Calvin Gardner (Finished)

Nickname(s): Cal, CJ
Weapons: Ruger Gunsite Scout (Scope+Bipod+Sling), Browning Hi-Power, Survival Hatchet, Aluminum Bat
Canon/Original: Original
Relationship Status: Formerly Engaged, Currently Single
Family: Louis Gardner (father/deceased before outbreak), Mikayla Gardner (mother/deceased), Jeremy Douglas Gardner (younger brother/unknown), Wendy Hensel (Fiance/Deceased), Bradley Kelbos (Adopted Son/Deceased)
Place of Birth: Parkersburg, West Virginia
Current Location: Shamokin, Pennsylvania


Height: 180 cm (5’11”)
Body Type: Lean
Eye Color: Light Green
Hair Color: Chestnut Brown
Special Markings: A long but mostly faded scar that runs alongside his right forearm, result of a childhood accident involving bikes and a whole lot of stupidity.
Played By: James Wolk


Likes: Tailgating, video games, jokes and puns, friends and family, good music

Dislikes: Sadistic people, being put on the spot, the lack of bathrooms, hypocrites, dead weight

Strengths: Task managing skills, keeps on keeping on, proficient at scavenging

Habits: Typically expresses his emotions physically rather than verbally, always one to quote a famous line if he believes the situation calls for it.

Flaws:
Physical: Was never the most in shape person to begin with, never had any form of useful survival training aside from a mandatory CPR class at the office, has little to no skills when it comes to fist fighting fellow humans and doesn’t fare all that much better in gunfights.

Personal: Has developed a sense of survivors guilt due to losing practically everyone close to him, as a result having a highly standoffish personality that can get grating over time, is a bit of a coward when the going gets tough.

Dreams/goals: Try to make the best of the world he’s now living in, find reliable people to stick with, find his brother however unlikely that may be, survive and thrive.

Fears: Death (whether it be at the hands of zombies or other survivors), heights, snakes and other dangerous wildlife, being alone, succumbing to the apocalypse.

Overall Personality:
All in all, Calvin is a man who has been greatly changed by the world he now finds himself in, while he does retain a lot of his personality seen before the apocalypse hit said apocalypse and the loss it’s brought with it has shaped Calvin to be more of a reclusive person, indeed even quite a bit unhinged. The only things keeping him going is the will to live for the ones who he lost, being in the company of well minded people, and the small slimmer of hope in the form of finding his brother in this forsaken world. The middle reason especially is a positive influence on the man as when he finds himself in a stable group his more sociable side gets back up to speed, the man soon developing a sense of comradery with those around him, to various extents depending on the group member themselves.

Once considered the office joker by some and a snarky asshole by others, Calvin’s sense of humor and by extension his personality may not click with everyone, but in the end he remains loyal to anyone he considers to be a close friend, although he most likely wouldn’t lay down his life for said friends anytime soon he’ll be sure to stick by their side through everything but the bitter end. Furthermore; as a result of the traumatic experiences he’s been through during the apocalypse, Calvin has just about given up on seeing the good in most people. If there is ever any situation in which an antagonistic force is oppressing either him or others he cares about he’s quick to voice his preference on taking swift action against said force, although with his lack of combat skills he might not exactly be the best person to act upon those actions.


History:

It all started in the small city of Parkersburg, West Virginia. Calvin was born and raised there, it was home, and as far as he knew, it was where he would live out the rest of his life. He had a happy childhood there, having the best little brother a guy could ask for, being a good kid in school, and eventually temporarily leaving the town to pursue college, always with the intent on heading back to his hometown after rounding out his education. So that’s what he did, after getting a bachelors in computer science he was hooked up with a well paying job from a friend of his father's, adjusting back into the little world within his town.

Life was good, Calvin had a job that fitted his interests, a family that loved him and at times questioned his life choices, a girlfriend that seemed to be the one, and a steady and simple life, what more can a guy ask for? Well, not much really, life in Parkersburg went on, aside from the occasional trip to other areas of the US for a nice change of scenery, Calvin was entirely content with his life. However, things soon took a turn for the worst as Calvin’s father passed away of a tragic and sudden stroke, at that moment Calvin took on a level of responsibility that he was never really able to fully embrace, being the new man of the house. Life continued on, and while no one in the family truly moved on from the death, they were able to distance themselves from it by returning back to their daily lives, Calvin being no different. It continued like so for the next two years, up until the apocalypse hit.

It was supposed to be the usual, wake up in the early morning, go to work and plant himself in front of a monitor for 8 hours, get out from work, buy a few drinks and kick back with the family. Except today wasn’t going to be like any other day, just the simple lack of familiar faces on the morning bus was what first tipped off Calvin that something wasn’t right, while Parkesburg wasn’t a small enough town to know everyone, people were close enough to notice the fact that friends and co-workers were in a big decline that day.

Asking around, Calvin learned that most people were just as confused as he was, whether it was a possible strike he didn’t get the memo on, or a large group of people happened to get sick today, it was anyone’s guess. These questions were still up in the air by the time the bus got to the workplace but they were soon dismissed as the ride to work itself was rather uneventful, aside from the fact that there were considerably less activity in the town’s streets than usual. Keeping these odd events within the front of his mind, Calvin was a bit more jumpier than usual in work, constantly peering over his shoulder, taking more breaks than usual to sneak glances out the window, and drinking tons and tons of coffee.

Three hours into his workday, the world went to shit. First, the news started to relay information about a fatal outbreak sweeping across the nation and soon Calvin got a first hand look of this outbreak himself upon seeing a speeding car crash into an ambulance. Calvin looked on in horror as the back of the ambulance opened to reveal two mangled men, making their way to the driver of the crashed car, pulling him out, and, eating him. Appalled at the sight, Calvin quickly barreled his way out of the building, having a feeling that his job wasn’t exactly something he’d be returning back to anytime soon. Seeing that the bus home wasn’t an option, Calvin ran straight home, narrowly avoiding the sick people as they slowly shambled around the town, not wanting to suffer the same fate as car guy.

Upon making it home, Calvin was met with a terrible sight, the sick people were all throughout the neighborhood, and the streets looked like a war zone as people were desperately packing up their cars, feigning off the sick people, or succumbing to their attacks. Turning away from the sight Calvin barged through his home and into the houses backyard, only to discover the terrible fate of his mother, there was nothing left of her to come back. With no sign of the walkers who had killed her present, Calvin hastily packed what he could and left his home for good. With his younger brother still attending college in a faraway state, that left only his girlfriend as a person he could find company and solace in, find a reason to keep on living. Making it to her neighborhood, he found her distraught with both of her parents dead, and after narrowly making it out of the city they trudged on into this new world, determined on surviving through this horrific event, however long it lasts.

The first few months were honestly a blur for Calvin, all he can remember is that throughout that time he and Wendy stuck together and very quickly decided to keep to themselves, avoiding cities and any other place that could have a substantial amount of either people or walkers in it. The couple were an inseparable bond but eventually the two came to terms with the fact that the winter season was approaching and they were running low on supplies, the duo eventually deciding to break their unofficial code that had kept them alive thus far and search for a group or community to settle down with.

After a few weeks of traveling around the couple eventually found a new group at the outskirts of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, soon meeting a young boy in the camp who had recently lost his parents. Finding that they could relate to both that sad fact and many more, Calvin and Wendy started up a friendship with the boy, which soon blossomed into an unofficial form of adoption. Seeing how happy he was with the couple, no one from the group spoke up against it, as everyone knew that they had more pressing matters to attend to. However as the months went by, Calvin, Wendy, and Bradley made the hasty decision to run away from their current group, not liking what sort of people said group members were turning into, as they were becoming borderline bandits in order to ‘provide for the group and keep them safe’.

Taking as many supplies as they could carry on their backs, including the weapons that Calvin would eventually become well practiced with, the trio snuck out of camp one night without any incident, although now, they had to constantly look over their shoulders, sure that someday the Lancaster group would catch up to them. They didn’t, at least, not for awhile, and when they finally did meet again, it was purely just a case of real bad luck. Weeks later, as the trio were running low on supplies, they had no other choice but to take the risk into going into a heavily infested Philadelphia in search of much needed supplies. While scavenging within a building near downtown, they were reunited once more with the group, or rather, what remained of the group.

Going into a heavily infested city was risky enough, but when you find yourself in a building with a group you screwed over long ago, the dial goes up from bad to worse real quick. Heavily outnumbered, the trio weren’t even able to put up a fight before they found themselves incapacitated, at the mercy of their previous group. With nothing but contempt directed towards Calvin and his family, the leader of the group, Sean, recounted to the trio just what happened as a result of their thievery, people had died; some starved, others killed others in desperation, and it was all their fault. Finding that they needed no other reason to deliver their own form of justice to Calvin’s family, they lined the three of them up on their knees, intent on executing them.

Which is exactly what they did to Wendy, slashing the blade of a machete straight across her neck before she even had the chance to say any final words. Devastated, Calvin and Bradley attempted to escape, only for Bradley to receive a quick gunshot wound into his chest, an action that everyone in the room were soon going to regret. Walkers quickly heard the shot, the dinner bell had been rung. In the ensuing panic, Calvin was able to overpower one of the guards and shoot another man dead before the walkers burst in, their presence creating a complete free for all.

Quickly grabbing whatever supplies were closest to them, Calvin supported Bradley over his shoulder and began to run towards an open window, where he hastily ushered Bradley out of the window before following behind him, but not before receiving a gunshot wound of his own in the shoulder from a vengeful group member. Slowed by his injury, Calvin painfully finished the climb out of the window and grabbed a shell shocked Bradley, the two soon escaping into the night.

Hours later, as the morning sun began to creep over the horizon, the two had found temporary refuge within an abandoned department store, finding the place clear of walkers, people, and unfortunately supplies. Within the store, Calvin haphazardly treated his gunshot wound to the best of his ability, luck on his side as the bullet had only grazed him. The same couldn’t be said for Bradley however as the bullet had not only lodged itself into the boy’s body, but it also seemed to hit an organ, as the man noted that there was a steady stream of blood coming from Bradley’s clothes.


Not confident in his abilities as a surgeon at all but not willing to let this boy die in front of him, Calvin told Bradley that he would try to remove the bullet in a last ditch effort to save him. Said idea was quickly shot down by Bradley, who was quite frankly not confident in the man's surgical abilities nor the idea in general due to how long it’s been since he was shot, with the color in his skin slowly leaving him the boy wished for the two of them to spend their last few moments together and try to put the inevitable out of their minds until the end. He figured that rather than sit down in the dark confines of the department store, the two of them should instead go outside and take one last look at the rising sun, Calvin agreeing with this bitter sweet proposition. Upon exiting the store, the two sat on the ground while Calvin recounted tales of his own boyhood to Bradley, devastated by the fact that the boy before him wouldn’t be able to do the same.

Time passed, and with it Bradley’s condition continued to rapidly deteriorate, to the point that he was barely able to tell Calvin that he wanted to go back inside after the two of them witnessed the sun rise. Upon hearing this, Calvin asked if he wanted to be put to rest before he turned, and Bradley reluctantly agreed, telling him to only do it once he was sure he was dead. Abiding to his request, Calvin sat alongside Bradley until the boy’s end; upon seeing him starting to stir once more, he placed a bullet into Bradley’s head, quickly taking care of the mentally demanding task. Afterwards, he searched around the store to check for some last minute supplies and came up mostly empty handed. Grabbing whatever was left on the shelves, Calvin soon exited the store and with a heavy heart, left the city of Philadelphia behind him, hellbent on never returning.

In the time that followed, Calvin decided to go about things on his own, opting to largely revert back to the mindset he was in during the first few months of the apocalypse, albeit now with no one to watch his back. He wasn’t always rolling in supplies either, and more often than not he found himself stealing from groups that he encountered, depending on the size of the groups either never revealing himself or killing them in order to take whatever he could carry on his back. He isn’t proud of the thievery and the murders, and it most likely helped contribute to his gradual mental instability, but while out on the road the man was a beast acting on auto-pilot, doing whatever was necessary to survive. Now, he finds himself wandering through another town, although this one might not be as dead as the last...

Alias: Des
Other Character(s) on TWDN: N/A for now
How Did You Find Us: Word of mouth I suppose, invited by Art if you want to get more specific.