Ric Soto

Ric's not very charmed by Daryl. "Touching those things will only increase the likelihood of you getting infected! Do you want that?" No. But nobody gets it, not really. They dislike the zombies, sure, because they're scared of them. They run and hide and only fight when necessary. Ric wouldn't want to fight anyone if he could help it, but once he does, he really does. He's more angry at the Infected than he is scared.

Before Avery can so much as react to Ric, Daryl joins them to ask for one as well. It's Roxann, however, who jumps in and throws a fire poker in his general direction. Without thinking, he goes after it. His hands quickly close around the spear-like thing that could easily be a weapon. He doesn't thank Roxann - there's no time for that. He just quickly nods at her and focuses back on the zombies. He does realize that she's not joining the fight. She's standing there, relatively far away from the fight, watching apprehensively like a queen while they fight for her. As if they're her soldiers. He doesn't even mind that much, to be honest. He doesn't mind fighting so other people don't have to.

With that in mind, he twirls the poker in his hands a couple of times before charging at one of the Infected. With brutal force, he stabs it in its face. It manages to still cut Ric's arm with a particularly edgy rock but he hardly feels the pain. He just sees blood gush out of his arm. He stops fighting - he steps back and quickly pulls off his sweater to bind it around the cut on his arm. He's still wearing another long-sleeved shirt - this was just to make sure the Infected blood doesn't mix with his own.

He then stabs it until it falls down. Ric's not entirely sure if it's dead, but if not, someone else could finish it off. It looks dead, and that's as good as anything. His arm feels okay but it doesn't look okay because the sweater he bound around his arm has red splotches on it from his own blood. Ric doesn't think it matters. His own health is of little importance now. He notices that one Infected One is sort of sneaking up on Daryl, holding a relatively long branch (considering how the others are holding stones and twigs). Ric's stomach twists for a moment because he finds himself wondering what he would do if he would become one of them. If he would use a stone or a twig or a branch. If he would-

No.

He'll never let it get that far. He'd rather die. Ric runs at the zombie with the branch. While he's a meter apart from it, he swiftly grabs his gun and shoots its arm so it's forced to drop the branch. (He missed the shot three times but got it right the fourth time). He puts his pistol away and proceeds to tear its head open with the fire poker. It's gruesome - but Ric doesn't view the Infected as people. They're not. They're molecules and atoms and they WERE people but they're not anymore. They're dead already. He stabs until it collapses at his feet.

He glances around - there's about eight of the zombies left. They're coming closer. On the other side, there's Anne and Roxann and Nick, passive and waiting for this to be over. Ric turns his back on them - he's going to protect them, if that's what they need. They should be protected from these monsters.

[...]


They're dead, all of them, and Ric leans against a wall, tired. Avery and Daryl look tired, too. There's blood everywhere. Ric drops the poker after making sure that there really are no more of them. He doesn't dare unbinding his sweater from around his arm, scared that it'll somehow mix with the Infected blood. He's pretty sure he wrapped it tightly enough for it to be safe now. He just needs to wash all of this off.

"This is why we need to stick together," he says eventually, his voice raw. His eyes linger on everyone's face for a little moment. "Together we can make a difference." He nods.

He sits down on the floor and stares ahead. He can't shake the feeling that they need to go, because who knows what other monsters are headed their way. "We should leave. There have to be safer places than this." He sighs and gets up, looking at the others and wanting to motivate them; wanting them to listen to him. He just wants to protect them. He knows he's younger than most of them but none of them have the fire that Ric has. He's sure of that. None of them.

Ric Soto

Everyone seems to be agreeing with Ric, which causes him to feel pleased with himself. He isn't necessarily happy, he's more... glad. Glad that everyone seems to be crawling to the same side; glad that they're seeing what he's seeing. He isn't all that surprised to hear that Avery is in - she struck him as a team-player from the beginning. Roxann, however, does take him by surprise. She even tells him about a first-aid kit and that she would like to bandage his arm. Ric nods. "That'd be good," he says, smiling slightly.

And then someone pulls up their car right in front of the entrance - a woman in around her mid-twenties. She tells them that there's another group of zombies headed their way and that they should leave. It doesn't even occur to Ric that she may have been watching them fight and not helped. He wouldn't care anyway. He immediately shifts into a more active mode. "I have a motorcycle," he says loudly. "You know a place? You lead us to it. I'll follow on my bike. I can take one other person with me." He picks up the poker and attaches it to his backpack.

"Come on people, let's get moving!" He already steps outside, past the woman in her car. He doesn't think she's lying or trying to trap them. And besides, they don't have a choice, do they? He assumes that the group will follow, so he finds his motorcycle (which was parked around the corner) and gets on it. He kicks it to life and drives towards the front of the church. He comes to a halt next to the woman and her car. He doesn't have a helmet, but honestly, it's more likely he'll die in a fight than because of a traffic accident.

Ric Soto


Nick and Anna get in the car with the new lady and Daryl volunteers to drive Roxann's car. Ric doesn't entirely understand why Roxann doesn't drive her own car - if she wants to take control, shouldn't she, well, take control of the wheel too? Look at Daryl. Ric reads him as someone who wants to take control of everything, always. The way he jumped at the opportunity to drive. It irks Ric. Avery decides to ride with Ric. As soon as she's settled on the bike and he feels her arms wrapped around him, he tells her: "hold on tight if you don't want to fall off." He's not exactly the safest driver in the world.

Avery tells him where to turn and he follows her words. Meanwhile, the new lady and Daryl follow them in the cars. It doesn't take too long before they reach the store. Avery steps off and pats him on his shoulder. He smiles lightly and gets off too. He places his motorcycle against the wall. He doesn't bother locking it. There's no one around anyway, except for the zombies, and he doubt they're intelligent enough to ride around on the bike.

Avery grabs a knife and Ric follows suit by drawing out his pistol. He waits for the rest to get out of their cars. As soon as the group is standing in front of the building, Ric nods at Avery's urge to hurry up and be quick. "Daryl, you go in first," he says quietly. He's holding his pistol in front of him, ready to fire. "I'll cover you. We'll cover you. Nick, Anna, Roxann, and you..." He looks at the new lady. "Stay behind me and Avery. Let's do it."