On Death's Doorstep

[thatfallout3guy]

Jake just stared at Lewis, waiting, hoping for any sort of solution that could get them out of this. Lewis sat quietly for a minute, thinking everything that the man had just said over. He knew exactly what this man was going through, hell, they all did. The once unreasonable sociopath now seemed to be just as human as any of them. Lewis finally let out a deep sigh.

"You're not the only one who knows what loss feels like. Within the first weak of this outbreak, I had to kill my best, and only real friend, of over ten years. Soon after that? A kid I was supposed to protect turned, and..." Lewis stopped, cringing at the mere thought of Juwan's death.

"I know how it feels to lose the most important person in your life, fuck's sake do I know, we all do, any killing us isn't going to fix a damn thing! You want a reason not to keep this senseless violence? How about a few hundred? All the noise we're making is just drawing attention, none of it any good. The longer we keep this up, the more zombies that'll come, and then will any of this even matter?! So I'm begging you, just hear us out so it doesn't have to be that way!" He yelled again, hoping and praying that reason wasn't completely lost with this man.

[lukuz13]

July 7th, 2022 Thursday. Huntington, West Virginia

- "Will any of it matter..." A softer tone spoke out after a short silence. With every silence, Lewis could swear he hears a familiar distant droning that only grows louder by the passing moment. "That's...you're right." He laughed, softly at first, then a little louder. "Why does...any of this matter?" He asked Lewis suddenly. "Why are we trying so hard to live...in a world this terrible." He asked, giving a tearful chuckle to follow. "It use to be for Joanna's sake...but..." He mumbled, glancing up towards the direction Lewis remained hidden at the thought of the infected. "Let them come." He stated softly. "Let them all come. At least then...I'll get to see them all again." He muttered, before Lewis heard another silence. "Thank you...stranger." He said again, and if Lewis looked, he'd see a smile on his face-he had drawn closer then before. "You've helped a tired husk of a man find peace." He said softly, tears still rolling down his face.

Suddenly, he pulled a side arm from his belt, pressed the barrel to his temple, and pulled the trigger. In an instant, the sound rang out and the man crumbled to the floor with a distinctive thud.

[thatfallout3guy]

As the man said his final words, Lewis knew exactly what he meant. The following gunshot only confirmed it.

Jake stared in horror at Lewis, "Did... did he..."

Lewis simply nodded, not saying a word.

Jake just stared at the ground for a moment, "Damn... god damn..."

'That fucking idiot,' Lewis thought to himself, finally managing to gather himself enough to look outside.

He saw a young girl, no older than Eric, standing over the now dead man, complete and utter horror in her eyes. She suddenly jerked over, vomiting all over the ground.

Lewis then looked down to the man, his eyes widening as soon as he saw the bandages around the man's stomach. He turned to Jake, "That's... that's the guy that Roy shot. That's the guy that tried to break in last night."

Jake looked at Lewis with confusion, "Then why the hell was he calling us raiders?! The fuck did he think would happen when he tried breaking in?!"

Lewis simply shook his head, "I don't know," he said before turning to the door, "but I'm about to find out. Wait here."

Before Jake could even question what he was doing, Lewis dropped his shotgun, and began walking towards the door. He put his hand on it, breathing in, and letting out a deep sigh, "I'm coming outside. I'm unarmed, and I'll keep my hands behind my head. I just want to talk this out, alright?" He said before pushing the door open, and placing both hands behind his head. He walked out of the candy shop, hoping these people wouldn't immediately fill him with bullets.

[lukuz13]

July 7th, 2022 Thursday. Huntington, West Virginia

-To Lewis' surprise, as he walked out, he realized he wasn't the first to do so. A slightly older woman had run out from behind a nearby ally towards the girl retching near the dead body, and quickly wrapped her in her arms, whispering soft coos of comfort to her as she brushed her hair back forcing her to look away from the...considerable mess. Her hair was dirty blonde, matching the girls, though 'dirty' was more literal then ever before. The two had a similar slim and malnourished figure, though the older woman seemed stronger then her size let on.
"You...just stay back, man." A shaky male voice rang out softly, as a younger boy, perhaps in his twenties, slightly older then the young girl, but young enough to be the woman's son, aimed a gun at the man. His complexion was more bronze but still thin, and his shaky grip on the weapon suggested he had held it for as long as he had tied his shoes that morning. "I...we don't want any sort of trouble, okay? So...so just-" He managed in the most macho voice he could muster while shaking in his boots. Before Lewis could respond, however, the woman forced him to lower it, and turned a surprisingly level, if saddened head towards Lewis, uttering softly. "Stop it. There's no need for any more violence. Just...stop it."
As she looked up to Lewis, he noticed her eyes seemed tired, though a hint of blue was there. She didn't seem particularly struck by this event, though her concerns obviously laid with these children more then the man. Finally, she spoke.
"We thought you were murderers, you know. A gang of good for nothing psychopaths who want nuthin but to take advantage of others.." She uttered softly, in a heavy tone. "Something...that's way too common these days." She whispered, rocking her, he assumed, daughter back and forth in her arms. "People don't stop to ask anymore. Don't bother listening to pleas. Only interested in what others might have that will keep them going another day." She went on, squeezing the young girl tight. "We didn't know them really well...but I took the time to learn their names. That was more then a lot of people can say." She muttered now, giving a passing glance at the crumpled body on the floor. "I hope he'll finally be happy to see his family again...he talked about them all the time, you know. Drove his sister insane." She went and told Lewis without any prompt. It almost felt like she was dying to tell someone, anyone this lesson, this story, or she'd burst. Or maybe she just thought he would care. "Ain't nobody that talks like that a murderer though." She whispered softly. "None of them have the sense...none of them." She trailed off now into silence.

After a short silence, a taller man wielding a large rifle slung on his shoulder existed the building behind them all. His bronze skin stood out most among the rags he wore which looked like an old business suit of some kind, loosened for proper apocalypse survival. He had a bald head, likely his choice, and a pair of crooked glasses hanging off his nose. He took a few cold calculating looks over Lewis with those dark brown eyes. He was large, bearded man, his gut worn away by time and lack of food no doubt. His brownish gaze upon Lewis finally tore away so he could see the girl and boy near the woman, and simply drew closer to them, collecting them almost by his simple presence and drawing them all to stand again by his sides.

[thatfallout3guy]

Lewis finally let his hands down, knowing that the situation had died down. He breathed a sigh of relief before he spoke, "My friend thought the same thing, you know. When he saw that man trying to break in? He thought he was a low life raider trying to steal our stuff. He panicked, but I can't say I blame him. Poor guy was just trying to protect his family... just trying..." Lewis stopped, looking to the ground in shame, remembering how hateful he was to Roy earlier.

Looking back up, he spoke once again, "I have to go. We've got friends in the city that don't know this has happened, and the sooner we find them, the better," he said, turning back to the candy shop, and opening the door. Before he stepped through, however, he stopped, and turned back to the other group, "My name's Lewis, by the way."

The woman was the first to speak, "I'm Megan. These are my children, Shawn and Sarah, and my husband, Jerry."

Lewis gave a simple nod, "Stay safe, Megan," he said before closing the door to the candy shop.

"So we ain't fucked no more?" Jake asked, standing to his feet, seemingly enjoying being able to move his legs again.

Lewis gave a small chuckle as he picked his shotgun back up, "We are if we don't get out of here. This place is gonna be swarming soon. Roy!" Lewis exclaimed, looking to the room they were hiding in, "it's safe. Come on out, we need to start looking for the others."

[tookalotofworktobetheassiam]

When Lucy ran over the situation mentally to decide what to do, it was nothing like what these so-called crossroads decisions were supposed to be: not split-second, not instinctive, not clear at all. It simply was. Her lip trembled, hands warned her to clench something before her fingers starting fighting amongst themselves. And then she decided, after a vague stare and loose jaw were added to fill the role she was playing to these...whatever they were.
"Okay!" she perked up as the group begun to show signs of seriously departing, "I don't know how to use this thing well as you toy soldiers, but I'll stick with you for a little while. Might even be able to teach me something, eh?" Internally, she rolled her eyes and groaned for the day to be done - even as the sun just began to climb the usual rungs. Her lips gave a faint smile and she bobbed happily over to the leader, gun rattling in her hands as she did, evidently pleased she had found company among the desolation. And then, she leaned onto the masked leader's shoulder and whispered: "You people are really wonderful for doing this," as though if it were simply part of a local tour conducted by volunteers. The threat of the impending infected seemed to have disappeared from this fickle scavenger's mind, her features gradually softening.

[ballerscuba]

Davey looked over to Harrison. "Look out for what?" he asked, but then he glanced in the general direction that Harrison was pointing with his eyes. He would have come up with something rich in snark to say at that moment, had the zombie been only slightly farther away. Instead, Davey instinctively bolted in the opposite direction, slung Frostbourne onto his back, and fumbled for a gun. "Fucking Goro zergling," he mumbled. "Of all the things to--" His thoughts were stopped as he finally managed to get his Skorpion out and start shooting at the thing in the distance, aiming at its head. "I could use some help here. All the zombies are either female or gay. All of them want themselves a piece of Davey." He remembered that Ichiru was still there. "Not that I can blame them. I am one hot piece, after all."

[sleix]

"Christ..." The body in the pool made Phil want to vomit, but he pulled himself together, he'd be seeing worst things in the coming days. The store looked like a fairly safe place to go right now, assuming nobody was waiting in there with gun on their hip and if they'd make it across the street without getting mutilated by shambling corpses, "What's our next move?" It would be wise to ask his more experienced partner than make decisions for himself and ultimately get killed, although he didn't like being dependent, it was for his own survival.

[arentheawesome]

Ichiru's eyes shot open at the sight of the giant thing in the back barrelling toward them, her skin crawling, shudders taking her over. She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry, and she brought up her pistol, firing three or four shots at the thing. Davey was rattling on and on to her side, and she was having a hard time focusing, gritting her teeth. This was the worst, first thing in the morning, but she had to listen to this tripe, too? She really wished he'd shut up sometimes, now being one of those. As he continued, she missed a shot, going slightly red in the face, gritting her teeth, her brows knitting.
"Fuck, would you just shut up already?!" she barked in his direction, not quite caring if she looked like a giant bitch in this moment. People had their right to like the man, but right now he was just being a distraction.
"Look, you can talk about all that fake bullshit later, I don't care if you want to role play while we're relaxing, do that all you want," She aimed again, and shot a few more times, "But, would you just fucking drop the act while we're in combat?"
Running off to the side, so the beast wouldn't round on her, she reloaded and fired a few more times, gritting her teeth yet again.
"Honestly, this isn't a fucking game here, so just stop!"

"What's happening?" Migaki spoke softly as she leaned on the wall, glancing up at Brian and the ceiling as he detailed it for her. Migaki made each face appropriate for suspense, worry, and confusion as he swore. When she asked why, he mentioned Lucy starting to walk away without another word to the two of them. There was a sudden feeling in her gut that she couldn't explain, but it was quite unpleasant. Hurt was the best description for it.
"What?" Migaki muttered quietly, gripping her side and sucking in a slow breath as she attempted to rise. Brian's hand met her shoulder and she frowned at him, resting against the wall again. She waited, and Brian cursed again.
"We need to go," the man said, reaching for her. Migaki frowned, but took hold of his arms.
"Why? Wh- you don't need to carry me, I'll be fine," the girl whimpered, what was left of her dignity slowly taking a beating.
"Just trust me." Brian insisted, "It's not safe here," and hoisted the girl up piggy-back style. Migaki let out a soft noise of distress, knowing how heavy this must be, carrying her and their things. However, with masked strain, Brian started running after Lucy, an eye on the approaching horde. When Migaki spotted it, and noticed the group walking away, Lucy included, the girl started to panic, whimpering under her breath.
"Wh-what is she doing?" Migaki winced, and continued, "I... L-Lucy!!"

[Rygand]

J.P heard the people shouting, but the words didn't reach him. All he heard was white noise due to the adrenaline pumping heavily through his veins, brought on by the heat of the battle. As his eyes fell on the new type of creature, he didn't even look surprised or phased. It seemed they were encountering new kinds of monsters every day, after all. His legs were responding. The times of freezing in fear whenever a threat would arise were far behind him. He watched as the monster began to make a bee line for Davey, and acted immediately.

The boy dropped his heavy satchel to the ground, and began to sprint towards the bank as fast as he could. He was hoping to collide with the beast, taking it by surprise from its flank. He only hoped Davey was fast enough to out-run the damned thing. Hoisting Zombiebane up mid-run, he already knew what the would do upon reaching the beast. Getting a good shot on something running so fast would be difficult, so grounding it would be a good bet.

Thanks to his quick legs, J.P was able to intercept the creature before it caught Davey, if just barely. Immediately upon entering a viable range, the boy swung Zombiebane for the monster's head, hoping to hit it before it noticed him. The boy missed his target just barely, the nails of the gruesome bat digging into its malformed shoulder instead. Despite not hitting his target spot on, the boy saw this as a successful blow. Immediately upon the hit making contact, using the momentum from his sprint, the boy jumped off his feet, and dived to the ground, all the while holding onto the bat as tight as he could, a ferocious roar emanating from the boy's throat.

Like the boy himself, the monster's feet came off the ground. Only noticing J.P once the attack had been dealt, the undead creature gave a shrill scream, throwing a fearsome slash towards the boy's side as they both hit the ground with a hard thump. Tearing through J.P's shirt, its claw made a nasty cut on his side, blood beginning to flow from it. Despite the dull pain at his side, the boy quickly climbed onto his feet, more prepared for the situation than the monster that was left scrambling on the ground, he proceeded to let go of Zombiebane, and then ran away from the zombie, quickly digging out his revolver, and opening fire on the now grounded beast.

"Now! Shoot it now! Quickly, before it gets up again!"

[lukuz13]

July 7th, 2022 Thursday. Huntington, West Virginia

-Roy didn't answer Lewis at first, and as Lewis drew further into the building, he found sitting in the corner of a backroom with his wife and son. He glanced up at his announcement, as if he hadn't fully heard him, but stood along with Melissa and Eric, the latter of which was gripping his arm still, well bandaged as it was.
"What happened?" Melissa asked this time. "Did...you kill them all?" She stuttered, dismay for the image it gave her. "Their friend...I mean they wanted revenge didn't they? There were a lot of gunshots." She tried to clearify, her tone was a bit raspy, as if she had been smoking, though there laid no evidence of such a thing in this room. Roy remained silent, but was ushering his family out to follow Lewis, himself right behind, not feeling up to talking.

-As Phil and his partner deliberated on what to do next, the sound of groans came from the street they escaped from. A small gathering, no more then twenty individuals were shambling their way across the street in the random odd direction. Mostly aimless for now, it'd be wise to make a move quickly-before the beasts caught their scent. God forbid if they could smell sweat too...

-The small girl riding on Brian's back was enough to get the attention of the military folk, their brisk jog not having gotten them far in the time it took Brian to gather his things and chase them. As heavy as all of it was, he was managing somehow, panting roughly, but determined not to let it show or get to him. He simply hoped the girl on his back wasn't hurting too much from the ride. The leader woman twisted around as they approached and drew weapons, along with six other rifles.
"Hold it! Who the hell are you?" She spat at the strangers, Brian, panting from his run, finally managing to catch up a little further and wheezed out.
"We are with her!" He pushed out an accusing finger at Lucy, not having enough breath to show how angry he was for what he suspected he saw. The military woman rose a brow of confusion, and gave Lucy a discerning glance.
"You said you were alone, didn't you? What's with the extra baggage?" She said somewhat harshly, as a subtle groan alerted them all, earning a curse from the woman. "God damn it, I don't have time for this." She cursed, taking a few steps back to make so Lucy and Brian were within sweeping range. "What's your story, tell me the truth, or get lost. I'm not in any mood to be bullshitted today." She said, her brow furrowing in annoyance. Her tone suggested she was indeed angry, but her rifle hardly felt as deadly as one should. Perhaps her humanity hadn't left her as it had so many. Letting Migaki speak her case, Brian followed softly after having a chance to catch his breath.
"I told you...we are with Lucy." He panted more softly, pointing to her. "She wanted to see if you all were friendly, and was suppose to tell us when it was safe!" He said in a hefty tone, giving the woman an angry glance that demanded answers.

-As the barreling creature rushed towards the entrance of the bank after Davey, the flurry of pellets unleashed from the man's gun didn't seem to phase it beyond a few staggers, emptying half of Davey's magazine. However as the creature picked up speed, J.P blindsided it from no where, and wrung the creature to the ground with a mighty pull. The proximity was dangerous to say the least, as it fell and tore at the man's midsection, it was already scrambling to stand yet again. However, in it's state, shooting it was far easier then before. J.P unleashed 3 shots into the creature's distended skull, earning an angry growl as it clawed at the doorway and began to stand again, while Davey emptied the remainder of their own clip into it. Harrison gave the beast a couple of wicked shots from his shotgun. With it's chest blown open and unable to stand, Ichiru's finally two shots on top of her previous four splattered the thing's brain across the welcome mat, blotting out enough words to resemble 'Wel***e'. Harrison gave a low soft whistle as the thing stopped moving all together, and reloaded his rifle, ignoring the outburst from the woman behind him just long enough to make sure J.P was unharmed, poking his head out the window, and asking if he was alright, giving the zombie a hard kick to make sure it was dead.
"Relax, I think we're safe for now." Harrison sighed, hoping to relax the others. While it was true the zombies had stopped coming, the distant sound of gunfire hit them all. Someone down the street was also shooting zombies, oddly enough.

-Mason looked to the clattering doors of the 'safe house' he once called home. He had really fucked up this time...taken one too many trips into the infected territory to get supplies and now they had found him. He glanced to his glock and the meager supplies he had managed and couldn't help but feel that it wasn't worth it. The sounds of gunfire had caught his attention but there was no time for that-he had over a dozen dead heads staring him down and breaking through his own barricade. It was now, or never.

[Rygand]

Only after Harrison had made sure the creature was dead, did the boy show the slightest sign of relaxing. His breathing was heavy and ragged, his own heartbeat the only thing reaching his ears. As the adrenaline slowly wore off, the numb pain from his side began to rise. Gritting his teeth, the boy carefully touched the wound with his hand, then inspecting his bloodied fingertips with a pained grimace.

He looked to Harrison, giving a dismissive wave of his hand, a weak smile on his lips. He walked over to his satchel, and dug into it searchingly. Eventually giving a defeated sigh, he looked over to Harrison again, looking somewhat apologetic.

"Ehh, seems I don't have any medical supplies. Could you patch me up? Seems that thing managed to give me a little scratch when I pulled it down." The boy gave a weak chuckle, while pointing to the still open wound. Having heard the gunshots, he looked to their general direction, a worried look in his eyes. "And... What do you guys think we should do about that? Sounds like other survivors... Shouldn't we check it out?"

[lukuz13]

July 7th, 2022 Thursday. Huntington, West Virginia

-Harrison kept an eye on J.P to ensure he wasn't 'too' hurt before he spoke to Davey and Ichiru that way. However, when he asked for aid, he gave a nod and hurried outside, pulling open the shirt to spot how deep the wound was.
"Hm...it's a nasty cut, but didn't hit anything vital." He murmured as he went to search in his backpack. "Unless you wanted to be a swim suit model sometime soon, at least." He muttered with a small laugh, bringing an alcohol soaked pad and immediately bringing a deep burn to J.P's side, holding it in place as he prepared the bandage. As he patched the boy up, he turned his head in regards to the gunshots. "It's along the way, so we may as well try...should hurry though. Sounds like they're having a bit of trouble...which is the last thing we need to find us again."

[kain17335]

There's never a 'good' way to pass by infected, Alex new that, there were dangerous less dangerous ways but non were perfect. His extensive knowledge on WWI and WWII militaristic maneuvers wouldn't help in any case, most accounted for sound and sight not smell which was the main way that any infected would track their meal.
In any case, the two still needed to find their way across the dotted sea of undead before them, hallowed ground would be no use to the two, churches would likely be filled with infected survivors feeling to the wings of their god like a flock of lambs, thinking that their god will be their salvation, only to find a deathless end to their lives.
Alex walked forward, turning his head to Philip to place his finger against it, running straight past them would attract too much attention, however walking too slowly would likely attract more.
He walked to the fence, keeping as low as he could, as if it would actually help. Looking towards the sports shop he made out two infected in between the mesh of cars that covered the roads seemingly wherever he went. Though Alex knew than there could be some that had no been so lucky to keep their legs.
The two that he had seen both seemed rather old, decomposed to a point where he could see the bones of their arms, their skin long been shed like a snakes. One looked like he used to be a traffic warden, his whole body leaning to the side like a tree that had not been corrected, the dark blue cap still rested on his head, a symbol of old authority that it could no longer command.
On the other side of the street however, Alex could see three infected around the sports shop, banging every part of their bodies against the double glazing and the busted door, not as good as Alex's previous store that he made his home. The busted down door made sure that it would be harder to defend. That would be something that Alex would have to sort out when he got there, planning that far ahead doesn't account for problems along the way. Alex's plans rarely went well anyway.
Alex slowly placed his ear to the ground, his eyes now being able to see underneath some of the cars, though he could see nothing but a pair of feet dancing around in its enclosure, from how it looked the infected was trapped inside a group of three cars that had crashed together. Though Alex wouldn't count on it staying there once it caught his scent.

[oppobrium]

Lucy eyes and ears caught the arrival earlier than the the military folk did; surprise whittled at her mask, and a vein throbbed briefly. Crap. There goes any attempt at deception. Upon their arrival, she traced the movement of the finger, stabbing in her direction. Eyes dark. Migaki seemed far removed from the moment even as she clambered down and unsteadily centered herself - but the ghost of emotion on her face was of similar disappointment. Dejection. I'm about to lose it again.

Admonishment followed from the captain, voice embodied in irritation, didn't make a mark. Instead, the mechanic felt only confined, misunderstood - couldn't they see her intent without storming in and ruining it all? Idiots! She whirled around and glared at the Captain, settling back into her own self, "Believe what you want to - you probably will anyway. Run along." A hand fixed on her side, she glanced at Brian side-onwards, feeling as though a spotlight had decided to divert from the main act and focus on the vapid-mouthed stage extra for no reason. And here she was, umm-ing and aah-ing and messing up her role.

"As for you..." she muttered, failing to meet his eyes. "I'm still trying to find that out - initial actions alone won't tell me if we're safe with them, or are you really that naive? This lovely world of ours is home to many sorts." When finished, she found her heart beating heavily in her ears. Her gaze turned bleak, outrage dissipating as a stray object in the distance stole her attention.