tayla was a face he felt like he hadn't seen since last week. he had been caught up in his own life to catch up on the people that he usually likes seeing "sure thing," he says before instinctively putting his hands in his pockets that were all calloused and overworked from the day before and leading his way down the hallway. he had started to enjoy his late evening walks with tayla if he was going to be quite honest. he knew that something was thrown out of whack when he hadn't seen her. "sorry 'bout last week, by the way, i didn't think it's been that long not seein' ya until today." he says smiling sheepishly at her. tayla was always one of those rare people who got to see laz with other than just anger; he also wasn't quite sure how they had gotten to that point by now but she had been around long enough that laz had shockingly enough gotten used to her. "i feel like if that happens, we should catch up with a meal, but half the time i don't even want to eat the food after preparing it. it's weird ever since I've been here i feel like i've been more vegetarian." he says in a spooky voice again; never really thinking that he would get to that point by now after growing up his father was adamant about having a piece of meat with every meal. oh how times have changed since then.
a lone wolf howls to the moon every night in hopes of finding home in a pack . blonde reflects on a time where she’d be laying in some rundown gas station , staring at the moon with an arm behind her head and no end in sight when it came to a final destination . she remembered the loneliness of it all before novac , how suffocating that silence could be . here , at work , the night was rather quiet but there were signs of life everywhere in the desolation that once was . to say she was grateful for laz’s company would be a severe understatement , and one she’d never vocalize to anyone . ❛ yeah , i was getting worried that your life became too busy for us little people over here . ❜ tayla’s jest comes naturally as she finds herself in sync beside laz , smile barely even noticeable in the dim lights novac had so graciously provided . it was a miracle they even had electricity . ❛ well , you see all the gross stuff before we have to , so i can’t really blame you . i can’t remember the last time i was excited for a meal around here . ❜ with her schedule , it was rare for tayla to even join the others when people ate . instead , she saved her food for her shift and picked at it over the course of eight hours before it ran cold . she never wasted it , but she was bad at timing and incredible at distractions . ❛ any updates , though ? my life is lacking drama , laz , so you have to be that entertainment for me . ❜
laz found himself walking back to his room rather later than usual. he was tired and it showed in the rims of his eyes. perhaps he hasn't been sleeping well and with the darkness surrounding them from the night it seemed ever more evident that there was something going on with laz. "you could say that." he says to the familiar voice. tayla. he's seen her a lot quite frequently these days as he sits down on the desk slouching against the wall. he wasn't ready to be isolated to his room yet. sometimes he wondered if it would be better if he had roommates, but laz did really like his alone time after work. "you don't look any better either, by the way." he adds with a teasing smirk on his lips. "you need to do a round around the building, or whatever? i can join you."
all nights seemed rough nowadays . not only did tayla find every night becoming longer and longer , but the days seemed no better . heat was hard to avoid in their current state , which made sleeping even harder to do with the sun out . graveyard shift was her own choice , that much was true , but it didn’t mean it was the best . ❛ see , i always look my best . ❜ blonde comments absently , head tilting a bit as he approached . laz was one of the few people tayla actually liked hanging out with , not that she’d ever really admit it . the offer hangs in the air for a second longer as tayla’s gaze shifts from him to the door . these were vacant hours , with little activity expected , if any at all . ❛ yeah , please . if i don’t , i might knock out soon . ❜ standing up , the femme pushed her book forward onto the desk before using her heel to kick the chair in a bit . ❛ lead the way ? ❜
𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓 ⸻ just outside their room with tayla quinney ( @pocalypz )
nights are the worst for alex ( she knows she is not alone in that reality ) and she's long past fighting her inability to sleep for long. at first, she tossed and turned, negotiating with her own mind for some semblance of rest. now, she just give up when it's obvious she's going to lose the fight. she doesn't really know how long she's been out, legs crossed and just looking at the calm surroundings ( if she didn't know any better, she'd say the world has finally known peace ). "can't sleep either?" words spoken after hearing the familiar footsteps of her older sister and looking up to meet her. "i guess i'm past blaming the mattresses when it's been this long, huh." it's an attempt at a joke, trying not to ask her sister if she's just here to check on her as the first thing out of her mouth.
if there’s one certainty left in this life , it was that tayla would be damned if she lost the last remaining person that she’d channeled all of her care into . brought together by unusual circumstances , the two were mirror images of each other . for that , tayla was still grateful . a night off meant boredom was inevitable , which was something to be avoided in order to keep her sanity in check , and so she seeks out alex . it’s not hard to find her , tayla’s approach nothing short of cautious with a hint of a smile tugging at her lips . ❛ oh , never . ❜ reply comes lightly as she sits beside alex , arms extending to wrap around her own legs as tayla’s gaze wandered for a few moments . ❛ i think we could all use an upgrade . i’m pretty sure those springs are leaving knots in my back . ❜
fletcher was incapable of showing affection or, at least, that was what he told himself. there certainly wasn't a soft spot, buried beneath layers of ice, a near parental protection towards the other guard that seemed destined to end up on his patrols. each evening, sidling up to the chainlink fences, he would search for her, check the boards and the darkness ahead. the rookie. "they're putting you on the late shifts now, hm? god, what became of this town's defences." an almost imperceptible twitch of the corner of his lip told ana that he was joking. just. "they must be desperate." @pocalypz
daybreak is her favorite . she yearns to be awake when the sun yawns , stretches over novac with a warmth not offered elsewhere across the country . ana can’t pinpoint the moment she began dreading the night , a time often spent alone in a bed that would never be shared again if she could help it . even ten years later , she still spoke to ghosts . they brought comfort to her , allowed her to live in delusion for just a few moments a day . it’s this kind of dissociation that’s broken when fletcher breaks the silence . trained gaze moves , doesn’t allow such a falter in features , and rests on him momentarily before they return to the darkness . always ready , always waiting . was she searching for infected or the return of people that died long ago ? hope was a fickle thing . ❛ i think you would have made it big as a comedian if the world didn’t fall apart , fletch . ❜ though her tone lacked any true entertainment to it , ana’s smile is flashed only briefly . ❛ or they thought you needed more help . ❜
heat is not remorseful . ana found this out the hard way – through fatigue and staggered steps upon leaving her post . the sun had been brutal that day , drawing sweat from the femme’s pores during every second and becoming even more sweltering upon reaching midday . maybe she hadn’t even realized she’d been dehydrated until halfway back to her room . the shade beneath a dying tree entices her , beckons her forward until she’s sitting with her head back against the bark . darkness is cooler , more forgiving . deep breath in , deep breath out . then she’s met with a visitor and ana doesn’t bother opening her eyes to see who it is . ❛ seat’s taken . ❜ through chapped lips , this falls , and one hand lifts to allow the back of it a quick swipe across her forehead .
the dead of night was always her favorite . most people found silence to be unsettling in a world like theirs , afraid moaning and groaning would pierce through the air with an inevitable clicking to follow . not tayla . novac eased her mind , gave her a sense of peace she hadn’t found in the years prior , and maybe she was getting too comfortable now . the blonde leaned back in her chair each night , head against ripped cushion as her eyes scanned the words of authors she now knew by heart . this entertainment was minimal , but it was enough . upon hearing someone approach , eyes lift from the page and she has to lift her body ever so slightly to peer over the desk . familiar faces weren’t uncommon , but there were some she’d play favorites towards . ❛ rough night ? ❜ well , this would hold her over for at least an hour .
the shade , in any shape or form , feels GODLIKE when it’s a scorcher . tayla was fortunate enough to be able to spend most of her days indoors , sleeping away whatever threat nature held against them during the day while only coming out to do whatever she needed to at night . this was a rare day off , by choice , and the blonde could only curse herself every other minute for allowing herself to go outside for more than five seconds . shoulders roll a bit as she finds a seat beneath a makeshift roof , palms rubbing together to rid them of any excess dirt . she was not built for this life , but she’d make do with what she was given . ❛ god , it feels like hell out here . ❜ femme murmurs , suddenly regretful of the fact that she never paid sunscreen any further attention after the world broke down . it was the little things , wasn’t it ?
novac seemed to be a graveyard of her past lives . many people she’d run into over the years had appeared out of nowhere , making tayla believe this might have been her own personal hell . maybe she died years ago , to the infected like she should have from the start . maybe this was her punishment for all the lies that slid through her lips . either way , tayla wasn’t a fan of having to face the consequences of her actions . she sits , still as a statue with a book in her lap while she remained lazed back in her chair . it’s when mina’s figure wanders in that the blonde tears her gaze from the words on the page to the only other person she’d seen in the last hour . expression doesn’t change , stoic nature failing to falter now as chin lifts in acknowledgment of her company . ❛ have a good night . ❜ tone rests nothing short of sour , unsure if mina was headed towards a room or away from the desk . tayla didn’t care all too much either way .
⸻⸻ 𝙠𝙖𝙞𝙖 𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙣 the edge of the empty pool, mashing the buttons on their ipod shuffle, brows knitted and face slowly morphing with increased frustation. ‘ for fuck's sake! ’ she exclaims, yanking out her earphones and tossing the offending device to the side. it's only then that she realizes she's not alone, and whips her head around in surprise. ‘ sorry — i didn't — i ... sorry, ’ they mumble, because all they do these days is apologize.
shift starts in a few hours , leaves the blonde bored upon waking up . no , it’s not morning , but that’s what working the graveyard shift would do to a person . there’s a sense of normalcy that comes with sitting by the pool , even with it empty and lacking a reflection to gaze dreamily into , and it’s something tayla craves more than anything else . quick glance to the side enables the grasp of the other’s gaze for a brief moment . smile remains hidden as she sits a good distance away , legs kicked over the edge of the pool as heels kicked dry concrete quietly . ❛ must have been a bad song to have you reacting that way . ❜ tayla’s jest comes with good intentions , palms scraping the ground a bit as her shoulders rose . ❛ i didn’t mean to scare you . ❜
𝗠𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗦𝗔 𝗕𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗘𝗥𝗔 + she / her , cis woman . ⸻ i saw 𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒛𝒂 coming through the trees . the 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚢 - 𝚜𝚒𝚡 ( 𝟹𝟼 ) 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚘𝚕𝚍 was fleeing from 𝙒𝙃𝙀𝙀𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙂 , 𝙒𝙀𝙎𝙏 𝙑𝙄𝙍𝙂𝙄𝙉𝙄𝘼 when they came across n̲o̲v̲a̲c̲ , and have sought salvation within the motel of purgatory . tayla has been in town for 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 and has been assigned as a 𝙶𝚄𝙰𝚁𝙳 to keep society running smoothly . no matter what , they will find something to fight for .
STATS .
full name ana souza .
nickname(s) n / a .
age thirty - six ( 36 )
gender identity cis woman , she / her .
orientation bisexual biromantic .
place of birth wheeling , west virginia .
date of birth 06 / 07 .
current occupation guard ( sniper specialty ) .
faceclaim melissa barrera .
BACKGROUND .
ana was born and raised in wheeling , west virginia . her family was quite large – two older brothers with two younger sisters and a set of parents that did everything they could to keep food on the table . they weren’t rich , by any means , but they had enough to get by on a daily basis . they were also a very outdoorsy family and loved to go camping about three times a year .
ana was ever the reckless child , often times able to get away with anything by being the oldest daughter yet also the middle sibling at the same time . she never felt the need to take care of her siblings , mostly because that was her eldest brother’s job , and she was quite close with her two sisters . they did everything as a family , from vacations to outings , and you never saw any of them on their own .
she was also never the smartest in school , but ana took a liking to soccer quite early on in her childhood . she was athletic by nature and worked hard to eventually become the captain of her high school’s team as a sophomore . she was an attacker with potential to be scouted into some of the most prestige schools outside of west virginia . she never wanted to leave home , though , and turned down any scholarships because she thought she’d find a local job one day . she figured she’d be in wheeling forever , never allowed herself the chance to really leave because it meant leaving her family .
upon reaching the end of high school , ana was immediately offered a job as a soccer coach . she took it because it meant she didn’t have to leave , and they were willing to provide a good pay from the start . she moved out on her own within a year , only two minutes away from her childhood home , and still saw her family every week .
eventually , ana fell in love with a man named dale and they moved pretty quickly in their relationship . he proposed when she was twenty - five and they planned to marry a year later in december . the year of the outbreak , they were on a trip to dolly sods , in the very backwoods of west virginia , when everything went downhill . she was on a trip with dale , her siblings , and a few close friends . they planned to camp out for a week or so before returning home to prepare fully for the wedding .
what happened next was truly something horrific . in the middle of the night , one of ana’s siblings began attacking the others . everything happened quickly , almost too much so , and ana didn’t have time to process what was happening until dale attacked her . it was ana’s first real encounter with the infected , and she begged him to leave her alone , but he wasn’t the dale she knew anymore . she ran off with one of her older brothers , the last remaining sibling of hers from the violent attack that night , and they hid in the woods for ages . other campers showed up , presumably already infected and freaking out , and they weren’t able to leave for another day or so . upon finding their way back to society , ana realized that this was a full - on outbreak . she realized that this wasn’t just some freak accident in the woods , and she realized she needed to protect her older brother because she had no one else left . her friends and other siblings ? dead back in the woods . dale ? dead back in the woods . there was no undoing that .
they retreated to a cabin they owned in the appalachian mountains . it was used exclusively for camping trips and served as a “ trail angel ” type of home for hikers . it housed an array of weapons , just in case of emergencies , and their cellar was full of canned food . they weren’t doomsday preppers by any means , but it was just in case . and they thanked god for it to have remained untouched by the time they got there . ana then spent the next five years there , avoiding being drawn to quarantine zones controlled by people she didn’t know or trust . she trained every day , ran and kept her athleticism in check because she’d be damned if one of the infected ever caught her off guard .
she only left the mountains when her brother went out on a run and never returned . they’d been running low on food and other resources for a while , and her survivability wasn’t great on her own . so she left . she gave him a month to return and then left on her own . she crossed the country , trying to find somewhere to stay and failing miserably due to her insane amount of trust issues that had developed over the years . she became stone cold , a fighter at heart , and was one of the many who’d learned how to successfully fight off the infected .
she stumbled upon novac when it was first created . it was a small community at that time , and still is , but she figured it was a good enough place to settle down . she planned on staying alive for a while and she’d need the people there if she wanted to do so . she offered her protection in return . she was one of the most skilled long - range shooters that’d turned up , and she does everything she can to keep the people safe by working as a guard .
𝗠𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗟𝗬𝗡 𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘 + she / her , cis woman . ⸻ i saw 𝒕𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒂 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒚 coming through the trees . the 𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚢 - 𝚜𝚒𝚡 ( 𝟸𝟼 ) 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚘𝚕𝚍 was fleeing from 𝙋𝙊𝙍𝙏𝙇𝘼𝙉𝘿 , 𝙈𝘼𝙄𝙉𝙀 when they came across n̲o̲v̲a̲c̲ , and have sought salvation within the motel of purgatory . tayla has been in town for 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 and has been assigned as 𝙼𝙾𝚃𝙴𝙻 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝙵𝙵 to keep society running smoothly . no matter what , they will find something to fight for .
STATS .
full name tayla quinney .
nickname(s) tay , quinn , q .
age twenty - six ( 26 )
gender identity cis woman , she / her .
orientation bisexual biromantic .
place of birth portland , maine .
date of birth 09 / 10 .
current occupation motel staff ( graveyard shift ) .
faceclaim madelyn cline .
BACKGROUND .
from a young age , tayla was always known as somewhat of a golden child . she was an only child , the daughter of two amazing parents who gave her the world ever since she entered it for herself . they gave her a house to live in , food on the table every night , and all a girl could ever dream of as a kid . money was never an issue , nor was fighting . everything was perfect … until it wasn’t .
her parents divorced when tayla was thirteen . her mother had been cheating on her father for years up until that point and it’d hit a place of no return . her mother ultimately chose to go live life with her other partner , leaving tayla with her father and a broken heart . they picked up the pieces together , though , and tayla pulled her weight around the house to help with whatever her dad needed her to . it was rough , but it wasn’t impossible to deal with .
when she started high school , things started to look up again . her freshman and sophomore years were relatively normal . she dated a football player , found out she liked girls as well after sleeping with a cheerleader , and climbed her way through the ranks of her classmates through popularity alone . she was treated as a goddess among teens , held up on a pedestal because she was social and sweet . her grades were average , but her teachers loved her . her sweet sixteen was the peak of her girlhood . she invited the whole class to a party down on the rocky coast of maine . there were boats , laughs , music , and memories she’d never dare to forget . she thought that life couldn’t get better than that , and maybe she was right because it’d be the last remnants of normalcy she’d hold onto .
later that month , all hell broke loose . she was fast asleep in her room when her dad came bursting through the door . his hands were covered in blood and a shotgun was hanging from his shoulder . he shook tayla until she woke up , told her to grab a few important things , and nearly dragged her outside to the jeep in the driveway . tayla couldn’t process the next few moments , to be quite honest , and she can’t recall vivid details or a specific timeline of events . what she does remember , though , is gripping the door so tight that her knuckles turned white , crying more than she did the night her mother chose another family , and the screams that echoed through her hometown as they drove through it . she knows they left home and , somehow , made it all the way to a lake house in nebraska that was left to them years prior in her grandmother’s will . they camped out there for a while , stayed away from the rest of society , and tried to keep their sanity as long as humanly possible .
they survived for about a year on their own there . they fished in the lake , kept the radio turned up , and generated their own electricity . but this safe haven could only last so long before the infected started showing up at their doorstep . quite literally . her mother , of all people , showed up in a panic one night and begged them to let her in . tayla and her father were hesitant , but ultimately allowed her to stay for just one night . they didn’t know she’d just been bit . by morning , her mother had attacked her father and it forced tayla to flee yet again . the only place she knew how to get back to , though , was so far up north . so she left again , at seventeen , and took the jeep all the way back up to maine to return home . the city had been deserted , stores broken into and houses now vacant as she drove through . people had knocked on doors , forced others out of their homes , and ransacked the entire city . there was a quarantine zone that had been ( lazily ) set up , but nobody seemed to be there . tayla found her old home , a place frozen in time after others had stripped it clean of all resources , and she remained there for as long as she could , which was really only a week or so .
she moved between homes for months after that , until she turned eighteen and figured it was time to hit the road . the opportunity to do so came when a boy her age and his father passed through the city . tayla played them like a violin , pulling the innocent card and pitching a sob story about how she had no family left . there was truth to her words , but her dramatics came in excess . they bought the story , though , and allowed her to travel with them for a bit . it lasted about a month before she gained enough trust , stole a few cartons of gas , pocketed some knives and other weapons , and went on her way . she ditched them in the middle of the night and went back home , to her jeep , and left once more .
for six years , tayla’s done that exact same thing to multiple different groups . some were people on their own , some were bigger groups that didn’t see the harm she could do . she never stayed in one place for more than a few months , never used her real name . every person knew a different alias , every city knew a different story she told , and tayla was fine with that being her only way of survival in such a world .
but two years ago , she stumbled across novac . she intended on staying for just a few months , just to get her feet back on the ground after running low on resources , but then she found a job and actually settled in . she doesn’t like staying in one place , but it’s been safe and that’s all tayla really needs at the moment . her bags are never unpacked in her room , though , and she’s always got running on her mind .
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