Waiting For A Signal....(Liz)

[Jack Malloy]

Two figures stalk down Deloitte's length, the grey clouds of another murky Williamsburg afternoon highlighting their gradual progress. With every noise they turn, ducking into doorways and spreading themselves into walls, checking for the source of the disturbance.

Reaching the retro facade of Beth's Diner, Malloy breathed a sigh of relief. He checked up and down the street carefully, the raised Glock following his line of sight, before ducking into the side-street that ran alongside, motioning Liz Burke to follow.

About halfway down the alleyway he reached their target - a rusty metal ladder that jutted out from just above his head height, curving up and over onto the Diner's roof. Up top they'd get better signal for the radios, and it afforded better protection from any wandering Infected. It could be argued that by using the rooftop it would take them longer to reach Svernic if he was in trouble, but taking into account the choice between an unbarricaded interior, and a height advantage......

Turning to his companion, he pointed up. "Want a boost?"

[Liz Burke]

Liz’s mind was going into overload. She had too many things to think about. She had to work out how she was going to leave this group to get to the clinic to look for Audrey, she had to think how she was going to get out of the city to get back to the military base and she had to figure out how she was going to survive it all! Audrey, Liz’s next door neighbour was the only trustworthy person on Liz’s block. She’d babysat for the Burke twins on a few occasions – if Michael was anywhere he’d be with her. But if Audrey was anywhere, she’d be at work – in the clinic.

“A boost?” She muttered grabbing onto the rusty railings. “You’re lucky I’ve had my tetanus!” She Whispered with a hiss – she didn’t mean the abruptness of her attitude.

As she climbed the ladder she thought about why they would leave her here to rot. Like a rat in a maze. But this rat would sniff her way to the end of the maze and claim the cheese as her prize. “Bastards.” She mumbled to herself as she reached the top. Fumbling around she crawled onto the roof and onto her feet – a skirt and blouse was really the wrong attire for this trip.

“Manage?” She asked, peering down over the top to Malloy.

[Jack Malloy]

Jack frowned twice - first at the doctor's sudden outburst of tetchiness, then again at her muttered curse. Bitch better not mean him......then, her seeming friendliness at offering him help up seemed to remove this idea. Shaking his head up at her, he demurred, "No, it's fine - not that high."

Pulling himself up easily, he climbed up onto the roof beside Liz, taking a seat beside her on the cool metal of the rooftop. Malloy placed the Glock down beside him, checking the clip, and then the radio beside that, pulling it from his belt, checking that the green light was still present and bright.

Happy with his little arrangement, Malloy looked out over the part of the Botanics visible - nowhere near the Tropical Conservatory that Svernic was meant to be heading for, but this was probably the best place for sprinting in to any part of the park, while be safe in waiting.

"Looks quiet. Might be an easy night regardless....." He flashed a glance at Liz, almost smirking. Jack was still a little nervous about this whole thing - there were far too many angles for him to have taken all of them into account.

[Liz Burke]

Liz held out her hand as if to shut him up. “Yeah okay, now – how about this gun?” Her blue eyes stared him out, almost staring right to his soul. “Pot shots or not, I want to make sure I got enough bullets – I don’t want to get cornered without you and your trigger happy friend down there.” A clear reference to Svernic – he did seem a little too gun happy.

Elizabeth Burke. Doctor Elizabeth Burke. If she was so important how the hell did she end up in this damned situation – trapped on the wrong side of the wall. All their promises unkempt. They had promised that in the first sign of disaster her family would be taken to a safety point – they lied. She was told she’d be airlifted from the hospital when the military left with the base doctors – they lied. They told her this would not happen, again – they LIED!

“How many have died?” She muttered sitting down and pulling her knees close to her chest. A few hair strands fell from the needle clip in the back – it certainly did look like she had been dragged through a hedge backwards. “I mean, how many haven’t you been able to save – your followers.” She added. It was a simple question, she was just making conversation.

[Jack Malloy]

Jack smiled. "You won't run out of bullets. I gave you two clips - if you use up those, then there are far too many Infected for you to be shooting at them: you should have started running long ago."

Malloy shot a sharp look at the doctor - that question bordered on the accusatory....I mean, it's not like I care about those piece of shit rubes who got snubbed out, but it seemed like she meant I'd had some part to play in their deaths.......

"3, counting the previous doctor. The other two just got done for the old fashioned way - one broke his leg falling off a building, got overrun by a horde of Shamblers, the other, well she got stupid and got bit. I had to put a bullet in her forehead, otherwise....."

He left the statement hanging, she knew what he meant. And it was a nice little way of proving the lengths he wasn't afraid to go to, in order to keep himself alive.

"What about you? What did you do before, you lose anyone?"

[Liz Burke]

“No.” Liz lied. She wasn’t going to say that she had locked up two young lovers in a room full of the undead – a room she knew would be locked. Liz was especially not going to tell him that the girl, Jess, was 7 months pregnant. But then Liz thought of James, and that damned dirty tramp man with the two dogs – he had seen James die. “There was James...” She muttered turning her head away from Jack. “James... he was bitten.” Although she would have put a bullet in him no troubles if he had turned, she still had some feeling for him. Liz wasn’t completely callous.

“I had to perform minor...” She didn’t know how to say it, so she didn’t. “He died.” She ended.

Liz thought back, before? What was that? It seemed so long ago now. “Before?” Turning back to face him she smiled. “Before I was alone. Before I was someone. Now? Now I’m here – I have you to thank for that, don’t I?” Actually, Liz was thankful, she was very thankful. She didn’t want to be alone in Williamsburg – she’d never survive. Just because she was sided with the military didn’t mean she had undergone their training. Basic training yeah, but she wasn’t in the shooting gallery with them – Liz was a doctor – science was her profession.

“I had a sons...” She began, still looking at him. “Twins actually.” Michael and Callum. She loved thinking about them – but not thinking about where Michael was right now. Liz didn't know why she was talking about this to him - she didn't know him from Adam.

[Jack Malloy]

"Yep, well, you've got to hand that to this massive fuck-up of of an apocalypse. It's been pretty even in it's come-uppance - every once-someone is a no-one now. Every big player is like us, squatting in some shitty hovel before they get torn to shreds by those uglies...." He thumbed into the Park, almost subconsciously, just generalising a direction where there could be Infected.

Realising that could be construed as bad luck, he lowered his thumb swiftly. Wouldn't want to damn Svernic to death - particularly not before he'd got these damn medical supplies. With this reminding him, he checked over the radio once again while Liz told him about those she'd lost, grimacing a little about her kids. It wasn't nice - but he was more worried about the future possibilities of having to go looking for them. What was with some of these people? The little ankle-biters were almost certainly dead, and more likely to be than anyone other than the sick and elderly. Sad fact of life.

"That's a shame...." He said almost half-obliviously, checking the frequency and power supply of the radio once again. Svernic should have called in his status by now......

[Liz Burke]

Liz gave a faint cheek smile, the sort that is pushed across the face to say ‘oh well, that’s life’. She held the loaded gun in her hand and took to her feet. Straightening out her skirt she edged towards the edge of the building looking down towards the park. “So how do I get down – the ladder again?” Did Jack even know? Svernic needed Liz there at the gardens to get into the security system. Without her personnel identification badge he was stuck outside with the ‘uglies’.

Liz was careful not to pull out the military badge in front of him, no, it was safely tucked away in her skirt pocket. She wasn’t leaving that go easy. Dragging her heels across the roof she returned back and sat next to Jack. “Married?” She asked. Liz held up her left hand and wiggled her marriage finger. On her finger was the engagement right and gold band her Jack had given her back in the day.

Liz had been trying to think for days of the nice times she had had with her Jack. But all she could picture now was her husband killing her little boy, Callum. She could picture the screams. Chilling. Liz pulled out her radio – well, it was clipped to the back of her skirt. Liz begun to tune her radio also, but for a woman who had been a doctor to children for the most of her life, she wasn’t doing too bad in tuning in her radio alone – basic military skills.

[Jack Malloy]

Noting the not quite real smile that she gave, Malloy decided not to stress the point. He needed her focused, not a crying wreck, when the time came. "The jump at the bottom's not too high - just climb down to the bottom rung and drop, remember to bend your knees into the fall. Hell, if worst comes to worst - you'll be fine dropping off from up here, regardless of the ladder. Might sprain an ankle at worst."

He didn't reiterate that it had been just a little fall that had caught out one of his old group members, but he didn't want to make her over-nervous - they'd be fine, the Deli wasn't that high.

"Married? Hell no. Never willingly thrown myself into a dangerous situation before." He cut himself short of launching into a tirade as she showed off her ring. Should have known. "But I'm sure some people can enjoy it?" He backtracked, lying through his teeth.

Something clicked. Something in what she had said just there. She was married, and had kids, but didn't say either had died on her.....what woman leaves her husband and kids after the Outbreak? Surely she wasn't that dedicated to her work - not that would be a bad thing, given her current role - or maybe she was hiding something?

He mused on it, not wanting to bring it up. But the ease with which she tinkered with the radio seemed to give credence to these thoughts of another side to the doctor.......Curiouser and curiouser.....

[Liz Burke]

“It wasn’t all bad...” She mused, thinking of her marriage. But for now she didn’t care. It was all a farce anyway – it hadn’t been, but since she was recruited into the military she knew her marriage had ended. There was no trust anymore. Liz loved her kids though; she loved them more than anything in the world. But loving something too much was dangerous when working for powerful men. They had used her family against her – what mother would say no when it determined the life of her kids?

Liz attached her radio back onto the back of her skirt. Her skirt was the same one she had worn that night home from the hospital – the night she was trapped within the city. Of course it had been cleaned – well, as clean as you could in the city with no running water. But like everyone else she had washed it in a bucket of water and some soap.

This was boring. They may as well have stayed at the police station. What the hell was taking Sv so long? How difficult was it to scurry along to the park, into the botanical garden centre and radio for Liz to come with her pass card and pass code. “What’s taking him so long?” She muttered all bothered and fed up. There was only so much hanging around on top of a Deli she could stand.

[Svernic Borcopf]

#Jack Malloy hears a bleep on his radio from Svernic's channel#

[Jack Malloy]

His attention was caught straight away by the low beep from his radio, and he clicked the thumbswitch down.

"Svernic, that you? Something up?" Malloy intoned into the radio clearly and loudly, frowning slightly. Sounded like trouble.....something wasn't right. Motioning to Liz to get ready, he picked up his handgun with the free hand, scanning the park's frontage as he stood.

Biting his bottom lip absentmindedly, he waited for Svernic's reply - tensed and ready to scarper down the ladder, hopefully with Liz close behind....

[Liz Burke]

Liz listened to the radio call – or not as it was. What had gone wrong. Liz felt the back of her skirt to make sure the radio was still there – it was. The gun. Where was the gun? In her hand – her mind was playing overtime now, worrying about mindless and stupid things.

Liz didn’t wait, she was gone. Throwing herself over the raised wall onto the ladder, the blonde in the heels rushed to the bottom – almost making a clapping noise as her heels hit the floor. Quietly, she peered around the corner wall – she didn’t want to run out blindly into the street if it was full of the walkers. She had to be careful.

Finding no one or nothing around, Liz made a jolt for the park – she made a jolt for Svernic, no, she made a jolt for the information inside the botanical garden centre.

[Jack Malloy]

Malloy hesitated for a couple of seconds. He wasn't sure what to do - this was all a little unexpected.....he looked wildly from retreating doctor to the Botanics, then slowly his higher brain functions kicked back in.

He'd wait right here. Svernic hadn't made any announcement - it could have been an accident, or anything, and then they'd all be in the Park for nothing. He watched Liz disappearing towards the park, and thought of something he could do. Lifting the radio, he bent so his lips were close to the pickup. "Do not ever fucking do that again Liz, I will shoot you in the fucking leg while you run and leave you for the Shamblers. Right now, go see whats up with Svernic. When you get back, we're having a chat."

Watching her disappear, he shook his head and swore under his breath. Fucking idiot. A cigarette was placed to his lips, and he waited for any further developments.

[Svernic Borcopf]

Svernic sends too transmittions in quick succession

#"I almost had the guy Jack then She blew the whole thing appart and shes pissing on the shrapnel now, what the hell happened?" #

#"Lets group together, hit the supply and go, we've spent far to long here, I dont want infected crawling over me..."#