When The Levee Breaks (Ethan, Marcus, Frank & Nat)

[NPC]

JENNY GOLDSTEIN

Two weeks had passed since the last evacuation and the hopes of leaving this place alive, was slim and fading fast. She couldn’t believe it; the girl who once had everything now had nothing. She was a newlywed for crying out loud, they had just gotten back from their honeymoon and were looking forward to starting a life together and then all this shit happened. Jenny had no idea where Chris was, he was with her all through the evacuation process, when those things came out of nowhere and started ripping people apart.

They had gotten this far together and then he’d left her, he just disappeared into thin air leaving her to fend for herself. Why would he do that? Knowing that she could barely fend for herself, sure he promised that he’d be back but he never did come back. Jenny wondered if maybe he’d been hurt, maybe those things got to him and now he was one of them. But, what if he just didn’t want to be around her anymore? What if she was slowing him down?

So, with that Jenny had been left alone. Four days after the final evacuation, Chris had left her and for the next two days she found herself hiding in a pharmacy. She was certain that she’d die there. She couldn’t eat; she couldn’t sleep because she always had to be alert. Unfortunately, she grew lethargic; heavy eyed and soon fell asleep. As soon as she shut her eyes, those things came crashing in ready to take a piece out of her and then....she was saved.

A group of people, military as far as she could see had come to save her. She’d have been stupid not to go with them; she couldn’t have been quick enough to do so. Jenny didn’t know where Chris was, she worried but she wasn’t ready to die whilst waiting around for him. If he wanted to find her, he would have already and since he didn’t...he could go to hell as far as she was concerned. He’d done nothing to protect her; he’d left her for dead.

April 14th 19:13pm
Madison Square Garden

Jenny sat on the floor of the entrance corridor in Madison Square Garden. The doors where barricaded shut, with things found within the building in a bid to keep the infected out. They had been this way since the group was chased in this direction and trapped, so they sought refuge here and so far...so good.

She was situated on the ground; legs crossed holding a 9mm in her right hand. She was armed and ready, but uncertain of what for. You see, being stuck in a situation like this, becoming desperate was something that crossed everyone. Was this worth it all? Did she want to live to the end to see how it played out or would only worse come to follow?

She had this gun in her hand; she could have easily ended her life now and had done with it. But, she didn’t because...well....she wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was that she wasn’t ready to die. Maybe she was too scared to pull the trigger in case she did it wrong and was worse off than previous or Maybe, she could hear her dad in her head encouraging her to continue because her family weren’t quitters. This was the worst thing she’d ever been involved in but...still, quitting was not something she did.

Jenny stared at the gun in her hand, letting out a heavy sigh she placed it down in front of her. Her eyes watching it silently before narrowing on the infected who she could see through the gaps in the barricade walking up and down the pavements watching and waiting for the first sign of life and then they’d strike.


TAG:

Ethan Adler
Marcus Grant
Natalie Anderson
Frank Rook
Jenny Goldstein (NPC)

[SSGT. Marcus Grant]

Marcus and this merry crew had made it through the last two weeks, but it hadn't been easy. There had been a lot of fighting, a lot of killing, and a lot of scrounging for the rounds to make the difference of life and death. They had found themselves in Madison Square Garden. Once a great venue for entertainment. Now it was the closest thing to a fortress they had. Granted, it wasn't ideal. There were all kinds of ways this could go bad.

He looked at the group around him. Frank Rook, he was the de facto leader of the band. His military rank superceded the Marine's and they had made it clear that the military was calling the shots here. If something happened to Frank, it would fall to Marcus to lead this group, and make decisions that would get them all through alive. A responsibility he would handle if the time came; for now he was glad to not have it.

Then he considered the two civilians with him. They sort of trusted each other now. Sort of. Marcus still harbored doubts about those two. They were keeping things from him and Rook. That was bad. They had met a new friend, a woman named Jenny something or other.

Marcus was presently equipped with not only his M16A4 assault rifle and M9 Beretta pistol side arm, but he had managed to luck into some other weapons in the last two weeks. He had added to his gear a sawed-off shotgun, and a Heckler & Koch MP7. The one thing good about a zombie apocalypse...there were plenty of free guns lying around.

Speaking of guns, Jenny was nervously holding on to her 9mm pistol, and looking at something. She was afraid, seemingly. Marcus didn't like that one bit.

"Sarge?" He said, to Rook, "I think we got a problem."

Marcus indicated the direction of the woman's gaze, pointing with the barrel of his M16.

[Ethan Adler]

"There's no place like home."

[/i][/size][/color]
The past two weeks had not been easy ones for Ethan Adler. The young man was not a soldier. And yet, he'd been thrust into a war zone without a moment's notice. To make things even worse, Ethan had been thrust into a war zone involving things that were more or less zombies. Part of Ethan still couldn't believe it. Zombies? They were the things you shot in video games or watched get blown to smithereens. Not in a million years would Ethan have guessed that he'd be starring in his own zombie apocalypse. Even though a part of Ethan couldn't believe this whole thing that'd been going down... A part of him could definitely believe it. Mainly the part that'd almost been eaten by these flesh craving monsters. Ethan grimaced at the thought for a moment as he eyed his surroundings. Regardless of anything that'd happened recently, the young man really didn't think he'd be holed up in Madison Square Garden fighting for his life.

For a moment Ethan eyed the memorabilia that was lying around, scattered and tattered. There were Rangers posters, the New York City hockey team, and Knicks posters, the basketball team... But what caught his eye the most was the Ringling Brother's Circus poster. There was a thought... Zombie elephants and giraffes from the circus. The young man smirked slightly as he shook his head... Ethan really hoped there weren't any infected zombified elephants wandering around New York City. The young man had enough trouble with regular infected. Ethan wasn't a soldier and his actions showed it. He wasn't a natural born killer and he'd come to show that in the recent weeks. The young man's ears perked up slightly as he eyed Marcus Grant. He seemed to have spotted Jenny, who did not seem to be in the best frame of mind. With a lone pistol in front of her, Ethan eyed her precariously. Marcus's typical army attitude kicked in and Ethan rolled his eyes slightly. The young man stepped forward. "Easy there..." Ethan eyed the girl for a moment before approaching her and speaking up. "Hey, you okay?"[/blockquote]

[Natalie Anderson]

Hell on earth, this truly was. The past two weeks had been completely horrifying. This whole situation, it was crazy, unbelievable but unavoidable. Natalie was fearful, of course she was but she was also a fighter and giving up was not an option. However, keeping her secret was certainly something she was keen on...no way was she about to tell any of these men that she worked for the organisation to which this all began. Right now, they were uncertain of details, no one really knew the cause and people had their theories, but nothing was proven and all was unable to be proven since the facility went on lock down.

She had been the last person out of that building and when doing so she made sure to get her hands on some items that may have become valuable, for starts she had bagged a shit load of paper work and documents containing the thesis and notes taken from the experimental process. She had documents obtaining changes and the products used in the serum for this new invention and had managed to take a few samples of the product along with a by product that was being processed, she had no idea what it was but she figured, it may have been something worth having...what if it was a cure?

Of course, she kept all this hidden in her backpack along with her identification card. She couldn’t let anyone know who she was, so she kept the guise of being someone who dealt in the cosmetics department rather than a pharmaceutical company, it wasn’t a lie it was just a slight bending of the truth.

Natalie had as ever, detached herself from the group, going off on her own little venture with her bag linked over her shoulder. She was wearing pale grey jeans, a striped top with a black tank over the top, a leather jacket and a pair of leather wedge heeled boots. She found them in the entrance hall where the young blonde was sat on the floor looking worse for wares. She watched the scene silently, letting her eyes move from the bodies stood before her and Ethan approaching the young blonde in a bid to calm her down. She was sat in front of her gun, Natalie had no idea why she even had a gun, it wasn’t like she’d know how to use it and not to mention the fact she was some frail little woman who’d likely fall over from the force of the shot.

She rolled her eyes and set her bag down, brushing passed Marcus and Frank before walking right up to Jenny and Ethan and picking her gun up off the floor. If Blondie was going to do something stupid, she could do it on her own watch not Natalie’s. She fleeted a glance to Ethan as if to say ‘Problem solved’ as they all thought that it was likely she was going to pull a Kurt Cobain on them. Well, her brains would not be painting the ceiling today.

Taking the gun she walked back to her previous spot “So, what 's tha' plaan? or aare wee all just gonna siit around heere all daay waaiting for blondie to snap tha hell outta it...and deciide to join the rest of us on planet earth?...” The aussie asked a little unkindly, someone ahd to say it. Jenny was milking the situation for all she could and having someone like that on your team made you weak. Natalie would have no qualms leaving her behind when push came to shove.

[MSG. Frank Rook]

Gone… Gone was the chance to get out. Gone was the chance Frank had of seeing his family ever again. His wife, his daughter… Gone was any means to see the only two people in the world he gave a fuck about. Getting out of the city was hopeless, he knew that. It was locked up tight, standard biohazard procedures. No way out, no one was coming in, they were well and truly fucked.

And yet, they continued on. Frank didn’t know how he had mustered the will to go on. The realization that he was going to die here, in all likelihood, hadn’t seemed to falter him. Perhaps it was his training. The training that ingrained in him, more than anything, to never give up.

‘I shall never surrender, though I may be the last. And if I am taken, I pray I have the strength to spit upon my enemy.’

No, Frank wasn’t a quitter. He’d been made the de-facto leader of the group, for reasons that didn’t mean much to half of them. Their first objective had been to find a safe place, and they had that now. For how long they would be safe, he couldn’t say. But he knew he would raise hell to anyone, alive or undead, that tried to siege their sanctuary. He’d die doing his duty, if that was what it took. And as much as he found Ethan to be a little pussy who’d made too many stupid mistakes for his liking, and as much as he thought of Natalie as a total bitch who would sooner feed any one of them to the wolves than risk her own well being, it was his duty to protect them. Marcus was also his duty, as a man in his charge. And now, the catatonic blonde who sat a few feet away was part of their group as well.

When Marcus pointed out her look, and the gun just a few inches away, he folded up the piece of paper he had been looking at and stuffed it into his pocket. A letter he had been trying to write. A letter that any soldier who had ever gone off to war prepared. A last letter to his loved ones. They all said the same thing, but they were all special. They all talked about how sorry the soldier was to leave his loved ones, how he wished more than anything that he could have stayed with them. How he died doing something that mattered, and that he hoped it would give them some kind of condolence. Frank did write how he was sorry he wouldn’t be coming home, he did write that he loved them more than anything, how he wished he could have stayed with them. But he left out how he died doing something that mattered. He wasn’t a liar, and he wasn’t going to start now. There was no purpose in what he was dying for, not here.

And just like that, Natalie swooped in and disarmed the girl. And of course, she started in with her usual shit.

“So, what 's tha' plaan? or aare wee all just gonna siit around heere all daay waaiting for blondie to snap tha hell outta it...and deciide to join the rest of us on planet earth?...” She said, and Frank rolled his eyes.

”I dunno. Seemed like finding the shelter was the first step to a rational person. And someone with a bit of compassion wouldn’t find it hard to give her five minutes. Where are all your ideas? Your perfectly content to sit here and bitch, so you must have the way out all figured.” He said. He’d been holding that in for a while. It felt good to get it out. But it wasn’t at all random, none of his words were generated by anger. He meant it all.

[STAFF]

JENNY GOLDSTEIN

"Easy there..." a voice piqued her ears. She snapped out of her daze and gently lifted her head seeing the dark haired civilian male approach her. He was cautious of her and possibly because of the gun she had in front of her. She looked passed him, eyes narrowing on the trio to his left, the two military boys looked as wary where as the blonde looked a little annoyed more than anything. "Hey, you okay?" Ethan asked her, she lifted her eyes back to him and silently nodded in return. But, she wasn’t okay, she was far from okay...none of them were.

She took a deep breath dropping her head again, her eyes staring at the gun that lay on the floor before her. It’d have been so easy to just take it and finish all of this, to just put herself out of all of this torture because that was what it was. She was sat here wondering if she even had anyone left alive. Her parents, her husband...it still felt weird to even know that she was married. It cut her up that he wasn’t here and that he’d practically abandoned her. So maybe, just maybe doing this wasn’t such a bad idea. Maybe if she did pull the trigger, it’d be better for everyone.

But then...the gun slid away from her. She lifted her eyes up seeing Natalie towering over her. She furrowed her brows at the blonde and dropped her head shamefully; the blonde turned away and walked off. It seemed her plan had just been taken out of the picture...literally.

“So, what 's tha' plaan? or aare wee all just gonna siit around heere all daay waaiting for blondie to snap tha hell outta it...and deciide to join the rest of us on planet earth?...” Natalie said. She turned her head slightly, eyes narrowing on the through her own blonde tresses. She glared at her, what a downright spiteful thing to say. She had no idea what this was like; it was as if her heart was made of stone or something. The military officer who’d taken charge, Frank, he replied to her but she was so angry right now that all she could do was glare at the back of Natalie’s head.

Jenny furiously pounded her fist against the floor, before yelling out at Natalie “...Is it really that difficult for you to stop being such a fucking bitch!?” The once distant blonde screeched. She wasn’t going to take that shit, not at all, she was Jenny Goldenstein and she took shit from no one. She glared at her profusely before inhaling deeply and turning her head away from them. She took a few more deep breaths to calm herself down, because if she didn’t she’d launch at her and they didn’t need that right now.

The blonde picked herself up off the floor “Just because you don’t have anyone to go back to when this is all over, does not give you the right to be a cunt about it. You may not have a heart but the rest of us do. So maybe you can take that into consideration, because if the chance comes where you do need my help and you might, you won’t get it” Jenny told her, she turned and picked up her gun placing it back on her belt and looked at the others. Her face hardened, she’d definitely snapped out of it now and was waiting for further information.

[SSGT. Marcus Grant]

Marcus had brought the situation to the attention of the whole group, but it seemed they had drawn a different conclusion than he had. Marcus watched a moment as all Ethan, Natalie and Rook took their turns addressing the young blonde woman. Ethan was concerned, Natalie was a bitch, as usual. Marcus nearly sighed as she went off the woman, not even considering what might be the real issue.

“So, what 's tha' plaan? or aare wee all just gonna siit around heere all daay waaiting for blondie to snap tha hell outta it...and deciide to join the rest of us on planet earth?...”

Marcus was about to jump in, when Rook did the honors himself.

”I dunno. Seemed like finding the shelter was the first step to a rational person. And someone with a bit of compassion wouldn’t find it hard to give her five minutes. Where are all your ideas? Your perfectly content to sit here and bitch, so you must have the way out all figured.”

Marcus nodded, good points, but not what was on his mind. He sighed, and nearly spoke up again, but Jenny was in to defend herself before long. Good thing too, that meant she wasn't completely unable to handle the pressure. Marcus respected her for the display of self-esteem.

“...Is it really that difficult for you to stop being such a fucking bitch!?”

Marcus saw a fight coming, and now was not the time.


“Just because you don’t have anyone to go back to when this is all over, does not give you the right to be a cunt about it. You may not have a heart but the rest of us do. So maybe you can take that into consideration, because if the chance comes where you do need my help and you might, you won’t get it”

Grant knew she had to say her piece, but now that it was over, he had his own questions. Like what had her looking so grim all of a sudden. He smiled, glad she stook up for herself. But he turned a hard look at her, and back to where she had previously been staring into space.

"Somethin' spooked ya...an' I want to know what it was." The Marine said his gun firmly gripped, his eyes toward the barricade. If something was going down, he would be ready for it.

"I ain't so sure this is the best place to be anymore, Sarge," Grant told Rook with a fair amount of trepidation.

[Ethan Adler]

"There's no place like home."

[/i][/size][/color]

Ethan's eyes snapped back towards Natalie as she spoke quite plainly. The young woman wasn't really caring about her words... And well, that pissed Ethan off quite a bit. The young man wasn't the insensitive kind. He was all for being right up front and open about who he was and what his intentions were. The young man wasn't the kind of guy to bullshit someone. Even though Ethan had been through a lot, just as everyone else had... He wasn't one to kind of just beat around the bush and pull bullshit out of his ass. Even though Ethan wasn't the most adept kind of person in this world... He wasn't the kind of guy who was going to lie straight to your face. Ethan looked right towards Natalie as she finished speaking. "Shut up, Nat. Too far." The young man wasn't happy about the way Natalie had spoken... That much was clear.

Ethan knew this was coming. They were all antsy. They were all tired. And most of all, they were all tired of being stuck in a fucking zombie apocalypse. Shit, Ethan wasn't exactly happy as hell about being here in a fucking wasteland. Jesus, people these days loved fucking zombie movies... But damn, once you were living in one it sucked! As everyone began to snap back and forth at each other, the young man put his hands up in the air. "Alright, enough. Everyone, just stop a second, okay?" For a moment, the young man paused. "We're all tired, we're all antsy, and we're all a little angry... Just take a moment and get one good deep breathe or some crap. We're not going to turn on each other here so just sort yourselves out now." For a moment, the young man paused slightly. Ethan eyed Marcus for a moment, before pausing slightly. "I've gotta agree. The barricade blocking off the subway just doesn't make me feel very safe, y'know?[/blockquote]

[Natalie Anderson]

"Shut up, Nat. Too far." she turned her eyes toward Ethan, scoffing some “Too far? And shooting a man for...what exactly was the reason again?...is that not too far?” she asked him, raising a brow “You’re in no position to comment on my behaviour, sunshine...” Nat remarked at him. She wasn’t getting the third degree off him, no sir. She hadn’t done anything wrong, the fact was if this girl let her emotions get in the way she’d get herself killed and since she was with them, they’d go down with her. Natalie wasn’t intent on dying, especially not today.

”I dunno. Seemed like finding the shelter was the first step to a rational person. And someone with a bit of compassion wouldn’t find it hard to give her five minutes. Where are all your ideas? Your perfectly content to sit here and bitch, so you must have the way out all figured.” Frank commented. Nat turned her eyes toward him, smirking ever so “...Right, okay give her, her five minutes to have a break down. Then when she runs out of those doors in a bid to find her boyfried...they all get in and we get eaten. Call me crazy but I just don’t find myself liking that idea all too much. It’s not about having compassion, it’s about seeing the weak link in a chain and she’s it. I will not be dragged down with her...if you want to, by all means...carry on.” Natalie replied turning back to her bag. She picked it up, slugging it over her shoulder again. She wasn’t the bad guy here, but she knew that people like Jenny Goldenstein didn’t last long in the big bad world.

Natalie had not said things to purposely upset Jenny, she did it for a reason and that was to draw out something much deeper in the blonde. She knew that there was a fighter in there somewhere and the only way to get that to surface was by using tough love. The others would see it too. Jenny was clearly a girl of expensive taste, the kind who knew how to get what she wanted and by doing so wasn’t always willing to be nice about it. So, Nat pressed her buttons “...Is it really that difficult for you to stop being such a fucking bitch!?” Jenny screeched. Nat had her back to her at the time. Grinning to herself, she turned silently to watch the blonde in her tirade of rage.

Jenny got up off the floor where Natalie sized her up “Just because you don’t have anyone to go back to when this is all over, does not give you the right to be a cunt about it. You may not have a heart but the rest of us do. So maybe you can take that into consideration, because if the chance comes where you do need my help and you might, you won’t get it” There it was, the bitch within. She knew there was something there, she couldn’t be just a pathetic little whiney bitch and Nat was right. Nat smiled at her “...That’s more like it.” She simply said, fleeting her eyes toward the others as if to say ‘I told you so’

Nat carried herself to the steps and sat down, watching as the others spoke. She had her say; she didn’t have anything else to say right now about the situation in hand. She had her thoughts but that’s all they’d remain. They spoke about their location and how they felt unsafe. She nodded agreeing “Well, we can’t very well walk out the doors. So, maybe we should try the subway? Sure it might be full of those things, but it’s worth a look don’t ya think? I mean if we can use the subway to get about, more for us.”

[MSG. Frank Rook]

Frank couldn’t help but let out a small smirk when Natalie brought up Ethan’s shooting incident. Shortly after it had happened, she was very adamant that they stop talking about it, that they not even detain a man who could have been very dangerous. Now, she was bringing it up just to try and hurt him. She was a real class act, that one.

“...Right, okay give her, her five minutes to have a break down. Then when she runs out of those doors in a bid to find her boyfriend...they all get in and we get eaten. Call me crazy but I just don’t find myself liking that idea all too much. It’s not about having compassion, it’s about seeing the weak link in a chain and she’s it. I will not be dragged down with her...if you want to, by all means...carry on.” Nat said, and Frank was about to rebuke with little details, like the fact that when they found her she had to have been sitting in the same spot for days. If she had it in her head to go and find her boyfriend, who had probably skipped out on her, she had ample opportunity to before now. Also, the fact that she was in a state of shock, she wouldn’t be going anywhere in a hurry. Or how there was no way she could have dismantled the barrier they had erected in front of the entrance before they stopped her. She couldn’t pose a danger to any of them through trying to run.

But he didn’t have to say any of that. The young woman ripped into Natalie with a passion, and Frank couldn’t say he blamed her. He actually felt a bit of pride shining through. Reminded him of his daughter…

Natalie said something about using the subways, and he shook his head slightly. He wasn’t disregarding her idea. It was a bad idea, that was for sure. There were going to be just as many of those things there than anywhere else. They’d have wandered there, or chased someone in, something like that. It was inevitable. And they didn’t have a little thing like sunlight on their side down there. But, for all the flaws, there wasn’t another option and they all knew it…

”Subway it is.” He said, ejecting the magazine on his rifle and weighing it in his hand. He’d used this rifle for years. He knew the magazine was full by it’s weight. He could do it with his Beretta too, without ejecting the magazine. Speaking of, he checked the Beretta as well. Full as well. Running a hand over his best and belt pouches, having ditched a lot of other gear that proved useless, broken, used up, whatever the case had been, he was much lighter than he had been.

”Grant, me and you are on point.” He said. Sure, he had a problem with more than half the civilians here, but it was still his job to protect them. He’d die for people he didn’t even like before he shirked his duty to his country.

[NPC]

JENNY GOLDSTEIN

Who would have thought she would have ended up here? Madison Square Garden. God, they were holed up in a god damn sports arena. The fuck kind of place was that to hide? It was massive for one... Too much ground to cover and too many things that could go wrong. It didn't sit well with Jenny and she was not fucking happy about it. Moreover, Jenny missed Chris more than anything. What had happened that he didn't come back? Jenny would have much rather have been with Chris than this motley fucking crew. They were a mess and Jenny didn't like most of them. Some of them were okay... But then there was that cunt Natalie. She had some mouth on her... Jenny hated that bitch and continued do so. Sure, Jenny was having a bit of a lapse right now... But that didn't give her any right to be a huge fucking bitch about it. If only those fucking army dicks and the other guy weren't there... Then it'd be no holds bars.

Jenny Goldstein rolled her eyes slightly as Natalie spoke. The young woman had half a mind to rip Natalie's fucking eyes out right here, right now... But she wouldn't get very far. She'd have to wait until the group's guard was down. Then she could give that bitch what she had coming to her. Then Jenny could high tail her way out of here and try to find Chris. She needed her boyfriend right now and she desperately missed him. Something had to have been wrong... There was no reason he'd have left her. Jenny nodded slightly as they spoke about heading into the subway. It wasn't her favorite option, but she figured it couldn't have been worse than going outside into the hordes of flesh eating zombies. Jenny stood there, eyeing the group for a moment, before turning her attention back to Natalie. "You just watch your back princess... Ya never know what can go bump in the dark..." As the two army dicks said they were going to run point, Jenny nodded and smirked slightly and spoke sarcastically "Lead the way, El Capitan."

[SSGT. Marcus Grant]

Now if I am to survive
The infection must die
Murder the beast
That’s been eating me alive
The infection must die

"Shut up, Nat. Too far."

Grant was surprised that Ethan had the stones to speak up to the girl who had defended him when he was ankle deep in shit. Grant didn't like it; these two would readily be at each other's throats...what was to stop them from betraying the group as a whole? He didn't trust them, even after the passage of the last two weeks. Maybe it was because of the time with them...but he knew he couldn't consider them to be real allies...no they were a job. It was his job to help them survive. Whether that was a good goal to work toward or not was open for debate, but he and Rook weren't intending to go there...yet.

“Too far? And shooting a man for...what exactly was the reason again?...is that not too far?”

And Nat was quick to prove the point.

“You’re in no position to comment on my behaviour, sunshine...”

Marcus was about sick of all the bickering. He wasn't going to make it better by adding his bitching to the mess though.

"Well, we can’t very well walk out the doors. So, maybe we should try the subway? Sure it might be full of those things, but it’s worth a look don’t ya think? I mean if we can use the subway to get about, more for us.”

After some rambling on and general cattiness, the woman said something with a point to it. Marcus listened, thinking it might be a feasible plan, all he needed was Rook's word...

”Subway it is.”

Rook didn't sound convinced that was the best plan. Problem was, it was the only plan...

”Grant, me and you are on point.”

"Sure thing, Sarge, sir!' Grant said with a nod to Rook, as he raised his M16, in the position of a readied rifleman. He attached a light to the barrel, and flicked it on, shining the light on the path ahead- into the dark tunnels of New York's Subway system.

"Still waitin' on an answer as to what spooked ya..." He said to the other catty blond in their crew. Jenny was her name...and her and Nat were heading toward a fight soon....he was about tired of the civilians and their shitty attitudes. But he had to put up with it...it was the right thing to do.

[Ethan Adler]

"There's no place like home."

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Ethan Adler's face grew staunch as Natalie spoke fiercely to him. The young man's eyes shifted slightly as he eyed the young blonde Aussie. Ethan wanted to say something back. But, the young man just couldn't find the right words. Ethan's silence said it all as he eyed Natalie. She'd gotten him pretty good, that was for damn sure. When the outbreak had begun, Ethan had been saved by Natalie... They then met up with Frank and Marcus who continued onward to find supplies. When they made their way to a gun shop, the group headed inside. Ethan had found a nice firearm for himself when another survivor had happened onto their group... The survivor instantly recognized Ethan as the son of the President of the United States and Ethan didn't want him to expose his identity to the army guys... Ethan was afraid of being sent out of the quarantined zone... However, Ethan didn't want to leave at the time. At the time, Ethan had just wanted to meet and find his brother and see if he was okay. That was all Ethan wanted and when he realized that he didn't want this guy blowing his identity out of the water, the young man accidentally shot the guy.

Ethan's silence remained as the young man eyed everyone in the group and listened intently. He didn't like the idea of heading into the subway... But they didn't really have another choice... The young man sighed ever so slightly as he collected his belongings. The idea of being deep down underneath the city... In the dark... Where anything could be lurking and lying in wait for them. Yeah, that wasn't exactly Ethan's perfect cup of tea. The young man wasn't going to desert his group though. Regardless of how badly the entire thing sounded, Ethan wasn't a deserter and he wasn't the kind of guy to leave people hanging. He wasn't selfish and only concerned for his own well being. No, Ethan was much more than that. The young man held his firearm in his hand as they headed into the tunnels. Ethan had a flashlight in one hand and a revolver in the other. The young man hung back with Natalie as Frank and Marcus took point. Ethan wanted to speak to Natalie, but he didn't want the others to hear necessarily. Ethan eyed Natalie as he stood next to her. Ethan spoke softly as he eyed Natalie. "What's your deal? Seriously... I've known you two weeks now... One moment you're an absolute sweet-heart... The next, you're ready to cut my heart out and stuff me in a wood chipper..." For a moment, Ethan paused slightly. "I'm not your enemy here... I'm just trying to understand."[/blockquote]

[Natalie Anderson]

"You just watch your back princess... Ya never know what can go bump in the dark..." Jenny threatened, Nat merely smirked at her "..It's bump in the night, you dick.." she muttered quietly to herself as the blonde dissappeared off after Marcus and Frank. Nat was pretty peeved at being made out to be the bad guy here, but what were they going to do? sit around and wait for blondie to pull her finger out? fuck that. She was simply missing her boyfriend and that wasn't a good enough reason to sit here moping around and risk getting everyone else killed.

Her annoyance had found it's way toward Ethan. Was she sorry? maybe a little. Did he have it coming? Yeah and if she hadn't have said it one of the others would have. She saw the look in his eye, he was absolutely livid but he deserved that because she wasn't about to be backed into a corner by all of them, especially him. She fucking saved his butt back there, she'd covered up his mess and it was because of her that he was still alive.

It seemed her suggestion of taking the subway had not fallen on deaf ears and appeared to be a good idea. She was grateful for them noting such a thing. She waited, watching as the others moved ahead. Grabbing her bag, she slung it onto her back and followed briskly behind them. She pointed her gun ahead of her, the flash-light strapped to the top and clicked it on. She shifted her eyes to her left, seeing Ethan had slowed down now. She raised a brow at him, narrowing her eyes ahead of her again as they continued to walk behind the others.

"What's your deal? Seriously... I've known you two weeks now... One moment you're an absolute sweet-heart... The next, you're ready to cut my heart out and stuff me in a wood chipper..." Ethan said, wow that sounded kind of emo. She furrowed her brows, fleeting a glance at him, flashing him her wtf brow as he paused "I'm not your enemy here... I'm just trying to understand." he added. She grunted quietly at him, before replying "...I'm sorry, if i'd known you were going to be such a girl about it, i'd have bought you a box of Kleenex." she replied off handedly.

She looked at him and sighed slightly, that was mean...and she shouldn't have said that "What are you trying to understand? Look around you, it's not all rainbows and sunshine's outside, so maybe i don't feel like being nice all of the time, especially when i'm being backed into a corner." Nat told him quietly, turning her eyes to face him as she did.

"She's gonna get us killed Ethan, just like that guy back in town. If i hadn't...." she paused, frowning slightly. Nat wasn't some heartless bitch, she knew he'd know that but right now she showed it better. She clearly hadn't wanted to push that guy away earlier, let the infected get him..but it was him or them. "...If he was still with us, we'd be dead. She's weak, the minute she finds a way out of here she's going to take it and she's going to lead them straight to us. You know i'm right. The only reason she didn't burst out of those doors is because were we're all there to stop her. But what happens when we're not?" She through at there, she was right what the hell was Jenny capable of?

"Tough love, it sucks sure but we need to keep her on track otherwise she's goin' to fuck us all over"

[MSG. Frank Rook]

Frank ignored the few bits of conversation he could hear in the background. He found that he didn’t care much what anyone else had to say these days. If it wasn’t for the good of the group, he would like to not hear it at all. Especially when the level of negativity and bullshit was ever rising.

His M4 packed into his shoulder tightly, he had the light flipped on as they made their way down the stairs to the subway platform. So far, they seemed to be good. But that was going to change, he could feel it. Or maybe it was just a conditioned response. He was used to things going bad in a hurry, it came with the job. And he’d always pulled through. Sure, the situation was different and the odds were definitely worse than they ever had been, but the drive to keep going was still there.

His mind was brought out of the haze that the idle thought brought, a small sound from ahead catching his ear. He held up a fist, signaling to them all to stop moving and talking. He didn’t know if the civilians would know what he meant, so he let out a small shushing noise as well. He motioned for Grant to stay and cover him. And also for the fact that, if Frank was killed by something, Grant was out of harms way to keep the group going. The rag tag experience they picked up wouldn’t do much for them if they lost the soldiers of the group. Frank was comfortable putting himself into harms way, but he didn’t like to do it to others. If the danger was clear, he would direct his men to it. But he didn’t do it in situations like this, when the danger could be anything.

His rifle at his side, he pulled out his handgun to have better maneuverability in the possibly tight space and flicked the light on, venturing into the shadows to find out what was going to come out and try to eat them.