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Tweak says, "Hahaha Explode"

Angel Yardley (soawkward) wrote in immune_ic,
@ 2013-04-11 20:24:00

Entry tags:

# 2013 [04] april, angel, regan

WHO: Angel and Regan
WHEN: April 12, 2020; afternoon
WHERE: Ossining, near Sing Sing
WHAT: Bitten, ohnoeeez
RATING: Medium/High for zombie bitery

Help I'm alive
My heart keeps beating like a hammer
Hard to be soft
Tough to be tender
Come take my pulse the pace is on a runaway train

Fear was a strange concept. Angel used to feel it all the time when she was little. Fear of the dark, fear of insects, fear of the monsters that lived under her bed and in her closet. All the typical fears children were known to have, Angel seemed to have them all. She was a nervous child, uncertain when it came to things that weren't familiar.

Today, facing down her inevitable death, she wasn't so much afraid as she was resigned. No, she didn't want to die, but what was there left, really, to keep living for? A cousin who, for all she knew, had moved on from Sing Sing? A cousin she'd never been close with, but was the only surviving family member she knew a vague location of. It wasn't much.

But it was something.

Angel didn't intend to die today. Oh, she'd be okay with it, if it did happen, as long as it was on her own terms. Eaten alive wasn't her terms. It'd be awkward angling the blade, but she was certain she could end her own life with her katana.

If it came to that.

Really should've done a better job barricading that door. That was the calmest thought that registered in her head when she was roused from sleep by a violent banging on the door of the shop she'd taken shelter in. If she'd known that she was only a few blocks from Sing Sing, she would've pressed on, forced herself to make it before nightfall last night. She'd seen the compound in the distance, naturally. All those bright lights a beacon of hope. But she'd assumed it was farther away than it actually was.

That mistake, coupled with the piss-poor job she'd done sealing up all the exits, was being cursed as she struggled out of her sleeping bag, scrambling to the fire escape. There wasn't any time to grab anything but her weapon. Every second was precious.

The fire escape had seen much better days. It groaned under her weight as she descended and she let out a yell of surprise when the metal pulled loose from the bricks. Propelling herself backwards, Angel hit the ground on her ass, eyes widening as, a split second later, the rusted fire escape (in all its loud glory) hit the pavement a few feet away.

Angel had about two seconds for this to process before she realized she was surrounded by infected. She scrambled to her feet, wincing slightly at the ache in her backside, and moved to dodge around the slow moving zombies. She shoved her way through, shrugging off hands that groped at her shoulders.

However strong her efforts to escape, didn't quite match up to the lucky zombie that sank her teeth into Angel's shoulder blade. Angel screamed again, breaking into a run, too panicked to remember to use her katana.

Funny how one's perception of dying can change in one heart-stopping instant.

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loyaltyinspades
2013-04-12 06:02 am UTC (link)

Looting wasn’t something he did often, or ever, really. Regan wouldn’t admit it aloud, but he wasn’t out here getting supplies, he was out here clearing his head, escaping for a little while. To many the walls of Sing Sing were a comfort, but to someone who had spent years traveling in this hostile world, out here in Ossining felt oddly calming. Still, even if he wasn’t a looter, that wasn’t stopping him from grabbing whatever he thought he could haul back with him, whatever might be useful.

His aimless wandering had brought him to a store that for the most part looked picked over. But there were a few items that weren’t useful per se, but had caught his eye. Like the bobblehead dog, one of those tacky items people used to put on their dash or in the back window – the same stupid dog that he and Brandon had had in the squad car, simply because they could. “Wonder what the hell I should name you?” He muttered as he tossed the trinket from hand to hand. Soli had named their last one, but she wasn’t around to christen this on with a name.

Moments away from sinking back into what he could now identify as some form of depression, Regan caught the commotion outside. “What the hell?” he hissed, moving slowly towards the front door of the shop. The noise sounded like something large had crashed to the ground.

Don’t think I’m alone. He thought, his crossbow raised as he inched towards the door, peering out the front window just in time to see what looked to a woman running past the store, a woman who looked to be injured if he wasn’t mistaken.

“Shit,” Regan was out of the store and chasing the woman down before he had even fully registered making that decision. Whether this would prove to be a good thing or a bad thing was another story. If the woman blindly lashed out and him he was fairly certain he’d be screwed, that was if she was adept at using her weapon of choice.

“Hey,” he called out to her, trying to get her attention before just appearing at her side. Less chance of injury that way. When he got closer to the woman he reached out, grabbing her upper arm loosely. “Calm down.” Regan kept his voice even, calming almost as he spoke, though his voice was still raised to ensure she would hear him.

“You’re o-,” Regan cut himself off before he said ‘okay’, because now that he was right next to her, he was able to see the wound on her shoulder blade. Bit mark He thought, realizing that this girl would need medical attention and the question of whether or not she was immune sprang to mind as well.

Pulling her to a stop gently, he tried to keep his own demeanor calm and relaxed, even offering her a smile, albeit a faint one. “You need medical attention,” he informed her gently. “Are you alone?”

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soawkward
2013-04-12 08:08 pm UTC (link)

There was a shout – a human shout – among the hungry grumblings of the infected. Angel heard it, wanted to stop and turn around to see who it was, but instinct commanded her legs to keep moving, to put as much distance between herself and the zombies as possible. Maybe if she ran far and long enough she'd be able to forget what happened.

Instinct also told her to slash out with her blade when a hand took hold of her arm. Up until today, that had been her immediate reaction to every encounter. Of course, all her previous encounters had been with zombies. That's what happened when you spent weeks without human contact.

For whatever reason, she managed to stay her hand, the only threatening reaction she gave being the tightening of her grip around the hilt of her katana. She should've slashed out; defended herself. The man could be a threat, but even if he was like the guards back in the city, some human contact was better than none. And it was far better than the company of zombies.

Angel twisted her torso around so that she could look behind her. Zombies were still coming out of the alley she'd been near. It didn't matter if they were slow, they were still coming after her. She needed to get further away. When she turned back to look at the man, she noticed that the back of her shirt was damp and sticking to her. Realization dawned, drawing her brows down.

“It bit me,” she said, and her voice, although breathy from running, was oddly calm. Resolved. Accepting. “There were too many of them. They... they broke in and I... I had to get away.” Was it possible this could be a nightmare? Maybe she was asleep, curled up in her sleeping bag. “They're still coming.” Spoken like an afterthought, a detached observation that conveyed that she wasn't quite sure this was real.

Medical attention. Angel's attention snapped back into place when she heard those words. Quarantine. She shook her head, pulling out of his grasp and backing away. “No, no, no. Please, no. I don't want to be put in Quarantine. They put my dad in there and he said it was more of a nightmare than being bitten. Please, I don't want to go. I'll do anything if you don't take me there.”

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loyaltyinspades
2013-04-13 06:42 am UTC (link)

There must have been some kind of God out there, because Regan knew he was damn lucky that the girl hadn’t pulled her weapon on him. Most people were the act first and think later kind of people when it came to situations like this. He couldn’t blame them though, because survival was the main focus on almost everyone’s lives now. His grip on her arm loosened though when she didn’t make to attack him. Though he didn’t let his guard down, after all she was a panicking person, not always the most rational of thinkers.

His gaze followed hers to where the zombies were still coming – not fast mind you – but still moving towards them both. Fantastic. Regan could only hope that the commotion wouldn’t bring anything more than shufflers their way, because the last thing they needed was a Smasher showing up to the party. He saw that moment of realization once the adrenaline had lessened and the girl seemed to notice what he already had – she was bitten.

“I see that,” he answered calmly and kindly, keeping the ‘zombies will do that’ portion of his thought to himself. Now wasn’t the time to state the obvious things like that. “So I’m assuming you’re the source of the commotion earlier?” It made the most sense; obviously her escape had been on the dramatic side, if the crashing from earlier was any indication. “Yes they are,” Regan’s gaze slipped back towards the zombies. “Which means we need to continue moving.” This was said with a note of urgency.

Shit. Maybe he should have expected this reaction from the girl, but he cursed himself out as she pulled away and began to back away from him. “Would you rather stay out here with them?” Regan asked, making a sweeping motion with his hand back towards the zombies. “Quarantine at Sing Sing isn’t so bad,” he added, figuring at least he now had his answer to what the girl’s immune status was. “Look, I don’t want to force you into quarantine anymore than you want to go, but if nothing else that bite needs medical attention and you’re a hell of a lot safer at Sing Sing than you’ll be out here on the streets.” There was a seriousness to his tone, though he tried to keep his voice even and calming.

As he spoke Regan moved towards the girl again, though he held his hands up as if to assure her he wasn’t going to make any kind of sudden movements or attempts to grab her. “Whatever your decision is, I’m not leaving you here alone.” He added, making it clear that this girl wasn’t going to be able to shake him.

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soawkward
2013-04-13 09:49 am UTC (link)

Commotion? The question was in her eyes, but just as quickly it disappeared when she realized what he meant. “The fire escape was a piece of shit,” Angel replied bluntly. There wasn't much emotion in those words. The moment itself had been terrifying – the fire escape plummeting with her still on it – but it seemed inconsequential now. A moment she could rewind in her mind and feel as though it had happened to someone else, instead of her.

“I was moving. You stopped me.” It was accusatory, but not angrily so. Indeed, it was simply another observation; her generally quick thoughts slowed considerably from the impossibly huge rush of adrenaline and fear.

Angel's eyes went to the zombies again. She sniffed and tried to stretch her injured shoulder. “Why not? I'll probably be one of them soon. Quarantine's a nightmare.” Based on some of the stories she'd heard from people in government-regulated Quarantine, it was almost as bad as being trapped in a room with a zombie.

She shook her head again, now struggling with the choice of running again, or killing the man and letting the zombies eat him while she escaped. Angel could consider that option all she wanted, but when it came down to it, she'd never sacrifice someone else to the undead. Especially when she was one step closer to being one.

“So what're you going to do, stay out here with me?” She challenged. As if he'd do that for a stranger. “At least if I'm out here, I'm not stuck in a cold room alone. I can move around out here. Wait out the two weeks.” Angel knew she wasn't explaining herself as clearly as she normally could have. Stress did that. It made sense in her head, at least, and that was all that mattered.

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loyaltyinspades
2013-04-14 04:22 am UTC (link)

Fire escape? Regan paused for a moment, surprised kind of. So this girl had come crashing to the ground with a fire escape? Part of him was impressed that she was mostly uninjured from that event, and also that she seemed so calm about it – or as calm as a person running from zombies could be. “Most things are fairly shitty now,” he remarked with a shrug. Not like buildings were maintained anymore or anything. “You’re lucky you walked away from that event.” Or maybe she wasn’t so lucky, since she clearly wasn’t sure if she was immune or not.

“Fair enough,” Regan responded, not about to argue that point. He had been the one to stop her. Part of him supposed she wouldn’t understand his reasoning in stopping her, might not understand that he had wanted to make sure she was physically okay. “And now I’m saying we should get moving again.”

His expression went stony at her words. There was nothing amusing about assuming you were going to go zombie, and frankly he wasn’t going to let this girl go straight to worse case scenario. “You don’t know that,” Regan replied seriously. “For all you know you could be immune.” He wouldn’t tell her that quarantine wasn’t awful, but he had to admit it wasn’t so bad at Sing Sing – or at least what he saw of it couldn’t be as bad as the being in one of the safehouses in the city.

Part of him knew that he ran the risk of this girl attacking him, but in all honesty he was confident she wouldn’t get the jump on him – or wouldn’t get the upper hand. Although he hoped it wouldn’t come to that, hoped that she would see reason and decide to come with him.

“If that’s what it takes, yeah,” He had never been the type to back down from a challenge, or leave an injured person alone. “You wouldn’t be alone, and honestly if you stay out here and don’t get medical attention for that bite, you could die from a different kind of infection before you ever know if you’re immune or not.” Regan wasn’t trying to scare her; he was just being honest with the girl. “Whatever you decision is though, you’re stuck with me.” He couldn’t entirely explain why it was he was being so stubborn about this, part of it might have been that he felt a need to save this girl – to do for her what he hadn’t been able to do for his own wife.

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soawkward
2013-04-15 03:50 am UTC (link)

“Touche.” It was a good point, really. Most everything that went unmaintained was unstable. “I jumped off before it hit the ground.” Probably the only reason she'd walked away from that, although her sore backside made protests about it being a clean get-away. She wasn't about to update him on the state of her ass, though. That would've been embarrassing.

“Your rescue techniques could use some work. Unless you just wanted to get me to stop screaming, in which case I'd understand. Screaming attracts them.” She knew that. Any loud noise attracted zombies. “At the time, I didn't have much control over the screaming. Almost dying does that to a person.”

Angel ducked her head, chagrined. Her parents hadn't raised her to be rude to people, even in the worst of times. “And if I am immune, it still shouldn't matter if I stay out here. The only danger I'd face would be turning into a zombie's dinner. I might've lost my shit just now, but I know how to take care of myself.”

If he expected her to believe that, he was mistaken. Strangers didn't put themselves at risk like that for another stranger; at least not in her experience. Nor did she believe it when he said she wouldn't be alone. True, if her cousin was there, she hopefully wouldn't be alone. But if Michele was gone... she'd be on her own.

“Is everyone at Sing Sing like you? Willing to put yourself at risk for someone you don't know?” Angel asked, genuinely curious. It was hardly the time or the place for a deep and lengthy conversation, but she wanted to know if the rebel colony was really worth it. “I'll go... Only because I don't want to be responsible if you get hurt... For some reason, I trust your face.” An odd thing to say, she knew, but the man had one of those faces that you couldn't help but trust.

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loyaltyinspades
2013-04-15 08:09 pm UTC (link)

“Wise idea,” he remarked with a quirk of his lips. “Bailing off of it before the thing could crush you, I mean.” Regan could at least assume this girl had some kind of smarts to her, or at least quick thinking, because not everyone would have gotten off the failing fire escape. From what he could see she also wasn’t greatly injured from her little adventure with the fire escape, so that was another plus – at least the zombie bite seemed to be her only injury.

Regan laughed outright at her helpful critique of his rescue technique. “What can I say, I don’t go around rescuing people all that often,” he replied with an easy smile. “Getting you to stop running and screaming like a mad woman had been my main goal though, yes.” He just nodded his head when she remarked that she didn’t have much control over the whole screaming part. “No, I suppose you didn’t.” Sometimes he had to remind himself that not everyone had nerves of steel or had spent years working in high stress situations.

He wouldn’t allow himself to get irritated with this girl and her apparent stubbornness to stay out in Ossining. “Wasn’t questioning your ability to take care of yourself, actually,” Regan began. “Really I’m more concerned with you getting medical attention, which you can’t get out here.” Even if she was immune, her bite needed to be looked at.

A part of him wouldn’t be surprised if the girl thought he was lying to her. There were very few people that would put themselves in danger for another human being – but it just so happened Regan was one of those people. He wasn’t going to back down from this, if she chose to stay out in Ossining, he’d stay with her – until he could convince her that Sing Sing was a hell of a lot safer.

“Not everyone,” he answered honestly. “And I might be an extreme case, but a large majority of the people at Sing Sing actually do give a damn what happens to other people.” That was one of the things that separated them from the safehouses he thought. Regan let out a visible sigh of relief when the girl finally gave in and said she would come back to Sing Sing with him. “You trust my face, huh?” Regan was smirking now. “Guess I better be thankful God gave me this face, then.” His tone was joking, and he paused for a moment before adding. “And for the record more than just my face is trustworthy.” As he spoke he began to move in the direction of Sing Sing, hoping the girl would keep to her word and come with him.

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soawkward
2013-04-17 04:14 am UTC (link)

Angel shrugged her good shoulder. “It was more of an instinctive reaction than an idea. Ideas require thought.” She clamped her lips together, stoppering up another logical ramble. Now wasn't the time. Perhaps she should've left him to believe that it really had involved intelligence, but Angel had never been good at taking credit for something that didn't actually happen.

The girl's mouth worked, fighting back a smile when the man laughed. “I'd suggest practice, but that would probably involve putting people in danger. Bad idea right there.” She shrugged, uncertain how long she'd planned on running, or where she had been running to, but it wasn't exactly a planned event.

“Right. That.” Medical attention was important, even if she wasn't immune. She bit her lip and glanced down, then behind her at the oncoming zombies. They needed to get moving. She started walking in the direction she'd been fleeing. If nothing else, it'd get them away from the zombies. “It... doesn't hurt that much.” Spoken in a tone that clearly indicated she wasn't telling the truth.

It was an honest answer, she could tell. Angel would've been less willing to believe him if he'd told her that everyone helped everyone else. She nodded, then snorted a laugh through her nose when he teased her about her phrasing. “It's rare to trust a person's face these days, so I think that makes you lucky.” Angel ducked her head, smiling at his next words. “I'll take your word for it. I'd say I'll take your face for it, but that sounds weird even to me.”

She gestured in the vague direction of the prison compound. “Lead the way.”

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