Category : Adult

Sub Category : Horror

The cold steel of the gun both chilled and burned Danny's skull through her hair, her heart trying to shove itself out of her mouth. She responded as quickly as she could, trying not to seem as weak as this situation made her.

"Must have missed the sign. Really needed that pack of smokes." She jested with him, trying to play it half-heartedly. The short, irritated "Hm" he gave in response told her that he wasn't in the mood for banter, but he appreciated the human interaction slightly. She felt the gun press harder against the back of her head before a heavy clack clack clack from the store drew both of their attention. She sighed.

"It's my little friend. Not a corpse." She said quickly, hoping the dog wasn't about to get a round to the face. The door creaked open a little more and the man lowered his gun from the back of her head, seemingly no longer caring about her presence.

"Where did you go?! I was so worried 'bout you! Damn it Leah!" Danny slowly turned to see the man, who had just had a loaded gun to her head, patting and rubbing the fluff of the giant poodle. The dog's tail was working overtime as it flapped back and forth excitedly. Leah's big tongue lapped his face, obviously happy to be back with her owner.

"She ran off with you?" He turned to face the nearly forgotten Danny, whose mouth had dropped open from the interaction. She shook her head, looking at the now slobbering mutt.

"She found me on the bike trail coming from Mayfair... She seemed wary about coming back." He nodded, looking over at her.

"Had a mess of 'em run through here 'n she took off. I tol' her to run, since she ain't much of a hider. She must'a though I'd bit it and didn't want to see me like that. But...' he paused and pat her head once more, her tail nearly flying off at this point, 'I'm still alive and kickin'." He looked pleased with himself over that. Before he said more, he shook his head and made a sound of disbelief, looking back at Danny.

"You were in Mayfair? That place is a potential hotzone, did they get outta the tunnel?" Danny tilted her head, feeling blessed that there was no longer a gun pointed at her skull, but also feeling the daggers from his stare.

"They did, just about the time when I was leaving. A car alarm went off to the south and they left me alone, so they shouldn't be following anytime soon." Danny couldn't help but feel the tension in the room fluctuate a second before plummeting to a relaxed wariness. 

He grumbled for a second before outstretching a hand toward her, palm turning slightly upright. A handshake?

"Thanks for finding m' Leah. She's been my only friend since this whole thing started, 'n' I couldn't stand to lose her." It seemed to Danny like there should have been a smile there while he spoke, but his face remained cold and expressionless, he was most likely dwelling on his or his pet's mortality right then. She took his hand and gave it one solid and firm shake before letting go, thinking to herself that his hands were painfully cracked and rough as their palms slid past each other.

"M' name is Ferris." He said, his expression dampening further as she took a step away from him. Danny hadn't seen another living person in a while other than... Val... she felt her own face fall T the thought of the little girl. 

"Danny." She said, giving him a shirt response as she looked him over. 

Ferris sported a rather worn and tattered Metallica t-shirt and ripped blue jeans. The jeans looked slightly newer than the shirt, which made her think that he had needed to loot them not too long ago. His dark reddish-brown hair was shaggy and the cut was straight across at his shoulders in a choppy fashion, as if he had once worn his hair long, but it had been sliced off with the dullest of butter knives. The holster he had been using for his .9mm looked to be hand-made with duct tape, but it was well made for this day and age. He had a slightly angular face, though it was hard to see much if it considering the beard that was trying to take over. He looked to be older than he probably was with that bush growing out of his face, and considered offering him a trim. Would that be rude?

Above the wild forest growing under his nose, was a pair of dull, tired, green eyes, and just under those were a pair of bags that signified the utter lack of rest this guy must have had for... His entire life. His body was thin, this person had no fat left on his bones and was even starting to waste away his own muscles. He had to have been eating the bare minimum from this place, hoping to stay out as ling as he could. His body was suffering, and badly.

"I know. I look like shit." Ferris cocked the side of his mouth up into a seedy-looking grin, revealing surprisingly straight white teeth. Were they... porcelain? Or perhaps he had an endless supply of toothpaste in the apocalypse. Ferris' grin only seemed to widen just a bit more at her surprise.

"I ain't found a goddamn pair of workin' scissors for 'bout a month." A month?! He had grown that flowing chin monster in a month? Danny was baffled by the length of his facial hair after this new information, but tried to keep her face calm.

"I have a pair, if... you want to clean yourself up?" She wanted to be as helpful as she could to the guy with a functioning and loaded gun. He raised a brow, his grin dissipating.

"I'll trade you." He still held his gun at his side, which never ceased to make her nervous, but went to the cash-wrap and started digging through what sounded like a pile of belongings.

He tossed a small box at Danny over hand, and he caught it in her free one. She turned it over to read 'Millbarrow'. They were a previously expensive brand of cigarettes that one woukd often find at a gas station. Danny might have objected, after having quit smoking about a year into the infection, but having a pack of smokes to barter with wasn't a bad idea. 

"T's all I got. So there." He grumbled and came back to the back room, staring into the crusty mirror to trim his face. It seemed he was also using the mirror as a way to keep an eye on Danny. Trust was obviously not easily won with Ferris, a quality that wasn't completely lost on her. She still waited with bated breath for a bullet to the brain, but she had more to ask of him.

"Ferris, if you don't mind me saying... you look like you need a rest. I'm heading east to Briarville down the road, but..." She didn't need extra baggage, the dog had been a risky enough decision, but she couldn't help seeing the few benefits of having someone else around.

He seemed to only be half-listening to her rambling proposal, sculpting his messy beard with the scissors like a pro, but he was listening, so she wouldn't push this too much. 

"Look, I don't travel with people... or dogs... But it's a bigger town than Mayfair, and it could have been a lot worse than it was. I need someone to watch my back, and we could survive. I'm good at scavenging food, and I've kept myself alive this long. With more eyes, were less likely to run head-long into a mess." Danny reasoned, stopping when he turned around to face her, beard looking much more settled than it had been previously, though it wasn't quite done yet.

"More people means bigger targets. More noise. If the reekers hear you, then I'm dead. If other people hear you... I'm dead." Ferris was very much against her proposal so far. And aparently he called the dead 'Reekers'. She supposed they did smell awful if you got too close. He turned back to the mirror and continued his barbering. Danny let out a sigh, raking her fingers through her hair for a second and trying to think. He had the same fears as she did, and he was smart to have thought ahead so quickly.

"We have both just survived up until now, but to have an extra pair of eyes, we can do better. We can take turns resting, knowing that we have someone watching. We can carry more." Danny said, trying to convince Ferris. He grumbled and snipped a bit more off of his face. 

"How do I know you won't kill me when I sleep? Or rob me blind? How'd'ya know I won't do the same?" He suggested, putting holes through her idea and watching as she sank with her argument. He has a poofy poodle dog. Dog people aren't bad people. It was the stupidest thing she had ever told herself in her life, but she couldn't think of any other sane reason that he wouldn't try to harm her in this day and age. Good people became wild self-obsessed animals when the dead rose and started eating their friends and family. 

"Because I'm tired, and you're tired, and even your damn dog is tired. We need a break from the paranoia for just a second, or we're going to make a mistake on our own and no one will be there to help us." Danny heard her stomach growl uncomfortably, and severely wished she could reach into her bag and start crunching on something during the debate, but somehow it seemed like an innapropriate move. She waited. 

Ferris stayed silent for a bit, snipping and clipping at his beard as he mulled over everything she had said. Danny took the moment to ask for her food, hoping to break the tension if just a bit. And stop her stomach from eating itself and causing a scene.

"Jus' don't try nothin'." He growled, keeping his emerald eyes trained on the mirror as she dug through her bag and pulled out the bag of cookies. She shoved one into her mouth and chewed away, but when he turned to face her and set the scissors down, she froze.

"Are those Frosted Animal Cookies?" His nicely trimmed beard was now in danger of getting drool on it. Danny held them out to him almost on instinct, and he jumped a bit at her sudden movement.

"Want one?" She asked, one tucked firmly against the inside of her cheek as she did so. Ferris seemed to almost completely relax when she offered him food so casually, hoping she was as useful as she said she was. He gingerly reached a hand into the bag and grabbed a small white... giraffe... and popped it into his mouth, looking like he was going to cry. She briefly wondered how silly she had looked upon taking the first bite of those frosted animal cookies before she smiled and handed him the bag. He looked up at her, holding the bag like it was treasure. 

"So... Briarville?"