Nightmare of a dying day |open|

[CALVIN TATE]

Convenience stores failed to live up to their name since the infection. If you were lucky you'd be able to find a bag of chips to eat, but more often than not the whole place was already picked clean. No, the only people reliably finding food in convenience stores these days were the dead. Even knowing all of that, Calvin found himself standing in front of the counter at a gas station. But he wasn't there for food. Survival rations weren't a full course meal, but they were enough to live off of. Calvin was there for a map, and as luck would have it there were quite a few of them still behind the register.

Reaching over the counter, Calvin pulled out one of the small pieces of folded paper. He looked around one more time to make sure he was alone, then unfolded the map on the floor. On his way in he had made note of the street names at the nearby intersection, so it didn't take long to figure out where he was. Reaching up to the counter again, Calvin grabbed a pen and made a mark at that location, then started looking for Green Valley High School. Several minutes later he had located it. Measuring the distance with his fingers, he figured it would be a four hour walk. Calvin sighed, folding the map up again.

The heat was unbearable outside. Calvin had thrown out his jacket a long time ago because of this heat. He still regretted that decision at night some times, but during the day he fantasized about throwing out everything else. Taking a drink of water from his canteen, Calvin took a moment to find out which direction he should go, then set out along the route he had marked on the map, gun held at the ready. Moving slowly and keeping track of his surroundings, the four hour walk turned in to a seven hour crawl.

By the time Calvin had reached the school, the sun was setting. Even then, he saw a few figures shambling in front of the entrance to the building. He moved around to the side of the building, remaining low on the ground, until he saw an open window on the second floor. ""Perfect." he muttered under his breath as he put his rifle over his shoulder again and began searching for a good foothold.

A few minutes later, Calvin stood in an empty classroom. He pulled his rifle down and fixed his bayonet on to its end, then put his ear to the door. There was no sound coming from the other side. Quietly, he opened the door, then moved out in to the dark hallway. Continuing his crouch, Calvin made his way to the front office of the building, careful not to attract attention toward himself. If the surviving members of his squad had made it, that's where they would be.

He opened the door to the office carefully, and checked for movement. Nothing. Calvin sighed, closing the door behind him. He took a few steps forward before he heard a familiar voice. "Tate? You're... alive?

Calvin turned to where the voice had come from, spotting a person sitting in a nearby chair. "Chris? Where's everyone else?"

There was a pause. "They're dead, Cal. Hell, I thought you were dead."

"Dead?" Calvin felt a lump grow in his throat. "How?"

Chris turned his head to the ground. "We tried to wake you up, I swear we did, but... You weren't breathing, Tate. And then there was the horde, we had to get out of there. We almost made it here, you know? We weren't too far away when we were surrounded. We were all injured, but we still tried fighting our way out. Not much else you can do when you're facing down a horde." Chris' face wrinkled in pain, an arm clutching his stomach. "There were hundreds of them, Cal. Hundreds. We never stood a chance. We tried, but we never stood a chance. I wont lie to you, it wasn't a heroic death, we were all pretty much screaming. They didn't get a free meal, though."

"How'd you get out of there?" Calvin put a hand on Chris' shoulder to stabilize him. "If there were that many you should be torn to pieces."

Looking up, Chris' eyes met Calvin's. "That's the thing, Tate. I didn't." Pulling up his pants, Chris revealed several bite and scratch marks along his leg. "I just... Our goal was to get here. I wanted to see the place before I went." He let out a short laugh. "Not exactly worth the trouble, if you ask me." Calvin raised his gun, but Chris put up his hand in protest. "Too loud." Nodding, Calvin put his gun on the counter behind him, removing the bayonet. "Guess you're the only one left now, Tate. Keep the goal alive."

Calvin made his way behind Chris, moving the knife in to position behind his skull. "I'll make it quick."

"I'm sure you will. See you on the other side, Cal."

"Goodbye, Chris." Calvin thrust the knife forward with all his strength, piercing through the back of Chris' skull. Chris was dead in seconds, and Calvin fell backward. He was alone now. The hope he had of finding his squad had been the only thing keeping him going. Chris' last words echoed in his head. "Keep the goal alive, huh?" Calvin sat up. The task fell on to him now.

Dragging Chris' body in to one of the back offices was easier than Calvin had expected. He took a look around, then laid Chris on the floor. "I'll do my best." He closed the door and made his way to what he had seen as a counselor's office. Laying down on the couch, he let his desire for sleep take him.

[MICHELLE KUMAKURA]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=eeeeee][atrb=width,500,true] [STYLE=width: 100px; height: 100px; border: 10px solid #111111; float: left; margin-top: 5px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 5px;][/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 30px; font-size: 18px; font-family: arial; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: -3px;]NEVER FORGET, NEVER REGRET —[/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; font-size: 10px; background-color: #212121; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; width: 450px; padding: 1px;]THAT ISOLATED SHELL OF PROTECTION EXISTS NEVERMORE.[/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; font-size: 10px; font-family: arial; color: #606060;]WORDS What are words...? MUSE zombie fics TAGGED Calvin NOTES Sorry it's junk... I've been out of the groove lately...[/style] [STYLE=font-size: 10px; background-color: #f3f3f3; text-align: justify; width: 430px; padding: 5px; border-left: 7px solid #111111; border-top: 7px solid #111111;]It was one of those days that seemed like everything was going wrong. She completely ran out of food, was chased by zombies, searched a completely empty convenience store for food, and came back to see her base surrounded by a horde of hungry zombies feasting on some poor souls. When Michelle saw an overturned truck, her heart sunk. Apparently she was not the only one having a bad day. Michelle shifted slightly to see farther around the corner she was hiding behind. The truck looked like it was a military grade. She sighed. Well, there went yet another chance of escape. Any hopes of survival hit the dust again. She stole a glance at her base one last time. The zombies were having one hell of a party. At least they were on the outside of her base. She didn't think they'd try to break in, after all. Maybe by tomorrow, all of the zombies would be up and out of the area. Until then, Michelle would have to find another place to spend the night. Thankfully, she took most of her belongings with her. If it turned out that she couldn't go back to her base, she would have enough to last her until she found another place to stay. Michelle turned and started her way down the road. Her eyes darted around for a suitable place to stay, ideally one having few entrances and windows. Yet as she continued on, it seemed as if the amount of zombie hordes walking around in broad daylight multiplied. It was as if a bunch of humans started running around to become zombie chow. Michelle lost track of the amount of eaten human corpses she saw. By the time the sun slowly started its decent, Michelle started to panic. There were zombies everywhere. Without sufficient light, she'd become easy prey in no time. Michelle had no idea how she managed to evade each individual horde yet she would be caught soon if she didn't find a hiding place. Eventually, her search lead her to a high school. By the time she snuck in, it was late into the night. She managed to crawl her way into one of the faculty offices through a loose window. She quickly locked the window. She squinted trying to see through the dark. From the silence, Michelle assumed that there wasn't anything alive within the immediate area. The room smelled a bit weird but it was safe. Zombies, though dumb, were loud. They always banged into random things and made weird grunts. Michelle didn't think they retained the ability to keep quiet. When Michelle started forward, her foot caught on something causing her to stumble clumsily. She swore silently under her breath as she turned back to see what she tripped over. Michelle couldn't see much in the dark. It looked like a weird shape and for all she knew, it could be a pile of books or a cabinet. She leaned forward to poke the object. It was cold and... her eyes widened when her fingers brushed over something wet. She recognized that smell now. How could she forget that metallic smells usually mean... Michelle yelped as she scrambled back and out of the room. It was a man... a dead one. She gasped as she ran into another office, apparently the counselor's office, and shut the door quickly behind her. She quickly locked it and slid to the floor. This was such a crappy day. She already saw enough human corpses for one day. [/style] [style=font-size: 10px; text-align: center;]TEMPLATE BY SAMARECARM OF OTE + BTN[/style]

[CALVIN TATE]

Sleep had come easily after the events of the day, bringing dreams along with it. Calvin was standing by his bunk, bag in hand, watching as everyone else loaded in to the trucks. Every instinct in his body was telling him to go with them, he'd do more good with them than he could here, but his feet wouldn't move. Something was holding him here. As he turned to survey the landscape, he realized it was the city. There were still people in there, and he was being ordered to abandon them.

Footsteps. Calvin turned around, coming face to face with the man he recognized as his C.O., but something was wrong. The man's face was contorted in pain, and he was bleeding from a large wound in his chest. Looking out the window, Calvin saw the other soldiers in the same situation. He tried calling out for a medic, but the only sound to come out of his mouth was a muffled moaning. Taking a breath, Calvin turned to the mirror to see a large wound in his lower stomach. On the ground, Calvin's left arm rested atop his bag.

A sudden noise turned his attention back to the door. What he saw was Chris standing in the doorway, smoking gun in hand, Calvin's C.O. on the ground between them. The sound of gunfire echoed throughout the entire base. Calvin started walking toward Chris, trying to ask what was going on, but Chris just shook his head. "You've got work to do, Tate." Chris leveled his gun and fired.

Calvin rubbed his eyes. He didn't know how long he had been out, but it was still dark outside. He shifted his position on the couch to get more comfortable, hoping to get some more sleep before the morning, when he heard someone call out in surprise. It was short, he wasn't even sure if it was real, but it was definitely human and he couldn't risk ignoring it.

His gun was on the counselor's desk. He reached out for it when the door suddenly shut. Calvin looked toward the door and saw a girl on the floor, holding the door shut. She didn't seem to have noticed him yet, but she looked scared. Taking a quiet breath, he decided to chance talking to her before she mistook him for one of the dead. "So," he started, "I don't... Name's Calvin." He sat up and grabbed his gun, resting it in his lap, then turned his attention back to the girl. "So what are you doing here?"

[MICHELLE KUMAKURA]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=eeeeee][atrb=width,500,true] [STYLE=width: 100px; height: 100px; border: 10px solid #111111; float: left; margin-top: 5px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 5px;][/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 30px; font-size: 18px; font-family: arial; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: -3px;]NEVER FORGET, NEVER REGRET —[/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; font-size: 10px; background-color: #212121; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; width: 450px; padding: 1px;]THAT ISOLATED SHELL OF PROTECTION EXISTS NEVERMORE.[/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; font-size: 10px; font-family: arial; color: #606060;]WORDS IDK~! MUSE zombie fics TAGGED Calvin NOTES Merrr... it's short...[/style] [STYLE=font-size: 10px; background-color: #f3f3f3; text-align: justify; width: 430px; padding: 5px; border-left: 7px solid #111111; border-top: 7px solid #111111;]Michelle froze when she heard a rustling on the couch. She scrambled for the knob when she saw a figure rise from the couch. No way could she have accidentally locked herself with one of the undead. Was she really that stupid. She kept glancing back as she fumbled with the knob. After a year of unuse, the knob's functioning ability died. Apparently the school was too cheap to replace its doorknobs or something. Michelle almost screamed when the zombie spoke and reached for a gun. As if regular zombies weren't hard enough. Did they manage to eat enough brains to remember how to use a fricking gun?! Michelle reached into her pocket and pulled out her multitool which was already switched to the blade function. With fear, she held out the blade protectively in front of her. She would have ran forward to attack the zombie if she didn't hear it speak... again. Okay... the gun-wielding zombie was hard enough, but now they spoke? That was... Michelle wanted to smack herself for her stupidity. It was a human... named Calvin. Still, Michelle did not allow herself to lower her weapon. She just found a dead body in the adjacent office, after all. What if this man was the murderer? Michelle squinted in the darkness and tried to make out the image of the man in front of her. He seemed a lot older than her... then again... where she was from, everybody from the states looked old. He seemed like he was in the military, his wardrobe and certainly added to that belief. Michelle suddenly flashbacked to the overturned truck by her base. From wandering all around the city for a hiding place, Michelle saw guns, helmets, and heavily mutilated corpses wearing military uniforms. Was this man part of the group? If he was, why wasn't he injured... or was he? "You... are you bitten anywhere?" She asked suspiciously. Until she was sure that he was clean, she wasn't going to let down her guard. [/style] [style=font-size: 10px; text-align: center;]TEMPLATE BY SAMARECARM OF OTE + BTN[/style]

[CALVIN TATE]

Calvin still couldn't believe his eyes. Was he still dreaming? There was no way another person was in the room with him. He closed his eyes, convinced that she'd be gone when he opened them again. Not only was she still there, she was holding a weapon in her hands. Reflexively, Calvin's grip tightened around his gun, but he kept it pointed toward the wall.

She seemed to be examining him, thinking things through. The weapon was still in her hands, but she hadn't made a move to use it yet, that much at least was a good sign. It didn't look like she had much else on her in the way of supplies. This was it, Calvin though, a chance to keep his promise to Chris. A sudden realization crushed him at that moment. He wasn't there when his squad needed him most, and now they were dead, what right did he have to help anyone else? Calvin shook his head, he wasn't going to give up so soon.

After a short while, Calvin turned his attention back to the girl. She hadn't moved yet, but her face had changed, almost as if she was expecting him to say something. Suddenly he remembered that she was about to say something before his thoughts had carried him away. He struggled to remember her words for a short while, turning up nothing. Common questions formed in his mind, but none of them seemed to stand out to him. None, that was, until he came to the obvious conclusion. Had he been infected.

"Err... No, no I haven't. I, uh... I'm pretty scratched up, but that was from the... Er... Crash." Calvin stood up, putting his gun back on the desk, and pulled up the sleeves of his shirt. He poured some water from his canteen in to his hand and started wiping off the blood on his arms, showing them to the girl. Plenty of small scratches and a few small pieces of gravel, but no bite marks. He repeated the process with his legs. "I'd show you the rest, but I don't think you'd appreciate that too much. Besides, if those things had gotten close enough to bypass my limbs and head straight to the juicy parts, I wouldn't be alive right now."

Reaching in to his pack, Calvin pulled out two blocks wrapped in silver. Opening one revealed a brown bar of some kind. He took a bite and swallowed, a pained look briefly appearing on his face. Holding out the other bar to the girl, he spoke again. "Survival rations. Got enough here to keep a person fed for three days. Go ahead and try one if you like. After you get a bite in, you'll see why I want to find something else as soon as I can."

[MICHELLE KUMAKURA]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=eeeeee][atrb=width,500,true] [STYLE=width: 100px; height: 100px; border: 10px solid #111111; float: left; margin-top: 5px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 5px;][/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 30px; font-size: 18px; font-family: arial; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: -3px;]NEVER FORGET, NEVER REGRET ?[/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; font-size: 10px; background-color: #212121; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; width: 450px; padding: 1px;]THAT ISOLATED SHELL OF PROTECTION EXISTS NEVERMORE.[/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; font-size: 10px; font-family: arial; color: #606060;]WORDS AHAHAHAHA!!! MUSE zombie fics TAGGED Calvin NOTES merrr....[/style] [STYLE=font-size: 10px; background-color: #f3f3f3; text-align: justify; width: 430px; padding: 5px; border-left: 7px solid #111111; border-top: 7px solid #111111;]Michelle's eyes narrowed as she examined the man's wounds. From the look of it, they were just scratches. Still, she couldn't see all the man's wounds so she had no way of knowing for sure. In all her time of being surrounded by zombies, Michelle never got the chance to time how long it took a person to change. While people weren't changed instantly, they still changed within an hour of getting bitten. While Michelle was sure that the attack on all of the military people was more than an hour ago, she still knew that the man could have been bitten in a different situation. Her eyes widened when the man pulled out two silver bars. She watched the man curiously as he unwrapped it and took a bite. He grimaced before handing her the other bar. Slowly, she let down her blade and folded it back up into her pocket. While she was mostly sure the man was safe, she still wanted a weapon close by just in case he was not as he seemed. She walked forward slowly and nabbed the bar from the man's hand. After which, she quickly backed against the door. No matter what, she wanted to put as much distance between the man and her. He certainly seemed big enough to overpower her in any instant. She had to run just in case. Michelle slowly unwrapped the bar and stared at the brown object. Michelle brought it up to her mouth and nibbled on the corner. Her face contorted as the taste spreaded over her tongue. She knew that healthy things weren't supposed to taste that good... but that was just gross. She let her eyes shut as she took another bite. It really wasn't any time for her to be complaining about the taste of food, especially since all of the stores in Henderson were stripped clean. She coughed as she tried to swallow. How in the world did the man deal with such nasty food? "You were part of that group, right? The military group that got attacked by the road into Henderson?" Michelle asked slowly. Michelle didn't know whether to bring up that or not, especially if the man was part of the group. From what she saw scattered around the city, that man could be the last one alive from that group. Still, the answer would give Michelle a reason to trust the man. He seemed rather gruff looking, but he was kind. He'd be probably one of the safest people to be around for protection, after all. [/style] [style=font-size: 10px; text-align: center;]TEMPLATE BY SAMARECARM OF OTE + BTN[/style]

[CALVIN TATE]

The question hit hard. Of course Calvin knew they were dead. He'd been told that they were dead, and had even killed the last one himself. But there was something about hearing it from someone new. Someone he didn't know. Knowing that their bodies were laying out there in the streets, a new wave of emotion hit, draining his energy. Calvin fell back on to the couch, dropping the ration on to the desk.

"Yeah..." He placed a hand on the desk in front of him for support "Yeah, they're... Well, they were... I was with them, yes." Looking up at the wall, he continued talking. "You probably saw the wreck. Quiet city like this, a truck slamming in to a building's going to get a lot of attention. Got banged up pretty bad in the crash, showed you that already. Guess I was out cold, woke up by myself out there. Wasn't out for long, but it was long enough for everyone else to take off. Just me and however many walkers decided to come check the place out.

Pulling himself back to his feet, Calvin wiped his forehead. "If you ever get desperate, there's more of those bars in that truck." He let out a short chuckle. "Though if I were you I'd eat my own shoes before that." Turning to face the girl again, Calvin tried his best to look serious. "I know it may not seem like much, but I'm the only rescue that's coming. Gonna be checking the area for others, we've got a better chance of living through this thing if we all stick together."

Picking the remains of his ration back up from the desk, he took another bite. "First thing's first, though. Decent food. I'm gonna guess that you've been around here longer than me, got any ideas where to look?"

[MICHELLE KUMAKURA]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=eeeeee][atrb=width,500,true] [STYLE=width: 100px; height: 100px; border: 10px solid #111111; float: left; margin-top: 5px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 5px;][/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 30px; font-size: 18px; font-family: arial; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: -3px;]NEVER FORGET, NEVER REGRET ?[/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; font-size: 10px; background-color: #212121; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; width: 450px; padding: 1px;]THAT ISOLATED SHELL OF PROTECTION EXISTS NEVERMORE.[/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; font-size: 10px; font-family: arial; color: #606060;]WORDS 349 MUSE zombie fics TAGGED Calvin NOTES sorry it took so long...[/style] [STYLE=font-size: 10px; background-color: #f3f3f3; text-align: justify; width: 430px; padding: 5px; border-left: 7px solid #111111; border-top: 7px solid #111111;]Michelle felt a pang of pity when the man's face turned downcast. She shouldn't have brought it up. The man was obviously crushed at what happened to his team. His obvious distress made Michelle feel guilty. She couldn't deny the fact that she was happy that she had no personal ties to any of the people in Las Vegas. Vegas wasn't her home, after all. She didn't have to watch the people she love die around her. In an ironic way, she was one of the more fortunate ones. She was spared that agony. As strange as it was, hearing that rescue was not coming made Michelle feel relieved. She didn't want to spend her life hoping for something that wasn't going to come. When people were tied down by a false hope, they refused to change. They'd cling to their homes and refused to leave. It'd make them embark on suicide missions. While Michelle was sure that she wasn't that type of person, it still was a relief. Her heart sunk when she heard the only food they brought was the nasty rations. Even though it was food, Michelle couldn't understand how anybody could live off those. The taste was absolutely monstrous. Still, practically every store in the Henderson area was stripped clean. Either that, or they were completely infested with zombies. And seeing as though they only had an army of two, that mission would be impossible. She sighed. "Housing would be the best," Michelle replied. Most people fled their homes when they heard of the impending zombie invasion. However, their ending was not the best. The massive gridlock it caused made it a zombie heaven. Nevertheless, most people left their houses and only took their valuables with them. That meant that people still left their non-perishable food. Moreover, electricity still worked so frozen foods were probably still good. Michelle didn't know whether or not most of the houses were pillaged, but it was the best bet of finding food. “I’m Michelle, by the way." [/style] [style=font-size: 10px; text-align: center;]TEMPLATE BY SAMARECARM OF OTE + BTN[/style]

[CALVIN TATE]

"Housing, huh?" Calvin shrugged. He'd been hoping to avoid houses as long as he could, as his gun wouldn't be as effective in the close quarters. But this girl seemed to know the area better than he had. She didn't seem like the fighting type, more like the person who had survived a year by scavenging. And if he'd learned anything since the infection it was that you listen to the people who have managed to not attract enough attention to get themselves killed.

Calvin pulled his gun back up on to his shoulder, picking up his pack as he walked toward the door. "Michelle, was it? You look like you could use some sleep. Couch ain't too comfortable, but it's safe. Enough." Reaching for the handle, he let out a yawn. "I'll keep watch out here."

Closing the door behind him, Calvin slumped in to one of the chairs outside. He had been hoping to meet up with the rest of his squad in the school, it was too big of a fortress to hold by himself. Perhaps the housing areas were the best bet after all. Pulling the map from his pack, he began plotting a course.

A cool breeze lifted the map, causing him to look up. An open window. Sighing, Calvin crossed the room to close it. He looked out in to the darkness for a few seconds before closing the curtain. Calvin took a few minutes to walk throughout the office, closing all the curtains and looking for whatever food there might be. While he didn't have much luck with food, he did manage to find a water cooler, allowing him to fill his canteen.

Grabbing a ruler from one of the desk drawers, he returned to the map. Barring unwanted run-ins with the shamblers, it would only take him a few hours to get to a decent sized cluster of houses. Whether or not he would go alone would depend on if this Michelle girl was still there in the morning. Taking one more glance around the office to make sure everything was secure, Calvin folded the map and slumped further down in his chair, letting his eyes close. He'd never been very good at keeping watch alone.

[MICHELLE KUMAKURA]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=eeeeee][atrb=width,500,true] [STYLE=width: 100px; height: 100px; border: 10px solid #111111; float: left; margin-top: 5px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 5px;][/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 30px; font-size: 18px; font-family: arial; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: -3px;]NEVER FORGET, NEVER REGRET ?[/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; font-size: 10px; background-color: #212121; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; width: 450px; padding: 1px;]THAT ISOLATED SHELL OF PROTECTION EXISTS NEVERMORE.[/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; font-size: 10px; font-family: arial; color: #606060;]WORDS 635 MUSE zombie fics TAGGED Calvin NOTES Uh... the procrastination god... cursed me. [/style] [STYLE=font-size: 10px; background-color: #f3f3f3; text-align: justify; width: 430px; padding: 5px; border-left: 7px solid #111111; border-top: 7px solid #111111;]Michelle's eyes widened when he offered her the couch. After spending almost a year without human contact, she never thought of meeting someone sane. Yet, the chivalry was even more surprising. Michelle saw the corpses of people beaten to death over something like food. Times of distress turned people into animals. It was horrifying to watch. That's why Michelle tried her best to stay away from huge groups of people. Michelle didn't mind one-on-one things... just not groups. Michelle walked around and sat on the couch. She wasn't quite sure how to react. It's been awhile since anyone gave up anything for her. Hell, she didn't get treated that nicely even back where she lived. She still didn't trust the man completely... For all she knew, he was just waiting for her to fall asleep so he could molest her. Yet, even Michelle had to admit that the idea was a far off assumption. He was very kind and she was growing to like him. Michelle didn't know how long she stared at the door waiting for it to open. Even if she was beginning to trust the man, she wasn't going to give him the benefit of the doubt. She was going to lay in wait until she figured out whether or not the man could be trusted. Yet, as much as she waited, the door never opened. She definitely heard movement in the adjacent room, that was for sure--The rustling of paper, the footsteps, things of the sort--yet other than that, nothing happened. In fact, after an hour or so, she didn't hear a single thing. Did the man fall asleep? Michelle crept out to the door and peeked out as quietly as she could. She almost snorted when she saw Calvin promptly knocked out on a chair. He sure did a nice job keeping watch. The man definitely was not dangerous. What kind of evil person would not want to violate a girl that was only a room away? Sure, the man might be waiting for her to put her guard down, yet Michelle highly doubted it. She wanted to hit the man. How dare he make it so hard for her to decide whether to trust him or not? He was so easy to trust that it was rather unsettling. It felt like it was a trap. She walked up and crouched in front of the man curiously. While he looked old, Michelle assumed that the man was younger. Most people in the military seemed to age faster than normal people. Yet, as it was now, everywhere was a military zone. Michelle felt like she aged decades within that short year the zombie infestation started. Yet Michelle's genes made her look younger than what she actually was. Whether it was a blessing or a curse, Michelle didn't know. Michelle stood up and began to search around the office. She made sure to avoid the one with the dead body. She hated looking at dead things, after all. It gave her nightmares. She peeked into the nurse's office curiously. Michelle didn't have any medical items in her inventory. Seeing as though she was in a school, she decided that it would be the best time to start packing. Michelle searched the cabinets and drawers. After she had a steady supply of peroxide, bandages, ointment, tylenol, and things of the sort, Michelle reached under the sink and pulled out a two blankets. Michelle yawned as she trudged back into the main office with a heavy bag and two blankets in tow. After wrapping one around Calvin, she walked back inside the other office and closed the door behind her. She slumped on the couch and let her eyes shut. [/style] [style=font-size: 10px; text-align: center;]TEMPLATE BY SAMARECARM OF OTE + BTN[/style]

[CALVIN TATE]

A crashing noise from outside made Calvin's eyes snap open. He replayed the sound in his mind, chalking it up to a metal trash can toppling over. Leaving it for someone else, he shifted to his left and looked out in to the office. That's when he remembered what had happened, and where he was.

Reaching for where he had left his gun, Calvin darted his eyes from window to window. The blinds were down, but light was still pouring in to the office through them. As he tried to stand, he almost tripped on a blanket that had been draped over him. He paused for a while, wondering when that had gotten there, but the noise from outside brought his attention back to reality.

It hadn't been an exceptionally loud crash, but it had been enough to pique the interest of the group outside. The sound of footsteps approached the office window, as silhouettes began to form in the light. Calvin cursed under his breath. Of course it had to be a can outside the office that had toppled. He dropped close to the floor and moved slowly, collecting his belongings as he passed by them, trying to make as little noise as possible.

Lightly placing everything in to his backpack, Calvin risked standing up to throw it over his shoulder. He looked up at a clock over the one of the doors. Six twenty four in the morning. Stretching his arms, Calvin started walking to the office that Michelle was sleeping in. He would have preferred to let her wake up on her own, but the sound outside was only getting louder as more and more of them came close to the window to see what the commotion was.

As he reached the door, Calvin heard a light thud behind him. He turned around to see a shadow standing on the other side of the window as it unenthusiastically slapped its hand on the glass. It didn't seem determined to get inside, but the noise it was making drew some more shapes over, all of them lightly smacking the window. Without knocking, Calvin opened the door to the office and put in his head.

"Get your things." he said in a harsh whisper, trying not to let the figures outside know that anyone was actually in the building. "We need to get moving. Now."

[MICHELLE KUMAKURA]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=eeeeee][atrb=width,500,true] [STYLE=width: 100px; height: 100px; border: 10px solid #111111; float: left; margin-top: 5px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 5px;][/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 30px; font-size: 18px; font-family: arial; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: -3px;]NEVER FORGET, NEVER REGRET ?[/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; font-size: 10px; background-color: #212121; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; width: 450px; padding: 1px;]THAT ISOLATED SHELL OF PROTECTION EXISTS NEVERMORE.[/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; font-size: 10px; font-family: arial; color: #606060;]WORDS 558 MUSE zombie fics TAGGED Calvin NOTES This time, it's school's fault. -A- [/style] [STYLE=font-size: 10px; background-color: #f3f3f3; text-align: justify; width: 430px; padding: 5px; border-left: 7px solid #111111; border-top: 7px solid #111111;]It had been a long while since Michelle last dreamt as she slept. Most of her nights were spent half awake in fear of a zombie somehow making its way into her hideout. Yet on those rare days where she dreamt, her dreams were never ones of happiness. They were nightmares. This night was no different. Somehow, her memories of her first encounter with a large horde came back to visit her. Fear fluttered in her stomach as the familiar sound filled her ear--zombies ramming themselves into a wall. It was almost as if she was in that fateful cafe again. However, this time, she didn't have someone at her side to save her. The sounds echoed in her dreams. As if anticipating the nightmare that was soon to come, she was quickly pushed out of her sleep. She woke in a fit of fear as she flailed. Her arms and legs tangled with her blanket and she soon found herself on the floor. Michelle quickly sat up and stared at her surroundings in confusion. Where in the world was she? She certainly did not wake up here the day before. Still in a slight daze, Michelle pulled herself up and slowly stumbled back to the couch. As the druglike effects of sleep wore off, memories slowly trickled back. When she was finally able to piece everything back together, something still didn't fit. She didn't know if she was dreaming, but the sounds from her dream did not stop. In fact, it seemed as if it was getting louder... "Oh god no..." Dread struck her in the gut. When Calvin stuck his head in, her lungs stopped working. Her vision darkened. Her hands shook as she tried to move her body forward to follow the man. Yet, her experience from before came back and hit her full force. Her breath became ragged as her eyes shut. Her eyes slowly trailed past Calvin. Light coming from the window revealed moving shapes. As unreasonable as it was, she didn't want to leave the room. She didn't scope out the school and she doubted Calvin did either. The possibility of running into another horde as they escaped was very high. She didn't want to fight a zombie again. She didn't even want to see one. That horrifying instant when one realizes they will most likely die is scarring. Michelle did not want to feel that again. She did not want to die. Her hands shook as she reached down and grabbed her bag. Somehow, that last thought pushed her to move. Though it was hard, she pushed her fear to the back of her mind. The more she dallied, the more in danger they would get. She quickly went up to the man. She hoped he had an idea of where to go. Already, Michelle had a couple ideas of where to hide, yet Michelle doubted Calvin would be able to fit in any of those places. The way Michelle saw it, they had three option. One, find someplace to hide in the school and hope the zombies don't find them. Two, leave the school and hope the zombies won't notice them. Or three, fight and hope they don't get bitten. She really hoped he wouldn't chose the last one. [/style] [style=font-size: 10px; text-align: center;]TEMPLATE BY SAMARECARM OF OTE + BTN[/style]

[CALVIN TATE]

Calvin looked back toward the window. It was holding for now, but if either of them made a loud enough noise to be heard, it wouldn't last three seconds against the force gathering outside. He readied his gun, just in case, and turned his attention back to Michelle. Her movements seemed stiff, it didn't seem like her first encounter with a group.

"They don't know we're here yet," he whispered in to the room, turning back to watch the window. "I've seen several groups act like this. They're just looking for whatever made that sound earlier. Probably the wind, of course, but it doesn't seem as though they have the brains to figure that out." Tossing back an unconvincing smile, he added "We should be able to get out of here on the other side of the building. I didn't check every room in the place, but it seemed empty enough."

As if on cue, a shadow passed by the window in the office door. The blinds had been drawn, but it seemed interested in the noise coming from the glass. Calvin shook his head, the things were stupid enough that they were attracting each other without knowing it. Unfortunately, the pounding on the door was loud enough to be heard by the group at the window, giving them all they needed Diving in to the back office with Michelle, Calvin closed the door as quickly as he could, pushing the desk to barricade the entrance.

Outside, there was a loud sound of shattering glass and splintering wood. A few thumps followed as the figures crawled in through the window. They searched the area for a short time, but eventually quieted down after finding nothing. Unfortunately, Calvin knew all too well that they had taken their lives of standing around waiting and moved them in to the main office. He looked toward Michelle and pointed at the small window in their side office. It was their only chance now. Of course, in broad daylight, it was only a matter of time before they were seen outside.

[MICHELLE KUMAKURA]

[atrb=border,0,true][bg=eeeeee][atrb=width,500,true] [STYLE=width: 100px; height: 100px; border: 10px solid #111111; float: left; margin-top: 5px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 5px;][/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 30px; font-size: 18px; font-family: arial; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: -3px;]NEVER FORGET, NEVER REGRET ?[/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; font-size: 10px; background-color: #212121; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: arial; width: 450px; padding: 1px;]THAT ISOLATED SHELL OF PROTECTION EXISTS NEVERMORE.[/style] [STYLE=text-align: left; font-size: 10px; font-family: arial; color: #606060;]WORDS 419 MUSE zombie fics TAGGED Calvin NOTES Sorry it took so long. ; A ; [/style] [STYLE=font-size: 10px; background-color: #f3f3f3; text-align: justify; width: 430px; padding: 5px; border-left: 7px solid #111111; border-top: 7px solid #111111;]Michelle grunted as Calvin grabbed her and practically threw themselves into the office. Right when Calvin barricaded the door, a loud crash erupted from the outside office. Immediately, it seemed like everything about Michelle froze. She couldn't move or even breathe. The moments following seemed like an eternity. Various steps echoed throughout the offices as a group of zombies entered the building. Strangely enough, they didn't move toward the barricaded door but in a random path as if scoping out the area. When it finally became evident that they weren't caught, Michelle finally let out her breath. She turned to look at the soldier for instructions as to what the plan of action was now. She, however, did not move her feet. Michelle didn't know how acute zombie hearing was, but she was not going to do anything to find out. Her eyes followed his pointer to the small window. She quickly looked back at him adamantly refusing. She knew from enough experience that climbing in and out of windows was no quiet feat. Especially because Michelle was on the shorter side of the spectrum height-wise, it took her a great deal of climbing to hoist herself out. Plus, would the soldier be able to fit through the window? Even more, if she somehow did make it out, what if she was spotted by zombie immediately? Michelle glared at the man waving her finger in a vertical circle by her ear. She pointed down with her two fingers as if to tell him to wait. When the zombies finally realized that the office had nothing interesting to hold, they'd leave... right? Besides, it was not like they were caught yet. As long as they did not make any noise, they'd be fine. When the zombies finally left, then they'd be able to make their escape with the least chance of zombie bites. Or... What if the zombies did not leave? Michelle held her hand out to the soldier telling him to wait. Her brow furrowed as she rubbed her temples in thought. Calvin had a point, yet it was extremely risky. Maybe using the window, they could create a distraction outside causing the zombies to leave. Then again... it could definitely backfire. Michelle glanced back up to the soldier and stared at him pleadingly. She didn't know what to do, but she really hoped he had other ideas up his sleeve. She'd only do his idea as a last resort. [/style] [style=font-size: 10px; text-align: center;]TEMPLATE BY SAMARECARM OF OTE + BTN[/style]

[CALVIN TATE]

Calvin nodded slowly. Michelle was right, leaving now would be too big of a risk. He hadn't gotten a good look at the group that had climbed inside, but he imagined there were at least six of them shuffling about in the room behind them. And that wasn't even counting the ones that would probably still be outside. No, any sound loud enough to be heard in the next room could betray their position.

Casting his eyes around the room, Calvin searched for anything they could use. Besides the door and window, there was a small vent along the floor. Of course, managing to open it would be a feat worthy of a master thief, and even if he did manage there was no way he would fit through. It was doubtful that even Michelle could crawl her way out of there. There had to be another way.

Couch, rolling chair, paperclips, a file cabinet, a desk lamp, phone... Nothing in the room seemed to offer a solution. Perhaps they could wait until night and try to get out in the darkness, but even after a year in this mess Calvin wasn't quite sure how much their vision depended on light, or even if they used their eyes at all. Still, it was better than walking out to the flat parking lot in broad daylight. If only there was some way to make sure that the attention of the things outside was focused somewhere else.

And then he saw it. On the floor where the desk had once been, a laminated sheet covered with numbers. Phone extensions for the various rooms in the school. The phone lines would be dead by now, but if this school had updated its system since the nineties, they would have an intercom. A way to call between each other using only the local lines.

Suddenly wishing he had paid more attention to the room numbers on his way in, Calvin looked over the list. If they had a map of the school they could call the rooms one at a time, effectively luring the group from the office, as well as any other lurkers, down the hall. It was a risky move, to be sure, but no less than leaping out a window in the middle of the day.

Carefully, Calvin opened a drawer in the desk, finding a small collection of pens. In another drawer he found an empty folder, which he placed on the ground in front of him. Waving to Michelle, he pointed at the folder as he wrote "School map?" in one of the corners, pointing to the phone sheet. Handing her the folder, he shrugged. There weren't many options available in the cramped office, and he had never been one for coming up with solutions.