[M] The Dead- IC

[G]

Ava nodded stiffly, struggling not to let her emotions betray her hesitance to strip of in front of a woman she barely knew. Mostly because that would mean being weaponless, even for a moment, which was something all of the redhead's instincts screamed against.
Nevertheless, she followed Jayjay to her tent, ducking under the flap and entering the darker space inside. She began to remove her clothes in a mechanical, emotionless fashion, stripping down to her underwear to reveal a slim figure, muscular from her years of running, of survival. Her skin was pale, splattered with clusters of tiny freckles, so light brown they were almost indescernible. Her knives and gun she placed hesitantly beside her, on top of her small pile of clothes, still within easy reach should she need them.

"Check away," she told the blonde girl, "And the apology is unnecessary. I understand."

I understand only too well, what it's like. Trusting no-one, suspicious of everyone... that's how you have to be, if you want to survive these days.

[Lithiora]

Jay's eyes roamed over the woman's body swiftly before she checked around her breasts and under her butt cheeks to be sure there were no bites. Aside from old scars, from running so much she assumed, there was nothing to suggest that she was infected. "Alright, all done. Would you like to eat first or sleep?" she asked quickly. Barely giving the fact that this woman was not infected a moment to set in. She was a genuinely nice person so long as you weren't one of them.

[Higurashi]

If one was listening carefully in a close vicinity, one would have their eardrums burst out by a loud burst of music erupting from one of the taller buildings in the main area of the city. The day was hot, and Williams thanked god it was. The various stinking corpses and piled trash in the city of Atlanta provided excellent cover for his scent. So far, his plan was going off without a hitch. The building across the street had somehow survived mostly intact. Even luckier, it had a speaker system. These speakers were now playing the one of the old rock'n'roll hits, probably a horribly mangled version of 'Highway to Hell'.

Williams meanwhile, had earplugs in his ears, and waited silently. His rifle cocked against his shoulder, he slowed his breathing. The first one appeared around the street corner, a dreadful example of death undone. She probably had once been beautiful, a well proportioned blonde. Now, she was stained with blood, her left leg dragging behind her. It appeared that some unfortunate sould had stabbed a knife in her right arm before being killed. Williams chuckled at the thought that it was probably her boyfriend. The next track slid into place, and more appeared.

Despite his best expectations, more were pouring in by the moment. They climbed over cars, broke through doors, smashed windows, all heading for the noise. The music was something bloodthirsty now. It seemed that the broiling mass of limbs was being brought to a froth. Slowing his hearbeat, the hunter took aim, and fired. The target, a middle aged man with thinning hair, dropped like a brick. His exploded head smacked the floor like a wet sponge. Breathing carefully, Williams fired again, and again, and again.

His shots were percise, well placed even. Each bullet took down the biggest and meanest of the raging horde. Suddenly, they broke, charging in all directions, searching for the threat. The larger ones flipped cars, the smaller ones swarmed in packs. The music raged on seemingly eager to spill more blood. Then... 'click'. Looking at his prized rifle, he pulled out the magazine. Sorrow filled his soul. He had wasted all of his ammo. Sheathing the rifle on his back, he pull forth his pump action shotgun. This gun, only used in emergencies, was a last ensurance. He had melee weapons. But he was sure they would be off no use to him if it came to that. Pulling out his earplugs, he turned right into the gaping maw of hell. Oh. Shit.

There was only one of them, but lord was he a big one. In any pack, he would be the prime example of the brutish alpha male. The thing stared at him, mouth drooling. A drip of saliva slid down his tongue, and fell onto William's face, breaking the pure moment of stalemate. Quick as lightning, a knife was in William's hand, just as quickly shoved into the roaring thing's left eye. Screeching in pain, in backed away, only to return, mouth opened wide. A faint recognition of suprise appeared on its features as the shot went through his mouth and out the back of his head. Grunting, he pulled his shotgun from the thing's teeth, pulling out his knife aswell.

It was then that he realized that the music had stopped, and the echoes of his shotgun shot reverberated for miles. "For fuck's sake," he muttered. Then, he was off like an antelope, sprinting down the stairs and out of the building. Running like mad, he dashed past the gathering horde, heading for the hills, and coincidentally right towards the camp of the only sane beings for hundreds of miles.

[Cutekitty150]

Echoe was in a tree watching the Walkers pass under her. She was holding Ginta her dog. With a metal pipe in her other hand she hit the Walkers in the head when they got to close. She knew she couldn't stay up in that tree forever, she need to find other people who weren't infected with the virus.

When Echoe saw her chance, she hopped down from the tree, dropped Ginta and swung her pipe into the Walkers heads. there was about 5 of them coming at her. " Shit...Ginta stay close, don't get bit!" Echoe said as she backed up to her dog. The Walkers went running at her, they got really close to her but she swung the pipe in there heads smashing the brain.

Echoe quickly turned and ran for it, She was being sneaky and it seemed that they haven't seen her yet. There was only a few that found her but she got them. One even jumped out infrount of her and nearly bit her in the neck but like normal she just smashed its brain, by quickly swinging the pipe from under its chin and forcing the pipe up its head to the brain.

They thought they saw a hill with a camp site on it but they couldn't see very well to be sure. Echoe was loosing her energy fast so once again she climbed up a tree with her dog. The Walkers were still some were close so Echoe had to be alert.

[Average Hero]

One Hour after Ava's arrival Williams comes running up the road being chases by a small gathering of Walkers. Obviously low on ammo and within view, Rade decides to act taking Luke and Bree as back up, This is before the salvage to the city (as stuff just keeps happening)
To all new players- if you see this, the time or day has changed generally by at least an hour or so please be wary of them, if you were having a conversation before, you're not now.

Rade peered through the scope with Luke sitting just at his back and Bree close at hand. Roughly about ten minutes ago Luke had noticed a kind of commotion that might have proven troublesome to a much less experienced band of hunters. Standing atop the RV, crossbow slung over his back he watched and waited for just the right moment. Dusk had fallen and it was the absolute worst time for a flailing idiot being chased to show up un-invited.
"It never gets old, how many dumb asses that are out here." He sighed cynically hopping down from the RV both feet plating firmly on the ground. He had chosen to leave at least most of the campers with guns back at camp for a last line defense, but figured they would easily deal with the small handful.

The road was clear, and provided an easy line of sight especially for both Luke and himself, preferably Bree wouldn't need to discharge her weapon, the noise would likely draw more attention than usual, and firing a weapon would just be another death sentence. The man obviously of a bit older age than most of them here, had lengthy hair bathed in dirt and oil from hard days of living out in Atlanta, mind you Rade only assumed that was where most of the survivors came from. The older mna was only about half a mile off, and with him running directly toward the camp and Rade and Luke closing in on his direction they would hopefully meet somwhere in the middle.

"God help us if he fires that weapon off this close to us."

5 Minutes later

The walkers and the man both came into line of sight, and where now within shooting range. Rade had taken the initiative and moved forward. Being as stubborn as he was, he took a position standing in the center of the road, a clear target for anyone, and granted the man may have been frantic, Rade was nearly impossible to miss.

The wind blew and the smell of rotting flesh touched his nose, he twitched it to rid himself of the odor, but as always, it proved merely a naive luxury that never worked when you needed it the most. He counted them off in his head, seven walkers following the man ,and of course it had to be in hot pursuit, with the man just a few feet or so outside of their reach.

Crossbow steadied, Rade exhaled and let the arrow rip through the air. A trained eye could easily watch time slow down as arrows cut through the very essence of the intangible existence of air. It was breath-taking, had you not seen it two hundred or so times.
"Luke, you can fire faster than me, don't miss." He called back over his shoulder as the head of the arrow pierced a walker mid-run nearly detonating the back of his head all over the ground behind him. The smell was putrid, and carried by the same air right into Rade's nose.

[Fox Xalian]

Luke nodded and released his first arrow, quickly grabbing another from his quiver, knocking it, drawing the string back and releasing this one too, they both found thier marks, although the second on only just, not even half a inch more to the left and it wouldn't have been a kill shot. Bree watched as the walkers dropped from Luke's arrows. She holstered her gun and drew her knife, she was the last line of defence should any walker survive the rain of arrows falling upon them. Luke grabbed his last arrow and groaned. "Rade I'm all out after this" he said, drawing back the last arrow and fireing it. The arrow seemed to fly in slow motion as Luke watched it, the head ripping the very air, tearing it as if it was paper, right past the man's right ear and into the neck of a walker that was about to grab him from behind. "That was close, okay Rade it's yopur turn, do you want me and Bree to go in with our knives to help clear the way?" he asked. Bree watched as the walkers got closer, and Luke used his last arrow. It was times like this she wished she could run fast enough to collect the expended arrows and return them to Luke without being attacked, but she knew she would have to wait.

[The Bartender]

Ryuu had climbed in a tree after they had eaten, as usual. He always slept in a tree after building a small platform between two branches using few planks he carried with him. He watched the carnage further down the hill, silently laughing. It was very funny to watch how the brains of the Walkers flew all over the place as the head exploded by an impact.
Ryuu wasn't worried about the fact that these creatures had once been human, HAD BEEN, they were no more, so it didn't matter what happened to them now.
Ryuu was a coward, he knew it even himself. He more likely hid or ran away than fought even against one Walker. Well, he didn't care, it was his nature and in this world, cowards lived longer than the haughty ones.
You wil never get me into the city. He thought as he watched the show.

[G]

Ava had been sitting quietly by the fire, eating the meager meal that she had been given after being cleared of infection. Though noone had yet approached her with outright friendliness, it didn't seem as though she was the target of any animosity from the members of the party she'd seen around, and once she'd been 'inspected' by Jayjay she hadn't been asked to leave, on the contrary, she'd been given some food and left to her own devices.
It wasn't easy to miss the commotion coming from a short way down the path, as Rade and two for his party stood side by side, taking down the walkers in hot pursuit of a stranger, coming straight toward the camp. Keen to show her usefulness, Ava approached the trio, slipping one of her throwing knives from its sheath and tossing it with careful precision. It hit home, sinking deeply into the eye of a middle-aged, mother type, the kind expression her face had probably once held replaced now by a vicious snarl that distorted her features. Keenly aware that she had only a few knives, she always noted the bodies she aimed them at, to allow herself easy retrieval of her weapons afterward. "Want a little backup?" she asked the three, taking another shot and striking one of the closer walkers through the soft skin of its neck, severing the spinal column and rendering it truly dead.

This is my chance to show I'm worth having around. It's not enough not to be infected, if I want to stay with these people I need to prove I'm a worthwhile addition to this little party. And what the hell did this fool do, to have so many walkers on his tail? It constantly surprises me that people like that have managed to live this long.

[Cutekitty150]

Echoe was still in the tree, she watched the , madness continue. " What the hell, is this the crap we will be doing?" Echoe asked herself. She gripped Ginta hard as he tried to get loose and attack the Walkers. He was about to growl and bark until Echoe closed his mouth. He struggled to get loose but he couldn't with Echoes holding him. She knew she was too low to the ground in the tree so she quickly climb higher. This gave her a better image of what the hell was happening.

Her heart raced as she saw people fight. She wanted to help and killer the infected freaks but she stayed put. Ginta finally calmed down and popped his ears up. He could smell the blood everywhere. " Stay, its fine, I have a feeling that the people down there will be fine. They will get rid of the Walkers one by one." Echoe told Ginta.

[Average Hero]

Somewhere in the flurry of Luke's arrows Ava had approached from behind offering help. He smiled as he took aim and got a second shot off taking down another walker. By this time only four or so remained but they were drawing closer. The smell of rotting flesh was just outside the stench of sweat and a slight need to bathe. "Long as you ain't a zombitch too." He smiled pulling back the draw sting and locking a third arrow into place.
"Hurry up old man we ain't got all day!" Luke could still retrieve most of his arrows provided the walkers hadn't stepped over and broken them. There had been several occasions Rade had tried to get Luke to switch to a crossbow for the more durable arrows, but every single time he had declined, it was irritating on occasion but he eventually just gave up.

The wind was still blowing crisp but if they didn't rap this up quick the sky would turn dark and they might very well lose the small bit of arrows they had left, that were still made of titanium. "First order of business tomorrow, get more arrows." He said callously to himself as he had avoided it during the last mission.