[IC] On The Dead Roads

[Drakeonis]

A sharp ringing noise rang throughout the room which had previously been an history classroom before it's sole inhabitant had turned it into their makeshift bedroom. Eli awoke with a small groan reaching for his phone which still served as his alarm clock despite being otherwise useless. He let out a yawn before quickly getting dressed. It was still pretty early but at least now he had some time to work on his bike a little bit before he had to start worrying about group stuff. He grabbed his hat revolver, cigarettes, and a toolbox before making his way to the staircase that would lead him to the school's entrance. He didn't really think many people would be up yet save whoever was on lookout at the moment but he knew that would change soon and before that happened he wanted at least a few moments to work on his bike, such alone time was precious but scarce to him.

As soon as he was out at the parking lot he made his way to the broken down motorcycle he had taken up fixing as a side project. He had found the bike on a scavenging run and decided to take it back. He didn't really expect to getting working but if he did it would add another vehicle to their very meager collection. He set to work fixing the old bike as his mind drifted to his responsibilities. The broadcast about Alcatraz had lifted the spirits of many of their number but he was still uneasy about the whole thing. San Francisco was pretty much three states away, that was three states worth of dead they would have to deal with not to mention all the supplies they would need for such a trip and they were already hurting on pretty much everything they needed already. "Definitely going to have to organize a couple scavenging runs today."

[a0000000000]

Joseph Nervada stretched as he stood up from his bed, the usual 9:00 PM lookout knocking on his door, reminding him his shift was over, as that was the schedule they set up at the beginning of the outbreak to make sure everyone did what they did. He got dressed and took some bread and a bottle of water out onto the front steps, his usual breakfast at the start of his shift, which was usually him sitting at the entrance and watching over, occasionally walking around the building.

Thus was the routine his life had become based upon, and hours later Joseph found himself walking around the building, twirling his knife in his hand with his pistol in his pocket. His patrol was fairly boring, there was rarely anything other than the occasional zombie, so he was almost always bored, and talked to whoever he came up upon while on duty, although that was rarely anyone since most people took to themselves while on break, so he was usually left with his thoughts.

Those thoughts were quickly interrupted as he saw movement, but it was only just Eli, no doubt he was going to go work on his bike, he was always trying to fix that thing. "Morning." he greeted. "How's the bike?" Although he didn't really expect Eli to get the bike working anytime soon, but if he did it would be one step closer to Alcatraz. He'd been anxious ever since they got the signal, he wanted to get there as soon as possible, but he knew they didn't have the supplies yet.

[Drakeonis]

"Morning." Eli replied not looking up from the bike. "She's shit. Gonna be a lot more work than I thought to get her working." He said with a small laugh. The bike's insides were mostly garbage and weren't as salvageable as he had first thought. He'd definitely needed to keep a eye out next time they went out. He set down the wrench he was using back into the box and rose to his feet and looked to Joseph. "So your outside a lot. Any ideas on where we need to look for some supplies next?" Joseph was one of their most skilled scavengers so his opinion on the situation was pretty valuable.

[Leda]

The sun had just risen over the mountains, which meant that his shift was over. Not much activity had happened during the night save a few zombies trying to use the others as a stepping stone to get over the fence. It was good that the fence was there, but he thought it was a nuisance that the zombies tried almost every which way to get over it. At least his shift was over, and he could spend time in the art room with his sculptures and drawings before his next shift. Art was the only thing that kept him sane around this place due to the fact that he never really talked to anyone around here.

He grabbed his gun, slung it over his right shoulder, packed up the rest of his things, and headed downstairs to let Eli know that his shift was done. He figured he would be working on that bike of his, and headed over to the parking lot. When he got there, he had seen that Joseph had been the first one to wake and beat him down here "Eli my shift's over. we're going to have to do something about that pileup around the gate, they're trying to climb over them." He said in a monotone voice awaiting his response.

[xiledx]

When Roland woke up, the sun was just coming up. He didn't feel like waking up, but it would be better to be awake than to be asleep if zombies were to attack. He slowly got up, and slowly got dressed. He grabbed his crowbar and went outside the room. He didn't have a place in mind of where to go, so he wandered around aimlessly. He looked outside a window, and saw Eli working on the bike, like usual, and Joseph talking to him. Just before he looked away, Noah walked up to them. He decided to check the radio to see if anything new was on it. There was still only the message about Alcatraz Island being a safe place.

He still didn't have his hopes up about it. The main thing was that it would be hard to get there. The only possible mode of transportation would be the motorcycle that Eli was working on, and that would only carry two, or maybe three people. Also, people would probably set up traps to catch and rob or kill people that are trying to get there. Though, they were running out of supplies, and most of the places nearby have been raided of anything useful. But, whatever. If the rest of the group went there, he would go with them. He decided to do something useful with his time, so he went to the track outside and started jogging.

[Drakeonis]

Eli removed a rag from the toolbox, using it to wipe away the grease that had accumulated on his hands from working onto the bike. He looked over at the fence and the pileup of zombies Noah had come to warn him about. Even from the distance he was at he can make out the undead trying to crawl over each other and putting pressure against the fence. Noah was right to bring the situation to his attention, they would be in a real bad way if the dead manage to get over the fence or even worse take it down. "I'll get a team to take care of it. Thanks Noah."

[Completlie]

Sasha woke up in her room. Like most other rooms, this one was a repurposed classroom. More specifically, this classroom used to belong to one of her favourite teachers, as if his memory would keep her going during this apocalypse. She took a drink from her water bottle, then grabbed her knife and bat. She shoved her knife into her belt while she holds the bat in one hand. Slowly, she leaves the desk fort she made for herself when she arrived at St. Walkers, being careful not to knock anything over. She looked out the window, and noticed a rather large pileup of zombies against the fence.

"This is not good." Sasha thought.
"Tell me about it, if this keeps up, that fence will be knocked down and boom! Zombies, zombies everywhere." Her mind replied to itself.
"Should I go check it out?"
"I'll say, you better do."

Sasha quickly bolted down the stairs, catching a snippet on the radio about Alcatraz becoming the new safe haven for the apocalypse or something along those lines, and went outside where she noticed Eli working on his bike, as usual, along with Joseph and Noah.

"Well, it looks like you're not the only one who noticed the problem that's probably about to be resolved."
"But they don't seem to be doing anything about it right now."
"Well, they're doing it, and you probably don't have to get involved."
"I'm pretty sure that I have to get involved, otherwise, in your words, 'that fence will be knocked down and boom! Zombies, zombies everywhere.'"
"I'm pretty sure that either way, you can't do anything about it."
"There should be no harm in asking, right?"
"Fine! Have it your way."

Sasha approached the boys and began to speak in her usual deadpan tone.

"Morning boys, I can't help but notice the rather large pileup of zombies over there. I'm wondering if there's anything going to be done about it?"

[Leda]

"Yeah sure" Noah said as one of the girls showed up asking about the pile of bodies lined up at the gate. She had asked about the pile of bodies at the gate and wondered if there was anything that could be done about it."Eli said he'd handle it" He said as he headed towards the school. He figured he'd have time to to make a few things in the art room before his next shift or if Eli sent him along with a group to clear that pile. Before he got out of of earshot he turned back to The others to offer a solution "I'm pretty sure if you knock the pile over, they'll stop trying to climb the fence"

[Momma Cass]

Cassandra woke up with her head laid on a table in what was a chemistry classroom. She yawned and looked at her work. A tiny little vial laid on the table with liquid of a slightly greenish tint spilled around it. "Shit," she grumbled, "10 hours of work to spill on a shitty classroom table."

She sighed and stood up. She stopped at the eye wash station on the way out and splashed a small amount of water onto her face to wash off the miniscule amount of smudged eyeliner off her eyelids. As she stood up, she reminded herself why she was here.

"I was put in this shitty place to protect anyone from dealing with what my daughter dealt with. I am here to survive and help those I can. I..." she looked into the mirror as she recited, holding back tears. A single, rebellious drop trickled down her cheek before she wiped it away with the back of her hand, "...need to find out what's going on today."

As she smoothed down her hair, she confidently strolled outside and to the gate. Upon seeing the bodies, her eyes widened. "Eli," she said softly as she approached, "are they in there?"

Eli would know she was talking about her daughter, Rylan, and boyfriend, Chris. She fiddled with her bracelet as she spoke. She had shown him the pictures she kept on her phone, which was obsolite at this point. She had thrown it over the fence only a few days after the change, the apocalypse.

[a0000000000]

Joseph sighed to himself, more time they'd have to wait till they could get to Alcatraz. For now he'd have to do what he could to get closer to Alcatraz. "Well, whenever I pass around the left side of the school, facing towards the town I usually spot the grocery store." he said while pointing towards the where the store was, although from there it wouldn't be very visible. "It's probably stuffed with the supplies we need, but even from here I can see the zombies have taken it." The grocery store would be good for them if they got in and out without injury, but if they did get hurt while scavenging through, they didn't really have the medicine to fix them.

Noah and Sasha seemed to be worried about something else at the moment, though. As Joseph had noticed, the horde piling up at the gate was becoming problematic. Eli promised he'd organize a team to take care of it, but he was concerned. "But do we even have enough ammo to kill them all?" he asked, unless they had a way to get rid of the horde without wasting ammo, while Noah suggested just knocking the pile over. "I don't think so." he said. "Zombies are persistent, even if we lead them away from the gate, they'd just find their way back again."

[Drakeonis]

Eli's mouth formed a tight line at Joseph suggesting the grocery store. That placed was marked as a red zone, an area with an high concentration of zombies. Despite the high volume of zombies in these areas that also happened to mean they were pretty much full of supplies. He had forbidden scavenging parties to go through any of these marked areas for obvious reasons the risk was too much. Still with the way they were going and if they really wanted to try Alcatraz it didn't seem like they had any choice in the matter anymore. "Probably going to have to try it. I'll organize it myself. Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

The topic of the gate was a much simpler thing to deal with. "I shouldn't have let it get as bad as its gotten but luckily its a manageable problem. We'll kill as many as we can through the fence, and take the bus." He pointed to the yellow school bus that served as their main form of transportation. "and use it to distract the rest of them off of it, then we go in hand to hand only use our guns when we need to. It's risky but its even riskier to continue to let them pile up like that. At the risk of sounding like an ass I'm taking volunteers."

Eli eye's darkened when Cassandra asked him if her boyfriend and daughter were at the gate. He could sympathize with what she was going through he had felt the same with Maya, Hell he still did. "I don't know Cass, I can't tell from here. If they are I'll make it quick and we'll bury them."

[Momma Cass]

Cassandra nodded, "Thanks, Eli. I'll be in the chemistry lab again if you need me."

She turned and headed towards the entry to the school, looking back over her shoulder one last time before she entered the door. Maybe she'd see them again, but it wouldn't bring joy to her like it used to; it'd bring fear, anger, and probably a sense of closure. Maybe she'd be able to get over the fact that they were truly gone if she saw them in their undead state. She wiped at her eyes, which burnt with the phantom sensation of tears. She knew she couldn't cry anymore about it.

Finally, after being left alone with her thoughts on the walk to the classroom, she opened the chemistry room door. She began plucking at aloe leaves in the pots at the windows. She filled vials with water and what burn cream she had managed to salvage from the nurse's station in the beginning. Supplies were running dangerously low. She thought of Alcatraz and she tried chemical components to make something to heal wounds. She'd heard someone say something about it once and she hoped they could make the trek and find some sort of salvation. Her thoughts were not of herself anymore, but of the others who had a possibility at a happy life. She worked as she quietly hummed Brahm's Lullaby to herself and tried her hardest not to not let her thoughts revert to what was not there anymore.

[Completlie]

"Ah, I see..." Sasha said, taking everything that had just been said.

"Dammit! Elliot should've given me the spear instead of the frigging bat!"
"Well, I'm just going to say that there are, hmm, a lot of things that Elliot could've handed to you but didn't, and there are also, erm, a lot of things you could've stolen at home before you, um, embarked on this journey to nowhere. And you could—"
"Alright! I get your point already! Say, should I volunteer for the bus thing?"
"But you can't drive!"
"Well, it's not like it's only the driver who's risking his life for safety and supplies!"
"Well, what can you do?"
"I can recon—"
"Well, what are the odds that this plan would work, huh?"
"The fence is chainlink. Even if the bat proves worthless to kill the zombies with because of its size, the knife should be able to do so. And, since it's metal, I can just heat it up, and kill the virus. Hopefully. Now, for the second half of the plan, the school bus, like most, is bright yellow. Zombies, according to modern interpretation at least, are easily distracted, like they have ADD or something. Large, brightly coloured things distract humans. Zombies are dead humans, but allegedly have much less focusing ability. Do the math. As for killing them, my bat is aluminum, and a little more than two feet long, so that's decent range. And, like the sword, I can purify it with heat, though to a lesser extent since aluminum apparently has a lower melting point than stainless steel. By how much, I don't know, and I hope I don't need to test it anytime soon. Need any more convincing?
"Fair enough. Here's to God that you don't get killed. Or worse.

"I volunteer. Might as well." Sasha said.

[Drakeonis]

Eli nodded in response. "Alright Cass. If I see them I'll come get you."

He looked again at the fence and the pileup and picked up his bat from its place near his motorcycle. "Sooner we get this fence thing dealt with the better." A bat wasn't the ideal weapon for hitting the zombies through the fence so he was going to be on the distraction team by default, which didn't really matter since he would've done it regardless. If he didn't take risk himself how could he expect to ask anyone else to? As the one leading the group he had to take on such responsibilities if he wanted to keep them going. "So besides Sasha who else wants to do this crazy thing with me?"

[Leda]

Noah's ears perked up just before he left when Joseph mentioned something about the grocery store. He never really paid much attention to the supplies, but if they were mentioning the grocery store, that meant that their supplies must be running out. The store was taking a huge risk, and would require careful and precise planning to pull it off. Thinking about how to approach it would be difficult, but not impossible. There were a lot of zombies in that place, not to mention the ones surrounding it. "I'm in" He said as he turned back around. "But we'll need to draw as many of those things away as possible, any ideas?"

[Drakeonis]

"Draw them out?" Eli pondered the question as he tapped his bat upon the ground. Suddenly the veritable light bulb appeared over his head and smirk soon followed. "Noah you magnificent bastard you just gave me an idea! One that'll help us with the grocery store and our fence problem."

He looked at the zombies at the fence and pointed at them with his bat. "What do we know about them? We know they still seem to retain most of their senses, namely: sight, touch, smell albeit in a much more limited capacity then when they were alive. But there strongest sense which is probably even stronger now is their hearing. Any loud noise near them and they immediately come towards it. With the bus thing I was onto something. The horn is loud and the flashing lights on her only add to the combo but it would be inconvenient for the bus to be the distraction when we hit the store since we'd need to be in and out really fast. So we'd need an alternative..." A smirk played on his lips. "It just so happens that all those air horns, noise makers, and megaphones they used during the last pep rally are still in the gym storage room."

[a0000000000]

As Eli explained his plan, Joseph slowly got excited, although he didn't show it. He loved taking the dangerous missions, as he loved the danger of it. He didn't know why, and he knew he was most likely throwing away his life for a temporary rush, but inside he thought it was worth it. He'd never tell anyone, of course, so he would just brush it off as him being the swiftest of their group. "I can take a few airhorns and distract the zombies." He said, volunteering, although the slightest hint of nervousness was present. He loved the rush, but this was a bit different, this would be the most dangerous mission he'd been on thusfar, as the area was crawling with zombies. Nevertheless, he was persistent to not die... hopefully.