Shannon Greene & James Feryana - To the Streets

Shannon frowned inwardly. She was glad the boy was relieved, but she didn't need someone who didn't understand the gravity of the situation. He may have understood that the nightmare was all too real, but did he really understand? "It might be best to change up our plans," Shannon said, standing to her feet. As she gathered her weapons, she picked up James' knife and handed it to him. "It's probably best if we find some shelter. A house, hopefully." She followed his gaze out the window. "Right, well, come on."

Shrugging on her backpack, Shannon opened the door. She held it open, waiting for James to go ahead. "There was a motorcycle through here earlier. I imagine that drew most of the monsters away, for now."

Chapter: Innocent Jokes

James Feryana & Shannon Green - Streets

James nodded as Shannon talked about changing plans, and gently took his knife back. "Yeah, a shelter would be nice." He says, walking out of the door. "Lets hope that it did. I don't wanna walk into a street to find that it's being used as a market for walker foods. I believe James's are specialties." It was a bit stupid of James to make jokes out of those types of things, but jokes were what raised people's spirits and made them laugh. Well, only if they are good jokes. "Jokes aside, which way do you want to go? That way..." He pointed one way down the street. "Or that way?" James moved his finger to point down the other end of the street. "Left or right, fast or slow, reckless or cautious? I should stop, or else you'll be thinking I'm crazy. Which I'm not." He gives Shannon one of his cute, innocent faces, chuckling slightly.

Shannon Greene & James Feryana - Walking the Streets

James' joke fell flat. Shannon didn't even crack a smile. It was not that she didn't appreciate the attempt at humor, but she was in no mood for any of that so soon after Lexi. "No jokes until we know we are safe," she said, perhaps a bit more harshly than she intended.

When James asked about their direction, Shannon shrugged and pulled a compass out of her backpack. She attempted a smile now, hoping to smooth over her previous words. "I don't think you're crazy," she said, holding out the compass to show her new companion. "How about West for now?" West was basically left, so Shannon started walking in that direction. "And for the record, slow and cautious."

Shannon spied a large number of shops lining the street. She hoped they would find a more suburban part of the city eventually. Having only arrived in New Orleans a few days ago, Shannon knew very little of the city. Even before the outbreak, Shannon hadn't even visited the state of Louisiana before. She had lived her entire life in New York before moving to that backwater town in Arkansas. When shit started hitting the fan, her and Danny had attempted to make their way to New York but had gotten separated somewhere in Nashville. Since then, Shannon had drifted slowly South. A few of the groups she had been with had expressed an interest in finding a boat along the coastline, so that had eventually become Shannon's plan too. With Lexi, Shannon had hoped to settle in New Orleans a bit before seriously looking for transportation across water, but of course that plan had gone to shit. Now with someone else, Shannon had no idea what to do from here.

"I was wondering," she said, eyeing James' knife. "Have you used that knife much? I mean, do you know how to fight?"

Chapter: He Should be a Rhymer

James Feryana & Shannon Greene - Walking the streets

James looked at Shannon smiling, and smiled the tiniest bit as well. "Sure, we can go West, maybe find a vest, sitting on a crest, in a birds nest. Oh look, I'm rhyming now." James then started to walk, and looked up at Shannon. "Well, um, I can't really fight. I only killed one walker with the knife, but it was trapped by itself. I usually just run." He blushed a bit at Shannon, then turned his eyes on the street, looking between shops in case there were walkers lurking within them. It was unusually quiet, like a switch had been thrown to mute the world. James glanced back up at Shannon. "So, what about you? Have you used your weapons? Have you had to fight yet?"

Tom - Railroad Tracks - Jack, Jessalyn.

Tom rolled onto his side, gazing towards the ground, picking pieces of grass out of the ground; flicking them. Tom looked upwards towards the two every so often.. he ran his fingers through his short hair, closing his eyes.. quite tired, he gave off a small yawn before rolling onto his side; seeing the smile.. he fired back with a smile towards the girl before replying, mouthing the words "Hi." followed by another smile.. he kept on his side, playing with the grass blindly while looking towards the kind woman.. it reminded of him of his own mother, warm-hearted, caring and kind.. he couldn't help but keep a wide smile upon his face, revealing his straight and white teeth towards the woman.

Shannon Greene & James Feryana - Walking the Streets

Her eyebrows rose slightly. She was getting the impression that James was on edge. Shannon wondered how long he had been traveling alone, but she figured the question could wait until they were safer. "There's nothing wrong with running," she said. "Do what you have to do to survive."

There was a moment of silence before James turned the question back toward her. In response, Shannon pulled out her gun. "I've used them. I didn't want to at first, but eventually I had no choice." She sighed, her eyes examining the 9mm pistol. "But I know how to fight now. So, if any of those... walkers..." Shannon had never used the word walkers to describe them, though it was descriptor that made a lot of sense when she thought about it. "If any of those monster show up, you should just stay behind me. And if I screw up, well... You run." She tucked the gun back into her pants. "Just remember that."

At the next crossroad, Shannon stopped. She pointed to the left. "Down here now. We'll keep zigzagging for a bit."

Aleck - Inside the Store with Emma

He set the girl down on a table and started sorting through his bag, he could feel the girl weakened by the loss of blood and potential infection of her arm, he needed to treat her quickly. He wasn't one for courtesy or gentleness where everyone but his sister was concerned so he cut away the sleeve of the girl's jacket without a care as to whether she wanted to save the jacket or not. He removed the makeshift bandages and got a good look at the cut. It wasn't bad, would leave a scar but otherwise it was just a flesh wound, that is if infection didn't settle in. He didn't have the tools to stitch her up, not that it was a priority task in saving the girl's arm since the gash was not deep enough that it demanded stitches but without them the scar that would form would be bulgy and noticeable.

With a towel wetted with alcohol he wiped away the dried blood avoiding the wound itself, once the wound's surrounding was cleaned. The next part was tricky and very painful, for her. He used his body to block her sight as he poured some of the alcohol into a tiny eight ounce plastic bottle and made a hole in the cap. Putting aside the bottle he prepped the bandages because he wanted to do the next part quickly and cleanly.

With a quick tug he forced the girl to either hold on to the table with her other arm or fall off, with the other hand occupied and her arm outstretched Aleck quickly grabbed the bottle and blasted her wound with alcohol. He couldn't afford to be gentle, there was grime and dried blood within the gash, if any of it was infected with zombie blood she would turn, he needed to wash it out. With a towel he wiped away the loosened contaminants and excess alcohol. Once that was done he started properly wrapping her arm in new clean bandages.

Cleaning out the wound had been a task accomplished in less than thirteen seconds, wrapping it would take at least two minutes. He braced himself to receive any lashes as he focused on getting the wrapping right.

Jessalyn - Railroad Tracks - Jack, Tom

The sound of more gunshots made Jess worry. Lynn had been gone for a long time. What if she was in trouble?
She stood up and went to the car to get her lead pipe. One end was a sharp point.
"I need to go and find my friend. She has been gone for too long. I'm worried about her," she told Jack and Tom. "There is a man in the city by the name of Tyler. He is the leader of a group of raiders. If he finds her... I can't let him find her," she finished, not sure of how much to tell them.
Jess looked down at her stomach, then at the doctor. "I don't want to put my baby in danger, but Lynn is my friend. No, she is my family now. If I lose her, I'll have no one. Not even my baby's father cared about me. But she does. She didn't have to, but she does. She risks her life for me every day. If she's in trouble, I have to help her."

She didn't know if they would come with her, but she set off towards the city anyway. She couldn't run very fast, but she could hide and if a walker came after her she had her pipe. All she had to do was nail them in the skull to kill them... well 're-kill' them.
The gun shots seemed to be coming from the large church. If there were guns Lynn was likely in the middle of it. And if she wasn't, perhaps Jess could make some new friends. Friends were always good, especially if things got dangerous.

And with Tyler back, things would get dangerous...

---

Lynn - Church - Floyd

Lynn ducked back down as a group of men came out of the church.
She swore ripely under her breath.
The leader was Brad. She knew that mother-f***ing bastard. He was Tyler's right hand.
Tyler was sending his raiders out. But they had left the people behind. That was unusual. Usually the people they encountered were either killed or taken captive. Unless he had sent them out looking for a specific person. Like herself.
Dammit she had escaped that nightmare and she was not going back.

She was brought from her thoughts by walkers coming towards the church. She jumped up and over the car she had been using for cover and ran towards Floyd.
"Incoming!" she shouted and started firing.

Floyd - God's Promise: The Resurrection of the Dead - Lynn

And suddenly, the gunshots settled into silence. Through the tinted window remained the shadows, this time, absent any movement. Floyd watched with care until suddenly, out if nowhere, another shot blasted through the echoing cathedral. All one could see from Floyd's perspective was the fall if a human shadow. It seemed a raider either shot the enemy, or one of their own. Floyd had yet to encounter a raider till now.

After verbal exchange, it seemed the raiders were not satisfied with what they found. The small group fragmented out the creaking doors, escaping the incoming hoard of walkers. All this shots were like a dinner bell for the undead. The whole city was coming to the soup kitchen known as United Methodist Church. And it was clear these creatures were heading there, Floyd could see them clearly at a distance. The issue was, if he jumped out there now, the raiders would return fire, even though they weren't the targets.

As the raiders took leave, Lynn seemed to have decided to join Floyd's side. "Bout' time you showed up" he said, arming his bow in the meantime. And now was where the real issue began. An entire load of walkers started to overrun the church's general area. Lynn called out as she started to fire her pistol, hopefully not wasting too many bullets. As much as Floyd wanted to fire, there was no way all the walkers present would get taken down, regardless the arsenal.

Without time wasted, Floyd turned around, taking Lynn by the arm. "We gotta get outta here! There's too many, we can't take them all!" He yelled over the moans and groans echoing through the city. The sound was horrifying yet simultaneous and harmonious. It was as though a walking dead a Capella group from Hollywood took the stage known as Louisiana hell hole. As much as Floyd wanted to fight back, he knew the situation called for an escape. "C'mon! We gotta get your friend and get away from here!"

The victims of the church would have to fend for themselves, there was no time or possibility of helping them. The only way those people could get our now was through the back door of the church, assuming it had one ofcourse. That exit would lead to the next street on the other side of the suburbs. Only way Floyd and Lynn could meet up with the survivors is if they both headed towards the intersection heading to the tracks. For Floyd and Lynn, that was the only exit out. The hoard blocked the entire stree, basically making it a one-way.

Without wasting any arrows, Floyd put his bow aside and started jogging in the direction if the railroad tracks. He had his knife in hand just in case walkers decided to jump out if the houses nearby. Hopefully that bike he had parked would start again. It must have been a filtering issue, it was fixable but would take some time. Since it stood for a couple hours, it should start right up, but won't last too long unless the filter is changed along with some plugs. Hopefully it wasn't a transmission issue, because as of now, that would be unfixable.

Emma - Inside the Store - Aleck

Emma was dazed for a moment as he set her down. Before she realized what was happening, he unwrapped the bandage and pressured a damp cloth onto her arm. The alcohol stung by itself, but to make matters worse, he went inside the gash, swabbing the disinfectant on the tissue. She forced herself not to strike out and stop him; he was doing her a favor, instead she painfully gritted her teeth, while letting only a small cry escape her lips. When the seemingly insatiable pain ended, she looked over at her torn sleeve, then at the disinfected wound. Emma turned to face the stranger as he started wrapping the wound and muttered, "Thank you..."

Aleck Inside the Store with Emma

Aleck had a sudden urge to attack the seemingly submissive girl, the urge was so overwhelming it made him pause as he was forced to regain his senses. The pause lasted for a mere instant, he hoped that he hadn't made a strange face.

"There," he said after clearing his throat. He couldn't hurt this girl, his sister needed a companion and it was rare finding girls close to her age among the living, the last one he had found had been caught by a group of raiders. He had killed the group but had incidentally gotten the girl caught in the crossfire. She was shot in the stomach and thigh, the thigh was just a flesh wound but the shot to the stomach had been from a shotgun, the internal damage was too severe, so he lopped off her head so she wouldn't turn. The girl had begged for him to save her but she was already a corpse she just hadn't realized it yet.

"We have to get out of here," He grabbed his sword and pulled it out of its scabbard. He had been too loud while bringing the girl to the store, already he could see three walkers coming their way, though they were still at a distance Aleck didn't like taking unnecessary risks.

Aleck found himself in a moment of indecision, should he take this girl back to his haven or should he stay here and continue to wait for the result of the church fighting? He wanted more guns than the two magnum pythons strapped on his body. He decided to take a quick peek in the direction of the church and found that the raiders were leaving. There were a butt-load and a half of walkers around the church by now but at least there were no raiders, this was going to be his only chance in a very long while to acquire more guns, all the gun stores and depots had been raided in the early days by the stronger groups.

"Here," he handed the girl a walkie-talkie, he set it to the proper channel. "Stay quiet and stay hidden. Call me if you get in danger and I will try and find you but right now I have to go do something. My name is Aleck by the way."

With that he stripped off his pack and everything that weighed him down placing it behind the cashier counter and left at a running pace towards the church keeping out of sight of the retreating raiders.

Chapter: Street Strolling Scare

James Feryana & Shannon Greene - Walking the Streets

James watched Shannon pull her gun out and talk to him about when she had used it. She then told him what to do if they saw some walkers. "I'll remember, don't worry. I don't plan on getting..." He struggled to find a decent word. "Punished for my rhyming." James blushed a little. Why do I have to say things that aren't just simple words, such as 'eaten'? Why do I come up with stupid, but sometimes funny jokes? He wonders to himself.

When they arrive at the crossroad, James agrees with Shannon. "Yeah. Hopefully we'll find some shelter soon." He takes a few steps down the selected street, but stops. He sees a single walker, strolling around at the end of the street. It turns slightly, and walks in the direction of James and Shannon. It hasn't seen them yet, but shuffles their way slowly. "There's a walker. It's alone, poor thing." James walks behind Shannon, since that is what she told him to do if there were any 'monsters'. "I'm scared. No, really, I am actually scared." James wasn't being sarcastic. He was actually scared of that single walker, and you could tell that by looking at his face.

Emma held the walkie-talkie in her hand, watching the door after Aleck left. She had been about tell him her name when he ran off to attend to his errand. Why did he leave his bag? It was sure to contain valuable items, and if it had been her, she wouldn't have left her things with a stranger. He seemed alright, though... but he'd had a look in his eye... only for a moment.

Emma reassured herself that she was simply being over speculative. He'd not done anything to her, in fact he'd help her. However the split second that she saw the look in his eye made her wonder; would he try to do something later? No, Emma shot back at her conscience, he was a good person. She pushed the thoughts away: she could deal with them if- when Aleck got back. She stood on her feet, faltering because of the disapproval of her ankle. It wasn't broken... that was good...

Presently, Emma looked at her ruined jacket. It wouldn't do her any good now that he'd slit the sleeve. She'd have to find a knew one, but later. Emma found her pack a few yards away from Aleck's. She opened the rucksack and took of the jacket, sliding it in the big pocket. She unzipped the smaller pocket and produced a red and blue soccer jersey. The sleeves were long, and on the back read "10" and "Messi". She'd found it in a sporting goods store a week ago, and picked it up. She knew that Messi was a soccer player for a big European team, but that was the limit to her knowledge. She slid it on over her gray undershirt and newly bandaged arm.

The wound stung as much as it had before, but Aleck's alcohol would help the infection. It wasn't antibiotics, but it would definitely suffice. Emma zipped the rucksack, shouldered it and retrieved the walkie-talkie from the floor and clipped it to her waist band.

\

Emma's mind was made. She would leave the store; head back towards the train yard. She looked at Aleck's bag for a lingering moment. No, that would be stealing... but she needed supplies. She went over to the large military bag and observed the contents. A tazer, some water, food, medicine, clothes, two hammers, an IED, a couple knives, and a few other assorted items.

Quickly, she took a hammer, the taser, and a water bottle. He'd helped her, so she wouldn't take everything. But everything about him made her feel in danger. She had to leave before something happened to her. She inserted the new gear into her rucksack and zipped it up. Emma found her knife on the floor and retrieved it. She turned to the door, peaked out to make sure the road was clear, and started in the direction of the train yard.

Lynn - following Floyd - Floyd... (duh)

Lynn ran after Floyd. "That's the first sensible thing you've said," she told him.
By taking back-roads and twisting and turning they managed to lose the walkers. Then they headed for the tracks.
They were near the tracks when she spotted a figure. "Jess!" she exclaimed and ran to her.

Jessalyn jerked her head up. "Lynn!" she yelled and ran to her, hugging her. "I was afraid you were in trouble."
"Since when have I not been able to get out of trouble?" Lynn asked and looked back at Floyd. "Look, I know you've got this Lone Ranger thing going on, but I need to get Jess out of her before that sadistic son of a bitch finds us. I've got history with Tyler. I don't want his getting his hands on Jess."
"Or you," Jess added. "If he finds you he'll hurt you more then me."
"But I can handle it," Lynn pointed out. "You can't," she looked back at Floyd. "Help me get her out of here. I'll find some way to pay you."

Jess was waiting for Floyd's response, hoping it was a good one, when she heard the sound of someone approaching. A girl was heading for them. At first Jess was afraid that she was a walker, because she was limping, but realized she wasn't.
"Hey!" she exclaimed, pointing. "She's alive!"

Emma - Railroad Tracks/Train Yard - Floyd, Lynn, and Jessalyn

Emma stopped, she heard the calling. "She's alive!" It was a woman's voice. Emma stopped and clutched her knife. Should she approach them? Two women and a very large man... Aleck wasn't right in the head, she could tell that, but she doubted these people were. In fact, the woman who'd called towards her seemed almost excited.

Precariously, Emma limped towards the three, cautiously aware of her knife. She couldn't run away from them, so she'd have to be careful and approach with caution.

Floyd - The Lone Ranger - Lynn/Jess/Tom/Doc/and Emma?

Finally the train tracks grew visible after what seemed to be an endless jog. Lynn raced down the blooming grass and tackled her beloved teenage friend, grasping her entire persona in her arms. The boy and the doctor remained in the background as the entire reunion took place, but there was no time to pause in joyous rejoice. The wind was calm and breezy giving off enough cold air to satisfy, but not too much or too little to irritate. It was silent, the moans that had followed them for long distances had came to a halt. It was obvious though, that sooner or later, they would either hear more moans, or the roars of automatic weapons.

Without further ado, Lynn solicited for Floyd's aid. He wanted him to get her friend out of tracks, going who knows where. Currently there was nothing east, nor west - nothing but more endless tracks of course. But if they followed it, they would eventually reach something. Floyd hesitated to respond though; he had already done so much for these people and owed them nothin' more. "How do you plan to get out of here?" he questioned Lynn. Did they have a form of transportation, or was she just concerned about her friend. "Tsch.............Fine!" Floyd called out, almost seemingly annoyed. He walked passed the pregnant girl and started walking eastward. "C'mon girl, we ain't got all day. It'll get dark soon" he said, hopping on the bike he had abandoned a couple hours ago. "Hop on kid, we best goin' now." He looked back to Lynn. "We'll most likely be headed to the next town, if any. Its dawn, so we'll have no choice but to camp out in the forest for the night. You best find us, cuz I ain't takin' care of her foreva' ya' hear?!"

With a kick, the bike miraculously started. Just as expected, it just needed a tune up. The machines motor roared like a furious bear prepared to strike its prey. Suddenly, out of the midst of soars, another small girl popped from the outskirts of the city. From afar she looked like a walker, but Lynn suddenly announced she was alive. Floyd didn't think much of the girl since he didn't really have ties with any of these people. The only reason he's taking Jessalyn is because he was promised a favor in return. But now the problem began. Was he going to be asked to also take this girl with him? Or was Jessalyn all that mattered to Lynn? All this wasted time deciding what to do was giving walkers time to catch up.

"So what's it gonna be powered perm? How do you plan to catch up to us?" he questioned, still not sure he was getting the good side of the deal. What if they couldn't catch up to him, would he be stuck with the child bearer and her burdens. Once again he was fighting his conscious, reality vs innocence.

Aleck Making a run for the Church

Aleck was quick, though he took the long way around to avoid being spotted he was quick enough to get around the buildings on the other side of the store in time to see the girl limping out, she looked like she had a goal in mind. Had he trusted too much? Would she put him in danger and consequently put his sister in danger? Should he take her out right now and avoid having to track her down later?

The pack! It occurred to him far too late that he had left so many precious things within! He was stunned, Aleck was a master planner, there wasn't an instance he wasn't prepared for but the girl had brought down his guard and now he could be potentially be paying for that.

He decided to forgo killing the girl. The guns were more important.

Making a mad dash for the church he avoided being stealthy, using his weight and strength he either pushed the zombies that got in his way down or lopped off heads. Within seconds he was at the front of the church stripping corpses of surface loot, he didn't take the time to search them properly. He found the raiders to be practically standardized in their ammo and weapons, they must have looted a police station since most of their guns are a single standard size and caliber per category. The raiders had been looted before Aleck had arrived so he managed four revolvers with about three dozen rounds, a rifle with three clips and a fourth that was already in it, as well as a shotgun, though he didn't find any shells for it and it was probably empty so he left that.

He retreated with his loot running back the way he had come. By the time he reached the north-most point that allowed him to see in the direction the girl had headed he could see her in the distance with other survivors, maybe the girl hadn't betrayed him and was doing that thing that girls do and went looking for more people risking life and limb. It was the greatest reason why he kept his sister back in the Haven, he didn't want her finding other survivors and forcing him to cooperate with them whether they could be trusted or not.

He kept himself at just the right angle as he ran towards the store so that the store would be between him and the group blocking their view of him. Once there he quickly took apart the rifle removing stock and clip so that it would fit in the pack and replaced his pythons with the two police revolvers, he didn't care if he wasted those rounds, the magnum rounds were rarer, police nines not so much.

Though completely out of breath he put on his heavy coat, it was layered with leather and thin steel plating to prevent him from being stabbed among other things easily. He loaded a third revolver and put it in his pocket, it was small enough to fit and the sleeves were long enough to cover both his hand and the gun as he kept a grip on it as he walked. With the heavy pack further burdened with new loot he walked outside and started making his slow approach towards the group, he didn't pick up his pace so that the hand-in-the-pocket thing wouldn't seem out of place and so that he could regain his breath.

Emma stared at the group... she was no further than thirty yards away. At that distance, she could see the man's face. He didn't look like he welcomed her, in fact, he looked like he despised her. Emma contemplated her next steps carefully. She wasn't at risk of the same dangers she was in when she'd been with Aleck. There were women here, and, if Emma saw correctly, one was pregnant. She took a few steps forward carefully, lifting her hands in full surrender, but not letting go of her knife.

"H-hello..." She said slowly. "I-I'm Emma..."