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 .
