Foster Hayes

He was going to be a writer. But when you'd barely traveled, it was hard to come by inspiration. Journalism seemed a great step in that direction. Foster wrote for magazines, researched for other, published authors, and lived extremely cheaply the entire time.

Foster came home when his mother got sick. With his dad passing the summer before, and his sister unable to travel, he worried nobody would be around to advocate for the elder Foster. Nobody to get her to appointments, run out for prescriptions, and protect her dignity as the condition worsened.

He wouldn't appreciate until later that she'd asked to be cremated.

She'd left him the house, but it was too much space for a single man. The sale gave him several years of money to live off of, which Foster used to write his first book of short stories. When that was a modest success, he was able to improve his lifestyle from Very Cheap to Penny Pincher.

At a writer's retreat, he met Lucien Melaina, who was working on his third book. From friendly banter to emails after the retreat, Foster doesn't know exactly when they became A Thing. Two years later, Lucien's book is out, they're engaged and planning a move to Los Angeles.

Then Luc dumped him mid-press tour & mid-wedding planning. Hadn't even waited to break up in person, just called Foster in a fit of nerves and that was that.

The opportunity for a journalist to hit DC and report on rumors of a new viral outbreak was exactly what Foster thought he needed to distract his broken heart.

When DC became uninhabitable, Foster packed what he could carry and hit the road. No natural survivalist, he learned by doing, testing what he'd only read about. His chronicle was the only constant, and Foster would collect fresh notebooks wherever he could. He'd take down the story of any survivor willing to share - although grand notions of an award-winning publication had long faded. Now... now it just felt like a moral imperative. Collect the stories. Share the stories. Keep people alive in the written word if nowhere else.

He isn't sure how long he'll stay here. But there are a hell of a lot of stories to collect in the meantime.

Headcanon |

Has been accused more than once of using his chronicling as a way of staying removed from events. Foster strongly disagrees. He feels he's refusing to look away from reality. Truth likely falls somewhere between.

Had been at work on his first long-form novel when Lucien left him.

Wanted Connections |

Interviewees (unlimited!) | Someone willing to share their story with Foster.

The Reader (0/2) | His writing was modestly successful, so there's always a chance someone here knows his work. Or perhaps his online reporting on the virus and its mayhem?