Name: Tristessa Warwhik
Age: 22
Short Bio: Her entire family drank the poison without knowing what was happening. She and her older brother were the only ones to survive to go through the transformation. Her form was the result of her empathy; her pet dog also drank the tainted water. When he began to convulse, she pulled him into her lap did her best to comfort him. In his madness and eventual death he began to froth blood at the mouth. He bit her and his DNA mixed with her partially resistant blood and she began to change. It was not unlike the stories that told of werewolves going through a horrific transformation into half-man, half-beast. But she did not show a bestial nature. In fact, her personality remained unchanged. Her brother, Thomas, was not so lucky. He was attacked by a frenzied murder of crows. He sprouted oily black feathers, his arms fused into wings, his legs grew long and scaly, and his face elongated into a beak. The transformation drove him mad and caused him to race into the chaotic city. Tristessa hasn't seen him since.
Personality: Confident and compassionate. She is at a lost as to help the dying city. She wants the cure not for herself, but for her lost brother. She is convinced that if she can just get the cure, she can find Thomas and return some of the life she has lost.
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Name: Rigger Harnell
Age: 25
Short Bio: In times of disease and in times of fear, Rigger is one of the only pure blood humans that are left in the city. He's a single father to a young girl named Kalecia, who left the city with his mother when the epidemic began. He urged them to safety as he was keen to finish what he had started. However, a large group of the transformed beings had stormed the highway as people tried to pass and many of the inhabitants who were not fast runners or close to where the beats emerged were not lucky. Having not heard from his mother or daughter, he doesn't even know if they are still alive. After that shameless display of anger he didn't want to chance leaving the city, so remained behind to loot anything of value and to show his true scavenging and survival skills.
Personality: He is very stubborn and tends to do as he pleases for the majority of the time. He is an athletic person which helps him if he has to come to blows with any of the beats that are lurking in the city. Kind and compassionate to those he loves and knows, he will do anything to protect them and he will harm anyone who does wrong by him or his loved ones.
Picture: Rigger

The situation was getting out of hand. Tristessa had been running for the last twenty minutes and she wasn't going to last much longer. It felt like her heart was about to burst from her chest along with her lungs. She took a quick glance over her shoulder and saw that the gang of rat-mutants were still hot on her heels. She spotted an alley up ahead and within three strides she bolted around the corner and slid under an abandoned dumpster. She could hear the gang follow her into the alley and stop. It sounded like they were arguing and searching for where she might have gone, so she held perfectly still. After she was fairly sure they had progressed to the other end of the alley, she nudged open the small window of the building behind her and began to inch backwards. Her ruse worked and she slid silently into the darkness of the abandoned tenement building. She had been there before, back before the disaster. Her family had lived in one of the upper apartments. She looked around the dank boiler room for a flashlight or a box of emergency candles, careful not to crash into anything. She finally found a half-full box of candles and a roll of tinfoil. She wrapped the base of one of the white tapers in the foil and took a book of matches from her pocket. She lit it up and held it aloft scanning the room for the stairs going to the main floor.

He was sitting in the small and dank room, slowly waiting for the fire that he built to heat up enough so he could cook some of the canned preserves that he had found in amongst the rubble of that supermarket a few days ago. Today he could either have a tin of tomato soup, or some beans. He'd be eating out of the can, so it didn't really matter what one he chose.

Tossing some more bits of wood into the fire coughed as the smoke blew into his face. Sighing, he got to his feet and walked to the window. Now, he wasn't stupid, he did know to keep to the shadows. He could see that someone had recently moved through the street, there were strange black marks along the pavement, sort of like tire marks, but not in that shape.

Shaking his head, he went back and sat down, holding his hands over the fire. He attacked his can of soup, finally making his decision on what to eat, he opened the top with his knife and then attached the tin to a small support over the fireplace to let it heat through. Times like this he wished he had some bread to dip in. Or that he still had someone to talk to. Or had some lovely home cooked baking. To be honest, there were many things he missed.

He yawned and shivered, looking over at his pack and wondering whether or not he should take his blanket out or if he should leave it.

As she was searching she heard a cough from behind some rubble and discarded boxes. Instinct took over and she snuffed her candle, sinking into the shadows. Slowly, she made her way towards the sound. She was careful not to knock anything over, feeling her way along with her sensitive foot pads, a new addition from her dog's DNA. As she crept along she pulled a large bowie knife from the sheath on her belt, just in case whatever was coughing was also hostile. She reached the wall of rubbish and dropped to her knees, creeping to the edge. From a pouch at her waist she pulled a shard of mirror wrapped in cloth. She reached out, careful not to show too much, and used the shard to peer around the corner.

What she saw surprised her. It wasn't a mutant or a monster, but an ordinary human! She watched as he attacked a can of something and set it on the tiny fire he had made. Her stomach rumbled; it had been nearly two days since she had eaten anything but the stale bread in her bag. She was sorely tempted to ask to join him, but experience had taught her to be wary of any other living creatures, human or not. Not only that, there was a good chance that he would be hostile simply based on her appearance. Her ears twitched as she debated what to do. Finally, she decided that it would be best to talk first.

"Don't freak out..." she said quietly, keeping to the shadows, "I promise I'm harmless, I'm just looking for a way upstairs,"

Rigger nearly jumped the height of himself when he heard someone speak. He hopped to his feet in one quick and fluid movement, grabbing his knife as he did so. He looked around for the owner of the voice, he assumed that it was a female voice, but as it became apparent that they were concealed in the shadows, he couldn't be sure. He took a slight step forward, gripping his knife tightly and holding it at his chest level. He stopped, deciding that the best thing to do, would be to proceed with caution. This could be another survivor, someone that could help him. He could use this person to his advantage. All he had to do, was remain calm. Though, his people skills may be a little rusty, it had been a long time since he had spoken to anyone.

"I tried to get upstairs earlier," he said simply. "The staircase was blocked by rubbish and rubble, so I think something from the top floor may have collapsed, even if the building itself if structurally sound. So I just made camp here."

He gulped as he took another step forwards.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice steady and brave, the complete opposite of what he felt. "Will you show yourself please?"

"Shit..." she spat as he told her the way up was blocked. So much for finding a safe place to sleep. She sighed, but didn't leave the shadows, "My name is Tristessa. I'm just looking for a place to stay for a bit," she hesitated, "I will show myself only if you give me your word that you won't attack me," she added, "I'm armed and trained. If you do try to hurt me, I won't hesitate to kill you, understand?" she did her best to sound intimidating.

Rigger paused for a moment, after hearing the strange threat from the person in the shadows. His knife was still poised, but he moved neither back nor forwards.

"Why would I attack you?" he asked Tristessa curiously. Also, remembering his manners he added. "Nice to meet you, Tristessa. I'm Rigger. You can camp out with me for the night if you like?"

He lowered his arm so that his knife was down by his side, hoping that he didn't look as if he was about to slaughter the poor woman in the shadows. However, he still kept a firm grip on it...you never know when you need to go into combat. Her threats, although powerful, did not frighten him, as Rigger was a rather good fighter and skilled with a knife.

Seeing no other option, Tristessa stood and walked slowly around the boxes towards the fire. She lowered her knife as well, but kept it ready. It looked like it might be a stand-off. She hoped that wouldn't be the case. As she left the shadows, she did her best to smile, "Hello Rigger, I would appreciate being able to stay with you," she hoped the shadows cast by the fire wouldn't make her look too strange or frightening...but when you're half dog, it's a lot to hope for.

Rigger gasped when he saw Tristessa, but quickly tried to hide that. Yet his eyes remained wide. For a moment or two he looked at her before he managed to splutter out a reply.

"You're...an infected?" He paused for a moment and looked at her. "Is your mind still human or...?"

She nodded and smiled cynically, "Would you have questioned it if you hadn't seen me?" it was true, she was one of the strange ones who didn't succumb to their animal nature. She had always assumed it was because of her donor; that dog had been her best friend for years and there wasn't a crazy bone in his body. But it didn't matter now, she and her brother were infected and she had to find the cure. And right now, it seemed finding a safe place to bed down was the best way to continue that quest. Ignoring his stare, she walked over and sat cross-legged next to the fire. Rummaging through her bag, she pulled out two mostly-stale loaves of bread. She tossed one to the man, Rigger, "It's not much, but it's all I have to thank you with," she bit into her loaf, tearing it apart with her enlarged canines. It was tough, but it was food.

Rigger decided to make the first move towards being peaceful. She was right, if he hadn't seen the fur or the fact that she was very animalistic, he wouldn't have doubted her mind or sanity for a moment. He tucked his knife into his belt and sat down across from Tristessa. He was slightly caught off guard when she tossed a small loaf at him, but he smiled warmly at her.

"You don't need to thank me," he said simply. "But thanks. Want some soup when it heats up? It's tomato, and I'm sure it's still in date."

He tore off a hunk of the bread and examined it. It looked fine, if not a little stale. Sniffing it, he decreed that it past muster. He popped the bread into his mouth and happily chewed on it. This was the first time in a very long time he had bread. He picked up a small bone spoon and stirred at the meagre amount of soup in the can, licking the spoon as he took it out. It was still fairly cold, much to his disappointment. The bread had made him even hungrier, if that was possible.

He looked at Tristessa for a moment before clearing his throat. "Do you mind if I ask you how you turned? Did you get attacked by an animal or an infected human?"

She nodded gratefully when he offered to share his soup. Scratching behind her ear and put her own blade away after he did. She sighed, "I don't mind. It was my pet dog, Bruno, he drank the water and got sick. I tried to help him...I mean, he collapsed in my lap, gasping! What was I supposed to do? I held him there," her face darkened sadly, "Then, he went crazy. Out of nowhere he started foaming blood from his mouth and snarling. He bit my hand..." she held it out, the scar still pink, "And within the hour I started...changing. Like those old werewolf films! My face got all stretched out and I started growing fur. It hurt. But it wasn't nearly as bad as what happened to my brother," she shook her head, but decided not to leave him hanging, "My brother ran outside when I had completed the change. To this day I don't know if it was from fear or if he thought he could find help, but as soon as he stepped outside he was attacked by an enraged murder of crows. His change happened faster than mine...immediately he started sprouting oily black feathers and his face mutated into a beak. Even his eyes changed to those beady yellow ones crows and ravens always stare at you with," she sighed and ran her fingers through her hair in an expression of hopelessness and exasperation, "I don't know if he kept his humanity under all those feathers. He ran off into the city and I haven't seen him since. I want the cure so I can find him and fix him. He's all I have left," she added quietly. With her tale finished, she heaved a heavy sigh and smiled a little, "Well, now you know my sob story, what are you doing here?"

Rigger was sure to monitor the soup as Tristessa spoke. Her story was truly horrible. Being attacked by your pet and then watching your brother become...one of them. In some respects, she was lucky though. Very few of the infected or the transformed get to keep their minds. None of the ones that he had encountered anyway. He heard some stories of some from travellers he met along the way, but that was it.

The soup was warm enough to eat, so he reached in his pack for his water bottle, tipping some over a cone that was lying in the rubble. He tipped his soup into the cone, and handed the hot tin over to Tristessa, placing it on the ground in front of her. He then handed her the spoon.

"The tin's hot, so you may want to have the spoon," he said before looking at her for a second. "I really hope that you can find your brother one day, find the brother that you had before the infection too. Maybe his mind will remain as well."

Rigger said it to be kind, though he knew, and very likely Tristessa knew as well, that if it was a murder of infected crows he was likely to fully transform.

"Well, I come from a scavenger's family," he said slowly and took a small bit of soup before he continued. "When the infection started, a whole lot of people left the city to the safety zone just beyond the city limits. I lived with my mum and my baby girl, Kalecia. She was two when this all started. I was young and stupid when I had her, and I was with a young and stupid girl who really couldn't handle a kid. So my mum and me became a weird but effective parenting duo. Anyway, I couldn't deny the fact that looting and thieving was in my blood, and I knew I'd never get an opportunity like this again, so when the epidemic began, I packed up my car and sent my mum and Kale to get to the safety zone and I'd meet them there. I was going to do some stealing and get anything of value or that we may need, anything that was left behind by the people. Well, the day I sent my mum and Kale off, was the day that the highway out of the city got decommissioned because of the ambush that occurred. The weak and the slow were the first to go, and everyone else scattered. I don't know if my mum and Kale were the unlucky ones who were attacked, or the ones who were forced to flee. I've been trying to find out what happened since, but it's a perilous journey by foot to the city limits, and until I'm fully prepared or get a vehicle, I won't be able to make it."

Rigger took a long drain of soup and then smiled weakly at Tristessa.

"That's why I'm here. Too lowly to make it to the safety zone, and too busy combing every bit of the city for signs of my girls."