"I'm not sure what else we need..." Elder Rivers stated. He scanned around the halls of the mall to check for an exit. There was probably something upstairs that he could have looted as well. Of course, a Mormon has no need for silly toys or clothing. That is, if he were getting his own planet, Elder Rivers could have all that he needed!

The Mormon returned his attention toward Santa, who had seemed like he still wanted something. "If you want to look around the store, we could split up and meet back here. It's not like we have plans anymore." Elder Rivers suggested. Rivers took another look upstairs before turning back to Santa again. He switched focus between the two before finally taking his first step toward the broken escalators.

Santa paused before giving a nod to the Mormon as he walked around the ground level. He didn't want to keep the Christmas Sleigh too far from sight. He wandered around the ground level until he found, a Toy Store! Behind the mask Santa was beaming a smile, and his eyes glimmered with holiday magic. But of course that was behind the mask. Santa stepped past the shattered glass, and began examining the store.

Surprisingly, well not all too much, after all who would want toys in an apocalypse? Though the shelves were torn apart, probably for parts for something, but their were several toys that were laying around from stuffed animals, to little remote control cars. Whether or not they had batteries would be the real question. Santa began examining the toys as he wandered in the store, looking for the best to take to give to the good girls and boys.

Outside Jonesboro,
Victor "Vic" Hammerstein

Dully glowing embers fell from the tip of the lit cigarette as Victor took a long drag off it, a soft breeze carrying the tiny flecks of red away and scattering them across the air. Vic Hammerstein was a tall and well built man, standing at 6'2 with a lean, muscular frame befitting of a professional soldier. Smoking was a nasty habit and one he rarely partook in. He disliked the negative effects it had on his health and teeth but sometimes he needed to relax and with so many fine packs of cigarettes laying around, free for the taking, he decided he might as well relax on his break. He'd been walking or driving all day, ducking in and out of alleys and buildings to avoid the Walking Dead when his car would've drawn too much attention. For the first five days of the chaos he'd stayed with his employer, guarding his mansion as agreed. But the man's constant condescending, snide tone wore on him rapidly and when the infected became too much to handle, Victor had taken everything of value that he could use, stolen a car and abandoned the rest to die, escaping as the Walkers were drawn towards the screams of his coworkers and the family they guarded. He regretted nothing.

Over subsequent days he'd splurged in the extreme, spending every penny of the cash he'd taken and trading some of the other valuables for ammunition, fuel, etc. He knew from both training and experience in third world nations that the money would be completely worthless everywhere within a few days, so better to spend it now (even at a ridiculously inflated rate) than use it for fire starter later.

Now, Vic sat on the sidewalk in front of a small convenience store, a "Stop-N-Rob" his father had called them. The name was fitting, especially in the chaos of the end of the world. The concrete walls were pockmarked with small caliber bullet holes and most of the windows smashed. Victor had only been able to retrieve a pack of cigarettes and some junk food from the looted store and was now thinking on his next move, rifle in his lap.
He needed a solid place to stay, or a strong group to travel with. Living in town wouldn't be a good idea, but the roads out to the country would still be clogged with evacuating refugees, and therefore the Dead. He needed to hide for a while, until things settled, then he'd head to the middle of nowhere and ride out the storm. Living nomadically like that would require a group though. So, step one was to get a group. But, to get a group, he'd need a home for them. So, step zero would be to find a place to defend, then gather some survivors there.

Vic stood, dropping the cigarette and crushing it under his boot. It was time to get to work. But where to begin?

Santa quickly went behind the cash-register, as he looked down and spotted a few plastic bags. Behind the mask he was smiling in delight, as he picked up four of them, holding two in each hand, as he began going through the toy-store, as he picked out various toys. There was the toy engine for Tommy, he took the wooden toy train and placed it in the bag. Oh, there was the baby doll for Mary, Santa took it and put it in the bag. And how could anyone forget the action figure for Billy, Santa took it and put it in the same bag. He repeated the process until he filled up the four plastic shopping bags with toys to hand out to the good boys and girls. He held two bags in each hand as he headed back to the Sleigh. He opened the front door, and placed it underneath the glove box on the passenger's side. Then he shut the door.

Santa was now ready to head out, as he had the Christmas presents to hand out to those who were on the Nice List.

Luanne wanted to keep herself from talking, because she was certain that she would end up saying something impolite and her sister really seemed to want to get on with these yankees, but the questions and comments filling her head were pounding on the dadgum dam of her mouth and were about to spill out and power the whole damn city.

"I's the older one, by 'bout seven minutes," announced Luanne, "And yeah we's close, but I ain't gonna marry 'er. I wants to trust you folks, but somethin' 'bout yer story don't seem right; and it ain't jes' the marryin' a girl part which I never dadgum heard of. See, our pa was a doctor, and though I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed I'm purty sure two girls can't have a baby; speakin' biological o' course. Still up in the air 'bout the marriage thing."

Luanne sat there for a couple of seconds before turning to Kate and continuing. The flood, at this point, could not be stopped.

"Also, I think yer wife is flirtin' with me. Y'all best keep that woman on a leash 'less she starts kissin' me and whatnot. Keepin' faithful is, uh, th' key to a good marriage."

Shannon took a deep breath of what was a mixture of relief and worry. The relieving side of things was that the door had been opened, the worrying side was that the room was pitch black. She could hear the wavering in her breath as she stepped further into the room. It made absolutely no sense to her why she thought it was sensible to keep moving but her feet had taken their own initiative and guided her into the room. She had never actually been in this room before, she only really knew where it was because of how she had a hospital map on the desk beside her whilst she was working. The layout of the interior was completely unknown to her. It was... slightly terrifying.

Her eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness and her hands were tightened around the oxygen tank. She was trying to follow the absurd "whirring" noise, which she assumed was coming from the machine that she had seen the doctors use to refill oxygen tanks on the lower floors. What if Ryland's already dead?. Her hands trembled a little as she continued to edge towards the whirring. She continued walking - quite quickly as she was overwhelmed with urgency - until she felt her face pressed quite harshly against cold metal and a whirring noise drilled into her skull. She'd reached the contraption. She set the oxygen tank beneath her feet and made sure it was firmly held by both of her ankles. She started to feel against the wall and machine, trying to find a light switch or the nozzle that she'd have to hook the machine up to. She felt an odd shape and after groping it quite a bit she discovered it was the wall light. Her eyes stung now that she'd become accustomed to the dark and the light had rudely invaded again. She attempted to spin her body around, leaving the oxygen tank where it is so she can see around the room. As soon as she spun, there was a loud snarling noise; Shannon's first impulse was to cry out in panic. The cry in panic was within reason however, as a mutilated and disgusting - but still functioning - corpse threw himself at her. She stumbled, knocking a foot against the oxygen tank and a sharp pain stabbed into her ankle. She fell, and struggled wildly against the floor to make some distance between herself and the corpse - who was still stood. There was no way she would be able to get to the exit without the corpse being on her within seconds - she just tried her best to stay away from the "zombie" in hope that the cry she had made and the noise of her foot against the oxygen tank had been loud enough to alert Travis and the others.

Tony felt the wind in his air and his past at his back, as he made his way down Route 18 west. His grandparents were gone. And if his veteran granddad could be killed by those things in a small town like Lake City, his civilian parents had no chance in a massive city like Springfield. They were gone too, he determined, and continued to ride. For some reason, he didn't even shed a tear. He felt numb inside, as if the wind had seeped into his bones and chilled his emotions. The world was gone. There wasn't a single damn thing he could do about it. He decided then and there that he wouldn't even try to fix it. No, he would simply adapt, survive to the situation, become a product of the environment that sprouted from the ashes.

He was nearing city limits when the bike gave a shudder, followed by an awful grinding sound. Tony just managed to slow it down to around twenty before the engine cut out on the road, a quarter-mile from a local convenience store. He lost control of the bike, and just managed to jump off before it toppled to the ground and slid off the road into the embankment below. Tony stood and felt a pain in his lower leg, but found that he could stand and put pressure on it, meaning that he still had a chance. In the apocalypse, no transportation and a broken leg would be the last thing he needed. Getting his bearings, he looked around and located the store in the distance. From behind, however, he could hear groaning. A quick glance behind confirmed it: four of the corpses, undoubtedly attracted by the noise of the bike, and closing in on him. Ignoring the unpleasant pain in his leg, he made a run for the store. He covered the distance in a reasonable amount of time, although the group of walkers kept a decent pace with him and were only about twenty yards away. Reaching the parking lot, he noticed a man sitting outside on the pavement. From first glance, Tony could tell that the guy could handle himself. He didn't have time to determine the guy's trustworthiness — he needed help now. He drew his pistol and aimed at the walkers, calling behind at the stranger.
"Hey, dude, if you aren't busy.." Tony yelled, before taking aim and hitting the closest corpse in the chest. The second one hit it's mark: right between the eyes. He chalked it up to luck.

Vic brought his rifle to his shoulder, keeping the muzzle angled downwards and not quite aiming at the man who'd just arrived. He glanced at the approaching Walkers and shrugged internally. Why not? Every group starts with one guy.
He took careful aim, using the expensive optic atop his weapon to its full advantage. He squeezed off one shot at a time, steadily dropping the approaching creatures. With a pistol or even just iron sights it'd be much harder. The brain was a small target, let alone when moving erratically and bobbing up and down. Victor aided his fellow survivor in finishing off the last of the infected then reloaded his rifle and went to greet the man more formally.
"Decent shooting."
He complimented. Not on par with military or some better trained law enforcement, but for a civilian he'd done ok.
"I'm Victor."
The Mercenary introduced himself, extending a hand to shake. He was close enough that he felt he could disarm the man if he had to, and so deemed a handshake allowable.

"Tony, and thanks."
The threat abated, he had time to examine the stranger more closely. The man had the presence of a fighting man — a soldier, or something like it. Tony considered that a stroke of fortune; he wasn't positive he could have taken those corpses without some external help. Returning the handshake, Tony looked at the other man and felt something different about him. During his time as a bartender, and even before in his hometown, Tony got quite good at reading people. Knowing their secrets and their motives. The businessmen who frequented into the bar on Mondays and Thursdays, calling their wives to tell them that they're working late at the office. The one girl who came when she could, always trying to hide a fresh bruise, never telling the truth about how she got it. After a while, Tony had come to think that he had seen everything the human condition had to offer. Nothing would take him by surprise.

He couldn't read Victor, though. But then, the world had ended. The game had changed. He was sure he would figure it out, if given enough time, but that raised another question: were they a group now? Hell, they could be the last two people on Earth for all Tony knew. But he didn't know if he could trust Victor. Could he trust anyone?
"Where are you headed, Victor?" He asked, glancing up and down the road for more signs of danger. It was clear, both ways, for now.

Kate

"I's the older one, by 'bout seven minutes And yeah we's close, but I ain't gonna marry 'er. I wants to trust you folks, but somethin' 'bout yer story don't seem right; and it ain't jes' the marryin' a girl part which I never dadgum heard of. See, our pa was a doctor, and though I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed I'm purty sure two girls can't have a baby; speakin' biological o' course. Still up in the air 'bout the marriage thing."

Kate’s lips twisted apprehensively, and she buried herself closer to Selina. The girls were young, and Dott’s confusion, and Luanne’s disbelief, were understandable. But it still irked her. Almost three years of intense bullying had molded Kate into a person who expressed a strong distaste for most forms of discrimination, intentional or not.

Generally not curt with children, Kate retorted, albeit in a soft non-confrontational, but clearly distant, voice, “It’s possible, in New York, for two men to get married, two women to get married, and a man and a women to get married. Also,” Here Kate scowled as she searched for the words she hoped would not be insulting, “Even if I told you the procedure we performed, I don’t think you girls would understand it. All you need to know is they took a cell from me, and a cell from Selina and made a baby.”

Here, Kate stopped and her eyes wandered out the window. And yet, not more than a few minutes later, Luanne seemed at it again.

"Also, I think yer wife is flirtin' with me. Y'all best keep that woman on a leash 'less she starts kissin' me and whatnot. Keepin' faithful is, uh, th' key to a good marriage."

“She’s not flirting with you, and we’re happy, OK? Just…I dunno…lighten up a little…I dunno,” A deep frown decorated Kate’s face, and in a matter of minutes, she had all but buried herself in her partner’s arm. She was tired and cranky, and was one-hundred percent sure her hormones were acting up.

David had slowly picked up the pace, and the car seemed to be traveling at a steady 40 mph. The ride was mostly silent (OC: mostly just in case the either of the girls say something in Xeno’s and Shisa’s posts) and at one point Kate felt herself drift out of consciousness and into the pleasurable world of dreams. Before her eyes had closed, she had spotted the hospital, a cloud white dot in the distance.

When she awoke again, the hospital seemed to be coming upon them quickly. Or rather, David had picked up the pace to the point where the previously distant ivory white building had increased noticeably in size. Kate couldn’t see very well into the windows, though it was worth taking note that some had lights on behind their glass surfaces. The building seemed relatively…lonely and eerie.

David was careful to slow the car into the parking lot, skillfully avoiding the attention of a few walkers. Soon enough they would be aroused, and Kate believed it wise for them to mosey on out of there and into the safety of the Arkansas Hospital.

As they began to pile out of the dying Sedan, Selina whispered, “I don’t see anyone. No signs of the government. I mean, you would think they’d have soldier or something outside, right?”

(Leaving this post like this because, I do honestly have to get back to work. Also, I know it may seem weird, but maybe either Dot or Luanne can somehow lead us to the hospital group…at least it’ll give them something to do.)

Loaded into the SUV was a backpack liberated from the mall by Elder Rivers. Its contents included two changes of clothing, several reading books, some candy, and some vitamins. The backpack itself was a black nylon bag with two straps. It had two compartments. One main compartment which held his clothing, and another smaller compartment which held the smaller vitamin bottles. Rivers also grabbed a golf club- a driver. Finished with his "shopping", Elder Rivers walked to Rudolph and saddled the snowmobile, pulling the nylon switch once again, turning all the snow mobiles on.

"Here we go" he shouted, turning the speed to as fast as the machines could carry. He had on a mask, and his sleeves were unrolled, cuffed at his wrists to protect his arms- if only from blood. He knew that getting a bite or scratch would be fatal. Elder Rivers couldn't risk being bitten, but at least his face was safe.Elder Rivers stopped near one of the mall exits, but far enough from it to be clear of the door.

Elder Rivers cleared a path for Santa's sleigh so that he could head out- just there was one problem. Walkers awaiting just outside. He'd have to pick them off one by on as they entered, then clear the path again. That way, he could ensure his and Santa's safety.

He opened the front door for Santa and gestured at the door then reached to the back seat to grab his golf club.. Before saying anything, Elder Rivers ran towards the door, and forced it ajar. He made it just wide enough for the SUV to go straight through without any trouble, then ran back before he was in any danger. He clutched his gold club to his side like a baseball bat.

Elder Rivers was quite good directing the Christmas Sleigh, as it slowly but surely went down the roads. Santa knew there would be much Christmas Magi- ... His joyous thoughts of the holidays were slightly ruined as some Walkers were coming up to sleigh, while moaning and groaning. Behind the mask, Santa was frowning at the inconsiderate nature of the creatures as he picked up the iron bar, as he opened up the door, and smacked one of the zombies who was approaching from the back to try to get to the sleigh. With a quick crack the creature went down. Santa growled out something, while gesturing forward, and pointed his bar forward. After a quick lull, he swung his bar at another Walker that was trying to show up, again a quick crack and it went down. Those things didn't realize the meaning of Christmas... Santa knew that in his heart.

And so the Christmas Sleigh began heading, slowly but surely, towards the Pharmacy.

Dot wasn't entirely sure either. "Maybe they're, uh, all inside? Ta keep safe an' all..." A sort of dread took over her. What if nobody was here? What if she had led these people to an abandoned building? Surely, they'd think her a fool and leave her behind when they went... Wherever it was they would go. There had to be people inside, for her sake, and for Luanne's sake.