For as long as he remembers, Aaron has always been an adventurer, always ready and willing to embrace a certain risk and enter unpleasant or dangerous situations to achieve a goal. He had traded his home in Vermont for a vague future in Washington and a plan to go into politics, and once he had finished his studies, he had signed up for a project supporting the war-ridden villages in Liberia and the Niger River Delta, bargaining with warlords and trying to protect the convoys with medical supplies and food they were supposed to be distributing. A hands-on approach rather than arguing and hoping that the world would miraculously become a better place.
But although the apocalypse had sharpened his instincts and skills to survive life-threatening situations that have become the new normal now, risking his life is no longer as easy a task as it had been for his idealistic younger self. Truth be told, having Gracie and being her only parent has put quite a damper on his willingness to go all-in blindly. No matter how much the gateway is tempting him, without really knowing whether it is possible to control it and return to his homeworld safely Aaron would most certainly decline an offer to visit futuristic LA.
But in the not quite so distant future and maybe with the right incentive? Well. His shopping list for technical and medical equipment is longer than his arm – mostly storage battery packs of all varieties, spare and wear parts for the generators, solar panels, and all the lab utensils Siddiq and Eugene need to start their antibiotics project. Rare items in his world that may be a little more common in K’s? If there’s only the slightest chance to get his hands on some of the much needed spare parts while exploring the gateway, Aaron would be the first to go (and would welcome the small break from the horrors haunting his world with open arms and a huge smile).
“Good thinking.” In response to the lacking silencer, because he knows K is absolutely right. The Alexandrians must have been more than lucky at the beginning of the outbreak, Aaron thinks, when there still had been plenty of ammo available and they all had been relying on their guns to take down the walkers without really second-guessing their actions, no matter if they were out in the open or inside a house. But then again, buildings with walls as solid as the walls of the gateway aren’t the norm.
And talking about norms, sanitising sadly isn't part of it either, and so K's comment spurrs a small laugh. Man, you should have seen the tent where Enid had amputated his mangled arm, or the dirty shirt Daryl had used for a bandage, to make sure that Aaron wouldn’t bleed dry before they would get back to camp. The disinfectants are for the medics only – and these days ‘disinfectant’ means the distilled ethanol that’s not only used to sanitise Siddiq’s practice and instruments but also to keep the generators and tractors running. “At the beginning we tried to burn all the bodies. Pile them up and… well, there are just too many.” Sorry, his gaze says – and he really is. He wishes matters were different, that he could take K with him and guarantee for his health the same way that he can promise safety.
All right. No sense in avoiding the inevitable. “I-- I'll use my left arm to hold the door in place and not let them push in all at once. If we're lucky, I should be able to take the first one down. Which would be good. Walkers are slow and uncoordinated. A half open door with a body blocking the way will likely cause the rest of the gang to trip and go down so that we can kick in their skulls.” Which is certainly not a way to reduce the splattering, but it should do the trick and keep K’s hands and face free of blood and gore. Taking a quick look at K’s black boots, Aaron nods with approval. Yeah, should work.
Ready? Because the undead guys waiting behind the door sure as hell are. Aaron's gaze flickers back to K briefly before he reaches with his right hand to finally open the door for the biters and proceed as planned. Using his mechanical arm to prevent the door from being pushed wide open and trying to block the entrance for a few minutes so that the walkers won’t be able to push in all at the same time, he leans back as far as he can to escape the blindly searching hands that are instantly trying to get a hold of him, grabbing at his shirt, his shoulders. It’s only when the first disfigured head appears in the small space between door and doorframe, all clacking teeth and angry grunts, that Aaron’s lifts his right hand, brings the hammer up for one well-aimed hit to the forehead. The clawed end of the hammer breaks through the softened bone and sinks into the brain easily, and Aaron quickly retreats a step to let the now dead walker slip to the ground.
“Okay. Okay—one down.”
More grunting and growling as the remaining biters stumble forwards, clearly drawn by the scent of human flesh and the sound of Aaron’s voice, stoically bumping into the barrier at their feet, and when the first walker trips sideways, crashing into the second and toppling him over in the process, Aaron pulls his mechanical arm back so that the door can open all the way.
The new room they are about to enter is in an even sadder state than the one they are currently in. From the look of it, it could have been the entrance of an old factory once, but years of dust and dirt combined with mould-darkened brick walls and nailed up windows have turned it into just another ghost house. But at least it's an almost empty ghost house. No more walkers, not as far as Aaron can tell. “Looks like it’s really just these two…”
One walker must have been a middle-aged woman in her former life, the other one is barely recognizable and probably (un)dead and rotting away for an even longer amount of time. Aaron needs a moment for his eyes to adjust to the semi-darkness of the room and he blinks against the bright light filtering in left and right of a huge entrance door that seems to be barely holding onto its hinges. Their way out, finally.
Another growl, the scratching of blunt nails on concrete as one of the walkers, the female one, starts moving again, crawling towards the body still blocking the doorway - blocking the route that would lead her to Aaron and K. The other walker is still lying on its side, decomposed legs twisted and bend at an unnatural angle, twitching and struggling. If you want to have a first go at zombie killing, K, this is your chance to risk a closer look without being forced to attack straight away.
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Date: 2020-10-10 11:16 am (UTC)But although the apocalypse had sharpened his instincts and skills to survive life-threatening situations that have become the new normal now, risking his life is no longer as easy a task as it had been for his idealistic younger self. Truth be told, having Gracie and being her only parent has put quite a damper on his willingness to go all-in blindly. No matter how much the gateway is tempting him, without really knowing whether it is possible to control it and return to his homeworld safely Aaron would most certainly decline an offer to visit futuristic LA.
But in the not quite so distant future and maybe with the right incentive? Well. His shopping list for technical and medical equipment is longer than his arm – mostly storage battery packs of all varieties, spare and wear parts for the generators, solar panels, and all the lab utensils Siddiq and Eugene need to start their antibiotics project. Rare items in his world that may be a little more common in K’s? If there’s only the slightest chance to get his hands on some of the much needed spare parts while exploring the gateway, Aaron would be the first to go (and would welcome the small break from the horrors haunting his world with open arms and a huge smile).
“Good thinking.” In response to the lacking silencer, because he knows K is absolutely right. The Alexandrians must have been more than lucky at the beginning of the outbreak, Aaron thinks, when there still had been plenty of ammo available and they all had been relying on their guns to take down the walkers without really second-guessing their actions, no matter if they were out in the open or inside a house. But then again, buildings with walls as solid as the walls of the gateway aren’t the norm.
And talking about norms, sanitising sadly isn't part of it either, and so K's comment spurrs a small laugh. Man, you should have seen the tent where Enid had amputated his mangled arm, or the dirty shirt Daryl had used for a bandage, to make sure that Aaron wouldn’t bleed dry before they would get back to camp. The disinfectants are for the medics only – and these days ‘disinfectant’ means the distilled ethanol that’s not only used to sanitise Siddiq’s practice and instruments but also to keep the generators and tractors running. “At the beginning we tried to burn all the bodies. Pile them up and… well, there are just too many.” Sorry, his gaze says – and he really is. He wishes matters were different, that he could take K with him and guarantee for his health the same way that he can promise safety.
All right. No sense in avoiding the inevitable. “I-- I'll use my left arm to hold the door in place and not let them push in all at once. If we're lucky, I should be able to take the first one down. Which would be good. Walkers are slow and uncoordinated. A half open door with a body blocking the way will likely cause the rest of the gang to trip and go down so that we can kick in their skulls.” Which is certainly not a way to reduce the splattering, but it should do the trick and keep K’s hands and face free of blood and gore. Taking a quick look at K’s black boots, Aaron nods with approval. Yeah, should work.
Ready? Because the undead guys waiting behind the door sure as hell are. Aaron's gaze flickers back to K briefly before he reaches with his right hand to finally open the door for the biters and proceed as planned. Using his mechanical arm to prevent the door from being pushed wide open and trying to block the entrance for a few minutes so that the walkers won’t be able to push in all at the same time, he leans back as far as he can to escape the blindly searching hands that are instantly trying to get a hold of him, grabbing at his shirt, his shoulders. It’s only when the first disfigured head appears in the small space between door and doorframe, all clacking teeth and angry grunts, that Aaron’s lifts his right hand, brings the hammer up for one well-aimed hit to the forehead. The clawed end of the hammer breaks through the softened bone and sinks into the brain easily, and Aaron quickly retreats a step to let the now dead walker slip to the ground.
“Okay. Okay—one down.”
More grunting and growling as the remaining biters stumble forwards, clearly drawn by the scent of human flesh and the sound of Aaron’s voice, stoically bumping into the barrier at their feet, and when the first walker trips sideways, crashing into the second and toppling him over in the process, Aaron pulls his mechanical arm back so that the door can open all the way.
The new room they are about to enter is in an even sadder state than the one they are currently in. From the look of it, it could have been the entrance of an old factory once, but years of dust and dirt combined with mould-darkened brick walls and nailed up windows have turned it into just another ghost house. But at least it's an almost empty ghost house. No more walkers, not as far as Aaron can tell. “Looks like it’s really just these two…”
One walker must have been a middle-aged woman in her former life, the other one is barely recognizable and probably (un)dead and rotting away for an even longer amount of time. Aaron needs a moment for his eyes to adjust to the semi-darkness of the room and he blinks against the bright light filtering in left and right of a huge entrance door that seems to be barely holding onto its hinges. Their way out, finally.
Another growl, the scratching of blunt nails on concrete as one of the walkers, the female one, starts moving again, crawling towards the body still blocking the doorway - blocking the route that would lead her to Aaron and K. The other walker is still lying on its side, decomposed legs twisted and bend at an unnatural angle, twitching and struggling. If you want to have a first go at zombie killing, K, this is your chance to risk a closer look without being forced to attack straight away.
"All right. Sure you wanna help?"