Safe Haven - Jules and Ricky pt.1

[...Posted by Ted H]

NaNoWriMo 2011 stuff I wrote will close out the month, then Ill be fresh out.
I'll prolly take a little break right before the 2012 marathon, whichll mean no updates...

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[Safe Haven - Jules and Ricky pt.1]

Jules laid out on the roller coaster track as the sun finally found its way through to shine. Today was one of those rare days where she didn’t have anything to do and she was able to work on her all over tan. The other Rogues knew better than to bother her since this specific tan required a little privacy, plus her handgun was within reach and she wasn’t afraid to shoot anyone. Being able to shoot anyone anytime you wanted was one of the perks of being the only Rogue who could competently deal with a gunshot wound, as long as it wasn’t her own wound she was treating.

Jules and her twin brother, Ricky, were both children of a rich doctor in San Diego before the apocalypse. They coasted through school on their fathers dime all to fulfill his dream of becoming successful doctors as well. They were both about six months into their hospital residency when the zombies attacked. Jules had heard all the other Rogues tell tales of what they were doing when the zombies first attacked, but none of them could hold a candle to the sheer insanity she had to deal with.

Ricky had the day off and Jules was working the tail end of her shift when the first patient was rushed into the ER. She wasn’t too interested in the patient until they died on their way in and resurrected on their way to the morgue. A flood of panicked, infected people rushed the hospital and Ricky was calling her up suddenly, urging her to run, telling her that the dead were attacking the living.

Within 24 hours, Jules and Ricky had abandoned the city and were among the first people into Safe Haven at their fathers urging. While he said he’d meet them there, their father never made it himself to Safe Haven. Since beggars couldn’t be choosers, and since both the twins were trained as such, they were allowed to work in the Hub as doctors. Living and working in the only place in the city with running power and heat sat real well for Jules, but life eventually became boring.

Someone comes in injured or shot and she’d patch them up and be sent on their way. Hospital residency was always fun for Jules because of the people around her, but in Safe Haven, her fellow doctors were a bunch of pricks. Then one day a ResE came in with a gunshot wound and was bleeding out fast. Jules worked feverishly to save him but knew it was a losing battle. As he was dying, the ResE couldn’t stop screaming about how a bunch of “Rogues” had done this. Jules wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but she and Ricky started asking questions.

Eventually it came out that those kicked out of Safe Haven were finding a way back inside. The ResEs started calling them Rogues as a way to describe them to each other and the name stuck. Every time an injured ResE came her way with a story involving a Rogue, she listened. The more she heard about the Rogues, the more fascinated she became with them.

One day a ResE got injured out in the field while pursuing a Rogue. The other ResEs there weren’t able to move him without causing him more harm so they had a couple doctors, one of which Jules was, run out into the outskirts to treat the injury. On her way, Jules thought she saw someone watching her from the shadows, but the person quickly disappeared. The more information Jules had gathered about the Rogues, the more she just had to meet one for herself.

She started sneaking out before curfew and hiding out in the outskirts all night when she didn’t have to be on duty as a doctor, just hoping she could meet up with one, but to no avail. The only other person who knew about this was Ricky, who thought it was a dumb idea that would get her killed, but he made no effort to convince her to stop.

Weeks went by with no success and suddenly one night a Rogue was waiting for her in her usual spot. He gave no name and told her they knew she was staking them out. He said they had a request of her and were making sure for the last few weeks that she wasn’t part of any ResE plan. He told her that the Rogues operated out in the wastelands outside the city and they were having trouble getting medical equipment.

All Jules needed to do was smuggle some medical supplies out and the Rogue said they’d do her a favor. Jules told him not to worry about it and to be back the next night for some supplies. The next night, instead of handing off a duffle bag of supplies to the Rogue, Jules instead insisted he’s take her with him out of the city since she doubted the Rogues had anyone with medical expertise. He agreed, but Jules suddenly had a different idea and handed off the bag. She said for the Rogue to come back again for yet another batch of supplies.

The next day Jules told Rickey everything in private and insisted he come with her. He was hesitant at first, but Jules eventually convinced him like she always could. Together, with three times as much medical equipment in tow than what was sent out last night, the twins waited for the Rogue and left with him.

The twins were easily accepted into the Rogues and Jules thus began her new life in the wasteland. She changed her name, wore her hair differently and took a new attitude to the world around her. She was no longer a bored rich girl living out the fantasies of her father and she was no longer a bored doctor living in fear behind giant walls from the threats of the outside world.

The ever present threat of the undead ensured life was never boring for Jules, especially when she constantly ventured out into the wastelands and into Safe Haven. She learned that when the people in charge of Safe Haven noticed the enormous amounts of missing medical equipment in conjunction with the sudden disappearance of two doctors, it didn’t take much mental strain for them to determine what happened.

At one point, Jules decided to up the ante by hunting down all of the ResEs who she ever patched up. She wouldn’t kill them, just shoot them where they were once injured before and make sure they knew who had hurt them. Now the ResEs knew for sure she was not only a Rogue, but actively hunting people down. She would even go as far as to leave clues as to who she would hunt for next, just for how challenging and dangerous it would become. Teto eventually put a stop to it, claiming she was no good to the Rogues dead.

Ricky was the more low key of the two. Anything he usually did was because Jules was doing it and she insisted he’d come along for the ride. He had no interest in being a doctor in the first place but Jules convinced him otherwise. Becoming Rogues was finally the start to Rickey becoming his own person. While Jules still found much excitement in saving the injured and dying, Rickey found more joy in working with the guns. He had handled weapons before the apocalypse, but the abundance of weapons to play with now was too much for him to pass up.

Ricky would enter the city with the other Rogues all the time, but unlike Jules, he never wanted to make more waves than necessary. Still, Jules would convince him to accompany her whenever she ran through Safe Haven on another hunting trip, often helping her if ResEs started shooting back.

Jules had garnered a reputation of being a bit hot headed and perfectly willing to hurt anyone who pissed her off, which also made her one of the more respected Rogues around since she became so good at on the fly doctoring, once actually fixing up someone with a broken leg while surrounded by zombies. She fired her guns, went to setting the broken limb, back to shooting, back to the leg, etc until she was able to help the hurt Rogue up and together they walked to safety.