Characters for "Little Things"
Name: Jorgia Ann McCarthy
Age: 20
Occupation: Medical Student at Columbia U.
Family: 2 parents, 3 brothers.
Name: Jonathan Bryan McCarthy
Age: 28
Occupation: Navy-Seal
Family: 2 parents, 2 brothers, 1 sister
Name: Brent Michael McCarthy
Age: 28
Occupation: Navy-Seal
Family: 2 parents, 2 brothers, 1 sister
Name: Marcus Kane McCarthy
Age: 23
Occupation: Staff Sergeant for US Marine Corps.
Family: 2 parents, 2 brothers, 1 sister
Name: Stephen Kane McCarthy
Age: 52
Occupation: Retired General
Family: 1 wife, 3 sons, 1 daughter
Name: Maranda Anne Ellison/McCarthy
Age: 49
Occupation: Surgical Chief at Memorial
Family: 1 husband, 3 sons, 1 daughter.
The McCarthy Family quickly evacuated New York City in their 3 vehicles, grabbing all the necessities they needed, making sure their family was still together, and began making their way to Florida to their secured boathouse. But along the way, they come across walkers and survivors.
Jorgia McCarthy sat in the backseat of her older brothers' truck as they made their way down the back roads. New York had been overrun by those 'things' and evacuated quickly. Thinking that only New York was hit, she was wrong, upon their journey, they came across many of those infected 'things', watching them eat away the living. The ride had been all but smooth, after raiding a gas station for fuel, food, and more medicine they continued to drive to Florida where safety is.
"Jon, I have to pee." Jorgia said when they saw the Georgia state-line. It had been clear on the roads from those things when she asked. Jon looked in his rear-view mirror and sighed, "Alright, but page mom." Jon replied sternly, Jorgia nodded and quickly paged her mom over the walkie-talkie. "Mom, pull over, I have to pee, over." A few minutes of silence, "Okay, make it quick, and check the area." As the front car pulled over, the same did for the truck and the SUV
Jorgia slowly opened the door and carried her crossbow making sure it was loaded before going to a nearby bush. Jon, Bryan, and Marcus made sure the area was clear before they both turned around and let their little sister finish her business.
"It looks overrun, we should avoid the city and take the back roads," Jon said as he peered into the distance with his binoculars. Marcus nodded and made his way to the little black Audi. Marcus knocked on the driver's window, Stephen, glancing at his son, rolled down the window. "Jon said that we should take the back roads, the city looks overrun." Marcus repeated. Stephen nodded, "Do you boys have enough fuel?" "Yeah, I have a full tank, and I think Jon does too." "Alright, let's head out already before it gets dark." "Yes sir." Marcus left and into the truck where he waited for Bryan to get in.
After Jorgia was done with her business, her and Jon walked back into the truck and was on the road again, "I hope all of this will be over soon." Jorgia said to herself and watched as the scenery passed through them.
MEANWHILE:
Daryl Dixon sat on a log in the woods, hunting for his and the camps next meal. After killing his 14th squirrel, he noticed it had begun to get dark and made back to camp. Trudging his crossbow along and his kills. It had been walker-free for three days so far, and he hoped it stayed that way. But he knew that luck was never on his side.
"Daryl, com' er' you damn bitch." Yelled his older brother Merle. Daryl rolled his eyes and dropped the dead animals on a seat. "What the fuck d'you want?" Merle cleaned his rifle and grabbed a whole bunch of ammo. "I'm gunna go wit them idiots to the city. You goin' r not." Merle said, Daryl shook his head no. "Nah, I'm gun' go hunt bring back sum food." With that the two departed and went their separate ways. "You all be safe, and come back safe." Dale said as he stood on top of his RV. The group consisted of Glenn, Andrea, Morales, T-Dog, Jacqui, and Merle, they all made their way into the truck and immediately left for Atlanta, hoping to get their supplies and leave without trouble, but with a huge group and Merle along, trouble may be waiting for them.
After 20 minutes since the group left for Atlanta, Dale stood on watch, keeping his eye out for any walkers or survivors on the back road. "Well I'll be damned, SHANE!" Dale yelled, Shane looked up from his conversation with Lori when he saw the look on the older man's face. "We have survivors!" Dale exclaimed, that made everyone in the camp look up and quickly reached the side of the road, true to his word, everyone saw a sleek black Audi, a black Suburban, and a black Tahoe slowly made their way to the camp.
The first car came to a complete stop; first to step out was a tall white man with black-grey hair, next his wife a small average height woman. "Hello, I'm Stephen McCarthy, this is my wife Maranda. Are you in need of help?" Stephen said, Shane shook his head, "No, no this is our camp, you and your family are welcome to stay if you'd like, as long as you're not a threat and not bit or scratched by the walkers." Stephen gave a confused look when Shane had said 'Walkers'. "Excuse me, but walkers?" Shane shrugged his shoulders, "It's a better term than what we would call them, but please, like I said, you and your family are more than welcome to become a part of our camp. It's been safe of the walkers for about 2 weeks now, we can ensure safety and hospitality." Stephen contemplated and looked to his wife, "I'll have to discuss it with my family, and will you excuse us?" Shane nodded and the two made their way to the second car, "Do you think we should trust them?" Amy asked, "They seem trustworthy, I mean, they have a whole family." Lori replied while glancing towards the new group of survivors, everyone all looked to see 3 fit men and 1 small girl exit their vehicles and all huddle to discuss joining.
"They're a camp of survivors, they asked us to stay. We'll take a vote on whether or not we keep moving, or stay with them until then." Stephen explained to his family, "Is that safe? To stay? I mean, what happens if something goes wrong?" Jorgia asked, worry shown in her eyes. "Jorgia's right, it would just take us longer to get to Florida, and they could be an endangerment to us all." Jon agreed, "This isn't permanent, I'm just saying, let's stay, rest up. If we feel like our stay is long overdue, we'll pack and leave." The 6 all looked around the huddle, "I'm in," said Brent, "Me too" Marcus added, "I'm also in. I'm sure these people could use some medical help." Maranda explained, the four of them looked towards Jorgia and Jon. "You know, either way, you both are outvoted." Marcus said while shrugging his shoulders. "So it's been settled, let's go park our cars near their camp." With that being said, Stephen gave a nod to Shane signaling that his family will be part of their camp.
After everything was in place and settled, the McCarthy family walked to the center of the camp, and was surrounded by the new faces.
"Everyone, this is Stephen McCarthy and his wife Maranda and his children." Shane started, "Hello, I'm Stephen McCarthy, I'm a retired U.S Marine General and 52." Stephen told the group, "I'm Maranda, his wife. I'm 49, I'm a Medical Doctor and used to be the Surgical Chief." Maranda said next, "I'm Jonathan, Navy-Seal. 28." "Brent, Navy-Seal, 28." "Marcus, STAFF SERGEANT U.S MARINE CORPS. I'm 23." "And, I'm Jorgia, and it's not spelt G-E-O-R-G-I-A, it's J-O-R-G-I-A, and before everything went down, I used to be a med student at Columbia." The rest of the camp had introduced them also, and the McCarthy's all dispersed and had set up 2 tents next to a tree.
After they had settled in, Maranda went with the women, which consisted of Lori, Amy, and Carol to the quarry and helped with the laundry. "So Maranda, did you know how the infection spread when you were at the hospital?" Lori asked, "To be honest, no. I was in surgery when all of a sudden we heard screaming coming from the hallways. I couldn't stop working so my team and I finished up. I've never had to transplant a kidney so fast in my life before. When we finished, my husband and sons burst through the doors and yelled for my team and I to get out and go home quickly. He explained that an infection was spreading and to look out for anyone who looked sick or out of the ordinary and kill them." Maranda explained, the women around her looked at her in silence. "It was horrifying. To see a human being eating others; Stephen had stopped by the Jorgia's university to see the students all in havoc, we picked her up and drove back to our townhouse and packed everything we needed, canned food, clothes, money, weapons, you name it. We cleaned our house, security-locked it and left."
"How did you end up in Georgia?" Lori asked, "We have a safe home in Florida. It's under ground; my husband thought that if America would to be under attack from terrorist, he would need something or somewhere to build a safe room to protect his family. We were supposed to pass by Atlanta, but my son said it looked overrun, so we took the back roads. We saw your friend Dale, and we thought we stopped, we haven't seen survivors in so long." "I'm glad you and your family stopped. It gave us hope that humanity isn't lost, and glad to see new faces." Maranda smiled and the other women did the same.
Shane, Jon, Brent, Marcus and Stephen huddled together on top of one of the vehicles, a map spread out. "Fort Bennett is heard to be a safe haven. We'll be able to have safety and weapons." Shane pointed out, "My friend, he's stationed there, it could be still up." Marcus said. "If anything, that would be our next location." The five all nodded, but the three McCarthy boys glanced to their father and received a nod, letting them know that when they leave, so will they.
"Jorgia? Jorgia, honey; its time to eat." Maranda called out, as she held out a plate of bread and 2 large pieces of meat. Maranda didn't receive a response and worry began to fill her body, "Stephen, have you seen Jorgia?" Stephen shook his head, "I thought she was with you down at the quarry." Maranda gave a confused look, "No, no she wasn't. I figured she was with you and the boys." Maranda and Stephen gave each other wide eyes and rushed to find their daughter, "Jorgia!" "Jorgia!" the both of them yelled, Stephen grabbed his gun and went into the woods. After 10 minutes of searching, he found his daughter in a tree reading her book. "Jesus Christ, Jorgia." Stephen sighed; Jorgia looked up from her book and saw her father, "Dad? What's going on?" "Me and your mother have been looking for you! Honey, when you leave and are not with anyone, you tell someone okay, now come down and eat, your sugar must be low." With that, Jorgia slowly climbed down from the tree, her large book in her hands, and walked back to camp with her father.
"Oh my! There you are! Are you okay?" Maranda exclaimed when she saw her husband and daughter walk from the forest line and into view of the camp. "Have you checked your blood sugar? My goodness, you look pale." Jorgia slowly shook her head, "No, I ate a snickers bar before I went into the tree, it was 107." Maranda shook her head in disapproval. "One of these days Jorgia, you're going to give your poor mother a heart attack. Come, I got you a plate of dinner ready." With that Maranda and Jorgia both made their way to the campfire and ate their dinner with the rest of the camp. "How much insulin do you have left in your? We may need to stop at a clinic or hospital to get you some more until we reach Florida." Stephen said to his daughter, "I think I have enough for the next month." Jorgia said softly, nibbling on her bread. "Mom, what's insulin?" Carl asked as he looked to his mother, "It's a type of medicine for diabetic people." Lori said unsure of the term, looking to Maranda, "Insulin is like a candy bar Carl, it gives you sugar in case you don't have enough. Jorgia here is a diabetic. She needs it to maintain the glucose-or sugar- she needs in her body. Without insulin, she could be in big trouble." She explained trying to break in to term for Carl to understand. "How does she do that?" Maranda looked to Jorgia, Jorgia nodded and got up from her seat and sat next to Carl and Sophia holding her 'pdm'. "This is my P.D.M or Personal Diabetes Manager, it can tell me where I am with my sugar, if it's below 100, it means I'm low, if it's over 150 I'm high, which is a bad thing." she said pointing to it, next she lifted her shirt, to reveal a small bod on the back of her body, "and this is my pod. It pumps insulin into my system so I don't have to deal with needles or draw blood." Jorgia explained, "What happens if you're low or high?" Sophia asked in interest, "If I'm low, I could be in danger to my body. I can faint and could loose contact of my surroundings. If I'm high, it could raise my blood sugar and give me a heart attack and could kill me. Well two of those can kill me. I have to be responsible to take care of myself, I'm an adult now and I have to make sure I act like one." Carl and Sophia nodded, knowing that they would have to start taking responsibility; Lori and Carol gave Jorgia smiles in helping them learn. "Can you show us?" Sophia asked anxiously. "Sure" Jorgia smiled, she grabbed her PDM and turned it on. "Sheila, check my blood sugar please." There was a small pause until a female robotic voice rang out, "Yes Ms. Jorgia, checking sugar now…Blood sugar count is 118." Carl and Sophia's eyes widened in amazement, "That. Is. So. COOL!" Carl exclaimed and everyone around the camp laughed, "Alright kids, it's time to leave Miss Jorgia and head onto bed, go say goodnight." Lori said, "Goodnight Miss Jorgia!" both Sophia and Carl said and each gave her an unexpected hug. Jorgia's eyes widened in shock and both rubbed their backs, "Goodnight guys, see you tomorrow!" with that the two kids went into their tents and turned in for the night. "Have a good night McCarthy's. See you in the morning." Shane told the family as they all headed into their respective tent and turned in also.
Jorgia laid on right side of the tent and snuggled deep into her mothers arms, "Mom, can you sing me a lullaby, like you used to?" Jorgia whispered, "Sure honey," Maranda replied softly, Stephen smiled and kissed his little girl and wife and snuggled deep with them.
"My precious one, my tiny one, lay down your pretty head.
My dearest one, my sleepy one, its time to go to bed," Maranda begun softly, Jorgia smiled and slowly closed her eyes at the softness of her voice.
"My precious one, my darling one don't let your lashes weep.
My cherished one my weary one it's time to go to sleep.
Just bow your head and give your cares to me.
Just close your eyes and fall into the sweetest dream, cause in my loving arms.
Your safe as you will ever be so hush my dear and sleep.
And in your dreams you'll ride on angels wings.
Dance with the stars and touch the face of god
And if you should awake I'll send you back to sleep.
My precious one, my tiny one, I'll kiss your little cheek," Maranda kissed her daughter's cheek and smiled softly at her little princess sleeping soundly with a small smile on her face.
"And underneath the smiling moon I'll sing you back to sleep" Maranda looked down and let a single tear fall from her eye and tightened her grip on her sweet baby girl and hoped that this would all be over so that they can all enjoy the rest of their lives in peace.