Background

Hailing from the channel island of Guernsey, Étienne didn't know much trouble until the world itself gave it to him. Although most of his family didn't even speak French, Étienne loved their heritage and the unique blend of British and French backgrounds only Guernsey could offer. In school, he mad every effort to respect his history and become fluent in the language. One could say the only thing he loved more than the island's history were animals. Guernsey was known for having some of the best cows in the world. Étienne made it his focus to help all critters big and small. Aspirations of the veterinary arts were a no brainer. After finishing college with flying colours, he was presented with a unique opportunity. Although he wasn’t fond of the idea going so far away from family, no one could argue that an American university proposed unique benefits. Étienne wanted to not just learn about all animals of the world, but to see them himself. So it was he made the worst decision of his life to board a plane. To this day Étienne has a deep fear of flying and heights. Survivng a plane crash, whereas mircaulous, left scars far beyond the physical kind. It started halfway into the lengthy flight. An annoucement that they'd be making an emergency landing. Étienne later came to understand this was because air traffic control was in shambles just hours into the outbreak. He never really blamed the pilots for doing the best they could. When several planes were operating on nothing more than their own navigational controls, all scrambling to makes heads or tails of jumbled information or just none at all, collisions were inevitable. Two planes tries desperately to land at once. Étienne only remembers waking up on an emergency bed; blinded by white lights he could have sworn were the eyes of death. But to the contrary, they were those of life. Headlamps adorned by stresses doctors trying to keep him alive amidst flickering electricty and chaos. He knows that without them, these men and women he would never know the names nor faces of, that he would have died, Maybe in the wreckage. Maybe on the bed. They had every right to run, to find safety. But they stayed. All to save him and as many others as they could. Even with half his body suffering third-degree burns, they eased what would have been unimaginable pain and surely death. Étienne cried in desperation to thank them the day he was transferred out without a word. He cried again when news later reached him that hospital had been overrun in the following weeks. Étienne and other patients in recovery had been moved to a quickly established QZ in Boston. He didn't know if any of his family were moved with him or if they even survived the crash. By a miraculous stroke of luck or fate, this QZ would stand the test of time. Étienne made his life's purpse never to waste the chance those strangers had given him. He'd do exactly the same for anyone else. Reports trickled in of the outside madness. Étienne at least had the time to mourn. To be petrified. To refuse and admittance things were real at all. It took weeks for him to accept what was reality. He needed to try and help. However he could, in whatever little capacity. No mew reached him of little old Guernsey. His heart hoped that the isolated nature of his home might have spared his family. His brain would unwittingly remind him of the actual truth. There was never any shortage of practice. Soldiers and civilians both were ferried in and out in various states of duress. The medical team at first tried to refuse the young boy from getting in their way, but Étienne's relentless commitment prevailed. Hands were hands. Veterinary studies, ultimately, weren’t that far apart theirs. After all, as he would eventually come to learn, humans are still just animals. The team didn't have nearly as many as they needed, and they at least saw the boy was genuine in his crusade to be part of their efforts. Over the years, Étienne learned everything he'd come to know from stepping into the breach. Boston QZ had become his home. Willing and able-bodied medics were always on demand. So it was where Étienne spent his end of the world tenure. Not quite the university he had in mind. He beheld the horror and devastation of the apocalypse through the patients that came into his care. Each one a story of the terrors they endured. Not only in body, but in the words they shared throug quivering lips. Étienne kept track of the news through their stories, He came to understand Boston was quickly becoming the last stand of the Goverment. It became even more apparent with the gradual change of the QZ. They took less civilians. Tolerated fewer in need. Throughout all of this, Étienne was learning of other factions rising. Trying to fight back, trying to help. The seed of doubt was planted. He knew the patrol and guard patterns. No one really expects someone trying to sneak out as opposed tto the contrary. Étienne knew where to look for a caravan, and joined just one of many groups seeking refuge with the Central Coalition. He needed to be somewhere he could help. Somewhere he could carry the legacy of those nameless strangers. Or at least, just do the best he can. He'd keep moving until he found his place to be... Wherever that was, only time would tell. At least he made a new friend for life. Cats are mysterious creatures. One just refused to leave him. He called her Baguette because she was a fat, long thing.