The Walking Dead

As Zane turned his attention to the apparent mugging that was happening, he actually started to notice more of the people who were in the same situation he was. Though the mugging didn't last long, it still didn't change the situation at all. That was when he heard the second scream and what followed. Crowd of people running and screaming trying to get away from the monsters behind them and it didn't take long form Zane to start running along with them.

With the highway crowded with car soon began even more difficult to maneuver around the crowds of people running by, he noticed some people leaving the highway and taking to the woods. In a normal situation he would have some doubt about running into the woods, but none of that matter at the moment so he quickly hopped over the railing of the road and joined the others heading towards the woods.

 

{ooc: going to be non-conformist}

Leila was engulfed in the masses trying to flee those things. She couldn't bring herself to say what they really were. The numbers seemed to be growing, both in the crowd and in them. She could barely breathe, let alone move. Leila wanted to follow the small groups of people jumping the fence and heading for safety, but she couldn't break free. Her bag was weighing her down,and if she wanted any chance of survival she would have to ditch it; but it was her only form of safety.

People were fighting both them and each other. She needed one of the bats, just in case, but pulling one out of the bag would make her hit somebody. Leila wasn't about to resort to the same form of animalistic violence that the people around her had begun. They were riotting in the streets while those monsters slowly paced towards them. It was insane. She bit her lip, hard, and pushed her way through a couple of panicked women, only to have something cold grab her arm. Leila froze, her heart sank, and she could feel the pounding of blood in her ears.

She craned her neck around to see. Relief fled through her veins to see the face of child behind her, not one of those things. He was crying, his cheeks stained red, eyes puffy, and his long copper hair was a poorly groomed mess on top his head. Leila wanted to smile, but the sight of him broke her heart. "I...I...I can't f-find my mommy....c-can you help me? People screaming...it hurts....head hurts." He choked out between sobs.

Leila noticed the bandages on his ears and her heart sank. What had happened to him? She managed a small smile and nodded, while managing to unzip the doufle bag and pull out a bat without hitting anyone. It was a miracle really. She wrapped her fingers tightly around the grip of the aluminum bat and took the boy's hand with her other. "Of course I'll help, but first, we need to get out of this crowd." Leila watched the monsters grow closer and she pulled tightly on his wrist as she began to push further through the crowd.

 

Gwen crawled backward slightly as soon as the man pointed his weapon at her. She opened her mouth to speak, however she gasped quietly instead when she felt him force up on her feet. She felt her entire body trembling and it felt as though her heart was about to burst out of her chest; Gwen hunched forward slightly as she placed her hands over her chest, attempting to catch her breath only to hear several comments from the man. Raising her head, she noticed another girl not too far away from her; she wasn't expecting to run into anyone and that she would end up being alone. However, her best bet was staying with these people.

She flinched back as soon as Noah handed back her weapons, hesitantly taking them back before wondering where to put them; she took one look down at herself and quickly strapped the gun to the belt around her hips and clipped the pocketknife there as well. She hoped they wouldn't fall; they were her only sense of protection and wearing a skirt made it difficult to carry anything.

Sighing lowly, Gwen slowly stepped to the side as she wrapped her arms around her stomach, moving away from Noah's shadows and taking a glance at Victoria. Her brows furrowed as her lips pressed tightly together, lowering her head as soon as she heard Noah's question. She felt tears form on the rims of her eyes as she averted her attention towards the highway. "I-I don't know if I'm alone..." she stammered. She wrapped her arms tighter around her stomach, wondering if her father was still alive or not.

 

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Holding the sword as she did started to become more of a burden than help so Victoria paused for a moment, looking down at it and finding a string. Perhaps it would not hold forever, but for now it seemed like a smart idea. So she tied it to a belt loop on her hip before pressing on.​

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She didn't make it much further before hearing voices nearby, realizing the sources were Wyatt and another female. It seemed foolish to simply walk past them so instead the girl approached the two, giving a weak smile once it appeared that the three would be sticking together. "I'm so glad...not to be alone..." she heaved, still catching her breath. How sad it was though, to have the fire in her lungs to finally begin dying down now when they would be soon running again.​

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Considering that she decided to play nice now, figuring they didn't have the time to deal with her attitude problem. Besides, they both were armed. And after seeing people get eaten...well being one people's nice sides suddenly became a main concern with the young adult.​

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"I'm Victoria. I would say nice to meet you but...in this situation..."​

 

Leila tried to move through the crowds at a quick pace, but carrying a duffel bag full sports equipment, a bat, and dragging a small child really slowed her down. She had agility, she was one of the fastest players on the team, but right now she felt like she had never played a sport in her life. The boy was still crying behind her, but at least he was safe. Leila really wanted to help him find his family, but if he was alone his parents were probably gone. No don't! They could still be fine. It made her think of her own family. She didn't want to think of the possibility that they were already gone. There was a small chance they made it out and hadn't been devoured by those things.

She apologized to a couple of strangers as she shoved them out of her way. The wails and moans of the monsters had grown louder in number since they first arrived, or was it always like that? She was becoming more in-tuned to the surrounding sounds. People yelled at her angry as the tip of her bat hit them in odd places, mostly the face and shoulder. Leila stopped for a moment to catch her breath, the boy nearly ran right into her. His face was beet red, chest moving up and down vigorously, and he almost collapsed from exhaustion. She felt bad for him. He was so young and the crowds never seemed to thin out, no matter how far down the road they went.

They would have to head for the woods if they had any chance of survival. Others were still climbing the large chain link fence. He would never make it over the fence by himself. She would have to help him. The boy was still puffing and panting. Leila grimaced and set a gentle hand on his small shoulder. "Do you think you can make it to that fence over there? I can help you over it." She pointed to the fence and his gaze followed her finger. The boy took a moment to try and compose himself before nodding. "Good. Oh, I'm Leila by the way." She forced an awkward, small, smile and ruffled his hair before readjusting her bag.

"M-Matt."

 

Gwen chewed on her lip lightly before turning her attention towards the two before her. She wiped away any tears on her cheeks, eyeing the two; from what she could make out, Victoria seemed younger, though looks could be deceiving. She turned her attention towards Noah briefly, her eyes immediately landing on his weapon - a gun. Victoria had a sword, which was rather unusual for Gwen; The last thing she would expect a civilian of all people carry would be a sword.

The girl's brows furrowed once more as her lips pressed tighter together, her attention suddenly setting itself on the distant screams from the highway. She believed it was only a matter of time before those things came in the direction they were in; she didn't want to be alone, but she felt odd and rather uncomfortable with two people she has no knowledge of. "I'm Gwen," she muttered softly. She suddenly scolded herself in silence, figuring neither of the two had heard her. Her nerves and fear were getting the better of her, not allowing her to speak up like she really wanted to. She felt more like being a mute for a while before she could be certain she was safe and away from things that were wanting to gnaw at her bones. Shivering at the thought, Gwen lowered her head as she rubbed the back of her neck in an attempt to calm herself down.

 

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"Huh?" Her eyes followed his point, realizing he spoke of the sword. Laughing nervously she shook her head no. "It was the only thing I could grab in time." She said in a quiet tone, deciding it was past time to move on and so she began walking as well, following behind Noah. ​

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Where were they even going? Ugh, if only she knew her way around the outskirts of the city. But as she never had a reason to be out this far she never done such. Not to mention she had no skill at memorizing maps. So in the end she had to hope that the others knew the land well enough to keep them alive.​

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But trusting others so blindly and fully? That had never been her thing. Sure she wasn't a loner back in school, but even as she surrounded herself in a group of people she never made one an actual true friend.​

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"I can learn along the way though," she said, continuing the conversation, "I mean I'm not useless with it, since I did take one of them down."​

 

OOC: Guess I'll wander through the forest at the moment.

Taking a quick second to stop and catch his breath, Zane looked around to see where he'd ended up. All he could make out clearly was that he was somewhere in the forest, armed with nothing but a guitar too. Looks like I still have some walking to do. Taking in a quick breath he resumed moving through the woods. All he really could hope for at the point was that he'd fin some others who'd gotten away from those 'freaks' or to a lesser extent, that he didn't run into any obstacles. At least no until he found a better way of protecting himself.

 

Leila managed to break through the throngs of people enough to reach the fence. She had her back turned to Matt as the bat hit the fence. She dropped the bag on the ground and it made a clunking thud as it hit. Matt tugged on the hem of her jacket but she brushed his hand away. She had to figure out away he could land safely on the other side. The fence was nearly eight feet at this point. The city really wanted to keep. People out of the woods.

Matt started tugging silently on her jacket once more. She tried to shove him off but he caught her hand as she did. His small sobbing voice whispered her name and she finally turned around to face him. "What Matt? What do you wa--" she froze, her voice gone and it felt like her blood froze. It was them. There was one right by them. Matt screamed as it reached for her and her fingers tightened around the base of the bat. She felt the adrenaline start pumping through her veins as she swung the bat at it. There was a thunk as it made contact.

Leila hit the thing in the waist. It stumbled back, but regained it's composure in a matter of seconds. Matt let out another scream as more seemed to be joining it. There was at least three more coming up behind. She took another swing, this time making contact with it's face. Leila used the brief moment to heave her bag over the fence and watch it fall to the other side. "Matt, we have to climb. Right now!" She through the lone bat over the fence and jumped on the linked wall. She grabbed his hand started pulling him upwards as they closed in.

 

Gwen watched as Victoria and Noah made their way further into the forest. She, on the other hand, was a bit hesitant to follow. She wanted to be safe, however, at the same time she wanted to be able to find her father easily. Her lips pressed tightly together as she fought with two different thoughts; one part told her, her father was dead and she should focus only herself surviving. However the other told her to wait for him because he was still alive and looking for her. She wasn't quite sure which one to believe, and thinking of what to do was making her lose track of Noah and Victoria.

Biting her lip lightly, Gwen sighed lowly and began following the two strangers before her. She wasn't sure who they were, but she figured she needed to be with someone to be safe. She trailed behind the two as she stared down at the ground, barely listening to what the two had been talking about. She wasn't far from them, but she also wasn't following very closely. Catching something about a sword, Gwen raised her head and looked at the weapon Victoria was carrying. How exactly did she get a hold of that sword? It wasn't like everyone in the city carried one. She wasn't actually surprised to even see that Noah carried a gun, seeing as how those were more common...and modern.

Gwen fidgeted with her fingers as she momentarily turned her attention towards the handgun her father gave her and the pocketknife as well. "Do you think it's safer here in the forest?" she asked as she returned her attention towards Noah and Victoria, beginning to wonder if her question was even smart enough to ask.

 

Stopping she turned and faced the other girl. Opps. Forgot her name already. Or did she even hear it in the first place? In any case she brought up a good point. But before she could say anything on the matter noises could be heard off to the side.

Grabbing the hilt of the sword she turn, waiting to see what would come out of the bushes. Was it one of them? Soon she saw a figure that looked normal enough. A male, holding a...guitar? Well, she had an old sword. Compared to that it was normal. And those things didn't seem to use their basic functions so he was...okay? Still, she stood ready.

"Who are you?"

 

Hearing someone call out to him, he turned to the direction of the voice. What he saw was a small group of people, one of which holding an antique sword. Well it had to be better than using a guitar. Hold his hands up in a 'surrender' fashion, he spoke. "It's okay, I mean no harm." Zane chose to stay were he was standing until this was over.