Jackson Creed

He’s scavenging for anything useful when he sees him.

Jax hasn’t seen hide nor hair of Ezra since... hell, he couldn’t even remember. The younger man’s back is turned, and Jax’s surprise is quickly masked by his stomach dropping. He remembers seeing Ana after. After she’d vanished, after she’d been bitten; after he’d put a bullet in her brain. Jax wants to believe that those who left the theater and didn’t come back did so because they found greener pastures; not because something went horribly, horribly wrong and they died alone.

His voice has a strange hitch to it when he calls out to him. “Ezra?” Jax was never good with kids, and Ezra’s by all accounts a grown man in his own right, but Jax had always felt... paternal when it came to the Georgia boy. 

He doesn’t know what he’ll do if Ezra turns around and is another walking corpse.

“What part of zombie apocalypse did you not get? It’s dark, and you’ve got a door. And now, a temporary roommate. Congratulations.”

To say Jax was not in the best of moods currently was clearly an understatement. However, even in his darkest moods he wouldn’t leave someone completely for dead (unless they had it coming, but that was a given).

“Fine. How many came trailing along after you?”

   there she was, standing on the top of a lorry, surrounded by flesh eating     walkers that were eager  to  tear  into  her.  she  wouldn’t  allow  that  to     happen to her, not just yet. she had  a  lot  more  she  needed  to  prove.     she was taking as many shots as she could, burying as many arrows as     she could into their heads. there were too many & they  were  beginning     to shake the lorry, causing her  to  stumble  slightly  &  almost  lose  her     balance. she prayed that someone would appear, that  someone  would    get her out of the mess she was in. 

   spotting someone she wasn’t entirely able to make out, she  called  out     to them. she could only hope they’d assist her, not help them kill her. 

   ❝ Hey, you! Please! I need your help!  ❞

Jax was not having what one could call a good day. Granted, it could be worse, but it was not going according to plan. Due to a turn of events that best went unmentioned, it was simple chance that he stumbled across a scene that had the potential to go very, very badly for the woman.

Well hell, at least he wasn’t in her position. If Jax was smart, quite frankly he’d of kept on walking. Now, while he was of the opinion that he was reasonably intelligent, he also wasn’t a completely insufferable jackass. “Hell’s bells, give me a second.”

Ideally there’d be a perfect way to draw those damned things off without making all of them (because there was quite a few of them) head right to him instead. It just wasn’t making itself immediately known

“Jackpot.” Jax couldn’t believe his luck with the stash of medical supplies he’d just found. Vikram and Gwen were going to love him. Stuffing it all into his bag, Jax was about to head back out the door before he heard it open for someone else.

Cursing, he ducked behind a counter (Jax hiding was a laughable concept due to his size), waiting for any tell tale signs of what he was dealing with.

“Listen jackass, I didn’t barge into your goddamn camp because I didn’t know this place belonged to anyone.” The normal glare that marked her face deepened now into a look of anger instead of her general disgust or annoyance. He pulled out a gun how cute. That didn’t mean anything to her. She wasn’t lucky enough to be killed by some jerk in a movie theater. The anxiety that she wouldn’t allow herself to feel upon seeing it manifested in the snapping of the rubber band she wore on her wrist. The pain still worked as a distraction, even if she was doing the motion on auto pilot at this point.

“Look, I don’t need any more of a favor than you just letting me live long enough–standing right at this door–until no more dead guys are heavy on my hot little heels.” Sidney smiled as she spoke, but it was the grin of someone who was annoyed and it wasn’t genuine. “I hunt for the radio station, but that’s it, man. I’m not interested in your shitty building or any of your stuff. I just want to stand by this stupid door until it’s safe to leave.”

For a split second, the anger that’d been brewing in him threatened to boil over. Jax needed to get a grip, but then he did tend to fly off the handle where the safety of his camp was concerned. Objectively it wasn’t even her that was the issue. It was the way she’d so effortlessly entered the building. It stirred up questions Jax didn’t have answers for and didn’t feel like pondering over. Naturally, the door was seldom locked. Rarely were all ten members in the theater at once. Abstractly he’d known a situation similar to this was always a possibility; that’s why someone kept an eye on the door when people were out. Having it come to a (seemingly harmless) fruition was messing with his head and he needed to get himself back under control.

The sound of the rubber band popping against her skin seemed to distract him from whatever thoughts were stewing in his head. He was distracted, not entirely placated, as evident by the still sour look on his face.

Groaning as everything clicked now he’d finally calmed down somewhat, Jax pinched the bridge of his nose. There were two people running supplies who were due back at any time, but obviously they’d have to wait. 

“How many?” 

Dear God, don’t let it be a massive hoard.

Casual, that was what the speaker looked like. Calm, comfortable, and casual–like he owned the place. It was annoying that she could feel the sweat beading on her lower back and this man was just–relaxing with a book. She didn’t answer his first question. Why should he know her name just because he was in this stupid movie theater first?

“You’re kidding, right?” Sidney sneered. There were very few reasons a person would burst into a building in this state and the most obvious one–the one where the hoofbeats mean horses and not zebras–was walkers. “I’m running away from a group of goddamn door-to-door Mormons. What do you think?”

Jax pulled out the gun sitting in his waistband. Not pointing it at her yet, he made it quite clear that he had it.

If they were on neutral territory, Jax probably would have cracked a joke about the Mormon comment. As it where, he was in his home where a stranger had just barged in and left him with the strange sensation of getting caught with his pants down. It was a sensation he didn’t care for and her attitude was only exacerbating the issue.

The relaxed, curious look soured considerably at her sneer. Clearly that was not the answer he’d been looking for. “What I think is you barge into my fucking camp, clearly in need a favor,” And by that he meant not shoving her ass right back out that door, or putting a bullet between her eyes, “yet you’re giving me shit about some fucking questions. I won’t ask again. If you’re with another camp, feel free to volunteer that information too.”

“A raccoon?” Nadja folded her arms in a huff and rolled her eyes as she leaned on the wall of the alleyway. “Really? A fuckin’ raccoon.” Raccoons were supposed to be pretty fucking brutal, but they’d always be cute in her book. Maybe because she’d never really had to deal with one. She lit a cigarette to stall as the thought of something better than a raccoon.

“Okay, okay.” She decided, letting a wide grin settle on her face as she spoke animatedly. “So one time, my friend Kacie and were supposed to go to this show. It was this band from out of town but it was at this super weird like skinhead bar. It was fucked, really, but we didn’t know. We’d never been. So we started drinking beforehand–you know pregaming–and then we got too drunk and passed out and didn’t even fucking go.”

Nadja drug out the pause for effect as she nursed the cigarette, trying not to smile too big. “But we heard from a friend the next day–that’s how we found out it was a skinhead bar–anyway, a bunch of our friends had shown up like we were gonna and the band played, but they fucking hated all that bullshit skinhead stuff and so finally the band started talking shit and this huge fight broke out and like eight people died.” Taking another drag, Nadja blew a few smoke rings as she let the story settle in. “But we were supposed to be there, man. And we got too drunk to go. So we lived, but our other friend Richard was gonna be our ride–he was one of the fuckers who got stabbed. No fuckin’ joke. Ain’t that some scary shit?”

“See you say that, but have you ever had one of those things starin’ you in the eye?” He might as well of been staring into the abyss.

While absolutely nothing had happened in the little hovel of a town he’d called home for 18 years, one would think he’d have more interesting stories having lived on the road once he was old enough to have a CDL. Not quite the case, though he did have one hell of a road rage problem.

Listening to her as she told her story, it was almost harder to actually listen to it versus watching her tell it. She was so animated and into the story.

"Yeah, no sh-” His reply was cut short when something fell into his hair and on the ground around him. Frowning, he ran a hand through it to realize it was glass. His timing to move from under the window proved to be impeccable as a body fell several stories and smashed into the ground Jax had been standing on not a few seconds prior. “What in the ever living hell?”

       “Oh.” Riley is being so eloquent today, isn’t he? Just a vast array of noncommittal noises to get across his emotions. This is nothing he shouldn’t be expecting, after all; when you’re getting ambushed by people who are decidedly not nice, you have to take measures to defend yourself. Ah, how does he get himself caught up in messes like these? Expect the unexpected, they say, and these days that sentiment rings especially true. Not only true— necessary for survival. Accepting his day for what it has turned into, the raven quickly clears his head, resting his hand over the gun strapped to his side while he shuffles forward. “You’re absolutely right. After you!”

“Yeah, so in the off chance you were feeling like pulling something, now is really not the time.” Kid looked innocent enough, but Jax knew better by now. It was the innocent looking ones that screwed you over the quickest.

The clouds overhead started to rumble ominously, but that in itself didn’t bother Jax. He wanted to shower before heading home to the Theater and the rain would more or less achieve the same result. “Well that at least will help cover our tracks.” Though hopefully any zombies would be fixated on trying to eat the remains of the other man.