Franses ~

Masking my concern with puns, I head back to the entrance.

"I'm gonna go look for more people. Hopefully, I'll find a doctor or something.  Luckily, they won't be "med"iocre."

"Ugh! Fine, but be safe. I'm making spaghetti tonight in the new kitchen!"

I chuckle, grab as many weapons as needed, and head out.

The wind is cold against my face. I pull my hood up, and pull my hoodie lower. All I have to do is look for humans, and watch out for zombies. In the distance, I hear two voices. Cautiously, I move toward them. I'm pretty quiet, not disturbing them, until I step on a twig. They turn around in fear, staring at me, probably wondering if I'm a zombie or not, since I'm in the shade. 

@Shadow Dragon, who are you thinking Benedict finds? 

Franses ~

"Now, that's not the way you greet a person," I say, grinning at them. I stick my hand out. The blonde one hastily reaches out to shake my hand. They grab it, but pull away in an instant.

"Ha, I guess you didn't find my hand buzzer humorous." I pull back my sleeve to show the little red button strapped to my palm.

"Why would you be wearing a hand buzzer in the apocalypse?!"

"Oh, I just forgot to take it off. You know, with the zombies and all, you forget simple things like hand buzzers."

They continue to eye me warily.

"Well, I said my name. What's yours?"

"Danie." 

"Ren."

Some zombies start heading towards us.

"Follow me. I can take you someplace safe. By the way, do any of you happen to be doctors?"

"What about supplies?!"

"There are supplies where I'm taking you. Come on!"

They follow me to the hollow tree, looking at me like I'm crazy as I climb inside, but they still follow. I continue to show them the way, until we reach the shelter.

"Oh! Franses, I didn't know you would be back so soon! And you brought new guests! Luckily, I made lots of spaghetti. Show them to the sleeping quarters while I finish making dinner." 

People, comment.

Poppy ~

When dinner is ready, I call Franses and our guests. We sit on the ground on an old blanket, since we have no table.

"Hey Poppy, do we have any raisins?" 

"Of course. I'll go get some."

I go to the cabinets, grab a snack sized box of raisins, and throw them to Franses. They hit her in the face.

"Sheesh Poppy, what was the raisin for that?"

I'm not that sorry it hit her now.

"Hey Danie, Ren, you wanna hear a joke?"

They shrug their shoulders.

"Franses, no."

"What happened to the spaghetti at the end of its life?"

"What?"

"It PASTA-WAY!"

"FRANSES!!!" 

Not entirely. The raisin one was made by Buggy when one of my friends threw a raisin at her for fun. The pasta one was partly inspired by a joke I once saw. And maybe one of us could find Iris, since I'm trying to gather everyone up so then we're all together. 

Benedict-

The figure halts for a moment, and then takes off running, recklessly, fearfully, then disappearing from view. Just another victim of what has befallen the world. l don’t believe that l am terribly surprised by the zombies. Humanity was bound to do this sooner or later, to unleash some force that would kill off all or at least part of the humans. Not like l intended to just sit around whilst the zombies swarmed around me.

l would be the last one standing alive, if it came too that. l would go to the most deserted place on the planet and l would wait out until the zombies were destroyed.

And then the world would be mine to conquer.

Because only the most ambitions would rise out of the ashes and death after all of this is over and make the most of things. What people had never realized throughout the ages that really the only thing standing in their way was theirselves.  Because of the reins of society and government, ideas could never be taken as far as they possibly could, brilliant minds would never even see an inch of power. But now, oh yes now, things are different. People are so afraid of change, and yet the greatest change of all is coming.

l, Benedict Carter, will conquer the world.

l fall onto my face, having tripped over a partly closed trap door in the ground. l hadn’t realized that l’d come so far. The place looks abandoned, old, disused.

Embarrassed, l pick myself off the ground, spitting the dirt out of my mouth.

Behind me, the trapdoor creaks up from below, a cauious head poking out and a nervous voice echoing through the air. ((It’s Iris, l hope that's okay.))

~~~~~~~~

ehehe. l feel that at this point Benedict sounds pretty evil. Rest assured, he isn’t as much s l make him out to be.

~Ren

l specially raise an eyebrow, watching the two girls, then turn my attention to the ceramic plate of warm spaghetti in my hands, covered in a thick,, steaming red sauce, and topped with a sprinkle of thin, flakey cheese  like snow, and a single meatball.

Merely to be polite-you can never know what offends some people-l refrain as best l can from devouring the spaghetti in the resemblance of a wild animal. It actually has been awhile since l last ate, l was on the plane for most of the day and night, l had been too panicked about the zombies to feel my hunger.

After eating the spaghetti, l carefully lick the rest of the sauce from it, ignoring all odd glances sent at me during my eating.

It was not before l had licked my lips and set the plate down that l realized, quite sickeningly, that the meatball looked strangely like the eyeball of a zombie.

“So, ah, where are you from? Why are you here?” Questions Franses, looking at Danie and l.

“Oh, l’m a--a traveler of sorts.” l reply, airly. “My plane crashed not far from here, l was knocked out and when l woke up l found out that all the passengers and the pilots had been turned into zombies.”

They nod quietly.

“l’m an explorer.” l add after a few seconds of silence. “Discovery is my specialty.”

Where do you guys think Ella can fit into the story? 

Hey guys, I'm upping Franses's age to 20. Poppy will stay the same.

l’ve realized that this character doesn’t fit his personality, so l’ll change it a bit….

He isn’t fiercely angry, only darkly bitter and worn down, cold and brutally blunt. Insensitive and unchanged by anything and everything. He simply doesn’t care about what happens to anyone anymore, only doggedly determined.

Benedict-

l raise my eyes as a mirror of the girl’s. Apparently this amuses her, as she gives a small snicker. She has red hair, tied up in a ponytail, messily so, one of her eyes is light blue, the other is noticeably covered by a plain black eyepatch.

“Benedict.” l say, in response.

l’ve always found it odd meeting another person, just as far as saying a word or two to them. Most of them usually find out very quickly that l am not one of those cheerful optimists, who always see the world through rose-tinted glasses no matter how much of the truth of things they know.

However, this is far from what usually happens on a daily basis.

“Sorry for…..Tripping upon you like that. It takes a smart coward to hide like this.”

Iris frowns at me slightly, not knowing if that was meant as a insult or a compliment. Let her take it as she thinks right.

“A smart, paranoid, coward indeed.” l mutter to myself, starting to look the cellar over. Old, but steady enough to last through a hurricane.

Iris still watches standing in the same place, as l examine the walls of the cellar. She probably is expecting me to talk more about myself. l hate doing that. People talk enough that l don’t have too.

An awkward silence ensues.

Perhaps only awkward  if you hate silence. l found nothing wrong with it.

“So, um, who exactly are you? And why are you here?”

“Benedict Carter, mechanic.”

l spin around to face her.

“Plan of defense and offense, evaluation of supplies and shelter. Anything else?”

~~~~~~~

You can change anything if it is too controlling of your character, St.