[Gecko] 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐞

[ Reserved for Gecko ]
[Began Writing: November 17, 2017]

The sun's light cascaded down onto the earth below and shown through the various cracks through the orange and red leaves of the trees. The leaves had begun to fall, nearly all of the trees were bare, due to the oncoming cold weather. Winter was coming and probably relatively quicker than Arthur had anticipated. Even though it was in the late afternoon, it still felt about 53° outside. A puff of white air faded into the world around as Arthur exhaled out with each bresth he took. He had been able to find himself a long sleeved button up shirt, beneath it was a long sleeved white shirt, and covering his button up shirt was a heavy, dark brown over coat. He had been forced to changed his old blue jeans for some newer ones due to the old ones having holes in them. Underneath his usual worn, brown boots was a pair of thick, grey, wool socks.

The old man glanced up at the blue sky above him and wiped a band across his brow. Was it strange for a man like him to actually sweat in cold weather? Probably. However, even before the outbreak, Arthur had found a way to sweat even in freezing weather conditions. When he was younger, his mother would often scold him for taking his warm coat off during the day and for good reason--he would catch a cold almost every time he did. Now being older, he had learned how to deal and cope with his unrelenting bodily heat, never took his coat off because of the old memories and it had saved his life in the past from being bitten by the Ophie zombies. A deep sigh came from his lios as he blinked and looked back down in the direction in front of him.

He hadn't rode a horse for quite some time and his ass was way past being sore. Though, he felt relatively comfortable and the muscle memory aided him when they were being attacked. Arthur had been able to steal at least one horse from some small group of scavengers and he made sure to pull Addison onto the horse along for the ride to escape. That had been two days ago. Arthur glanced backwards to check and see if she had fallen alseep or if she was actually still awake. He had made sure to ride nonstop and had decided to finally come to a stop once they reached a nearby house or city.

Arthur thought about the first he had even met Addison, the young woman who had snuck into a place where he has taken refuge for the night and attempted to his shit and he had caught her by grippes her wrist tightly. He had aimed his spare handgun upwards to shoot and kill the unknown their, but stopped befire he pulled the trigger once he made out it was a girl. He had been both pissed and shocked. If she had been any older, he would have followed through with his attack. However, Arthur doesn't kill kids. He could never bring himself to and broke down in tears when he had shot one a few years back. He had made sure not to lose his grip on her as he stood from his knelt position, stuffed his handgun in the back of his pants, and he tied her hands behind her back before she could do any damage to him, if she had wanted to. The next day he awoke and decided to let her go because he couldn't deal with kids (well, he thought he couldn't, even thought he knew that he had always wanted some of his own). He had basically shoved her towards the door and just as he was about to push her out, a bullet had whizzed past his head. In a rush, he had yanked her backwards and knelt down near the back of the wall after having slammed the door shut. After the battle with their enemy, Arthur had decided that he would keep her around until he found a place to leave her.

That had happened four months ago and he had found the more time he spent with her, especially in the heat of battle, he needed to protect her. Even though he didn't want to let her go, Arthur had still decided that he would leave the young girl with an old friend he knew had a place hidden out somewhere in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. The old man knew that she would be safe there, so long as wherever the place was still being held by that certain individual. Though, he hadn't told Addison any if his plan to leave her. He kept it to himself in the back of his mind. It would still take them a long while until they reached Tennessee since they were on the furthest side of Georgia, even on horseback.

Another sigh came from the old man as he turned to look back towards their destination. There was a large highschool made from red bricks and Arthur was honestly a bit surprised that they hadn't been caught by bandits, or the infected yet. They were probably hidden inside... Arthur knew that he and his young companion would handle whatever was inside...but that didn't mean that he feared for her life whenever they killed unwanted guests. He blinked as he wondered how far they were from the city of Atlanta and Arthur glanced back at Addison. He had given her the map way before they stole the horse.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison had been tightly grasping the older man's waist in her sleep as the horse trotted along. The right side of her face rested on his back and the hood of her dark green winter jacket was pulled around her head snugly enough to keep her warm, though her breath still escaped in small bursts. There wasn't exactly a wide variety of clothes to wear, so Addison stuck with what she had: a pair of ripped jeans with her t-shirt and flannel over top. It wasn't much, but it was good enough.

Addison opened and rubbed her eyes as she felt Arthur turn around, looking up at him after he turned back around. He was thinking about something, she could tell. She took a moment to look at their surroundings and see what was going on. It was getting colder outside, meaning winter would be coming soon. Addison gave a short, stifled yawn. "Are we stopping soon," she asked in a groggy voice. "My ass hurts from sitting on the horse for so long."

As Arthur turned back around, Addison suddenly wondered if they were lost. It wasn't the worst thing to happen, but it would certainly suck like hell. She felt something crinkle and looked down, seeing the map crumpled up against her jacket. That was frustrating. Addison pulled it out and flattened it out as best she could before reaching forward to pass it on to Arthur. "Here, I don't wanna hold this. I can't even read a map." She looked at the high school up ahead and furrowed her brow. If all those movies were right, it was a good thing she wouldn't have to experience high school. It seemed like hell.

Addison never had an easy time in school. She hated class and was known for ditching as often as possible as well as for picking fights. Everyone was an idiot, and asshole, or both. Her mother came down often for Addison's misconduct, which was probably one of the reasons why they fought so much. Addison's only friend was her father, and it was more than likely that he was dead, considering how long it had been since the outbreak.

While remembering school incidents, Addison cupped her hands together and blew her breath over her fingers to warm them. Her nose and cheeks were rosy from the cold already.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur perked up a bit when he heard a soft yawn and a few groggy questions come from his sleeping companion. He glanced back at her a bit and nodded, mumbling, "Yeah. I was thinkin' about checking out the highschool for supplies and maybe staying the night there if we can't find anywhere better."

He turned and made a clicking noise from his mouth and their horse quickened its pace towards the school. After a few moments, once they were in the old parking lot, Arthur heard something like paper crinkle and suddenly he was being offered the crumpled map. He took it from Addison's hand and muttered a low, "Thanks," before he stopped the horse and spread the paper a bit more. It seemed like Addison had tried to straighten the large piece of paper out for him. It took him a moment, but the old man was finally able to find the spot they were at in Georgia. It would be at least a day or two before they even reached Atlanta. They might as well stock up on what they could. Slipping off the horse, the much older male lifted the reins over the horse's head and held them close to him. A light breeze made him shudder a bit as he looked up at Addison, asking, "You wanna ride him while I guide him to the flagpole, it do you want to get off and walk with me?"

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison stared at the high school while Arthur looked at the map. She began to lose herself in old memories from before. Perhaps things would have still been shitty if the outbreak never happened, or maybe she would have lived with a family that reformed itself from terrible traditions of the past. It was one of those things that she would have to live with not knowing, and Addison was fine with that. Deep in her heart, she knew that things wouldn't have worked out in the end. Life isn't always shits and giggles.

Addison was ripped from her thoughts as Arthur got off the horse and held the reins tightly, asking if she wanted to ride him over. Her eyes wandered to the horse, looking at his dark black eyes and down the smooth snout, all the way down to a tender pink nose. It was such a magnificent beast to look at, but it also felt as though it was dangerous to sit on top of him without Arthur being there as well. Addison shook her head and slid off the back of the creature carefully, keeping her hand in his side and feeling him breathe as he waited to move forward again. She lifted her hand to pull her jacket tighter around herself as a breeze blew through. I'm already sick of being cold, Addison thought to herself bitterly as she walked alongside Arthur and the horse. Her gaze drifted over to the school, observing the area. It gave the appearance of being abandoned, but it was never safe to assume so. If that thought wasn't learned quickly, it either resulted in life or death. "Should I go in and start looking?" Addison asked, but she didn't really wait for a reply. She started walking towards the front door with her pistol in her hands and a sharp eye to the windows. Some of them were cracked or missing panes, but others were simply filthy with a lack of cleanliness.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

As he looked at her, Arthur noticed that she must've been really cold. He decided to keep a mental note to find her a large, thick coat sometime. Arthur watched carefully as the young woman got off the horse, even lifted one of his hands to hover somewhat close to her in case she fell. When she didn't, he blinked and pulled the horse over next to the bent over flagpole.

"Should I go in and start looking?" Her question and the sudden rush of her footsteps going closer to the large highschool made Arthur flip his head to the side, making him do a double take to see the young woman's back get further away from him.

He had started to reach for her, even though she was too far away from him, and let out an exasperated sigh of frustration as he called put to her, "Hold on a minute-- Addison, Wait--" When he saw that she was close to the set of different windows, he muttered out a, "God dammit..."

Quickly tying the reins of the horse to the flagpole, Arthur jogged to her with a frown on his face. "What did I tell you about runnin' into places without me nearby?" He demanded as he pulled out his small revolver before he placed his free hand on the dark green window seal, careful not to cut his hand on the broken glass, and launched his feet onto the other side. The smells of decay from the wood and whatever dead bodies lay around filled Arthur's nose. He clicked his flashlight on and looked around as he walked further down the hallway, his boots squeaking against the dirty, tan tiled flooring below him. He stopped after a few steps to make sure the few dead bodies were truly dead and turned to Addison.

"Stay near me, alright? It looks like the ceiling and floor is going to fall through at some point..." He stated as he glanced further down the hallway, where a large pothole was located.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison stopped at the first school window as she heard Arthur telling her to wait. She peeked through the window and saw nothing but rotting bodies and some damage to the room from lack of care. There was debris scattered everywhere on the already filthy floor, whether it was broken wood or blood from the dead. Glass was all over the place. The smell was flat out awful - it stung her nose. Though it was a stench she had smelled often over past years, it was a rancid odor that she would never get used to. Addison followed after Arthur, carefully mirroring what he did to avoid stepping on glass. Once she did make it through the window, there was a crunch as the glass was crunched. There was something oddly satisfying about it.

Addison pulled out her pistol and knife, grasping the knife in her left hand and holding it underneath the butt of the pistol. She glanced at Arthur as he spoke sharply to her, reminding her not to go without him, and merely gave a shrug in response. "I can handle myself," Addison muttered bitterly. "I'm not a dumb kid." She peered around a corner, examining a room carefully. It looked to be an old dusty science classroom, filled with cracked beakers and sinks. Textbooks lined the countertops, pages torn and some stuffed back inside. From what it seemed, the place was completely abandoned. There wasn't much evidence of anyone being there recently. "I don't see anything here."

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》


Arthur glanced back at her as he walked a bit further down the seemingly empty hallway. He forced himself not to roll his eyes at her muttered words-- Arthur didn't think she was dumb. In fact, what he thought was the complete opposite. Addison was very smart and quick thinking. Arthur just worried about her getting into a situation where he couldn't help her. Could he say all that to her now? No. Because he had no idea how he could possibly explain that to her. He wasn't sure if he was even communicating with her properly other than giving commands and scolding her in the form of a yell. Arthur shut his eyes and rubbed them with his thumb and forefinger. He really needed some sleep. Ever since they had taken that horse, the man hadn't gotten more than two hours of sleep and he had woken up to catch himself from falling to the ground a couple of times.

Just before he opened his eyes, sounds of strange, light groaning and whistle noises caught his ears, as well as approaching footsteps. "Shit," he whispered as he quickly backtracked himself into the same room as Addison. He only did a quick glance around, finding that they were in a science room, which had another open door at the end of the room, that connected with a smaller room that only had one long table inside it. He quickly turned to the young woman, starting to get into a crouched position. As he looked on top of the tables in the broom they were present in, he stuffed his revolver back in between his pants and brown belt before quickly grabbing a large, curved glass shard in his hand.

"Addison," he started as he pulled out some long piece of cloth, "We got company comin' down the hallway and--"

Sounds of long, slow scraping soon filled the empty room followed by heavy breathing. The old man looked towards the open door at the end of the room and his heart rate picked up when a larger infected slowly crawled into the room. It was hanging from the ceiling, it's akin had been torn, or rotted off and its nose was very large. Its sockets were empty besides the twisted up mixture of flesh, muscle, and fungus that had grown in them. It's mouth was large, wide open, and it's teeth stuck outwards like a shark. It had a very long, thin tongue, slimy saliva poured out from its wide open mouth as it began smelling around from its spot. One it's back were thousands of little fungus poking out from beneath the large layer of muscle and large, rounded green and yellow pockets pulsed from it. It had very long, large, and dull claws, which were a light, dirty grey colour, protruding from where a person's fingernails would be.

Arthur knew this one was very bad news and they needed to get the hell out of that room. Even though it could not see, it could still smell with its tongue and if it felt like it was being attacked by close range, it would make the circular pockets explode, or pop, causing spores to fly everywhere. Then the two would be screwed and infected. He quickly turned back to her with a finger to his lips and he pointed the same finger towards the other exit, where the light groaning and footsteps were getting a bit louder every second that past.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison furrowed her brow as she approached the chalkboard, observing all of the faded writings in the board. Some handprints in the dust created odd and eerie patterns. Echoes from down the hall drew her attention away from the board, and she turned as Arthur came quickly into the room with a worried look and holding a sharp piece of glass in his hand. Knowing something wasn't right, Addison crouched down instinctively and stuffed her gun in her belt. Arthur began to say something about company coming down the hall, but was interrupted by the large and ugly creature that came through the door. "Fuck," she muttered in both shock and disgust at the sight of it.

The creature itself was menacing enough, but the fact that it could crawl on the ceiling and had a rather intimidating appearance didn't help. It stuck it's tongue out to smell the room, and just as it did she looked to Arthur. He held his finger to his lips and pointed to the exit. It was right where the other creatures were coming. Addison looked around for someplace else to go, but there wasn't much. Her heart beat fast and adrenaline ran through her veins just as quickly. Beakers still lined the place, showing good potential as a distraction. She gingerly held one in her hands. It was cracked, missing a shard from the edge. The infected had a keen sense of smell...perhaps blood would help.

Addison placed the palm of her hand against the edge of the beaker and slid it across. A cut formed and blood welled up through the broken skin. It stung against the exposure to sit and fresh wound, but it didn't matter. She wiped the blood across the glass on the outside, creating a streak of crimson. Eat this, dickhead, Addison thought to herself as she hurled the glass at a corner of the room far away from her and her accomplice, creating a loud crash and shards flying out everywhere covered in fresh blood. Hopefully It was a strong scent.

Addison turned to Arthur and motioned for the door, hoping the fungus creature would take the bait. If it didn't, they'd be stuck in a room full of hungry infected, and they definitely wouldn't survive that. She wanted to get out more than ever now. Her hand was clasped around her shirt to stop the blood flow, causing the edge to be soaked. Still, in a crouched position, Addison made her way towards Arthur.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur watched what Addison did and both mentally scolded and praised her. He remembered doing something similar to her actions when he had been younger. His head snapped towards the infected as it let out a high pitched screech, turned its head around, dropped itself to the ground, and quickly crawled to the corner of the room where the loud crash came from. The only problem was getting past the other OZ's coming down the hallway. The man decided anything would be better than staying in the room with a larger infected, so he lightly grasped Addison's arm as she came close to him and quickly rushed out of the room. After having exited the room, Arthur quickly shut the door and grabbed a long piece of wood and stabbed it through the handle and a large crack on the wall nearby. Not soon after he had turned around to find seven infected all rushing towards the two survivors and he began running down the hallway to their left, yelling a not so loud, "Come on, Addison!"

His breath came out from his mouth in quickened, heavy huffs and after s while, the familiar burn in his legs, sides, and lungs started. He glanced backwards a few times to make sure his young companion was still with him and his eyes had widened a slight fraction as he found that quite a few more had added themselves to the group. Further down the hallway, another large pothole cut them off from the other side and the old man quickly turned to his right to find a set of double doors that led into a large gymnasium. He quickly ran to one of the doors and started pulling the handle and when that didn't work, he pushed it with all his might.

It didn't move much.

An exasperated sigh flew from his thin, chapped lips as he glanced over to see the infected having up on them and he began to ram his shoulder into the door over and over again. When he got it opened enough for the two to at least slip inside, Arthur grabbed Addison by the arm and placed her next to the door.

"Get inside!" He commanded as he pulled his revolver from in between his belt and blue jeans. Clicking the safety off, he locked eyes with her, "I'll be right behind you..! Hurry-!" It was when one of the infected were too close for Arthur's comfort that he began to shoot the advancing infected in the head.

Four went down with one shot, while he was forced to shoot quite a few others times due to their heads having a type of hardened, fungi "helmets." Sweat poured down his reddened face and he muttered a "Shit!" when his finger had pulled the trigger and all he heard was a fast click. He was out of ammo and didn't have enough time to reload...! He stuffed the small gun back into its usual spot right before he was suddenly and roughly pushed against the wall by an infected much taller than he. Arthur growled with a killer's snarl on his face as he pushed back with all his might, all the while trying not to get bitten by the damned thing. It took him a few, agonisingly long moments, but he managed to shove the creature off of him and shoved it down into the sunken hole that had been a few feet from him. It fell backwards, letting out screeches and strange grunts, it's arms outstretched towards the man, as if thinking it would somehow get a grasp on him if it reached hard enough, before it eventually disappeared into the darkness.

Arthur continued to do the same with three other infected, each landing on the bottom with a sickening, loud crunch, and finally fell silent. The last enemy had gotten behind him and Arthur had quickly shoved it backwards a few times against the wall. As soon as it's grip had weakened on him, the man threw his own arm upwards to remove the infected's arm, turned around, and gripped the creature's neck and head and smashed it into the wall beside them. Huffing, Arthur gazed down at its slump, dead body and he turned his attention to Addison.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison jumped as Arthur grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room. She followed him out, hearing the large infected screech as it realized nothing was there for it to devour. The teen turned to see if it had followed them out, but was met with the door slamming shut and a broken board being shoved through the handle and a crack in the wall. The creature wailed from behind the door and clawed at the wood. Before she had time to process what had happened, Arthur took off down the hall and commanded her to follow. Addison saw the infected scampering towards them, some crawling over others in an attempt to catch their prey. She immediately turned and sprinted after Arthur with adrenaline coursing through her veins.

Arthur had been checking back a few times, and once his eyes widened. Addison knew it wasn't a good sign, and so she put a little more speed into her step. He went sharply around a corner, to which Addison followed. She stopped as Arthur did, seeing that they were trapped at double doors. Addison's hands went to her pistol and knife again as she waited for the infected while the sounds of Arthur ramming his shoulder into the door filled the halls. "They're getting closer," Addison told him in a panicked tone. Only a few moments after the words escaped her lips, Arthur took her arm and pulled her to the door. He locked eyes with her. "I'll be right behind you..! Hurry-!" Addison nodded and squeezed through the doors, pushing into the other side.

Upon stumbling to the other side, Addison was met with a recently infected woman that tackled her to the ground with a scream. There was a loud clatter as the knife skittered away from her hand. "Fuck-!" Addison grunted upon making impact to the ground and put her hand to the woman's neck, feeling the dried blood and growing fungi on her withered skin. The yelling and groaning resonated loudly in the gym, meaning that others might follow if there were any more. Addison reached for her knife with her other hand, the handle barely brushing the hilt. The infected woman pushed downwards more, slipping out of Addison's grip just as she moved away. The woman's face thudded onto the gym floor and Addison reached for her knife. She whipped around to stab the infected creature and managed to land a stab right between the eyes as it tried to sneak a killing blow. The woman's face was already covered in blood due to what was probably a broken nose, but now it was nearly drenched.

It collapsed and Addison stood up while panting, looking at the door and seeing Arthur through the crack. He had just finished killing all of them - a feat she was rather impressed with. Addison wiped blood off of her hands into her jeans and went to the door to grasp the handle. She held it firmly and started to yank on it. "C'mon Arthur, we gotta move! Some more of those things might be on their way." Seeing how she couldn't move the door in the slightest, Addison let go of the handle and took a step back, careful not to slip on the blood pooling around the corpse. She took a minute to examine the gymnasium.

Large bleachers were pushed against the walls with few blood stains on them. They were blue and silver, which were most likely the school colors. Cots, metal chairs, and tables were tossed around the floor. It looked as though the place was originally used as some sort of safe haven for people during the outbreak. It wasn't that safe, apparently. Some cots had dried blood, but other than that it was simply abandoned. On the opposite wall was a large picture of a cartoon raven dribbling a basketball with a grin on its face. There were rays of light coming from two sets of doors on the same wall, each on one side of the gym. Lights? Either somebody was here or it was the way out. "Arthur, hurry up," Addison said in a quieter voice - just in case.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

He was still trying to catch his breath when Addison had told him to get inside the gym as well, he made his way to the set of doors and began to push one a bit more after she had tried to pull the same one open for him. When he eventually made it inside with a grunt, Arthur rushed towards her after having seen the dead infected on the floor. He took while of her shoulders and did a once look over, and asked with a hint of a worried tone of voice, "You okay?"

Afterwards, he took the chance to reload his revolver. Once he had the seven rounds loaded, he snapped the cylinder shut and decided to keep it out in case anymore infected came about. He saw the lights coming from the sides of the large room they were in and began to look around. If somebody was living there, then he would have to be on high alert. Most of the living survivors were much worse than the infected-- Arthur knew because of his own personal experience, both being a victim and an assailant...

He shook the old memories away.

"Don't dwell on the past, Arthur. It'll eat and tear you apart from the inside." Sasha's words rang through his head and his heart suddenly felt like it was being clenched with sorrow. He couldn't have saved her even if he had tried; she had been bitten twice in their adventure after having met Addison.

Shit, the memories still flood my goddamn head... He thought to himself with a grimace and a frown.

He snapped out of his dreary thoughts and returned his attention to the present, which was to look into the side where the lights were coming from.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison nodded and glanced back at the body on the ground. It was gross to look at. "Yeah, I'm fine. It took me by surprise." She walked past Arthur as he checked his rounds and headed for one of the doors, wading through the sea of cots and tables. There were no bodies, no infected to worry about in the room. Addison went to the door with her pistol in hand and ready to use. She looked through the window of the door and saw that it was a locker room. It looked almost untouched. Addison looked back at Arthur and saw that he was lost in thought, something that bothered him. She didn't know what else to do, so she pressed her hand against the door and held her pistol up in case anything - or anyone - tried to jump her like the last infected did.

The locker room didn't have much in it. As she went deeper in, Addison saw that some people must have rummaged through the lockers, but there wasn't much else. It was a dead end. She walked out with a sigh, glancing at Arthur. He had snapped out of his thoughts by now. "This one's just some damn locker room," Addison said to her older companion with some minor disappointment. She had hoped for some loot at the least. Her attention went to the next door. As she got closer, it was evident that this was the way out. She could see a treeline through the window.

"Here's the way out. Are we gonna try clearing the place out and staying here?" Addison looked at Arthur as she stopped next to the door, grabbing the metal handlebar and light putting weight on it. Even with a gentle touch it squeaked from rusty joints. The place was shit, but it was also shelter. Hopefully they weren't anymore infected to worry about. With it getting colder outside, they wouldn't have much choice in where to sleep.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur followed the young woman into the room and looked around once inside. It was just a locker room and Arthur wondered if the school could have been an only girls, or guys, school. He remembered when he had gone to highschool and chuckled under his breath. That had been so long ago, in another world. Shaking his head a bit, he began to look inside the lockers. To his annoyance, he couldn't get the ones with locks on them open and he mentally wished he had a pair of pliers. Unfortunately, Arthur didn't have that much room inside his very old, worn, dark green backpack. What he could make out inside them were either old, torn clothing, a stick of deodorant (God, he missed deodorant...), and a few cosmetics laying in the floor.

He made his way into the small office and only found a silver lighter hidden underneath a little caramel flower plot. The plant that had been planted inside it was dead and wilted. Exiting the room, he walked across the locker room and looked behind a section behind the wall. There were five sections of small showers, the rules on the floor had been cracked and when he pulled back one of the curtains, that was attached to the last shower space to his right, he grimaced and scowled in disgust. Not bothering to cover his nose, Arthur let out a breath as he turned his head away. Huddled near the far left corner, seated limply against the corner the small walls created, was a dead body. Flies buzzed around its form and Arthur decided to look inside the small black bag that the body still held. He didn't find anything.

The old man stood up just as he heard Addison's voice and called back to her, "Alright I'll come have a look." He quickly walked back toward Addison and looked up at the window that led to the outside. As he thought on her question, he sighed, tilted his head a little, and itched the back of his neck. If they stayed in the gym for the night... That one large infected was still crawling around and Arthur was worried about it coming inside while they were defenceless... He had lowered his hand back to his side and crouched down to pull the folded map out. His grey-blue orbs quickly danced about the large piece of paper and it took him a little while to find which highschool they were at. Once he found that, he traced his finger down the blue line that represented the road they were just on. Not too far down the road from them, there was a small town. They could probably rest in one of the houses for the night, scavenge in the morning, and then continue towards Atlanta.

He folded the map, put it back inside his backpack, and stood up. "I say let's go on down to the small town that's close by. We can stay there for the night, look for supplies in the mornin', and continue to Atlanta later on in the day." Looking at her, he adjusted his backpack's shoulder strap and placed a hand on his hip. "What do you think?"

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison listened as Arthur laid out his plan and silently nodded, using her shoulder to push against the door while leaning down on the handlebar. "What about people being there," she asked as she analyzed the surrounding area. "If we think it's a safe spot, then some other asshole is gonna think the same thing." Outside the gym door there was nothing but some old litter and weeds growing between cracks in the pavement. There was a lone white car that was dirtied with handprints and had a flat front left tire. Addison stepped outside and held the door open for Arthur as she continued looking around carefully.

As she looked around, Addison started thinking about people other than Arthur and herself. From her personal experience, everyone was an asshole except for a select few. A few nights before meeting Arthur, Addison had narrowly escaped the clutches of some drunk men after trying to get some sleep by a stream. They originally offered a safe haven, but they turned hostile as she denied them. Meeting Arthur so soon afterwards, of course she didn't like the looks of him. Good thing he wasn't as trigger happy as she was, or else things might have gone very differently.

Addison stepped onto the pavement and looked at where they were. She saw that they were at the back of the school now, and so she began heading around to the front towards the horse. Things seemed clear around the outside of the school.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur listened to Addison carefully and a crinkle came to his brow as he mulled that information over. The sixteen year old was right. If they thought it might be a safe place, then others could very well think the same thing. However, that had never stopped Arthur from getting what he wanted, and needed, in the past. He followed her outside and spoke to her as he past her smaller form, "Thanks. We will figure somethin' out. If they're hostile, just stick to me and I'll handle them. Even if they aren't hostile, still stick with me."

Arthur knew that Addison could handle herself, however the many close calls they had over the past few months still made him worry for her. He wasn't sure how to express his worry other than yelling and using his anger-- taking out the frustration out on her. Of course, nearly five or ten minutes later, the old man would be filled with guilt for yelling at her or possibly hurting her feelings. Arthur just didn't know how to express his emotions towards her, much less other people, and although he used to express family related love with physical contact, he wasn't going to give her a hug. He never thought she would like it, nor did he ever ask her opinion.

As he yet again followed behind Addison toward the front of the school, Arthur made sure to keep an eye out for any infected or living enemies. Once they reached the front, he slowed his job down to a quickened walk and came to a stop at the flagpole the horse was tied to. Arthur untied it and waited for Addison to get onto the horse.

"You need any help up?" Came his question as he spotted something moving from within the school.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison put her gun in her belt and sheathed her knife as they approached the horse, Arthur untying the beast from the pole. She put her hand against the horse's side, feeling it breathe and the strong hide under her palm. In her life, she had never seen anything larger than a cow in person. It felt comforting in a way to stroke such a magnificent creature. Addison took her hand off as Arthur spoke and gave a curt nod. "I can do it." She stepped onto the stirrup and started to lift herself up, but felt herself slipping at the same time. Addison gave up on the attempt and looked back at Arthur. "Actually..."

When she looked at Arthur, Addison noticed that he was looking at the building. Her hand went to the hilt of her knife, fingers grasping around the smooth handle. "What is it?"

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur returned his attention back to his young companion and shook his head. "It's nothing. Let's get you on the horse and start headin' towards the town," he spoke as he knelt down a bit and linked his fingers together for her to step on.

However soon after he had gotten into position, he hadn't noticed something the colour of a dark pink wrap around his ankles, and both his feet were suddenly thrown out from beneath him. He landed on the concrete on his back with a short, loud yell of pain and he felt his stomach lift a bit (much like the feeling of when somebody rode a dollar coaster and their heart got stuck in their throat) as his entire body was being pulled back towards the right side of the school.

"Shit--! Addison, stay with the horse-!" He had yelled, knowing that she probably wouldn't.

When his head cleared of the initial pain, he finally lifted it, touching his chin to his throat, and noticed that a tongue had wrapped around both his ankles and was pulling him back within the school. He was soon pulled into a hole that was on the side of the school and muttered, "Shit!" as he hit his left, upper arm against some of the loose, red bricks of the wall. Reaching for his pocket, he took out a small knife he had snagged off a dead corpse of an infected and forced himself into a somewhat seated position. He would have thought he looked like some sort of cartoon character seated the way he did, his glaring face red, and his hands furiously trying to grasp at the piece of the tongue that had a good hold on his ankles. When one of his hands finally had a firm grip on the slimy appendage, Arthur leaned forward a bit more and began to furiously hack his knife into it. Something screeched in pain further down the hallway and as he was coming up to the familiar corner of one of the walls, the tongue began to whip side to side.

The creature's reaction to his cutting it tongue cause Arthur to suddenly slam his entire side near the corner of the wall with another yell of pain. It seemed like forever until his weapon was actually near the middle of the pink, slimy appendage--the damned thing was thick like a donkey's hide-- and Arthur finally looked up. His grey-blue eyes flew wide open as he saw he was headed for the same pothole he had used to his advantage, of killing some infected earlier, and he quickened his slashing, sports of blood flying nearly everywhere.

ShitShitShitShitShitDammitDammitShitDammitDammitShit--! Arthur's mind screamed at him in panic as he continued to glance between his busy hands and the fast approaching hole that could certainly lead him to his death, or break a-lot of bones in his body.

At the last minute, the tongue finally snapped off and Arthur turned in time to grip some of the concrete slab beneath the flooring. He had let out another yell just as his lower body literally flew itself off the side before he was able to miraculously grab the concrete slab. Sweat poured down his face as he glanced down and inhaled and exhaled heavily when he attempted to grip another piece of concrete slab to start forcing himself up towards the close, open exit. One of his hands lost its grip and he panicked as he quickly gripped another piece, thanking God for his quick reflexes. His heart felt like it was tightly squeezing within his throat.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison nodded and sheathed her knife again, then proceeded to lift her foot to boost herself up onto the horse. As soon as she had, however, Arthur was yanked backwards and sent to the ground. In surprise she yelped and slammed her foot back to the ground, watching as Arthur was dragged away. "What the fuck? Arthur!" His words had reached her ears as they rang out, but she didn't listen, of course. Instead, Addison abandoned the horse and took off after her captured companion, sprinting in the direction he went.

Addison stopped at a hole in the side of the school, placing her hand on the upper lip of it. She peered in and slowly crawled inside, pulling out her pistol while tightly grasping it. Echoes of Arthur's voice resonated deeper inside alongside a loud screech. She quickened her pace as best she could while also staying cautious of what was happening up ahead. The sound of Arthur's yells of pain and the provoked creature worried her. It had taken him so quickly that she couldn't tell if he had fought back in time. The other half of her mind argued that it was Arthur - it was tough to kill that old bastard.

"Arthur," Addison called out wearily. "Are you dead?" She heard the sound of things sliding and then silence accompanied by heavy breathing. It didn't sound like it belonged to one of the infected. Addison noticed that there was a hole in the ground up ahead, squinting in an attempt to see better through the darkness. She suddenly realized that it was Arthur clinging to the edge for dear life. "Holy shit, you scared the hell out of me!" Addison grabbed the man's arm just before the armpit and started to pull him to safety. "Come on! Did you kill it?" She did her best to not look down past him and into the hole in fear of what she might see past the darkness.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

"Yeah, me too...!" He growled back up at her as he continued to climb up a bit more. He gazed up at the young girl as he felt a pair of hands grip underneath his armpit and helped him out thebredr of the way. Once on the floor, he let out a deep breath of air and closed his eyes a moment, muttering a, "No. The damn thing is still alive down there. Let's just get to the damn horse and the town. I'm done with this shit today..."

He stood up with a grunt, a few cuts and bruises shown through the torn parts of his coat and shirt underneath. Arthur rubbed the back of his hand on his runny nose and sniffed at the clear mucus that still dripped from the noatrils. Informing the uncomfortable feeling, he started walking towards the hole where they had both entered. When he got outside, he turned to her and looked her in the eye, stating a sincere, "Thanks...Addison." Arthur truly meamt it. He wished he knew how to express how much he felt gratiditue towards her and how much he probably owed her besides basically his life from the many times they'd had close calls. He really hated being awkward with those types of things...

He made it to horse and, facing towards the school, knelt back down a little, intertwined his fingers together, and looked over at her with a quick smirk. He tilted his head to the side a bit as he said, "Let's try this again without anything grabbin' at our ankles. Come one."

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison glanced down at the hole one more time to see if anything would come back, but nothing did. She breathed out a sigh of relief and wiped some sweat from her brow. The excitement by itself was enough for one day. The young woman looked at Arthur as he stood up and observed the cuts and tears on his clothes and skin. It didn't look like anything infected him. The last thing they needed was for someone to be infected. Her attention was brought back as Arthur began sniffing and wiping his nose with the back of his hand. Unconsciously, her hand rested on the hilt of her knife as they walked out of the tunnel, expecting something else to happen. Instead, Addison got an awkward "thanks" from Arthur.

"Don't mention it," Addison replied with a wave of her hand. "I know you'd do it for me." She could tell that he wasn't good at thanking people, it was rather obvious. Addison was the same way - and she also didn't like the feeling of having to repay people, of owing a debt. As Arthur knelt down and locked his fingers together, Addison chuckled and nodded her head. "Yeah, that sure as hell is easier." She placed her foot on his hands and pushed herself up, swinging her leg over the horse and sitting on its back. "Okay, old man. I'm up." With a mischievous glint in her eye she extended a hand to Arthur to help pull him up if he needed it.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur lifted a thick, grey brow as he listened to Addison soeak and once her foot was on his hands, he lifted her up with a small grunt. He let out a breath of a chuckle and smirked a bit at her comment and he looked at her, then the horse, and he shook his head some when he got on too of the horse.

"I'm not that old, kid," he stated as he pulled the reins and the horse turned and began walking down the road they had just stepped off of.

After an hour or so, Arthur stopped the horse and said, "Alright. Quick break. Get a snack or somethin' out, cause I won't be stopping again after this."

He hopped off and reached down into his backpack for the map, as well as the old canteen he had found, and a small chewy bar he had started to eat for breakfast. The cold child forced his body to shiver a bit as he placed the rest of the chewy in his mouth, it only fitting halfway. As the crunching sounds echoed rather loudly down the empty road, Arthur gazed down at the map and nodded after a moment as he folded it back up and placed it in one of his shirt's pockets. After slipped his dark green backpack on, the older male waited a few moments to see if his younger companion had finished whatever she had been doing.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison chuckled as Arthur commented that he wasn't as old as she had implied. She held on to Arthur as they started off again on their journey.

Once they stopped after a while, Addison stretched her arms out and cracked her back some. It felt good to do that after a while of staying in the same position. She swung her backpack around and unzipped it, then reached inside. She pulled out a granola bar and unwrapped it, stuffing the wrapper back in her backpack as she munched on the snack. Addison zipped the bag back up and put it on her back once more.

"Hey Arthur?" Addison asked. "Uh...do you think...do you think that I'll ever find my dad? It's been so long." She didn't like asking questions like that, but it was one that had been bugging her for a while. Her dad was all she had left from before the apocalypse, and she didn't want to lose him. It just seemed so hopeless to keep holding on to the thought, but she subconsciously wanted some comfort from Arthur.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

He had zoned out a few moments before he was brought back to the present by Addison's voice and he glanced back at her with a thoughtful, short, "Hm?" The question she had asked him made his blue-grey eyes shift to different places in thought and his lips pursed together real tight as he came up with a repsonse. Arthur wasn't one for lying, nor did he like it. In fact, he hated it and anyone who lied to him. It had gotten the old man in plenty of horrid situations before and it was because other, old comrades of his had lied to buyers, sellers, possible allies, etc. He let out a slight, short huff of a sigh and began to speak:

"Well... I know you probably don't wanna here this, but I personally don't think he made it. A lot of people died or got infected after the virus went world wide... Then again," he paused a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "I may be wrong and he might have made it. You never know."

He glanced back at her to see if she would say anything to him and to see if she understood her response.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison listened as he gave his answer and gave a slow nod. She half-expected the answer to be something to make her feel a false hope, but Arthur wasn't one for bullshitting people like that. It gave her a better sense of trust in him, like he wouldn't ever lie to her or keep secrets. Addison sighed and played with a piece of thread hanging off the edge of her shirt, taking a few seconds to cope with what she heard before responding.

"Thanks," she eventually replied. "I appreciate you not bullshitting anything. It helps." Addison looked back at the trees and rubbed the back of her neck in slight embarrassment. God, sappy stuff was so...sappy. She just hoped that they'd be at the town soon so that she could get off the damn horse for a while. Addison took a moment to fix her reddish-brown hair since it had gotten messy after their encounter at the school. She pulled it back into a ponytail once again. Fuck...I could really use a shower or something.

"Are we almost there?" Addison asked out of annoyance. She was getting tired.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

The old man blinked as he slightly turned his head to glance back at her. After a few seconds, he offered her a slight nod and mumbled as he turned to face the road in front of them, "I don't usually bullshit unless I have to. ...You're welcome."

It was quite some time until Arthur heard his younger companion speak and he glanced at the road sign that they passed. He didn't turn to face her the next time he spoke, "I think so... We should be gettin' near it pretty shortly."

Arthur knew that Addison was tired and she wanted to get into a comfy bed, or whatever the next house they chose to stay in had to offer them. Sleep sounded wonderful to him, also. Especially since he hadn't slept much the past few nights. The horse let out a short snort from its nostrils and Arthur looked around. His grey-blue orbs squinted a bit together as he could see the beginnings of the outlines of a house come into view. Then more and more began to take shape as they got further down the road.

He couldn't help the sigh if relief that slipped through his thin lios as he said, "We made it."

He lightly kicked his heels into the horse's sides to make it begin to jog towards the town. It's hooves hit against the road; cracks had formed onto the black surface from unuse and the overthrowing vegetation. Arthur kept his eyes peeled for anything, or anyone, that decided to surprise attack them as they entered the small town. Quite a few of the houses were in pretty good shape, while others were halfway, or completely, broken and crumbled to bits of concrete, brick, and wood. He finally commanded the horse to come to a halt as they neared a house Arthur thought might be good enough to stay in for the night. Sliding off the tamed beast, he huffed a bit as he pulled out his handgun and felt his knees, ankles, and back pop after having been in the same position for a couple of hours.

"I don't see or hear anything," he stated as he looked about the surroundings, finally deciding it would be alright to enter the house.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addy sighed in reply as they continued on their journey in silence, eyes set on the ground below that slowly trot past. There wasn't much else to do, anyways. A part of her longed for some safe haven to stay at, where they'd never have to worry as much about stupid shit. Not that basic survival was nothing; just that they could have a good night's sleep for more than one day in a row. It'd be nice to have that. Addy could feel herself beginning to get a little sore from sitting on the horse for so long, but decided not to complain. They had enough on their plate to worry about. But it really sucked.

Before Addy could give in to her temptation to whine about it, Arthur alerted her to the fact that they found a place. With almost too much enthusiasm in her smile, the young girl grabbed on tightly to the older man's waist to ensure that she wouldn't tumble off the beast, gazing at the house that came into view. The place didn't look too bad for what the world had to offer nowadays for shelter. It almost felt too good. But Addy's surprising amount of optimism overcame the thought as she hopped off of the horse, pausing only to adjust her backpack and stretch some. It felt good to finally move around. She slid the knife slid out of its sheath and held it so that it pointed outwards and followed Arthur to the house, not really bothering to double check for anything this time around.

Immediately upon stepping over the threshold, Addy looked for a nice place to sleep. Things seemed rather intact, even if it was rather unkempt. It looked like the place had been ransacked before on more than one occasion. Rubbish was strewn about the place (not an unusual sight), and chairs were tossed on their side. Clearly in view was a comfy-looking green couch in the living room, practically begging to be used. Relaxation was like a package deal with the furniture. Right across from the living room was the kitchen, which was bound to bear no food. Addy looked straight ahead and saw stairs leading upwards.

"I'll go check upstairs real quick," she said as she headed for the stairs and climbed upwards. There weren't many rooms: only two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a closet. The first bedroom appeared to be a parent's room while the one to the right was a boy's room, probably not much older than she was. It was painted blue and was covered in posters, some faded, others torn beyond recognition. The kid appeared to be a baseball fan, seeing as there was a neat little stand with a dusty bat on it. A signature was scribbled on the side, though who it was couldn't be made out. Addy grasped the handle and carried it downstairs, twirling it about. "Arthur, check this fucker out! It looks sturdy."

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

The older male walked inside and gazed around. Every room was pretty close together, which was somewhat good, meaning that if anyone barged in, Arthur would know in an instant. He heard Addison speak as he headed for the kitchen and his head turned towards her with a nod.

"Okay. Yell at me if anything happens and I'll be right up," he stated as he continued into the kitchen.

He didn't find anything besides molded bread, which he was not going to even touch due to his allergy to penicillin (it didn't effect Arthur as bad as it had been when he was younger, but it still gave him a hell of a fever and upset stomach whenever he consumed it). Walking out of the kitchen and around the stairs, he found a bedroom. The bed was missing the mattress and the closet still had some clothes in it. The windows were boarded up and had a few, tiny holes that were possibly made by wood bees. His feet guided him to the door on the far right and when he tried to open it, he grunted a bit as he figured it was blocked on the other side. Arthur made his way back outside to check on the horse, feeling a bit relieved when it was still there.

Taking its reins, he walked around the small house, finding a wooden fence going in a large square in what he guessed was the back yard. Once he unlocked the gate, he guided the horse into the fence and closed the gate behind them. There wasn't much. Just a broken down, rusty set of swings, a tilted slide, and an abandoned treehouse. There was also a small sandbox still full of sand and Arthur smirked a bit at his childhood memories of playing in one of his friend's mini playground when he was young. He would be allowed to play after her helped out with the chores at the barn, taking care of the animals and helping with tending the crops. The older male blinked as he let the horse go, while stroking its nose a bit, and he began climbing the small ladder to the treehouse. He was nearly at the top when a long, loud creak emitted from the wooden ladder beneath him and he gazed up with realization and muttered an, "Ah, fu--"

He fell to the ground with a cry of pain and a song of swear words flew from his mouth as he rolled over onto his stomach to push himself up. He rubbed his back as bit as just as he turned to look at the treehouse, finding most of the ladder broken off, he heard Addison's voice yell for him. Inhaling rapidly, with his face still red from pain and anger, he stomped back into the house and upstairs. It didn't take him long to find his young companion and he muttered a quick, "What did you find?"

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addy proudly took the handle of the bat, feeling the wood beneath her fingers. She lightly swung it around once to get a feel for it. Nice weight to it, I guess. Baseball bats weren't exactly her expertise, but it felt like it would have some power to it if she used it on someone. It would hurt like hell, that was for sure.

Addy stared at the base of the bat and imagined a situation where she would need to use the bat. Hopefully, it wouldn't come down to that. If somebody got that close, it wouldn't be for good reason. She hadn't needed to deal with that type of scenario so far, but...the thought was worrying. If somebody got that close, it would probably mean Arthur wasn't nearby to help.

The sound of footsteps interrupted her thoughts as she looked to where Arthur was with a smile that quickly disappeared, seeing that he wasn't happy and was obviously angry. She half-wondered if it was because of something she did, but the thought escaped her mind. "What did you do? You look pissed." The bat sunk down to her side as she leaned against it, the head of the bat to the floor.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur huffed as he came to a stop and rolled his shoulder a bit. Grumbling, he answered her question quickly, "I was trying to get in the god damn tree house and the ladder broke and I fell to the f*cking ground...!"

Closing his eyes, he inhaled and calmed down more than he had. "I'm okay, though..."

He took a couple more steps in the room and his eyes gazed down at the bat she had found. He hummed some in approval as he observed it. "Baseball bat, huh? It looks in pretty good shape. Gonna be good for any close range combat."

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison's brow arched in question as she leaned forward a bit to peer out of the edge of a nearby window. Sure enough, beneath the tree house was a mangled mess of wood. It didn't look like too bad of a drop, but certainly one that would hurt at least a little bit. She looked back down at the bat and held it again in both hands as Arthur pointed out its good condition and nodded. It definitely was in really good shape for lasting so long into this shitty world. Some nails in the thicker end would make it a formidable weapon. The more thought that was put into the weapon, the better it seemed to get.

Addison turned her attention to Arthur again, this time seeing how tired he looked. The realization dawned on the girl that he had been up for far longer than she had, that he didn't get quite as much rest. At the moment, his rest was far more vital than hers - he knew how to control and ride the horse. The less sleep he got, the longer it would take to get to their destination in good time.

"You look like shit. Get some sleep, I'll keep watch."

She gave a stern look, one that indicated that she wouldn't let Arthur say no to the offer. The bat was set on the nearby counter and her backpack swung off of her shoulders, setting it down alongside the bat. It was zipped open, and Addison rummaged through some before leaving it alone and turning to face Arthur again, the palms of her hands resting behind her on the counter. She would need to find a comfortable spot to keep watch at, but not too comfortable. After all, it would be unfortunate if she fell asleep on the job. Arthur would never trust her again. At least, she thought so.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur let out a sigh as he slowly walked to the bed, gazed around the room for a bit, and finally over to the window. Looking out, the sky began to turn darker by the minutes that passed by.

"You look like shit."

His brows furrowed some as he glanced down at the floor and then turned to his young companion. A bit of offense was in his eyes and tone of voice when he asked, "Excuse me?"

When Addison continued her sentence, telling him to sleep while she go on watch duty, he scoffed. "Addison, I can stay up. You should--"

He began as he watched her expression change to complete determination. She obviously wasn't going to allow him to stay up, no matter how much he'd argue with her. Sometimes Arthur thought she got her stubbornness from him... After a few moments of staring and silence, the old man finally sighed and relaxed a little.

Looking over at the bed, he shook his head and said, "Fine. I'll get some shut eye, but," He looked over at her, his tired eyes serious. "If anything happens, you wake me up. Understand?"

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison smirked as Arthur gave in to her demands and nodded. She figured that he would say something along the lines of 'wake me up if something happens' and nodded it off as well, but she would definitely let him know if something was wrong. Her hand reached back and grabbed the strap of the backpack, yanking it along as she went to the window of the house that looked out onto the road barren of life, sitting on a rather ugly yellow armchair. After pulling out a ratty old comic book from her backpack Addison set the bag against the side of the armchair and started to thumb through the pages. It was pretty faded and water damaged, but it was okay. She enjoyed making up some of the words that would go in the once-white speech bubbles, having the heroes and villains say stupid things.

"Oh no, my clothes are straining underneath my giant muscles," she exclaimed softly in a deeper voice, mimicking what she thought the hero was saying on one page. Her voice changed to a higher pitch as she switched to the woman with jet black hair. "It's okay, your good looks will still save us all!"

It didn't make sense, but she had been doing it for so long that she was running out of ideas. A new comic was needed. Addison scoffed to herself as she flipped to the next page and glanced outside again. The sun was starting to sink behind the trees, turning the room darker by the minute. Soon it would be difficult to read the comic book. Bored, the teen rested her chin on the palm of her hand as she watched the outside world with a rather dull look on her face. As time sluggishly moved on, Addison's eyelids grew lower and lower with the weight of sleep on them.

Later, Addison woke with a jolt. It was now pitch black out, excluding the natural light from the stars and moon. Shit...looks like this chair was nicer than I thought. She glanced around to see if Arthur had taken notice when there was the sound of something snapping outside, immediately grabbing her attention as she froze. Leaning forward, Addison grabbed her switchblade from her pocket and opened it up as she stared at the window. It didn't look like there was any of the Infected outside. The horse was looking anxious, nodding its' head up and down and tapping its' hooves on the ground. Finally, she noticed it. A figure standing nearby, eerily gazing in her direction and seemingly waiting for something. Addison crouched down and slowly went back to where Arthur was sleeping. She grabbed his arm and shook.

"Arthur," she whispered. "Arthur, there's some dickhead waiting outside! Wake up!"

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Once Arthur saw Addison get comfortable in an old, yellow chair, he finally allowed himself to take off his pack and placed it on the ground by the bed. Taking the dustied pillow, he padded it down a bit before laying on the bed. The matress's springs creeked in various noises as he got comfortable and he let out a comfortable groaned sigh. Just to be safe, he placed his handgun on the side of the bed that was against the wall. Closing his eyes, he kept repeating in his head that Addison would be just fine and she would wake him if anything bad began to happen. After a few moments of silence, he heard Addison speak something in a deep tone and then a lighter tone. The sentences made him chuckle a bit and he let out anther sigh. Soon after, he finally fell asleep.


"You son of a bitch!! How could you?!" A voice screamed at Arthur in the darkness.

Soon, the darkness faded into the familiar house the man had grown up in. Around it were the large mountains a long ways off, the fences covering the fields to keep the livestock in, and far away was a large revenue where a large river was. Down the road to the left was a barn as well as the neighbor's, house. Arthur was soon inside the small house, in the living room, and everything was where it had been how he'd remembered it. Sand colored carpet beneath his boots, a small couch next to the front door, windows behind it. Next to couch, to the right, on the other wall was the fireplace, next to the was a rectangle wooden table, which had a table cloth on top, and had various, glass statues of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, as well as a large Bible in the middle of them. Across from the table was an old piano, and on the wall opposite of the couch was a large painting of a deer next to a large tree stump.

Arthur was suddenly in a scene he'd tried to forget. He had the shotgun aimed downwards, towards the floor, and smoke was floating from the barrel. A man was breathing near him as hard as he was and Arthur finally gazed down at the dead body on the floor. Blood poured from the two gunshot wounds, one in the leg and the other in the head. The white nightgown was being stained by the horrible, red liquid. Arthur's young, shaking form was suddenly grabbed by the man close to him, who began yelling with anger and shock, "You son of a bitch!! How could you?! That was your mother!!"

He snapped out of his shock and shoved the fat man off of him. "I-I... She was gonna kill you, Bill! What did you expect me to do?! Let you die?!" He screamed back, his anger made his face red and soon he began to break down in tears.

"She was sick... Have you ever seen a sickness that makes people try to kill others?!" Arthur demanded, wiping his eyes before aiming a finger at his deceased mother. "It sure as hell ain't rabies! She had somethin' growing on her body! Her hair and-and skin started to fall off a week ago. I thought she was asleep an hour ago... I thought she was asleep..." He repeated as he took a seat on the bench in front of the piano, placing his head in his hands.

His mother had been asleep only an hour ago and Bill, their neighbor, had come to visit to check on her. Arthur had been in the kitchen putting away dishes when he heard Bill talking to someone. Arthur had walked in and his eyes filled with hope seeing his mother up and walking. It was a hell of a-lot better than seeing her ill in bed all damn day. However, his hope soon turned into confusion when Bill started to ask what was wrong with her when she didn't stop to talk to him. Then it turned into some kind of nightmare. Arthur's mother latched onto Bill and began trying to bite him, doing anything she could to do damage to him. Bill had cursed and shoved her off of him, shocked at what she had been doing. His mother had been turned around in the push, her head hit the corner of a wall and she got right back up. Arthur was just as shocked as Bill was, his mother would have been knocked out by a hit to the head like that. She soon ran towards Arthur and attempted to bite him and it was then he noticed her eyes were a very light grey, bloodshot, and devoid of any emotion. He shoved her off and ran to the front door, where he grabbed the shotgun, which had been hidden behind the door, and he shot her leg. Despite being shot, she continued to go after Bill. After much hesitation, Arthur finally shot her in the head, causing her to fall limp, off of Bill, and onto the floor.

After having calmed down, the home phone rang and Arthur answered it. A panicked voice of his other neighbor, Darlene, was saying her husband was trying to kill her and that she needed help. The young man's eyes had widened as the woman screamed and the sounds of flesh being torn off soon filled his ear. Arthur hung up afterwards ad looked over at Bill with terror.

"Bill... Darlene was just kill by Jack..." He spoke barely above a whisper.

Bill took a few steps forward and demanded, "What?"

"What the hell is going on...?!" Arthur asked as he made his way into the room connected to the kitchen.

He switched on the TV, thinking the news might nownsomething about the strange sickness. Immediately the news was on, telling people to stay in their homes and that an outbreak was occurring. They weren't sure what the sickness was, but it makes people turn to cannibalism and very aggressive. It was after the message had finished when somebody suddenly burst through the back door and came running after the two men. Arthur was knocked over, the gun fell from his hands and the man was soon on top of him, desperately trying to bite him. The constant chomp noise that came from him made Arthur panic and he glanced over at Bill for help. The man had already grabbed the shotgun and hesitated before shooting the intruder in the head.arthur shoved the man off and stood up, his body shaking.

Looking over at Bill, he said, "We gotta get out of here. Maybe its safer out of state?"

Bill stayed silent, his eyes trained onto the dead body on the wooden floor.

Arthur spoke a little louder, "Bill!"

The man jolted and looked over at the young man with a new understanding. The two spoke as they headed to the front door. Bill's truck was already out front and the two hopped in and sped down the street towards one of the highways.

"..thur..!" A feminine voice spoke in urgency. "Arthur....ake...up..!"


Arthur awoke with a start, his grey-blue orbs darted around the darkness for a moment before settling on the familiar face of Addison. He sat up, grabbing his gun, and slipped on his backpack before standing. "What's wrong?" He asked with haste, his voice serious and lined with a hint of worry.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

As she shook Arthur awake, Addison could tell that he was in the midst of a dream. She glanced over her shoulder towards the living room, seeing if the man got any closer, but he disappeared from view. It was actually pretty creepy, let alone dangerous. Addison looked back at Arthur and took a step back to allow him some space to move around, waiting for him to get up.

"There's some guy outside, but he's gone. I didn't see where he went though."

Addison went back towards the living room and peeked around the corner to the window. Still, there was nothing outside. He was out there though... Addison crept in the direction of the window when someone bashed something against the front door. The wood, which was already aged, cracked under the pressure, already starting to give in to the brute force. Addison's eyes widened in surprise as she lunged for the armchair she resided in before and pushed it towards the door to stall the break-in. "Shit! Arthur!"

As the chair was pushed into place, the man on the other side continued his attempt to bash the door in. Addison remained on the opposite side of the chair, pressing herself against it to provide support. It shook as the man kept at it. Within a few more hits, bits of wood flew out and an ax chopped through the center. Addison looked over towards her backpack. The gun was still inside. She leaned over as far as she could manage and felt the strap brush her fingertips. Stretching a little more, her fingers finally wrapped around it and she pulled it to her person, reaching inside and pulling it out.

The man chopped at the door again with strained grunts and paused as he saw that the chair was pushed against the door. He growled and turned to look over his shoulder. Addison could hear him talking to someone, though it was muffled. She turned back to Arthur. "There's more," she mouthed.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

At the news of a possible intruder, Arthur's entire demeanor changed. His brows knitted together as he crouched down, readied his weapon, and he asked her in a hushed tone, "Where?"

Peeking out the window in the bedroom, he could not make out anything besides the darker silhouette of the trees and fence. He turned towards the door as soon as he heard Addison's panicked voice and he helped her push the chair in front of the old door. Hiding on the other side of the bed, he stayed crouched down as pieces of the door suddenly fell to the floor. He heard a man growl and strained his ears to listen to any sound man was making. Arthur's eyes met Addison's and he saw her mouth to him that there were more than just one.

His jaw clenched as he peeked past the wooden surface of the bed and saw the man had his head turned. Arthur wracked his brain for an escape. He didn't have much ammo left from having to deal with the orphiezombies earlier that day... The brief thought of tying the bed's covers and sheets together crossed his mind, but they probably wouldn't have time to do that. His cold gaze fixed onto the man's form, flicked over to Addison, and he quickly sneaked to be on one of the sides of the door, where hopefully the man wouldn't be able to see him due to the dark shadows the chair casted over his form.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison looked to Arthur to see what to do next, seeing that he was formulating a plan. There wasn't much time, which became evident as the door finally collapsed to the point where it would be easy to push through. God, why was everything structural so weak now? In a panic, the teen scrambled the side that was opposite of Arthur and pushed herself against the wall to conceal herself from view should the man manage to break in. The knife was put into the space between her belt and jeans, and the only thing she held was her pistol. Addison's eyes concentrated on the door as it was broken down entirely and left hanging on its hinges.

The man walked through cautiously. The ax now hung loosely from his belt and a sawed-off shotgun was in his hands as he glanced around the room before him with a nasty glare. He was a younger guy that towered over everything and had a strong look about him. The intruder slowly walked into the room with the gun ready to fire if needed, his dirtied boots leaving tracks on the carpet. Addison held up her pistol and aimed it at the guy's head when she decided that it would only alarm whoever else was there. Instead, she pulled the knife back out with her left hand and carefully got up from her concealed spot, trailing behind the man in a crouched position for a few steps to stay quiet. However, the floorboard decided to creak just as she got close enough. The man started to turn, but Addison jumped up and grabbed onto his shoulders, sinking the knife into the left shoulder as she did.

"Ah, son of a bitch," the man cried out as he backed up, slamming into the nearby wall with Addison still hanging on. She grunted from the impact, then felt the man grasp her arm tightly as he pulled her over his shoulder and onto the ground. Addison landed with a yelp and immediately began retreating to the corner of the room to recover, holding her gun tightly in her hand. The man pulled the knife out and tossed it to the side with a spurt of blood coming out of the wound, glaring down at the girl as he held the shotgun in her direction.

"Hey, Melissa," he called out to his companion, "I got her! Feisty one."

"I can shoot that fucking smile off of your face," Addison snarled back at him.

He laughed maniacally as he stepped closer, making sure not to take his eyes off of her. The woman he referred to shouted something back at him to indicate that she was coming, and the sound of the back door opening was heard. It became clear that neither of them knew that Arthur was there at all. The woman walked into the room with amusement in her eyes and a rifle in her hands. Unlike the man, she was older, smaller and looked rather frail. Her teeth were horribly yellow and crooked.

"Tommy, it looks like someone busted their ass tryin' ta get somethin'..." Melissa trailed off as she saw Tommy, then Addison, then Arthur hiding by the door. Her bloodshot eyes widened in surprise as she brought up her rifle to fire at him. "Dammit Tommy, look!

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur had made it to his hiding spot just as the man burst through the door and the scuffle between he and Addison happened very quickly. Arthur was about to attack when he saw the man aim the shitgun in Addison's direction, but he stopped hearing the man say he had her.

What the hell did they want with Addison?

Arthur stayed put when he heard approaching footsteps and a woman rushed into the room. He listened to the older woman speak, her head turned in his direction, and Arthur knew he his spot was compromised. He shot up with a yell, gripped a spot near her top of the rifle, and harshly bashed the gun onto her face. Shoving her to the ground, he spun around and shot the man in the thigh. Once the man fell to the ground, Arthur stepped on his hand, causing him to let go of the weapon, and Arthur used his foot to kick it behind him in Addison's direction. Taking quick steps backwards, the older male made sure to be in front of his young companion and aimed the gun at the two intruders, his aim consistently moving between the two.

His voice and expression were merciless, "Why are you after the girl? If you don't answer me, I will kill you."

His threat was a promise. Even after they answered his questions, Arthur was gonna kill the two anyway and be done with it.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

The woman screamed as the gun was smashed into her face with a gush of blood coming from her nose and mouth along with a jagged tooth. She covered her face and fell backwards with a loud thud. Obscenities poured out of her mouth almost as much as the blood did, coming down to a whimper as she clutched her face and lay on the ground. The man's mouth opened in the shape of a small "o" as he watched Arthur unleash his wrath in silent horror. Addison snatched up the shotgun as it was kicked towards her and got to her feet, relishing the fact that the guy got what he deserved. She looked at Arthur as he angrily demanded to know what they wanted to do with her.

"I...ach, back off, back off man!" The man put his hands out to beg Arthur to stop. "We-We didn't know that you were with her, I swear to God! Kids are just easier to deal with, I fucking swear!"

Addison shook her head as she concentrated her new shotgun on the woman, who was now sitting up and giving her a rather nasty expression behind the blood on her face. The grip on the shotgun tightened when Addison told herself to be cautious about the older woman's demeanor. She had a crazy look about her as if she would just jump up at any given moment regardless of the danger. Addison scoffed at the man's explanation.

"Are you really that fucking pathetic," she asked the two with disgust. "Not even that, just stupid."

"We have a group," the man blurted out. "They'll...they'll get worried if we dont get back. You've got to let us go, man. They'll come after you and fuck both of you up real bad. You don't want that for her, right?"

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur kept his eyes trained in the man cowering before him after seeing Addison had the shotgun aimed at the old woman. He stayed silent as the man begged and Addison insulted the two intruders. Arthur muttered in agreement, "Yeah, they are pretty stupid. ...Should've brought more people if you wanted to kill us."

His lips rose up in a hint of a snarl as the man threatened that they had more people. Arthur let out a humorless chuckle, "That's what you hunters always say and sometimes it's true," he said, tilted his head to the side a second with a shrug. He readjusted his aim so the rifle was aimed at the man's head. "Now, you are gonna tell me where this group of yours is-- if you even have one. If not, she dies first."

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

"No," the man protested hysterically. "I swear, I fucking swear they're real. The giant ranch - it's got a lot of land, a lot of people. You-you can't miss it! I swear on my life..." The man then dissolved into a pile of tears and snot as he sobbed even more, giving in to his fear of an untimely demise. He didn't want to die, not now. It also didn't appear as though he particularly cared if his partner survived the encounter. His sobs filled the room as the woman watched, rolling her eyes at his weakness.

"Shut the fuck up and grow a pair," she barked at him bitterly. "If you're gonna kill us just do it, asshole! Don't waste my time."

Addison raised her brow at the woman's demands. "There's nothing to waste, what are you talking about?"

"Don't test me, girl," the woman snarled back. "I could rip you and your dad apart as painfully as possible, and you'd be begging me for death."

Addison gritted her teeth as the woman gave her reply and let go of the handle of the shotgun, forming a fist and bringing it across her face. The blood made the impact slide off, making bit quite as effective as she had hoped. Still, the woman fell backwards with some more blood spilling from her mouth. "Don't you fucking even try to threaten us! I'll blast your face off."

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Watching the man cry like a god damn baby didn't even bother Arthur. His gaze was cold and his grey brows stayed knitted together. The woman snapped at the sobbing man as well as Arthur and he glanced over at her.

"Fine. Thanks for the information," he stated simply before pulling the trigger.

The bullet whizzed into the man's head, causing a small platter of blood and brain matter to fly onto the wooden flooring below. Arthur quickly reloaded and turned to the older woman before firing another bullet In her forehead. The two dead bodies began to leak blood from their wounds and Arthur found that he couldn't calm down and quickly hung the rifle on his back. Kneeling down by the man who's attacked Addison, he began searching the corpse's body for any supplies or ammo. After finding a box of shotgun shells, another pocket knife, and a small canteen, Arthur turned to hia young companion.

"We gotta move. If there really is a group, they may come look for these two in the morning. By that time we have gotta be out of this area."

He stood up and handed the box of shotgun shells and the pocket knife to Addison before asking, "Are you okay? He didn't hurt ya too bad did he?"

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison glanced at the man as Arthur shot him through the head and began examining the shotgun as he killed the woman as well. There were small scratches and dents in the stock and barrel, but other than that, the weapon appeared to be in okay condition. She saw Arthur looting the man's body, and so she did the same with the woman's. There were a few bullets for the rifle, but nothing much besides that. The young girl reached over for the woman's rifle and snatched it up. Some blood was on it, but that could be cleaned off. Addison got back up with both weapons in her hands.

"Yeah," she replied, "that sounds like a plan." She held up her arm so that she could examine it for injuries, but there was only a small mark from where the man grabbed her. Other than that, there was probably just a bruise on her shoulder from landing on the ground. "No, I'm fine. Asshole got what he deserved. Do you want one of these guns?"

Addison extended both guns towards Arthur with the barrels pointed upwards. Usually, people didn't trust her to have guns larger than a pistol, much to her dismay. Arthur seemed to trust her more than anyone else ever did - actually, she knew that for a fact. Of all the people she had traveled with, which wasn't exactly a large number anyways, he was the only one that actually let her hold a pistol when there wasn't any danger. Anyways, Addison examined the rifle up and down, seeing that it would need a good cleaning besides the blood. The former owner obviously didn't care for it much, unsurprisingly. She didn't seem to be the type when she was still alive.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur took his flash light out from his pocket, turned it on by pressing the black button on the bottom of it, and he inapected her arm. "Yeah, that's already bruisin'... Lemme see..." He muttered as he lifted the small light to her face and his free hand firmly, yet gently, tilted her chin in different directions. He finally let her go once he was convinced that she only had bruising.

Switching off the small flashlight, he shoved it back into his pocket and turned his attention to the guns Addison presented to her. He thought a few moments, trying to decided whether or not he should let her keep the rifle or the smaller shotgun. He took the shotgun from her and looked it over before returning his attention to her. "...Do you want the rifle or this one?" He asked, slightly lifting the gun up.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

As Arthur turned on the flashlight and shone it on her arm, she also took a look. Some bruises were already looking as though they would be ugly, but others were smaller. She squinted as he held her chin and place the light upon her face to inspect further. Considering how there wasn't anything aching to the point where she felt like she was dying, Addison assumed that she was okay despite all of the minor bruising and marks. Things could have ended worse for them, but thank God it didn't. Once he finished everything and turned off the flashlight, Addison turned her attention to the guns. He asked her which gun she preferred.

Addison handed her older companion the rifle and proceeded to reach into her pocket to give him the ammunition she found. "This shotgun is fucking awesome! I'm gonna give it a shot." Quietly dismissing her unintentional pun, Addison smirked and analyzed the weapon even more. She loved the power of it, though she wasn't one hundred percent sure that she could handle all of it. Still, it was so cool! It would blast a guy's head off if she was able to aim it correctly. There probably wasn't too much ammunition for it, especially if what the people said was true about the group. It would probably be stored with their people if that was the case.

"We should go, right? If there's a group, they'll find their people soon." She turned on her heel and headed for the door to go back to the horse, stepping over scattered pieces of wood and metal as she exited the house. Addison headed for the horse, who seemed to be calming down after hearing the gunshots and yelling from the house. She walked over rather hesitantly with the shotgun hanging loosely from her hand as she slowly reached up for the beast's nose with her free hand, inching closer and closer before stopping only a few centimetres away. The horse was a large animal that Addison wasn't too fond of due to the size alone, but she suddenly found herself wanting to help it calm down. The horse's giant dark eyes stared down at her as she timidly rested her fingertips on its' pink nose, only then realizing that there was some of the woman's blood soaked on her fingers and the bandages on her hand from the incident at the high school. It left a small blood trail, nothing more.

Feeling the warmth of the horse's breath and knowing that it was still scared, Addison found herself stepping back and looking at Arthur with a shrug. "Ah well, I tried. Fucking horse doesn't like me, I swear..." She exhaled roughly and shoved her bloodied hand into her pocket.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

When she had basically shoved the rifle into one his hands and yanked the shotgun out of the other, his brows had lifted and furrowed a bit. The frown was soon replaced with an amused looked and he let out a short of a chuckle at her joke. He let out a sigh as he shook his head a little and put the bullets into his own pocket before strapping the rifle to his back.

"You're a funny kid, you know that?" He asked as he followed her out of the room. "It is pretty awesome, though... I'll teach you how to use it sometime. Get some practice in..."

He had pulled out what was left of his old, peanut butter protein bar and looked up at her as he slipped his back pack on. Nodding, he stood and a semi-old crunch came from him as he bit into the peanut infested bar. Arthur remembered how much he loved peanut butter... His mama would make him peanut butter sandwiches nearly everyday for lunch and her peanut butter cookies were the damned best. His silver-blue orbs gazed over at Addison as she had walked over to the horse and he finsihed his early morning breakfast, watching her attempt to pet the large animal.

I wonder if Addison has ever had a peanut butter sandwhich or warm, peanut butter cookies... He thought to himself as he tossed the plastic wrapper to the ground.

I hope i can make her somethin' like that someday... When we don't have to fend for our lives and live in the shit hole of a world.

Arthur's expression turned sour at the stupid, hopeful thought.

That'll never happen... This is the way the world is now and I've accepted that. No more daydreamin' about unrealistic shit.

The older male walked over to his younger companion, hearing her cussing at herself and the horse in frustration. He placed a hand on his hip as he looked down at her and shook his head.

"Don't blame the horse. He won't hurt you unless you give him a reason to," he stated as he lifted his hands to roughly stroke the horse's nose and up to the hair between its tall, thin ears. "Ain't that right, pal?" He asked before roughly patting it's side and he walked over to its left.

Kneeling down on one knee, he intertwined his large fingers and cupped his hands together, waiting for Addison to hop onto the horse.

"Ready?" He asked as he looked up at her from his spot.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison watched as Arthur explained that the horse wouldn't hurt her unless she gave him a reason and proceeded to stroke the horse and pat his side. She chewed on her bottom lip as he did so. There a small twinge of disappointment running through her mind for not being able to face the horse quite as readily as Arthur did. There was something about the beast that made her want to be able to be as comfortable around him as Arthur was, but he was so big that she wasn't sure if she could do it. She pulled her backpack around and hooked the shotgun onto the strap so that it wouldn't fall off. Addison looked down at Arthur getting on his knees and cupping his hands together and gave a nod. "Yeah, I'm ready."

She stepped on his hand carefully to be sure that she wouldn't hurt him on the way up and pulled herself onto the horse's back, freezing a few seconds to make sure that she was on comfortably. Well, to make sure that she wouldn't slip and fall. Addison looked down at the back of the horse's neck and then down at Arthur. She felt pretty high off the ground, and the little girl inside her was absolutely charmed by the sight, seeing how she had never ridden a horse before all this shit went down. On the other hand, Addison was kind of scared of falling still, so she turned her attention to the back of the horse's head again. "He's still a big horse," Addison said to Arthur. "He could trample people to death. That would be awesome if he was trampling some asshole, but...y'know?"

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Once she had placed her foot into his hands, Arthur grunted a bit as he lifted her upwards and kept his hands held up some as she climbed onto the horse. When he was sure Addison was in a good seated position, so much so that she wouldn't fall off immediately, he gripped the saddle. Pulling himself up with another deep grunt, the older man took a seat behind her and grasped the reigns, his arms on both sides of her. He had started to look around the darkened scenery, but stopped, taking notice of his young companion's stiff stature. His right hand let go of the reigns to lightly pat her thigh a few times in hopes of calming her down some.

As he gripped the reigns again, he said to her, his breath causing a small breeze against the hair on the top of her head, "Don't worry. I won't let you fall."

He adjusted himself in a more comfortable position and clicked his tongue twice as he lightly tapped the sides of the horse with both his feet. The sound and soft gedture caused the horse to huff out its nose and it began to trot in the direction of the gate.

Clearing his throat some, Arthur's left hand let go of the leather strap to securely wrap around Addison's waist. He said with a bit of mischief in his tone, "You'd better hold on... We gotta jump over the gate."

Without really letting her answer, he made sure his grip was tight, keeping her in place, as he roughly whipped the reigns of the horse, causing the large animal to run and jump over the short, iron gate. He let out a low chuckle as he leaned towards the side to see Addison's reaction. Gripping the leather strap again, he had the horse slow down to a jog and they traveled down the street.

He answered her question from before, "Yeah, they can cause some serious damage. Especailly if someone gets a blow to the head. That can cause brain damage. It's not fun getting kicked by one...or a cow. I always got into trouble messin' with the cows and bulls at my house." He shook his head a little and chuckled again. "My daddy would get pissed at me and made me clean the house and gather up more tobacco from the farm."

It was in these rare moments that Arthur would share a few memories with Addison, when he felt like chatting a bit. "You know what I'd do to the cows? I'd climb up into the top of the barn and take a slingshot or beebee gun and shoot them in the nuts. Then they'd go crazy. A few times I fell down in the hay, or my brother would push me off. I was always causin' trouble for my mama and dad," he stated with a cough of a laugh and a small, goofy grin was on his face.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

After Arthur got onto the saddle after and patted her leg to comfort her, Addison allowed herself to relax and sink into the saddle. She could feel his breath move across her hair and flattened the loose strands again with a small grin on her lips. Her hands grasped onto the front of the saddle with a white-knuckled grip as she barely caught wind of what Arthur said as he grabbed her waist. Arthur snapped the reins and the horse soared over the gate, landing with a jolt. Addison could hear Arthur giving a chuckle as he turned to look at her, to which she responded with a small thumbs up before grasping the saddle again. It was actually kind of cool...but it was still just as scary.

Addison listened quietly as Arthur answered her question, which quickly led to him speaking of his childhood. She laughed as he explained what he would do to the cows with his brother. Addison had never been around cows like that before, and now there was nothing more that she wanted to do than shoot a cow in the nuts. But Arthur talked about his childhood with such joy that she almost wished that she could be there too. Then again, there would probably be too many horses for her to handle. Addison soon forgot about her fear of riding the horse as she was enveloped in Arthur's stories. Her brow knit in thought as yet another few questions arose from the depths of her young mind. "What the fuck is a beebee gun? And I didn't know you had a brother. I didn't have any brothers or sisters."

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

He blinked as he glanced at Addison a few times before answering her question, his attitude returning to its serious nature, "A nerf gun is basically the same as a real gun, but it doesn't have bullets. It's got these tiny, plastic balls that are used to shoot at other people. You do it for fun. If you got shot with one, you were out of the game. They hurt like a son of a bitch, though. One time I got shot in the eye. Lucky I didn't go blind because of it."

"If we happen to find two beebee guns and some beebees, I might be tempted to play with ya...or shoot some cows..." He muttered as an after thought.

He let out a small sigh and was silent for a while, just listening to the noise of the horse's feet and rustling of the leaves on the trees from the cold breeze that blew at them. Arthur shivered a bit as they exited the small town and comtinued down to the highway. He knew they had a long way to go before they even remotely reached Tennessee and they would have a hard journey ahead of them. He felt refreshed having been able to sleep for a couple of hours and he wondered if Addison was doing okay; if she was tired at all.

"Hey... Just lettin' you know, if you're tired and you wanna sleep, now would be a good time," Arthur said as he noticed the sun's light begin to barely shine above the trees far to their right.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison made a face as Arthur explained what a beebee gun was. It didn't sound like they would be that useful besides leaving a bad mark. They sounded kind of like safe guns, which seemed stupid to her. She shrugged in response, then realized that he never answered her comment about having siblings. Touchy subject...got it. Addison never had any siblings, but she could imagine why he didn't want to talk about it.

A gust of wind blew through and she felt Arthur shiver. Lucky for her his body kept her warm, but the cold still bit through. Addison pulled her jacket tighter around her person to block out the cold. God, they were going to have a long journey ahead of them. In the cold, too. Good thing the morning light was starting to break through the trees. The temperature would get worse at night, but she didn't want to think about that at the moment.

As Arthur pointed out that she could get some sleep if she wanted, Addison's mind pinged in alarm. Did he know that she fell asleep during her shift? He didn't sound angry or anything, so maybe he didn't. She hoped he didn't. Playing it safe, she decided to do her best to guide the conversation away from sleep. "Uh...I'm a little tired, but I'll be fine. Have you ever fired a shotgun? I'm not really sure I know how to actually use the thing."

Addison gestured to the weapon hanging from her bag, tapping the barrel twice with her finger. The metal was cold to the touch from the temperature. She brought her hands to her mouth and blew warm air on them. It didn't help much.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur looked ahead of them, seeing only the long road and a few trees, some of which were losing leaves from the cold weather. He inhaled through his mouth and exhaled deeply through his nose, almost enjoying the cold down his throat. It made him a little thirsty, but he could live without a drink until their next stop.

He answered Addison's question as he steered the horse forward, "I have, but not one like that. I'm used to a longer shotgun. It might be the same, though. I'll try to practice with it sometime and I'll show ya how to use it."

After an hour or so, the sun had risen up behind the trees, warmth coming along with it's light rays. Arthur had thought a few moments after seeing an old, rusted, green sign that read, "ATLANTA 230 MILES."

They really had a long ways to go...

The next stop was about two hours away and they'd have stop to get more food, water, and other supplies. He knew in Atlanta there'd be plenty of places to search and he had a bad feeling in his gut about stopping there. The man had no doubt that there would be a hell of a lot of Ophie zombies lurking in the city. He frowned deeply at the thought. If they didn't have to stop there, he wouldn't.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison sat up after some time, realizing that she had happened to drift off to sleep despite her saying that she didn't need to. She rubbed her tired eyes, and it occurred to her that maybe it would be more believable in her case to 'prove' that she wasn't sleeping on the job. The teen was admittedly very guilty about that, and the last thing she wanted was for Arthur to know about it.

With a bit of a sniff, Addison brushed her arm under her nose, which was still slightly pink from the cold earlier. Even though it was warmer than it was previously, she shivered in her spot. A giant, rusted green sign caught her attention, declaring that Atlanta was still 230 miles away. That sounded really far away. Farther away than she would have liked, anyways. Too bad cars weren't something that they could just steal or something. Addison took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, wisps of air appearing at her lips and rising a little bit above her head.

"Arthur," she said quietly, having just woke up, "How long are we gonna keep going for? I'm getting kinda hungry." As if to prove her point, her belly growled loudly. She frowned and tried to suppress the sound by wrapping her arms around her torso, but that sure as hell didn't help. Addison turned her head to see Arthur and gave a look that had 'I told you so' written all over it. She gave a small chuckle at the timing of it.

As she turned to look at him, she noticed that he was frowning at something. Having been with him for this long, she knew he was thinking about something they were going to do. What it was, she had no idea. But Addison knew that he had a way of figuring things out, so she normally left him to it unless she had something important she wanted to tell him...like that she was hungry.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur was a little relieved that Addison had gone to sleep. He replied with a hum when she said his name and he thought a few moments once she asked how much longer they would be. To be honest, the old man was hungry himself...
He turned a bit, one of his brows rose, to look at her when her stomach growled loudly. His stomach let out a growl as if to communicate with hers and Arthur chuckle some also.

"Let's see where the next exit is... We'll get something soon," He muttered as he turned back towards the front and looked around for the next green sign.

It was thirty minutes before the next exit popped up and Arthur led the horse down the long, curving road. It wasn't long before they came to a small town where various, old gas stations, fast food places, and small goft shops were abundant on either side of the road. He stopped the horse as he looked around and suddenly had a flashback of when he was younger. He had been with his mother, father, and older brother when they had gone on a trip and they'd stopped at this location to take a potty break. The cars and people were driving and walking every which way amd he could almost smell the food wafting from each fast food resteraunt. The man blinked and led the horse to the first gas station. There were two cars parked by the gas pumps, one still actually had a gas pump in it.

Hopping off the horse, Arthur gazed at the car with the gas pump and said, "Guess this place hasn't been visited since the outbreak. People left in such a hurry to get away from the infected..."

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Once they came to a stop, Addison carefully slid off of the horse and landed a bit clumsily on her feet, taking a moment to balance herself. One look at the area and she immediately assumed that there would be nothing there. She could see that it would look like a goldmine to any passersby, and there most likely were more than a few. If the place was picked clean she wouldn't be too surprised. After all, this would be a place she would ransack too on first sight. But Arthur's words contradicted what she thought, and the girl saw that he was right.

As the duo approached the gas pumps with the horse, Addison looked inside the car. The windows were dusty, making it awfully hard to see through. She tried opening the door and found that it was locked. Go figure. Carefully she unhooked a hatchet from her backpack (a tool she forgot she owned) and held the blade to the window. Hopefully years of deterioration would work in her favor and break the glass quickly. Her arm swung back and cracked against the window.

The hatchet bounced off.

One more try. Addison reared back again and swung harder. With an even louder crack and the sound of shattering glass, she saw that she was successful. With great caution, she reached her hand in, avoiding the few shards of glass clinging on for dear life, and opened up the door. There was a soft ring to signal that the door had indeed been opened and Addison looked inside. There wasn't much to see in the front seat, but in the backseat there were some cases of beer and boxes of cigarettes. Her eyes lit up as she reached for one of the cans and snatched it up. The tin was only slightly, but she wanted to try the alcohol.

Addison pulled back out of the car with the can looking huge in her hands. She peeled back the piece of metal and felt the air rush out along with the bitter smell. The scent caught her off-guard, but it certainly didn't stop her desire to try the drink. Addison started to put the can to her lips as she watched Arthur with cool blue eyes, only half waiting to see his reaction to her trying to take a sip from the lukewarm beverage. She knew that alcohol was against the law back when the laws mattered, but those days were over with. If she wanted to drink a beer at the meager age of sixteen, then dammit she was gonna drink a beer at sixteen!

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur had lead the horse towards one of the old, rusted poles where people would have chained their bicycles to back before the outbreak. He tied the reins to the pole and then patted and rubbed the large beast's side a bit before turning his attention to the car closest to him. Walking to it, he found the car was in pretty good shape and wasn't really surprised when he opened the door with ease. Most likely the owners had ran out in a rush, presumably trying to escape some of the infected people. A small grunt came from him as he ducked down into the car, peering at the back seat to see if he could find anyrhing useful.

He finally slid into the old, dusted, leather seat and he sighed in some form of comfort. He remembered when he used to have to drive a car to and from work. He chuckled a bit as his hands lifted to lightly brush against the wheel and he could almost imagine the many noises of the wind flying against the metal, the air conditioner or wind from the window brushing against his face, and a few songs from one of his favorite bands would be playing from the speakers. He closed his eyes a few moments and opened them again to peer at the review mirror, finding Addison had broken into the car behind him. Deciding to get back on track, the old man started lookimg through whatever pockets and crevices he could. Stepping out from the vehicle, he only had a half empty bag of beef jerky and a silver lighter in his hands.

Stuffing his findings into his backpack, he returned his attention to his young companion.

"Woa, woa, woa!"

The man was on high alert when he saw a can of beer in her hand and be stopped her from taking a drink.

Trying to take it from her, he demanded, "What do you think you're doin'? If you think I'm gonna let you drink that, you're mistaken..."

He was silent a moment before he reached into the car and got himself a can and continued, "Unless you share some with me."

He smirked a bit before he inspected the small can. It had faded blue and silver colors, but Arthur knew exactly what brand of beer it was.

"Well, I'll be damned..."

Curling a finger in the tab and the top of the can, he lifted it and enjoyed the old, yet familair hissing sound. He lifted it to his nose and sniffed before moving the edge to his lips and he took a gulp from it. A grunt came from him as he turned to Addison, looling at the can and then the young woman.

"It's a old, but still good. This used to be my favorite drink besides sweet tea... Anyway, go ahead and try some if you want."

Arthur waited for her to try it, looking at Addison expectantly. He was kinda intrigued to see what her reaction would be at drinking an alcoholic drink.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

The sudden outburst from Arthur took Addison by surprise. She nearly dropped the can she held in her hands at the shock. Her brow wrinkled in opposition and her mouth opened in protest. Arthur reached over to grab the drink from her hand, but she pulled it away quickly in response. There was no way she was going to let this opportunity slip from her fingers - literally and figuratively.

"Fuck you, I wanna try..." Addison trailed off once the older man stopped reaching for her can and took a beer from the car instead. With a perplexed expression, she watched the man click open the tin. The befuddlement turned to delight as he allowed her to have the drink. A buzz ran through her veins - before she even tried the drink - just at the smell of the beverage.

Arthur took a swig from the can and waited for Addison to try. Eagerly, she put the can to her lips and tilted her head back. The warm liquid washed over her tongue and gave off a strange sensation. It was definitely different to what she ever had before. A spark came from the back of her mind as she swallowed and paused to judge the liquid.

"Well shit, that's actually not as bad as I thought it would be. I can see why you like it." Addison's nose wrinkled, however. "It's kinda strong...fuck."

She began to cough some into her arm from the bitterness of the drink, but it passed as quickly as it came. Her eyes drifted over to the can again, but she didn't take another sip. With her smaller size combined with her youth, her mind began to buzz a bit. She set the can down on the ground beside her. Despite the taste that she enjoyed, Addison couldn't understand why her mother drank so much before all of this. Maybe it was an adult thing.

She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and shook her head. "I like the taste, but holy shit that's strong! How do you guys drink so much?"

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur took another swig and allowed himself to grin in amusement at his young partner's reaction. He was a bit surprised that she liked it. The man thought she would have spit it out and made a funny face just like... She blinked and pushed the rest of the thought away. Smirking a bit, he replied to her with a shrug, "I think it's just something you have to have a liking for."


Soon after, he finished off the rest of the drink and let a out a slightly disappointed grunt when he found the can was completely empty. Sighing, he crushed the can and tossed it back into the car. Turning back to Addison, he said with a serious tone, "Though, you have to keep count of how many you drink. If you drink too much, it'll cause you to get intoxicated."


He glanced away as he added, "I know because I used to do it on purpose..."

Clearing his throat, he walked around the back of the car and headed towards the small gas station. "Anyway, let keep lookin' for supplies. I think one drink is enough for now."

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison tossed the can aside, though it was still filled with alcohol, and gave a nod in reply to Arthur's answer. The stale taste still hung heavily in her mouth, but it would be easy to get over. The backpack swung off of the teen's shoulders as she reached in the car when Arthur looked away, taking two cans from the back seat and placing them in the bag. Maybe there would be some use later for them. She zipped the bag back up and hooked it onto her back again as she trotted after the older man.

One of the restaurants had signs that were obviously brightly colored at one point in past history. It initially delighted Addison to see that it read "Dave and Fuckers", but upon further investigation she found that it was called "Dave and Buster's" and was quite disappointed. She walked towards its grimy glass doors and cupped her hands over her eyes in order to look inside better. Lined against the walls and dotting the center of the room were old arcade games and other machines of the like. Addison's eyes lit up as she saw this and whipped around to look at Arthur.

"Do you think there's anything inside this Dave and Fucker's?" she asked while purposefully messing up the name. She preferred to call it this now and refused to acknowledge the true name. Not having heard of this place in the pre-apocalypse, Addison was rather enthusiastic to go in and explore the area. Who knew, maybe there were supplies in there too. The place gave off the feeling of being safe, so she didn't feel any reason to not take time and sift through every little thing.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur came to a stop by the doorway after having looked through the cupboards and shelves in gas station. He had found quite a bit of snacks, including a-lot of old chicolate bars, beef jerky, chips, and various little candies. He'd found a large duffle bag behind the cashier counter and put as much food, water bottles, and a few more lighters within in. The long strap was hanging on his right shoulder and he set it down by his feet with a small grunt. It was still a more than half empty amd the old man knew they'd have some food for the road and a-lot of water bottles.

He saw Addison was standing by a large resteraunt and he couldn't help the chuckle that came from him at her name for it.

He placed his hand on his hip as he came to a stop beside her and he looked at the large building with his head tilted to the side. "Dave and Fuckers, huh? Where'd you get that name from?" Arthur asked with a smirk and amusment twinkled in his eyes. "You know, that actually sounds like someplace I've eaten before... Heh." He shook his head as he looked back up.

"Idunno, maybe. I found a couple of snacks and water bottles in the gas station." He looked down at her, "Worth a shot. I'll bring the duffle bag with us."

He walked back to the bag and plaved the strap over his chest before pulling out his handgun. He walked by his young companion and headed into the resteraunt.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Her smile only grew as Arthur agreed to go inside. Like a loyal puppy she trailed along inside after him, now holding her shotgun in her hands. Past the double doors opened up a wide room. On the immediate right was a bar that went the length of the entire wall, save for some room to enter into the kitchen. The bar stools were partly toppled over while empty glasses rested on the ridiculously dusty table. Behind the bar rested rows of a surprisingly large amount of alcohol. Anyone sitting there probably wasn't too worried about finishing their drinks when the end came.

Looking out into the central floor of the restaurant, it was dotted with several different islands of seats and buffet tables. Elevated booths lined the rest of the left wall. A stage and large screen took up the entirety of the wall adjacent to the left side, and even more booths took up most of the wall straight ahead of them. Between the large screen and the booths ahead of them was a small walkway that led to an arcade that was practically pitch black excluding the strands of light shimmering through holes in the roof. Through those holes hung ivy that clung to the ceiling for dear life. The visibility was extremely low and resonated with a foreboding atmosphere.

But of course, Addison saw this as her playground. She had never quite seen anything like this before. Slowly she took in the sight of it all, her eye lingering for a tad too long at the bar before heading over to the booths on the left. The girl climbed the three stairs to get there and carefully analyzed all of them. The sound of flies met her ears and soon she came across a moldy plate of food, something that wasn't uncommon. The smell was ungodly, however, and Addison shielded her face with the crook of her arm to block the smell. "God, that fucking reeks." She turned and clambered over a rusted railing on the edge of the platform, dropping down to the ground on her feet. The sound of her shoes hitting the ground echoed in the room.

"This place is weird," Addison murmured, "but it looks like it would have been the shit." She went around the seats and buffet tables and glanced over the surfaces, eager to go into the game room to explore. The place didn't look as though anyone was currently in it, and so she allowed herself to be a bit adventurous.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur followed his young companion inside with caution and he walked towards the bar to inspect it. He had to step over a few of the toppled stools and he forced himself to climb over the bar itself before he actually got behind it. Grunting as his feet hit the broken, tiled flooring, he glanced over in Addison's direction before he began to rummage through the shelves hidden beneath the long, wooden table. Behind him, on the wall, was a shelf where plenty of bottles of wine and other alcoholic beverages were still somehow neatly stacked by one another. Each bottle even had tier own little, square cubby to keep it in place. He knelt down, opened another cubboard, and pulled a rather large bottle, one of which that look more like a jug. It was brown and dusty and Arthur blinked down at the large jug, trying to get his eyes to focus on the old, faded black and gold label.

"...Ginnate… Guinness..." He blinked in surprise before he reread it a few more times and let out a low, huff of an excited sigh. "Well, I'll be damned... These people sure knew how to drink."

As he stood from his spot, he forced the corkscrew out of the small opening on the top of the bottle, and took a whiff of it. Placing the corkscrew down, he glanced over the bar, found a good sized, glass mug and poured himself a drink. Lifting the large mug to his lips, he took a large gulp of it and let the liquid settle in his mouth for a bit. The strong, bitter taste of the Guinness beer made Arthur sigh in content, so much so that he even closed his eyes.

"Oh yeah..." He breathed out as he looked down at the dark liquid settle within the mug, "I have missed drinking guinness. Best beer that there ever was."

Memories of going to expensive bars and restaurants filled the old man's head and he remembered almost always buying the delicious, bitterness that was guinness. People thought he was crazy for loving such an alcoholic drink, but Arthur loved it. Ever since he had gone to one of those Scotts Irish festivals with his parents, where he first tried it, he had fallen in love with it. It had been years since he'd had a drink thing strong and wonderful. 'Course, he wouldn't drink more than the amount the mug had because like hell was he going to get both himself and Addison killed for being drunk. Forcing the cork back into the bottle, he threw his legs over the bar, grabbed his mug, which was still mostly full of alcohol, and he then turned his attention back to where Addison had been standing. His content frown turned into an annoyed one as he started looking for her. However, he heard her speak from somewhere and saw that she was across the room, having gone upstairs.

"...I swear, I'm gonna need more to drink after dealing with her never ending energy," he muttered quietly to himself as he walked towards the stage and focused his eyes on her.

Taking a drink from the glass, he called up to her, "Addison, don't...don't go up there. You can fall and break somethin'."

An exasperated sigh came from him when she did just that, having made it onto the railing above him. He shut his eyes moment, looked around, and returned his attention to her. "Yeah, it was probably one of those expensive restaurants where the rich could only come and where they had to make reservations before they could eat. The stage was used for entertainment and movies while they ate," he answered her rather quickly before he motioned with his free hand towards himself in a repetitive motion. "Now, get back down here before you get hurt. I don't wanna hear your whining after you do fall and I will tell you that it was your own damn fault."

He took a few steps closer, even getting onto the stage, and stood by the tall railing so he could catch her. Just in case the stupid kid did fall. It was also in times like these where he prayed to his mama, asking her if this was what he had been like and what she had to deal with when he was a kid.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison could hear Arthur murmuring to himself in the background as he analyzed the old bar. She hadn't taken much notice of it at first, but the thought of yet another alcoholic beverage calling her name was nearly tempting. Maybe some other time. Right now, the young girl was far more interested in her current surroundings. Already she had dismissed Arthur's warnings against going onto the upper platform, still curiously exploring the area. Only the rich could come up here? Huh. Addison carefully pushed around some of the old plates so that they were on the other end of the table, her throat tightening up a little at the horrid aroma they gave.

On the table was a dusty old cellphone. With some hesitation, Addison picked the device and looked it over. The screen was covered in a thick layer of dust, but other than that was in near-perfect condition. At least, she thought so. She was a lot younger when phones were a big deal, and so her knowledge to them wasn't that extensive. I remember them being a huge deal. Dad wouldn't let me own one until I was older, though.

A memory of her dad played in the back of her mind. She was standing on a chair, hanging off of his shoulder while peering down at what he was doing. What was on the screen she had no idea, but little Addy could see how invested her dad was. He scrolled through the content slowly, scanning each word with a thick furrowed brow. "Dad," she asked as she rested her head on his shoulder, "when can I have a phone? There's already other kids who have them!"

He turned with a smile and messed her hair up a bit, but the girl didn't care. She didn't mind being messy - never has. "You kids are too invested in those damn devices," he replied in a cool voice. "Try expanding that imagination of yours. You can find some fun in something other than a little screen, right?"

"You're on your phone!" Little Addy remarked. "What about your imagination?"

"I'm an old fart. I don't have one like you. But..." He set his phone face down on the table and picked Addison up, playfully bouncing her in his arms a bit as she giggled crazily. "I guess you're right. Come on kiddo, let's go do something."

Addison stood in the rubble of destruction with an old phone in her hand. She was tempted to stick it into her pocket, but part of her refused to pick it back up. Instead, she stood there for a few moments in complete silence before finally setting it down on the table. Arthur's voice rang out as he advised her to get down. Addison cleared her throat and shouldered her backpack, proceeding to turn and find her way down. She found a break in the railing near Arthur and sat so that her legs hung over the edge. Carefully, she turned and lowered herself, dropping down into a crouch with the sound of her feet resonating on the stage and under the watchful eye of her companion. Addison stood back up and brushed her arm under her nose. "Let's keep looking," she told the older man as she looked around the room. "Unless we're gonna leave this shithole now."

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

The old man's grey-blue orbs followed her form as she moved about and finally jumped down on the stage. As she had jumped, an inner panic filled his gut and he hurriedly took a few, large strides towards where he thought she would land. Reaching one of his hands out, he gripped her as she landed onto the wooden floor and let out a silent sigh of frustration. Giving her a look, her turned back around and hopped off the stage and downed the rest of his drink. Placing the glass down on the floor he heard Addison speak and glanced around the room they were in. After a few seconds of silence, Arthur finally stated, "There could still be some food left over in the kitchen or supply room. Let's go check there and then we can explore the other buildings a little more."

After he spoke, the survivor began to walk towards the double doors that led back into the kitchen. Inside there were rows upon rows of metal stoves, counter tops, and sinks. In the far left, towards the back, there was a large, metallic door Arthur assumed was the freezer. He bet most of the meats inside would be covered in mold and way out of date since there was no more electricity in the world they lived in. Stopping short, his expression hardened and he lifted a hand in a motion for Addison to stop where she was. His eyes and head moved upwards to follow a smeared trail of dark red, almost black liquid and it disappeared into one of the vents. Although the blood was far from being fresh, he could never be too careful with the undead. If one happened to have still survived in the ventilation system, it could pop out from anywhere. He slowly reached back and pulled his handgun out from the area between his belt and jeans and switched the safety off as he took carefully slowed steps forward.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

"Sounds like a plan." Addison hooked her thumbs underneath the worn straps of her backpack as she followed Arthur's lead. The mention of food caused her belly to quietly grumble in response. She hadn't realized how hungry she was. This place must have been bustling with all sorts of food and people back in the day, but Addison couldn't quite figure how it would look. That number of people wasn't something she liked or was accustomed to, and certainly not for any good scenarios. Her hand stopped one of the double doors as Arthur passed through, gazing in disappointment at the long rows of shelves that bore little. The chance of finding food that hadn't grown old was most likely slim.

Addison took a deeper look into the kitchen. Some of the shelves reached above her head, and so she was forced to feel for anything. Her hand was covered in dust and was slightly sticky, though she didn't want to imagine what it was from. Down the line some were several dented but otherwise okay cans. Taking two up, the labels revealed that they were corn and tomato sauce. With satisfaction, Addison turned and went back to Arthur, who held up his hand in warning as he pulled out his pistol. Immediately, she took notice of the dark stain on the floor. Fuck. Her hand went to the side of her backpack, carefully sliding out the hatchet from its place. With extreme alertness, Addison watched as Arthur cautiously approached the vent. Her grip tightened on her weapon in anticipation.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

He quickly looked around for anything he could stand on and his grey-blue orbs landed on a metal stood tucked away beneath the sink. Walking to the sink and bending over to grab it, Arthur hurriedly placed it on the floor beneath the general area of the vent. Before he stepped on it, however, he glanced at Addison and mentally told himself that he was about to do something stupid. If there was in fact an infected in the vent, then he might as well be dead doing what he was about to do, but if it meant that he would get bitten instead of his young companion... Then, dammit, he was going to do it instead of making her. As he turned his head back up towards the vent, he muttered to himself, "I'm gettin' too old, anyway..."

Holding his breath, he lifted his gun and his free hand towards the vent in unison. The man's muscles tensed up as he gripped the latch of the vent and after a few, long seconds, he finally undid the latch and the hatch fell downwards. His breathing increased as he took out his flashlight, turned it on, and he peered within the rest of the large, squared shaped vent. As soon as he was able to get his eyes above the edge of the metal surface, the entire thing suddenly came crashing down on top of him. With a yell, Arthur fell backwards off of the stool and landed on the tiled flooring with a harsh thud. Letting out a strew of curses, the old man let out pained noises and frustrated huffs of breath as he pushed the damned thing off of him. His entire lower area hurt, as well as most of his back, and entire right side. His brows knit together as he lay on the floor with his eyes closed and his thin lips were pressed together so firmly that it made his face look just like someone who was looking at somebody they were both pissed at, as well as disappointed in. Breathing in and out through his nostrils, Arthur just stayed where he was, decided that it would be best not to move at all.

When he opened his eyes, he lifted a finger and looked towards the young woman, "Not a god damn word," he finally stood up and growled out with a frustrated attitude, "And no, I do not need help."

As soon as he stood up, he felt something else fall on top of him and seeing it was a corpse, Arthur thoughtlessly shoved it off of him and aimed his gun at its head before it even hit the floor. After a few seconds, it dawned on him that it was a very old corpse and had was not alive in the slightest. Relaxing a bit, the man let out a long, exasperated sigh and he turned to Addison, "It's alright. It's already dead. We got nothin' to worry about."

Breathing heavily through his mouth, Arthur placed the handgun back in its spot and began to slowly stretch and rub the areas his hands could reach and breathed out a few more curses. "Let's get goin'. Did you find anything?" He asked as he began to exit the kitchen and eventually the building.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Several concerning thoughts zipped through Addison's mind as Arthur pulled a sheet of metal over towards the vent. She wasn't too sure of what he was planning, but she decided not to call him out on it. Sweaty fingers readjusted themselves on the wooden handle of the hatchet in anticipation of what her companion was doing and what hidden dangers may pop out from the vent. Her eyes hyper-focused on the vent as Arthur reached for the latch and pulled it open, the vent falling open with a loud metallic crash. Addison reared her arm up to swing her weapon at any danger, but none showed itself. She lowered her arm and pushed her tongue against the inside of her cheek as she looked around for any other signs of trouble.

A sudden yell and another loud crash took Addison by surprise. Arthur had fallen off of the stool and took some of the nearby items with him, and it was admittedly a funny sight to see. She bit her lower lip to suppress a smile, but a small chuckle found its way out. "Good job, old man. Are you...." Addison trailed off as a corpse slid out and fell on Arthur, pausing to see if it was alive. It collapsed to the ground in a heap of putrid smells and rotten flesh. The thing was gruesome. Addison put the back of her hand against her nose to block the scent while Arthur reassured her that it was long dead. "Fuck, that's gross."

Arthur began to walk out, and after looking at the body a few more moments in disgusting awe, the young girl trotted after him. The image was burned in her mind. Shaking her head some, she slid the hatchet back on to her backpack and grasped the straps tightly while picking up the pace to walk alongside Arthur. "I found some corn and tomato sauce," she replied to him, "but besides the beer, there wasn't shit. We should get out of here before something else falls on you." A mischievous grin grew on her face as she teased her older friend, unable to help herself to the golden opportunity. She sped up some to get to the horse, eager to start on their journey to Tennessee. The sooner they got there, the better. A good night's sleep would be much appreciated.

"How far until we get to Tennessee?" Addison asked, waiting by the horse to have Arthur help her up. "It can't be that much farther, right? I have no fuckin' idea where we are, though, so I don't know." Hesitantly, she looked to the horse's side and began to lightly stroke the short fur. It was bristly and stiff, but oddly comforting. Maybe this thing isn't as bad as I thought. It's kinda cute.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur simply scoffed at her joking comment and watched as she jogged towards their ride. When he reached the horse, he waited until she had finished petting it before he knelt down on one knee. Arthur intertwined his fingers together and replied to her as he helped her up, "We are in Georgia right now and you have the map."

He hopped up on the horse, adjusted himself on the saddle and continued as the beast began to go back onto the interstate, "If I remember correctly, we still have to pass a bunch of mountains before we reach Tennessee."

After a while on the road, he glanced back at her and asked, "So, you found the map yet?"

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

A soft groan escaped her lips as Arthur recalled having to pass through mountains to get to Tennessee. Addison was very much ready to get to where they were headed and get some well-earned rest, and maybe even eat without having to worry about rations for once. He mentioned the map, and so the girl pulled off her backpack, shuffling through the little supplies she had. Eventually she pulled out a crumpled, rolled up map. "Yep, I got it right here." Addison reacched over to hand it to him, passing it over his right shoulder.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

The man turned his upper body a bit and took the crumpled map from his young companion. While their horse kept a steady pace, he unfoled it and pulled the ends far away from eachother, so the entire map was on display. His eyes scanned the area they were in and Arthur muttered a few things to himself as he looked over the numbers and multicolored route lines. He folded it back up and stuffed it in his pocket.

"Alright, we still have a bit to go, but it should only take us about two weeks to get there by horseback."

----

After a while on the horse, he made it stop by pulling on the reins and giving it a command. There was a drop off in the middle of the interstate and debris and cars were blocking off all the other exits-- except one to their far right. It seemed like it had been nuked a couple of times at the beginning if the outbreak. The man's expression morphed into seriousness and he mulled over what they should do. Their quickest route had been cut off... They could turn back around and take the long way, but Arthur hinestly didn't want to do that. They'd travelled so far already.

He glanced back at Addison and sighed, "Looks like we've gotta take a longer way. Might be more than two weeks before we get there."

Steering the dark colored beast to the only exit, Arthur had it trot diwn the old, paved road. It wasn't long before they entered a small town and Arthur took notice of how everything was blocked off with cars and makeshift walls. After they made it a few more feet closer, past a large doorway if sorts, he made the horse abruptly stop. His eyes narrowed as realization set in. They had just walked through an entrance and were in a cage of sorts. There was no ceiling, just a large wall that encircled them. Clicking his tongue a bit, he turned the horse around and a large, metallic door was slid to one of the sides of the wall. It blocked their only way out and Arthur had realized too late just what was going on.

The loud noise made the horse panic and Arthur made it stop from throwing the two passengers off. At the same moment he had turned the horse around, a group of men stood at the top of the wall and others began to fill the large circle.

"Shit-! Addison, hold on to me!" Arthur yelled as he kicked the horse's sides and it took off in a run.

As the horse sped past approaching men, Arthur was looking for another possible exit.

Where the fuck is an exit?! There's gotta be a way out!

He knew he should have turned around.

He knew he should have turned around.

He knew he should have fucking turned around!

One second the horse was running, another the horse was shot in head and they were all falling over and onto the hard pavement below. Arthur let out a pained noise as he hit the concrete and he quickly scrambled backwards, roughly pulling the girl with him as their animal companion landed on the ground with a thump. Just as he started to stand, he felt hands grip the material of his coat and one of his shoulders and he was thrown to the side. On instinct, he had grabbed the back of the attacker's ankle and pulled it towards him, making the surprised man fall backwards. Arthur crawled on top of him and rammed a punch to his throat. The man died with a few choking noises and Arthur stood up from on top of him.

Before he could look for Addison, he felt someone grab gim from behind and he was in a struggle. It didn't last long, though, because the old man was able to send an elbow into the man's face, winded him, and Arthur grabbed him and punched him repeatedly in the face. The man fell to the ground, lifeless. The grey haired man turned around and spotted two men dragging Addison away and he ran towards her as fast as he could. As he ran, he pulled out his knife, it gleamed in the sunlight. With a growled yell of, "Get the hell off of her!" he pulled one man off her and stabbed him in the throat more than enough times.

Just as he had started to touch her, asked her if she was okay, he felt another pair of hands grab him.

Then another and another.

Howevwr much he struggled, his weapon was knocked from hus hand and Arthur was eventually shoved and held onto the warm pavement. Although the air was chilly, Arthur still had sweat pouring down his face. His eyes landed in Addison, who was being forcefully taken in the opposite direction of where he was. A mixture of anger and panic boiled in his system and his eyes flicked over to the man who had knelt down in his range of sight, a leg had partially blocked off where Addison was being taken.

Two heavy breaths came from Arthur as he snarled up at the man in the hood, "You do anything to her and I swear to God..."

The man only snickered and inturrupted him, "Don't worry, old man. We'll take good care 'o her. As for you though..." The man stood up and smirked darkly, "You get to take a long nap in the dirt. Good night, jackass!"

Arthur had to turn his head to the side when the man had stood up and the next thing he saw was the bottom of a boot being sent towards his face.

----

Arthur was in and out of conciousness for an unknown amount of time. His eyes slowly opened and the first thing he noticed as his brain began to awaken was how much pain his body was in. He let out a pained sigh and a few quick breaths of air as he shut an eye for a moment. Next was how cold he was, goosebumps had formed all over his body, and then he realized one of his eyes was hurting like hell and he couldn't really open it all the way. He then realized that he was hanging up-side-down. Blinking, he first looked down at himself and noticed he only had his pants on and nothing else.

No wonder I'm so goddamn cold...

He finally looked around and his heart skipped a beat. There were others hanging upside down around him, but they were already dead. Some had limbs missing. He looked towards his left and beside the door of the metallic room, he saw a corpse had been cut and certain pieces were stowed away within boxes while the other, unwanted parts were thrown in a large bucket or trashbin. Arthur licked his chapped lips and was a little relieved when he didn't see any sign of Addison. Then the worry instantly kicked in. He remembered the words of the man who had kicked his face. He remembered the things some of the groups he had been with did to children and females of any age.

"I gotta get out of here," he hurriedly whispered to himself over and over again as he began to look around for something to cut himself lose.

He didn't see anything.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

The teen frowned as Arthur estimated that it would take about two weeks by horseback to get to their destination. It felt as though it were so far away. It could be worse, though. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes to get a little bit of rest as they left the plaza.

---

Addison was lightly shaken awake by the horse coming to a sudden stop. It hadn't been too long since they started on their way again, but sleep still tugged at her eyes. Rubbing her eyes, she craned her neck from behind Arthur's back to see what had caused them to stop. Addison's brow furrowed in disappointment at the sight as she could already guess what that meant. Only one path was open for them to take, and it didn't look as though it was very safe. Still, they didn't really have too many options. Without even seeing his face, Addison could tell that Arthur was weighing the options carefully. Eventually he turned around to deliver the verdict and confirm her suspicions. "It doesn't look like we have much of another option," Addison replied, turning to glance momentarily over her shoulder at the main road as Arthur guided the horse onto the trail.

They continued steadily down the road, and a heavy eeriness ran down her back once they'd entered a small town. It was heavily armored and blocked off. The quietness was surprisingly deafening, something that stuck to her. Even the most abandoned of places that she had experience before had more movement and sound than this place did. Something was off. Arthur seemed to pick up on this too as he turned the horse around to leave, but the sound of a creaking metal door sliding shut stopped them. A knot tightened in girl's stomach. The horse started to whinny and trot around in worry a bit before Arthur calmed it. "Arthur...?"

Everything else happened in a blur. As soon as Arthur barked at Addison to hold on, she wrapped her arms around his torso and grasped tightly. The horse took off with lightning speed, but not for long. A loud shot rang out and the two were both tossed into the air. Addison tumbled on to the ground. In a daze, she felt Arthur grab her arm and let go almost immediately after. One of those assholes has him...where the fuck is my bag? Her backpack had managed to slip off when the horse fell, but it wasn't too far away. The shotgun was God knows where, though. On her hands and knees, Addison scrambled for the hatchet that was still hanging off of the side when one of their attackers reached down and harshly snatched up her wrist with one of the grossest laughs she'd ever heard. "Get the fuck off me, dickhead!"

Addison pulled her hand away as hard as she could and dove for the hatchet, successfully sliding it out of the backpack and turning as the man bore down on her once again. Without any thought she swung the hatchet at his hand. It was by no means a clean cut, so his hand hung loosely by some strings of bone and sinew as he screamed in horror. Yet another man saw this and headed towards Addison with the glare of death in his eyes when Arthur turned him around and stabbed him in the throat too many times to count. "Jesus Christ, Arthur!" He crouched down to check on her, but Addison jabbed her finger in the air behind him in warning. "Watch out!"

But it was too late. A mob swarmed them, tearing the two apart and taking them their separate ways. Arms and hands grasped her arms and waist, doing their best to hold her down without getting kicked. "Fuck you! Let me go, assholes!" One of them tried to place his hand around her mouth to get her to be quiet, but instead she bit down hard on his hand, causing his metallic-tasting blood to spill into her mouth. She spat it out and looked around wildly for Arthur to help, but he was having troubles of his own. It didn't take them too long to bring him down to the pavement, knocking the knife out of his hand. Before she disappeared into whatever building they were taking her to, Addison saw one of them bring his boot down on Arthur and her heart sank heavily.

---

A couple of hours had passed. Addison sat alone, hugging her knees in the darkness in the corner of a makeshift cell with nothing but the light of the setting sun. Several scrapes and bruises marked her arms as well as some cuts along her face. Dried blood was on the corner of her mouth and down the side of her temple, but no permanent physical damage had been done. Her clothes were tattered from them tearing at her like animals and so she shook from the cold breeze of an open window. Addison's fingers and palms were raw and red from shaking the bars and pounding at the walls for a long time in anger. She had given up her attempts when no one came and there was no sign of Arthur coming. Every bit of the room was analyzed for an escape route, but she saw none.

The door swung open and a man strutted in. He was tall and lanky, not really one that anyone would think to be as vicious as these men were. He had on a few layers that Addison found herself wanting badly as she tried to warm herself by rubbing her arms. The man crouched down in front of the door and gave a smile that sucked any warmth in the room out of it. They stayed that in that position for a while.

"I'm Ian," he said eventually in a quiet, husky voice. "What's your name?"

She didn't answer. Instead, Addison glared at him from her sitting position with daggers in her eyes. Again, they stayed that way for a few moments before the man chuckled and shook his head, standing up with a shrug. "That's too bad. I thought we'd have a nicer start, but judging by you and your friend's...reaction to everything, I guess we might have some trouble after all." Ian began unlocking the door and opened it wide. He noticed her jolt some as the door was opened, but he shook his head and pointed at the gun and knife in his belt. It wouldn't be a good idea. Ian crouched down so that his face was only inches from hers, scratching his black beard in some thought. His hand suddenly shot out and tightly grabbed her jaw with malice in his gaze, forcing her to look at him.

"I'm your only way of knowing if your friend is alive and of keeping him alive. I don't have to do this, but I want to because I like your fighting spirit. I can still fuck you over at any point, but I won't. I'd appreciate it if you gave me some form of appreciation by answering me when I ask for your goddamn name. I'm asking one more time. What. Is. Your. Name?"

"Fuck you." Addison gathered as much saliva as she could and spat in his face. He used his free hand to wipe it off and gave a disappointing sigh. "Your choice, kiddo." Ian got up and exited the cage, leaving the door slightly ajar. He opened the door to the room and called the attention of someone outside.

"The new guy. Feisty one? Give his ass a beating, make him tender. Ask him some questions about where he's from too. See if anyone's looking for him. If not, then get him ready for chopping." Ian turned back around and closed the door, staring back at Addison. A smirk tugged at his lips as the guilt set in on the girl. "Y'know," he said as he loosely adjusted his belt, "it gets awfully lonely around here. And I would really like for you to show me some appreciation." Sensing the danger, Addison crawled over to the door and slammed it shut, holding it tightly to prevent Ian from opening it. He laughed as he grasped the bars and started yanking at them to frighten her. Addison closed her eyes, doing her best to wish him away as her sore fingers started to slip. "Stop!"

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

The blood had rushed to Arthur's head and it made him really lightheaded. However, just because he was getting dizzy, didn't mean he was going to hang there and do nothing. With a few grunts, he forced his upper body to swing a bit and as he was reaching his hand towards his feet, he stopped short when he felt the platform, which held the metal hook he was tied to, move. He breathed out heavily through his mouth and blinked up at it, the thought process already turned the gears within his head. Letting himself hang back down, he let out a painful huff and began to swing himself back and forth. Each time he moved, the more the metallic platform loosened. He moved himself back a forth a few more times and the platform fell from the ceiling with a clang. Arthur landed on the floor with a grunt and as he pushed himself up into a seated position, he ignored the freezing cold concrete against his warm skin. Sniffing, he hurriedly untied the rope around his ankles and kept it in his hands as he walked towards the table that had the human remains lay on it. The door swung open and a man walked inside and when he saw that the old man was not there anymore, he panicked and began to look around.

The grey-haired male kept himself low as he took silent steps towards the enemy and in a matter of seconds, he was standing up and had the rope around the man's neck. The man gripped at the rope, tried to pull it off, or pull on it to slacken the pressure so he could breathe, and just as Arthur was sure he was going to die of suffocation, he felt something hard hit the back of his head. With a cry of pain, he fell to the ground, rope loosely hung from his hands.

"How the hell did he get free?!" The first man asked as he coughed and gasped for air.

"The hell if I know, man! Let's just get the interrogation done with," the other said as he moved towards the unconscious Arthur.

-----

The next time Arthur came to, he groaned a little and heard a single, blurred voice become clear, "Wakey wakey, asshole."

Arthur felt a hard slap hit across his face and his head was lifted up by someone gripping his grey locks harshly. He blinked at a bright light and the man in front of him became less blurry in a matter of seconds.

"So, you awake now, jackass?"

Arthur blinked as his upper body was shoved back into the chair. When he tried to move his hands, he found that they were tied down behind the wooden chair he sat in. The man in front of him was the one who had kicked him in the face when he and Addison were ambushed. He seemed to be in his early thirties, his dark brown hair was short and greasy, aside from the poor excuse of him brushing his bangs to the side with his fingers, and he had a stubble that had empty patches. He had a large scar underneath his left eye, another one that ran over the left side of his lips, his lips were a dark red, and his eyes were a light chocolate brown. His attire consisted of a dirty, white, long sleeved shirt, black jean pants, brown boots, black finger-less gloves, and the dark grey jacket he wore before. He had his jacket tied around his waist. The other man, Arthur presumed he had been the one to almost die, was seated on a long, metal table. His black hair was very short, his eyes were brown, and his skin was a dark chocolate color. He had on dark blue jeans, black boots, a black turtleneck sweater, and, Arthur realized, he had on his god damn coat. The dark skinned male was eating peanuts and tossing the shells on the paved ground below. Arthur also noted that he had a machete set right beside the leg that was on top of the table, while the other hung loosely off of it.

Arthur blinked and glared at the younger male, growling out, "That's my coat."

The male snickered as he ate another peanut and replied with a humored scoff, "Not anymore, it ain't."

Arthur stayed silent as the older male from before casually sat in a chair right across from him. "Alright, old man. So, our boss has told us to ask you some questions. IF you don't answer 'em, well, then you die. If ya piss me off, yer dead. In fact, if ya keep lookin' at me like that, I won't even ask you any god damn questions an' just kill ya right now."

Arthur's expression didn't change and the man rolled his eyes and sighed, "Fine. I only gotta ask you one question, then I can kill ya. Ain't tha' right, Red?"

He had turned around to get confirmation from the younger male, who had his mouth full of peanuts, and they nodded to one another.

"Alright. So, old man, where ya from? Ya got anyone, uh, lookin' for ya?" He asked as he turned back towards the forty-year old strapped in a chair.

"..."

"Okay, ya don't wanna talk? Fine," he replied in an annoyed manner as he stood up and gripped Arthur by the back of his neck and pulled him out of the chair.

When they were brought across the room, close to the dark skinned male, Arthur was roughly shoved onto his knees. As he struggled, a breathless voice spoke into his ear, full of twisted delight, "I'll just make ya talk, then!"

Then his head was forcibly shoved into a large bucket of ice cold water, the large hand on the back of his head gripped at his grey hair with no remorse. He could hear the muffled laughter and excited hollers coming from the two behind him as he held his breath. He felt the ice cubes hit against his face and neck and he wasn't entirely sure how these assholes had ice cubes to begin with. After five minutes, his head was yanked upwards and he opened his mouth, gasping for air in a coughing fit.

"You ready to talk now," sang the man who held onto him.

When Arthur gave no response, his head was dunked back into the freezing water. That time lasted for ten minutes and Arthur's brain had begun to become cloudy with confusion. He was then thrown across the room, his body landed on the pavement with a wet thump. Arthur tried to push himself up with his hands behind his back, but before he could even do anything, he felt something hit his back hard. Arthur shut his eyes as his enemy beat him with a pipe and threw kicks at him and he made himself keep breathing. Even through his clouded mind and weakened state, he still held on resolve; get to Addison.

Gotta find Addison.

Gotta get her out of here.

Gotta find Addison.

Gotta get her out of here.

Gotta find Addison.

Gotta get her out of here.

The two men laughed when the beating was over and they walked out of the, decided that they would save the old man for more beatings later. The room was dark aside from the two lamps that hung from the ceiling and heavy breathing and grunts filled the empty space as the person inside it forced himself to move. His nerves began to send signals of pain to his brain and it hurt for him to even breathe. Letting out labored breaths, the man forced himself to roll on his bloody back and he let out a long hiss of pain as the cold concrete met with opened wounds. With agonizingly painful, slow movements, Arthur was able to pull his tied hands out from underneath him by pulling his knees up to his chest and he brought his hands up from underneath them. Once done, he took a minute to catch his breath. Somewhere in his side hurt and Arthur guessed that he had a broken rib. His head lifted a bit to stare at the up-side-down door, made sure the men weren't coming back. If they caught him a second time, them he would be killed and Addison would be left alone and Arthur would not allow that shit to happen. He let out a mixed sigh and grunt as he forced himself to roll back over and stand on his feet. He stumbled a little, his body shook from the cold and trauma, and his mind began to clear a little from the little bit of warmth the body sent towards his brain.

He had been through worse and lived.

This was easier than the other shit he had been through.

Arthur leaned on the table for support and began to think of what his next move should be. His eye caught the sight of the machete the younger male had left on the table and he quickly grabbed it and hit behind the space the door would open. Holding his breath, he waited for what seemed like an eternity before the door was lightly pushed open. The two walked back inside, laughing a bit and talking about a girl and some man known as Ian. As soon as the door shut and the two looked at the empty space, Arthur lunged forward with a war cry. The younger man was killed first, the machete was hacked relentlessly at the throat. After the body fell to the floor, Arthur was tackled to the ground and the weapon was knocked from his hand. Hands gripped around his throat and squeezed tightly, causing Arthur to see stars and his vision to blur. With more grunts, Arthur grabbed the hooded man's shoulders and forced the two to roll to his right. Soon, Arthur was on top of him and was ramming the back of the killer's head into the ground. Blood and pieces of skin, brain, and skull were soon splattered onto the ground. Arthur breathed heavily as he stood and turned to the first corpse. Kneeling down neck to it, he ripped the worn, brown coat from the body and muttered breathlessly, "It's my god damn coat."

He quickly shrugged it on, picked up the machete, and opened the door. When he was sure nobody was outside, he began to walk out into the hallway.

That's when he smelled it; salt.

Arthur instantly knew what that smell meant.

Salt water.

Just where the hell had these people taken him and Addison?

Arthur took a sharp left down the carpeted hallway and the lights that weren't broken shown brightly down onto him, as did the sun light that came through the circular windows. Still shivering, Arthur froze in place when he saw a pair of boots and the ends of pants walked down the stairs further down the hallway. Thinking quickly, he ducked into a room closest to him and shut the door. Keeping his body close to the wall, he stayed silent until he heard the footsteps move down the way he had just come from. He opened the door again and ran down the rest of the hallway and cautiously crept up the stairs, which led into another hallway. His heart was thumping loudly within his ears and his breath was quick as the adrenaline coursed through his entire body. He glanced around before going into another room, shut the door behind him. As he turned around, he found a man was sleeping soundly on a bed. The room he had just walked into was large and had all kinds of things, including the rest of his clothes. Careful not to wake the man up, Arthur put the rest of his clothing on, stole the man's handgun, and peeked outside before he continued to sneak around.
When he was sure nobody was close enough to hear him move, he went back out into the hallway and continued to look around.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison leaned with her back to the freezing and damp metal walls, her forearms resting on her knees while she fiddled with a piece of torn fabric from her own clothes. A dirty tray of half-eaten food sat beside her, a meal that she only picked at. The taste was unfamiliar. A couple more bruises and cuts had appeared on her arms and body since her encounter with Ian, who was sitting lazily in the back corner of the room. His lips curled into a smug and proud expression, one that caused Addison's throat to tighten in disgust. He toyed with the knife and gun on the wooden table that sat across from the door of the cell, cleaning some old dust and gunk from inside the pistol. A tray sat by him too, only his was scrapped clean. It was as if he had done nothing at all, as though he were simply bored. That pissed the girl off, but not enough to do anything about it. Not with the crazy asshole in the room with her. Ian gently set the handgun down in front of him, the knife in his belt, and leaned forward in his seat.

"We both know that I can do whatever the hell I want right now," Ian stated. "I could kill you. I could torture you. I could set you free. That's why I'm being as honest as I am with you. All I'm asking, kid, is that you show me that same kindness."

"It's not kindness," Addison growled, "it's being a fucking dick. Don't bullshit me like that."

"You feel that way because you're young. You don't understand what being a grown-up is like. But I like that youthful innocence." Ian scooted the chair backwards, giving a little stretch, then walked back over to the cell door with his hands behind his back. "I find it enlightening and alluring. To a fault, I suppose." He unlocked the door and slowly opened it, walking to Addison once again. He stood above her with his hand extended out towards her, calloused fingers beckoning her to take it. The strands of greasy hair hung loosely over his face and the sweat dripped off of his beard. Surprisingly, he was probably one of the cleaner people in the place. "Let's go out there and show the fellas that you're strong and capable. You don't have to die. I can't guarantee the same for your partner, but I can find a way to save you. Trust me, kid."

Addison swallowed hard at the offer. He was such a sick man, so delusional. Did he really believe that she would take his offer that easily? After everything he did to her, what his people did to her and Arthur? Her eyes darted to the knife hanging off of his belt with the keys and then back to his eyes, which were fully focused in her. Addison slowly took his hand, his sweaty, rough hand, and pulled herself up. Ian seemed quite pleased with himself until Addison gave an obviously faked smile. "You're a goddamn pig!" She darted forward, yanking the knife off of his belt and swinging at his person. With a yelp and a spurt of blood, she felt the knife sink in to his bicep. Holding the weapon where it was, her fingers searched desperately for the keys. Instead the girl was met with a harsh stinging sensation as Ian pulled her away and sent her crashing to the ground, harshly bouncing her head on the floor. He stared down hungrily, lowering himself down to her. "I own you. Everything you do it futile. I'm gonna personally see your friend be slaughtered. You can't do shit."

Now on the floor, Addison did her best to think fast despite the momentary confusion. Her mind was a blur but was quickly clearing up with her instinct to survive. In a burst of sudden adrenaline she reared back her foot and sent it straight into Ian's ankle, causing the man to topple to the ground. He landed on his ass and immediately scrambled to leave the cell before something else was broken, but her nimble fingers had already found their way to the key chain. Addison tore them from his belt and held them tightly in her hands. "Fuck yeah, got the keys." She took a moment to celebrate the victory with a smirk that vanished with the sound of a click. Ian had crawled away fast enough to reach one lanky arm up to the table and snatch up the pistol, which now had the safety off. His deep laugh resonated in the room while he gestured for the keys, which she had no choice but to toss back to him.

"You think you're a smart little bitch, don't you?" Ian snarled as he leaned forward and picked up the keys, obviously pissed off now. "I gave you a way to survive and you attack me? Your savior?!" Addison retreated back to her corner as he carefully stood up and headed for the door, now mildly terrified of what he was doing and concerned that the gun was still trained on her. The man cracked open the door and yelled to the men outside once again. "Boys, I've got a treat for you! You wanted the fucking girl, you can have her and that old man!"

The sound of a couple footsteps and gruff voices filled the room outside. Her heart rate went through the roof as Addison saw that she had no weapons and no way of fending off a bunch of hungry men. How the fuck am I gonna get out of this without Arthur? All she wanted now was to have him come in and beat the shit out of all of them, for everything to be normal. Without having him right now, Addison felt exposed and drained. The thought of these assholes taking Arthur away from her shook her to the core. Unimaginable anger set in as she slowly got up off of the ground, watching Ian like a hawk as he looked outside of the door for his men. His grip on the gun was lowered, and he wasn't paying attention as he told his men what they could do and where they could take their prize. I'm not gonna sit here and let them get me. I'm gonna fuck them up. Addison cautiously rose off of the ground and prowled towards Ian.

At the last possible second he turned his head and saw her coming for him, stalking him with the intense gaze of a predator at work. He lifted the gun to retaliate, but Addison dove for it at the same time, swiping it out of his hands and landing at his feet. She turned as Ian tried to kick her off and quickly got to her feet and pulled the knife out of his arm, to which he let out a screech of pain. With no hesitation, Addison swung it across his face and slicing through his eye, causing him to fall to the ground on pain and confusion. It was the perfect distraction as she jumped on him and started stabbing at his face in horrible, jagged motions and lines. Ian screamed and kicked with every motion until his face was nothing but a pool of gore and blood. Addison couldn't stop. Sticky blood clung to her skin and ruined clothes, but she couldn't find it in her to stop stabbing the filth. Her pulse was the only thing she could hear as it thudded loudly in her ears. Every bit of energy she had was expended on Ian, but it didn't feel suitable for what he had done.

Hands began to roughly cling to her arms and torso, pulling her away from the mess and squeezing until the knife fell from her hands. Addison growled and fought back. "No! Get the hell away from me!" Two of Ian's people had reached the room and saw the mess, immediately taking action. They ripped her away from the bloody corpse and gazed upon the scene in disbelief. The thicker of the two grabbed her by the neck and held her against the wall. "The fuck did you do," he exclaimed incredulously. "You're gonna fucking pay, you little shit!" Addison sent a kick to the balls, causing the man to crumple in pain. It quickly turned from pain to fury as he turned back to give her a beating, but the girl had managed to pull out of his grasp and stumble towards the exit. The other goon reached out and snagged the back of her shirt, yanking her back in and pulling her tightly to his body. He held and arm around her arms and torso, and held a wickedly sharp knife to her face. A snicker escaped his lips as he pinned her to his body and held tightly.

"This'll be fun, sweetheart," he whispered coolly into her ear. "Moreso for me, though."

"You're disgusting," Addison snarled through bared teeth.

"I'll get her warmed up, Saul. Get yourself together and clean up in here."

He took her away into the hallway while struggling to keep her still. She was exhausted, but the emotions were beginning to become overwhelming. Fear and despair resonated at her heart as she yelled at her loudest. "Get off of me!" Addison lifted her leg and sent a kick as hard as she could manage back into his knee, hearing a satisfying crack in response. She took the opportunity to twist in his grasp and wriggle her arm out just enough to push the knife away from her. Using the leverage, the girl turned with some struggle and was now face-to-face with the man as he did his best to take her down with the knife despite the busted knee. "God, you don't give up!" she snapped at him out of frustration. The knife gave an intimidating glint as it inched closer and closer to her face. This is gonna hurt. In a flash of desperation, Addison squeezed her eyes shut and headbutted the guy in his head as hard as she could. Stars spiraled in her vision, but she used the momentum of him falling on top of her to hold the knife to his body. The knife sunk into his throat and he choked for only a few moments before slumping.

Now she was drenched in blood. Laying there for a while, Addison stared up at the ceiling as she lay on the floor. Numbness and the biting cold were the only things she could feel. All she could do was hope that Arthur was at least alive and relatively okay. He had to be here somewhere, right? These guys didn't seem like the type to have a lot of places to take people, nor would they have a reason to as far as she knew. Panic struck as her mind took off, imagining him in the worst of scenarios. Addison grunted as she pushed the corpse off of herself, the body rolling to the side with a sickening and empty thud. She carefully got up on her feet, painfully aware of the sticky blood that now covered the soles of her shoes. Her eyes drifted over to the knife sticking out of the man's neck. The young teen took the bloodstained weapon by the handle and yanked it upwards, watching as blood seeped out of the wound. With a shuddering breath, Addison turned her attention to the hall leading away from the room she was kept in and went on her way to seek out her companion.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

As he continued to move down the rest of the hallway, he stopped for a moment and held his side with pained breaths. He had closed his eyes as he leaned against the wall to catch his breath. He had already been up two other floors and looked in almost every room he could and still there was no sign of Addison. His mind reeled as thoughts of what sort of situations she could be in and what these men could be doing to her as he stood there taunted him. The pain was almost unbearable.

Almost.

"Get off of me!"

Grey-blue orbs snapped open when the familiar voice of the girl resounded from somewhere above him. Heart thumping very fast, Arthur pushed himself off the wall and dashed for the nearest seat of stairs that led up to the next level of the ship. He stumbled a few times and the ship's rocking back and forth didn't exactly help, either, but he had to get to her. He had to save her and beat in the skulls of whoever had their dirty, fuckin' hands on her. He had to make sure she was okay, and he had to see her and touch her. Make sure she was okay. Make sure they hadn't done anything to her. Make sure--

The old male came to an abrupt stop when he saw the corpse on the ground. The man had been killed very recently and had been given a pretty quick death.

If I had been the one to kill this sack of shit, I would've made sure it was nice and god damn slow.

Pushing the thought away, he deduced it had been Addison's work since she had her knife all of the time. Hearing footsteps, Arthur spun around and his face was hit with a two-by-four block of wood. With a yell of pain, he fell to the ground and opened his eyes just in time to see a very large man already swinging the weapon down towards him. "You're gonna pay for killing him, asshole!" Ignoring the pain on his face and the blood that dripped from an area above one of his eyes, Arthur quickly rolled out of the way, aimed his gun upwards, and quick shot the man in the knees. The attacker fell to the carpeted floor in a screaming fit as he gripped his bleeding knee caps and Arthur stood up with a breathless grunt. He was just as tall as the crybaby and almost had as much muscles as him. Picking up the forgotten wooden weapon, the grey-haired man stared down at the other with cold, emotionless eyes.

When he spoke, Arthur had no sort of mercy whatsoever and his voice was low and ice cold, "Where is she?"

The crying man looked up at him, confusion written all over his face, "What?! What-What do you mean--?!"

Then realization dawned on him as he had just been in the room with the girl the old fart was talking about. "The-The girl?! The hell if I know! She-She--" He looked over frantically at the dead body further down the hallway, "She was with him! I don't know where she is, man! I swear to God, I don't know!!"

Arthur muttered out a, "Fine," before he began to repeatedly bash the man's head with the weapon. Screams fell on deaf ears as he kept attacking him, not caring in the slightest if he got messy. From the amount of force, the wooden beam broke and Arthur tossed it to the side and continued down the hallway. At the end was an elevator, which shockingly still worked, and Arthur pressed the button and he walked inside and jabbed his finger against the one of the buttons. The button of the sixth floor lit up after he pressed it and he glanced over at the map on the wall to his right. Turned out the sixth floor was the main area, which had two large stair cases, a large, broken chandelier on the floor, and large rooms where guests would lounge about and eat. The seventh floor was a large room, which connected to the outside of the first deck, as well as the kitchen area, and the eighth floor led to the top deck and the controls to the ship. Grabbing the detailed map, he looked over the red ink scribbles of where other things were, such as rooms with food, loot, and other possible kidnapped people, before stuffing it in one of his back pockets.

Sniffing, he counted how many bullets he had left and aimed the gun upwards just as the doors opened to the sixth floor. He slowly walked out of the elevator and took a quick glance around. He was near the top of one set of stairs and at the area where the two stairs met, hung a large, old painting of who he presumed to be the captain. There were rips, scratches, and graffiti all over it, as well as some of the walls, and the chandelier was indeed broken and lay at the end of the set of stairs he was closest to. When he heard voices, Arthur hurriedly ducked down behind the thick railing of the floor and watched as a large group of men walked on the floor below him. They spoke about how the "work" was going and how some of them "couldn't wait to get their hands on the girl for some fun."

Just hearing that alone made Arthur's blood boil.

He had to stay calm, though, and tried not to panic. Addison was free and possibly looking for him as well. He just hoped they would run into one another so he could make sure she was alright.

Inhaling through his nose, the man crept further away from the staircase and ducked down into a hallway to his right. He had gone through five rooms before he pulled out the map and was very pleased when the next room, room 102, was the one where they kept the loot. Making sure nobody was around, he quickly got inside and shut the door behind him. To his luck, there was nobody to be seen and the room appeared to have been a large dining area, which led into another large dining area. It was packed with boxes and piles of various things. In one far corner was a large stack of charred bodies, in another were clothes, and another there were backpacks. He immediately went it the backpacks and found Addison's almost immediately. It took him a while before he found his, however, and then he looked into both their bags.

Aside from the guns, everything was still there.

So, they must have been lazy and not looked through everything.

Good.

More for him and Addison.

Slinging his pack over his shoulders, he walked into the other dining room and found loads upon loads of guns, including his and Addison's old ones.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison had no idea as to where she was. With extreme caution she crept around the boat, holding her breath and remaining immobile as the occasional voice would ring out from God knows where. So far, she hadn't hit any issues. The ship was so big that coming across any unwanted guests could probably be managed with some ease. The place was grungy and all around disgusting, a pig sty even by the standards of a dead and uncivilized world. There was a remarkable amount of unidentifiable splotches and splatters up the sides of walls and across the carpeted floors. It wasn't well-kept by any means. Addison listened carefully for every room that she passed to hear if anyone would be exiting. It would be bad enough if these guys found her on her own, but with all of the wet blood still soaking her clothes and blanketing the weapon she stole, the kid could only imagine the horrid consequences for killing their friends. A shudder rippled through her body at the thought of it.

Metal groaned as the ship steadily bobbed up and down in the water, but it was enough to set Addison on edge. Ohhh shit.... I really hope this thing doesn't decide to randomly capsize or something. Having never been on a boat, let alone one this large, she wasn't too keen on being thrust into a situation such as this one as her first experience with a ship. As she navigated the corridor, she spotted a large map of the boat. There were some directions on it about what rooms were where, but she was more awed at the size. It was ten times bigger than Addison could have ever imagined. Arthur would probably know something about these kind of boats, but she'd need to find him first to ask.

Soon, she came across what looked to be the door of a stairwell meant for emergencies and maintenance. Bingo. Addison approached it quietly, listened for anyone that might have been nearby, then pushed the metal bar slowly and carefully. It squeaked a little bit, but luckily wasn't loud enough to raise any suspicion. The door closed behind Addison as she looked up and down the staircase. There were quite a few floors.... Why couldn't these assholes get a smaller boat? With a small sigh of annoyance accompanied by growing despair, Addison began to descend the stairs without much of an idea as to where she was going. Maybe looking at the map would have been a good idea after all, but she didn't plan on turning back now. Instead, she went down only a few floors. She opened the door with caution once again and was met with a faint stench that was all too familiar. Rotting bodies. Arthur might be down there. It wasn't too far-fetched of a thought considering their situation. She figured that he could have escaped, possibly killing a few, hence the rotten smell. Addison carefully moved down the hallway again as the foul odor grew stronger until she came across the door to a large room. Hesitantly, she pushed the door open with her fingertips and laid eyes the grisly scene.

Mutilated corpses were on wooden tables and body parts strewn into separate piles, some bodies hanging from the ceiling and left to bleed out. It didn't take much to figure out the horror of what had happened, especially with what might have happened to Arthur. "Goddamn...cannibals...." Alarm struck Addison's chest as she looked around the room with the horrid realization that Arthur might be one of them. Her stomach churned as she ventured deeper into the mess of bodies and limbs, searching for signs of her friend. But the smell and sight had become too strong, and without warning she found herself bending over and throwing up what little food she had in her onto the floor. The young girl stayed in that hunched over position to make sure everything in her stomach was sorted out. Wiping away the bile with the back of her filthy sleeve, Addison covered her nose and backed out of the room slowly, taking in the sight. Eventually she decided that she'd had enough, and so she turned, throwing the door open and sprinting back to the staircase. She yearned to get as far away from that room as possible, climbing up as many stairs as possible with a numb mind before getting a stitch in her side from exhaustion. The girl slowed down and gripped the railing.

With her other hand on the wall to balance herself, Addison looked up at a grey plastic sign that hung on the wall, donning the lettering "Floor 7" on it. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, sinking down to the ground with her back to the wall. The images of that room flashed through her mind and she tried to analyze each one mentally, searching for the chance of Arthur being among the dead. A small voice in the back of her mind told her he was certainly one of them, and the loneliness crushed her spirit. Another part of her insisted to turn and ask the old man himself what to do next, but she was on her own for this one. Addison gave a sniff as she brushed underneath her nose with the back of her hand and getting up on her feet once she had regained her stamina. Again, the girl carefully opened the door and started to search the seventh floor of the giant boat, completely prepared to find a sight far worse than the last she had encountered. There were some voices outside and more than before. Fuck...I'll have to be more careful.

She was in a large and lavish room with most of the walls being more of a bruised and weathered maroon than the bright crimson that it once was. There were dining tables and fluffy booths to dine at. Behind a large bar was a kitchen, but she couldn't see too far into it. Torn paintings clung to the walls and an old piano was surprisingly well-kept on the right side of the room, raised on a dusty stage. It reminded her of the restaurant that her and Arthur had only just visited, but far more fancier. Only the richest. The doors to the kitchen suddenly swung open and Addison dove for one of the longer tables draped by a long and stained white cloth, hiding underneath. Two men's voices rang out, but they weren't saying anything important. She tuned them out and waited for them to leave.

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Arthur heard voices speaking from nearby and he ducked down behind one of the tables and began to creep towards the double doors that were left halfway open. As he made his way towards them, he grabbed one of the blunt weapons, a bat with nails jutting out most of the top end and they ended halfway. Keeping it hidden behind him, he crouched by the wall of the new entrance and peeked past it, and immediately his eyes landed on the two men walking around. Sweat poured down his face as he hurriedly ducked into the second dining room and he came to a stop by one of the turned over tables. Ignoring their conversation about what they were going to eat for dinner, Arthur continued to move about the room, his grip tightened on his weapon, and he waited for them to move apart. He didn't blink and his crystal, blue orbs had to constantly dance between the two moving men. He held his breath as the taller one, who had shaggy brown hair, casually walked towards Arthur's position and in a split second, Arthur was up and he had his hand covering the man's mouth and the bat was harshly lodged against the enemy's throat. It didn't the old man long to suffocate the younger one and once he was dead, Arthur left his corpse on the carpeted floor and began to slowly creep towards the other.

His heart beat frantically in his chest as he got closer to the man's back and as Arthur stood up to grab him, the other man had turned around. The man's eye's widened and Arthur's sudden appearance startled him. Before he could say anything, or call for help, or react, Arthur was already throwing the weapon at the man's head. He let out a yell of pain and Arthur shoved him to the floor. As soon as his ass hit the ground, the blonde had removed his bloodied hand from the wound on his hand and looked up at the older male with a horrified expression. Not too long after, the bat was hit repeatedly into the young man's head with no mercy and it eventually turned into a heap of mush. Breathing heavily. Arthur sniffed and ignored the beads of sweat that poured down his face as he turned around. His face scowled in pain as he gripped his side, the broken ribs still protested about his constant movement. Letting out a painful, deep sigh, he looked around the room and noticed something underneath one of the long tables with sheets. Autopilot kicked in and the man began to make his way towards it. His grey brows furrowed together when he thought about how a bastard could have possible tried to hide from him during his attack on the others.

He was silent in his approach and Arthur began to think about the possible outcomes of his next attack. The enemy hiding underneath the table could very well be holding a gun and Arthur could get shot. Arthur getting shot versus the other man calling for help... Well he'd rather get shot.

Inhaling through his mouth, he was barely able to see a hint of the bottom of a shoe and after he counted to three, his hand shot down, grabbed the ankle, and pulled the person out. He had a bloodied snarl on his face, his eyes cold with hatred, as he pulled his next victim out and he had to stop himself from letting the bloodied bat hit the familiar face. His eyes widened, all emotion from before replaced with shock and relief, and he breathed out, "Addison?"

Releasing her ankle and dropping the bat, Arthur knelt down by her and gripped her lightly by the shoulders, "Oh, God, I'm so sorry..! I thought you were one of them-- Are you alright? I didn't hurt your ankle too bad, did I?" He asked in a hurried tone as he turned his attention to the ankle he had been holding in a vice-like grip. When he found that he hadn't broken the bone, he returned his attention to her face and his arms rubbed her upper arms a little, "Did they do anything to you? You've got blood all over your face and... God, Addison, I'm so-so sorry."

Without really thinking, he pulled her int a slightly tightened hug, "Honey, I thought they..." His eyes were closed and his lips were pressed together as he tried to push the horrible thoughts away. One of his hands caressed her back while the other lightly stroked her hair. He ignored the pain in his body as he lightly squeezed her, afraid if he let go then she would disappear. As he released her, he realized that it was the first time he had ever showed any sort of emotion towards her as well as calling her a name other than her own or "kid." His good eye blinked as he stood from his spot and he glanced around and said in a hushed tone, "Let's our shit and get out of here."

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

Addison inhaled deeply and held her breath as the men made their way near her hiding spot, squeezing her eyes shut in hope of not giving her position away. Though they had soon passed and were a fair distance from her, she couldn't find it in herself to leave from underneath the table. Where would she go anyways? It's not like there was anyone to run to. Even if Arthur wasn't cut up into a bunch of pieces by now, it felt damn near impossible to find him.

While getting buried deep in her own uncertainty, Addison took notice of the fact that the men weren't talking anymore. Her brow furrowed in question as she listened closely. There was the sound of shuffled movement on the carpet, but not much else. It wasn't sitting right with her, it was appeared to be uncharacteristic of the bastards to shuffle the way they just did. She reached one hand forward to pull herself out, poking her head ever so slightly out from under the cloth to scan the room. Addison only got a few seconds to spot the crumpled form on the floor down the aisle from her when a loud thud and a cry of pain erupted nearby.

The girl pushed herself back underneath the table and buried her face in her hands, unable to discern whether the sounds of sickening squelches promised good things or meant that she was in even more danger. It took a considerable amount of time for it to stop, followed by some lumbering footsteps. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck... Addison really didn't want to deal with whatever massive force took out those two guys with such force and anger. Her mind was spinning with fear. Every single one of her instincts flared when she felt a hand firmly grasp around her ankle and pull her out from her hiding spot.

"No!" she yelped as she turned to protect herself from whatever attack she imagined would be coming for her. Instead, Addison found herself staring into the hatred-charged glare of Arthur, which quickly transitioned to a soft blue that she couldn't recall ever seeing from him before. The tension disappeared from Addison's body when she saw that she was reunited with her companion at long last, but she couldn't suppress the fear that had ensnared her for the past several hours. As Arthur pulled her into a hug she burst into tears, burying her face in his shoulder and wrapping her arms tightly around him. "I tried to find you.... They...." She couldn't manage to finish a sentence without having the horrid thoughts flood into her mind once again, so she didn't bother to try. The comfort was much needed as Addison quietly sobbed into his shoulder for a couple calm moments in the midst of wanton chaos.

After some time passed, Arthur pulled away and Addison wiped her nose with the back of her hand, then quickly brushed the tears out of her eyes. She nodded at his proposition and picked up the bat Arthur had previously dropped, offering it up to him. "I can't wait to get the fuck out of here." Addison was soaked in dried blood and Arthur didn't seem much better, so the sooner they got off the boat, the better. Of course, it's not like they had a horse to ride out on anymore. "Do you know where our shit is?"

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》

After a few moments, Arthur released her and helped her to her feet as he stood. Still gripping the bat, he nodded in agreement, "Yeah..."

As he walked past her, his hand went to his side and he grimaced a bit in pain. Letting his hand fall back to his side, the old man stopped by the doorway he had come in through and peeked into the room with all the the loot and added, "I saw our backpacks when I came through here."

He crept inside, his eyes scanned the area for all entryways and exits in case anymore enemies came in, as well as in case they needed to bolt out of there. He walked straight to Addison's bag first, lifted it up by one of the straps, and tossed it to her. "See if your things are still in there and pick up whatever ammo and other supplies you can. We're getting the hell out of here."

He grabbed his own pack, unzipped it, and rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh. His shit was gone and he'd have to look for all of it in the piles of heaps of supplies. Well, he had to guess he'd rather be able to get new shit rather than whatever he had before. The old survivor dropped the bloodied baseball bat and got to work quickly spanning through the various guns and weapons. In a few minutes, he'd confiscated a steel hunting knife, which he had hosted to the back of his belt, a new handgun, a shotgun, which was hooked into the left side of his backpack, and a hunting rifle. As he stuffed as many boxes and bullets of ammunition as he could into the pocket he used as the ammo holder, his eyes caught sight of his old revolver and he scooped it up from the table. Checking how many bullets he had left, he stuffed it in the back of his jeans and turned to the table with spare clothing.

He only grabbed a few spare clothes that he thought would fit him and stuffed them into the bottom of his backpack. Throwing off his coat, he quickly pulled on an old T-shirt, a thick, black long sleeved shirt, and then slipped on his coat. He put on a pair of wool socks and tossed an extra pair in his bag. Picking out an extra coat, gloves, and socks for Addison, he tossed them towards her and told her to put them in her bag. He also shoved a pair of dark brown gloves in his backpack and stood to move towards where the food would be. As his grey-blue orbs had flicked to the doors to check for anyone coming, he spotted the shorty shotgun he and Addison had taken off of a survivor they had killed days prior. He hurriedly walked towards it, picked it up, turned to his young companion.

"Heads up, kiddo," Arthur stated as he tossed the gun her way with one hand.

He went back to where the boxes of bullets were then to stand behind her to put the boxes of spare shotgun bullets in a random pocket. "Better check and see how much ammo is left in that," he muttered as he zipped the pocket up. Walking backwards, he pulled out his handgun, pressed his back to the wall, and peeked by the door. "Lemme know when you're ready to go."

《°•°•°•°•°•°•°》