Survival - Shadowfax and Si_Targaryen.

[Shadowfax]

This is a follow on RP of mine and AmyMarie's RP 'Survival of the fittest'. It takes part three months AFTER Ash and co escape from the hotel and the gang. Ashelin, worried for her friends safety, leaved the group under the cover of darkness and heads out into lands unknown. She is pregnant with Matt's child and knows he is seeking her out so if she is far away from George and the others, the less likely they are to be caught and captured. So begins another chapter x)

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The countryside was quiet and dead at this time of the evening. Infact, it was dead nearly everywhere you went these days. The killer virus that had swept the nation had been active for four months now. Food was harder to find, cars harder to start and friend even harder to come by.

For Ashelin Ford, the road was endless and lonely. She had friends once, but because of her care for them she had left. Young Sam, barely able to survive without parents. Aimee, the troubled teen. Aaron, the one she had only just leant to trust and then there was George, the one who had saved her and the one who had shown her kindness for the first time in her life.

Ashelin was walking down a country road, a backpack on her back and a bottle of water in her hand. It was the middle of summer so she walked with her hoodie round her waist, her tank top slightly damp with sweat and her belly starting to bulge. To her horror, she had discovered she was pregnant a few weeks ago. That was when she decided to leave. If Matt, the leader of that gang found her, or this unborn child it would be trouble. And she couldn't bare the thought of meeting that man again. Ever.

Every now and then she would look over her shoulder to see it anyone was coming. It was habit more than anything, but her military background told her to be cautious. More often than not there was nobody there, but there had been the odd deer and fox running behind her from time to time. As she looked ahead after one of her fleeting glances behind her, she spotted a small village up ahead. Instinctively she reached for the gun in the holster on her leg and kept her hand on it as she began to walk into the town.

[Si-Amber]

The high street was deserted. It had been for months.

For Mark, the memories of when the small town of Ammanford had been bustling with people, going about their daily business, felt like another life a long time ago. This former Carmarthenshire mining town was now, literally, a ghost town. It had been many months since he had spoken to another living person. That person had been his best friend, Chris. Friends since their first day at school and that friendship had ended with Mark burying Chris in the garden. He had to. He couldn't leaving him rotting on the sofa.

Strangely though, he hadn't grieved. Maybe that was because he had done all the grieving he could possibly do, many years before. He didn't even feel lonely. Maybe now he was just emotionally numb.

At the bottom of the high street, he turned right in to a smaller street of deserted shops and wandered downhill until he came to the indoor market. As before the plague of death came, he spent more time here than at the house. He preferred to be here among the books of the stall that he used to run. This dusty old market was his favourite place in the world. The place of his happiest memories. Whereas the house smelt of death, the market had been deserted during the outbreak and everything was just as it had been left.

[Shadowfax]

Ashelin made her way down the deserted road, her glances becoming less frequent. There was a sign just to her right which read; 'Ammanford' She was in unknown territory now, as always. Her hometown was Devon and that was miles behind her. Infact, her whole life she'd known was behind her now. All there was now, was Ashelin and the child in her belly. She winced at the thought as the memories of the hotel came back to her.

Ashelin feared that one day Matt would find her. She knew all to well he would be looking for her after what she had done to him and his group. Outsmarted by a woman, those proud men would surely detest her and want revenge.

When she reached the outskirts of the town she stopped and took in the surroundings. Was this place deserted? Could she get some supplies. The child was tiring her out these days and she still often threw up in the mornings. Such it was, she had made her decision and her atonement.

[Si-Amber]

The one thing that gave Mark pleasure was feeding the cats.Whenever he raided the shops for food and supplies, he would grab a few cans of tinned cat food. He didn't know where they had come from, but four of them would be in the car park, waiting for him, whenever he went out there.

He used bowls and a fork from the market's cafe to prepare the food. He unbolted the back door and stepped outside. There were grey clouds gathering in the sky. It would rain soon. Out from under the cars they came. One ginger, one black and two black and white. They made no noise as they walked across the car park and began to eat. Mark had learned though, that if he tried to get too close to them, they would run off. He hadn't quite gained their trust yet.

Once the cats had finished, they wandered back to where they had come from. Mark took a look across the car park and for a moment he thought he most be dreaming or hallucinating. In the distance wandering down the road, he caught sight of another human being.

[Shadowfax]

Ashelin entered the village and it seemed somewhat deserted at first glance. Still, it felt like this village had always been quiet as she walked through seeing the small little houses and the odd shop here and there. Heh, I doubt i'll find too much to eat here by the looks of things She thought as she walked through the quiet street.

Suddenly something rushed out in-front of her and she instinctively grabbed the gun in the holster on her leg. The small kitten stopped like a rabbit in headlights as it spotted Ash pointing the gun at it, but dashed off after a few seconds.

"Damn cat" Ashelin growled as she watched the kitten rush off towards a car park before re-holstering her weapon.

Ashelin had yet to spot Mark yet, which was odd for her. Usually she would have her wits about her and spot anyone a mile off, but right now she was so tired and annoyed with the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach she had not spotted him. She had however spotted a small newspaper shop up ahead so began to make her way over to it.

[Si-Amber]

Once Mark had established in his mind that the person was real, he started to wonder where they had come from. He was certain that the town had been deserted all this time, otherwise he would have seen other people raiding the shops as he had done. This person must be a new arrival. They hadn't seen him, he was sure of that. He watched as the figure headed towards the newspaper shop and enter it.

Mark took a couple of minutes to decide whether to follow. This person could be anyone, perhaps they were dangerous. He toyed with the idea that it could be a zombie, but dismissed this quickly as the figure hadn't been moving quite as slowly as the walking dead. Picking up a plank of wood, just to be on the safe side, he made towards the shop.

Reaching the shop, he paused for a moment, he could here sounds from within as the person was obviously going through the stock. They won't find much usefulhe thought to himself. He had already raided this one of anything likely to aid survival and had removed it to the indoor market. He braced himself for a moment, then holding the plank of wood tightly, he entered the shop.

[Shadowfax]

Ashelin stepped into the dark and deserted paper shop only to find that most of it's shelves were bare and empty. She swore and began pushing papers over to see if there was anything hidden underneath the paper. Nothing seemed to be though, so she wandered over to the till to find the second thing she was looking for; Ammo, or any kind of weapons. She was always cautious and anything that might be useful always found it's way into her pack However, there was nothing of use here. Nothing at all so she kicked the counter with frustration before turning back to the doorway.

Her belly gave a sudden shudder and she winced with annoyance as the beast stirred. She hated it when the child did that. The thought of that monsters child growing within her made her want to retch. Then, her thoughts were interrupted. There was a man standing in the doorway. How long had he been there? Ashelin grit her teeth and quickly grabbed the gun in the holster, her bangles jingling as she raised the gun.

"Who the hell are you and what do you want?" She growled.

[Si-Amber]

The girl hadn't noticed him entering the shop, she was too busy in her frustration, rummaging through the leftover papers. She was a few inches shorter than him, around the same age, definitely a living human, definitely female and with a small but distinctive pregnancy bump.

She looked very desperate, possibly even dangerous, and Mark considered backing back out of the shop and watching from a safer distance. But something made him stay routed to the spot. Maybe it was because he felt sorry for her. This girl was in the same position as he was in, but with the added burden of being pregnant. Maybe it was just because it had been so long since he'd been this close to a person who was alive.

Suddenly she saw him, and within seconds he had a gun pointing straight at him.

"Whoa there" he said, trying to catch his breath. He dropped the plank of wood. "No need for weapons is there? I don't want to hurt you. My name is Mark and I can show you where to find what you need".

[Shadowfax]

Unfortunately for Ashelin her mentality told her that anyone and everyone needed to be treated with caution so her hands stayed around the gun handle. Her 'situation' hadn't affected her reflexes and she was still quick. Then the man told her his name and that he could tell her where to find what she needed.

Ashelin tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"How do you know what I need?" She snapped after a few moments silence.

Mark had dropped the weapon, well supposed weapon she thought as she looked at the plank of wood on the floor. So he didn't mean to attack... or did he? He might have a knife of something in his pocket. She held his gaze for a moment. Matt and his gang had made her all the more paranoid so she wasn't taking any chances. Still, the man had a kindness to him.. A kindness she had only ever seen in one other.

"How many of you are there?" She then went on to say, the gun still pointed at Mark.

[Si-Amber]

Mark was trying to staying as calm as one possibly could when faced with a clearly distressed young woman, pointing a gun at you.

"I'm guessing you're looking for food and drink for starters" he tried a smile. "I've got plenty to share and it isn't far away"

A hundred different thoughts were going around in Mark's head, mostly about how he didn't want to die like this. Not when he had survived for so long after everyone else. He just hoped that the girl was just trying to protect herself and didn't actually want to kill him. She was gazing straight at his eyes. Surely if she meant to kill him, she would have pulled the trigger by now.

"There is just me" he said "or at least I'm pretty sure there is. I hadn't seen another living person for months until I spotted you. You could put the gun down? Neither us wants to hurt each other, right?"