Sharpshooter

If he were being honest, a part of him had thought not to bother returning to Fairvale. It was simply easier to not return, to not deal with his feelings relating to Yale or Caleb - or just about anyone. He operated best alone, he’d learned that well over the years. 

But running from his mistakes had never really been a good solution, and one of these days he’d have to face them if he ever wanted to repair what he’d broken.

The storm had kept him out of town for a couple days longer than intended and again they’d returned with limited supplies, so he knew tonight probably would be the only one spent within the walls before he went out again on another big supply run in search of what they were desperately in need of. Food. Medicine. Medical supplies. Clothing. So on and so forth - anything was of use at this point. 

Finding himself settled upon the front porch with a bottle of whiskey beside him, feet propped up on the railing, he observed as random survivors milled past in the settling darkness, still cleaning up what had been left behind from the storm. He could offer to help - and yet...

Yahnaa yelped when a crack appeared on the glass, muttered a prayer and sighed. “Any better plans?” she asked. She knew there was barely a building out here. The States was one of those countries where so much road stretched between places that at times the country seemed deserted. Having grown up in places with a large part of the city sprawling out, Yahnaa knew for a fact that she didn’t like this. She hid the map away again. “I still think staying seated is our safest bet, at least until the rain ends. Moving away from a safe space in weather where you can barely see ten meters ahead means far more trouble.”

— ⛺️ —

“Sure,” Vic agreed, eyes focused on the cracks left behind in the windshield as if threatening it to continue it’s path through the glass and shatter completely. Not that he particularly wanted that; he’d stayed firmly planted in the car this whole time for the purpose of not getting soaked in the rain thus far. It just seemed like it may not be a plausible option for much longer. 

Escape plans had always been his specialty, after all. And what if the weather didn’t clear up all that quickly? What if they were stuck here long term? 

Yahnaa had been eager to put Kaz’ plan into action, writing down the first parts she still remembered, and trying to jot down as much as possible as she followed the runners outside. Certainly she hadn’t considered getting stuck on the highway in a storm. She figured keeping a perimeter and making as little noise and movement was their best bet until the rain cleared. She put herself on watch until her form was completely drenched. Surely the zombies too would keep themselves dry in this weather. She couldn’t remember when last she had seen a zombie movie in the rain.

She pulled herself back into the car, smiled at Vic and sat down with her damp map. “I see nothing,” she said with a smile, pushing her wet hair back under her hijab. “I also cannot be trusted around vehicles,” she informed him. She smoothed out the map and drabbled some things down. “Pretty sure the worst thing to look at car batteries is when it’s raining. Water damage and all that.” She was still only looking at her map as she spoke.

— ⛺️ —

In the middle of this storm, Vic had a feeling the walkers would be the least of their worries. The wind was fairly significant - not flip the car over at any moment significant, but enough that he could feel the pressure of it against the sides of the car as particularly strong gusts blew through. Even if they could drive the car in this it probably would be a foolish attempt - just as much as he thought standing out in the rain on ‘watch’ in something like this was. He could barely see to the end of the hood of the car with the pelting raindrops and there was enough noise to block out just about anything that might attract a walker in their direction. 

Nope, waiting it out was probably the best bet. 

He slumped down in the seat a little further as the gust of wind and rain entered the cab until the door was slammed moments after the person slid into the seat. He acknowledged their words with little more than a hum. They had no where to go and nothing much to do. How wonderful. 

“Great...” He murmured, absently folding his hands in his lap. At least they had the truck for the sake of shelter if nothing else. But just as that thought passed through his mind something skittered across the highway and slammed against the windshield, sending a fissure of a crack across the glass. 

Maybe that wouldn’t last so long. 

To say he took the first opportunity he could get after his head cleared to disappear from town for a little while was an understatement. Vic had wanted nothing more than to pretend the events of the previous day or two hadn’t happened at all, would go so far as to pretend he couldn’t remember it if he needed to in the haze of a drunken stupor. But he remembered enough of it - and running from his problems had always been his signature move, so what was to change now?

He’d been feeling the slightest bit better once they’d put an hour or two driving distance between themselves and the town, when he’d had something to focus his attention on rather than how he’d royally managed to fuck something else up in his life. But with the darkening skies opening wide overhead and their only ride home deciding to betray them with a drained battery leaving them stranded in the middle of a deserted highway - well. 

Life’s a bitch. 

But they were going no where fast, so Vic had simply accepted the fate and took shelter in the cab of the truck, watching absently as the rain pelted the windshield and the flashes of lightening illuminated the sky every few minutes. He certainly knew nothing of Georgia storms and whether or not they’d go on for hours or minutes, but there was no use trying to work on the car - or much of anything - until it all died down. That was his opinion, anyway. Certainly the others could do whatever the fuck they wanted.

He wasn’t in any rush.

The slam of one of the doors brings him out of his head though, rubbings hands over his face and glancing towards the other. “Probably best to just wait for it to clear a bit, unless you’re seein’ something I’m not.” Shelter, or somewhere else they could lay low for a while. Though shelter could very well also mean walkers - or a handful of other problems they didn’t need beyond just a dead battery. 

🛠️

In the way Vic keeps stepping back, stumbling a bit, hands in his hair and repeating the word ‘no’ over and over like a mantra has Caleb go to extend an arm to catch him. If he is to fall… but he doesn’t. He secures himself, waves Caleb off, and something sits in the pit of his stomach that’s heavy and acidic.

“Forget what?” Caleb prompts. He steps closer, one foot forward, hands seeking his pockets where they curl into fists. He has no intention of fighting or causing an issue, he just needs a place to put them she he doesn’t go and reach out to Vic.

To keep him on his feet, from hitting the ground - nothing more, nothing less.

“You came up to me, so… I can just let you go on your own, sure. But I’m not a dick. Why would I let you go off alone like this?” Maybe he should with how Vic is. The guilt Caleb feels for wanting that contact again overpowers anything else, he won’t cave to it. Still. He clears his throat. “Are you going to be alright?”

— ⛺️ —

He knows that hand that reached out isn’t anything more than something supportive, isn’t meant as anything deeper. Just enough to say that Caleb would rather him stay on his feet than fall on his ass - but that was about it. 

But fuck if he wishes it were more. He liked to think that somehow they’d managed to pick up where they’d left off, that despite the years and distance between them they’d always remain the same. It couldn’t be that way though - why would he have thought it could? 

“I’m fine.” He says it in a way that seems to attempt nonchalance, though his tone doesn’t fully reach it. “Really. It’s fine. Go back to...” He waves a hand briefly in the direction of where Caleb had been standing moments before, “whatever you were doin’. You don’t have to worry about me.” 

“We use to play two different ones when I would go out with friends on karaoke night. First was to pick a word that seemed over used in songs and taking a drink any time it was sang.” Addy paused making sure the guy was able to hear her over the noise. “The second was to drink any time someone did something you are sure they are going to regret in the morning.”

Addy couldn’t help but nod in the direction of the stage at the person singing Sweet Caroline but getting almost every word wrong except the bum bum bum. “This would be one of those moments.” Addy couldn’t help but laugh and take a drink from her cup. “If you super brave you combined both.”

She wished she actually knew more about the person she was trying to rope into a game with her. But that is what Addy pictured events like this were for. For the town to be able to all come together and get to know each other and people they might not know other wise. Even if Fairvale wasn’t huge the total population was far more people then Addy knew every ones name too and she tried to think of a polite way to ask this guy his name.

— ⛺️ —

Well, what were drinking games good for if they weren’t for getting drunk? Vic hadn’t exactly shown up at the bar for the music tonight, and if he was going to stick around he might as well keep it interesting. 

These kids and their drinking games, though - the way Addy described it, it seemed like one would never stop drinking. Most songs were nothing but repetition, and karaoke was nothing but regrets. 

He glances towards the stage as Addy indicates it before obediently drinking from the cup that had been slipped in front of him - and while it didn’t taste like ass, it certainly wouldn’t have been his first choice in cocktails. Whatever it was. 

                                ━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

the thief laughs and shuffles closer, batting her eyelashes at the other with a pout. “i don’ always wan’ you for supply runs,” she hums. “i wan’ you for you, too.” grumpy, prickly and with about as much patience for her as a worm has for the sun.

“mais, i’m alrigh’. lots better, actually.” her head tilts, her fingers tapping against the bar. “was wonderin’, though —  is our caleb doin’ alrigh’? like, properly doin’ alrigh’. you two have history, don’ you? could tell when we were out.”

— ⛺️ —

Ah, so still she wasn’t really here for him as much as she insisted. It made sense. Caleb was always the more likable, personable. But he highly doubted he needed Vic speaking on his behalf.

🛠️

Vic takes a step back and Caleb feels like he can breathe. The thing about the close contact that got to him most is that it wasn’t unwanted. His heart fluttered and he found himself feeling the way he did all those years ago. He’s not sure if he hates that about himself, and that might just be why that resentment bubbled back up and overshadowed it. Told him to put a stop to any affection.

“You have to understand why…” Caleb nods with a frown. No sense in driving backwards thinking about it. Things have happened now, however minutely. Such as.. this conversation. Vic never addressed what he did, never asked Caleb about it. He’s not exactly sure what the answer is either. He shrugs. “Yeah… it’s…” Ugh. “I can’t.” He hopes he doesn’t have to go into it further for his drunken friend to understand, and that this will be all it is.

“I can walk you home if you need it. Just, uh… yeah.”

— ⛺️ —

He was a fool. That’s all he could think about. A fool to think that Caleb might still feel the same way he did, a fool to still want the man like there wasn’t twenty years to bridge between them. To have let his walls fall, to have closed the distance between them once more only to be pushed away. 

You have to understand why. 

And he doesn’t - not really. All he understands in the moment is that Caleb doesn’t want him anymore. 

“No, no - no, no, no,” Vic breathed, pulling his hair, nearly tripping over his feet but managing to catch himself on the handle of the nearby bench. “Don’t. It’s - it’s fine.” He waved him off. I can’t. He’d said. Can’t what? Deal with him anymore? 

Just like most everyone else. 

🛠️

Alright then, now Vic isn’t alone. Caleb will give him that as he lets out a chuckle that is muffled with his closed-mouth smirk. Every bit of amusement in him immediately dissipates at Vic’s affection. He tenses, swallows and realizes his heart skips a beat. But not in the way it used to when Vic’s arms wrapped around him so long ago. He feels like he might just need to run.

“Hey, Vic…” he starts quietly. They’re friends still, that’s fine. Caleb is alright with that, or he thought so. He can be there to talk, to drag him back to his house so he can get some rest. If he needs an eye on him outside the walls again, Caleb will jump right to it to help offer protection… But this?

No, heart is closed off and it doesn’t matter how much his skin tingles or how it feels like a spark of electricity jolts through him at the contact. He isn’t falling for it again.

“Vic, no. Stop.” He carefully pushes back against Vic’s shoulder with a frown, waits until he catches his eyes. “Don’t do this. Not now.”

— ⛺️ —

It’s too fast, how quickly Caleb pushes him away. Too short, the comfort provided by having him in his arms again, by holding onto him like he may never have to let go. 

But he does. He has to. His arms fall from around Caleb’s middle as he’s pushed away, his own hands lifting to clumsily shove Caleb’s pressing hands aside and off of him, a stumbling sort of step taken to back away. There’s an ache in his chest, maybe one that had always been there, to think that he could’ve had Caleb to himself all these years - but he’d gone and made a mess of it. 

“Yea - “ he mutters, his eyes flickering up to Caleb’s briefly before skirting away. Not now. But when? He didn’t deserve him. Not now, not ever. 

Alone. Funny, how Caleb had said it. He gets it now.

As a matter of fact, Vic is pretty sloshed. Caleb bites his bottom lip to hold in a laugh. It doesn’t stop him from snorting, or his eyes from widening in an amused way at the way his fingers curls in the front of his shirt. He solidly stands there, bracing himself in case Vic takes a tumble, and extends his own arm to loop under his, hand coming to rest against his shoulder blade to offer support.

“You sound like you were having a great time, and now you’re out here. All alone. Don’t even pretend you were walking a straight line there.” So he would have thought maybe he was exaggerating but Vic’s more animated than he’s seen in a long time. There has to be a few drinks behind that.

Caleb jerks his hand away, the cigarette almost burnt out anyway but he isn’t going to litter. That clean energy company really had him think about his habits, sustainable living and pollution. That cigarette butt would find its home in a trash can and not on the grass of the town square. “I did, first year of college.” And many years went by with the occasional social smoke - cigars at weddings, cutting one outside of a bar with work buddies every now and again. “Then someone was sharing at a camp I stayed in. End of the world is very stressful… I worry more about walkers killing me than these.”

— ⛺️ —

A light hum plays in the back of Vic’s throat as he considers Caleb’s words, perhaps taking a moment longer than normal to process them properly. And the bar...well, it hadn’t not been fun, all things considered. But it had been far more about downing drinks than it was socializing or participating. Being with Caleb? That was far more fun. 

One hand unfurls the grip on Caleb’s shirt front to pat against the man’s chest, as if confirming that he was indeed there and present and not some figment of his imagination (these days just about anything was possible). “I ain’t alone.” 

For once.

He was trying to be better at that. Not being alone. It was a habit that had been long since ingrained in him, even as a child. Caleb was one of the few who was able to break through that, to give him a shoulder to lean on. And hadn’t he gone and ruined it all?

There’s a subtle whine given as Caleb pulls his hand bearing the nearly used up cigarette away from Vic’s grasping reach, but the attention is lost quickly enough with Caleb’s arm looping around him in support. His face nuzzles into the nook of Caleb’s neck where it had once fit so well, his own arms falling to cling around the man’s middle. 

location: The Hard Times date: July 24th 2020 time: around 9pm availability: closed @victorbakker

So maybe Addy had a bit to drink. Honestly she was pretty sure that she still might be more sober then over half of the bar right now. It looked a good bit of the town had showed up and Addy was glad. It was nice seeing everyone together, having fun. It felt almost normal or at least the beer she was sipping on made it feel that way.

Everything around her reminded Addy of before the outbreak. Spending far to many nights then she wants to admit with her friends at the local hole in the wall bar and Addy daring far to many people to sing while refusing to do so herself until she was a bit wasted. It reminded her of a game she use to play with her friends.

Addy might not know the guy sitting next to her that well but Addy has never known a stranger. She knows she has seem him around the town before but if she knows his name she is coming up blank now. It doesn’t stop her from nudging him to get his attention. “You are too alone.” Addy smiles before passing the second drink she had ordered over to him and hoping it was a fan of whatever was in the cup. She personally wasn’t sure since she just asked the bartender to make her something random.

“I’ve been trying to get someone to play a drinking game with me. You down?”

— ⛺️ —

Truth be told he wasn’t entirely sure how he ended up in the bar in the midst of this...whatever it was. He wasn’t the type to seek out events like this, but then again, who was he to turn down drinks? No, it certainly wasn’t the alcohol that was going to get up to leave - but the bad karaoke blasting might do it...

What was it about him that made it appear he wanted to play drinking games, though? Fletcher had talked him into one on a night the bar had been all but dead - tonight the place was lively, and still he’d been singled out. But then again - random drinks being slid in his direction...

He turned his gaze in Addy’s direction curiously, a face that was vaguely familiar from seeing around town but one he hadn’t made any attempts to get to know. If he could have it his way, that’d be the case with most everyone in this town. 

Maybe if it had been twenty years ago he’d have found it to be somewhat nostalgic. To hear Vic’s voice so loud in the still of the night with a stagger in his step, it brings back memories. Of high school parties with cheap and shitty beer, the cans working with the chill of a the winter night on a back porch to numb their finger tips. Not at the party, but on the walks home when it was the two of them, arm in arm, laughing about something stupid that someone did. Or just about any nonsense. When they were young and Caleb thought they were invincible.

They’re not back in Bend or leaving a high school party on a Friday night. They’re in the middle of an apocalypse in a make shift town that happens to have a bar in it… that hosted a karaoke night. Did Vic go to that?

It’s definitely after midnight, Caleb found a nice spot in the square to smoke a stale broken cigarette and look at the stars. So yeah, he is startled when he hears his name and sees Vic, and he shakes his head with a disbelieving chuckle. “And it is the Victor Bakker, properly sloshed after a night… hopefully not singing into a microphone.” He pushes from the bench he’s seated in, and gives his old friend a once over at the stagger in his steps. “Oh my god, are you going to get sloppy on me?”

— ⛺️ —

Vic breathes out a scoff as he approaches, his head shaking firmly if a little over dramatically in response. “I ain’t properly sloshed,” he says in a mocking tone. “And I most definitely didn’t touch that damn microphone. Though you know I can hold a lovely tune, thank you very much.” It’s not true, but if there is anything a little alcohol could do is make a man over confident. He did manage to still have some wits about him to make sure not to step up to that microphone, though. 

So far, anyway. There was still plenty of night left, wasn’t there? Who knew what it might still entail...

“I don’t get sloppy,” he added with a bit of a childish tone in his voice now, reaching Caleb (had he always been so far away?) and letting his fingers curl into the front of his shirt without hesitation. For balance, in part - but also not. 

He hadn’t gone in with any sort of intention of sticking around. Truth be told, Vic couldn’t understand this whole thing of celebrating when they didn’t have anything left worth celebrating in this life. If they made it through tomorrow that should count as a win - and blasting music and letting down their guard wasn’t exactly the way to go about survival.

But Ray had promised him some decent home brew after he got his hands on it and with the first batch ready to be taste tested, he wasn’t going to let the guy down. And while he had yet to embarrass himself by belting out some lyrics on the karaoke machine or showing off his two left feet, there was still plenty of time left in the night - and a few too many drinks later had him stumbling out into the fresh air and wandering absently in the general direction of his bed, though he wasn’t quite ready to lay his head down to rest just yet. 

Besides, there was a pretty face in his line of sight now.

                             ━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

it’s with a mock offence that she recoils, a hand placed firm on her chest at the irritation he greets her with. “don’ be mean to me,” she whines, planting her elbows onto the bar, her chin in the palm of her hands. “i’m only comin’ to say hi. nothin’ else, scouts honor.”

“or have you decided i ain’ allowed to that none?”

— ⛺️ —

Even without knowing her particularly well he can tell that the dramatics are all for effect and not actual offense. But it doesn’t scare her away as she settles at the bar beside him and he just gives a bit of a sigh, nursing his drink. 

“Forgive me, the last few times we talked it ended in...eventful supply runs,” he remarked. Sure, they were both ones he agreed to, but today he was fresh out of energy for it. 

                             ━━━━━━∘◦☹◦∘━━━━━━

“i’ll do rocks, paper, scissors with you if it helps,” leon shrugs, watching as the guy stumbles to the next table, a giggling and infuriating mess and he’s not entirely sure the guy realises just how close he’s getting to the bar, and to them. how within arms reach he’ll end be if he continued and well, by then, leon would see it as more than fair game.

and jo could use a good broken nose to look at it, he reckons. his knee had to be all too boring by now.

“i’ll cover your neck if you cover mine. we’ll tell them he fell. really hard. onto something harder. they’ll never know.” 

— ⛺️ —

The guy was annoying, that much was for sure, but Vic couldn’t quite decide if it was worth dealing with him. He had yet to get in Vic’s face and thus while he was a bumbling mess about the bar, he hadn’t yet pulled at his last strings. 

But there was clearly still time - and as he glanced over his shoulder towards the drunken man he sighed lightly, watching with only partial interest as he seemed to stumble in their general direction. 

Task 04 - Music & Lyrics

                            ━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

“case it first,” she tells him with excitement. “i like risks, mais, i ain’ one to take ‘em if there ain’ no guarantee for a reward.” of which in this case is the chance to let off a little steam and have some well deserved fun after weeks of heartache. it’s what she tells herself, anyway. chasing an adrenaline rush isn’t unusual for the thief. “that bein’ said, if you wan’ to call it an’ get out, then call it.”

though she’d follow with some form of reluctance, this much she knows. but she’d rather walk away without his blood on her hands too, if it could be helped.

and it does sound dangerous, the way she can hear the dead groaning inside of the building. she steps forward, unable to hide how desperate she is for the game, and the danger of it all.

“won’ hold it against you none if you decide to go back,” she tells him, a little more seriously. “won’ be the first person to let me go at it alone, won’ be the last either.”

— ⛺️ —

“Yeah, yeah,” he mumbles as she twice gives him the option to back out. “You’re not goin’ in alone.” If it meant dragging her back without any ‘fun’, then so be it; at least she wouldn’t be dead. And he certainly wasn’t leaving here without her if he was given a choice. He didn’t need any more blood on his hands. 

He pulls out his knife, cleaning the blade absently as he studied the building before them. He imagined the storefront was packed - the front doors barricaded to keep the dead inside. But the back - would they be able to get in via an employee entryway, or emergency exit, or maybe even a receiving door? It was entirely possible all those routes would also be overrun with the dead and the whole thing wasn’t worth it.