Neil Edward Bernhart (neilbernhart) wrote in the_quarantined, @ 2009-09-06 17:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | carmen harper, neil bernhart, status: incomplete |
Who: Carmen and Neil
What: The end result of much anticipation and note-passing.
Where: St. Gabriels Park. Ish.
When: Monday morning
Rating: TBA
Status: In progress
While Neil had the tendency to be hopeful, he wasn’t a blathering moron. He knew the status of their little world, knew that safety was something they’d been grappling for since the smaller version of their group had first hit the road. It was a bit of a pipedream, but every once in a while, there was a hint of security that was tangible, not just imagined. If there was a group able to survive on the run during a zombie holocaust, it had Rory and Innes at its head and Charlie and Spider making up the middle. Simple as that. They were all making it, but it went without saying that they each took on some mental scrapes and bruises. Neil had more or less lost the blind trust developed after he’d sunk into the Salisbury civilization.
It was something he was willing to part with.
There was a fine dose of risk in meeting up with Carmen. Nobody needed to tell him that, and to avoid any of the grumbling that would likely follow, he left his information exchange at a minimum. If he was getting caught, he was doing it alone, without anybody else getting caught in the crossfire. Besides, he’d avoided Ted’s stupid patrols before. He’d skirted by the cobbled clusters of “scouts” without them having any idea how close one of their targets actually was. Who were those kids anyway? He didn’t recognize the majority of them.
Neil rolled his eyes. They were all of their replacements. The one kid was supposed to be Spider. Another was meant to be him. Clearly the originals were better. He really needed to get his mind off of all this. The evening before had been spent finding a secluded corner so he could shine his flashlight down at his maps and figure the best way to get to St. Gabriels Park. Thinking about the life they should all still be living wasn’t productive, especially not as he was navigating through alleyways and eternal traffic jams, all the while keeping low, sticking to the shadows of a relatively gloomy day. There wasn’t rain, but the world seemed dark, and he was using that to his advantage. With a black wardrobe, he could disappear if he needed to.
The entire walk had been quiet, though. Neil had left their camp early, right when the sun had slipped high enough in the sky for a bit of danger to be eliminated. Though the man deserved his sleep, Neil felt it was only right to sort of clue Spider in, despite his decision to limit details of his outing until after the fact. “I’m heading out,” he’d told his friend, who was clearly tired but alert all the same. The refugees weren’t allowed to wake slowly and groggily anymore. Really fucking sucked. “I’ll be back by noon.” That he was giving Spider a specific timetable was a hint towards plans, but the man let Neil go on his way without probing for answers.
Despite its closeness to Bellevue, Neil didn’t find much activity at all in the area. The nest that had temporarily hassled Rory, Spider and himself had apparently moved on to different, bloodier pastures. Good for them, he thought. Made his life that much easier.
He’d decided on a building to be cleared out the night before, and that was why he’d left so much earlier than was strictly necessary. First, the four-story building had a mini mart as its first level, so Neil had the forethought to scour the place for supplies. Some canned goods, dried crap. Not mouthwatering, but sustaining, and what more could he ask for? Then he went room by room upstairs, checking closets, under beds, anywhere. This shit had been a lot less scary when he wasn’t alone, when he had Spider along for the ride, but, again, the man didn’t need the extra risk in his life.
The building itself was right across from the park, and overlooking how creepy it felt to be lurking by a fourth-story window with a pair of binoculars, it made sense. Carmen hadn’t arrived yet, but once she did, he wasn’t going to run out immediately with open arms. Neil had every intention to watch for a while, make sure she was truly alone.
Hopeful, but not stupid. See?