Background

Teresa Terrel was born in 1981, into a low-income family of six, with one sister and two brothers, Maryville, Tennessee. She spent most of her childhood with her granny, in whose house she lived. Parents were mostly busy at work, but Teresa would remember them fondly, as they tried their best to support them. And it is through her granny that Teresa inherited her hot-tempered spirit. In school, she showed good marks, but a poor behavior. She usually got in trouble because she was brawling with other people, sometimes to stop the lies about her, sometimes to help her little sister, Lucy. Teresa also loved sports, and usually played variety of them during her free-time. When Teresa hit 16, she started to work part-time to feel more independent from her parents, tried different jobs, but usually couldn’t stick somewhere for long. Sometimes because of her character, sometimes because of simple and unbearable boredom. At around this time Teresa’s parents finally got a better job. Now they could spend a lot more time with their kids, which they so much wanted. But things would worsen soon, as the Spring of 1999 began, and their city was close to the epicenter of the infection. Once chaos began in the streets of Maryville the Terrel family managed to flee out of it towards west, finding shelter there inside the small town of Mercer, awaiting the evacuation that never came. But still - the town managed to stand amongst the chaos, walling itself off from infection, protecting its citizens from pollen, but the supplies were starting to go thin, as the chaos spread throughout the US. The Autumn of 1999 was a very hard time for the newly formed community. The winter was coming, and with it – the supplies would run out. The community managed to survive so far on canned goods, but now they had to rely on hunting and foraging in the local woods. It was a dangerous job, with pollen still being around at the time, but Teresa volunteered at it. She got into the foraging and scavenging group, which was also tasked with scouting the area. Even though the danger lurked outside the walls of the community, Teresa finally found the job that she liked. Adrenaline from seeing the first infected in months, the satisfaction of finding supplies, the feeling of usefulness to the community – it all nurtured the ever-adventurous spirit of Teresa. She would hold these moments very dear to her heart. Now, the winter of 1999 came. But with it also came hope – as people finally saw that the infection spread was slowing down. And some of the families, seeing as the supplies are running at an all-time low, decided to leave towards the Canada. The Terrel’s family, luckily, all in one piece and all collectively decided to stay at Mercer. With the exodus of people – the situation finally stabilized, and the town managed to survive the winter. For the next 8 years, life only got better for the community - it expanded and Teresa only got better at scouting. By that time she was in charge of one of the few scouting teams they had. But things were about to change rapidly, as she witnessed the Appalachian deadzone expanding with her very own eyes. Not soon afterwards, Mercer, which became home for so many people, was at the front of the deadzone. Most adults, including Teresa’s family, were conscripted into “control fire” groups to slow down the spread of pollen, but they couldn’t hold the settlement. It has fallen, and with it – the families got separated. Teresa couldn’t reconnect with most of her family during the chaos, but she saved her sister, Lucy, from death by infected, and they both ran for their lives towards the south, into the unknown. For a couple of months they managed to live in the wilds. Their goal was to get to Florida, perhaps to begin a new life out there, or to regroup and start looking for their family. Unfortunately, their luck would soon fall short, as they got captured by a bandit group known as “The Hawks”. (TW: Psychological abuse involving cannibalism) When they got to their camp – Teresa and Lucy got separated and put into different cells. While Teresa’s spirit was unbroken, Lucy’s mind was shattered - travelling in harsh conditions, loss of her home and her loved ones has taken its toll on her. She decided to escape alone, during the night. She had failed, but Teresa would get to know that a few weeks from there. The first week – Teresa was interrogated for information: Where is and who she's from, number of people in their settlement, etc.. Next week – not being satisfied with an honest answer they were getting – they tried a new, more sophisticated method of getting information out of her. They began to interrogate her about her sister escaping, while also feeding her a very disgusting soup. By the end of the week, a guard, who had been interrogating her came into the room with a sadistic grin. He revealed, that during all of that time they’ve already got Lucy, and were giving her back to Teresa by very small parts inside the bowls… Teresa’s indomitable spirit was broken. Fear, disgust, and later – apathy hit her. Though, that is what the guards wanted – they got disappointed by the results, as they were still getting the same answers. (TW ends) Thankfully, her sufferings were coming to an end. While the Hawks were deciding what to do with Teresa – they were attacked by some other bandits. During the chaos Teresa got injured, but managed to escape. Unfortunately, in her current state - she couldn’t run far. Exhausted, she lied down on the grass, looking up to the beautiful blue sky, wondering, what is she even living for now. She closed her eyes, hoping to, perhaps, wake up, or never open them again. She heard some noise getting closer to her, but she didn't care. Fortunately, it was not the Hawks, but a passing-by group of regular people. Seeing wounded Teresa - the group decided to treat her wounds and take her with them on the road, with their destination being – The Knox.