Zeldabit

Just One Bite

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Basics
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Name: Jacob "Jake" Stride

Age: 31

Birthday: December 19th

Gender: Male

Personality: Jake radiates a cynical aura. Before the infection spread, he was the life of the party. He loved drinking with his friends and bringing home any girl he could find. Now, he's much of a loner, and likes getting things done by himself.

Notable traits: Strong, rather pessimistic

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Appearance
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General: His face looks aged beyond his years, deep wrinkles set in his forehead. When you look at him, you'd think he was middle-aged rather than in his early thirties.

Skin tone: Darkly tanned

Hair color: Jet black

Eye color: Hazel

Height: 6'3"

Weight: 192lbs

Other: Small scars along his arms from years of hard work, a long, healing gash across his cheek.

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Miscellaneous
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Biography: Jacob lived alone before the infection spread, and to this day still wanders by himself. He hasn't yet had the opportunity to make his way to his brothers' places. Currently, he's residing in the house he grew up in, parents nowhere to be seen and presumed dead. While he has an abundance of resources such as food, water, alcohol, blankets, and weapons, he knows they won't last forever and that he will have to move sooner or later.

Living relatives: Brothers Jared (34), Lonnie (26), and Henry (37), nieces Ashleigh and Casey (Lonnie's children, aged 2 and 5), Jared's wife Isabelle (31), Lonnie's wife Carter (26), and Henry's girlfriend Whitney (24)

Other: N/A

Just One Bite

Nicholas stared at the zombie through cracked eyelids - it must have really thought he was dead, because it was now looking around the kitchen. When it started for the door, and down the hallway toward where Mattie and Cole were, Nicholas forced himself to his knees. He could barely breathe, his arm was on fire, and he could still feel the thing's grip around his throat. Still, he wasn't about to let it get to Mattie or the baby. He'd have to be fully dead to let that happen.

Nearly crawling his way toward the zombie, which didn't seem to be in any hurry, Nicholas wrapped his arms around its legs and pulled, forcing it to fall on its face. Thinking as fast as he could with his cloudy vision, he grabbed a ceramic vase off of a nearby end table and smashed it against the thing's head until the vase broke. It seemed to have stalled it.

"Mattie," he called out the front door, choking on his own words. He didn't know what to say after that. He didn't want to tell her to run because he couldn't be left alone. He just wanted her to know he was still alive.

"Machete," he yelled, "Hurry!"

When Mattie grabbed the machete out of the weapon bag and threw it toward him, he reached forward enough to grab its handle. Coming back up on his knees, he lifted it above his head and brought it down on the rotting zombie's neck, over and over, chopping away as if it were a tree until the head was completely severed. Then, he grabbed its filthy dreads and flung the head across the room.

Just One Bite

Nicholas isn't dead. I will be introducing a new character soon, though, if that's alright.

Just One Bite

Nicholas was quiet. It was only a little past noon, and he had already been through so much in this one day than he'd been through since the first cough. He could recall the person that Mattie was talking about. He tried to remember if it was he who his father had bought the "legendary" goat cheese from. He felt his heart ache as he smiled at the thought of when his father came home with it, yelling, "I got goat cheese!" and sticking it in Alisa's face before saying, "It comes from goats!"

He laughed a little, but quickly passed it off as a cough. There were unwelcome tears in his eyes and a lump of sadness in his throat. He held Cole even more closer to himself, and momentarily put his face against the blankets, just long enough to soak up any tears that wanted to come out.

They came upon the house that Mattie spoke of, which obviously was the house because one lone goat was standing at the edge of the fence, staring at them. Its piercing eyes made Nicholas uneasy. He knew animals could get infected, or at least, that's what he assumed. However, he had yet to see an infected animal. He guessed most of them died from the disease rather than suffered from it.

Cautiously, protectively cradling Cole, Nicholas approached the door and knocked on it. He could hear movement inside of the house, but nobody came to answer. He looked back at Mattie and gave Cole to her. "Here," he said. "Stay here, I hear something inside."

Nicholas reached down and grabbed his rifle out of the backpack. He tried the doorknob, only to find it locked, and he felt like his morals were being questioned: did he break down the door of a possibly innocent person's only shelter? If so, it would have been for a good cause: to keep the baby fed.

Deep breath. Don't think twice. He kicked it once, twice, and the third time it finally broke in. Cole was crying now, probably frightened by the noise. He hadn't thought of that.

He was shaking. It wasn't like he hadn't avoided and encountered the undead before, but each time, he never knew if he was going to live. His steps were slow, and his breathing uneven. The movement was coming from what looked like a kitchen, from what Nicholas could see from the doorway. Again, slowly, he made his way to that doorway. He readied his rifle, and quickly stepped into the room only to find that the noise had been coming from a rat eating out of a tin food bowl, which quickly scurried away once Nicholas made himself present.

And then something threw itself onto his back.

Screaming, probably like a little girl, and flailing to turn around, Nicholas shoved the zombie with long dreads off of him. As quickly as Nicholas had shoved it off, it came back at him, not only scratching his arm with its inhumanly long and sharp..."claws," but also biting his bicep, crunching down on the flesh with as much strength as the thing's jaw could give.

"Oh, god! Oh, SHIT," he yelled, kicking it and then falling on his ass. He aimed the rifle and pulled the trigger - but it only clicked.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," he whispered hoarsely, again trying to aim and fire at the zombie, but failing. He scrambled backward, still on the floor, and brought himself to his feet. He took the front of the rifle and rammed the zombie in the chest with it, making it stumble backward. It was relentless. It charged at him again, putting its filthy hands around his neck. Stunned, he dropped the rifle and started flailing, being lifted up off of the ground. He kicked his legs and threw punches at the zombie's face, to no avail. It stared at him - flesh a rotting gray color, eyes rolled into the back of its head. Its teeth were as rotten as its flesh, some had even fallen out.

Nicholas' vision became cloudy and he started to panic, which didn't help his breathing situation. Before long, his body relaxed and after a few moments, the monster dropped him on the ground.

Just One Bite

Nicholas handled Cole carefully, making sure to support his head at all times. He held him close to his chest, and started to follow Mattie out the door. He examined the kitchen knife she was holding, considering its size, which was quite small compared to a weapon they might need if they came across a living dead. Before he forgot, Nicholas walked back into the house to grab the bag he'd left on the floor. While keeping a firm hold on Cole, he struggled to put the backpack on his back, along with the other one he had. He ended up having to gently place the baby on the floor, put the second backpack on top of the first one, and then pick him back up.

"Mattie," he said, catching back up to her. "You can take a weapon out of the bag. I won't mind."

The only thing he didn't really want her to carry in her hands was his rifle. It wasn't even that he was particular about his rifle, because, as previously mentioned, Nicholas had never really been the type of person who went crazy about guns. His father had been that type of person, but Nicholas just wasn't. The reason why he didn't want her to handle his rifle is because...well, he wasn't too sure about her. He'd seen that she was quite impulsive, and didn't seem very rational when angered. This combination could result in a quick death for him, and that was the very opposite of what he was trying to get.

"Just-" he paused, unsure if he should voice his concern about her keeping away from the gun. "Just...Just..." he got stuck, repeating the word over and over again until he growled in frustration and said, "Just nevermind."

Cole became uneasy, wriggling around in his arms. Maybe it was too warm in his bundle of blankets, Nicholas wondered. He didn't want to uncover him because it was quite chilly out in the open air. He bounced him as they walked.

"We're going to have to find some milk or something," he said softly. "That baby food won't last and he can't eat any of what I packed. I wasn't exactly prepared for this..."

Just One Bite

"Diapers," Nicholas sighed. "Right."

He trekked back up the stairs and into Cole's bedroom. Would they be in here or in the bathroom? He was clueless. Still, he searched around, opening drawers. He decided to stuff some of the clothes into his backpack. He looked in the crib and grabbed a stuffed monkey and blue pacifier. Just in case. He left the bedroom and looked for a bathroom, and upon finding one he started searching its cabinets. Before long, he found an unopened pack of diapers, and for some reason he felt very lucky.

"I found them," he told Mattie when he went back down the stairs. "I got his pacifier and some clothes and, uh, a stuff monkey for him." He looked at her and reached out for Cole. "Lemme hold him."

New Here

@ArenaSnow Thanks!

@Dinh AaronMk Alright, thank you.

@TheEvanCat ...?!?

Just One Bite

Confused but not too surprised by Mattie's sudden change of character, Nicholas followed her to see what she could find. Electricity had been a thing of the past for a while now, so he hesitated to check the fridge, but did so anyway. Obviously, there was nothing of use in there. Instead, he looked through the cabinets above the counters and eventually found empty baby bottles.

"Here," he said, putting them on the counter in front of Mattie. "Found anything else?"

New Here

@The Nexerus Thank you.

Just One Bite

The baby couldn't have been more than a few months old, Nicholas thought. It looked almost like his sister did when she was that young. It had virtually no hair, and was clad solely in a diaper, left without blankets in the cold house. He remembered going into Alisa's room when she was so small, during the winter, and tucking blankets tightly around her so that her cries would hush and not wake his parents.

"It's just..." he hesitated, not wanting to voice the thought. "It's so...healthy. This house wasn't open a couple days ago. Where did its parents go...?"

He looked around for a sign. Any sign. A note, maybe? But nothing. Maybe the zombies had gotten its parents. But why didn't they get the child? It was so helpless, so vulnerable...

Nicholas reached into the crib and carefully pulled the baby into his arms, cradling it against his chest. He looked around for a blanket, or maybe some clothes. The kid was probably freezing and hungry. He slowly walked over to a dresser by the window, effortlessly and lightly bouncing the baby as he did. He was relieved to find plenty of clothes that would no doubt fit. He pulled out a blue and white striped onesie with long sleeves.

After he dressed the child, he sat on the floor and laid it in his lap, gesturing at Mattie. "Give me the back with the blankets." When she did, he wrapped the blankets around the baby. "I think it's a boy because of the clothing they've got for it, but I can't be sure. Here, hold him," he said, giving him to Mattie.

He went back across the hallway and started tearing the master bedroom apart. He knew they had to have some sort of baby album. Birth certificate. Hospital band. Something.

Then, he found it. The birth certificate. Oddly enough, the only thing he could make out was the name. He walked over to the next room and told Mattie, "It's a boy. His name is Cole S-...Sh-...Suh- what does this say?" he asked, handing the slip of paper to her.