Stage One: Hope in Darkness

Walkers (Lara)

After a while the sun creeped over the horizon and I got up. This early I would beat the rush of people that would be going for the bathrooms. The old school building had showers in the locker rooms, thankfully they had individual stalls so there was at least some semblance of privacy. We had rigged the shower so they ran off of the water from a nearby stream. Not the best water for drinking but it was okay for a wash. The water was cold, it would be a waste of resources to heat it. A cold shower was better than nothing though. Especially when burning walker bodies was part of your regular routine. The best part of all of this was the fact that since it used to be a school the male and female showers were separate. No fear of some random guy catching me in my underthings.

I showered quickly, one didn't linger when the water was cold. I dressed quickly after, trying to avoid the rest of the settlement before they got up and decided they needed to get clean. A kind of baggy tank top and thick jeans to prevent any damage that might happen to my legs while crawling made up my ensemble. When you were the best scout in the compound there was a good chance you would have to go crawling through some pretty bad places. The jeans would keep the worst of the damage away from my legs. My hands though.... I stared down at the thick calluses and healing scars. Maybe the next time I was out I could look for some gloves, like the ones they use for climbing or something.

I left the bathroom before anyone else showed up and went back down the hall to the classroom that served as one of the dormitories for the girls in camp. I shoved my feet into my shoes, they were pretty worn out. I would have to start looking for a new pair soon. I tie my long blond hair up and out of the way, once upon a time it had been beautiful. One of the things about myself that I liked the most. Now though it was a mess of split ends and waves. It was hard to take care of one's hair in the apocalypse.

"Lara" a voice called out when I left the room and was heading out to the mess hall. One of the guys was walking towards me, Carl something. His name had been on the list for patrol.

"Chief wants to see you ASAP." He instructs me, I nod in acknowledgement. Without anything else said he keeps moving down the hall, probably to get a shower or some rest. Looks like I just missed the rush, lucky. As I started down the stairs and through the building. The place was alive with activity. I smiled at that thought, alive. I passed others who were just getting off shift, heading upstairs. Others were moving supplies, organizing everything from runs the day before. The smell of food wafted across the room from the open door to the cafeteria. Breakfast was ready. I would get something to eat before going to see the chief. Best not deal with things on an empty stomach. Annabelle would always tell me that I could get a bit grumpy when I was hungry.

"Hey Lara, you get called in?" I heard Ryan call out as I joined the line of survivors waiting to get food. He was standing in the line as well. His hair was short and looked like it had been messed up by a tornado. We didn't have the luxuries for hair care that we had before the virus had taken over but I knew for a fact that he styled it that way on purpose. No clue why he went through the effort to make his hair look messy, I guess it matched his style though.

"Yup, I sure did Ryan." I answered while grabbing a cooked potato and a bowl of venison stew. There wasn't a lot of stew though, the potato was the real filler. They will have to go hunting again.

It was dangerous, there were almost always injuries. Not more than a sprained leg of wrist, but not always. Stalking one's prey, paying all your attention to a target left you open if you weren't careful.

"Oh so did I, looks like we are going to be working together," He smiled, grabbing his own food.

"Maybe you are getting demoted," I joked, smiling at him as I moved along. There was an empty table near the entrance. I made a beeline for it.