(no subject)
Out-of-Character Information
Name: Lucy
Age: 25
Timezone: GMT+12
AIM: venite angeli
Email: venite_angeli@hotmail.com
Experience: This is Toby's story, told in his own voice. I hope it suffices.
How did you hear about us?: InsaneJournal ad.
Desired PB: Michael Horncastle
In-Character Information
Basics
Name: Tobias (Toby) James Bryan
Gender: Male
Age: 13 (almost)
Date of Birth: July 19th, 2000
Sexual Orientation: Undetermined, but presumably straight.
Status: Single
Contribution: Having discovered a previously unknown talent for running in his flight from the Eaters, Toby will volunteer for scouting or supply retrieval once he arrives and understands how Haven works.
Personality
Personal Strengths: Loyalty, determination, outer calm
Personal Weaknesses: Self doubt, inner guilt and turmoil, inevitable immaturity
Brief Summary: Toby was never a very outgoing or assertive kid. In fact, up until he was about eight, he was something of a shy wallflower, content to sit in the background and let the world unfold before him. At seven he joined the local church choir, at his mother's gentle urging. Imagine his surprise when he turned out to actually be a very good singer! It was the confidence boost he needed, and he began to make friends.
To be fair, in a normal world, Toby was never going to be the most popular kid in the class. A natural aversion to crowds and his soft spoken way of approaching people made his the butt of many jokes at school. The friends he had at the release of the virus were restricted to his choir, the small subset of his existence where he really shone. His idea of a fun afternoon was sitting in the shade of a nice leafy tree and reading comic books, not playing sports or riding a bicycle (he could do neither). He was a target for bullies, and though the mild abuse he suffered never turned physical, outside of choir his demeanor was that of a timid, somewhat frightened child.
Underneath his timidity Toby has quite a cheeky sense of humor, something only his friends and family ever really saw, and something that rarely rears its head in the current climate. Due to the events surrounding his last days in Wyoming and his eventual arrival in Haven, Toby's a darker, more serious child than he ever was before. He has to live with the memory of his brother Zach, and the way he died, and the reality of being the only remaining member of his entire family. Post-virus Toby is stronger, though slightly more withdrawn, and definitely more determined.
Appearance
Height: 4'11"
Weight: 95lbs
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown
Distinguishing Features: Nothing physical, Toby's appearance is notable by its un-notability, so to speak.
Wardrobe: What he could grab in a hurry, so he's stuck with a weeks worth of school uniform that's a little too big (the better for him to grow into, so said his mother) his favorite pair of jeans (one knee torn, almost outgrown) three t-shirts and the rest of his bag is stuffed with socks and underpants (and his mother bought his underpants, so they all have cartoon characters on them).
History
Summary: Trevor Bryan and Jill MacKenzie met in the early eighties and instantly hated each other. Given that Jill was 6 and Trevor 7, and that the Bryans had just moved to the quiet, leafy suburb of Cheyenne, Wyoming, it wasn't altogether surprising that the two children wouldn't get along. Boys and girls of that age rarely do.
Cut to ten years later, the ball being about to drop on 1992, and Jill and Trevor were both at a block party that their respective parents had forced them to attend. Perhaps it was the moonlight, making the soft layer of snow on the ground glow softly. Perhaps it was the proximity made a necessity by the low temperatures (and really, whoever thought an outdoor party in the middle of winter needed their head checked). Perhaps, more than likely, it was the punch, which one of the adults had spiked in a fit of merriment. Whatever it was, as the adults counted down to one, Trevor and Jill found themselves in each others arms, suddenly forgetting all the reasons they had initially hated each other.
That's not to say that things were easy for them. A more combative couple you would be hard pressed to find. Not a week went by when the two of them weren't bickering about something, but they always made up in short order, and their similar senses of humor proved to be the glue that kept them together. They moved in together when they were 20 and 21, and were married the summer after that.
Jill started experiencing symptoms of pregnancy in early 1997, and her first sons, Elijah and Nathaniel, were born that October. Tobias came three years later, in 1999, and finally Zachary showed up just before Toby was one - an unexpected surprise, but he was welcomed nonetheless. And since there were now six in their family, and since Trevor had recently been promoted to a management position within the large chain of department stores he worked for, he used his promotion to secure a position in the town of Laramie, one county over. It was a smaller town, but a bigger house, and a nicer place for the boys to grow up in.
Trevor had always envisioned going on outings with his boys when they were old enough, of camping and hiking and all sorts of outdoorsy pursuits. Laramie was perfect for that sort of thing. And Eli and Nate, almost as soon as they set foot in their new house, were ready and raring to explore. As they grew older, they really did turn out to be the type of boys Trevor had envisioned.
Toby, however, did not.
And maybe it was the fact that his older brothers, very much a self-content little unit, never felt the need to have him along. They were three years older, and had already mastered the art of entertaining each other well before Toby arrived on the scene. As a baby he wasn't old enough to play with them, and by the time he was old enough, the twins were already off and running, never really giving a backward glance or second though to their shy little brother. He didn't mind. The things they were doing were too physical, too scary, too demanding for Toby, and he was happy just sitting in the sunshine with a book or his action figures. If the twins were a self sufficient entity, he could be too. He never felt like his parents loved him any less, he just was different than his older brothers.
The boys attended Indian Paintbrush Elementary School, where, of course, Eli and Nate proved to be very popular and made lots of friends, and Toby... didn't. He wasn't so much picked on as he was made fun of, his quiet nature and fondness for books setting him apart from most of his classmates. In their defense, had the twins known about the mild bullying, they would have done everything in their power to stop it, but Toby never let on to them, and they continued on their merry way, though IP and into Laramie Junior High.
When Toby was seven, his mother took him down to the local church and convinced him to sign up for the choir. The family had never been particularly religious, attending services only at Christmas and Easter, but Jill had heard Toby humming to himself once or twice, and thought he might have potential. The choir in their parish was reasonably well known for their boy sopranos, and had even turned out a couple of albums.
Finally it was Toby's turn to shine. He was never going to be a physically strong kid, so it was a pleasant surprise to everyone, himself most of all, to find out that he was soon to become one of the most valuable voices in the choir. The choirmaster regularly referred to him as an up and coming talent, destined for great things. The only reason he wasn't getting more solos, he was told, is because the older boys currently occupying the top spots were getting older, and their voices weren't going to last much longer before they changed. Well, Toby was content to wait. After all, he had a good three or four years ahead of him, didn't he?
So he spent three years as part of the chorus, then he began to be given some of the descant lines. And so, by the time he was twelve, and the older boys had either stepped down to become the alto voices in the back of the choir, or else left completely, Toby was finally a top soloist, and considered by many to be one of the best voices they had had in the group since its inception in the mid eighties.
Toby was never happier than he was when he was with his friends from the choir. Singing, especially the type of music they sang, was hardly his ticket to popularity in school - indeed, the bullying got worse when people found out. He was called so many names he began to lose track - sissy, fairy, girly-girl. It wouldn't be realistic to assume that he ignored all of this. He was a kid, and the names hurt, and what little confidence he had around school dissipated as time went on. It didn't help matters that Zach, even from his position as the youngest brother, felt the need to stick up for Toby. It was a sweet sentiment, but the bullies had a field day with the fact that Toby apparently needed his baby brother to fight his battles.
But Toby with the choir, that was the real Toby. He was fun, cheeky and carefree, because he was finally in his element. The other boys in the group respected his discipline and talent, and they liked being around him, which was something Toby hadn't experienced much of before. He made firm friends in the group, which made what happened later all the harder.
The virus was released in selected major cities worldwide on July 1st, 2012. Toby was weeks away from turning twelve, Zach was eleven. It didn't take long for the virus to spread, and Zach spent his twelfth birthday in quarantine, in the high school gym, huddled together with his family. That was the last time they would all be together. Days later, Jill succumbed to the virus and passed away in her sleep. Trevor, possessing the gene for immunity and having passed it on to the boys, was left grieving for his wife and wondering how the hell he was going to provide for the four boys in a world ravaged by death and destruction. Everyone they knew was either dead or had... changed. None of their friends had survived it. Their family was alone.
Initially they went back to their house, but the large bay windows and airy, open front lawn that had once seemed so inviting were now a liability. Roving bands of Eaters threatened every second day, and though they survived for a couple of weeks by hiding whenever they came past, Trevor knew it wouldn't last long. He was right. After a couple of weeks of living in fear, the house was raided by a mercifully small pack of Eaters.
Had there been more than the three that came, Trevor would have been unsuccessful in fending them off long enough for the boys to escape out the back way. He did not emerge victorious, and the Eaters made a meal of this foolish man who had thrown himself at them, fighting furiously in an attempt to protect his children. By the time they turned their attention to the possibility of further food, the boys were long gone, the twins each hauling a sobbing younger brother by the arm, urging them on faster and faster, heading who knew where.
They tried the gym again, where the remnants of their small town had eventually made their way, but it soon became apparent that Laramie wasn't built to withstand this kind of crisis. With a small band of ten or so older people, the Bryan boys left their home and embarked on a journey filled with meager meals, sleeping rough and running, always moving, trying to keep one step ahead of the Eaters. Eli and Nate enjoyed it at first, sort of. Though they were obviously grieving for their parents, this was the sort of outdoorsy existence that they had always loved, and they were doing their best to put a brave face on it for Toby and Zach anyway. Toby thought he would hate it, and initially he was right, but the urgency of the situation forced him to harden up a lot, and he pitched in as best he could. Zach just made the most of things, the way he always had.
Eli and Nate volunteered to head up a scout party, and for at least six months they were crucial to the little band of Laramie survivors. Their speed and tracking ability meant that they were able to keep the group out of harms way most of the time. Of course, all good things must come to and end, and one day Eli and Nate went out scouting together and just... never came back.
Toby's not sure what he thinks. Part of him wants to believe that they ran off together, tired of the group and eager to save themselves. Sometimes it's easier to believe that his brother were selfish and cruel, and hate them, than it is to face the reality that they were caught and eaten, and therefore have to grieve for them as well as his parents. Depending on his mood at the moment, Toby lets himself believe one or the other story, or even tries to make up new possibilities for his brothers' whereabouts. He conveniently ignores the sneaker that the backup scouting party found in their search for the Bryan twins, the Converse sneaker that was red but that Nate had painted a white racing stripe down the side of. The sneaker makes it too real. The sneaker is proof of something Toby doesn't like to think about.
In the best of conditions, it would take a person around 40 hours to walk from Cheyenne to Denver. Factoring in food, rest, eating and other human necessities, it could take at least four days of steady walking to reach Denver from Cheyenne. This was far from the best of conditions, and the group had no particular destination in mind. They were camping out in small reinforced structures for a few weeks at a time, always changing their direction and trying never to fall into a pattern of behavior. Their route was fairly meandering, though it turned out to be a big loop - Wyoming to Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and back up through Colorado to finally end up outside Denver. All the while their little band was getting smaller. Eli and Nate lasted as long as New Mexico, but that was the beginning of the end, and by the time Toby could see the skyline of Denver in the distance, it was just him, Zach, and the former star of the Laramie High track team.
The Eaters came out of nowhere. Now, when he thinks back on it, Toby think maybe Nate or Eli would have spotted the pack moving in the distance and worked to get the remains of the group to safety. He kicks himself, sometimes, for not taking up their mantle, and himself being the one to alert the others. When the time came, all there was to do was run.
Toby had never had to run so far so fast in his life. Zach kept pace right beside him for the longest time - to this day, Toby's not sure why the track star was the one to stumble and fall. He kept a fierce grip on Zach's arm as the two of them ran, determined that they should not be separated.
As they made the first streets with buildings, Toby was surprised to find that it was Zach, not he, who was gasping for breath. He knew the only reason they'd made it this far was because the Eaters had been occupied with tearing the track star apart. Pulling Zach by the neck of his shirt, crawled through a tiny gap in a boarded up window of an abandoned diner, dragging Zach behind him. The two stumbled through the diner, finally holing up in the storeroom/freezer, which of course, without electricity, was no longer cold. It locked from the inside, and the two boys sat down to wait.
An hour or so later, having heard nothing for a long time, Zach decided he would go and check out the situation. Toby told him flat out not to go, but Zach pulled the "you're not the boss of me" card and slipped out. Time went by - more time than Toby was comfortable with. He stuck his head out the door of the freezer, looking for Zach, but the boy was nowhere to be seen. How far had he gone? Angry, Toby slipped out the same way they had got in, and finally spotted Zach in the distance, climbing over a pile of rubble at the end of the street.
Both boys heard the noise at the same time - the unmistakable screeching war cry of the Eaters. Zach started to run.
Heart pounding, Toby stood at the gap, waiting for Zach, beckoning him wordlessly. The first Eaters appeared, much closer to Zach than Zach was to Toby. Toby watched in horror as his little brother just... wasn't fast enough. He scrambled back through the gap in the boards and barricaded himself back in the freezer, sobbing brokenly. He was the only one left.
It was another week before he was found.
Name: Lucy
Age: 25
Timezone: GMT+12
AIM: venite angeli
Email: venite_angeli@hotmail.com
Experience: This is Toby's story, told in his own voice. I hope it suffices.
How did you hear about us?: InsaneJournal ad.
Desired PB: Michael Horncastle
In-Character Information
Basics
Name: Tobias (Toby) James Bryan
Gender: Male
Age: 13 (almost)
Date of Birth: July 19th, 2000
Sexual Orientation: Undetermined, but presumably straight.
Status: Single
Contribution: Having discovered a previously unknown talent for running in his flight from the Eaters, Toby will volunteer for scouting or supply retrieval once he arrives and understands how Haven works.
Personality
Personal Strengths: Loyalty, determination, outer calm
Personal Weaknesses: Self doubt, inner guilt and turmoil, inevitable immaturity
Brief Summary: Toby was never a very outgoing or assertive kid. In fact, up until he was about eight, he was something of a shy wallflower, content to sit in the background and let the world unfold before him. At seven he joined the local church choir, at his mother's gentle urging. Imagine his surprise when he turned out to actually be a very good singer! It was the confidence boost he needed, and he began to make friends.
To be fair, in a normal world, Toby was never going to be the most popular kid in the class. A natural aversion to crowds and his soft spoken way of approaching people made his the butt of many jokes at school. The friends he had at the release of the virus were restricted to his choir, the small subset of his existence where he really shone. His idea of a fun afternoon was sitting in the shade of a nice leafy tree and reading comic books, not playing sports or riding a bicycle (he could do neither). He was a target for bullies, and though the mild abuse he suffered never turned physical, outside of choir his demeanor was that of a timid, somewhat frightened child.
Underneath his timidity Toby has quite a cheeky sense of humor, something only his friends and family ever really saw, and something that rarely rears its head in the current climate. Due to the events surrounding his last days in Wyoming and his eventual arrival in Haven, Toby's a darker, more serious child than he ever was before. He has to live with the memory of his brother Zach, and the way he died, and the reality of being the only remaining member of his entire family. Post-virus Toby is stronger, though slightly more withdrawn, and definitely more determined.
Appearance
Height: 4'11"
Weight: 95lbs
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown
Distinguishing Features: Nothing physical, Toby's appearance is notable by its un-notability, so to speak.
Wardrobe: What he could grab in a hurry, so he's stuck with a weeks worth of school uniform that's a little too big (the better for him to grow into, so said his mother) his favorite pair of jeans (one knee torn, almost outgrown) three t-shirts and the rest of his bag is stuffed with socks and underpants (and his mother bought his underpants, so they all have cartoon characters on them).
History
Summary: Trevor Bryan and Jill MacKenzie met in the early eighties and instantly hated each other. Given that Jill was 6 and Trevor 7, and that the Bryans had just moved to the quiet, leafy suburb of Cheyenne, Wyoming, it wasn't altogether surprising that the two children wouldn't get along. Boys and girls of that age rarely do.
Cut to ten years later, the ball being about to drop on 1992, and Jill and Trevor were both at a block party that their respective parents had forced them to attend. Perhaps it was the moonlight, making the soft layer of snow on the ground glow softly. Perhaps it was the proximity made a necessity by the low temperatures (and really, whoever thought an outdoor party in the middle of winter needed their head checked). Perhaps, more than likely, it was the punch, which one of the adults had spiked in a fit of merriment. Whatever it was, as the adults counted down to one, Trevor and Jill found themselves in each others arms, suddenly forgetting all the reasons they had initially hated each other.
That's not to say that things were easy for them. A more combative couple you would be hard pressed to find. Not a week went by when the two of them weren't bickering about something, but they always made up in short order, and their similar senses of humor proved to be the glue that kept them together. They moved in together when they were 20 and 21, and were married the summer after that.
Jill started experiencing symptoms of pregnancy in early 1997, and her first sons, Elijah and Nathaniel, were born that October. Tobias came three years later, in 1999, and finally Zachary showed up just before Toby was one - an unexpected surprise, but he was welcomed nonetheless. And since there were now six in their family, and since Trevor had recently been promoted to a management position within the large chain of department stores he worked for, he used his promotion to secure a position in the town of Laramie, one county over. It was a smaller town, but a bigger house, and a nicer place for the boys to grow up in.
Trevor had always envisioned going on outings with his boys when they were old enough, of camping and hiking and all sorts of outdoorsy pursuits. Laramie was perfect for that sort of thing. And Eli and Nate, almost as soon as they set foot in their new house, were ready and raring to explore. As they grew older, they really did turn out to be the type of boys Trevor had envisioned.
Toby, however, did not.
And maybe it was the fact that his older brothers, very much a self-content little unit, never felt the need to have him along. They were three years older, and had already mastered the art of entertaining each other well before Toby arrived on the scene. As a baby he wasn't old enough to play with them, and by the time he was old enough, the twins were already off and running, never really giving a backward glance or second though to their shy little brother. He didn't mind. The things they were doing were too physical, too scary, too demanding for Toby, and he was happy just sitting in the sunshine with a book or his action figures. If the twins were a self sufficient entity, he could be too. He never felt like his parents loved him any less, he just was different than his older brothers.
The boys attended Indian Paintbrush Elementary School, where, of course, Eli and Nate proved to be very popular and made lots of friends, and Toby... didn't. He wasn't so much picked on as he was made fun of, his quiet nature and fondness for books setting him apart from most of his classmates. In their defense, had the twins known about the mild bullying, they would have done everything in their power to stop it, but Toby never let on to them, and they continued on their merry way, though IP and into Laramie Junior High.
When Toby was seven, his mother took him down to the local church and convinced him to sign up for the choir. The family had never been particularly religious, attending services only at Christmas and Easter, but Jill had heard Toby humming to himself once or twice, and thought he might have potential. The choir in their parish was reasonably well known for their boy sopranos, and had even turned out a couple of albums.
Finally it was Toby's turn to shine. He was never going to be a physically strong kid, so it was a pleasant surprise to everyone, himself most of all, to find out that he was soon to become one of the most valuable voices in the choir. The choirmaster regularly referred to him as an up and coming talent, destined for great things. The only reason he wasn't getting more solos, he was told, is because the older boys currently occupying the top spots were getting older, and their voices weren't going to last much longer before they changed. Well, Toby was content to wait. After all, he had a good three or four years ahead of him, didn't he?
So he spent three years as part of the chorus, then he began to be given some of the descant lines. And so, by the time he was twelve, and the older boys had either stepped down to become the alto voices in the back of the choir, or else left completely, Toby was finally a top soloist, and considered by many to be one of the best voices they had had in the group since its inception in the mid eighties.
Toby was never happier than he was when he was with his friends from the choir. Singing, especially the type of music they sang, was hardly his ticket to popularity in school - indeed, the bullying got worse when people found out. He was called so many names he began to lose track - sissy, fairy, girly-girl. It wouldn't be realistic to assume that he ignored all of this. He was a kid, and the names hurt, and what little confidence he had around school dissipated as time went on. It didn't help matters that Zach, even from his position as the youngest brother, felt the need to stick up for Toby. It was a sweet sentiment, but the bullies had a field day with the fact that Toby apparently needed his baby brother to fight his battles.
But Toby with the choir, that was the real Toby. He was fun, cheeky and carefree, because he was finally in his element. The other boys in the group respected his discipline and talent, and they liked being around him, which was something Toby hadn't experienced much of before. He made firm friends in the group, which made what happened later all the harder.
The virus was released in selected major cities worldwide on July 1st, 2012. Toby was weeks away from turning twelve, Zach was eleven. It didn't take long for the virus to spread, and Zach spent his twelfth birthday in quarantine, in the high school gym, huddled together with his family. That was the last time they would all be together. Days later, Jill succumbed to the virus and passed away in her sleep. Trevor, possessing the gene for immunity and having passed it on to the boys, was left grieving for his wife and wondering how the hell he was going to provide for the four boys in a world ravaged by death and destruction. Everyone they knew was either dead or had... changed. None of their friends had survived it. Their family was alone.
Initially they went back to their house, but the large bay windows and airy, open front lawn that had once seemed so inviting were now a liability. Roving bands of Eaters threatened every second day, and though they survived for a couple of weeks by hiding whenever they came past, Trevor knew it wouldn't last long. He was right. After a couple of weeks of living in fear, the house was raided by a mercifully small pack of Eaters.
Had there been more than the three that came, Trevor would have been unsuccessful in fending them off long enough for the boys to escape out the back way. He did not emerge victorious, and the Eaters made a meal of this foolish man who had thrown himself at them, fighting furiously in an attempt to protect his children. By the time they turned their attention to the possibility of further food, the boys were long gone, the twins each hauling a sobbing younger brother by the arm, urging them on faster and faster, heading who knew where.
They tried the gym again, where the remnants of their small town had eventually made their way, but it soon became apparent that Laramie wasn't built to withstand this kind of crisis. With a small band of ten or so older people, the Bryan boys left their home and embarked on a journey filled with meager meals, sleeping rough and running, always moving, trying to keep one step ahead of the Eaters. Eli and Nate enjoyed it at first, sort of. Though they were obviously grieving for their parents, this was the sort of outdoorsy existence that they had always loved, and they were doing their best to put a brave face on it for Toby and Zach anyway. Toby thought he would hate it, and initially he was right, but the urgency of the situation forced him to harden up a lot, and he pitched in as best he could. Zach just made the most of things, the way he always had.
Eli and Nate volunteered to head up a scout party, and for at least six months they were crucial to the little band of Laramie survivors. Their speed and tracking ability meant that they were able to keep the group out of harms way most of the time. Of course, all good things must come to and end, and one day Eli and Nate went out scouting together and just... never came back.
Toby's not sure what he thinks. Part of him wants to believe that they ran off together, tired of the group and eager to save themselves. Sometimes it's easier to believe that his brother were selfish and cruel, and hate them, than it is to face the reality that they were caught and eaten, and therefore have to grieve for them as well as his parents. Depending on his mood at the moment, Toby lets himself believe one or the other story, or even tries to make up new possibilities for his brothers' whereabouts. He conveniently ignores the sneaker that the backup scouting party found in their search for the Bryan twins, the Converse sneaker that was red but that Nate had painted a white racing stripe down the side of. The sneaker makes it too real. The sneaker is proof of something Toby doesn't like to think about.
In the best of conditions, it would take a person around 40 hours to walk from Cheyenne to Denver. Factoring in food, rest, eating and other human necessities, it could take at least four days of steady walking to reach Denver from Cheyenne. This was far from the best of conditions, and the group had no particular destination in mind. They were camping out in small reinforced structures for a few weeks at a time, always changing their direction and trying never to fall into a pattern of behavior. Their route was fairly meandering, though it turned out to be a big loop - Wyoming to Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and back up through Colorado to finally end up outside Denver. All the while their little band was getting smaller. Eli and Nate lasted as long as New Mexico, but that was the beginning of the end, and by the time Toby could see the skyline of Denver in the distance, it was just him, Zach, and the former star of the Laramie High track team.
The Eaters came out of nowhere. Now, when he thinks back on it, Toby think maybe Nate or Eli would have spotted the pack moving in the distance and worked to get the remains of the group to safety. He kicks himself, sometimes, for not taking up their mantle, and himself being the one to alert the others. When the time came, all there was to do was run.
Toby had never had to run so far so fast in his life. Zach kept pace right beside him for the longest time - to this day, Toby's not sure why the track star was the one to stumble and fall. He kept a fierce grip on Zach's arm as the two of them ran, determined that they should not be separated.
As they made the first streets with buildings, Toby was surprised to find that it was Zach, not he, who was gasping for breath. He knew the only reason they'd made it this far was because the Eaters had been occupied with tearing the track star apart. Pulling Zach by the neck of his shirt, crawled through a tiny gap in a boarded up window of an abandoned diner, dragging Zach behind him. The two stumbled through the diner, finally holing up in the storeroom/freezer, which of course, without electricity, was no longer cold. It locked from the inside, and the two boys sat down to wait.
An hour or so later, having heard nothing for a long time, Zach decided he would go and check out the situation. Toby told him flat out not to go, but Zach pulled the "you're not the boss of me" card and slipped out. Time went by - more time than Toby was comfortable with. He stuck his head out the door of the freezer, looking for Zach, but the boy was nowhere to be seen. How far had he gone? Angry, Toby slipped out the same way they had got in, and finally spotted Zach in the distance, climbing over a pile of rubble at the end of the street.
Both boys heard the noise at the same time - the unmistakable screeching war cry of the Eaters. Zach started to run.
Heart pounding, Toby stood at the gap, waiting for Zach, beckoning him wordlessly. The first Eaters appeared, much closer to Zach than Zach was to Toby. Toby watched in horror as his little brother just... wasn't fast enough. He scrambled back through the gap in the boards and barricaded himself back in the freezer, sobbing brokenly. He was the only one left.
It was another week before he was found.