[IC] The Walking Dead: The ties that bind.

[czechmate46]

"Michael Andrews," Florence repeated his name with smile. It simply could not be put into words how grateful she was to be in the company of another living, breathing, warm blooded, human being, rather than the wicked undead that she seemed to be surrounded with. "I might be speaking too quickly, but it's a pleasure to meet you." As far as she could see, Michael posed no threat to her and appeared to be very friendly and talkative. She hoped he stayed that way.

After devouring half of the tin of the canned beef, Florence packed it back away. Although she still hungered immensely, she needed to preserve her food. Who knew how much longer it would be until she found more. She heard Michael talking about the survivors Florence had mentioned. She too hoped they had food and water. But even if they did, who was to say they'd share? Through her travels, Florence had seen humans at their worst. Selfishness and deceit was at an all time high. "There were about four of them...or five, I couldn't quite tell. They were entering the city's borders then started heading west before I lost sight of them," she said to Michael as she peered out over the edge of the rooftop, into the darkness of the night. A city that would have been lit up like a Christmas tree at night, was pitch black. It was a pure example of how the times had changed things.

Florence looked back at Michael who was offering her his water bottle. She was shocked by his generosity, she had not seen this extent since the outbreak. "Are you sure?" she asked him as she slowly reached out for the water bottle. While she felt rather guilty taking other survivor's resources, she had been desperate for water lately. All she had was the rain water that collected in a bucket that was on the roof.

[paigesweetheart]

It was weird, because she didn't trust this guy for shit. But she was going to roll with it, if she dies oh well. As soon as they got into the gas station, she nodded at him putting her gun behind her back and grabbed her pocket knife. "Okay..... then... I will stay and watch out for anything." her head turned towards Monty's dead body. Ofcourse she quietly walked towards him kneeling down and covering her nose so she wouldn't smell that nasty shit. She grabbed her knife to check his pockets and his jacket pocket but all she could find was some car keys. She grabbed it, looking at it while raising an eyebrow. Rachel stood up and walked to keep watch while Mark came out. She may have not trusted him, but she wasn't the type of girl to leave someone hanging. "Hurry up, Mark...." she said whispering to herself, bitting her bottom lips clenching her pocket knife and looking down at the car keys. "This must be some car...? Hopefully Mark would know." and she waited for him, keeping lookout while he was done.

[OscarioTheGuy]

"I don't know. Maybe we should negotiate with them, but we should be on the trigger end of the deal. I only have enough food for a few more days and this water should last me till tomorrow if I'm lucky. We could ask if we can look for supplies with them, rather than make unnecessary bloodshed," whispered Jason to Graham. He added, "Of course, one of us should keep a gun pointed at them at all times." He glanced at his partner's weapon. "Maybe you should do it. You're probably a better shot than me. If things go to shit, can I trust you to watch my back?"

Jason looked around, hoping there weren't too many shamblers around. All he could see was one across the street, on the other side of a locked chain link gate in an alleyway, between two small apartment buildings. Down the street were a few more, but they were just moving aimlessly around the haphazardly parked vehicles, out of earshot of anything less than a shout, or a gunshot. Additionally, he looked around for places where they might be able to spend the night, as the sun was slowly beginning to set since the days slowly became shorter as the winter approached.

He looked back at the gas station. "When you're ready."

[Richard_III]

He nodded to Jason before taking a longer look at the gas station for any entrances that were a bit quieter than just walking in through the door. He looked about, a bit more walkers had appeared from alleys and the like and were gathering around each other, scratching and staring at walls with dried blood on them.
"On second thought, if this goes wrong and we have to shoot either of them, the walkers would hear it a mile away and we'd be fucked for space if we wanted to escape." He looked around once more
"Plus, who's to say that anything is in there, and even if there is why would they want to share? It's probably a better idea just to move on and find somewhere else with supplies" He motioned for them to keep moving, and began to slowly walk along the street.

[DELETED324324]

Travis nodded he was feeling kind of hungry "I don't think we will need bowls." He said pulling out the peanut butter and couple of pieces of bread "I just hope you like peanut butter." He said chuckling there was plenty in the jar, the jar was probably going to last longer than the bread at this point. He began to dollop some peanut butter on the bread when he looked up "What brings you to Shit Lake City?" He asked Girl Scout as he was curious, maybe she knew something about the outside world and it never hurts to know what the hell is going on out there.

[OscarioTheGuy]

Jason nodded in agreement. "You're probably right, actually. They could've seen us and this might all be a ruse. We do look like we might have supplies on us, after all." As they moved, trying to avoid making noise, Jason figured they would now be within earshot of the shamblers up ahead, and tapped Graham lightly on the shoulder. He pointed at a small alleyway just before the area, and Graham would see that its another open area through the alleyway. One could also make out the iconic symbol of a fast food restaurant, illuminated once; but now in a shattered state of disrepair, as a heavy looking sack hung from it. Perhaps at some point, somebody tossed a bag of supplies off a roof or a window or something and it landed on the sign? Perhaps the bag wasn't even filled with supplies. Either way, Jason knew that a fast food place would have food with an insane amount of preservatives in it, and they could possibly find something salvageable, especially since this chain once had the best chili dogs, and the chili they use might have been stored in cans. He could not make out any signs of the undead, save for some blood splatters here and there, but from where he was watching, they looked too dark to be fresh.

[Winter]

Leah was surprised that he had peanut butter, she hadn't been able to find anything like that in quite some time and when it was offered she certainly wasn't going to take it down. She smiled, "Wow, that's really rare to find" she commented before taking another can of beans, opening the lid with the trusty can opener before giving it to the man. She began to eat from her tin of beans, it wasn't a great taste but it was definitely better than some of the alternatives she'd had to resort to over the first few days. When he asked her a question she looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, "Well, me and the group I was with were looking to pass through. We were going to use the buildings for shelter and scavenge what we could on our way to the countryside. But... it didn't work out" she said, casting a saddened look down at her can of beans. She looked to the Cowboy, "What about you?" she asked curiously.

[Larfleeze]

Florence seemed to be staring at him, apparently surprised at his altruistic behaviour. "Yeah, sure go ahead, it's fine. I've still got another whole bottle right here." Michael said cheerfully, patting the front of his bag with his free hand. "That bucket over there doesn't look like it's gonna last you long anyway." He pointed out as he placed the bottle on the ground in front of her. Michael had always been benevolent, even before the outbreak started. Some might have even said he was foolish in doing so, though these days a lot of people could use a little generosity now and then. Hearing what little information Florence gave about the other survivors didn't discourage him from finding the mysterious group. "I don't know about you, but as soon as dawn comes..." He nodded towards the eastern sky. "I'm gonna go look for them. The other group I mean. A group that size, they gotta have food or something." Michael put down the empty tin of sweet corn. "My point is, I'm asking if you want to tag along. Now don't get me wrong." he insisted, in case Florence might already ignore his suggestion. "You might think this place is safe, but what happens when a herd surrounds this place or finds their way up here? You'll be trapped without food or water and considering it's just about winter, without shelter you'll probably freeze to death before any of that happens."

He needed to find the group, they might even have medical supplies with them. He never had the chance to grab any of his own when it all started, at the time, food and water was a much higher priority than painkillers, bandages and antibiotics. "So, what do you say, you coming or not?"

[DELETED324324]

Once again she returned the question and Travis didn't lie to her "I was born here, but i came back for one last job." He said digging through his back pack and pulling out stacks of dollar bills and he threw them down. If one were to estimate they could probably say there was $600,000. "That was my cut from my job, after we got our money it all went south." He chuckled to himself remembering the Mexican stand off they all had that night

"Cowboy you got this?" Asked Doberman, "Yeah I just wonder why Kodiak wants me as a bag man."

"Fucking beats me man, lets go." The group walked into the Salt Lake City national bank various weapons were being wielded, Travis had his Ar-15, only three of them were to enter the bank out of the six there were the other 3 were drivers and back up and normally Travis drove which sent up sounds of alarm but they were professionals and each could do each others jobs. Masks were put on out of sight Doberman was wearing a Ronald Regan mask and Travis was wearing a George Bush mask. And when they walked in unarmed people just ducked, the security guard went for his Glock but Travis shot him through the throat with his rifle "Anyone fucking moves and we put a bullet in their skull" Shouted Doberman.

Nobody moved nobody made a noise the group had a bank manager come out to them and open the vault. "Alright thank you lovely lady now you will sit out here while we empty the vault." Doberman said and winked the bank manager one of their accomplices nodded. So they emptied the vault and instead of leaving the way they came in they removed the top of the vault they had cut away a few weeks before and made a get away through their secret exit "Why didn't we enter through here?" Asked Rooster the third member of the group. "Because they would of been in here stashing the vault at this time, and it wouldn't of been good to drop in on them." Travis said their secret escape tunnel led to the back where the van was waiting for them. But it was one person light "Where's War Bride?" Doberman asked "She thought she could take the reigns." Said Kodiak their leader who gestured to the blood in the rivets of the van.

Everyone in the group with the exception of Doberman just accepted it, it was part of the job you try to take control you get shot, you try to take more loot you get shot, it was part of their 'code' but when you get close to someone in this line of work like Doberman and War Bride, then you harbor ill feelings for the group and can't focus on the job. The van eventually made it to it's meeting point and their accomplice in the bank was there waiting for them, "Congratulations Harpy, your cut just got a little bigger." Kodiak said stepping out of the van, the bank manager grinned "Well looks like I'm just a lucky girl to run into the Tour." Travis watched this the entire time he hated the girl she was constantly trying to boss the group around because she was their inside man, he desperately wanted to shoot her, but someone beat him to it, a single gun shot rang out and Harpy fell to the floor a bullet hole through the heart, the smoking gun in Dobermans hands.

At this the entire group drew guns on one another. "Rooster, I'm kind of offended." Travis said to the guy who had a gun on him. "No offense Cowboy but you are the biggest threat here." "I love you too buddy." Kodiak was the first to shoot who killed Doberman, Travis followed suit and shot Rooster through his jacket with his pistol putting a nice sized hole in it and in Rooster. Kodiak went for Travis but Travis had always been a quicker shot and shot Kodiak through the eye. Only the new guy was left but he didn't want to fight he wanted his money. "You with me or against me?" Travis asked.

That night things went sour and those things came back, but Travis had been staring into the distance for too long now, He wouldn't be surprised if Leah had asked him a couple of things while he went down memory lane. "If it helps I'm sorry about your group, I take it your family was a part of it?" Travis asked the girl.

[Winter]

Had it been months ago when the outbreak had began, Leah might have been worried and maybe a little scared that she was in the presence of a criminal. But she wasn't and she didn't fully know why other than knowing the past wasn't relevant anymore. Anything that people were and had been was now a mere memory in their reality of survival and it had taken some time for Leah to both process and realize this. She looked at the money before looking back to the man as he continued to explain himself, wondering why he bothered to keep it now that it was mere paper in a bag. Anything they could need or want had to either be found or taken these days making money worth nothing more than the paper it's printed on. When the Cowboy gave her his condolences Leah exhaled deeply, "No, I lost my family a long time ago. I know my mom is dead but my dad and my sister... we got separated" she said before looking up at him, "I've been apart of two groups since then" she replied honestly. Both times she'd came to confide, trust and attach herself to people who had picked her up and helped her survive, both times she'd had to witness them die, turn or leave the group in some shape or form. Her hand touched the bandage on her leg from her last close call with a not so friendly group of people. "I'm sorry you lost your sister, that must have been hard" she replied in kind. She wondered if her sister was still alive somewhere, with her Dad too if they'd gotten away safely.

[DELETED324324]

Travis listened to Girl Scout and how she was separated from her family. When she gave his condolences for his sister he bit his lip, he didn't want to go down that path, those memories were like walking in broken glass bare foot with salt on your heels. "If your Father and sister are still out there, I don't know if you want it or not knowing what I am now, I will help you find them. If you want." He said the last few words like they were something hard. He was totally deflecting the condolences she gave him for his sister and someone smart like her would notice but maybe not. But he sincerely wanted to help this girl after all she was alone without family and during this turbulent times and if her family's nice to her she needs to go find them. Travis just wished he had a family worth fighting for.

This was the first time Travis had ever really felt like he cared for anyone but in all honesty he always had a soft spot for kids. At least before they outbreak they weren't out to gut you and shove knives into your ribs, and Girl Scout seemed to have her head on her shoulders so both of them would probably make a walker-ass-kicking-team and make it look like a sport. So tracking down the girls family wouldn't be that big of a problem. He just hoped they were okay when they found them.

[Winter]

Leah managed to actually smile again during their conversation as he mentioned helping her find them, though it faded a little as reality reminded her how likely it would be that they'd find them. "Thank you, though they could be anywhere by now" she replied, pausing for a moment before adding, "The only place I could think of looking would be the place I lost them" she said as she finished off the tin of beans she'd been eating from. She had noticed again how the Cowboy moved from any subject concerning his sister and once again decided not to insist on it. Leah let out a yawn as she sat herself back against the wall, minutes of silence passing as the last rays of the sun faded along the floor through the cracks in the boarded windows. "Cowboy?" she'd say to gain his attention, "I'm glad we met, it's... nice, to have company again" she'd say before laying herself down on her side, seeming to be exhausted from her day of scavenging. It wouldn't be long before she was asleep.

[DELETED324324]

"Me too, Girl Scout me too." He said he took off his jacket and set it over Girl Scout and walked out of the room he set up near the front door window and peaked out of it, he was going to keep watch the first night, mainly because he didn't want anyone sneaking in, in the middle of the night. If they could get in someone else could, at least that's how Travis always thought. It must of been memory lane night as he couldn't help but think of his sister, her loving smile for him despite everything going on at the time, her holding him while he cried after his step fathers nightly beatings, that know it all attitude that made him feel like he was living with a genius. He missed her, missed everything about her, he could hardly remember her voice and it drove him insane.

The only person he could remember with any clarity in that house was his step father, who would beat them without and provocation, he would also take his sister into a room and lock the door. That was the only time Travis could remember his sister crying, she was always crying when she walked out of the room, at the time he didn't understand a damn thing but as he grew older he understood. He remembered after his last job walking up to the door the new guy in tow. The outbreak in full swing, chaos on the streets his step father recognized him and told him to get his ass in the house, so Travis did his step father told him everything he had missed in the house. His mother dying of a heroin overdose and how he feels so alone, without his sister being there. Not his mother his sister, at that point Travis understood it all. He shot him down with his pistol emptied the entire fucking clip in that fat fucker. Dropped the pistol turned on the gas stove and burnt the house down like it would burn away all of his memories.

[Malikoy]

The grocery store was empty, there was no point in any further scavenging, he was just burning valuable time- and energy. He will have to do with the expired milk. Mark looked back, the pickup halfway through the store, Rachel gasping in the distance by the dead body of the gas station's owner- Monty. He took out his wrench and walked out, feet steeping on empty bags of chips and empty cans of beer. The sky was turning purple, the sun was setting, the night approaching and slowly spreading its black cloak upon the skyline of Salt Lake City.

"Rachel, are you alright? Found anything useful on poor Monty?" He asked, a subtle chill in the air as the sun slowly faded behind the trees and buildings.
Rachel had a shiny thing in her hands, it was stained with blood. Mark inspected the logo on the key and figured it was the pickup's, things started to make a bit of sense. Or maybe got a bit too complicated- none of his current concerns.
"Keep those, we won't be moving that pickup anytime soon. Or throw it away, your call. It's almost dark, we need to head somewhere safer." Mark said, with a neutral tone, his anger faded a bit. He wasn't always this irate person, in fact he never was a person of fury and anger before he lost his wife weeks ago. It was more frustration, bit of desperation, than mere anger. As the night came closer to the city, the growling of the undead increased, the screams of the hungry, animated dead.

"Rachel, we will have to get to the city, we have better chances there than here. But you must understand, I am here to find my people, my relatives. My wif-- A person dear to me might be here. So as soon as we get to a safe place, as soon as I get you to safe shelter we will split up. I'm sorry, but I really have to find-- this person on my own. Make haste girl, the sun's setting." Mark said, he waited for Rachel to respond, his eyes on the horizon as she spoke.

Mark walked into the city, picking up pace, Rachel catching up to him. The two reached the first block of the city, it was quite a mess. Abandoned cars, burnt cars, and a lot of dead bodies. Headless remains of once human figures. Suddenly the attention of the two was captured by the approaching noise of shambling footsteps, lots of footsteps and growling. It was a sizable horde, a bloody big horde of hungry demons. Hungry undead. Hungry walkers. Mark quickly crouched behind one of the burnt cars and pulled Rachel close to him, he probably pulled her too hard.

"FUCK! It's a damn horde of them, one wrong mistake and we are done." Mark said, sweating, head boiling. He scanned around for an open space to run to, somewhere to hide. He spotted a clear way to an alleyway nearby, a couple blocks behind it was a remarkably tall building- Salt Lake City's tallest building. Mark looked at Rachel, she said something to him, he didn't catch her amid the approaching noise of the horde.

"Rachel, there, come on." Mark pointed at the alleyway as the two dashed for it, attracting a couple of the walkers leading the horde.

[czechmate46]

"Thank you," Florence said, taking the bottle from Michael's hands. She began to rummage through her satchel for something she could give him in return. She felt rather guilty allowing other survivors to give her their resources - it was a rare occasion that they offered and an even rarer one when she accepted. She also didn't want anyone to get the idea that she was indebted to them, just because she accepted a can of food or a soda can. So, she did was she could to make things even. But before she could find something to give to Michael, he already had began talking again, telling her his plans for the next day. She was well aware that her rooftop hide out wouldn't last forever. In fact, she had been waiting for the right time to move on. Her water supply was poor and her food was running low as well. If she stayed here, she would only have resources for the next five days. Possibly a week, if she didn't let her hunger dictate to her mouth. She took a deep breath while contemplating what Michael had said. If there was any good time to leave the rooftop, this was it.

"Looks like I'm getting a change of scenery," she said to him, her lips curving into a smile. "When the morning comes, we'll set out to find them." She grabbed her blankets and offered one to Michael. "Right now, I'm going to get some shut eye. Gonna need a lot of energy if we're going to be walking the streets tomorrow."

[Richard_III]

Graham nodded, he crouch ran quite quickly along through the alleyway, slowing as he passed various dumpsters so that he could check if any walkers were hiding behind them. He was glad to be able to say that none were, he hated the ones that just crawled on their stomachs and bit at your legs it was strangely sad to see them crawling next to the walkers. He exited the alley and straightened his back before sprinting towards the fast food place. He tried the door, it was either locked or jammed with something. He tried to force it with his shoulder, but it wouldn't budge. He was getting frustrated, there were more walkers in this area than he had expected and they were slowly moving towards the two. He acted quickly, taking his rifle from its sling and smashing the window with the butt of it. He reached through and pulled a small metal pipe that was holding the doors together from the handles and moved in. He put the pipe back after Jason had entered after him.

[Larfleeze]

Michael gratefully accepted the blanket. Self-evidently it was growing colder with every day, soon enough he would need to find himself some winter clothing. In fact, it wasn't until now that he noticed he needed a change of clothes in general, dried blood from previous walker kills had stained the centre of his shirt a reddish-brown. When he would head out with Florence tomorrow to find that group, he would need to find spare clothes for himself as well.

For now though, Michael was exhausted and in desperate need of sleep. He lay down on the hard concrete floor, although the blanket did little to warm him, in the past few months he had grown used to the discomfort that came with sleeping in unusual places, it reminded him of that one time he slept in a tree for two whole days while he waited for a herd of walkers to pass. He attempted to fall asleep, but the noises of the dead kept him up, where he would previously be surrounded by the sounds of life, people, and laughter, now he could only hear groans, gunshots, and screams. Finally - after some amount of time - as his consciousness ebbed, his mind went into free fall, descending into the oblivion of sleep.

[paigesweetheart]

Rachel waited and waited for Mark to get out of the store, she turned to look for him but he popped up right in front of her. "Oh.." she blushed clearing her throat looking down at the keys. "I will save them just incase.." the girl nodded digging the keys in her jean pocket. "Alrigt, we should go before it gets dark... and someone special to you...?" she knew that he was going to say wife, is that obvious. "I don't think we should split up... I know we just met but... I would like to help you find this person. Splitting up is a bad idea, and I know this is the apocolypse and we can't trust eachother for shit or whatever. But I should come with you, just incase. Besides, I can back you up or a- Okay we should go." the girl said following him, as they walked into the city.

As they walked into the city, they picked up the pace, and that's when a horde appeared. Mark crouched behind a car, a burnt one and pulled Rachel close to him, she blushed looking at him clearing her throat. "You could have gave me some warning or something, mister..." Mark pointed towards an Alleyway as they both dashed towards it, like Leon and that girl from Resident Evil 6, the video game. Rachel turned around seeing some of the walker following them. "We should head somewhere else!" she told Mark, while they ran.

[Winter]

Leah had already fallen into an exhausted sleep as Travis put his jacket over her, small breaths passing from the small girl as she traveled to a world a little less dark and morbid. The night was calm except for the occasional thump of a corpse and a gunshot echoing in the distance. One could only imagine it to be some poor survivor running out of his or her luck as they took a shot at whatever was after them. But this was the world they all shared now, and it was up to them to survive it. As the night drew in, the city actively became more dangerous as visibility became worse, only a few street lamps on each street working unless you traveled into the city center, although that was suicide. Any and all survivors caught outside would need to find shelter soon, or they might find themselves caught between a rock... and another rock.

[OscarioTheGuy]

As Jason entered the fast food restaurant, slightly angry that they had to smash through a window to get in, he took a glance behind them. It was getting darker with each passing minute, and by some miracle, the neon light for the fast food place turned on, illuminating as a sort of beacon; one that Jason wasn't too happy with having, knowing that there are other survivors about, possibly crazy and dangerous. He figured it was probably connected to the national power grid, which by some act of god was still working in some parts after all this time. As they went in, he looked around, using a pocket flashlight he had with him since the fateful night he and Robert had taken watch. In the dining area, there was nothing but tables and chairs, and stairs leading upwards in the back of the room which he took note of. As he moved the tiny little light over to the service counter, he noticed a shambler wearing the trademark red-and-white striped hat and red-and-black collared shirt of this fast food establishment clambering over the counter as it saw its prey. As he moved towards it in order to dispose of it with his axe, he noticed an alarming sight coming from outside, illuminated quite brightly in neon: The two survivors from earlier, approaching from the very alleyway Jason and Graham had come from, moving towards the restaurant, with a zombie horde in tow. As he embedded his axe into the back of the fast food shambler's head, he yelled to Graham, "Upstairs! Grab that table!"

He ran to one of the largest tables nearest to the stairs while placing his axe in its strap, and began tugging at the table, budging it only little by little. If they were to move it to the stairs fast enough to blockade them, they would need a couple of extra pairs of hands. Looks like he might have to team up with these potentially dangerous people after all. Then again, anyone could potentially be dangerous nowadays. Not half an hour ago, he had just teamed up with a random stranger with a hunting rifle. He could be dangerous for all he knew. And now, Jason was banking on the possibility of these two new arrivals to come and be their hope and salvation. As he pulled, he continued to yell, hoping they'd hear him. "You two! Come help us!"