The Walking Dead Storybook (Starting/Still Accepting)

Name: Benny "Lefty" Fontana

Group: B (Nomadic)

Gender: Male

Age: 26

Physical Description: A little under average height. He has a low body-fat percentage and is strong and tough-skinned from years of manual labor on the docks. He is a mixture of Italian, Dutch, and Scottish, and speaks in a minimalistic accent. He has dark hair, which, while naturally oily, had become dry from the brine of the bay. Keeps the beard off, but doesn't care that much about personal hygiene.

He typically wears work pants or jeans and t-shirts and one or two course sweaters, along with a jacket that says "Bromaldi Fishing Co." on it, work gloves, and a hat in the colder weather of Maine.

Personality: Quiet, calm, and calculating. He seems very calm and collected upon viewing, but his eyes are always rapidly moving, and he is thinking about everything going on. While not the sharpest tool on the block, he isn't and idiot, and can judge situations practically. He is somewhat blunt and gruff, and isn't the nicest guy, even if he isn't obnoxious.

History: Benny grew up in a household of five kids, two of which died of pneumonia at an early age. His mother also died when he was young because of lung and other cancer. His father was an alcoholic, who worked in the food processing factories in a coastal Maine fishing port. He grew up in a working class part of the city which was mainly made up of Irish and Italian communities. He did not take school seriously, and did not hope for secondary education.

At age 17, after graduating from the sub-par local high school, he left the house and stayed with friends' families, renting out rooms in their places of business until he could save enough to live on his own. He started out working in a local deli, until the cutler, who had connections to the Mob who operated the docks, got him a job working in the shipyard. Benny worked in the shipyard for the rest of his normal life, loading and unloading ships and occasionally processing the fish and goods that came in through the cargo that arrived from the Sea. He ended up living in an apartment above an Italian diner. He earned some extra money by playing cards and pool, both of which were made easy by his analytical mind. His life was dull, and he spent free time in bars and playing soccer with his buddies.

At one point, the Mob, whom he had friends in, even knowing the Don of his yard on a first-name basis (well, the Don called him Benny, Benny didn't call the Don Raphael.), offered him and his friend Tim Dean a job doing a little more than packing ships. He was to enforce tax collection. Thinking it wasn't the right choice, Benny and his friend refused the elicit job offer. However, this angered the people who were prepared to cash in favors and pull strings to get him the job, and tensions built between him and his Mafia guardians.

Benny was at work when the Zombie outbreak took a huge turn for the worse. It was a stormy day in the docks, and ships were parking farther down the piers than usual, increasing the risk of injury for the shipyard workers. People were acting very crazy, all over, and Benny was getting a little worried. He tried to continue to do the work though, siphoning off the Mob's cut of the fish, when a huge ship crashed straight into the docks ahead, severing the pier and sending almost a dozen workers fatally into the crashing water below.

At first, he tried to help injured people get off the breaking ships in the chaotic mess of the yard, but it soon became clear that some were not alive. But they were still living. Attacked by two ex-Seamen turned zombies, he fought them off and was able to make it through the maze of warehouses to the town border, and found Tim "Righty" Dean somewhere along the way. They both split for home, scared poopless at the way things were going in the city, cars crashing and the undead walking around. They grabbed supplies from their apartments and headed out of the city on stolen bikes.

The eventually met up with the rest of group B, who always seemed to find the pair slightly untrustworthy. Likewise, the pair was uneasy around the others, naturally mistrustful. Still, they provided valuable resources and help to the group as they began to travel.

Relation to Other Characters: He is best friends with Righty Dean. The two worked on the docks together for a long time and went to school together in their home town. The two were an odd, but tough pair. Benny's reasonable, calm personality counteracted Righty's run and gun, fight or flight hotheadedness.

There is also a connection with Omniyus' character somehow, but I don't know what it is yet.