Valentina Vetrov - Haywood - Robert/Daniel/Shannon/Emma/Rob

Valentina struggled and cried all the harder when she could feel someone taking her, but she couldn't put up much of a fight - even before the hard knock in her face by the Something, she wasn't much of a threat without a loaded gun. All the girl could do was to make it difficult for whoever was trying to take her. Not before long, the woman tried to take her snub-nosed revolver away, but Valentina held on hard. "Nnn-! No!" She screamed, barely intelligible at first before the simple word became a little more familiar to her. Valentina made a fist around her precious gun, which had belonged to her elder sister, but the woman was able to undo it and take it away, "NO!!!"

Blood was dripping down her nose (and her mouth, as one would discover if they look a little more closely) like a river, down her cheek and chin, slithering down her neck and onto her jacket and shirt underneath... Valentina's sight had returned, but only for bright light to obscure much of it such that only vague shapes were apparent to her. Somewhere along the way out of the house, her eyepatch had come undone as she struggled like a possessed girl, and her milky white iris was exposed to the world unbeknownst to her.

And all the way out, she was crying, screaming and kicking.

Rob - Haywood - Robert/Daniel/Shannon/Emma/Valentia

Rob leaped over the window. "Okay then". Rob looked at everyone in the room. When Shannon said that she would come with him, he nodded at her. "If you want" Giving a shrug at Shannon asking Emma to join them if she wanted. Rob looked at the girl crying on the floor. When Shannon took the gun from her, she seemed to scream even more. She was bleeding quite a bit, but nothing too serious it seemed. As Rob stepped closer, he sighed. "C'mon, Lets get you some help" He muttered as he grabbed her, putting in a somewhat awkward balance between over the shoulder and lifting. Of course she struggled, which made it a little bit difficult. But she was just a girl. "If you could just calm down, That would quite nice. It would certainly make this a lot easier...but then again I don't think you want to make this easy." Rob took another heavy sigh. He glanced at Shannon, and gave a somewhat tired look.

Rob had noticed her eye patch come off, what was revealed wasn't a great sight to see, but he had seen worst. A lot worse. When they eventually made it to the infirmary, Rob was somewhat relieved. "Umm, If anyone could help......"

Matt-Outpost-Rudy

Matt gave a small smile as he handed the man his token. "Something that's bloody edible" He remarked as he was handed his food. Matt listened in on what Rudy said. "People tend to find a leader in someone, it's human nature.....to follow. A bit sad" Matt observed as he tasted his food. "People who talk a lot tend to be good at it" he replied at the remark Rudy made.

When Rudy asked him what he did today Matt shrugged. "The same shit like always, making sure this place doesn't fall over. There's a lot of sitting though. I sat a lot today, staring at walls. But I'm sure Myriah would say some bullshit that makes it sound great......I'm sure" Matt smirked before he started to eat his food.

Emma - Haywood - The New and Improved OG Gang

Emma couldn't help but cry a little as the girl fell to the ground. Rob appeared in the doorway and she felt as if she might rip his eyes out and leave him for the walkers. She began to tear when she finished talking, bringing back awful memories. It was only morning; not the time of day for her to cry. It happened many nights, the same way; she'd go to bed in her room, have nightmares about Hex, Tyler, and hordes of walkers, and then she'd find herself crawling into bed beside Daniel, nestling close to his massive body. He made her feel safe; and she'd kill for a bit of safety. She'd then wake up to find Daniel there and still feel safe until she crawled out of his over sized bed. She'd carry on silent for most of the day; she didn't have much to talk about... All she did was do her best to push the memories away.

She watched as Rob carried the little girl out and towards O'Connor's infirmary. Emma heard Shannon speak and walked with her out the door and out of the building. "Rob, be careful with her!" She called after the man. Daniel followed behind her, only to stop outside to speak with Robert.

Enrique-Outpost Cabin-Bex and Thomas

Enrique drew his pistol from under his coat and pulled a 4 inch knife off the table, he held it under his trigger hand and approached the door taking light cautious steps. He watched as Thomas opened the door then slowly he poked his head out and quickly stepped back, Enrique raised his pistol as a corpse appeared in the doorway. He watched as Thomas grabbed the monster's arm and threw it to the ground, Thomas got down and stabbed the corpse in the back of the head. Enrique watched the door carefully and took a big step over the body, he scanned the room and saw two more of the rotting bastards standing there. Enrique picked up a nearby wooden chair by the back and slammed it into the nearest one. The leg of the chair slammed into the corpses skull denting it and spraying blood across Enrique's face and left shoulder, Enrique was left standing there holding the remains of a chair. He approached the other corpse leisurely and broke the back of the chair over his knee giving him two stabbing weapons, he raised his right hand and stabbed downward into the corpse's chest. He moved his feet pushing the corpse against the wall, the small stake hit the wall before the corpse and it began chomping towards Enrique, he brought up his left hand stake into the gaping mouth of the corpse and rammed it further inside piercing the brain. He let go when the corpses boddy fell limp hanging by the stake driven through its chest.

"You guys ok?" Enrique said looking over his shoulder.

Robert - Haywood - Daniel

As Daniel started following Robert, the discussion between the two men commenced. Robert started towards the gates as he began to speak, having Daniel behind him. "We cannot allow that child to stay in our walls. She has infiltrated our facility and nearly stole your personal supplies. We wont harm her, but we must have her ejected from Haywood. If you show leadership weakness to these people, that you will allow thieves in our community, then you will no longer be worthy of your position. You are leader because you can make the hard decisions. Expel the child from Haywood. If you must, provide her with supplies and give her medical assistance, but no more than that. In addition, we must have our security runs become more frequent and productive. If a small child can infiltrate our facility, then what prevents others from doing the same thing? Exactly. We can cut the hourly break into half-an-hour and there will be more time for surveillance" Robert began, he still had a lot more to say.

They were now at the gates where Robert looked towards the outside. Anthony and three other men were going on a scavenging run. Their duty was to get supplies and find survivors - runs which were first only used to find supplies. "According to our supply accounting group, our food stock has decreased by about fifteen percent. Due to the increase in population, that means more rations must be distributed. Our scavenging groups have not found much food, they have to travel farther and farther just to find something. That is not only a waste of our time, but our gasoline for the trucks. I suggest we either cut down the rations, or.................." he paused, turning to Daniel and facing the man. ".........We could get rid of some people. Listen, I know it's a rash decision, but you can no longer be the good guy Daniel. Good men don't make it in this world, you must understand. You came here for sanctuary and you got it. You got more than that, you've gained respect, you've gained support. You've become the leader of these people and they need you now. They want to survive as much as you, as much as your little sister. Give them the chance. I assume they chose you for a reason, do not let them down brother" Robert stated, forcing himself to speak good of the man, but at the same time attempting to get him to break. He wanted to show the people of Haywood that Daniel could not make the tough decisions, that he instead would fall to the pressure.

Robert then started once again. "If you want your sister to survive this winter, then fix these problems. But remember, don't do it merely for her, but for us all. These people need a leader they can trust, show them you are worthy."

Daniel - Haywood - Robert

"Now you're treading on some mighty thin ice, Robert." The man said grimly. What was he talking about; kill people off? "If we get rid of people to help ourselves, then what makes us any better than Tyler? Huh? What makes us any better than Bruce Levi?" Daniel looked the man square in the eyes. "When these people elected me as their leader, even if they may not know the entire story, they expected someone who would keep square morals. I plan to do that, Dalton." He took a sharp breath in; a short, curt laugh. "If the little girl endangers the group, then I'll do what I have to do to solve the dilemma."

"As for rations; don't think that I'm so shallow that I can't see when we've got a problem. Will I address it? Of course. Will I address it openly? Absolutely not. Now there may come a time when the whole community has to have a talk about our standpoint in terms of supplies, but I don't see that right now. For now, we leave the herd in the pasture and keep everything under wraps. Mass confusion and chaos isn't going to help us." He ran a hand over his freshly trimmed beard. "Henry and Audrey ran across a farm on their last run. They got lost, wound up about three hours from the city and they found a farm. It's a big one, too. Tomorrow morning, I need you to be leading a group out there and we'll scout the farm. Robert, ya know what that means? That means food. We can grow our own food. And trust me, the farm's going to have a cellar with stored crops."

"We got one problem, though. We don't have any farmers among the group." Daniel said. "Now; I'm hoping that maybe the farm still has people livin' on it. Audrey and Henry didn't get closer than about fifty yards, so they don't know what exactly is out there. We'll found it in the morning. I'd go, but I can't leave the place alone." Daniel began to turn away. "I'm going up to the infirmary to check on the little girl." He stopped in his tracks, as if remembering something important. He turned back to Robert and looked into the man's eyes. Daniel's brow narrow and his voice lowered. "And Robert... You leave my sister to me. Stay away from her."

Jacob/Sam/Ben - Somewhere in the outskirts of New Orleans, at the Haggerton Barn

Jacob had come back from a small hunt, his hunting success had been starting to slim down over the past few days, mainly due to the population decrease of deer around the area. He knew silently in his head that his family of two would have to leave their beloved home behind, to find someplace more secure, with food, security, and shelter. In fact, the Walkers around the are were quite dimmed out for a while, but had recently begun to grow again. When he walked in through the screen door of his house, he slammed down his prize onto the table; five rabbits. Though it wasn't much to a normal persons eye, it was like food heaven for someone in the aftermath of some zombie outbreak. "There, I got the food we need for tonight. I reckon I'll have to go out again, maybe tonight or tomorrow early in the morning. Just hope the Walker numbers will thin out just a bit more, then we can-" He stopped, stared at his father rocking in his chair, and watched him.

Ben was just sitting there, in the room which he had kept photo's of him and his wife, Stephanie. She was his life, but she was taken from him. He had become so gray during the events that he no longer did anything to help anyone...he felt like dying right there, but not to Walkers. The sight of Walkers infuriated him with such a burning passion, you'd believe he was some ungodly wrath of the living. However, there he was, with a bottle of whiskey in his hands as he drank away. "Yeah...that's fine, Jacob." He sighed out, the bleak look on his face always staring at the photo's. Jacob was actually quite infuriated about this, yelling "What the hell is wrong with you? You really think if she was still alive that she would love someone like you!? You aren't the man she married anymore!" and anything else of the sort.

Sam, unlike the others, was outside in the field of the Barns, inside one of the fenced off area's that they kept pigs in. He had a hand full of animal feed, watching it eat from his hand, with his other he petted it's head and talked to it quietly. "So when do you think I can go to school again, Alfred?" The pig simply snorted as it continued to feed. "Do you go to school? Like a school for pigs?" He smiled at his own joke. It was the only thing to keep himself happy from the fights that regularly happened in the household.

Rudy - Outpost/Cafeteria - Matt

Rudy nodded. "She sure has a way with words." The clerk then handed the pair their food. They soon found a place to sit down and Rudy dug into his meal eagerly. "Reggie wants us to head up closer to New Orleans," he said between bites. "I don't want anything to do with cities. Last city I tried to travel through ended up fucking me over royally. The biters are more concentrated in those areas and you get a shitton of bandit groups hoping to live off the scraps the dead left behind. But now that we're looking to expand, Reggie is desperate for new people and some fresh supplies. I know it isn't Myriah's stupid plan, 'cause she would agree with me."

Rudy paused and stared at his food. He shook his head. "Just between me and you, it hasn't been the same around here since we elected the council. We're all over the fucking place now. Efficiency around here has turned to shit. Soon, everyone will be looking to Reggie because he seems to be the only one with a goal in mind." Rudy shrugged. "Whatever that goal may be."

---

Bex - Outpost/Cabin - Enrique

"Damn," Bex said when he saw the state of Enrique.

Tyler grinned at the man. "Holy hell, look at you go, Enrique." He walked over to the man and gave him a pat on the back. "You think they'll be mad about the chair?" Tyler broke into laughter at his own joke and led Enrique back inside. "Let's get cleaned up. Killing some of those damn walkers has earned us a little reward."

Twenty minutes later, they sat around the fireplace again, but this time Tyler had poured them some wine. "Been saving this lovely stuff for the right moment," he said, pouring a glass for himself. "Soon we'll be entering Outpost and living a better life, boys." Tyler then clinked glasses with Enrique, but Bex hadn't bothered to pick up his own glass yet. "Not drinking?" Tyler asked, but Bex barely heard him. He was staring into the wine bottle, watching the cool red liquid inside.

Back at the hideout, Bex had broken his eight years of sobriety the night of the raid. He hadn't been drinking long enough to get much drunk, but the next day Bex had found himself feeling like a total asshole. He staved off the guilt by telling himself that Beckett was the one who was an alcoholic. Beckett was the one who promised his wife that he would never touch alcohol again. Beckett had made that promise thinking that he had a future with his wife and eventual child.

Bex had none of this. Bex had promised none of this.

But now, confronted with a drink, Bex found himself feeling conflicted. On one hand, what harm would it do? It was just a glass of wine, and it wasn't like a good drink was easy to get your hands on anymore. Yet, didn't that eight years mean anything?

Bex looked up at Tyler, who looked understandably confused. He opened his mouth to speak, but Bex interrupted him. "Thank you," he said, and he started to drink.

Valentina Vetrov - Haywood - Shannon/Emma/Rob

"Umm, If anyone could help......" Valentina's captor said upon getting into the infirmary, surprisingly mild mannered and calm given the girl on his shoulder, who was still kicking and beating his back, screaming like a wild animal, caring little for what he said partly because it was out of her abilities.

"Rob, Be careful with her!" A younger voice shouted. In the infirmary, it wasn't hard for the staff there to notice what was going on, what with the ruckus that would probably be audible from any point in the settlement. The doctor in attendence there, a man in his late 30s with a full beard and mustache, was nearly flying out of his chair, expecting a dire emergency, only to squint his eyes at Valentina - with one look, he knew that it wasn't a time sensitive medical case. The nurse, someone who didn't really looked the part what with her tattoos and toned muscles, the latter probably the result of surviving day by day, waved a hand over to a bed, telling Valentina's captor to be 'quick about it'.

When Valentina was laid in bed, the doctor was pulling a pair of Vinyl gloves on while the nurse, who wasn't dressed for the part either, was trying to get Valentina to hold still while she was attempting (and failing) to make a quick triage nurse's assessment of her wounds. The young girl just would not hold still, believing herself to be in great danger - for one thing, she was afraid of being in bed where there were other people around her, not that it was ever a problem (for a long, long few months) until now.

As the doctor was approaching Valentina and the nurse, a sudden bloodcurdling scream pierced the air, though this time it wasn't from the stray child. The nurse, who looked like a tough, unbeatable amazonian woman before would have that image easily shattered as she backed away from Valentina while clutching her abdomen, where blood was rapidly spreading from the cut made into her shirt and flesh that was barely visible. Despite the paralysing pain in her entire head, Valentina had managed to pull a steak knife on the nurse, giving her a nasty wound.

The doctor, however, acting quickly, seized Valentina by the knife arm, and having prepared a hypodermic needle just for this occasion, stuck it into her and injected the fluid within inside the girl. The doctor then held her down, yet Valentina was still not ready to give in yet as she struggled against the doctor. It took the nurse making a comeback to secure the girl, and even then, the doctor decided to handcuff her by a hand to a bedpost (the handcuffs normally being reserved for bite victims). As the effects of the sedative sets in, Valentina finally calmed down, and ceased her struggle. The best she could do was to tilt her head to her side and look at the people who had brought her into the infirmary, her vision swimming as if she was underwater, her face soon displaying a look of exhaustion and passivity, with a strong hint of anxiety and grief, almost as if she was begging.

Both her good and bad eyes were drifting dreamily from one person to the next, eventually settling down on Emma, for reasons Valentina could not understand any longer. In the meantime, the pillow below her head was slowly getting stained with blood. Valentina was hurt worse than what was anticipated at first, and when the doctor took a quick look at it, he saw that she had hit her head hard when she fell, resulting in a wound from where she bled profusely, as if the blood she was losing from her nose and mouth wasn't enough.

"Why didn't you search her, Rob!?" The tattooed nurse bellowed angrily as she stared accusingly at the guard, her hand still clutching her abdomens. "Damn it!"

"Just sit down, Brianna!" The doctor said sternly, not taking too kindly to the outburst before going back to being calm, "I need some help with this patient. Volunteers?"

After Shannon had left, James had continued to draw on his own in the apartment. Eventually, he finished the drawing, a beautiful piece of art that was a drawing of an eagle. He laid the drawing onto the bed, and paced around the apartment, bored. He really wanted something interesting to do. He really wanted to hang with Shannon. So, he got up and walked outside. Once outside, James paused. Where would she be? After a few seconds of thinking, he starts to walk to Daniel's house. That's where he guessed she was, and even if she wasn't there, he could always ask Daniel if he had seen her.

Shannon - Haywood/Infirmary - Rob/Emma/O'Connor/Brianna

Shannon helped Rob get Valentina on to the bed. It was a rough process with Shannon only being able to contribute with one arm. When it was done, she quickly backed off and stood next to Emma while the medical personnel attended to the little girl.

"Oh my god," she exclaimed when the nurse was attacked. Shannon wanted to step forward and do something, but instead she grabbed Emma by the arm, pulling her further back from the scene. A part of her felt like she was also responsible for keeping Emma safe. She had shot at the girl and Shannon couldn't help but feel responsible for her kidnapping by the raiders. Although, neither Daniel or Shannon had brought up the incident to Emma, so as far as she knew, she had only met Shannon in Haywood. Shannon wanted to tell her one day, but the right time never came up.

When the doctor asked for volunteers, Shannon stepped forward. "I want to help, though I can only offer one hand."

Jessalyn - Woods / House - Floyd

Jess looked up and smiled with relief when Floyd returned. When he tossed her the can she caught in.
"Oh!" she exclaimed excitedly, her eyes shining happily. "Pineapple! I love pineapple!"
Thankfully the can had a pull-top on it so she had no trouble getting it open. And it was still good. Taking a deep drink of the juice, she savored the sweetness with her eyes closed in appreciation. Using her fingers she picked a few small pieces out and ate them slowly. She almost didn't hear him talking until the word house got to her.

"A house?" she echoed, her eyes wide with wonder. She had almost forgotten what it was like to be in a house. Would it have an actual bed? A bath? A door that locked?

She was brought from her thoughts when she heard Floyd swearing loudly. Scrambling to her feet she hurried to his side. "Here, let me see," she said, taking his hand gently and pulling it towards her to get a better look at the burn. Taking a piece of her shirt that was relatively clean, she dabbed at it gently to get the burning water off of his skin. She then blew on it to cool the area.
"It doesn't look like it will blister," she said before digging into the pack. They had found some aloe plants a few days before and she had broken off a few pieces to take with them. Taking one now, she broke the dried end off and squeezed it to get the medicinal gel out of the leaf before dabbing it as gently as she could onto the burn. Then she used her fingers to massage it in.

When she finished she looked up at him with a smile. "There. That should help. I hope."
She patted his wrist and packed the other leaves away. "The house sounds wonderful. Being able to stay somewhere safe and dry is a dream come true. You are amazing."
Jess had every confidence in this man. He hadn't let her down yet and always seemed to know exactly what to do in every situation.

Hazel was in the streets, looking around she smiled. This was going to be a good day for her, with her quiver and bow strung around her back and her Glock out she hummed, climbing up a rickety ladder, onto a nice looking rooftop, fit with solar panels too. If only it had a nice tanning bed. As she sat down she relaxed, looking at the area below her and nodding her approval.

Taking the magazine out of her Glock she carefully took the remaining bullet from the chamber, setting the gun aside. Counting the bullets she realized she had only seven in this magazine, that wasn't good. Looking over her other two magazines she felt relieved when one was full. That was great.

Now taking her quiver she quickly counted the arrows, five rickety homemade, ten serrated, ten normal arrows, and then five dull arrows, these ones were to take out your enemy without killing. A rounded and heavy tip, it was very effective, like a stone to the head twice. Happy with her arrows she laid back, wondering what building she was on though, she took her Glock, climbed down the ladder and smiled brightly, eyes twinkling. It was a...a motel!

Practically running up the ladder she took the rest of her gear, only now realizing her Glock was empty. With a shrug she put the magazine in and climbed back down.

It appeared the hotel was just abandoned. No one chose to keep it, or board it up. It was probably because the streets were crowded with walkers at the time. Practically drooling her hand reached out towards the door handle. "I am in heaven right now." She said in a daze, opening the door and starting to search through the insides.

It smelled kind of like death and cupcakes. What a strange mixture. Walking forwards she was faced with the sounds, and smells of zombies. Almost dropping her gun she made her way backwards. "I know your here!" A scraggly voice called from some room, out came an old lady, and an old man. They were walking what appeared to be two children, more following. The only problem was that the children were dead.

"Are you afraid? Don't be. They were just poor children. They died very quickly, but we know that if we keep them the cure will come and soon they will be happy again." That was the voice of the woman, that scraggly dead voice. In a panic Hazel took her bow, looking at the couple with a sad sigh as she notched an arrow. They tried to manipulate her, telling her they had food, weapons, that their family could be hers. That was when things got brutal. Shooting the old man in the throat, then whacking the woman.

They both fell, letting the zombie children go, and with a hungry growl, they ran towards her. Taking no time she pulled out her gun, shooting two while two more tried grabbing her. They succeeded and as she tried elbowing them they tried biting her. Continuing her assault on the two she was elbowing she managed to shoot one, then tackle the other. With a sigh and a heavy heart, she pounded into it's rotten, broken down skull. Taking it out.

Blood and guts everywhere, she had to finish off the coma before she slept, the man was already dead, and their new 'family' was now torn to pieces. She started to clean up, making sure everything was gone off of the carpet and whatever else was messy. When finished the place would be clean, sort of immaculate. It still looked run down and the smell would have to fade away. But when she got new curtains, Tupperware, furniture, and other house accessories that were most likely left in stores. It would be nice.

So, with her maternal instincts kicking in, she started. Reloading her empty Glock, notching an arrow, locking the door with the keys she found on the couple. She left and headed to a super market. This would now be her's. She would call it 'The pub.' and it would be a sanctuary run by her. That was what she could hope for, but for now she had to work as hard as possible, making escape exits, boarding the place up, making it comfortable, fixing up the solar panels. All things she had no idea how to do, but as her mother once said, 'Hey, anything is fixable with the right tools and a brain.'

Enrique wiped his face with the edge of his shirt and looked at Thomas as helaughed, Enrique let out a small smirk and stood there for a moment looking into the corpses dead eyes. He expected it to jump back at him and kept his guard up, when Thomas suggested they go back inside Enrique adjusted his coat with his shoulders and followed uneasily. He sat in his previous seat and picked up the glass he had been poured and threw his head back as it touched his lips, he himself was a powerful drinker and hardly tasted the wine.

"Thomas, we should'nt be celebrating, these bastards just tried to feed us to some corpses. Anything happens like that again once we are inside I'm going to go nuts. What if one of us was bitten by those fucks we..." Enrique shut up and just stood there for a bit, he looked over at Bex solemny.

"You ok B?" Enrique said, "You look conflicted."

Robert/Anthony - Haywood/Farm - NPC Militia

After his conversation with Daniel, Robert continued by moving back into the mess hall. He poured himself yet another liquored drink and started. "Are y'all almost there?" Robert spoke into the talkie. He was communicating with the group that was sent to scavenge the area as Daniel had scheduled. What he didn't know was that Robert was already informed of the farm by one of the men that accompanied both Audrey and Henry. "Yeah, we've got the place in sight. We've parked about a mile out, we'll go scout" one of the the scavengers responded. Robert then progressed into the conversation. "Why doesn't Tony have the talkie?" Robert asked.

"You mean Anthony? I don't know, he just gave it to me" the scavenger responded, his name Wilson. On the other side of the walls, Wilson, Anthony, Johnson and Elliot walked down the dirt road towards the farmhouse just a mile out. They parked their truck in the woods completely hidden from sight. "Y'all follow my lead, if there's anyone in there, we can't have them startled. We ain't sure what we'll come across" Anthony called out to the three other men. Suddenly the walkie talkie rung yet again. "If there are any survivors, you are to treat them as hostile. Supplies back at camp have been diminishing quickly due to the increase of tenants. We need this farm for Haywood, do not allow anyone to prevent you from attaining that."

Wilson then turned to Anthony and the other men. "Does that mean he wants us to ki-"

"Yeah, that's right. We take the farm for Haywood so we can survive. It's us or them fellas, y'all decide" Anthony interrupted. Johnson turned to Elliot, Elliot turned to Wilson, Wilson to Johnson. They all nodded to each other, knowing some things just had to get done. "Johnson, you and Wilson will go off the left, me and Elliot will flank the right. See anybody that ain't Haywood, shoot them down. The four men then split into two groups and started down the tall grass. From the start their mission was to go down to this farm and take it. The men were fully armed, all but Anthony had a sub-machine gun or an automatic.

Wilson and Johnson started down the left as they were commanded to. It was difficult to see anything inside the farmhouse because they were still pretty distant from it, so in order to get there faster, Wilson started to jog. "Dammit Wilson!" Johnson whispered with anger.

"I mean, why do we have to kill them? Can't we just like, I don't know, mutually help each other?" Elliot asked Anthony.

"Look man, we gotta do what we gotta do to survive. Every time you're put to the test you get all emotional, you need to shut it down. Take all that guilt, take that fear, that being pissed off, take it out!" Anthony whispered as they walked across the field. They tried to stay out of vision by evading the windows of the farmhouse. "Now pick up your gun and get ready."

---

Floyd - Woods - Jessalyn

When Jess jumped at his hand, Floyd flinched backwards. He tried to pull his hand away before she took it, but wasn't fast enough. Her hands grasped his, her eyes targeting his burn. Floyd's eyes widened as he stared directly at the top of her head. He remained distant though, his arm stretched outward away from his body. She started speaking, but he didn't hear her, at this point, he didn't hear anything but his heart pounding in his chest.

The wound numbed as his entire body reached that temperature of the burn. He felt hotter than usual, his blood rushed through his veins like an express train. Every single time her soft tender hands touched his rough skin, he felt the same scorching sensation. He knew the reason for the feeling, but didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to get to close because he feared it. He lived by a code, one that didn't allow him to form a bonding relationship with someone. The reason for it was because he'd be destroyed once he lost the person, which was inevitable. He couldn't help losing her again, this time for good.

Once Jess finished treating his hand, he pulled away quickly, turning from her. He missed her sweet smile, but felt it was necessary. If he was to see her smile again, he might get too comfortable. "Thanks" he murmured to her as he started to pack whatever lay around their camp. But as he turned back to go get his backpack, Jess called him amazing. Just at that time, he failed the attempt to evade her smile. "Dammit" he thought to himself. Then he felt his blood once again boil, his heart pounding nearly out of his chest. But in response to that, he just "Psh" as he turned his head to the side, hiding the warmth he felt.

"Just.......pack ur stuff. Let's go" he said, picking up his backpack over his shoulder and walking away.

Jessalyn - Woods / House - Floyd

Jessalyn's smile faded when Floyd acted so cooly towards her. She couldn't help but feel sad when he acted that way, especially when she was trying to get closer to him. They had been traveling and surviving together for quite a while now. She just kept hoping he woudld start treating her as more then a stranger, or a cute animal he had picked up and was caring for.
She wanted to be his friend.
She wanted to be...

His words made her head snap up. Pack? Right, the house.
Jess nodded without speaking and packed what little they had. She carried one of the bags while he carried the other stuff. She felt badly about him carrying the bulk of their things, but she really couldn't in her condition.

The walk through the woods was silent. Jess felt the distance he purposefully put between them. It made her sad. She felt... lonely. It was a strange feeling, to be lonely with another person there.
Well, two actually. The corners of her mouth turned up as she patted her stomach gently.

The house was lovely in her eyes. A little dirty and unkept but that was to be expected. Once she got to work on it... she could already see it in her mind : a nice little home for the three of them.
Because she refused to even entertain the possibility that Floyd would leave her and her baby behind.

Entering the house, she brushed off the table and set her bag down. She began unpacking in the just-the-right-size kitchen, setting everything in a certain place and sorting things.
She managed to find a rag in one of the drawers and started wiping the layers of dust and dirt off of the counters.
She opened her mouth to break the silence, but closed it again when she couldn't think of anything valuable to say.

The Bull - Woods - Katie

Bull paused in his effort to find firewood. He stared at Lauren, who kept her back to him as she searched for fallen branches. "Lauren," he said, but she didn't even acknowledge him. He started walking toward her. "Lauren, what's wrong?" When she still didn't respond, Bull pulled at her arm, forcing her to face him. "Why are you mad at me?"

Lauren rolled her eyes and pulled away from him. She began walking away at a brisk pace. "Lauren, come on!" Bull exclaimed, giving chase. When he caught up to her, he grabbed her arm so she couldn't run away this time.

"Let go of me, Bull," she said heatedly.

Bull shook his head. "I don't want to fight."

"I don't either, so just stop." After a few seconds of staring into Lauren's intense glare, Bull sighed and let go of her arm. She silently went back to grabbing for sticks, but sighed angrily when Bull decided to just stare at her. "You going to help?"

"Why don't you wanna talk to me? What's with you?"

Lauren shook her head. "I think I should be asking you that... That little girl is trying her best, you know."

Bull blinked at her confusedly. "... What?"

"Katie! She's trying so hard and all you ever do is complain about her. I thought you had my back but you can't even be bothered to help me take care of one little girl. You told me your mother died, why can't you have one ounce of sympathy?"

Bull crossed his arms and grunted. "I barely remember my mum! She'll get over it!"

"Oh my god." Lauren dropped her collected sticks and threw her hands into the air. "This is why I didn't want to talk about this. You're practically a child." She turned around and walked away further into the woods. Bull jogged after her, matching her pace to follow behind her.

"I'm taking care of you and her. How can you say I'm not trying?" Lauren shook her head and didn't bother to dignify that with a response. "I'm fuckin' tired and hungry, Lauren, give me a break."

Then, Lauren stopped in her tracks, causing Bull to bump into her. "Okay, now can you be civil-"

"Bull." Lauren pointed forward, beyond the trees and toward a farm in the distance. The pair stood and stared at what they were seeing.

***

Lauren dropped down next to Katie and shook the girl awake. "Katie? Katie, honey. We saw a farm. We need to go check it out."

---

Bex - Outpost/Cabin - Enrique

Bex shook his head and said, "No, I'm fine." He swallowed down the rest of his drink. "I'm really fine. Go ahead and pour me another, Tom."

"As much as you want, Bex. Drink up." Tyler poured a second glass for Bex before returning to his own glass.

"Enrique, we're going to find corpses just about everywhere we go." He chuckled into his wine glass. "They might be mad about the mess we made at the front step, but I'm sure they'll be relieved we're okay." He offered Enrique the bottle. "Another." He began pouring Enrique a second glass. "Listen, me, you and Bex, we watch each other's backs. If someone tries to do us harm, one of us will do them harm back, alright? But until we know for that these guys mean to mess with us, we have to give them the benefit of the doubt." He paused to place the wine bottle down. He was silent for a moment while he stared at Enrique. Eventually, Tyler nodded. "When we head out there for this scouting mission, we never let each other out of our sights. Right now it's looking like it'll be three against three, but chances are they'll be bringing more guys."

"Watch my back out there, Enrique, like I watched out for yours."

Jacob/Ben/Sam - Farm

Jacob slammed his fist on the table, holding back a couple of tears. "What the hell is wrong with you? Don't you care about us?" He said, walking out of the farm house. He hadn't noticed the Militia at first, due to him paying only real attention to the Barn, but he always kept his Remington on hand. He stood against the Barn doors for a couple second, kicked a rock, and screamed out. Then he opened the door, was inside for a bit, and came back out with Sam at his side. They had walked and talked for a while, about 'what would happen if they left the farm' or 'if they died.' Sam was always a curious boy. They walked inside the house finally, locked it up, and sat down in the dinner room.

Ben was actually already began cooking. It was rabbit stew, actually. It was potatoes, rabbit meat(of course), and a many assortment of other vegetables. Inside was also a bunch of tomato juice. He stirred away, the smell left the house, and it boiled. He sat back down as he waited for the meal to get done cooking and he took his whiskey out again, drinking away. It was actually quite noticeable that he was drinking, due to the stains in his beard, and his flushed face. "So I was looking out the window one day and I saw some guys out in the woods!" Sam said, sounding quite happy about people who weren't mindless or would try to bite you. "When was this?" Jacob said, since Ben was obviously not even going to bother to ask. "Three days ago, they were looking at the farm then went away." Jacob grew a bit suspicious, but he wasn't aware of the oncoming storm about to be unleashed at the farm. He was cautious however, so he wouldn't be caught too unprepared.

Floyd - House - Jess

Jess seemed to have entered the house without her guard up at all. Though Floyd has attempted to teach her, it seems the girl is still as naive as she has been before. "Dammit Jess" he cursed to himself as she rushed through the front door. Floyd came in after her, his knife in his hand, cautiously observing everything around him. Since the sudden brake in didn't attract any walkers or living people, Floyd just assumed everything was fine, closing the door behind him, locking it from the inside.

He proceeded by following Jess to the kitchen, still keeping that awkward distance between them. He watched her struggle to get the dust off the tabletop as though a housewife. The house wasn't all that dirty to begin with, it didn't add up in Floyd's mind why she was trying so hard. She even took her time to find a rag in order to clean more. She looked like one of those housewives you see in movies, the ones that don't have a job and take care of the children and the home. Then again, Floyd remember his own mother doing exactly that. He hated remembering the past because it wasn't any good.

Anyhow, once she finished, Floyd decided to speak. He was laying on the wall as he turned towards the stairs. "I saw a room up there when I was here. It's got a bed and everythin if ya wanna check it out" he said, knowing that would make her excited. He didn't like watching her stress over little things, it made him feel uneasy. He then waited for her to head up those stairs. Again, he followed her every step, making sure she was secure everywhere she went, not only for her but for her child. He passed her up once they got to the second floor and headed to the room. He opened the door and allowed her to enter before he did, showing a little chivalry. "It looks like they took care of it" he added, the room standing luxurious before their eyes.

Then he himself entered the room and started to browse about. He opened the nearby closet to find a couple of hangers with clothing, for both male and female. It was obvious it had been a married couple that lived in the house, they were either both dead by now or had just left the home. "Ima check the other rooms, ya just stay here for now alright?" he said, his question going unanswered as he left the room and moved on to the next one.

Come to find out that the next room was just a storage room. There was a whole bunch of random crap just filed left to right. Ornaments, jewelry, storage boxes, etc. The next room, the one closest to the stairs was the next one to be explored. He turned the knob and opened it slowly, still cautious. But as he peeked inside, he turned and closed it quickly. He lay on the door for a second covering his face with one hand, rubbing his eye in confusion. He just couldn't bare with what he just saw, it was completely unbelievable. For a moment he just stood there motionless, breathing calmly. He stared out the top window looking down at the grass from above. "Couldn't even give her a chance huh?" he questioned as he turned back to the room Jess was in. "The room over there..." he pointed, ".....don't go in it" he finished. He didn't want her to see what was inside because he knew it would most likely break her, something he didn't desire to have happen.

---

Haywood Militia - Farm - Jacob/Sam/Ben

As the doors to the farmhouse opened widely, both pairs froze and knelt down in one quick motion. They pointed their weapons at the one gentleman who walked out first. He stood at porch-side speaking to nobody but himself, or so it seemed. Wilson, the one who was already the closest to the farmhouse was just about to fire when he felt a hand reach his shoulder. He gave a shiver and fell to the floor from his already crouching stance. He pointed the gun to whomever lay behind him to find Johnson raising his hands in surrender. "What the f*ck Wilson!" Johnson growled in a whisper. He hated being grouped up with such an idiot, but orders were orders. "Quit pointing that gun at me dammit!" Johnson added with a little shove to Wilson's gun.

in the meantime, Anthony and Elliot were completely composed. Anthony was kneeling behind Elliot, both men with their weapons prepared for a firefight. With luck, the man returned to his home and closed the door behind him. This gave all four men leeway to continue closing in on the farmhouse. But once again, with sudden surprise, the man exited the facility, this time accompanied by a smaller being. The Haywood group could hear noises coming off of the two survivors, but couldn't make anything out of what they were saying. Wilson took this opportunity to get even closer to the farmhouse, thinking that was the best idea at this point. Of course, Johnson refused to do what the idiot was doing and stayed put like they were trained to do. In order to stay hidden, Johnson decided to throw himself on the dirt below him, trying hard to be parallel with the ground, but touching in this instance.

On the other side of the home, Anthony and Elliot had not moved a step from their previous location. Anthony expected something like this to happen, so he commanded Elliot to remain put. The two man didn't move until the farmers returned home. Once they were once again in the clear, Anthony and Elliot took the chance to sprint towards the side of the house. The two men started quietly towards the back in order to find a backdoor of some sort. On the other hand, Wilson the idiot was getting closer to the front door. Johnson still hadn't gotten up from when he lay down, instead the man decided to become a sharpshooter from his location, taking his rifle and planting it where he lay. "I'm gonna get you suckers" Wilson said, walking up the steps of the door.

Suddenly, without notice, the walkie strapped to Wilson's side rang loudly. The static came first followed by Robert's voice. "Is it don-" Robert started, being cut off by Wilson quickly noticing he never turned the talkie off. Wilson then attempted to slowly back away from the door, knowing somebody inside must have heard the static or Robert's voice. Hopefully neither, but Wilson wasn't that stupid. He took his gun and pointed at the door as he backed away slowly, the steps behind him creaking at every step.

Joshua, Mariah - Woods/Abandoned cabin

As he was walking through the woods slowly and with his eyes going in every direction, Joshua notices a wooden cabin somewhere in the distance to the north-east. Hoping that he would find something useful there he quickly heads over to it and stops in front of the door. He pulls out his Glock 17 and starts knocking on the door. "Hello? Is anyone inside?" Said Joshua as he waited for an answer that never came. He grabbed the door handle and he cautiously pulled it down as he started opening the door slowly. After fully opening the door, Joshua was greeted from the inside by a woman who was pointing a shotgun at him. Joshua stunned in the entrance as he raised his hands. "Put the damn thing away please! I'm not an undead okay?" Said Joshua as he tried to remain calm.

"It dosen't matter." Said the woman who kept the shotgun pointed at him. "You can be a bandit! There are plenty of those nowadays. I can't risk trusting you. What if you wanna steal my stuff and rape me when i'm not paying attention." Continued the woman, determined not to let her guard down. "This is stupid. I ain't gonna do none of those things. Look, if you're not gonna let me in then at least let me go away." Said Joshua visibly upset about the situation. "Get in! Now! But keep your hands up." Said the woman with a demanding tone. Joshua stepped inside with his hands up. "Put the gun down." She said as she watched Joshua put his Glock on the floor.

"And the kukri and the Marlin." She continued as she watched him put his other weapons down too. "Now kick them away." She said as Joshua kicked all his weapons to her. "Satisfied? Can I put my hands down now. I'm getting kind of tired." Said Joshua waiting for an answer from the woman. "Go sit on that chair over there." Said the woman watching Joshua do that. "I'm sorry, but I can't afford to trust anyone nowadays. By the way, i'm Mariah. She said as she put the shotgun away and picked up Joshua's weapons. "I'm Joshua." He said as he started surveying the inside of the cabin still with an upset look on his face.