Name: Leigh Madison Age: 36 Community Job: Stable Hand Job Before: Stable Hand Reside in: Small farm house near Redwood Farm How long have they lived in Redwood?: 1 month Family: Daughter Allison (3) Status: Single Faceclaim: Aly Michalka
Leigh Madison was born and raised in Terrell, Texas. Her dad worked on a ranch as a cowboy and by proxy, she was raised up on it too. It should not have come to a surprise that she would fall in love with the horses and riding. When she was six she was given her first horse, a white Arabian filly that she affectionately named Jasmine. She grew up with Jasmine and trained her when she wasn’t at school. She would go to horse shows. Riding was her world. When she grew up, she knew she wanted to be a horse trainer. So that’s what she did. When she was sixteen her dad took her to the ranch he worked on and the owner agreed to give her a job there in the stables and help train her to be just that - a horse trainer.
She worked there for years, learning everything there was to offer about horses and how to work with them and take care of them. Her mother, of course, wanted her daughter to go to college so she disappeared for a few years, going off to major if biology and focusing on animal care. Leigh felt that if she could focus her studies on animals, namely horses, maybe she could double as a horse vet. All the better to know for when she went back to the farm to train horses. But when she got back, something happened that she did not at all expect.
The owner of the ranch had passed and now, there was a new owner. The guy was a complete scrub and knew absolutely nothing about how to raise horses. Because of this, they had brought in someone from the outside to help with the horses - a man by the name of Alex Brooks. At first, Leigh didn’t like him. He was doing the job that she should be doing. After all, she had basically been raised on that Ranch so why hadn’t they given her the job? She was definitely hard-headed and a bit antagonistic towards him, but after working with him, she started to see him in a different light. He really cared for horses, much like her and she could respect that. In fact, she found herself even starting to like him. But he was dating the owner’s niece and she was not about to get in between that at all. Best not bite the hand that feeds you. So she was happy to stay just friends with him. Even if she did want more.
She was stabling Jasmine for the night when she came across Alex looking rather heartbroken. He revealed to her that the owner’s niece had been cheating on him. Not wanting to see her best friend so down, she took him out to make him feel better….and then the next morning, she woke up in his bed. She only meant for it to be the one night, but then they kept sleeping with each other and, well, she was enjoying it. At least, until she found out she was pregnant. But this was a good thing, right? She could tell Alex and maybe things could become more between them. Leigh made a plan and went to tell him, but he broke the news that he was leaving to West Virgnia after the owner decided to shut down the ranch. She couldn’t tell him - that wouldn’t be fair to him. So she saw him off. When people asked who the father was, she would say it was a guy she met at a bar and had moved to take care of his family. It wasn’t a total lie but she didn’t want someone who knew Alex to reach out and tell him.
Leigh had a hard time finding work as a horse trainer given that she was pregnant so she moved in with her aunt on her ranch down by Fredricksburg. Within a few months, the news started to break - an infectious outbreak. Leigh and her aunt quickly gathered all their family on their ranch and prepared themselves for the worst which inevitably came to pass. They built up their ranch like a compound and started to take in people who had also survived. Leigh gave birth to her daughter who she named Allison. Her daughter may never meet her father so she wanted her to have at least a little bit of him. For the next few years, they ran the town and things were looking okay. At least, until they weren’t.
One of the security team came back and had been infected. They tried to contain him but it didn’t work. Leigh was forced to watch as her parents were torn apart by the zombie and became infected themselves. She saddled up Jasmine, packed herself and Allison up and rode as far away as she could. She wound up heading East, believing that if there was a chance that Alex had survived he might be somewhere in West Virginia. It took months but soon, she happened upon Redwood. For the past month she has been settling herself and her daughter into the new town and preparing to face Alex and introduce him to his daughter.
Headcanons:
Leigh almost lost Allison when she was giving birth. Allison was almost a whole month early and her aunt didn’t think she was going to make it. Because of this, Leigh is very protective of her daughter.
Back on the ranch in Fredricksburg, she had started a relationship with a guy named Mark. He had lost his wife in the initial outbreak and they grew close. Mark would also become the security guy who would come back infected.
Jasmine survived the journey to Redwood and is now stabled at the Redwood farm. But Jasmine is not the only animal in their family. Leigh was also able to save and bring along the town cat from back home - a Siamese cat named Luna. Allison loves the cat and Leigh could not leave without her daughter’s kitty.
