#true confessions of charlotte walker

[bringinghometherain]

Hi! This is for the wip ask game… I humbly request literally anything from the charlieverse… loved the series and I am starving for more!!

Hey friend! I'm gonna go 'head and give you this 700ish word thing I wrote for a Whumpuary 2023 prompt "failed escape / nightmares." I like it but I've never really found a spot for it within the larger story, so it's been sitting in my google drive for a while. CW for blood/gore.

If you're interested in looking at my WIP list and asking about it for the game, original post is here!

She was running, running through her family's home, and she could swear the back door was this way, but the hallways just kept going. She kept popping out into the main hall, and every time she did more people were looking at her, reaching for her. The third time she sprinted through the main hall a couple people grabbed at her, but the blood covering her bare arms made her slippery, so she wrenched herself free and kept searching desperately for an exit.

She turned a corner and found herself in the pantry, how on earth did she get to the pantry, and her father's pale corpse slumped crooked against the shelf, blood still oozing slowly from his neck. His pale eyes gazed out, empty and yet somehow still full of rage. Charlie tried to back out of the pantry without turning her back on the corpse, but several, no dozens, no hundreds of hands were on her, crushing her arms, her legs, her stomach, her throat. She tried to scream but couldn't take a breath in. She thrashed against the hands that were digging bruises into her flesh. Someone was calling her name.

The scene changed and she was standing on the deck of the Revenge, a uniformed firing squad taking aim at her chest. "For the crime of murder," a voice came from somewhere above, "You, Charlotte Walker, are sentenced to death." Charlie strained helplessly against the ties binding her wrists. 

Someone was shaking her. Someone was calling her name. She pushed and punched against whatever was in front of her. 

"Fuck's sake Charlie, wake up!" Charlie opened her eyes to a blur of grey beard and pale, scarred skin. In that same instant she gained control of her body and brought one knee up to connect with whatever it was that was shaking her. There was a grunt of pain and Izzy Hands stopped shaking her to curl around his gut, where her knee had just connected quite soundly. 

“Oh fuck,” Charlie croaked through tears, reaching now for him with open hands instead of the fist she had been aiming in his direction. “Shit, shit, I’m sorry –”

He stopped her with a firm hand to the center of her chest, holding her at bay while he breathed deeply and held his stomach. Charlie watched him with wide eyes and tried to remember where she was and why she was waking up next to the first mate. The events of the afternoon came back to her in a rush. The quiet lunch, his hand brushing against hers on the table, her thigh pressing against his under the table. Going up to his rented room – oh that’s where she was, okay, she knew where she was. Over Izzy’s bare shoulder, the window showed the last red rays of sunset.

Now that the man was uncurling and breathing normally, Charlie placed her hand over his where it pressed against her breastbone. “I’m so sorry, I don’t usually have nightmares like that, I thought you were attacking me –”

“It’s fine,” Izzy sighed, opening his eyes to speak. The golden-brown color of them was mesmerizing in the light of dusk that came in through the window. “And yes, you do have nightmares like that, quite frequently in fact.” 

She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt – Izzy’s shirt? Whatever shirt she was wearing. “What are you talking about?” 

“At least as long as I’ve been on the Revenge, you have two or three a week. With the screaming, anyway.” He shrugged.

“What – why doesn’t anyone ever wake me up?” Charlie demanded. 

“I was told the first and only time someone tried that, Frenchie got socked in the nose,” Izzy said, “After that they decided to let you sleep through them.” He absentmindedly brushed his fingers through her hair, sending tingles down Charlie’s spine. It stopped all thought for a moment, until his words sunk in.

“I punched Frenchie? Oh my god,” she rolled onto her back, away from Izzy’s touch, and covered her face with her hands. “No wonder they all treat me like their little sister, I’m having nightmares in the group sleeping area.” 

“Oh, you love being the little sister,” Izzy drawled. She removed her hands from her face to glare over at him. 

"I take back my apology for hitting you," she sniffed. He rolled his eyes.

[our-flag-means-death-ao3feed]

"Get some rest"

by BringingHometheRain

Charlie can't sleep, and sleepcasts do not exist in 1717. Fortunately Izzy Hands can assist.

Words: 1057, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 4 of True Confessions of Charlotte Walker

Fandoms: Our Flag Means Death (TV)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Israel Hands, Original Characters, Charlotte Walker

Relationships: Israel Hands/Original Female Character(s)

Additional Tags: Whump, Insomnia, Stress, Fluff, I guess that's all there is to it?

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/47047075

[doubleattitude]

JUMP Dance Convention, Phoenix, AZ: RESULTS

High Scores by Age:

JUMPstart Solo

1st: Tatum Self-’Somewhere Over The Rainbow’

2nd: Harper Schwalb-’You Are So Beautiful’

3rd: Lucia Piedrahita-’Fields of Gold’

4th: Navy Forrest-’Charge It Please’

5th: Mikayla Isler-’Baby I’m A Star’

6th: Kaylee Jones-’My New Philosphy’

7th: Charlotte Rathjen-’Do You Want To Build A Snowman’

7th: Soleil Lynch-’Titanium’

8th: Aliya Yen-’Loyal, Brave & True’

9th: Shale Herrera-’Wonderful World’

10th: Jewel Moody-’Be So Blind’

Mini Solo

1st: Kiera Sun-’The Full Circle’

2nd: Fiona Sartain-’The Way You Move’

2nd: Alexis Alvarez-’Wide Eyes’

3rd: Ellary-Day Szyndlar-’Snow’

4th: Keelyn Jones-’Slowly Fading’

5th: Shayne Knapp-’Blackbird’

6th: Elsie Sandall-’Almost Gone’

6th: Peyton Szuberla-’Glacier’

7th: Esme Chou-’Particle’

8th: Naiya Abalos-’Forces’

8th: Madison Machado-’Hallelujah’

8th: Aliyah Middleton-’Legs’

8th: Scarlet Bunker-’Pretty Women’

9th: Sierra Wells-’Turn to Stone’

10th: Claire Gestring-’On The Mast of Faith’

Junior Solo

1st: Laci Stoico-’Mibiso’

2nd: Taylor Morrison-’That Walk’

2nd: Kylie Kaminsky-’The Offering’

3rd: Colby Rich-’I Lie’

4th: Amaya Weeks-’Illusions’

4th: Alyssa Park-’Switch’

4th: Kortlynn Rosenbaugh-’Unearthed’

4th: Ellie Smith-’Waking Dream’

5th: Campbell Castner-’Fallen’

5th: Ellie Duffin-’Gentle Savior’

6th: Brooke Toro-’Clear Your Mind’

6th: Makaia Roux-’Everything I Wanted’

6th: Abbi Francis-’Feel It Still’

6th: Julia Chavez-’Going Under’

7th: Emmy Claire Kaiden-’Eyesore’

8th: Chloe Tyler-’Material Girl’

9th: Charlotte Webster-’The Light’

10th: Lauren Perng-’Among The Waves’

10th: Tatum Kahler-’Dreams’

10th: Chloe Bailey-’Last Man Standing’

10th: Avery Lee-’New York, New York’

10th: Milan Padula-’Stand By Me’

10th: Abby Honstad-’Veiled’

Teen Solo

1st: Emma Donnelly-’What Would I Be Without You’

2nd: Emma Hellenkamp-’Blackbird’

3rd: Courtney Chiu-’Fever’

3rd: Isaiah Villegas-’Notorious’

4th: Alexis Adair-’A.M’

4th: Brightyn Rines-’End of Love’

5th: Avery Hall-’Lie To My Heart’

6th: Erin Park-’Respire’

6th: Hailey Myers-’Standing Still’

7th: Mia Larkin-’My Blood’

7th: Alexa Lopez-’Piel’

8th: Kayla Harrison-’Crumbling’

8th: Krysten Ham-’Forgiven’

8th: Caroline Skrable-’Pick Up The Phone’

9th: Addison Leitch-’Heart On The Table’

10th: Summer O’Haver-’Black Coffee’

Senior Solo

1st: Alex Shulman-’In System’

2nd: Ella Horan-’Profundo’

2nd: Jade Bucci-’Sacrifice’

3rd: Avery Gay-’Haxun’

4th: Rylee Kiel-’All That Way’

5th: Kailyn Yi-’I Never Left’

6th: Ashley Spiller-’Disconnect’

7th: Julia Christensen-’Calling’

7th: Imani Frazier-’Deepest Thoughts’

7th: Aimee Paredas-’Do You Love Me’

7th: Kennedy Barry-’The Distance Between’

7th: Jenn Gamma-’Unconscious Mind’

8th: Ally Couch-’Let’s Stay Together’

9th: Dawson Walker-’Ramblin’ Man’

10th: Lilly Lorber-’Evening Song’

10th: Leigha Agins-’Prerogative’

10th: Abbey Zirkle-’Sispirium’

JUMPstart Duo/Trio

1st: Danceplex-’Stand By Me’

2nd: Summer’s DanceWorks-’The Queens’

Mini Duo/Trio

1st: Dance Connection 2-’Rise Up’

2nd: Danceology-’Cars That Go Boom’

3rd: Danceology-’Do Somethin’

Junior Duo/Trio

1st: Danceology-’Chelloopa’

2nd: L.A Dance Arizona-’Just Got Paid’

3rd: Bricks Studio-’90′s Mix’

Teen Duo/Trio

1st: WESTSIDE Dance Project-’The Trial’

2nd: Danceology-’Busy Signal’

3rd: WESTSIDE Dance Project-’Pulse’

Senior Duo/Trio

1st: Royal Dance Works-’Evol’

2nd: Elite Dance and Performing Arts Center-’Come Home’

3rd: Safford Dance Academy-’Say Something’

JUMPstart Group

1st: Club Dance Studio-’The Rose’

2nd: Dance Connection 2-’Cookin’ With Grease’

3rd: Danceplex-’Little Wonders’

Mini Group

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Songbird’

2nd: Dance Connection 2-’Conga’

3rd: Dance Connection 2-’Love Shack’

Junior Group

1st: Dance Connection 2-’Dawn’

2nd: Club Dance Studio-’Let My Touch’

3rd: WESTIDE Dance Project-’Santa Fe’

Teen Group

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Creator’

2nd: WESTSIDE Dance Project-’Aurora’

2nd: The Platform Dance-’Fade’

3rd: Dance Connection 2-’Silence’

Senior Group

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Bamboo Banga’

2nd: Club Dance Studio-’Paquita’

3rd: Royal Dance Works-’Uncertainty’

JUMPstart Line

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Baby Mine’

2nd: The Platform Dance-’Get Up’

3rd: The Platform Dance-’Somewhere Out There’

Mini Line

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Chapstick’

2nd: Dance Connection 2-’Dreamin’

3rd: Club Dance Studio-’Clap Snap’

Junior Line

1st: Danceology-’Just Got Paid’

2nd: Dance Connection 2-’RSVP’

2nd: Club Dance Studio-’Skin’

3rd: Club Dance Studio-’Bassline’

Teen Line

1st: Dance Connection 2-’Be Italian’

1st: Royal Dance Works-’Eye On Hand’

1st: WESTSIDE Dance Project-’Illusion’

2nd: Danceology-’My Hands Are Always Cold’

2nd: WESTSIDE Dance Project-’Strings’

3rd: WESTSIDE Dance Project-’Obsidian’

Senior Line

1st: Danceology-’It’s Weezy’

2nd: Royal Dance Works-’Exhale’

3rd: Club Dance Studio-’Impossible’

JUMPstart Extended Line

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Bathing Beauties’

2nd: Club Dance Studio-’Copa Cabana’

2nd: Dance Connection 2-’Jailhouse Rock’

3rd: Club Dance Studio-’Hollaback Girl’

Mini Extended Line

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Drum Step’

2nd: The Platform Dance-’Smash Bros’

3rd: Dance Connection 2-’Courage’

Junior Extended Line

1st: Club Dance Studio-’A La Cardi’

2nd: Club Dance Studio-’Din Da Da’

3rd: Club Dance Studio-’Physical’

Teen Extended Line

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Who Da Baby’

2nd: Danceology-’Not Today Satan’

3rd: WESTSIDE Dance Project-’One More Cup of Coffee’

Senior Extended Line

1st: Danceology-’Above Below’

2nd: Club Dance Studio-’Yo’

3rd: Dance Connection 2-’Come Together’

3rd: Danceology-’Night Thirst’

3rd: Club Dance Studio-’Slave For You’

Junior Production

1st: Danceology-’Blind Faith’

2nd: Danceology-’Rich Girl’

3rd: Danceology-’Level Up’

Teen Production

1st: The Platform Dance-’B’

2nd: Dance Connection 2-’Swing Kids’

3rd: Royal Dance Works-’Baby’

Senior Production

1st: The Platform Dance-’Wash Us’

2nd: The Platform Dance-’Joyner’

High Scores by Performance Division:

JUMPstart Jazz

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Copa Cabana’ 1st: Dance Connection 2-’Jailhouse Rock’ 2nd: Danceplex-’Let’s Hear It For The Boy’ 3rd: Spisak Dance Academy-’Remember Me’

JUMPstart Hip-Hop

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Hollaback Girl’ 2nd: The Platform Dance-’Get Up’

JUMPstart Tap

1st: Dance Connection 2-’Mr. Lee’ 2nd: Spisak Dance Academy-’Choo Choo Cha Boogie’

JUMPstart Contemporary

Club Dance Studio-’Baby Mine’

JUMPstart Lyrical

1st: Club Dance Studio-’The Rose’ 2nd: Dance Connection 2-’Fly’ 3rd: Danceplex-’Little Wonders’

JUMPstart Musical Theatre

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Bathing Beauties’ 2nd: Dance Connection 2-’Cookin’ With Grease’

JUMPstart Ballroom

Club Dance Studio-’Barbie Girl’

Mini Jazz

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Chapstick’ 2nd: Dance Connection 2-’Love Shack’ 3rd: Dance Connection 2-’Hangin’ Around’ 3rd: Dance Connection 2-’Peek A Boo’

Mini Ballet

1st: Danceology-’Scarf Dance’ 2nd: Danceology-’Polonaise’

Mini Hip-Hop

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Drum Step’ 2nd: The Platform Dance-’Smash Bros’ 3rd: The Platform Dance-’Main Event’

Mini Tap

1st: Danceology-’Luck Be A Lady’ 2nd: Spisak Dance Academy-’Sea Cruise’ 3rd: Studio 49-’Splish Splash’

Mini Contemporary

1st: Dance Connection 2-’Dreamin’ 2nd: Danceology-’Time Passing’ 3rd: Danceology-’Saved From The Depths’

Mini Lyrical

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Songbird’ 2nd: Dance Connection 2-’Courage’ 3rd: The Platform Dance-’Wind Beneath My Wings’

Mini Musical Theatre

1st: Danceology-’Mary Poppins’ 2nd: Club Dance Studio-’Sisters’ 3rd: The Platform Dance-’I Can Cook’ 3rd: The Platform Dance-’Don’t Tell Mama’

Mini Ballroom

1st: Dance Connection 2-’Conga’ 2nd: Club Dance Studio-’Clap Snap’ 3rd: Danceology-’Favorite Things’

Mini Acro

Spisak Dance Academy-’Hot Hot Hot’

Junior Jazz

1st: Danceology-’Rich Girl’ 2nd: Club Dance Studio-’Physical’ 3rd: Club Dance Studio-’Bassline’

Junior Ballet

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Swan Lake’ 2nd: Danceology-’Paquita’ 3rd: Danceology-’Passarinjo’

Junior Hip-Hop

1st: Club Dance Studio-’A La Cardi’ 2nd: Danceology-’Level Up’ 3rd: The Platform Dance-’Kingdom Valley High’

Junior Tap

1st: Danceology-’Just Got Paid’ 2nd: Club Dance Studio-’Perm’ 3rd: Spisak Dance Academy-’Trip A Little Light Fantastic’

Junior Contemporary

1st: Danceology-’Blind Faith’ 2nd: Dance Connection 2-’Dawn’ 3rd: Club Dance Studio-’Let My Touch’

Junior Lyrical

1st: The Platform Dance-’Wild Hearts’ 2nd: Dance Connection 2-’Light In The Hallway’ 3rd: Dance Connection 2-’Stairway’

Junior Musical Theatre

1st: Dance Connection 2-’All Shook Up’ 2nd: Danceology-’Black Friday Fiasco’ 3rd: The Platform Dance-’Take Off With Us’

Junior Ballroom

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Din Da Da’ 2nd: Dance Connection 2-’RSVP’

Junior Specialty

1st: The Platform Dance-’Adirim’ 2nd: Danceology-’Backbone’ 2nd: Dance Conection 2-’Femme de Paris’ 3rd: Royal Dance Works-’Wherever You Are’

Teen Jazz

1st: Royal Dance Works-’Makeba’ 2nd: Royal Dance Works-’Dance Monkey’ 2nd: Club Dance Studio-’Wavy’ 2nd: Dance Connection 2-’Fastah’ 3rd: Dance Connection 2-’Do You Love Me’

Teen Ballet

Spisak Dance Academy-’Claire de Lune’

Teen Hip-Hop

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Who Da Baby’ 2nd: The Platform Dance-’Eat’ 3rd: Royal Dance Works-’Baby’

Teen Tap

1st: Studio 49-’Shout’ 2nd: The Platform Dance-’Colors Dripping Off’ 3rd: Conservatory of Dance-’Dr. Jazz’

Teen Contemporary

1st: WESTSIDE Dance Project-’One More Cup of Coffee’ 2nd: WESTSIDE Dance Project-’Illusion’ 3rd: Danceology-’My Hands Are Always Cold’ 3rd: WESTSIDE Dance Project-’Strings’

Teen Lyrical

1st: Dance Connection 2-’Silence’ 2nd: Dance Connection 2-’Letting Go’ 3rd: Dance Connection 2-’Confession’ 3rd: The Platform Dance-’Wicked Games’

Teen Musical Theatre

1st: Danceology-’Not Today Satan’ 2nd: Dance Connection 2-’I Gotcha’ 3rd: Spisak Dance Academy-’That Man’

Teen Ballroom

1st: Dance Connection 2-’Be Italian’ 2nd: Dance Connection 2-’Swing Kids’ 3rd: Club Dance Studio-’Pump’

Teen Specialty

1st: The Platform Dance-’B’ 2nd: Club Dance Studio-’Creator’ 3rd: Royal Dance Works-’Eye On Hand’

Senior Jazz

1st: Danceology-’Night Thirst’ 1st: Dance Connection 2-’Come Together’ 2nd: Club Dance Studio-’Impossible’ 3rd: Dance Connection 2-’Destinations’ 3rd: The Platform Dance-’My Lovin’

Senior Ballet

Club Dance Studio-’Paquita’

Senior Hip-Hop

1st: Danceology-’It’s Weezy’ 1st: Club Dance Studio-’Yo’ 2nd: The Platform Dance-’1 Dance’ 3rd: The Platform Dance-’Girl Gang’

Senior Contemporary

1st: Club Dance Studio-’Bamboo Banga’ 1st: Danceology-’Above Below’ 1st: The Platform Dance-’Wash Us’ 2nd: Royal Dance Works-’Exhale’ 3rd: Dance Connection 2-’Quiet Please’

Senior Lyrical

Club Dance Studio-’Vision of Love’

Senior Specialty

1st: The Platform Dance-’Ego Death’ 2nd: The Platform Dance-’Drip’

Senior Ballroom

Club Dance Studio-’Slave For You’

Best of JUMP:

JUMPstart

The Platform Dance-’Get Up’

Spisak Dance Academy-’Choo Choo Cha Boogie’

Danceplex-’Little Wonders’

Dance Connection 2-’Jailhouse Rock’

Club Dance Studio-’The Rose’

Mini

Danceology-’Mary Poppins’

The Platform Dance-’Smash Bros’

Club Dance Studio-’Drum Step’

Dance Connection 2-’Courage’

Junior

Club Dance Studio-’A La Cardi’

The Platform Dance-’Kingdom Valley High’

WESTIDE Dance Project-’Santa Fe’

Dance Connection 2-’Dawn’

Danceology-’Blind Faith’

Teen

Royal Dance Works-’Eye On Hand’

The Platform Dance-’B’

Danceology-’Not Today Satan’

WESTSIDE Dance Project-’One More Cup of Coffee’

Dance Connection 2-’Be Italian’

Danceplex-’Darling’

Club Dance Studio-’Who Da Baby’

Senior

The Platform Dance-’Wash Us’

Danceology-’Above Below’

Club Dance Studio-’Bamboo Banga’

Dance Connection 2-’Come Together’

Royal Dance Works-’Exhale’

Best In Studio:

Conservatory of Dance-’Supercut’

Danceology-’Not Today Satan’

The Platform Dance-’B’

WESTSIDE Dance Project-’One More Cup of Coffee’

Royal Dance Works-’Eye On Hand’

Club Dance Studio-’Who Da Baby’

Dance Studio C-’Power of Love’

Danceplex-’If I Say’

L.A Dance Arizona-’Remember The Day’

Dance Connection 2-’Be Italian’

Spisak Dance Academy-’That Man’

[1albumaday]

2019

2019

Deerhunter - Why hasn’t everything already disappeared Quelle Chris - Guns James Blake - Assume Form Panda Bear - Buoys Self Esteem - Compliments please PUP - Morbid Stuff Pixvae - Cali Fat White Family - Serfs up! The comet is coming - Trust in the lifeforce of the deep mystery Malihini - Hopefully, again Great Dad - Great Dad Public Body - EP Public Body Chris Cohen - Chris Cohen Miley Cyrus - She is coming Karen O - Lux Prima The Mauskovic Dance Band - The Mauskovic Dance Band Potsu - Ivy League Bill Callahan - Shepherd in a sheepskin vest Why?- AOKOHIO Metronomy - Metronomy Forever Cashmere Cat - Princess Catgirl Drake - Care Package Kanye West - JESUS IS KING Clark - Kiri Variations Benjamin Francis Leftwich - Elephant Shamir - Be the yee, here comes the haw Skinny Pelembe - Dreaming is dead now Cate Le Bone - Reward Vagabon - Vagabon SAULT - 7 SAULT - 5 Toro y Moi - Outer Space Tyler, the creator - IGOR FKA Twigs - MAGDALENE Pleasure System - Terraform Charlotte Adigéry - Zandoli 2018 SOPHIE - Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides Hen Ogledd - Mogic BC Camplight - Deportation Blues Shamir - Resolution Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want IDLES - Joy As An Act Of Resistance Wei Zhongle - The Operators Elza Soares - Deus É Mulher JID - DiCaprio 2 Christian Fitness - Nuance - The Musical Devi McCallion & Katie Dey - Some New Form Of Life Palm - Rock Island Pusha T - DAYTONA Lithics - Mating Surfaces Paul Williams - Surf Music serpentwithfeet - soil quest?onmarc - ? : ID Noname - Room 25 Jean Grae & Quelle Chris - Everything's Fine The Beths - Future me hates me Teleman - Family of Aliens U.S. Girls - In A Poem Unlimited LUMP - LUMP BUSDRIVER - Electricity Is On Our Side Heather Leigh - Throne Guerrilla Toss - Twisted Crystal Vessel - Queen of Golden Dogs Amen Dunes - Freedom Baxter Dury, Etienne de Crécy, Delilah Holliday - B.E.D Insecure Men - Insecure Men Soccer Mommy - Clean Kamaal Williams - The Return SUPERTEEN - Over Everything LICE - It All Worked out Great, Vol 1 & 2 Material Girls - Leather Ask Carol - Ask Carol The Mauskovic Dance Band - Down in the basement Potsu - Just Friends A L E X - Hollow Moon Kamasi Washington - Heaven and Heart CD1 + CD2 Gruff Rhys - Babelsberg Gwenno - Le Kov Aisha Devi - DNA Feelings Channel Tres - Black Moses Holly Herndon - Proto Rezzett- Rezzett The Ophelias - Almost Pan Amsterdam, thatmanmonkz - The Pocket Watch Oh papa - Papa Les Loners - Be Happy Against all logic -  2012 - 2017 2017 Curtis Harding - Face your fear Protomartyr - Relatives In Descent JFDR - Brazil Soccer Mommy - Collection Alessandro cortini - avanti Miley Cyrus - Younger now Beach House - B-Sides and Rarities Silvia Kastel - Air Lows Why? - Moh Lhean Mildlife - Phase 2016 Kevin Abstract - American Boyfriend: A suburban love story Ela & PomPom - My New Music Elizabeta Lāce - Songs About D Elizabete Balčus - Conarium The comet is coming - Channel the Spirits Duchess Says - Sciences Nouvelles Nina Ryser - I Hope All Of Your Dreams Come True SUPERTEEN - Isn’t A Person Bestial Mouths- Heartless The Sooper Swag Project - Badd Timing Rozi Plain - Friend of a friend Khompa - The Shape Of Drums To Come Subrosa - For This We Fought The Battle Of Ages Comfort food - Waffle Frolic LICE - Nulmilk: The Basement Demo Skinny girl diet - Heavy Flow The Octopus Project - Memory Mirror Porridge Radio - Rise, Pasta and other fillers Big thief  - Masterpiece Injury Reserve - Floss DRAM - Big Baby DRAM Miike Snow - iii Will wood and the tapeworms - Self-ish Opposite sex - Hamlet David Bowie - Blackstar Orkesta mendoza - !Vamos a Guarachar! No genre  - Don’t call it a Christmas album The avalanches - Wildflower Sleigh Bells - Jessical Rabbit TEEN - Love Yes Beyonce - Lemonade Olga Bell - Tempo Clipping - Splendor & Misery Show me the body - Body War Elza Soares - A mulher do fim do mundo Esperanza Spalding - Emily’s D+Evolution Nico Muhly & Teitur - Confessions Claire Cronin - Came Down a Storm Horse Jumper Of Love - Horse Jumper Of Love NAILS - You Will Never Be One Of Us The Cult Of Dom Keller - Goodbye To The Light The Ophelias - Creature Native Magnolian - Famous Men Ukandanz- Awo The I.L.Y’s - Scum With Boundaries Drugdealer - The End Of Comedy Greys - Outer Heaven Saul Williams - MartyrLoserKing CC Mose - Beat Me Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor’s Guide To Earth Montaigne - Glorious Heights So Laid Back Country China - Sin Cristales Lemon Demon - Spirit Phone Mitski - Puberty 2Moor Mother - Fetish Bones Yussef Kamaal - Black Focus Susumu Yokota - Laputan Mr Oizo - All Wet Skeletons -Am I Home? Lee Fields & The Expressions - Special Night Flock of Dimes - If You See Me, Say Yes Lee Hazlewood - 13 Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love! Modern Baseball - Holy Ghosts Oddisse - Alwasta Ryley Walker - Golden Sings That Have Been SungHalf Japanese - Perfect AJ Cornell & Tim Darcy - Too significant to ignore Jaimeo Brown Transcendence - Work Songs Kamaiyah - A Good Night In The Ghetto 2015 BC Camplight - How To Die In The North Kefaya - Radio International Other Lives - Rituals Viegli - Loks paliek vala SUPERTEEN - Stay Creepy Miley Cyrus - Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz EL VY - Return to the Moon Dakha brakha - wnrx The I.L.Y’s - I’ve always been good at true love 2014 Keaton Henson - Romantic Works The dø - Shake Shook Shoken 2013 DARKSIDE - Golden Arrow SUPERTEEN - Exponential Superteen Why? - Golden Tickets 2012 Allah-Las - Allah-las Why? - Mumps, etc Why? - Sod in the Seed 2011 Viegli - Viegli 2010 The Books - The Way Out Johnny Flynn - Been Listening 2009 Peter Doherty - Last of English Roses Bill Callahan - Sometimes I wish we were an eagle Why? - Eskimo Snow 2008 Why? - Alopecia Johnny Flynn - A Larum 2007 BC Camplight - Blink of a Nihilist Subtle - Yell and Ice Akron/Family - Love is simple John Maus - Love is Real 2006 The Forest & The Sea - Leafcutter John Subtle - For Hero: For Fool The Books - Music for a french elevator and other oddities Why? - Rubber Traits 2005 BC Camplight  - Hide, Run Away The Books - Lost and Safe Akron/Family - Akron/Family Why? - Elephant Eyelash Why? - Sanddollars 2004 The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat 2003 Matmos - wide open spaces Hymie’s Basement - Hymie’s Basement The Books - The Lemon of Pink Why? - Oaklandazulasylum Why? - The Early Whitney Parsley Sound - Parsley Sound 2002 Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People The Books - Thought for food 2001 The Avalanches - Since I left you 1998 The Sugarcubes - Life’s too good 1997 The Sea And Cake- The Fawn Stereolab - Dots and Loops 1996 Squarepusher - Feed Me Weird Things 1984 Art of Noise - Who’s afraid of the art of noise? 1981 This Heat - Deceit 1977 Fleetwood Mac - Rumors 1973 Perigeo - abbiamo tutti un blues da piangere 1971 Jethro Tull - Aqualung

[twdgfanfiction]

Chapter 7: Ghost Town

Omid may had been a bit generous on how quickly the group could walk to the town opposite the bridge. By the time they had reached the town, the sun had already reached the centre of the deep blue sky, the sunlight beaming down warming up Charlotte's shoulders and melting more of the fallen snow away. The tarmac path under the snow was exposed, the boots of the survivors walking along quieter than the crunching of feet in the snow was. The winter breeze was still frosty, causing goosebumps to form along Charlotte's exposed skin as she rubbed her hands together, trying to keep the digits warm while staring at Dylan's gloved hands with jealousy. The teen was none the wiser, instead glancing around the long road leading into town with his pistol clenched tightly, his finger kept away from the trigger until he saw something he didn't like.

Omid kept to his side, holding his rifle lazily while strolling down the road. Over his shoulder, Charlotte could see the town in the distance, and yet no sign of any undead wandering the streets. All the way there, save for the few they encountered by the river, the group hadn't been attacked by walkers or scavengers alike, but Charlotte knew better than to get complacent. She'd have to keep her wits about her until they returned to the cabin. From in front of her, she listened as Omid finally piped up in a joking tone. "Well, here we are. Albemarle. Took a bit longer than expected but at least we're here in one piece."

"It looks like a ghost town." Dylan pointed out, staring at the distant town with narrowed eyes before he turned his head back to Charlotte, sharing a nervous look with her as he confessed his uncertainty about the place. "We haven't seen many walkers so far. I don't like it. Shouldn't they have come out of the cities by now?"

"I have to agree with ya, there, buddy." Charlotte replied, sighing deeply as she moved to his side and placed a hand on her brother's shoulder. Staring up at her, his worry faded away slightly as she smiled down at him, returning that smile with his own as she quietly ordered him in a gentle tone. "Stay close to me. We don't know if the walkers are gone or just hiding somewhere."

"I'll take lead. You guys are capable of watching my back, yeah?" Omid chuckled, starting to walk down the road towards the town centre. Charlotte and Dylan shared a sly smirk between them, the younger of the two following after Omid while his sister continued walking at a leisurely pace. The winds made the trees lining the road sway, the bare branches that stretched out moving at the mercy of the breeze while all its leaves had fallen onto the soaking floor, crunching under the survivors' shoes as they continued down the road. Having pulled her knife out to defend herself in case walkers made a sudden appearance, she twirled it in her hand and stared down at the blade, flecks of blood that she hadn't gone to wiping off staining the steel.

Tired, blue eyes stared back at her, the woman surprised with just how tired she looked in her reflection. Bags under her eyes had darkened over the weeks that she had left her previous group, the lack of sleep not helping matters as her brain continued to work even under the strain, unable to stop to rest in fear that walkers, or worse other survivors, would come across her family and harm them. She could feel that exhaustion slowing her down. Legs ached from the journey over multiple states to reach North Carolina, Charlotte still not recovered fully from the strain that it took on her body, but she kept her ills to herself as she noticed Dylan chatting away happily with Omid. He looked happy. For now, she'd keep that happiness in her brother alive and make sure he didn't worry about her. She was meant to worry about him, that was her job, but she couldn't help but feel that she needed someone to tell her to slow down.

After everything that happened, she could barely recognise the Charlotte before all this happened. The Charlotte that left her family to go and follow her own path, who didn't want to remain on a farm or become just someone's wife left to stew in a house with kids running around everywhere. She loved her mother, she knew that she wouldn't be who she was that day without her mother raising her right, but that life wasn't for Charlotte. Looking back as she walked towards the dead town, she would do things differently. She wouldn't want to leave her family's side again. If only she had a chance to go back to when everything was normal.

In front of her, she heard as Dylan continued talking with Omid. "I went to San Francisco on a school trip once."

"Oh? That's awesome, what'd you think of it?" He questioned, pleased that the teenager had been to the city where he lived before the plague. Dylan shrugged at that, prompting the older man to continue with his questions. "Well, it's a pretty cool city, huh? It has some cool beaches and the Golden Gate Bridge, you gotta have crossed that to get into the city."

"It was pretty boring." Dylan revealed, staring up at Omid as the latter glanced back down at him, looking between the nonchalant twin and his giggling sister laughing away behind them. Charlotte felt bad for laughing at the sudden confession, stifling her chuckles with her rolled up fist while Omid continued to act flabbergasted with Dylan. The youngest of the group just shrugged again, continuing on with a small smirk on his face. "I liked the bridge, but one of the boys in my class got travel sick bad. The trip got a lot less cool real quick."

"Gross." Charlotte piped up from behind, earning a wider grin from Dylan as he glanced over his shoulder at her. Omid shared her sediment, grimacing at the thought of the scene that the teenager was describing to him while staring off ahead, leaving Dylan and Charlotte chuckling to each other quietly. She didn't even remember Dylan going on that trip, or anyone ever mentioning it to her before that moment, and she couldn't help that twinge of guilt in her stomach at the thought of how much time she missed with her siblings in the later years when she left to go and do what she wanted. There was likely more stories like that one where she was never told. At least she had them now, and she would make sure to be there for her brothers for as long as she could.

The town started coming closer and closer, yet there was still no sign of any life within, living or undead. Charlotte paused, staring at the long road ahead with a deep frown while the other two kept on walking. As they got closer, the winds had died down, the birds roosting up in the trees had all but abandoned the area around, and an eerie silence hung over the town like a thick blanket. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, her grip on the handle of her knife tightening as she carried on following after the others. There, she noticed Dylan glancing off to the right, raising an eyebrow in confusion until she followed his gaze and realised exactly what he saw, the sight causing her to sigh as he stopped in his tracks. Omid noticed his disappearance immediately and stopped too, looking over his shoulder while Charlotte reached her brother's side and placed a hand on his shoulder again. It was a graveyard to the side, the tombstones dirtied and grass overgrown from the months of abandonment and the world going to shit.

"You think the dead there have come back?" Dylan suddenly asked, glancing up at the older woman with a saddened frown before adding softly. "Do you think Grandpa is one of those things? Just… stuck in the coffin, left to rot?"

"I honestly don't know, but it won't be him. No matter what happened, he's at peace. He didn't have to see what the world has come to…" She comforted him, staring at the abandoned gravestones with her weak smile finally falling. Dylan couldn't even bring himself to return that smile, just staring ahead with a blank expression on his face, clearly pushing his true feelings below the surface once more. Slowly, he carried on walking in silence, brushing off Charlotte's hand as she just let it fall to her side once more. He passed Omid, who just watched him carry on while Charlotte followed after him, turning his attention back to the older sibling while offering her a saddened smile.

"Hey, is he doing alright?" He asked, showing concern for the poor teenager. She didn't answer, rather looking down the road as Dylan just kept walking, his back to them as the adults carried on walking side by side. Omid glanced at the graveyard one more time, while Charlotte just kept her eyes straight until she heard him carry on beside her. "He seems pretty alright, but I dunno. It's only gonna be a matter of time before he can't handle it anymore."

"He's trying to be tough… like his dad. But you're right, Dylan's a pretty emotional kid, sorta wears his heart on his sleeve type. I'm just keeping an eye on him and trying to help out when I can." She explained, turning her head at Omid while he nodded in agreement. Glancing away again, she kept the car crash that happened weeks ago to herself, unsure if Dylan would appreciate her telling Omid about how he lost control of the car. It wasn't his fault, but if Dylan was anything, he was a serious martyr type.

"Your other brother is a cute kid." Omid piped up again, staring at Charlotte as she allowed a small smile to appear on her face again at the mention of her brother. "I think he's warmed up to Clem. Those two could become good friends."

"It'll be nice for Mason to have friends besides me. Sometimes I feel like I don't really understand them, being teenage boys. Maybe it's the hormones? I dunno." She confessed, earning a chuckle from Omid as she asked amusingly. "What?"

"That's just it. They're teenage boys! Soon they see a pretty girl, their brain melts down. It's a scientific fact." He joked, adding in a more genuine tone as he comforted the grown woman. "You've kept them alive this far. I think you're doing what's best for them, that's all that matters."

"I don't even think Mason is interested in all that stuff. He mainly focused on school work, ready to get into medical school when he was older." She reminisced, staring at Dylan's back as he continued to walk in front of them. "Between you and me, Dylan once brought a girl he liked home to show Elizabeth's horse. Won three dressage competitions before he threw Elizabeth off and broke her collarbone and arm."

"Holy shit." Omid gasped, eager to learn what had happened as Charlotte recalled that hospital visit. "What happened?"

She crossed her arms with a wide grin on her face, her voice quietened with amusement clear in her words. "Well, Elizabeth retired him after that. Dylan brought his classmate to the stables where we kept him, Annabelle, I think her name was-"

"It was Abigail." Dylan interrupted, still looking at the approaching town without once turning around to face his sibling and Omid. Charlotte raised an eyebrow at that, sure it was Annabelle, but went with what her brother told her as she turned back to resume the story with Omid.

"Anyway, he wanted to impress her and jumped up onto Champion's back to show her how good he was at riding. Didn't even make it to the field before a snake slithered past and spooked the horse. He bolted, and Dylan ended in the pig's trough with a concussion." She finished, leaning closer to Omid so that her brother couldn't overhear. "Between you and me, you tap his head and you can hear the metal plate they put in at the hospital."

"Are you done with that story? Jesus, I could say millions of stories about the times you fucked up." Dylan shot back, his face flushed in embarrassment as he couldn't even bring himself to fully look the two smirking adults in the eyes. Charlotte couldn't even bring herself to feel guilty, thinking it was cute that her younger brother really wanted to impress his friend, though he could've picked a better horse to do so.

Chuckling deeply, she stared at Dylan's back as she defended herself. "I never nearly killed myself to impress someone."

Dylan started snickering at that, causing Charlotte's smirk to fall into a frown as she uncrossed her arms, glaring at him as he finally turned his head and revealed. "What about when we first met Samantha?"

"Now I had that situation under control." She shot back quickly, hoping that Dylan wouldn't elaborate with Omid there. However, he was ready for revenge over her little embarrassing tale regarding him and Abigail. Despite the funny side of the situation, it was still too soon for Charlotte to deal with the death, and she tried to stop him with a low warning. "Dylan, don't."

Instead, he looked over at Omid and explained the story with a grin on his face. "Before we met you guys, Charlotte knew this girl. Samantha. Well, when they first met, she tried to impress her by climbing up this huge tree to get the fresh apples that were growing there. Only thing is, she miscalculated a jump and ended up landing right on top of the guy in charge. It was pretty funny until we found out she fractured her leg."

"Ouch." Omid winced, turning to Charlotte while he asked. "You get the girl?"

Charlotte didn't answer that. Rather, she just shook her head and walked straight ahead, passing Dylan as the two glanced at each other, before Dylan cursed under his breath. She knew that it was just joking, but that didn't mean it still didn't hurt whenever someone mentioned her. Behind the survivor, she heard her brother call out to her in a guilty tone. "Charlie! Charlie, I'm sorry!"

His words caused her feet to stop moving. Standing there, she stood there with a tired expression on her face until Omid and Dylan reached her again. Reaching her side, she looked down at Dylan as he glanced away, clearly guilty about bringing up the deceased, and yet she didn't even blame him. Quietly, she placed a hand on his head and pulled him closer, bringing him into a hug as she muttered. "Don't apologise, buddy. I… I guess it's good that you remember her during the good times, rather than all the bad times."

He smiled sadly at that, before pulling himself away and watched as Charlotte looked over to Omid, finishing the story with a saddened smile. "Yeah. I got the girl."

"You know, this reminds me of when Christa and I first met. Vegas. Threw up on the roulette wheel and watched it go flying everywhere, but let's just say that wasn't the best introduction I coulda had with her." He reminisced, walking past Charlotte and Dylan as the trio carried down the road. They were close to the junction just in front of the town, the roads abandoned with few vehicles left, and Omid paused for a moment as he glanced around. Charlotte stopped by his side, the uneasiness in her stomach worsening when she saw nothing but streets and the aftermath of humanity abandoning the small town. A car was all that was left in the street, having skidded across the junction and crashed into the lampost, causing the thing to topple over and pin an unfortunate person underneath.

She approached the destroyed lampost, wincing when she saw the crushed head underneath, the body pinned underneath. She didn't know what happened to the person, what made them stop to look at the thing as it fell. Maybe they were just unlucky. At the very least, they didn't come back as one of the walkers, and it didn't seem like they suffered all that much before their death. Dylan appeared by her suddenly, staring down at the corpse before shaking his head softly and walking away. She did so too, rather following after the others as they moved further into town. By Omid's side, her hand gripped the knife tightly as her other hand ghosted over the gun in her pocket, wondering where all the undead where. It was unnatural.

Suddenly, Omid stopped and lifted his rifle, looking down the sights while Charlotte froze in place, her hand moving away from the gun in her pocket and instead held behind her to signal to Dylan, causing the teen to stop in his tracks as he narrowed his eyes, trying to see what Omid was seeing. Quietly, she whispered to him. "What'd you see?"

"Looks like… a pharmacy." He muttered, a hopeful tone in his voice as Charlotte smiled, before his voice dropped again. "Oh shit."

"What? What's wrong?" Dylan piped up from behind them, pushing past his sister as his hand pressed against his forehead, providing some protection from the sun as he stared up ahead. Slowly, Omid lowered his rifle again and glanced over at Charlotte, sharing a worried look with her.

"Well. We found our walkers." He revealed, passing the rifle to the grown woman so she could see for herself. Taking the weapon, she sighed and lifted it up, peering down the sights as she tried to see where the walkers Omid mentioned were. Eventually, her breath stilled in her chest as she spotted the walkers just outside the pharmacy, watching the corpses as some just stood there, nothing grabbing their attention, while others were lying on the ground, sitting or even devouring any food that was unfortunate to be in their grasp. From beside her, she heard Omid point out. "Too many for us to fight, but there might be something in that pharmacy that we need. Medicine, even things for the baby."

"Woah, woah." Dylan started, turning around to stare at Omid as he snapped. "You didn't say anything about a baby."

"Christa's not that far along by the looks of it, Dylan. It'll still be months before we have to worry about it coming." Charlotte sighed, lowering the rifle to look down at her annoyed brother. Dylan crossed his arms, glaring at them as Omid rubbed the back of his neck, though Charlotte returned the heated glared as she growled. "This ain't the time for arguing. Right now, we gotta figure out how we're gonna get past those walkers."

"I just wish you bothered to tell us. Having a baby will change a lot of shit! We have to think about getting supplies for it; diapers, baby formula, and then there's the actual birth! We don't even have a doctor!" He hissed, turning to Omid as he added. "Mason knows how to treat cuts and wrap bandages, but delivering a baby is completely out of the question!"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there, but we have to focus now." He pointed out, turning to Charlotte with a worried glance. "We still haven't figured out a way to get past the walkers."

She hummed, before turning her attention back to the situation on hand. Lifting the rifle up again, she looked around the area for anything that could be of use, trying to think of a way to get the walkers moving. Softly, she listened as Omid suggested to her. "We could use sound to lure them away. Back in Savannah, this girl used the church bells to move the walkers to one area while she savenged the other. That might work here."

"I don't see any churches around, let alone one with bells." She replied, trying to see around for anything else that would cause a racket.

"You don't need bells." Dylan explained, watching the roads as Omid looked over at him in confusion. Charlotte moved her head away from the rifle, keeping it upright as she too stared down at her brother, listening as he carried on with his explanation. "See if you can find a car, or a couple. You set the alarms off, and while the walkers are going to investigate, we can sneak into the pharmacy."

"That ain't a bad idea. I'll see if I can see some." She agreed, looking into the sights to see if she could spot any vehicles that the group could use. They couldn't be too far away, otherwise the walkers may not hear it, and sure enough, she spotted a couple of cars down the road that had been abandoned. Lowering her rifle, she muttered to the others in a low tone. "Found some just down the road. They should lure the walkers away, and let us see if there are any of them hiding around."

"One of us should go." Omid explained, receiving surprised looks from the others as he sighed. "We can't all go and set the alarms off. One of us can sneak past the walkers to the cars, and then flank them when they start approaching."

Dylan nodded at that, glancing up at Charlotte as he offered. "I can do it."

"Absolutely not. It's too dangerous, and if walkers somehow cut off your escape path… I just can't let you do that." She rejected, earning a heated glare from her brother. Omid watched the two stand off, nervously eyeing the walkers down the road while Charlotte continued to dig her feet in, refusing to budge on the matter. "I don't want you risking your life like that."

"Every single day in this shithole we live in I'm risking my life. When are you gonna stop treating me like a little kid?" He demanded, his question stunning Charlotte into silence as he waited for some kind of answer from his guardian. Her face fell, and she listened as he carried on in a annoyed tone. "I'm smaller than either of you, I can sneak more easily past the walkers, and I'm quicker on my feet. So, I'm going."

Charlotte shook her head, before sighing loudly and agreeing with her brother. "Alright, buddy. I'll give you this chance, but if something happens out there-"

"It won't. I promise." Dylan nodded, eager that he was finally given a chance to help the group, rather than being shoved to the sidelines by his overprotective sister. With a nod from Omid, he took out his pistol and started to make his way over to the cluster of cars, keeping low as he watched the walkers near the pharmacy. Charlotte held her breath, following after Dylan with Omid by her side. Quickly, the three separated with Charlotte and Omid sneaking over to an overturned truck, while Dylan continued forward towards the cars.

Pressing her hand against the cold metal, she peeked around the truck and watched the walkers as they remained unsuspecting of the survivors sneaking around them. Finally, she released her breath when she saw that Dylan had managed to reach the cars undetected. The teenage boy looked at the vehicles for a moment, before gesturing to Charlotte and Omid with a point of his finger, signalling them to watch the walkers while he set off the trap. She obeyed, turning her head to look over at the front of the pharmacy, watching the undead with a worried look on her face, unable to stop the feeling of something going wrong from twisting in her stomach. She had to believe in Dylan however. He was right, he couldn't be protected by her forever.

A low groan behind her set her hairs on the back of her neck straight up. Glancing behind her, she noticed that a walker had pulled itself out of the truck cab and tried to grab Omid's leg, the grown man jumping out of the way in time whilst trying to stop any yell of surprise from leaving his throat. Quickly, she pulled out her knife and stood on the walker's neck, stopping it from moving anywhere before she pierced the back of its head. All movement ceased, and blood pooled underneath its head in a small puddle, the stench overwhelming as Charlotte covered her nose in disgust. "Disgusting."

"We should be more careful." Omid pointed out, looking from behind the truck at the larger group of walkers. "Next time, we might not be so lucky it was only one walker."

She nodded in agreement. Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering caused both of them to jump in fright, the loud wailing of a car alarm blaring in the air as Charlotte felt her heart stop. Moving around the truck, she saw Dylan moving onto another car as he smashed the window with his gun, opening the passenger door to do something. Shaking her head, she wanted to yell at him to hurry up and get out of there, noticing that the walkers in front of the pharmacy had noticed the sudden sound and started advancing onto Dylan's location. Her mind was yelling at her to run and save him, but Omid had grabbed her upper arm when he saw the grown woman trying to move from their hiding spot, shaking his head silently when she looked over at him in terror. Going out there would only botch up their plan, and likely get Charlotte and the others killed, but she couldn't bare the thought of sitting there while the undead descended onto her brother.

He's just a kid. The thought ran through her mind, Charlotte repeating it with fear setting in, before she shook her mind free of the troubling ideas. Dylan was a survivor. He had to be, considering they survived for this long into the apocalypse. So, she watched, and that niggling fear in her stomach lessened somewhat when she saw that Dylan was pushing a body onto the horn, making more noise as he slammed the door shut once more. Kneeling down, he saw the walkers approaching and started to move around the car, out of Charlotte's sight. Not being able to see him, it caused warning sirens to go off in her mind, but she couldn't give much heed to them as she saw an opening to get inside the pharmacy.

"Come on!" She whispered harshly to Omid, sneaking around the truck and making her way over to the building as fast as she could. The loud sirens covered the sound of their footsteps. Glancing over at the walkers, she noticed that Dylan was no longer at the cars, and wondered where the teenager had gotten to. Cursing under her breath, she turned her attention to the front doors of the pharmacy, noticing that the glass doors had been smashed in, the glass littering the inside of the building.

"There isn't anything stopping the walkers from getting in if they find us. We gotta be quick." She ordered, slipping through the broken door with Omid close behind her. Inside, she saw that the pharmacy had already been picked over by scavengers before them, and groaned in frustration with her hands behind her head. All the shit they went through to get there, and there isn't any to show for their efforts.

"We should comb over this place. There has to be something that other people have missed." Omid wondered hopefully, trying to keep the situation light as he went around the aisles to see if there was anything left. Charlotte wondered if she should join in, but she wanted to make sure that Dylan had made it out in one piece. Peering through the door again, she saw that the walkers were still distracted, and yet she couldn't make out where her little brother was. Her heart fell, and she couldn't help but fear the worst.

However, a door opened loudly from behind the counter, causing the two survivors to be on edge as they watched the door nervously. Charlotte gripped her knife tightly, but when she saw that it was only Dylan that had opened the door, she breathed a sigh of relief and shoved her knife back into her pocket, propping the rifle up against the door before running over to the counter as Dylan closed the door behind him, and made his way over to the counter. She helped him hop over, her hands digging into his jacket as she felt the need to never let go. Instead, she embraced him tightly, her nose in his messy hair as she smelled that familiar scent. It was only then that she realised how close she was to losing it altogether.

"I appreciate the touching gesture." She heard Dylan mumble into her chest, before he managed to release himself from her grip. "But we gotta look around. The car alarms won't last forever, especially with the state the cars were in when I saw them up close."

"He's right. Come on, kid, you can help me look around." Omid offered, pausing in his search to gesture to the teenager to come and help him. Dylan nodded, lifting the backpack off his shoulders as he jogged over to where Omid was standing. Letting him go, Charlotte couldn't help but smile. The fear had gone somewhat, her brother was back with them, and she felt somewhat guilty for ever doubting that he had what it took to survive.

Glancing back at the door, she called over to the others as she walked back over to it. "I'm gonna keep an eye out. If the walkers look like they're coming back over here, we gotta be gone by the time they get back."

They didn't reply. So, she picked up the rifle again and just leaned against the door, watching as the cars continued to blare out the alarms in the distance. The walkers were trying to figure out where the food was as they circled the cars, while others just stood there, mesmerised by the sound blaring into their ears. She didn't know how long the car alarms would go on for, but given Dylan's warning, she knew that they were on borrowed time. It was times like this that she wished her father was with them. All the trucks and cars, even the family tractor, that he worked on would have been useful for them. Maybe if he was there, they wouldn't have crashed and had managed to get to Charlotte sooner. However, if they did, she dreaded to think that maybe she wouldn't have ran into Omid and the others.

"Erm, Charlie?" She heard Dylan awkwardly ask from behind the aisles. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the teenage boy shuffling over to her with something in his hands, raising an eyebrow in confusion until she saw his flushed face. Slowly, her eyes lowered to the box in is hands and her face heated up, raising a hand over her eyes as he continued. "I-I noticed… that, erm, you ran out in your bag when I was getting the food out. So…"

"Just throw them in your bag, please?" She replied, unable to bring herself to look at Dylan as he nodded quietly, practically running back to an amused Omid and carrying on with searching. Charlotte shook her head, looking back out of the pharmacy with her cheeks feeling like they were on fire. It was sweet of him to grab something for her, but it was also really embarrassing. So, she shoved that thought away and instead focused on her task on hand, narrowing her eyes when she noticed that walkers from the car park in front of a supermarket had started to move over to the cars.

She hummed under her breath, picking herself off the doorframe and looking through the sights of Omid's rifle. The supermarket looked like someone was trying to survive in there, the windows all boarded up and the doors blocked off with cars parked in front of them, looking like the attempts of desperate people. Her stomach growled when she looked over the old signs that the supermarket had up for deals on their food, and she couldn't help but wonder if there was anything left there. That was, if the people were still there. Lowering the weapon, she turned her head around and called out to the others. "There's a supermarket across the street. Could be a good a place as any to find some food."

"Worth a shot, we're running low as it is." Omid replied, shoving a bottle of something into his bag before standing up. "Not much here, anyway. Found some feminine stuff, a bottle of painkillers, and a roll of bandages."

"Guess other people just got here first." Charlotte sighed, looking around as she noticed Dylan's head bobbing up from behind an aisle on the other side of the store. Slinging the backpack over his shoulder, he glanced over the counter with a curious look, before turning back to Charlotte.

"We could check behind the counter. That's usually where they keep the good shit, right?" He asked, before moving towards the counter when Charlotte nodded in agreement. Omid followed after him, both of the survivors hopping back over the counter while the third member of the group went back to keeping an eye out of the walkers. One of the car alarms had given up, the battery likely to have died after months of neglect, but there were still a few going off that kept the walkers distracted. Her stomach twisted in worry however, as there would only be a matter of time before the other batteries gave out and the walkers were left to return to where they once were.

"I'd hurry up, guys!" She yelled back to them, her hands tightening on the rifle as she moved from her casual position against the doorframe. Rustling could be heard from behind her, and when she turned her head to look, she noticed that Dylan and Omid were packing up all they could find. In the distance, she could hear another alarm starting to fail, the once piercingly loud sirens quieting until the battery finally gave out. Only one car remained, and looking through her sights, she saw that the car with the body propped up against the horn was no longer working. "Oh shit..."

"That's the last of what's here!" Dylan piped up, hopping over the counter and running over to where Charlotte was standing, looking out at the cars as he realised that only one was working. "Fucking shit, why isn't the horn working?!"

"You mean you don't know?!" Charlotte replied in an exasperated tone, glancing down at Dylan as he narrowed his eyes in response.

"Forgive me, Dad must have skipped that lesson with me!" He growled, turning his sights back to the car as he added. "Anyway, we should get going if we don't wanna be trapped by the walkers."

"I found some vitamins behind the counter. Should be useful for Christa, you know, with her pregnancy." Omid revealed, holding up a bottle of prenatal vitamins for Charlotte to see. Nodding in response, she watched as he shoved them in his jacket pocket before passing him the rifle back. With a grateful smile, he took the gun off her and glanced over her shoulder, his smile turning into a worried frown as he muttered. "Looks like we're gonna have to get the hell outta Dodge."

"I can see the supermarket you were talking about." Dylan piped up, pointing to the boarded up building that Charlotte had spotted just before. "There could be supplies in there that we need. We gotta check it out."

"I dunno. The car's gonna give out at any moment, we should get outta here while we still can." Charlotte rejected, watching the walkers as some already started breaking away from the group, no longer interested in the car as the alarm get going off. Dylan frowned at this, and when her stomach growled again, it only proved a point to the teenager.

With a gesture of his hand, he snapped at her in annoyance. "Look at us! We ain't gonna survive if we don't have food, and if we come back another day, what if it's just like the pharmacy? What if someone already comes along and takes it?"

"There doesn't seem to be that many walkers near there. If we're quick, we can get in before the walkers even know we're there." Omid agreed, watching the walkers while Charlotte thought it over. Crossing her arms, she glanced nervously at the walkers and thought against trying their luck with them, but her crippling hunger reminded her just how desperate the group was getting. The fish traps were their hope for a renewable source of food, but what would they do if the traps ended up not catching anything?

Quietly, she sighed and nodded. "Alright, but we gotta be quick. Some of the walkers are already getting bored with the alarm."

Dylan nodded eagerly, before taking the front as the group left the pharmacy back through the destroyed doors. Quietly, they moved through the empty car park while keeping an eye of the walkers, Charlotte glancing behind at the pharmacy as they left the building behind. She had hoped that they found more for their troubles, but they would have to deal with it, and she focused on the matter at hand rather than the pitifully small take they had on their backs. The walkers that had moved away form the cars had started to roam the streets, a few making their way back to the pharmacy while the group snuck away, hiding behind the truck that Charlotte and Omid were hiding behind before. Pulling out her knife, she peered around the vehicle and noticed that the walkers hadn't noticed them yet, instead returning to the pharmacy car park.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she turned her head to the other two and whispered. "They hadn't noticed us."

"Yeah, but they ain't noticing the car anymore. How're we gonna get over there without tipping them off?" Dylan pointed out, moving to her side as he too peeked from behind the truck. Charlotte somewhat agreed with him on that matter, but as she continued to watch the walkers, she noticed that they were grouping up, moving further down the road as another alarm further down had been set off. Confusion struck the group, none of them saying anything as they just watched the walkers move as one towards the sound.

"What the fuck?" Charlotte muttered, sharing a look with Dylan as he shrugged his shoulder. Glancing back up, she added in a more relieved tone while watching the undead. "Well, I think this is our chance."

"I'll watch your backs." Omid offered, following after Charlotte and Dylan as they all moved from behind their cover. Standing up straight, they ran across the junction to the other side, making a beeline straight for the supermarket while the walkers were distracted. As they reached the other side, the final car had finally given out and the alarm fell silent, the few walkers that remained turning their attention to the survivors as they paused.

Charlotte gripped her knife tightly, holding her hand out in front of Omid when he made a move to shoot the walkers. "Don't. We start making noise, and the whole herd will come down on our ass. Let Dylan and I take care of it."

"I'm right beside you." Her brother replied, pocketing his pistol as he instead pulled out his own knife. Omid did what she ordered him to do, backing away and keeping an eye out while the others approached the growling walkers, poised to attack as they allowed the undead to be drawn away from the leaving group. Charlotte glanced down at the exposed shin of one of the walkers, unable to keep an eye out on Dylan as she delivered a rough kick to the leg, pushing it from underneath the walker and causing it to collapse to the ground, vulnerable as she stabbed it in the back of the head.

Pulling her weapon free with a grunt, she looked to her side and noticed that Dylan had taken care of the other walker, already piercing its skull as she noticed another walker approaching him. Running to it, she threw her shoulder into the corpse's side, sending it stumbling back and away from her brother. With the attack, it turned its attention to her and snarled, showing off its yellowed teeth with its lips missing. Disgusted with the sight, she lifted her arm and threw it forward, stabbing the walker through its eyeball and into its brain, grimacing at the fluid dripping from the damaged socket. With her other arm, she threw it to the ground and stomped on its head with her heavy boot, feeling the front of its skull caving in as she stamped on it again for good measure.

With it dead, she backed away, turning around to see Omid helping Dylan by smacking a walker in the head with the butt of his rifle, the force put behind the assault causing it to fall to the ground dead. Out of danger, she breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath back as Dylan gasped to her. "We got an opening. Might be wise if we use it now."

"You got that right, buddy." She nodded, looking up at the supermarket before running the rest of the way there. With the others behind her, she panted heavily as she looked down the road, watching the walkers as they carried on after the sound without even realising that the group had already taken care of the few stragglers left behind. Stopping in front of the cars blocking the entrance, she sighed in annoyance, trying to see if they could get through.

"Looks like someone was trying to keep the dead out." Omid pointed out, walking to her side as he kept tight hold of his rifle. "You think anyone's still in there?"

"There has to be someone in this town. The alarm down there couldn't have gone off by itself, right?" She wondered, earning an unsure shrug from Omid while Dylan walked up and down the front of the store, trying to see if he could find a way in. "Either way, these windows are boarded up tight, and we ain't getting in this way."

"I wouldn't give up so easily." Dylan piped up, a smirk on his face as he stood down the other end of the supermarket. Charlotte raised an eyebrow, curious about what he found that made him so happy, and so decided to walk down towards him with Omid beside her. When she reached his side, she realised what he was staring at with that grin of his, and listened as he added. "Looks like their maintenance wasn't up to scratch."

In front of them, she saw that one of the boards blocking the broken window wasn't secured properly, only one end being held up with an unsecured nail. Approaching it, she grabbed hold of the board and pushed hard, feeling the board give up slightly as she tried again. With another rough push, the board finally gave in and fell to the floor inside with an echoing bang. Turning to Dylan, she gave him a pleased smile as she praised him. "Good eye there, Dylan."

Smiling back at her, he waited as she lifted herself up into the window. Peering in, she stopped in her tracks as she stared in horror, the scene in front of her filling her up with dread. There were people in the supermarket. Corpses littered the floor, half decayed with flies swarming around them, the stench causing Charlotte to back off outside and retched what little contents she has in her stomach. Dylan and Omid were shocked by her reaction, unknowing about the scene inside the supermarket before the older man approached the window to peer in. Charlotte was bent over, staring down at the vomit on the floor before wiping her mouth with her sleeve. On her back, she felt Dylan's hand rubbing her softly, his voice concerned as he asked her. "What's wrong, Charlie?"

"Holy shit." Omid piped up, finally seeing what Charlotte saw before he backed away. "Oh, that is not right."

Dylan, pushed with curiosity and worry at the same time, moved towards him and peeked through the window, seeing the massacre inside as he too couldn't stop himself from retching, running past Omid as he threw up. Straightening herself up, she turned towards Omid and saw his distraught face, shocked to see the death inside the supermarket. She thought they would at least be used to it, especially given her past, but seeing all that up close, the stench of rotting flesh wafting into her nose, it was too much for her already sensitive stomach. Still, she pulled herself together and walked over to Dylan, comforting him as he continued to empty his stomach on the tarmac of the car park.

"Come on, buddy." She muttered, helping him upright while he wiped his mouth with a disgusted expression on his face. "We still have to see if there's anything in there that'll make this trip worthwhile."

Nodding, he moaned under his breath, before following after Charlotte and Omid as they pulled themselves through the window again. Jumping down on the other side, she grimaced as she stood in a blood smear, lifting her boot to examine it while sighing to herself. The stench was dreadful, but she had to keep moving around the bodies and the counters to see if there was anything there. With Omid by her side, she instructed him with a gesture of her hand. "It's a pretty big place. We'll need to split up to cover as much ground as possible. I'll take Dylan with me and check this half, you go and check that half."

"Sounds good. We'll meet here when we're done." He suggested, earning a nod from Charlotte before he walked away from the others. With that half being taken cared of, she turned to Dylan and offered him a sympathetic look when she noticed him looking at all the bodies. The sorrow was clear on his face, and as she walked towards him, she listened as he spoke.

"They were people once." He whispered, looking up at her with guilt in his eyes. "People, just like Aaron, Grace, Michelle… everyone in our group. I wanted to hate them for killing Samantha, but some of them were my friends. It hurts, knowing all the things that they did… all the things you and Liz did."

"Now you know why we left. The group, they were scared, but they were making all the wrong choices. I didn't want you or Mason to make those choices either." She confessed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "At least now, they're all in peace. They don't have to live in this shitty world anymore."

"I was such an asshole. I just acted like their deaths were nothing, that they somehow deserved it. They did stupid things, we all did, and yet we're here and they're just more bodies on the road. More of the dead." He sniffed, rubbing his nose with his sleeve as he continued. "I just wanted to hate them. It's easier to hate them than to admit that the people you cared about did such shitty things."

"We can make it up, though. All the things I did, I will make up for them, and that's why I'm going to keep this group alive. Whatever it takes." She promised, guiding Dylan away from the bodies as she muttered softly. "Come on, we still gotta see what's left."

He offered no resistance to her suggestion. Instead, he followed after her silently as they started to comb through the aisles, looking for anything that could be taken. While he started grabbing a few packet of noodles that had been left behind, Charlotte looked down at the freezers, noticing that they were all mostly empty. Given that it had been months since the freezers even worked, she wouldn't trust any of the food that was left behind. So, she just looked through the aisles. The group that had been there before must have started to feel the strain of finding food, considering that as the two moved through the aisles, there wasn't that much left. From behind her, she heard Dylan sigh. "Maybe other people came here and took what was left?"

"There doesn't seem to be any sign of entry, though." She pointed out, picking up a pack of water bottles. She tested the weight, nodding with a smile on her face she see looked over at her brother. "It may not be much, but we need anything we can find."

"Take it out of the packaging and we can fit it in my bag." He explained, pulling the bag off his shoulder while Charlotte started to take the bottles out of the packaging. With the bag opened in front of her, she started tossing in the bottles while Dylan continued to look over the shelves for anything else. Staring at the contents of the bag, she was surprised when Dylan came back with cans in his arms, a pleased look on his face as he laughed. "I found them down there. More beans, and even some canned soup!"

"Soup's always great on a winter day. Shove them in." She smiled, standing up and looking at the picked clean shelves while Dylan packed up his findings. From the windows high up, she could see that the sun was starting to dip behind the buildings, the skies still that deep blue but the light starting to fade, the clouds starting to form as it looked like it would rain soon, or worse. She couldn't deal with walking in the cold again.

"There's some stuff down this way." Dylan piped up, gesturing for Charlotte to follow after him as he jogged down the aisle with his bag over his shoulder. She ran after him, wondering what he found that got him so riled up, watching him as he swung around a corner into another aisle and tried to keep up with the agile survivor. When she too turned around the corner, she saw that it was a stationary supplies aisle. What was left, anyway. Ignoring the files and packets of envelopes that were left behind, she joined back up with Dylan as he stopped near something, the teenage boy lifting up what appeared to be a school bag in his hand.

"You should have one. We can carry more, then." He explained, passing the bag to Charlotte and going about his own business as she looked down at it. It was black in colour, but on the front pocket of the item was a smiley face, and she couldn't help but smile herself at her brother's kindness. So, she pulled the bag over her shoulders and approached him again, noticing that he was eyeing up a book that was abandoned on the shelves.

Glancing up at her for a moment, he looked back and shrugged. "I was just thinking. It should be Christmas soon, I mean, as close as I can think. I don't have a calendar but I'm pretty sure. So, it might be nice if we can find something for Mason and Clementine… Something they can open up on the day."

"That's a sweet idea, Dylan." She replied softly, earning a bashful look from her brother as she picked up the book he was eyeing. Flicking through the pages, she realised that it was in fact a colouring book, the blank drawings on the pages showing animals, plants, even mythical creatures like dragons and unicorns. Looking at him from the corner of her eye, she closed the book and took off her new backpack, shoving it in while smiling. "Clementine should like this book. See if y'all can find some crayons or something for her to colour in with."

Nodding with a grin, he walked over to the part of the aisle where all the pens and stuff were kept, looking over the remaining stock while Charlotte watched him, before deciding to find something for the teenager to open on Christmas as well. Looking around, she combed through the aisles for something that would please her brother, knowing that he was too old for colouring. Moving further down the aisle, she paused when she noticed the book section, spotting a few comic books amongst the more adult books left. Grabbing them, she looked over the cover, noticing it was about superheroes and that. Dylan wasn't a big fan of reading, but he was a big fan of superheroes, ever since he was just a kid. With a nod, she glanced over her shoulder and, when she noticed that Dylan wasn't paying attention, she shoved the comics into her bag quickly.

She looked back up at the books, noticing some of the romance novels and decided that maybe Christa, and herself, would enjoy the books for some entertainment. Plucking a couple off the shelf, she shoved them in with the comics and zipped her bag back up, standing up just in time as she heard Dylan's voice from behind her. "I found some good crayons for Clementine, and I grabbed some drawing stuff in case she finished her book. Paper too."

Turning around, she spotted all the stuff in his hand and nodded with a bright smile, unzipping her bag and taking the supplies off him, quickly shoving them in as she mumbled. "Now we just need something for Mason."

"He already has some CDs from our trip up here. Maybe, we can find something else?" Dylan asked, searching through the stock to see if there was anything they could take. Charlotte joined him in his search, unsure what it was that Mason would want. All this time, she was surprised that she didn't really know his likes or his wants. Before the plague, he was just focused on school, and after everything that's happened, he's just focused on survival. It was quite sad.

Picking up a humorous birthday card, she chuckled at the funny looking penguin on the front before putting it back in the shelf. With Dylan behind her, she spoke up in an amused tone. "You know, considering we're his family, it's a bit strange that we don't know what he wants for Christmas."

"Tell me about it." Dylan responded in a dry tone, picking up a snowglobe with a frown before putting it back down. "I get more flak about it, considering we're twins."

"And so you should, now keep looking." She shot back, earning a glare form Dylan as he did what he was told. Slowly, they made their way up the end of aisle, their findings coming to nil as Charlotte sighed to herself, placing her hands on her hips as she looked around. "Come on, we should meet back up with Omid."

"Wait." Dylan replied suddenly, stopping for a moment before he jogged past Charlotte. Confused, she watched as he stopped near a stand that was separate from all the others, looking over the contents while she wondered what it was that he was doing. After a few seconds, he plucked something off the shelf and turned around, approaching his sister again as he showed her his findings.

In his hand was a polaroid camera, a grin on his face as he finally piped up. "Mason's told me before that he wished he grabbed a picture of our parents before we left. I was thinking that we could give this to him, so he'll have a picture of all of us. In case…"

His face fell, the gravity of their situation setting in as Charlotte stared at him with empathy in her eyes. Slowly, she approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder and smiling sadly, trying to get him to smile back at her as she nodded her head in agreement. "That's a lovely idea. I'm sure Mason will love it."

His smile came back. Her kind words helped him out of his depressive state, and quickly, he shoved the camera in her backpack before the two started making their way back towards the front part of the store, picking up any forgotten food that they could find. While the haul was definitely better than that of the pharmacy, they would definitely need the fish traps to work out if they were going to survive through the winter. Finally, they reached the front of the store again, though Omid had yet to return from wherever he was. So, Charlotte decided to wait for him, propping herself up onto the conveyor belt next to the till with her backpack beside her. Dylan just walked around, unable to keep still like she could. Sitting there, she could no longer hear the alarms in the distance, wondering how long it would be before the walkers would wander back to this part of town, and decided that they should be gone before then.

Quietly, she heard Dylan swear to himself. "Shit."

"What's up?" She asked quietly, keeping her voice low to avoid drawing attention from anything that may be just outside.

Dylan stopped his pacing, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets as he sighed. "I forgot to grab Omid something for Christmas. It wouldn't be cool to get everyone else something and not him."

"Well…" She paused, before deciding to let the teen stray away from her for that moment. "Go and quickly grab him something. I think I saw a joke book back in the other aisle."

"Sure." He nodded, before turning on his heel and rushing back to the aisle where the books were. Charlotte smiled at the sight of him running to find Omid something, shaking her head while chuckling deeply to herself. Dylan may have tried to act like a tough survivor, similar to all the other men in their group, but he did have a heart of gold when given a chance. She just hoped that he wouldn't lose that the longer they went surviving in this world.

She sat there in silence, keeping an ear out for any of those telltale groans that signalled it was time for them to pack up and go. All that she could hear though was the distant birdsong and the wind blowing through the open window, the chilled winter frost causing goosebumps to form on her skin, even when she was wearing multiple layers of clothes. She wished she was back in Texas. The warm summer nights, the beautiful beaches near the Gulf down south, the deep blue ocean and the rivers that her father took her fishing on. She remembered a time where she thought she caught a huge catfish and tried so hard to reel it in, only for it to be an old tire that someone chucked into the river beforehand. Her father wanted to laugh, she knew that, but he didn't. Seeing the disappointment on his young daughter's face, he just put the fishing rod back in her hands and told her to keep trying.

Never give up.

She held those words of advice close to her. In his thoughts, she didn't hear the footsteps coming towards her until she spotted Omid approaching, pushing her memories away as she offered him a smile and asked quietly. "You find anything?"

"There was a small medicine section at the back. Most of the stuff was gone, but I did find some antibiotics. Other than that, just noodles and juice boxes." He revealed, lifting his backpack further up his shoulder while holding his rifle in his other hand. Looking around, he raised an eyebrow and questioned the only survivor there. "Where's Dylan?"

She didn't know what to say, and rather spoil the surprise, she just deflected the question. "He's just gone on a last minute sweep, see if we missed anything. We found some stuff for Clementine and Mason, you know, for Christmas."

"That's an awesome idea. What'd you get them?" He complimented, leaning against the conveyor belt that Charlotte was sitting on, propping his rifle up next to him. Charlotte glanced at her bag, pleased with what she and Dylan picked out for the others.

"We found a colouring book and crayons for Clementine, and a camera for Mason. He wanted pictures of our parents before we left our house, down in Texas… but he never got the chance. At least now, he can have pictures of all of us." She explained, earning an saddened smile from Omid, before he tried to lighten up the mood again.

"Hey, make sure he gets my good side, then." He joked, earning a soft laugh from Charlotte as she watched the front of the aisles, wondering where her brother had gotten off to. She couldn't help it, but worry started to make her stomach twist painfully, the gut feeling like it was tying itself into knots, and yet her brain scolded her for getting so wound up when Dylan was gone for literally minutes.

It was just too quiet. Even Omid was starting to get unnerved with the silence, and evening starting to set in while the light was fading from the skies. Slowly, she jumped down from the conveyor belt and shared a worried glance with the other survivor beside her, the both of them unwilling to say anything in case it jinxed them. Suddenly, she heard something fall to the ground, a loud smash of something like glass breaking echoing through the air, and her heart stop when she heard Dylan's voice yell out. "Get the fuck away from me!"

"Dylan?!" She called out desperately, already running ahead while Omid fumbled for his rifle, trying to keep up with the taller woman as they pelted it down the aisles. Her mind was racing with thoughts, pleading that nothing happened to her brother. Anyone but him. Please, if there was a God up there, let Dylan be spared. With her mind distracted, she almost tripped over her own two feet, her hands pushing her off the ground as she recovered from the blunder. Again, she heard Dylan yell for her.

"Charlie, help!" His frightened voice spurred her to move faster, and when she spun around the corner, she saw Dylan trying to escape someone's grip. It wasn't the undead, as they made no attempt to bite him, and the gun to his head made her heart stop and her face fall in horror. Finally, Dylan spotted her standing there, trying to escape the person's grip as he snapped. "Get off!"

"Get away from him!" She snarled, pulling her pistol out of her pocket and aiming it at the person, her narrowed eyes glaring at them. Omid raised his rifle, ready to defend the group if given the chance, and the three of them were at a standoff. The person was just a woman, dulled eyes staring at them with dark bags underneath, her hair in a messy bun and her skin a sickly pale.

"Put the guns down." She ordered in a chilling voice, keeping a tight grip around Dylan's neck as she snapped. "I ain't gonna shoot a child, but I ain't gonna let some assholes roll over me with my supplies!"

"Your supplies? The place was abandoned when we came here, everyone that was here is dead!" Omid pointed out, unsure what the woman was talking about.

His words caused her eyes to widen, a look of pure rage on her face as she growled at them. "They were my friends! We escaped the place, but no, we can never escape this hellhole! You think all you gotta worry about is the dead, but the living will turn on you just as easily! Those people, I thought we were in it together! They lied! You'll lie too!"

"Easy there." Charlotte tried to calm, starting to worry about the survivor's mental state as she raised her hand, trying to approach them to save her brother. Dylan watched with widened eyes, quietly whimpering when his captor shoved the pistol further to his head, closing his eyes momentarily while his sister questioned the deranged woman. "What's happened here?"

"Don't come here with your niceties! That's what the man was like, he said everything will be alright and that we were safe, but I knew better! You're never safe!" She rambled, pulling Dylan further back as she backed away from Charlotte. "Don't you take a step closer, I mean it!"

"Who's the man? Where's this place that your group escaped from?" Omid asked, joining in on the questioning to see what had happened.

The woman glanced over at him, her eyes looking him over before stopping on the rifle aimed at her, before she started to break down into hysterical sobs. Charlotte watched with caution, unsure what would set her off again, but she couldn't leave Dylan in that situation any longer. Finally, the woman gasped between sobs. "He said it was safe! Then… all the rules came in, all the bullshit and the death! I lost my family! I don't know where they are or if they're alright! My little baby… He's only a baby, he needs his mother!"

"Hon…" Charlotte started, moving against towards them with her hand reached out. "Do you know where your family is? Do you need help finding them?"

Quickly, the woman stopped crying and glared at Charlotte, her voice a piercing snarl as she snapped at them. "They were here! When I left to get help, they stayed behind to help someone in our group who was sick! They're all gone… The dead don't lie, but people who were meant to watching out for us lied! I'm not going back, you tell them that Ol' Hilda knows their dirty tricks!"

"Hilda, you're not making any sense. Please, just let Dylan go and we'll leave you alone." Charlotte begged, starting to grow more worried for the safety of Dylan. When the teen tried to removed himself from Hilda's grasp, she tightened her grip and moved back again, seemingly unwilling to actually pull the trigger. That didn't mean she was willing to test that theory, though.

"You his mother?" She suddenly asked, her voice a softer tone than the constant screeching she was doing just then. Charlotte paused for a second, glancing at her brother before shaking her head in response, listening as Hilda carried on. "That won't do. The poor boy, he's only young. Boys need their mother."

"Our mother died months ago. I'm all he has left. So, please, give him back." She begged, watching as Hilda thought about it before quickly adding in a pleading tone. "You lost your family, Hilda. Please, don't take mine away from me."

"You folks should leave now. It's not safe when it gets dark." Hilda suddenly pointed out, confusing the others as she continued to ramble. "I was a mother. I had a little boy with beautiful blue eyes, just like Dylan has. I can be a mother again. We can live here and I won't let what happened to my family happen to him. He'll be my little boy."

"That's out of the question. I can't leave without my brother!" Charlotte snapped, unwilling to abandon her brother to the mad woman. Omid tried to stop her from physically attacking Hilda, grabbing her upper arm tight to make sure the situation didn't escalate out of control, but Charlotte's adamant refusal with the woman's suggestion caused her to turn again.

"You think you're safe out there, that you'll keep him safe and alive! You don't know what you're doing! In the end, we're all gonna die, and I'd rather shoot this boy here than let him leave this place with you, because no matter what, he's just gonna die anyway!" She screamed, her finger moving to the trigger as Dylan cried out in panic, trying to fight against her grip as she continued in her rant. "You're not even his mother! What do you know on raising a child?! How are you gonna keep any of these people ali-?!"

Charlotte didn't give her a chance to finish her ranting as she fired her gun, watching as the bullet shot through the front of her forehead, the blood trickling out as she stared ahead in shock. Dylan took the opportunity to get free of her grip, running forward into Charlotte's arms as the body collapsed to the ground. Her hands gripped into his jacket, keeping him close as he finally broke in her arms, crying softly as she comforted the traumatised teen, shushing him while Omid moved past them. She stayed where she was, watching as he picked up the gun from Hilda's hand and stared at the scene with shock still on his face. Slowly, he turned to face her with widened eyes, none of them unable to say anything as she continued to shush her brother, trying to get him calm enough.

"I had to do it." She finally whispered, meeting Omid's eyes with her own as she repeated herself. "I had to do it. I couldn't lose Dylan. I promised my parents I would protect them no matter what…"

"Shit." That was all Omid could say, before he just stared down at the corpse as the blood formed a puddle under her head. Charlotte looked down at the unblinking eyes staring up at the ceiling, wondering what had happened that pushed the woman so far mentally that she just snapped. With a sniffling Dylan in her arms, she lowered her face until the lower part was pressed into his jacket, holding him close while she finally closed her eyes. She couldn't bare to look at what she did. Hilda was too far along, there was no other way, her brain kept telling her over and over again, trying to think of some excuse for what she did.

You killed people before. Why is she any different? Her thoughts pointed out, and she honestly had no answer for them. She did kill before, and it was usually without much provocation. It was just business. It was survival. But kneeling there, she realised that it was survival that pushed her to pull the trigger. Cruel mercy. The woman was too far gone, and she had lost so much. She made a choice, and so she would have to live with the consequences on her conscious.

She had to do it.

[profeminist]

The BIG list of free Feminist / Gender / Audiobooks by Women via Audible.com

Updated 4/23/17: Here is a masterlist of feminist books and books by or about women and the LGBTQIA+ community that are available for free with a trial signup to Audible.com. As I update the list over the coming week I’ll reflect the current date at the top of the list!

Through a current promotion, you can sign up for a free trial, cancel within 30 days and you get to keep the two books forever! 

30 days of membership free, plus two free audiobooks that are yours forever.

1 credit a month after trial, good for any book regardless of price.

Exclusive members savings. Get 30% off any additional audiobooks.

Easy exchanges. Don’t love a book? Swap it for free, anytime. Seriously.

PLEASE REMEMBER: After 30 days it’s $14.95/month, so set yourself a calendar alert to cancel if you’re not interested in continuing. I don’t want anyone to get an unbudgeted $14.95 charge because they forgot to cancel!

Here’s the link: Audible Free Trial Digital Membership  

AVAILABLE AUDIOBOOKS (updated 4/23/17)

Feminist  Books

Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale

Laura Bates: Everyday Sexism

Jessica Benett: Feminist Fight Club: An Office Survival Manual for a Sexist Workplace

Susan Brownmiller: Femininity

Annie E. Clark and Andrea L. Pino: We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out

Kira Cochrane: All the Rebel Women: The Rise of the Fourth Wave of Feminism

Angela Y. Davis:  Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement

Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering: The Hunting Ground: The Inside Story of Sexual Assault on American College Campuses

Nora Ephron: Crazy Salad and Scribble, Scribble: Some Things About Women and Notes on Media

Nora Ephron: I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being A Woman

Roxane Gay: Bad Feminist: Essays

Kate Harding: Asking for It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture - and What We Can Do About It

Jill Lepore: The Secret History of Wonder Woman

Ariel Levy: Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture

Audre Lorde: Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

Catilin Moran: How to Be a Woman

Catilin Moran: How to Build a Girl  

Caitlin Moran: Moranifesto

Kate Harding: Asking for It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture - and What We Can Do About It

Tamara Winfrey Harris: The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America  

Jack Holland:  A Brief History of Misogyny: the World’s Oldest Prejudice

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie : Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: We Should All Be Feminists

Peggy Orenstein: Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture

Peggy Orenstein: Girls & Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape

Tony Porter: Breaking Out of the “Man Box”: The Next Generation of Manhood

Phoebe Robinson: You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain

Sheryl Sandberg: Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

Sheryl Sandberg: Lean In for Graduates

Kate Schatz: Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries Who Shaped Our History…and Our Future!

Gloria Steinem:Moving Beyond Words: Essays on Age, Rage, Sex, Power, Money, Muscles: Breaking the Boundaries of Gender

Gloria Steinem:Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions

Rebecca Traister:  All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation

Jessica Valenti: Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters

Jessica Valenti: Sex Object: A Memoir

Jessica Valenti: The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women

Jessica Valenti: He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut, and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know

Lindy West: Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman

Naomi Wolf: The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women

Mary Wollstonecraft:  A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Malala Yousafzai: I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World

Andi Zeisler: We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement

LGBTQIA+ Authors

Dorothy Allison: Bastard Out of Carolina: A Novel

James Baldwin: Notes of a Native Son

Alan Cummings: Not My Father’s Son: A Memoir

Ellen DeGeneres: Seriously … I’m Kidding

Ellen DeGeneres: The Funny Thing Is …

Jennifer Finney Boylan: She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders

Laura Jane Grace: Tranny; Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout

Hannah Hart: Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded

Jazz Jennings: Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen

Janet Mock: Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More

Tig Notaro: I’m Just a Person

Funny Women

Samantha Bee: I Know I Am, But What Are You?

Carol Burnett: In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox

Carol Burnett: This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection

Ellen DeGeneres: Seriously … I’m Kidding

Felicia Day: You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)

Rachel Dratch: Girl Walks into a Bar…: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle

Tina Fey, Bossypants

Miranda Hart: Is It Just Me?

Miranda Hart: Miranda Hart’s Joke Shop

Mindy Kaling: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

Mindy Kaling:  Why Not Me?

Anna Kendrick: Scrappy Little Nobody

Jessi Klein: You’ll Grow Out of It

Jane Lynch: Happy Accidents

Tig Notaro: I’m Just a Person

Amy Poehler: Yes Please

Issa Rae: The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl

Sarah Silverman: The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee

Aisha Tyler: Self-Inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humiliation

Betty White: If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t)

Betty White: Here We Go Again: My Life In Television

Rocking Women

Carrie Brownstein:  Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl: A Memoir

Kim Gordon: Girl In a Band: A Memoir

Athletes & Coaches

Simone Biles: Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance

Tamika Catchings: Catch a Star: Shining through Adversity to Become a Champion

Gabrielle Douglas: Grace, Gold, and Glory My Leap of Faith

Laurie Hernandez: I Got This: To Gold and Beyond

Carli Lloyd: All Heart: My Dedication and Determination to Become One of Soccer’s Best

Pat Head Summitt: Sum It Up: A Thousand and Ninety-Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective

Abby Wambach: Forward: A Memoir

More Memoirs  

Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Drew Barrymore: Wildflower

Carrie Fisher: The Princess Diarist

Anne Frank: Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: My Own Words

Diane Guerrero: In the Country We Love: My Family Divided

Taraji P. Henson: Around the Way Girl: A Memoir

Coretta Scott King: My Life, My Love, My Legacy

Zora Neale Hurston: Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography

Angie Martinez: My Voice: A Memoir

Shonda Rhimes: Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person

Robin Roberts: Everybody’s Got Something

Hillary Rodham Clinton: Living History

Hillary Rodham Clinton: Hard Choices

Sonia Sotomayor: My Beloved World

Gloria Steinem: My Life on the Road

Lindsey Stirling: The Only Pirate at the Party

Cheryl Strayed: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Amy Tan: The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life

Elizabeth Warren: A Fighting Chance

Elizabeth Warren: This Fight Is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America’s Middle Class

Mara Wilson: Where Am I Now? True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame

Novelists & Short Story Writers

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Americanah

Isabel Allende: The House of the Spirits: A Novel

Jane Austin: Pride and Prejudice

Lucia Berlin: A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories

Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre

Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights

Kate Burton: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Octavia Butler: Parable of the Talents

Octavia Butler: Kindred

Octavia Butler: Parable of the Sower

Louise Erdrich: The Round House: A Novel

Cristina Garcia: Dreaming in Cuban

Nadia Hashimi: The Pearl That Broke Its Shell

Shirley Jackson: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Maxine Hong Kingston: The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts

Jhumpa Lahiri: Interpreter of Maladies

Doris Lessing: The Golden Notebook

Audre Lord: Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Leslie Marmon Silko: Ceremony

Leslie Marmon Silko: Almanac of the Dead

Leslie Marmon Silko: Storyteller

Gloria Naylor: Women of Brewster Place

Gloria Naylor: Mama Day

Gloria Naylor: Bailey’s Café

Ann Patchett: Commonwealth

J.K. Rowling: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Zadie Smith: Swing Time

Amy Tan: The Joy Luck Club

Amy Tan: The Kitchen God’s Wife

Amy Tan: The Bonesetter’s Daughter

Angie Thomas: The Hate U Give

Toni Morrison: Home: A Novel

Toni Morrison: Sula

Toni Morrison: Song of Solomon

Toni Morrison: Beloved

Toni Morrison: The Bluest Eye

Toni Morrison: Sula

Ntozake Shange: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf

Sarah Vowell: Unfamiliar Fishes

Alice Walker: The Color Purple

Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway

Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse

Virginia Woolf: The Waves

Virginia Woolf: A Room of One’s Own

Non-Fiction and Political Writers

Michelle Alexander: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz: An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States: Revisioning American History

Melissa V. Harris-Perry: Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America

Rachel Maddow: Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power

Reshma Saujani: Girls Who Code: Learn to Code and Change the World

Margot Lee Shetterly: Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

[bringinghometherain]

last line challenge!!!

Rules: Post the last sentence you wrote (fanfic / original / anything) and tag as many people as there are words in the sentence.

I got tagged by both @thetragicallynerdy AND @alfalfairy so I guess I REALLY gotta do it. This is the last line I wrote for True Confessions of Charlotte Walker, which despite my sparse and erratic release schedule I promise I really am still working on:

Under Ed’s steady hand the Revenge pulled up alongside with ease and the crew tossed grappling hooks across to bind her to the Helena.

We got ourselves a raid, boyz. I am not tagging as many people as there are words in that sentence because there are too many and I feel like half my moots have already tagged each other lmao.

NO PRESSURE IGNORE IF YOU WANNA DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT I SWEAR: @treesofgreen @arsenicflame @goofygooberton idk if any of y'all write that often but even if you don't I will happily read the last line of your grocery list, the last line of the last text you sent, get jiggy with it. Or don't. I'm not your mom.

[our-flag-means-death-ao3feed]

Into Freezing Waters

by BringingHometheRain

Charlie takes a bullet to the leg on a raid and falls overboard into freezing water.

Words: 1983, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 3 of True Confessions of Charlotte Walker

Fandoms: Our Flag Means Death (TV)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Israel Hands, Original Female Character(s), Charlotte Walker, Roach (Our Flag Means Death), Frenchie (Our Flag Means Death), Crew of the Revenge (Our Flag Means Death)

Relationships: Israel Hands/Original Female Character(s), Israel Hands & Roach (Our Flag Means Death), Crew of the Revenge (Our Flag Means Death) & Original Character(s)

Additional Tags: Whump, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, gunshot wound, minor descriptions of wound care, I don't really know how shock works, therefore it works how I need it to for Narrative Reasons

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/46885819

[ciathyzareposts]

Game 368: The Legacy (1992)

I bought the GOG version, which says nothing about a Realm of Terror.

            The Legacy

United Kingdom

Magnetic Scrolls (developer); MicroProse (publisher)

Released 1992 for DOS

Date Started: 3 June 2020

    The Legacy is a rare horror-themed RPG. We’ve had a few, including Don’t Go Alone (1989), Elvira (1990), Elvira II (1991), and Waxworks (1992). I guess you could toss House of Usher (1980) in there, too. Most of these games are adventure-RPG hybrids and the one thing that they all have in common is that none of them are scary. They have horror themes, but none of them are truly horrifying the way a good Hitchcock movie is. I never screamed during any of them, the same way that no Dungeons and Dragons player ever screams at the appearance of a skeleton.       The reason, I think, is that the RPG enemy exists specifically to be fought, and usually in large numbers. The ghost, zombie, skeleton, demon, or whatever in a truly scary film or game is something of a mystery. It’s unclear whether the protagonist will be able to defeat him with conventional means, or indeed any means. And the protagonist probably isn’t even trying to defeat it–probably didn’t even want anything to do with all of this in the first place. When the ghost appears briefly in the mirror, it’s a viscerally scary moment because you don’t know what it is or what it can do. You didn’t even get a good look at it. The RPG ghost, on the other hand, has a fixed number of hit points and can be defeated with a variety of spells or magic weapons as it’s spelled out in the monster manual–and you’re probably going to fight 20 of them. The horror RPG faces the same problem as the zombie film: you can make the first one scary, maybe, but not the fiftieth.              

A shot from The Legacy’s opening cinematic. It’s a dark game.

          I think horror also requires a certain attention to location and story that the typical RPG hasn’t provided through the current era. You can set a good horror game in a gothic mansion with 15 rooms, each full of lore. It’s harder to do this in six 20 x 20 levels of similar wall textures. It is thus not surprising to me that most famous horror games have been adventure games. You can take time to craft more thorough stories and locations with adventure games. You don’t need to supply dozens of foes because you don’t need the character to build skills or earn experience points.

Horror games rely more heavily on graphics and sound than other genres. You could write a fantastic horror-themed text adventure, but I doubt you could make a player scream. The same goes for the primitive graphics of the 1980s. It wasn’t until the early 1990s that both graphics and sound (including music) advanced enough on the personal computer that developers could create true atmospheres in games and make a player really feel something in his gut. This is when we started to see an explosion of games that still define the genre: Alone in the Dark (1992), The 7th Guest (1993), Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet (1993), BloodNet (1993), The Dark Eye (1995), and others that you’ll undoubtedly fill me in on because this isn’t really my area.           

The character approaches the mansion.

         The Legacy comes out of this era, and the best I can say is that it’s about as scary as a horror adventure-RPG hybrid could be, which means not very scary. Sure, the first time you open a door and there’s a zombie, you maybe jump a little, but pretty soon zombies are just another thing to be killed so you can earn experience. The creators did a good job with the mansion except that, as with most RPGs, they made it a bit too big to plausibly be a mansion. The backstory is just a little too derivative of things you’ve already read or watched. It is horror-themed rather than horrifying.       If you can get past that, it’s not a bad game. I had a very enjoyable first session. Mechanically, it’s not unlike a first-person Quest for Glory. The adventure side of the game has a mystery to solve and a variety of puzzles necessary to solve it. The RPG side has a selection of skills and attributes that increase through use or through direct allocation of experience points. There’s enough “extra space” with wandering foes to satisfy the RPG need for combat and character growth. These are the types of features you need for a true hybrid, and not just an adventure game “with RPG elements.”       

The Winthrop Mansion, as given in the game manual.

           The Legacy comes from U.K. developer Magnetic Scrolls, a relatively long-lived creator of graphical adventures, including The Pawn (1985), Jinxter (1987), The Guild of Thieves (1987; I vaguely remember playing this one in the 1980s), Corruption (1988), Fish (1988), Myth (1989), and Wonderland (1990). The Legacy is the company’s first game with RPG aspirations, although it uses the same basic interface as Wonderland. The commonly-given subtitle, Realm of Terror, appears only on some boxes and not, as far as I can tell, on any manuals or title screens, so I’ve left it off as per my policy. A lot of sites give it as a 1993 game, but plenty of reviews attest to a 1992 release in Europe followed by a 1993 release in North America.

It took me a while to get a screenshot illuminated by lightning. You can clearly see this is not the same house as in the manual.

       The main character is the last surviving descendant of Elias Winthrop (1599-1662), who built the Winthrop Mansion in 1630. The style of house depicted in the manual was built nowhere in New England, probably nowhere in the world, until the mid-1800s. The manual tries to justify this with talk of “extensions,” as if it wouldn’t have been easier to just build a new house than to incorporate a First Period home into a Gothic Revival. Anyway, at some point, the mansion acquired some kind of supernatural curse; the manual claims that Edgar Allen Poe experienced it while visiting a friend, and that it clearly inspired his House of Usher. During his visit–in which the entire family had become sickly and insane–he saw an apparition that screamed, “Melchior! Free me! Perform the rite!”          

The family tree from the manual is also given in a piece of paper in-game.

           As the game begins, a newspaper clipping claims that three people are “missing” in some kind of undefined “tragedy.” These three are likely Robert Prentiss, his wife Catherine, and his mother Karen, as all of their dates of death are given in 1992 in the family tree included in the manual. Karen had married Nathan Prentiss (died 1964), a descendant of Elias Winthrop through his maternal grandmother. The game’s main character is given as a cousin of Robert, a descendant of Nathan’s sister Sarah, although a graphical “break” in Sarah’s line makes it difficult to determine how much of a descendant.       The game comes with eight pre-made characters from which you choose one. Each has different levels of strength, knowledge, dexterity, stamina, and willpower. Those first three attributes each come with five related skills, such as “Brawling” and “Lift” for strength, “Electronics” and “Mechanics” for knowledge, and “Firearms” and “Throw” for dexterity. Willpower determines your magic ability and whether you start with any spells. The language of the newspaper clipping is slightly modified for each:        

Brad Norris, a sophomore at New York University. Captain of the NYU ski team and member of the Debating Society, Norris is reportedly “planning a mondo party.” He has fairly even skills and attributes but no magic at all. I don’t have any theories to the origins of the name.

           Brad’s statistics.

         Charles Weiss of Bangor, Maine (yay!), a magician, astrologer, and student of the occult. He has a noodle incident called “the Arlington ‘sacrifice’ scandal” in his past. Balanced in most skills, comes with two spells. The name belongs to a founding employee at Oracle, but I’m not sure he would have been well-known in 1992. 

Charlotte Kane, a New York businesswoman who may be planning to turn the mansion into a luxury hotel and conference center. Strong in knowledge-based skills and comes with “Crimson Mists of Myamoto,” a protection spell. No idea on the name.

Lucy Weston, a sophomore at UCLA, sorority girl, tennis and volleyball champion. Heavy in strength, dexterity, and associated skills; has virtually no knowledge and no magic. Her name is taken from the character in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Professor Henry Jones, head of the Department of American History at Pennsylvania State University, authority on the Salem Witch Trials. Strongest in knowledge and its skills; not so bad in dexterity; comes with “Sight of the Walker,” which seems to have something to do with dispelling illusions. Naturally named after Indiana Jones’s father.

Jane Olson, a New York daily Post reporter. Strong in all skills but has no magic. Probably an homage to James Olsen of Superman fame given her profession.

           Jane’s version of the newspaper clipping.

          Major Robert “Boomer” Kowalski, retired from the U.S. Marine Corps after decorated service in Grenada, Panama, and the Persian Gulf. Strongest in strength and dexterity skills; has no magic. No idea on the name.

Isobel Gowdie, the most mysterious of the characters, described only as a “widow” with an ancestor who lived in the area. Balanced but weak in all skills and attributes but comes with both “Flames of Desolation” and “Sight of the Dark Walker.” Her name comes from the famous Scottish self-confessed witch of the late 17th century.

           You can also edit one of the characters, change the name, and define your own. I turned Isobel into Irene, giving her enough willpower for “Flames of Desolation” and “Sight of the Dark Walker,” otherwise favoring knowledge skills but putting a few points into “Firearms.”       

My character.

         The game’s opening cinematic shows a car arriving at the mansion on a stormy night. Glyphs on the main gate posts glow as the gate opens to admit the car. As the approaches the front of the mansion, we see a light on in the cupola. (The mansion shown in the cinematic, it must be said, looks very little like the one in the manual except for the size and a certain dedication to symmetry.) The front door opens into an entry hall, and the view immediately goes up the split staircase and into a dead-end hall before the viewer is consumed by some tentacles coming out of the floor.     Gameplay itself begins in the entry hall, and right away we see that The Legacy features some excellent period graphics. There will be banal, repetitive textures in some of the hallways and less important rooms, but when the game really needs to convey a sense of place like an “entry hall” or a “study,” the artists are up to the challenge, and I find myself wondering again why more era titles (e.g., Wizardry, the Gold Box series) couldn’t have offered this blend of the generic and the specific when the occasion called for it.           

Gameplay begins in the entry hall.

         The engine, known as Magnetic Windows, brings an Amiga or Atari ST-style windows GUI into the game. The windows for the character portrait, exploration, messages, and automap can all be moved, overlapped, and re-sized. Most actions are accomplished with the mouse, in somewhat obvious ways, for instance clicking on an object and dragging into to an open inventory space in the character portrait, or double-clicking on an object to use it. Right-clicking on things brings up a contextual menu, and right-clicking on the “desktop” behind the windows lets you save the game and adjust settings. I wish there were more keyboard backups for some of the actions, such as the “Hit” and “Aim” buttons in combat, but one thing the developers did anticipate is the difficulty using the mouse with the right hand while moving (as in most games) with the numberpad or arrows. Instead, they mapped movement to the QWEASD cluster, which works relatively well.             

The various windows and game options.

           The game uses tiles in which you can turn and face any direction. Occasionally, for an especially detailed room, you transition to a single-screen view in which you can’t rotate, but that’s rare.     The entry hall is 3 x 3, and the game is spatially sophisticated enough to let you walk under the two upper parts of the split staircase. The front door is magically locked behind me. There are a couple of tables, a statue of a demonic creature behind a glass display case, and a painting from 1662 depicting “the burning of a warlock at the stake.” I am compelled by my history to note that if this was supposed to be a real event, it must have happened in continental Europe because there is no record of anyone accused of witchcraft having been burned in North America, and even England had stopped the practice well before 1662.           

The painting in question.

        There are also a couple of notes on the floor, and as I explored the ground floor of the mansion, I would continue to find more of them. The first, slipped under the front door, was from E. Croxley & Co. Realtors, welcoming me to the house and noting that some of the furniture had been sold to pay for the family’s debts. But the others are from a “Marcus Roberts of Boston,” who clearly preceded me in his explorations of the mansion and has presumably died there. His notes so far have conveyed the following:             

The mansion’s various historical owners have been given to “vile depravities.”

Every 50 years, disappearances have been recorded in nearby towns at the same time that “strange lights [were] reported in the skies above the house.” The last batch was in 1943.

Roberts believed the house is possessed by an “infernal entity that is preparing to break through to our world.”

As he explored, Roberts discovered portals to other planes through which “demons and other monstrous beings” enter the house, particularly on the second floor. I also have him to thank for all the zombies roaming the ground floor, as he apparently released them from the mausoleum.

At some point, Roberts decided that it was necessary to find something called the Golden Torc, apparently in the lower levels.

            One of the messages from the mysterious Marcus Roberts.

         I started exploring using my normal “right wall” approach and soon found a zombie in a corridor east of the entry hall. Irene had begun the game with no weapons, just a spellbook, so I tried out “Flames of Desolation.” It took three castings to kill the creature. There were more zombies later on, and I ran out of spell power after killing three of them. Spell power doesn’t regenerate on its own. Neither do hit points. The manual is a bit cagey on how exactly you do regenerate these bars. I eventually found a first aid kit that helps with health. Spell points are supposed to be regenerated with meditating, but you apparently have to find some special crystals first. You otherwise do occasionally need to rest and eat, but you can only rest in rooms with a special symbol that I haven’t found yet.              

I cast a fireball at a zombie.

           As I ran out of spell points, I tried attacking zombies with my fists. This worked out for a few of them. For physical attacks, you just have options to “hit” or “aim” and then hit. Hitting temporarily depletes an accuracy bar, so you can’t hit a bunch of times in a row without losing accuracy with each successive strike.    You can’t really do a “combat waltz” because enemies in melee range are in your square, not an adjacent one. Trying to side-step to another square requires passing a roll to escape combat first. But I did manage to somehow get one enemy stuck facing perpendicular to me, so I could beat him without retaliation. Later, I couldn’t replicate this. I’d really like to find a weapon, but I’ve got nothing so far. When you attack with no weapon, I’m not sure if the game treats whatever you’re holding as a weapon (e.g., a flashlight) or whether it assumes you’re temporarily dropping that object and using a fist.   I didn’t notice that my fist attacks increased my “Brawling” skill, but my experience bar did increase. It seems to increase a little bit with almost every successful action, including exploring new areas, finding objects, and defeating foes. You can then spend the experience directly on skills or spell power, but I’ve just let it accumulate for now, I guess waiting for the first time I try to use a skill like “Electronics” and it goes poorly.        I’ve been relying mostly on the auto-map so far. Based on it, I’m guessing that the main floor is 20 x 20. The automap annotates rooms and doors relatively well, but it doesn’t do anything with objects, stairs, or puzzles, so I’m probably going to restart and create my own maps, since I use the mapping process to annotate things like locked doors and unsolved puzzles.       You’ll be happy to know that I’ve left the music on. The main theme isn’t really very melodic or insistent. It basically consists of three lugubrious bass notes, a pause, and then either a succession of percussive beats or a non-melodic flutter in a higher register. It has a clear “haunted house” vibe and sets the atmosphere well.         I didn’t deliberately plan this, but it appears that I’m playing The Legacy along with my cousins at The Adventure Gamer. At least, I assume it’s still active. Voltgloss posted an introductory entry on 2 March 2020, but there hasn’t been a second one yet. Perhaps someone from there can clarify.         Time so far: 2 hours           *************          I had intended to return to Ultima VII for this entry, but it’s taking me longer to catch up to where the game glitched than I thought. I’m still devoting a portion of my playing hours to that game, so when I finally do catch up, I’ll stop introducing new titles and pick up where I left off.      

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-368-the-legacy-1992/

[tuseriesdetv]

Noticias de series de la semana: No más 'Mindhunter', no más 'Watchmen'

Renovaciones

Netflix ha renovado You por una tercera temporada

Showtime ha renovado Shameless por una undécima y última temporada

AMC ha renovado Better Call Saul por una sexta y última temporada

Showtime ha renovado Work in Progress por una segunda temporada

Showtime ha renovado The L Word: Generation Q por una segunda temporada

Sky Atlantic ha renovado Britannia por una tercera temporada

ITV ha renovado Vera por una undécima temporada

Freeform ha renovado Grown-ish por una cuarta temporada

Freeform ha renovado Good Trouble por una tercera temporada

Hulu ha renovado Dollface por una segunda temporada

Hulu ha renovado Wu Tang: An American Saga por una segunda temporada

Netflix ha renovado Bonding por una segunda temporada

TBS ha renovado American Dad por una decimoctava y decimonovena temporada

Cancelaciones

Los actores de Mindhunter han sido liberados de sus contratos debido a la apretada agenda de David Fincher, que podría revisitar la serie en un futuro. No está cancelada.

No habrá segunda temporada de Watchmen. Damon Lindelof no tiene planes de continuar la historia ni de transformarla en antología.

Facebook ha cancelado Limetown tras su primera temporada

Facebook ha cancelado Sorry For your Loss tras su segunda temporada

Cinemax ha cancelado Jett tras su primera temporada. La cadena deja de producir series.

La segunda temporada de The Walking Dead: World Beyond (AMC) será la última.

Noticias cortas

Showtime ha cancelado Intelligence antes de grabar el piloto por decisiones creativas.

Michelle Keegan (Georgie) abandonará Our Girl tras su cuarta temporada.

Amazon ha descartado el piloto de The Dark Tower.

Matthew Del Negro (Chris Caysen) será regular en la segunda temporada de City on a Hill.

Fichajes

Priyanka Chopra (Quantico) y Richard Madden (Game of Thrones, Bodyguard) protagonizarán Citadel para Amazon. Será la serie madre de una franquicia producida por los hermanos Russo (Avengers: Endgame) con ediciones ya anunciadas en India, Italia y México en los idiomas locales.

Hugh Dancy (Hannibal, The Path) será recurrente en la cuarta temporada de The Good Fight como Caleb, un antiguo militar que trabaja como socio en la firma que ha adquirido Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart. Además, Michael J. Fox (Louis Canning) retomará su papel de The Good Wife.

Courtney B. Vance (American Crime Story, FlashForward) protagonizará 61st Street. Será Franklin Roberts, un abogado de Chicago que defenderá a un joven atleta al que detienen tras confundirlo con el miembro de una banda.

Gael García Bernal (Mozart in the Jungle, Diarios de motocicleta) será recurrente en Station Eleven como Arthur, un famoso actor de una pequeña isla de México.

Dean Norris (Hank Schrader) y Steven Michael Quezada (Steven Gomez) retomarán sus papeles de Breaking Bad en dos episodios de la quinta temporada de Better Call Saul.

Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) se une a la segunda temporada de See. Se desconocen detalles.

Gina Gershon (Riverdale, Showgirls) será recurrente en la segunda temporada de New Amsterdam como la madre de Lauren (Janet Montgomery).

Nazanin Boniadi (How I Met Your Mother, Homeland), Owain Arthur (A Confession, Casualty), Tom Budge (Bloom), Ismael Cruz Córdova (The Good Wife, Ray Donovan), Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards (Wanderlust), Dylan Smith (I Am the Night, Into the Badlands), Charlie Vickers (Medici: Masters of Florence) y Daniel Weyman (Foyle's War, Gentleman Jack) se unen a The Lord of the Rings.

Meagan Good (Minority Report, Californication), Grace Byers (Empire, The Gifted), Shoniqua Shandai (I Am the Night, Nobodies) y Jerrie Johnson protagonizarán la comedia aún sin título de Tracy Oliver para Amazon.

Corey Hawkins (The Walking Dead, Straight Outta Compton) será Blaine, el novio del presente de Ifemelu (Lupita Nyong'o), en Americanah.

Marque Richardson (Dear White People, True Blood), Pauletta Washington (She's Gotta Have It), Steven Norfleet (Watchmen, Good Girls) y Omar J. Dorsey (Queen Sugar, When They See Us) se unen como recurrentes a Genius: Aretha. Shaian Jordan sustituye a Sanai Victoria, que participó en el piloto, en el papel regular de Little Re.

Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous, Gangster Granny), Nigel Havers (Benidorm, Coronation Street), Jason Merrells (Agatha Raisin, Safe House), Gemma Jones (Gentleman Jack, Unforgotten), Kenneth Cranham (Hatton Garden, Bancroft), Isabella Pappas (Paranoid) y Sharon Rooney (My Mad Fat Diary, No Offence) protagonizarán Finding Alice junto a Keeley Hawes. Serán Sarah y Roger, los padres de Alice (Hawes); Harry, el marido de Alice; Minnie y Gerry, los padres de Harry; Charlotte, la hija de Alice y Harry; y Nicol, la hermana de Harry.

Joanna Vanderham (Warrior, The Paradise) será recurrente en la quinta temporada de Legends of Tomorrow. Se desconocen detalles del personaje.

Pósters

         Nuevas series

Amazon encarga Jack Reacher, adaptación de las novelas de Lee Child. La primera temporada recogerá la historia de 'The Killing Floor'. Escrita por Nick Santora (Scorpion, Prison Break).

The CW encarga Superman and Lois protagonizada por Tyler Hoechlin y Elizabeth Tullock.

The CW encarga el reboot de Walker, Texas Ranger protagonizado por Jared Padalecki.

Steve Coogan (Philomena, This Time with Alan Partridge) y Sarah Solemani (Him & Her, The Wrong Mans) escribirán y protagonizarán la dramedia Chivalry, sobre las políticas sexuales en tiempos del #MeToo, en Channel 4. Coogan interpretará a Cameron, exitoso productor conocido por sus citas con chicas jóvenes. Solemani será Bobby, escritora y directora que ha conocido el éxito con una película feminista de bajo presupuesto.

Suranne Jones (Gentleman Jack, Doctor Foster) protagonizará y producirá la historia de la cinco veces campeona de boxeo Jane Couch, basada en 'The Final Round', sus memorias.

CBS encarga Clarice, secuela de The Silence of the Lambs centrada en la detective Starling en 1993 mientras persigue a asesinos en serie y depredadores sexuales en Washington D.C. Escrita y producida por Alex Kurtzman (Fringe, Alias) y Jenny Lumet (Star Trek: Discovery).

Paramount Network ha encargado Mayor of Kingstown, drama de Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone) y Hugh Dillon ambientado en un pequeño pueblo de Michigan que depende de las prisiones federales, estatales y privadas que hay en él y centrado en la familia McClusky, influyentes intermediarios entre la policía, los criminales y los políticos.

Freeform ha encargado Last Summer, thriller que transcurre en tres veranos de los años 90 en un pequeño pueblo de Texas y explora el cambio de dinámicas de popularidad. Protagonizada por Chiara Aurelia (Tell Me Your Secrets), Mika Abdalla (Project MC2), Michael Landes (Silent Witness), Froy Gutierrez (Light as a Feather, Teen Wolf), Harley Quinn Smith (Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood), Allius Barnes (Unbelievable, PEN15), Blake Lee (Parks and Recreation, Mixology), Nathaniel Ashton y Brooklyn Sudano (Taken, 11.22.63) y producida por Jessica Biel (The Sinner, Limetown).

Peacock ha encargado diez episodios del revival de Punky Brewster.

Peacock ha encargado Girls5Eva, comedia sobre un grupo musical femenino de los 90 con un solo éxito que se reúne para intentarlo de nuevo. Producida por Tina Fey (30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) y escrita por Meredith Scardino (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Saturday Night Live).

AMC ha encargado Soulmates, antología romántica y de ciencia ficción ambientada quince años en el futuro, cuando un test científico puede determinar inequívocamente quién es tu alma gemela. Cada episodio contará una historia diferente. Con Malin Akerman (Billions, The Comeback), Betsy Brandt (Breaking Bad, Life in Pieces), Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things, El secreto de Marrowbone), JJ Feild (Turn, New Amsterdam), Sarah Snook (Succession), David Costabile (Billions, Breaking Bad), Sonya Cassidy (Lodge 49, Humans), Joe Anderson (The Divide, Hannibal), Steven Mackintosh (Luther, Lucky Man) y Tom Goodman-Hill (Humans, Mr. Selfridge). Creada y producida por Will Bridges (Black Mirror, Stranger Things) y Brett Goldstein y basada en su cortometraje For Life.

Hulu ha encargado una comedia sobre tres extraños que comparten una obsesión por los true crime y de pronto se ven envueltos en uno. Protagonizada por Steve Martin (Father of the Bride, Parenthood) y Martin Short (Damages, ¡Three Amigos!). Creada por Martin y John Hoffman (Grace and Frankie, Looking). Producida por Dan Fogelman (This Is Us, Galavant), Jess Rosenthal (This Is Us), Martin, Short y Hoffman.

Fechas

The Stranger llega a Netflix el 30 de enero

Cherish the Day se estrena en OWN el 11 de febrero

La segunda temporada de Flack se estrena en Pop el 13 de marzo

La tercera temporada de Westworld se estrena en HBO el 15 de marzo

La segunda temporada de Black Monday se estrena en Showtime el 15 de marzo

The Plot Against America se estrena en HBO el 16 de marzo

La cuarta y última temporada de Brockmire se estrena en IFC el 18 de marzo

Motherland: Fort Salem se estrena en Freeform el 18 de marzo

La cuarta temporada de One Day at a Time se estrena en Pop el 24 de marzo

La segunda temporada de Tacoma FD se estrena en truTV el 26 de marzo

La tercera temporada de Siren se estrena en Freeform el 2 de abril

La cuarta temporada de Insecure llega a HBO el 12 de abril

The Walking Dead: World Beyond se estrena en AMC el 12 de abril

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels se estrena en Showtime el 26 de abril

La quinta temporada de Billions se estrena en Showtime el 3 de mayo

Solar Oposites llega a Hulu el 8 de mayo

The Great llega a Hulu el 15 de mayo

La segunda temporada de Ramy llega a Hulu el 29 de mayo

Snowpiercer se estrena en TNT el 31 de mayo

La tercera temporada de The Chi se estrena en Showtime el 5 de julio

Tráilers y promos

BoJack Horseman - Últimos episodios

Little Fires Everywhere

The Stranger

Normal People

Black Monday - Temporada 2

The Chi - Temporada 3

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels

Shrill - Temporada 2

High Town

Insecure - Temporada 4

The Great

Dispatches from Elsewhere

Diary of a Future President

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - Temporada 3

Inside No. 9 - Temporada 5

Motherland: Fort Salem

[bringinghometherain]

Finished hammering out a new Charlotte Walker chapter tonight 👀 needs a bit more editing but I think I'll be able to put it up tomorrow

[bringinghometherain]

comment I left in my fic document last night: this is a stupid line fix this later

response to said comment I left this morning: this is a stupid line but it might be just stupid enough for Izzy Hands

[bringinghometherain]

i feel so silly cause i am just STALKING your account every hour or so do see if there’s an update on the izzy story LMFAOOO the brainrot is real

aww shucks <3 I am still working on it! Slow and steady, that's the name of the game right now.

[bringinghometherain]

New True Confessions of Charlotte Walker chapter is up! I didn't forget about it!!!

[bringinghometherain]

For the 3ish people who follow this: I did a bunch of outlining work on True Confessions on Charlotte Walker yesterday! Things are cooking! We got a story stew going, baby!

[bringinghometherain]

*flips table* WHERE HAS CHARLOTTE BEEN I NEED MY SEROTONIN

lmao I am genuinely sorry, work owns my butt right now. But I have been working on her! And thinking about her! There's more coming I swear!!!

And if you're just subscribed to the story itself, I have put on some one shots under a series or whatever Ao3 calls it. So maybe this answer will give you a few more little serotonin shots?? Idk.