#Theres no magical ending she can pull to make this comic not suck. Sorry

[misspickman]

I keep seeing posts about how yjdc criticizing shitty dudebro fans isnt bad and megfitz is right about the sexism/homophobia in older comics and like. Yeah obviously. The problem is the way shes trying to address is isnt working

[zombierunfiction]

Season 1 Mission 15: Virtuous Circle

It was three days after the Keeley Center mission and Charlotte had holded herself up in her room refusing to talk to anyone.  

Esspecially Sam.

Janine had given Charlotte a few days to recover from the shock of seeing Amir alive, but on the 4th day a knock came to the door.  Jody, whom had been sitting in the room watching charlotte just stare at the wall, walked over and opened the door.

"Hey Sam... Is something wrong?"  Jody asked.

"Oh no no... theres a mission that I think is just what Char needs to pull herself out of this dark cloud."  Sam said as he stepped in.

Jody steps aside then shuts the door.  "Good luck on that."  She said sitting back on the bed.

Sam walked over sitting on the bed next to Charlotte.  "Hey Char."  He whispers softly resting his hand on her leg.  Charlotte closed her eyes turning her head into the pillow.  Sam looked down at her sadly.  "Char I know that what ever you saw out there... really shook you... but I'm here to help you.  I really care about you.  More than I should."

Charlotte tenses slightly under his hand.  Only Janine knew why she had locked herself away and just avoided everyone.  "He's alive..."  She breathes as tears begin filling her eyes.  

"He-... Oh... Amir's alive?"  Sam asked softly as Charlotte nods as she sucks in a sob.

"He's... part of New Canton..."  Charlotte whimpers.

Sam looks down at her sadly as he looked at Jody for a moment.  Jody nodded walking out of the home.  Sam gently wrapped his arms around Charlotte pulling her into his lap.  Charlotte instantly latched onto Sam burying her face into his neck starting to sob softly.  Sam held her tight rubbing her back as he nuzzled her head gently.  

The two sat there for a bit until Charlotte's sobs turned into hic up as she held onto Sam tight  Slowly she lifted her head showing that military strength gave way to pure sadness and guilt in her eyes.  Sam reached into his hoodie and pulled out a piece of toilet paper.  He gently wiped her eyes then holds it to her.  Charlotte takes the tissue and blows her nose loudly wiping away the snot from her face.  

"I knew this was a possibility Char... but I want to ask you one thing.  Do you want me to back off and just be your friend until you find out what you want to do about Amir?"  Sam asked softly.

Charlotte looked at him hic uping sadly.  She was so torn about Amir.  Being with him she always felt like she was starving for his attention or competeing for his time.  With Sam it was effortless.  Sam was easy to care about and was ready for a hug or even a private moment together.  She reached up cupping both of his cheeks looking into his eyes before leaning over kissing him softly.  Sam hummed softly holding her gently as she slowly broke the kiss.  She looked into his eyes gently pressing her forehead to him.

Suddenly it hit her.

If the roles had been switched, Amir would have just let her lock herself away.  He didn't care.  Sam respected her enough to give her the choice but still cared about her enough to check in on her.  

"No.  It's been over for Amir and I... I want..."  Charlotte breathed deeply.  "I want to be with you... if you will have me."  She said wrapping her arms around his neck.

The smile that appeared on Sam's face could have lit up all of Abel for a week.  "Of course I'll have you.  You smart, kind, brave and... well if you don't mind me saying... uh... very sexy."  He blushed softly as Charlotte smiled petting his hair.  

They shared another kiss before Charlotte pulled back smiling.  "So what's this mission you told Jody about?"

"It's a fun mission.  Entertainment."  Sam says smiling.  "You up for it?"

Charlotte nodded.  "Let me get my face washed and ready for the mission."

"I'll let Janine know and Maxine will be joining us."  Same said as Charlotte got up slowly letting Sam get up as well.  Charlotte walked over to the mirror in the room where she ran a brush through her hair and pulled it into a tight braid quickly.  Sam stood there watching her for a moment before planting a kiss to her cheek walking out happily.  Charlotte looked at him as he walked out smiling.  She felt a weight was lifted off her shoulders.

She felt free.

She went to the wash rooms to wash her face before going to the packs.  She got her pack, axe, and headset with the head cam on then headed towards the comms shack.  

"Sam, Maxine.  I'm ready to go."  Charlotte said.

"Wonderful to hear from your Charlotte.  You're feeling better right?"  Maxine asked.

"She's fine Maxine.  I just told her the good news."  Sam said laughing softly.

Charlotte couldn't help the blush that covered her cheeks.  Sam was very proud of this apparently.  "Yeah.  I've decided I'm not going to let Amir being alive ruin the little bit of happiness I've found."

"That's my girl!"  Maxine cried as Sam smiled.  

"Alright so the mission.  As your probably aware Abel Township's been doing pretty damn well, lately.  You might have noticed that zombie attacks are right down, people aren't crying so much, the children have less scurvy, and there have been more conversations about the weather, and fewer about the inevitable demise of the human race.  Pretty good right?"  Sam said with a smile.

"It's a cirtuous circle, you know.  Happier people have better immune systems."  Maxine said.

"Right!  which is where you come in, Runner Five.  We have a special mission for you as i said.  We've fitting you with that headcam, because this should be a low-risk mission.  We're still testing that thing out.  We've heard that the big toy store on Possum Place is untouched.  We need you to go out there and get us... well, fun stuff!"  Sam said as Charlotte chuckled.  

"Any particular fun stuff?"  Charlott asks.

"I feel we can trust your judgement on this. Fun stuff!  The funner, the better." Sam says happily.

"While remembering to watch out for the zombies." Maxine counters.

"And maybe Runner Five can even make the zombies fun!  Pretend like it's... well, some kind of game!"  Sam supplies.

"Don't be ridiculous."  Maxine sighs.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry.  Okay.  Runner Five, ready?"  Sam asks.

"Ready!"  Charlotte said.

"Set?  Go!"  Sam said as the gate opened and she took off towards Possum Place.

Charlotte took the path into the shopping center where several stores have been looted and torn up.  "Sam there's no zoms or looters around right?"

"Not a soul in sight.  Why?"  Sam questioned.  

"This area looks like that game uh... what was it called.  Like a half a dozen sequals... had an abandoned town with a virus?"  Charlotte tried to think.

"Silent Hill?"  Maxine supplied.  

"Yeah Silent Hill.  I tried out one of the games and it freaked it me out.  This feels just like it."  Charlotte said as Maxine laughed softly.

"Oh poor thing.  Paula tried out Silent Hill 2 and it gave me nightmares."  Maxine said as Sam chuckled.

"I never liked horror video games."  Sam said as Charlotte looked around.  "Okay, there's the toy store at the end of the road.  Aw, man!  Look at the displays in the window!  Chipottle Labs games, Data Spire games, the new tie-in for Neroy, the Ronald Vault movie!  Well, I say 'new', I mean, 'new' six months ago, before the apocalypse."  Sam said excitably.

"I know this makes me sound lame, but I don't know if I've played any of those things."  Maxine said softly.

"Join the club Maxine."  Charlotte said as she walked inside shutting the door.

Sam laughed softly.  "That's because you spent all your time saving lives and stuff!  Not on important things like playing video-"

"Wait!"  Maxine said as Charlotte stopped.

"What?"  Charlotte questioned.

"They have the new Croatic module!  Evening of the Shambling Ones?  Oh my god, I thought that never arrived from the States before the apocalypse!"  Maxine said as Charlotte deflated.

"Maxine you're like Sam aren't you?"

"Hey!"  Sam called.

"Croatic is one of the best set of modules ever for Darkness and Demons, the roleplaying game.  The best roleplaying game ever!"  Maxine said excitably.

"You... roleplay?"  Sam questioned.

"Paula got me into it.  I thought we talked about this. That conversation we had about when the magical parasite infected her spine..."  Maxine said.

"Infected her what?!"  Charlotte said in surprise.

"I thought that was a story about a really weird day at the hosptial."  Sam supplied.

"And I had to sacrifice a goat to the god Loki to save her..."  Maxine offered.

"I did wonder about that, given your stance on alternative medicine."  Sam sighed.

Maxine sighed as well.  "You're an idiot.  Runner Five, pick up that module right away, and... damn!  Do they not have the original Darkness and Demons game pack?"

"Can't we just work with what we've got?"  Charlotte asked.

"No we need to roll out new characters.  Runner five, grab Croatic, Evening of the Shambling Ones.  I can't believe they have it!  Oh... and leave there and head straight on, you should come to a store where they'll definately stock the original rule books."  Maxine said as Charlotte sighs also picking up some card games and smaller boxed games.  She then ran towards another store down the way seeing what looks like a mall like set of shops.  "Okay, there, look - a Sea Wolf building, the little gaming store on the ground floor? Yeah, they should have it."  MAxine said as Charlotte ran down the stairs heading for the store.  

"So what am I looking for again?"  Charlotte questioned.

"You're looking for the Darkness and Demons rule book, fourth edition.  that's very important - not the third edition, that one doesn't have the additional rules for handling mind-controlled warlock-driven hordes."  Maxine said as Charlotte ran inside shutting the door.

"Okay.  Up until now, I thought you might be joking, but this is... really scary."  Sam said.

"Are you telling me you've never dabbled with roleplaying games?"  Maxine questions.

"Obviously not!  They're for nerds!"  Sam counters.

"The view must be great from your glass house Sam."  Charlotte said with a smirk.

"Oh, unlike video games."  Maxine says.

"They're mainstream!"

"Superhero comics!"

"Everybody like Batman, and Superman, and... Aquaman..."

"Cosplay?"

"I told you, that was one time only!  And just because my girlfriend at the time liked Aquaman!"  Sam says embaressingly.

Charlotte thought about the one picture of Aquaman and superimposed Sam into that outfit making a grin appear on her face.  That wasn't a bad image.  She then looked around the shelves picking up some small books for the kids.

"Mmhmm... oh, okay, good, Runner Five, that's the right rule book.  Just pick that up, and-" Maxine started as Charlotte grabbed the book before Sam came back on.

"Wait, wait, look, look!  They have the figurines, look!  Ashlaq the Snow God, Varta the Warlock of Pale Mountain, oh oh oh!  Reginald the MAgnificent!"  Sam said excitably.

"Yeah, you've never played roleplaying games?"  Maxine says sarcasticly.  "Okay, get the figurines too, Runner five, and head-"

"But, but! If we have the figurines, we need paint.  Go to, mmm... head down, um head down Deisegerrold Lane, and there should be a store here."  Sam stated.

"Which you've never been into..."  Maxine says with a grin.

"Oh shut up!"  Sam cries out as Charlotte shook her head taking out a box of figurines and putting them into the pack.  She didn't know how much longer she was going to be out but her pack was getting rather full.  She was going to have to be more selective about what she grabbed.  Charlotte ran down the walk of the mall seeing the street signs.  "There, there!  Philip's Craft Store, with the special paints.  There.  Get lots of white, you always need more of that than you think."  

"For the dry brush work, right?"  Maxine supplies.

"I think I actually love you."  Sam jokes as Charlotte looks at the paints reaching for the first white she saw.  "No, no, no not that paint Runner Five, that's only for plastic, that flakes off pewter."

Charlotte pursed her lips then looked towards other paints.  "Wait, doesn't that..."  Maxine says softly.

"Yes, yes, the red!  all the shades you can find."  Sam said quickly.

"Wait, but doesn't one of those..."  Maxine sighs softly.  "I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that one of the ingredients in Crucible Carmine has been linked to cancer in rats?"

"Maxine..."  Sam says.

"No, I read it in a medical journal."  Maxine stresses.

"Maxine, you do know where we are right?  Middle of the zombie apocalupse?  You're wondering whether something causes cancer in rats?"  Sam says as Charlotte looked around outside the shop before sitting down on one of the tables.  She was just going to wait until they came to some kind of understanding.  

"No hospitals, all the more reason to stay healthy."  Maxine said.

Sam sighed heavily.  "Yeah, okay - grab all the red except Crucible Carmine, and then... hm... wait are those acrylic paints?"

"Ooh, those don't last as long."  Maxine says softly.

"Yeah, it wears off.  We need oil paint, or enamel.  To the other craft store!"  Sam says.  

"I say no."  Charlotte said simply.

"No?  why?"  Maxine asked.

"This is the third shop you two have sent me to and niether one of you can agree on what I can get.  I've already gotten a lot of games and toys.  I will get paint but I don't think I will have enough room for everything you two think you will need."  Charlotte said as she grabbed a box of sample enamel paint and put it in her bag.  "I will however go see what else there is in this shopping area."

Both Sam and Maxine were silent before Sam sighs.  "You're right Runner Five.  I'm sorry."

"Me too."  Maxine said softly.

"No hard feelings.  This definately has cheered me up though Sam."  Charlotte says smiling as she ran out of the store and headed down the street.

"Do you think it's possible that we've sent Runner Five on a rec run for something that is a kind of um... niche interest?"  Maxine questioned.

"Hey, if you like roleplaying games, and I like roleplaying games..."  Sam said.

"I'm pretty sure we could get Runner 8 on board with this..."  Maxine says softly.

"Yeah, and Jack and Eugene, you know those guys that do the radio show?  Wait... wait! Do you think we could find... costumes?  Oh, I've always wanted a Perplexor costume!"

"With all the exclamation marks?  Mm... wouldn't suit you.  Not with you, uh... look. do you see that?"  Maxine says.

"Oh, Right.  Uh, yeah, um... Runner Five?  Looks like there are some zombies after you.  I, uh..." Sam says.

"Looks like those exlamation mark underpants will have to wait."  Charlotte said as she took off out of the shopping area.  "Sorry Sam."  

"Yeah, Runner Five - best work ever!  Com on home, now."  Sam said as Charlotte rounded the shopping center and headed back towards Abel.

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Season 1 Beginning