anklebiters

This place is so unforgiving

And somehow it’s another winter

cameron word count: 653 outfit notes: I couldn't resist.

Things were hard all over. People in Gameland seemed to wrap themselves in a delusional state of security because they had walls to house them and amenities that those still wandering could only hope to come across on their dizziest daydreams. But what they forgot as the booze and the whores, gambling and vices flowed, were the basic necessities that they went without. Charlie had grown up having never been left wanting in the materialistic sense. One thing that the apocalypse had taught her was the value of the things you had once taken for granted, like water and for the love of modern advances, toilet paper.

She'd been following the signs of the forest looking for the formative to fill her canteen, running near on empty and rationing what she did have. The forestry was sure to provide a stream or two that she could dip into and it could be filtered if need be to make safe to drink. Charlotte had been raised in Tennessee and though quite a ways away from this area, she still wasn't completely foreign to the topography. If she was recalling correctly, this was about where the stream she had in mind could be located.

Over the sound of what birds were left out at this time, Charlie couldn't hear any moving water in the distance but the temperature seemed more moist here, nipping at the tip of her nose. The winter months were always more harsh on the trek. She wished that she'd found a warmer jacket to keep her toasty against the biting December air, or that she wasn't so reluctant to use the blanket in her knapsack before the night's chill settled in and would really need it.

After water, shelter for the upcoming night would be the next on Charlie's list. She couldn't be out here alone, exposed to the winter elements and except to be at full function when she needed to move again. Just thinking about it had her bone aching with the potential of ice freezing her to the core and making each step feel as though she were so brittle that one wrong move would have her shattering like glass. It wasn't that cold yet but the thought of being on her own when the night took over was unsettling in this area. Charlie hoped that the water source that she was seeking would still be running, but again, she saw no reason why it wouldn't be.

Her gaze narrowed, scrutinizingly at the prints on the ground, separate from her own and the weight displaced. Had a zombie been this way recently? She couldn't afford to stop or head in the other direction. Unsheathing her knife, Charlie held it in a prone position, blade touching against the forearm of her leather jacket, moving more swiftly than she had before and using the trees she passed as cover, following the path that she'd set for herself whilst keeping a cautious eye out for whatever- or whoever- had made those footprints.

A flash of something, fabric maybe, caught her from the corner of her eye, turning her steps in that same direction, stalking. Charlotte could see bits and pieces of her prey, brown hair, tall, lanky, but not without body definition. His face though, that was her biggest concern. Charlie flitted from tree base to tree base trying to get as near to him as possible to better assess the threat. Even if he wasn't a zombie that didn't define whether or not her was friend or foe. Charlie let out a slow breath, back pressed to the trunk of a tree before springing out to try capturing the man with her blade held against his neck. The lack of moaning suggested he was human but even so, she had to at least try to get the jump on him. There were some bad people out in this world, she would know.

This place is so unforgiving

And somehow it’s another winter

cameron word count: 651 outfit notes: It doesn't stink.

This was the way of the world now. Honestly though, Charlie wasn't sure if it was much different than it had been when the dead didn't walk the earth. History had shown ebbs and flows in evolution, rises and falls of empires. America had always seemed like it was at the head of the pack as far as power went but it was just another Civil War away from total chaos. People had began using their beliefs and protests as a ruse for something else, something more primal in their existences. If Charlie had cared more to put a face to this disease that had swept the nation, maybe even the world, though she couldn't be sure beyond the local reports of the outbreak from the news station before order shut down- maybe this was what they had done to themselves. Maybe the zombies weren't just some tragedy that had struck, but a higher power trying to correct all the wrong in the world. Maybe homo sapiens had outlived their time on this planet.

She was careful to hold just enough pressure against the blade so that he could feel the cold sting of the metal, but hopefully he wouldn't notice that she had also taken the precautionary measure to keep the flat of it to his throat rather than the sharp edge. As long as he didn't move until she assessed the threat, it would stay that way. The man seemed to be complying, still as a statue save for the rise and fall of his chest in the high intensity situation he now found himself in. "Hello, Darling." Her native Tennessee accent crooned next to his ear, sweet as honey.

"Now don't you go making any sudden moves, you hear?" Charlie moved her other hand over his shoulder, the elbow of the arm holding the knife locked a bit tighter to confirm to him that she was still very much so in charge of their current encounter. As her hand traveled further down his body she smiled, amusing thoughts rumbling through her mind. "A girl can never be too careful. I'm sure you understand." And if he didn't, tough shit. Charlotte tried not to be caught unawares like he had but maybe this guy had tricks up his sleeves that would surprise the roughest of sorts.

"Oh, is this for me?" Her voice dropped down to a lusty octave wrapping her fingers around what he was armed with. "If you don't mind obliging a lady and comforting her security, I'll take this. Promise to give it back when all is said and done." Charlie would wait for his response. After basically feeling him up, or as was the technicality of it, patting him down for weapons, in Gameland that probably would have cost him a pretty penny so some might have considered him lucky.

You never knew how long it had been for some people. There were those who hadn't come across another living soul in quite some time, let alone someone worth sharing a bed with. That wasn't why she was here though and Charlotte was no whore, even back at the haven, unless times was far toughed than what she could handle in other ways. She understood that desperate times called for desperate measures and Charlie, well she was awfully curious to see how this world would end, that alone might have been the driving force behind her determination to stay alive. It was hard to tell. "What do you say?" If he'd thought her a threat, he was right on the money but it was rare that Charlie killed first and asked questions later. Maybe he was useful for other things than what he simply carried on his person, which wasn't much. Maybe by asking if he would let her hold onto his weapon his guard would drop some and she could indulge in some long overdue conversation.