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Tweak says, "Don't drink and drive!"

David Zimmerman (soeccentric) wrote in immune_ic,
@ 2011-11-30 12:27:00

Entry tags:

# 2011 [11] november

WHO: David vs and Brennan
WHAT: While out walking, David encounters two things that scare him, a swimmer and Brennan. He's honestly not sure which one he's more afraid of.
WHERE: A pier on Liberty Island, not too far from the safehouse.
WHEN: Backdated to yesterday, afternoon.
RATING: TBA, medium?
STATUS: In progress.

It was nice to get outside.

David was fully, completely and totally aware that he was living in one of the few places that he could legitimately say that, and he didn't take it for granted. He tried to get outside every day, at least once a day, even if it was just for a little bit to get a breath of fresh air (or… as fresh as was possible with the current state of things). Liberty Island barely ever saw infected. The closest they got was the occasional swimmer that got too close to shore, and even then, they just looked like beached people.

For once, David's mind wasn't on ghosts. Of course, he had his EMF detector in his hand, because well… it'd be his luck that the one time he actually encountered something would be the one time he didn't have his detector with him, but he didn't have to worry about that. He just… wasn't looking at it. Not as actively as he usually did.

It wasn't long before David found himself at the pier.

David couldn't help but think that this place had to be beautiful in its time. Looking out over the rippling water and slightly crashing waves, it was almost easy to forget the danger that bubbled underneath and on the opposite shore. And the sun was just beginning to set, bathing the whole area in a beautiful, orange-pink glow. Times like this, it was a little bit easier to believe that maybe, given enough time, things could be okay again. Good things still existed. It was just a matter of remembering that and letting it win the battle against all of the bad things out there.

He didn't realize until just then that he'd subconsciously walked halfway down the pier, and he was standing, glancing over the edge at the water. He'd read somewhere once that these beaches used to be prime clam digging territory. It was a shame that most of those clams were probably dead.

His depressing thought, however, didn't last long. While he stood there, pondering and half-reminiscing, a close lapping of water caught his attention. He snapped to full attention when he noticed that the lapping was coming from below… below the pier.

David's thoughts instantly went to old movies, when a person broke the surface of the water and was soaking wet, but none the worse for wear, but that thought was completely admonished by the sole fact that the thing coming from the water was not human. Or… at least not a living human, anyway. "Shit!" David shouted and jumped back at the sight of the mangled, surfacing swimmer. He nearly tripped over his own feet and fell over the opposite edge of the pier into the water as he tried to back up to get away from it, but he didn't, so he straightened up, tried to collect himself and moved right on.

Recovering quickly, he turned and walked toward the end of the pier. He didn’t run… but he definitely walked a little faster than he usually did.

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soeccentric
2011-12-03 12:43 am UTC (link)

Honestly, David may not have been the strongest or the fastest person in the world. He may not have been a good shot and it was plainly evident that he wasn't even close to the most useful person to have with you at the end of the world. But if there was one thing that could be said about him, it was the fact that he wasn't an easy scare. Well, okay, that wasn't entirely true. He was easily scared, yes. But it took a lot, a whole lot to get him pass-out scared. After all, before he'd gotten to Liberty Island, he'd survived on his own. To start with, he'd stayed with the group he'd been at the seminar with, but as they all died one by one, from either the virus or something else… somehow, miraculously (an opinion which he was sure Patterson would agree with), David had managed to survive.

He wouldn't pass out in the face of a couple swimmers.

"I didn't really get a good look," he stuttered out, still shaken both from the near-attack and from being face-to-face with someone who was probably making fun of him endlessly in his head. "It broke the surface and I turned and left… I was going to go tell a guard but…"

Patterson's eyes kept dashing between David and the creature, and David couldn't help but feel like there was something coming up behind him. He turned around and looked at the pier again, noticing that one of the creatures was surfacing again. David's hand went to the crowbar strapped to his back, just in case. "It didn't jump out at me, though, so it couldn't have been too strong, right?"

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scratchthesky
2011-12-03 06:55 am UTC (link)

Brennan wanted to respond with 'of course you didn't,' but didn't. It really wasn't necessary. He was a little high on the annoyed scale at the moment, but it wasn't enough for him to lash out at David, as easy as that could be. He had other things to think about, namely the swimmer David had seen, to be spending his time berating the guy. He'd been a little more on edge lately for plenty of reasons, and that lent him to be more verbal with his displeasure in some of the other survivors on the island. It really was almost like venting or projection or whatever the psychology term was (it had been years since he'd taken that class in school, and he'd be damned if he could actually remember any of that with as much clarity that he had for being able to distinguish types of infected, the best way to kill them and how the plan a strategy in a split second).

Instead of his initial response, Brennan settled with "alright," as he took another look at David. "That's understandable," he continued, strangely understanding considering how annoyed he was. Fear was fear, and no one left could claim they were fearless; Brennan certainly wouldn't. Fear was an evolutionary miracle, and as much as he hated the vulnerability that came with it sometimes, he couldn't help but appreciate the way it could motivate him too.

"They really only have a stronger upper body. It might not even be physically capable of jumping out of the water. Usually they just pull people in."

He wasn't going to wait for the creature to pick a spot on the pier to hide out for some unsuspecting person to head out that way. Brennan judged how deep the water was around the infected and decided to just head along the pier after it. The water was pretty calm despite the creature's spastic movements which Brennan quickly took care of, dispatching the infected before it even had a clue what was about to happen to it. Sometimes it almost seemed too easy when there was only a sole infected, but his job was done and he had other places to check.

"Be more careful when you're heading out on the pier," Brennan admonished, sounding like some sort of preaching teacher or something. That annoyed tone only served to make him even more annoyed and taking care of that infected (because thinking that he was 'killing' them forced him to remember that it had been someone's spouse or parent or child and he didn't really want the guilt of acknowledging that) hadn't really helped all that much. "The currents aren't as strong today and it might be more likely for them to reach the docks."

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soeccentric
2011-12-04 06:55 pm UTC (link)

Understandable? The first rule of dealing with any kind of infected menace, especially if you didn't know you were immune and were someone like David—someone not entirely as apt as others in self-defense—was to turn tail and run when things got hairy. Call him crazy, but being face to face with a swimmer when you didn't expect to see one was hairier than Cousin It. He didn't respond, though, didn't speak up because he really didn't feel like fighting with Patterson that day. Or any day, really, but that day especially.

Patterson continued to explain, and David's decision to run away made double the sense now. "Yeah, I'd rather not be pulled in. I'm glad I ran," he muttered, figuring it went without saying, but he couldn't help himself, speaking up. His nervous habit of talking too much sometimes reared its head at the worst of times.

David hated that sanctimonious, preachy tone that Patterson took on when he talked to him. His eyes narrowed and his mouth turned down into a frown. He considered telling him that he wasn't a child, but he truly didn't feel like fighting that day, so he just sighed silently and nodded his head once in acquiescence to the request. "I know," he mumbled. "It's usually relatively safe here… it just surprised me."

Why was it that every time he conversed with Patterson, he always came out of the conversation feeling like some kind of being a lower life form. He shook it off and looked at Patterson when he finished speaking, chewing on his lip. "Do you know how long they survive on land?" his voice was soft, and dripped with a bit more fear than he ever wanted to show Patterson. It was hard enough dealing with what he already dealt with from the man… flat-out giving him something to work with was not high on his list.

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scratchthesky
2011-12-04 07:58 pm UTC (link)

"Yes, and you seem to be good at running." Brennan responded before really being able to check himself. Sometimes he was just in a bad mood and, honestly, today was one of those days, and that also meant it was one of the days where he knew if he saw David, he wouldn't be able to help just laying into the guy about everything in spite of the fact that, when not completely sour, he tried to admit that David sometimes might have tried to do his best. Unfortunately for David, every time Brennan considered giving him some sort of credit, he would catch him outside hunting ghosts or engaged in some other worthless occupation, and any good thoughts went right back out the window.

Brennan was never the kind of person to get enjoyment from annoying or hurting others; it was just something he did, and usually he just said the things he did to prove a point or try to be helpful, so seeing David react, only by expression, like always, to the things he was saying didn't really rile up any feelings of pride or success, though he was slightly annoyed that David never really said anything in defense of himself, and that just sort of drove him crazy. Maybe the reason he was so villainised on this island by a small clique was because his guy couldn't hold his own against someone else and they just thought Brennan picked on him because he was an easy target. To be fair, he was just about as equally hard on everyone else, they just seemed to take it better than David did.

"Safety is relative. There might not be any runners, but the swimmers are no less of a threat." He stated, slowly bleeding the preachy tone from his voice, as it was only making this whole conversation more frustrating. David always looked like he was shrinking whenever he was around and his habits, like chewing on his lip, just made Brennan think he was some sort of child. "They don't seem to die outside of the water, they just move slower. They have a large amount of upper body strength, however, so I'd suggest taking them out from as far away as possible." The information was almost clinical, but mostly because he wasn't coloring it with any emotion; he genuinely shared information he gathered with people, because they were all just trying to survive.

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soeccentric
2011-12-07 04:49 pm UTC (link)

Arguably, being good at running was one of the things that had kept David alive for as long as it had. He didn't think of it as a bad thing, and when you had so few strengths, you had to keep the ones you had and use them when the need arose. "That's not a bad thing," he muttered softly, for lack of a better response.

David knew that a lot of people saw it as a bad thing, as a sign of weakness or whatever, but he couldn't shoot, he was weak with melee, and he wasn't very good at strategizing, so why shouldn't he run? Besides, he added inwardly, I thought you were so adamant about the fact that I wasn't good at anything so, why should this matter to you? he asked.

If David was villianizing Patterson, it wasn't out of any desire to make his life hell. All of his life, David had been teased for one reason or another. He was always ghost kid, always the kid who wasn't as good at sports as the other boys or always just a little bit different. So other boys saw him as an easy target. He'd never been able to hold his own. Only because every time he did, people saw how pathetic an attempt it was and used it to tease him more. Sure, some bad feelings faded at the end of the world, but some? Some would never go away. Patterson, he figured, was just another one of those types of people, and most of the time he didn't fault the guy for it. He'd probably have felt guilty if Patterson mentioned feeling villainized, because that type of thing; making someone feel bad about themselves really wasn't who David was.

If David had any talent with his gun, he might have followed Patterson's advice and taken his gun out right then to take care of some of the distant swimming infected, but he didn't, so he wouldn't. A small part of him wanted to ask about more weaknesses, but he knew that talking to him was a bother to Patterson, so he didn't say anything else.

"Makes me wonder how they survive down there," he said in a meek tone. He was curious, but he didn't suspect Patterson, of all people, to answer him. "Do they eat fish? And I wonder if any fish, or sharks or whatever, have the virus…" That… was a terrifying thought and almost immediately took his focus from the fact that the man he was face to face with intimidated him even more than the underwater menace.

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scratchthesky
2011-12-16 12:08 am UTC (link)

"Sometimes even stronger people have to run." Brennan responded quietly. He wasn't in particular habit of being anything but patronizing around David, but, on the other hand, he wasn't particularly inclined to being surly, just distant, and it surprised him that his mood around David had never been prone to its usual fluctuation, much like it is now.

Brennan would never admit it, especially to David, but he has run before, many times, and long before the Outbreak. He was stubborn, yes, and he refused to bend, but it also made him very vulnerable to change and left him with poor adaptive skills. Brennan had long been running from his mother before running from infected, and he had run from both with the same fervor, at least in the beginning.

There were a number of times, early in his training, when he had tried to run. He was an architect, for Christ's sake, not a murderer, and even though it was a matter of survival, a matter of 'us versus them', he couldn't help but imagine how his father felt when he shot his wife point blank. The thought of potentially killing someone he had met, or knowing that he was killing someone's husband or wife, daughter, son really messed him up for a while. He wasn't a violent man, he was prone to passive-aggressive fighting at his best, basic fist-fighting when he was drunk. And before the Outbreak, he had never been particularly devoted to God before, but his fear, and there was no other word for it, however undignified, and his anxiety were almost too much and he prayed so often he sometimes wondered if it was enough to make up for years of forgetting. There were a lot of things Brennan didn't share with the people he has been living with on Liberty Island; most of them only knew his name and his grumpy disposition, and nobody asked for more. He'd never been the kind of person to make friends quickly or easily, nor was he the kind of person that begged for attention, and when he merely became a guard on the island, he slow let his purpose here define him, to the point where even he has begun to question if there was anything more to him.

Brennan regarded David for a second more, before focusing his eyes on where the body of the swimmer had been. He couldn't see it any longer, the current having pulled it under and out to sea by now. Force of habit ran a prayer for their soul and for his through his mind, and before he could check himself, he quickly crossed himself. He hoped he hadn't been caught and latched onto David's speech, hoping to divert any attention away from himself. He didn't need to have the rumor that he was some Bible-thumper to run through the camp. Most mentions of God nowadays were stilted and tainted by radicalism and he didn't need to give the survivors something else to hate him for. God was his way of dealing with the fact that he was a murderer, and God helped him to sleep at night; he didn't need them to take Him away.

"I've seen some fish carcasses wash up on shore, stripped bare." He commented quickly. He almost sounded shaken, and he covered that up as best he could. No need for weakness. "I haven't seen any infected fish or sharks, but the possibility is high. If dogs and cats and the like can get infected, I don't see why fish couldn't." He realized that saying such might fuel a fire of panic in David, but he wasn't going to lie, because regardless of how Brennan might treat him, David wasn't a child. "More reasons to be careful near the water."

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