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Kara sits on the back of Isaac's pick up, swinging her legs back and forth as she waits for him to come out of the building he's scavenging. There aren't any infected or people around so she can just enjoy the silence, the cloudy sky, the soft breeze.
She lays on her back and stares up at the dark grey clouds above her. It feels like an eternity passes when she finally hears a clink.
"Took you long enough," she comments, sitting up, but she doesn't see Isaac or anyone for that matter.
She frowns and scans the immediate area but doesn't notice anything.
Clink.
She gets off the truck, pulling her gun out of it's holster as she rounds the truck. She sees two infected shuffling down a little ways down the street, a glass bottle rolling in front of them. She puts her gun away and grabs her hunting knife, intending to take them down quietly, but as they get closer she notices something odd.
They appear to be tied together by shoelaces and what she thinks is a hoodie string. She allows them to get closer to her, sure she'll be able to take them out with ease if they get too close.
Is that a bluebonnet?
It's withered and barely recognizable, but it stays firmly in place.
She backs up as they both start reaching for her. Only one of them snarls at her, the other apparently missing it's vocal cords. She notes their clothes are in tatters and their faces are sunken and rotten, meaning they've been like this for quite a while.
"There's a story here," she says to them, continuing to walk backwards. "A really good one."
The shorter one just snarls at her.
"Think it's all right if I use you two in a story of mine?" Kara asks, even though she knows it's pointless. The dead don't care for stories. "My girlfriend, Ming, gets kind of bummed that we're the only gay couple in our group. I'm sure she'd love to hear about the two gay infected I found tied together."
Unsurprisingly, there isn't a response.
"But also, I'm writing a book based on this whole mess. I mean, the dead coming back to life and eating people? Crazy, right?"
More snarling.
"I know, I know, what's the point of writing if no one will ever get to read it? But I think it's the only thing keeping me sane these days. Well, mostly, sane." She laughs awkwardly.
"Kara!" She hears Isaac call from down the road.
"Over here!" She exclaims.
"That's Isaac," she explains to the infected. "He's like my older brother, but I swear he acts like such a dad sometimes, ya know?"
"Need any help?" Isaac calls.
"No, I'm fine!" She shouts back. "Just trying to figure out their story!"
"You and your damn stories!"
Kara just smiles. She starts flitting around both of them, checking their pockets for anything that could give her their names. She finds nothing on the one that snarls at her, but she finds dogtags in the back pocket of the other one.
They both appear to have been engraved crudely with a knife.
Otto, Troy, Dell Diamond Protector, A POS, No Pref
Clark, Nick, Dell Diamond Farmer, O NEG, No Pref
She turns them over and on the one for Nick she's barely able to make out the words, You're the good part of me, Nicky. Happy One Year.
Kara smiles at the sweet words, but then it becomes bittersweet because if they were still in who she guess is Troy’s pocket, that meant he never got the chance to give the tag to Nick.
She looks up at Troy who is still reaching for her, but can't quite grab her. "Why didn't you give it to him?" She asks. "What got in your way? Was it just not your anniversary yet or did something else happen? Did you guys break up? No you wouldn't be tied together if that were the case..."
"Kara, hurry up!" Isaac shouts in the distance.
"Just another minute!" She yells, then starts musing to herself, "How did you end up tied together? Which one of you turned first? What does the bluebonnet mean?"
She hums to herself. "Well, I suppose I'll never know your real story, so I guess I'll have to make up my own. Mind if I use your names?"
She only gets snarling in return.
Very carefully, she slips the dogtags with what she hopes are their respective names around their necks. It's while she's holding Nick at bay that she feels something. Curious, she looks inside his jacket and discovers a hidden pocket that contains a journal.
She takes it and slips around Nick. She opens it once she's put some distance between them.
Scientific Findings
You're NOT a scientist, Troy!
Troy Otto's Scientific Findings ( Fuck off Nick :) )
Most of the pages are observations or experiments on the living and the dead, some pages appearing to be taped back in, but at a certain point things shift to undated journal entries.
I've been exiled from my home and I've got a gun with one bullet to end it all. I suppose they think giving me the option to kill myself is some kind of mercy after all they've taken from me.
I should've listened to Jake when he told me to stay away from the Clarks, but I just couldn't help myself and now both him and Jeremiah are dead. And worse, I still feel drawn to Nick, even now when I know he killed my father. I should hate him for what he's done. That's what a good son would do, right?
But then again, according to Jeremiah I've never been one.
"Kara, let's go!" Isaac shouts, drawing her attention.
"Just a second!"
Kara flips to the last page, picking up her pace a little as the infected lovers start to gain ground on her.
We still haven't found Madison, but neither Nick or Alicia is willing to accept that she's gone. Maybe they're right not to give up hope since we couldn't find her body among the dead at the stadium, but I still don't like the odds. Not that they need to know that.
I just hope this war we're waging doesn't cost us our lives.
Kara closes the journal. Part of her wants to take it and read all of the entries, and part of her thinks it's too personal to run off with. The dead may not care for stories, but theirs is the only thing they get to keep.
She sighs heavily and dances around Nick again to put the journal back.
"It was nice meeting you, Nick."
He snarls at her.
Kara turns to Troy. "You too, Troy."
They both reach for her, but she runs off before they can reach her. Isaac's already waiting for her in the truck when she gets there.
"Took you long enough," Isaac comments as he starts up the truck.
"Well, they had an interesting story."
"And what story was that?"
"You'll find out when I'm done with my book."
Isaac shakes his head, but doesn't respond.
Maybe collecting stories, or at least parts of them, is a fruitless task, but to Kara it's important. Everyone dies and maybe she never gets to know their real stories, but she can still immortalise them, still allow a part of them to live on through her writing.
This is what she'll do for Nick and Troy.