[b]Waynesville, Missouri, 2:23pm, Dominic's Gas An' Go[/b]

The chill afternoon air nibbled its way into his bones. A light snowfall had settled in and the sky showed signs that it would worsten by nightfall. The man's mood had dampened since setting out early that morning. Supplies were becoming harder and harder to come by, and with winter settling in, the stress of fighting for survival was beginning to wear him. He knew that there were other stashes of food in the city, but almost everyone was either infested by the undead, or crawling with raiders. As if the zed weren't bad enough, even fellow humans had turned against them. Dylan gritted his teeth in frusteration, "Fucking Christ!" He exclaimed in frusteration, kicking a stray can that had been nestling calmly in the snow bed with his right foot.

As he neared the gas station, his eyes were greeted by a lone figure in rough winter clothing. Ivy, she had an intuition for keeping track of him, it was uncanny really, how she was always waiting outside when he returned. She seemed more pumped than ussual. Most days he would be greeted by no more than a simple nod and a short word of greeting. He could tell something was off, she seemed, chipper... It was strange. The snow storm picked up as he stepped neared the station, it was almost a damned blizzard. He cursed silently to himself, growing ever closer to the HQ.

He through a furrowed brow at Ivy, who responded by punching him in the arm. "Why the long face kiddo? We got good news."
"Well aren't you talkative today? You catch the happy bug or summin? Alot of strange infections be floating around these days, I might be forced to put you down." He replied with a clever smirk. 

"Ha ha.. Look who suddenly got a sense of humor.. could have used that a few days back," She smacked his back and opened the door for him "Your throne awaits milord." She gestured in a rather unneccessary matter, it had been months since she had let him in with that smile, hell the last time she had done that was back at the pet store.. He raised a suspicious brow at her and stepped in.

"We both could have," He retorted, shooting her a curious look. She was acting strange, and he wanted to know why. "So what has you so chipper? I seem to recall that winter has a tendancy to put you into a slump."

"It does," she replied with a smile, "but a [i]little[/i] somthing has gotten me out of that slump."

"Don't tell me...."

"That's right Dylan, we got ourselves a bug.." Dylan couldn't help but smile at this, perhaps things were turning in there favor...

[[Note: 'Bugs' Are human survivors that are still considered 'civil' by Dylan and Ivy, meaning that they are trustworthy enough to take on as companions, or young enough to be saved from depravity. 'Roaches' are hostile human's, mostly raider's, that have completely given into their animalistic needs and have become no better than the living dead. That is, in Ivy's eyes at least.]]

[b] Missouri, Unmarked CDC Facility, 1:05pm. [/b]

Freedom...

It was so close..

And yet...

Marrie turned to the voice that had called out too her. It was a kind, soft voice. A voice that at one time may have comforted her, but now all the young girl saw was an obstacle. Another obstacle between her and freedom. She looked into the eyes of the woman with her own, once bright but now dead, eyes. The gaze she shot her was one of desperation, of loneliness and lost faith. All she wanted to do was scream, but for the life of her the words would not form. A lump the size of a mountain sat in her throat and refused to budge. Her mouth simply open, and out came silence...

She seemed to grasp for the words like a widow would for her broken home. Her mouth convulsing slightly each time she tried to emit some sort of sound. Eventually she simply stopped, and so did everything else. She lost herself in that void of emptiness she had come so close to escaping from once more. [i]Why?[/i] There it was.. the question that had haunted her for three whole months. Why.. [i]Why..[/i] [b][i]WHY!!??[/i][/b]

Her entire world became one word, the meaningless endings she had attached to it absent, all she could do was focus on [i]it[/i]. She couldn't help but turn all of her focus towards it. She was broken, broken by a world that had forced her into hiding. Never before had she felt this despair. It was akin to losing ones' self, and that is what she did. She lost herself to her own turmoil. Deep within an ocean of swirling emotions and a singular, repetitive question, she was lost, and at this moment there was no way to retrieve her.

So the empty shell that was once Marrianne Ellenheart grieved, tears welled up from deep within her soul and poured out of her body. She ran, unthinking toward the woman who had innocently reached out to her in concern and buried herself their. The warmth envelopped her and after a long while her wails become cries, and even those fell too whimpers, until there was nothing but silence..

And the beating chest of the woman before her....