Kimber
Caskey: When the
world falls to pieces around you, there are some things you forget about; those
simple pleasures in the world. When the crew from Tulsa arrived on our doorstep
with two flat tires, there was a look of relief when they found sanctuary with
us. It was a whole other animal when they began to see our set up. Fresh water,
more food than we could eat, power, actual by God air conditioning; it was like
they had walked into paradise. They had been more or less sleeping in that big
SUV when they rolled in. I will never forget the moment when Kimber first saw
our shower set up. We were just showing them how everything worked and then the
next thing you know, BAM, she is in her bra and granny panties under the stream
of water. No waiting, no fear of athlete’s foot, but still the modicum of
modesty to not get completely naked. He triumphant call of bliss brought a few
people from around the corner to make sure everything was okay. It was not like
a Meg Ryan call or anything but she was happy. (I remember Alex ducked his head
in, his eyes got real wide, his face got really red, and then he turned around
and walked out.) I think she spent half an hour in there and none of us blamed
her.
What I remember most is the singing. Kimber
loves to sing in the shower. I didn’t say that she sings well… or that her
choices of songs are always top notch… but you can guarantee that if you are in
the shower stall next to Kimber, you are going to be serenaded. Just this
morning, I heard her belting out the chorus to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance (which I
did not mind) but she has a proclivity for singing songs from boy bands – all
that Backstreet Boys, 98-degrees, Nsync crap that I cannot stand. But I am not
going to tell her to stop singing in the shower since she loves it so much. I
just have to keep her away from Kim so her virus doesn’t infect the MP3 song
lists.
Back to a comment about Alex and
Kimber. I know he has his crush on Kasondra because of all the time that she
spent teaching him how to shoot. But I am his father and the apple didn’t fall
far from the tree. Kimber is naturally… gifted. I am a really poor judge of
sizes but I am fairly certain that Kimber has worked her way out of a speeding
ticket on more than one occasion by wearing a low cut shirt.
Granted, this does little for you with
undead horrors that are shambling about outside but when it comes to needing a
representative – a liaison – for other people that might show up in our group,
Kimber is it. Fred represents the elder veteran. Sharon has the mom thing. Brad
is the pretty boy. And Kimber is the knockout with the skinny waist and the big
hoots. Yes, fine, call me shallow but you and I know that a nice pair of jugs
can quickly disarm someone. They are nicer in negotiations because they want to
be charming in hopes that maybe, just maybe, they will get to see them. And
that is an ace I want up my sleeve. Hell, for all we know, that is how Kimber
got in the SUV with Eric and Justin in the first place. I am not hating. I am glad
she is a part of our group.
Nicki
Silvestri: I know
that the old adage is to not judge a book by its cover. But with Nicki, you can
pretty much tell what you are getting right off the bat. I am not suggesting
that in Nicki’s case that is a bad thing… because Nicki is one of those people
you want on your side during the end of the world. Fit, athletic, and she has a
look that can be incredibly intimidating at times. I imagine that back in the
real world, if she ran a crew those people did what she said with very little
sass back. I can imagine her being a fairly stern manager or team leader. Now,
in this world, zoms care what you look out. Intimidation has zero effect on
them. But there are bound to be more living people out there that could come along
knocking on our door. If that happens, Nicki is that stern, authoritarian
figure that would let them know that we don’t take any crap.
Now, don’t misconstrue what I am
saying. Nicki is actually a very nice person but I don’t consider myself to be
intimidating. Janet? Ashlynn? Even Luke. They are all nice people and they
smile very, very easily. You need those individuals like Lance, Joseph, and
Nicki that can appear intimidating when they need to. Or if they cannot look
intimidating, they need to look slightly unhinged. They need to have the IJDGAF
look. And then once we can gauge a person’s intentions and the negotiations are
over, they get to go back to being normal, pleasant people. Well, Nicki is my
ace in the hole. If we ever need to play good cop/bad cop, Janet is our good
cop and Nicki is our bad cop.
Maybe it is because they were out
there in the hellscape longer than we were but Nicki and Eric seems to share
the same sentiment when it comes to their past lives. Nicki doesn’t share a
whole lot. Just judging from her demeanor, I get the impression that she did
not have kids. But there is something there. There is some darkness in her
past. I have my suspicion that maybe her husband or boyfriend turned and she
had to put him down. I am not certain but I am also not asking…
