Friend or foe? (Francis)

[Sakura Jin Lee]

A small car was approaching North Carolina, a young woman was driving the car, she seemed to be sad, lonely and kind of depressed, but also a slight paint of determination and hard heart could be seen in her eyes. “Another empty city...” well empty is just a way of speaking, because North Carolina was still full but the ones in it weren't alive, weren't living their lives, working, chatting, falling in love, arguing... NO! The ones there were walkers, useless eating-people-zombies! And that was something that Sakura knew very well, but she had to go there.

Since she lost track of her brother back in Atlanta, she had been traveling with a group of survivors, they were led by a brave Woman, Emmy Robin. The group was ok and they all seemed to be good people, and she had already considered them her new and unique family. Months after that they found another group, a police officer led them and Emmy decided to hand him the leadership of their group. She didn't like the idea, but followed Emmy's orders. But a week ago, she found something that made her leave her new family... for just a couple of days or maybe weeks.

Since the first zombies appeared in Atlanta, her brother told her about a way of always keep in touch, even if they got apart, which happened months ago. He told her to write a message with their next destination and the date on a paper or something like that, then attached it to a place that any who went into the place, town or city where it was attached, could see it. Something weird, crazy and not probable to happen, but at least was a slight paint of hope.

A week ago, she found a craving on a wooden gate in a town where Emmy's group just spent the night, it was craved in Japanese, Sakura recognized the handwriting even on that place, it was her brother's! She knew then, he was alive! At least by the moment he wrote it. According to her clock's calendar, he had been there just two weeks before they got there.

So she talked to Emmy and told her she needed to go and find her brother, that she wasn't going to put in risk any of their lives asking any of them to go with her, Even when Glenn, a guy from the officer's group, suggested her he could go with her, she refused his help. She just took one of the cars in town and drove to North Carolina, it was the place that was craved on the wooden gate.

When she got there, it wasn't too early, she had drove all night. The sun was still up put soon would be twilight and it was impossible to pass with the car any further, the classic yellow cabs were everywhere blocking the streets and avenues. So she had to leave the car there, she grabbed her small back bag and her katana, then sighed and walked more and more into the city.

It was insane to be there, alone, outside at that hour in one of the cities where for sure was a major number of walkers, but she had to check it, she had to know if her brother was in there. After just 10 feet away from the car, she faced a small group of walkers, slow and dumb like always. She used her katana and slashed their heads, her movements seemed like a dance, she was graceful and fast within every move.

She smiled when she looked at the move-less bodies on the ground, it was a blessing that she knew how to use that sword, it was perfect, not even a slight sound while she killed them, the other walkers wouldn't be warned about her being there. She continued walking, she looked to an alley and noticed the fire ladder, then looked up and noticed the buildings were kind of close in that part of the city, she walked to the ladder and left the ground in seconds.

As soon as she got to the roof, she could see the shape of a body up there, she made no noise, or tried to, she wanted see if it was dead or alive. It was the same hight than her brother. “Kaede??” she asked to the body, maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, maybe it was just a walker, but... she needed to be sure of it. “I am alive... are you?" she said and waited with her Katana ready to strike if it wasn't alive.

[Francis Stone]

The cold wind whipped through his shoulder length dirty blonde hair as Francis drove to their next stop. North Carolina. Up ahead a bloodied sign said "5 miles to North Carolina. 20 miles to Oxford, 15 miles to Henderson" the rest was illegible due to the damage to the sign, and the blood. Despite the cold he was comfortably warm, as Alice clung to him, her arms wrapped easily around his stomach and her head resting against his back. A rope was also tied around her that was tied to him. It was for safety, so they could take turns sleeping while on the road and not worry about being dislodged from the bike. Despite Alice only being 18 years old, she was mature, atleast when she needed to be. She was pretty ofcourse, almost like a model, and that sometimes made it hard for Francis, in several different ways. She wasn't quite as street smart as Francis was but, she was learning. She didn't know much about surviving in the wild either but, she was always willing to help out, and she followed his instructions to a T. When the world turned upside down and the dead started to rise, he'd been in Virginia, with his biker gang, The Steel Angels. They'd had an argument and Francis had split, along with Alice, the girl on the back of the motorcycle.

That had been almost a month ago now. Alice and him had been on the road by themselves ever since, taking what they could from any abandoned buildings or homes that they came across, and filling up on gas whenever they could. He learned quickly that the Walkers were drawn to sound, so he had to get used to the idea of using his combat knife instead of his favored Mare's Leg.

The road seemed to go on and on as they approached what had once been civilization. Two miles outside of town, and he pulled over to the side of the road, and cut the engine. Gent;y, he tapped Alice's hands.

"Hey, we're near town. Time to get set up" Francis said, kicking out the kick stand and leaning the bike over.

Alice yawned and rubbed her eyes free of sleep "hmmm...where are we?"

Francis began untying the rope binding them together "just outside of Oxford. We're in North Carolina now," he explained. As soon as the rope was free, he felt Alice shift a little before getting off the bike. He watched her as she stretched her athletically toned body, raising her arms into the air and stretching left, then right before bending down to touch her toes. He couldn't help but to check her out when she did so, a small smile creasing his lips.

"Francis...." Alice said in a almost exasperated voice.
"Yeah? What?" Francis replied with a smirk.
"Stop looking at my ass," she said as she finished her stretches and turned around to face him, a small slightly irritated smile on her face. She tapped the small 9mm pistol on her hip teasingly. He gave a small guffaw, and kicked the kick stand up, using his legs to walk the bike into a ditch and then lay it to rest on it's side. Taking the keys out from the ignition, he pocketed them and withdrew his Mare's Leg.

"Let's go hunting" he said as he began to walk towards town, Alice behind him.