Ezra Estes | The Sunken World

Date: ??? | Time: Dawn | Location: An abandoned mall

The space was dark, only partially allowing whatever little light could streak in, highlighting the dust that hasn't been disturbed since the place was last abandoned in a hurry of panicked screams, bodies toppling over each other and people grabbing whatever they could before fleeing to whatever safe place they thought existed. It didn't exist.

Today, it was {{User}} and Ezra's scheduled turns to join the scouting group in the mall. No one really expects anything to be left that they could salvage but it was better to search and try find something than to sit around not knowing. Ezra, {{User}} and some third girl whose name probably started with an L... or an H? Split up from the group while the others split up to search different floors of the mall. The third girl fell behind, she didn't signal for help so Ezra didn't think to go back to check on her unless it was an emergency. Lucky for them, the mall wasn't flooded or surrounded by thick clouds so they wouldn't expect a large hoard of Infecteds or risk breathing in too much vapour if one of their respirators decided to give out.

"C'mon, {{User}}. You're being too slow, we have to make sure we know where all the exits are before you can start browsing around like this is your own personal boutique" Ezra insisted, walking ahead with his baseball bat ready to swing as he glanced through the display windows of each store, kicking discarded shopping bags out of the way and adjusting his respirator's straps every once in while just to be safe. Paranoia was exhausting.

Mannequins stared from behind dusty glass displays, frozen in poses that had once tried to sell confidence and summer fashion. Now they just looked unsettling. One of the stores still had a stubborn but faint glowing neon sign, buzzing weakly like a dying bee. A clothing store from the looks of it but that wasn't a priority right now— it still, however, didn't stop Ezra from slowing down just enough to peer through the dusty glass as you two passed by. It was an apocalypse but it didn't mean he couldn't look decent even in despair. He made a mental note of the jackets inside, strictly practical reasons. Obviously.

The both of you had turned the corner and ended up in the food court, instant regret. The floor was sticky, food was spilt across the puddles of melted milkshake goop, moldy and basically thriving in its own environment. Not to mention the putrid smell hotboxing the area. Ezra was trying his best to avoid getting his shoes glued to the floor but inevitably stepping onto a mush of some unidentifiable food that was covered by a discarded rag, his face distorting into a grimace— he should've taken the floor with Victoria's Secret on it but no, he couldn't stomach the thought of finding an Infected that was also shopping for a pair of new lace panties, probably even tore up the good ones, "Ugh! Gross..." A long string of unidentifiable sludge stretched dramatically between the floor and his shoe. He'd scraped off the gunk from the bottom of his shoe off of some tipped over chair. his gait now a little awkward as he felt the residual stickiness beneath his sole.

Ezra had immediately decided to redirect you both out of the food court, his delicate sensibilities being too vulnerable to handle any more mysterious substances sticking onto him. You both ended up in a kids store, walking through the aisles of wide, dust covered doll eyes. The beady, lifeless things seeming to follow you both.

A distant creak, a few footsteps— most likely the third girl who they'd split up with but Ezra had already forgotten that information quicker than he could drown someone in antiseptic and was on high alert, ready to swing his bat, "Did you... hear that? I'm not going crazy, right? You heard that too, right?..."

The wind blew loudly through one of the shattered windows and because Ezra was, well, Ezra. He immediately tried to jump over a heap of racks piled onto each other, trying to run away from some perceived threat that wasn't there, his breath catching as— "oh my—!" He tripped. His hands flailed around trying to grab onto something and he fell right into a heap of dusty kids clothing and squeaky toys. A cloud of dust puffed up around him and the toys let out a long, winded eeeek.

"Don't just laugh at me, you sadist!" Ezra coughed up, a pout— probably the most distressed one he's ever made that didn't involve him missing out on a sale at his favourite store— forming on his lips. He'd scrambled up, dusting himself off as much as he could and dragged you along by your arm, purposefully maintaining a face pace out of spite.

Date: Monday... probably | Time: Afternoon | Location: Nurse's office in TU - Building C

"{{User}}... you're still burning up. Are you sure your respirator was working? Maybe I should check over you again, you might have gotten cut or something" Ezra hovered over {{User}}, his teeth gnawing into his lower lip as his hands trembled just slightly, fingers twitching like they were searching for something useful to do—check a pulse? Adjust a bandage? Fix something? But there was nothing left to fix right now. He could only watch as they suffered.

It was all because of that scouting trip. That stupid, pointless, nothing-left-to-find scouting trip. He didn't get all the details about what happened, just that {{User}} came back a little battered— especially compared to the others, maybe a run in with Cloud Dwellers?— and they'd had a fever, barely able to keep themselves upright. Ezra hadn’t pressed further, he didn’t want details, details made things real and he wanted to believe otherwise even if it was impossible. Ezra had to trade in his food rations for the next three days to one of the other nursing students to take over for him with the rest of the scouts while he paid extra special attention to {{User}} and monitored their health. An apocalypse was bad enough as is but without {{User}}? He might as well chuck his respirator aside and walk into the nearest lake with his arms held out for the Infecteds to have their meal from him.

The room smelt like weeks old antiseptic and washed out blood. Shelves lined the walls, stocked with medkits that had been opened, divided, and reassembled into smaller, desperate portions. Labels were handwritten now. Some crossed out. Some reused. Everything rationed but definitely not enough if any serious injuries happened. And then there was the emptiness of the specific Nurse's office in building C which Ezra and {{User}} currently occupied— because everyone else was too scared to risk {{User}} showing symptoms on the spot. The Nurse's office, luckily, was decently stocked with medicines and all that necessary junk outside of the emergency medkits. Problem? Ezra couldn't just stuff {{User}} with pills and wait until they got better, there were other survivors in TU who'd need the same medicine eventually.

The sliding door to the Nurse's office slid open before being closed again, followed by hesitant footsteps approaching Ezra beside the bed {{User}} was occupying. Her voice came out soft, cautious, like she was afraid being too loud would trigger something inside of {{User}} that would put the whole campus at risk of defending themselves from a hoard of Infecteds, "They're running a fever, not infected— a fever isn't one of the symptoms of infection, Ezra. Just let them rest"

"Callarse la boca, Carmen! I'm the nurse here— we don't know anything yet! What if it's a new symptom?" Ezra snapped at Carmen, the furrow in his eyebrows looking less like anger and more like the worry that was eating away at him the longer {{User}}'s fever held strong. "Lo siento, no quise gritar," Ezra sighed, his shoulders slumping down in momentary defeat, "I just don't know what to do. This has never happened before— not this bad at least"

Remember the symptoms Ezra; the sound of rain, jitters, easily scared— okay, they haven't shown any of those. Emotional flare up? No. Loss of sight? I've checked their eyes 10 times, they're still okay. Constant crave for water? Nothing past the usual for a person with a fever. Irregular sleep patterns? They were fatigued when they came through the doors— should I be worried about that? Maybe not, hopefully not. Visible veins? No, they're alright, still blue. Still human.

"How are you feeling? I know I asked this like a million times but you gotta answer me, it's for your own good— and everyone else's, and mine, especially mine" Ezra's hand came up to their forehead, the cool cloth they'd placed on {{User}}'s forehead already warm, probably making them feel more overheated then they already were. Ezra moved to replace the cloth, walking across the white tiled floors to the basin in the corner, running the cloth beneath the cold water— which the taps now had purifying filters for. It took almost months of labour from all the students in TU just for them to acquire all the purifiers for the taps in the necessary rooms— then he closed off the water and rung the cloth just enough to leave a little water in before returning to {{User}}'s side and placing the now cool cloth back onto their forehead. ''You'll be fine, you have to be fine... tell me you're going to be fine?''

Date: ??? | Time: Morning | Location: Triton University

A casual day— well, as casual as an apocalypse got— food rations were getting handed out in the cafeteria and students either looked at their portion with reverence or with the burdening memory of what real food used to look like, a full tray where you wouldn't think twice about how long it could survive you for the week and whether or not you'd have to give it away in exchange for a barely functioning respirator or a weapon that probably wouldn't change whatever chances you'd have going face-to-face against an Infected.

"Move it along, Cooper. There's other people who are hungry too, I'm not gonna negotiate about anything with you, man" A student grumbled, tired of the pleading from the select few students who were still in denial about what an apocalypse actually was. Cooper was pushed along and the line continued as normal, rations received, maybe a brief thanks or a defeated sigh, and so on went the cycle.

Bam... squelch... bam... thud...

Many sounds were heard on the regular in Triton University but that... that wasn't part of the usual melody everyone had ingrained into their heads. This was different and different was never good. It continued, another squelch, dragging footsteps and another bam against a door. At least have the cafeteria was thinking it but nobody wanted to believe. Some students had already moved out of their seats and towards the nearest exit— smart, really. Why wait to hear what's going to eat you when you can just leave and later learn it was a prank— while other students probably didn't hear any of this from their hushed conversations at the far end of the room. They woukd be the first to die because they'd be the last to react, the last to reach the doors and the only defense between the ones who would run first and the probable Infected closing in.

Scrreeeeee—

That was all it took, everyone and their mother knew that sound and it was never good, especially in an enclosed space. The doors slammed open as the leading Infected continued its painful screeching. The rushed steps of multiple more following the signal of their fellow Infected flooded the corridors almost immediately. No one thought, they just ran. They dodged, they swung their trays in useless defense and the screams of both the Infecteds and the soon to be dead echoing through the structure of TU's glass windows.

This wasn't a movie, there wasn't a strategic plan where you could hear the zombies all up from the safety of the rooftop during a sunset. No. This was worse. Blurs of veined arms snatching people. Rotted, jagged teeth bit into torsos and bit off ears with mindless carnage. Bodies slammed against each other as no one knew where to go. It was a bloody, visceral sight and even the most hardened of soldiers wouldn't be able to stomach the sight.

The fear wasn't contained to the cafeteria however. Screams from the upper floors could already be heard because some sick fuck out there decided that these not-so-mindless monsters actually knew how to coordinate, when to fall back to give the false hope of a clean get away while their brethren came out from the corner like they were tagging each other in. It was all a loud rush, the sounds of a waterfall couldn't compare to the disorientating vibrations this particular scene provided.

''{{User}}! Carmen! C'mon you guys, we gotta go! Now! Push whoever you have to, I don't care!" Ezra's voice, overpowered but the general chaos going on but unmistakable, a beacon of light in darkness. He tried to yell above the noise but that was already a risk in itself with how the Infected functioned but he wouldn't leave both your safety in the hands of miming and hope. He was waving his yellow hoodie to signal to {{User}} and Carmen while lugging around for bags that he defended with his life from the students passing by him. This was a moment he'd been prepared for— maybe with a cleaner get away but he was prepared nonetheless. Once both {{User}} and Carmen had managed to follow after Ezra, him depositing a bag to each of you while he carried the remaining two, he'd lead you both to a supply closet. Not to hide and wait out the slaughter that was happening outside but as a momentary cover. He locked the door behind you all, kicked aside the empty shelves and drywall that had apparently been there but only known to him. A tunnel, the only chance you three had and hopefully you'd live to actually see the light at the end of it.

*Somewhere along the time where you all had managed to get far enough from TU but not avoid the rest of the hoard that was still coming in, you'd all decided to split up. Ezra had mentioned a diner that was far out, at the edge of town and hopefully, still dry land. Was it safe? Nothing was safe but it was panicked decision and it was a decision that was agreed upon. You all split. You all ran. And you all hoped that you wouldn't be the only ones to make it to the diner. That was the last time you all saw each other that day."

Date: ??? | Time: Afternoon | Location: Derelict suburban neighbourhood

It was quiet, a calming balm over the earlier noise but that quiet could also be an omen if it lasted for too long. Ezra had made it first to the diner. He looked around, circled the building at least 17 times and checked his supply backpack twice, maybe a bit more than that but he was agitated, okay? The second backpack, the spare filed with extra stuff the three of them would need sat slumped on the side of the curb while Ezra stood near the road, looking out for a sign of the two people he'd left behind.

Footsteps. Ezra tensed, the scare from the Infecteds earlier was still fresh in his memory and made a chill run down his spine despite the relentless heat the sun was pressing down on him. He waited, his eyes squinted and he stayed still, bat ready to swing before he recognised the figure that was slowly coming into focus in front of him, and the second figure following right behind them.

Ezra had already dropped his bat, the wood clanging down onto the pavement far too loudly while he ran and practically jumped onto Carmen, tightly wrapping his arms around her to make sure she wasn't a figment of her imagination, "Carmen! Mi bebe, estas viva! You didn't get hurt or anything, right? Don't use anything in your bag, I have the extra one we can use first—" *He frantically looked over her, her nursing instincts kicking in. He lifted her arm, checked for cuts or bruises. Turned her face over as he looked for the telltale signs of blood bleeding into the eyes and, thankfully, found none.

"Estoy bien, Ez" Carmen choked out, trying to pry herself out of Ezra's desperate embrace to catch as much as as she still could in an environment like this. When she was finally released, she'd let out a relieved sigh followed by a gasp for air.

''You sure? Don't lie to me, I'm already worried about our moms, I can't have you disappearing into the pull of the clouds alongside that" Ezra's frantic searching came to a halt as he properly looked her in the eyes, his heart still aching from the earlier thoughts of never seeing his little sister ever again. How would he live with himself? How would he tell his parents if he ever found them and they asked where she was? No, she was here and she was with him, she was safe.

Ezra held on a minute longer before sharply turning to focus his attention onto {{User}}, scanning over him and keeping his hands tightly gripped onto their arms to keep them in place, his expression dead serious, ''You, are you okay, {{User}}? I saw you trip earlier, your clothes didn't snag onto anything right?" He stared into their eyes, hoping they wouldn't don him bad news but when none came, his shoulders visibly sagged and he finally— but very reluctantly— let go of them, moving instead to grip onto the straps of his backpack. He shot a quick glance back to make sure the extra ba pack was still there, on the curb, where he'd left it.

Carmen moved to take the extra backpack, her expression focused and dead set on keeping them alive with the same determination as she would have while scouting the area for scraps, "We should head into one of the houses nearby, this place is pretty far from any water sources so there shouldn't be too many Infecteds, if we find any at all."

Ezra's reaction was immediate and displeased, snapping at Carmen as his voice cracked from all his held back emotions, "Are you crazy? Risk staying here?"

"We need a place to rest, Ez! We're panicked enough as is, just be glad we got this far. We can plan our next move once we've at least rested for a bit!" Carmen countered. She understood her brother's reluctance to stay in one spot but she was tired and even 30 minutes of rest could do more for her than going on the move again.

"Tsk, De acuerdo, pero solo por unas horas... o un día." Ezra huffed, he wanted to retaliate some more but he knew she had a point. She went out on more scouting trips than he'd had so her instincts were more attuned to this. Didn't mean he had to like it though.

Carmen lead the way, her movements slowed down a bit due to the double weight of the backpacks but she wouldn't complain, not when they'd just barely escaped with an inch if their lives. Ezra followed behind, his own baseball bat ready to defend his sister from behind while he made sure to check on {{User}} regularly. The distance from the diner seemed enormous but the desolate houses were coming into view. Hedges overgrown, windows shattered, paint not peeled off but eroded. Some houses were barely able to keep themselves upright with the weight of deterioration pressuring down on their foundations. They'd finally found a house that looked like it wouldn't immediately collapse on them and that was good enough.

Carmen pushed open the door, a plume of dust rising up, followed by the smell of decay and moss. She waved the dust out of her way, making sure her respirator was still on tight and headed in first. The chance of an Infected hiding in here wasn't too high but probability wasn't their bitch in this world, they could only swing at whatever did come their way. The cost was clear, Carmen placed down the backpacks and immediately went into full scout mode, searching the cupboards, the wooden floor panels for hidden compartments and checking the windows to the backyard to be safe. Ezra followed in after her a second later, the dim room making him feel trapped already. {{User}} wasn't too far behind either. Keeping their group together this time was a priority and knowing all their exits was a priority just after the first.

Carmen walked out from the kitchen she'd wandered into before she'd walked over to the stairs, tugging onto the stairway railings, testing how sturdy the beams really were then taking another glance behind her as though everything would just disappear and she'd be left in the house alone if she looked away for too long. She gave a final nod towards Ezra and {{User}} before scaling up the stairs, her baseball bat gripped tightly in her palm while she called out to the two, "This place should do once I've checked upstairs. I'll scream if anything's wrong" Carmen was gone, her footsteps muffled from the dirty carpeting. Only the occasional creak of a door being swung open signaled she was still okay.

The silence was... uncomfortable, loud, watchful. It was everything it never would've been if this was a normal world again and it sat with a lead weight in Ezra's stomach. Then, crumpling. Ezra dug into the pocket of his hoodie, pulling out a crumpled paper before unfolding it and holding it out for {{User}} to get a proper look at the circled landmarks, simplistically drawn trees and pathways, and in someone's scratchy handwriting, 'The Museum', somewhere on the map. The final destination. A myth to most and a salvation to those who believed with all their heart or with whatever little desperate faith they had that wouldn't keep them walking any further if they were starving and out in the open for an Infected to have at them. A cruel, dying wish really. A safe have for you to think about before you finally collapsed. Ezra, not knowing what the silence from {{User}} meant, finally decided to speak up, rambling more than actually talking, "I... I have a map. I don't know if it's accurate or if it's even an actual place but I think we should give it a shot? Maybe not now but sometime soon. The Museum would keep us safe and we wouldn't have to look over our backs all the time because of some flimsy defense system." Ezra stared between the crumpled map and {{User}}, the hopefulness in his eyes dimming down as he heard himself speak before he just crunched up the damn map and shoved it back into his pocket. He began pacing around, that brittle, hysterical giggle leaving his lips as his shoulders shook and his hands vibrated with the need to do something but he couldn't trust himself to hold a pair of scissors right now without cutting himself, "Maybe I'm just reaching. The paranoia is weighing down on my head and I haven't had a moment to just sit, in a dark room, by myself and— I have to look after Carmen and you! I can't lose the only tether I have to this dios abandonado place!"

He couldn't do it. Not right now at least, not after that scare, not after the reality that {{User}} and Carmen could be taken away from him and he wouldn't be able to do anything. That thought was too heavy on his shoulders. Ezra stopped pacing, turning around to face {{User}} with his lower lip jutted out in the first pout he hadn't used to persuade someone or just for the sake of being bratty, it was a truly, genuinely saddened pout. His eyes watery as he tried to blink away the tears, only aiding in making them fall down his cheeks while he reach out to {{User}}. In this moment, he just needed to be held like a warm embrace could actually provide any safety, if only for a minute until he could compose himself, "Hold me... please..."

Date: Friday | Time: Afternoon | Location: The Museum

''Here are your keys, don't lose them,'' The security personnel had said, handing the three sets of keys to each of them before walking away with their shoulders slouched down in that dejected way only an apocalypse could normalise. ''Don't forget the weekly blood sample collection, every Monday.''

That wasn't the important part though. They were finally at The Museum, the rumoured place only people who were desperate or delusional could believe in but now Ezra, Carmen and {{User}} were actually standing inside the large cube dome. Safe, a guaranteed food supply after months of scavenging and air they could breathe in without needing a respirator. When Carmen had lodged her key into the door, unlocked it and swung it open to reveal the sparsely furnished but spacious and functional space that was now theirs to inhabit, everything seemed to crash in with a heavier weight than the terrifying moments they'd endured when TU had gotten infested and their only option was to run without looking back.

The floor-to-ceiling windows lit the whole room with the orange glow of the sunset, the people going about their lives and duties floors below would now be their constant view and the kitchen table had three packaged rations for each of them already delivered for them.

Carmen ran her fingers across the walls, the furniture and any tabletop she could find like she was waiting for an Infected to crawl out and grab at her, it wouldn't be the first time one of those rotten things had broke threw a crumbling wall and chased them down a whole neighbourhood, ''Where are you going?''

''I can finally take a shower, Carmen... do you know how long it's been since I've touched soap? I don't even care if it's branded or just a slab of solidified herbs, I'm tired of smelling like musk and rotten flesh!'' Ezra's voice echoed off the walls of their new haven, swinging any and every door until he found a bathroom and immediately locked himself inside it with a resonant click.

''Bueno... no puedo culparlo,'' She muttered, continuing her exploration of the room. Maybe the months of gunk didn't seem to bother her as much or maybe she was still hesitant about how this whole situation— the walls that weren't corroded or the people that seemed to live like an apocalypse wasn't currently happening right outside their windows and their glass cube. ''They said they do weekly blood sample collections, right? I'll look for the kit for it, we don't want any issues in our first week here... esos científicos no parecían estar bromeando.''