alonelyboy | OPEN RP POST

* gif credit: unknown *

- R's human name is terribly generic. Ryan, in this case. A normal, out-of-his-league boy, a twist on the Star Trek Red Shirt. Doomed before he even killed his first zombie. He has the kind of name you wouldn't blink twice at. In fact, you'd probably forget it. (He did).

- Ryan let himself turn into a zombie: he failed to keep track of how many bullets he had left in the revolver and chose to shoot Mystery Girl next to him when he realized there was only one left, dooming himself to die without destroying his brain. I follow book!canon that he died from a zombie bite to the leg. He probably took several hours to die and turn. Ryan had to sit there by the river waiting for his leg-bite to kill him with the dead Mystery Girl only feet away. Not a fun way to go.

- As Ryan, he kept making poor life choices from how much water he thinks a human needs per day to how many layers of clothes he wore his last day alive (jeans, by the way, aren't zombie proof). His poor judgment skills extended to his un-life as R.

- The large scar across R's cheek is from a previous victim, raking her hands as she tried to instinctively fight back even though he'd just bitten her. The one across his nose is when he was alive, from an encounter from other humans. (He'd won: barely). His body is littered with other scars, more physical question marks he has about his life.

- He has a thing for blondes, considering Mystery Girl and then Julie.

- Ryan fails at perimeter checks and basic common sense: aka if a prisoner tells you she'll stay put, don't just take her word for it. He was probably crap at securing exits when he was alive. What he has is a dangerous mix of nativity and some serious trust issues - he has way too much trust for the post-apocalypse.

- Ryan needs reading glasses. They're broken during the apocalypse, because why not. When it rains, it pours.

- He used to work at a job that required you had to wear a tie. (Musebox head-canon). His very last day, he had a grey shirt, black slacks and a red tie as a nod to book-canon. His favored clothes tended to be hoodies because you can stick those suckers over your head or flannel. All the flannel.

Edited 2014-01-24 10:43 (UTC)

With the whole CBI thing going on the coasts, they've been beefing up security. What the University of Colorado calls "preventative measures", Ryan calls "job opportunity". There's no demand for Comp Lit majors these days but apparently if you're stupidly tall and you look like you could handle a gun, you're in. The fact that his mom's a retired cop from Houston might have something to do with passing the interview.

He'll take what he can get. He can't be picky.

Ryan's only gone shooting on a range a few times - he's never thought seriously about shooting a moving target and the gun he has on his hip feels weird. His hand keeps brushing against the holster as he walks. It's going to be UEC's Homecoming Week which means more people, more chances any one of those wandering in could be trying to hide an infection. It'd only take one.

To take his mind off Homecoming, Ryan drops by Ms. Grigio's office. Since she's one of the youngest professors here, it means her office is little more than a closet, her desk wedged between the walls and a filing cabinet like it's Tetris in real life. Knocking on the door, he pokes in his head in. She's his age, cute, but because he's just some security guard and she's teaching and doing something productive with her life, he feels as if there's an invisible line between them that says she's out of your league, buddy. Still. Can't hurt to make friends. New town, new job and all that.

"Knock knock," he says, clearing his throat. "You free for a lunch break?"

Edited 2014-01-24 10:42 (UTC)

While Julie was one of the youngest professors on campus, it wasn't really obvious she taught here at all, except for the office and the students that knew her as Ms. Grigio. She was an art professor and considering what she taught, she spent more time dressed in jeans and t-shirts than she did in nice slacks and blouses.

Her class tended to be messy. Why ruin nice clothes with paint and clay?

When Ryan knocked on her door, Julie was busy setting up student-teacher meetings via email. Not the most fun she's ever had, so Ryan was a welcome distraction.

"Hey," she says with a grin, always happy to see him. A few quick keystrokes on her laptop later and the email is sent. "I am, now. Are you free to get off campus for a bit?"

If he isn't, Julie's fine with staying on campus to eat. She's not at all picky and Ryan was quickly becoming one of her favorite people. He was smart, easy to talk to and just a welcome presence on campus.

Ryan's smile is a little shy. "I should stay close in case I get radioed. The Commons?"

As cafeterias go, he'll say it's the best one he's ever eaten at: he hasn't been food poisoned there, at any rate.

Ryan almost starts to extend his elbow to her, remembers they're not girlfriend and boyfriend, they're almost-friends, and decides to settle for a nod out the door that he hopes looks cooler than he feels. As they walk outside the building, he fishes around for something to say, the sun peeking through the trees as they cross a stretch of lawn that's still somehow cut and watered despite the news reports from New York, Los Angeles, Seattle. It's days like this where it's hard to believe CBI is a Thing. He glances over, sees Julie with the sun turning her hair blazing gold, and thinks no way it's that bad.

They pass under a ARE YOU READY FOR HOMECOMING banner before he thinks of something.

"How's the classes? It's your first semester, isn't it?"

Julie glances up at the banner, smirking a bit. Homecoming. She'd be there, albeit a bit unwillingly. It sounded like a good time to spend a quiet evening at home without students emailing her for another copy of the syllabus or texting her questions about assignments, questions that were already covered in class. Not that she disliked her students. She adored the small classes she had.

But sometimes she just wanted five minutes at home with her room-mate or an uninterrupted evening out with Perry when he was able to leave base for visits.

Such was the life of a professor, though, and her aforementioned roommate, a woman by the name of Nora Greene who worked as a hair stylist in town, insisted that Julie go.

She turns, looking at Ryan and nodding once at his question. "Yep. Very first. They're going. We're having fun. It's getting a bit tricky to keep people's attention, what with what's going on." CBI and the spread of it.

"I think they're a bit afraid." She can't blame them.

"What about you? What's going on with you?"

He can't even imagine what it'd be like to be in charge, more or less, of a class. Probably a lot like herding cats, Ryan guesses; cats with laptops and cars and on-off access to Jack Daniels. And paint, if you're in Julie's class.

He nods as they cross the quad. Yeah, he can get they're afraid. A lot of the time it feels like the infection can't - won't - make it here, but there's the new gates they're putting in, the way they've been quietly reinforcing the walls that if you ask him, don't look anywhere tall enough. It's like Jesus, these aren't the Romero zombies out there: they're people, pissed off and with fungus popping out their faces and that means they can run and climb and figure out how to get through a chainlink fence. There's a faint tension in the air when he walks his beats or clocks out or even when he sits down at home and catches some CNN.

Julie's sensed it too. He feels relief at that. For some reason, it's important she agrees.

Ryan shrugs as he walks, his hands shoved in his pockets, slouched over a little out of habit. "Adjusting. Admit I'm a little nervous about the Homecoming thing. Surprised they didn't postpone it."

He glances over at where some construction workers are putting a fence up, tipping his chin at it. There's more guards, they've been a lot more careful checking faculty and student cars. As far as he knows, UEC is cleaner than clean.

Then again, supposedly someone with CBI doesn't even start the whole mushrooms-out-the-face stage until later...

A lot like herding cats. Sometimes those cats have hang-overs. It's definitely interesting. That's usually when Julie changes things up and whips out the clay for that gross tactile experience or one of the more thickly scented paints. Hangovers are for Weekends, not Wednesdays, and she won't really tolerate people not paying attention in her class. Yes, she was one of the nicest teachers, but even Miss Grigio had her limits.

They're almost to the Commons by this point, Julie's eyes scanning the fences. They really won't hold shit, will they? Not for long. Maybe enough to give the people inside a fighting chance, but even then it's probably not much of one.

"I'm guessing you're working tonight?" If so, that's really unfair. He should be allowed to relax.

Ryan sighs. A puff of hair flutters the bangs he’s always trying to sweep away from his forehead. “Yeah. It’s all hands on deck for the Homecoming game. You gonna be there?”

He’s hoping it’s yes on Julie’s end. Sure, he can’t exactly stop in the middle of his shift to watch the game with her but he’d at least like to drop by and say hi. The awkward thing is he used to think about asking Julie out. You know, really out: coffee, movie, Olive Garden. Whatever. Date-out. But then she’d dropped that she was with this hotshot military guy called Perry and he’d let that idea die before it made it out the door. Ryan still likes her. He can’t help but like Julie. But she’s got a guy and he’s still working out what’s acceptable to ask between them being coworkers (kinda) and friends (kinda).

Man. He wishes he was better at this whole socializing thing.

"I'll be there. Nora's dragging me out." She doesn't really sound bothered by this. Party because Ryan's going to be there and she likes him. A lot. Probably a bit more than she should, all things considered. Julie was a faithful girl, though. And Ryan was a friend.

She watches the hair flutter, smiling with some amusement. There had been a time or two when she'd wanted to brush it out of his eyes, but she hadn't. That'd be crossing boundaries.

When they finally reached the Commons, Julie turns to look at Ryan.

"It's pretty nice out. You wanna eat outside?"

Of course she is. Ryan's met Nora a grand total of once, count 'em, once, but he had to say she seemed like a cool girl.

"Sure," Ryan says.

He forgets about Homecoming for now. The sun's out, it's decent 60 degrees out and he's spending his lunch break with Julie Grigio. Ryan suspects he's happy.

* * * * *

Homecoming's in full swing. Maybe it's the CBI on the coast, but people are determined to get their minds off it and there's off-the-charts attendance for the game. Ryan has to push his way through the crowds milling around the stands, sidestepping spilled soda and people juggling overpriced hot dogs. Mostly he stands around and tries to look like he knows how to shoot. Look intimidating.

Doesn't come easy.

He searches for a blonde head in the meantime, standing on his tip toes. Is Julie here yet?

Picture this. Your day is going great. Lunch is spent with someone amazing. The conversation flows easily, as do the laughs. This sets the tone for the rest of the day. Classes go well. Students are amazingly well behaved. And it's homecoming. Kinda the biggest day of the year.

So, you go home and in your driveway is the vehicle of the person you think you're in love with and it's a surprise. You didn't know they were coming. You hurry inside, barely noticing the empty bottles of beer on the table and counters. You run to your room, following a trail of clothes and then...

And then, you find them in bed with your roommate. They notice you a few seconds later and after some intense shouting, you've kicked them both out of your apartment.

This was Julie's afternoon. By the time she gets Ryan's message, she's curled up in a ball on the couch. She studies the message, rubbing at her eyes to clear away the post-crying fog and then types out an answer.

I'm sorry. I just had a really fucked up afternoon. I think I'm staying home.
A small part of her is aware this is unwise. It's a hard part to ignore.

Edited 2014-01-29 03:24 (UTC)

His phone vibrates as he's standing near the concessions, checking out the sea of people and so far he's not seeing anyone bleeding out the eyeballs. Yet. It's probably safe to check his phone. Ryan pulls it out and opens it to a message that has him furiously typing away. He sucks at these new smart phones - big fingers, he's always hitting the wrong button - and it takes him awhile to finally get a legible reply out.

Is everything okay? Ryan pauses. That's okay to ask, right? He waffles on the next bit, wondering if it's presumptuous. If she wants to be left alone. Need to talk?

He hits SEND before he gets cold feet, only dimly hearing the crowd cheering. Someone blows an air horn. Someone else responds with a vuvuzela. Ryan waits for Julie's reply. Is it a roommate thing? Or maybe it's a family thing, he thinks, and it probably says a lot for his state of mind that he immediately thinks it could be CBI-related.

Julie's reply is slow to return. She gets herself some left-over take out to stare at instead of eat. She gets herself a soda to drink. She debates whether or not she should tell Ryan. It's not like she doesn't trust him. She very much so does. She just hopes it won't be awkward for him to hear or put a strain on their friendship. Julie considers them friends, but it was early on in things.

But this really wasn't something she cold hold in. And she certainly couldn't call her dad about it. What would he do? Give her some military-themed speech on how to keep going? He was barely doing that himself after her mother left.

So, she texts him back.

I found my roommate and my boyfriend in bed together.

Now that she thinks about it, Ryan really was her first choice. She was just delaying because she really can't believe what she saw.

Oh, Christ. He can't even imagine what that'd be like. "I'm sorry" seems like it'd be inane to text back because that's what you says when you get a flat or you don't know what else to say. Which...is true. Ryan has no clue what he should say.

So he types:

I'm sorry.

Then he thinks better of it and types a little more.

That's bullshit that happened That seems like it's kind of a no-brainer. Did she kick them out? What'd Perry say? Ryan's on the edge of their social circle, so he's not exactly the first person to get filled in on what's happening. He guesses the most pressing question is why Perry would do that to Julie. From the way Julie had talked about him, it seemed like things had been going well.

Banning alcohol from my house. And definitely not giving the spare key to anyone but the cat lady across the hall.

Only part of this is true. There is a cat lady across the hall. Julie is sitting on her balcony at this point, an oversized hoodie on her shoulders and her feet bare on the concrete. She wants to be stupid and ask Ryan if she's amazing or if he thought she did something wrong but that was pathetic and not at all distracting her. So she changes topics.

Who's winning? Is Homecoming as epic and awesome and amazing as my students said it would be?

Yikes. The gist of it is apparently there was drinking and drunken sex and...yeah, "yikes" still summed it up. This was all text glowing on a touchscreen but Ryan figures Julie's like any sane person: she's trying to pass this off as less of a big deal than it really is if she's trying to joke about it. If she's changing the subject, it must mean she needs a break from thinking about it.

He obliges. The good news is his boss hasn't swung by to make sure he's doing his rounds. Ryan pops his head up, listens. It takes him a moment to realize there's a different feel to the air. People are still cheering but that's because they haven't heard the shift. There's screaming, too, and that's what gets his hair on edge. It's coming from the field, south side. The side he was supposed to be patrolling...

Ryan types out curt:

Think something is up. I'm gonna check it out, BRB.

Julie's not at all in the mood to stay in her apartment anymore. She sets her phone down for a second, long enough to change into something presentable. Just jeans, a black long sleeve shirt. Nothing exciting. As she ties her hair back, she reads Ryan's latest message and frowns.

Plans to just go to the nearby cafe with her laptop and some ungraded papers quickly change to a desire to go to the school and see what's going on. His message has her unnerved so her message is short and abbreviated. Just three letters;

OMW.

Every part of her is telling her to stay put, but Julie is a caretaker. She likes knowing her students are safe so a minute later, she's in her car and heading towards campus.

When she gets there, parking in the south parking lot, something in the atmosphere tells her things are bad so instead of texting Ryan, she calls.

"Hey, where are you?"

She probably isn't even that far from where he was supposed to be patrolling.

When Ryan picks up, his voice is strained. “Where are you? What’s that sound? Are you – you’re not here, are you?”

Clearly he didn’t bother to check his text messages. He can hear what sounds an awful lot like people, groups of them and if he didn’t know better, he’d say it sounds like Homecoming going to shit, only tinny and from his phone. Oh no. She’s here, isn’t she? Ryan turns from where he’d been trying to push his way closer to the field. There’s just enough people that he can’t see over their heads and not everyone’s pinged onto the whole “something’s wrong” vibe. He realizes he’s shouting to be heard over the crowd.

“I’m south of the field,” he says, trying to stand on his tip toes. Lots of moving heads. Some of them are painted in UEC’s colors, others have beanies and scarves and they all break up the crowd’s shape and movement. Can’t get a pin on if there’s infected moving around.

He thinks he sees a blonde head of hair though that looks familiar. It’s Julie’s height, moves like her. Ryan fights his way over to it, stuffing his phone into his pocket.

Julie's quick to tell him her location, but she isn't sure if he hears her over the noise. She can't tell if the shrieks are of joy or panic. She's unsettled by the commotion around her until she spots Ryan. The look on her face when they finally get near each other is one of relief and worry. A fitting combination, considering the situation.

"Hey." Her eyes might be a bit red-rimmed and her voice a bit scratchy from crying, but she looks alright. "What's going on?"

How bad is it? Where is she needed? Is she needed?

Ryan feels relief surge into him - Julie looks like she's been crying and she'd tried to clean herself up, but the important thing is aside from that, she looks fine. "Don't know. No one's responding when I - "

He's cut off when this time there's a scream that rises and rises and it shoots past "blood-curdling". Ryan whips toward the sound, unconsciously putting himself between it and Julie. No way that was someone taking Homecoming too seriously. It sounds almost like an animal, injured. Shooting a look at Julie, he comes to a decision. Job first.

"Wait here," Ryan says, his voice coming out curt. Knowing her, this might be an exercise in futility but it's worth trying. "I need to check it out."

She immediately turns her head, trying to find the source of that sound. That horrifying scream filled her with an icy dread and a part of her wanted to grab Ryan and run away from it, especially when he put himself between whatever that sound was and her. She wants to just grab his arm and take off because something told her that whatever that was is well beyond what either of them could take care of.

She's already decided to investigate the source, however. IT's her school. It's her job to ensure the safety of students, even if she wasn't security like Ryan. When he told her to stay put, the look of stubborn disbelief showed before she could hide it.

It's most definitely an exercise in futility. Stay put? Who was he kidding? She starts off behind him when another ungodly scream is heard, this time closer to them and off to their left.

She hears someone shout something that sounds a lot like 'infection' and for a second, she thinks it's some stupid prank.

Until she actually sees one of the infected. It's not doing much just yet. Just chasing people, groping for them as blood runs down their face.

"Ryan, I think we should leave." From what she'd heard, where there was one there were usually more.

Of course, God has a sense of humor and to prove Julie's point, this is about when said infected gets it's hands on someone and starts taking them apart.

"Oh, shit. Ryan!" Yes, definitely time to go. Julie's not a chicken, not at all. She just knows a good time to get the fuck out when she sees one.

His head swings toward the sound. This one’s so close he can feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing at attention, his hand hovering over his holster without realizing he’d put it there. Ryan reviews everything he knows about CBI and the infected and realizes the only thing he knows is A). don’t get bit B). they can die like a regular human. You can shoot them. You can stab them (in theory). They’re not like zombies, they’re –

They’re right here. He comes to a full stop, almost letting Julie slam into his back as he stares at the infected. It’s a woman, her face leaking blood from her eyes and nose and just about every single orifice. Her teeth chatter as she chases people down, screaming and drooling. Her screams ramp up the longer she darts behind the goal post without drawing blood. Most people are scattering. But one of the camera guys is a little too slow ditching his camera, and that’s when the infected jumps him. She full-on throws her body at him, howling bloody murder, they go down, and she starts trying her damndest to pummel him to death with her bare hands.

Is he supposed to shoot or call it in?

Ryan has no idea what to do. He freezes for a split second, hearing Julie’s voice as if she’s standing at the opposite end of a wind tunnel. It’s different from on TV or Youtube or the movies. The blood’s darker, it doesn’t spray the same way. He doesn’t have that little voice wondering how much of it is production or post fixing the special effects.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m here.” Ryan mutters.

He’ll look back on today and regret he didn’t try to save that man. The gun doesn’t make it out of his holster. He turns, sees Julie looking alive and scared, and grabs her hand a little too hard. He takes off away from the infected woman, his feet pounding on the grass.

Staying to help would have probably resulted in him and Julie either dying or getting badly hurt. Not that this thought does anything to assuage any of Julie's own guilt. Nothing will. And she'll have nightmares for weeks about the man with the broken body, screaming at her that this is her fault.

Right now, though, Julie's in panic mode because there aren't just one infected nearby. From the screams and sounds around her, there are many. Ryan's grip is tight and it hurts, but she hardly winces. She follows, keeping up with ease for a bit.

But, oh there's a problem. Julie's asthmatic and what she needs is in her car and they're heading in the opposite direction. It's crowded and noisy and the air is thick with screams and shouts and gunfire from somewhere to their right so the small wheeze forming in her throat isn't entirely audible just yet.

"Where...?" That's all she can get out, though. She really needs to focus on running and breathing. What she wants is to know where they're going.

The rumors will say it was only a few – five, maybe. Some people inflate the numbers to ten. But the fact is they’re only seeing the beginning and it’ll get so much worse.

“I don’t know!” Ryan has to physically stop to think of UEC’s layout. It’s not his normal beat. It’s dark, there’s people screaming, he’s aware of Julie squeezing back. Hard to concentrate. “Uh, we could – we could try the dorms?”

It’s the first thing he can think of. It’s got that gate between them and he doesn’t care how strong these infected are, there’s no way they can get through those gates if they’re shut. It’s probably still open but for how long? Ryan has to do that awkward skip-run to shimmy through the crowds. A few of the kids spot his uniform and they join them, following where he goes because they assume he knows better. One of the more surreal moments is when he sees UEC’s mascot streaking past: it’s some unlucky bastard in the Big Horns suit, half the ram’s face torn to fluffy shreds. There’s dark splashes across the fur that he wonders later if it was blood.

A wall of people presses against the field’s entrance. Ryan stops, at a loss. No way they’re shoving their way through that. One of the kids seems to recognize Julie – a freshman, some girl who probably was sweating bullets her first year here. She peers at Julie and her face lights up.

“Ms. Grigio! Are you okay?” She touches Julie’s shoulder.

Dorms. Okay. Her office was near the dorms. They could stop there so she could grab her back-up inhaler. Right? God, please let them be able to stop there so she can grab her inhaler. If not, her only other option is her car and the parking lot looks swamped. She hears car alarms and cars honking and the sounds of glass breaking, though, and wonders if her car will even be in any condition to go near.

She's elbowed and nudged around for a moment, prompting her to step closer to Ryan. Her student, a girl named Emily who was scared shitless her first day here, startles her some.

"Em. Hey... I'm fine." Julie Grigio, ladies and gentlemen. A wheezing lying liar that lies.

"Bullshit, Ms. Grigio." Julie almost chuckles at her students reaction. Almost. It's interrupting by some more audible wheezing. She tugs on Ryans hand and points to the offices when she has her attention. They can get through there to the dorms. Julie has her keys already in her hand. Reduced to gestures, she sure as shit hopes Ryan gets the hint.

That way, her gesture is saying. We need to go that way.

HEAD CANON - PRE NEW-HUNGER

The Last of Us - (Human R/Julie AUed in)

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timeskipping

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Gonna start the infection thing - Julie could come over or something?

she's on her way

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