Who: Julia Denning Kent and Damon Salvatore What: Walking through the forest, trying not to die Where: Forest; about a half mile or so from the Prison When: Wednesday afternoon Warnings: Zombies, more to be added if necessary
Julia didn't know what she'd expected to find when she made the decision to turn back towards Seattle, the last place she'd been before her new life as Julia Kent started. Back when her name was well known in the local newspapers, Julia Denning was a shell of a woman desperately clinging onto her beliefs as she waited for death in her too white cell, but quietly knowing that it would never come. Not as long as the parents of Cold Creek believed that one day she would crack and tell them what they all wanted to hear, where their lost children had been buried. Because she was their kidnapper, murderer, the scapegoat that they could blame all their bad luck and misfortunes on as if she was the reason the town had crumbled into shambles. But any action from Julia hadn't been necessary to kill her home town, the closing of mill had done that job fairly well. Taking away people's livelihoods and then their faith while children still continued to be born and then were forced to suffer when their parents couldn't cope. So yes, Julia had taken them, the children, away from their dead-end lives, that much of the story was true, but she hadn't killed them. The zombie plague had done that, but it was a truth no one left was interested in hearing. Not that she'd crack now and spill it all, she'd sacrificed too much, fought too hard to live to give up now.
What she had been, a field officer of a secret organization focused on helping children that was now nothing more than a forgotten relic, may not be useful anymore in a world where there was no longer any safe place for anyone to go, but that didn't mean she was ready to die. Which is why she struggled harder now, keeping her grip firm on the outer limbs of her compact bow as she used to choke back the male zombie that was trying to twist around and make a grab for her soft flesh from where she had it pinned against a tall tree. It wasn't the perfect position to be in but it bought her a couple of seconds to think, to ignore the burn steadily building in her arms because damn this had to be the sixth one that had attacked her, and the second to get so close. The truth was though that she was running close on empty, another reason why she was heading back to the prison hoping that she might to able to replenish her dwindling supplies. She hadn't thought it would be this hard to get there though. It just figured she'd be making her way through right after a battle had stirred up all this extra walker activity. A hard thrust from the zombie's endless efforts to get out of her hold nearly unsettled her small weight completely but she kept her grip firm and pushed it back. Julia knew she was running out of time and strength, ever conscious of the fact that her back was vulnerable so she needed to do something. She needed to take a risk.
Once her mind was made up there was no hesitation in the actions that followed. Knees bent, part of her remaining strength coiling tight in her calves and thighs as she threw herself backward. Dropping her bow as her right hand fell immediately to the gun in her thigh holster before she aimed at the turning, snarling zombie lunging toward her and shot mid fall. The noise was almost deafening in the absence of the zombie's snarls as his dead meat fell down beside her and Julia knew it was only a small victory because the sound had more than likely cost her. She was right as another zombie sluggishly appeared from the tree line at her right, slowly wobbling towards as she scrambled back trying catch her breath and regroup in the same second, wondering how much more noise she could risk or if she was going to make it out of this at all. A curse breaking from her lips as she tried to think, "Shit!"