On Death's Doorstep

[eyeofharmony]

The mechanic nodded softly in approval, although she itched to unravel his pack to simply make sure - the idea of her belongings being with someone else didn't sit well with her. "Well, thank you," she muttered quietly, eyes returning to the road ahead.

And as they drove ever onwards, Lucy settled into a rhythmic stride, imitating the soldiers' ideal to amuse herself as they crawled across the city ruins at what felt like the pace of a retarded snail. She had to admit, while their newfound escort lacked decorum, they made up for it in their experience-acquired ease of movement. She could see their actions were considered, practised; there was no room left for mistakes in this craggy environment, and so gun sights shifted when rounding corners, triggers were never far-away, and noses were keen. It was thoroughly unsettling to see so much put into their actions. So she had no qualms when the inevitable question arrived, simply answering: "Luck."

[ballerscuba]

Davey looked off into the distance to see the man in the red lab coat. He adjusted his helmet and made his way to the front of the group. "Oh great," he thought as he nudged Harrison out of the way, "an Ensign. Just what we need. I wonder how long this red shirt will last."

He stopped a couple of steps in front of the group and put his hands on his hips. "Greetings, fellow apocalypse survivor. I am the one they call Davey. I am the consensus representative of the group. We come in peace. We're an odd conglomeration. We got a soldier, a viking, and a pokemon. We're a friendly sort, but you turn on any of my crew, you turn on me. If that's a concept you can't wrap around your head, you got no place here. Shiny?"

"So, Carmen Sandiego, now that I have found out where in the world you are, do you think it would be better to join our small band of bad guys or would you rather stay on this beach alone after your long life? I can't say whether or not Riku, Sora, or Cherenkov, for that matter, would ever join you in your lonesome path through Capital Wasteland, though. This may be your last chance to find out what the Umbrella Corporation has done to Raccoon City. So, what say you?"

[thatfallout3guy]

Lewis shut the back door of the van, opening the window to allow him to rest the barrel of the .22 rifle, the other weapons laying beside him in case the need to use one arose.

Jake cranked the ignition, hearing the purr of the engine gave them each a bit of relief. The engine cranking was almost instantly followed by the sound of a CD loading, and within moments, the familiar gong of a bell signaled the classic AC/DC song, Hell's Bells.

"Hell yeah!" Lewis and Jake both exclaimed in unison. They quickly turned to face each other, their eyes locking with brotherly intensity, as if the two mere words had bonded them forever. They both nodded in unison as they turned to face their respective enemies. For Lewis, it was the oncoming horde, for Jake, it was the oh so unpredictable roads of the Hunnington Ruins.

Jake mashed the pedal down, and blasted off towards the Secronom building, while Lewis kept any unwanted undead off their van.

[kain17335]

With Philip on his way to dispatch one of the obstacles in their way, Alex took it upon himself to try his hand at the other infected. Though he was a little less lucky with the kill, as the scantly clad infected thought it a good idea to turn around while Alex was creeping up behind it. It'd reached out, trying to bite Alex on his gun arm, its long bony fingers wrapping themselves like tentacles around his shoulder. Only for its meal to be denied by Alex's hatchet to impact with its cranium, though Alex would have liked it to have been more silent. The infected's blood choked growl mere inches away from Alex's ears.

The lanky beast fell to the ground, the hatchet lodged in its skull before being pulled away by Alex's hand. The German looked around, thankfully there didn't seem to be any other infected in the vicinity that were effected by it, not even the ones pounding their semi-decomposed hands against the windows. Alex wondered, what could be in there that would garner such attention to the Sports shop.

[bloodsrain]

Mason slowly looked at the man in front of him named "Davey" as if he was talking to someone who might have just lost there mind, what the hell was this guy talking about? Whatever, it didn't really matter, he needed help, and these lunatics were offering it, at least for a while he could stand with these people, maybe they could even help him out.

"Uh, hello, my name is Mason, how are you today on this fine evening?" he asked, cracking a joke seemed like a good way to break the ice, he didn't interact with others, he still didn't like the attention all these people were bringing, even thinking that they might have lead some of the infected into his living room, but not to jump to conclusions.

"I guess we could partner for now..." he said not shaking his hand, didn't want to get sick from them, who knew what they had been carrying from being out here for so long, better not to risk it. "Are any of you infected? Bitten? Scratched? Anything?" he spoke, making sure that he wasn't joining a group full of people who were about to become infected, he had seen enough of that.

[sleix]

Phil looked around for other infected before making his way back to Alex, "We should make our way to the sports shop" Whatever was in the shop, it looked like a treat for the infected, more survivors maybe? Corpses? To find out whatever was in there they'd first have to deal with the cluster flailing their arms at the window, and the other few infected loitering in the car park with blank looks on their faces. Phil started towards the zombie on the, he figured it was best to sweep around to the sports shop, instead of heading to it directly. It looked as if it was trying to open the car door with it's arm, inside lay what looked like a family of four that took the easy way out before the zombies reached them, Phil didn't linger on the thought and redirected his attention to the infected, it was wearing a bloodied shirt and tie and fairly plain looking black trousers, it seemed the fellow was working in an office at the time of the outbreak. Phil once again repeated the process of the sneak kill and rolled it's now deceased corpse under the car, as he made his way round the car park, he found himself back outside the sports shop behind a car, Alex was directly opposite him.

[arentheawesome]

Ichiru smacked Davey in the arm at the comment of who he was 'toting' around. She regarded this new person with hard eyes, folding her arms. He was a little stuck up, Ichiru could feel it. Taking a step in front of Davey, the woman regarded the new man coldly, lip curled just a little.
"Look, we don't need to help you at all. In fact, it'd be beneficial for us if we didn't. Don't act like we're a resource to take for-granted." she barked, one hand on her gun's grip. "We have the majority here, so I'm pretty sure we should be asking you whether you're infected or not. Taking you in could very well make us fall apart, and I'm pretty sure we don't want to risk what we have going on here. So please, try and understand your situation and re-evaluate your attitude."
This really wasn't what they needed right now. They lost the military chick from before, and now they most likely had enough food for their group, but taking in another straggler wouldn't do anything for them. Especially if this one wasn't even going to be grateful about it.

"I... Started out with my sister," Migaki began, leaning on Brian's back reluctantly. There was hurt in her voice when she said that, but she swallowed it back. "We met Brian and Lucy and a few others... But we got separated. She joined a military man and some guy with a nerdy mask. I stayed with Lucy and Brian, and we escaped in a motorcycle. That got broken though." She rested her cheek on the side of Brian's neck, a silent 'thank you' for the things he had done for her as she remembered them.
"There were a few other things that happened, but they're not really important. Now we're here..." Migaki murmured, her lids sliding halfway closed.

[ThatOneGuysBro]

Reality slowly seeped into John's consciousness- the reality he knew. The near-lucid memories of what once was also ebbed as shafts of sunlight smote down through tattered clouds. For a short time his body still felt heavy... beastly. With some effort the managed to turn himself over on his back as his ragged breathing mitigated into his usual tired composure.

Then, as if on a delayed instance of raw instinct, he shot up reaching for his gun only to find the area around him was indeed bereft of inhabitants, dead and alive alike. Pale and soaked he finally withdrew his caution as a mild pain lingered with a cough. With the faint wisps of smoke in the air he noticed a pillar of it ebbing in the wind just beyond a few buildings. Gathering his things, more or less composed now, John made his way back to camp. He wondered why Wraith would leave him to die in the street. With a few paces he realized the smoke cloud was coming from the direction of the camp.

His staggering stride quickened as the smell of something foul burning grew more potent. As he turned the final corner disbelief numbed him. The camp was in utter ruin, the makeshift fence uprooted and torn, tents and shanties destroyed- and more than that... countless bodies stacked on one another littering the camp grounds and all around it. The camp appeared to face an onslaught while John was out cold. With unbatten eyes the initial shock did not dissipate as he weakly cocked the gun he held tightly to his side.

He wandered, meandering through the rubble and through the dead- a grotesque site. Soon he came to a large bonfire, the source of the reeking stench. Nausea took hold of his senses as the smell of death was so strongly prevalent. Dizziness began to wear away at him and from the stench, he was unaware, his nose began to bleed. By now he was used to this sort of smell. Anyone who's lived up to this point would be accustomed to it, but the intensity of it was as harsh as when he was first introduced to it. Then, something big caught his eyes.

A massive hulking creature laid past the threshold of death. The number of silver bullets that were embedded in its body were innumerable and a few chunks of its head appeared to have been blown off. More surprising was the lone figure that sat upon the carcass of the beast. A quiet looking man was polishing a gun methodically while staring at the horizon ahead. John recognized that man... to a point. He never knew his name as such a thing was not warranted by Wraith's code. Names were something those with bonds would share with one another. Something that had no value otherwise in a world now ruled by savagery.

As John stepped close the man's ears seemed to flicker as he turned around with a cocked weapon. Drawing his own gun in retaliation he found his own draw speed sluggish in comparison, frozen mid draw with a loaded barrel pointed his way.

[bloodsrain]

He stared at the two speakers, everyone in this place seemed to be having troubles and losing people, same with him, but better not to speak on bad times. He didn't trust this group, and they didn't trust him, this wasn't going to turn out to be a good exchange if he couldn't defuse the situation at hands, so much hesitation and reprehension in the air.
"Look, I know you don't trust me, and I don't very much trust the group of you, but there is no reason to be hostile to others, I'm taking the appropriate measures to survive without turning into a walking zombie, being hostile to each other and to a man you just met isn't going to solve anything friend. I'm sorry that you both suffered some losses, but that still does not give you a proper reason for acting that way." he said, he didn't know how they would react to that, everyone seemed on tense shoulders and he didn't know how to handle this group, he needed them, now that his house was gone, they could even be beneficial, but better to start slow.

He finished and turned his head to look at the fire escape he just got out of, the infected seemed to be trying to get out the window but were stuck, if they kept being here then that might be a problem, but he didn't know how long that would be. "It would be best to get move, where are you all heading right now?"

[lukuz13]

July 7th, 2022 Thursday. Huntington, West Virginia

-The decorated woman in front of them all continued their firm march, as she listened in on Migaki's tale, nodding occasionally (though it was hard to tell looking at the back of her head.) Brian grunted as softly as he was able under the girl's weight, but otherwise didn't seem bothered by it, giving her a sort of backwards hug against her legs to assure her he had her.
"So there are others huh..." She muttered interested "You're the lucky few then, you know." She muttered in a somber tone. "I was FBI before all this. Mom was born here, actually." She said with a hint of fondness. She appeared rather young herself. "Part of the riot police." She went on. "Whole city went crazy after some sort of media outcry. Nothing too out of the ordinary...but...it got violent real fast." She continued to explain, glancing to a watch on her wrist occasionally, interrupted by the gunshot of her squad who cleared the road ahead when needed. "Whatever it was, those people...they forced their way inside this huge medical building, looked almost like a hospital. What happened after was...crazy." She sighed, turning a corner suddenly, and waiting for another bout of gunfire to die down. "All I remember is seeing people get ripped apart by other people. They...had this look in their eye that looked almost like a mad dog." She went quiet, before following suddenly with. "Point being...you were lucky. Be thankful you still have your lives. That's all anyone has anymore." She said in a soft grim tone.

After a short moment of silence, she continued. "We'll be there soon. You're all clean, aren't ya? No bites?"

-Harrison didn't really know what to think of the stranger. He didn't mind letting Davey and Ichiru speak their minds first, though he did pause Ichiru when she took such a hostile attitude, raising an arm about mid height against her chest without actually touching her.
"Easy now." He assured them both. "We have a few nicks and scratches, sure, but I've seen it myself, you don't turn long as you take care of the wound good." He furrowed a brow. "What about yourself? If we're so kind as to tell you, you can do the same for us, can't ya?" He offered curiously.
The mention of a destination did side track him, however. "We're headed to find out what the hell happened to this city." He explained. "Zombies don't just get up and walk around on their own, you know."

-Lewis and company quickly raced down the road, swerving through 'traffic' as they followed the instructions their friends left for them. The zombies, while numerous, were quite slow, and the few who sped ahead of the pack met the bullet of the truck's gunmen. It would be a few minutes before they got all the way down there, it seemed.

-As Alex and Phil made their way slowly back behind the Sports Store, they noticed that in the back was a fire door, and a set of windows. Inside appeared rather dark despite the sun that was raising higher in the sky by the hour, as the dull beating of infected fists echoed vaguely in the hollow store.

-The man did not hesitate when he saw something, anything, standing on two legs in front of him. A gunshot rang out and for a moment, John was certain he was dead. As the ring slowly dispersed, however, it became clear this wasn't the case. Looking down would reveal a smoking crater where the man's pistol, a rather high caliber at that, had planted a bullet between John's legs in the scorched concrete.
A long silence filled the time that followed, resembling an old western stand-off, where one of the two men were meant to fall over dead.
Instead, the man spoke.
"Oh." He said, sounding nearly disappointed, pulling his pistol back and starting his rhythm of polishing yet again. "Sorry, thought you were dead."
A short silence followed, before he corrected. "Undead."

His gaze had shifted now, obviously not even regarding John as a threat, barely a presence at all, as he turned to face the dull flame which belched out more and more noxious smoke. "They burn just as good." He stated simply, resembling a caveman response, if he didn't say it in such a tongue that John mistook it for an utter fact. Examining the pistol more closely, he glanced back up, as if to make sure John was still here. It was likely he was just talking to himself for a while there.
Reaching into one of the dead men's pockets, the stranger slowly plucked a clip of pistol ammo out. Slowly, he placed it on the abdomen of the hulking creature that served as his stool.
"Here." He said simply. "Don't need it. You do."
If John checked he would find that, both, his pistol did indeed fit the ammo, and he was low on this particular clip.

[ThatOneGuysBro]

With the clang of a bullet lodged in cement and the echoing growl of a hot chamber John's entire body became taut with fear. With legs paralyzed from anticipation his head stooped to stare at the smoking ground before him. Not daring to make any movement he stared down until the shooter spoke.

Relieved that for now he had been spared his chest inflated heavily with somewhat trembling gasps. Before he regained a composure to speak the man spoke again, drawing John's attention to the large bonfire. It took John a moment to piece it together; the infected bodies scattered about but no human corpses, the chest-crushing stench and only one visible survivor. The large beast the strange man sat upon was proof enough of how things ended.

"Dead?", John spoke almost to himself.
Blood trickled over his lip before he wiped the back of his hand over his mouth and nose, a red streak now smeared. The realization that the bodies that were being burned were of the once-living, not the dead, struck him. He finally spoke aloud.

"Where's Wraith gone? Moved out already?"
The man stopped polishing for a moment but did not speak in return. John was in disbelief that Wraith could have died, that he was capable of dying. Caught in his own concerns, unaware that the man had glanced over, John looked on drearily as he was addressed. The pack around his shoulders was light and he was sure all the ammunition he had remaining was already loaded, only three or four shots at his disposal. He took them without verbal questioning but was wary as to why he'd relinquish something so valuable like charity. 'Two trigger fingers are better than one, I guess.' He was grateful nonetheless.

For the time being he stashed the ammunition in his pack and looked again at his surroundings before aloofly asking "So where're you headed?", as if things had already been decided. He coughed.

[lukuz13]

July 7th, 2022 Thursday. Huntington, West Virginia

-The stranger, whomever he was, seemed to acknowledge John's presence now, though only to the bare minimum. He seemed distant and, nearly, bored as he watched the flames lick over the dead, methodically reloading the single shot he 'wasted' all the while keeping the barrel shined to a mirror sheen. The mention of Wraith didn't seem to register at first, though it was clear he had heard the man. It took a moment before he said anything, perhaps he was thinking?
"Don't know." He muttered half interested. "Lots dead, some ran, some died." He shrugged. "I didn't run." He shrugged again, and by his own logic, he should be dead. Yet here he sat. Slowly, he put the pistol down, as if he had finally satisfied his need to polish the thing...only to pull a slightly larger weapon, an assault rifle of some sort, into his lap as he started to clean the blood and bone bits from it. Yet another project.

He glanced over to John, slowly, when he asked that, as if he were confused, if such an expression was possible on his face.
"Don't know." He repeated "Leave, probably. Place is dead." He gestured to the camp which had indeed been trashed by some powerful force. It was likely he meant the entire area, however. "You can come too, I guess." He said as if he were forced to drag him along in some way, glancing back to his weapon.

[ThatOneGuysBro]

John figured the man's equivocal response in regards to Wraith's whereabouts was the best answer he'd gleam and that it probably was for the best he never found out.

"Yeah, we ought to leave now then, I guess." He lingered. "It's weird. I think I might miss the place. Even though I hated it. Hated everyone in it. But for the week I've been here I learned how to shoot." He raised his arm with his pistol poised to the horizon. "How to kill. How to survive... I guess they're both the same thing by now- killing and surviving. I guess I'm lucky Wraith found me." Silence reigned for a time before the man seemed to finish shining his cache of weaponry.

"Never seen you talk so much.", he finally responded.
"Sorry, I don't usually talk so much." A pang of embarrassment quieted John for some time.

Unable to scrounge anything of use other then the ammunition that was given him John set his pack and looked for the least infested area the two should head for. But the town around them was dead. No moving things could be seen for miles, or as far as they could see at least. As he stared into the city his new companion tread ahead.

"Coming?"

[bloodsrain]

"It's best to leave these things alone friends, the path to the Secronom building isn't an easy one, it's infested, but if you want to find out, that's the place to go, but you will die. It was a good thing I took the day off when it started or I would be just like everyone else in that building." Mason said to the man's question, he didn't know anyone's name here but Davey, that's a good start at least. "and to the question if I am infected, why would I ask if I was? No reason to infect others right?" he said moving a bit closer to them, he felt like some trust was established, "So, what are all your names?" he asked.

[lukuz13]

July 7th, 2022 Thursday. Huntington, West Virginia

-The stranger simply looked up at John when he explained he usually didn't talk much. This point seemed to please him, however vaguely, before he went silent again. He only spoke up when John asked that.
"Almost." He said, as if John had asked an actual question. He continued to sit there for at least another five minutes or more, before he seemed satisfied with his 'work'. When he was finally done, he stood, slinging the heavier weaponry over his back. He was surprisingly well armed. It was possible he took every decent weapon the camp had to offer. Still, he kept the pistol handy, vaguely stroking the barrel with his thumb and forefinger.
"Coming." He finally answered, before following behind the man and, if given the opportunity, started to lead the way. Whether he knew where he was going or not was unclear, but he rarely hesitated in choosing a direction. The two had walked for quite a while before he knew it, almost in pure silence, were it not for the odd groan over the horizon.

-Raising a brow at Mason's reply, Harrison crossed his arms defiantly.
"Hold the phone...you telling me you were one of the scientist guys that worked on the damn thing?" He demanded. "That's pretty bold, stranger. You tell the wrong people that, they might shoot you on the spot..." He said cautiously. There was no threat in his tone, however, not from him anyway.