most of me is memory.

“Yeah, you too.” It seemed like that was still how things were - good to meet someone. Or rather, glad you aren’t a zombie. That seems more appropriate to Roman. When Layla had stopped to chat with another member of this group, Roman barley paid much attention to them. It wasn’t until she mentioned that if they weren’t back by sun down then not to let anyone go after them did he perk his ears up. Of course, that was always the risk. No matter what, something bad could happen. To either one of them or more likely, both of them. He couldn’t think about that though. Not while they were walking out of camp and into a world that’s trying to eat them alive. To him, she seemed to have picked up the pace once they were out of sight. But maybe he was just walking slower. Roman did his best to keep up. “My story? Uh,” he hated his story. He hated telling people it. It just reminded him how his story could be coming to an end. No, no. He much rather listen to everyone else’s story. “I was born in Germany, stayed there my entire life. I became a substitute teacher for this district in Berlin. My parents ended up moving up here so when everything started… Yeah. That’s really it. How about you?”

                   layla couldn’t be sure if her question had caught roman off guard or if he simply didn’t want to answer it. maybe a bit of both she could only guess. layla didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes by bringing up traumatic events that people had to go through to get to this point, but she couldn’t help her questions slip. after being out on her own for so long it was nice to be around others. "ah, deutschland! für ihr bier, würstchen und volkswagen bekannt.” layla speaks in the other language with a smile, looking back at roman. but, her grin flatered as the male continued with his short story. everybody has lost somebody, but that didn't make it all the more upsetting hearing what other people lost. that was the reason for the group, no? they stuck together to survive together and to not feel that pain ever again. hopefully. "do you have a favourite subject?" was her next question, hoping to get off of the more sensitive subject, albeit this whole topic was about everything that had been lost. "i'm from great missenden, moved to guildford, surrey for school. became a paramedic. um, when things happened i went back to missenden for my family but the neighbourhood was overrun by flesheaters... formed a group with strangers. a rather decent group, too, but... when the raiders found us there were only a few of us left. i don't know what happened to the rest of teh group," more than likely dead. when layla made it to this group she was practically already six feet under. "and, yeah. now i'm here." she takes a breath that ends with a quick smile.

@laylaharringtons

                   layla had been trying to find rest, seeing as nobody needed her help around camp. yet as she lay she had become incredibly restless. these thoughts swirled continuously through her mind. and she didn't mind at all seeing as she didn't want to fall asleep just yet in the first place. why would she event try when she would only be awoken by her own nightmares in a few hours? one more round, the blonde thought to herself. one more round and I'll honest to god try to sleep. with that, the woman got up from her spot and did as she told herself. it wasn't long before she had come across a familiar brunette and her uninviting tone.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Why? Are you worried about me?" Layla asks, while she couldn't help but tease. She did her best most days to keep the atmosphere lighthearted. "I'm going for a quick hunt. Would you like to come?”

I assure you, I am not put together at all. Nor am I broken. I am recovering - finding the beautiful in the ugly and stitching it into my life.

“Please do. I’m just dying to be everyone’s number one!” More sarcasm. More words that she would never mean. Honestly, Hadley wouldn’t know what it would be like to be anyone’s number one. Or well anyone who they value over than most people. Does anybody really have that? That’s just another thing she knows nothing about. Before the world fell off the deep end, Hadley only had herself. Her mother had long past kicked her out - something that she knew her mother wanted to do for a long time - and she wasn’t about to hang around the step-monsters (also known as her step-father and step-brother). No, it was just her and her alone. So perhaps the sarcasm was to keep herself hidden or maybe it was just all she knows. Who really knows anyways. 

“Alright then. I’ll get theword out as soon as possible.” Layla grins widely now, a genuine smile that shecouldn’t keep away. This sarcasm that poured from Hadley made Layla all themore curious about the other woman. Layla had alwaysbeen acutely aware of the emotions of other people. She was often capable ofsensing when people are upset, even before those people could. She was the typeof person that was, and still is, very conscious of how her actions willemotionally affect people, striving to make sure she does not hurt others. Shewas the type of person to care very much about the feelings of the peoplearound her, constantly striving to make sure that they are happy. She’s capableof being patient, never turning people away who need of help or support.

‘’I’m glad we sorted this out,’’ he said with a touch of sarcasm in his voice. ‘’I can never know whether you are carrying a weapon or not. It happens that people just leave it somewhere so they are usually grateful when I remind them.’’ Nathan gasped as he was trying to not start a fight with such an impulsive person. However, he decided to stay a little longer on his watch as it seemed that Layla might be just having a bad day, or night. ‘’Giving up so easily? I told you I’m leaving when the sun rises.‘’ He chuckled at the blonde, stuffing the chocolate bar into her mouth and without hesistation sat on the log beside her. 

Sucking on her top teeth with her tongue, Layla ignored his first comment and continued looking out towards the treeline. “Those people need to understand that the weapons they leave behind determine if they live or die.” She couldn’t fathom the idea of leaving the camp without any weapons of protecting herself. “It should be first nature at this point.” She adds, still calm. Or maybe some people still needed catching up to do because if they hadn’t noticed, the world has ended and seemingly has taken a lot of the decent people with it. From her experiences, anyway. “I didn’t come here to argue with you or to see who can spit the most sarcasm.” I just want to have a decent conversation, the blonde thinks to herself before letting out a small, tired sigh. “You sure you don’t want at least half?” Layla asks, pointing to the rest of the granola bar. She may have been annoyed with Nathaniel but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t going to be civil with him.

He let out a soft sigh - hopefully quiet enough so the other doesn’t bother to hear it. Roman didn’t mind scouting really. All what he wants to do is be helpful in some way or another and sometimes that meant, well, watching people’s backs. And considering how bad he was at paying attention when someone talked… All what he can say is that he hopes nothing bad happens. Hopefully there won’t be many zombies out. Maybe they all are sleeping now or something. Do they even sleep? Stupid question. He’s getting off track. “Right yes! Sounds like a good idea.” After all, they should make their way back to this building before nightfall. Roman wasn’t out there by himself for long before he found this group. Before them, he was with his family… But still. He remembered what it was like being out in the open at night. Hehated it. Though he wouldn’t use that term. Hate was just too strong. “Oh yeah! I’m Roman.” He held his hand out before he realized the other had already started moving. Roman let his hand drop and just started following. He didn’t want to have to cause her to wait up or anything.

“It’s good meeting you, Roman.” Layla says, looking over her shoulder momentarily to politely make eye contact with the male. Coming across a random member of the group, Layla shortly stopped to let them know where herself and Roman were off to. It was always safe to let someone know where a few members were disappearing to. She also mentioned that if they weren’t back by the sun went down to not let anyone go after them. It was a somewhat frightening thought, but it would keep others out of danger. As the two made their way out of camp and into the forest, Layla’s walk turned into something like someone who'd been in some armed service or other, there was a marching quality to it. “How’d you end up with the group?” Layla asks into the silence as she weaved in, out and under branches, occasionally holding a branch for Roman so that it wouldn’t slap him in the face. “What’s your story?”

“It’s harder to locate one sound in the woods, even if we made noise the infected wouldn’t be able to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from.” Logan added helpfully, woodland wasn’t a bad idea maybe if they were lucky they could find some lodge or some sort of structure to house the group in. Winter was going to get worse, it would probably snow and he doubted anyone would want to be outside in that. As Logan listened to her elaborate on their idea he nodded in agreement, the group’s would need four people maximum. Each group would need someone who knew their way around the area and could be able to track their steps. “I think this is a pretty sound plan.” He smiled slightly before shaking her hand gently. “Likewise, ma'am.” He returned politely. “Before all this, I was a police marksman. The U.K. Police needed a few guys to train the squads here. Me and a few guys came over and did the training. The training took place in a really large open area, about a five mile radius. Everyone got radios, this is when the shit started to hit the fan…some didn’t make it and they didn’t need radios so thought they might be useful one day.“

“Yeah, yes. Exactly.” Layla has had these ideas in her mind for a while now, especially since what had happened with her last group, she had vowed to learn from the mistakes that made them vulnerable. She was about to give up and create her own little shelter before coming across this group. Now she was able to discuss these ideas with someone and Layla was excited. The last thing she wanted to do was come into a new group and demand ways on how to make a safer shelter. She didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes, so the fact that she was able to talk to someone about this and have them elaborate made Layla feel a lot more at ease. “And if we relocate to the woods we can put up better defenses. We can tie metal cans on a wire outside the camp so that when someone trips of it, it makes noise. Like an alarm. And - this one will be some work, but we can sharpen logs on either side, stick on end in the ground and if one end it tipped up on an angle a flesh eater is bound to try and walk through it.” Layla shuts up momentarily after her spill, both to catch her breath and listen to the man as she explained himself. “Oh, so you really do know how to handle that thing.” She nods to the rifle as she states with a tone that had a mixture of a joke and curious manner. Green and grey orbs turn serious once they flicker over the weapon once again. "Could you teach me how to use the rifle?" Layla asks suddenly after a moment of silence.

A chuckle escaped Evelina as she bent down to pick up the plush toy. It was fairly spotless and only lightly worn out; someone had scavenged it very recently. Caught up in the moment, she held up the plushie-sized Darth Vader in front of her and said, in a strained and raspy voice, “No. I am your father.” Noticing someone in her peripheral vision, she immediately turned to them. “Don’t tell anyone about that – I’ve got a reputation, you know,” she joked, albeit threateningly enough. “And I will waste one of my bullets on you.”

Layla found herself not doing much today and instead of going through her usually habit of wandering around camp, her top priority was to get to know a few other camp members. Just as she was passing by a familiar blonde, Layla heard the woman speak. But it wasn’t to her, which confused Layla when she went to go respond and before she could say anything she was being threatened.  “Don’t worry. I’ll keep the fact that you’re the biggest nerd in camp to myself, for your own sake.” Layla joked back lightheartedly.

There’s two more. Alizabeth’s joints groaned in protest, nearing the end of her shift and eager for even an hour or two of sleep, but two more–that was doable, between the two women. She adjusted her grip on both her pipe and knife as the two walkers moved towards them, taking the moments before they arrived to look at the other blonde more closely, picking up on what she’d missed before. The blood and brain tissue on her clothes, in her hair–they had to get her back to camp and cleaned up quickly; examined, too, on the off chance that she’d been scratched or infected in some other way–Alizabeth supposed she’d need to be checked as well, to be safe.

It surprised Layla just howcalm she felt in this situation. Her usually anxiety subsided once she had madeit towards the other woman and she wasn’t seeing tunnel vision. She was quicklyadjusting to spiking zombies through the skull, and honestly, it wasn’t thezombies that scared her. It was man. They always havefor Layla, and the fact that there are no rules and regulations anymore. – It’sa terrifying feeling. That’s why this group had to stay sharp and be careful.It’s man verses man now. There was a reason why she’s stuck around and it’sbecause she sees potential in this group. She’s seen others helping others justfor the sake of it and wanting nothing in return because when it came down toit they were all in this together, and they were all going to help each otherthrough this abrupt change. Layla wanted to be apart of that.

I’ve wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life.

He got up from his spot and moved over to where he had laid his jacket - a little torn and definitely overused but it was still good. Or at least that’s what he’s saying. If scouts come back with some new jackets, he’s the last person to take one. He can get by with what he has. “Ready now!” He kept a small knife in the pocket of his jacket as well as a gun - though he hardly knows how to use it. As she spoke, Roman nodded along. He didn’t hear much beyond girl who’s kitting socks but he was sure it wasn’t too important… Maybe. “Oh! Speaking of that girl. I know that girl. Uh - Cassandra? Kasey? Cassie? Something like that. I told her I would keep an eye out for, uh, things to make winter coats with. Material and stuff I guess. So if we come across that, we should get.”  Then she came up with a brilliant idea! A list! Surely that will help keep track of things. “That works wonderfully.” 

When Layla went back to her house after the outbreak she was unable to retrieve any items of her own belonging. When she went to work that very same day, all she wore was a cardigan and uniform pants so naturally as the colder days started making way, Layla was exposed. That was until one of the more decent people in the group she had been in before this one gave her this coat - no matter how much she denied his kindness he always insisted. It wasn’t a terribly thick coat, it was made for fall, but it was something. “Okay,” Layla responded with a light chuckle laced in there. “Let’s get a move on then, so that we can get back before the sun sets.” God, she really hoped she could put her trust into this guy. This is the perfect trust exercise, she thinks rather bluntly to herself. “I’m not too sure what her name is, but that’s doable.” She says quickly and nods with a small smile at his words, wanting to get moving. Layla couldn’t tell if Roman was all too good at sarcasm that she didn’t realize it, or if he was just being very nice. She guessed time would tell on their scout. “Oh, and I’m Layla,” She introduces herself before turning around and beginning to make her way out of camp, tightening the strap to her satchel.

“Indoors would be better.” Logan drawled in his southern accent as he ran a hand over his stubble and made a mental note to get rid of it when he had free time. “We could always get a small group of runners and scouts send them in opposite directions of the camp. I’ve got four radios that a pretty long range and do work, give one to the two groups. Give two to people at camp, if they find something they radio in.” He suggested as he looked through the scope of his rifle once more. “I’d go with a group, take a few days worth of supplies. If we don’t find anything in two days, we’ll head back.” He added, he couldn’t think of anything else that would be efficient and safe but he was open to ideas and he was only brainstorming anyway. “Layla…right? I’m Logan.”

“It’s the smarter choice.” she adds lightly while green/grey orbs flicker around the area. “Out here we’re vulnerable. Relocating towards the woods would be better than this open concept.” Her bottom lip catches between her teeth. “I like the sound of that.” She nods, affirming. “I don’t have a problem going with the other group. -- If we come back after two days we can collect ourselves and go back out for another two, we keep going farther and retracing our steps we’re bound to find something. Not a lot of us have to go either. Four at most. One person to keep track of where head back to camp, one person to scavange since it wouldn't hurt to bring a few things back, and a person for defense if things go south. There would have to be a few people to defend the camp - just in case.” Bringing her attention back to the male, she nods again. “That’s me. It’s a pleasure meeting you, Logan.” In a friendly gesture she sticks out her hand. He called her ma’am, what the hell was wrong with a handshake? “Where did you get the radios from?” She asks curiously. Those were a treasury to come by and she couldn't help but wonder just how Logan got his hands on four of them.

( @laylaharringtons )

Layla was new to the group and that meant that Layla was an outsider. Sure, a few members of the group had treated her with open arms, although the suspicion was obvious, and she couldn’t blame them. She was skeptical of them too. Others were -- distant and unresponsive. That stung and she did her best to ignore it, again, telling herself that it was smart of them to be weary of strangers. Layla herself has come across people in her travels where they weren’t particularly nice. And even though there were a few people who needed their time to warm up to her, Layla wouldn’t hold that grudge and in the mean time focus on proving herself to these people, to let them know that she would be of value to the group.