This is a Nightmare ((OPEN))

[Maxine Clarke]

Maxine Clarke can hardly believe it. There has to be some kind of mistake, this didn't just happen..., she thought to herself. It offered no comfort, just the fact that she was denying it all. What she had to do to the ones she loved. Maxine's hands seemed to be shaking, as she stared out into the street. At the two bodies on top of one another, lying in a fiery embrace. She couldn't help replaying the events from earlier in her head. Her father hearing screams and deciding to go outside. Maxine grabbing him and begging. He kissed her head, the first display of affection towards her in a long time. He somehow knew that he wouldn't have another chance. She knew it, right there in her heart. She bit her lip, replaying what came next. A sight that became her worst fear. Losing her father.

She couldn't have stopped it, though she had wanted to. Maxine tried to stop her mother, knowing that when her father stood up again, it wasn't him anymore. Her mother didn't listen, filled with the sense that the love of her life wasn't dead. But that sense of hers claimed her life. Maxine had to destroy them, what was left, before they could take her or someone else. Her heart broke, but didn't hesitate as she pulled the trigger.

Maxine would've done their burial properly and at least took their bodies into the backyard, but she didn't want to run the risk that either of them could still be alive and ready to bite. So, Max took and poured the gasoline before lighting the match to set the two of them on fire. A neighbor saw what was happening and tried to stop her, but then a zombie got in the way. Maxine shot both the zombie and the neighbor, since she had been bitten in the midst of it all. Now, Maxine isn't much of a religious person, but she had whispered a prayer over the bodies and hurried inside. She knew that supplies were in order. She needed to go search for her little sister and her girlfriend. Max needed to know they were safe and alive.

As she ran around upstairs, grabbing things like more bullets and what not, she heard the door slam open downstairs. She stopped to listen, not hearing the sounds a zombie would be making. More like a faint muttering, as they moved. Maxine softly muttered one or two curses to herself, before slipping more bullets into the gun. So far, it's one set of footsteps she hears. Maxine tiptoed toward the stairs and stole a glance over the railing. She shook her head and took aim. "Who the hell are you and what do you think you are doing here?!" she called out, hiding the majority of herself behind the wall. Showing less of herself means less of a target to aim at. Maxine wasn't gonna let anyone raid her parents' home, if she could help it. Sure, she's doing the same, but this is the home she grew up in. She has a reason to be here.

Click here for Maxine's attire

[Freya Collins]

She was in major need of getting out of the city, she had managed to do just that, only to find herself In Chicago. One of her brothers had made the city his home and she wanted to find him, see if he was safe and hopefully get him on the road with her. She had no worry that he wouldn’t be able to defend himself, he was after all well equipped and he knew exactly how to defend himself. Yet against the hordes of the undead she was uncertain, she herself was on the verge of hysteric’s, she had never seen anything like it, other than the movies and who would have thought that would have happened to them. The city was totally over run, which she had expected it to be, New York had been the exact same way.

Finding herself out of the main part of the city she realized she had found the homes, which was exactly what she had needed, she needed to get off the streets and somewhere safe, and hopefully find some more people that were alive, and well, she didn’t know too well what she would do, get them out of the City that was for sure. It wasn’t safe, where was really. That was when she decided she was going to find somewhere safe and she was going to invite people there, they needed somewhere safe, they deserved it. Keeping herself very much hidden from the undead that were walking the streets she continued, weaving in and out of cars, ducking around buildings and fences.

The stench of burning bodies touched her nose and she wrinkled it, her blue hues finding the dead bodies littered outside a house. They appeared fresh, which meant good things. At least she hoped it did. If those bodies were fresh killed, a survivor had to be close. With her gun held at her side, and her other hand lose and ready to draw her blade she made her way up to the house, her hand touching the door and pushing it open. Her boots hit the floor and she stepped lightly in the house, her blue hues taking in every single detail. There was no sound of the undead, but there was a faint noise, from what she presumed was upstairs.

Her head snapped to the side at the sound of a female voice. “Looking for people that are alive” She stated gently. Her gun remained lose at her side, but her body poised to rise if he she needed to. She wasn’t stupid enough to keep herself unarmed. Licking her lips she slowly raised her hand, signalling to the woman that he meant no harm. “And hopefully a place to crash” Her blue hues remained locked on the female and she let out a deep breath.

[Maxine Clarke]

“Looking for people that are alive” Maxine let the woman's words sink in and she nodded her head. A brief moment to weigh her options, but that was all. Maxine didn't think the woman's here to do any harm. Perhaps she's lost or something. Her mom had raised Maxine to give the benefit of the doubt, unless you felt a vibe that was too strong to ignore. One that said they were bad news. It wasn't the case with this woman, though. Maxine was definitely sure of it.

"Well, you found one. Not sure how many more to go on that one." Maxine then answered, slowly moving out from the remote safety of the wall and slightly lowered her gun. Maxine wasn't ready to let her full guard down yet. At the sight of the woman's raised hand, signaling that she meant no harm, Maxine cracked a half-smile and slightly bowed her head. Never looking away, as she bowed. “And hopefully a place to crash” Maxine lowered her gun more, so it was aimed towards her side and not at the woman. The helpful side of her was begging for a yes. She inhaled slow and deep, letting that side win. She wasn't a mean person, especially now when there's undead walking all over the place.

Maxine decided to make her way down the stairs. "Well, that can definitely be arranged. I'm Maxine Clarke, this is my parents' house. Or well..it was anyway.." she responded, descending from the second floor and stopping at the bottom. She felt as her heart seemed to cry out in pain, mentioning her parents even for a moment. The emotions from what she had to do were still raw, so it hurt. For now, until time decided to heal the pain. Maxine bit her lip gently.

[Freya Collins]

Freya eyed the female and had to nod her head in agreement. There were just too many bodies, to many infected. Every corner you turned there was another one. The cities were over run, and the towns weren’t much better. It was as if hell had truly come to the world. They were all screwed unless they could find some place to stay, with plenty of supplies, and hardly any need to actually leave the safety of wherever they found. “well im not giving up hope” Her voice remained soft, she didn’t want to freak the woman in front of her, this was clearly her home, and the last thing she wanted was a bullet to the head because she had come off to mean. Freya knew she could, had been told on more than one occasion that she needed to lay of the cold shoulder, but hey, she wasn’t good with that.

Finally that gun was lowered and Freya let out a silent breath of thanks to whoever was listening. The threat was minimalized for now. Watching her with careful eyes, she trailed after her as the woman came down from the steps and finally onto the ground floor. She wondered what was upstairs, and knew she would have to find out sooner or later, if she was going to feel safe in this house she was going to have to do a look around, otherwise she wouldn’t settle and honestly she needed to sleep. “I saw them outside. Im sorry for your loss Maxine” Freya offered softly. She knew how hard it was to lose your parents, and lose people you cared about. The deaths of her ‘kids’ still lingered on her mind, they were damn to young, damn to young.

“Im Freya Collins” She offered, stepping closer so she could do a once over of the dance stairs. It seemed a pretty simple layout, but like all the houses she had come across was far to open, to many windows, to many doors, to many weak spots. She was already contemplating what she could move to make the place more secure. Furniture could be moved to be placed in front of the windows, sofas in front of doors, they were easy to move, if they needed to. Glasses placed around the floor to alert any sleeping bodies that danger was close. Which left the upstairs, hopefully it would be similar and she could do something. The problem though came with Maxine, if she didn’t want to do any of that, well, Freya couldn’t very well step on her toes, this wasn’t her house, it was Maxines.

“You mind if I take a look upstairs?” She questioned turning blue hues onto the other female. “We’re gonna have to secure this place”

[Maxine Clarke]

A moment came and went. Maxine hardly expected to run into another survivor this soon, but it was good. She wasn't stuck alone with her thoughts. For now anyway. “well im not giving up hope” Maxine nodded. "Neither am I. Not when there are people out there that I still care about." she replied, while she cracked a half-smile. She couldn't save her parents, but there was not much she could really do. She slightly shook her head, as her mind wandered a bit. Maxine still had her sister to look out for and her girlfriend, too. She will hardly stop until she finds them. As another few moments passed by, Maxine descended the stairwell. Once she hit the bottom, Maxine briefly looked the woman over. It couldn't be helped, really.

Maxine enjoyed admiring and noticing the attractiveness in other women. Vivian hardly minded, they would share their opinions of who they thought was attractive. Maxine briefly bit her lower lip, at the thought of her. She hadn't seen Vivian in a couple of days and hoped she was okay. “I saw them outside. Im sorry for your loss Maxine” The woman's voice broke through Max's thoughts, she nodded her head slightly. "Thank you. I couldn't save them. I know, deep down, that it wasn't really my fault, but it still hurts..know what I mean?" Maxine answered sadly.

If she does manage to find her sister Emily, how could she even explain what she had to do? “Im Freya Collins” A nod of her head, as the woman introduced herself to Maxine. "It's very nice to meet you, Freya..in spite of the circumstances..." she responded. A brief silence filled the air between them, while the faint smell of smoke wafted through the open door. She will have to shut that, very shortly before anything walks in. “You mind if I take a look upstairs?” Freya's glancing did not go unnoticed, but it was understandable. New place to settle into, at least for the night. "Alright." Maxine replied.

“We’re gonna have to secure this place”She nodded, knowing that Freya was right. It needs to be secured, if they got any chance of dealing with the infected walking around and living to tell the tale. "I agree. Starting with the front door." Max added, crossing to shut the door. Just as she thought, there was a couple of infected walking down the street. She started to shut the door quietly, not wanting to draw attention by slamming. She breathed a sigh of relief, when it was finally closed. She slid all of the locks into place, quietly and slowly as she had done with the door. "And perfect timing, too." she said.

[Freya Collins]

“You have people out there that you care about?” She questioned with a raise of her brow as she looked at the woman in front of her. Of course there would be people out there that were still alive, but the chances of finding anyone alive that you cared about was hard, which was something she had already faced when she had to kill those kids because they had been infected. She couldn’t get the images out of her head, those kids hadn’t exactly been kids but she had promised to look after them and in the end she had to kill them because they would have killed her if she hadn’t. Looking back over at Maxine she nodded her head “loosing people you care about, especially when it was down to your hand, no matter the circumstances is never easy” and that was all she could give. She couldn’t tell her that it would get easier because people did want to hear that when the loss was so fresh.

Offering the young woman a smile she looked up the stairs, she doubted there was anything up there that would be a danger to her, but none the less she needed to check everything out just to be on the safe side. As she watched her move to close the front door she headed through to the living room and looked outside, her brow furrowing ever so slightly. Letting out a breath she moved to close the curtains, and prayed the rest of the house had something they could cover the windows with, it wasn’t ideal but it would stop anyone from looking inside and seeing they were alive. With a nod in the direction of Maxine Freya headed up stairs slowly, her steps quiet. She moved from one room to another, checking closest, and every corner there was. It was secure, or as secure as a house would be. With a quick look outside she shook her head, the street was covered with infected.

Slowly she headed back downstairs, looking over in the direction of Maxine. “I think we should get something heavy in front of the door, leave the back door open for escape if we need it” Her gaze shifted back around the living room. The only problem about homes was the fact they had to much glass, too many doors, if infected wanted to get In they were going to damn well get in. shaking her head ever so slightly she checked the furniture, blocking entrances and leaving only one exit was the only way to go. Backing oneself into a corner wasn’t what they wanted to do. “Unfortunately we’re gonna have to booby trap this place”

[Maxine Clarke]

A moment passed by. “You have people out there that you care about?” Maxine nodded her head. "My sister and girlfriend. They are all that I have left now." she responded, biting her bottom lip for a moment. She needed to know if they were still alive. Though her heart would break if they were lost to the infection, Maxine understood the chances of survival. A part of her, however, knew that they were both smart women and that they could get through this. They had to, or else there's not going to be much of Maxine left. "What about you? Do you have anyone out there?" she couldn't help but to ask. It had seemed fair enough, since Freya asked first.

“loosing people you care about, especially when it was down to your hand, no matter the circumstances is never easy” Maxine nodded, stealing a glance out the window and seeing the fading trail of smoke rising from her mother and father's bodies. She will get through her pain, but live with the fact that she ended their lives. What else could she have done? Run away or get infected? Maxine chose to stop them before it happened to someone else.

As Maxine was closing the front door, Freya had wandered up the stairs. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Maxine didn't really what else to do, in regards to securing, so she had checked the other rooms on the ground floor - making sure that there was no infected creeping in the backyard and all that jazz. She got back to the door, by the time Freya was descending the stairs. “I think we should get something heavy in front of the door, leave the back door open for escape if we need it” She nodded, agreeing with the idea. Freya seems to know what she's doing. Maxine helped with the furniture moving and what not, doing her part in securing the house.

“Unfortunately we’re gonna have to booby trap this place”
Maxine understood. She sent up a mental prayer, asking her parents to forgive her, before speaking. "And how do we do that?" she asked.