Zatchin stopped short of her destination, panting softly as she leaned over, her hands on her knees. They weren't there any more.. She sighed softly, and made a mental note to get a white flag to draw attention. She leaned against some sort of scrap metal and slid down to the ground, closing her eyes sadly. Soft whimpers crept past her dry lips, as she had been looking forward to some form of contact. Zatchin Isabelle-... If only she knew who she was... You cannot imagin how terrifying it is to not even know your name.

Flops slid down beside her, wrapping his arms around her lovingly, and rocking her softly. His ever eyeliner-stained eyes gazed at her with their eerie way of letting her know he cared. She could not see them, but she could feel them burrowing into her soul as they always did. She suddenly didn't feel like being around other people... Not while she was in pieces herself.

alice began to hum looking up at the sky even infected she still loved to just look up at the sky and wonder what was out their "mabye if i find a new lab with better stuff i can cure the humans of their stupidity." she wanted a perfect world full of nothing but infected since it has gave her many advantages in life as well as the ability to take a shot and still survive/

Wes chuckled at cains excuse. "sorry friend but if you don't let go of the past it will end up killing you" Wesley leaned back against the wall. "I should know I lost 4 of my friends in the Newport siege... but that isn't important!" Wes pulled out a map that was given him by mark who marked off a couple colonies he knew off when he went to new york "hey Cain are you a local and do any of these seem familiar?" Wesley tossed the map at cains feet

"Sorry to say but I don't know any of them. I never really got a hang of the city, since my parents moved here maybe a year before the infection." Cain then looked at the girl. "You're right, one can never be too careful. Anyways, who are you? I've ignored you the whole time."
While waiting for an answer, he was thinking of joining forces with Wes, he seemed like a good enough guy, someone else to back him up. "Hey Wes, any chance you want to pair up? It's getting hard to find trustworthy people around here."

Brandon listened to the man as he spoke and gently shook his head after he finished. “That’s why most people kill them.“ He knew that creepy run more than most people. He also knew how many different ways stopping that run with a bullet could end. The thought made his muscles tighten and he straightened his back more, switching his weight from foot to foot.

It wasn’t that he enjoyed killing infected, that by far wasn’t the reason he did what he did. He’d seen so many people change, tried to help them, to Fix them. He’d seen how bits of their old selves would flicker through and you’d think you were making progress. He’d seen how that progress would quickly go down the drain and they’d loose themselves even more.

For the past ten years he went through a constant love and lose cycle. Over a year ago he’d cut himself off from human contact because of it. Standing here now, with this woman he’d just meet and this man that was more than likely infected, he wanted more than anything to just throw his arms up in the air and scream curses at the Gods, maybe even put down his gun and sacrifice himself to the madness.

Squeezing his eyes shut for a moment he banished the thought from his mind. He needed to stop thinking so selfishly. This was all about far more than just him. This was about the fate of humanity and the earth. He wouldn’t let either go to waste.

Sabrina watched Wes toss a map at the young man's feet. Her curiosity gnawing at her, she wanted to take a look at the map. She wasn't sure if she could identify any of the colonies but she'd seen something when she entered the city. But she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and went back to her sketch. She packed up her pen and paper and pulled out a canteen to take a drink.

When the young man finally acknowledged her she looked at him once again and answered before taking a drink. "My name is Sabrina and I'm just a traveling artist. You?"

"Heh, I totally understand why." Arian scowled, remembering those moments. When he was first infected, he decided that that probably meant he had to go looking for 'companions', since that's what his human side told him to do; humans are always in a pack. But when trying to make contact with some of them, most of them either gave him nasty looks, attempted to attack or rob him, or had that lop-sided gallop with foam coming out of their mouths. Disgusting. After a few months of that, Arian decided he had had enough and stopped trying to look for pals. He was fine on his own anyway...except the occasional trouble of trying to sew on body parts at awkward angles with no one to help. Not that anyone would help him, as an Infected.

Personally, if everyone in the world were like him, with a (for whatever reasons) stablized condition that does not worsen over time (none that he could tell, anyway), Arian thought that humans should all just go and get themselves infected and stop their futile struggling. It's obvious they couldn't come up with anything to get rid of the disease, it's been ten years and no progress had been made, so why fight it? If everyone became infected they would be the 'new' human, and life can go on. But then there was the trouble with the rabid ones, and those he did not like at all. Some of their bodies even fell apart after a while from mutations. And those were just bloody creepy. He never ate the flesh of those because who knows what kind of weird affects they might cause him. He wondered why some reacted so badly to the disease and why some of them, like him, got along so well with it?

Perhaps if there was a way to stablize the disease for everyone...then people could give it out as an injection to everyone and everyone would live happily ever after. No more crazy psyco Infected monsters (though he admit he has his moments too), and no more crazy murderous humans anymore either. Wouldn't that be great? Arian thought happily, lost into his own thoughts.

At Arian’s words Brandon was left swimming in emotions and memories. Someone had said that same thing to him once. A woman. A woman with clear blue eyes, soft skin, and long, flowing black hair.

”I totally understand why” she said before fading off. “I understand why but I don’t understand how. She was your mother, Brandon. How can you kill your own mother, infected or not?” Pain laced through him at her words and he cast his gaze to the floor.
“Because she wasn’t my mother anymore,” was his reply but it held no conviction. He wasn’t sure how either. He’d done it to save his own life. That’s all he knew.
“What if I was infected?” she asked, almost innocently. While she said it, she gently tilted his chin up so that he’d meet her eyes. “If I was to become infected would you kill me too?”

He inhaled sharply, pain lacing through the current day heart, the heart he though had hardened long ago. She had become infected. For a month he kept her in several different secure places where she couldn’t reach him if she snapped. He waited for days at a time for a glimpse of the woman that she use to be. By the end of that month he was on the brink of loosing himself to madness.

He’d offered himself up to her then, gave her ample opportunity to attack him, but she didn’t. She’d reached out and placed her hand on his cheek and asked him to kill her. He’d cried then, the first time since after killing his mother and the last time since then.

“If there was hope, some small, nearly none existent glimmer, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe then so many wouldn’t have to die. But there is no hope. There hasn’t been for ten years.” He tucked his pistol into his shoulder holster and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and anguish.

Cassandra eyes him and frowns she didn't like the way his emotions played over his face like that it made him seem almost vulnerable. She kept her own face passive, but she wondered what could have struck him so that it would have caused him to become sad. She sighs softly and looks at him. "There could still be some small hope out there..." she mutters to him trying to make him feel better, was she going soft as well? She couldn't be Cassandra frowns and looks down at the ground she couldn't believe that she had said that, it seemed so long since she had to encourage anyone. Cassandra then ponders if she should actually tell him of her blood she seemed almost compelled to perhaps after a while she would and then he would sure enough kill her after a cure would be found. Cassandra knew though that as long as she was alive and that she had the disease within her there would always be more infected so after a cure was found if one could be made from her blood she would have to flee to a secluded region to keep the disease from spreading again. This meant now that the family line of Cross would end with her. As she thought about this she became even more upset and angry. She was itching to do something anything find an infected that was far along enough to kill she was wanting a nest of them just at that moment. Her emotions were getting out of had she felt like punching or rather shooting, something and crying at the same time however her face remind composed though her eyes showed her inner turmoil

Out of the corner of his eye, still thinking about a world full of infected, Arian glimpsed the strange phenomenon of two humans with a huge amount of emotions going through their eyes. And raised an eyebrow. That wasn't a sight he saw often anymore these days. He wondered vaguely what they could be thinking about. Probably something that happened in the past and they regretted? Though from the girl...Cassandra, her eyes looked more like the premonition of a Infected-about-to-go-rabid. Uh oh.

Infected or not, Arian had no desire to be around someone who was showing tendencies of going berserk. He shook himself out of the little daydream. He had the uncanny six-sense of knowing that something bad was going to happen, and he definitely wasn't going to be sticking around if a time bomb was ticking beside him. Time to gooo.

"Well, it's been nice meeting you two, haven't met any humans who didn't try to blow my head off at first sight in a while," He said, knowing that they probably already knew he was Infected, anyway. They always do. Guess that's a secret he'll never find out. "But I've got to run, need to...go find food." He randomly tossed out an excuse, though he thought it was kind of lame, seeing that his little den was packed with food right now. He gave them a merry little wave and a bright, cheerful smile, before turning and jogging off away from the now silent pile of rubble, but keeping wary in case they suddenly have a change of heart and decide to try and attack him.

"My name is Cain, I am... I mean used to be a weapons designer, that's how I can make all of my equipment. As for what I do now, I devote my life towards getting rid of the infection." Cain said. He was still thinking about his offer towards Wes, he seemed to be thinking hard about it. Cain wanted to get that girl infected with the nails. With his newly found powers with his katana, it would be a piece of cake.

Coming out of her thoughts Tyler looked back where she had left that man, she wished she’d asked him his name so she wouldn’t just think of him as ‘the infected man’ but he was probably gone by now. She looked back at the so called supporters, the two guys and a girl, she would probably feel a little bad for interrupting them but she did want to at least attempt to hold a conversation with a person. She prepared herself to be threatened, that seemed to be the norm nowadays point a weapon first ask who they are later.

Taking a few steps forward holding her hands, and gun, behind her back Tyler did her best smile in their direction and attempted to introduce herself. She took a deep breath “Hello, I er heard the noise you guys were making and thought I would er make sure everyone was all right” she said, trying her best not to sound suspicious but knowing full well the paranoia these people probably had her very existence was probably suspicious to them.

Wes couldn't put his finger on it but This cain kid didn't seem to be telling everything. "you still didn't answer my question Cain do you know of any colonies here?" Wes didn't like how Cain was eying Sabrina like she was his prey..... "as for your partnering up sure hey if you survive with em long enough I might make you a freelancer-Wesley turns his head twords Sabrina same for you too." Wes looked over cain again the katana would definitely not be a problem for the fact that he had slash proof vest but the guns and grenades would be a major issue.

Sabrina smiled at Cain and glanced at his katana. She'd always admired people who worked outside of a 2-D plane. Her talent was only limited to landscapes and realistic pencil sketches of people.

Sabrina could feel Wes tense up next to her. She looked at Wes and then back to Cain. Did I miss something? She took another drink from her canteen, shoved it back into her bag, and pulled out a piece of gum. Her breath caught when Wes said she could join him. She thought back to the last time she had traveled with someone. I don't want to be hurt again...but I don't want to be alone either. "You would really let me travel with you?"

Cain looked at Wes. He was giving him a weird look. "No, I never really took the time to learn the places here. I couldn't tell you anything you don't know. And that would be great, I will join with you or her, better to have someone around then no one." Cain was still focusing on Wes staring at him, trying to figure something out.

"If we're going to work together, I might as well show you the true extent of my power. But you'll have to trust me, like I trust the both of you." He took out his katana and started to run extremely fast back and forth. He then punched the ground and created a big hole. "It has something to do with the katana and the infected blood on it that it absorbed. So once again, trust me like I trust you." He looked at both of them praying they would say something back.

Zatchin opened her eyes, how long had it been..? She didn't know. She had simply sat there, eyes shut, and thinking for the longest time. She stood, brushing off her pants, and making sure her gun was loaded. She was sick of running from the Infected. What if she never found her brother..? What if he was dead..? She was tired of waiting.

She looked twards Flops, that creepily all-knowing grin plastered to his face. "You seek the fate of twisted buildings, and broken sirens, Zatchy? Flops has been waiting for this." The words took Zatchin aback for a moment.. she almost always had to try and translate the obscure speach. "Yes, She is going do that..." She replied uneasily, hoping he had meant what she though he did. She cocked the other gun too, and raised toe first to the sky. Without any hesitation, she pulled the trigger, sending a bullet into the air. Making loud noises. She wasted to draw them out... She was sick of running, and sick of being alone.

He watched Arian leave without saying a word. What could one possibly say when their theory about the other being infected was proven and they were walking away with a cheerful bounce in their step? He realized, much slower than he normally would, that Arian was the first infected he’d ever seen that close without killing.

Before he could become too wrapped up in thoughts there was a single gun shot in the distance. He turned his head in the general direction of the shot, a rather odd habit that he had. He knew this city like the back of his hand so if he knew the direction from which it came he could almost always pin point it. ”Someone fighting more infected?” he wondered aloud.

He turned to Cassandra and saw the inner turmoil happening in her eyes. He wanted to reach out and show her a reassuring and comforting touch, be it a gentle touch of the arm or even a hug, but he refrained. Instead, he tried to pull the focus of her mind to something else. ”Should we go check it out?”

As Sabrina awaited Wes's answer Cain began to talk again. She looked over at Cain to pay attention to what he was trying to express to her and Wes. Her eyes grew wide when Cain hit the ground, creating a huge hole. She sneezed from the dust that had been sent into the air and adjusted her glasses again. She thought for a moment, then looked at Wes to see what he thought about Cain's propostion.

Sabrina didn't have a problem with trusting Cain but she didn't want to blow off Wes's opinion on the matter either. She rose to her feet brushing some of the dust off of her hat and skirt then walked over to Cain. "I definitely wouldn't want you as an enemy, but I think I can trust you so hopefully we won't have to come to that." She stretched her hand out to Cain with a serious expression on her face.

After the first shot released, she happily shot another, and yet another. After the third bullet sped into the air and god knows what speed, she set her guns back and searched around the ground. Two long knives, perfect. Picking those up, she swung them back and forth, completely sure she had drawn the attention of Infected. But, however, she wasn't going to waist more bullets. Besides, she was skilled enough with a blade to at least live a good while. She fully thought this to be her last stand, and was more than happy to go down fighting if necessary.

Cain put his hand out and shaked her hand. He smiled, these were the first two people he sincerely trusted after the Tragic Accident. "You don't have to worry about me being reliable and truthful to you. I'm just glad that you haven't yelled at me about.. Well the example I just showed you. I can't believe I'm doing this.. I haven't trusted anyone in a LONG time.. But, thanks." he said seriously.

Cain was still staring at Wes, what was his response going to be? He was worried that Wes would attack him as a threat.