Cathal watches the man tend to his wounds, blinking slowly. He sucks in a breath. Ok. He was gonna speak up. “Hey-“ ok- that was a little too loud- he slowly stands from his hiding place, gripping his backpack. “I won’t hurt you- I- see that you’re hurt…do you need help? I’ve gotta bunker not far from here and- if you’re not infected…I can let you stay. I’ve got plenty of great supplies…”
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Tohru startles a little at first. When he sees it's another person and not a zombie though, he relaxes a bit.
"I'm… alright…" Tohru says through gritted teeth.
His voice cracks pretty hard, as he hasn't spoken in two weeks.
"But shelter for the night, at least…" he continues, "I'd appreciate that."
He starts to stand, though he's definitely a little unstable, still limping. Finally, he grabs a bottle of sleep aid off the shelf. Maybe he can knock himself out for a bit if he's somewhere truly safe.
There's something wild behind Tohru’s eyes. Something fearful. He looks terrible. Hair matted, dried blood in the strands, on his clothes. He's still standing somehow.
"How long have you been out here? In the bunker, I mean?"
He pauses, “Um…I think about- maybe 4 years?” He shrugs. “I’ve lost actual track-“ he fidgets with a strap on his backpack. “Come on. We gotta go before it’s dark and I’ve gotta buddy waiting for food at home.” He smiles slightly, then starts walking out. He seemed to avoid all eye contact. And by all, I mean all. He also seemed very fidgety, messing with anything he could get his hands on, even tracing the scars on his face.
"Right," Tohru replies softly, limping after him.
The medicine hasn't set in yet, so the pain is still a lot, but he manages to keep up for the most part, as long as Cathal keeps a steady, strolling pace. He hardly notices Cathal's nervous behavior, he's so stuck in his own head.
"Buddy…? Like an animal?" Tohru hazards the guess, then he notices the dog food, confirming the thought.
He's still very quiet for the most part. His voice is raspy because he hasn't spoken, and he really isn't too keen on speaking at all. He's afraid to even exchange names for fear that he might form another bond, only for it to be broken by death.
Cathal smiles, “Yeah! His name’s teddy. I call him ted though. He’s a sweet dog. Still kinda a puppy.” He chuckles. After only a mile or two, they reach the bunker. Cathal moves the bleach soaked towel out of the way and unlocks the door. “Ted! We got company!” He sets his bag down, getting out a bag of dog treats.
Just then, a dog rushes over to Cathal, his tail wagging. Cathal smiles brightly. “hey buddy! Hows my ted?” He pets teddy. “Wanna treat?” He smiles as teddy woofs. Cathal then began to tell the dog to sit, lay down, stay as he backed away, then to heel. The dog did every command perfectly. Cathal smiles and gives ted the dog treat. He then glances to Tohru. “Wanna give him a treat?” He closes and locks the door as Tohru walks in.
Tohru nods and takes a treat as he sits down on the floor. He offers it to Teddy cautiously at first. Tohru had never been around dogs very much- that wasn't to say he didn't like them.
Teddy nicely takes the treat from his hand, and Tohru reaches out with his other hand to give him a few pets. Yet, the dog seems to sense his distress and pushes closer. Tohru puts both arms around the dog in a gentle hug.
"I lost everything…" Tohru says plainly, "I'm not so sure why or how I'm still kicking."
He's actually quite close to tears. It's been a bit since he let himself feel the full weight of his situation, but now that he's pretty much safe here, it's hit him like a ton of bricks.
Cathal frowns slightly, crouching down. “Oh…I’m so sorry…” he whispers.
Teddy took one look at Tohru and immediately laid himself down across his lap, applying all his weight to help sooth him. Cathal clicks his tongue and Ted’s tail wags, as if that was a way of saying ‘good boy’ without actually talking. Cathal sat down a few feet away from him. “Can I ask what happened?” He asks softly. “And don’t worry…teddy won’t go anywhere unless I tell him to…so if you need space, let me know. Teddy’s trained for this stuff…”
Tohru winced a bit as the dog laid on his lap. Yet, the contact was much welcome aside from his injury. He shifted his injured leg until it was comfortable, then started petting Teddy again.
"I- well… Long story short, I've been traveling with the same group since this all started. My boyfriend… well, we talked about getting married, starting a life together if this ever ended. He- he got infected," Tohru explained, looking down at Teddy instead of making eye contact, "The group wanted to move on, but I was determined to stay with him until the bitter end. So they left me. And eventually… well… I had to kill him with my own two hands because I could never let him fully become a zombie. It would be far too cruel."
Tohru gestured at his injured leg.
"As for that, I just got it caught on some metal on a fence a week or so back. I've been careless."
He let out a deep sigh, leaning his head against the wall where he sat.
Cathal frowns. “I’m so sorry…” he mutters, only looking at Teddy. “I understand how you feel…I lost my sibling like that…you did the right thing.” He smiles at teddy. “Ted thinks so too…”
Teddy gently rests his chin on Tohru’s not injured leg, his tail slowly wagging as he did his job of trying to help Tohru. Cathal hums, grabbing some sort of object and fidgets with it. “You can stay here as long as you want…I’ll help you recover. I’ve also managed to find a way to take showers. I don’t do it often but hey…it might help.”
Trianna was quietly making her way through a forest, the legs of her jeans whispering against each other as she goes over a broken tree or a gnarly root. Her jean jacket, fitted with steel plates over it in a way to create modern day plate mail, clanked slightly every now and then. Her jeans had gotten the same treatment, but she'd done a better job of attaching padding to the areas where things would rub and hit each other.
Across her back was her bow, at her hip was her quiver of barbed arrows, and on her lower thigh was a small bandolier of hunting knives. She was wearing steel toed combat boots, too. Durable, and fitted to be stealthy. She'd gotten lucky with those.
She had a similar bandolier across her chest, holding grenades - for emergencies.
Holding the quiver of arrows was a utility belt, which had loops to hang pockets and pouches from, in which was pain meds, vitamins, tampons, and a .45 magnum with one bullet in the chamber. For herself, of course.
The bow was being held where it was by a heavy duty hiking bag, fillied with other things: clothes and changes of bras and panties. Food she'd scavenged. Gas mask with extra filters. Wire cutters. Things like that.
Across her face was a fitted mask that she'd made herself. It was mainly to protect her identity.
She had a scarf around her neck, to protect that from any attacks as well.
She'd cut her way past a chain link fence a little bit ago and was currently tracking the smell of blood - definitely no from an infected, but maybe a potential rival for supplies anyways.
She heard voices talking and paused, pulling out her bow and an arrow before moving forward further.
From what they were talking about, they were in an old store, still holding some supplies from before the infection.
So she stops and listens, determining there wasn't anything of worth, and sighs, standing up.
She kept the bow and arrow out, but she realizes the voices were moving away from the store.
Curious, she follows them to a bunker. Strange, I didn't think there were people who would prepare for things like this. But it's helpful.
She opens the doors to the bunker easily - there was a pickable lock, quite simple actually - and slips inside noiselessly.
She finds the pair talking.
She faces towards them.
"Sorry for intruding." she says dryly.
(Ok so- just some filling in- the two had already gone to Cathal’s bunker. So did she as well? If not they must have not heard her-)
(Oh shi- Give me a minute lol I misread a bit of shit-)
(XD its ok take your time bestie! She could have also just followed them-)
(True- I'll have her do that- btw where is the bunker exactly? I keep thinking it's in the store but theres things that make me think it isn't-))
(I think it's a little away from the store?)
(it’s actually by a military base not too far from the bunker. The setting is that it’s a dead grass land and it’s basically out in the middle of nowhere with very little trees)
"I appreciate it. I really do," Tohru says weakly, "I might take you up on that offer though. I'm a mess… I haven't even bothered to clean all this dried blood off, after a week. Disgusting…"
Tohru ran a hand through his tangled hair. He hoped he'd still be able to brush through it, after all that.
And then, the stranger comes in.
"Do you know her?" Tohru asks.
He's still running his fingers through Teddy's fur. Tohru is very distressed as he's coming out of the fog that settled over his brain during isolation, and he's so exhausted he's having a hard time moving.
(Ah, okay! btw I changed my post so go ahead and read that)
(Oop, lemme add to mine)
(Lol alright!)
Cathal gasps, spinning around as the woman walked in. He gets out his gun, his hands shaking. “Who-“ he looks her over.
Teddy had the same reaction, getting up and growling at her. Cathal stared at the woman. She didn’t look like she was infected. He snaps his fingers and teddy lays back down, but the growl in his throat was still there. Cathal takes a sharp breath. “How did you-“
(Oop wait let me fix that-)
(Lol it's cool)
Trianna laughs.
"I know you pulled a gun on me - put it down. I'm not an enemy until you try and shoot me." she replies.
"As for how I got in, I just picked the lock. Funny how much one can do in the apocalypse, even when blind." she chuckles.
"My name's Locke. No, that's not my real name, but the old me died once this hell party started. Yes, I am armed, but I'm only a threat if you threaten me." she explains.
He takes a deep breath, then pockets his gun. “Just don’t- do that- god. You scared she shit outta me- you could have lead the zombies into my base!”
"Don't worry about them." Trianna snorts. "I'll be tacking care of them shortly. In the meantime, you don't mind if I crash here for a while, do you? I haven't had a proper night's rest since this whole damn thing started."
(Btw, how long has the apocalypse been a thing?)
(Um- I’d say- maybe 2-3 years? What do you think-)
He huffs, “Sure…just- don’t hurt my dog-“ he grumbles, plopping himself down. “I’ve gotta couple of mats on the far left corner of the bunker. Place is pretty big I’d say- so be careful not to ram into anything.”
(Hmmm. . . 3 1/2 should work, right?)
"I won't. I like animals." she smiles, clicking her tongue quietly then laughing.
"Is the dog helping with the healing process down there?" she asks Tohru.
(Yeah that’ll work!)
Cathal hums. “Yes. He’s a service dog…his name is Teddy.” He glances at Teddy to make sure he was okay, then back to the woman. “I’ll have food ready in a bit as well if you’re hungry. But- don’t bring any more people in here. I’m not a charity.”
Teddy looks at the woman, tilting his head and then woofs softly at her.
(Since you mentioned plains with few trees I'm assuming this is like, Kansas or someplace like that)
"I don't meet very many healthy animals." Trianna says softly.
"I have my own food, actually." she grins, turning to face Cathal. "As for bringing more people, I couldn't. Pretty much everyone that I've run across has been infected or I had to kill because they were being jackasses. I'm sure I've cleared out about half of downtown Wichita at this point."