Jasper McKinlay

## Back Story

He was born the youngest in a family of three, that was pretty well off which allowed him to get into university. Life in central London had never been really exciting but that didn't matter ro him as much. At a young age, he wasn't as wild and loud as most of his friends although there were the occasional times he went over the drinking limit. He wasn't exactly the studious kind and had difficulties concentrating which was ultimately the reason he dropped the Law degree after his first semester exams produced disappointing results. Not exactly knowing what to do next he went from course to course at University College London, listening to lectures of professors about all sorts of subjects. This went on for a few months until he found himself in Professor Patel's classroom who taught Mechanical Engineering and Business Finance. Having already some slight interest in vehicles he enrolled himself in the class and managed to find his 'calling.' He took a few courses in entrepreneurship and began to plan out his goal finishing his degree, starting his own Auto-Repair Shop Business.

Just as he was about to graduate, issues at home began to spark, starting off with his mother, Annabel, falling ill. At first, it was thought that she just had the Flu and basic medication was given to her but they didn't seem to do her much good. As the days went by, her condition became worse and worry started to spread amongst everyone. Another week passed and it came to the point where she couldn't even get out of her bed. Not knowing what it was, Jasper's father, Leo, had a general practitioner come over for a check-up. To much of their dismay, Dr. Holm referred them to the hospital because he couldn't do much for her. A day later dread filled the McKinlay household as they were told that Annabel was suffering from Leukaemia. As soon as the treatment began there was a fluctuation in his mother's condition. Even though it seemed to work, she was still in much pain. Leo had spent a lot of money paying for everything and wanted to give his wife the best treatment. He even had her transferred to The Royal Marsden Hospital. At first, Annabel's condition seemed to be getting better. She was even allowed to go back home but, sadly, it only took a month for her condition to spiral down the drain. Leo was desperate to save the love of his life and begun to invest all his life savings on different forms of drug treatment and various other therapies. At the time, finding doctors who were very knowledgeable about Leukaemia and had a rather good reputation, was difficult and Jasper's father wanted nothing but the best for his wife. But as each month passed, the medical bills grew in numbers and the money decreased in amount. The treatment was basic in the beginning, nothing all too expensive but as methods failed, the route to better helps seemed to narrow further, tying Leo's hands behind his back.

Despite his profound affection, Annabel died on their anniversary. It was early in the evening and Leo wanted to surprise her with homemade dinner with the whole family together. When he had gone upstairs to their bedroom, he found her laying on the bed, unmoving. Being retired and having next to no money left in his savings account for Jasper's university tuition had triggered his depression. Unaware of his father's mental state, Jasper went on to get a job at an auto-repair shop nearby. Although student loans had put a heavy load on his shoulders, he managed to finish off university. A month later, he moved out of his parent's home in London to move to Fife, Scotland to take a job that his professor had recommended because of better pay. He used the money he earned to support himself and his father, putting his dream of starting his own business, aside. Of course, Jasper had noticed his father's change of behaviour. The days where he never left his bed, the nights where he cried all night... But everyone had said it was simply grief and sooner or later he would just, "get over it."

If Jasper knew his father had already sunk to the bottom of the river the maybe he wouldn't have moved out rather than calling every once a week, maybe he wouldn't have met Loraine and spent so much time with her, and maybe ve received a phone call from his previous neighbours, in the middle of the night, to tell him that something was wrong. Jasper hoped his father hadn't broken his hip or fallen severely ill and just had not said anything about it because then there would be a lot of money to pay the bills. Instead, Mr. Adkins had explained that his father hadn't left the house for a week, not even to get the daily newspaper which his father was quite a big fan of. As any worried son would be, Jasper left that same night in his car to go check on him. The door was locked, as usual, and when he looked inside there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. It was a bit dusty and a little messy, as if it hadn't been cleaned up for a while. Jasper had called out for his father but there was no answer so he decided to go upstairs to his parents' bedroom, the one place Leo spent most of his time in after his wife's death. The bed was empty except for shattered glass and a broken photograph frame. The door had been cracked upon and there had been a weird sound coming from the bathroom and in there, Jasper found something that he had never expected. On June 4th, the day of their anniversary, Leo McKinlay hung himself with a rope that he had attached to the bathroom lamp on the ceiling. There was no note left behind for Jasper or his older brother and sister, no explanation. The only thing that was there was a slightly bloody, black and white picture of Annabel smiling. It had been taped to the mirror where it was displayed clearly, a good enough view to see while standing on a wooden stool before stepping off of it.

Life had been colourless for Jasper after that. He went back to his apartment in Fife, back to Loraine and went back to work, only taking the week off for his father's funeral. A year after, he proposed to the apparent love of his life at 27. A few months later, Loraine was pregnant and a nine months after that, Isis McKinlay was born. Jasper was happy like any father would be, overjoyed in fact but there had always something that seemed to bother him. A part of him remained distant, much to Loraine's dislike, but she had 'understood' because of the difficulties he head faced throughout his life. However, the fact that he disappeared for a few days, without a word, wasn't justified, even if it was to start his own auto-repair shop business in London. She didn't understand why he choose to work so far away from home, frankly, nobody did. Truth be told, he had a stronger lover for his work than his wife. The only thing that brought him back to Scotland was Isis, who was growing up to be much like him. That is why he bought a house in Edinburgh, where it was easier for him to go there and back from his hometown. It took him 29 long years to reach his ultimate goal but it was worth it. He had bought the garage near his old home, which was efficeint because business was great in the center of London. Before Isis' third birthday, he had a small that he could rely on. As his dreams came true, his marriage deterioated. It had eventually fallen apart completely when Loraine was found in bed with another man, the only and only, Eric Morgan. jasper had't been heartbroken or angry like most would be, at least, he didn't show it. Jasper knew his marriaged couldn't be saved, and he had accepted that but that didn't mean he was going to abandon his daughter. The marital problems had been going on for quite some time but he remained married with Lorrain for Isis' sake, but he had never allowed Eric to step a foot into the house for reasons of his own. although, things hand't gone quite the way he had planned. Loraine filed a divorce after the discovery of her adultery to marry Eric because she was pregnant with Lilly Morgan. Apparently, his physical appearance of indifference of what had happened drove Loraine completely into Eric's arms.

The only thing he hadn't accepted in the mist of all the mess he had created in his life was the fact that his ex-wife wnated to keep Isis, which he had been completely against. He didn't believe that Isis deserved to grow up with a man that wasn't her father at all. With Lilly in the picture, he had assumed that Isis would be left out and that is not something he wanted for his only child. The Morgans were allowed to keep the house in Edinbrugh but Isis had to stay with him, with the exception of the weekends. This had been agreed upon and the house in Scotland had meant absolutely nothing to him either way. His auto-repair shop business was still growing which lead to long nights in the garage. Not wanting to leave isis in the old house alonge with strangers or the old Adkins couple next door, he brought Isis to his workplace every day after school which she didn't really sto to mind at all, but her mother did. The 'deal' they mad was off and everything was a blu for Jasper afterwards. He lost custody over Isis and even as he pleaded, he only got to see her on the weekends. The day it had officially been declared in court by the judge, he lost his temper for the first time in a long, long time. Everything that had been stuck in his chest for 32 years had been removed as he broke a chair by throwing it against the judge's stand only to storm out afterwads. he was grateful to see his daughter every weekend but not being able to see her to grow up after the age of 16 left a hole in his heart.

Years passed and Isis became an adult who was a great source of pride for him. She was going to follow in her father's footsteps, hopefully without experiencing the horrendous events that he had to live through. He had even given her a job at his workplace so that she could experience the lifestyle for herself and everyday, he watched her with much joy. Jasper had hoped that she would be able to take over his hard work over, seeing as though she focused on mechanics at her university of choice. However, it was a dream that never came true. His pure hatred for the Morgans and what they had done, had led to the reluctance of Isis' offer to go on vacation with them but he did anyways because any time he spent his daughter was worth it, especially if this would make her happy. What could go wrong? He had left his business in good hands and he'd be back in two weeks. And so together, the McKinlays and the Morgans went to Nashville, Tennessee in the United States of America only to find out that their holiday was cut short by a sudden and drastic outbreak.

## From the City

When they arrived in Tennessee that had already been some unrest amongst the citizens there. The news broadcasting information about a pandemic spreading throughout the country and people were getting nervous, to say the least. As more days went by the more panicked people got. News about other nearby states was scaring people and soon enough everyone tried leaving the state or even leaving the country entirely after the first reported case of an infection with Nashville. The McKinlays and Morgans didn't manage to get out because flights were cancelled altogether after the first two days of people trying to get out. It took only two weeks for the city to erupt into complete chaos. There was a period of extreme violence and confusion between the healthy and the sick and soon enough, the sick outnumbered the healthy.

Two and a half months passed and it was only the McKinlays and Lilly left. Loraine and Eric Morgan had died on the way, killed by a group of walkers that caught them by surprise when they were taking refuge at a fire department during the first month. Jasper had always had a hatred for the two, for the amount of emotional suffering they had caused him even if he was never upon about it. That hatred was still there but it didn't mean that they had deseverd the physical torture they had gone through when the horde came in. It was that moment in the fire department that Jasper realized how different things were now and he had to do anything possible to keep Isis safe, even if it meant dragging Lilly along. He hadn't exactly hated the younger female but every being of her reminded him of Loraine and Eric. His cognitive perception of her parent's had overpowered anything else about her, which is why he had refused to make any form of proper interaction with her. However, the fact that she was reckless and seemed to care more about 'regaining her childhood' had angered him to the point where he had verbal outbursts against her. He didn't want Isis to fall prey to the flesh eaters that roamed the earth because some girl had decided to put her own needs before anyone else's, especially Isis'. His priority was his only child and, in turn, it had lead to the bad relationship that formed between him and the last remaining Morgan.

Despite the struggles, the next few weeks they spent moving around, scavenging for necessities and avoiding any people they came across that seemed to be a threat. Jasper was all too cautious to want to trust anyone that seemed to have their own agenda. There had already been enough pain and suffering in the world and he didn't want to add anything on top of that. His daughter was the only thing left and that is why he moved around so much, so that he could find some sort of place that could provide security for them all until things became better, if they ever did. The trio had stopped at a ballpark for a few days, sleeping on the bleachers. This was before they stumbled upon a train station. The potential security it could provide was promising so they decided that it was time to settle down once again in hopes of that the event at the fire department would never repeat itself again. Upon entering the train station they met Owen Price, Harvey Williams, and Gus Milner. There was something about the group that Jasper trusted, and that is why, under Owen's lead, he followed him as the man led them out of the overrun city to escape to the countryside, meeting another group under way led by Philippe Haubert.

## Escape From Hopewell

The group had to stop at a small town, on their way east of the country, to find some medical supplies for Philippe who had fractured his ankle severely. Owen and Harvey went to the pharmacy whilst Mary Fischer, Stacy Schultz, and Robert Schultz stayed at the meeting spot with Philippe till the rest came back. As Zack Mitchell, Keenan Lewis, and Joshua Dawson had a look in one area of the town, the McKinlays and Lilly looked on the other end. As the group scavenged in their respective spots, Gus was the survival group's look out where he soon met Mark Hanson. There was not a lot to find in any of the shops, much of what was there had already been taken or used. The idea was to get to the rendezvous point in an hour and all had been going to plan till the sound of a church bell rung through the town, a bell that was rung manually. In a hurry the trio left the convenient store they were in, knowing that everyone would be going back to where they agreed to meet.

The McKinlays were very focused on trying to get through the walkers that began to appear from all directions, attracted to the sudden outburst of sound, that they hadn't realized that Lilly had run back to go get the belongings of her parents that she left behind. Isis had insisted on going back when she realized her step-sister was no longer beside her but Jasper wouldn't have it at first. He didn't want his daughter to risk her life for a girl that didn't seem to take in account the consequences of her dumb actions were. It took some time, time they didn't really have, for him to turn back along with Isis to go get Lilly. Although he didn't like it, he would much rather make sure that someone was out there to watch her back. They had seen Price running towards their direction on the way and Jasper was quite angered by Lilly, simply because she had made the situation much worse than it had to be. Her continuous complaints on the way back to the meeting point had irritated him the most, especially since he had brought up something rather personal about Loraine choosing Eric over him. As they reached the rendezvous, Jasper had burst out into complete anger as he began to yell at her stupidity for running back to the store without so much of word to him or Isis. He had forcibly expressed his feelings about the risk he had put his daughter in and how he refused to see it again. There was no scruples felt as tears welled in the eyes of the younger female. However, things had gone wrong because as soon as he turned around he had realized that he was now separated from his daughter because of a horde that had burst out from the alleyways to form a wall that broke the entire group into two. Jasper found himself in Harvey's party along with Stacy, Robert, Lilly and Erin. Unlike the other group, not many losses were suffered as the group pushed through to find another way to the main road.

Things had gone wrong with Robert, Stacy's son, decided to run off in fear of the 'strange people' that were out to get him. Harvey had immediately decided to run after to the boy, leaving Jasper in charge of the group. As ordered, he moved the group towards the road but it was brought to a stop at the sound at Stacy's yells. Once he had looked over to see what the commotion was about, he had witnessed Harvey saving the six-year old's life by throwing him back but risking his own life because the male soon slipped and was soon dangling off of the edge of the roof. Jasper had tried to make his way to Harvey but there were walkers blocking the way and he hadn't made it on time, because soon enough, Harvey fell to his death. The elder man could hear the horrifying screams but could see nothing but flesh eaters throwing themselves on top of the area where Harvey was supposed to be. Knowing he couldn't do much else, he turned around to rejoin the females and led them to the main road where they waited for the rest of the group along with Keenan who, strangely enough, was the only one already on the road. Although Price and Isis were the only ones that had survived from the rest, he was happy that his daughter was safe. Gus wasn't there and Jasper had announced Harvey's death as well as Robert's current position on the roof without getting into much detail.

The group walked further down the road till it became dark. Jasper had noticed Price taking Isis aside and he wondered what their conversation contained. All he knew was that neither of them were happy about what one another said and that had worried him slightly. He had tried to talk to his daughter, trying to pry information out of her, but she kept to herself and because he knew she needed some space, Jasper decided to not push her to say anything. After walking for a bit more and when the sun set Owen brought the group to halt and made orders to wait for Gus, a few protests coming from some of the members. Jasper made sure to make his round to calm group members down so that less problems were created for Owen. After a period of waiting Gus arrived along with Mark, not to Owen's liking, but because he had trust for the younger male and Jasper had come along to make sure that there would be no unnecessary disputes. Gus convinced Owen that Mark was no threat and that he had helped him to get here, so Mark was allowed to keep his weapons and come along with them. Jasper had also 'interfered' and vouched for Mark to avoid any unnecessary actions to take place as he noticed the tension between both the newcomer and the group leader. After things were talked out, a long walk was took place before the group found a farm in the distance, deciding to stay there for a bit to recover.

## Dorsey Farmstead

Right when the survival group arrived at the farm Owen broke everyone into teams to a full search. Owen and Jasper would have a look in the barn, Mark and Isis would have a look at the house, Gus and Keenan would check the fences and the rest were told to stay near the porch to keep a look out for anyone or anything that may be of any harm. Owen and Jasper found that the barn had been chained shut and decided it was best to wait till the next day to unlock with a key so that they wouldn't damage something that may of be of worth in the future. Later on, Jasper and Price went to the front of the house where Isis and Mark stood. They had explained the door was locked before leaving to walk to the back of the farmhouse without anyone's knowledge. Price had Gus break open the window, rather than the front door, to check inside for any threats. Upon entering, there had been nothing so once Gus unlocked the door, Jasper went upstairs to check while Gus checked the basement and Price, the kitchen.

Jasper had discovered four doors in total, two identical bedrooms, the 'master bedroom' with a walk in bathroom and a separate bathroom. The first, small bedroom, had two girls laying in bed. To make sure that they were actually non-living, he walked inside to see that each girl had holes in their skulls. He was slightly confused at the sight of them and left the room to move on to the next room that was exactly the same as the other one. This room, however, was empty. He moved on to find an empty bathroom and he finally moved on the bedroom. Inside, he had found a middle aged lady who also had a hole in her head. Everything had made sense when he saw a pillow on the bed with feathers strewn in all sorts of directions. The pillow was bloodied and had three holes in it. Next to it, was a gun which was empty. A familiar sound had found his ears, making him turn his head to face the bathroom door. Everything had seemed so familiar, and when he walked inside he saw an image much like the one he had seen about 30 years ago. A man hung from a rope that had been attached to the lamp on the ceiling. A stool had fallen over. There was, however, no picture and rather than a lifeless body, it was one that flailed around as it growled in frustration as it tried to grab at Jasper. Without hesitation, he killed the walker and left the room to take a look at the attic. All he simply had to do was to open the ladder, causing a young boy, flesh eater come falling down the stairs to end its own life. Stepping over the body, he climbed the wooden steps to find nothing in the attic that would be of any use or interest. Jasper went on to call Keenan upstairs in order to help him move all the bodies downstairs and outside near the porch so that the rooms were available for everyone to sleep in.

The rest of the night was quite come. He had a brief conversation with Price in the kitchen about the next course of action before making sure that everyone knew that they could sleep in beds for the night. Exhausted from both the heavy lifting and the event at Hopewell, Jasper went straight to bed. Knowing that Isis and Lilly were sharing the master bedroom with him, he grabbed a few towels from the bathroom to sleep on the floor, making sure that his back faced the bathroom. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep and soon enough, he was out like a light.