Cain Lovelace started a new life for himself at 18, after finally getting away from the bad environment he grew up in. For the next nine years, he worked his way up from practically nothing. After years of struggle, he finally found himself with an enjoyable job, social life, and, after fully accepting himself, a fianceé.

Then the outbreak hits.

Pretty reserved a lot of the time, keeping to himself, but open around people he knows well. Empathetic and kind to those he cares about, much softer than you’d expect by his appearance.

During/after the outbreak, Cain is very quick to anger and react, being very defensive and suspicious. More gruff and deflecting than before, much less trusting of people and avoids most casual interactions if possible.

CW: Homophobia, shitty parenting

Childhood

Cain was born in a small city in rural Tennessee, raised by a single mother. She wasn’t always around, but wasn’t really a bad parent while he was young. Cain’s two siblings, younger by 7 and 9 years, were born far enough apart from him that he never formed a super close relationship with either of them. It was more of a parental relationship than anything else, as once Cain was old enough (around 12-13) his mother dumped a lot of babysitting onto him.

Growing up in a place with quite traditional values, Cain was always aware of his community’s opinions on many things - particularly homophobia. It was obvious to Cain by the time he was a teenager that he wasn’t straight, and that it would be a very bad idea to let anyone else know that. He learned to hide it and didn’t let anyone else know.

By chance, Cain got to know the only other queer kid he knew of. Hesitantly, they started dating when they were in high school, keeping it very secret in public. Eventually, though, when Cain was 16, he was “caught” by others from his school. Pissed, he lashed out and started a fight he didn’t win; the next day, practically everyone in the town knew he was gay.

Things changed a lot for the worse after that point. Cain’s mother practically ignored him, save for scathing remarks and making him watch or drive his siblings around. His social life was practically nonexistent as well, as even those friends who didn’t necessarily hold strong opinions didn’t want to be associated with the level of hatred the town seemed to direct at him. Cain learned to live with it, starting to openly rebel in the way he looked and acted as well.

On his 18th birthday, his mother kicked him out of the house, basically telling him to never come back. Cain, already having planned for that scenario, packed what he had and took a bus to Nashville, the closest major city.

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