only you are the life among the dead~, open!

[SIDNI SUTHERLAND]

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Sidni grimaced, carefully and quietly, though all the time quickly, sifting through the cans on the shelves. Some other food items may have survived, but it was unlikely, at least in her mind, that those would be out on the shelves. There was always the back, where everything was stockpiled, and if any delivery trucks were out back, that could prove to be worth the risk... With that, she made a mental note to check out back before leaving and returning to the group. Regardless, canned items were always a safe bet, hence why she was looking down that aisle, just trying to find things that hadn't been scavenged or tampered with, which was a bit of a task in itself. It seemed that most other survivors had the same idea as her with the cans... Luckily, her knowledge extended further than just that. She knew of a few other things that should have remained relatively fresh on the shelf, such as honey, sugar, rice, maple syrup, boxed pasta, and anything dehydrated. Hell, she had even heard rumors of Twinkies never going bad, simply because there was a real lack of actual food product in them, but alas... if that was the case, what was the point of even looking for them? Other things could certainly be eaten, too, even things with nutritional value; it was just a matter of inspecting the food, and checking to see if it was edible anymore. Though, that usually came with risk upon eating, so she strayed from that route as much as possible. As long as there were still things that didn't involve risk, she was opting for that safe path.

Raising an eyebrow, she picked up a can of spam. Now, that was a surprise. That stuff was good for a long while, despite being in the heat of the grocery store. She took the can and gently placed it in the blue-fabric bag she had been storing the safe food in. By that point, she had already looked down the entire aisle, and really just needed to skim the rest of the food section of the store, and while she had thought about checking out the small pharmacy in the store, as well as looking anywhere else with useful supplies, she decided against it. That wasn't her expertise, and not what was expected of her. She just needed to get in and get back out, do what she was sent to as quickly and efficiently as possible, and return swiftly. At that thought, she took a deep breath, taking quiet steps as she made her way through the other aisles. It didn't take but three minutes for her to wonder if she had time to check out the clothing section and supply... Shit. There she went again. This mission stuff just didn't work for her. Sidni did so much better when she was on her own, doing what she wanted to and not answering to anyone. At least, she did better mentally. This was probably a much more efficient and safe way to spend her time.

Being aware of that, she wore a somewhat irritated look on her face as she finished looking through the food aisles, and then made her way to the back of the store, being as quiet as she could in opening the large doors. She held her bat at the ready her backpack on her back, the bag of foods slung on her arm, and her gun hidden securely on her backside. Once the doors had closed behind her again, and she hadn't heard so much as a shuffle of movement, she lowered the bat again, holding it's base at her side as she walked slowly, and carefully along, her eyes searching the wooden pallets for food items. There wasn't much luck in that department, either. Truthfully, it looked like someone had set up camp and cleaned the place pretty dry before they left... or, well, before they were killed. That was always a nice, positive thought to have. She rolled her eyes at herself, sighing softly as she eyed the last pallet with items stockpiled. Well, that had been a colossal waste of time. There was absolutely a chance that she had missed something, but she didn't want to waste too much time looking through storage. Then again, she'd much rather be inside than outside, which was where she was headed next.

As she approached the very back doors, which had a considerable amount of very dried blood on and around the handles, she set the bat down against a wall, pulling her blonde, somewhat stringy (from the heat and humidity) hair back into a loose ponytail. Sidni picked the bat back up and carefully used her foot to open the back door, not wanting to touch the blood on the handle, regardless of how old and dried it was. In fact, that made it all the more disgusting, or so she assumed. She luckily had managed to avoid seeing quite a bit of blood, and she thanked god or somebody along those lines for that. As quietly as she could, she pulled over a board of wood to hold the door open for her while she looked through any trucks that had been stranded out back. There were three, and luckily the trucks looked untouched, at least by survivors. Then again, that didn't mean they were carrying anything of value to them. Bat at her side as she walked, she strolled almost cockily by one of the trucks, spotting a dead, rotting truck driver in one of the driver seats. Good god, it even smelled from where she was. She made a face as she passed, and then hopped into the back of the truck, where one single, dead infected lay. Just her luck: empty delivery trucks. Well, maybe the others had something to offer. She hopped back down onto the ground, ready to make her way to the other truck, but she suddenly heard something: a voice, foot steps... she wasn't sure, she couldn't tell with how faint it had been. She raised her bat, hand ready to grab her gun if it was needed. She looked considerably calm, but inside, she was a raging ball of fear, panic, and upset. Typical enough for Sidni, though... Now, where did that noise come from?

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notes: open thread! >:)
tagged: annnnnybody!
wearing: something like this
word count: one thousand and sixty two

[CASPER JAMES]

Life was never simple. That was even before the dead started to come back to life and eat you. Now that they had, well it was just that much trickier. People less likely to trust others for fear of being killed for what little they had. Just so someone else could survive another day or two. He'd been in that situation before actually. Beaten and left for dead and if not for Coral he would have probably died. Either from some Walker's coming along to get him or from some kind of infection in the end. But fate had spared him thanks a kind woman with her own ambulance. But those days were long past now. Several months had gone by since he'd last seen her and he did hope she'd made it away from the horde and that she was alive out there; somewhere.

But the reason he was here now was that food was getting low. He wanted to be able to stock up on some if he could. He'd circled the building with his car. There weren't any Walker's around right now. Didn't mean they weren't lurking though, or hiding. Just waiting for that right moment when they smelled food or heard him. He did have plans to check inside the store but what had caught his eye first were the trucks outside. Might as well give them a once over before he treked inside. He didn't want to park too close to them though, didn't mean he'd park forever away either. He gave himself a good hundred foot walk to them. As he sat in the car he made sure that the area stayed calm for a good few minutes.

He reached over and picked up his bat as he eased open the door of his Altima. One sneaker clad foot easing down on the pavement, then the other. He shut the door carefully behind him, doing his best not to make too much noise with it. Damn Walker's liked noise. He gripped his bat as he started towards the truck closest to his car, the middle one, breeze blowing soft brown curls about his face as well as the flannel shirt that hung over his tee and jeans.

The breeze brought with it the stench of rotting death and he froze a moment, holding his breath as well. Straining to listen right then, fearing for the moment that some Walker's were nearby. He stayed there a moment or two but heard nothing. No groans. No moans. No scraping. Just the wind and the rustling of leaves. He moved to the back of the truck, there were to pallets in it. A few blood stains near the exit and what looked like bullet holes in one side. Shit that made him wary now. He glanced about to confirm nothing was about then looked back at the still shrink wrapped pallets. The contents were in boxes so he couldn't tell what they were right now. Could be crap. Could be food. Or hey, could be other useful things. Just depends on how lucky he was.

Fuck it. He hoisted himself up into the truck and moved back towards the pallets. Moving behind them to make sure nothing was there. His heart rate calming just a bit when the truck was empty. "Finally got a damn break." He muttered faintly to himself. Bat being put on top of one of the pallets before he started ripping the clear shrink wrap on one so he could get to the boxes. Pulling once box close and prying it open: boxes of cereal, already expired. He made a face. Putting the box on the floor and sliding it to the back of the truck. He found several more boxes of cereal on top of that which joined the other box of expired food.

Pulling open the flap of a box about halfway down now he was rewarded with the glint of silver lids. A smile broke out on his face. Yes! A small laugh left him. Please let it something decent, he thought. Pulling a can up, he turned it around to face him. Green Beans. Hell he could deal with that. Shoving the can back down in the box he moved it to the top of the other now. Maybe his luck was changing here. It'd be a first, if it was, right?! He checked another box, more green beans. The next asparagus, then three boxes of corn. Finally coming to the bottom of the stack and opening that box to find vienna sausages.

"Oh be good... be good..." He muttered softly as he ripped the plastic off them and pulled one out. Use by APR 2013. "Yes!" He jumped a bit in his excitement. Going to celebrate with at least one can right now. He was hungry. He popped the top and tossed it behind him and dug some out popping them into his mouth. Damn that tasted good.

WORDS THIS POST :: 834
TOTAL WORD COUNT :: 834

[SIDNI SUTHERLAND]

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Seeing nothing immediately outside the truck, Sidni let out a small breath she hadn't realized she was holding. No undead charging at her... that was a plus, without a doubt. However. somebody or something was lurking somewhere, probably the latter, and she needed to find them fast, so that she could take care of them, and then finish going through the trucks. How had the teams not noticed a walker just waltzing right up to Walmart, anyway? They knew she was inexperienced in dealing with the walkers, and should have been paying more damn attention. Maybe it was just a fluke... Maybe she hadn't actually heard anything. Or maybe she was putting too much faith in them to begin with. She hoped that wasn't the case, but here she was, a woman only two inches over five foot, and just over a hundred pounds, with zero combat experience or training, only here to help gather supplies, and she was being forced, even if not purposefully by the team, to hunt for and eliminate the threat of a zombie. There was something wrong with that picture.

She made quiet footsteps, carefully approaching the next truck over, her eyes always scanning for an infected just running around, though she saw none. She poked her head into the backs of all the trucks as she made her way down the line of them. She was beginning to think that she had indeed imagined the noise, but in the back of the last truck she checked, there was Casper. Now, she obviously had no idea who he was, and was so shocked to even see the faint outline of a person that she immediately pulled herself out of sight, hiding just on the side of the truck, still at the back. Hol-y shit. Now what was she supposed to do? She had her pistol still, but her aim was a damn joke, and the shot would be loud, anyway. She didn't want to attract more walkers. She had her bat, but that was always a risky attack, and she preferred being able to run after the hit, which wasn't a luxury she enjoyed at the moment. She needed to kill the walker and get back to business. Maybe she just needed to go find someone... But by the time they got back the walker could be gone, and honestly, she wasn't a child... she just needed to stop being a wuss about it and kill the walker. It wasn't that big of a deal. She could do it.

Sidni took in a deep breath, continuing to mentally tell herself that she could take out the walker. Maybe being in the truck would make the shot quieter. It was worth a try, anyway. With silent footsteps, she went around to the back of the truck again, faintly hearing what sounded like... chewing, maybe? Oh, Jesus, it didn't have a victim, did it? Damn it, why did the one walker in a twenty mile radius have to be in her earshot? As silently and carefully as she could, wanting the walker to feel and hear nothing, she hoisted herself into the truck, and slowly approached the person from behind. He looked... well, normal. His skin didn't look diseased, and his clothes didn't seem quite as tattered and bloody as a walker's did. In fact, he didn't really look like a walker at all from behind... She had been wrong before, though. However, she didn't want to prematurely kill a human if he really was one, so she took her bat and held it out straight and horizontally, poking him in the back with it, her other hand holding her gun at the ready, pointed at his head, and still, despite her raging emotions, she looked as calm and collected as they came. She looked like she was ready to shoot, but she was hoping she didn't have to... whether or not he was a human.


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notes: open thread! >:)
tagged: casper
wearing: something like this
word count: six hundred and fifty nine

[CASPER JAMES]

See the disadvantage between stealthy humans and Walkers was the fact they didn't make any noise. Plus he was counting on the fact that he'd hear someone or something if they came up. Most Walkers he'd ever encountered didn't really go for sneak attacks. Well unless they were the less mobile kind. But he hadn't seen anything, even then once they were awake you'd hear something. Though he was a little distracted by the salty bits of canned meat he was devouring like a madman at the moment. They were his own little slice of heaven right now. Already planning on hauling what he'd found so far back to his car and then coming to search some more. This was a good find so far and he couldn't be happier about it. Hell he almost had a balanced meal with all that.

And then his whole little happy bubble was busted. All by feeling something prod him in the back. He froze. Heart hammering in his chest, swallowing the remaining food in his mouth. Fuck. He better not have found this just to lose it again. He'd really let loose a string of curses at God for that. Then again God was good at taking shit away from you, he knew that from first hand experience. He turned around slowly to see a young woman standing there behind him. So far, she was alone. But he knew better than to just assume that, she may have others with her, just not at the moment.

Blue-gray eyes quickly found that gun though, aimed right at his head. He paled a little and swallowed another lump in his throat. "Mind puttin' that down? I ain't one o' those things an' I ain't bit either." He still had his accent, not Georgian but definately southern. He took in her calm demeanor, cool as a damn cucumber as she held that gun to his head. She wouldn't kill him would she? But at the same time, fuck, he was happy to see it was a living breathing human. "Could roll my sleeves up if ya wanna check 'em..." Making the offer, trying to seem less hostile. Hell, he wasn't hostile. He just didn't want his brains splattered all over the inside of a delivery truck.

Not that he really wanted to opt to share the food he'd just found in this way he would if it meant he got to live. He might be a little jaded at times but this definately wasn't one of those times. It was more about saving your own skin if you could do it. "I'm Casper... Got food here if you're hungry..." He nodded to the boxes of cans. "Wanna split 'em?" Pretty much guessing she was here for the same reason he was. Offering her a lopsided and somewhat nervous smile at the situation they were in now. Hoping maybe she'd give him a name in return since he'd offered his own, perhaps agree to split it and not tell him he was shit out of luck and that it was her's now. Or worse yet, her groups.

He kept his hands in the air where she could see them clearly. He didn't have any other weapons on him. The only one he had was the baseball bat that was resting beside the boxes he'd nodded to moments before atop the still wrapped up pallet. "Look... I promise I won't hurt ya, Miss. Swear." He wasn't lying. He didn't like hurting people if he could help it; Walkers were a different story however. That was strictly survival there.

His luck couldn't have turned good to just turn downright one hundred percent shitty again could it? He licked his lips slowly as thoughts raced through his head. If he did die right here, in the back of this delivery truck, who would really care? Probably no one. Ah, come on God, cut me a little slack here... stop fucking me over for once. He said to whatever higher power was listening. Perhaps the first time he'd actually talked to God in ages. Funny the things that run through your head when you're looking down the barrel of a gun that's held by a stranger.

WORDS THIS POST :: 705
TOTAL WORD COUNT :: 1539

[SIDNI SUTHERLAND]

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Sidni looked the boy over, willing to believe wholeheartedly that he wasn't a walker, nor was even on his way to being one. He didn't seem too crazy, either, but sometimes crazy took a little while to show through... She sighed softly, finally lowering her gun as he swore he wouldn't hurt her. Maybe she was naive, and she was fairly certain that she was, indeed, but she always believed the words of a southern man when they were followed by I swear. Hell, even she realized she was too trusting, but he really did look harmless. If she wasn't on a mission, she probably would have given him some of the food she had scavenged from inside the Walmart. This delivery truck was a good find, though, and she really didn't want to pass it up... Maybe she could just take what he couldn't. Surely he couldn't carry a pallet-ful.

"Keep your clothes on, I believe you." She shook her head, not asking him to roll his sleeves up for her sake. He clearly wasn't a walker, and she wasn't going to bug him if he wanted to be left alone to eat. Then again, he did offer to split them... While she knew she shouldn't, as it would be a waste of time when she was supposed to be doing something else, she felt entitled to a five minute break (which was probably the way of thinking that kept her from attending the vast majority of missions like these). It wasn't like she had been gone too long, anyway. Surely, no one else was even halfway through achieving their objective. The truth of the matter was, she just hated leaving this kid out here alone. Who would want to be alone out here? Not even her, and she had a tendency to be a recluse.

Sighing heavily, she shoved her gun back in the holster on her belt, hopping up on a pallet that was stacked with shrink-wrapped... something. She didn't know exactly, but it wasn't food. She set her bat beside her, shaking her head at his offer to split the sausages. She wasn't hungry to begin with, and presumably, he needed them more than she did. Nodding to the can in his hand, she began speaking somewhat softly, as she normally did, and there was a lack of any accent in her voice, despite having been born in southern Louisiana. She had lost it in her work. "That's a good find... How do they taste?" She raised an eyebrow, carefully eyeing the can and it's contents. It really was a good find, in her opinion, although after spending all this time out in the heat, in the delivery truck, she did wonder how they tasted. "There's still a lot of stuff inside. I cleaned it out pretty dry, but-" She shrugged, frowning slightly and tilting her head slightly as she looked at him almost... questioningly. He said he wasn't a walker, and he wouldn't hurt her, and he hadn't yet, but she couldn't understand why anyone in their right mind would pick to survive on the streets, outside of safe zones. Was he not aware of their existence? Either that or he was crazy; those were the only reasons she could think of.

"I'm Sidni, by the way, Casper." She offered up the smallest of smirks, putting on a polite attitude for this stranger. That, and she tended to be nicer to people who seemed... nice, also. Taking a deep breath, she glanced out of the back of the truck, looking for any signs of any walkers or humans. After that she looked at Casper again, furrowing her brow as she asked her question. "You're not alone out here, are you?" Her tone was loaded with sincere concern, and her expression relayed the same concern, though it was very, very much subdued relative to her tone. True, she generally wasn't much of a talker, herself, and she so rarely asked questions, as she usually didn't care to hear the answers, but he reminded her of... a child, maybe? He looked young to begin with, and sweet and innocent to boot. Surely if he could survive this long on his own, he was not a child, but she still felt like she needed inform him of the safe zone if he really was alone. She still just couldn't fathom why anyone would want to be alone out here.

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notes: open thread! >:)
tagged: casper
wearing: something like this
word count: seven hundred and fifty five

[CASPER JAMES]

When she finally lowered the gun his thundering and racing heart began to slow its frantic pace. Thank you, Lady Luck! He said to himself as he began to lower his hands now that the gun wasn't pointed at him. While he did look like a harmless thing of a boy it wasn't too far off from the fact. He wasn't the violent sort unless he had to be to protect himself. No he'd much rather cuddle up to someone than smash their face in. Would that always ring true though? Not really. He would fight if he was given no choice. If it meant living and dying, he'd do whatever he had to-to survive.

"Keep your clothes on, I believe you." Just hearing the sound of someone else's voice had it's own kind of comfort. One that he'd been sorely missing. It brought an easy smile to his face that held a soft kind of joy to it. Loneliness was something he tended to war with himself over for many reasons and these days no one knew the cause but him. Not that anyone had been able to stick around long enough to really get him to open up to them. He watched as the gun went back in the holster and more relief came at that. More at ease and slightly more sure she wasn't going to kill him or ditch him here in some way to become Walker snack food.

"That's a good find... How do they taste?" To him she didn't have an accent so he really couldn't place her by that. But then again, doing so he could only pin point southern accents and New Orleans ones. The latter had a slight distinction to them that he still remembered. These days, people could be from Canada and be down here for all he knew. Running from the dead, trying to outlast them. Survival was a tricky game, wasn't it? Well perhaps for him since he was on his own. He had no skills like some other southern boys might, hunting and the like. He'd been a city boy all his life. That didn't even change after the accident.

No if anything he was a scavenger, surviving on the scraps that he managed to find that remained of the world he once knew that laid in shambles. It wasn't like he could live indefinately as such. But so far he'd managed it. Even if he had-had brushes with unsavory people that had left him for dead just because he'd had more than they had at one point. Life now was more brutal, more primal. As the old saying went, survival of the fittest. He gave her a small grin, "Little warm, salty. Best thing I've tasted in a month."

It was true too. He'd been rationing his jerky and trying not to open the last bag of chips he had. At best he had about two days of jerky left. And that was just enough to keep his stomach from screaming at him from being empty all day. This right here was... no he wouldn't say a godsend because God was an ass. It was lucky. He popped the last sausage into his mouth and tossed the can into the back of the truck. Then the pretty little blonde spoke again. Yeah, now that she didn't have a gun pointed at him he could actually access her in that aspect. She was pretty, probably wouldn't give him the time of day if the world hadn't gone to shit though. Then again, a lot of people didn't like people like him. He wouldn't blame her that when she found out she dropped him like a bad habit.

"There's still a lot of stuff inside. I cleaned it out pretty dry, but--" Then she frowned at him and he sort of froze for a moment. He couldn't help but wonder if he'd said something to offend her or done something. A brow rose up in response to her now somewhat questioning head tilt. Then her voice came again in the same soft manner as before, "I'm Sidni, by the way, Casper." She glanced to the back of the truck, which made him do the same. Wondering if she'd heard something he hadn't and now holding his breath just to make sure he didn't hear anything.

He didn't even notice her looking back at him at first, until her voice pulled him from his attempt to weed out the sounds around the truck. "You're not alone out here, are you?" It wasn't the question per say that made him look at her, but how she said it. The fact that she sounded worried. About him. She even looked it and it confused him; that confusion easily etching its way onto his features as he looked at her. Wondering why on earth she'd care. Then again, that made him think of Coral. She'd cared. Why couldn't someone else? Because he was a whore, a rent boy, a second class citizen. She just didn't know the truth, neither had Coral, he told himself. Yet how he wanted it. Wanted someone to actually care.

He gave her a simple nod of his head, some dark brown curls falling against his cheeks. "Yeah, I am, Sidni." Sure he didn't have to say her name but damn it was just nice to talk to someone else. "Have been for about two... two and a half months, maybe more. Ain't exactly easy ta keep track of time out here. Pretty much lost everyone..." Story of his life wasn't it? He just gave a little shrug of his shoulders and looked down for a moment, shuffling his feet before looking back up to her. "You just... sorta deal with it. Hope you don't go crazy from one thing or another, right?" He gave her a strained smile. "What about you though? You out here alone to?" More than ready to offer to pair up, if just for the fact he'd have someone to talk to. Maybe someone to help him chase his own demons away.

WORDS THIS POST :: 1015
TOTAL WORD COUNT :: 2554