"Names Ez," she said as she held out her hand. "How the heck did you loose your leg? I mean, I tried fixing it up and all, but obviously, I don't have the necessary equipment. So what happened?"

They started to slowly make th eir way through the streets. Eserel scanned the houses for a good place to stay.

[ Sorry for the recent short posts. Today is a brain dead day. x.x ]

Katie stared at the girl surprised at the fact that she would ask such a question so soon. Most people would have asked her how was she was feeling. But Katie ignored the thought that came across her mind and managed to ask for water. She cleared her throat using the tiny bit of saliva she had left in her dry mouth.
"I was attacked. I mean something is terribly wrong...the living dead is out there" Katie said hoarsely.
Katie coughed and began again.
"Haven't you noticed how deserted and trashy the town is?" Katie asked
She realized how slow she had been limping and sped up a bit.

"Hey, I'm not blind. And slow down, I mean, your leg is dead already, don't kill it even more," she replied as she dug our her water bottle. "Don't drink it all. Its holy."

Eserel slowed her pace even more, so Katie wouldn't push herself. She continued searching for a comfortable place. She was thinking about going back to the café she was first at, but decided it was best not to stay in one place too long. The buildings started to grow taller as they went deeper into town. It was still dark, but some of the flickering lights helped them see. Ez spotted an apartment that seemed to be in better condition than the others. She pointed to it, "Hows that one? We could stay on the second floor so its not as obvious. And I need to sleep. Of course, you need it too. I'm surprised you haven't passed out again with how much blood you've lost."

They made their way there. She glanced at the stairs and wondered if the elevator worked.

Katie ignored her first statement and grabbed the bottle. Katie guzzled down most of the water and sighed. She felt a lot better and quite refreshed. She couldn't help herself, she had been malnourished and dehydrated for so long. Katie handed the bottle back to the girl and replied with a thank you and a small grin upon her face. She decided to take the girls' advice and slow down a bit, even though she was getting used to the so-called crutch. She hadn't had any trouble at all with it while they were looking for shelter. As they both grew closer towards entering the building, she was becoming more frightened by the second. She was even having one of her gut feelings again. After the nightmare she had had earlier that day, she was becoming paranoid with thoughts of zombies attacking her. After all, it had happened once, she thought. Whose to say it won't happen again? Katie tried to drive the thought out of her mind. Instead of speaking up about her feelings, she decided to let it go and take the girls'offer. She figured a nap would take her mind off of these things and do her some good.
"Um...sure," Katie said. "Sounds fine to me."

Once they were inside the building Katie noticed the girl glancing at the elevator. She limped on over to it and pressed the button for it to open. Surprisingly it worked. Katie hopped in and motioned for the girl to come along.

Ez blinked in shock. It was truly a miracle. She walked in and readjusted her bag. She pushed the second floor button and waited for them to start moving. It shook a little then finally lifted off by the pulley system. When they reached their floor, the bell dinged and the doors creaked open.
Ez stepped off and looked left and right. She grabbed a quarter from her pocket and flipped it. Grabbing it from the air, she examined it. Heads. To the Right.

She started to the right in search of a room. She wasn't sure which one and examined a couple by glancing in the open doors. When she was satisfied, she walked into one and flopped down on the couch.

"I'm pooped. If you're hungry, scrounge what is left in the kitchen. Night," she said as she closed her eyes.

"Good Night." Katie said bluntly.
She lifted her messenger bag off her shoulder and placed it on the door knob of the door located in the room. The tension instantly released from her shoulder and she was feeling a little sore from coming from such a long distance. She headed towards the kitchen and opened the fridge. She was shocked to see plenty of food available. She giggled excitedly and took out some leftovers. Yum she thought. After stuffing her face she cleaned herself up a bit and headed back to the room. The girl was sound asleep and all was quiet. Katie laid down onto the bed and pulled the covers over her head. She soon fell into a light slumber.

Vincent quickly hushed his movements once he heard the footsteps of another body in the restaurant. It was moving slowly, so he figured it was a stupid one. A quick lunge and a stab through the jaw should take care of it. He stood there for a moment to catch his breath, then turned and began to lunge at the creature. His movements made everything blurry; he couldn't tell if the zombie was male or female.

That, was WAY too fast to be a zombie! The girl took a quick jump back. It didn't avoid his attack entirely, only it did very much lessen what he had planned. Instead of whatever attack he had planned, she did hit the ground, the imapct sending her weapon flying. A low curse erupted out of her mouth.

"Fool. You better hope it didn't break!"

A bit of emotion slipped into that and she wasted no time in thring to kick him off. The amount of force in her legs might be surprising to some. It was clear to her this creature was still very, very much alive.

The shock of the action caused Vincent to stumble forward and past the girl. Instinct, though, brought him back on his feet stably. After a quick second of recollection, Vincent put his blade in his left hand with the dull end of the blade laying flat against his underarm - a trick he had learned from one of his friends, allowing him to quickly slice anyone in close quarters combat - and grabbed his pistol from his pants.

Vincent extended his right arm and aimed the gun at her head from a few feet away. The pistol wasn't loaded, but he hoped she didn't know that.

"D-don't move." he exhaled quickly.

Tessa took another step back despite the order to not move.

"Ten useless dollars I'm a better marksman than you anyway. Put the gun down. It's one thing to kill the living dead you creep, another to kill aliving breathing human." As she could see he was.

Almost defiantly, she took a seat on the ground, not moving from her current spot.

"You must be half blind if you can't tell I'm still alive."

Her voice carried no malice or rudenss. In fact, it seemed almost sarcastic, though surely, mostly emotionless.

Vincent kept the gun to her head and maneuvered his way to her fallen gun. Cautiously he bent down, picked up the gun, stood up, securely put his gun away, and aimed her gun at her head. Whoever this was, he didn't like her. He hated people who were full of themselves, and he felt he needed more of an influence to keep her in line.

Still, though, as annoying as she was she still wasn't one of them, and he could use her as a strategic advantage.. if he didn't wind up killing her, that is.

"Look, girl, you're the one with the gun pointed to their head. How'd you get here?" He interrogated.

Calmly, Tessa laid back, blue eyes watching him intently. Arrogant? Not at all. She simply was speaking so he got the picture that she wasn't a zombie. Insults, intelligent ones. A zombie no longer has the brain capacity to speak clearly, intelligently, and She tucked her arms behind her head and watched him casually. Sure, her gun was loaded. But she wasn't going to give him a reason to use it.

"The window there is missing more than enough glass to use as a door. Better that way- you can hear the creatures better. The window ledge is high enough they have to stumble over it. It's a nice little place."

Her voice was still straight edged, but it was simply because she was still in an intense situation. Now that she had his attention, and both were understood to be human.

"Heh. Sorry for the insults. I was trying to make sure you understood that I was still alive..."

Vincent shot a glance to the windows, something he's grown to do periodically to make sure nothing's near him, then quickly moved his eyes back to the girl.

"Do you have any extra ammunition for this thing?" Vincent asked with a head gesture. If he was going to let her walk out and about wherever she pleased, he wasn't about to do so without equivalent means of protection.

Tessa sighed, still lying perfectly still. She let her body posture betray nothing. As she spoke however, she did so with a shrug. Her pack was lying next to her, though still clinging to her by one strap.

"Of course I do." An officer in the military without extra ammunition. "I've been taking out the monsters with other things when I could..But a good part of my pack here is ammuntion. I'm never without it.."

Vincent made a head gesture suggesting that she carefully move the backpack to him. "Let me see. No sudden movements. I wouldn't want you to wind up with a fatal injury.

Tessa rolled her eyes, sliding the backpack off with the careful slowness she'd been trained to act with.

"Overkill much? Look, This isn't exactly the best time for people to be fighting each other. Don't you think we have enough enemies at hand, without turning against each other?"

Nevertheless, she pushed the bag toward him, one handle still on the strap. She wasn't going to let him grab it and run...

Vincent opened the bag and shuffled through until he found a clip. All while holding the gun to her, he managed to load his gun, giving away that it was empty before. He then took his pistol in hand and offered her own pistol back, holding it by the barrel.

"I just need my own protection, is all." He explained.

And she took her weapon back, using one hand to grab his wrist and help herself up, while the other then accepted her weapon.

"Next time, ask. I'm willing to share."

She stretched a little. "I'm Tessa Hawke. If I seem blunt, its because of how I was raised, nothing more. And you are...?"

"Vincent Thain. If I seem paranoid, it's because of the the animated corpses out and about lately, nothing more." He explained a bit mockingly. "This place is clear, and there doesn't seem to be any of them around here for the moment.. let's use this opportunity to set up some form of fortification." Vincent eyed the girl up and down "You seem like you know a thing or two; more useful than some civilian, I suppose."

His counter drew an amused smirk from her features. "I think, if that be true, than we are all paranoid... Actually, I think I am.." Mockingly as it was, she simply found it amusing. She laughed a little strecthing, glad she finally got up off the ground.

"Indeed. I'd recommend setting that door up straight and pushing a table up against it. It won't stop it, but it'll make enough noise getting in. We should probably move the same kind of traps to the windows. Put it up so to get in through the window, they'll be making a lot of noise..." Her expression was serious now and she was surveying the place in its totality.

"Hopefully. I'm a military brat, born, raised, and worked in the military. Of course, it's a unique allaince- technically I don't exist." Cryptic perhaps...but in any case, she slid her weapon back in it's holder. He was right, there was no threat at the moment.

((I'm not sure if you've seen the show Airwolf...but her father is the main character in that, so its the same basic principle in that..I'll put a link in my next post))

[[ x.o I was waiting for my partner to post, but she doesn't seem to be, so I be takin da leed. ]]

Ez yawned and stretched herself while remaining on the couch. She was surprised how comfy a lumpy couch. She sat up and clutched her stomach as it grumbled 'feed me'. She rubbed the tiredness from her eyes and stumbled into the kitchen. She opened the fridge to a feast.

"People must have just come home from grocery shopping," she commented to herself. It was rare that food would be in there let alone edible. The electricity of the building was still in tact, it seemed, because the elevator worked and so did the fridge.

Eserel reached inside and grabbed a bright yellow banana with a couple brown dots on it. She opened it and quickly ate it. Her stomach wasn't completely satisfied, so she grabbed some more foods and sat at the table for a hearty breakfast.

The sunlight from outside shone through the window and fell over Katie's face that morning. The heat rose her from the little sleep that she had gotten that night. She quickly pulled the covers over her head. The covers were very thin, and she could still feel the warmth on her delicate face. Agitated, she got up and removed a sheet from the already made bed. She used the sheet as a curtain to shield the sunlight. Great she thought. In the background she could here the girl munching away on some food. She spun around and walked over to greet her at the wooden table. "Good Morning!" Katie yelled excitedly. She was feeling better than yesterday and glad that she had met this girl. She knew that she could have possibly died and was finally grateful and willing to get to know this outsider. She pulled out a chair and heard it squeak across the tile floor. She gritted her teeth and sat down.

"Hush hush now. Don't want to wake the zombies up. Do they even sleep? Whatever. Just keep quiet for now," she said as she took a bite of a plum.

Ez then pocketed a couple fruits and some crackers, for the future in case she got hungry.

"Surprised you can hobble around. Most people who lost a limb are screaming with pain. Are you CEPA?" Eserel spoke as she got out her labtop.

"Dang. No wifi here. Eat some breakfast. Take your fill cause we should go soon. Lemme check out your leg too. We should rebandage it. Maybe use the sheets of the bed or something. We shouldn't stay in one place too long, and if you can move, we should jet."

She was babbling now. All that was bottled up, or what she was thinking for what is to come, came out. Ez sighed and hoped that Katie understood.

Katie sat there listening to her attentively. She didn't know what she was talking about when she had mentioned CEPA, and would rather not know. She had other things to worry about. She picked up some fruit from a ceramic bowl and ate one while squeezing the others in her pocket. Well, she said after finishing her peach, the pain isn't that unbearable. I'm sort of getting use to it, and the swelling has gone down."See." Katie said. She motioned her leg towards the girls view. It is almost fully healed. You are a good caretaker Katie said smiling. She was trying to cheer her up, but by the looks of it, she was just as worried as Katie had been. No need for a new bandage Katie said, let's get outta here. She rummaged through the fridge and gathered everything in sight, along with some sheets and pillows from the bed. She then packed everything into her messenger bag and pulled it back over her shoulder. "Whoo!" Katie shouted. This thing is quite heavy she thought. She walked back over to the girl and anxiously asked her if she was ready to go.

Ez was amazed. "That is impossible. For a wound that great, it would take at least a week! Thats worse then a broken leg! It was completely dismembered! I saw on this episode of House where this girl felt no pain. She was CEPA, whatever that is. So you probably are part CEPA? I mean, you feel pain, but not in any version of extreme. Very strange, very strange."

Ez stood up and shifted her bag on her other shoulder. She was so bewildered, that she didn't even know the impossible amount of stuff that was shoved into Katie's bag. "Ready to go," she replied as she walked out the door.