N A M E:Samantha Rose "Sam" Thurston
A G E:21
S E X:No, thank you. Female (she/her)
P E R S O N A L I T Y:Sam is a thrill-seeker and an absolute adrenaline junkie. While some may see her actions and decisions as reckless and irrational, they are anything but that. She enjoys doing things that get her blood pumping but she would never willingly put herself in a situation where absolutely nothing good would happen to her. She's not one for analysing situations to their very core, but she trusts her instincts and they have never failed her. She'd always gotten her fill of fun and had never gotten in any trouble she can't get out of.
At first glance, Sam is a cheerful person. She almost always has a bright smile on her face and a go-getter attitude. She's easy enough to get along with as long as you never attempt to slow her down. She does have the tendency to be somewhat insensitive of other people's feelings when expressing her thoughts but would never do it on purpose. She's just out to have a good time, no matter what that might require of her. Don't get her mad, though, as she would gladly feed you to the wolves (or, well, zombies) without batting an eye.
D E S C R I P T I O N:Sam stands at five foot six, only slightly taller than most females she worked with. Her previously long and silky black hair had been cropped short and styled with an ungodly amount of hair gel. Most of the time, she could be seen wearing a specially made slick black suit or her signature leather jacket, but since the outbreak began, her wardrobe choices had been reduced to more casual clothing items such as a tank top. She does still keep her precious suit around, but refuses to wear it in case a zombie's bite ruins the cloth.
She has a number of tattoos around her body with the most prominent one being that of a roaring lion on her left arm. She thinks it makes her look really cool, but she won't hesitate to show people the set of Pokemon badges tattoos she has on her lower back. (Badges from the Kanto region since she's a sucker for the first Pokemon game she ever played)
E Q U I P M E N T:Sam's main weapon of choice is the fire axe she took from her uncle's bunker. It's served her well and there's just something about fighting the zombies head on that seems to enjoyable to her. She did find a couple of guns around the bank and has brought them up to the roof in case she would need it. She has two pistols on hand and what seems like a rifle of some sort, but she doesn't use them. She doesn't know how to and she's not going to flounder around with them. Besides, she prefers using the axe anyway. She does keep one of the pistols and an extra magazine with her when going out, just in case she might get trapped in a situation.
She also has a trusty backpack filled with a variety of items – a flashlight, several hundred dollar bills, six bags of weed and three pack of smokes (she doesn't use them but tugs them around in case she might need to barter with other survivors), her suit (neatly folded and tucked inside a protective plastic case), and some provisions.
H I S T O R Y:Born in a boring town in Maine, Sam's early life had been filled with dark clouds and bleak surroundings. Nothing much ever happened there and even at a young age, Sam knew there were better things to life than a quiet neighbourhood and a slow lifestyle. Her parents, who had been born and raised in said town, disagreed and never failed to express their distaste whenever Sam stirred one ruckus after another. Eventually, the wildcard became too much for the town to handle, and her parents packed her things and shipped her off to live with her uncle in Ohio.
Living in Ohio wasn't that much of an improvement from Maine. She was still stuck in a small town, only a tad livelier as it was closer to the city. Her house companions weren't any better from her parents either. Her uncle was a paranoid, always spouting conspiracy theories wherever he went (not that he went outside a lot), and had even built a bunker in their basement for when the aliens inevitably arrive on Earth to probe all of mankind. Her auntie (Sam was absolutely astounded that the crazy coot had found love) was a quirky woman who wanted to be the next world famous inventor. Still, living with the couple had been considerably less boring than living with her parents and their location had sparked what would soon become Sam's line of work.
Sam liked to refer to herself as a businesswoman. After becoming friends with one of her neighbours, a charming fellow who liked to be called Ace, she was soon involved in a small string of crimes around the neighbourhood. From low-key selling bags of drugs to the kids at the local high school who wanted to seem cool to outright blackmailing store owners to pay them protection money, Sam got involved with them all. While Ace had always been the brains of the operation, Sam was his hands. She was the one that walked around the shady alleys and enforcing Ace's new laws. She loved it, so when Ace decided to expand his business, there was no question about whether she would join him. It took Ace almost three years to create an underground empire that encompassed nearly the entirety of Ohio and he wasn't thinking of stopping any time soon.
While most of the people Sam met in the business were in it for the money it offered (and it offered a lot), she was in it for the experience. There was nothing else to beat the high she got during adrenaline filled run-ins with the cops or the pleasure of meeting all sorts of people while she goes about dealing all kinds around the state. It wasn't like she needed the money anyway (her auntie had actually managed to secure a patent on one of her inventions and the government sucked it up) or had a high moral ground to begin with.
A F T E R:For Sam, the outbreak chose the worst time to start. After a year and a while of dating online, her girlfriend had saved enough cash for a trip to visit her and they would finally meet personally. Normally, such a thing would have done nothing to faze Sam (internet dating and the later meet-up wasn't entirely new for her) but Alicia had been different. For some reason, she made Sam feel like maybe slowing down would be a good thing and that she could do to enjoy things for the long-term. The idea hadn't scared her, surprisingly, and her excitement was overwhelming when Alicia had declared she would come see her.
They heard the first screams of terror in the middle of a date at a local cafe and all of Sam's instincts told her to hightail it out of there so they did. She grabbed Alicia and drove them to her home in the suburbs, jumped down into the bunker, and locked the door behind them. It was stocked plenty and kept the two of them safe... For about three days. Doing nothing in the enclosed space for an extended period of time played with Sam's nerves and not even Alicia's constant soothings had been enough. She knew she had to get out – do something, anything. Alicia pleaded her not to because they had no idea what was happening outside and they had everything their needed inside the bunker, but Sam wouldn't listen. She bade her goodbye, grabbed a few provisions and the fire axe, and went out to face what was left of the world.
She floundered a bit for the first few days, almost dying to a horde she'd accidentally alerted once, but Sam knew the neighbourhood well. She found Ace and the group he was with, and told him about the bunker and Alicia. She entrusted her girlfriend to her closest friend and made him promise that he would protect her, while she found adventure in the midst of the apocalypse. Ace had only nodded before handing her a set of keys for the jeep his veteran father had kept around their garage.
Sam ventured forth, with the jeep dying on her just as she reached Pennsylvania. She soon barricaded herself in one of the buildings – a bank that had been looted soon after the outbreak started – and made herself at home. She'd used all of the bank's still remaining security systems to secure the ground floor while she camped out at the roof, using makeshift bridges to cross to the adjacent building should she need to go on a supply run. All in all, the apocalypse is looking like a pretty fun place for Sam. She only wished Alicia and Ace had been with her.