He stirred from his sleep with slow cautious movements. First an eye cracking to reveal mischievous blue eyes, though the mischief was gone, replaced by exhaustion. His sandy blonde hair was a mess from sleep, and a lack of care, but he didn't seem to notice, or seem to care, leaving it in a curled mop laying smushed slightly to one side.

Next, an arm moved, lifting to flop over his handsome face with an air of drama to it. He was exhausted and he wanted the world to know it. He sighed after a long breath and heaved himself up out of his "bed". It was really more of a pile of somewhat comfort, he tended to just pile all his belonging on top of the ground in a somewhat comfortable way. His one blanket he packed with him made both the base of the bed as well as the cover for his body. It didn't work quite perfectly, as one of his sides usually remained open to the elements. His pack made the pillow, turned so that what little clothing he possessed lay on top, so as to minimize discomfort. It was far from perfect, but it did the job whenever he had no bed to sleep in, which today, he did not. That night Calvin had been fortunate enough to snag a couch, the other had gotten the beds in the house and other various forms of furniture, but he had managed to lay claim to the couch that wasn't quite long enough for his lengthy frame.

He stood at quite the impressive height of six foot nine, it was more often a curse than a blessing. Harder for him to hide from the things that hunted them, along with any survivors who might seek to harm him, and harder to find a goddamn decent place to sleep that actually fit his build. He couldn't complain about all of it though, it did give him an advantage in a fight, but still, his knees were sore from being scrunched up all night long.

It was later in the day, but he had been on watch that night so he had only gotten to sleep early that morning, hence the reason for him still being asleep at midday. He did not think he had gotten enough sleep, but he didn't dare sleep for much longer, after-all, Calvin was a newcomer and he didn't want to seem like a slacker.

Stretching, he dug around through his pack until he found a bottle of water and a small granola bar, which he ate half of. Hardly a meal but he wanted to save what little rations they had for others who might need it more. He gulped down a quarter of the bottle then stowed it away and made his way towards the front door, peering out the window to what was beyond, not much.

He considered the group he was with, he didn't know them very well and he wasn't quite sure what they were doing or where they were headed, but he figured it had something to do with the girl they towed around with them. She was odd, he hadn't spoken to her yet, but he could tell something about her was different. He didn't ask them about it, he figured at some point when they trusted him enough they would tell him, for now he kept his suspicions to himself.

After a minute of contemplation Calvin made his way further into the house to look for someone else in the group, he was bored and could use someone to chat with, better to get to know the others than remain aloof and possibly hurt his future self from the lack of relations. Anyways, let's be honest, he was a total peoples person. Despite the dire situation they called their life, he liked people, he always had. He was a boisterous, loud, cheerful person by nature, and even their drab surroundings couldn't completely suppress that part of him.

(Not quite sure where they are located so I improvised, I can edit if this isn't correct.)

Zephyr Eliades | Loner | M: Open, Fodder Character

Recollection 1
It was a cold November night, the trees were barren of leaves and the Breeze had significantly cooled as winter neared around the corner. His mother was looking frailer everyday, with her sunken eyes, and protruding cheekbones. What had once been a youthful face, full of life and happiness, was now terribly aged, despite only being two years apart from those times. Her eyes, previously vibrant, now blankly stared ahead as she aimlessly trudged through the clearing. Only coming to a stop to glance over her shoulder at her son who in turn returned a reassuring smile in her direction. "I'll be fine, mother." He sighed, trying to hide his uncertainty behind a lopsided smile as his eyes swept over the rushing currents before them.

Merely offering a meek nod in response, Da-eun hesitantly stepped into the waters frigid surface. Her legs almost instantly sinking into it as she proceeded to move across the choppy water. Her small frame being thrashed around a bit as she struggled to remain afloat, but despite her weakened state, she continued to fight the currents. "Zephyr, please. The quicker we get this over with, the faster we'll catch up to them." She called out coarsely, her voice barely audible over the currents that crashed into the rocks below. Her words had been like poison against his skin. Catch up? "They abandoned us." Zephyr muttered under his breath, before slowly following after his mother. His steps a lot more hesitant than hers as he slowly worked his way through the unforgiving water. "We have to stop. This... this idea, that they'll take us back.. it's pointless. It's not going to happen." In his protests, Zephyr had momentarily become unaware of the danger brewing just beneath his foot. Unbeknownst to both him and his mother, a small hoard of the infected had remained at rest underneath the currents from the previous years winter. Only the vibrations of zephyrs protests, shaking them from their slumber as they reached and latched onto his pant leg. It was only a matter of seconds before he had disappeared under the waters surface. The burning of his lungs accumulating as seconds stretched to minutes, his cries inaudible as water continued to rush into his mouth and eyes.

End of Recollection 1

Zephyr awoke in a cold sweat, eyes narrowed down to the point his iris only resembled a thin slit, and chest repeatedly rising and falling in a uneven pattern of breathing. “Mother—“ He huffed, struggling to get the words off his chest, but in his frenzied state it was close to impossible, as he was still intent on his tormented recollection. Instead, he brought his palm to his face and shielded his eyes from the sunlight that protruded through the makeshift lean-to he called home; It was all a vain attempt to keep the tears from coming. They came anyways. Shedded in spite of the weakening affect.

It felt like an eon before he successfully managed to get out of his worn sleeping bag. Every waking moment was a painful reminder he had lived despite having been fated to die that day. Almost forcing himself over to the barrel of water, Zephyr glanced at his distorted appearance. The scar had long healed, but the resentment still remained. Despite attempting to rinse the displeasure from his face, he still couldn't help but appear disoriented as a woman of tall stature walked into view. Her eyes closely resembled that of a cat as she eyed him up and down, like a predator stalking its prey, before giving off a taunting grin. "Whats got ya looking so disheveled? Don't tell me that last business I sent you on has finally gotten to you?" She smirked, pulling over a log to sit as she overlooked the small town below. "It seems that group we've had our eyes for some time now is finally gonna hunker down." Without so much of a second glance over in Zephyr's direction, she inhaled sharply and stood once again. "It's your job to figure out where they'll be staying." She paused to look over at her disciple, who was now casting his Steele gaze over the same landmark. "Gain their trust, gather information, and report to us within three months. We cannot afford another mishap like last time. You know the consequences." Upon bestowing her lighthearted threat, she walked over and simply offered him a parting pat on the back before gathering her belongings and quickly dispersing into the thick undergrowths behind them.

Zephyr was an opportunist. He knew an opportunity when he saw one. Whether it manifested itself as a human, or an object, he would easily recognize it and readily sweep it into his welcoming grasp. That evening, the young man couldn't help but stop and notice the 'rambunctious' crowd that had gathered in the town at the bottom of the hill he currently had found himself standing on. Despite his partners brief and unpleasant visit, he couldn't help but feel revealed knowing there were still other people besides from the ones he currently found himself acquainting himself with. Before departing with his lance, Zephyr took it upon himself to dispose of his lean-to and any signs of previous inhabitant, before pulling the black silk cover and bringing it over half of his face to shield the ugly scar creeping into his eye.

It didn't take him long to reach the bottom of the hill, and start to rummaging through one of the vacant homes. Purposely making it as sloppy and loud as possible as he opened the cabinets and emptied them of their contents, before moving upstairs and carelessly running into one of the lingering undead. "Fuck-" He growled as he was sent tumbling down the stairs with the groaning creature that had been attempting to tear into his throat at just inches away, the only barrier between them his gloved hands as they worked it's jaws apart.

Eden Milos Nedbalek - Male - Outsider - Mentions: Louis

Blood stained Eden's fingers, dripping down the length of his index to stain the ground he was crouched over. He watched with a dull stare as the crimson liquid came down, down, down from his face and onto his hand, draped in the blood-soaked bandages that'd previously been covering his wound.

It wasn't like he was letting himself bleed on purpose. No, his pause had come from the fact that he was quite preoccupied with his thoughts; more specifically, the fact that he was probably just a little bit fucked. It was that position that led him here, kneeling beside a tree and staring down at his hands, one with the old bandages that were now collecting even more blood thanks to the position he was in and the other with the very last of his clean ones. Oh, yes, he was fucked — bandages were a precious commodity and a rarity at that, and considering the gigantic problem etched into his face, they were a rarity he desperately needed.

Eden let out a sigh and shifted as to plop onto the ground, sitting with one leg propped up and the other crossed as he pulled out a small bottle from his pocket. Alcohol. It was a good thing the shit didn’t expire (tastes nasty, though), considering it was all he had for cleaning out the wound. Placing the bottle beside him and taking out his swiss army knife, he took out the blade and quickly slashed off a bit of his sleeve, then picked up the bottle again and took off the cap with his mouth. He poured a bit onto the fabric (it was finished now, too. go figure) and stared at the cloth for a minute before bringing it up to his face and dabbing his wound, hissing out a kkhhhhhh— at the pain that shot through him. He wasn’t sure whether he had to clean it out every time he changed his bandages or just the first, but it was better safe than sorry. Still, he couldn’t help but be relieved that he really couldn’t do it again even if he wanted to.

After an especially bad sting, he dropped the cloth to the floor. Deciding that that was probably enough, anyway, he picked up the last of his bandages and wrapped his wound (messily, but to be entirely fair, he couldn’t see what he was doing at all.)

Now finished, he stood up, discarding the finished roll and re-pocketing the glass bottle into his parka, as he didn’t want to risk it breaking inside one of the pockets of his pants. Might be useful for smashing over someone’s head later, who knows?

Eden spared one more glance to the empty piece of cardboard that’d once held his bandages. He had to go on a supply run, then; rare as they might be, he definitely needed at least something to dress his wound when these ones got too bloodied. He didn’t know what the fuck went through the heads of those zombies at any given time, but he didn’t want to risk knowing if they were attracted to the sight of a wounded victim. Or blood, for that matter, but — glancing at his blood-soaked hands and clothes — that bridge was already burnt a long time ago.

Sighing, he put his knife back in his pocket and started to walk. He walked for a while. Maybe about 20 minutes or so of aimless meandering, avoiding any loud sounds with a thousand-yard stare comparable to that of the zombies (they were just that to him. Zombies. Nothing more, nothing less) he heard prowling about nearby, searching for sustenance that’d eventually lead them to have to devour each other and kill themselves along with it. Maybe it was a bittersweet ending, then; a dead silent world after years of chaos. He’d be dead by then, though, so what did it matter to him?

Eventually, after a long while of walking, he came to idle in front of a house. It looked like a set for a horror movie, maybe a later Resident Evil game — a rotting thing that’d probably once been homey, an empty shell that only now held the ghost-like tinkling of chimes.

He didn’t bother to think about it for more than two seconds.

Eden strode up to the doorway and kicked open the door, taking immense satisfaction hearing the flimsy wood give way under his boot and splinter against the wall. He gave a hum of satisfaction as he lowered his foot and walked in, giving the place a once-over. He was lucky, the ruckus he made wouldn’t cause much of an issue — the zombies seemed to have long abandoned the place save for one who was coming towards him at a snail’s pace and some shuffling coming from upstairs. The house was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, anyhow, so he wasn’t surprised. The one zombie there seemed starved, so he didn’t worry about it too much; he simply took his axe from his belt and strode past the creature, giving it one strike to the head as he came close and it was over.

Eden put his axe back to its rightful place, heading over to the kitchen and briefly looking through the cabinets.

Empty. Empty. Expired. Empty. Damn, someone must’ve gotten to this place before him. He crouched down to the floor, opening up the lower cabinets, and mainly found spiderwebs and a lone can of beans.

Beans pocketed, he stood and headed over to the fridge and was immediately hit with a hot wave of rot upon opening it. He waved his hand in front of his face (not that it did much), managing to get used to the stench quickly enough to be able to shuffle through the items. Surprisingly, it was mostly unlooted; he managed to find quite a bit of beans and beef jerky before he slammed the door shut.

He did a brief once-over of the rest of the floor, finding some expired migraine medicine and not much else. Upon completion, he headed towards the staircase to head upstairs (though not before destroying a cabinet or two), then paused.

That shuffling. It… wasn’t zombie-like.

Ah.

Eden glanced down for a moment and got an idea.

Taking his axe from his belt again, Eden walked upstairs, slamming the door open with the same force he opened the front one. He let the head of his weapon fall to the floor with a loud thud and walked forward with a slow, steady stride. The sound of metal dragging against rotten wood was that akin to nails on a chalkboard as the man strolled through the room, head lowered the whole time. His boots echoed against the walls of the empty house, a steady tap, tap, tap as he approached the man standing amidst the childish surroundings, regarding him coldly. Blood-soaked clothes, weapon, hands and dead eyes — he was sure he was a sight to behold.

Eden slowed to a halt as he saw a flash of white. It must have dislodged when he slammed his axe into the ground, he figured as he watched the roll of bandages tumble to his feet. Nonchalantly, he came down on one knee in order to grasp the bandages between bloodied fingers, standing in order to turn it over in his hand as he slung the axe over his shoulder. Head still turned toward the bandages, he glanced over to the man across from him. He spoke, tone just as nonchalant as his movements.

“You wouldn’t mind if I took this, would you?”