Solus Isle - zombie RP

Hayley exhaled loudly as she glanced towards the young boy following behind her with a frown on her face. The had been walking on foot for a while in the vast jungles of Solus. They had been separated from the rest of the team after the boy she was with slipped or something and in her attempt to save him, both of them fell into a hole and into a cavern. They got out but now she was stuck trying to find where the others were.

This was an official trip and Hayley was bothered by the fact that a child like him managed to stow himself away to this island. She knew the risks of going here. She gladly accepted it but did this child even know? She had no clue. She came here for knowledge. She came here both to find that legendary treasure and find out what happened to the previous exploration. And now everything turned upside down.

She stopped from walking and turned to the boy, "Remind me again why you're here?" she asked the boy haughtily.

"I'm here to look for my dad." he says, staring at the lady straight in the eye. Really, they shouldn't treat him like a child. It wasn't his fault he slipped and they managed to get separated from the rest of the team. He didn't even ask her to go after him, he would have been fine on his own. He crossed his arms and finally looked away, but with a sneer on his lips.

"Unlike you, I have a real reason for this trip." he knew why she was there. Why everyone was there, and he feels as though none of them really had the heart. It wasn't because they wanted to save the ones who got lost years back. This was nothing personal to them, but Nathan had his father to think of. The only family he had. If there was a chance that he may be alive somewhere in this island, just waiting for rescue, well, Nate's not going to let just anybody be there to save him.

Hayley narrowed her eyes at the boy. "Reason?" she scoffed. "Need I remind you I happen to be this expedition's lead?" she spoke confidently, turning around to clear their path. She may not have a personal connection to this case, no family to save or anything. She was doing her job. This is what she wanted and she's doing it. But she didn't want anyone to risk their safety just because she was that needy. She had warned everyone beforehand like she was threatening them all to back out.

"You should have just stayed home, kid." Hayley spoke in a quiet tone before swinging the machete to cut the vines. "This island is dangerous." she spoke again. "We could find your father along the way. Do you even realize the danger you've just put yourself into? You're father could be stuck here or something worse because this place is dangerous!" she insisted.

"Yeah right... like any of you would actually care to really go look for them..." Nathan muttered under his breath but continued following her anyway. He can't trust any of these people to actually look for his dad. He can only trust himself. He knew this island is dangerous. If it wasn't, his father would have been with him back at home. But he wasn't. Whatever this island may be, cursed or haunted or whatever, he wasn't backing out jut because someone said so.

Hayley rolled her eyes and she continued to clear the path. "Whatever kid."

She hated how the kid acted around them. He was just a kid and everyone else was older than him and he doesn't listen to anyone! "Don't blame any of us if you get attacked by some random animal around here." she spoke, in gritted teeth. Now she was praying there was no snakes at the moment... or any poisonous animal or plant around.

"I can take care of myself you know," Nathan snapped at her from behind but subconsciously scooted closer to her whenever he heard something in the grass. He gritted his teeth and held on tightly to his dagger until his knuckles turned white. Suddenly, a white rabbit managed to come across his path and he jumped back. He sighed in relief but was tense once again when he heard something like heavy footfalls behind him and he hurried to Hayley's side, tripping somewhat. A blush appeared on his face at his pathetic display and he refused to look at Hayley but was gripping unto her shirt.

"I can take care of myself..." he muttered.

Hayley tried to keep calm as she had also heard the noises around them, 'Keep your head clear, Chaser. Nothing should scare you. You have to show this kid who's boss...!' she thought to herself.

She turned to Nathan when she felt her shirt was being tugged on. "Take care of yourself, huh?" she taunted him. She was too distracted to even notice that the 'vine' she held onto was a snake. As soon as she pulled on it, the snake showed it head and hissed at her. She let out a shrill squeak and as an automatic response, her body quickly took out one of the pistols she had around her belt and immediately pulled the trigger; the bullet hitting the snake directly at it's mouth.

She breathed heavily as she just looked at the snake hanging in front of them. She was obviously shaking. She hated snakes. She hated them with a passion.

Nathan, completely forgetting his pathetic display only a few minutes ago, laughed as Hayley panted.

"At least I know whether I'm holding a vine or not." He continued laughing but jumped when he felt a brush on his leg. He looked down to see a gigantic rat running past, followed by some other rodents and they ran for the tall grassheads, their tails between their legs.

"What was that about..." Nathan muttered before the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he instinctively looked behind him, expecting to find at least something but nothing came to view. But his nerves wouldn't seem to keep calm. Those animals had to have been running away from something...

"Shut up." Hayley snapped at Nathan as she slowly calmed down after she hid the gun. She went closer to the carcass and pulled it to the ground. As if the gunshot wasn't enough, she had to chop the creature in half. She was a bit paranoid when it came to snakes.

At first she ignored the rats until she noticed how they ran. A chill went up her spine as she turned to Nathan. "C-come on k-kid... We better hurry a-and find the others..." she spoke, grabbing the boy's arm and walking forward. She was having a feeling that if they tried to stick around and argue, something bad could happen.

"Y-yeah..." Nathan replied as he let himself be pulled along. As they continued walking, he relaxed a little and let his guard down. Suddenly, he felt something grab unto his leg and was pulled back. He fell to the ground in a thud, and his heart almost stopped when he was dragged back.

"Hayley! Hayley!" he cried, panic rising in his voice. He was clawing at the ground and turning his head around but he couldn't catch a glimpse of what it was that caught him.

"N-Nathaniel..!!"

Hayley tightened her grasp on the boys arm as she tried to see what was dragging the boy. She couldn't see it because of the tall grass but what ever it was, she probably doesn't want to see it herself. She didn't let go of the boy and pulled out her gun and just randomly shot at whatever was pulling at Nathan.

She could admit, she was scared. A normal animal couldn't do that. If this was just a practical joke from one of their comrades then it's not funny. It's their fault if they get hit; serves them right for trying to scare of a (slightly paranoid) archaeologist with four guns at hand.

She pulled the boy towards her when she was sure there wasn't any other force pulling him. She knelt down to his level and held his face worriedly like a mother would to her child. "Nathaniel, are you alright?" she asked him worriedly.

Nathaniel scooted closer to Hayley, trembling, and gripped at the front of her shirt, "What... what the fuck was that?!" he asked, not remembering to watch his words. Really, choice of words isn't really important right now is it. A part of him didn't even want to know what it was that was dragging him. He looked down at his leg and saw four deep gashes. He made a face when the numbness wore off and he could feel the pain.

Hayley's face softened when she felt the boy's fear. She gave him a tight embrace to comfort him, she could feel him trembling; Heck she doesn't really care now for language; she felt more worried for the young boy. All the more she thought that he should have been safer if he hadn't come. Right now, she might be the only one who can save them. Nathaniel was still a kid.

Hayley glanced at his wounds and tried her best to hider her shock, "What... whatever that was... I don't think... I-I'd want to know." she spoke as she pulled away. "We need to find the others." Hayley looked around. "We should find a safe spot so I could at least give you some first aid." she spoke. She was never mad at him in the first place, she was just scolding him for putting his safety at risk.

She turned around so her back was facing the boy, "Come on; I'm guessing you won't be able to walk much with that gash on your leg."

Nathan sat there, staring at her awkwardly, the shock was finally wearing off and seeing as nothing else came to grab at them, it might be safe to assume that the thing that grabbed him was dead. Now, he was clutching at his leg and looking at her back.

"Wait, you want me to...?" he trailed off, not finishing the question. He knew what she was implying and he thought it was ridiculous. He was a grown boy after all.

"What? You want me to drag you like an animal carcass or something?"

Hayley just looked at him with a blank look. She let out a sigh and stood up, turning to him with her arms crossed. "Can you walk then?" she asked, a brow raised at him.

Nathan pushed himself off the ground and as soon as his weight settled on his injured leg, he fell back down with a silent cry of pain. Tears pricked at his eyes and the wounds burned. He looked up at Hayley with an apologetic grimace.

"Walking, no problem at all."

Hayley looked at him apathetically. No problem? He could barely stand! She let out a long sigh before she looked around her; trying to see if it was safe. She closed her eyes and helped him walk to the tree close-by then knelt down in front of him, before putting her back pack down beside her and rummaging through it. "We probably should get that wound cleaned now..." she muttered as she took out the small first aid kit and a water bottle she had in her bag.

Hayley didn't even care if Nathan would protest. It wasn't really very much of a good idea to walk around here with a wound like that. Hayley seemed to not care at all when Nathan winced in pain when she put the antiseptic ointment until she had his wound bandaged up. "Well have Miss Williams get that checked when we see them." she spoke as she put her stuff back in her bag. She stood up and extended a hand to Nathan to help him up.

"Yeah.." he took a hold of her arm and pulled himself up. He winced when his weight settled but it was better than before. Well, a little better at least. He held on her arm, testing to see if he could walk alone before slowly letting go and standing on his own. He smiled slightly before walking a few steps. It hurt, but he can manage now. Just as long as they don't encounter any more problems along the way.

Nathan looked up and saw that it was late in the afternoon. They only have a few hours before the sun sets. He adjusted his bag on his shoulder before going to Hayley, "It's almost sun down, what are we gonna do now?" he asked her. He didn't even notice he sounded a bit desperate.

Hayley watched Nathan as he struggled to walk on his own before looking up at the sky. 'This is going to take longer than I thought.' she thought to herself. She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Nathan's voice. "Uh, huh?" It took a few moments before what the boy said sunk in. "Oh, well." Hayley sighed. "We have no choice but to go look for somewhere safe. I don't think we'll be able to find them any time soon."

Nathan nodded before walking off slowly, "Well then, we better get going. From what happened earlier, I doubt this place would stay this quiet." he shuddered, forcing himself to forget but with the pain in his leg, he doubted he'd be able to. He cursed under his breath, can't the others look for them any faster? Were they even looking for them? This. This was exactly the reason why he snuck in. If they can't even bother looking for their own comrades, what about the team that came here years before.

Hayley walked a bit ahead of him so she could clear the way, at least to make walking for him easy while they trekked the forest. She suddenly remembered that event. It made her wonder what sort of animal could have injured the boy. "Hope we find some place to stay in..." she muttered to herself. "You alright there, kid?" she asked turning to Nathan.

Nathan nodded, "Yeah yeah," he all but muttered, "Just... I was just thinking." he left it at that as he followed her, limping once in a while from the pain. They trekked on and a few minutes later, Nathan felt drops of water on his head. He looked up and frowned angrily.

"Shit. Of all the times to rain." he muttered as the rain was becoming stronger by the second. He hurried his steps before tripping because of the ground becoming muddy.

"Just great." he told himself as he tried to get up only to end up slipping again. Tears were pricking the corner of his eyes but he refused to cry in front of Hayley again. It would just help to prove her point that he shouldn't have come.

Hayley looked back behind her. She didn't seem to mind the rain and mud around her and just kept on walking but when she saw Nathan, she just had to go back for him. "Easy, sport; forest soil is at it's worse time during a rain." she said, helping the boy get up. She didn't mind that the mud even got to her top.

She wanted to lecture him again about stowing away but she didn't want to rub it in his face -- he was attacked by heaven knows what and now he probably hurt himself more after slipping on mud. What can be worse? "I found a cavern over there. We can probably use it if nothing's living there... Hopefully..."