#zhparas

[sgtblake-blog]

Mystery Meat // Open To All

Their lunch has mystery meat in it. Maya’s too kind to tell him what it is, exactly, but Henry thinks it’s spam. It’s got an awful, processed texture to it that’s impossible to ignore, and it tastes like fake ham. It’s cooked in a stew, with other miscellaneous canned vegetables that they had lying around. That’s what a traditional stew is, before you could just go to the grocery store and buy produce from all around the country. It works, because it has to work, and Henry’s not complaining out loud about it.

He sits on the couch, relaxing after a morning of pumping the well. He woke at five to start the menial labor, dragging Leo with him, and after six hours of work with three water breaks they’re done. Leo disappears to change and cool down, but Henry heads straight for the kitchen. He probably doesn’t smell all too good, but none of them do really. Maya greets him, handing out a bowl, and Henry hunkers down on the couch.

He eats quickly while there’s no one around. He must be one of the first people down for lunch, and the living room is surprisingly quiet as Henry waits for the stew to cool down just a little so it doesn’t burn his tongue. He hears someone come into the room and tries not to sigh at the intrusion. It’s common living space, but Henry gets restful silence so rarely, he cherishes it when it’s there. Henry doesn’t turn to greet them as he puts another spoonful of stew into his mouth.

#nov 13 #zhparas #zhstarts #open #78

[countrygirlholden-blog]

A Shovelful of Dirt || Jess & OPEN

The work has been long and hard. Jess is relieved the weather isn’t staying as hot as it would be had they been doing this in the summer heat, but she’s still sweaty and filthy, dirt clings to her everywhere and she’s still going, still digging the hole even deeper, she had it about three feet deep, and five feet long, she still wanted to get it deeper but she was taking a break to re-hydrate and let her body relax for a moment. Next to the hole is a pile of make shift stakes, wood and a few sharp rusted metal pieces. When she gets the hole to the right depth she’ll start setting the bottom so if anything falls in it’s going to get stuck.

Taking a long pull of her water though it’s warm it’s not as hot as her body is, and it feels cool going down. Sweat makes her hair stick to her neck despite it being up in a bun, and she wipes a stray hair from her forehead. Sitting at the edge with her feet hanging in the hole Jess is happy to have gotten as far along as she has, there are still a few traps to set up but so far things are going on schedule, she does what work she can when she’s not on patrol, and others help when they can. While she takes her break, Jess pulls out her knife and grabs a piece of unsharpened wood and starts to make the tip a point, her back is to the fence and she keeps her sense trained to hear if someone or something comes around, the only sound she hears is the quiet of the woods and the scrape as her knife takes part of the wood off.

When she hears the sound of footstep approaching behind her Jess turns to look and when she sees that the sound is a friendly Jess goes back to work quickly, she doesn’t really have time for chit chat and she needs to get these last few stakes done before she gets going on the hole, she hopes to have it done before night falls.

#open #zhparas #open para #nov05 #para: shovelful of dirt #shovel01 #shovel02

[recurvekai-blog]

desperation ; kai & open

Kai had barely left the yard since the last supply run - only returning to the house when she had scheduled herself to eat or grab another ration of water. She spent most of her time since that day walking laps around the fence and practicing her shot on trees or whatever small animal seemed to make it’s way close enough to the house to give her more of a challenge. She had already tirelessly made herself enough of a back-stock of arrows from various branches she would stumble across on her rounds that she had enough to refill any entire quiver if she needed to. 

For the first time since she had joined up with the group, Kai felt helpless. They had lost two members in just the past few weeks. Zombies were cropping up more and more often around the farm and she could feel Henry’s restlessness about it even when she wasn’t around him. The safe, homey feeling that she got in the confines of the farm’s fence were beginning to slip and fade and Kai was starting to realize that she had been looking at things with a soft filter. Sure, she knew how harsh the world was - had held a woman’s head in her lap as she mercy killed her - but Kai had stupidly gotten comfortable.

Now the comfort was gone and she wasn’t ready to adapt to the stress and anxiety and unrest that came with living in a world where death waited around every corner. She was losing people around her, people she couldn’t afford to lose, and because of that she found herself unable to leave the yard - to stop making rounds in an attempt to keep everyone else as safe as she could possibly manage. 

At this point, she had been 36 hours without sleep. Her hips were killing her under the stress of how much walking she had done in the past day and a half, either constantly moving in circles around the perimeter of the house or getting into their usual stance she took when she was shooting, but still Kai wasn’t planning on stopping. This was all she could do right now. This was the best she could offer to the rest of them. At the break of dawn, she watched - only for a moment - as the early risers in the house made their way out for their daily duties and tasks. Her tired eyes, rimmed with exhausted circles dark enough that they looked like bruises, turned back to the tree line, and she wasn’t aware of the person walking up to her from behind (all of her attention was out there, where the only danger could come from) until they made their presence known.

#zhstarts #zhparas #here u go #sorry if it sucks! #i'm still technically on hiatus for another day #but i've made time in my schedule for rp!

[deputyrichard-blog]

A Days Work || Richard & Open

With everything that bad happened on the supply run the other day at least they did come back with a good bit of supplies. And a truck. The truck gave them so many more options. A way to leave if push came to shove and it went to that. But more so a way to get more supplies. With a truck they could find a old Home depot or lumber store and they could really build this place up to last.

At least it was one thing to smile about while the whole house seemed to be on edge now. The truck was still mostly loaded up. It seemed to have been pushed to the back of most peoples minds when they got back. Richard was also at fault for that.

Standing behind the truck Richard opening the tail gate. The tool boxes were heavier and it was a bit of a strain to get them out of the back on his own. Richard managed though and from there it was pretty simple to push them in the direction of the barn. He debated organized the shed, taking all the tools and putting them in one place. But with out seeing Jay to be able to tell her what he was doing and the bad mood he had noticed her being it he thought it was best for now not to make that worse but reorganizing her area.

So he worked on the barn. He got the first tool boxed move in before heading back to get the second one. What he would give to have had his old MP3 playing. It was always better then working in silence. It was one of the luxuries Richard didn’t think he would miss until he no longer had it. Back at the truck he grabbed the other tool box and started pushing it back to the barn like the first.

#sept 18 #zhstarts #zhparas #p:a days work

[navigatoralex-blog]

Awareness || Alex & Open

Before all of this, cartography was an art, a form of relaxation for Alex. Now, it’s a matter of life and death - and she doesn’t even have the proper tools for it. Alex would probably kill for a roll of graph paper or a sextant right now. Sadly, those aren’t exactly the kind of things they’re going to find on a supply run, so she’s going to have to make do with her estimates and a few 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper.

While her current map of the surroundings is decent enough, it’s starting to get cramped; if she’s going to add any more detail to it, it’ll have to be scaled up to a larger size. Doing so is a little awkward and requires her to commandeer the entirety of the dining table, given that she’s drawing a single map on multiple sheets of paper, but she makes it work. Not like she has much choice in the matter, really. 

Alex manages to finish roughly half on it before the sound of footfalls alerts her to someone’s approach. Ugh. To be fair, she is working on the kitchen table - it was only a matter of time before someone else walked in. But still, it’s the principle of the thing.

“Do you need something?”

#sept15 #zhstarts #zhparas

[hardhat-jay-blog]

Much Needed Break || Jay & _____

It Jay wasn’t already so addicted to caffeine she might have spit the second she took a drink from the soda bottle. Flat pepsi, months old flat pepsi that had been sitting in the car in Georgia heat, was much worse then anything she ever had before the outbreak. Jay would drink pepsi only if it was the only thing available. And now it was.

She found a glass in the kitchen and poured a cup. It wasn’t any different besides missing any and all carbonation. Putting the cap back on the bottle Jay carried both out to the porch. It was horrible. But Jay downed the half of the first cup quickly. It had been forever since she actually had soda. She more then likely could finish the whole bottle while sitting right there. But no, as much as she may like that, she knows how to make something last.

The bubbles of the drink might be gone but it still has the caffeine which means Jay saves on a cup of coffee today or her caffeine pills. While she was lucky to find some while out on the search, once they leave here she is going to need every last one of them. Letting out sigh Jay sits the bottle and cup down next to her and leans back on the step behind her. She doesn’t open her eyes up until she hears someone coming closer.

#15 #aug 20 #p:much needed break #zhparas #zhstarts

[ellie-rpg-blog]

Bed Time Story || Ellie&Open

The Georgia sun had long since disappeared from the sky and the days work at the farm house had come to a close. Still, despite it being well past an hour that most members of the group were in bed for the night, Ellie was nestled in a neat bundle on one of the beaten up, worn out benches of the front porch. The lantern directly beside her was turned low both because she wanted to draw as little attention from anyone still awake indoors as possible and because what she was doing required only so much light. 

With the blanket from her bed pulled tightly around her shoulders and held near up to her nose, Ellie’s eyes scanned the pages feverishly, an elvish smile lifting the edges of her lips in just the slightest and holding it in a tiny grin of enjoyment. Even then, stuck in a world of the actual living dead, Ellie found herself fixed on reading about the type of creatures that now surrounded them. It wasn’t any new reading material but a book she’d read a few years previous while in the hospital. There’d been a copy in the attic, and despite desperately craving some information to read on maybe the Z-4 virus, or the present day zombies, anything was better than nothing. 

It was during one of the more suspenseful moments of the book that the sound of the front door opening jump startled Ellie, and her eyes shot up, as round and terrified as a deer caught in headlights. The fear was short lived, replaced by an airy, half-hearted and brief laugh as her eyes fell back to the pages and her head gave a shake. "You know, despite what I’m sure were Max Brooks’ intentions, anyone who followed this “Zombie Survival Guide” is probably dead at this point.” Her heart still beat violently in her chest.

#zhrpg01 #events #event #zhparas #zhstarts

[anukarana-ama-barda-blog]

Needle Pulling Thread || Maya & Open

With her daily tasks completed in the timely manner that she had become accustom to, Maya now found herself on the front porch of the estate with a small pile of garments beside her. Her nimble hands gently moving up and down as she pulled thread through various lengths of cloth, a soft hum left the den mother’s lips. Such simple work had once seemed a chore that she would have done while completing seven other tasks, but now it was oddly calming. The once mundane had slowly become what brought Maya the most peace and reminded her what made her feel human in such dire times.

The echo of footsteps gently entering the orchestration of her lips’ song and Maya’s attention turned to the source of the sound as her hand finished one last stroke of work. Her usual smile appearing in a soft, genuine manner, her eyes closed ever so slightly as she gently questioned, ❝ Do you need something, dear? ❞ 

Resting the article of clothing and her working hands on top of her covered thighs, the brunette’s attention turned fully to the person before her. As some small kindness she could easily give to the world, Maya always tried her best to make whoever she was speaking to feel as though they were the most important person in the world - if only for the time they were speaking.

#para #event1 #zhstarts #zhparas #aug06

[countrygirlholden-blog]

Plans To Protect || Jess & Henry

She’d spent the rest of her night working on the plans for Henry, she’d spent one run going around the fence and Jess made sure to look everywhere just to get the locations in mind. Jess had then spent the rest of her evening checking out all the spare supplies, listing them out for the traps and making a few crude drawings for each set off supplies. She’d had a few down but she wouldn’t know for sure which ones to use until Henry showed her what places he wanted the traps at. Night had fully fallen and the midnight patrol would be back soon, she was finishing up a few designs while she waiting for Henry.

The house was mostly quiet, everyone has worked their way upstairs. Sleep calling most of them for the night, Jess would normally be waiting for the patrol out front but Jess had a few more things to go over, and she’d spent a lot of her time seeing what she could use. The candlelight flickered and gave some light to the room, just enough for her to check over her work. She’s actually happy she was able to come up with a few ideas, things she thinks would work and others that are simply larger more deadly traps she’s made for smaller game, what would be good to have would be a few large claw traps, she never used them but she knew they were deadly and would mess up any leg that stepped on it.

Jess hears voices coming from the porch and she looks up just as the patrol returns, feet are being dragged and Jess gives them a small wave as they head upstairs. When Henry walks inside Jess gives him a nod and flips her book to the start of the trap set ups, “well soldier boy, I’ve got a few ideas but it wall depends on you now.”

#zhparas #henry #para: henry #oct26 #para: plans to protect

[countrygirlholden-blog]

Catch and Kill || Jess & Henry

The air is cooler as the sun drops in the sky, evening is taking over for the day and Jess is grateful to be able to relax a bit after a busy day. She’s on the ground in front of the porch working on the traps she used with Jay the other day, trying to make sure her knots are the best they can and the fast she has them done the safer they’ll all be when heading out on a hunt. They’re going to need more twine though, she’s sure of that and she makes a note in her journal to add it to the list of supplies they’re going to need.

She has the sticks set and she sticks her hand through the loop and gives a small pull, the loop tightens around her wrist and she smiles and nods to herself, makes a note in her book and she goes back to work, seeing how better to make the trap work. If she can make them in almost one piece, it would be easy to have someone else help her set them up, and take them down, to better cut the time it would take to set and collect them. She knows they work since she got something out of them but there was always room for improvement.

Jess keeps working and she makes a small adjustment, and works to set the trap up again. She had picked up small pieces of wood and sticks as she worked around the farmhouse, no pieces that would really be needed for anything, she’d take some off the peach trees as well. She grabs one and starts to shave it a bit to make one end sharp enough to stake into the ground.

When she feels someone approach she looks up to see Henry, “hello soldier boy.”

#zhparas #oct26 #henry #para: henry #para: catch and kill

[countrygirlholden-blog]

Hunting for Luck || Jess & Jay

Jess knows that the area is mostly lacking in wildlife, with the amount of times she’s hunted and the loading of zulus coming in most have moved on to safer land. She can’t help but feel bothered that while the animals run, they stay. The wildlife knows this area is a threat now so there’s no reason for them to stay. She waits on the porch now, Jay should be here any minute for them to go out and hunt. Jess hopes to find something, anything and Jess plans to set a few snares, maybe get something small just to make sure her skills are up in that regard. She knows eventually that they’re going to be on their own, out there in the woods and Jess doesn’t want to set off gunshots all the time while hunting and bring some zulus their way. Trapping was quiet and clean, and would often gather plenty of kills if you knew what you were doing. It’s been a while since she’s done any, and she wishes she had thought of doing this earlier.

Sighing she plays with the roll of twine she found, feeling it in her hands, the one things he’s grateful for, having found the twine that was actually the kind she’d really need to use. She doesn’t really care if she finds enough to make a large meal out of it, she simply wants to see if she’s still decent at it and able to make a snare that would hold something.

Looking to the sky Jess breaths in deep, the air is cool due to the early morning and the sun has been steadily moving up in the sky, she’ll set the traps as they go, and check them as they come back. Gathering any and all snares she made that didn’t get her anything, she didn’t want to risk them getting anything later and leaving a trail of fresh kills leading to the house like breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel.

The creaking of the door draws her to Jay as she comes out of the house, and Jess smiles, she’s excited to get moving and doing something outside of just sitting around and worrying. She holds up the roll of twine and starts moving off the porch. “I though I would set some snares, I want to see if I still know how to do it.”

#zhparas #oct25 #jay #para: jay #para: hunting for luck

[countrygirlholden-blog]

A Mindless Hobby || Jess & OPEN

It’s been months since she even bothered doing any kind of work with wood. She didn’t have the kind of tools she would have liked but her leatherman helps well enough and she’s had some skill just using her pocket knife as well. The sun is close to going down and Jess sits on the porch steps working on the piece she found while on patrol. There are a few shavings on her lap and on the ground beneath her feet. She’s not full sure what she’s working on but as they have before she usually gets around to something. She often finds herself carving deer and other animals she finds in the woods. She used to have a small shelf where they ended up and it gives her something to do to relax her mind as the day came to an end and everyone made their way inside for the night.

Another shaving ended on the ground and Jess still kept attention on the world around her, mindlessly shaving small piece after small piece, falling to the ground, she takes a long look at the wood in her hand and gets to work on another part of the piece, the bark is mostly all gone, she’s glad to have found a good piece, it’s not too hard but it isn’t going to fall apart.

She hears someone approach her and she looks up as they sit down next to her, “you know, patients is key when working with wood. You can never go too fast, you can’t take off too much at a time because you can’t put it back, can’t undo anything. I’d always work on pieces when work was calm.” She spins the piece around her hand and takes another shaving off the end of it.

#oct23 #zhparas #open para #para: a mindless hobby

[countrygirlholden-blog]

Only The Fit Survive || Jess & Henry

The early morning air was cooler than things had been in some time and for that Jess was thankful. She was wearing shorts and her tank top, as comfortable as she can be given the workout she’s about to have. Her pre-stretching is calming and she does it on the porch as she waits for Henry to arrive. She’s got her pistol and blade near her, she’ll take them out wherever Henry leads her so she can make sure to have protection just in case, she doesn’t trust this place anymore and she’s not going to go about unprotected.

Standing she bends to the side, stretching down to touch her toes and straightening to pop her back. She usually runs a bit, does push ups and sit ups to keep her body as good as she can. She tries to do as much as she can to keep things fit, her endurance is the most important to her and she’s not going to slack off, especially now. Growing up she’d been as into fitness as she was now, always getting up early for a morning run before work. Her brothers had been into sports so she always had a running buddy, and sometimes she could even get Josh to go with her, though those runs never lasted long, always ending up in him making a joke that would leave her too tired from laughing to continue.

She just wishes she’d had some sort of sneaker, her boots will do her well enough and she didn’t want to bother with wearing pants, she didn’t want to risk tearing anything, she only had the two pairs and she hardly wore these shorts. The sound of the door opening makes her stop her stretching for now and turn to see Henry.

“Ready when you are.”

#henry #para: henry #zhparas #oct20 #para: only the fit survive

[sgtblake-blog]

Keeping Busy // Open To All

Alex is dead. That’s two dead civilians in the same goddamn month, and Henry’s not happy about it. He throws himself into patrols, spending up to twelve hours outside each day. When he’s not out protecting the perimeter, Henry’s outside somewhere, giving the extra manpower when it’s needed. At night he retires to the living room or dining room, depending on which is more quiet. Here he tracks zulus patterns and movements, tries to draw up alternate evacuation routes, and prays to God to give him the strength and patience to wait for another group vote.

The farm house has proven unreliable. One death could be an accident, pure and simple, but two is a sign. The area is becoming saturated with zulus as they move further and further away from major streets and cities to find fresh food. If they hadn’t been at a previous location, where they already had an awful zulu incident, Alex would still be here today. Henry firmly believes that the farm house, or staying at the farm house, will get them all killed. If only he could convince everyone else that.

So he sits at the dining room table, reviewing hand written notes and maps by candle light. They have Alex’s gear, of course, and getting that plastic map back is all too bittersweet. Henry can still remember the conversation, how hopeful she had seemed at getting new information. And now she’s dead. He tucks the thought away, pouring over the map. There are rivers that can be followed, and provide them with a water source so that they can make it without resourcing drying up. Moving a group as large as theirs is possible. They can manage it.

Henry’s lost in his own thoughts when someone else enters the room. It’s only been a day and a half since they brought Alex’s body back to base camp, but she’s been buried and taken care of. Now, Henry has to try to keep everyone else alive as the defenses of the farm house crumbles around them. It’s a lot to take in.

#oct 15 #zhparas #zhstarts #open come TALK TO POOR HENRY #66

[countrygirlholden-blog]

Stuck In A Rut || Jess & OPEN

The early morning sunlight warms her face despite the slight chill the evening brought, it won’t last much longer, the heat is going to come again. She wouldn’t call her mood totally foul. She’s had a day to sleep on the vote and she’s less angry than she was last time, now she’s just disappointed. Disappointed that yet again it was decided to stay, though she’s happy to know that more people seem to have gained some common sense and voted to get the fuck off this farm. She sits on the porch rocking back and forth in one of the chairs. Soon others will rise and they will all get back to work quickly, working to make this place safer, soon enough they will hopefully be going on a scouting mission again, and Jess hopes it brings better fortune than the last one.

Closing her eyes she leans her head back and continues to rock, slow and steady, there isn’t much activity just yet, and Jess is thankful for the quiet. The new additions to the house seem to be settling decently, getting into the rhythm of the house and being given chores. She’s still on the fence about how she feels about them, with Fallon things started off rough, the girl gave her and Jay attitude, but Jess didn’t really see her as a threat, more talk than anything else. But she was still going to keep an eye on both new additions, she wasn’t about to trust them easily, it wasn’t something she ever really did, and especially given how things started with Fallon, Jess wasn’t going to let her guard down near them both anytime soon.

Breathing deeply she grips the arms of the chair and opens her eyes when she hears the door of the house creak open, she turns to see whoever it is and gives them a small wave.

#zhparas #oct12 #para: stuck in a rut #rut1 #rut2 #rut3

[sgtblake-blog]

Day After Day // Open To All

The sun beats down on Henry’s brow as he heaves another piece of wood into one of the wheelbarrows. Every piece of wood that they can salvage is another piece that Jay can use. They’ve already started filling up some of the holes. The storm wrecked so much and it feels futile, but Henry isn’t about to say that out loud. Not when Jay is throwing herself into the fence like it’s the only thing in the world that matters.

He grunts as one of the large, wooden planks clunks against the rest of his pile. He’s nearly done, which means he’s dripping in sweat and the exhaustion is kicking in. It’s been days and days of labor, with Henry waking up early to work out and get started before the sun really heats up. After lunch, he may as well be in a frying pan. It’s around 1500 and Henry can feel himself slowing down. He winds up stripping off of his shirt at some point, unable to deal with the starchy, itchy cotton that clings to him. It’s a sight everyone on the farm house is used to already, and Henry makes sure to remember to keep himself hydrating, heading back inside whenever he feels thirsty. Every once and awhile, someone volunteers to go with him, and he drags them along for a couple of hours until they’re too tired to keep going.

He pushes through the pain and the unending soreness that burrows under his skin and in his bones. He hits the wall, where he feels like he can’t go any more. It’s been patrols and collecting and more patrols and everything else under the sun. And once he hits it, he struggles through it, wheeling the heavy wheelbarrow over to where Jay has been working. He drops the supplies off, and heads back to the expansive grounds of the house. It feels like it’ll never end, but Henry continues on working.

Soon, things will change. He’ll be proposing another vote, and hopefully everyone dragging their ass about leaving will see how important it really is. The new people at camp probably won’t be a help for him; they aren’t going to want to move after finding the farm house so soon. But the others, Colton and Rich and Layne, maybe it’ll get through their thick, stubborn skulls that no one is really safe here at the farm house. They’ve clearly warn out their welcome.

#zhparas #zhstarts #oct 8 #58