Billie Ryan Kline
^{Female | 14 | Resident | Mentions: Jimmy (direct), open}

"C'mon!" Billie strained as she lifted the last piece of wood. The building she was in was crumbling on itself, in which Billie had the slight fear that it would simply collapse on her any moment. But it had been standing here for however long, so it was fine, right? Billie flipped the last piece of wood to the side, and underneath, she would find a large hole in the floor.

A tunnel? Billie cocked her head to the side, grabbing her flashlight from her pack and shining it down into the darkness of the hole. "What the...?" She trailed off, deciding she could easily make her way into it. That being said, she did exactly that. With ease, Billie slipped down into the hole, finding herself crouching through a dusty, crumbling tunnel. She coughed slightly, her attention being changed from her current line of view and to her left.

The groaning and grunting of an Infected lingered in the odd basement, causing Billie to flick her flashlight off and grab her hunting knife. She squinted through the dust, only seeing two - the one closest to her and one in another room.

Staying low, Billie managed to stalk towards the first Infected. She got behind it, quickly jumping up and stabbing the knife into the throat. As the body went limp with a slight thump as it hit the ground, that caused the attention of the second Infected to be directed towards Billie's location.

And then a third.

And a fourth.

A fifth.

Plus a sixth.

Billie's eye's widened, her breath quickening as she scrambled to her feet. She made her way back through the tunnel, the Infected following close behind her. Losing balance, she fell, catching herself with her hands and she managed to crawl as fast as possible toward the opening. She yelled as one got a hold of her foot, causing Billie to kick and flail. "Motherfucker!" She yelled, bringing her knife to the head of the Infected and stabbing it twice before she felt the grasp on her foot go limp. She kicked the body as hard as she could, causing the other Infected to slow down.

As Billie's heart raced, she managed to climb back to the top. She panted, shoving as much wood back on top of the hole as she could. The groans and cries of the infected were still heard, but as soon as she placed the last piece of wood back on top, Billie stumbled back to the floor.

"Holy. Fucking. Shit," she grumbled, regaining her breath. She closed her eyes for a moment, pushing herself to a wall. She checked her foot that was caught, and luckily, there was no scratch or bite mark. "Thank God," she muttered, grabbing her knife which she must of dropped. She slipped it into her pants and would be on her merry fucking way considering she was too close to dying.

Billie exited the building, looking down the road to see the silhouettes of the others. She hummed softly to herself, moving through an alleyway before she spotted Jimmy in one of the buildings. It was a house, and as she entered, Billie felt her heart drop.

Although Billie could barely remember life before her life was turned upside down, she knew the importance of family. Of friends. Jimmy would be searching through a girl's room, probably about Billie's age, if that. She sighed softly before following behind Jimmy, now making her presence known.

"Slim Jim," she smiled, looking at his pile of sticks. She shook her head, raising her eyebrows. "Is this all you've made yourself useful for?" She asked, sitting beside him as she slipped her backpack off. Billie clicked her tongue a few times before pulling out an average handgun.

"You know how to use this, right?"

Grayson Wayne Spring
^{Male | 22 | Leader | Mentions: Louis, Valentina, Kolos (dir), Song (indirect), some others that are also indirect}

Grayson watched and listened as Louis evaluated the pills. He chuckled softly at his remarks about them, shifting his weight slightly before Louis would take a moment to look up at his leader. Grayson never thought of himself as superior and above others, which made him a more decent leader, but Grayson tried his best to be as fair as possible.

Valentina had made herself clear when she would leave, in which Grayson nodded. "There are still some buildings to the south that need to be checked - I'd start there," he called after her, though unsure if she would hear him or not. His eyes landed on Kolos, waiting for some smart-ass comment from the Newcomer. He waited, though and would receive nothing besides the departure. Grayson nodded to himself before his attention was drawn back to Louis, a big smile plastered on Gray's face at his greeting.

"That's good, bud," Grayson smiled. He then cocked his eyebrows as Louis mentioned something of a man who was a masochist. He looked past Louis for a moment in the distance, listening to him inform Grayson of whomever this was. Grayson nodded. "Best you didn't," Grayson inhaled, sitting down next to Louis, scooting slightly as he would lay down and close his eyes. Grayson laughed.

Can I fuck them up?

"Listen, listen," Grayson looked at Louis, "bring them here and then you can fuck them up. Or if they end up here on their own. Glad you could find us supplies. He looked around for a moment, his eyes almost instinctively going to the ring on his finger. He swallowed, lightly shaking his head before he looked at Louis yet again. He sniffled, grunting softly. "You haven't seen Song, have you?" Grayson asked, staring straight forward.

Grayson sighed softly before standing up again, looking down at Louis. "You wanna do me a favor?" He asked. "If you want - and you don't have to - set up some sort of perimeter. I'm sure with that talented and interesting brain of yours you could come up with something, yeah?" Grayson suggested. It would prevent anyone else from coming near the town, and hopefully would make any loner with the area know that this place was in fact being searched.

Grayson looked around for another moment, feeling as though the group was missing something. Not that anyone was gone or missing, but rather a feeling of worthiness. Grayson had this gut feeling that something or someone would come to bite them in the ass. Maybe it was just the fact that there was plenty of loners around, wandering, probably trying to entertain themselves or find a purpose.

Just like how Grayson was.

Grayson was never one to feel alone or lonely, but for some reason, he did now. He felt alone with a group of people he felt as if they were his family - new or not - and yet, a part of him was still missing. Maybe it was the fact that Grayson had been longing to see his deceased wife again. Maybe it was because he had seen so many people come and go in this group. Grayson was genuinely terrified of losing them.

He's terrified of ending up alone.

Her boots landed heavily on the floor of the building, echoing, with few things surrounding her to dull the sound. There were words painted on the walls in blood, a creepy theme that seemed to carry through this town, as she had seen it in a few other houses. Fortunately, a little blood hadn't freaked her out, even before the monsters showed up. However, it did stink a bit, and she wrinkled her nose against it.

Hadn't Valentina just come in here? Song saw no sign of her, and, when she stopped to listen, there were no sounds coming from the house. In fact, it seemed eerily silent. She almost turned around to leave the building, until a figure stepped out from behind a wall, holding her at gunpoint. Song reached for her machete, firmly latched in her belt, and pulled it out half way before recognizing the paled face that stared at her. A pair of warm green eyes stared back at her, their expression shocked. Song slid her machete back into her belt as Val put her gun away.

Upon hearing her apology, Song shrugged it off. "You're fine, it's a good thing you were prepared for an outsider, otherwise an outsider could have shot you first." She hoped the words comforted the young woman, who seemed very stressed about her mistake. Song, failing to think of anything else that might comfort Val, sought to change the subject.

"Have you found anything? I was coming in to check for myself, but there's already been a few people through here, so maybe they've taken anything of value." She chuckled slightly at her awkward attempt at changing the subject, but moved past Val into the next room, continuing her search, but still listening for Val's response.

double post :")

One useful thing about doing pointless things such as sharpening sticks, is that one can be aware of their surroundings while doing these pointless things. Therefore, Jay heard the all too familiar gait of Billie's approaching feet long before he saw her out of the corner of his eye. He didn't bother to look up for a bit, sharpening his stick with focus as she threw teasing jabs at him. The corner of his mouth twitched up and he leaned back against the tree's trunk, snapping the stick in half before throwing it into the road.

"Calling me beefy?" he asked teasingly, referring to her nickname for him. He flexed his bicep and kissed it for good measure. The smell of dust, sweat, and unwashed laundry rushed into his nose and he sneezed as some of the dust went up his nose. "Ah, whatever. You know I am," he said, chuckling. He squinted at her. He finally got a good look at her and realized she looked a little shaken. Had she fought up a hoard of googlies or something? He chuckled at the idea.

"What happened to you, Billie Goat? You look like shit," he teased, gesturing towards her. "Did you get in a fight with a trash can? Hate to break to you, might have been your reflection," he said, walking over and elbowing her shoulder, which was about elbow height for him.

"I'll tell you how I've been useful," he said, slinging his pack onto the ground to show off his goods. Before he continued that thought, she sat down and pulled out a handgun. His dark eyes widened in surprise. "Where'd you get that?" he mumbled, looking it over as if it was some valuable ancient artifact. He shook his head as if trying to shake himself into the present.

"Well, yeah, I know how to use it," he said with a goofy grin. Sarcastically, he said "Heck, I've got two shooters on me, I don't know how to use 'em, though."

"But, seriously. Where'd it come from, kid?" he asked with a confused smile.

Billie Ryan Kline
^{14 | Female | Resident | Mentions: Jimmy (direct), open}

Billie cleared her throat, taking notice to the fact that Jimmy hadn't looked at her like how he wanted her to. Beggars can't be choosers, though, which Billie learned from a young age. And the hard way, but that was the world's fault - not hers. Or maybe it was just a teenager thing, but considering she didn't have any parents to compare that to, it was definitely this apocalypse's fault. For sure.

Billie nodded. "You're very beefy, Jim," Billie said sarcastically and slightly exaggerated. She laughed softly and raised her eyebrows, looking at the gun. There was no ammo for it, not like she knew what it was anyways, but Billie needed to learn how to use a gun. Her hunting knife would sooner or later break, get lost, or something along the lines of that. She sniffled slightly, looking back at Jimmy. "Says the Slim Jim," Billie chuckled.

Billie looked away for moment. "You should see the trash can," she inhaled with a wide smile before sighing. "Actually, came across some Infected. Uh, not good. But, before you worry because I know you worry so so much about your favorite goat, I'm clean. No scratches, no bites," she informed him. Speaking of which, how bad did she look? Obviously the only way Jimmy would've asked her that is if she looked petrified one way or another. But honestly, she could care less. What was someone going to do, judge her? Pfft.

Billie looked at Jay's goods. She nodded. "I guess you got me beat," she huffed, shifting herself against the tree a bit. She looked up into the blue sky, the hot rays beating down on the earth below it. Billie reminded herself that it wouldn't be too long before Grayson would need everyone to be rounded up again, but she pushed the thought aside as her brotherly figure would speak again.

"It was in that building I about got eaten alive in," she replied. She then sent a playful glare his way. "Don't tell me you carry around a fuckin' - freakin' - rifle for looks, cowpoke," she teased. Billie smiled, though it quickly faded.

"I've actually had it for a while. Nobody's had the time to teach me," she grabbed her knife, "and this SOB isn't gonna last me forever," she added, sliding the knife back into pants. Billie looked towards Jimmy - one with the slightest glint of hope yet worry. She was scared. Genuinely. "So could you teach me?"

Louis Lee Jackson | Male | Gay | Observer | M: Kolos, Valentina, + Grayson (Dir) + Eden (Ind)

Louis gave a small wave to Kolos and Valentina as they left, honestly a bit sad to see the calm people leave. He didn’t spend much time talking to them or to anyone in general really. The free time Louis did ever had was spend stressing, drawing, or standing stoically on something tall and overlooking everyone while he contemplated every little fuck up he has made in life. He hoped he’d be able to talk to them later though. He really did. While Louis hated people, he still craved interaction. Maybe it was idiotic, but he couldn’t help it. Grayson, on the other hand, helped to fill that loneliness whenever Louis really really needed it.

Grayson listened to Louis speak, which was still a novel idea that anyone would actually listen to Louis to begin with. It was an odd feeling to be listened to. Like calling into a gapping and monsterous cave and, after such a long time of waiting, finally hearing your distant echo whispering back to you. It was an oddly pleasant feeling that made Louis smile even more, getting all joyous over the idea that someone might be paying attention to him.

“Alright, I will try not to fuck them up immediately then!” Louis teased with a big smile. “But maybe just a little won’t hurt too much…” That was before Song was mentioned. Louis’s smile quickly faded at her name and he looked away from Grayson and to the sky. It wasn’t that he disliked the girl, but Louis never really wanted to be near here. It was so obvious of Grayson and Song liked each other, to Louis at least. Louis couldn’t help but feel… a certain loneliness when the two were together. It was as if someone crawled inside his gut and ripped out his vital organs. It was as if someone was slowly tearing him limb from limb as torturously as possibly. It was a cruel realization that Grayson would abandon him and spend more of his free time with Song. It was fine though. At least, that was what Louis told himself. Even if the one person who finally started to give a shirt about Louis stopped caring, at least Grayson would be happy. Louis snapped out of his head and simply shook his head and shrugged nonchalantly. “No, I haven’t. I’ll keep you posted if I find yer soulmate thouuuugh!~”

As soon as Grayson stood, Louis sat up, pulling his knees to his chest as he listened intently for whatever he had to say. Louis beamed at the thought of being able to put his creative skills to good use.

“Oooo I can totally do that fer ya!” Louis replied, raising his fist as he tried to contain his giddy joy for creating destruction like the maniac child he was. “I saw some people getting alcohol so I could even set up a Molotov Cocktail Explosion Defense Area! Or MCEDA for short...” Louis had to stop and make sure he had created the right acronym. He was never great at saying letters out loud in the correct order. That was probably why he never won the second grade spelling bee a day in his life. “I could MacGyver this shit and rig up a bomb or two, but I didn’t see the supplies for that yet. I can make some barricades with what little this town has to offer though…” Louis was just muttering to himself at this point before he stood and gave a small salute. “Don’t worry! I got this!”

Before Louis left to get started on his job, Louis noticed the final pill container Kolos had placed by his side. Louis hadn’t even realized it was there until just then. Picking it up, Louis inspected the small container and studied it. As Louis held the container up to the sky, an orange hue shined on his face and Louis counted less than ten pills left in the container. Louis brought the pills closer, reading the label before his face grew to be mortified. Louis shakily shoved the pills into Grayson’s hands as his own hands shook like a dog in the cold.

“Highly addictive,” Louis mumbled to Grayson as he gently held onto his sleeve to balance himself. He didn’t know why he felt so shaky all of a sudden. Maybe it was the chicken and these pills back to back. Louis was just not having a good afternoon apparently. “And highly deadly. Take a few more of these than you’re suppose ta and it’s… it’s… yeah. Not good. Good for migraines apparently…” Louis glared at the pill bottle one last time before stomping off to grab supplies, his shoulders slumping more than usual to the point where he looked two inches shorter.

-~-~-

Louis marched off to the Souther edge of the town, looking around for supplies as he wanted to stick close to where Valentina and Kolos had gone. Looking at the front yards of the houses, Louis noticed one of the houses with a wooden fenced in front yard where a hand made swing sat and even housed a treehouse with a pulley system with a bucket at the bottom of it. The other house on right had a chain fence and a iron mailbox. Come to think of it, all the houses had some sort of railing or fencing, making Louis’s plan all the easier to carry out.

Going to the house the furthest from the center of town, Louis did his best to rip off the wooden spikes off of the fence, having to use his full body weight and all his force to retrieve the wooden poles. It wasn’t going smoothly, but Louis continued to tear the fencing apart, his rough hands digging into the wood and receiving only splinters and pain for his efforts, as he planed for what to do and how to properly claim the area. Setting up barricades wouldn’t be an easy task, but if he could at least block off this side of the road for the moment, that would decrease their odds of getting attacked by people or zombies by a lot.

Man, maybe the masochist was smart for carrying that damn axe around… I could really use that right about now.