The road to hell [M]

How had things gotten so crappy in under the span of a few hours? Tousled brown locks become more ruffled as the 22-year-old shook his head in dismay. They'd been at this utter hellhole of a lifestyle for all of a week, and already it felt like a lifetime. A week where they'd spent the night trading places on who guarded the other. A week where they had to scour the area for food and water and medical supplies as they encountered zombies in different directions.

Adrian could honestly say he wished he'd never left France at this rate. Charlotte seemed to be doing okay in this exhausting, violent situation, but he didn't know if she'd stay that way. His sister was a fighter though.

Roughly shoving his knife into his pocket, he surveyed the vines he'd slashed apart critically before he crouched down and entered the busted up entrance that had been blocked by the debris and vines of uncontrolled gardens. Adrian wrinkled his nose before he finished shuffling through, standing up and finding himself in a school yard. Charlotte was back at the tree house that they'd discovered, so he hoped to bring back worthy enough supplies for them to actually have a good enough meal tonight. They were storing food there easy enough, but it would not be enough if they could not gather more.

On a normal day, lying on her back in a tree house with nothing to do but count the knots in the wood above her head would have delighted Charlotte.  To simply lie somewhere and think about things? Divine.   On a boiling hot day a week into the zombie apocalypse? She'd have killed a zombie with her bare hands for something to do - to keep her hands and mind busy.  

Instead, she was splayed on the treehouse floor, limbs akimbo, as she counted the knots in the ceiling and  wondered if that tiny little divot in the corner counted as a knot. If it did, there were fifteen knots in the ceiling, not fourteen.  Not that it was of any importance whether it counted or not,  but it bothered her all the same.

If Adrian would take me with him, it wouldn't matter at all.  Reaching across her body to roll up her sleeve, she allowed herself a sulky sigh.  She wasn't five anymore, and yet Adrian still babied her - warning her not to leave the treehouse every time he left, and trying to take more guard shifts than she did.  The idiot.

But she wouldn't leave the treehouse, just like she'd told him she would.  Just because her older brother was behaving stupidly at the end of the world didn't mean that she had a death wish.  If she did, who was going to stop Adrian from doing something thickheadedly noble?

"We have to wait!"

Oh, was she getting tired of those words. There was not much left to wait for. Biters ambled around the school yard, pouring out of the gymnasium that was all but a sea of death and hunger and rotting flesh, ambivalent to the thin form standing on the roof of the school, staring down at them with pole in hand. Thank goodness they didn't seem to notice her...

The others in her group seemed too scared to move. She didn't know any of them, but the last coach left alive was some cowardly man who sniveled and fed all the other kids, ranging from a bratty 14 year old to the 17 year old 'star' from her rival school, all this crap about staying put, waiting. Surely the army would come to get them! Surely the whole world couldn't be this mad! They clung to every word like he was a preacher and they his flock.

She snorted. Of course the whole world was mad. If the army hadn't come by now, a week into the madness, there was no way only Wichita was affected. She sat, picking up a handful of stones from the roof - what kind of school had a gravel roof? Apparently this one. - to throw at the biters, test her latest theory about their perception. Plus clocking them was a way to kill time before having to go back to Preacher.

The courtyard was splattered in flesh and decaying corpses, brain guts, as he liked to call them, everywhere to show that the brains had been destroyed. It seemed to be the only way these son of a bitches would go down, so at least someone else was aware of this fact.

He made sure his knife was still easy to access, not a fan of using his gun when he needed to stay quiet and not attract more, before he progressed on through the yard. He kept his eyes narrowed, looking around, before he reached the school building.

'Cafeteria' the sign beside it read. Perfect. Maybe there was food in here. He allowed himself a chesire grin for a split second before he yanked open the dented door and entered.

One, two, down the biters went. Just like she thought, none noticed what direction the stones were coming from. Hmm, so long distance attacks were a safe bet....

She saw the figure coming. Oh heck no. She climbed down the ladder and dropped through the ventilation shaft she'd ripped open a couple days before. There wasn't much left and while she didn't care much to live on peanut butter and pecans, she wasn't about to listen to the little brat's whining about "but I want maaaacaaarooooniiii" one more time than necessary.

The grinning man would find himself nearly walking into a thick rod-like pole, pointed directly at his throat.

"Back off, bub," came the voice, a slight Southern drawl in it, of the short girl before him. She wore a skintight outfit; while the arms and legs were black, the body of it starting from the thighs and ending at her collar bone, were fiery patterned. The girl held the weighty-looking pole with practiced ease; her face was stony, fierce. "Turn around now and no one has to get hurt. If you draw your weapon I will bash you so hard you'll wake up next Tuesday."

In her knot-counting daze, Charlotte didn't notice when the scratching noises began.  They were quiet to begin with, so when she did notice, she almost brushed off her worry.  Just mice.  Large mice, she decided with a frown.  

When the treehouse jolted and groaned, she amended the thought to very, very large mice.  Mice that were strong enough to jostle a solid wood structure by knocking their heads against it.   So much for brushing off her worry.

Where was Adrian? He would know what to do. He would know if it was zombies, or just another survivor.  Maybe it was just Adrian coming up the ladder.  The possibilities came and went in her mind, each less likely than the one before, and panicky besides.  She forced herself to move around the cabin calmly, collecting backpacks and her baseball bat as she tried to form a coherent escape plan that didn't involve a flying leap over the rope ladder while praying that she wouldn't break any bones when she landed.  

When a low groan rumbled from just outside the doorway, her breath caught.  Her skin felt cold, and the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly felt eerily ticklish.   Out, now! she thought, turning to the window behind her and climbing out to hang against the side of the treehouse by her hands.  

Her fingers and arms quickly began to ache, but the nearest branch was unnervingly far below.  "Next time Adri," she snapped to the air in front of her face before closing her eyes and letting go of the window sill.  

"You take me with you!" she finished through gritted teeth as her feet found the branch and her hand came down to balance her against the tree trunk.   In her fear and frustration, she ignored the way her ankle rolled to the side slightly when she stood.  The path to ground was more pressing than one little joint.

Adrian didn't expect a pole of all things to be pointed at his throat by a small girl. Well, not completely small. She looked to be a high school student, and that outfit was strange... He'd perhaps seen people wearing it on television before. A high school American thing, he wondered.

"What makes you think you could take me?" He asked, arching an eyebrow as he backed up but did not turn around. If this girl was here, chances were there'd be no good food source to snatch from. Bummer. He wondered if he should take Charlotte with him on the next food run, since he was having terrible luck in the past two days.

"Easy there kid," he said. "I'm just checking out the place. I'm not here to hurt you." Unless she was hoarding good weapons that he could use. Then he might have to push his way in. Seeing that she was threatening him with a pole while he was armed with two guns and a knife, he doubted she had good armory.

"The fact that you currently have no weapon down and in the time it takes you to draw that knife, I'll have you on the floor with crushed windpipe syndrome." Her eyes narrowed at the slight threat. At least he was backing up. She brought herself to her full standing five-foot-two and kept her pole at the ready.

"There's nothing here for you. Unless you want biters, then head to the gymnasium, be my guest." She said quietly, still uneasy. "There's not enough food for the people here, sorry but you're not taking ours." The metal pole flashed as she whirled it effortlessly and then pointed it back at him. "Who are you and why are you here? And I'm no kid!" Her eyes flared at that, and her grip tightened on her pole. Shew as very wary and mistrustful...who was this strange man with the odd accent?

Charlotte was cursing by the time her feet touched ground and she took off running.   Her ankle felt funny, and it slowed her more than the two backpacks and the bat.  And the infected weren't hugely slow, either.  If they were in a large pack, you could outrun them. But small groups and alone were another story entirely.  

"Merde," she hiccuped as the toe of her boot caught on a root and she pitched forward, stumbling until she regained her balance.   Her best guess was that Adrian had tried to go into the nearest suburb looking for an un-raided pharmacy, grocery store or school.   A school was a best case scenario - shelter and food in one place.  But there were several suburbs within a ten to fifteen minute jog of the treehouse.

"Thick-headed oaf," she grumbled as she angled left across the grass towards a forested ravine that ran between two suburbs.  If she was going to find him, she was going to cover all her bases before she took off without him.  

Bottling up anger wasn't healthy. And having the target of said anger around to vent at was the preferable option.

His hand dropped to beside his pocket. She seemed only aware of his knife and while he'd left behind his backpack of supplies, he had the empty bag that he'd intended to lug any food they needed. The gun was in his backpocket, tucked behind his leather jacket. He didn't want to draw his weapon, but if she was going to swing that ridiculous pole of hers around then he had to stay cautious. He had no doubt it could hurt like hell.

"Right. Désolé petite fille." He snorted. "Adrian is my name. I'm just scoping the area out for supplies. How many are here?" He did find himself curious. It was wrong of him if he didn't at least try to see if this group was okay before he left. So long as they didn't try to kill him, he wouldn't draw his own weapons.

Nikki's eyes narrowed and her hand tightened. "If you intend to rob us, leave. I've already fought off looters and one left with no teeth, I'm not afraid to do it again," she warned at his movements. She didn't trust him. She didn't want this to end the way it did last time.

She stared at him a moment before she edged a little away. Well, he didn't seem to be threatening.... "There's twenty-three, four if you count me. The others are tucked away in a safe spot. There were more, but, well...." She shrugged. "You know how it goes when the world goes mad. How many with you?" She was eyeing the door, were more going to race through?

Adrian disregarded what she said about looters. He'd come here with the same intentions, but if there were already people in need of it here he wasn't inclined to steal it from them unless there was a desperate need. Charlotte and he had enough for another week, so he wasn't too worried.

"Twenty-four... students?" He asked. "Would you even have enough for all of them to eat here?" He questioned, surprised. "There is only my sister and I." He studied her for a second before concluding out loud. "You are the only one capable of defending these others?"

"Twenty three students and one coach. There was.....were....a lot more...." she trailed off, distracted by her memory. In the moment of silence, scratches echoed on the walls from the east wing of the school. The redhead appeared lost in thought; her eyes softened at the mention of a 'sister'.

She snapped to though and rolled her eyes. "The others would be perfectly capable if it wasn't 'forbidden' by Coach West. We're not 'allowed' to defend ourselves and are to 'sit tight'." She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm an adult, he has no power over me, he's not even my coach. So right now, yeah, I'm the only one capable of keeping this place safe."

Adrian regarded her as she spoke. "This Coach West... is he even protecting them?" He couldn't help but ask. To not let them defend themselves... that was setting these kids up to die. It was amazing they'd lasted this bloody week. "What is keeping you here? You... must not come from here? Your accent is different from most here." His was too, but that was because his was adled with his hometown's language, one he never wanted to lose and spent hours talking to his sister in French.

"You could... join my sister and I? Staying in Witchita is pointless. It's not the only place infected I'm betting," He finally said. He wasn't sure why he was offering but well... This girl looked strong enough to survive and it wouldn't do for her to try and live here, waiting for an inevitable death. Plus he was sure Charlotte could use someone to talk to that wasn't her overbearing big brother.

She snorted. "Yeah right. He's just convinced the army's coming for us. Like the rest of the world isn't falling apart. There's no way only Wichita's infected, not if no one's come yet." She twisted her pole around herself, flexibly bringing it to rest in both palms.

"...I'm from Kentucky," she said, looking up at him. "I'm here for a Winterguard competition - we were warming up for the second performance when a biter broke in and ripped into an audience member's arm, I saw it happen. After that....I don't remember much," she hedged, looking away.

Her eyes turned up towards him quietly. "...I...." Could she really abandon the others? Leave them here to die? The only thing keeping her sane had been Sam....and now she was....

"Hey Nicole! Where are---" Someone was shouting, and she flinched, then whirled towards the doors as another kid walked in. "....what the @$!%!? Nicole you know the rules!"

"Screw your rules," She rolled her eyes.

"I'm telling Coach!" And off the other child ran. The girl sighed and rubbed her head.

Adrian gave her a look of sympathy, knowing what that must have been like. "I was at a bar when some fou of a man came and tore the shreds of another guy there." He relayed, feeling that since she'd shared her terrors it was only right that he did the same.

"We can hike up to Kentucky with you for awhile. Just so you can see if your family is there," he said quietly, eyes immediately turning towards the door when a kid burst through and immediately ran to tell.

"This coach man... Will he hurt you? What will happen if he knows you are talking to me?" His eyes were narrowed.

"...." Nicole watched her go, then sighed, head bobbing forward a little. "I...don't really know. Last time I talked back....eh. I don't care what he says, I'm eighteen. But he made everyone stop talking to me and yelled at my best friend when she didn't stop. I hate him. But all my stuff's back there....I'd better go make sure they're not trying to break my lock again." She whirled her pole a little, then paused.

"....you're welcome to come with me, if you like. You're not going to steal from them, I can tell." She said quietly, looking over her shoulder at him.

Things didn't sound pleasant here, and Adrian hated to think it, but he was glad that Charlotte and he had been alone as they ventured from their apartment out into the open to find safety. They would have tried to stay in their home, but zombies had already reached the entrances.

Adrian gave her a slightly amused look, realizing that they both had already changed their attitude, before following her inside. It was as he thought once he'd realized others resided here, unlivable conditions that would soon become deadly in another week or two. It was amazing how a week had deteriorated buildings and living conditions. No one to manage the water supply channels or electricity, so it wasn't really surprising.

"What do they do all day, if they aren't defending themselves?" Adrian asked curiously.

She lead him through the building that was quickly deteriorating - there were firewalls blocking off the west wing from the east. Against this metal, scratches could be heard and thuds echoed. The girl was quiet as she picked her way through the hallway.

"...well, they sit. They cry. They pray. The coach has them doing math and science lessons sometimes. It depends, really. The one who so eloquently ran to tattle on me is the baby of the group. And by that I mean she's a serial whiner." She vaulted over a puddle of liquid using her pole. "They really don't do all that much....suicides, we have had a couple of those...I'm the one that goes and gets food, or finds new ways around the school...."

Finally she came to a door that lights flickered behind. "Great, they're wasting the batteries again."

Adrian wrinkled his nose. "Sounds like a right paradise," he murmured sarcastically as he surveyed the walls that looked cracked and worn. "It shouldn't fall on your shoulders to feed them, especially if you're not the one apparently in charge." He stated absentmindedly.

Seeing the lit up room, he raised an eyebrow, hearing loud voices, one particular one booming and blustering. Just in case, Adrian kept his hand near his pocket where his handgun was nestled. "Not the smartest lot, are they?" he snorted as he noted they didn't seem to notice that the two of them were nearby.

"Oh no, but Coach'll swear up and down he's college 'edumacated'." She did airquotes. "Urgh." She opened the door.

The room fell silent as they entered. Twenty-three pairs of eyes settled on them, including one tall, lanky, baldheaded man among the twenty-three students, boys and girls, ranging through highschool years. Nicole didn't seem to notice and just nonchalantly went to a locker with a brass lock. "I see you've been trying to pick this again."

"You're hiding stuff! That's not fair!" One student piped. "Coach says-"

"I don't care what Coach says. This is my stuff that my parents bought me or I paid for with my own money. Don't mess with it."

"Now Nicole," the man said in a falsely soothing voice. "There's no need to get upset. We need to have a chat about your temper....and your rule-breaking. Sir, you need to leave, this is not your place." He said rather shortly to Adrian as he approached the girl who was getting out a big travel backpack, half full of clothing, checking through her things and tucking things into it.

"With all due respect, I'm not leaving without my new companion here." Adrian said, inclining his head and letting his jacket billow slightly, revealing the glock tucked into his waistband. He'd gotten it for his 21st birthday here, reaching his CHL easily enough. "Before you protest," he cut off when the man opened his mouth. "She's an adult and considering our end of the world life here in Witchita, she does not have to listen to you nor me. We'll just be going." He was inclined to take some of their food anyway, since the girl was the one who got it for them.

The students all let out frightened cries, and Nicole whirled towards him when one cried out "Gun!" Distrust flared in her eyes for a moment....

The Coach roared. "How dare you threaten my students! We have to remain here, and miss Nicole here is too stupid to accept that just because her friend offed herself doesn't mean she's in charge!" He lumbered over to grab at Nicole's shoulder roughly, pull her into the group ---

There was a sharp flash of silver and a THD. The coach let out a strange sound and fell sideways off the pole, breathless and nearly senseless. Nicole narrowed her eyes at him as dead silence rang through the room. "Don't touch me. I'm an adult, I do what I want, and you, sir, are pathetic." She slipped on her backpack and strapped a silver saber under the pack, carrying her pole still. "I'm leaving. I'm going with him. Good luck waiting for the Army.....though if you think about it, shouldn't they have been here by now?"

She looked to Adrian, still a little wary as the room erupted in questions. "Come on. Let's get out of here before he manages to stand up again."

Adjusting his own bag, though it had little in it except the small bottles he'd picked up around the area so he could fill it with water, he nodded at her. He'd let his gun be revealed so this disgusting man would not think he could go down easily.

"Good luck waiting," he said slightly cheekily. He turned away from the group and walked out of the room with the girl. As they were exiting the building, he looked at her. "Remind me of your name again?" he asked. The man had called her Nicole. He wondered if that had been her name or something the man just dubbed her. "I have two guns. This one is the only one on me currently," he added after a moment, so that she was aware. "Just thought you should know. Surprises can be a nasty thing."

Adrian's final possible location (if he was still alive) loomed before Charlotte, who glowered at the sheer concrete wall that formed the westward wall of the school.   A rough sort of door was half open before her, and the vines around it had been cut neatly away with a knife.

"Imbécile," she breathed, glancing down at her ankle which was looking decidedly swollen and burned fiercely when she took a step.  But a sore ankle was better than being un monstre.  Stopping to scavenge for anti-inflammatories or an ice-pack would have wasted precious daylight, and the sun was setting as it was.

Stepping gingerly over the wreckage of the door, she wondered how long she had run for.  It had felt like hours, running from pharmacy to school, to grocery story, and on, and on.   Adrian would be licking his wounds for months when she was done with him.

"Adrian!" she called, cupping her hands around her mouth and using the full capacity of her lungs to make as much noise as possible.  "Adri! Where are you?"

The redhead glanced up at him, then back towards the path in front of her as they went to the cafeteria. "Nicole. But call me Nikki please. Or really anything other than Nicole." She nodded. "I am not a fan of surprises anymore, I'm sure you understand. Come on, let's load up."

She paused, hissing a little at the shout. "Friend of yours?" Adri surely had to be short for Adrian. "She's going to get some very unwanted attention from the biters outside....come on, let's go get her." And she vaulted using her pole, immediately running when she hit the ground - the vault gave her momentum to get outside, locate the shouting girl.

Adrian had agreed to load up and was about to drop his bag to help when he heard his name. "She was supposed to be back at the treehouse," he groaned. He had a split second to admire Nikki's vaulting skills before he sped up after her, sighing in relief to see no zombies around his little sister, but he immediately snapped.

"Merde! Charlotte! Are you trying get yourself killed with that noise?" He growled, protective streak raring up. "You know as well as I do that those things will come to noises!" He kept his voice at a normal pace. He sighed heavily, reigning in his temper. "Why are you here?"

As her brother stumped into view behind a petite redhead wielding what appeared to be a flag, Charlotte's anger flared.  The flare quickly became a blaze when his tone toed the line between angry and patronizing.  

He was angry, was he? Two could play at that game.

"Crétin! Pourquoi n'avez-vous pas me dire où vous alliez?" she howled, taking an angry step forward onto her ankle and then leaping back at the twinge of pain.  "Merde.  The monstres came, and I had no idea where to go, or where you were.  For all I knew, I was running away from you! You left me in that godforsaken tree with nothing but a command to stay put!"

An hour's worth of fear, anger, pain, and frustration came boiling out in a string of rapid English and French, some of it profane, but all of it fuelled by the blonde's terror.   By the time the torrent of words ran out, she was panting and her lips were pulled back in a half-grimace-half-snarl.  

"Don't you dare leave me behind again, Adrian," she finished, relaxing her grip on the baseball bat that extended above her left shoulder and fisting her left hand at her side.

The ginger froze, staring at the screaming French woman in shock and slight awe. What in heaven's name? She did understand some of the cursing and just blinked, watching blankly in awe. Her flag just stayed at her side, limp as she watched in silent shock.

Hearing his sister's words, Adrian's anger deflated rapidly and he cursed himself for almost letting Charlotte encountered danger without him around to help her. "Je suis désolé. Je ne vais pas vous laisser seul à nouveau. Je promets." He said with a frown, stepping forward and putting his hands on her shoulders, holding on firmly, eyes flashing down. "Your ankle?" He questioned. "Are you hurt?"

He remembered that he was with a companion and he gave a quick hug to Charlotte before stepping back. "Ma sœur, this is Nikki. She will be traveling with us from now on. Nikki, this is my sister, Charlotte."