Michael took a deep breath before descending. The air stunk like an ancient abattoir, the scent of spoiled and charred meat mingled into a foul, rotten aroma. "When we get there, remind me to get air fresheners." he said disgusted, half joking, half serious. The terrifying symphony of the dead below rang out as Michael peered over the edge of the fire escape, he spotted the broken remains of the lurker from last night, the deep laceration he had carved into its face now crawling with flies. He looked away from the gruesome cadaver and spotted several walkers roaming the alley, most likely attracted by the clatter of the fire escape ladder yesterday. "Looks about... uh, four, maybe five of them." he indicated as he turned around to Florence. "Here, help me lower the ladder slowly, no sense in provoking more of them." he whispered cautiously in case the walkers beneath heard them. He was maybe being a bit paranoid, but he would rather not risk it in the off chance there was more of them just waiting around the corner.

Florence nodded, close behind Michael. She glanced over at the collected undead creatures in the alley way. As they had descended down the fire escape, their reeking stench rose to her nose, causing her to grimace. It had been a good while since her last altercation with one of these things. Camping it out on the rooftop had helped her rest but it got her rusty on her skills. She just hoped she'd be able to remember, like riding a bike, and it would come back naturally. Nodding to Michael, she did as instructed, gently taking hold of the ladder and slowly helping him lower it down. Regardless, she knew the rattling metal would summon those lurkers no matter how gentle they handled it. She just hoped she wouldn't get herself into a mess, possibly endangering Michael at the same time.

Together they both slowly lowered the ladder, up until now the small group of walkers had not noticed them, their milky-white eyes blankly staring away from their general direction. Unfortunately, as soon as the metal ladder was halfway down, it began rattling, not clamorously loud, but loud enough for two or three of the roamers to notice. "Shit, shit! They've seen us." he panicked, his voice a hissing whisper.

By the time the ladder reached the bottom, the walkers were a few feet from the fire escape. Michael rushed down from the first floor and quickly made his way down the ladder. At the bottom he jumped off, so he wouldn't step on the broken remains of the split-faced walker.
Pulling his hatchet out as he approached the nearest roamer, he intended to aim for the center of the walker's forehead only to miss and scrape against its bared teeth, the hatchet slicing through the bottom lip all the way down to the lower front of the mandible, his botched attack a result of his aching shoulders. Black blood dripped from its mutilated jaw as it attempted to bite Michael. Reacting quickly, he shoved the hatchet handle against its mouth, the walker chomping down on it with putrid teeth. Hopefully he would have given Florence enough time to make her way down.

...

...

When they arrived at the house she was surprised by the condition of the place, the building looking like it was ready to fall apart at any moment. But what surprised her even more was the inside which appeared to be in such a good condition despite the way things had turned out in this area. It was surreal, like it was out of place among the many streets and buildings left in utter ruin. "You weren't kidding..." she said mostly to herself as she looked around before following him upstairs. She didn't fully understand what he meant about government workers, but she decided not to ask about it as something else caught her eye as they entered the bedroom. A picture on the bedside with two people embracing each other, they looked happy in the moment it was taken, but what interested her the most was that Cowboy was one of them. She lifted it with a hand and placed her gun down in it's place, "She's pretty" she commented, turning to look at him while she held the picture. Before he'd respond she caught a brief glimpse of the strongbox he stowed into his bag, but once more she decided not to ask about it. At least not yet.

"Heh, yeah. I guess I forgot. You did look pretty tired last night though. I'm Jason."

He smiled, tucking away the canteen back into the rucksack, then rummaged through another pocket, eventually picking out a can of sardines. Setting his bag aside, he pulled the tab on the can, opening it. The fragrance of fish marinated in tomato sauce filled the air in his proximity, and he became instantly hungrier. He would've almost wolfed down his meal if it weren't for the fact that if he did that, he might spill some sauce, which is never good. Eating the fish with his bare hands, licking them afterwards, Jason asked, "Say, did you take watch last night at any point?" he was unsure, since he had asked Graham to take over after him, and Graham was now still fast asleep.

"Yeah, I thought so too." He said quietly his words beginning to trail off "But in my line of work you tend to make mistakes, falling in love is one of those mistakes. And that rule still holds in these times. No sense in loving someone your probably going to have to kill at a moments notice. You know I think i'm wearing a bit of a smirk in that picture." He chuckled he looked like an idiot in that picture, but he remembered everything about the taking of that picture, down to the way she smelled the conversation they had before it, and even the poor bastard they forced into taking that picture.

He shook his head, he was fucked up yes, but traveling down that road was just as bad as thinking about his sisters death. "Let's go." He said his voice firm and a little on the cold side, he slung his backpack on his shoulders the strongbox definitely adding weight to it but he didn't think it would slow him down much. He slowly walked out of the house so Girl Scout could keep up. When he opened the front door there was a walker on the front lawn of the house it saw them and started walking towards them. In one smooth motion he pulled his pistol from his jacket and shot it in the chest. "Shit." He muttered, he was never going to get over the fact it took a shot to the head to put them down for good, so he adjusted his aim inhaled and fired the shot going clean through the things eye and out the other side it collapsed onto the destroyed lawn, dead for good this time. "Run now!" He shouted his ears still ringing from his shooting after he told Girl Scout to run he took off in a dead sprint.

They made it a good few blocks before he said it was okay to slow down, he was panting due to the weight in his backpack but things seemed clear, the mall wasn't too far now and he hoped that nobody else was there so they'd have free reign of the place but knowing his luck probably not, they'd probably have to hide or hunt down some of those things in order for it to actually be safe. Thankfully they didn't intend to stay there though "Who thinks about the mall when something like this happens." He thought.

Leah picked up her gun from the bedside table, setting the picture down before following him outside. "I wonder if there will be many-" her words were cut short when she saw the walker moving towards them. Hearing the click of his handgun her heart jumped inside her chest as he fired the shot, having gotten halfway to telling him to stop before the shot rang out, making her ears ring a little. With her adrenaline pumping she wasn't sure how long they'd been running before they eventually slowed down, the small girl panting as her small lungs tried to suck in the air oxygen she greatly needed. When she regained her breath she turned towards him, "You know... I could have just used my screwdriver..." she said between breaths before she began to walk next to him again. "Maybe after you teach me how to shoot I'll teach you how to be quiet" she replied with semi irritation born from fear and her adrenaline, the young girl clearly not used to coping with the sensation. Leah had been so used to sneaking about, she'd almost forgotten what it was like to be in a situation where they needed to run. Up ahead was the mall, the large complex coming within sight as they rounded another few blocks. She could only hope that the place wasn't too full of walkers. She remembered watching a few horror films that she shouldn't have, and in all of them malls were always a hot spot for undead... for some reason.

Travis and Girl Scout had reached the mall the front doors had steel shutters over them but Travis didn't care about the front doors instead he went to a side door and pulled the strong box from his backpack and opened it. Inside was a blank cd with the title "MUSIC" written on the front, a dusty revolver with 6 rounds in it, a zippo lighter that he stuffed into his pockets, and a professional lock picking device. The device would be used by locksmiths all around to break into locked doors and he had one just sitting around.

He used it to pick the side doors lock and open it up "This corridor leads into the back of a video game store." He said closing up the strongbox and sticking it back into his bag. "I know because i used to get stoned in this corridor when i was your age." He chuckled and walked down the corridor, the pairs foot steps being the only noise in the hall when he got to the other door he just opened it showing the inside of a video game store that hasn't been set foot in since probably the start of the outbreak. He walked over to the front of the store that was locked with steel shutters and unlocked the dead bolt that was on the inside and lifted it to the top. "Welcome to the world of Jurassic Park." He joked.

Michael struggled with one of the undead creature, using his hatchet to fend it off. As their altercation commenced and both him and Florence descended down the rickety ladder, the five other walkers had taken notice of their presence and were near to swarming around them. Florence knew the gun shot from any of her guns would be too loud and only summon more of them from other back alleys and streets. The entire city was littered with these creatures. No, guns were out of the question if they wanted to sneak their way around the city. Florence figured her best bet was her metal bat, nestled safely in her back pack.

Acting fast after getting to the ground, Florence reached back into her bag, grabbing a hold of the bat and pulling it out. She swung it at the back of one of the walker’s head’s, hearing it’s skull crush and seeing the putrid blood fly forward from its jaw as it fell to the brick road with a thud. It seemed Michael was still immersed with the walker and the three others did not cease their attack. Feeling slightly confident now, Florence commenced to use her bat again against the others, though as she worked on one, the others began to swarm around her. She managed to swing at their legs, making two of them into crawlers but that didn’t take care of the last one. She really hated to ask for help, but knew she was getting overwhelmed. “Little help here,” she called out to Michael.

It was morning already.... the sun was shining and the room was more brighter. Rachel slowly opened her eyes up, looking around trying to see where she was but she was on the ground, right next to a dead rat. "Ah!" Rachel yelled getting up from the ground fast and quickly covering her mouth as she got up, because shr didn't really want to alarm no type of walkers. The girl looked at Jason and Mark, walking towards Mark and standing right next to him with her arms crossed closely to her chest. "Why couldn't you guys wake me up....." Rachel said sighing and looking down at her stomach seeing that she was terribly hungry. "Uhh. Lemme see if I have something to eat..."

And with that she walked to her bookbag, opening the zipper and grabbing a can full of different types of fruits. There was two, so she offered Mark some seeing that Jason was already eating. Ofcourse she looked at Jason too, just incase he wanted... she will share.

The walker pushed down on him with surprising strength, despite its decayed and mutilated state. It still bit down on the handle, as if biting it a certain number of times would somehow produce a meal. Michael spotted Florence in his peripheral vision attacking the other walkers with what appeared to be a baseball bat. His knees were bending now, a result of himself not paying attention. Realising the handle was firmly lodged in the walker's fetid mouth, and not coming loose, he quickly pulled it down with both hands, while simultaneously bringing his knee up with great force. Connecting with the walker's jaw, Michael heard a sickening crack as its mandible fractured, finally loosening its death grip on the handle and falling backwards. Michael placed his foot solidly on its chest, preventing it from biting him or getting up, before it had a chance to scratch or rip his legs with its free hands Michael dispatched it quickly and efficiently with a hatchet strike to the forehead.

Michael heard Florence calling out to him, he turned round to see her surrounded by about three walkers, two of them crawling for her ankles. He ran over to her, hurrying in case something happened. Going straight for the walker that was still standing, Michael raised the hatchet. The walker turned towards him snarling, before the hatchet carved that snarl in two. "Stand on their backs." Michael said out of breath, indicating the two remaining walkers crawling towards them, hoping she would understand his seemingly bizarre advice.

Jason had asked Mark if he'd taken watch over the night, he looked around and noticed that the older man was still asleep. Mark turned his attention back to Jason and nodded, "Yeah, I did. The walkers had slowly stopped banging on the windows, it was uneventful."
Mark was hungry, he always felt hungry, he always suppressed it, but he has been supressing it since the gas station. To his surprise a generous hand extended before him with some food, it was Rachel. He gently took it from her and started eating, keeping his cool about but still eating shameless to show his appetite.

The sun had rose and it was daylight, after his need of hunger was finally met, his thoughts raced back to his wife. He could no longer waste time anymore, he had to go look for her at her relative's place. She must have had trouble back in Denver, and the only other way to run into was her relative's. He hoped that's what happened. He took one final look around and then suggested, "This place doesn't look so good, we will need to move out. Plus I will need to part away and find a missing significant person to me. We could try jumping down, I will check the front door if there is enough clearance for us to pass through. The walkers should be away by now, looking for other sources of food."

He readied his wrench and waited for them to decide.

As the Cowboy explained about his adolescence Leah merely raised an eyebrow, "You... threw stones at each other?" she asked, looking up at him for a moment before shaking her head as she walked past him, "No wonder you're so strange" she said as she moved down the corridor, letting him take the lead into the store. The interior of the place looked fairly untouched as advertisements still hung from the ceiling trying to persuade whoever looked at them to buy their latest CD's and DvD's. Shelves were still lined with items and aside from the few items which lay across the floor here and there it wasn't too bad when other places were looted entirely. Leah ducked under the shutter, looking around the vast open space with a touch of awe. Some would find it silly to have such a reaction to a place like this, but then people could guess that places like this wouldn't be as clear in the mind of a child her age. "Do you think we can really find what we're looking for here?" she asked as she turned to face him.

Florence was slightly caught off guard by Michael's advice after he had taken care of the last standing walker. It was a clean strike, taking care of it for good. "Their backs?" Florence asked him, seemingly bewildered. However, seeing as this really was her only choice, she stood on the first crawler's back, to see what was going to become of this. The other crawler snarled and yapped at their ankles but, if they took care of the first one fast enough, they would be able to get rid of the second one with plenty of time to spare before anymore of these creatures gravitated towards them.

Travis chuckled at her comment about throwing stones at each other "Not quite like that." He said as he lowered the shutters quietly closing them off from the game store and the great mall. "Have you ever been to a mall? They have everything here. Yes it's more catered towards kids who are trying to look cool, but you could probably make something practical out of that. Me myself when i was your age I was a hot topic kid. But I don't know I'll follow behind you until you find a store you might like." He said stepping up next to girl scout a slight grin across his face.

"Hey maybe we should stick together. This city is clearly really dangerous and there's safety in numbers. The front door would probably be alright, as long as we don't make too much noise taking down the barricade. I mean, we might as well go through the staff exit just to be safe. Check the doors anyway, I'll go and look through the kitchen to see if this place has any canned food." He dripped the last of the tomato sauce into his open mouth and looked at Rachel. He gave a slight smirk and asked, "Wanna help?"

After getting his response (whatever it may be) he would put aside the can. Litter was the least of anyone's concern at this point. He would then gently lower his rucksack and axe off the balcony as far as he could, before dropping it onto the floor below. He would move over to the elevator shaft, and if Rachel had said yes, he would help her down the shaft first. Otherwise, he'd just go down it himself. He did not want to take down the pile that was blocking the stairs, in case more shit goes down, so the elevator shaft would have to do. Squeezing through into the kitchen area, Jason would then begin to search, opening various drawers and cupboards, only to find expired french fries and inedible containers and stuff. Perhaps Rachel (if she was with him) would have more luck finding something?

Ignore

Jason had suggested that it was in their little group's best interest of survival to stick together, specially if any of them was intending to trudge through the city. Mark was anxious, he could no longer bear the burden of not knowing what happened to his wife. He clutched his wrench and went down the elevator shaft, squeezing and struggling himself in.

Jason and Rachel were down in the kitchen looking for food, Mark looked at them, young kids, hungry, trying to survive in a world pitted against them. A world evolved into a place that has sixty ways of killing you in less than sixty minutes.

Mark raised his voice as he told the two that he had cleared the kitchen the other night when he was desperately looking for water. He walked out of the counter and slowly inspected behind the windows, there were three to four walkers roaming around in the front, just zoning out, doing absolutely nothing but wait for time to slowly decay the flesh off of them.

Mark walked back to the counter and insisted that if they should stick together, then they should go now, because he was starting to get impatient with the idea that his wife might be out there, or not,

"Please, wake up your friend, let's head out to the mall as soon as possible and not a minute later."