wayward-nobody

[wayward-nobody]

"Angels... You mean like Christmas tree people?" John asked with the closest he could get to enthusiasm. There didn't seem to be much similarity between the flesh-and-blood man before him and the winged plastic figures he remembered guarding brightly wrapped boxes of treasure, but the other man had said 'ours' when he spoke about the angelic language.  'I thought you could only be two things in this world; human and less human.' He admitted, shaking his head, dark, matted hair falling slightly over his eyes. His next words were chosen and arranged concisely, although spoken with less animation than he would have liked, "I find I would be glad to be wrong."

"Is anything as easy as it used to be?" He queried as he began collecting dry sticks from the forest floor as per the other man's instruction, but part of him knew it was a question that needed no answer. A question that was asked purely so he wouldn't ask any of the more ridiculousones swimming through his brain, like if he found a bell and rung it, would Inias suddenly grow wings, and would it hurt when he did?

John trailed after the other man as he told him about the man who shared his name. It felt immeasurably good to be connected to someone in a way powerful enough to trigger memories of them, even if it was only through a label that didn't really belong to him. He tried to bundle up as much fire wood as he could, filling his arms to the point where a dull ache was forming in his shoulders, reminding him that it had been a very long time since he'd made any real effort to rest.

"I guess it's good that I don't remember how the world ended." He eventually replied after considering the description he was given of the other John. "I already live in a cave... and never talk to people. 'Officially crazy' would be a bad thing to add to that list."John snapped his mouth shut as soon as he realized he probably wasn't making the best impression on the other man by pointing out the fact he was a possibly crazy infected hermit. In fact, he couldn't work out why the man was still allowing him to follow him if not for fear that he might make some kind of attack if he didn't. John held the firewood he'd collect towards Inias and cast his eyes downwards apologetically "Take this, if you want. Make your meal, and come back with what's left after. Or don't. Either way, I won't follow you to your traps, or your pit. I won't blame you for not trusting me. I'm not sure I would, if I were you."

Ensnared || John and Inias

Inias smiled, despite himself. “No. Not really. It’s Enochian; the tongue of angels. It’s one of our greetings.” It hit him how long it had been since he’d spoken his native tongue. Not since he’d last conversed with Castiel… before the fire. 

Some part of him marveled at the ease with which the young man spoke. They were having a proper conversation. Sure, his speech was a bit jerky, but he was stringing sentences and answering questions. Inias almost wished he could climb inside his head and find out what was different about his wiring that he was resisting the virus. A virus with no known cure.

He wished he could transport them both to some doctor or healer angel who could find a way to pass on the immunity to others. It was a better prospect than just killing them all. Curing humanity of the virus would have taken the venom from Lucifer’s sting. 

"Well, starting fires is a lot harder for me than it used to be, but it’s easy enough. I’ve already got a pit ready." It was utterly insane that he was considering taking an infected person back to his little campsite. All it would have taken was a transfer of any bodily fluid and he’d be infected too. Even if it was inadvertent. And at any time, he could revert to a slavering monster and Inias would be screwed. But something told him to trust. Just this once, trust. 

"Sure, if you want. I’ll need some sticks and dry wood for fuel. And the rabbit will need skinning." He also had several other traps to check, which would give them a chance to walk together, and Inias a chance to evaluate how permanent this composure of the man’s was.

His eyebrows went up as John— obviously not his real name— handed him the bracelet. It was a hospital bracelet, back from the early days of the pandemic. Back from when civilization still thought it had the upper hand. it was a strangely sad little relic. He wondered how long the man had been wandering. 

"Well, John’s a good a name as any." He gestured for the man to follow him. "I knew another John once. Bit of a recluse and more than a little paranoid, but you could blame that on the visions. You can’t really see the end of the world without going a bit nuts."

[wayward-nobody]

"You're lonely..." the words came from the other man without the usual upward inflection on the end. A statement this time, not a question. John nodded solemnly at Liam's concise interpretation of his ramblings. He was lonely; it was as simple and as complicated as that. Shrugging, he replied honestly, "I don't know anybody, so I miss everybody equally."

The other man then asked him about where he was staying and where he was sleeping, as if they were the same thing. John's brow furrowed at this; he spent very little time 'sleeping' in the traditional sense, and even less time staying in one spot if he could help it. Even so, he figured if Liam was asking about sleep then it must be something humans did fairly often, and he wanted to make it clear he was still capable of some human behaviors even if not with the usual frequency.

"Last time I slept..." He began, shifting through the blurred cycles of light and dark for that particular moment. "Was in a cave." He concluded, recalling the cramped place where he stashed his treasures with something close to fondness. If he closed his eyes in there and listened to the distant underground stream he could almost imagine he wasn't alone. "But the sun has set a several times since then." He admitted, the fact that he had an alarmingly real yet strangely unafraid person to talk to snapping back to the present.

"It takes a long time for me to get tired, and when I do sleep it's not always... pleasant." He noticeably flinched at the word, because although it was true that when his eyes slammed shut with exhaustion he was often assaulted with gruesome things he might have seen or done, he wasn't sure, there were also some good moments too. Pleasant, content, shining moments that were somehow worse than the worst ones. He didn't escape those dreams, he lost them, grieved for them.

"I guess you could say I 'stay' there, in the cave. Or at least I try to get there before it's too dark to see, and sit still until it's bright again." Taking in his surroundings for the first time since this strange encounter had begun, He noticed how the angles of the other man's face were blurred by shadow and realized it must already be past the time he would have usually found shelter. He wasn't sure why Liam had asked, but he knew he would soon have to find somewhere to wait out the dark, and maybe even sleep after all, if that was a human thing to do.

Never Never Land || Liam & John

Mr. Enigma seemed to pocket the coin like he was worried Liam was about to snatch it away again and it made the Vampire smile a little in amusement, but he didn’t say anything, he let the other male have the coin, seen as it seemed to hold such value to him. A trinket of the past maybe? Liam had lots of those, but they were things that really reminded him of home, the baseball he used to toss about with his dad. The necklace his mom had left him… he understood not being able to let go of the past, he felt that way a little too, but he still had to live in the here and now. Living in the past could easily get you killed in this new world.

"I was a… Croat before." Liam's brow arched, head tilting a little as he wondered for a second if he had heard him right. “Before?” he mumbled, trying to understand what John meant, seen as everyone knew, there was no cure for the virus, and he really didn’t smell like a human, so he hadn’t turned back, not fully at least. "Interesting…" the Vampire lifted a hand, stroking his chin with a scan over the other. What was he?

"The thinking came first." It normally does, he thought to himself as John continued to explain how he first figured out he could talk. It was interesting, really, to find someone who had been infected with the Croatoan virus and seemed so… well, human. No rage, no violence, hell his eyes didn’t even seem that empty, and the smell wasn’t nearly as clear as those sulphur drenched skanks.

"most don’t stick around long enough for me to get much practice." The words filtered in through Liam’s thoughts and he knew that feeling, to be lonely. He gave a small sigh and looked to the John’s hues, he didn’t seem the kind of guy to murder him in his bed, and besides, the guy didn’t know he was a vampire, even if he shot him, Liam would heal. Maybe Liam could help him out a little, it would relieve a bit of the boredom after all. "You’re lonely…" he muttered, nodding, feeling the same way though he’d never admit it.

"Where are you staying John? Where do you sleep?" he asked and smiled, hoping he wouldn’t be all defensive, though honestly, he wasn’t sure he expected an honest response, because truthfully, Liam was the kind to slit a sleeping throat, but only when he was hungry, and he wasn’t quite sure how this guy would taste.

[wayward-nobody]

The woman had listened to everything John had to say patiently, taking in his awkward rambling and offering neither accusations or scorn, but gently asking him to explain further, to tell her how he had changed. "I don't mind." He assured her, but this was something he hadn't put much thought into. Change was his constant, so he mostly just accepted it, more interested in the why than the how. "It's just hard--" He said, leaving the sentence unfinished, it's possible endings hanging soundlessly in the space between the woman and the trees.

--Hard as in struggling to find the right words.

--Hard as in painful to think about.

--Hard as in the impossibly thick walls that had slammed shut around that purgatorial period of his life as soon as he'd become aware of it. But if she would try to listen, then he would try to speak.

"For longer than forever, but shorter than a moment... everything and nothing was grey." He began, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose against the unbearable uncertainty of it all, pretty sure that the woman would already be confused. "I couldn't move or think or feel, only exist. Then there was noise; noise that was words in my head. My first thoughts, though I didn't know that yet. All I knew was I needed to get out. That maybe I could get out, if I tried."

He was pacing now, needing the constant movement to keep the words flowing evenly, or they might get cramped together and overlap. "So I fought, and for a while all I could feel was pain..." He turned back to the woman, eyes wide and mouth curled upwards in that particular way that let her know what a wondrous thing that was. "But I could. I could feel it."  He whispered slowly, miraculously. "And soon I could feel other things too. And move, and think, and know, and sometimes even remember. Though," He shrugged, "Not as much, or as often as I would like."

"I thought, I knew, and I remembered that I could be different from my-" His eyes shifted down to the strangled looking ferns beneath their feet as he choked out the word she had used, the one that lumped with the walking nothingness he struggled so hard to escape- "From my kind... How am I doing so far?" He finished with a question, the way humans always seemed to do.

Or maybe not just humans, because the woman had also said she wasn't one. When she'd told him this the first time he had though she'd just meant in the way the humans now couldn't be the same as they were before, but could she really be another thing entirely? Another entirely faerie thing? "I'm John... Kind of." He told Sookie, since that was her name. She was a Sookie, and a faerie apparently. He craned his neck to look over the shoulder of the human-shaped-possibly-faerie-person and said simply, "But you don't have wings?"

At the Crossroads || John & Sookie

"Cause I ain’t exactly human either…but we should talk about that later," Sookie suggested. "When we’re in a safe zone and can actually catch our breaths. Sound good to you?" Besides, explaining what she was might take a few minutes and they didn’t have enough of that right now when they were running from those Croats. Lord knows the racket they had caused would probably attract the attention of more. The woods was a good shield for them though and hopefully in the safety of the underbrush - if there was safety at all - they could relax for a few minutes and she could explain what she was.

"Not a problem." She replied to them as she pulled the rifle strap over her shoulder. The two of them ran into the woods, pushing back the threatening whip of branches from them as they went. Sookie slowed down her running when she felt like it was safe enough and stopped only momentarily so she could catch her breath before walking normally again. She heard the man speak up and looked up at him as he started talking about himself, about his appearance. It was eerie. He looked so much like the Croats yet he…was he one? He didn’t act like them. He didn’t try to hurt Sookie, he spoke, and he wasn’t as violent, if he was capable of that at all. Well…everyone was capable of committing violence.

Sookie asked him, “What do you mean your insides changed? I mean…if you don’t mind me asking. It’s just…well…nobody’s really got to talk to your kind before without being attacked.” She looked sheepish about it, not trying to judge him. As she once told Sam Merlotte, Judging an entire group of people based on the actions of a few individuals in morally wrong. Of course the whole group of people were Croats but this one was just…different. It struck her curiosity. “I’m Sookie by the way,” she introduced herself. “And what I meant back there was that I’m not really human because I’m a faerie. It wasn’t selfish either. It’s okay…really…it is.”

[wayward-nobody]

[wayward-nobody]

'I suppose it is a weird way to say hello'. John was surprised and glad that he and stranger could agree on something, even if it was just that the way he spoke was weird. It was a tiny shred of acceptance, sharing an idea with another. The man then spoke a serious of nonsensical syllables that made him want to shake his head to clear his ears of whatever was blocking them, but he refrained from doing so when the other man suggested he wouldn't understand. "You're right, am I supposed to?" He queried, It was nothing like anything he could remember hearing, just another thing to add to the already lengthy list of things he didn't understand.

The man continued talking, rather than running away or threatening him, which was very strange. But then again he wasn't running away either, which was even stranger. He was pretty sure this was longest he'd ever stood still except for the few times exhaustion had forced him to sleep, and a loud voice in voice in his head that was spoilt from being almost constantly obeyed yelled at him to keep moving. Then the man offered to help cook him a meal, and he had to pinch his own arm to check that wasn't really collapsed unconscious in the woods somewhere.

"Ow! I mean, yes. I mean, I'm interested." He stammered, hoping the strange man would be able to make sense of it somehow. "But is this 'fire' thing hard to start?" He questioned nervously, he wanted to stay longer with this intriguing person who could see past what he seemed to be long enough to have a conversation, but he knew he'd be ashamed of himself if he caused him any trouble. "I really shouldn't... put you out." He informed him, thinking it sounded less dismissive than telling him not to waste time on him. "Maybe I could help?" He suggested, knowing he would feel more comfortable if he could give something back.

The man then told him his name, Inias. John's eyes widened, it was by far the most interesting name he'd ever heard, although to be fair, he hadn't heard many names at all. He rummaged through the front pocket of his hoodie as the remarkably named man asked for his in return. "I came with a label." He stated matter-of-factly, finding the torn plastic bracelet he kept there and holding triumphantly up at eye-level so that Inias could read the words printed on it;

John Doe, DOB: Unknown

"It's not... right." John explained with a slight shrug. "But it's the only name I know. Apart from Inias, and that already belongs to you."

Ensnared || John and Inias

The man— well, more of a boy really— turned. His age wasn’t entirely clear, but he was dressed like a boy. He was no more than 23, by the looks of it. But he was definitely infected. His eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot. His skin was pale and greyish. But there was a spark of intelligence there that Inias had never seen in a croat before. Something of the human had survived. 

He almost smiled as the young man described his surroundings. Trees and blue sky. He wasn’t wrong. They were up. Just not the ‘up’ he’d meant. 

He’s almost as literal as Castiel.

"I suppose it is a weird way to say hello. I would have gone for VRBS BASGIM, but, I guess you wouldn’t have understood that.” He still felt like he should have been pulling a weapon. He had no idea when this croat would turn violent. Usually they did right off the bat, but the fact that they were still talking held some promise. Perhaps this disease wasn’t incurable after all. 

He watched the awkward stumble and heard the growl of the croat’s stomach. Another interesting development in regards to his docility. He was hungry, and yet didn’t try to devour Inias? 

"It’s alright. I’ve got other traps. You sound hungry and you look like you could use a meal." Inias carefully studied his face. "I can start a fire… get this guy cooked. Interested?" Part of Inias would have relished the chance to cut and run, but a more practical part of him knew that this was a discovery he couldn’t just abandon. He needed to find out how he was overcoming the virus in his blood. And to do that, he would have to spend more time around him. "My name’s Inias. What’s yours?"

[wayward-nobody]

Eagerly examining the coin he saw that there was in fact a disembodied head etched into one side, but he could have sworn this hadn't been the side the was showing when Liam had declared him the winner, which would the man had cheated, but in John's favor. Nothing about this strange was making any sense. He hadn't even learned to play the game yet and the rules were changing.

"Thanks?" He murmured, side-eying the other man warily. It wasn't supposed to come out as a question, but he half expected the treasure to be snatched away now that he'd had a small taste of contentment. He slipped his prize into his back pocket quickly, but the unsettling feeling didn't disappear completely.

The other man made a strange noise (laughing, his memories called it) when he told him he had won, as if at the absurdity of the idea that the universe would ever let something like him win anything. Of course this was followed by that question; The one about what he was. He definitely did mind, but he knew he had also told Liam he would grateful if he handed over the treasure, and he hadn't been lying. If an explanation was all he owed the stranger for his prize, then John figured it was a small price to pay.

"I was a... Croat before." He begun using the word he had heard Liam and other humans use to try and make it easier for him to understand. He had found that when you weren't supposed to exist it was best to make your existence as simple and inconvenient for others as possible. "I guess I must have been human before that... But I don't really remember. Now? Now I have no idea."

He had been turning around in a circle on the spot, following Liam's movements, but it was starting to do strange things to his head, which made it harder to think properly, so he stopped and picked one small patch of dusty sky to stare at as the broken world came back into focus.  "The thinking came first." He added, trying to explain why he wasn't the most successful talker. "I only figured out I could talk after I came across other people who could too... but most don't stick around long enough for me to get much practice."

Never Never Land || Liam & John

The… Thing, spat out his name like Frankenstein’s monster and Liam just looked at his, skeptical, wondering if that was put on, fake, or if there was something more to this guy than the typical survivors of this Apocalypse. "Liam." he repeated after the struggled name, making sure that Mr. Enigma understood it. “Meeting you… It’s nice.” He sounded like Yoda, right words, all jumbled up and Liam really wanted to make a sarcastic comment, but honestly, he wasn’t sure that this guy would get it. He didn’t seem like a barrel full of laughs, though if he thought this was a nice first encounter, he obviously had a sense of humor, or he was an idiot. “Nice? You don’t meet many people huh?”he chuckled, grin spreading onto his face.

Liam was still playing with the coin, even more so when the other said it was important to him. It was something he had only just seen, it didn’t belong to each of them, and it had suddenly become important to him? It made Mr. Enigma even more of a mystery and one Liam wanted to unravel. Maybe he should of told John that he was Sherlock Holmes instead of Jim Hawkins, but either way, he doubted the strange thing would understand.

The others dark eyes seemed frantic as he searched for an answer and Liam waited, for a moment, before tossing the coin up in the air and catching it, his other hand slamming down to cover it as he heard “Heads!” he chuckled and glanced down at the coin between his hands "Heads right?" he tipped his hand, peeking.

Tails, it was tails, and a smirk swept his face till he noticed the look on John’s face and it faded. To him, this was just a coin, worthless now, and he could probably find hundreds in the hotel lobby, but to Mr. Enigma, it was more. "Heads." he said with a wink and tossed the coin at the other.

"You win Enigma boy." he chuckled. Liam had mastered lying, it came part and parcel with what he was, a vampire. "So what are you John? If you don’t mind me asking." The young vampire tilted his head, looking curiously at the other before he moved a little closer, and started to circle him "You smell a bit like a Croat, but they don’t exactly have a talkative side!" he snickered "Not that you’re Mr. Chatty, but still."

[wayward-nobody]

When John arrived at the treeline he glanced over his shoulder and found much to his surprise that the woman was still following his path. It made his breath catch in a way that was completely different from the effects of physical exertion. This moment was too impossible for him to worry about something so simple as filling his lungs with air. Out of all the possible paths to safety she could have chosen, she had chosen his. He wanted to thank her for this somehow, but it didn't seem appropriate to thank someone for allowing you to save their life, and she had already began talking anyway, telling him she understood how frustrating it was to have your nature constantly questioned.

"You know?" He repeated, trying to make sense of it. "Why would you?" It was an honest, curious question. From what he had seen this world had been built by and for humans. Surely she had earned her place in it by virtue of her humanity alone. Why would anyone question her? Before he could figure out anything more to say, a single infected person emerged from the brush, and the human came to her own aid, blasting the creature into non-existence with one blow from her weapon. "Thank you for not using that thing on me." He commented quickly as he obediently followed her through the threes.

After a few minutes with no sign of any further attack, he though tback to everything the woman had said. John was pretty sure it had been the most words a human had ever said to him in one go, and he was amazed at how she seemed to be able to pick and arrange her words so easily. For him talking required a great deal of effort; all the thoughts he had tried to scramble out of his brain at once and stumbled over each other when got to his mouth. He remembered she had brought up his sickly appearance, and he hung head and shoved his pale hands into the frayed pockets of his jeans so that she wouldn't so that she would be so affronted by the sight of him."I used to be like them" He half-explained, half-apologized, referring to the 'Croats' as she called them. "My insides changed but... I'm still waiting for the outsides to match."

"You shouldn't want to thank me" He requested as she had seemed to express gratitude for helping her out. "It was.." He struggled to one right word to explain why he had made the first truly difficult decision of his life. "It was selfish. If I keep you safe, I don't have to be like them anymore".

At the Crossroads || John & Sookie

Flashing her head over to the woods that he had pointed at, she turned back to give him a quick nod before running off in that direction. She pulled her backpack tighter over her shoulders, the material rubbing repeatedly at her arms that eventually would leave faint pink marks. As she made it to the treeline, she turned around to see if the stranger was keeping up and thankfully he was. He was murmuring to himself and he was clearly annoyed that he was constantly being asked what he was. Sookie could definitely relate there. It used to be that every time someone got a whiff or mostly a taste of her that they were inquiring as to what she was. It was annoying. Extremely annoying.

Sookie was at the treeline now and said, “You know, I know that it sucks being asked that but I think the reason I’m gonna ask you what you are is because, well…you seem to kinda have the same complexion as those Croats only you talk…and you’re not violent like they are and okay you just totally helped me out. I mean maybe I would’ve gotten out of there but it’s nice to have back up. But it still raises a sticky question…”

The rambling girl who really needed to shut up right now cut herself off just as she saw a rogue Croat coming around the edge of the woods. He was just by himself, no pack from what Sookie could see. Before she met her end with the creature, her finger was immediately squeezing the trigger and blowing the thing backwards. She looked to the stranger and said, “Come on,” before ducking inside the safety of the woods.

[wayward-nobody]

Honestly, John had only spoken in the hopes of startling whoever it was enough to give him a chance of escaping. Humans were always confused when when he spoke to them, almost as confused as he was. His kind weren't supposed to be able to talk, weren't supposed to be able to feel confused, let alone feel confused about why they were talking. He turned his head slowly, taking in the unkempt form of the man with acute focus, searching for signs that it had clicked for him that he was in fact infected. He then waited for the inevitable second click, the click of a weapon, but it never come.

What was up for him? He hadn't thought to prepare an answer, so to bide himself some time he stood, careful not to move any closer to the other man. "Trees mostly." He stated, glancing upwards. "But if you tilt your head just right..." He continued, as he did so, eventually locating a slither of sky, "There's blue up there too."

"It's a... strange greeting, isn't it?" He found himself asking, meeting the other mans eyes once again. From the doubt and wariness he found in them he figured the first click had occurred, but there was still no sign of the second, more dangerous one. "I wonder why I chose it?" He finished, mostly to himself, but having never had anyone around to answer him before, it was sometimes hard for him to tell which questions stayed hidden inside and which ones made their way into the world.

What was the other thing the man had said? After putting so much effort into stringing so many words together, the words the man had to spoken to start with had all but slipped away. "Oh. The rabbit, It's yours." He said finally, casting his eyes down to the now untangled prey. He hastily stumbled sideways to allow the man access to his rightful prize, unable to stop himself from feeling slightly awestruck that he was in the presence of someone cunning enough to construct that trap. John's stomach rumbled again in disappointment, but he knew it would have to wait a while longer, as any creature in these woods had a better claim to this meal than he did, especially the person who had caught it.

Ensnared || John and Inias

He was loathe to admit it, but Inias was getting rather proud of his assimilation into humanity. Sure, there were things he still wasn’t good at, but feeding himself wasn’t one. It had been a fair learning curve. Twenty four hours and he’d gone from wondering what that stupid growling was to roasting himself a rabbit. Of course, after the first few, the creatures had learned that despite the lingering smell of grace on him, he wasa predator, and they stopped coming close enough to let him kill them with his blade. 

He’d resorted to traps after that. He’d tried to make one of the toothed ones that snapped shut when stepped on. He’d encountered one of those back in the early days. Luckily he’d been an angel at the time, so prying it off his leg and healing the wound had been easy. Now…? As useful as having one would have been, he was sincerely glad he hadn’t come across any. Instead, he’d made some rough snares out of the remains of a barbed wire fence. 

He’d gone to collect his breakfast and wasn’t far from the tree he’d slept in when he heard the mumbled tune. A half humming, half singing sound in what was clearly a human voice. But there was something clumsy, halting, about the voice. Something wrong. Every instinct that Inias had told him to turn around and get back on the road. Eating could wait. 

But his curiosity got the better of him, as it had so many times before. He crept forward until he could see the figure; crouched over the snare. The movements seemed about as off as the voice had sounded, and his instincts screamed afresh to get out of there. The muddy jeans and tattered, dirty red hoodie confirmed it. Inias had seen a lot of croatoans during his time on Earth, and this young man was undoubtedly one of them. The pallor of his hands was not the kind of tone one saw on living flesh. 

He was backing up, ready to leave, when his foot caught a brittle twig. The sound seemed brutally loud in the quiet wood, and Inias froze. He expected the man to turn; to be greeted by red-rimmed, bloodshot eyes and a foaming mouth. He expected to have to run for his life. What he didn’t expect, not even in the tiniest of quantum probabilities, was for the man to speak.

What’s up? A croatoan has him within sprinting distance and it asks ‘what’s up’?

Inias wet his lips, swallowing to moisten his dry throat. He hadn’t thought that croats were capable of speaking. Seconds ticked away as he tried to process what he should do. He could run, ignore the strangeness, and risk triggering the croat’s predatory nature. Or, he could try talking to it. Which was mad… Completely mad…

"Not much. I was… just coming to get that rabbit." He paused, clenching his hand and resisting the urge to grab his blade. "How about you?"

[wayward-nobody]

'You don't smell like nobody.' "I'm pretty sure I do." John mumbled in confusion, tilting his head towards his shoulder and sniffing in a subtle attempt to check. He knew his scent was very close to the other less thoughtful infected people, and they were nobodies in the truest sense of the word; neither knowing who they were, or wanting to find out. He didn't think this stranger smelled right either. He caught faint traces of what he recognized as human but it seem stunted, or stalled somehow, but maybe this was because the man clearly didn't have the same fear coursing through him as the few other humans he'd encountered. He noticed the man eased a little once he was given something to label him with, and he filed this information away for if he stumbled into someone again. "Li-am." He tried out the name the man had given him in return, while searching desperately for how he was supposed to respond to this unexpected gift. "Meeting you... It's nice." He nodded, feeling like that was more or less correct.

John noticed the way Liam's attitude towards the treasure changed when he asked him to give it up. The way the other man had thrown it around so carelessly made it seem like the object didn't mean anything to him, but then again, everything this man had done so far seemed rather careless, so maybe he needed to judge it on a new scale. The man then asked him why he wanted it. Humans always seemed to doing that; asking endless questions. Not that he could blame them, he would do nothing but ask questions too if knew which ones would give him the answers he needed. He wasn't sure how to explain to Liam that this random artifact might hold the clues to unlocking these questions, so instead he responded sincerely, "It's important to me, I would be grateful."

The man then held the treasure tantalizing close and gave the cryptic command, 'Call it'. Call it what? He had no idea what it was called. He knew Liam must have known this, as he had asked him what is was only moments ago. So what was the point of testing him like this? And John was certain it was a test, because he suddenly found himself overwhelmed by the feeling that if he made the wrong 'call' he would lose any and all hope of claiming the treasure once and for all. "Heads!" The word fought it's way out with a greater sense of urgency than he had ever known. He wasn't sure where it had come from, but he could only hope it was right.

Never Never Land || Liam & John

Liam stepped a little closer, and the more he glanced over the stranger, the less human he looked, the Vampire closed his eyes for a moment as the other said he didn’t eat brains, he definitely didn’t smell right, he wasn’t human. So what was he, if he wasn’t a human, and he wasn’t a zombie or a vampire, he didn’t smell like a wet dog, so what was he? Liam was a little young, compared to most vampires, and he didn’t know that many species, not by sight or scent anyway. His father was a Hunter, he’d learnt from him about supernatural beings, but he had no idea what many of them were like, not unless they were sketches in a journal.

"I’m nobody," “You don’t smell like nobody.” the words fell from his lips before Liam could filter them, the guy had a weird smell, one he couldn’t put his finger on and he wasn’t sure he wanted to. “John? Okay John, I’m Liam.” he said with a small smile, a smirk as his neck craned slightly to look over this guy a little better, he looked, well… it was hard to describe, and he didn’t want to use terms like ‘special’, he wasn’t this guys father, and he was definitely someone only a parent could love.

He asked for the coin, and Liam's hues lowered to it, feeling strangely possesive of a worthless dime, a pretty ancient method of payment that he had absolutely no need for now. He had been ready to toss it in to the abyss, in to the grassy wasteland moments a go, but now, it seemed like it was worth something and the young vampire had a wicked streak a mile long.

This guy, this thing, Mr. Inigma, he wanted it, which made it valuable all of a sudden. "Why?" he asked curiously, flicking it up again, catching it, coming up with an idea. "Okay Mr. Inigma, Call it!" he said with a grin, revealing his pearly whites as he balanced the coin on the side of his hand, ready to flick. Heads or Tails, the simplest of games, giving both of them a chance.

Liam loved games, and this was just the start.

[wayward-nobody]

And so John found himself up close and personal with the blasting-end of a weapon yet again. For a moment he wondered whether he was supposed to introduce himself to it, seeing as they had been getting so well-acquainted lately, but before he could, the woman on the other end of it asked that oh-so-persistent question; What are you? It was the question he always asked world whenever he stumbled across something new. What are you? What are you? But the world was reminding him in the form of a small, blonde human that he was the only thing in it that was truly new. In the end he just shrugged. The world had waited his entire existence for the answer to that question, it could wait a while longer.

This seemed to be enough for the human, or maybe she just realized that when you're being hunted by the monstrous remains of mankind it isn't the best time to ponder the meaning of some stranger's life. As she made her way through the opening in the fence he carefully held the wire away so that she wouldn't get hurt, but was even more careful not to touch her either. For all he knew that could be a lot more dangerous. "Are you..." He began, as he watched her steady herself on the other side, the 'okay' dying in his throat. He could see that she was okay from where he was standing; Why did humans always ask each other such pointless questions?

Realizing the window of opportunity was closing, as he could just make out a familiarly pissed off and hungry snarling behind him, he hastily fumbled his way through opening. Feeling a dull sting he noticed he had scratched his hand, but what was one more scar to add to his collection?  Grasping the end of his sleeve to cover it, he pointed at the treeline. "We'll lose them in there." He said by way of explanation, and took off running again, taking his turn to be unsure whether the other would follow.

"You know, everyone always asks me that question...'What are you?'" He eventually murmured, unsure if the woman would be able to hear him, or why he was even speaking at all. Except, he felt kind of irritated in a way that wasn't really directed at anyone. Was this what being annoyed felt like? Regardless, talking made it better somehow, so he continued, "They ask like it's the most important thing in the world..." If he'd known what it was he would have wished to change his punctuation. He longed for exclamation marks, but was drowning in ellipses. "But I don't know what I am... Never have. And I'm doing okay."

At the Crossroads || John & Sookie

Sookie stared up at the high chain-link fence and even though she used to be good at climbing trees with Jason and Tara when she was a kid, climbing up all those branches and slipping around the bark, a fence was a different story. There was a pattern to it and she knew that her boots weren’t going to allow her to shove her feet through the holes and let her climb up and over. “Crap…” She muttered to herself, shuffling her feet from side to side nervously. 

She heard a voice behind her and spun around to find the stranger than had told her to run. Looking back over his shoulder, she didn’t see the hoard of Croats yet but knew they wouldn’t fall far behind. They weren’t zombies. They actually had speed and agility. “Did you hold them off?” Sookie asked dubiously, having not paid attention to what happened to him after he told her to run. “Are you…?” She wasn’t sure what he was and honestly, she didn’t know much about Croats except for what Axel had told her months ago at camp and from the personal run-ins she had had with them. Sookie swallowed, feeling her shotgun rise cautiously in her hands. “What are you?”

Trusting wasn’t Sookie’s best suite anymore. There had been a time when she trusted so easily and she would drop her guard, needing to feel trust in someone. She was strong, but she was also human. Half, anyways. She wasn’t invincible. But a person could only be betrayed and hurt so much that trust was buried underneath it all.  ”I don’t know, I…” She turned around back to where the Croats were probably coming around and then turned back around to the man. “Okay.” She decided, though her voice dripped with a bit of doubt. She carefully watched him as she crawled between the break in the fence that he was holding open for him. She felt the material scrape against her jacket, just barely grazing her cheek as she went through. Sookie landed on a knee through the other side but quickly got back up and dusted herself off.

[wayward-nobody]

[wayward-nobody]

The strange man's face wore a peculiar expression, his mouth curling upwards but none of the warmth it suggested reaching his eyes. It bothered John that he seemed so strangely unaffected by their crumbling, sorrowful surroundings, but perhaps he was insane? He envied him a little, It would probably be easier to walk this broken world with a similarly broken mind. What the stranger had to say only seemed to confirm this theory.

"What have vampires got to do with anything?" John couldn't keep himself from asking, genuinely confused. The word vampire made him think of capes, and bats, and... a counting puppet? Okay, so maybe he was the insane one. "And, I don't eat brains." He assured, voice taking on a more more serious tone. At least, not that I remember, he finished silently staring down at his scuffed shoes so that the man wouldn't be able to somehow see the part he had left out in his eyes.

His head snapped back up to stare the piece of treasure in between the strangers fingers as he began talking again, giving a rambling explanation of what it was in a way that left him more confused and intrigued than before. His eyes unashamedly followed the path of the mysterious shining object as this Jim Hawkins person threw it up into the air, causing his fingers to twitch towards it involuntarily before he regained control and clamped his hand resolutely to his side.

'And who might you be?' The question, though a definite step up from 'What are you?' was still just as impossible to answer. "I'm nobody," He began, before he realized the man might be looking for a name, and luckily, he did in fact come with a label, "But you can call me John, I do."

The other man had taken a step closer, and John knew he should have responded by taking a step back. The duty always fell on him to keep a safe distance between him and the rest of the world. However, he found himself stepping forward from the shadows, taking the stranger's invitation to get a closer look at the unclaimed treasure. "If you don't know who it belonged to..." He queried gently and hopefully, "Can I have it?"

Never Never Land || Liam & John

Liam was a little un-trusting when he was out on his own, which was always, seen as most of his friends ended up dead, and even then, he didn’t exactly have many anyway. People his own age were scarce and his mind was a little, well.. childish at times. Still, he had Lucifer… kind of.

The Vampire was ready to send whoever was lurking in the darkness, into an even darker abyss when a voice responded with what seemed to the young vamp, to be a bit of humor. “Close enough?” he repeated and smirked a little "Sounds like you’re either a vampire or a zombie and I haven’t seen many brain eaters about. Funny that…. what with this being the apocalypse and all, guess the movies got it wrong." he chuckled.

Liam had been quite a movie buff when he was alive, a couch potato or whatever they used to say. He’d often get a kick from Devrynne for laying on the couch all day instead of doing his job, but he was a teenage boy, what did she expect? Then she turned him, and everything seemed to change, well, except the smacks and glares, they remained constant, but Liam put it down to the simple fact that she didn’t get his humor or his undeniable charm.

Now she was dead and the boy was left with only Lucifer as company, and let’s face it, he wasn’t the best role model in the world. Liam often found amusement in that though, and made his own amusement in the world that had come to be, this wasteland. Pirates treasure was one of those little things he could take pleasure in, of course, it wasn’t really buried treasure, just an old coin that Liam was ready to toss away, because nowadays, it was worthless. Money was no longer a tool of the devil, because it simply wasn’t worth a god damned thing.

"This?" he asked, rolling the coin over his fingers before flicking it into the air a little and catching it, making a spectacle just to keep himself entertained. "Buried treasure." he said with a snicker. "You never know who could of owned this, Long John Silver the pirate maybe. Which would make me, young Jim Hawkins." he grinned "And who might you be?" he asked with a piercing glance into the darkness, stepping forwards to get a better view.

[wayward-nobody]

John cringed at the woman's startled, unfinished exclamation and braced himself for the inevitable blast of noise and pain from her weapon, but it never came. Instead he found to his disbelief that she had taken his advice and was now running swiftly away from the fast-approaching horde. A human had never believed what he'd said with so little protest before, but maybe people were just a little more accepting when their lives were in immediate danger.

It took a moment for him to process this, just longe enough for the front of the pack to reach him, their path altering ever so slightly to avoid contact with him, like a river bending around a stone. For a moment he considered just slipping away behind them, leaving the woman with a chance of survival and maybe even a fond memory of how a stranger had tried to keep her safe. But as he watched her retreating figure he realized she was the first living soul to ever really listen to him, and for that he owed her more than a chance.

With a burst of speed he shot in front of the infected pursuers, grabbing the Croat at the apex of the group by the collar and throwing him with as much strength as he could muster into the oncoming horde, causing a squabbling chaos among the sprawled creatures that would hopefully buy the human a few precious moments longer to make her escape.

John continued to chase after the human, leaving behind the tangled mess of disgruntled infected bodies behind him. He was glad that his unique condition made it hard for him to tire, as this human could definitely hold her own in both speed and endurance. As he caught up to her he realized it was only because she was slowing down. Surveying the narrow street he soon noticed why; A lot of the alleys in this area were blocked by some kind of obstacle, and this one was dissected by a high fence topped with barbed wire.

"No, It's going to be okay." He murmured, trying to reassure both himself and her. He ran over to the corner where he had earlier discovered the chain-link was loose enough for him to squeeze underneath. He gave the human's petite frame a once over and decided it she should be able to fit without any trouble. Even so, he wrapped his hand in the end of his sleeve and pulled the sharp bottom edge of the fence out of the way as best he could, gesturing to her with his free hand that she should go first.

"You can trust me." He said, the words an offer, not a demand. "You don't have to..." -and you probably won't- he added silently, switching frantically between sending pleading looks towards the blonde human and scanning the distance for signs of the infected who were no doubt catching up, "But you can."

At the Crossroads || John & Sookie

One of Sookie’s duties when helping out with the small camp she had made with Jesse and some other survivors was to go scout the surrounding area for rogue survivors and bring them there for safety. Some would call it unwise to travel so far away from the camp but after the attack on the other one and having to deal with so many things before that, including Bon Temps, Sookie wasn’t as scared as she used to be. Yes, she was afraid that anything could happen and one wrong move could be her last, but you couldn’t let fear hold you back anymore. Sookie had been well prepared with her pack and a shot gun by her side. It felt good to actually rely on weapons other than the spray of light from her hands that only did so much.

Sookie was about half an hour away from the camp which might not have been that great of an idea but she wanted to scout areas she hadn’t before. Anybody could be in the abandoned buildings she was coming up on - Axel, Chevy, William. She’d want to make sure that they were safe. She was turning the corner of one of the buildings, noticing how destroyed and in ruins this place was, when she spotted a few Croats lurking outside of an old cafe with the sign broken in half. Now the white outline of a coffee cup just looked like a worm. Her boot scraped against the asphalt as she skidded to a stop and turned back around.

She took in a calming deep breath knowing that she’d have to start shooting in a few moments. Sookie didn’t know how many of them were here in grand total and just one fired shot could cause an army of them to come out of nowhere. Sookie took her shotgun in her hands, needing to make a snap decision. There was no reason for her to be eaten alive when she could just turn around and look around a different part of this abandoned town…or just go back to camp.

There was a sudden squeaky sound as a car door nearby her swung open and a man with pale skin jumped out telling her to run. “What the f-” Sookie started to say when her head spun over to see that the Croats had spotted them and were making a beeline straight towards them. Sookie didn’t waste time in running from them, wondering if this stranger would follow and wondering who he was. He was awfully pale. Vampire?

[wayward-nobody]

Venturing out into the crumbling remains of civilisation was becoming more and more common for John. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew this must be reckless, but he hadn’t caught sight of a human once in the blocks that were more overrun with the infected, and who knows, maybe he had been rebellious in his previous life? He’d never know unless he tried it out, or at least that’s what he told himself. 

Besides, he liked the routine of these scavenging missions, and the sense of purpose they gave him which made his ambling days seem less aimless. Having recently fed, he could now focus on his favorite pastime, collecting stray human objects. The items he collected were seemingly insignificant; a key, a photograph, a few mismatched pages from a book, and small enough to hide in the secret crevice near the entrance of ‘his’ cave, but they filled the space in a way that made it feel more personal. Even in the complete darkness that swallowed the cave every night, just knowing his treasures were there gave him comfort, and he couldn’t help but hope that some day he might find something that would trigger a memory of what being fully human had been like for him.

A swarm of infected people parted around him as he wandered into an as yet explored street, making it harder not to feel overly confident of his invisibility. The force of his otherness always seemed to repel people and creatures eventually, though in this case it worked in his favor. After hours of ducking in an out of abandoned and stripped bare buildings, night fell and he all but gave up on making any interesting discoveries. Just as he was making his way out of the building to head back to familiar shelter, the moonlight bounced off a small metallic disc lying in the rubble just outside. The corners off his mouth pulled up in that strange yet pleasant way as he realized he had found his prize.

 Unfortunately, so had someone else. John hastily ducked back inside the doorway as an oddly unafraid man strode over and picked up the object and called it treasure. While he was pleased that the stranger seemed to share at least a little of his appreciation for the find, he couldn’t help growling inwardly at the thought that it should have been his. Or make that growling out loud, as it turned out the man had heard him. One of major downsides of spending all his time alone was that it was hard to make sure his thoughts actually stayed inside his head.

 ‘Is anyone alive out there?’ Unable to resist catching one last glimpse of his would-be treasure, and fairly sure that the darkness would make it difficult to distinguish between him and a real person, he step out from the dusty threshold, shrugging in response. “Close enough.” He answered, trying to keep his eyes on the man’s face but they kept drifting back to the hidden treasure in his hand. “What’s that you’ve got there?” He asked, his voice a wavering a little past casual interest, knowing that information was just as valuable as a weight in his pocket.

Never Never Land || Liam & John

Walking was a bit of a novelty for Liam Taylor, he barely ever traveled on foot unless he was with someone. The penthouse of the hotel was up a lot of stairs, and stairs took too much effort, for someone like him. He missed the days when elevators worked and he could take a warm shower, but for now, the simple fact that he didn’t have to put up with all that foot aching was enough.

The air around him started to pick up, a breeze flew around him until it was strong enough for the vampire to feel that pull, to get carried away in the wind, evaporating into it till he was blown to the floor outside, hands sliding in to his pockets as he reappeared on the outskirts of town. It seemed quiet, but then nowadays everything seemed quiet, the noises of humanity that used to annoy him from the balcony at the Vegas Casino he’d lived in since the day he was turned were nothing but a distant memory. He found himself missing the screams, the music, the laughter.. everything he once found dull.

Walking dusty streets, empty and silent, he remembered the busy nights and bright lights of Vegas, the world had changed and in a way, he felt like he had helped it become the complete wasteland it was today. He hadn’t exactly been responsible for it, but he’d been helping Lucifer since the day he was turned, and he felt like some of the blame should be on him. It was a burden, but some days he just didn’t care, today was one of those days. A day where this new world and it’s inhabitants, were nothing more than a game to him, he had to make it a game, or the boredom would probably kill him.

Picking up a strange coin he noticed catching the sun, he smiled to himself “Buried treasure?” it was just a passing thought that crossed his mind but there were just a few similarities between himself and Peter Pan, the notion conjured up from pirates and Captain Hook, because after all, he was a boy that would never grow up. He lifted his arm, the coin above his head, ready to throw into the vast wasteland beyond the broken buildings that were all that’s left of the town, when he heard a noise. His first instinct was to vanish, to reappear when it was safe, but where was the fun in hiding?

Liam’s brow lifted, his eyes scanning his surroundings though his head didn’t move, not one muscle. "In true Titanic style…" he said quietly to himself before lifting his hand to his lips to help the sound travel "Is anyone alive out there?" he tried not to snicker, but it was an ironic joke, considering he was a vampire, and not really considered ‘alive’ himself.

[wayward-nobody]

At the Crossroads || John & Sookie

John knew it wasn't his place, crouched in the front seat of the rusted vehicle that lay abandoned on the dilapidated street corner. The cracked and lopsided mirror jutting from the ceiling in front of him confirmed that, highlighting the pale, discolored skin peaking out between the hood of his jacket and the scarf covering the lower half of his face. But when he had caught sight of the of the small plastic object dangling from said mirror his curiosity had been piqued, and when the door had popped open with very little trouble it had almost seemed like he was fated to collect whatever this little human trinket was.

Carefully he removed object from the mirror and held it up to his eyes so he could examine it. It was a small plastic rectangle that held a image of three humans, smaller than any he had seen, or ever remembered being, the corners of their mouths pulled up in a way that caused a warm feeling to spread through him. Startled by the sensation, he quickly stowed photo in his pocket for safe keeping. 

Just as he was about to exit the car, John notice through the front windscreen an infected man, which quickly morphed into a mob of about five, running towards him. This wasn't right at all; others of his kind always ignored him, seeing straight through him as if his existence was something that could not and should not ever be acknowledged, which meant he wasn't what they were running towards. 

Throwing a panicked look back into the mirror, he saw that there was in fact a blonde woman standing a short distance behind. It didn't seem like she had noticed any of the infected noticing her, himself included. This left him at a crossroads both literally and metaphorically; run towards the human and risk getting shot at, or run towards the infected and risk another stranger's blood on his hands. In the end there was only ever one choice. 

Throwing the door open he leapt from the vehicle, having formed a loose plan in his head that he would signal the human to run from a safe distance away and then split off into a different direction once he knew she was safe. No harm, no foul, hopefully no bullet wounds. However, this plan was quickly derailed when he found himself almost toe to toe with the woman as soon as he'd exited the car. He should have heeded that cryptic warning on the mirror: Objects are closer than they appear. "You should run." He breathed heavily, unsure of whether he was talking to her, or to himself.