melanie-de-baum-blog

[melanie-de-baum-blog]

Have you ever been in love?

Ever heard of a Mongolian Motherfucker? Drop the fruit juice and you’ve got your love right there.

[melanie-de-baum-blog]

A reassuring story, much like ones she'd been hearing for the past week. "What's your brother's name?" maybe she'd heard of him, seen him around, or maybe she'd taken care of him somewhere.

"And forgive me if I don't shake hands," she eyes Aubrey's offered limb with a certain amount of disdain.

"The name is Melanie," she glanced at the house shortly, "the place is mine," her fingers still rest in the grooves and straps of her harnesses, just inches from the handles to her weapons. "So you luckily found the right person. But I've had my fair share of negative experiences, and I'd rather not repeat any of them out of carelessness." Touching people had never been one of her favorite things to reciprocate on, taking Aubrey's hand wouldn't change a thing between them beside the gap.

And the survivors she knew still didn't know anything about this epidemic that was spreading so fast throughout their home cities; she'd rather not take any chances for manners.

Changing Tides || Aubrey & Melanie || Casper

Aubrey followed the orders well enough, going around back in hopes of getting in. The woman she had been talking to came out and looked around, all while holding a gun and a knife. The backpack filled with the last of the food, some tools, a few of her sister-in-law’s clothes, and her knife seemed so skimpy in comparison. 

Aubrey wasn’t sure exactly how to respond to where she came from. “I was here in the city when the zombies started coming, so then I went out to my brother’s farm, but he wasn’t there so I’ve just been trying to survive on my own, best I can.” Aubrey always was a nervous talker. She could ramble past when the cows came home.

"I’m Aubrey," she said, extending her hand. Was politeness still acceptable?  

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Do they come in handy when spotting zombies? Aren't you scared their barking would only attract more attention?

.. My dogs don’t bark. I taught them to be silent on command and only if I haven’t given that order will they bark in emergencies.

They’re extremely useful when it comes to the corpses. It’s good to have someone I can trust watching the manor when I’m gone.

You wouldn’t believe how good they are at getting the zombies to chase them away from the house.

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"Their parents have their well being in mind, Dylan," she tries to sound reassuring but she doesn't know what exactly she's supposed to be shedding a comforting light on, so she turns and walks to the doorway, gesturing to the parents they'd been speaking about, who stand from their spots in the dark and carry their children to the room now made for their comfort.

"Come on, it won't take long," Melanie beckoned Dylan to follow her down the hall, to a supply room, stocked with mostly outerwear and flashlights. A few crates of cans, car parts, oil, and three different sized tool boxes, just amongst the shelves of other collectibles Melanie had been working on for the past busy weeks.

Two large backpacks had already been placed near to the middle of the room in preparation of the task, two water bottles tucked into the side latches. Melanie is momentarily taken by the thoughts of what would most likely happen to these packs, not the people, but most assuredly these things of linen and plastic. Even if the people survived these would most likely be left behind somewhere, supplies often had to be given up in favour of a life.

"Flashlights and coats first," she's almost speaking to herself, crossing the room to take down some all purpose jackets; it was getting colder and colder to be outside for the night. It wasn't summer anymore and it would only be getting more difficult to escape the undead when they came unexpectedly.

"It's hard to find working flashlights around here anymore," she mumbled as she slipped one into the other side of the pack. Leaving the coat beside it and glancing up with a frown. "Do we have any children's wear?" she doesn't remember seeing any recently, but maybe it had just been buried.

Changing Tides || Dylan & Melanie || Casper

She nodded her head at Melanie’s words knowing she was exactly right. Still for some reason it was nice to hear someone say it was a common thing. People could often feel so alone when they experience certain problems, she was definitely no exception. All her late nights spent upset or numb weren’t unusual and would most likely continue. “Yeah I know…just would be nice if dreaming about a perfect day at disneyland could keep me going” It wasn’t the greatest joke but Dylan caught herself letting out a small chuckle.

She slowly picked at her hands as Melanie answered her question which caused a small smile to spread across her face, “Alright.” 

Despite what was happening around her she could feel safe there almost to the point of closing her eyes and forgetting it all. Not that she could herself but someone once told her that when they stayed for a few days. Melanie and a few other’s managed to keep it as safe as possible which still amazes her. She keeps expecting to wake up one day to see that everything is turned upside down.

"Yeah, I wouldn’t mind helping with that" She walked over to stand next to her walking as quiet as she could. It was a habit she had picked up over the past week or so afraid something scary lurking in the dark might hear her. Once again she was feeling helpful and felt pretty good about helping with the twins stuff. Knowing she helped other’s survive always put Dylan in a better mood. "I really hope they stay safe…" She raised her eyes up as if some all knowing creature would assure her they would be.

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Where did you find those dogs?

I found them at a farm in Riverton where the owner was selling puppies four years ago.

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She didn't sound like she was in a rush, there was no panic in her voice, that meant there probably wasn't any imminent threat of an attack. This wasn't a desperation plea for help, most likely only loneliness, lack of supplies. It takes Melanie a long minute to decide on her answer, staring at the opposite wall and falling deep into thought.

"Go around the back." Her order is loud enough to be heard distinctly through the thin glass but is still hushed. Immediately pushing off from the wall and striding with purpose through the halls towards the back room. She walked outside cautiously and closing the door behind her; she had no intention of letting a stranger into the house in the middle of the night while most of the inhabitants were asleep and vulnerable. She didn't know what kind of threat this person could really be.

Scanning the line of trees about twenty yards away from the back of the manor, Melanie finally turned her gaze onto the purpose of her being outside. One hand on her gun and the other on her knife, she watched with narrowed eyes as the other person rounded the corner and stepped into view.

"Where are you coming from?"

Changing Tides || Aubrey & Melanie || Casper

"Are you being followed?" Aubrey turned around, looking in very direction. “Nothin’ that I see here. I’ve been alone these past weeks, which makes it hard to make enemies,” she said with a grim smile.

Did people have enemies? Sure, everyone had those people they liked less than others, but in this crisis, wouldn’t people be able to put aside past differences? Or maybe this thing would make people less forgiving of small offenses… Perhaps being alone wasn’t the worst option, but Aubrey knew solitary would be the worse for her.

Suddenly she realized how late it was. Her sleeping schedule had gotten messed up. A few hours here and there kept her going and she had all but forgotten that the sun usually dictated people’s lives. "Sorry, I forgot about the time. Any chance I can maybe in through a door or something and we can talk?"

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Smiling, Melanie returned to her work with faint amusement on her pale features. Xander could run on about as little sleep as she could and the idea of that often made other people nervous around the two of them, but she only trusted him a little more for it.

"Just typing up some loose ends here," she tucked the curtains together with a frown before grabbing a box of tools and lifting it to set on the table; this didn't need to be anywhere near the kids. "How's your gut feeling tonight?" as her calloused fingers ran over the protruding hammer heads and wrenches she raised her eyes to Xander again. Her voice wasn't grave or melancholy but only confidential and calm.

"Anything coming over the horizon?" she'd asked him this before, she had her own gut feeling about him, and it was that his were to be taken into serious consideration. He had a natural sense of danger in her opinion--even just of change.

Changing Tides || Xander & Melanie || Casper

Xander never actually slept. He was always a one eye open type of sleeper, there was no trust to be had in a world such as this. Deciding there wasn’t going to be slip tonight -again- he slipped out of bed and over to Melanie, crossing his arms as he watched her do whatever it was she was doing. “Naw, no need to worry ‘bout my sleep ‘cause there is none.” He responded, raising a brow with a skeptical gaze. “What is it you’re up to, anyway?” He finally asked, leaving against a hard surface so he could relax a bit more.

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Leaning over to snatch something up from the ground, Melanie's eyes land on the slit between the curtains as a woman's voice called out softly from the other side. Startled, Melanie straightened up immediately and barked a quick order to the person closest to the doorway to retreat out of view. Pulling out a knife from the harness around her thigh, she approached the window, standing beside it against the wall so as not to be in the line of sight of whoever was outside.

She considered dimming the light, but it was on the other side of the room and she's suddenly very aware of the attention she must have drawn with all the movement and the lamp shine. Heavier curtains were on her list of 'to-do's.

"Are you being followed?" she asked bruskly. Not many people moved at night, it was too dangerous, and more than once a wanderer in the dark had been bad news.

Changing Tides || Aubrey & Melanie || Casper

Aubrey was getting worried. There were few supplies left in the car, and there was the car itself, but she knew herself. Her money would be on the proverbial snowball in hell over her abilities to survive this thing on her own. But how was she supposed to find others?

She drove the car closer to the city, inching along. Aubrey’s brothers made her watch too many of those damned apocalypse movies, but at least they gave a few ideas. Generally, noise was bad and drew the zombies. Once she felt safe and close enough to town, Aubrey left the car. She had a bag filled with the important supplies, but fellow human were more important; what she had would last her a few days and her wilderness skills began and ended with “don’t eat the yellow snow.”  

Most of houses where empty, but there was one with a light one. A big mansion, which hopefully meant lots of people. She tried to go in the front door to no success, One of the windows was more brightly lit and she could see two or three figures inside it. 

Lightly, she tapped on the window. 

"Hello? Anyone home who isn’t zombified?"

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"Nightmares are common amongst those in survival situations," Melanie turned towards Dylan, "they help you keep going." She doesn't have to explain why, not to someone who already lives that reality. Dylan knew what it was like to be driven forward by stumbling memories and the uncertain future which simultaneously could hold so much hope, and so much destitution.

"And company's fine," she added after a silent pause.

She could always find something to do around the old Manor she'd spent most of her time in since the outbreak; setting up the storerooms, cleaning the bedrooms, fixing locks, it was all to give herself and the others a safe place to go back to. Because once it wasn't as safe, and she payed the price.

"Do you want to help me pack the supplies the twins will need for their trip tomorrow?" she says the twins when she really means the entire family, but for her it was often the adults that seemed to blur. Children had never disappointed her, they held more hope than any of their dreary eyed parents.

Changing Tides || Dylan & Melanie || Casper

She liked being helpful, felt like she wasn’t just in everyone’s way. Even if it was the little things she did in the long run it comes in handy. Not that she ever thought she would be in the position to say she had to grow up fast.

She hid her small smile once Melanie answered her question, glad she wouldn’t be the only one up. Even if they didn’t say much to each other she enjoyed her company. Maybe it was that she never felt ignored by her or the fact that she didn’t treat her like she was a dumb kid. Though she couldn’t help but wonder why she would be up for a while.

"Uh…I hope you wouldn’t mind some company for a bit" Dylan said, nervous that she would rather be alone. She could handle it, even understand it, she just didn’t want to sit in the dark with her thoughts alone. It would be like they were the brave one’s watching over everybody in case things went horribly wrong.

She wasn’t expecting her to ask that which had her wondering if she should tell her what’s really bothering her. Kind of made her feel like she was a little kid…having nightmares, basically crying for her parents. “Nightmares mostly, that’s all.”

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Melanie eyed the man for a moment before saying anything, he seemed off, as if he might not be as calm as he's putting on to be; it wouldn't be the first time she'd seen someone front in the face of all this, and it wouldn't be the last either. It only made sense to hide anxiety in this situation, she didn't entirely blame anyone for becoming uneasy, especially not in the night.

"No," she shook her head and folded the old sheets over her arm, "I wasn't," a woman of few words, she crossed the room to slide the linens into the shelf of a narrow closet, "If you want you can keep watch with me though," with a nod Melanie turned to glance at her completed task, beds made, ready for the children she knew had already nodded off earlier, but whose family deserved a room to themselves.

She returned her gaze to the man who she doesn't quite remembers name. "Two watchdogs is better than one." It was an extremely apt saying of encouragement for her considering she'd invested in a few of them herself a long time ago, and at present they were at their seemingly learned posts around the house, quietly watching the people for any changes which they would undoubtedly 'report' back to Melanie about.

The only things she cherished more than her motorbike. The three of them were invaluable companions to her.

Changing Tides || Melanie and Stanley || Casper

Regardless of how exhausted Stanley was, he couldn’t sleep. How could anyone? It wasn’t only that, but Stanley didn’t feel right to sleep in an abandoned home either. Sure, ethics was a hard thing to come by these days; who would bother to care? But Stanley couldn’t help but wonder who once lived in here. Did they evacuate in time, or were they taken by the disease? Was someone else using his old house as a shelter, instead of his own family?

Stanley walked through the corridors numbly, not exactly knowing what he was looking for, only knowing he didn’t want to lie down. It had been midnight when they came last time. He didn’t realise he had walked into another room, until he heard another voice.

He looked up, “No. I couldn’t sleep.” He smiled faintly, he always looked as if he was smiling no matter what. It was Melanie, probably one of the only people he knew in the group by name. After all, she was the leader. He wondered briefly how she got assigned the position. He hadn’t questioned it when he first joined the group, he was just glad he wasn’t alone anymore, but it was probably about time he got curious. He assumed by the way she was setting up the bed she was getting ready for bed herself, “Are you going to sleep now? I could keep watch if you want.” He offered, secretly wanting an excuse to get some fresh air. 

[melanie-de-baum-blog]

"Good," she appreciates that, from everyone, just a small effort, a little attention--it could save lives to look in on people. Group concern and diligently formed habits were the only reason they would make it.

She didn't usually sleep until she was sure everyone else had fallen into some sort of slumber, which usually meant she was awake until just before the sun began to rise, when most people were too exhausted from worrying to keep their eyes open any longer.

"No. I'll be up for a while."

The house was still awake, not that there were many eyes left open, but it wasn't late enough to guarantee that they would stay closed. It was hard to stay asleep when your brain was constantly aware that you were in danger.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" It's not that she hasn't noticed the troubles Dylan has, but things aren't always so cut-and-dry, anything could be keeping the girl awake.

Changing Tides || Dylan & Melanie || Casper

"Oh, right" She chuckled slightly thinking about the two little kids having so much energy. Wouldn’t it be nice to still be able to run around like that, getting a lot of joy from it. Their family would be moving on soon but she liked having them around. It was like remembering how things once were, a normal family with their little kids. Except that wasn’t the case because she knew they had plenty of problems just like everybody else.

"Pretty much, I looked in on almost everyone" She told her, it seemed like it was going to be another okay night. No problems would arise and no terrified screams would be heard. 

When she didn’t think she would notice Dylan would watching Melanie closely. Seeing if she could catch even the slightest glimpse of who she was as a person. One of those people who were hard to read, she probably would never figure it out either. “Are you going to sleep anytime soon?” She asked stepping farther into the room. She didn’t want to seem like a bother but couldn’t help herself. Her not so great way of keeping the conversation going.

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"Alright then," she nodded and continued to make the two mattresses up with blankets and a few old pillows. Dylan had been around Casper since it happened, and it hadn't taken long for Melanie to offer the girl her assistance; safety in numbers was the motto. She's grown accustomed to seeing Dylan's face around the manor by now, as accustomed to anyone Melanie ever gets.

"I'm just getting a bed ready for the twins," the pair of six year olds had been loud enough for everyone still hanging around to know who she was referring to. From what Melanie could gather the family had seen a lot of chaos before they made it to Casper.

"You patrolling?" she asked with a flat voice.

It was good for people to have nights like this, not bad nights, but nights that were tense and kept you thinking about moving on, always forward, forward. There was an energy in the air, and it was both comforting and foreboding. Things could always go wrong, people could be lost, but it could also be one more night of safety, and one more day of quiet living. Determined living.

Changing Tides || Dylan & Melanie || Casper

Dylan woke to the sound of someone passing by the door, most likely on there way to sleep for the night. She had trouble sleeping through the night constantly waking up on and off. For once she just wanted to lay down and be at peace for a full eight hours. Instead she would have a nightmare or randomly get up because she felt uncomfortable. Often thinking about how great she had it before, guilt rising up in her throat as she thought of the days she yelled at her parents in annoyance. It was all stupid, silly, just a waste of time that she still had with them. Why is it that we never notice how good we have it until it’s gone? The one question she always seemed to come back to. It’s not like she never smiled anymore or put on a brave face but it was nothing like the person she used to be. 

Making her way out the door and down the hallway noticing almost everyone was asleep. She softly smiled as she looked into some of the rooms, seeing the peace on a few people’s faces. This is what she did when it was still early enough in the night to walk around. Hoping one of those times would magically help her go back to sleep somehow. Lot’s of people had come passing through Casper normally it would be exciting, getting to meet all kinds of different people. Made her think of what it would be like to travel around the world, though it was still nowhere near what it would actually be like.  Seeing lights still on in one of the rooms, Dylan made her way towards it. Stepping straight into the doorway the moment she realized it was Melanie.

"No, even if you did it wouldn’t matter" She answered running a hand through her hair as she spoke. She was glad Melanie was one of the people still up. She always liked talking to her whenever she could, seeing as the woman usually had things to do. "What are you doing?" She asked after a moment. She wondered if she ever just wanted to quit, just stop being so helpful. It wouldn’t be a good thing but Dylan didn’t think she could keep up with it all like she could.

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Changing Tides || Open || Casper

There was an exceptionally cold draft in the air tonight, not something that promised an easy road ahead for her. Winter was promised by Autumn and for that she begrudged the changing season. It was hard enough to find secure places to sleep at night when you were alone, but when she'd found her first other living person, they had to do it together. Now it wasn't just two of them, and despite the fact that it was harder to keep track of all of the survivors around you, they were all appreciative to have someone to watch their back even half the time.

She slid a blanket onto one of the bunk beds she'd set up for a pair of twins that were only planning on staying the night before moving on with their parents--off to some 'better place'. Where, she doesn't know, but the parents of those talkative children seemed to be sure of themselves. When the sound of a pair of feet halting behind her in the doorway resounded in her ears she turned around speculatively.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" She wasn't really sorry, as long as they were waking at every sound they were safe, safe from a surprise. It was dark out now, some of the people around the old manor house had already settled in to sleep, the day had been exhausting for some, and tomorrow promised nothing less.

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