hanging in there

Olivia took a couple steps away from the window as Keith grabbed the hammer, flinching at the sound of shattering glass. Luckily, the boy was standing in front, so nothing came at her. The only thing she heard inside or out was the rain. The witch wrapped her arms around her body for warmth - which didn’t help in the slightest - and watched him toss his bag through the window. As he spoke, Liv was about to open her mouth to say something he probably wouldn’t like, but stopped herself. Instead, she reached over and pressed her hand against his forearm, soft and gentle. “Just tell me when I can come in,” she said, retracting her hand and wrapping her arm back around her body, waiting for him to enter inside.

Pausing as she set her hand on his arm, Keith looked to her for a long silent moment before he nodded firmly. “Will do.” And with that, he lifted himself up and through the opening, maneuvering himself to avoid the broken shards of glass along the way. Landing stealthily inside, he regained his posture and instinctively took out his pistol. It was quiet. Dark. Smelled a little bit like mold and mildew, and most of the shelves were covered in dust and cobwebs. Taking a few steps inward, he came to the conclusion (rather quickly) that the place was abandoned. Had been since the start. “All clear!” He called back, making his way to the window again.

Blue eyes glanced to the ground for a mere second before landing onto Keith. Maybe… telling him the part with her cousin would be strange. But, she felt comfortable enough telling him the other part of the reason why she stuck with them. “I saw you… Edith, and Alice and felt…” the witch sighed lightly to herself. “I felt like maybe one day, I’d be able to trust you three. Which was something I didn’t feel with other people. The others I stayed with seemed nice enough, but I didn’t like the feel I got off of them. Sounds silly when I say it out loud, but it’s true.”

“Makes sense. You gotta trust your gut sometimes.” While he liked to consider himself someone not to fuck with, someone who made his enemies cower at the mere thought of him being nearby, he wasn’t all that bad. He was an asshole, sure. He’s killed, but only when he’s needed to. When it was kill or be killed. And his group, well he’d die for any of them ---- but he hoped it’d never come down to that. “Glad you found us, Liv.”

Sydney rolled her eyes in return, scoffing quietly. Sure, the zombies were the most dangerous. Just knowing they could be nearby was enough to make you hyperventilate, but the living could be just as dangerous. And they had the intelligence to do more than blindly attack you. She steeled herself, delivering a hard blow to the nearest walker and almost throwing up as brain, skull and blood flew in all directions. Having been dead for so long their flesh was mostly rotten, so it was easier than bashing in the skulls of the living, but it still delivered a sickening vibration along the entire bat that made her want to vomit. The guy seemed to be having the time of his life, but Sydney was more cautious. She tried to approach the walkers from behind, beheading another as one began to advance on her from behind a thicket.

Another quick shove of his knife to the head of one of the walkers, and the corpse went down like a bag of bricks. Even months later, the grisly stench they carried was enough to make you sick. Catching a glimpse of how the other survivor was holding up, Keith had to double take when he saw one of them creeping up behind her. “Hey!” He shouted, but not giving the bastard the time to get near her, he whipped out his pistol and didn’t hesitate to put a bullet through its skull. The echo of the gunshot carried through the forest, though afterward a silence took hold of their surroundings once all the dead were... really dead.

“I don’t really feel like dealing with another group, either,” Olivia agreed with a nod of her head. At his comment, she began to jog along side of Keith, getting a bit more concerned. Rain equaled wet clothes, which equaled to one of them getting sick. Despite the medical kit in her backpack, there was nothing inside it to help a common cold other than a few ibuprofen. She followed him to the door, getting wetter each second. Her arms wrapped around her body, the witch glanced around as Keith tried to push through the door, trying to come up with another solution. Spotting a window to the building, Olivia ran towards it, a short laugh of disbelief leaving her lips. Nothing boarding it up. “Keith,” she called over to him, “maybe we should try the window?”

Ramming into the door was proving to be a less than solid plan, and as Olivia called to him Keith backed up to look her way. “Good call.” He replied, quickly making his way over to her. “Hopefully nobody’s inside, or they’re gonna be pissed about this...” he commented as he pulled a hammer out of his pack, and smacked the glass hard without much of a warning, though he was sure to stand in front of the girl as to shield her from any flying debris. Crrrrrrrk. It was enough to bust the frame, and from there he used his elbow (safely covered with the sleeve of his bomber jacket) to shatter the rest of it. No sound came from inside the building, and it had a terribly muggy scent to it. No one had been in or out for a while he assumed. Slipping his pack off and tossing it inside, he then shook off his jacket and placed it over the bottom of the window. “I’m going first, just to make sure. If something happens, head back to camp and don’t even fucking think about looking back.” He sent her a stern look before beginning to boost himself through the frame.

“Really? That’s interesting,” Olivia said with a faint smile. At his question, the witch pressed her lips together. “Luck, I guess,” she answered simply. “I traveled with a lot of different people, never for that long… always kept going when they wanted to stay somewhere for long. You’re actually the person I’ve stayed with the longest.” She remained quiet, a part of her wanting to tell him why she had stayed for him that long - she felt her cousin somewhere close by, just not sure where she was exactly.

“That’s surprising.” Keith responded, his brows raising. Truthfully it made him feel a little good that she’d stayed with him ---- or rather, in his group ---- for the longest since the outbreak. He almost didn’t want to ask why. Almost. “How come? I mean, we’re barely winging it out here. No solid plans. Scarce food. Shitty camps. What happened with the other groups you’ve been with?”

“Beats me,” Keith replied, his gaze going up toward the dark clouds for a brief moment before he looked ahead once more. “Hard to say if the place I have in mind is open for looting or not. I don’t want to deal with another group right now.” Finding himself looking over to her as she nearly swore, her perked a brow and held back the urge to smirk. The rain didn’t bother him much, but it could be a pain in the ass given the entire situation of the world. Wet clothes sucked. “Alright, let’s pick up the pace here,” he added, beginning to jog across the street. Decaying buildings surrounded them, most of which were worthless in his opinion, but shelter was the main concern now. Pushing at a door, he was annoyed to find it was locked, barricaded. That didn’t stop him from trying to push through it again, though.