Name: Nataliya Arnikova
Gender: Female
Age: 25
Nationality: Latvian/Russian
Surviving Family: A brother, maybe?
Former Occupation: Worked on a farm with her grandparents
Appearance: Nataliya, or Nat for short, is a rather average looking girl. She stands at 5’4” and was roughly 135 lbs last time she checked. Working on the farm has given her strong arms and legs, and the muscle definition can clearly be seen. Her eyes are a light green, speckled with brown and her skin has a warm tan to it. Her hands are rough and calloused, from years of hard work.
Backstory:
My whole family, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, everyone, moved from Russia over to the small country of Latvia when I was very little. I remember very little of that time, but I do remember the long train ride from St. Petersburg all the way to Riga, Latvia. My grandparents had bought a small farm just outside of the capital and for a very long time all of us, all 15 or 16 of us, lived in that small wooden cottage. Soon, my parents bought an apartment in the city, but I chose to stay with Papa and Nana.
On the farm we had two goats, a mother and her son, a cow, a flock of chickens and the various cats and dogs that would come and go as they pleased. My grandparents were old, and Papa had suffered a stroke back in Russia so his mobility was limited. But together we planted fruits and vegetables, we looked after our small patch of land and even renovated the house a bit. Because of this, I’m good at identifying plants, hunting and I can chop some wood pretty good if I do say so myself.
Living in this remote area, we obviously didn’t get much TV or phone connections. I talked to my parents every few weeks but that was all. Our nearest neighbor was a 15 minute walk away, and the only grocery store in the area was a 30 minute bike ride through the country. That… that’s why we didn’t hear about the infection. My grandparents probably wouldn’t have believed the news anyways, they were old fashioned like that.
One day I came home from a walk and Papa.. my grandfather was acting very strange. Nana was doting over him, saying he was sick and he must rest. She tried to feed him. In a flash he was on her and.. and.
I’m sorry, I really don’t want to talk about that anymore. I ran as fast as I could, grabbed my bike and a few supplies and was gone. I didn’t know what was happening, but soon I started seeing those.. those things, just like my Grandpa, all over. They just kept multiplying. My neighbors, the store owner, nowhere was safe. I went to the only place I knew, the forest behind my house. I biked and walked through there for days.. weeks. I stayed close to the edge, where all the farms were, and occasionally went out to scavenge for food. I slept in the trees. Turns out, those things can’t climb very well. And if they can, they make enough of a racket to wake me up.
I.. I don’t think my parents made it. They were never the smart ones. They probably ignored the news and kept on living their lives. My brother.. my brother is 16, and he’s always been the smartest in the family! He was a straight A student, and excelled in sports and all sorts of things.. I hope.. somehow..
I’m sorry.. can we talk about something else now?
