Background

Growing up was rather normal for Madeline, a happy family, nice food, warm house, and anything her little mind could ever imagine. She asked for it? She got it, unfortunately that didn’t really mean that she got the attention from her parents that she had always desperately wanted. So, growing up, she learned to be a bit of a people pleaser, doing anything to get that sweet sliver of praise and attention from her dismissive parents. When she didn’t get what she wanted, as a child, she would most likely be found bothering her older brother. Following him around like a silent shadow and trying to be a part of whatever he decided to do that day, of course, this always didn’t really work out. Her last resort was playing outside alone, making things out of sticks and mud, never understanding the true value of the toys she ruined in her pursuit of creativity. In school, most other kids tended to avoid her, not because of anything extreme, but because she often chose to not participate in most social activities due to not feeling quite comfortable and confident in herself. This was deemed ‘weird’, and therefore, she became known as the weird quiet kid, she didn’t really seem to mind this however. All that mattered was the approval of her brother who had become the recipient of her weird arts and crafts projects, since their parents never seemed to care enough. That was, until he ran away from home, leaving her behind and creating an irreparable void inside. In highschool, the title of ‘weird kid’ seemed to follow her, and more often than not, she could be found after school hours focusing more on her passion for arts and craft. Unfortunately, at age 14, an unfortunate accident sadly took her right eye during this time. They say surviving teenhood is like surviving an apocalypse, and learning to live with this at first was rather tough, but little did Madeline know that two years later, the apocalypse really would end up happening. It started with a rather gruesome scene, coming home to her father ripping her mother apart as she had tried to nurse him from sickness. In a panic, Madeline ran out, seeking help, only to be met with pollen filled air and various other ‘sick’ corpses. Freezing in place, the meek girl is eventually pulled from the sight by an older adult, coughing and covering their mouths with rags as her legs move automatically. Following the only seemingly sane people out of the town and driving far away from the strange mess and fragments of her past. Adjusting to the new reality certainly wasn’t easy, everything everyone knew had suddenly crashed down to the ground. It was completely surreal, hard to believe. And for a while, it was, Madeline had ended up with a rather… eccentric group of people who seemed to worship this new change. ‘Mother nature was finally taking back control’ is what they said, and they completely abolished the use of any technology besides the cars they had come in. People began to set up in the woods, a new safe haven, as if they had prepared years ahead of time for this strange outcome. Madeline was soon organized and forced into farm work and cooking, nurturing and prepping the plants she was assigned to watch over, everything seemed eerily fine for about a month with a heavy uncanny feeling that lingered in the air… and when the first of the next month finally came… Things very quickly took a sour turn. Someone had been ‘elected’ for not doing their duties well enough, and was chosen to be a sacrifice to keep the small ‘village’ running properly. They would be shunned, driven out to the town, and tossed to the corpses to be reunited with nature for their sins. This very quickly instilled fear into the stragglers that had been roped along to this quiet shelter. Everyone began to try their best, and as the population began to dwindle, some people attempted to escape, no one really knows if they truly made it out alive or not. Years slowly began to pass by, and as hygiene and cleanliness began to decline, Madeline decided to pick up sewing as a new hobby, learning rather quickly how to patch and make her own clothes despite not being all too good at it at first. Over time, through mentorship and books, she’s learned more about plants and farming than she perhaps wanted to. But, in a nightmarish hellscape, it was her only form of relief and escape from reality… so in her pastime, she studied what she could, learning from experienced people and eventually learning all she could from her mentors. A decade now passes, Madeline is finally put in charge of scouting after building her loyalty to the cult. In her travels, she finally encounters something other than the dead… someone living… in her twisted ideals and struggle for survival over the years, she sees this as a golden opportunity to bring in a sacrifice to raise her rank. Telling the other scout with her about them, she begins her plot. Fear drives her to make a bold move of approaching this stranger, disguising herself as helpless as a storm brews outside. Underestimating the severity of the weather, the two are left sheltering in the nearest building they could find. A knife is pulled on the sleeping stranger's throat as the sun begins to rise, followed by a gun to Madeline’s forehead. In her fear driven state, she forgot the simplest of rules… disarm your prey. A flurry of panicked words fill the air, turning into a meaningful heartfelt conversation, the tension in the air slowly drops, and she realizes how wide open the world truly is. Being doomed either way, she decides to take a chance, escaping in the waning storm to travel with this stranger and their group. Eventually merging into a caravan on its travels to a ‘quarantine zone’.