OutBreak (for CleverFox)

[Lorie]

Curling his, self injured, hand up so dad couldn’t see the punctures from his nails Krist sighed laughing slightly. “Just got an unintentional reminder of the...conversation we had concerning safety in numbers.” Krist told. It was half the truth anyway. Hoping that would suffice because the last thing Krist needed was to have a ‘conversation’ about letting his anxiety lead to self-harm. It wasn’t wroth upsetting his dad. The next town would come soon enough and hopefully there would be someplace safe for them to exist for a time. Even with creepers lingering in the dark just beyond where eyes could see the idea that there could be somewhere completely safe lingered in Krist’s hopeful mind. If he didn’t hold onto those dreams that someday this would pass Krist knew he would probably of ‘opted out’ so to speak. On occasion Krist entertained the idea of pulling a nice sharp knife across his wrists and ending the pain, uncertainty, of this frightening new world. Those occasions were fleeting though. And Krist wasn’t going to tell his dad about them. That was going to be his secret like the experiments. Maybe if he just kept quiet dad would over look it like he had all Krist’s problems before the outbreak.

[CleverFox]

Connor tilted his head to the side when his son said that he had an unintentional reminder of their conversation and of course that served to pique his interest even if that was likely the last thing that his son wanted right now. Looking down at the boy as the two of them walked along he seemed unwilling to just drop the conversation, shaking his head as he asked, "And what sort of reminder would that be son?" Connor had always been an involved parent and so he didn't want to just drop this matter when his son said something like that since he had picked up something in the kid's tone that lead him to believe there was something going on that his son wasn't telling him about. The last thing he wanted was for something bad to happen because he hadn't asked enough questions, or the right questions for that matter, and so he was going to keep pressing the issue with his son.

[Lorie]

Face turning a lovely shade of red, under the dirt and grim that was, Krist looked away from his dad for a moment. An uncomfortable cough then equally uncomfortable smile graced Krist’s young face as the boy tried to come up with an avenue of conversation that didn’t involve his sore ass or the fact that he’d clawed into his hand. “How far now?” Krist tried wanting so badly to tell Connor that what they were talking about is not important. Because saying that would indicates that the fifteen year old is trying to keep something secret. Letting his hand slide from around his dad’s Krist slowed down a step hoping he could discreetly mend his hand. “Do you think we’ll reach the next town before dark?” the teenager asked basically ignoring both his and his dad’s previous remarks. Sliding his backpack off of one shoulder Krist hunted out something to use as a bandage.

Ooc; sorry for the delay. Little bit of writer's block paired with obsessive Christmas decorating.

[CleverFox]

Connor was far from a stupid man and so when Krist first evaded the question that he had asked and then not so discreetly tried to change the subject he was immediately put on the alert. Because if there wasn't something that the boy was trying to avoid then there would be absolutely no reason for him to not answer the question or for that matter for him to change the subject. Giving the boy a look as the teen released the grip that he had on his hand and then asked yet another question that had absolutely nothing to do with what he was currently trying to find out Connor turned to face the boy. "You know, if you're going to change the subject you could at least try not to be so obvious about it. I know that you're not telling me something Krist and you know how important the truth is, especially now," Connor told him, giving his son a pointed look and then arching a brow as he watched the kid digging through his bag for something. "Lose something?" he asked pointedly, keeping his gaze locked on his son since he knew that Krist was currently up to something, he just didn't know what that something might happen to be.

((it's alright, it happens. And I've been sick anyway...still am for that matter))

[Lorie]

Biting his lip Krist averted his eyes until his uninjured hand closed around the wad of bandage he knew was in there. Pulling the bandage from the depths of his bag Krist finally looked up at his dad. “I wasn’t lying.” he challenged, “and I do actually care about whether we’ll make it to cover before dark.” because creepers tend to be more active and aggressive in the dark. Heaving a sigh, now that he’d gotten that little bit of snark out, Krist held his injured hand out for his dad to see. “I scratched it.” the lanky teenager informed, “I tried to hide the wound bu putting my hand in my pocket.” he conceded with a shrug. The longer they stood the more anxious Krist became but his dad was right, they needed to be honest with each other in this dangerous world. Of course that didn’t mean he was going to burst and tell how he was acquiring all his information about the dead. “Should to some sort of shelter.” Krist mumbled with down cast eyes, “if we’re going to ‘discuss’ this.” he sighed complete with eye roll.

[CleverFox]

Connor gave his son an unimpressed look when Krist pulled his hand out of the bag and then said that he wasn't lying in that challenging tone, adding the bit about finding shelter before dark and that one stung a bit since his son was implying that he didn't care. "I never once said that you were lying, I said that there was something that you weren't telling me and that was clearly the case," Connor told him, his tone a bit sharp since he didn't appreciate the show of attitude. He was of course concerned by the bandages that his son had and he would have moved the bandages to check but he didn't want to attract any of the creepers and since the boy didn't seem to be bleeding profusely or anything he was going to leave it be for the moment. He looked at his son as the boy said that they should find shelter if they were going to discuss it, the man reaching up to lightly smack his son in the back of the head for the eye roll. "No attitude, c'mon, let's go," he said, taking his son by the arm and starting to walk once again. He didn't say whether they were or weren't going to discuss what had happened but for the time being they really did need to find shelter before it became dark. He didn't want to fight with the creepers and especially not in the dark since that was an added challenge that they simply did not need, they barely managed to survive under normal circumstances.

[Lorie]

The light wack to the back of his head was enough to tell Krist he was pushing his dad. Letting dad taking his arm and tow him along, because Krist could fight him if he wanted to, the teenaged survivor figured he’d worry about whether his dad was mad. Instead Krist focused on helping them get to some form of safety. Which meant the next town. And luckily, or not depending on what mood dad happened to be in, for the weary youth the next town appeared in the distance. Shaking his captured arm with the hopes of getting his dad to change his aggravated parental grasp to a more comfortable place. There was something odd about the approaching town as far as Krist could see there were no creepers meandering about. Finally sliding his arm in his dad’s hold to his wrist Krist squinted at the metal gate in the distance, like the gate belonging to one of those ‘gated’ communities. “Is that a body?” the teenager asked quickening his pace. There was a pile of dead and dismembered bodies all seemingly missing their heads.

[CleverFox]

Connor was not in the best of moods thanks to the attitude that his kid had decided to display but for the moment at least they didn't have time to deal with that so he just grabbed Krist by the arm and proceeded to pull him along. He was glad that the boy wasn't fighting against him even though he was larger than the scrawny teen so he still would have won that battle of wills had the kid decided to fight against him they didn't have the time to have that fight either and it would likely attract attention that neither of them wanted right now. The man maintained his silence as they walked along, partially because he was annoyed but also to avoid drawing attention to them since he was still determined to protect his kid. It wasn't until they reached the next town that he opened his mouth again, looking at the gate that was there and then looking to his son when he mentioned the body. "This is...odd..." he commented, following Krist but pulling him back before they actually got really close to the pile of corpses. "Close enough," he said, trying to figure out just what the hell was going on.

[Lorie]

Taking his cue from the slight pull on his hand and warning that he was close enough Krist, though curious about what was going on drew back a bit. It was far from the first time he’d seen a pile of corpses but all of these were headless. “It’s a creeper dump?” the teenager half observed forgetting his dad’s command in the fog of curiosity. Untangling his hand from Connor’s Krist moved a few feet closer to the pile of headless dead fascinated by the implications of this new discovery. “The heads have been removed to disable the bodies. I wonder if the heads are still ‘alive’ wherever they’ve been dumped?” Krist wondered aloud kicking the nearest corpse to him over so he could see the front of the body. “They were definitely creepers.” he mused noting the hole that went threw the sternum, “no blood from the punchers.” As he inspected the body Krist knew he was skating on very thing ice with his previous attitude as well as the Walmart incident hanging over their exodus but he really couldn’t help himself. There were dreams of going to collage for something scientific, perhaps anatomy..become a doctor or something, so Krist couldn’t stop himself from inspecting.

[CleverFox]

A frown appeared on Connor's face as his son basically ignored what he had said about it being close enough, the man not the least bit happy with his son for that one and that didn't bode well for Krist since he was already annoyed with the boy. Only half listening to what the kid was saying Connor stepped forward and grabbed his son by the wrist again, giving him a semi-hard jerk to get the kid back away from the corpses and at his side again, his eyes slightly narrowed as he gazed down at his son. "What part of 'that's close enough' was hard for you to comprehend?" he asked in a sort of annoyed tone of voice, but there was a hint of fear in his voice as well to allude to the fact that the man was just scared. True the bodies seemed to have been disabled by their decapitation but at the same time it wasn't as though they had any way of knowing if there was any danger and there could always be a creeper that was dumped with the others before being properly beheaded or something, an oversight that could have cost them dear. Perhaps he was being overly cautious but as far as that went Connor would much rather err on the side of caution since to do anything else could cost them both their lives and that was a chance that he was just not willing to take, especially not with his son.