Background

Emil White Dunn-Cassidy IV was born on December 31st, 1983, in Lexington, Kentucky, but lived in Georgetown. Having been passing through the town for a job, his mother had no choice but to stay in town due to his father's worry. It was sure as rain that during birth a complication would ensure he would be an only child, but he was fine with that. Being born into a close-knit community early on, his father, Emil III, would try to continue the vague idea of Italian machismo that carried through his family, while his mother, coming from a rather strict traditional family, tried her best to water it down, which ended up working well, for the most part. Emil went to a rather crummy public school for his early life, and his choice of friends reflected it. One of his first and mainstay friends that was always with him was Carson Guyman, a near antithesis of Emil, always carefree, never taking anything seriously. But Emil did note early on that he was quick-witted, picking up Italian through Emil's dad and Emil, though poorly said due to his accent, he still managed to keep up. And through Carson, he met a few others. Sometime around 1998, Emil was out with his mother on a worksite as a summer job, more or less breaking stone. A new storage depot was what he cleared land for, but on his break, he was roaming around and noticed that all the removed clumps of dirt in the loader nearby were permeated by daisies- every last bit of dirt had them. But the day after, he shortly shoved it all into the back of his mind as a cool coincidence. In the Summer of 1999, 15 year old Emil was home waiting for Carson, River, and a couple of others Carson was friends with. Emil came outside to greet them, but they'd all get met with military trucks coming through the neighborhood, tying and detaining everyone who answered. They were all promptly taken to a hospital which housed a CDC outpost guarded by the 103rd National Guard. Quickly, the numbers began to rack up in the compound, making it hard to keep control. As they were slowly tested and cleared, from the little he looked, it didn't seem well with few coming out. Everyone seemed to be split up at this point and briefed on what they would or could be good at and how they could serve the compound. Emil eventually went to work on logistics and food management, keeping a steady supply of butchered, pre-cooked, and fresh meals coming to the rationers. In a lapse of judgment or what he thought at the time was a bad idea, Emil went with his friends and snuck to the top of the lone watchtower that Carson was supposed to keep an eye on. Once they got atop, they noticed the town below, their old neighborhood in disrepair, and in some parts, pure rubble. The image of the town stuck with him, having nightmares for a brief time about it coming to the compound. Around the Summer of 2000, Emil stopped counting the days and the hours as it all started to slowly come together, and everyone started to streamline their jobs. It still stuck in his mind that his parents were in Texas at the time he was taken in, but he figured they were safe, maybe thriving and helping to build a new town. In December 2004, Emil turned 21 and brought Carson to a secret part of the compound garden where he had a few plants sown. Digging up some of the dirt were a few bottles of alcohol, some homebrew, some pre-collapse, either way, they went back up to the watchtower that looked over the town and enjoyed themselves. By 2006, Raiders started to come through and began attacking the QZ. They used light explosions to get through, and while Emil, asleep at the time, got rushed up to the armory and was given a pistol as he was speared to the fighting, Emil managed to hit a few people in non-lethal areas, but by God, he was no sniper. The outcome was bleak, much of the prepared stock was stolen, walls busted, and many killed or taken. Emil figured it wouldn't be the last, and he was right. In the middle of 2008, Emil sat in the near bare-shelved kitchen, staring at the mishmash of still recoverable foods and canned goods. The raids in the two years since they started became overbearing, making it nearly impossible to keep the compound alive, much less thriving. But despite that, Emil tried his best by guiding the growers in what they needed and stripping rations as much as they could to stretch them. In 2009, Emil was in his room when he heard over the loudspeaker that another raider party had appeared. By then, it was too late as the front gate had been blown, infected raiders and the other members of the QZ ran in every direction. But at this point, Emil had gotten the axe he'd kept in his room and started running for a crawlspace near the garden, hiding until he saw Carson and jumped out at him almost getting shot in the process. Emil and Carson would eventually find everyone one by one before bailing out through an empty exit. From this point, they kept moving west toward Louisville, on the brink of starving and low on water during the escape. They figured the area might be better than staying in Georgetown.