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"There's nobody else I can ask," Sue mumbled helplessly. "I need your help."

That was true enough. In a time when the school had gone to Hell and the surviving student body was fighting just to find food, nobody else would care about a missing cat - well, nobody but those who thought Sue's friends might be an emergency food supply, anyway. It didn't matter how useful they were, as sentries or scouts or spies. When there were people yet to be found, cats didn't matter.

Except to Sue. And, he hoped, Yahya.

"Nibs isn't answering my calls." Sue had already gotten halfway down the hall, leading his friend along with him. "She went off into the woods to dodge some greenies and nobody's seen her since."

Now, Sue didn't really relish the prospect of going into those woods. Even before the school had gone to hell, he wouldn't take a foot into those trees without a damn good reason. There were always those stories of strange happenings in there, students disappearing, things... lurking....

This wasn't fear for superstition now, though. This was the very real fear that they were going to walk into a mess of zombies that had taken refuge in there to hunt wildlife. And if there was some sort of rumored ghost on top of that? Well ******** that, Sue would take it down, too. If that's what it took to recover Nibs.

Stoically, Sue swung his golf club over his shoulder, stopping at the doors exiting the building. He pivoted, facing Yahya full-on with squared shoulders and set jaw. "Are you with me?"

The mention of a flashlight probably should have given Sue cause for reconsideration, but that was not the case. "There's still enough light to go by, if we go quick," Sue asserted. They must have had a good hour of sunlight left, by his guess - after that, the cats would be the only ones that could see where they were going. Details like this would have been troubling to most people, but not Sue. Not when he was on a mission.

Speaking of which. With so little daylight, they shouldn't be burning it chatting around. A glance out the window was all the comfort Sue needed. "C'mon, the coast looks clear, we can walk right over--" and he shoved the door wide open, striding out confidently.

Of course, two steps out and he realized that the courtyard here was open in all directions. "s**t... okay, we're running!" Whatever secret dread the woods might hold, it was the only cover they'd get, and they'd better get there fast if they didn't want to get spotted. Sue broke into a heavy-footed rush, aiming straight for the tiny plunge of a grassy slope and the concealment of the trees beyond it. God damn good thing he'd salvaged a pair of good running shoes, he had the feeling he'd be doing this a lot in the coming days....

So. A motley crew laden down with baby animals, that was interesting. Interest piqued, Linarite raced for the same cover of trees, careful to keep in the shadows. When she reached the edges of the woods, the lieutenant phased back to her human identity, and kept running clumsily, windmilling her arms before nearly slamming into the lead boy.

"Oh! Oh I'm so sorry, but please, take me with you! I'm all alone and I can't find anyone I know, and oh gosh. What's happening?!" Her voice was shrill and as panicking as she could make it, but she really wasn't the best actress in the world. Hopefully, it was enough. Grasping at his uniform, she looked up with pleading gold eyes.

"Please?"

Yahya was late to the party, and was just about ready to grab his tennis racket in Sue's defense before he realized that this girl was definitely not a zombie. She was living, and well... despite looking scared she was unhurt. Yahya's hand immediately moved away from the tennis racket, and he slowed down to stand just a little behind his friend. "It's okay!" Yahya reassured, forgiving Sue for his harsh tone of voice silently. The girl must have scared the pants off of him, so Sue had a right to be a little short with her.

Yahya would make up for it with kindness. "I'm glad you're okay, and not a zombie, actually. Very glad you're not a zombie." Now that he had done his part to calm Audrey, he moved to the more important creatures in his life. He shrugged off his backpack, gently setting it on the ground and un-zipping it to check on his baby squirrels. They were making a lot of noise, clearly distressed by Yahya's running frantically across the courtyard.

"It's okay little guys..." he soothed, stroking their backs until they seemed to calm. He'd have to be more careful with his burden, especially Columbus, who's claws dug into his hand as he lifted him up to hold him against his chest and try to make friends once again.

Ugh. Did they have to take her?

One look at Yahya, though, and he knew the answer. Hell, he'd have known it even if he were alone. Sue might be a jackass, and a jerk, and a bitchy son-of-a-whore with his head up his a** - among many worse things - but he wasn't a b*****d that would let a poor girl stumble around the campus alone.

Besides. He didn't want to feed the zombies.

"You might not like where we're headed just now," he warned, "but if you stick with us until nightfall, there's a safehouse with a bunch of other folk we can take you to. They've got supplies there, and at least you'll be able to get some shuteye." A beat passed, and Sue sniffed. "Can't do anything 'bout that survivor stink, though, I'm afraid."

Looking over her shoulder like she was scared, Audrey made a small nasty face where she was sure neither of them could see before she turned back around, smoothly ignoring Sue on a whole. If he was going to be a jackass, that was his prerogative. Zombies liked the taste of a**.

Standing up swiftly, she nodded at Yahya. "Yeah, we should get going, we can always whisper while we walk." They wouldn't dare attack her, even if they DID get close enough to harm the others. One whiff of corrupted star seed was all it'd take to send a zombie towards a less dangerous target. But of course, the boys didn't know that. "And yeah, you probably have. It's hard to miss." Her voice was almost entirely monotone on the subject, a sure sign she didn't wish to discuss her pink misfortune any longer than she had to.

"I'll be glad to help you out, in exchange for letting me go with you. Like I said, I'm not useless!"

At least Columbus was beginning to calm now that he had gained most of Yahya's attention. He huddled the sickly kitten against his chest and began to loyally follow Sue. Really, he'd probably do whatever Sue told him do. He did put a fair bit amount of trust in his friend (excluding the fact that he didn't trust Sue one bit not to eat his dog biscuits). "You're definitely not useless!" he reassured Audrey with a bright smile. He decided to walk next to her, as if only to keep a careful eye on the burden Yahya was letting her carry. He really didn't want her to drop the baby squirrels, not after Yahya had done so much to ensure their survival.

"If you want, you can name them?" Yahya suggested, inclining his head towards the baby squirrels to indicate exactly what he was talking about. "I haven't thought about it, since I was sure they wouldn't make it. But they seem in the clear now, and I can't think of any names for them." He wanted to be Audrey's friend, wanted to involve her in things, give her a sense of comfort among all the chaos that was Barren Pines College.

"I hope she's okay." Yahya really did. He'd be upset if Nibs was gravely hurt, and he knew how much it would hurt Sue if she was.

SNORT. "I doubt you would," Sue grumped informatively, the traces of nastiness in his voice sounding more like his naturally bad attitude than any particular derision at this point. "She doesn't much like people."

Okay, maybe Sue wasn't that avoidant of chit-chat. Or else, he'd break his silence when it had something to do with him or his friends. No doubt, Audrey was thinking how regrettable that was.

Especially when he continued his streak of not-shutting-up afterwards. "Don't even kid about naming them like that," the boy named Sue sighed. Even if the squirrels wouldn't know the difference between male and female names, he would, damn it. "Why are you naming the squirrels, anyway? Aren't you raising them to go back to the wild or something?" Sue could understand naming cats, even the wild onces- they were safest and best when they had human contact, even if it was just as cursory as someone who might notice if a feral was pregnant and there would be kittens to watch for. But what wild squirrels needed names for, he just couldn't fathom.

But he wasn't going to rain on Yahya's parade, really. He had a touch too much respect for his friend for that. And if he wanted to name a creature that would never actually learn their own name... well damn it, that was his prerogative!