Theo Riddick

Theo was sitting on a couch in the great hall of the old Asylum. He knew that this place was safe but he never let his guard down. Yang was sitting up next to him with her head on his leg. He petted her softly on the head as he looked through a book he found. He was reading "The Stand" by Stephen King. He had always liked his work, but before the outbreak he didn't ever make time to read. Now that he had a lot of down time, he might as well expand his knowledge of horror books in his free time. A loud "CAW" called out as Shay flew over to Theo landing on his shoulder softly. "Find something to eat I see." He said smiling over at him. As he turned to look at Shay, he noticed Sgt. Mitchell walking around. "Have a good run today?" He asked as he placed a book mark in his book to see if she would interact with him. He knew that human interaction was not his thing...but in a world like this, "humans" seem to be the rare breed. The zombies sure have a way of causing mass extinction.

Warm. Wet. Cold.

What the hell? Am I drowning? Seems fitting for someone like me considering it's doubtful I'll survive much longer around here. The food sucks, people pretend to be nice, and the whole place smells like some old lady’s attic after she died in it fifty years ago. But why am I drowning? Oh yeah I know. Isn't it the most horrible way to die? Knowing that you can't possible hold your breath for anymore than a minute -maybe two- before reflex takes over and you find yourself swallowing nothing but gallons of water. And then what? Everything hurts. Everything shuts down. And that “you're fucked” feeling comes just a split second too late.

Yep, this broken world doesn't need me when it has plenty of pussies hanging around willing to put their own pathetic lives on the line for a lost cause.

Wait. Is that a fish swimming up to me? Is it speaking to me? I see the little bubbles coming from it’s mouth.

Did you say something cute little fish?

“Yeah, quit your bitching and wake the fuck up!”


The girls eyes shot open, wide and confused, as her blurred vision slowly subsided and the cold nose of her German Shepard poked her in the cheek followed by several quick warm and wet tongue lashes across her forehead and chin.

“Wha..? Ack! , Frodo stop.” She winced at the sticky dog drool running down her face while lifting herself up, realizing the pain on the back of her head was most likely a result of her falling out of bed again onto the hard floor. It was getting to the point that she may as well sleep on the floor considering it’s where she inevitably ended almost every morning since she showed up at the Twin Peaks Asylum. I fitting place for her. For everyone.

An abrupt knock came again, as it seems to each morning, causing Frodo’s ears to perk up and growl at the door. But Vic knew who it was, as it was always the same shit, different day around the place she called “home”.

A second knock came, followed by an immediate third until...

“Come in for fuck’s sake!” The girl exclaimed, feeling the bump on the back of her head. “I heard you the first time, numbnuts!”

Frodo continued to growl, backing away as the door slowly opened and the head of an older paled skin guy with a beard poked through, his dark eyes darting from the dog and then over to Vic.

“Why does your mutt constantly bark at me?”

“Because you’re an asshole and he doesn’t like assholes.” She said after a moment, pulling herself up off the floor finally and eliciting a smirk from the bearded man at the door.

“I see you’ve managed to find the floor again.” He said in a smug manner. “And, I like your underwear.”

Vic looked down and sighed, realizing she had only a shirt on that wasn’t quite long enough to cover her lavender PowerPuff Girls underwear. “Oh shut the fuck up Curtis, what is it you want?”

“You mean other than you naked and handcuffed to my-”

“Kill him Frodo” Her interruption was as nonchalant as she could make it, but enough for Frodo to lung at the door snarling and barking just before it closed with the man behind it.

“Fine Vic, be a bitch!” Curtis said in a muffled voice behind the door. “Just know you don’t belong here! Shit, your dog is more of a friend than you are!...”

Victoria knew the secrets that were kept behind the walls of the Asylum, secrets that were there to protect those who sought refuged within her walls from the horrors of the outside world. The infection spread like a wildfire, and those with the “gift” of the lycan, or the werewolf, were prized amongst the large number of people housed at Twin Peaks. Vic, however, did not have what the others had, at least not apparently. She could feel it, even her senses were better than a human’s, but there was no change, no transformation into a beast. She knew she didn’t belong, but the girl didn’t know where else to turn.

Outside in one of the open areas of the Asylum, likely once a courtyard for doctors, guests, and time outside for patients, there was now dry dirt littered with several pieces of exercise equipment. It wasn't the main gym of their stronghold, but there was a punching bag, bands, weights, medicine balls. Next to the punching bag, a man was lying down in the dirt, staring up at the sky. His shaggy blond curls almost covered his eyes as he lie there chewing on what seemed to be the bone of a small animal. His teeth moved slowly but powerfully, as if he was half focusing on the bone and half focusing on a drifting cloud or something.

"What am I doing here?"

There was a sudden crunch sound as a part of the bone was crushed between Jace's teeth. His teeth and jaw were not always as strong as they were now. After transforming so many times throughout his life, they seemed to grow in strength over time. Nothing compared to his wolf bite still, but definitely much more lethal than that of a normal human bite.

"Things aren't so different . . ."

Jace had joined this group of survivors to gain an advantage in his own survival, but things weren't going too smoothly since he joined up with them. Food was still extremely scarce, considering rations had to be done for a large group of people and their pets. And he couldn't even join the hunting group to help bring in more food, as he had not earned enough trust to go on hunting, scouting, or guard jobs. All he could do was go on routine patrols with a unit of wolves. But nothing alone.

There was another crunch sound and Jace tossed the bone to the side.

So far all he had done up to now was go through their kind of rough initiation (rough as in, sloppy and drawn out but not difficult considering he was a wolf). That and one patrol job. Besides that he was usually listening to pointless debriefings for missions he'd have no part in, high security nights where his only responsibility was worrying about what's inside the Asylum already, and lie around all day when not exercising.

There wasn't much room for him to run around in wolf form anywhere in this Asylum either, at least, not in the areas he had access to. That was another thing. Jace could not navigate most of the Asylum districts, as he was still earning his keep and under evaluation.

After exhaling a deep breath, Jace moved one hand from his white tank top to underneath his head and the other inside the pocket of his loose fit tan pants. His knees were raised up off the ground, bare feet resting on the warm dirt. All he could do was wait for the job that would prove him worthy. Hopefully. Because if things didn't pick up soon, perhaps he'd be better off alone anyway. Jace was used to being alone and not having human luxury, so the Asylum itself wasn't as much of a benefit on its own to him, as it was to others. In fact, some would say Jace enjoyed being a wolf more than being a human. At the very least, it was easier to survive, especially when on the run your entire life.

@A Tattooed Girl

Yang smiled sniffing Ghost playfully happy to see another dog every now and then. Theo pulled softly on Yang's collar to help him relax a little more. "Well I know we do still have some supplies would could try to trade but sadly all we have are the dead." He said with a shrug. I haven't been able to find anything out there for 50 miles so far." He said reaching into his bag and handing Mitchell and Apple. "I did find an apple tree though in the woods. Keep it to yourself though because its a baby tree and only has a few left that haven't gone bad." He whispered to her to show that it was not for everyone to find out about. "I am trying to help it get bigger but it will take some time." He said putting his book back into his bag. Shay chirped at Mitchell as well when she pet her. "Both of my pets seem to take a liking to you." He said laughing as Yang even wanted to go over to her but waited till he knew she would not mind it.

“You’re wrong”

“What’d ya say?” The bearded man hissed, his face contorting into a picture of anger as he rose from his seat in the mess hall, wiping a bit of spaghetti sauce from his lips, and slamming his fork down onto the metal table.

“I said...You. Are. Wrong.” The huskiness of her words was followed by a pierced tongue sticking out at the man standing a few feet from the girl.

A yellow-toothed grin formed across the man’s face as he slowly drew closer until a mere couple of inches from her face, his foul garlic breath causing her to wince.
“Wrong about what exactly?” Both hands curled into fists, and a low guttural growl emanated from the man’s throat.

Vic smirked, enjoying the rise that she elicited from the guy known as Curtis, a man who gave her just as much shit, if not more, on a daily basis. He didn’t like her for reasons of his own, but she knew his main problem was that she wasn’t like them. And yet she was fine with that either way.

“You gonna punch me Curtis?” She said after a few moments, raising an eyebrow as though intrigued by his threatening gesture. “Or, are you too chicken shit to hit a girl? Oh wait, I know what it is.” She snorted, clearly amused by the fact that she knew something about the older man in front of her. “See, you’ve been down this road before haven’t you? And the last time you hit a woman in this shit hole we call a ‘home’, you were thrown in a tiny cage for what? A month?...”

Curtis clenched his teeth as his breathing grew heavier. “Okay. You’re relatively new here and clearly have a few loose screws in that pretty head, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and let that slide.”

“But why?” Vic plopped down onto the bench the man was previously seated at, causing her to look up at the angry face of her opponent as he stared down through eyes that could catch fire at any moment. “I like you Curtis. I think you’re one of the only straight shooters around this dump...” She paused and then grinned. “Even though you smell like a wet dog rolled in it’s own shit most of the time.”

There was, what one could consider, an awkward moment of silence between the two save for the ambience of others eating and chatting it up at other tables, mostly unconcerned with what was going on between them except for the soldier standing near the far corner of the mess watching the whole matter.

“O’Brien!” The guard yelled, causing Curtis to snap his attention toward the source of the voice across the room. “Sit your ass down, finish your meal, and leave her alone!”

The bearded man narrowed his eyes as he stared at the guard for a moment before returning his attention to Vic, shaking his head in disbelief and allowing his angered expression to subside as he started walking past where the girl was sitting. “I’ve lost my appetite anyway…”

He suddenly stopped a few feet from her and turned around, a quizzical expression plastered on his face. “So what was it you were accusing me of being so ‘wrong’ about?”

“Hm? Oh…” She looked up at him and shrugged. “I have no fucking clue really, but I’m sure you’ve been wrong about a shit ton of things in your pathetic and abusive life, so figured I’d point that out to you in case it wasn’t obvious.”

“Bitch I’ll-” He growled, almost ready to pounce on her with all of the inner beast he could muster up just to shred that smug look from her face. But he didn’t, knowing that she was no doubt playing him for a fool considering she was one of the girl’s that he had become violent with, and she knew that one more outburst like that would most likely get him exiled or simply killed by one of the officers, or perhaps even Sergeant Major Mitchell herself.

“I’ll see you around...Ms Helix.” He finally said with a wry grin, knowing she wasn't a huge fan of someone addressing her in that manner, and turned around to exit the mess hall.

Vic sat there for a moment, watching him as he left, before sliding over toward his food tray and picking through whatever random meats and vegetables still looked edible, as well as shoving a half-eaten oatmeal cookie in her jacket pocket for later.