Welcome to Gaia! ::

Once Nina had started down the ladder Garath followed her. The top of the ladder was cold but as he got closer to the ground it began to burn. But his mind wasn't on the sensation in his hands. His mind was instead dwelling on the smell. He could handle the blood and the sounds as he had watched many movies. But none of the movies had ever portrayed the smell. The gasoline odour mixed with burning flesh created a symphony of revulsion. Then there was the smell of rotting flesh. Together it made Garath a bit queazy but he held himself together. Focus on the task a hand, nothing else matters. He took a few deep breaths and calmed his mind. Breathing through his mouth he let go and dropped to the ground beneath. The impact besides being faster also jarded him into wakefulness. The heat was awful but he ignored it. Nina seemed to be unafraid and he copied her attitude. He followed Nina over to the edge of the circle where she was poking the corpse out of the way. He wished he could at least provide some sort of respect for the bodies but he couldn't. The risk of infection was too high, and there was no time. Hopefully they were safe in what ever afterlife they beleived in. He nearly smiled When Nina squeeked. "I don't think the infection would have survived the heat. It needs fluids and flesh to survive in so it wouldn't survive after the flesh was burned. Or at least not on the outside. The flesh that wasn't fired however might still carry it." He spoke his thoughts outloud mostly to keep them organised and himself sane. The smell was getting over powering. Garath heard the growl and grabed his sword. He hated the thought of seeing a zombie dog. Humans were bad enough, but he had seen the dogs in the zombie movies. Faster, stronger, and a hell of a lot more deadly then their human counterpart. He noticed Nina's posture and ran over. He stood beside her with his saber drawn. He heard the terror in her voice and was surprised. She was the fearless leader. He had for the most part been trying to follow her example. Even though he was terrified as well, he tried to put on a brave face to help support her. "Come on Nina. It's only a dog, and not even a wolf hound at that. Besides our friends are up there couvering our backs. So nothing can go wrong." He yelled out to the dog. "Come and get us you big ugly thing. We're running a one day special on re-buryings." Even as he shouted that last part he realised how lame it sounded. But by yelling at the dog at least he wasn't as scarred anymore.

The odds of zombie movies being right again were really getting small he hoped. They'd been right for most of it so far, so they had to start being wrong sooner or later. Maybe the dog would be slower than a normal dog. Yeah right. He was less scarred but not by much. Hopfully one of the others would fire before the thing started to charge. But even as he was hoping this the dog began to lunge towards them. Its large half decayed jaws were briming with saliva ready to tear a huge chunk out of its prey.

"GEEZ!" Nicholas exclaimed as Sarah knocked over the shelf. The noise was loud and it caught him off guard. He slowly wandered over in Kalila's direction. "Isn't that the idea of lock?" Nicholas asked his older sister, about the topic that was being discussed before, in a low whisper. The Building was on the emptier side. After all, that was the way it was when they entered. However, small groups of infected got in through the doors. They followed the scent of their group. Doing so, they had surrounded the group, emanating noise from all directions. They hadn't realized it, but by doing this, they were using a scare tactic that was lowering the morale of their prey. They made it seem like there was a lot more of them then there really were.
Nikita mumbled to Ada how David seemed to start losing it as soon as his wife was near him. For some odd reason, Ada found this absolutely hilarious and found it hard to stop from laughing aloud. She ended up just stifling it behind a fake clearing of her throat. Nikita finally decided to speak up. He spoke to David directly. He said how they could just get a pad lock from whatever section it was in and put it on all the doors. They could let someone keep the key and whenever people came, they would open it for them.
"Sounds simple enough... However, we will put an intercom device outside, right?" Kalila asked seriously. "I mean... All we have to do is get one of the red phones they keep at each check out station and pull it out the door. After we do that... We lock the door as we originally planned. Whenever anyone with enough brains to operate the device comes by, they press the button and talk into it. Wherever we are, we hear it through the P.A. system. We know to go to the door and open for them." She said as she looked at everyone.
"I like that idea... Do it with or without their permission. I mean... It's not hurting them in anyway. They don't have to do any work, right?" Nicholas said his opinion load and clear. As Kalila listened to her brother, her facial expression was set in indecisiveness. Sure, she agreed. Nevertheless, other might object for logical reasons. So far, though, she planned to go through with her plan. Her eyes scanned their group.

"Wait... Where's Mizuki?" She asked, her tone taking a dramatic high pitch in comparison with her explaining tone used only a few seconds earlier.
Ada's eye immediately caught movement in her peripheral vision. She turned her head just in time to see Mizuki disappear behind the shelves of an isle. She quickly pointed out what she saw.
"Aw! Come on! I wanted to change out of this barbarian-wear I call clothing!" He said pointing to his torso. "He didn't have to run off with his bag too." He looked down at his gun and then back up at the group. An expression of confusion was smear across his face. "Wait... Why'd he run off?" Kalila thought about it for half a second, her eyes landing of her brother's battle rifle.
"Ammo?" She piped up, as if she was answering a math question her teacher asked the whole class.
Nikita commented on how that sounded correct. Nikita cursed. He said how now that Mizuki was gone, they couldn't move or they would lose him.
"You're right..." Kalila commented after a gasp. "Why'd he go alone! He's not safe!"
"But, we don't have any time to lose either!" Nicholas complained. He turned to his sister. "Are you kidding me! That kid survived two rounds of being separated from the group for long hours. He's fine! And He always manages to find us."
"Why don't we divide off into groups like we said we would before?" Kalila said timidly.
Ada put in some helpful advice, saying how they should just split off into two groups. One to seal off doors and the other one to hunker down this position. She thought it would be best to satisfy Kalila. She was a good addition to their group, but not if she is flustered all the time.
"I'm going to go help lock doors..." Kalila said, raising her hand that held her katana. "If I want to make the P.A. system operational from outside… For my friend, I have to go."
"I was so sure you were going to want to stay for Mizuki." Nicholas commented as if commenting on the weather.
"I do! But... But, the way you pointed that out earlier..."
"Oh... My bad. Um... I'll stay." Nicholas mumbled. That kind of hit a spot for him. "Who's staying with me?" Nicholas did not say anything, but this situation was making him nervous. He had not been separated once from his older sister since the infection hit NYC.
Ada raised her hand. She commented on how it seemed Eri wanted to help David with the doors, so she should go. She narrowed her eyes at David. Nikita quickly inserted that he would go with Kalila and David to lock doors. He did not want Eri alone with the scientist.
Kalila waited to hear which group Sarah and Alex wanted to go or stay with before she headed off into the direction she had seen padlocks, katana out to her right, ready to strike.
"Ada... I'm depending on you to take good care of my little brother. He's strong enough to take care of himself. But... It's good to know someone ask skilled as you is with him..." She mumbled as she left. Nikita followed closely behind.
"I can take care of myself..." Nicholas complained, but in his mind, he was happy his sister was showing concern. It maded it easier to part from her. Come on...! It's not that big of a deal! She'll be back in no time... he told himself.

((Added to the ending part of Kalila's post.))

[[lol, yeah... sorry about that... it really was my fault...]]
[[P.S. Sorry for missing some of your post Kagome... I'll edit it, but I'm out of it right now...]]

Back in the ring of flames, Nina swallowed roughly and smiled at Garath.
"Yeah, you're absolutely correct." She replied to his explanation, sounding a lot more confident than her posture showed her to be. It was good to hear her logical mind voiced aloud by another. Nina was normally the fearless leader, but not when it came to "zombies." They definitely fell under her number one fear... ever. She was also pretty cautious about her safety, though her personality did a good job of masking such a thing. Unlike Kalila, who gave every one of her feelings away through everything she did, Nina's laid-back personality and leadership ability masked her emotions.
That's when Nina had unconsciously stepped away from Garath, had the conversation with Jain, and heard the dog. Of course, as good person would, Garath did come and stand with Nina, as he should have. That didn't stop Nina from freaking out and screaming scared orders to the people above. Garath spewed out a quick, witty comment, confirming the infected dog's sense of smell.
However, it seemed, when a dog became infected, their sense for safety was limited. For it did not stop to find a path around the fire. It did lunge, but it lunged right through the flames. It caught a fire, and hurled towards the two alight. That was really all Nina had needed. The fear of a "zombified dog" was dowsed out by the natural need to protect ones self against fire. Nina already had her rapier out for a while. She swung a millisecond before Crimson landed in front of them. They all lucked out for Crimson’s arrival, but Nina’s move was rather lucky as well. Nina had swung at the creature in more of a batting away motion than slice. Crimson had decapitated the thing. But, if Nina hadn't have batted at it, the flaming body would have landed on their little group.
As the ordeal finished, Nina let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding. Her mind finally comprehended what Crimson said. What she had said hit a spot for Nina. It offended her immensely and she had the strongest urge to push the girl and start cussing the girl out for thinking she was so high and mighty. However, Nina calmed herself down. There was no use of arguing amongst themselves. Especially for something as petty as "What she said."
"I can fight. I'm Puerto Rican." Nina managed to joke even after taking offense. "However, you want a professional sword fighter? Jain knows how to handle a sword perfect; she's had classes and everything... However... She's too much of a COWARD to come down here." Nina yelled the word Coward exaggeratedly up at Jain, even though she was talking to Crimson. "Well, now that you're already down here. Oh too bad, it seems you'll have to help us out. Oh well." Nina said with a shrug and a mock-remorse that was quite blatant on purpose. It was to show she was glad Crimson was down her. She started to walk towards the gap in the fire and towards the cars. "You stay on guard ma'am, Garath get the jack and lug nut wretch in the truck of the car, and I'll take off the hub caps, while you do that, on the Jeep." She turned her attention to Garath. "Bring the jack to me and while I take care of that, pop off that hub cap on the truck. I'll take care of the rest after I'm done with the Jeep." She said pointing to the directions everyone needed to go in.
As soon as she was done, she launched off towards the Jeep.


Sarah spoke up, her lisp quite evident. It was actually quite amusing to Nicholas. He managed to hide a smile by looking at the fallen shelf of toys.
"Thanks, Mrs. Marshall... Sorry guys. Nina's one of my best friends... Alex and Nicholas’ too… You understand, right?" Kalila mumbled with a slight blush. At this, Nicholas looked around to see everyone's response. You’d better understand or I could put a rifle-butt to your gut... he thought harshly.
As soon as Kalila heard Alex was staying behind as well, her eyes widened. Her sisterly instinct doubled and she looked back and forth between her blood brother and claimed brother.
"Alright man." Nicholas said with a smile and patting Alex on the back in a similar fashion as he did to Mizuki.
"You two be careful." Kalila said with narrowed eyes. "Prove to me you guys can take care of yourselves..." She said continuing to look back and forth between them. Nicholas kind of waved her off. That's when she turned to walk off.

Ada waited patiently for the other group to leave. She knew once all the people were gone she would definitely get the leading position. She wasn't a control freak or anything, but it made the chaos easier to stand when one was in charge. However when Eri looked back at her questioningly, Ada returned a lifted brow questioning back. Ada wondered what the young girl's problem was. She trusted the girl alone with two scientists, which should have been good enough. She had no control over her brother, just because he insisted on going with David and them, why should she be held accountable. She wasn't Nikita's keeper. He was 18; he was an adult. However, Ada stopped her rush of thoughts when Eri started to cough. Her first reaction was to look around. To her amazement, there were only two.
Nikita quickly ran back and crouched next to Eri as she coughed "her lungs out," as the saying goes. The lack of parental guidance in his life created confusion in him on what to do. After a pause of confusion, he managed to pat her on the back a couple of times. It seemed the right thing to do...
Kalila looked back, for she heard Eri coughing. She hadn't gotten far before her coughing fit started: about 11 steps to be accurate. She had sensed Nikita following her before, but he was not their anymore. She saw him crouching next to Eri. Suddenly it hit her just how many infected could be called with so much noise. She looked about nervously. She saw the same two as Ada, and that's it.
"How many of things are there anyhow?" Nicholas asked, as he had seen the same two as everyone else. He quickly got rid of them with one burst, consisting of three bullets, from his battle rifle. Ada had been ready to shoot, but Nicholas had taken care of them first. Kalila looked at the corpses and then back to her brother in a bit of awe.
"Good job, Nicho."
"Thanks." He said blandly, but he actually rather appreciated the compliment. I was sure there was going to be more... Their hearing is suburb, right? Maybe there aren't that many...? he thought taking a look around again. Nope, Empty. Well... Kali did say this place was crazy empty when she had come with mom and dad.

As the infected passed on Alex expressed his examination to his mother. She quickly examined herself.
"What the f*ck?!" Kalila barked as she looked to Sarah and Alex. In the back of her mind, she could find the part of her that was rather into manners scolding her. "Are you freakin' kidding me? How can an infected person have a fever? Doesn't it kill off the immune system?" Kalila asked incredulously. Anti-bodies fighting off bacteria and viruses cause fevers. If there aren't any... How can one’s body temperature rise? She was more confused than anything. Suddenly Kalila stopped, as in paused in place and stopped talking. She had a realization. "Wait! She's screwed!" she said in a highly worried tone. She wasn't the doctor her and she was more than just waiting for a reassurance from one of them about her theory being wrong. "If she has pneumonia, how's her body going to fight it off! She has no-" Kalila cut herself off again. Sarah had just handed Alex pills. "Oh..."
Ada and Nikita listened to Kalila's outburst in amusement. Ada wondered if Kalila aimed to become a doctor herself. Nikita was actually feeling triumphant. He was glad there were other people worrying about Eri. That gave them a bigger chance to actually keeping her around. A slight smirk played across his face. He knew it would be harder to wipe some one out once care was established.
Unlike his sister, Nicholas looked at Eri and thought Good riddance... He was always good at not letting emotions get the better of him: except anger.
Nikita took this opportunity to look at the two groups. He spoke up, his stance very casual. He said that he changed his mind. He said he wanted to stay with Ada's group because they needed more help. He used the argument of Eri basically being bed-ridden as his excuse. It wasn't a lie either. Pneumonia was an intense illness. It could be treated at home, but it's still very bad. Mixed in with another illness, it was Hell.
"The more the merrier..." Nicholas said working hard at keeping a sarcastic edge from his voice. He didn't like the fact he was surrounded by "Eri supporters." Can't wait 'til Mizuki comes back. he thought with a mental eye roll.

Kalila quickly took up the stance she had before Eri's coughing fit. She stayed at David and Sarah's flank. Making sure to keep an eye behind them, while the other two paid attention to other directions.
"The padlocks weren't far." She mumbled. They were, about, two isles past that corner." She said pointing to the edge of the hardware section.
Back with Nicholas's group, Nicholas looked at the exchange between Eri and Alex with bored, bland expression. He looked away from them and around them again. He sighed quietly to himself, I bet Kalila wonders the same thing, eh? Finding Mizuki in a normal situation... He looked at Ada who was also on guard. He switched his view to Nikita.
Nikita was looking at Alex and Eri with narrowed eyes. He was thinking along the same lines as Eri. He wondered if Alex was just using the girl. He didn't know Alex very well at all, but he knew the way a majority of guys thought. His attention would switch back and forth between watching the young couple and being on guard.
Look at this from a scientific point of view... Nicholas told himself. The more humans find "love" the more likely we are to find a vaccine or cure, the more likely people are going to work at keeping the human species alive... He thought flicking his eyes to the couple. As he did Eri spoke up.
"I had a bunch of snacks in my pack back at the front of the store... So did Kali." Nicholas said bluntly. "Normally, if this place had no infected, you could just walk to the food isles and get something, huh? Nevertheless, um... I got..." He said as he scrounged around in the pockets of his cargo pants. "This." He said as he pulled out a couple of wrappers and a protein bar. One of the wrappers were to his protein bar he had way back at Nina's house, the other was to the slimfast bar he had at the Pharmacy. The protein bar was actually from Nina's house. Oh... I forgot I had this... he thought with a mental laugh. "Um... This should hold you up for a while." He said as he through it to her. Flesh is protein... I'm sure that'll hold you up for a little bit. he thought darkly. Seeing the stuff from Nina's house made him wonder at the time. He looked at a clock way up on the wall, near the ceiling. He couldn't read it exactly, but he could see the hands were near 7:00. Evening already... Where's Nina? She's gotta be dead... What else could take her so long? Who are those other kids.... Garath... Um... Crimson? There was another couple kids too, right? She said she met a Marine guy and they were going to get Jain, right? Maybe one of them were infected and took the whole group out... he thought rather emotionlessly. It'll be getting dark in couple hours... he thought, changing the subject. Harder for them to get here.

Nina crouched next to the Jeep and began to pry off the hubcap. She started with her finger, but ended up giving up and using the heels of her boot instead. One the hubcap was off it hit the ground, making a hollow metallic noise. Nina's fingers quickly clamped around the edges of it, so the noise didn’t continue. She was farthest from flames she had ever been since they were first put alight. It had been about 16 hours since then. The softer sound was eerie to her. It seemed too quiet. She had gotten use to it. She was brought out of these thought when she heard the clank of more metal.
She looked towards it and blinked. Garath had gotten the tools. He quickly let her know and was off to get the hubcap off the truck's wheel. That one's a good one. she told herself with an inner smirk. You know... He would do great in the military... Listens to orders just as a soldier should. she thought as she picked up the jack and stuck it underneath the car. After she got the car jacked up, she grabbed the lug nut wrench and undid the nuts. She quickly removed the tire. It took her a lot longer than she would have liked. During this type of time, one can't help but notice the time. It was late, around 7:00 at night. The bolts had been really tight. She punched the rim of the wheel once when she had applied a great amount of pressure and the nut finally moved. Her eyes had shut tight and she had screamed into her hands to dull out the sound. She was not paying attention to the surrounding either. She trusted Crimson and the boys upstairs with that. She also didn't bother putting anything back on the Jeep. It was useless without a wheel anyway.
Nina quickly got up and rolled the tire over to the truck, the lug nut wrench it her back pocket and the jack under her arm. She arrived to see everything ready for her.
"Thanks, Garath." She said with a nod as she got on her knees. She removed the lug nut wrench from her back pocket and set it on the ground. She jacked up the car and got to work. Getting the tire on was a bit of a problem. She had not done this in a while or even seen it done in a while so she was “eyeballing” the whole situation. "Of f*ck..." she mumbled underneath her breath and jacked up the car higher, forcing the wheel on. After getting black marks all over her hands, jeans, and jacket, Nina finally got it on. "We did it! Take that b*tches!" She said to no one in particular, maybe the infected, maybe fate...
She turned around, stood up, and the first glance she gave to in between the buildings she did not like. She quickly turned back around slowly and crouched down. She looked at Garath with a nervous smile. There are a couple of infected hoarded around a trashcan not to far away. It was not dark yet, but it would be soon and the light caused by the fire, as well as the constant noise it made would attract them.
"We have to get out of here as soon as possible." She mumbled to half to Garath half to herself. "Get in the truck. when people see that upstairs it should let them know we're ready." She whispered. Nina turned to look at Crimson and summoned her to the vehicle with a hand motioning towards herself.

Jain smiled brightly when she saw Nina finish. She went to scream, but calmed herself at the very last moment when she saw Nina's body language change dramatically. She turned to Thomas and Terry and said that Nina's done with he truck and that they should get going. Crimson was already gone so she didn't have to worry about much. She lifted the bag on to her shoulder and started to crawl out of the window.

((Still working on post for Kalila and Nicholas' group))

((Ah... A lovely post to remind us what we were missing ^_^, Good job Metzli... As always ^.^

Ha ha guys... I know this is somewhat late... But if any of you wonder what our story's Wal-Mart looks like here: Walmart.
Example of isles, another one, another one
Example of clothing section
Example of Checkout Counters
Well you get the general concept. Wal-Mart has pretty much everything... So... I'm just putting that out there for you guys to get inspired... Just in case you need it.))

Kalila's group had managed to pick up a few pad locks from the hardware section, before they started heading to the front of the store. Kalila had taken them out of their packages and stuck them in Sarah's lab coat pockets. Kalila didn't have any pockets on her, she depended on her backpack to carry everything. Her backpack was at the front of the store, hidden in a cashier’s checkout station, with everyone else’s. Maybe I should use this opportunity to communicate with Nina... She had thought as they were advancing.
Besides the random echo of footsteps in the distance, it was rather silent. Kalila was on guard, concentrating on the rough surrounding to get her mind off worrying about Nicholas's group (particularly Nicholas and Alex), Nina's group (particularly Nina and Jain), or Mizuki. The surroundings seemed to get progressively more destructive as they got closer to the front of the store. In the back of the store, minus the warehouse room that Kalila didn’t know about, nothing was amiss. Everything was just how it would be if there were no infection, except for a huge lack of people. However, near the front, it looked like the world was ending, which it very well might have been. Things ripped, damaged, broken, dented, and littering the ground. It seemed that the infected would enter the store in a fury and calm down as they got along.
Sarah broke the silence with a question. Kalila blinked, for that was what she was hoping. She wanted them to seal all the doors. She wanted start out with the front though, because it seemed the most obvious entrance.
"Yes..." Kalila said awkwardly. She did not know they did not know what all was to be done. "I wanted to get the front doors done first though," she said pointing ahead in the direction they wee walking in. "because that's the most obvious entrance, especially to a lesser mind like that of the Zombies... Or that's what I figure..." she mumbled, for she was not an expert on the infected, the people she was informing were. She continued to mumble something about how they were a small group, less conspicuous, and less likely to attract groups of infected. However, all of what she was saying could not be heard because she was shying off. Suddenly, she switched the subject to the front doors.
"The front doors are the only one being provided with an intercom system to the inside of the store... So I figure we can set that up as soon as possible." She said to Sarah, since she volunteered to help her. "After we lock this place down... We can get the back doors. Then we should get back to the group." She said the last part sounding impatient. As She spoke they made it to the front of the store, they had missed Mizuki by two minutes. "Eventually, probably after we clear this place of zombies... We have to eat: I'm starving... Like... real food and stuff. At least before the electricity goes out and half the place is useless. Anyways, we have to really seal this place... Like with planks and cement and stuff..." She trailed off, looking about her surroundings.
After making sure the coast was clear she made a mad dash to the checkout counter that had all the packs. Just as she made it across an infected stepped in through the front doors. Well, stumbled through might be a better choice of words. Kalila immediately ducked down behind the counter. From what she saw, the thing may have once been a truck driver. She didn't know it, but he use to own the vehicle that crashed through the warehouse in the back. She gulped and looked up at the red phone that connected into the intercom. She bit her lip. We have to get rid of him if we want to advance any of this...

Nicholas didn't get a chance to throw the protein bar to Eri, for Alex took it from his hands, giving him a look. Oh... My bad. he thought, realizing it wasn't very nice to throw things at a sick person. Nicholas observed what Alex was doing, glancing in every direction every few seconds. He was trying to give Eri the pills, and that was just fine with Nicholas. However, Alex's body language read that he was ready to grab the syringe in his pocket. So... He's decided to give it to her... he commented mentally, as if he was watching a turn of events on a T.V. program. God... I need a video game break... he thought as he realized what he was doing.
Nikita watched the way Alex treated Eri, mentally scoffing at its, what he believed was, fakeness. He wondered how easy it would be to take care of the young teen. Tell him a thing or two about staying out Eri's pants, especially if the vaccine works. He wasn't sure about the vaccine either. There were slim chances of devastation. Nevertheless, there were still risks.
Ada immediately became edgy when Sarah had mentioned the medicine, but now that Alex was actually going to use the stuff, she didn't feel that bad. She noticed the way Nikita was silently freaking out. She decided to be on guard and not give any attention to anything else. No one was paying attention except for Nicholas and her... and Nicholas was only half the time.
Ada's eyes narrowed as she heard footsteps getting closer, but before she saw anything she heard a voice.

"Mizuki! You crazy b*st*rd, quit doing that!" Nicholas yelled in his joking, caring way, a grin spread across his face. "Good to see you in one piece." the expression faded when he saw Mizuki's. He looked around at what the older one was looking at. "Oh!" He said in realization as soon as Mizuki finished speaking. "Well, the doors really needed to be sealed off, but you ran off. So, we stayed here so we don't lose you and those three went to go seal the door." he said with a nod. "Kalila really wanted to put the P.A. outside too." He looked around a while until his eyes landed on Eri. "Oh, she has pneumonia... Surprise!" He said jokingly, spreading his arms to indicate everything. Just a little surprise for your return: Three people gone and a sick infected! he continued the joke in his head. His hands immediately went back to holding his rifle correctly.
Nikita and Ada held back a smile. Ada liked how small things made life a little more bearable in these harsh times. Nikita's eyes immediately went back to the young couple. The older cousin shook her head and looked about the area again. She said now they had to wait for the other three to get back. Right after she finished her sentence she shot a bullet around the edge of their isle and a thud could be head in the distance. It had been a lone one: never their specialty.