[IC] The Infected

[Rosemoss]

The mid day sun pried through every crack in the boarded up windows of the Lucky Dog pet store. Delilah let out a sigh before rolling of the couch and heading for the roof access stair case. Her dogs at her heels, she slowly pushed open the heavy, modified door and stepped, blinky into the sun. The heat formed a blanket that engulfed her and the black roof at her feet. Her dogs followed at her heels as she shuffled to the small greenhouse nestled in the corner of the roof. With a quick twist of her wrist the green house erupted with water from makeshift pipes that dangled over the various vegetables and herbs.

Delilah then turned on her heels and headed to other side of the roof. Her building and the taller one next to it actually shared the connecting wall and she used the brick surface to carve tally marks every day. She slowly connect them up, like she did every day. Of course she did not need to connect them, she already knew what the answer would be. It was 187. One-hundred-and-eighty-seven days since her father climbed down the roof to gather supplies and look for survivors. One-hundred-and-eighty-seven-days since she last saw him. She turned from the wall. She didn't want to think about him anymore. He had to have a good reason for not being back yet, but deep inside she felt like she had been abandoned.

Her gaze drifted down to the street. She was hoping to see someone, anyone, moving around below her. But to no avail. She was completely alone. Like always. A Soft whimper escaped her lips as she flopped down against the hot roof, proping herself up against the short brick wall that the top of the building.

[PajkaNight]

Below the city, Maria hammered nails into her wooden baseball bat, knowing the noise would bring any infected to her. She heard the infected approaching her small fortress, the smell of death flooding her nostril. "Alright... Who wants to play?" She asks the undead creatures that walk toward her as she stepped out from her cramped hideout. There were three of them, yet she kept a lookout for more. "I shall name you... Martha... Jason... and Bob." She pointed to each one as they approach, the nearest one going to grab her. "You want to play with me first, Martha? Okay..." She swung her bat, splattering blood everywhere as she hits Martha's head, knocking it clear off. "Who's next?" After killing the other two, she searched them for anything she may find useful. "No good toys to play with? Oh well..." She slinks back into her hole to finish creating her weapon. Later, she planned, to search for water.

[Valkyr]

Aaron's eyes slowly cracked open. The morning light dimly glowed through the filthy window. He slowly and quietly rose to his feet. In a crouched pose, he approached the window and cautiously looked down at the street. As usual, it was empty. He turned away from the window and walked back to the bed. He sat down on the edge of the bed and held a hand to his aching head. He stayed in that position for about ten minutes.

He finally lowered his hand and stood up. He walked over to the stairs and pulled away the chairs he used as a barricade. He paused at the top of the stairs and listened for a sound. Except for the birds chirping outside, absolute silence. He slowly stepped down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, he walked to the front door and opened it gently. He looked up and down the street, but it was still empty. Feeling a little relaxed, he walked to the middle of the street and made his way along the neighborhood. He examined the houses he passed, hoping to find a good place to stay at.

He continued walking for about an hour, grimly realizing that all the houses in this neighborhood were already raided. Finding a side street, he decided to escape from the neighborhood and hopefully find a few houses with resources in them. He stepped onto a street with a decent amount of shops. A lot of the stores here wouldn't be of much help, but he paused when he spotted a grocery store nearby. He frowned when he saw the shattered windows and broken door. It must have been raided many times over. He sighed. He was feeling somewhat desperate, however, so he decided it was worth the try. He approached the store and carefully stepped over the broken glass and into the store.
The morning light didn't reach inside the grocery store, and thus it was quite dark.

He looked around the aisles, hoping to find something in the dark. He noticed one of the smaller shelves had been knocked over. He walked over to it, crouched down, and carefully lifted the shelf slightly. He paused as he heard something rolling around. It was close; was it under the shelf? With one arm holding up the shelf, he lowered himself and looked under. A can! He desperately reached out and snatched it out from under the shelf. He stood up as he let the shelf drop. He flinched at the loud noise. He turned his attention back to the can. It was canned macaroni and cheese. It wasn't much, but it would do for now.

He stepped out of the grocery store and made his way down the street, passing a pet store.

[PhoenixEye9]

Milo was up before the sun was up to do some workouts, just enough to keep his build he couldn't do to much so he wouldn't get sore later. After the routine, he grabbed the last bit of food he had one simple MRE probably more than some others had. He kept this since the start as his "Only use in emergency" meal, well this was it. The tin that had some rain water, was dumped into the MRE cooking bag. As he waited for the meal to cook, Millo looked out over the city from the rooftop he's been staying since the start of this. Never moved from this place, all it is is a tent and a small makeshift fire pit, with one pink plastic chair, but it was to painful to leave.

After about 10 minutes Milo went over and grabbed the meatloaf MRE that just finished cooking, moved the chair to the edge and sat there eating and watching. Maybe today he'd be able to make up for his failure with his family, and girlfriend, unlikely but maybe

[Rosemoss]

The heat was starting to get to her. Delilah shifted her weight and sprung to her feet then she slowly made her way back to the door on her roof. She called to her dogs to follow her, but instead they stared at the wall on the roof, ears on high alert. "Come on." She called to them. "Lets go!" Her voice was soft and soothing. One of the three dogs, Rasta, cast her a fleeting glance before returning his attention to the edge of the building. Suddenly all three of them raced across the roof, barking an alarm. The Placed their paws on the small dividing wall and barked down towards the street.

Confused Delilah rushed towards the edge where her dogs were and glanced down. Her heart stopped. She saw a figure on the street below her. Her first thought was that her dad had return, but no this guy was a little taller than her dad and a bit thinner. "Hey!" She called out from above, mainly from shock.

[Drakeonis]

Sunlight peaked through the top of the tent waking Harlan from his sleep. Groggily he managed to stand up and wipe the sand from his eyes. He pushed open the flap that was the entrance and shielded his eye from the blinding sun. Once his eyes adjusted, he stretched and made his way over to where he kept his gear. Harlan kept all his food and other supplies outside his tent since he needed the elbow room. The rooftop that was his home wasn't exactly the most spacious of places to live, so space conservation was a huge deal for him. He picked up the package of crackers that were his rations, only to find it empty. Great now he'd have to scavenging. He grabbed the Glock that was his only protection against the Infected, put on his beanie, and trekked down the fire escape he used to get to and from his home. Once he was down on the street he moved silently and swiftly, looking for someplace suitable to find some food.

[Dessie777]

Destiny woke up from a nightmare about her brothers. This startled her out of her restless sleep and into a mode of panic. Grabbing her small pocket knife from her bed side stand she rolled out of her bed and landed on her back. Staying there for a moment she listened and waited. Just like every other morning where she'd wake up from a nightmare she'd check. Check the halls, the outside, the roof, anywhere a threat could be. Creeping up silently she made her way across the old empty room to the balcony door. With one hand she pried open the shutter, the other held her knife at the ready. Down below she could make out a figure of a person walking. From this distance she couldn't tell if it was infected or not but she wasn't going to take chances. Quietly she grabbed her Alice pack and flung it over her small shoulders and crawled onto the stove that blocked her hallway.

Casting one more glance into the room she sighed. She'd come back, in a few days, if the infected didn't find their way in first. Where to stay for a few nights was now her next problem. Scooting across the top of a dis-used dryer a loud metallic thud echoed through the room, and probably down the street. Panicked she looked behind her to find her flashlight and slid from her bag and onto the hard metal surface. With her free hand she grabbed it and shoved it violently into the pack and quickly forced her way through the rest of the junk and into the hallway.

(She saw Harlan. Just to clarify.)

[Drakeonis]

Harlan moved quietly, constantly checking side to side as he went. He kept the gun up as he walked just in case he had to shoot immediately something came at him. With all the Infected hiding around just waiting to tear into anything that had pulse he was pretty right to be cautious and jumpy. As he approached an abandoned corner store, he heard a loud bang noise ring out from behind him. Almost instantly he ran into the store a his behind the counter. He didn't know if the noise was an infected or a survivor but whatever it was had probably attracted infected attention. Attention he did not want.

[Dessie777]

Destiny steadied her breathing she ran down the stairs at full speed, which was slowed due to her heavy pack. After the noise she just wanted to clear the building as fast as she could. Ten flights of stairs later she doubled over her breath coming to her in short shallow spurts. A sharp pain formed in her left side but she ignored it as best as she could.
Slowly stepping forward into the entry way she looked all around her as she quietly crossed to the door and peeked out the window. The figure was gone and she wasn't sure if she was happy or frightened of that. Opening the door she crept onto the sidewalk quietly her heat beating out of her chest. She stood for a minute. Listening. Waiting. When everything seem clear she darted out from the shadows and ran towards a nearby car that rested in front of an old corner store. Ducking behind it she took deep breaths trying to steady her breathing.

[User]

CLUNK! CLUNK! the ladder went as the Doctor climbed to the roof, he had his M1 slung over his back and a M9 in his pocket. he reached the roof with a speed and vigour and took a position over looking one of the hospitals main entrances. he could see infected migerling around what looked to be a human carcase. he smiled and took aim, adjusting his sights to a better zoom.

he waited their for a few minutes until a movement caught his eye, somebody (and he wasn't sure who) had ran from a alleyway towards a car that was parked at a corner store. he readjusted his sights on to the mystery person and watched what would happen

[PajkaNight]

Maria carefully lifted the lid off the manhole as she came out, this was a new area for her to explore near the hospital, giving her plenty of hope to find new things, especially water, she had been thirsty all day, her mouth dry and numb. She brought out her spiked bat and her 45. revolver that she had yet to use, she figured she might as well bring it, just in case.
She stepped out, gun on her hip and bat ready to be swung, heading off to the hospital. Once she was inside, she snuck around the few infected that were in the main lobby to get to the vents, carefully unscrewing the bolts with her overgrown nails. Setting aside the vent door, she wiggled her way in, giving her good access for at least a couple of floors.
She dropped into one of the room that looked like it held a decent amount of medical supplies. She looked through all the bottles and cases, seeing medications of all sorts but nothing important to her. She heard noises outside the door which happened to be locked, making her curious enough to look through it's small window. A line of infected walked down the hallway outside the room, all going one way. She merely pushed the thought of possible survivors out of her head, it seemed only like a false hope to hold out on that fantasy.

[User]

"its hopeless, i fire and the whole town will know im here" he leant back off the bar and walked to the ladder leading the the store cubord. he landed from the ladder outside the door. he pushed it and entured flicking through the bottles "hypodermic" he pulled a box of the stuff and downed a pill. his vision went drowsy and he focused. he turned around to see a girl standing at the door. he pulled his M9 and pointed it a her "what are you doing in my hospital?

[Valkyr]

Aaron looked at the stores around him. Most of them seemed to have been raided or destroyed. Nothing here would be a good hideout. He doubted any of them would have any resources left. At that moment, he thought he heard barking when-

"Hey!"

He stopped dead in his tracks. He whipped around and spotted the... little girl? He stared back at her, amazed and shocked. He hadn't seen another survivor in months. He walked back to the pet store and paused at the front door.

"What's your name?" Aaron asked, unsure of what else to say.

[Rosemoss]

"It's Delilah."She stated. Delilah managed to get her dogs to stop barking and she cast a quick glance at the sun. It was going to be dark in a couple hours. She returned her gaze to the figure bellow her. He was standing near the door. "oh, um you cant get in that way." She said. Her father had blocked the door with a rather heavy metal shelf, and she didn't have the strength to move it out of the way. She gested to the side of the building where the fire escape was.

With that she rounded up her dogs and shoved them inside before releasing the ladder so the stranger could get up.

[PajkaNight]

User said
"its hopeless, i fire and the whole town will know im here" he leant back off the bar and walked to the ladder leading the the store cubord. he landed from the ladder outside the door. he pushed it and entured flicking through the bottles "hypodermic" he pulled a box of the stuff and downed a pill. his vision went drowsy and he focused. he turned around to see a girl standing at the door. he pulled his M9 and pointed it a her "what are you doing in my hospital?

Startled, Maria gasped, holding her bat closer to her. Her shock lasted only a second when a smile appeared on her face. "I will name you... Rabbit! Uh-huh, I have to go though, Rabbit, I'm so thirsty." She turned towards the vent that she came from, not even realizing that the doctor was a real person, only a hallucination she made in her mind. She began to crawl back into her vent, turn once more to wave goodbye, a dazed look in her eyes. "I'll see you again soon, I'm sure..."

[Dessie777]

Destiny leaned against the car with heavy wheezing breaths. Her family had suspected she was asthmatic but they never got the chance to have it tested because of the outbreak. "Not Now..Dang it!" She slammed her fist against the car without thinking or knowing about the nearby company. The noise she created startled her and caused her to jump, lose her balance, and topple onto her large pack. It took her a minute to roll to her side and return the pack to her back where it belonged. Making her way to her feet she looked around and eyed possible places to find resources.

She knew the hospital would be well ransacked by now but it was her best shot. Slowly she stood up and cast a glance over the car and to the hospital. She could easily make it across, if she ran. Running might be a bit of an issue so instead she decided to slump against the car and hope it would pass.

[Valkyr]

Aaron nodded and walked around to the side of the building. He waited for Delilah to release the ladder and climbed up.

"Thanks..." He said to her. It was here that he realized how small she was. Was she living alone here? If so, he was impressed that she was able to survive this long in the infection. A thought hit him and he glanced up at the sky. His face hardened when he realized that it would be dark soon. He automatically made for the door, then paused.

"Uh, you don't mind if I stay for the night, do you?"

[Rosemoss]

Delilah looked back at the sky and thought for a moment. He probably wouldn't find another shelter in time. "No I don't mind." She said. With that she opened the door for him. Her dogs were eagerly waiting at the top of a metal stair case. "Be nice to our new guest." She told the dogs. At the bottom of the stair case was a double door that lead into an outdated kitchen. The tile was yellowing and the tan walls blended into a small living room. From there was a hall way that lead to three bedrooms and a bathroom. At the end of the hall was another door that lead to another flight of stairs.

All in all the house was fairly clean except for stacks of supplies that hung at the base of the stair case and some things from day to day living that she hadn't gotten around to picking up yet. Like her breakfast dishes that were still in the sink. A soft purr from a generator could be heard and the tv showed the title menu from The Lion King. "What's your name then?" She asked the stranger.

[Valkyr]

Aaron followed Delilah down the stairs, awkwardly trying to pat one of the dogs on the head. He looked around. The place looked very comfortable, at least considering the circumstances. His gaze paused on the television, and he nearly smiled. He assumed that she must live with her parents.

"What's your name then?" He heard her ask.

"Aaron," He replied, "Where are your parents?"

[Rosemoss]

Her parents?"That's a strange question, Aaron." She gave him a puzzled look. She made sure both doors to the stair well before she returned to the kitchen. "Where are your parents?" She retorted. As she talked she moved about the house, pulling out blankets in pillows from one of the back rooms before pulling out a cot for him to sleep on. Then she started to comb through the cabinets in the kitchen, pulling out a box of spaghetti noodles, a pot, and a glass jar of canned tomatoes. "Are you hungry?" She asked as she added some water to the pot.