, looking guilty and looked back to the cooler. "Well, you've got a point there."

Ani sighed as she cleaned the silverware.

"Let's talk about something else..." Brody suggested as he sat down at the table. "We need to plan our next move. Where are we headed?"

Ani finished up the last fork and took a seat across from Brody. "Well, it's summer. The deadheads are gonna be moving faster now no matter where we are. I think the safest bet would be to find somewhere high up and or with walls."

"That's what I was thinking. They're not the best at climbing, so being high up would be ideal. I just don't know where we could go to find that."

"We should really be discussing this as a group. We'll wait for the morning and talk about it with everyone. But it's getting late, I need to get Mei to sleep."

Brody nodded and Ani got up from the table to pick a sleeping Mei up from the couch. She took her upstairs and Brody sat in silence, hearing her bedroom door open and close.

Brody took a deep breath and let it out in a huff. He had to keep these people safe, no matter what it meant.
***


"Eomma..." Mei asked in a sleepy voice.

"Geulae, aga?"

"Naneun nappeun kkum-eul kkueoss..."

"Neun eottae?" Ani asked, brushing Mei's hair back.

"dangsin gwa beulodi jug-eossda. geuligo ijeon buteo nappeun salam-i waseo naleul dachige."

Ani froze. The fear in her stomach made breathing nearly impossible. "What bad man?"

"The one who came into my room the other night." Mei said, opening her eyes. "When we were in the blue house."

The group had just left the blue house on the other side of the city because there had been some suspicious activity. They'd been in this one only two nights now.

"Mei, what man? Did we know him?"

"No, but he said you knew he was in my room."

"What did he look like?"

"Um... He was tall. And skinny. And umm... He had um... A long beard that was silver... and he had long silver hair too... and he told me that it was ok."

"What did he do, Mei?" Ani asked, trying very hard to keep her voice even as not to scare Mei.

Mei hid her face under her hands.

"Mei, tell me, okay? Mommy needs to know."

"But if I tell you I'll get in trouble."

"No baby, I promise you won't."

Mei peeked at her mother from the space between her fingers. "He said you would be mad. And you would leave me."

"Sweetheart, no. I am never ever leaving you no matter what. Don't believe what anyone says."

"You promise?"

"Yes, I cross my heart, Mei. You need to tell me now."

Mei sighed and took her hands off her face. "Okay..."

***

"Hey, guys." Brody called out from his seat on the recliner where he had a plate of food half finished in his lap. "You're just in time for supper."

Ember pretty much ignored him and walked up the stairs. Beck watched her walk away with his brow furrowed. He shut and locked the door behind him as he checked his watch. It was only 10pm, it had just gotten dark out. She usually didn't head up there until around 1am.

"What happened?" Ani asked, all concern.

"We had a little incident." Beck explained, making it seem like less than it was.

"Define incident." Brody said, leaning forward and setting his plate aside on a table.

Beck let out an exasperated sigh. "I may have left her in a building to find some weed in the apartment next door."

"You did not." Ani said, annoyed.

Beck shrugged. "It didn't seem like that bad of an idea at the time."

"Then what happened?"

"I found a shit ton, walked out into the street to get back to her and I got blind sighted. Lost my machete back there." He said, amused.

"She seems pissed." Brody observed.

"She is. Wouldn't talk to me the whole ride back."

"I wouldn't either if you did the shit to me that you do to her." Ani said, rolling her eyes.

"Swear jar swear jar!" Mei cried and ran into the next room.

Ani sighed slightly bemused.

"You've gotta stop doing that shit, man. Ember's gonna take off and leave us one day, and we'll never see her again." Brody said. "She could die on her own out there."

Beck looked at the floor, feeling bad.

Mei carried a large pouch up to her mother who was sitting on the love seat near Brody. She set it in her lap and smiled at her. Ani took the key from her pocket and unlocked the zipper and pulled out a piece of candy for Mei.

"What's that?" Beck asked.

"The 'swear jar'." Ani replied, closing it back up and putting the small lock on again. "Anytime I swear, Ani gets a piece of candy so that she won't say it. We did this before the... Well, before." She explained and handed the pouch back to Mei, who then took it back into the other room.

"I should really go talk to her." Ani said, standing up.

"No- I'll do it... I'm the one who fucked up, right?" Beck replied with another shrug.

"Go ahead, face the wrath." Ani teased, gesturing to the stairs.

Beck turned and left the rest of his group in the living room. He quietly walked up the carpeted steps and down the hallway to the room she'd disappeared into. He gently knocked twice before quietly opening it, afraid she'd rage at him.

When he looked inside, he only found her lying in the mattress she'd dragged in the middle of the floor, facing the window, away from Beck.

"Ember...?" He asked quietly.

She ignored him, pretending to be asleep.

"Can I...?" He asked before waiting a moment taking a few steps into her room, then shutting the door quietly behind him.

Ember stayed quiet and kept her eyes closed and her breathing steady.

"I'm sorry. About today." He began. "I probably should have waited til we were done... But I'm stupid."

Ember rolled her eyes to herself but remained silent.

"I should do a lot of things that I don't..." He went on. "I should clean house more. I should take care of the kids more. I should probably quit stealing shit from Vuk before he murders me." He laughed and ran a hand through his hair. He sat down on the floor near her bed with his back against the wall.

"Ember..." He trailed off, not knowing what to say, but figured she was asleep since she was so still and quiet. He looked over at her, her purple hair glowing in the moonlight coming through the window.

"You don't know how much you mean to me." He mumbled quietly. He smiled and chuckled, "Remember the time we went to the beach in Santa Monica? You me, Brody and Vuk took like two hours to clear a good spot so we could just chill. And I convinced you to smoke with me, and you got sooo high." He laughed. "And you sat there for three hours telling me how pretty my eyes were, and how deep the water was." He smiled to himself, looking down at the floor. "I never wanted to leave..."

Beck shook his head and stood up, brushing off his jeans as he did. He quietly left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Ember stared out the window at the moon and the stars. She didn't even know what to make of that. He must have thought she was really angry. She really wasn't that angry, just annoyed. He'd done worse before. She was mainly just really worked up over seeing him almost get killed. They'd known each other for 7 months, and they'd all been pretty safe since then. But lately everything was going crazy. She was so scared back there when he was in the street. She couldn't really grasp why it got to her so much more than seeing Ani, or Dante, or Brody in the same situation. Was it because she didn't think he could defend himself? Was it because they were so close? Was it...

She shook her head and decided to just go to sleep. There was no reason to make it complicated.

***

CHRIS'S CHARACTER:










NAME: Stan


AGE: 22


GENDER: male


SEXUALITY: straight


WEAPONS: wooden staff, knife, magnum, bong


BIO: having always been stereotyped as the classic stoner, Stan has always used this to be underestimated. In reality, he is very smart, teaching himself lockpicking after losing countless keys to his parents' house. He also actively pursues his interests, taking a multitude of self defense and fighting classes (in which he learned to use his staff). Dropped out of school freshman year to do whatever he wants that would be a better use of time than school.


APPEARANCE:

- hair color/style/length: dirty blonde, down to his mid-back

- tattoos, piercings, scars etc.: small Mickey mouse tattoo on his left shoulder

-height: 6'1

-eye color: hazel

-skin color: white, but like himself, he's baked... So tan really...

-body type: not the best posture. Pretty scrawny, but toned muscles from his classes.



FEARS: losing his weed, falling back into his crippling depression, turtles


WEAKNESSES: not that strong, not necessarily the brightest in certain situations, not the best lungs


STRENGTHS: agile on his feet, quick thinker when he's high, good at finding a way out of situations


LIKES: weed, yoga, being social


DISLIKES: being commanded, working alone, not being high