[IC] Running. Dead. Infected. (The Walking Dead/The Last of Us Style RP)

[Rina]

As the group moved ahead and started to get closer to the town, Annie took extra caution by watching her surroundings with her binoculars but from what she could see, there didn't seem to be any infected nor humans nearby. However, she knew that didn't mean they were in the clear. who knows what could be inside one of the houses or hidden behind a building. Giving a nervous nod as Andrew recommended the group to split, Annie followed closely behind the others, allowing room for them to go inside of the house first and fight off any potential infected that could be lurking right behind the door. Gripping her knife tightly, Annie hesitantly gave a small nod to Nick so that he knew she was ready, or at least as ready as she possibly could be. Who knows, maybe they'll get lucky and find out that the house is clear of infected, allowing them to gather supplies without worry.

With his machete in hand, Cameron joined Nick as he looked into the window before meeting Annie at the door. Taking to opposite side of the door from Nick, Cameron was ready to attack. "I'll take the right if you want to go left Nick. Emilie, watch the hallway and Annie I want you to get anything that's too close for Emilie to get. Once we clear this room, we should move on ahead and clear the rest of the house before worrying about collecting supplies. We don't want any sudden unwanted guests appearing while we are busy gathering what we need." Cameron said in a hushed tone as he waited for the others to agree or a response with a better idea on how to handle the situation.

[TheDookieNut]

Emilie nodded and pulled an arrow immediately into the knock. She'd stay quiet now. They all needed to. Any screaming and all the infected in the area would hear. She lifted a hand to the door and pushed it open, slowly. Nothing straight away. She pushed the door open fully and stepped inside, bow fully extended and ready. Nothing. Not yet. She waited to one side and looked back at the others. They'd be able to get where they needed to, she'd wait for Annie before continuing. Runners were often too fast to react.

Across the street, Andrew thought the same thing.
"Well clear rooms together, it'll be easier that way." He added, reading his pistol and his knife. Mary stood behind him, nervous and obviously terrified. These runs and raids scared her more than the infected herself. Someone was always left behind. Everytime. It was beginning to break her. Andrew eased the door open, within half an inch, he spotted an infected. The thing was hunched over in the living room. He lifted a finger to his friends and eased the door open more, waiting and testing the thing inside.

[MisterMonkeyFace]

(I'm so sorry, I thought I'd posted.)

Nick slowly advanced into the house, scanning the area for a few moments. When the first room proved to be empty, he advanced down the hallway to the left weapon ready. When the young man saw nothing, he cracked open one of the doors and peered within, but not before glancing back to check on his group. The room was too dark to see anything inside, so he pushed the door open and beckoned backward with one arm hoping someone had a light.

Marc waited, tensed and ready to thrust his spear into whatever enemy may threaten them. When Andrew lifted his finger, he shifted a bit and exhaled slowly, glancing at the other house for just a moment. He couldn't see inside, so he just waited for Andrew to continue with the door silently, on edge. Every enclosed space was life or death. Your life could be ended in just a second... Something he'd worried enough about before the fungus took over.

[Rina]

With his machete in hand, Cameron made his way into the house. He was glad to see that the front room didn't have any infected waiting for them. Giving a slight nod towards Annie and Emilie, Cameron made his way towards a door to the right. Opening the door while staying at a distance, Cameron readied his weapon for an oncoming attack. However as he scanned the dark bathroom lit only by the light coming in from behind him, he could see that whatever was in the room was already taken care of by the blood smeared on the wall and broken glass scattered across the ground that came from the shower door. Whatever happened here, he hoped that wasn't anything else lurking around left over from a past encounter that happened.

Making her way in to the house, Annie held her knife tightly as moved in front of Emilie. Although she was supposed to be there to stop any oncoming attacks too close for Emilie to shoot, she hoped that the woman would be able to stop any of the infected before they made their way towards her. Looking down the hallway she could see Nick make his way towards a door. "Do you have your lighter?" Annie asked Cameron as she saw that Nick needed a light to see in the room.

With a nod, Cameron tossed his lighter towards the girl before grabbing a candle and handing it towards her as well. Lighting the candle, Annie made her way towards Nick so that the room could be illuminated.

[TheDookieNut]

Andrew waited, easing the door slowly and carefully. It looked recent. The bastard looked like he was still resisting. He edged inside, knife in hand now with Mary inches behind. They'd never split up during moments like this. Never. Andrew glanced back at Marc and warned him to be silent. They'd need to check the adjoining room for runners before they took the first infected out. If one of them spotted the group, the shouts would warn all others in the area. That was the last thing they needed. The man crept forwards, pointing Marc and his wife into the next room so he could eliminate the first as soon as he could.

Back across the street, the others were somewhat safer. Emilie held her bow down, leaving it loose for now. It would be a long time before they'd find another.
"If one comes this way, I want you to duck. Forget everything and duck." She murmured to Annie, moving cautiously past the stairs. Various rooms sent waves of rancid stenchs over the girl's nose but it was to something they weren't used to. "Check the kitchen and then head upstairs." Emilie suggested, moving closer to Cameron. She crept towards the kitchen, listening. Her eyes moved to the windows. She spotted a someone over by the garden shed, or what was left. It took her a moment before realising the thing was a clicker. They'd be fine unless they made any loud noise.

[MisterMonkeyFace]

Nick took the lighter and held it out toward the room before sliding his thumb down the steel roller to light it. The dark room was illuminated by the small dancing flame, making shadows along the wall move in haunting harmony. It appeared to be a bedroom, the bed nestled in the corner and a small nightstand. The carpet in the center was covered with the sickly brown of dry blood and a trail led to the closet off to his and Annie's right. "I think it's clear..." He muttered softly and advanced forward only to stop suddenly when he looked at the closet and offered Annie the lighter. "Hold this, and open the door... If anything's inside I'll smash it." When and if she took it, he gripped his bat tight and positioned himself to see inside.

Marc crept toward the door he'd been pointed toward and gingerly pushed it open, wary of any hands that may reach out of the darkness to grab him. He peered inside and glanced around... It appeared to be a dimly lit recreation room. A small fireplace sat in the center of the back wall and above it a gun rack proudly presented nothing but air, unaware that its resident rifle had gone. A pool table was in the center, too dark to see under and off to the left a TV and a couch. "Looks clear..." He mumbled, stepping in forward before pressing his back against the wall. "Stay cautious."

[WilsonTurner]

An unseen man moved through the backyard of the house, moving silently beyond the fence. Peering through broken slats, he had spotted and targeted both a lone Clicker, and a pair of peering eyes from his targeted house.

Moving silently to a section of the wooden fence that had been run over by... something, the heavy-packer picked up a fallen board, carefully ensuring it made no noise, and then tossed it at the opposite stretch of fence. The clatter wasn't too loud: any infected in any of the other houses wouldn't of heard it, runners more than likely wouldn't notice, and only a clicker in the yard he had thrown the board at would notice.

But, it was enough for the clicker in this particular backyard to take the bait. It snapped to attention, facing the direction of the board, past the unseen man's hiding place against the fence. As the clicker slowly approached, the man readied his hatchet.

As the clicker stepped past the fence, it stopped, suddenly curious about a very low, whistling sound. The next moment ended its strange, lonely, desperate life from a hatchet imbedded in its face. The depth of the cut made the hatchet stick to it, so thankfully, the clicker didn't just fall down, and instead, the man managed to catch it, and gently lower it to the ground. If a human were listening closely enough, they would make out a very light, short, unusual prayer to lay the clicker's previous soul to rest.

And then the man was up, yanking the hatchet out of the clicker's face, and moving towards the house, sticking to the fences and walls, raising a hand in friendly greeting to any who might be watching.

[Rina]

"Alright." Annie said in response to Emilie, hoping that the woman would be able to shoot fast enough to deal with any danger that might come charging towards her as she made her way down the hall. As Emilie and Cameron continued down the hallway towards the kitchen, Annie stayed with Nick as he made his way into the bedroom. Listening to Nick's plan, Annie sheathed her knife so that she could have a hand both for the lighter and for opening the door. Grabbing the lighter from him, she flicked it to life before grabbing the handle of the closet. With Nick ready with his bat, Annie gave a nod to motion she was about to open the door. Swiftly opening the door in one motion, Annie quickly took a step back as she grabbed her knife.

"Yes, that would be best." Cameron said as followed Emilie into the kitchen, pausing only to glance into the bedroom that Nick and Annie went into. Even though the two were only a room apart, he knew that something could happen even with them that close. Although he didn't like leaving her, Cameron trusted Nick enough to know that the two would stick together if something came up. With the main part of the kitchen clear, Cameron made his way towards the pantry as he hoped that it was both full and empty. That is, full with food or supplies and empty of any of the infected. However before he did so, Cameron looked towards Emilie to see how she was doing. As he did so, movement caught Cameron's attention as he saw a person outside waving towards them. "Looks like we have company." Cameron said as he watched the man tensely. "So far I only see one right now but who knows how many of his friends could be out there." Cameron said obviously cautious of this new man. Dealing with other people always seemed harder than dealing with the infected. With their only motive being to kill, fighting the infected off was always an easy solution to come to but people were much more harder to know if they could be trusted or not since deciphering what their true intentions are isn't as clean as the simple minded mentality of the infected. Although he knew that the man could genuinely be friendly as he tried to display through his wave, potentially putting the others in the group in harm's way wasn't something he was fond of doing. "Make sure you're ready in case Mr. Friendly out there turns out not to be as friendly as he acts." Cameron said, knowing he would be defenseless if a standoff occurred and would be dependent on Emilie.

[TheDookieNut]

Emilie lowered her bow and looked towards the window. Cameron was right, there was a high chance the stranger had friends.
"This land may be claimed, I suggest we look quicker." She hushed. Although their presence was known, none of them knew what was upstairs. There may have been infected or inhabitants living in the walls up above them. They didn't need to alert every clicker in the town. She placed down her bag and began to glance through cupboards. Rotten. Inedible. Useless. Empty. They were all words that passed her lips as she filtered through the various shelves. Eventually, she found two peach cans and handed them down to Cameron. They needed medicine more than food. Rain was their worst enemy and the clouds hadn't looked promising for days. She dropped down quietly onto the floor again and quickly picked up her bow. They'd regroup and head upstairs together.

The brunette took the two cans and stuck them into her bag, then returning it to her shoulder. It wasn't a meal, but it would save incase something sweet was needed. She'd hated processed food as a child, but now it was saving them all.
"Keep an eye on him. There's a chance he doesn't know how many of us there are." Providing Annie and Nick stayed away from the windows.

Across the street, Andrew stayed close to his wife. They listened for the ever constant clicks or shuffles in any of the rooms. Nothing but dust, thankfully. It wouldn't stay that way forever.
"Kitchen and bathroom are the best bets for food and medicine. I suggest we clear the house then check each of them. Anything is useful to us now." The elder man commented, following Marc's footsteps exactly. Anything they could find would bring some morale to the group. If it wasn't the Infected, or the Infection itself, it was depression. There had already been two members of the group who'd taken their own lives out of the grim reality of it all. He didn't blame them. It was always an ever constant threat. Something that would always play on their minds.

Mary held her own gun close, fretting and watching every corner. If there was so much as an inch of movement, she'd shoot. It was how terrified Mary spent her life now. She was a mother figure and the one who hid her fear to protect the other girls, but she would openly tell Andrew of how much she wanted everything to stop. They would get to the sanctuary and everything would be okay. They'd be on the road for months but they'd reach it. She knew they wouldn't all make it. She knew she'd either die alone or take Andrew with her, despite how much she'd want her husband to carry on.

[MisterMonkeyFace]

When the door was pulled open, the smell of decay in the room strengthened tenfold, almost enough to make Nick gag. Though the body in the closet lie still and lifeless, the head split into two grisly halves that hung off of the neck. Nick let himself gag then, lowering the bat he held. The young man grunted in disgust and slowly crouched to pull the corpse out of the closet by its rotten foot. "Let's get this out of the way..." He muttered and left it closer to the center of the room to rummage in the closet. "Clothes... Clothes..." Just when he was about to give up and was backing out of the closet, the young man paused and lifted a light blue box from the corner. "Hmmm I wonder..." When opened, it revealed nothing more than some child's stash of candy. "Just sweets, but at least we weren't attacked right? Let's find the others."

Marc sidled along the wall to allow Andrew room to enter before he crept forward carefully towards the pool table. He leaned down and pushed his spear under the table, probing with it to try and find anything that may be a threat. Nothing. That he found at least... "Unless you see another dark area, the room's clear." Was all Mark said as he started to rummage through the shelves near the fireplace. A weapon cleaning kit, probably for the rifle and... A small lockbox. What could be in it? They'd found out if they found a key... Or somewhere to smash it open. "Find anything?" The ex-soldier asked, sliding what he'd found into the pack he wore.

[Rina]

Giving a quick nod in agreement, Cameron quickly made his way to the pantry. Giving a quiet single tap, Cameron opened the door after hearing nothing respond to his knock and quickly browsed the shelves. With items messily knocked on the ground, he could tell that someone had previously rummaged through the pantry. Although he was having a similar time in finding supplies as Emilie, was glad to find a five pound bag of rice (about the same height and of a bag of flour but about half the width) that was nearly a fourth of the way full. Although cooking rice on the go wasn’t something practical, he knew with its long shelf life it would come in handy down the road especially since he had about a meal’s worth of food for everyone, if not a little extra. Not wanting to waste too much time, Cameron shoved the rice in his bag and seeing a small stash of batteries, he added it to his supplies without checking if they worked or what kind of batteries he grabbed before making his way towards Emilie.

Biting down on her lower lip, Annie adverted her eyes from the body as she tried to keep herself from throwing up. Although the smell was horrible, it was better than one that was still moving. Following Nick to the closet, the girl kept the light on as Nick searched. Putting her knife back in its sheath, Annie used her free hand to search the nearby bookcase but just as Nick came back empty handed, she did as well. “Yes, that is always a good thing.” Annie said agreement, glad to not come across an infected yet. Turning the lighter off to conserve the lighter fluid before heading towards the hall where they met Emilie and Cameron. She could tell that something was off by the way the two acted. “What’s going on?” Annie asked with concern as Cameron entered the room the two left and headed towards the boarded up window.

“We have a visitor.” Cameron said looking through the cracks as he watched the man as he was heading towards the door.

“A living visitor?”

“Yes. Nick, do you still have ammo for your shotgun? I rather not use a single shot but it might be good for an intimidation factor if it comes to that.” Cameron said as he tried to distinguish what supplies and weapons the man had with him.

[WilsonTurner]

The man just raised his hands as he spotted movement, then waved them in the air and began whistling a happy tune as he approached.

"I come in peace, k? No bodyguards, no clickers, I'm peaceful, not trying to kill. Clickers slowly heading this way unless they hear, can I take cover with you guys?"

Of course, there were actually clickers just a couple yards down, about two dozen, but they weren't moving. They had been party-goers when they were attacked, and the fence and house that surrounded them was still completely intact, leaving them trapped unless they heard something really interesting. Like a gunshot.

"Don't shoot, please. I have ammunition and food if you want some?"

[TheDookieNut]

Emilie had turned herself towards the back door, fully opening her bow. A decent aim and she could easily pierce an artery in his neck. She paused, watching carefully. She didn't trust him, none of them would. That much was clear. His behaviour was strange. No one was so friendly and open with strangers now. For all they knew, he could have been sick. He could have been hours from changing. He could even have friends.. It would only take one to kill the watch before they'd all be dead.

"Open your bag." Emilie spoke, stepping in front of Cameron and Annie. She chose to stand close to Nick, knowing that a shotgun still provided decent intimidation. "Show us what you have." Anyone would have done the same in this situation. She would help them all by finding out exactly what was true. "Pockets too. Empty all your pockets."

[Rina]

Moving away from the window and back towards the group as the man moved too far away from the window, Cameron watched carefully as the man joined them. Although he knew that in comparison to having a gun or a bow that his machete was not as beneficial, Cameron kept a firm grip on it. Keeping himself close to Annie, Cameron watched as Emilie told the man to reveal all that he had.

"Maybe we can trust him." Annie whispered quietly enough that only Cameron could hear her. Even during these hard times it still amazed him either how kindhearted the girl was towards other people. However during these times he wondered if kindhearted was just another word for being too trusting and naive. He knew that the girl hate killing the infected and people even more but she needed to learn that trust wasn't something she should easily give away.

"We don't know about that yet." Cameron whispered into her ear as he gave a stern expression. "We know nothing about this man and I want you to promise me you won't interfere if things become ugly here, understand? If not, it would be best if you wait in the kitchen." Watching the girl give a slight nod of understanding, Cameron resumed his attention towards the newcomer wondering if he would be a man that they would be able to trust as Annie wished to do.

[WilsonTurner]

"The guy" smiled at them. Speaking softly, calming his anxiety and fear, he says, "Hey hey hey, calm down, I ain't here to raid you guys. You might want to drop that bow; you might end up pulling a muscle with how long you're drawing it back. And a shotgun is ill-advised," he advises, gesturing to the neighboring yard, "There's like a dozen Clickers over there, so even though you'd get me, you'd probably bring the entire neighborhood down here for a party. And empty my pockets? Hell no, you'd probably just grab all my stuff, put an arrow in my throat, retrieve it, and then leave me for dead after grabbing all my stuff. Besides, if I get shot, you can bet that I'll be screaming at the top of my lungs. Low pain threshold, ya know?" At this, his expression turns more pleading, rather than pleasant.

"I don't want to die as much as you guys don't, me thinks. I can lead the way, and you can have a gun to my back, if you just don't kill and loot me. Ya?"

[TheDookieNut]

Emilie pulled her bow further.
"Empty your pockets." She spat, her tone dropping as the newcomer's speech mentioned clickers. "Now." There were downsides to trusting people, strangers anyway. "Show us what you have." She gestured towards his pockets with her bow before aiming at his throat once more. She stood still in the silence, watching and waiting for the man to do as requested. "Empty them." It would only take a moment,. Only a moment to empty his belongings but also a moment to kill him. She wouldn't do it in front of Annie, but if worst came to worst, she'd release her arrow.

She aimed higher and waited, a face stern. It was the sound of movement upstairs that pulled her eyes from the man. She relaxed her bow and hushed the group around her. There was no clicking... No shrieking... Stalker? Whatever it was, they needed to leave.
"Which way?" She mouthed. The garden could push them to interact with too many clickers, but the door may force interaction with whatever was upstairs.

[Rina]

The feel of dread crossed Annie as she watched the man converse with Emilie, wishing that the man would comply and listen without a fight. He understood the reasoning behind what the man said and would have compromised with him if it was only the two of them but with Emilie and the others, she knew that it wouldn't happen. As the sound of something upstairs, Annie turned her gaze towards Cameron as she wondered what they should do. However the answer came as Emilie directed the man to lead the way. Something she knew that would be quite beneficial for him if things went well and if so, hopefully he might be a new member to their team. After the incident that happened at the school, she knew that building up their numbers a bit would be helpful for the group as a whole. Or at least she felt more safer with a larger number of people not trying to eat her. However if the man said was true, the supplies he had could be a key to their safety.

"Come on" Cameron said giving Annie a slight push forwards to follow the group as the group started to move, giving himself the rear of the group in case something came form behind them. "Keep your knife out." Cameron said to the girl as she listened to his suggestion. They had to be prepared and ready for an attack, whether it was from an infected or human such as the stranger.

[WilsonTurner]

He shrugged, smiled at her, and then turned right back around and began edging his way back to the hole in the fence. Cloth wrapped around his boots helped reduce his noise, so was really just walking with exaggerated care [though in that time, maybe not so exaggerated], and motioned for them to follow. After all, why pass under a zombiething when you can just walk away? As far as he knew, they never looked out the window. He was pretty sure. Mainly sure with faith, but still sure. Pulling the shotgun out of the cut-out-and-fixed hole in his backpack, he held it with one hand, other hand on the hatchet. He had no doubt that something would probably go wrong.

The entire time, he didn't bother to glance back. If she wanted to ask him which was was safe, he was gonna go what he was most comfortable with, and they can tag along if they want. But he wanted a boomcannon ready just in case. So, hatchet in one hand, used to nudge sticks or other possibly-disastrous noisycrackingthings out of the way, and other hand close to the trigger of the shotgun [with the stock wedged under his arm, so that his arm wouldn't cramp], he quickly walked away, around the perimeter of the fence.

I pretty much just repeated the same stuff in two paragraphs.