Aim For The Head! (Walking Dead RPG)

A tree. A bush. A cloud. A squirrel.

Grant sighed and widened his eyes as he endured through another painfully boring commute to the city. Why his dad decided to buy a farm outside the city instead of a house or an apartment was beyond him, and now he was suffering through the consequences of not getting his own place. But, he didn't have much extra lying around between work, work and medical school. So here he drove...and drove...and drove.

Clicking on the tunes, he started nodding his head to the beat and playing the drums with his hands on the wheel. It's not like he didn't like it in Oregon, it was actually pretty nice, calm, safe. There wasn't quite as much to do with the coast so far away now and there wasn't as much night life but, he was making due. He briefly stopped nodding his head as he saw a man standing on the side of the road. The man looked up and stared blankly at him as he approached. Grant zoomed by and turned, watching the man seem to quickly loose interest and look back down, starting to walk slowly across the street.

He shrugged and forgot about it quickly as he continued on. A few miles and minutes raced by like nothing when Yellowcard was at the driver's seat and the buildings of Riley came into view. Riley is an unincorporated county, surrounded by a few alfalfa farms and not much else. Since it was an unincorporated community, it didn't have much of a central city government and relied on state troopers to uphold the law. Very small time compared to what Grant was used to back in L.A.

The rusty truck that couldn't have been made less than thirty years ago came to a stop with a pang from its muffler as he finally made it to the bar where he was working for the summer. He jumped out and spat the gum he'd been chewing onto the street before he stepped into the bar. "It's 5:18."

Grant raised his eyes to a girl in black, holding a rag on her hip looking annoyed. "Sorry." he spoke insincerely as he took his jacket off and jumped to his spot over the counter.

The girl, his boss Eileen, walked over to him as he tried to ignore her. She had black hair, heavy makeup and a tight, extremely attractive body. If only she wasn't such a witch, he'd probably be interested in her. "That's the third time this month! You're lucky you're just about the only mixer in the are worth my time or I would've fired you weeks ago!" Grant smiled as he imaged fire and steam coming from her ears as she started her rant. "You such a pompous, lazy s.o.b., you know that, don't you!?"

"Snarling doesn't really highlight your features, you know Leena. Maybe you should try, I don't know, a smile? Maybe a little giggle here or there? Who knows, maybe you'd break your dry spell. How long has it been? Two years?"

"Huh!" she tried to verbalize a comeback but seemed to angry to get anything more out. She grabbed her purse and jacket as she marched to the door. "Just get to work!" she yelled back as she slammed the entrance shut on the way out.

Grant started wiping the counter down and peeked up, seeing a man with a sloppy beard staring at him. "Women, right?" he said with a shrug and a smirk.

The man just let out a moan as he stared blankly, seeming to barely have enough strength to lift his head. "Right...I think you've probably had enough..." he said as he grabbed the glass in front of the man and put it behind the counter. The man looked angry and opened his mouth, revealing gross, yellowing teeth. He reached out a hand and let his head drop to the ground, snoring filled the area.

"Drunk...just...drunk..."



The night passed by as eventfully as ever with one or two fights, a few drunk girls trying to flirt with him and a cockroach terrorizing the guests. He cleared out the bar and locked it up while he cleaned up. He hit the radio and got to work collecting tips, cleaning out the bathrooms and playing a game of pool, just for fun.

This was just about the best part of working actually. Sure, serving drinks was okay, but it seemed it just got harder and harder to talk to people. Most people would either come in as a couple or they'd just whip out their cell phone and glue their eyes to that for the whole night. All the quality girls seemed claimed and taken. During this hour, he could pretend everyone was just gone and it was a time to spend with himself; a time to relax. He sometimes even found cool stuff that guests would forget. Stuff he'd usually keep, like an odd earring or a lighter like the one he found tonight.

After an hour or so, he finally made his way out to lock up the bar for the night as he stepped out and turned to take out his key, he heard footsteps as someone approached him. "Sorry, we're locking up for the night. You're gonna have to get your booze somewh-"

He froze as he heard a click of a revolver from behind his head. "Get inside."

The man guided him inside with the gun and brought him to the counter. "Get to the register and put the money in the bag." he pushed Grant so that he bent over the counter.

"Alright just...give me a second." he felt frozen in fear. He didn't want it to end like this. He didn't have much of a choice either, it seemed. He jumped over the counter and pressed a couple keys to make the register open with a ding. He filled the bag and tossed it to the man who was wearing a black ski mask. As the man looked into the bag, counting the money, Grant remembered the gun that they kept under the counter. He slowly walked over to the other side of the counter as the robber struggled with the bag. He rested his hand in the drawer and felt for the gun. He let his hand hug the handle, his finger undoing the safety.

"Okay...now your wallet." he said, looking sternly at him with his gun at the side.

Grant reached for his left pocket, his heart racing, he had to make a choice. The world slowed down as he pulled the gun out in one swift motion, his heart beating in his ears.

BANG!

The man yelled as a bullet tore into his left arm. He leapt over the counter and tackled Grant and grabbed his gun, bringing him on his back to the ground before smacking him in the head with the butt of the gun. Grant's vision faltered as he drowsily shook his head, his ears rang as he watched the man run out with the bag of cash, holding his arm, blood staining the bag. He blacked out as the door shut.

---

Vision returned briefly as he hazily saw people breaking open windows of the bar and grabbing things from behind the counter before blackness overcame him again. Again, his eyes opened for a moment as he felt himself being shaken. He saw Eileen's face. "Hurry! Wake up! They're coming!" he heard in the back of his head before again returning to blackness. Once more, vision returned as he saw figures limping and groaning, walking in and out of the bar, passing him unnoticed, before he blacked out again.

Finally he awoke with a pain in his head. He struggled to his feet as the light coming in from the smashed or cracked windows blinded him for a moment before bringing the bar into focus. Tables were on their sides, bottles were crushed on the floor and a body was curled up, leaning on the wall. "Man, this place got trashed..." he observed aloud while still rubbing his head.

He noticed that all the drawers behind the counter were opened and nearly everything was missing. He jumped over the counter and walked unsteadily over to the body, concerned to see if he was okay. Upon close examination, he noted that there were various lacerations and bite marks around his neck and jugular. The most notable wound being the large hole in his head, probably from a gunshot. "What happened to you...?" He stood up and looked around the room. "What happened to...everything...?"

Regaining his composure, he ran outside and saw what seemed like a wasteland. A couple of cars were parked in the middle of the street and a huge dent was on the side of his truck, making it look totaled. Everything was covered in dust and there was no one else visible. He stepped toward the middle of the street and saw movement. He ran to investigate and found the man who had robbed the store with a gash from his neck all the way down his side sitting on the ground, now motionless. He still had on his black ski mask. His wounds looked to have dried blood. Dead.

He wondered who it really was behind the mask. Leaning down, Grant reached for the mask when the man jumped up and onto him. Grant held onto his wrists as the man seemed to try and claw at him. His head would lunge at him as he could make out a mouth behind the mask, trying to bite him like a hungry animal.

Grant threw him off, making him hit a dumpster and stunning him for a moment. He looked around frantically and saw nothing to defend himself as the man started to crawl frantically back at him. Grant picked up the metal trash can that had fallen beside the dumpster and smashed it on the man's head, squishing it with a distasteful sound, blood splattering.

Even though the danger had passed, he continued to breath heavily. He just killed someone! He looked at the man's body, at the skin and noticed the strange color. He didn't know what happened to him...he wasn't in the right state of mind or...he might've had an infection or...

Grant searched his mind, every shred of his medical studies to try and understand what could have caused this extreme behavior. He saw the gun sticking out of his pocket and checked the ammo. "Empty..." he said, disappointed.

What was wrong with the world? Someone...broke it...

"Help!" he spun around and yelled. "Is anyone alive!? ANYONE!?"

Quickly after Grant had yelled in fear, a figure appeared in the alleyway, ran at him, grabbed him and pushed him into the dumpster. He probably would have freaked out and chewed her out, but he was still in so much shock from what he'd done. Sure, the man had robbed him, threatened him and attacked him but...did he need to die? It all seemed very sad...death. No matter how bad a person was, didn't they deserve a chance of redemption? His thoughts were interrupted as moans and grunting sounds came from outside. What was happening?

Soon enough, the sounds passed and the person that had taken hold of him opened the lid and questioned his intellect. "Wh...what are you talking about?" He paused, confused. There must be something more to what's happening...what happened to the city.

He took a deep breath and tried to center himself. "I just woke up from being in a sort of...well I've been knocked out...and this is what I found when I came to." He craned his head over and double checked to make sure the alley was safe from...whatever they were hiding from. He jumped out and cracked his neck from side to side as he still felt stiff from how he had been lying on the floor.

He turned to the girl and laid his hand on her shoulder tightly, showcasing his sincere fear through his extremely wide open eyes and how his hands were shaking slightly. "Tell me what happened; what's going on?"

The girl seemed to know what to do once the, whatever they were came. Maybe she'd been around from the start. Maybe she knew where it was safe.

As the girl explained the situation, Grant let go of her shoulder, looked at the sky and turned back to lean on the brick wall. She was just a vacationer...not the best way to represent Oregon to the rest of the country. As she explained what the 'walkers' were, he felt like he was in some monster movie. It just couldn't be real and yet...he saw it first hand. She went on to tell him about what had happened to her family.

"I'm...sorry," was all he could manage. He had never had to go through a loss like that, so he wasn't sure how he'd comfort her or if he'd be willing to, anyway. That's when a nasty, despicable, terrible thought poked its way into his head. His family. What had become of them!? Were they okay? Were they still at the farm? Did they...did they even come to look for him?

He looked back at the bloodstained alley and then up to the girl. He held out his hand for a shake. "I'm Grant. I suppose I should thank you for helping me out."

He thought for a moment as he seemed to be poking holes in her story. "When you say 'survivors'...are we outnumbered? If there's a group that left, why didn't you go with them and how have you been surviving by yourself here? It...doesn't seem too safe to me."

As he expressed concern, he began to feel his stomach grumble. Like the girl said, he had been out for three days and that meant that he hadn't eaten for three days. "I know you've helped me out a lot already but...you wouldn't happen to have anything I could eat, do you?"

Normally he'd probably decline the candy bar, but he was too hungry to pass and, although he'd feel bad, he devoured it right in front of her before continuing. He just couldn't wait. "Well, Paige, I guess we probably shouldn't be sticking out in the open for long. I could help you find some supplies to try and repay you."

He motioned for her to follow him as he got close to the wall and crept towards the street. Before passing into the open, he poked his head out and surveyed the area. It was fairly deserted, just like when he first emerged from the bar, but one walker was now on his knees in the middle of the street facing away from them. It seemed that the attention he had brought to the area drew him in and he was more successful in his hunt than the others as he was snacking on a body that now laid motionless underneath him.

"The bar has a back room full of food and drink supplies that was locked up last I checked and I'm one of two people that have a key. Odds are, we can find something useful in there." He explained, whispering quietly.

Grant waited for the walker's head to go down between bites and he sprinted, as quietly as he could and as close to the ground as he could, from the alley to behind a nearby car for cover. He looked through the window to see if the walker took notice. It did stop chewing and look from side to side for a moment, but then continued to have his own lunch. Grant flashed a thumbs up toward Paige then turned to look at the smashed bar window, timed the run perfectly and jumped into the bar, successfully, without letting the walker take notice.

He turned and watched to see if Paige would be able to make it across successfully. The street was cluttered with broken glass from the car's windshield and a patch of loose dirt that she'd have to be mindful of. No need to draw unnecessary attention to themselves, after all.

So, the kid made it over okay, great. Awesome. The fact that she eyed the walker like she'd rather kill it than avoid it told him that she seemed to be more of an individual of action and the when she offered him a Swiss army to borrow told him that she was probably a doer rather than a thinker before the walkers were around. "Thanks." He nodded as he grabbed the knife from her.

He walked across the room and eyed the body that still laid motionless by the opposite room. "I think we'll be safe in here." He thought out loud as he jumped over the counter and moved over to a back room. He took out a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, holding his breath as he wondered what he'd find.

"Awesome." He smiled and stood to the side so that Paige could see the inside of the refrigerated room. To the left was a few weeks worth of frozen meat. To the back was various vegetables and to the right was a lot of ice and three jugs of almost frozen water.

"Not too bad, huh?" It did seem like there was a lot less there, so, he assumed that Eileen had found her way there, which comforted him to know that there was a chance that she was okay.

"So, what's your living arrangement? Did you just wanna grab some and bolt or what were you thinking? These are mostly perishable so you'll need some kind of fridge." He wondered aloud. "I'm probably going to grill myself up a burger if you're interested..." The girl had been good to him and he had to try to return the favor. Then he wouldn't feel bad if they parted ways. He had to get to the farm...if only to see if the family was okay.

He folded his arms and nodded in understanding as Paige spoke. "Well, if you don't have a working fridge then I guess all I can do for ya is offer you a cooler full." He spoke as he moved to the back of the freezer room. Where there used to be ten, now there was one. "Looks like there's just one left. Not much of a holy grail." He turned his head to her and threw the cooler to her feet. "Yeah, I've watched Indiana Jones." He smirked.

Grant decided that it wasn't his place to tell her what she should do, but it definitely seemed stupid to him for a teenage girl to try living alone, especially in these conditions. He considered her question and looked out the shattered windows, seeing the sun start to set. He leaned on the frame of the door. "Well, it looks like I won't be getting far tonight, so I think I'll try and secure the bar, for the night at least."

He walked out of the freezer room, leaving Paige to fill her cooler if she wished, hopped the counter and looked out the window, noticing that the walker from outside had left. On the right side of the doors, the shattered windows were blocked from the outside by his truck, which seemed to have been hit by another car onto the sidewalk and in front of the windows, making it seem safe enough. He looked to the other window and began leaning tables up to block a way in after he locked the front doors.

"Just let me know when you're ready to leave and I'll unlock the doors, okay?"

Grant didn't feel to good about sending the girl out on her own, but he had to worry about his family and Paige seemed set on what she wanted to do.

Grant wasn't sure if he agreed. At the bar they had a ready source for food, a bathroom available with a private source of water (although he hadn't checked if it was still working) and the only risk was the windows, which he was taking care of now. But, she seemed scared...maybe even a little lonely, too. He looked at the gun she was holding and stood quiet for a minute. "I've already got one actually..." He explained, taking the gun out from his jacket pocket. He knew it was out of bullets, but he'd rather have Paige have the extra defense than to possibly endanger her. The gun didn't look like it had too many shots per clip/round either.

He sighed for a moment until he finally decided. "Alright. We'll stay at your place tonight." He turned and started throwing some ice into the cooler. "I've always loved slumber parties." he smirked slightly.

Soon enough they were done with filling the cooler. Grant slammed the door shut and headed for the door, dragging the cooler behind them. "If we want to make sure we don't draw any attention, we have to carry it together. If we want to leave one of us defenseless, one of us could carry it while the other walks armed. I'll leave it up to you...no pressure, right?" He smirked again.

Grant flicked off all the lights as they were preparing to leave and nodded to the bar, as if saying goodbye. For all intensive purposes, this place was like a second home for the past few months and it felt weird leaving it undefended. He shook his head and peeked out seeing that the coast was clear. "Right, let's go."

Happy to see the skateboard, he still wondered if the rolling might attract too much attention, but he decided that Paige must know enough to look so confident that it would work out fine. She leaned down and pushed the cooler along as Grant held the pistol out, pointing it ahead of him in his left hand and holding the knife underneath it, making it seem like he was trying to steady the sights. The two quietly started weaving their way around cars and avoided the main roads, turning away from routes where they could hear movement or groans from walkers and eventually Paige stopped, indicating that she had found their destination.

Grant let out a relieved gasp as he approached the building they had stopped at and helped Paige push the cooler the rest of the way. "That was exciting enough." He smiled brightly, looking at Paige. As he stared for a second, he saw movement from behind another building from behind Paige. He looked slightly up from the girl's gaze and saw a walker emerge and start limping at a pretty quick speed as it groaned and saw the two. "We need to get inside. Now!" He said quickly to Paige.

By the time the door opened, one walker had made it close enough to them so that it tried to grab
Paige with a deathly snarl. Grant jumped into the shelter and shut the door on him as the walker continued to try and push its way through, its arm sticking through and flailing. He looked around frantically as he tried to force the door closed until he finally let it go, the walker jumping towards him. He quickly stabbed the army knife towards his head which missed and stabbed him in the arm, sticking it in. He then smacked the walker in the back of the head with the gun once, forcing it to the ground, again, slowing its movement and once more, killing it. He yanked the knife out and turned to yell to Paige as he saw many many more walkers trudging towards the entrance. "Shut it!"