|
Post by NotAvailable on Mar 21, 2011 15:37:48 GMT -5
When Lily had finished up her work on his wound, Adam sighed with relief and placed his hand on the tightly wound bandage. He sighed and smiled faintly at the woman, nodding a bit. "Thank you. I appreciate all of your help, not many people left in Still Creek are very nice..." he mused as he adjusted himself more comfortably in the back seat.
When Lily asked about the girl, he cocked his head a bit and felt a sting of sadness welm up inside of him. He couldn't even believe it. He never asked the kid her name, he only promised her he'd bring her teddt bear back nothing more. She was sad and sickly, not to mention she was almost like him. That's all he knew.
"Er, well, uh..." he stammered, slightly embarassed. He suddenly rubbed the back of his neck with his good arm and averted his eyes from Lily momentarily. "This is gonna sound crazy but I don't know her name. I just know what she looks like. She was wearing like, bright colors, she had light brown hair and green eyes. She had to be, maybe, seven years old and on her own?" he told her.
It was rather hard to believe. She was a kid and she was still among the living on her own with not even the faintest scratch on her.
|
|
|
Post by Rhinn on Mar 21, 2011 17:06:44 GMT -5
Lilly still held the gun. Adam's description of the little girl ruled out Anna. She was in her teen years so unless he just didn't know what a 7 year old was supposed to look like, it wasn't her... but the other girl...
With a heavy voice, she knew she had to ask the question that she didn't really want to know the answer to. Looking back across the blocked bridge, she saw the smouldering heaps of the cars that she had set on fire just a day earlier. If it had been that girl...
"So, what do you want to do? Do you think that she is in Still Creek, or that she has headed on to Vegas?"
There is was... which way were they going to go? Toward safety in Vegas or back into the danger that was Still Creek.
|
|
|
Post by NotAvailable on Mar 21, 2011 17:25:17 GMT -5
Adam grunted a little, trying to figure out what to do now. He been all around Still Creek, wasn't hard to do since it was a small town outside of Vegas. Maybe someone had taken the kid into safety of Vegas. It was under control there afterall, clean, right? Then again there were a few men there that wanted to get ahold of him. The men that shot him were heading into Vegas and with his stuff too.
"Uh...well..I've went through all of Still Creek and I can't find her. I was figuring that maybe someone found her and took her into Vegas or she may have wandered there herself. She seemed capable of it, I'm assuming atleast."
|
|
|
Post by Rhinn on Mar 21, 2011 18:20:17 GMT -5
Lilly could hear the uncertainty in Adam's voice. It was the same uncertainty that she felt. Most likely the little girl was either dead or undead. There was very little chance that she was still alive.
Still... Lilly had seen miracles happen before and maybe someone was nice enough to pick her up and take her to safety... if not, then there was nothing that she could do about it.
"Well, then, let's head into Vegas then. We can get your shoulder looked at and I can check in with the local precinct about the girl."
Lilly looked down at the gun in her hands. It as a Colt 1911... more powerful than her Ruger P95, but it didn't carry the same amount of ammo.
"Do you have any more weapons on you? Should I trust you enough to give it back?"
She eyed Adam appraisingly, trying to decide what to do. Should she trust him?
|
|
|
Post by NotAvailable on Mar 21, 2011 20:45:50 GMT -5
When she wondered whether or not she could trust him with his own gun, Adam immediately smiled faintly and shook his head, putting the pal of his hand on the gun and pushing it away.
"You can hold onto it when you trust me. I can always just let you take care of the undead or I can use something I find somewhere. I mean, I've got a switchblade in my back pocket, unless...you want that too," he said.
He owed her one for helping him and as far as he was concerned, she could be trusted and he would allow her to take the time to trust him in return. For now, he'd just try to survive in another way. Afterall, it was understandable for her to be untrusting of him. He'd be the same with himself too.
|
|
|
Post by Rhinn on Mar 22, 2011 10:37:14 GMT -5
Lilly thought for a second and then popped the magazine out of the Colt. She slid back the chamber and the cartridge that was chambered popped out as well. She caught it in the air and then handed the magazine to Adam.
"You can keep the bullets." She had almost kept them as well, but she knew that she had to trust people to a certain extent. If not, then she would get to a point that paranioa ruled her life and she would just wait to die. Plus, there was no guarantee that he didn't have a backup weapon. This at least showed Adam that she was trustworthy.
Lilly stepped beside her door and looked around. The undead still milled around, and while they seemed to be interested in her and Adam, they couldn't get past the blocked off bridge. Still, no reason to wait around to see how determined they were.
"You can ride in the front, if you wish, but if you want to ride in the back then that is okay."
Having said that, Lilly slid in behind the wheel and shut the door. She locked her AR-15 into its holding clamp and then fastened the seatbelt. Turning the ignition, the Crown Vic roared to life. Lilly was glad to see that the gas gauge hadn't dropped anymore. Her repairs were holding.
|
|
|
Post by NotAvailable on Mar 22, 2011 14:33:16 GMT -5
Adam took the ammunition back and pocketed it for later. He sighed and placed both hands on his knees when she told him he could sit in the front if he wanted to. He rather sit in the back, perhaps lay down and sleep for a bit, but that would be uncomfortable for her, so he'd just move to the front and maybe lean back in his chair there.
"Alright, excuse me," he said to her, moving out of the backseat and passed her. He moved around to the passenger's side before glancing at some of the eager undead that groaned and shuffled up against the blackade.
Shaking his head, he got into the passenger's side and tilted the seat back a bit he'd be comfortable with his shoulder. When Lily got in, he frowned.
"I'd offer to drive but uh, well," he began, scratching the back of his head. "I don't know how to," he told her.
He spent most of his life locked away afterall. Before that, his parents were terrible, abusive f**ks, so he just never got the chance to learn how to drive. It would definitely have come in handy, especially now a days...
|
|
|
Post by Rhinn on Mar 23, 2011 17:28:15 GMT -5
"Uh huh", said Lilly absentmindely. Her attention was focused more on not damaging their ride on burned out hulks and debris in the roadway. As they cleared the end of the Quarantine Zone, she picked up speed, descending the road out of Still Creek, his comment suddenly made sense. He didn't know how to drive?!? What male over the age of 13 doesn't know how to drive?
She suddenly realized that this guy probably had more baggage he was carrying out in his head than he was on his persons.
"Well, if time permits, we'll just steal you a car and teach you." She was half joking of course... but the idea did have some merit. With the Apocalypse in full swing, there were more than a handful of cars that had been abandoned. It was now common practice that if you found a car with the keys in it and noone claimed it on 3 months, it was yours. Only in the civilized areas did previous ownership mean anything.
As they turned onto the highway leading to Vegas, Lilly could see more zombies milling around, but they were not in high concentrations.
"So where to first, a gun store, the police station, or the hospital?"
|
|
|
Post by NotAvailable on Mar 26, 2011 3:24:08 GMT -5
Adam had been scoping out the undead, he could have sworn he'd seen three of them lurching over a body, more than likely eating an unfortunate survivor... He'd cringed and before he could let his mind wander about the situation further, Lily had interrupted his train of thoughts.
A gun store would be nice, though he knew the possibilities of finding anything useful left over was very miniscule. That and he couldn't even weild a gun right now, so it wasn't as important to him. The hospital was unnecessary now, the pain wasn't so bad and he could move his arm, it was sterile and stitched, he was fine. Now the police station...
"We can detour to the police station, they might have a weaponry or maybe even a couple of lockers. Some clean clothes would help too. Mine have about had it, especially now that it's getting colder out," he explained.
|
|
|
Post by Rhinn on Mar 30, 2011 14:37:27 GMT -5
"Police Station it is", said Lilly as she put the cruiser on the dirt road leading out of town. In the rear view mirror, the small, yet dangerous and strange town of Still Creek was disappearing around the bend. It would be good to get out of here and back to civilization... even if it was the type that was mostly run by the mob.
Lilly knew that they had to be careful there. While the zombies had not entered the town, dangers were lurking everywhere. Cops, though seen as protectors against the undead, were often found missing if they stuck their noses in where they weren't wanted. Worse was when you found them roaming the wilderness as the undead.
"We should be able to get there in about an hour. Until that time, try to rest. We'll get you more clothes and someone look at the arm and see if they have any more meds."
"When's the last time you were in Vegas?"
[Lilly and Adam leaving Still Creek, bound for Vegas Police Station]
|
|
|
Post by Rhinn on Aug 1, 2011 16:39:48 GMT -5
[glow=green,2,300][Dalton enters Quarantine Area][/glow]
Dalton slowly makes his way into the city, the window down so that he can feel and smell the fresh air. His slow going wasn’t due to sneaking around the undead… it was more that he didn’t want to damage his vehicle. Still Creek was a small town… almost a village, just outside of Vegas. Dalton would have by passed it altogether except that he needed gas. While most placed that he came to were dry to the bone, he thought that maybe an out of the way town might still have some.
At least enough to get to Vegas, he thought.
The other reason was that he needed food, badly. He already had a dizzy feeling and a headache was coming on. It was one of the telltale signs that the virus was about to start attacking his body. As he approached the town, he came to a stop. He must be in some sort of Quarantined Area. Military and medical vehicles were everywhere, although, most were wrecked or ransacked. Up ahead it looked like they had tried to barricade the bridge, leading out of the town. It created a chokepoint but the undead had somehow gotten around it.
Dalton put his truck in park and turned it off, killing the lights. He stepped out and slowly pulled out his Jericho and holstered it. Then he grabbed his machete and slid it into its sheath at his belt. He shut the door and locked it. Then he went to the back and opened it up. Inside, most of he weapons were lined up in a rack. He grabbed the extra magazines for his Jericho and put them in the pouches on his vest. Then he grabbed his H & K MP5A2. The last thing he grabbed were the 4 magazines for it and put them on his vest. Then he grabbed an empty backpack and shut the door and locked it as well.
He skipped over the medical vehicles and immediately began to check the tents. A big one, one that looked like a temporary mess hall, was where he went first. Surely it would have some food.
He passed by several of the undead, not giving them much of a thought. By now, he had learned that they just ignored him. He would have put them out of their misery, but he needed to preserve his energy… at least until he got some food. Then he could finish them off.
He pulled back the tent door and stepped inside. It was completely dark in here and the stench of death assaulted him. He wanted to throw up, but he clamped down on the feeling. Even with no lights, he could see. It made it unnecessary to carry a flashlight. He moved between two undead in military uniforms and worked his way back up to the front where the food was stored. He wrapped his nose and mouth in a cloth, hoping to dilute the stench that was coming from the storage area. Power had been off for a while now and he knew that most of the perishable food was gone. He was hoping to find cans of food that were still good.
[glow=green,2,300]:: EDIT 08/05/2011 ::[/glow]
Dalton finally found what he was looking for… food! He had made his way to the back of the tent to where the kitchen had been set up. Tables of rotting food were all around so Dalton had to cover his nose to get past the stench. In the back he found the truck that they were using to haul the food. Peeking inside, he saw stacks of canned food. Letting out a whoop he jumped in the back and started to sort through them. Anything that said beets or radishes or that were dented or exploded, he left alone, but that left a large amount of cans that were still viable.
He found a large table cloth and placed it on the ground outside the truck. Then he began to push the cans out of the truck and onto the cloth. The falling cans made a racket that drew the attention of some of the undead, but Dalton wasn’t too concern… he continued to load up on the cans.
When he had last gotten the containers on the cloth he jumped down to the ground. By this time, there were a few zombies, advancing toward him. They weren’t looking at him as food, but were drawn by the noise that he made. He had figured out, almost too late, that too much noise would drive them to attack. He figured that he had enough food, so he unsheathed his machete and sliced the head off of the first zombie. It felt to the ground at his feet and he kicked it out of the tent.
The next two fell quickly with their skulls shattered.
Now Dalton was getting dizzy. He quickly picked up the ends of the cloth and bundled them together. Then he hoisted it over his shoulder. He laughed a bit as he figured he looked like Santa Claus bringing gifts on Christmas. In fact, this much food would be considered a great Christmas gift to most people.
He carried the bundle back to his truck and sat it down at the back of his truck. Opening the door, he reached in and grabbed a can opener. Then he began to tear through the cans, opening one and sucking the contents dry before moving on to the next. He didn’t worry about cooking anything… most of it was canned fruit or vegetables, but there was also a few cans of Spagheti-os. It didn’t really matter, though, he just picked worked his way through them. After the tenth can, the headache and dizziness had completely disappeared and he slowed down. He wiped his hands and face on the cloth, feeling re-energized. He quickly stowed the other 40 cans in the back of his truck and shut the door.
Then he climbed on top of his truck and looked around. Through the Quarantined Area, he could see the town of Still Creek. On the other side of the bridge he saw that the streets swarmed in places with the undead. A row of burned out cars was just on the other side of the bridge. At the very end, he saw the gas station. That was the next thing he needed, but he had time. He would search out the town and find out what else he could use before heading to Vegas.
Dalton jumped down from his roof and climbed in. Bringing the truck to life, he pulled onto a small dirt road that led under the bridge and into town. Fifteen minutes later he was pulling into the streets of Still Creek.
[glow=green,2,300][Dalton leaves Quarantine Zone for Gas Station][/glow]
|
|
|
Post by Rhinn on May 19, 2017 16:25:39 GMT -5
== Benjamin St. James enters Still Creek from Vegas ==As the convoy arrived at the Quarantine Zone, he smiled. This was definitely going to be a good haul, if they didn't get overrun with undead. Since arriving in Vegas, Ben had been jumping around from shop to shop. As a mechanic who could fix everything, his skills were in high demand. He had saved up enough money to become a partner with a repair shop and work was always busy. With most shops closed down, there were only a few qualified people who could make repairs to keep vehicles on the road, upgrade them, etc. With parts at a premium, Ben found a new service to provide... vehicle and parts scavenger. So here he was at the quarantine zone, looking for parts that he needed. His convoy consisted 2 tow trucks, a car carrier with a winch and a rig with a salvage trailer. Along with that there was a reinforced school bus of various workers, some mechanics, some tinkers and were hired scavengers and the rest were guards armed with semi-automatic rifles with scopes. As the rig came to a stop, he jumped out of the cab and climbed up into the back of the rig to give him a better view. With Still Creek being close to Vegas, he had thought it would be ransacked, but there seemed to be a lot of good vehicles and parts. "Okay Group 1, let's load up those three ambulances on the carrier and then I want the larger wrecker to carry out that military truck and then lets grab that Jeep over there." Group 1 began to move with their orders. "Group 2, check on those 3 humvees over there and see if you can get them running." "Group 3, I have handed out lists of parts that we need. Search around for those parts. As always, make a seperate pile for weapons and ammo, another one for medical supplies and one last one for canned food. Go ahead and put parts in the back of the trailer. I say that we have about 4 hours until the sun starts to set. We will came in the rigs tonight and give it another 4 hours tomorrow morning and then leave for Vegas." The last of the scavengers went to their assigned duties. That left the guards. "Escort the groups. Once we have cleared the vehicles that I marked out, then work your way out to the perimeter. Suppressed weapons or silences weapons only. We don't want to be over run." The guards nodded and left, leaving a small crew. "We need to eat, so go ahead and setup camp near the rig and get dinner ready." The kitchen crew nodded and began to unload dried meats, canned fruits and vegetables and some bread. Ben looked over the groups for a little bit. Then he jumped down from the rig and a sniper took his place. He went over to one of the vehicles that a customer had asked for. Looking at it, it wasn't much, but the customer wanted it. He approached the Dodge Challenger and looked at the VIN number. It matched the piece of paper he was given. Pulling the keys out of his pocket that he had been given, he was able to unlock the car. If he could get this car started and get it back to Vegas, he would be handsomely rewarded.
|
|
|
Post by Rhinn on May 22, 2017 10:21:47 GMT -5
== 4 hours later ==
The sun was starting to head down toward the horizon. Ben stood up and stretched his back, feeling it pop and then the release of the tension in his lower back. So far, it had been a pretty successful day. All three ambulances were loaded on the carrier and tightened down. One, it seemed, had a been stripped of most of it medical supplies and another would need to have some thorough cleaning, but there was one that was fully loaded with medical supplies, which was a great boon.
The larger tow truck had loaded the "duece and a half" and had it ready to tow, but they were having a bit of trouble with the jeep, and only one of the humvees were ready to go... one had a broken axle that was trying to be repaired and the other one was hooked up to a charger to give the battery some life.
Throughout the 4 hours, Ben was only mildly aware of the fump, fump fump of suppressed rifle fire. It was sporadic, which was great, and there was only one time that there was a concentrated fire. At that point everyone stopped what they were doing and picked up their weapons. They stood still, not actively engaging unless absolutely necessary. Ben was glad to see that there was no look of panic in the eyes of his men and women. Most just casually watched the exchange. They had their weapons ready, but weren't currently aiming. Some took this opportunity to get a drink / smoke a cigarette, etc.
After 2 minutes, the zombie threat, which was about 20 were put down by the guards and everyone else went back to work.
Ben had been fighting his own battle with the Challenger. Someone had tried to take the car for their own, but had done a **** poor job doing it. As a result, the rear axle had snapped and the gas tank has been stabbed for the gas. One the torch was available, he would patch the hole and fill it with gas.
As far as the piles were concerned, it was hit or miss. Ben hadn't really counted on getting alot, but when scavenging, all items held value. Also, the smell of dinner was wafting through the air and making him hungry.
Looking at his watch, they had about 30 more minutes until they would stop and eat.
|
|
|
Post by Rhinn on May 23, 2017 15:46:58 GMT -5
== Still Creek == == 8 pm Local Time ==
Ben used the rest of his bread to wipe up any remaining pieces of beans and rice. After surviving on tree roots and creek water for a few weeks, anything that was above that was heavenly. It wasn't a deluxe meal, but the beans and rice was hot and filling. They had also killed a few squirrels that had been running around and added their meat for texture and protein. He put his plate on the ground and then finished off his mug of black coffee. Both the meal and the coffee warmed him in the cold night air.
Not many people realized that though the desert was hot during the day, there was nothing to retain that heat and it bled off easily at night. As such, a chill was setting in. Ben pulled his jacket on and leaned back against the rig, getting himself out of the wind. The entire group was gathered in tight with their weapons within easy reach. To Ben, it reminded him of the old west, with cowboys sitting around a campfire at night. Instead of cows and horses around the, it was cars and zombies.
Several people talked in hushed groups. Others laid back, looking at the starts. The guards had just switched out so there were men and women patrolling the area. Others, tired from the day's activity, were heading back to their trucks to sleep in... one was even heading to one of the ambulances, hoping to sleep on the gurney.
As the night rolled on, more people put of their plates and headed for their bunks. Ben smiled and the cool silent night and climbed up in the back of the rig. He laid his bedroll out and wadded up some clothing to form a pillow. Kicking off his shoes, he settled in for the night. Surviving this long had taught most people to be able to sleep whenever and wherever they could find a spot.
Exhaustion hit in and Ben was out in a few minutes...
|
|