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Tweak says, "who is Todd Weinstock?"

Leah Stone (reapinghavok) wrote in immune_ic,
@ 2011-11-23 03:49:00

Entry tags:

# 2011 [11] november, leah

WHO: Leah & O'Brien
WHEN: November 26, 2018; around 6:00PM
WHERE: Out and about; Fancy Pharmacy (close to City Hall)
WHAT: Undead hookers! Oh, and raiding a pharmacy.
HOW: Foul language and possible nudity ~~because of the hookers, of course...~~
STATUS: Complete

Daylight Savings Time had become another pointless thing of the past; one of the few things Leah was glad to know it was no longer enforced. If it was, the hour would be dark by now and Brandon would no doubt be giving her hell for being out after dark on her own. As it was, she still had at least an hour of sunlight left to continue scavenging for medical supplies. That new dog of Lilah's would no doubt be needing flea medication, and Leah knew several doctors willing to trade useful items in exchange for whatever she found.

This particular pharmacy, the now ironically named Fancy Pharmacy, was located on a fairly quiet block, populated by what looked like the sickliest-looking group of shufflers she'd ever come across. Clothing hung in tattered strips over what was left of the body, skinny cadavers that looked more like walking skeletons and less like something that used to be alive. Their movements were even slower than normal shufflers (if that was possible), each step an enormous chore that looked beyond painful. Fortunately for them, thought Leah, they don't feel.

Pausing in the entrance-way of the pharmacy, Leah dug in her pocket for her flashlight, resisting the urge to snort when her eyes caught sight of what appeared to be her only major threat on this block. A group of three female shufflers, all of whom had more flesh on their bones than the others, stood more or less on the curb across the street. Judging by the remains of their already scanty wardrobe — short skirts, bosom-bearing tops, one six-inch high heel and the matching no-inch high heel (in one zombie's case; the other two were bare-footed) — it didn't take a rocket scientist to determine what they did when they were alive.

Lit flashlight in one hand, machete in the other, Leah ducked into the pharmacy, pushing the door closed behind her. It wouldn't do much to prevent the zombies outside from coming in — there was no lock, and the display windows were broken — but it would slow them down a little, and every second counted.

Light streaming in from the front windows illuminated the front of the store, the flashlight serving to help her see at the rear. She could hear grunts coming from somewhere beyond the shelves. Quietly, Leah walked along the store, keeping the wall at her side, her machete at the ready. Bottles, empty and not empty, were scattered about the floor, making her steps all the more treacherous.

She was nearly to the source of the noise when her foot nudged a full bottle of pills, sending it rattling down an aisle. Leah halted, her breath catching. The chomping that had gotten louder the closer she got, stopped. Leah felt her heart pounding. A hand appeared around the corner of a shelf, followed by a rotted face, its eye (one missing), staring at her. It was the anticipation that affected her the most. One zombie, a sight she had looked upon countless times, was barely worth the adrenaline rush anymore. As it reached for her, hands groping, she swung her arm back and sliced it through the forehead. It fell back onto the floor, and she finished the job.

After a full inspection of the rest of the store, making certain all the present corpses weren't going to get up, Leah commenced searching through what items were left in the pharmacy.

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reapinghavok
2011-12-09 04:51 am UTC (link)

Leah twirled the flashlight around, unamused by the man's attitude. "Unless a woman who's been looting the very place you've stumbled on informs you there aren't any infected around. At the very least, you can trust me not to be rummaging around for supplies while a zombie lurks behind a half-closed door." Pity he didn't know that she'd done that very same thing a time or two before. No one but the zombies had suffered any harm, though.

Why anyone would willingly want to continue existing in this world was beyond her comprehension. Thankful for the darkness, Leah felt her expression close over when O'Brien stated he wanted to keep on living. "I could understand wanting to stay alive to protect family, but other than that, I don't see where there's much point." Her gaze went back to the shelves. "At least you're not burdening someone else with your desire to keep on keepin' on." An exaggerated pause. "Oh, wait. My mistake; that's exactly what you're doing now."

"Why not kill the guy hoarding the drugs? If he's that damn greedy, he probably deserves it." Cynical, yes, but the Law of the Jungle mentality was commonplace anymore. It didn't happen often in the safehouses she'd visited, but she'd been on enough supply raids with various teams and had been witness to some violent acts, all in the cause for survival.

In Leah's highly valued opinion, the intranet forums were a way of communicating distress calls and the like between safehouses. It wasn't a toy. It was a waste of time, when there were more important tasks that needed attention. A hypocritical opinion, considering she used it as much as a time-waster as anyone else did. But she wasn't about to let Quarantine Guy in on that secret.

Politeness was irrelevant. Leah had never been comfortable asking for help. Raising two younger siblings, for the majority of the time by herself, basically guaranteed she only had one person to depend on. Herself. It had taken her years to get accustomed to the idea of Brandon taking on responsibilities in the Stone household, so to have a stranger offer her assistance when it hadn't been asked for? Yeah, she was a little irritated.

O'Brien looked as though he wanted to fight her on this, but Leah stood her ground. Any second now, that gun would come out, and there'd be bloodshed. Her right hand instinctively rested on the hilt of the machete strapped to her left hip, the flashlight's beam never leaving O'Brien.

When his hand didn't move draw his weapon on her, and he opted instead to heed her orders, Leah let out a long, slow, quiet breath of relief. One less threat she'd have to worry about. "Don't mention it," she muttered, tracking his movements as he headed out the door and back through the pharmacy.

As he disappeared into the darkness, Leah leaned against the door frame, making sure that he really was leaving. Before he'd made it too far past the shelving, however, the distinct, hollow moan of a zombie reached her ears, followed closely by the thump and crash of broken glass near the front of the store.

They had visitors.

"Shit," Leah whispered, stepping out of the office. The hand still resting on the machete hilt removed it from its sheath, prepared to use it the moment she got the chance. Damned if she was going to get trapped in a dark pharmacy, alone and surrounded by zombies.

But she wasn't alone, was she? Leah's eyes darted to O'Brien. "I told you, you were too fucking loud."

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detectiveobrien
2011-12-09 05:30 am UTC (link)

"Hey, look, Miss Machete, I'm not saying I don't trust you. Or even that I didn't. You can check, double check, and then re-check again, and a fucking zombie can spring up out of nowhere. You should know that by know. The night I got bit? Pretty sure we scanned the entire perimeter of that fucking room we walked into, but you know what? Surprise!" He gave a fake surprise face, only to let it fall right back into a more serious and perhaps a bit of an annoyed expression, "a whole fucking group of them comes out of nowhere. Another thing? Trust isn't something you can rely on either. My friend decided he was going to shoot me to escape. I don't want that to happen again, alright? Sue me for asking you if there were any zombies around." Jesus.

He nodded, listening to Leah's perfectly legitimate reasons for wanting to stay alive, and he moved to glance down, thinking a moment about his own family. He had traveled all the way back to Missouri to try and find some of them, but that was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. There wasn't really any sign of zombies being present in any of his family's homes, except maybe one. But he liked to believe they all managed to get somewhere safe-- like one of the safehouses in New York, but maybe in Missouri. He'd actually just gotten back into New york City with the Rookie not long before the accident with the zombies trying to eat him for dinner and everything.

He cut his eyes back up to her, "I just don't want to die because of a fucking gunshot wound, alright? If I can survive being mauled by four fucking zombies, it's going to really piss me off if I die because an asshole Rookie cop, I thought I could trust, shot me, like the fucking coward he is, to get away."

O'Brien shook his head, "The same reason I haven't killed you," he paused, and then added, "Mostly." And no, he wasn't going to draw his gun and kill her. She could quit being paranoid and take her hand off her machete. "Don't worry. I won't." Okay, maybe he would. Later. You know. On those forums she hated so much.

He started out of the back room to head toward the front of the store when he heard that really nasty--slobbery moaning sound come from behind a Hearing Aid display. Fuck. He rolled his eyes and turned more toward the noise-- it was dark, and not all that easy to see. And he remembered a good handful of Walkers staggering around outside, so that meant that if he actually did use his gun, he'd only draw attention to himself and Leah, and that would make things so much worse.

Oh, great. And now Princess Machete was nagging at him about being loud again. "You know," he began, looking around quickly, spotting a glare from Leah's flashlight on --perfect, a metal walking cane-- you know, one of those fancy ones that didn't fall over, because they had that stand on the bottom, and he reached past her to grab it up. "I'm so glad you had an opportunity to accuse me of that again," he didn't play baseball on the NYPD's charity team for nothing. The whack in the face that the first, and hopefully only, visitor they had was definitely a home run, he'd figure.

But he gave the hooker zombie--clearly that's what it was-- a good face smashing with the cane just to be on the safe side, though.

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reapinghavok
2011-12-10 06:54 am UTC (link)

All valid points, she silently admitted. "It's a small room," she pointed out, "and there aren't any closets or huge objects for a zombie to hide behind." The conversation with O'Brien was becoming infinitely more interesting to Leah by the second, and it had a lot to do with the fact she was making him angry. Anger, she could deal with. Her expression didn't change as the man detailed exactly what had gone down the night he'd been bitten. "Lousy friend you had, there. At least there's one thing we can agree on: We don't trust each other. Next time, don't ask. Look for yourself."

Leah felt herself smirking inappropriately at O'Brien's declaration that he would rather die from zombie bites than a bullet wound. "You know what they say about payback being a bitch. I hope you find the coward and show him exactly what should be done with someone who makes the decision to sacrifice someone else to the zombies."

Huh. Well, she'd walked right into that one. Guy hoarding the meds. Greedy asshole. How the irony managed to go over her head was beyond her. Leah snorted. "Basic proof that I'd shoot me, if I caught me hoarding the meds." She reluctantly pulled her hand away from her machete. "Won't doesn't mean you can't — or shouldn't — shoot me."

Leah scowled at him as he reached past her for the cane. "I'm beginning to see why that rookie shot you. With your lack of brains, it's no wonder he wanted to give you up for zombie chow," she snapped back at him, not caring whether or not the exertion used to take down the zombie caused O'Brien any pain. Actually, no, she hoped it did hurt. It would serve him right for drawing the shuffler's attention to them.

Darting around to an aisle that was free of O'Brien and his swinging cane, Leah spotted the zombie that had stumbled through the broken display window. It was the second hooker zombie — the one with the broken high-heel. Though it couldn't regain its feet, it still attempted to claw its way toward Leah, hands reaching out for her feet. Leah kicked the zombie in the face, then moved into position to bring her machete swiping down like an axe.

Glancing up from the re-dead corpse, the woman felt a shiver go through her. The commotion of the two hooker zombies had successfully garnered the attention of the rest of the zombies on the street. Too many to take on by herself, even if they were the slowest, sickliest-looking zombies ever.

"Great," she muttered, straightening up and glancing over her shoulder. "Better have that gun ready, Quarantine Guy."

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detectiveobrien
2011-12-13 04:15 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah, well," he grumbled his reply, and okay, yeah, she'd frustrated him. The hot chick with the machetes had made him a bit angry. So what? He scoffed, rolling his eyes, "The asshole wasn't my friend. I didn't pick getting stuck with him, that's for damn sure. My partner was bitten, and they sent me out with the rookie. Then all hell broke loose. I just got stuck with him, alright? For four fucking years. I don't understand what made him want to shoot me, though." He shook his head, "If I didn't trust you somewhat, I wouldn't have turned my back on you to go into the back room, in the first place. But fine. I will."

O'Brien shook his head, "I don't know what I'll do if I ever see him again. First of all, I'd ask him where the hell my other gun is. And my bag. But then?" He shrugged, "I don't know. I do know I'm going to be pretty pissed off at him, though. No, I am pissed off at him, and if we ever cross paths again?" He shook his head, thinking. "Probably going to beat the shit out of him. And then tell him to get the fuck out."

He looked back over at Leah, nodding a bit, "Good to know." He studied her a moment as she explained about her being the sort that would shoot herself for hoarding the meds, and then decided he'd speak up again, "I don't shoot people unless I have to. There's not enough humans left around, in case you hadn't noticed. I don't exactly feel like killing for anything, yet. Maybe it will come to that, I don't know... but I sincerely hope not. And I'm not going to shoot you, no one should shoot you. But yeah," he made sure she was aware, "I could shoot you if I wanted to or had to." But he didn't anticipate that happening.

Glancing back over his shoulder at her, after giving the zombie another good whack with the cane, he gave her a bit of a confused look, "what the hell are you talking about?? If I fire my gun, they'll all hear!" he rolled his eyes when she turned to hurry off after --shit, was that another one? He made a face and turned back to the hooker zombie on the floor, and gave it's head another good beating with the cane.

And okay, yeah... maybe he shouldn't have tried to kill the thing with the cane. Maybe it did hurt. Okay, it did. but he was trying to keep from drawing any more attention to them than he had to.

So much for that.

"What?" He tossed the cane back down, and brought his hand and arm back down to hold at his side as he stepped around to where Leah was to give a look out the window. "Fuck..." He rolled his eyes, "that's exactly what I didn't want. Maybe you were too loud with your complaining and accusations," okay, he tried. It might have been a little too late for blaming her.

Pulling his gun from it's holster, --thank God the zombies were just walkers--, he took aim and gave one of them a clean shot right between the eyes. Well, more or less. "I'd like to point out that I don't have an endless supply of bullets... I have one box that I got the other day. So... I hope you plan on helping if the need arises, Miss Machete." He imagined that she would.

A pause, and then a quick glance over at the zombie that had just been murdered by one of Leah's sharp knives, and then back to Miss Machete herself, "thanks for getting that one," he'd thought there had only been one that had made it into the store so far. Apparently there had been two.

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reapinghavok
2011-12-14 05:42 am UTC (link)

When O'Brien corrected her about the rookie not being his friend, Leah tossed up her hands in a surrendering gesture. "Pardon me for assuming you were friends with the guy."

"If it were me? I'd do the same thing he did to you. Shoot him, take his belongings, and leave him for dead. Without a backup weapon." Why, yes, she did have the stomach to see a plan like that follow through. Especially if the person in question was a government official.

Leah shrugged when the man countered that he didn't shoot people unless there was no other choice. "Guess you're one of those rare, happy-go-lucky kind of cops. The ones who make the easiest targets for betrayal." He stated then that no one should shoot her, and she paused, sizing him up. "Clearly you don't know me well enough, or you wouldn't be saying that. Unless you're referring to how useful I can be, in which case, smart man." She couldn't possibly forget that he could shoot her, if he chose to.

When he joined her at the window and noticed the party they were about to be a part of, Leah rolled her eyes at his remark about it being her fault for being so argumentative over his loudness. "Fine. Whatever. You want to blame me? Go ahead. Doesn't change the fact that it's gonna be a pain in the ass getting out of here."

Hopping from the window out onto the sidewalk, Leah took the head off the nearest zombie and glanced over her shoulder at O'Brien. "If you can keep from hitting me," she said, referring to his gun, "I can get us to City Hall. If you decide to sacrifice me? Good luck getting there on your own."

"You run out of bullets, I'll let you borrow one of my machetes." It was a rare offer, giving him the option of handling one of her weapons, but if he had as little ammo as he claimed, they'd be in deep shit.

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detectiveobrien
2011-12-14 06:22 am UTC (link)

"Well, would you be friends with an asshole that shot you?" He rolled his eyes, "fine. Yeah, I considered the guy a friend, and look what happened." He stared at her while she explained what she would do in his situation. He was just about to comment on shooting someone--and as payback, at that-- when she started making assumptions as to what kind of cop he was again.

His brows pushed together with frustration; Actually. He didn't know what to say to that. A 'happy-go-lucky kind of cop'? That was an easy target for betrayal? "I'm not happy-go-lucky," but an easy target for betrayal? Maybe... It was highly likely actually.

He narrowed his eyes a bit, thinking quietly at what she had said, and then cut his attention back up to her, "We've been over that, remember? I don't know you at all. I don't even know your real name-- so clearly I think you're useful to have around. And pretty," okay, yeah. He said it.

"It's going to suck," because running wasn't exactly something he was going to be good at, in the shape he was in. Fuuuuck, it was going to suck. O'Brien moved to climb back up into the window to follow Leah's footsteps, hopping back down onto the sidewalk. "You're positive? How far is City Hall from here, again?" He huffed, giving her a nod, "I can cover you, and I promise not to sacrifice you. It's not my style."

He paused, quirking a brow at her offering up one of her machetes to him, and it actually made him smile a bit. "Deal," he gave her a nod, and stepped past her to lift his arm back up to aim out toward one of the zombie hookers to shoot her -- well, in the face. Headshot. the only way to kill a zombie, really.

And for the record, yeah, he only had a little bit of ammo. He'd had everything stolen, been locked up in Quarantine, and only just now got out because he basically snuck out, but not without getting his gun back first.

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reapinghavok
2011-12-15 04:00 am UTC (link)

She let out an indignant snort at that, not deigning to give a real answer. In all honesty, Leah felt for the guy, as she'd stated to him on the forums. However, commenting to him via a computer screen was infinitely easier than expressing her sympathy face-to-face. Fortunately, it wasn't very likely he could fit the puzzle pieces together and link this Leah with the Leah who haunted the intranet forums.

"If you say so," was all she said. Obviously this conversation was going nowhere. As far as cops went, O'Brien was the most trusting one she'd ever come across. It would've been so easy to pluck at his nerves for a bit longer, but, yet again, her thoughts returned to the gun and she decided to err on the side of caution.

Tilting her head to one side, Leah studied the man for a moment, letting his last words, tacked on almost as an afterthought, sink in. Beyond being healthy, vanity held very little importance in her life. Yet, she would've been lying if the compliment, grudging though it may have been, hadn't had some effect on her mood. "You have one of my real names," she said, deciding not to respond to his opinion of her appearance. "But you're right. Useful's all you need to know."

"Quit moaning and make yourself useful," she snapped at him. Yeah, she didn't exactly consider this a fun walk in the park either, but they'd survive. It was only shufflers. The quicker they got out of here, the quicker they'd be at City Hall. "It's half an hour from here, if we take the streets. If we take to the roofs, it'll be much faster. And safer," she added, for his benefit. Arching an eyebrow, Leah returned the nod. She didn't know if it was his 'style' or not, but it was the only promise she had to go by.

Glancing at him, she noticed the smile, even in the semi-darkness. Leah's expression darkened. "Stop grinning like a fucking moron. We're not safe yet." She jerked her head toward one of the fire escapes on one of the buildings across the street. "Up there." She kicked at a zombie that came too near. "We won't be able to stick to the roofs the whole way, but the more time we're up there, the better. Go!"

*Walking directions from Fancy Pharmacy to City Hall

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detectiveobrien
2011-12-16 05:42 am UTC (link)

For the record, no, O'Brien had not made the connection, yet. Maybe later on that night, if he survived the trek to City Hall, it would all click into place. But for now, he had absolutely no clue that Miss Machete was the Leah that had actually commented back and forth with him on the forums. Especially over her whole dislike of the internet. She was the one he made that long list of reasons why the intranet was a good thing for? Who knew?

"Well, I'm not. You make me sound like an idiot-- and I may be loud," he'd attracted the zombies, after all, had he not? "--and I'm not perfect and all of that, but I definitely knew how to do my job, and I did it well. I miss it, actually. So whatever you've got in your head about what kind of cop I was, you should just forget it, because you have no idea." So there, damnit. He didn't appreciate her insulting him as a cop. Before the world went to shit, it was all he had. He took it very seriously, and so what if he was 'happy-go-lucky', like she'd said? He got shit done, and he got it done right.

He nodded, keeping his eyes on her, though his frustrated frown was definitely still present; That's right. She'd said he could call her 'Stone', but he opted for Miss Machete. So they were even. She knew his last name, and he knew hers. And apparently useful was all that he needed to know, according to her. Good to know. She hated his guts.

He blinked, staring at her with a bit of shocked when she snapped at him, "I just killed a fucking zombie for you, and I agreed to cover your ass-- and you're suggesting I'm not being useful? And I'd like to see your face if someone told you you had to make a run for City Hall, and you'd been shot less than three weeks ago, and been operated on and stitched up by fucking Jeepers Creepers with rusty medical tools," and he was fairly certain he still had a fever, but that was beside the point. It was his own damn fault he was out here.

O'Brien took note of the arching of Leah's brow, and he tilted his head to the side with an 'oh, c'mon, are you kidding' sort of look, "I'm not going to shoot you. I promise." He supposed he didn't blame her for not trusting him... but still.

And as soon as she told him to stop grinning, the happier expression on his face fell, but he didn't say a word. He let his eyes follow the jerk of her head, and he glanced up toward one of the fire escapes, and then back to her. Was she fucking kidding? No... No, she wasn't kidding, was she? He was definitely not in any sort of shape to be scaling tall buildings. "Hell," he grumbled, adjusting his backpack and turning to hurry over and reach up for the ladder to pull down. He only paused with what he was doing to shoot another Walker, that got too close, in the head.

Quickly and carefully climbing his way up onto the fire escape, he turned back to look to see where Leah was and what she was doing. He'd promised to cover her, after all.

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	↓ started us on a new line reapinghavok 2011-12-18 02:07 am UTC (link)
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	Re: ↓ started us on a new line detectiveobrien 2011-12-18 02:19 am UTC (link)
	:) (Reply to this) (Parent)

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