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"Oh, supernatural fantasy is a good choice," Kai nodded. "I like the occasional fantasy, but sometimes there's too much world-building." In which case, it easily became too overwhelming to keep up. He smiled and gave a slight nod when Amara agreed before the people ahead of them finished looking through the crate as well. Kai gestured for her to go first. "Go ahead, I think you were here first. But yes, it does become predictable. Do you have a favorite read? Maybe luck is on your side and they brought a copy of it."

Amara feels her lips twitch as Kai tries to guess what she's into. People always guess Sci-fi for her, but she doesn't know why. Maybe it's just the vibe she gives off. "Wrong I'm afraid," she tells him. "I'm into supernatural fantasy, Sci-fi isn't my thing. I did try to read Dune since a friend recommended it to me, but I couldn't get into it." She pauses and tilts her head thoughtfully. "I get what you mean about mysteries, once you start being able to guess person behind it or even the twist, they're not as fun anymore."

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In the safe zone, Kai thinks he spots someone familiar he hadn’t seen before. Is it really someone known, or just a doppelganger?

Despite being the voice of reason and optimism for his patients, Kai was currently struggling to find a space for the latter. It didn't look like things were improving. People were out risking their lives for nothing. The military wasn't exactly helpful with any of the safe zone tension or keeping people reassured.

He couldn't sleep.

Kai carefully got out of bed and went to see if he could sneak a bottled water. Thankfully most of the patrolling seemed to be on the borders of the safe zone as opposed to the inside. He was able to take a mini one and was going to head back when he caught the side profile of one of the soldiers in the distance. Honestly, it felt like a gut punch knowing he was wrong.

She reminded him of his best friend, Rosa. But it wasn't her. She was thousands of miles away and definitely not here because she wasn't soldier. She was the main receptionist for the clinic he worked at and always decorated the front desk according to what holiday it was, even the obscure ones.

All he could to was add to the growing list of hopeful wishes he carried with him now for others. Kai refused to call them prayers. With another tucked away, he snuck back to his room and wondered if those who left were still alive.

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While out, Alfie runs into an incredibly unfriendly survivor (NPC) who is not from the safe zone. Make sure they don’t turn their back.

After getting separated from his exploring buddy, Alfie decided to head towards his neighborhood and check to see if his family was somehow still there. He tried to look for the man but couldn't wait up forever. They had to see if their mom and siblings were okay. The trio weren't at the safe zone, so hopefully they hunkered down at his mother's.

It was actually right outside the apartment complex that he ran into the person. They were disheveled and somehow looked like they'd been in the thick of it for years instead of just two weeks. Alfie said a nervous but friendly hello and then tried to skirt around them to get into the complex.

No such luck. The person aggressively asked them what they were doing and what they were looking for, approaching at a speed walk. Alfie freaked out and stepped backwards. He wasn't about to find out if they had a weapon or bad intentions with that kind of attitude. Of course, the person continued to shout at him. Including obscenities.

"Sorry!" was all he said in response before turning and running away at a full sprint. Maybe he hadn't encountered too many undead, but it was unsettling that he'd run into another person and they weren't willing to help or have a friendly conversation. They'd never considered the possibility of unfriendly survivors. Weren't they all just struggling to get past this whole thing?

He made the decision to head back to the safe zone that very night.

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THOMAS   WEATHERALL heartbreak  high;  s01e03

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Despite the conversation, Kai found himself a little amused. It was clear Adam was trying even though it took him a minute to get there. He couldn't be mad at that (even if a part of him wanted to be). He looked over at him and allowed himself to smile slightly despite the weight of everything. "It's alright. I appreciate that, actually." Nice to know he wasn't the only one who cared. "We just... disagree, and that's that. When you get back, I'm obviously going to be glad." It was a 'when'. It had to be. Kai was hesitantly going with that conviction even though an annoyingly persistent voice in the back of his mind reminded him this could be the last time they ever saw each other.

He didn't want to think about it.

"Anyway, I really am going to try to get to bed. We have the curfew now. Did you need anything else from me before you left? Make sure you have everything because it's going to be a cold night." Kai wanted to fuss more but decided not to. Surely, Adam had thought this through enough to be prepared for the worst of situations. And weather-wise he doubted New York was much different from here. "My only request is to bring back any food that's different from what we already get here. I'm starting to get tired of it."

He didn’t necessarily like Kai’s resignation, but it was easier to navigate than whatever else had just happened. He wouldn’t call it a fully-fledged argument, more like a tense disagreement. “Fair enough. And I’m not ill prepared,” Adam insisted, “Just missing something to fight off those bastards.” This was, of course, not considering that a knife would be practically useless in the face of one of those things. Close combat was not ideal, and it fell squarely into the category of reckless that he’d just assured Kai he would avoid.

Adam decided he had packed sufficiently for the night and set aside his things. All that was left was to wait for Jean to gather everyone, and a goodbye he most definitely did not want to partake in; the other man wasn’t the problem, in fact he was the only person here that he considered giving parting words to aside from his sister, but Adam could tell his guard was still up and didn’t want to leave on a bad note. “You gonna be mad at me forever?” he asked without thinking, then quickly clarified, “Not that I’m telling you how to feel or anything. What I meant was, I’d feel a lot better leaving knowing you weren’t pissed at me.” Still not quite right. Adam pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, knowing how bad he was at this. “What I mean is… It feels weird leaving when I know you’re upset, and I don’t wanna leave things like that.”

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It was funny but not exactly funny how people tried to avoid saying certain things with this current event. It was like saying it aloud would make things worse. Or acknowledging the world going to shit was too serious. Kai didn't blame anyone for it though. Even he tried to dance around certain aspects of it. "I love a good mystery novel. I've become quite good at figuring out who the person behind it all is though so they're not always so entertaining. I suppose it comes with reading a lot of them," he shrugged. "And you're into...? Sci-fi?" he tried to guess. "I tried to read Dune, but it was above my mental paygrade I'm afraid."

Kai does have a point about people being reluctant to talk about themselves. Her roommate still won't tell her their name and with the way they slink around... Amara decided it's best not to push. Perking up at the mention of books, Amara glances over at the people wandering away from the crate with books in hand. "I love reading, but hadn't had a chance to do it lately before everything went..." She waves a hand running out of words on how to describe their current situation. She doesn't want to call it hell because that implies that the situation won't get better and she's clinging to that hope by her fingernails. "What about you, Kai?"

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Alfie was one of the ones who pretended not to overhear the plans of leaving. They definitely did though and had immediate plans to bolt. "Yeah. It's pretty stupid, right?" he asked bluntly. "I'm still thinking about it." Lies. They couldn't wait to get out there and look for their family and see if things were still as bad as the guards acted like they were. It only took a moment for him to reveal the truth. "Actually, I think I'm gonna..." Cut to a quick look around to make sure no one of authority was eavesdropping, and then he turned back to them. "I'm getting the hell out of dodge. This place is weird. Are you coming with?"

where: in the safezone for: open (0/2)

"you've got to be kidding me..." sett mutters under their breath, shaking their head at the announcement, of course, sure, they're doing this to make sure people are safe, but one can be skeptic, yet they try to stay in the middle of it, complying to these new rules set for them, but to be this uptight...no one in or out, the curfew... "s'gonna drive people nuts, i'm telling you." sett turns to the person standing beside them, letting out a sigh, watching as the crowd disperses, going back to the things they were doing, yet whispers about the recent rules, complaints, can be heard. "what are you plans now?"

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Kai simply nodded, not finding any reason left to argue about it when clearly nothing was going to change. It would be a waste of energy. "Yeah." All he could do was hope. He didn't believe in a higher power but understood now why some did: it would've been comforting to think that praying hard enough could guarantee a wanted outcome. Unfortunately no such thing applied here. "I don't have anything like that. TSA would have sent me back on the plane or put me in a cell." He had mostly clothes. Some things from work and something to write in every so often, but that was it. Luggage.

He rubbed his eyes and sighed. "I'm sure someone in your group will have one. You can't all be that ill prepared." God, he hoped not. Jean better have had a solid plan and then a backup emergency plan on top of that. Kai opened his mouth to voice his concern but then decided against it. Again, nothing would change. Adam was still going to risk his life and leave the safety of the barricades even if he explained how he thought the woman was not completely there. Instead he said, "It's probably better to be stealthy or run than to try to fight one anyway. They seem pretty strong."

Feeling tension at Kai's surprising distance, he tried not to think too deeply into it. The two had talked for hours on end before, not butting heads a single time, even when they disagreed on something, but clearly this matter was beyond just food preferences or childhood stories. "Alright..." he sighed, not sure how really respond at the moment and knowing a lighthearted joke would only make things worse; but sincerity was hard, and Adam usually opted for the easy road when it came to personal matters. It was so much easier to just act oblivious or carefree instead of talking about feelings and working through them.

"I'm not taking back my promise," he finally said. "But yeah, I won't do anything too stupid. I still wanna make it back. In fact, I should probably finish getting my stuff ready." Adam turned to the backpack at his side and began to double-check he had what he needed— which wasn't much, just some saved food and a book for entertainment since he couldn't find a weapon. "You don't happen to have a knife or something on you, right? Somehow forgot to pack one of those when I got my first bag ready to come here. I'm not trying to fight anything, but." Just in case.

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"Ah, I hadn't even considered the lack of gardening," he mused. Thank goodness no one was throwing punches over their lackluster meal options. The last thing anyone needed was chaos inside the safe zone. "I've heard Baltimore has good crab shacks? But I'm from Holualoa, in the biggest of Hawaii's islands. There's no reason to risk going out there to look for anyone unless I can magically swim across half the Pacific." There wasn't any bitterness in his tone, as he was simply stating a fact. Kai knew he was stuck waiting this whole thing out before he could know if anyone he cared about was safe. "I don't blame those leaving to look for loved ones, but..." He didn't have much of an anti-argument and simply shrugged.

That feeling of being antsy would not go away any time soon, she feared, and the current state of the safe zone only seemed to make it worse. It's nice for a moment, at least, to hear someone agree with her. None of this was good. Her expression softened at his jest, giving a nod of her head in agreement. "I'm surprised there hasn't been a full out brawl over food. Winter's definitely the worst time for the society to collapse - no gardening." Taylor didn't want to look forward to that, though, she wanted this problem over before gardening was an option. "Nah, I'm from here. I've lived here a couple years now, but I'm from Baltimore originally. What about you?"

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He chuckled lightly and waved it off. "No worries. I wasn't sure if you wanted to exchange names. A few people here are quite reluctant to give any information about themselves." Not that he could blame anyone for how they were acting. This was an extremely high stress situation. Even he didn't 100% know how to act in the face of world-altering events. "Nice to meet you too. I'm Kai. Are you a big reader? It seems they mostly brought books," he observed as the people in front of them made their picks and stepped to the side.

Amara blinks a little. Hawaii? She can't even imagine being so far from home in this situation. She squashes the thought that rises about how her younger siblings are and even her parents. "You're a long way from home...?" she trails off, and realizes she's been rude, her Granny must be rolling in her grave at her. She doesn't even know the man's name! Her ears burn in embarrassment; Granny taught her better than that. "I'm so sorry. I've been rude, I'm Amara. It's nice to meet you."

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He couldn't help but faintly scoff. Everything else Adam said was fine for standard reassurance, but promising something he had no control over was another thing. Kai needed a moment to get his thoughts together. He simply looked at the ground for a short while before finally bringing his gaze back to Adam and sighing. "You shouldn't make promises you can't guarantee keeping, you know." There was no chastising. Just exhaustion. He knew he already lost this fight before there even was one and that Adam made up his mind the moment the idea of leaving was brought up. Besides, they owed each other nothing.

"You're an adult," he added flatly. Kai was now forcing a distance and nonchalance. He knew and recognized what was a defensive mechanism but did nothing to stop it. "You can do whatever you want. You don't have to promise me anything." What he really wanted to do was grab Adam by his coat and shake some sense into him, but of course he wouldn't. To act like that would be to admit he'd gotten too attached these past two weeks. No one fretted so much over a random stranger. "Just... don't do anything reckless, that's all I'm asking."

Well, that wasn’t what he expected. Even Adam knew when he was being iced out, regardless if it was from annoyance or worry, or whatever else— he could only guess Kai didn’t want him to leave, based on the lack of reciprocated jest. It wasn’t like Adam was looking to get injured or bitten, but, he could only stay stuck in a tiny safe zone wondering what was out there for so long (and two weeks was plenty). "Come on," he finally said after some debating whether or not he should say anything and simply go. “It’ll be fine.”

Should he assure him of that? Of course not, but he would’ve hated to leave on such a cold note just in case. Adam took a seat on his own military-issued bed and kept his eyes on the other as he spoke. “I get it, you’re worried. And I appreciate that, but we’ve got no idea what’s out there. It could be over and they’re holding us hostage for all we know.” Unlikely, but he never trusted authority anyway. “It’ll be one or two nights and then I’m back, and we can go back to talking away and eating shitty canned food like nothing ever happened.” Should he say it…? It was probably a bad idea, but he did anyway, because he felt that strongly that nothing could possibly go wrong. “I promise.”

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"That's unfortunate, but I understand." Kai had been making the effort to get to know different people, but even he couldn't remember every single name and face of the crowd. The woman's question had him smiling ruefully. "It's alright to ask. I don't think I'll be finding anyone I'm familiar with, however. Everyone I know is back in Hawaii. That's... I'm not even sure how many miles far. A few thousand?" All the more reason to stay safe and see them again, he figured. But he didn't want to be a complete downer. "If you know of anyone with a spare boat or plane, please let me know."

"A friend, they were supposed to meet me here, but I haven't seen them and there's so many people here already that it's hard to find who I'm looking for," Amara answers. It's been two weeks and she's slowly losing hope that she'll find them. Are they still out there? Did they find a safe place to hide? She mentally shakes away her thoughts before they can overwhelm her. It'll do her no good right now. She needs to stay focused. "What about you? Are you looking for anyone, if it's alright for me to ask?"

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Stubborn. Flippant. Attachment-avoidant. Overly blasé. Kai thought all these things of Adam, and yet he was still worried to the point of faint nausea at the idea of him going out there. It was a stupid idea. There was no great reward for risking one’s life just to ‘look around’. The woman leading the charge didn’t exactly seem the most level-headed either; would she care or even try to help if the worst was to happen to the people she was leading out?

Kai was uncharacteristically quiet in the face of Adam’s jokes. What could he say, really? Finally, he cleared his throat after a noticeable silence and attempted to joke back. “I’m sure. I don’t think you can talk your way out of encountering one of those. I’d just slow you down.” So much for joking? There was no joke to be had. He averted his eyes and decided to stop pacing and just take a seat on his own cot not too far away. “You know already, but be careful.” Words, words, words. Again, he felt there was nothing he could say. It felt like he was simply allowing Adam to walk out into his own gruesome death. “I’m tired,” he said suddenly. “I think I’m going to try to sleep.”

location: in the safe zone for: @dead1s

“You gonna miss me when I leave? Don’t be too sad. I’ll be back.” Having settled in the same sleeping area, Adam and Kai became fast… friends? He hesitated to use the word, mainly because the last thing he wanted was to get attached to anyone while here. Connections were fleeting, and whether the best or worst case scenario happened with those monsters outside, it was lose-lose: form a bond and go back to their respective homes across an ocean when things were back to normal, or do such a thing and forever worry about the other person in this new normal.

So, Adam did what he did best and kept things light.

“Might be a day or two depending on how things go, but I’m not planning on giving up food and shelter for nothing,” he continued as he packed a small bag of essentials. “You sure you wanna stay? I’m sure Jean would be happy to have an extra person join in. You could counsel those biters to death. Ask them how they feel,” he teased.

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i have a longing that's killing me.

mahmoud darwish, memory for forgetfulness

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All Alfie knew was that he had to get the hell out of there. Go back, stay, explore alone, stay with the group, whatever… They hadn’t thought that far ahead. A night out escaping just sounded like fun and he was tired of the stressed atmosphere within the safe zone. He turned to look at Adam when he was addressed and quickly shook his head. “I’m not sure what to do from here to be honest. I’m down to stick together though.” They grinned slightly; at least there was somewhat of a plan now.

“Yeah! DC born and raised.” It was always a point of bragging for him. He wasn’t just some tourist. “Maybe not Georgetown specifically but kinda around here. I’m pretty great with directions.” Time to conveniently leave out the reason why: his occupation. Alfie hugged his coat more against themself to fight the cold and then nodded upwards to the man. “What’s the plan? You heading back to the safe zone later or did you wanna find some new place to wait it out? The food sucks. We could probably find something better at least.”

location: just outside the safe zone for: @dead1s

Jean sounded somewhat crazy to him, but she did have a point: why not let people come and go as they pleased? Adam imagined some people still wanted to try to find loved ones or friends out in the city, so it seemed fishy to him that the restriction existed. He didn’t want to permanently leave, though, just take a look around; only an idiot would give up free food and protection at a time like this.

“Can’t believe we actually made it,” he said to no one in particular once they were past the barricade. He kept his voice low, but was clearly pleased at pulling off the escape. Adam grinned and turned to one of his fellow rule breakers. “You heading off on your own now, kid?” While he wouldn’t say it aloud, he’d prefer to have someone to watch his back. Alfie seemed capable enough. “If not, maybe we could stick together for a sec until we better know the area. You from around here?”

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“Oh, I see. Well I hope you find your person soon.” Kai felt a wave of sympathy and couldn’t help but wonder how his own loved ones were faring back home; with no way of contacting them anymore, he could only hope for the best. “But no. I don’t see the point in leaving to see those…” People? Were they even people anymore? “… roamers walking around,” he settled on diplomatically. He lightly cleared his throat and decided not to linger on the subject too much. It made him uncomfortable. “Who are you looking for, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Amara shakes her head immediately, butterflies fluttering in her stomach at the sight of so many wanting to leave, those things are still out there! "I'm staying put. I haven't finished looking around the safe zone for the person I'm searching for and well... I really don't want to run into anymore of those things," she says. She cocks her head curiously at the man in front of her. "You're not even a little tempted to leave?"

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He didn’t know what to say at first, but then quickly took the response in stride with a quiet chuckle. “I suppose that’s one reason to want to leave.” Kai didn’t think some open air was a good enough reason to venture out but kept that to himself. Instead, he nodded in agreement to the person’s latter words. “Definitely right.” At least someone had some sense. “Though I could be tempted to leave for some un-canned food,” he half-joked, trying to make light of the situation as always for both his sake and others’. “Are you from the area, or did you get stuck here as a tourist as well?”

The meeting left an uneasy feeling in the pit of Taylor's stomach, even if it was easier to blame on the shitty, repetitive rations than recognize the anxiety that came with being trapped. She'd always loved the city, despite all its flaws, but it was hard not to view it in a more critical lens now. "You've never met someone claustrophobic?" She responded with a light snark, chewing at the flesh on the inside of her cheek for a moment. She knew it wasn't what he meant, but she wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Neither option seemed good. "I don't know. I don't think so? I mean, this sucks, but it has to be better than going outside. Right?"