forum I'm in the mood for another apocalypse roleplay... (CLOSED for now, welcome to stalk)

Started March 06, 2021 by @Becfromthedead group

tune

Luka nodded and immediately fell onto his knees. Bean and Lilac looked away. It hurt them to see their brother like that.

Mori got to his feet slowly, his legs still feeling like jelly. He stumbled over to Tohru's side and held tightly to his hand, still crying softly. "I-I didn't really know Hailey, but… she was obviously very important to you guys, and she seemed really nice, a-and it makes me really sad that we didn't get to know her better…" He hiccuped and rubbed at his eyes. "A-And I hope that she's happy now that… now that she's safe, and she doesn't have to suffer anymore…"

“T…Thank you…” Luka choked out. Bean and Lilac nodded as they hugged their brother.

Tohru gave Mori's hand a gentle squeeze back. He wished he had that hope. Perhaps it was true she wasn't suffering anymore, but happy? He didn't believe in a life after this one.
"Do you want us to travel with you?" Tohru asked, desperate to change the subject a bit, "I didn't want to assume, but…"

Lyn straightened, about to say something, but Tohru’s change of subject caught her off guard. She stared at him, trying to collect her thoughts. She felt Josefine sigh dejectedly beside her.
“I’ll be honest with you, we’ve been traveling without an adult for a long time. We were just going to search for their parents, but now that you’re here…” She looked between him and Mori. Maybe Mori was the only reason Lyn felt like she could trust him, despite him doing nothing but help. If he had come alone, she would’ve found his offer very creepy.
“I must ask you why want to join us first. Just so we know if… your motives are pure.”
The few adults they had encountered on their journey either hadn’t been very trustworthy, or they somehow died or disappeared after only a few nights. This was partly why Josefine didn’t really care for the idea of an adult looking after them, and mostly why she was scowling at the grass around Tuhru’s feet.

"If something happens to me, I want Mori to have someone. I don't think it will, but still," Tohru replied, "And after seeing what happened… I want to help protect you guys."
After a short pause, he tilted his head.
"As for my benefit, it's having more people in a group. Traveling alone, in pairs, even in a trio… it's kind of hell."

Mori looked up when Tohru mentioned something happening to him and he hugged Tohru tightly, his lip quivering a bit. "N-No! Nothing's gonna happen to you, Mr. Tohru!" He insisted, obviously upset. "You're… y-you're gonna be okay. We're all gonna be okay, right?"

Bean and Luka looked at each other. They knew traveling in a trio was hell, thanks to what happened to Hailey. Lilac sighed. She didn’t know what to say that would make Mori feel better. “We won’t let anything happen,” Bean spoke, trying not to upset anyone.

Tohru's answer left her satisfied, and she sighed with exhaustion. "Okay then."
But Josefine nudged her. "I'll keep an eye on him for you, amiga. Just in case."
Of course, she would. Lyn nodded. "Fine, but he looks alright."
She rolled her eyes and stood. "We're going to be fine," she said to the others. "Now, let's not leave this grave open for all to see. It's going to be dark soon."
Lyn gave her a look. "What she means is that Hailey was a wonderful young girl, but now we must leave her to rest."
Josefine returned the look and began shoveling dirt back into the rectangular pit.

Luka nodded as Bean and Lilac held him close. Will we really be okay…? Bean asked herself. Will we ever see life return to a somewhat normal state…?

Mori held tighter to Tohru, staring wide-eyed at the grave. He still didn't like being near it, clearly, but he tried his best to be quiet and out of the way. His stomach was growling angrily at him by now for not having eaten much of anything that day, but he ignored it. Now wasn't a good time to eat.

"I'll be alright, Mori," Tohru said, "but on that small chance something does happen, I don't want you to ever have to be alone again. But with more people, we're all safer."
Tohru joined in on filling the grave in. That was certainly going a lot faster than digging it did.

Mori hiccuped and rubbed at his eyes a bit when Tohru left him to help with the grave. He really didn't want anything to happen to any of them. He sat down on the ground and hugged his stomach, drawing his knees up to his chest.

The siblings all moved closer to Mori and pulled him into the hug. “Don’t worry kid, we’ll get through this…” Bean told him, trying to think of something positive to say.

"I-I just… I don't— want anybody else— t-to get hurt…" He hiccuped a couple times and hid his face, still quivering. "Why don't… why don't we just s-stay here? At the outpost?"

“Because eventually this won’t be a safe place anymore…eventually the zombies will find it…” Bean sighed. She hated to think about it, but she knew they would have to leave someday.

"Yeah. And if we keep looking, we'll find an even safer place. And maybe live sort of normally again," Tohru replied.
His arms were so, so tired, but he kept shoveling.
"That's my hope. Although with everything that's happened, I've lost everyone I care about…"

Luka nodded as he leaned against his sisters. He didn’t want to say it but…his hope was that this group would survive.

"What if the zombies never go away…?" Mori asked weakly, his voice a bit muffled from hiding his face. "What if… w-what if we're stuck running away forever until we all die one way or another…?"

"Humans are tough and resilient and smart. Someone out there is going to find a solution one of these days. We just have to survive until then," Tohru said, "I, for one, don't plan on giving in to those undead bastards."

Lyn nodded solemnly in agreement. As she helped to refill the grave, she asked, "Tohru, have you heard anything about a safer place we can find?"
She was starting to breathe hard again, and her arms burned, but she refused to stop. She didn't want to keep doing this any longer than she had to. Josefine must be exhausted too, but she didn't say anything, which was very unlike her.

Tohru paused his digging for a moment to talk. He was panting too.
"Not for certain, but I've heard rumors. Maybe some of the islands off the southeast coast, or the Florida keys. They have better means of keeping zombies out, after all."

"H-How would we get to an island, though?" Mori asked softly, rubbing at his teary eyes. "We… we don't have a boat or anything, and I don't really know how to swim very good…"

“Maybe we can build a boat!” Bean suggested. Sure, she knew hardly anything about building boats but she’s built stuff for theater plenty of times. How could this be any different? Lilac nodded. “T-That’s actually a really good idea!”