#deadelementsstarter

[randypike-rn]

“Sometimes I get this feeling…” Randy started in a concerned tone as he looked only foreword. “When I’m here, usually alone but…” He looked at the other person he was with. “Do you ever worry that this place is, you know? Haunted?”

[dylanxxking]

Dylan was lying awake on the gym floor. Nearly everyone in the room was asleep, except for her. It wasn’t that she was sick of sleeping on the floor, although, it was partly that, but she just couldn’t sleep. Nothing was on her mind, and the gym was quiet save the snores of those around her. She simply could not fall asleep, and so she lied there, tossing and turning, wishing she could sleep.

[thelastashmore]

"This is... Nice.              It's been forever since I've slow danced."

[marciushawthorne]

It had been what felt like months since he had taken the time to shower as long as he had this evening. The grime and layers of dirt peeled away with the application of water and soap, which came in the form of a warn white bar, turned tan by the gunk. There was a calming sense that slipped over him, and the man released a gentle sigh. It was during times like these that his mind would cloud, providing a numbing haze of memories and misfortunes.

He wondered about his mother, his father, and the land he called home. Had the disaster spread to Europe? Were his parents in danger? His days were spent preparing calculations that he would be unable to test without proper equipment, and whether it was the sheer knowledge of this that caused him to ache, or the inability to stop the weather from spreading was unclear. Nonetheless, he couldn’t keep himself from resting his head against the wall from which the shower head protruded. The water rushed over his ears, or so he interpreted it despite the water pressure being rather low.

Cool tile created a chilling patch on his forehead, that which seemed to spread through his being with each passing minute. He shivered. Pressing a palm to the wall, the man lowered his head, allowing a stream of water to drip from his chin before tilting his head backwards, doing his best to wash all the grease he could from brown locks. If only there was an answer... something to answer his prayers, to know if his parents were well--

Something sounded behind him, and the man turned about. Still not used to the lack of privacy, his hands rushed to cover himself, and with wide eyes, he did his best to find the questioning word of, “Hello?” and to allow it to slip from his lips.

[janiewhiterp-blog-blog]

It was another nightmare. It started off as a warm sunny day where she and her brother, Immanuel had been playing together. Immanuel was the first born of her siblings and the two of them were extremely close. Even though she wasn’t born right after him, that was Maria, he was the closest sibling she had, had. The two of them were running through the fields, playing hide and go seek, they were adult-aged but it didn’t stop the two. It was her turn to hide and so she had found a good spot far enough away from the spot where they had started. It wasn’t long until she heard the sounds of footsteps growing closer. Taking a deep breath she was ready to jump onto him when he came into view. But it wasn’t him. But it also was. The man before her was her brother but he was a zombie too. Her eyes widened and she screamed.

The scream woke her up and she gasped, seeing the face that hovered over her as she studied it,”S-Sorry....”

[harleenightingale]

"You - yes, you - have you seen a Jack Russel anywhere, he's small, white, has a tail?"

[gordbev]

     For perhaps the thousandth time since he had been forced out of normalcy and into this new chaotic, confusing world, Bev cursed himself for not having better boots. The ones he wore now were hardly worthy of the name; both meagre and dilapidated, held together with more grime and tape than any of the original foundation. A gift from a dead man --- creature? mutant? --- and nothing more. The boots were the perfect metaphor for his dawning perception of humanities new world: lacking.

     He cursed again and slammed the locker in front of him closed. The sound echoed, and when it died, he was greeted with a new sound: bootheels clicking across the debris-laden floor. Bev turned and looked to the newcomer. 

     "Look, you know who I need to talk to 'bout getting some new boots?"

[eleanorstone-blog-blog]

She wasn't asleep. They had to know that. It didn't matter, though, as Eleanor kept her eyes shut stubbornly, working to keep her features calm as a smile threatened her lips as hands touched her shoulder. Opposed to the past week, Eleanor felt wonderful but that didn't stop the desire to lose herself to her thoughts for a few hours. Even if that meant faking slumber. 

After a moment as the hands persisted Lou arched an eyebrow before a soft whisper left her lips, "I'm sleeping." 

[randypike-rn]

“I’m sorry, okay?” Randy backed away. “Didn’t mean to bug you, you do not have to snap at me. I’m just trying to do my job here!”

[dylanxxking]

The sky was clear and the moon was shining brightly, and that could only mean one thing: Dylan was outside. She was standing on the roof of the school overlooking the surrounding area, searching for potential threats and game. With it being nighttime, she didn't expect to find many animals scurrying about, but she was always on the lookout just in case. Finding animals that weren't infected was always a gift, and since the group could always use nourishment, getting meat at any time of day was welcome. With her bow leaning against a chair, she stood near the edge of the roof, focusing too much on the ground to notice someone joining her.

[thelastashmore]

"You're lying-- Right?          Please, please tell me you're lying."

[marciushawthorne]

There were a lot of things that could wait. Time. The inevitable swinging of an unseen pendulum that determined when a man was to die and another given birth to was no longer of the essence. Time was no longer a commodity, but daunting reminder of everyday life: inescapable incarceration of the mind, body, and soul. Time was all they had, and yet it was scarce, sacred; and when one claimed more time than another there was sure to be a seed of deceit and conspiracy behind the tightly spun words of malcontent. Once planted, the venomous bud was sure to sink its sickly roots into a man's heart, rotting him from the inside out by the use of little more than words lightly salted in utterances of "Survival of the fittest," believing that the planter of such seed is surely a daemon, and therefore must be done away with.

Time. It drove a man mad, Made him to things he never knew his hands could do And like it.

Time was the only variable that was unlikely to change, The only variable that could be relied on-- --And yet...

... Creativity waited on no man nor god or heavenly power, inclusive of the Almighty Time, and it was because of this that the man found himself sitting alone, idly drawing pale fingers across the strings of a battered guitar that had most definitely seen better days. Just as he had.

He should have been checking the weather,

He should have been sending out the latest update. But there he sat Guitar cradled in a caressing grip by long fingers Which tended to each string with such care, As if brushing the hair of his young daughter  Which he did not have. 

Instead he gave time to creativity, the one entity that disregarded Time and all its bounds.

[janiewhiterp-blog-blog]

Janie was quite new to the camp and had decided it was about time to introduce herself to the others. Even in her old survival group she kept to herself for the most part. Only speaking when spoken to and what not. Every so often she'd form a thought into words when not prompted and that usually didn't work out. She just didn't understand how others acted these days and didn't really care to know. The short brunette was content in her secluded world to think that this would all blow over and everything would be fine. Of course everything would be fine. Something like this couldn't last forever, right?

It was mid afternoon when Janie worked up the courage to go talk to someone new, she had just finished the chores she had set for herself, picking out weeds, watering the vegetables with the dirty water on hand, and have fun while doing it. The plantation back home was much bigger so she was actually able to enjoy herself a bit while she worked. It was a foreign concept to her these days, having fun that is, but doing what she hadn't been able to do in a long time was even therapeutic in a way. After she had done all that she decided to clean herself up a bit being the sweaty mess she already was she didn't want the others to see her like this when she gave her first impression. Making her way over to her to the gym she had started to drift off in thought, thinking about her times before she arrived at the camp. Having to be on constant edge, in constant fear. Sure she had to do the same here but it wasn't as bad as out there. While diving deeper into those thoughts she didn't realize that she was about to collide with an unsuspecting individual and once it did she felt the hard stop knock her out of her past and into the present. Taking a few steps back she shook her head slightly to clear the rest of her thoughts and gave the strangers a highly apologetic look,"I'm real sorry, I didn' watch where I was goin' at all. Mah mistake!" She apologized in her thick, uncultured accent.

[nick-heat-blog]

Look what I found!

[alejandro-costan]

Spreading Cheer ||Open||

"Who wants fresh baked cornbread?" announced as he walked through the barn. Moral had dropped since the farm hit a wall with the recent illness. Jando decided to make some fresh sweet corn bread to boost energy and keep people's minds off of the infection. It helped that the kitchen had more than enough corn to go around, and if he had to knock back one more bowl of corn chowder, he was going to hurl.

The bread wasn't his best work, the kitchen didn't have everything he needed. The fresh corn was had to grind without a food processor, and they didn't have buttermilk, but somehow the bread came out nice and dense, with just a hint of sweetness. It had been so long since he had made bread from scratch, he hoped it tasted as good to the others as it did to him. 

Alejandro walked up to someone he thought could use a bit of cheering up, "Cornbread?" He offered.

[eleanorstone-blog-blog]

The first thing she realized when she woke up was the shake of her hands. White walls greeted her as did stiff sheets and a wildfire in her chest. Almost instantly, Eleanor willed herself upwards and out of the bed despite the buckle of her knees and pounding of her heart. "Hey - hey - " She croaked into the silence, staggering to the locked door, her hands beating softly at first then gaining strength. The soft taps turned to pounding, her voice growing with each rap of her fist. "Let me out! Let me out!" She shouted, her fists only stopping for a moment as the door open cautiously. 

Before she let herself take in the person before her, Eleanor ran ahead, her arms fighting against their torso with as much strength as her tired bones could muster to escape the small confines of what seemed like a prison cell even if she knew it as the clinic. "Get the fuck out of my way! I'm not sick! I'm not sick!" She howled.