Parker Torrens

“Good thing at least the line isn’t getting an longer, you’ll get to the door soon enough.” She spots Alvarez ahead of her and Sam needs to make her rounds again, “hopefully you’ll get your rations quickly, have a good afternoon Toy Story.”

“Toy Story,” She only nods and works to keep her eyes on the line, “the line’s moving, not as fast as any of us would like but it’s almost afternoon.” She shrugs, it always goes quicker earlier in the morning, but by the time it creeps up on the afternoon it takes longer. The morning is Sam’s favortie time to work the line, it’s not the hottest and most people seem to tired to bother throwing fits.

Her answer, though, isn’t all that encouraging. Not that she expected any wonderful news. Parker inches forward with the line, but she’s at least pleased now that she has someone to speak with.

Rations are important, it’s the only way of survival these days. Civilians are antsy and the heat of the day only makes things worse. The line is moving slowly and Sam has already had to break up one fight and drag someone to the end of the line after they tried to cut in line. Her M16 is around her shoulder and Sam rests her hands on the butt of it, pacing back and forth, eyes checking out those around her.

She’s closer to the front of the line when someone exits, their ration in hand and they pause, apparently adding the single of today to a few of their others, Sam keeps an eye on them and rolls her eyes. It’s a quick way to getting yourself robbed, or killed. They finish what they’re doing and move away quickly, hands in their pockets and Sam gives them a slight smile as they rush away.

Once they’re out of ear shot she shakes her head and continues her walk back down to the end of the line, checking on her squad as she goes, making sure they’re following her rules and not getting into anything with the civilians, Sam does not need another Morgan.

Parker isn’t pleased with the line today. She overslept a little and it’s completely the wrong time to do so, because it’s hot and sticky and so. fucking. slow. She could go outside and shoot her own breakfast before the line would move even an inch, and the frustration is eating at her. Her stomach rumbles and the back of her neck is damp with sweat - she needs to buy more hair ties this afternoon - and she’s just ready to make a racket about it when she sees someone familiar walking up and down the line.

She hasn’t seen Sam in a while, and this is the first time Parker’s really seen her on duty. The uniform, that’s nothing new, Parker’s seen that before. But she’s got a rifle and a look in her eye like she means business. The boredom and need for a distraction is what makes Parker speak to her.

They are close, and really with how quiet it was Gregory could have made it back safely on his own. It was better not to take chances, so he won’t mentally complain too much. “Two sounds reasonable,” he says, and he pulls his bag off of his shoulders to open it up. Tucked away are his cards, and he pulls two out of his remaining three to hand over.

He waits behind for her and keeps a lookout outside while she disappears in there. He hopes nothing is in there to raise the price of this once more. He smirks a little to himself when he realizes that his only concern is what he’s paying rather than Parker’s safety. If he heard any scuffle he would just walk the path back and not even glance over his shoulder. She emerges though he doesn’t have to worrying about walking off, not that abandoning someone innocently doing their hired work would bother him that much.

“Not bad,” he does finally compliment when she mentions that the coast is clear and heads on in. The place is picked pretty clean, nothing on the shelves and anything expired tossed off onto the ground and side. Most places look like this. Traveling down from Pittsburgh they came across worse. Buildings that suffered from the bombing, crumbling under just the weight of gravity and hardly safe to even peek into. At least this store is standing stable, it’s just torn apart on the inside. There is a rack near the register he sees, underneath all those useless lotto tickets that mean nothing now that money is useless. He approaches and combs through all of the paper there. Apartment guides and places to eat in Atlanta are listed here, and look, there it is. He finds what he’s looking for on worn old glossed paper.

Perfect.

Parker leans against the doorway as she waits, twirling her shiv in her hand. She hums absentmindedly as she looks around, surveying the area to make sure no infected are going to pop out anywhere. It can’t be more than a few minutes until Gregory returns, which is good, because she’s already begun to grow bored by the time he reappears. He doesn’t have anything in his hands, so he must’ve packed away whatever it was in his bag. It’s not like it’s any of her business what he was looking for, anyway.

“Sounds good,” she says, and starts walking. They don’t talk on the way back, which is fine. Parker learned quickly that Gregory isn’t a big conversationalist, so she doesn’t bother to run her mouth this time. She did that enough on the way to their destination, and Gregory didn’t seem very impressed. Not that she feels the need to impress him, or anything... but she doesn’t often get the chance to show off her skills outside the QZ.

“You could say that,” Parker says, her smile widening a little bit. “Maybe I’ll tell you about it. Get me a drink first and we’ll see.” She nudges his arm to show she’s joking. 

Over the week, Ray’s devolved from calm but steady searching to something much more frantic. It has to be here, it just has to but it’s not and he’s about ready to pull his hair out. Just the night before, he had a dream that his great granddaddy rose from the grave just to scold him for losing the dang thing. Jesse says he hasn’t seen it, which Ray believes since it was in the damn bar. He remembers seeing it on the bar, right up until he woke up the next morning. It’s possible it got kicked over somewhere, but Ray would ave found it by now.

When she pushes through the doors and sees Ray on his hands and knees, Parker notes that perhaps things haven’t improved. He looks like he’s looking for something - his flask, she’d guess, if he hasn’t found it yet. She makes her way right to him, figuring she may as well say hello before she sits down. He must hear her coming, and as he stands up, Parker can’t help but smile a little.

“Oh, you will. Let me know when the wedding is, alright?” He elbows her and smiles teasingly. Dropping the ‘L’ word doesn’t necessarily mean wedding bells, but this is good. Victor’s broken in through her glacier fortress walls, and just look how happy she is. Her face and eyes are lit up, it temporarily distracts Aiden from his worries.

“Haha, no! It’s okay, really, and it’s okay if she decided to stay away from me. I still think she’s awesome. She helped me deal with Rodney, too.” That day they first kissed there was so much tension everywhere. Aiden was crumbling on the inside over Rodney’s death, and Marlene saw right through his smile. He wore the loss and pain in his eyes, and she hugged him and supported him. She even told him her wish, which most definitely wasn’t stupid like she originally insisted. There has to be a good reason Marlene’s vanished…

He sighs and leans his head down on hers and shuts his eyes, lost in temporary thoughts. It’s hard not to tell her anything, but he made a deal, and Aiden doesn’t know what telling her would mean for him and Victor. If she did involve herself, whatever it may be. He was looking forward to her teaching him how to hunt, but Victor suggested he start a work out regimen, and he can’t even take a stab at what Wednesday has in store for him.

“I sleep on and off. The stupidest of sounds keep me up, but she hasn’t left anything for me. Not since I’ve seen her, but I know she has more coming.” He hopes not, if Victor does get her to back off, but even Aiden can’t sound relieved about that. He’s not lying because she hasn’t asked, but Aiden still sees no difference. He frowns and lifts his head back up knowing he can’t slip up just an hour later. He’s still scared and nervous about everything, and figuring it out on your own makes it all that much more mentally exhausting. 

“You’ve gotten this far, I wouldn’t worry about whatever she has lined up,” Parker says. “You can only see so many heads before it begins to get a little dull.” She nudges him to show she’s joking, trying to lighten the mood a little. She’s glad he’s at least getting coming rest. If it were her, Parker doesn’t think she’d ever sleep. Even having Bobbie sneak in the one time was enough to put her on edge. 

When conversation turns back to her, Parker tries to suppress her smile. She almost feels a little guilty for being so happy when Aiden’s worried about his life being on the line. It isn’t fair, she thinks, that she suddenly gets to be happy when things haven’t improved for him at all. “Yeah, I don’t know. I guess it is kind of big. I’m surprised I haven’t really really had a big freak out about it yet.” Parker remembers her freaking out to Aiden months earlier about starting to care about people and now here she is, in love, and it hasn’t really hit her yet. Oh well, that’s for another day.

Parker’s signal has him step back, as he does. The paper with directions he handed to her are put away and Greg is aware she spotted something around the corner that he can’t yet see. He knows better than to interfere or move, especially with such limited supplies. He’ll let Parker do her thing, what she’s temporarily hired for, as he peeks around and watches from his short distance away.

Parker follows him as he moves on. “Mhm. Not far now,” she says, pulling out the directions again. She stares down at Victor’s handwriting and has to suppress a hint of a smile. Now is not the time to be thinking about him. She has a job to do, a paid job at that, and she has to do it properly. Gregory seems like an alright guy. As long as they can get to the store and back in one piece, she’ll be up one or two rations.

Parker picks up the pace, coming up alongside Gregory as the store comes into view. “There it is,” she says, pointing. “Let me check to see if it’s clear, then you can take your time finding whatever it is you need. Then I’ll take you back.”

“Seems useless to wander out without knowing how to fend for yourself.” Though Gregory may fall under the useless category, it’s due to his current lack of supplies. If he has just a little bit more he’d be making this trip alone, and Parker is willing enough so that he doesn’t have to. Feeling out anyone not in the current hunter group is a good idea anyway, and strangers are expendable.

But she sure talks a lot, and Gregory doesn’t like to use his voice all that much. If runners aren’t around he can’t complain but still… He’s a couple feet behind her, surefooted and confident enough. She’s got her shiv ready, and Gregory feels secure. Nothing is around him that he can see, and infected are clumsy hunters. They don’t hide in the brush for yoy to get close enough, they charge, and they’re in the clear so far.

She should have taken out her gun before they got moving, just in case, but now that they’re on the move, Parker doesn’t feel like retrieving it from her bag. She can work her shiv all right, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble, but it’s uncomfortable to not have a backup plan. If they get a chance to pause, she’ll pull it out for sure.

They move along rather silently for some time. Parker keeps a close look at the directions, making sure she’s following the path that Victor marked out correctly. Parker looks over at Gregory every once in a while. She wonders what he must want from the store. She’s been there before, and like most other places nearby, it’s mostly picked clean of supplies. She hopes he finds what he’s looking for, but either way, she’s getting paid.

They can’t be more than ten minutes away from their destination when Parker turns a corner and spots a runner, right in their path. She lifts up a hand and moves back around the corner, signalling Gregory back. She folds up the papers and puts them in her back pocket. She’ll need both hands for this. 

“I’m glad I’m blessed with the privelage if being your first choice.” He laughs, and it’s genuine, not forced like the smile before. So what if Victor steals his time with her, or the attention. Parker fucking deserves someone who makes her feel this way, and though Aiden will stand aside and glare daggers and be prepared for him to misstep and hurt her so he can catch her, he hopes just as equally he won’t. The dynamic of their relationship is unknown but really, what does it matter. Parker’s got good judgement.

Parker looks out the window. The sky is getting a little darker, it’s probably getting towards eight o’ clock now, and she doesn’t want to overstay her welcome. On the other hand, Parker’s curious to know how Aiden’s getting on with the whole Bobbie situation. She can’t imagine he’s sleeping very soundly, knowing that she could come in at any time and do whatever she wanted with him. Parker doesn’t think she’d sleep very well if she was in his position.

He’s behind her quick and graceful. A month in the wilderness on the travel from Pittsburgh to here makes this easy. It’s a cake walk, really. He keeps up no problem, and if he had more supplies he would have gone by himself. This way is just safer, and it offers him an opportunity to evaluate someone useful.

Her question catches him by surprise, thoug Gregory doesn’t express it. He doesn’t shrug or show hesitance, just doesn’t really expect the answer to matter. Victor gave it to him, the suave gentleman with charisma from the market. He’s definitely a businessman, knows how to sell his products and proves useful to Gregory. Besides, how can he deny appreciation for another well-dressed male?

“Someone I met in the market,” he answers vaguely. He could specify Black Market considering Parker travels outside he doubts she’d care if it was from an illegal source. But, he won’t continue further on the topic,

Parker nods and twirls the knife in her hand again. “Mhm. I like it. Good for letting off steam,” she says. “It’s kinda therapeutic sometimes. I go outside whenever I have the time and energy, look for supplies, kill some infected. Was thinking about making it into a kind of business thing; escorting people, you know, like you. I had this girl offer me payment to be her bodyguard a while back, and it seems legit. A lot of people go outside the QZ nowadays, but not all of ‘em know how to shoot or use a blade. Which is ridiculous, if you ask me.”

Jesus, she’s rambling. Maybe it’s the way that Gregory’s so quiet that makes her want to fill the silence. Parker hates awkward silences. But they’re getting farther away from the QZ and Parker’s conscious of the fact that infected will hear her if she keeps talking. She stops twirling the knife and turns a corner.