lonely day

"You need to do a thorough search?" Sleipnir asked the doctor once he was freed of his weapons, pulling the gloves off of his hands.

sleipnir's bags were checked and a nod given to dan, who turned back with a warm smile. "easier to do it at the infirmary. rosemary can check out sasha then too. medical professionals are in short supply, so she usually helps care for the folks of arden with me." dan explained, watching as tamara offered the grenades back. arden had a strict registration rule when it came to weapons. god forbid there were raiders or a rambling flesh starved broke through their security, it was safer for most people to stay armed. helped keep people safe, but it also helped ease the minds of a lot of folks in town. not to mention, with registration, it would be easy to track down anyone who hurt someone for no good reason. grenades however, were a different entity. tamara seemed to make the temporary call that slep should keep his explosives, but daniel was sure that would change if slep decided to stick around.

case in point, the dead rotter between them; it was twitching. a slow groan bubbles up. eyes widen in surprise, ren falling back on to her butt. " oh! " she gasps, though it's mostly covered by a short shocked laugh. " see ! their resilience is unprecedented. "

riley has to do everything they can to keep from grabbing their knife and stabbing it through the undead's eye socket. they instead swing their bat around on their hip and press it across the chest, holding the rotting monster down against the ground. "it sure is. usually have to get 'em twice to make sure they are down, sometimes more than that. and you want to study these things? they are thoughtless. lacking whatever they were before and they are cannibals. they eat people." and other dead things, but that felt redundant to mention. "they'll happily eat you." they shot the doctor a look.

The clear brown liquid swirled in his glass before he brought it up to his lips, the liquor a warm sting against his lips. "Just making sure you're okay." It wasn't out of guilt or a good heart; he just had to make sure she didn't run around spreading rumors about him. "Let me follow you home. Don't want some psychopath getting his hands on you."

"follow me home? do you hear yourself? you're not even offering to walk me home, you straight up said follow me home. what was the point of ending things with me if you were going to continue on the same fucking shit after?" she rolled her eyes, tempted to order a beer just to fucking spite him. "you aren't worried for my safety, you never were. why are you stalking me? have you ever considered you might be the psychopath in my life?"

GRACE VAN PATTEN as LUCY ALBRIGHT Tell Me Lies 3x03, "Repent"

"i don't know of any other options at this point. getting far away and hiding seemed like the only path forward. the people who were supposed to love me only ever wanted to possess me." sara shrugged, turning the cup in her hands. she had ran through most of the options over and over again. the only one where she saw herself living a somewhat normal life was to get out of the country, go to some small town in the middle of nowhere and settle down with a fake name, do something small and simple and boring. getting a passport was not easy, especially a fake one. "i don't know. i haven't really shared it." he baby brother, he was the only person who had seen her work and not chastised her for wasting her time. he was also a little kid the last time she had showed him anything. "there's not much i can do with it. not while hiding in your attic." she finally offered a soft smile, some attempt to push away just how dour she had made the room. sucked all the potential comfort for him, she was certain. she would be so unsettled to know someone was living above her for weeks. "i am sorry, by the way. that i used your attic to make my hiding spot. i shouldn't have."

"i was a field surgeon for a long time, then i had my own family practice by the time everything fell to shit. now i just patch people up best i can." he explained as they approached the gate. "we got another doctor, a veterinarian before, just as real a doc as me." tamara met them on the other side of the gate, but dan waved her off. "arden used to be a summer camp before we turned it into the township. there was thirteen cabins, and a handful of other buildings, twenty one i think when we first moved in. there's about seventy of us now." he said as they began the walk through the township and towards the mess hall.

Carefully he adjusted the map against the glass so that they could bought see it." Maybe we're having the same dream." Orion jokes playfully." I'm not sure if I can even dream."

"you don't know if you can dream? you never remember dreams?" cas wasn't sure he remembered most of his dreams but he could always tell if it was a good night or a bad night when he woke up.

bea paused, hesitating, before accepting their proffered hand. "bea," she replied. "b-e-a. it rhymes with leah, not lee." she chuckled softly. "i have cupboards full of food and drinks in the village. if you survive long enough, i might let you have some more of that. don't think you can just steal it all and leave, though." staring into their eyes, she said, "respect the ration. or else i will hunt you down." eyes closed instinctively when she heard unhinged laughter from the distance. "did you catch that? must be one of those demon jumper things. you know, looks like a tiny demon, jumps on you while cackling like a maniac?" tilting her head, she asked them, "how many of those... things have you encountered? besides the regular ones."

riley gave a firm squeeze and a brief shake of her hand, playful smile tucked away this time. bea, who had the prettiest name on the planet in riley's opinion, didn't seem quiet as sunshine-y and optimistic as they could be, and if there was anything riley had learned in the before times as much as the now, it was that a lot of people were offput by their unending hope and smiles. "cupboards of food and drink?" they asked, eyes nearly bulging at the thought. "yeah, your house, your rules." they nodded quickly, they were a gracious and well behaved guest, they had to be. their eyes snapped out into the tree line, the hairs on their arms standing at the sound. "i haven't gotten close to anything like that. seen some of the big ones, but i don't have much experience beyond the regular guys. i am wicked with my bat, but it is still just a bat." they admitted sheepishly.

★— ATTN: @lcnelyday

"good samaritan?" riley had never considered themself anything but just trying to survive, just trying to get by and not let anyone around them die if they could. nothing special or with any heroic goal in mind. "nothing too brave, just trying to survive. just as i am sure you are."

Kai took their hand pulling himself from the ground." Just my leg, scraped it when I fell tried to escape that thing." He looks down." It's nothing too bad." It would have been worse if the zombie got to him." Thanks, really, I thought this would be it for me."

riley walked over the their pack, which had been abandoned on the hood of an old honda civic as they jumped in to save the stranger. "i'm riley, let me have a look at that leg. infection will get you quicker than, well, the other infection." they brushed off his thanks. still never quite sure how to accept gratitude.

" Maybe a little." Vivian chuckled." Oh, so you admit that I am hard to resist? Come on you can say it Dante," They tease lightly, bumping his shoulder back. Viv felt much the same about the other, ever since they had met the thief couldn't keep their distance from Dante, he fascinated them. If possible they would steal them away for their own collection." You actually like my company quite a bit, it's way you put up with me but don't worry the feeling is mutual."

dante laughed, looking away as if he could hide away the joy that vivian always seemed to bring to his fact. "you've quite ruined who i wanted to be you know." he didn't mean to say it, to be so soft, so honest in that moment and yet, he couldn't help it. like the facts had been hanging out at the back of his mouth for long enough, dying to dive out into the space between them. "who i was supposed to be." he was a bitter guy, who was quite and preferred to hide himself away, but here was vivian, ignoring every flag that said dante was too hurt and broken and angry to spend time with, to care about.

" From my first observation it speaks of some sort of mechanism." Nods steps a bit closer to the cravings, letting their hands wander on top of the stone to try and get a better feel of it's debt." Hopefully there will be more information on the second floor but just in case as you suggested, lets be careful." They follow behind her at a sensible distance." Oh, should we send a message that we will be here a while? Will communications even get through this storm?"

rhea nodded, focusing on their footing before what nods was actually saying. they didn't mean to be so distracted, and perhaps they had been looking forward to a drink after work, a hot shower and time to let her hair down before she dove head first into the data, or just the fact that she didn't want to sleep here tonight, but nods was the professional here, and their enthusiasm was catching, it always was. "you can certainly try, wouldn't be a bad idea." rhea finally glanced back with a soft smile. she ought to get out of her own head before someone got hurt.

"Pardon?" Henry blinks." I thought I heard you say that velvet crush is one of your favorite bands."

especially because they bickered so much. like an old married couple their co-workers would say, and that usually pissed tomas off more. ashford always seemed to crop up with unsolicited opinions and snarky advice, and tomas had so little patience for it, he couldn't help but be in a semi-permanent state of frustration around henry. with this new information, that frustration remained but it morphed into a frustration that brought a pink bloom to his cheeks and made him feel a little dizzy. god, it was fucking mortifying, and pathetic.

"i wouldn't mind, i swear." shyness surged within them. struggling to meet shyla's gaze, she continued, "he's one of my best friends on the planet. but we're also grown adults, you know. i don't need to tell him everything. and if he did find out, he'd be a monster to get upset. and he's not a bad guy, shyla. what happened to you was serious." they bit their lip. "but if you don't want to, could we at least get something to eat together? i'm hungry anyway." she paused. "i don't know if i'd be able to sleep if i just let you go. i mean i'm... just... just so... worried."

shyla bit down a little harder on her bottom lip but couldn't manage to come up with a logical arguement against having someone keep an eye on her. of course, they were all adults, but that didn't ease the guilt the bubbled up in her chest, reminding her that by spending more time with toby, she could likely be hurting justin further. who said she should put justin's feelings ahead of her well being, right? "no, you're right. not the brightest idea to just stumble home and hope i am going to be fine all through the night. it's not like my cat can call 911 if i pass out or something."

"...maybe thats it. Maybe." He nodded. "...you want me to strip down, Doctor Dan?"

knives weren't bad, but the grenades were another thing. wasn't often someone showed up with real firepower. it was out of his hands whether or not the council said anything about locking explosives away. "i am sure you are fine, slep." daniel chuckled, brushing a hand through his hair. "let's take you in the gate, rosie should be waiting, and the council will make their call on your explosives.