Ethan had slowed the car enough to were it was just rolling along at the same pace of the woman who didn't really look too pleased to see him. People had become slow to trust since the apocalypse happened and Ethan had no idea what she could have been through. Before the walkers swarmed the town, which he started to see as his home, Ethan had it pretty easy. The most he had to do was do upkeep on the homes and buildings everyone stayed in. The rest of the time when he wasn't helping out he was relaxing in a home were the patio of the house basically backed onto the beach. It was a paradise in comparison to the rest of the country, that was probably the reason no one really took what was happening as seriously as they should have. Ethan kept thinking to himself what the community should have been doing instead of pretending everything would work itself out but it was too late now.

As he listened to the woman speak he was thrown back by what she was accusing him of and what she thought his actual motives were. Ethan looked at her with a confused look on his face. "I'm sorry to have offended you." Ethan apologised quickly, not really knowing what he was actually apologising for, it just seemed to be a trait of an English person, constantly apologising. "Well if you want to be left alone, I'll respect that..." It didn't feel right to Ethan just leaving her on her own but he didn't want to force her into coming with him. "Before I go then, do you know if there's a mall around here? If the accent hasn't given away, I'm not from around here." He debated whether to ask her to come with him but didn't want to come across too pushy.

Ayla - Road - Ethan@josephb

Ayla kept her hand on her hilt and her eyes on Ethan. So far he seemed... Reticent, which is different than how she's seen others act, but she still wasn't about to just hop into his car and hope for the best. He wanted to know where a mall was too. Ayla knew where the mall was at but has been avoiding it; a giant place like that was a hot bed for walker and survivor activity. Sure, there may be some places in there worth checking, but everyone would've thought the same thing. And too many people in one location means a lot of dead bodies, which means a lot of walkers. "Just down the street, about two miles right. Big place, you can't miss it, but I'm pretty sure the parking lot's got to hell. Lots of people have tried to go there... Not a lot made it out." Ayla quietly debated with herself if she wanted to go with this man. On one hand, she doesn't trust him. But on the other, could she survive on her own? No food, no shelter, not even any real weapons. She's been getting by mostly by running and hiding and that wasn't going to last long. At least this guy had a car. Ayla swallowed her pride and spoke up.

"Look... I still don't trust you, and if I have to I'm not afraid to kill you. But... But if we work together, I'm sure we can handle whatever we might find in that Mall. Not only that, but I've been to that mall before, at least before all of this shit happened. I vaguely remember a restaurant that was almost ready to open before the dead started walking around and eating people. Maybe if we're lucky, no one has bothered to look into it yet, but there may be some supplies worth taking. I don't know what, but better than searching through trash and eating gas station food." Ayla let out a deep sigh. She wasn't sure if she was going to regret this or not, but hells, the worse that could happen is that this guy tries to betray her and she has to run again. As long as she has two feet and her head, she can always run away. "If that's works for you... I'll help you out. Deal?"

Molly - road - Casey@QT

Her heart was pounding now, the car drove slowly towards her and then stopped. Molly could see a man at the wheel. He seemed on edge too, looking left and right as if expecting a dozen bandits to come charging out. Mind racing, she considered reaching for her gun. Which was slung on her back, the man probably couldn't even see it from where he was. No Molly thought, he's too close now.
The car stopped and the driver got out, leaving the engine running "Are you alone?!" he asked loud enough for her to hear over the running engine. "You look too young to be out here all alone..."

"And you look too old to be out here by yourself" she shouted back, voice breaking a little. It'd been a long time since she'd had to speak loudly. "Now if you're gonna kill me just do it already, I'm too worn out from walking to care".
Nice one, thought Molly, insult the man that can easily kill you. He looked normal enough to her but something about the way he carried himself, a sort of resigned confidence about him. She just hoped that the man didn't see her as a threat. There wasn't a lot she could do against him, run into the trees perhaps?

Waiting nervously for the man to respond, Molly's mind whirled round and round, thoughts, prayers and regrets that this might be her last moments.

Nathalie smiled as she watched the two eat. She wanted to reassure them that she was trustworthy and hope that this could bring out the good side of them so they could form a friendship. That was her thinking optimistically though. Nothing ever worked out the way that Nat wanted. She listening to Finn as he spoke and kept her eyes on him. She had seen many men since the outbreak, but they were all hideous. Some not physically hideous, but their personality and what they had grown into was completely monstrous. Finn on the other hand seemed a decent young man. She could tell that they were near in age, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly how old he was. He was handsome and his sister was really pretty as well. It must have been the fact that they were the first out of many to treat her kindly and with respect that made her look at them so fondly.

Once they had finished eating, Nathalie stretched as far as she could to wake her muscles up and moved towards the barricaded door. She pushed a bit but noticed that the shelf would make too much noise and attract unwanted company over to them. She sighed and pushed some hairs out of her face before looking at her two new companions. “The shelf is too heavy and will make too much noise. I feel like the dead might be on alert now, so I think the window is our best bet.” With that being said, she walked over to where they had entered and propped the window open once more. She made sure to look around before taking her backpack off and passing it first so she wouldn’t get caught on anything. Once it was on the floor, she quietly sat her machete down on it before making her own way out of the shop.

While she waited for the other two to come out, Nat quietly slid her backpack back on and grabbed her blade, her eyes never stopping from surveilling. “I think we will have better luck in the food court.” Her voice came out soft. Not exactly a whisper, but definitely not as loud as they had been speaking in the gift stop. “It should be on our way out towards the main parking lot. This is a half outdoor, half indoor mall so we will have to go in some doors to get to the food court.” Her eyes met with both of theirs to make sure they were okay with it. She had been here before twice after the outbreak and once before. It was a smaller mall but still had many small shops to go to in case she ever needed clothes or camping supplies.

After the two had agreed, Nathalie motioned for them to follow her. She carefully walked towards the ends of the halls where she would stick her blade out to see if she could make out any dark shadows. She could hear a few moans and groans coming from the dead, but they seemed to be no where in sight. They must have been making their way towards the gunshots and screams so they were all walking in the same direction. Nathalie didn’t want to push luck, in case it was on their side, so she kept moving forward until they got to the doors of the food court. The chains that had once locked the main entrance were broken off, but before the two suspected foul play, Nathalie spoke up. “Don’t worry, these chains were broken by the community after the outbreak. We broke in to get food before the cops came. Keep your eyes open though. Not everyone made it out.”

Taking in a deep breath, Nathalie forced one of the doors open with her body weight. It had rusted over time due to the rain and humidity and lack of use. The door made a creak that was louder than she expected, which caused her to quickly stop and look around. “Come on,” she whispered as she made her way further in. There were plenty of shops around with several doors that could either hide their means of survival or more of the dead. “I’ll start over there,” she said pointing her machete towards the left. “If I find anything, I will gather it and bring it to y’all.” She looked at the two and smiled genuinely, wishing them luck before walking off.

@Juniper

"Sounds like we have a deal then." Ethan said with a smile on his face but in his mind he started to get reservations about actually letting her come with him as soon as she said she wasn't afraid to kill him. Now that he thought about it, it was a little strange that a woman was just on her own walking down a road not even attempting to stay hidden with all that was going on in the world, was it some sort of trap and this is what she did? Wait for people to pick her up then rob them. A few moments passed as Ethan thought about whether he was making the right choice, a look of doubt creeped onto his face but in the end up he just smiled again and took the chance hoping she wasn't crazy or evil. "Get in then whenever you're ready... I'm Ethan by the way."

As Ethan waited for her to get in he looked at her and decided to ask her about the area. "So if you're from around here then where would be the best place to actually stay for the night or just to live? You don't really seem too confident about other survivors turning the place into some sort of refuge." Ethan said in a disappointed tone, he had quite a bit of food and water left that he'd left in the bag in the boot of the car but it couldn't last forever and he had no idea how to live off the land. Sure he had a bow and arrow and was moderately okay with it but he'd never hunted an animal in his life. "Something tells me I wouldn't make the best mountain man. I could build a beautiful looking house for you but ask me to make a fire without a match or lighter, I wouldn't have the foggiest idea of how to begin." Ethan let out a little chuckle to himself thinking how much he can ramble on about nothing.

Finn Loughty / Nicole Brenn - Food Court - Nathalie Soltero @wolverbells

Finn kept one eye on Nicole and the other on Nathalie and his ears out for any groans that made their way too close to them as they snuck their way through the eerie mall to the food court. His fingers tightened on his machete as he began to have doubts about coming here. This place was a hub, crawling with walkers and survivors. Finn observed Nathalie as she strolled on ahead of them. He was intrigued by her kindness to them. How trusting she was despite his own distrust. He shook his head, trying to push her out of his thoughts. This was not the time to think about this. A few moments later as they walked on, he almost halted at the sight of the broken chains hanging off the rusty food court doors.

“Don’t worry, these chains were broken by the community after the outbreak. We broke in to get food before the cops came. Keep your eyes open though. Not everyone made it out.”

Finn anchored his attention on her, wondering how she knew all of this. He stepped forward to help her with the door. As they padded in, their quiet footsteps were the only thing heard in the wide, haunting room. It was quiet. A little too quiet for his liking.

“If you want, we can meet back here when we’re done. Good luck, Nathalie.” The corners of his Lincoln green eyes crinkled as he returned her warm smile.

“Call for help if something happens. Please. We don’t want anything to happen to you.” Nicole added in after him with a hopeful smile of her own. She didn’t care if her brother trusted her or not, she had decided she liked Nathalie.

Finn’s penetrating gaze probed their surroundings as he assessed the situation. Where to? They began to search through a couple of fast-food restaurants closest to them and there was nothing. Nada. They had taken everything. A little bit frustrated but not surprised, he caught sight of what seemed like a high-end restaurant to the far right side. Maybe if they went in the back, they would have some stored food in the back in the pantry or freezer.
“Come on, Nic,” he said, motioning for her to follow him. Jumping over the counter, he paused to see if he could hear any walkers. Nothing. He opened the back room door with the tip of his machete. There were rusting appliances and the whole place was crawling with roaches.
“Hey Finn, take a look at this,” he heard Nicole call him from further into the restaurant. Following her voice, he ended up staring at a large walk-in the pantry. The steel door was bolted with what seemed like unpentratable locks. It was obvious that there had been several unsuccessful attempts to break into the pantry. From bullet holes, sharp and heavy dents, it didn’t budge. There it remained, awaiting it’s next opponent.

“It must be loaded with food. Who knows what could be in there?”

“Well, we’re out of bullets and unless you can figure out a way to get in, we can forget about it Finn. If we make one loud bang, we’re dead. Besides, there are other places to search through.”

“And we don’t get food, we’re dead too, Nicole,” he sighed, glancing at his feet before his eyes met hers once more. “Look, those other places here are probably empty and if this our only opportunity to find food in a while, I’m going to try.”

“Okay, let’s try,” Nicole reluctantly gave in with a sigh.

Finn began to run his hands over the edges of the door, trying to find an alternative way other than to hack away at the locks, which he knew was next to impossible. First, he thought of maybe breaking in the pantry through the ceiling. No, he didn’t have the right tools for that. He put his focus back on the door. Perhaps he could find a way to remove the hinges off of it. He dug into his pack and found a couple of screwdrivers he kept with him from his old construction days. With that, he began working at it. He installed doors before. He could disinstall them if he wanted to too. It had passed about ten minutes of him working on it before he realized that Nicole hadn’t said anything up till now. He glanced behind him and noticed she was nowhere in sight.

“Nicole?” he said out loud. Silence. “Damn it. I hate it when she does this.”

Nicole always disappeared to go off to do her own thing in the most inappropriate times. Torn between finishing what he was doing and going after her, he put his screwdrivers down and he glanced at the hinges he had managed to loosen a little. At this rate,this would take at least half an hour. Suddenly getting an idea, he got out his shotgun and held it backwards so that the butt of it was facing forward. He slammed the butt of his shotgun on the hinges as hard as he could. It made a loud bang. At first, it didn’t budge. He continued to launch his gun at the door. He knew the risks of making noise but at this point he didn’t care. The hinges were beginning to fall part. After about five minutes, he managed to break the two hinges off the door. Finn used his machete to pry the door open. It was open! He gingerly moved the door to the side.


After making sure there were no walkers in the pantry, he managed to feel through the shelves. Grinning to himself, he realized he had hit the motherload. The place was loaded with cans, bags of rice and bags of other dry foods he couldn’t identify. But just as he had begun to fill his pack, he began to hear groanings too close for comfort. The loud banging he had produced earlier had reached their ears. He hastily began to stuff his pack with food. He would have to come back. After filling it to the brim, he booked it.

Just as he was about to jump over the counter and back into the food court, there were four walkers coming straight at him. Nicole was nowhere in sight. Dropping his pack and grabbing his machete, he began to distract one of them to the side. He managed to kill it swiftly, but the other three were right on his tail.

“Hey, you!” Nicole shouted from about fifteen yards away. A walker turned around at the sound of her voice and stared at her. “Yeah, you! Over here!” The disgusting creature plodded over to her.

Finn immediately heard her, and cried out for her to stop, knowing what she was doing. Furious, he charged at one of the walkers and kicked it to the dirty floor. He managed to slice its head off and then nimbly plunge his machete into the other one’s head.

Nicole had her knife in her hands as the creature began to inch closer to her. Standing at only 5’2, the walker towered over her menacingly. She noticed her hands were trembling. Come on, Nicole. You can do this. Failing to encourage herself, she began to step backwards, leading it around the food court. The walker’s hands were almost touching her now. She spotted a chair and knew that if she managed to stand on it she would be able to kill it. Before she could attempt her plan, like a flash before her eyes, it’s head fell off its body and it fell on the ground. She moved away just in time so that she didn’t fall under it. Her fearful eyes stared at her brother in surprise.

"Are you alright?" she heard him say, pratically out of breath.

She managed a weak, "Yeah. Thanks."

She observed him go and hoist his much heavier pack on his back and motioned for her to follow him. "Come on. Let's go find Nat," he sighed, running his fingers through his hair. He was exhausted from the limited amount of food and water. The physical exertion he had just done had taken a toll on him. "I managed to open that pantry. She needs some food as well."

Ayla - Road - Ethan@josephb

Ayla got into the back of his car and buckled up. While not being seat belted meant that she'd have a faster time to escape, if this guy crashes into something, Ayla would quickly find herself flung at deadly speeds out of his car. She'd rather be safe than sorry. "Name's Ayla." She'd listen to him ask his question and ramble on, making her regret offering a team up. She knows he's just trying to make conversation but she wasn't interested in chatting with someone who might be dead in a few hours. "There's no one place that's safe to stay at right now. The most obvious places, churches, police stations, and clinics, have already been broken into or invested with the dead. For the past few days I've mostly been sleeping inside of cars or high places like on the top of cabinets or semitrucks. And you're the only real human I've met in a long time who wasn't... Who hasn't tried to do something to me. This is America. Once law and order went out, people became very terrible, very fast." Ayla was wondering if this guy even understood some of the depravity that she's escaped from or if he's been so isolated that he doesn't understand the dangers. She decided to enlighten him.

"About five days ago, two young girls and a boy were taken by a church. They didn't find me because I pretended to be a corpse. Those kids didn't even get a chance to talk before they were forced to the ground. I had to lay still, silent, for about thirty minutes before those monsters dragged them away to god knows where. A week ago I tried to work with a police officer who put his gun to my head and told me to give him everything I had and not to scream. I stalled for as long as I could so a walker could get behind him and bite him." Ayla moved some of her hair out of the way to reveal a red scar on the side of her head. "Almost had my brains splattered against the back of his car. I had to heat up a butter knife using a lighter to cauterize the cut, and I'm not even sure if it's not infected. For all I know I could die in a few days because of it." Ayla looked at Ethan with a cold stare after showing him her scar.

"If anyone has made anything resemble a safe and secured place here, I can guarantee you, it's not because they're being nice. You'd think that in a time of crisis like this people would stop being evil and work together... But like any story about a disaster, humans are the real monsters. Ever since this whole cataclysm started, anytime I've seen another human, they weren't fighting the dead. They weren't just trying to survive. They've been killing each other, for canned food or a pack of bullets." Ayla turned her attention to the mall in front of them. It'll only take them ten minutes at most to get there. "So no, I don't know anywhere safe here. If there's anywhere safe, it's not in this city. Maybe up north where it's colder. Canada or something."

’What if they’re just playing you? What if they use you and leave?’ As the young woman walked off on her own, the little voice inside her head wouldn’t stop bringing up the negative thoughts that Nat had tried so hard to push away. ’No! They are good people; they won’t do that. I need them to be good people.’ She shook her head as she arrived at the first little restaurant inside the food court, easily hopping over the check out counter using only one hand to keep her up. She began to scan every inch of the counters, neatly growling out of frustration when she saw it had been ransacked already. Hopefully they hadn’t gotten as much in the back. Her eyes wandered over to the door that lead to the back which was the kitchen. She didn’t want to face what may be back there alone, but she needed time to prove herself trustworthy to Finn and Nicole. Although the teenager was sweet and welcoming, her older brother seemed skeptical and uneasy around Nathalie. She had come across so many horrible people that all she wanted was a break. She wanted to find someone that would be as reliable as she could be, and not expect more from her. Although the day was hot, she could not stop herself from shivering at the memory of the most recent men that she had ran into and their “requirements” for protection and for her to be able to stay and scavenge with them.

Nathalie inhaled deeply before exhaling until she had gotten over it. She stood in front of the door which held back the unknown. Ever so softly, she placed her hands on it and pushed; trying her best not to make noise. She heard little to nothing, so she made her way in, propping the door open as she went. The back room was darker than the front side. The light entering from both the front open door and the back-door window helped illuminate, but it was not enough to walk around comfortably.

Sheathing her machete, Nat immediately went to work, trying to find anything that could possibly help the three of them. As she moved slowly, combing through the selves and cabinets, all she was able to find were 3 cans. One of sweet corn, one of lentils, and another of pineapple chunks. She decided to check them and continued to the next food shop, then the next one, then the next. Two small bottles of water which seemed kid sized, a bottle of wine, four cans of god damn chili, two Powerade’s. “Do these expire?” Her voice came out as a hushed mutter, but that seemed to be enough to wake up one of the dead that she had yet to see. Its moans and groans snapped Nathalie out of her reverie, damning herself for assuming that the kitchen would be clear like the others before it. She immediately unsheathed her blade and started slowly walking towards the sound of the monstrosity. To her surprise, when she turned the corner, it was on the floor. “Broke your legs, huh?” She crouched down to try and get a good look at it, immediately covering her nose and mouth and standing back up. “Oh man you smell so bad up close. Fucking gross.” Her eyes narrowed as the dead reached its arms out ever so slowly to try and get her. ’This was somebody. They had a home and family.’ “Yeah well they’re dead now,” she responded to her inner thoughts, taking only another second to look at the corpse before shoving her machete into its skull.

Gagging, nearly throwing up, Nathalie used all of her body to pull out the blade. She walked over to a pile of aprons and wiped off any blood that she could find either on her weapon or herself before grabbing what she found in the kitchen. In total aside from what she had found earlier, the final shop was fruitful; four full size bottles of water, seven cans of lentils – some with bacon in it, and in the first aid kit she found six pads and two tampons. As Nathalie tried to organize her findings, the sudden sound of commotion coming from out in the food court caught her attention. ”Hey you! Yeah you, over here!” Cursing under her breath, Nathalie ran out to see what was going on but she had arrived only to see the dead on the ground. “Oh my god, are y’all okay?” She quickly jumped over the counter and ran over to see what had happened. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to help.” ’They’re going to hate you.’ She stood a bit awkwardly as she wanted to get near and make sure they were alright but wanted to give them some room to not overstep her boundaries. “I, um, I found some stuff. Do y’all want to get moving before more of them come and then we can see what we managed to score? I got some stuff for Nicole too.” She smiled at the young girl and looked over at Finn, hoping he wouldn’t be mad or blame them being attacked on her for bringing them. “I’ll go grab the stuff that I left back there. Be right back.” Looking at them both, Nat turned on her heel and ran back into the shop that she had just been in. She took little to no time in stacking the cans in her backpack. The wine bottle she had found she had to carry but it wasn’t a big deal as her machete was heavier than the bottle itself.

After all was said and done, she neared the other two and smiled sheepishly. “I have wine!”

@Juniper

Just after the outbreak - the Bauer family house

Molly had been home about an hour now, the TV still worked and she had the news on, it was the first time in her life she'd willing watched that shit. The usual boring stuff about the economy or sports was replaced with terrifying reports from all over the world. People attacking each other, killing one another and nobody seemed to know what was truly happening.

More than anything she kept hoping that her parents were coming back, that they had found her little brother and that they were all safe. Molly had avoided most of the chaos to get home from school, when those things, had attacked and her classmates all followed the teachers to the main assembly hall. She had slipped away and ran out by herself.

Molly - road - Casey@QT

Hmm tough choice thought Molly, keep walking and get killed by the next passerby or at the very least get another dammed blister. Or get in with a total stranger that may or may not kill you and save the blisters. "Easy choice" she whispered to herself.

"Ok I will but you have to show me your weapons too, ok?" She replied "And what's your name? Mom always told me not to hitchhike with strangers" Molly flashed a nervous smile at the man. Then slowly slipped the .22 rifle and bag off of her shoulder onto the hot tarmac of the road.

As Ethan drove towards the mall, he kept glancing into his rear view mirror looking at Ayla. Still not fully trusting her so he wanted to check what she was doing and at the same time watching her expression as she told her story. He found it strange that she wouldn't sit in the front seat but all those thoughts quickly left his head when he actually took in what she was saying. The car started to swerve close to the curb every now and then when he was listening to what Ayla was telling him too intently and wasn't paying much attention to the road. It took a while for Ethan to realise that he was looking at her from the mirror with his mouth open in utter shock. "I'm... I'm sorry... I didn't know that's how bad it had gotten out there..." It was all that Ethan could muster up to say in response. There wasn't any words he could have said to make it okay.

The rest of the way they went in silence except when she was giving him slight directions. It didn't take long for the mall to come into view but the closer they got to it, the more Ethan started to second guess himself. He had always been optimistic and just believed he'd be able to find some safe haven and build some sort of life but after listening to some of the horrors Ayla had witnessed and what kind of carnage the walking dead could cause. The vision was slowly dying. All he wanted was to wake up from this nightmare back in England with his girlfriend by his side, he knew that was never going to happen though.

He pulled the car up around a few minutes walk away from the actual mall, he didn't think it would have been the smartest of ideas to drive straight to the front door causing attention to themselves. Before he got out the car he took a swig of the water at the side of him preparing himself for what they could be facing. Then he moved to the trunk of the car to get his equipment, he chucked on a ruck sack, tied his hatchet and the quiver with the few arrows left to his belt. His knuckle duster went into his pocket and he held on to the bow. "You ready then?" Ethan said in a cheery tone trying to convince himself everything would work out.

@datadogie
Jessalyn - bus - Jasper

Jessalyn raised an eyebrow. "You found a bunch of stuff stashed away and didn't think it belonged to anyone? Yeah, alright short stuff," she said, stepping towards him and looked into his bag to see what he was making off with. "Look, I'm not about to kill a kid. Not today anyway. But don't think I'm gonna let you steal from me."

She looked him over. The kid was cute. And an accent that said he wasn't from this country let alone this area. Probably one of the tourists who came to Florida for one of the theme parks and got stuck here. Jessalyn squatted down to his level, staring in his eyes. She narrowed her own and pursed her lips thoughtfully before picking up his bag.
"I'll make you a deal okay? I'll let you take the stuff you already have in here and you won't tell whatever group you're in where you got it. I don't need raiders coming here and attacking me. I worked hard making this little area livable and I'd rather not lose it. We got a deal?"

The kid had a gun but hadn't fired it. So either he didn't know how to use a gun or it was as empty as hers was. She wasn't about to call him on it. If the kid wanted some food and a few meager supplies it was fine with her. She could always scavenge for more in the area. There was a large mall nearby that she hadn't really started surveying yet. Who knew what she'd find there? And honestly, she wasn't about to hurt a kid. No matter how bad things got, that was one dark place she was NOT going to cross into.

Finn Loughty // Nicole Brenn - Food Court - Nathalie Soltero @wolverbells

Finn didn’t realize it but relief flooded his features as Nathalie ran over to them. “Oh my god, are ya’ll okay?” Discreetly eyeing her over to check for any walker bites and injuries she might have gotten while she was gone, he was thankful she had come back healthy and in one piece. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to help.” Surprised and grateful for her concern, he met her eyes. “No need to worry. It was my fault. I took care of it.” He’d rather face the walkers alone than her or Nicole.

“I, um, I found some stuff. Do y’all want to get moving before more of them come and then we can see what we managed to score? I got some stuff for Nicole too.” Nicole’s eyes lit up, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

While Nat went to grab her findings, Finn noticed his sister was unusually quiet. He let out a contemplative sigh and turned around to face her. He knew it would be better to bring this up sooner rather than later. “I’m not mad at you, Nicole. I caused those walkers to come out. I didn’t want something to happen to you because of my doing. You should have left those walkers to me. Because if something would’ve happened, I never would have forgiven myself.”

Nicole’s head stared down at her shoes in slight shame. “I still don’t know what happens to me when I see one of those dead things. I can’t seem to kill them no matter how hard I try.”

Finn’s hand tilted her chin up to look at him. “You’ll learn.” The side of his mouth went up in a half-smile. “Now. I need your pack because I found so much food in that pantry to last us for the rest of our lives.” Nicole handed it over to him. With haste, he went over to the pantry and filled her backpack with everything he could so he didn’t keep them waiting. He felt around in the darkness to see if there was more but the pantry was far more emptier than he thought. It seemed like there was more in there when he first looked inside but he was deceived. He was able to fill Nicole’s pack to the brim with the remaining food. Returning to the spot where Nicole and Nat were waiting, he handed Nicole’s pack back and grabbed his and hoisted it over his back.

A laugh escaped Finn’s lips as Nat smiled sheepishly at them with a bottle of wine, “I have wine!” He didn’t remember the last time he let out a laugh. Probably the last time he had a drink. Perhaps they could celebrate their findings with a little bit of wine tonight.

“I found a bolted pantry back there with some food,” he explained in a low voice to not attract any more attention, pointing in the direction to where it was. “I believe someone took some of the food in there and locked it so that he would come back in the future to grab the rest.” He paused as the sudden remembrance of the promise he made to himself earlier. Selfish desires invaded his thoughts, trying to tell him to keep it to himself or ask for some kind of ‘payment’ in return. After all, so many men did it. Disgusted, he resisted it. Those weren’t men. They were pigs. If someone did this to his sister, he would cut them into pieces.
Returning to reality, he glanced over at Nat. ”Oh, I almost forgot. I wanna give you half of everything I got from there.” Nicole stared at her brother in genuine surprise. He continued, “For the food you gave us and for your help in leading us here. No strings attached. I promise.” His tone was earnest and his gaze sincere, because he wanted her to know that he was dead serious about it. He never would want to take advantage of her.

Finn frowned as the sounds of distant groanings reached his ears. That was their cue to go. He remembered the way they came in and decided to lead them out, towards the mall parking lot.
“Do you have a place to stay tonight?” Nicole chirped in, glancing at Nat. “We have a shelter about ten minutes from here if you wanna come.”

Finn didn’t say anything at first. He didn’t like to bring others to their shelter, afraid they might attract other people and they would overtake their place. But, if she needed a place to stay, he could allow her to stay for a little bit. He cleared his throat, “We need to sort through the food so you can take your half. If you want, we can take you to our shelter and we can do it there and you can take some time to rest over there. It’s up to you,” he looked at her with anticipation, wondering what she wanted to do.

What the woman said was truthful, but for the wrong reason. Jasper had thought that the stuff belonged to someone, he just hadn't known if the owner was alive to care if the stuff was taken. Whether or not she was alive, if she hadn't turned up, he probably would have made it away with the supplies without even knowing if she really was alive or dead. Jasper wouldn't have had any reason to think about it, it would just be another batch of supplies, soon to vanish and need to be replaced. Such as life was nowadays.

Jasper watched as she squatted down to his level, and admittedly he was a little worried. He was under her control here, as there was nothing he could do. She wouldn't even need to grab her gun if he tried to move his hands anywhere, she could probably just grab his arms and hold them. That was if he was going to be making any moves like that - he didn't want to. She clearly wasn't trying to threaten him or hurt him, she was just a little bit intimidating with her gun and the adult authority that she held over him. His eyes quickly moved to his bag as it was picked up, watching it as if he didn't expect to see it again.

He found it perhaps a little morbidly funny that she expected him not to tell whoever he was with where he found the supplies. That slight, dark humour turned to misery after a few moments due to the realisation as to why it was so morbid - he didn't have a group, let alone a gang of raiders that would swoop in and take the rest. For a moment his mind flashed to his mother's lifeless eyes, and he quickly blinked away the image with a growing, sad frown.

"I..." He began, but was forced to stop as he choked up a little. He turned his head to the side to clear his throat and compose himself, trying not to think about the beginning. He wanted to tell her that he didn't have a group but he just couldn't work up the words, so he tried to reword it in his mind. "Do you think if I had a group, they would send me to find supplies?" The child asks. He shook his head, answering his own question. After a few moments, he says, quieter and with a little bit of an upset squeak in his voice, "I have nobody to tell where I got the supplies. You don't... Don't need to worry."

Molly - road/car - Casey@QT

"Thank you sir, I'm Molly" she answered starting to feel a little more relaxed. Casey was clearly not about to kill her or worse, though Molly decided to keep an eye out for the first sign of something not being right with him. If she had to cut and run to protect herself from the guy, then that's what she'd do. For now, lets just see what happens she thought to herself.

"I-I'm not sure where they are.. My parents I mean or anyone else from my family" Molly's face darkened as the familiar weight of being alone in this world settled over her. She shook it off and hopped up into the front passenger seat, becoming conscious of her general state "Sorry for the B.O, showers aren't exactly plentiful round here and the last stream was a few miles back." Molly said quite embarrassed. She wound the window down to let in the warm air from outside.

The worn out girl gave Casey a side long glance, trying to figure him out. Not many people would stop to help a stranger even in normal times and these were anything but normal. "It's very good of you to stop for me, not many would" she stated gratefully.

A gurgling rasp alerted them both, the lone walker that had been doggedly following Molly up this sun beaten road was about an 100 yards away now, dry skin flapping as it lurched on towards them. Feet scraping across the cracked tarmac of the road. Teeth like stumps stuck out of it's mouth, a useless tongue hanging out one side.

Ayla - Mall Parking Lot - Ethan@josephb

Ayla could see walkers in the distance, but not a lot nor do they seem to be particularly active. Though these may just be stragglers: Ayla was certain there would be more inside actively hunting. Once they parked, Ayla picked up a few small bits of asphalt rubble and looked over to Ethan with a nod. She wasn't in the mood for talking right now when they had a job to do. Getting inside of the mall would be easy enough, not like anyone was guarding the doors, but once inside the first thing that would hit them was the stench. With no one keeping this place clean and all sorts of things dying here, it smelled like a corpse that had passed gas. Ayla choked back at the stench and covered her face with her shirt. "Fuck that reeks."

Not wanting to attract the horde, Ayla moved quietly, picking up a mall pamphlet near the entrance. On it was a map of the mall where she showed Ethan where the restaurant should be: on the map it says it was a Ruby Tuesday but that's because this map is old and hadn't been updated. It was on the second floor on the north side, which was a little bit away from where they're at now. There's also a mall ninja shop on the second floor but Ayla is positive that when the outbreak happened, that location was one of the first places that had been looted. That and the outdoors/sporting shop. The only problem would be getting to the second floor: elevators were obviously not working and walkers swarmed the staircases and escalator area. Ayla had one idea, but she wanted Ethan to take point. "We can go through that clothing store there. It's two-story so we can take it's escalator up. Watch out for walkers or crawlers though." Ayla pointed at what was once a Forever 21, but apparently someone really didn't like the place as the signs had been all smashed up.

Nathalie had come back, nearly skipping, over to where Nicole waited alone. “Hey!” She smiled at the young girl and stood next to her. “I’ll tell you now before your brother comes back, but I found some pads and tampons! We can check them out once we’re in the clear.” She looked at the young girl and couldn’t help but feel her heart strings tugging at her. Nicole’s features were almost shockingly similar to her own sisters. Or maybe she hadn’t seen them in so long that she was forgetting what they looked like and was making herself remember by Nicole’s image. Either way, Nathalie felt almost a strong maternal instinct or urge to protect the teenager. “You look a lot like my sisters. Makes me miss them a lot, but seeing you also gives me hope that they’re okay.” Nathalie smiled a bit as she reached over and gave the girls shoulder an affectionate rub. These two truly cared about each other, and it made Nat long for the days where she was wish her own family. She wished that she hadn’t taken that time for granted. Hearing Finn’s laugh also made her heart nearly flutter, as it reminded her of all of her guy friends from before that were always there for her. She loved them all and missed them greatly.

Her blue eyes immediately shot up when she saw movement in her peripheral vision. It was Finn coming back with two full backpacks. Her blue eyes lit up, a grin appearing on her face as she heard Finn mentioned him finding a pantry stacked with supplies. “Oh my god, Finn! That’s great!” She tried to keep quiet, so her voice came out in excited whispers more than an actual tone. She couldn’t help but be happy for them due to how hungry they had seemed when eating the chili she gave them. She wanted nothing but the best for them since they had been so kind to her. ’They’re not going to stick around. They are going to leave as soon as you close your eyes.’ the voice inside her head taunted her. She cleared her throat and stood up straight once more, not realizing she had leaned in closer to them. She was about to open her mouth to speak but Finn seemed to have beat her to it, what came out of his mouth though, was very unexpected. “H...half? No, absolutely not. Y’all found it, y’all keep it.” With doe eye and a slight frown, she shook her head and held up her hands to show she didn’t want to take anything. As much as she wanted to see, it had not crossed her mind to take. Before she could say more though, Nicole seemed to have found her voice and spoke up as well, inviting her to at least spend the night at their shelter. At that point, Nat’s jaw dropped, having her mouth fall into a small O as she was incredulous to their generosity and hospitality.

“I, I don’t know what to say.” Her voice was soft and shaky, almost as if she wanted to cry. “Um, if y’all don’t mind I would truly love to just take a nap without having to constantly wake up to look over my shoulder.” Nathalie smiled a bit as she looked at both of them. Their welcoming words meant the world to her as she had been moving around for so long, going on several days with little to no sleep. “We can drink the wine to celebrate as we look at the supplies we found.” She giggled a bit before looking towards the doors and seeing some shrouded figures down a hall. “Oh, but we should go first. Finn, lead them way.”

@Juniper

Nicole felt as if she saw fireflies bringing light into a dark cave as Nathalie put her hand on her shoulder. She believed that dark cave was her and her brother's lives. She had such a kind soul and pure intentions that Nicole believed she was an angel from heaven that was sent to be help them out and perhaps be their friend. But many thing go on in a fifteen year-old girl's head. Too many thoughts to keep track of, including her brother's which tried to invade her moment of hope. “Don’t get too close to people, Nic," Finn told her one cold day over the crackling of a fire. "They are either going to betray you or die because of a damn walker and you will never again be the same.” He told her this once upon a time when someone very close to them had passed away. After the incident, Finn didn’t talk for days and just like he prophesied, hadn’t been the same ever since. She didn't remember the last time she ever heard him laugh after hearing him today. Nicole shooed that thought away like a fly. She wasn’t Finn and she wasn’t going to push something good away just because the world had decided to turn upside down.

Little did she know, but she shared the same sentiments as Nat - a longing for family. Memories that she had barricaded away for so long began to resurface. Flashbacks of when life when it was ordinary resurfaced to her mind. She remembered when step-father would take her out to their weekly movie dates. Her mother always had delicious plate food waiting for her when she arrived home from soccer practice. How could the world change so much and so fast? Tears threatened to come up and spill over but she was smarter than that. Holding them back and clearing her throat, she fixed her focus back on Nat, imagining the pain she must be going through. “I really, really hope you see them again soon. ”

Detecting her brother’s hasty footsteps coming over, she took a tiny step back and smiled at her as if to leave that special moment just between them two. Returning the pack to Nicole, Finn frowned slightly as Nathalie refused his gift. He knew she was being genuine about not wanting it but he hoped that she knew he wasn’t going to back down. Even if it took stuffing it in her bag while she was sleeping, he was going to find a way.

“Um, if y’all don’t mind I would truly love to just take a nap without having to constantly wake up to look over my shoulder.”

“Of course! You can sleep on my cot. It’s not much but it’s comfortable,” Nicole said, keeping her voice hushed. Her eyes were sparkling like a kid at Christmas. She adored her brother but she also dearly craved the companionship of another girl who understood some of the things that only girls go through. “We have a place up in the trees that Finn just finished building. I think you’re gonna like it. You know, he used to work in construction before everything went down. He was real good too.”

Finn remained quiet, listening in to their conversation as he led them to the exit of the mall into the spacious parking lot, trudging away with walkers. He didn’t like to reminisce about his past life or the people he was close to back then. It dredged up aching memories that he would rather store away in a cellar and never look inside. In comes Nicole and her words of hope and her rose-colored glasses, telling stories of their past lives and people they’ve loved as if it was the only thing that linked her back to normalcy.

His ready fingers tapped on his machete as he fixtated his eyes on his truck which stood a few hundred yards away, camouflaged behind a dense pack of trees. He crouched behind the building and turned to look at Nat, his voice just above a whisper. “We’ve got a truck over there behind some trees,” he said, pointing straight at the forest. “Hoping no one has found yet and taken it for a spin, we’ll hop in there and get the hell out of here.”

All the commotion in the parking lot earlier had slowly but surely brought a whole company of walkers over, making it even more difficult to leave. He led them near the gift shop where they first met, and guided them to go behind the buildings. They were still about a hundred yards off from the truck, poking out from among the trees. After taking a peak, he informed them that there were a few walkers roaming about there, but there were a little ways off and if they moved fast, they wouldn’t have to bother with them. But Finn had sorely miscalculated.There seemed to appear more and more as if out of thin air. He sliced the head off of one of them that started to get too close.

Throwing the car keys to Nat because Nicole didn’t yet know how to drive, he said, “Keep going and I will meet you both there. Nicole will show you where the truck is.” The extra weight from the supplies and his dangerously low energy was catching up to him fast. Sweat trickled down his temples as he attempted to plunge his machete into every one of their heads, letting out a curse word every time he did. He managed to take second to breathe before going in after them again. There were too many to take on. Even if Nat and Nicole helped him out, it would be a big risk and he would rather have them alive. “I will hold ‘em here!" He promised as he stared at Nicole, who's face was frozen in fear because she didn't want to leave her brother. "Nicole! Go, now!" Finn said, furious this time around.