{"id":470,"date":"2013-09-17T12:50:34","date_gmt":"2013-09-17T17:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jeezjosie.com\/blog\/?p=470"},"modified":"2013-09-06T23:51:03","modified_gmt":"2013-09-07T04:51:03","slug":"all-we-have","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jeezjosie.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/all-we-have\/","title":{"rendered":"All We Have"},"content":{"rendered":"

      Today\u2019s snippet, titled \u201cAll We Have\u201d, is a piece I wrote about an NPC in Paul’s new Zombie Campaign (using GURPS for Session One, but we’re moving to All Flesh Must Be Eaten for future sessions. The intention behind this was to recap events occurring in the world, from the point-of-view of my PC, Helen Poots.
\n      Be forewarned, there are mature themes and naughty language below.
\n– \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 –
\n      \u201cYOU\u2019RE ALIVE!\u201d
\n      Helen blinked, sitting up in bed.
\n      \u201cOH MY GOD, AUNT STAR! Where are you? \u2026 What? \u2026 Okay, okay! No, I\u2019m fine! Miss Poots and Doctor- \u2026 Yeah, they\u2019re staying with me. The whole block is- \u2026 Yeah, but-\u201d
\n      She lifted her arm, squinting down at the tiny hands of her watch. Its five in the bloody morning, duck, what ever are you screaming about?<\/em>
\n      \u201cOkay, okay Aunt Star! But where are you?\u201d
\n      Oh. Her Aunt and Uncle are alive. Excellent. <\/em>She yawned, quirking a brow even as her mouth opened uncontrollably. Hope they don\u2019t put us to the street when they get here.<\/em>
\n      \u201cAunt Star? Aunt Star? Hello? HELLO?\u201d
\n      Helen picked up her iPhone and turned it on. It had a full battery at the moment, for she had been charging it every time the power popped on for a bit. No signal. I must\u2019ve missed the window. Damn\u2026<\/em>
\n      But it wasn\u2019t a big loss for her. Helen had spoken to Irene once more since the that first call on Day Two and the young woman was holed up with a good-sized group in Enola. As far as she could tell, Irene was the only one of her girls who had survived. Helen had no family of her own left and she had lost track of the Cumberbatch girls years ago.
\n      There was no one to call and check on. No one to worry about. No one who cared to hear that she was all right.
\n      Helen was alone.
\n      \u201cHelen! Alex! Helen! Alex!\u201d
\n      She smiled a bit, reaching the robe hanging from the bedpost. Not entirely, I suppose. Victoria\u2019s a good girl. And Aleksandra, I can call her friend. Even Bode and Scooter\u2026 sort of.<\/em>
\n      The last of the Life cereal, moistened with reconstituted dry milk, sat unpleasantly in her belly all morning. Helen was sitting on the porch with Alex and Victoria just before noon, when they heard three gunshots in quick succession.
\n      \u201cThose are close,\u201d Alex said, frowning.
\n      A fourth shot rang out and the three of them rose from the Honeywell\u2019s porch. Helen jogged toward the wall with Alex at her side; Victoria grabbed her bike and pedaled like mad. The three of them joined the growing crowd just in time to see a man sprinting for the entrance. Cooper\u2019s men had made way for him.
\n      \u201cWoo! Run boy! Go Long!\u201d Bode, shirtless and in good humor, had a football in hand and mimed throwing a pass to the new-comer.
\n      People were hesitant; even the National Guardsman were loathe to approach him. Helen wanted to tell him – for reasons aside from the prudent, for he was both fit and attractive and somewhere close to her own age – to strip and prove that he had not been bitten. Leave it to the little paramedic woman, with her shocking lime green eye-liner and big feather earrings, to approach him fearlessly with a bottle of water.
\n      \u201cYou okay, honey?\u201d Ezra asked him.
\n      He managed a nod and before long, Alex had joined Ezra and the two women tested and recorded his vitals, got some additional cool water into him, and learned his name.
\n      The tag on his BDUs read \u201cSalvatore\u201d but he had folks calling him \u201cSal\u201d. He didn\u2019t look like a Mexican or a Dominican or a Puerto Rican, Helen decided, but perhaps Italian or Spanish or Portuguese.
\n      His face was rife with nasty ulcers caused by the painful bite of those enormous horse flies that hovered around the corpses. Helen sniffed the air and nearly wretched. Someone has gotta do something about that Dump Truck, today. It is filled to the brim with the dead undead and they fucking reek.
\n      Later, as they sat on the picnic tables that had been hauled into the center of the street to act as a common area, someone began talking about preparing for the future and wondering what all could be done to set things right again.
\n      \u201cBetter to focus on the now,\u201d Helen said, hopelessly practical. \u201cWhy worry about a future we can\u2019t even begin to hope for.\u201d
\n      \u201cWhy not?\u201d Sal gave her such a look. His eyes were green and somewhat sad, yet despite having probably seen so many terrible things during his years in the military and since the outbreak began, seemed warm and kind.
\n      \u201cThings will never be as they were. The bombs\u2026 the undead\u2026 This whole event, even if it ends now, has changed things irrevocably.\u201d
\n      \u201cYes, but perhaps we can turn it all around. Make the new world a better place.\u201d
\n      Helen sighed. \u201cI haven\u2019t enough hope left to bother dreaming of some grand new society.\u201d
\n      He lifted the water bottle to his lips and closed his eyes, drinking deeply. Then he opened them again and met her gaze. \u201cHope is all we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

– \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 –
\n\"Signed,
\nNote: Image is “Picnic Table” by canjosh from SXC.hu<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Today\u2019s snippet, titled \u201cAll We Have\u201d, is a piece I wrote about an NPC in Paul’s new Zombie Campaign (using GURPS for Session One, but we’re moving to All Flesh Must Be Eaten for future sessions. The intention behind this was to recap events occurring in the world, from the point-of-view of… <\/p>\n

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