Fenris glanced up at the muscular man. Recognizing him, he grinned weakly and said, "Oh, you know. This and that. Killin' zombies. Living fear, you know, nothing special." When the door opened, Fenris looked up in surprise at the figure.

The stranger who had helped them to the gates had caught up with them and was looking to be in bad shape. When another man appeared who Kemper seemed to know, Blair looked him over for a moment. He had a sniper rifle which she thought could turn out to be really useful if he was to be heading North too. Maybe they could all travel together, although she knew Kemper had said he would split from her here. When the steel doors opened Blair fell inside, the dirt and sand clearing around her. How on earth was the storm not inside this city? Shrugging it off assuming they must be at the storms edge she looked up at a young girl. What was a young girl doing here opening the gates to this city? Where was everyone else? When she spoke Blair smiled, still on the ground, "Of course we aren't going to hurt you, we're just trying to find some safety before sundown..." When the young girl rushed off, Blair stood, brushing sand and dirt off of her. Turning to the three behind her she spoke, "Hurry inside, lets get these doors closed!" Before she could move towards closing the doors the young girl had returned with water and was trying to help the stranger who'd created the path for them to get to the city. When the girl shot them all a glare about helping the man inside Blair put her hands up in defense, "He doesn't want any help from us..." she said almost embarassed. She should have thought to help him inside, but the doors had opened so fast and she'd fallen and... there was really no excuse besides the fact that he didn't want anyone touching him. Blair walked over to the two to encourage the stranger to get inside so that they could close the doors when Kemper hoisted him to his feet.


Kemper had been watching the scene unfold when the young girl asked why no one was helping the man. He spoke with a bit of annoyance in his voice, "Relax child, we'll get him inside." Kemper grabbed the back of the man's shirt and pulled him to his feet giving him a small shove inside the doors. He grabbed the side of one door waiting for Snipe to get inside so that he could close out the storm and anything else that might be lurking closeby.

Fenris sprinted in, and joined them on the inside. He was burning to find out what happened to Kemp since they'd last met, but for now their priority was the other guy. Glancing around, he didn't see anything that he thought would help. He pulled off his backpack, and pulled out some of the water bottles, adding them to the ones the girl had brought, he leaned against a nearby wall, and watched the situation unfold.

The doors had opened, but Alice didn't quite release his will over the wind yet. When the girl that had opened the doors moved to him, tried to move him his whole body tensed. He raised a hand to swat at her, halfheartedly as he grunted. Though, when she poured the water over him, it did feel nice. The bottled handed to him had been mostly ignored.

He wasn't sure of too much that was happening, but suddenly he was lifted by the back of his shirt and shoved inside. Alice stumbled forward, past the doors and there he collapsed. Eyes closed as he rolled over to lay on his back with his arms spread out at his sides. He was still panting, his heart pounded in his chest. So tired. He opened his eyes, they no longer glowed. The storm raged, and Alice no longer kept the wind at bay. He didn't need too. They were safe behind the walls, the storm could rage all it wanted out there. Those steel-blue, almost grey eyes closed again. Alice slipped into the darkness of exhaustion.

Heaving a sigh of relief as the man tried to keep her away, as it showed he was still conscious, Dani watched with wide eyes as another man, one with obvious military experience, shoved him inside. The weak man seemed more tired than anything, but she still bent over and touched his forehead to make sure he didn't have a fever or anything.

"Can you carry him to my place?" Dani asked the military man, tugging on his shirt gently. "I've got food, water, and power. As well as a few medicines." The three small stores had contained a lot of those. Most of them guaranteed to fight off the virus, whatever that was.

As she stood around, Dani heard a screech from Thorn. Her arm shot out of it's own accord, providing the perfect spot for her companion to roost. It took a few more seconds as the raptor circled down, but he eventually alighted on her arm before moving to her shoulder. He certainly was a heavy bird. Eyeing the newcomers, he ruffled his feathers menacingly. No harm would come to her while he was around.

"You guys can just pick whatever house you want to stay in," Dani said, leading the group through the pristine town. Every building seemed new, even on the inside. Time was certainly something Dani had on hand. Most of her days were spent cleaning, while she read at night. "I'll show you the biggest spring later if you want," she continued, looking over her shoulder.

When everyone was safely inside Kemper hurried to close the steel doors and lock them tightly. Feeling a tug at his shirt he looked down at the young girl. "Sure" he replied with a sigh, "He'll need an IV since he didn't drink any of that water before he passed out." With that simple statement Kemper heaved the man up over his shoulder and waited to be shown the way.


Blair moved quickly to the mans side when he passed out on the ground. He was still breathing, that was a relief. When Kemper picked him up she smiled up at him. She knew he had a softer side that he didn't like to show. When the young girl spoke of choosing a house, Blair felt confused. "What do you mean choose a house? Where are all of the other people that live in this city?" she asked curiously.

Fenris walked away, and looked for a house near the edge of the wall. Finding one, he quickly found that the windows were blocked by the wall, sighing, he kept looking around, until he found one practically right next to the gate. While it's windows were blocked too, he found that he could climb onto the roof easily. Smiling, he went back in search of the others.

"Other people?" Dani questioned, tilting her head slightly in confusion. "It's just been Thorn and I here, since, I don't know... I woke up? Yeah, that's about right." These new people certainly were strange. She also felt kind of bad that she hadn't made more food. Granted, there was no reason for her to do so.

"Why do you ask?" she said, pointing her house out to Kemper as they neared it. "Should there be more people here?" Her amnesia certainly was annoying. She couldn't remember anything beyond waking up. Besides regular knowledge, that is.

Blair walked next to the young girl as Kemper followed carrying the stranger. When the girl questioned other people Blair wondered if she was joking. She guessed there wasn't supposed to be other people there, it was just really strange that there wasn't and that this girl appeared to have never been around other people. That didn't make any sense to Blair. She eyed the bird that clung to the young girl's shoulder, a strange duo. "Well, I guess other people don't have to be here... I've just never been to a city, especially a 'safe city' that only had one person living in it. It's curious is all" she said looking around.


Kemper wasn't listening in on the conversation, he didn't care. The man he was carrying was heavy and they all needed some water, a meal and some rest. That's all he was focused on. When the young girl pointed to her house he breathed a sigh of relief that her home wasn't on the other side of town. He quickly moved around them and opened the door knowing that it wouldn't be locked if this girl lived in the city by herself, why would she need to lock anything? He quickly made his way to the couch and set the man down on it turning to look at the young girl and Blair. Where had Snipe run off to? Returning his attention to the young girl Kemper spoke, "This man needs an IV, and we all need food, water and some rest. Can you tell me where we can find those things in this city or should we fend for ourselves?" He asked looking back down at the man on the couch, "This isn't my responsibility by the way..." he said stepping away from him.


Blair had made her way to the doorstep of the young girl's house and waited to be invited in. The world may be over run with the walking dead and in chaos, but she always tried to be thoughtful and remember her manners anyway. When Kemper moved away from the man on the couch she shook her head. She looked then at the young girl, "I volunteered in the local hospital when I was in college, if you know where we can find an IV and fluids I can handle it, it's really easy." Looking then at Kemper, "I'm also a pretty bang up chef" she said smiling, a subtle hint that she could whip them up something if he was interested.

Kemper and Blair were both looking at the young girl now awaiting a response on where to locate an IV and fluids, both prepared to head into the city to locate them and food if need be.

Walking in and hearing that the man needed an I.V., Fenris quickly grabbed one of his bottles of water, and a pen. Jabbing a hole into the lid of the water, and removing the center of the pen, along with a generous amount of duct tape, Fenris fashioned an I.V. Running water through until the ink was out, Fenris handed it over and asked, "Will this do?"

"Safe city? Aren't they all safe?" she asked, thoroughly confused. What on earth could make them unsafe? Crime, she supposed, but that still didn't make much sense. The woman seemed incredulous as to Dani's answer at first, but it should be painfully obvious that the town was completely empty.

"I can make you some dinner," Dani answered, darting into the kitchen. "I should still have some venison in the freezer. What's an IV though? There's a pharmacy in the Wal-Mart, but that's about it." There really wasn't a hospital per-say. It had apparently collapsed or been destroyed. All that was left there was a pile of rubble.

Paying the others only half a mind, Dani went about making dinner. Cooking was fun! Though Dani had never done it for others. Thorn didn't exactly need his food cooked, so it's not like she ever really made meals for him. The steaks sizzled enticingly as they fried in the large non-stick pan, sending a mouth-watering aroma out into the rest of the house.

As it cooked, she added spices, seemingly at random, but always precise. While she had absolutely no idea what any of the spices were called, it appeared she had cooked a bit before she had blacked out, or whatever happened to her. The motions seemed natural, and the ingredients seemed to jump out at her.

In not time at all, she had a plate of sizzling steaks, and a bowl of corn, ready for her guests to eat. A small basket of hot rolls and a tub of butter completed the image. "Uh... Help yourselves, I guess," Dani said, motioning to the steaming food. "I already ate, so don't worry about me."

Aren't they all safe? The words echoed in Blair's head for a moment. Was this girl crazy? "Of course they aren't all safe, zombies have destroyed 95% of the world by now..." Blair stopped, she didn't know how to go about answering that question entirely, confused by the girl. She blinked owlishly at Snipe when he stabbed a hole into his water bottle and offered his version of an IV. "Man, you guys are rugged" she said. "I can't use that though, pure water injected into his veins will cause his red blood cells to breakdown. I'll try my luck at the Wal-Mart." When the young girl offered to cook Blair smiled at her. "That's really nice of you! It's been so long since I've had a decent cooked meal. Usually you're barely above starving, eating canned things if you're lucky" she said chuckling. "I'll be back as soon as I can, Snipe, if you could keep an eye on him..." she said pointing to the man on the couch. Maybe Snipe or Kemper could talk to the young girl and help her to realize what was going on. Blair assumed she had probably just cracked, living in this city all alone with the world in chaos. A short wave and she was gone. She needed to hurry, the longer the stranger went without fluids the more at risk he was of death.


Kemper grinned when Snipe held up his makeshift IV, "That's what I'm talkin' about" he said. When Blair shot down the idea he frowned. "Worked fine for us in the military" he said with a shrug. Still when she dissapeared he couldn't help but feel a little worried. He hardly ever cared about people but she was growing on him. He walked to the door and poked his head out, she was long gone, no where in sight. He siged remembering the city was a ghost town, she would be fine. He sat at the table and rested his head in his hands for a moment lost in thought. He didn't know how much time past when the young girl set the food on the table. It smelled delicious. Kemper hadn't eaten like this since before the epidemic. Before digging in he glanced over at the door wondering where Blair could be, picturing the worst, as he usually did. Turning his attention to the young girl he spoke, "Are you sure this town is empty?"

Fenris tried not to eat too much. It was an ingrained habit that started with the epidemic. He tried not to eat allot of what he had, when he had it. Hearing Kemp's question, he looked intently at the girl and said, "Yeah, I've been wondering about that too. Where is everybody?"

"Zombies aren't real. If you didn't want to answer, you didn't have to, you know," Dani said from the kitchen. That phrase had certainly leaped out at her. It seemed almost like she should remember something. Something extremely important. Frowning, she sat nearby, watching as Kemper dished some food out for himself.

"And I keep telling you guys that this place is completely empty," Dani explained, sighing. "I should know. I've cleaned every building several times a week. And Thorn hasn't seen anything either. He'd have told me." Slipping off the counter, Dani grabbed a bottle of water before entering the living room. The man looked so pale.

Carefully lifting his head, she opened his eyes, checking for... something. She didn't really know. Maybe she had worked as a nurse before? She knew for certain that her skill with guns came from necessity, but what had she done before she had blacked out?

Dropping a sugar cube into the water, she shook it until it was mixed up. Chances are he passed out from lack of sugar, so... this should wake him up. If not, it was a completely different issue, though he would've gotten some water into him.

Tilting his head back so that the tongue was no longer blocking the airway, she poured a trickle into his mouth, grinning slightly as he swallowed convulsively. It took a while, but eventually, the entire bottle of water was gone. She continued to monitor his breathing for a few minutes to make certain none had gone into his lungs, which it hadn't.

If he woke up, great, if not, well... at least he had some water in him.

When the girl said zombies weren't real Kemper dropped his fork, food almost falling from his mouth as he stared blankly at her for a moment. He watched her slide off the counter and tend to the man on the couch before speaking again. "Zombies have destroyed our planet and most of the people who lived on it. What is the matter with you, have you lost it in this city by yourself? Surely you remember the pandemic, and this city had to have had people in it at some point especially to have built these walls," he said matter of factly still staring at the girl as if she were crazy. Shrugging slightly he went back to shoveling food in his mouth, who was he to judge? She had cooked them this delicious food and given them a safe place to stay, he wasn't going to rag on her.


Blair had only walked a few blocks before finding the Walmart. The sun had gone down now, but the city was bright. How is this city so clean and tidy, with no one living in it? she wondered. The automatic doors opened as she approached the store. Stepping inside she saw the sign in the back of the store hanging that said "Pharmacy". Walking to the back and through the door marked employees only, she gathered the neccessary equipment for the IV, as well as sticking a few bottles of antibiotics and pain killers in her bag. You never know, she thought. On her way out of the store she grabbed a small first aid kit, some batteries for her flashlight, a pack of lighters and a small pack of wet wipes before exiting through the automatic doors and heading back to the young girls house. The walk was eerliy quiet. The city had power and looked as if it should be bustling with happy people. For a moment Blair was taken back to a day when the walking dead didn't run the planet. Then thinking of the ones she had lost upon the spread of the virus, she shuddered. Before she knew it was standing again at the doorstep of the kind, but seemingly crazy young girl. Knocking politely Blair stepped inside and smiled, "I'm back!" she announced walking quickly to the man on the couch. The rest seemed to be doing him some good. She took in the wonderful aroma that filled the house, "It smells delicious in here," she said to the girl, "I'm Blair by the way, that's Kemper, and Snipe," she said pointing to the men. She set her pack down and pulled out the equipment needed to IV him and set to work. "We didn't catch his name" she said as she stabbed the IV into the strangers arm and taped it down with the medical tape. Looking around as if she were searching for something she stood and retrieved the coat/hat rack from beside the front door and placed it beside the couch, hanging the bag of fluids from it, watching as the color began to return to the stranger's face. She pulled the wipes from her bag an once again wiped the dirt from his face, he couldn't very well slap her away in this condition now could he. She couldn't help but notice some mysterious scars on the man's being, but shrugged them off, nothing really suprised her anymore.


Kemper's attention shot to the door when Blair walked in, he was relieved to see her, but almost annoyed that she had been gone so long. He finished his plate of food and shoved it away from him, leaning back in his chair to watch Blair work as he started to doze off, arms crossed over his chest, chair tilted slightly onto two legs. He wanted to shoot the shit with Snipe but before he knew it he was fast asleep.

Fenris frowned, at the girl and said nothing. Who was he to judge. Finishing, he stood up, and said, "I'm going to go take a turn at guard duty. If any of you wanna join me, feel free." Turning his attention to the girl, he said, "Where should i put my plate and such?"

"Pandemic?" Dani asked, testing the strange word before shaking her head. "I've only been here for about two months. I woke up in one of the destroyed buildings. But I don't remember anything beyond waking up." Could something really big have happened while Dani was under? Probably. She didn't have any idea when she blacked out, after all.

When Blair, came back, Dani slipped to her feet and walked into the living room, smiling at Thorn from across the room. "My name's Dani, and it's nice to meet you," she said, directing her grin to the girl. Human interaction was foreign to her though. How was she supposed to act, exactly?

Shaking off the thought, she looked back into the kitchen. "Just put it in the sink. I'll wash it later," she answered, turning to look at Blair again. "There's food ready for you. And it's still warm. I'll watch him while you eat, okay?"

Some color had returned to his skin when he was fed the sugar water, he groaned lightly and then slipped back into a deep sleep. Alice slept peacefully for awhile, when the other female returned and stuck the IV into him, a soft grunt issued from his lips. For a few minutes after, Alice drifted on the edge of waking and sleeping. He was barely aware of the talking, the scents of food in the house, and the sensation of the girl cleaning his face with wet wipes. Slowly Alice was lulled back into a deep restful sleep. He'd probably fully wake up in a few hours.

Blair was excited for the home cooked meal. She stood and thanked Dani before making herself a plate and sitting down at the table next to Kemper. She chuckled at the sight of him leaned back in his chair snoring, resisting the urge to tip him. When Snipe said he was going to go stand guard she said "Be careful." She knew he wouldn't need to in this city, but still she worried, you never knew what to expect now days. Returning her attention to Dani, she spoke, "You woke up in a destroyed building and everyone was gone?" How strange. What could have suddenly happened to everyone she wondered. "Dani, it's clear you're suffering from amnesia, it makes a lot of sense now though, at first I just thought you were crazy!" she said laughing. "Well, I guess you should know then, you're living in what's called a "safe city". It's a city free of infection sealed off to keep out the walking dead. Although, it's strange that no one else is here..." Her voice trailed off as she began to eat. "This is amazing!" she said, complimenting Dani's cooking. "We're heading North. There are supposed to be large areas of the un-infected there, people thriving and living normal lives and such. I'm going to find out if that's true. Will you join us? You can't very well stay here by yourself..."

Valen sighed as he shook out the blanket he'd used during the sandstorm. He and his companion hadn't been able to get to any proper structures to wait out the sandstorm, so they'd made due with a blanket cover. Finding the sheet adequately clear of sand, the blonde carefully folded the sheet and shoved it to the bottom of his backpack, turning his head to see how his companion was faring. Frowning lightly, Valen stood, grabbing his backpack as he made his way over to the building wall his companion was resting against. Looking down at the red head he was at a loss of what to do. Trinity had been fine, maybe a little bit of sniffling and coughing earlier that day, but now whatever was affecting her had gotten worse as she now had a raging fever. It happaned at the worst time too. Not just because of the whole sandstorm, but also because earlier they'd been attacked, and while they blessedly hadn't been bitten, Trinity had gotten a rather nasty gash on her side, but he'd already taken care of that. He grunted as he felt another throb of pain from his side in the same spot the female had been hurt, he slung the backpack behind him, slipping his arms through the straps before he leaned down and pulled the other up. Bringing one arm across his shoulders, he held her wrist while his right went around her waist to help her keep her balance as they started to walk again.

It took them a rather long time, twice as long because of her being sick, but he refused to leave her behind, before they happened across the entrance gate. Setting the red head down, placing the backpack down too as a makeshift pillow, which also doubled as a spot of bright coloring to help him find her in the dark, he moved to the door and began pounding for a few minutes. "HEY! Anyone in there?! I need some help out here!" Valen shouted, hands cupped around his mouth to project his voice. He shivered a little in the night as a cold wind blew by, pulling his dark leather jacket tighter around his body, hoping someone showed soon before Trinity became worse. Her clothes certainly didn't cover much, tight black sleeveless turtleneck cut to reveal her tummy, baggy dark grey pants tucked into black boots, and a sleeveless knee-length jacket that was currently zipped and buttoned up, but it just wasn't enough. Not thinking he quickly kicked the door before cursing loudly and hopping a little from the pain in his toes. "Damnit!"

Fenris watched the pair approach warily through his scope. After a moment of debate, He climbed down, and Found Kemper. Telling him about the pair, he said, "Do you think we should let them in."

Nodding at Blair's question, Dani listened with interest. What was amnesia? Her further explanation helped a lot with understanding why there was so few people around, and why they looked so bad. A grin came to her face at the compliment, causing her to look even more cherubic than usual.

That's when Fenris darted in, mentioning a pair of people outside the gates. Darting out, Dani hurried to the gates, Thorn gliding behind her. When she got there, she threw open the doors, motioning for them to come in. Another thing that Blair's explanation had done was reveal what the Z-Antid had done. It had made her immune.

As she waited for the others to come in, she debated Blair's offer. Yes, she would go with them, but they needed to rest up here for a bit. Not to mention Dani wanted to take several things that would be useful, like her power generator.

Blair finished eating and stood to take her plate to the sink when Snipe rushed in. She almost dropped the plate as she reached up to put her hand over her heart. "Snipe! Geeze!" she said. She chuckled lightly when Kemper's chair fell over, she knew it was bound to happen, with him sleeping like that and all. When Dani ran out to let the people in Blair contemplated following with her gun. If either of the two were infected, it would need to be handled. She would let the others handle the situation for now, someone needed to stay here with the stranger. Setting her plate in the sink she turned on the water and began to wash the dishes. One who cooked the meal should never have to clean up afterwards, common courtesy knew that. Blair was originally from Texas, so she was all about the southern hospitality, manners and such.


When Snipe busted in Kemper jumped causing his chair to tip, landing him on his back, still seated in the chair, on the floor. He looked up at Snipe, "Damnit, what is going on!?" When Snipe said there were people at the gate Kemper was quick to his feet and close behind Dani as she ran out the door. He wasn't going to let any of the walking dead in this city, not today. If they were infected he would be there to rid them of the curse. He stood back as Dani flung the doors open, gun raised and waiting.

Laying down and taking a stable firing position, Fenris aimed at the door. "Watch out from behind." he warned Kemp, an old joke from way back when. Fenris had shot somebody, and nearly take off Kemp's ear. Slowing his breath, Fenris worked a bullet into the chamber, and concentrated on the door.

Seeing the doors open, Valen sighed in relief as he quickly grabbed his backpack and picked up Trinity, carrying her bridal style. Hissing as the sudden weight strained his injured side, he stumbled through the gate. "Thank you. Do you guys have a pharmacy? Trini came down with a fever last night and it still hasn't broken. I also need fresh bandages if you have any." He spoke quickly, looking from the young female that had opened the door to the large male holding the gun. "Neither of us are infected, I promise." He hoped they believed him, they honestly weren't infected, but most tended to be completely distrustful when mentioning injuries.