SUSTINEO

TO S U R V I V E, && TO FIGHT, && TO LIVE FOR THOSE WE LOST }

[littlercooke-blog]

Abigail couldn’t say what she had been expecting. In honesty, it probably wasn’t more than what she had gotten. What she had wanted, though… Her eyes dropped – it was silly to imagine or hope otherwise. She knew Jack, knew how he was. Especially with her. That wasn’t going to change so it was something that she should change in herself. Her reactions. She swallowed down a snarky backtalk comment. Instead, she gave him the answer she would offer to anyone else in their company. “Have a good night, Jack.” There was maybe a half breath of a sigh on the end of his name, but it was lost as Abby shuffled away from his lone figure.

[jcksnchmbrs]

[ END ]

[alexis-reeves-blog]

“Sure I had friends.” Alex crossed her arms. “I killed them all.” It was morbidly difficult to tell when she was joking or not. She pushed past him to get to the water. Honestly, if it was anyone else asking, she probably would have conceded an extra five minutes, but it was Jack. She wasn’t going to let him to win. Not with this, not with anything. “Four minutes,” she told him as she passed him by.

[jcksnchmbrs]

“What everyone wants in a leader, of course.” There was a light roll of the eyes at Alex’s comment, a harsh scoff passing through his nose. Jack always took her comments about her past lightly, never seeing much weight to them, but he couldn’t deny the fact that every single one of them were plausible when it came to her. “Alright, you bitch,” he muttered under his breath as she walked past him. 

[contritusx-blog]

Jazz felt the urge to slap him. She had seen much worse, things more brutal than she could have imagined. The dog, innocent and full of joy, had done nothing to deserve death. 

There was nothing stopping her. It was rare for Jazz to lose her composure, but something about Jack had always unleashed that side of her, uncontrolled and wild. She raised her still-bloody hand and slapped him. She heard rather than felt the blow, the sound clear against the backdrop of the wilderness. It was satisfying to see the red mark on his cheek; a detached, quiet voice wondered what would happen were she to crash her lips against his at that moment. 

She would bury it, but they hadn’t done that for even the closest of their acquaintances. She closed its eyes; that was the most she could do. 

“Protection. Dogs have sharper ears than we do.” She bit her tongue and kept from remarking about loneliness. Instead, she strode in the direction of the last river they’d found a couple of hours before, ready to wash the creature’s blood off her skin.

[jcksnchmbrs]

In his lifetime, a woman’s palm had struck Jack Chamber’s cheek more than enough times, and it would have been a familiar sensation had it not been for the thick crimson liquid that had just painted all over his face. The sting swiftly spread over his cheek (he’d received worse, but by no means had it been a weak one), the smell of blood swiftly entering his system, but most importantly his rage was boiling. 

His head bounced back. Sharp, cold eyes alight with furor as he bore his gaze into hers, chest heaving with little stability. God, if sh had been a male, his clenched fist would have swung right for her jaw. But alas, as Jazz walked away, all he could think about was pushing her up against the tree, and showing her the consequences of slapping a guy like him. 

“You’re right, Princess. I’m real fucking sorry,” he called out with mocking enthusiasm, “Next time, I’ll leave it, so it can warn us with a fucking bark, yeah?” And with that, he turned his back and started walking in the opposite direction.

[littlercooke-blog]

Hot and cold. Gifting her with a pile of arrowheads and then turning around to snap at her to get away. If it were anyone else, Abby wouldn’t even mind that much. Anyone else, and she would have just made a masturbation joke about “sharpen my knife alone,” rolled her eyes a little and given them the space they so obviously wanted. But some part of her (a part that the rest of her resented) couldn’t help the puppy-like response she had to Jack. “Fine,” she muttered under her breath. Making sure all the arrowheads were safely in her bag, Abby pushed off from the ground and made to turn away. “Next time, don’t do me any favors,” she mumbled over her shoulder, eyes on the toes of her boots.

[jcksnchmbrs]

It was the way Abby said ‘fine’, like the way his daughter would when he’d have to leave again. She’d always asked him to stay, at least for her birthday or Christmas, but with a 12 month period of deployment followed by a year stationed in the US with only 30 days for leave, it was difficult to make promises that satisfied his daughter. The guilt and regret all rushed to the surface at Abby’s nostalgic ‘fine’. Biting down on his teeth, Jack closed his eyes as he knew what he had to do, and he fought with himself to do the decent thing, even give her the stone. Anything. It failed him, however, and all he could manage to muster up was a stubborn, 'Not a problem,' before continuing to sharpen his knife, which really was quite finished.  

[gabethebrains-deactivated201506]

Gabe let his head fall back out of pure frustration and annoyance toward the older man, “Jesus at least a metal pipe would come in handy if someone dropped their weapon or ran out of ammo or just needed a backup plan.” Dark brown eyes glared at Jack with nothing but pure hatred fueling him. “At least if I had a book I could use it to ignore your stupidity better than I already do.” he spat, not allowing himself to just bite his tongue in an attempt to remain quiet. “Though I think I’d need five books in order to do that.”

[jcksnchmbrs]

”Or wanted to shut someone up,” Jack retorted without a miss of a beat. Most carried at least two weapons, and those that didn’t didn’t have enough hands or strength to carry a god damn metal pipe. “If I ran out of ammo, I’d use my knife,” his tone was patronizing as it was demeaning. “They don’t teach you common sense at your fancy Ivy League college, do they?” A scoff breezed through his lips at Gabe’s comment, mildly entertained. For some reason, it felt like he was back at school. “Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, Gabe. You wouldn’t be able to carry five books.”

[dannylockhart-blog]

Who knows why he agreed to go on a supply run with Jack? Nobody did. And it was probably going to end with them fighting like it always did. Somehow, Jack managed to walk in front of Danny, wanting to take the lead as always. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes when he saw Jack’s hand shoot up, his inner military persona starting to show through. Danny accepted the man’s look and turned around to see two more walkers coming for him, before hearing the sound of a gun shot shoot out through the trees. He jumped quickly in to action, kicking one of the walkers in to the tree behind it, gripping his tactical knife and jamming it through the other’s head, feeling it’s body go limp. He pulled his knife out, before ramming it through the other’s jaw, wiping the blood off his blade.

“Way to go, dipshit.” He sighed, turning around and seeing Jack having a gun pointed in his direction. “Now you probably just alerted a whole shit load more. There was only three, you could’ve just used your knife.”

[jcksnchmbrs]

The last walker body fell to the ground with a heavy thud, blood oozing out of it’s neck. Jack was well aware of Danny’s combat skills, good enough for one to suspect the boy’s background but not honed enough to assume he’d learned professionally. It came from experience, and Jack often thought about something so essential as survival could turn natural healers into killers. Danny’s following words, however, made Jack question his experience entirely. 

“You think, Nurse Lockhart?” Jack asked with a tilt of the head, gaze hardening as the other man’d managed to push his buttons. Truth be told, he didn’t have to fire the second shot, but he wanted to buy himself more time just in case Danny couldn’t handle two. Of course, Jack wasn’t planning on letting the other know. Even then, by the time his knife was plunged through the second walker’s head, the distance between himself and the third walker would have been too little for it to have been a passable risk. Whether Danny had been able to make that calculation or not was none of Jack’s concern. “Let them, then. I’ll kill them all. Clearly, I’m feeling a little trigger happy.” He spat with acerbity with a flick of his gun.

"If you're gonna be a fucking pain in the ass, just go back."

[beau-cooke]

Beau rolled his eyes at the other male. Honestly, he wasn’t even going to warrant that with a response. Jack didn’t deserve it. The younger male knew full well that everyone enjoyed his jokes, and he wasn’t going to stop just because one stupid army man didn’t find him funny. When he threw his water bottle at him, however, Beau had to admit he was shocked as he caught it, and furrowed his eyebrows at the other male. It wasn’t like Jack to do something like this, but he wasn’t going to take it for granted. He popped the top off and only took a swallow before putting it back on and tossing it back. “Thanks,” he muttered, smiling inwardly as he remembered Danny telling him they could always steal Jack’s water later. Looks like they didn’t have to.

[jcksnchmbrs]

After catching his water bottle, Jack held the object parallel to his line-of-sight as he examined just how much Beau had taken. It wasn’t much. In fact, it was hardly anything, but it would keep Beau hydrated for a little while longer. Hopefully, they’d come across a water source in that time. A gesture of benevolence was making him feel rather uncomfortable in his own skin, and he wasn’t particularly in the mood to have to make another to the same person. “Mhm,” Jack murmured lowly, packing his water bottle back into his bag as he brushed passed the older Cooke.

[alexis-reeves-blog]

Alex turned to raise an eyebrow at the man who spoke. There was no small part of her that wanted to just punch him right in the face. He liked challenging her, and she liked imagining the idea of feeding him to a couple of walkers. “You can stay however long you like,” she told him, crossing her arms. “But I’m leaving in five minutes, because Big Ugly back there had friends, and I’m not interested in dying today.”

[jcksnchmbrs]

“A real shame,” Jack retorted sardonically. The longer they bickered, the shorter time he would have at the water source that seemed to be so rare in New Mexico. “No need to get personal with the walker, Alex. Ugly people can have friends. I’m sure you did, too.” Taking a couple of steps closer towards her, he lazily gestured towards the rest of the group enjoying themselves in the water. “You really gonna give ‘em five minutes? We can get everything we need to get done with people on watch in rotation, so just get your ass in the water.”

[contritusx-blog]

For a few seconds, Jazz had no words. She felt the breath go out of the little dog’s body, its quiver as the blood began to spurt from the dog’s head. 

She hadn’t even named it yet. 

Jazz tried not to cry as she lowered the dog’s body onto the ground. The blood on her hands was red and still wet; worst of all, it was warm. “Why?” she said, over and over. 

She stood up and without warning, wiped the dog’s blood on Jack’s hands. “This is yours,” she said, fury in her eyes. 

[jcksnchmbrs]

Jack narrowed his gaze into an uncomfortable squin. Had guilt not been a habitual essence running through his veins for so long, then maybe he would have realised that he was actually feeling bad. 

Even when she covered his hands with blood, he remained still. His hands were soaked in the blood of his brother’s and men’s whose names and faces he couldn’t even remember, so a mere dog’s made little difference. 

“Yes, it is.” Jack said dryly. Well, his fingers weren’t going anywhere near her tonight. “But, it is also yours. What made you think that was a good idea?”

[littlercooke-blog]

Abby wrinkled her nose at his mockery, uncertain. There was always hostility when it came to Beau with Jack and Abby couldn’t tell where it stemmed from — whether he simply didn’t like her brother or if it was scorn at the idea of the siblings caring so much for each other. After he had dumped his bag, Abby poked through the arrowheads he had either found or made. An odd confusion swept through her as she scooped them up carefully. They were sharp, she discovered, a bead of blood appearing on her thumb where she had tested one. She sucked the blood away, odd confusion persisting, but with a sincere gratitude. “Thank you…” She murmured, smiling some.

After depositing the arrowheads carefully into her own sack, Abby stayed put. “I still want to make my own, though.” She appreciated the gift — more than appreciated it — but she also wanted to be sure that she could do it herself.

[jcksnchmbrs]

A large part of him wanted to look up and see he reaction to the arrowheads, and when he tried to steal a glance his pride weighed his gaze back down. Jack had started sharping them since he obtained the whetting stone, wanting to make sure she wouldn’t run out, but he just hadn’t known how to give them to her. He grumbled in response to her gratitude with an indolent shrug of the shoulder. However, she remained in her place, and that brought further tightening to his brow. Frustrated, he exhaled sharply. “I made you them specifically, so this wouldn’t happen.” He turned to her, whipping a hand across his jaw. “I want to sharpen my knife... Alone... In silence... You can make your own next time. Take the goddamn arrowheads, and go bother someone else.”

[ravenkingwrites]

When the days all feel the same Don't feel the cold or wind or rain Everything will be okay We will meet again one day I will shine on for everyone

[gabethebrains-deactivated201506]

Gabriel just knew that the one to open their mouth would be Jack, the one that made Gabriel want nothing more than to throw him off the nearest bridge. Gabriel rolled his eyes at the other’s remark, giving him the best side eye he could muster, “Fuck off with the sarcasm for once in your life Jack.” he snapped back.

"We need some more weapons, looking through some buildings to scavenge isn’t a bad idea or are you just that bitter that you can’t even admit it’s a resonable suggestion?”

[jcksnchmbrs]

“Nah, I’m alright.” A ghost of a smirk appeared on Jack’s lips, his tone steering from the usual indifference to one that was all a little too smug. “It’s a reasonable idea, Gabe. That I can admit.” He took a step closer towards the other man, seemingly getting increasingly annoyed the more he spoke. “But look at where we are. There are literally three fucking buildings. The best we’re going to get is another metal pipe, or a book to suffocate yourself in.”

[beau-cooke]

Beau glared up at the other male, swallowing dryly before standing up straight and pulling his hand away from the rock. If it was one thing he didn’t want to show, it was too much weakness in front of Jack. He was pretty sure the guy got off to being stronger than everybody else. “Ran out,” he lied, but he wasn’t about to tell him he gave it to Danny to make sure the other male stayed hydrated. There was barely anything left in the bottle when he’d given it to the other man anyway, just under half full. 

[jcksnchmbrs]

“Mhm,” Jack lowly murmured with a slow nod of the head, highly unimpressed. “Maybe you should stop making so many of your hilarious jokes.” Even at gun point, Jack would never admit in appreciating Beau’s sense of humour. The younger man had a talent in keeping the group’s spirit up, which played a critical role in the logistics of a team fighting for survival. “One sip,” he muttered, throwing his water bottle towards Beau. He’d allow two gulps, maybe three depending on the size of his gulps.

[littlercooke-blog]

For someone who liked to try and tell her what to do so often, Jack really could be a baby. “He needed help,” was all she offered in defense of herself. She had already been on her way to join Jack when Beau called, asking for her input. One of them could have been bleeding out and on the way to death, but if Beau called for Abby, she would go. That’s just how things were — basic fact. “Did I hurt your delicate feelings?” she teased with a snark, nudging his knee in hopes of upsetting his balance.

Sighing a little, she dropped onto the hard ground next to him. Likely, Jack was just being difficult and would share his wealth if she waited him out.

[jcksnchmbrs]

“He needed help,” Jack scoffed before repeating under his breath with undertones of acerbity, lightly shaking his head dismissively. The contempt was misplaced; he wasn’t quite sure where it came from, especially when he so blindly used to follow his own older brother. He ignored her question, focusing more on her nudge to his knee by responding with an irritated look. A throaty grunt escaped him as Abby sat beside him, once again pushing him to nearly roll his eyes. “For fuck’s sake,” he sighed exasperatedly. With his foot, he kicked over his bag, pushing it to the side to reveal a collection of arrowheads. “There,” he returned his gaze to his hands, as he continued to sharpen his knife. “Now go annoy someone else.”

[alexis-reeves-blog]

“Everyone take no more than five minutes or I’m leaving without your sorry asses,” Alex told the group, as they stopped at the ravine. She would let people fill up their canteens and maybe rinse off some dirt, but she wasn’t willing to stick around forever and let people fully bathe after the walker they’d encountered about half a mile back. They tended to roam in packs, and she wasn’t going to take any chances.

[jcksnchmbrs]

It was times like these where Jack regretted joining a group -- receiving orders, which just so happened to be a fuckload of times on a daily basis. Five minutes was far too short, considering how long they hadn’t come across a water source. He hadn’t spoken to Jazz in weeks, or so it felt. “Five minutes?” Jack’s features twisted into an incredulous scowl. “Darling, you’re not exempt from the effects of a lack of hygiene. Plus, people are fucking thirsty; it’s been a while. Fifteen.” 

[jcksnchmbrs]

Soft rustling of the trees followed by a distinctive crunch, and Jack’s finger went up in the air to motion for Danny to shut the fuck up. Immediately, he cocked his rifle, and swiftly brought it up to his cheek as he tentatively lowered his stance. Three walkers emerged from the trees before them, another two surrounding them from behind. There wasn’t enough time for Jack to tend to both angles, and so he gave Danny a telling look before shooting the furthest walker of the three in the head, followed by the second. He charged forwards, quickly pulling out his knife and driving the blade through the walker’s skull with two hands.  

As the corpse fell forward, Jack armed himself with the rifle again, ready to pull the trigger as he turned around to ascertain Danny’s safety. 

[beau-cooke]

Beau coughed as he moved over to a large rock, pressing one hand onto it as he hunched over, trying to catch his breath. “We have to find some water soon,” he stated, swallowing thickly, though the lack of moisture in his mouth made him wince. “Why the hell haven’t we crossed a river yet? Or a creek? A freaking pond? Who decided to make New Mexico, anyway? The damn sand man?” 

[beau-cooke]

[jcksnchmbrs]

There wasn’t much of a reaction from Jack apart from a slight twist of his features as he watched the other boy cough. Closing his eyes, he cursed as an almost whisper to himself, before bringing out his own water bottle. A little under than half way. Popping the cap off, he took three large gulps of the water, before glaring at Beau suspiciously. “Where’s your water?”