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Post by Winters on Feb 9, 2015 10:53:01 GMT -5
Thing was, TJ had no clue where they could go. Hes been in the city a lot, but it was always when there had been sunlight to help now. Its not like the old streetlights works anymore, so the only light they has was the flashlight one TJ had, but he had been saving it for emergencies. This kinda was an emergency, but it wouldnt get them there. "I dunno, but look. That monster is huge, but he dont run. Those walkers outside are all bunched together, why we never took them out, didnt know how. So the odds of us running into anymore are slim, we could run the whole way, just down another street. It wont see it. They wont, either."
Strangely enough, the streets were what TJ knew, and thats what he ran for. Getting down the stairs was quick, and once he was out onto the road, he looked up to see the tower. This street would take them straight there if they kept on it,. Aside from navigating around cars and other obsticals, it would be a cake walk. Just not something TJ wouldve done on his own. As the pair ran, Natasha starting to get ahead of him, which was for the better, TJ spoke between breaths. "Did I tell you how much I hate the city? Too much people. Now theyre dead. Not sure if it was much of an improvement, though." The radio tower was very close, and it looked like they got there first, save for the horde of undead around the side.
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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 9, 2015 21:44:57 GMT -5
"Damn I was hoping there would be less of them!"
Natalie took in the large group of zombies, and realized they had no way of getting around them. Not with them so excited like they were. They couldn't go through the crowd, but maybe they could go over them. She pulled the boy behind a wrecked car, not wanting to be spotted by any of the stragglers. If they didn't do something soon there were going to be hundreds more of the walking dead all around them. They needed to do something and quick.
"TJ, got any more of those firecrackers? Maybe we could get somewhere high, and lead them off, maybe throw a few down another street and draw them away."
She looked around, and saw a sturdy looking fire escape not more than a dozen feet away from them. If they got high enough, they'd be able to signal the people inside, and draw off the undead long enough for them to escape, possibly even meet up with them. She grabbed onto the boy's shirt and hurriedly pulled him along, putting her plan into action.
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Post by Winters on Feb 10, 2015 11:30:46 GMT -5
It was this sort of idea that kept people alive. TJ heard stories about the infected, but he hadnt been around them much, sheltered from it since a young age. The most concern he had were people, this was different, but Natasha didnt seem scared of them, so neither was he. Sifting through his pockets, he grabbed a few of the makeshift crackers, ripping the match strip on them, and tossing one before they ran off in another direction. "We gotta lead them, but I only got a few. Here, you know what your doing. Just pull he little thing, and toss it." The firecracker matchbook paper combo had worked well, and it was even strapped to a dry triple A battery so they could be thrown farther. TJ gave the four he had left to Natasha, and kept moving. They were loud enough, and seemed to be working, but he didnt know if the people inside could hear them, or if there had even been people still left since the gunfire stopped.
The little stunt the pair pulled would have dragged the attention of the Tyrant as well, had it not been for Arc, who was standing in the street a few blocks away. All he had was his pistol, and a knife, which wasnt enough to take it down even if he had enough bullets. What he did now was distract it while the others got to safety, but they were prolonging the enevitable at this point. With Arc opened the lab, the Tyrant had been free, this was all on him. This wasnt just any tryant either, it had been aged, and virus ridden, furious about killing anything with a pulse. Since the labs collapse, it had time to incubate with debris still inside of it, so this put metal rebar and other metalic bits inside of its body, preventing even heavy firepower to it its weak point. But for now, he was just the distraction, and he knew how to do it, long enough to make sure the others were out of harms way. The problem was, the Tyrant was here in the city, and it wasnt going anywhere, so come morning, the people would have to either fight or die. Or abandon their nest.
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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 12, 2015 13:51:22 GMT -5
Natalie took the fireworks from the boy and moved up the fire escape as fast as she could. One lone zombie had managed to half stumble out of one of the broken windows, but a quick shove sent it spiraling three floors down, smacking headfirst into the pavement. It made a wet slapping sound as it hit and didn't try and get back up.
"C'mon, we are almost to the roof. Then we can try and signal them while drawing the things off."
As they made it to the roof, they saw a few bodies scattered on it, unmoving and long dead. She didn't know what killed them, but they needed to check them over to be sure.
"I'll start leading them away. Check those bodies, see if they have anything useful on them."
She lit the first firework as she got close to the edge of the roof, throwing it farther away than the first one. It exploded into bright flashy colors as colors, keeping the undead moving away from the radio station. The quiet from the building meant two things. Either the inhabitants were out of bullets, and dead, or were hiding. She silently prayed they were hiding.
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Post by Winters on Feb 13, 2015 1:27:25 GMT -5
"Come on, chica..." Arc spoke to himself, impatiently waiting for his partner to be finished with her little scavenger hunt. He lost track of her while taunting the walking bio-weapon, keeping it away from the others, least through the night. Sooner or later, he would run out of time, and have to bite the bullet on this one. Hed much rather not, but if it had to be done, it had to be done. Climbing to the top of a building, he tried to get a bead on her location, but instead, seen the other two had been in the radio tower. Within no time at all, they would be radioing for help, and others would come for them, or at least help them navigate back, so staying away was the best course of action. Maybe it would be best to just leave now, take care of the Tyrant on his own playing field when he was more prepared. Arc followed up on the thought with a lead down to the window, and dropped onto the street below, his mind made up. They had already been not far from the bridge, so he took the opportunity, and got both the Tyrant and himself out of there, leading it away out of the city, and hopefully away from anyone it could harm.
Though the bodied had been all banged up and dead for the most part, TJ tread lightely when checking them over, just to be safe. He had a pocket knife, and he would stab them in the head before checking their pockets. Maybe it was needed, maybe not, but it was always better to be safe them sorry. Natasha had been using the fireworks as a distraction, and she seemed to be handling them like a pro. Between checking pockets and stabbing faces, he looked at her, to see if she needed anymore. But as TJ looked down to stab the last body, the blade had slipped, and got stuck in something hard under its eye socket. He was a little grossed out, but brave, and struggled to pull it free. The sound of another firecracker being tossed broke through the air, and just as the knife finally pulled free, he turned to speak. "Need anymore? I think I have a few."
Thats when TJ felt the bite. The corpse had leaned in and planted its teeth into his forearm, easily ripping away a chunk as he pulled himself back, yelling out as he came back to drive it into its head again, finally putting it down. It was a mixture of adrenalin, fear, and not knowing exactly what was going to happen that upset him, and when TJ turned to see Natasha readying to help, he just stared at her, holding up his arm, which was now dripping with blood.
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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 16, 2015 22:02:54 GMT -5
Natalie covered her mouth to keep from crying out as she saw the wound on the boy's arm. He was going to turn, he was going to become one of those walking things in a matter of an hour or two. And then she was either going to have to leave him in that condition, or put him down before he can kill anyone else.
"Oh Tj...I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry..."
She went towards the boy, but stopped out of arms reach. She wasn't sure how long the boy had before he turned, that was the tricky part of the virus. First he would get sick, and then he would pass. And when he did, he would come back as one of them. She wasn't going to wait for him to turn, to suffer like that. She owed him that much. She owed any living thing that much.
She pulled her pistol, not caring if the creatures down on the street heard her. It would be quick, and relatively painless if she just shot him here. But that decision wasn't hers to make.
"I can make it quick, quick for you if you want me to. I promise it won't hurt. You won't even know it happened, I promise you."
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Post by Winters on Feb 17, 2015 2:03:30 GMT -5
The worst part was that Natasha immediately jumped right into shooting him. TJ didnt blame her though, he knew it was the right thing to do, buit the fact that the solution came so quickly made him sure that he was going to turn, that his life was all over now. He never had parents, only the people who taught him how to live in this world. But truth be told, he didnt really like it. TJ heard too much about how things were before, but being raised in the wake of an apocalypse, he never really thought about living long enough anyways. "Just do it. But I dont wanna close my eyes, I dont wanna be a scared kid. I dont know what to do. What will you tell the others?" It might have been a little silly to think now, but TJ had been woried about preserving what he had left, his story was all that would be left. He wanted to know what Natasha was going to say to everyone when he didnt come back.
This whole night had been stupid. These people were just trying to live day to day, and had everything going for them. Then Arc came along and messed all of that up. This night was on him. Reylene had been sitting on the roof of the hotel, listening to the kid and the other survivor talking. She was the rescue party, far as anybody was concerned, but after hearing how the kid was bitten, she wanted to stay out of it, show herself at a more appropriate time. Rey used one of her arrows to scratch her skin playfully, just keeping her mind off of the horror show in the room under her, waiting for the gunshot, staring at the stars in the sky.
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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 17, 2015 20:41:29 GMT -5
"I'll tell them you saved my life, and the lives of those people over there. But right now..."
Natalie lowered the weapon, putting out her hand for the boy. Right now she needed him, and he wasn't going to turn any time soon. If they could rescue the other people, they might be able to get out of this madness and then when they were a bit more private, she would take the time to make sure TJ died with more respect.
"Now come on, we've got some people to save."
She took the last of the fireworks and threw them off the building, beckoning the boy to her.
"Alright, let's see if we can get to those people,"
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Post by Winters on Feb 17, 2015 21:53:54 GMT -5
Was it that this woman didnt have it in her, or was she just postponing the end for the kid? Either way, didnt matter much, Reys plan was still the same. If the handful of survivors below the radio tower were alive, the little distraction the pair made worked, because she watched as all of the undead had been lured away from the building. Plus, the Tyrant was nowheres in sight, so not as a good time as any for them all to make a run for the next building, while they had their opporunity.
Greatful as TJ was, he was still feeling bad for putting Natasha into the situation. Getting bitten was stupid, and no amount of heroism would prove that he died from a rookie mistake. Of all the dumb ways to die, this was how it was going to be, sooner or later. But for now, he and Natasha made their way back down to street level, and routed themselves to the radio building, in hopes of finding the survivors alive.
It wansnt long before they were inside, and the infected on the street had no clue they were there. He closed the door quietly, and watched as Natahsa cleared the lobby, but they didnt see any signs of the survivors yet. "Id go to the top floor, ill bet theyre up there." TJ spoke, noting the stairs had been their only option, seeing as the generator didnt power the elevator. Floor by floor, the two cleared the halls, until finally reaching the top floor. Feeling like he was obligated to open the door first, TJ did, charging into the room with his shotgun drawn. Indoors, the sound of the four ten wouldnt even reach outside, so they were safe if they needed to shoot it, but he didnt think they did, it was just force of habbit. Inside, he seen the group of people, but there was a young woman and one of the men causing a scene.
"I dont know who you think you are, but you cant just barge in here thinking your above us. Now put down your bag, and I wont shoot you." The man shouted, aiming the pistol at Rey. "Go ahead, pull the trigger. You got no bullets. You werent going to shoot your friend, so I did. He was going to turn, and none of you wouldve been prepared. I just saved your lives, now you want my gear?" Rey didnt feel she had to raise her bow to the man, or anybody else, but when the door opened, she turned to face TJ and Natalie, bow drawn back at the hip, thinking it had been more of these guys. "Nice distraction you two. Saved these peoples lives. Too bad they dont seem to care about their own enough." Maybe it was a little uncalled for, and probably would have made them angry, but Rey wasnt scared.
Feeling like things were about to get worse, TJ got behind Natasha, rolling down his sleeve so the woman didnt see the bite. He didnt know what was going to happen, but hed never killed anybody before, and wasnt about to even think about it. Before Natalie could even comment, or intervene, one of the men pulled a knife out, and drove it into Reys back. "We dont kill one of our own, you stupid b*tch! Now well just take your stuff, and the two's as well." Between the woman with the knife in her back down on one knee, and the two men that turned out to be the wrong kind of people to save, TJ didnt know what to do, but hoped that Natasha did.
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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 19, 2015 20:59:55 GMT -5
Natalie didn't think this time, she simply reacted. The pistol came up in her hands, and with one pull of the trigger the man standing behind the injured woman got a bullet through the eye. His head snapped back, and his body crumpled to the floor. She pointed the pistol at the other man, her voice low and menacing, surprising even herself as she spoke.
"Make a move, you die too. Take two steps back, hands above your head."
She circled towards him, one arm on TJ, the other with the pistol pointing at the other man.
"TJ, help the woman. Don't go near the man."
As the boy moved, she never took her eyes off of the other man, her eyes cold and burning with hatred.
"And to think we were saving you. What a waste of good firecrackers."
And a waste of a good kid, she thought to herself. TJ was going to die because they were trying to save the people in the radio tower. Turned out to be two wastes of space, but maybe there was one person they could save. The woman was hurt, but maybe she would pull through.
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Post by Winters on Feb 19, 2015 22:13:47 GMT -5
TJ didnt think that Natasha would do it, but she did. He seen a lot of people in the fort after their runs, and heard a lot of stories, but never seen them do anything like this. If she was capable of putting a bullet into somebody, then she was a good survivor. Luckily, they had been high enough to where the sound wouldnt make much of a difference. TJ seen Natasha, and heard her voice, she meant business. But he seen the other woman, and went to help her, feeling a surge of safety being in the care of somebody who actually knew what they were doing.
Only reason it was a big deal was because the knife had been close to her spine. Rey felt the blade in her back, and as she moved, it jerked around, which prevented her from getting back to her knees, to keep her back straight. Thats when she seen the kid coming to her aid, and placed her hands on the ground. "Im fine, please back away from me." For somebody with a knife in their back, they had been calm about it, but TJs eyes widened as he just stayed back. The moment he did, the woman looked at the wound on his arm from the floor, and then stood up.
Instead of commenting on it, however, she stretched her back, and ran toward the final survivor, who had been saying something to the kids guardian. Using her knee, Rey thrust it into the mans side, knocking the wind out of him. "Cover your eyes kid. Or dont. Whatever." In the next moment, Rey jumped onto the mans back, pulling his soulders back with her arm and driving her forearm into his neck until she heard a snap. The two fell to the floor, but Rey kept her grip until all sound in the room came to and end.
After the man stopped flailing around, she got back up to her feet, and kicked the man who put the knife in her back, which was still in her. Normally, Rey wouldnt have gotten this angry, but this was a special occasion, and she needed somebody eleses help. For once in a very, very long time. "Can one of you please get this f***ing knife out of my back, please?"
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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 19, 2015 23:13:42 GMT -5
It all happened so quick Natalie didn't have much of a chance to react. One moment the woman looked like she was going to die, the next she was breaking the man in ways she had never even imagined. Whatever these people did to her, it was personal that much was plain to see. As the woman spoke, she lowered her weapon, but didn't put it away. The woman could have been more dangerous than the two men. Until she knew for sure, she was keeping her weapon out.
"TJ, get the door. Make sure it's locked. I don't want anymore surprises. I'll take care of you, just don't do that again okay?"
She went behind the woman slowly, and then when she reached the wound she grabbed onto the knife handle and slowly pulled it out, watching the blood pour from her back. Holstering her weapon and dropping the knife on the floor, she quickly pulled off her shirt and pressed it against the wound, trying to control the bleeding. She should have looked for a medical kit before she took the knife out, but she was simply too stunned to think clearly.
I'm Natalie, the boy is TJ. What's yours? And who were these men?"
They would need to look for supplies before they moved on, and if they needed to wait a while before the woman could move, they would fortify the building as best they could. For the time being they simply needed to stay quiet and out of sight. Right now the undead didn't know they were there, and would continue wandering off as long as they were quiet and hidden.
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Post by Winters on Feb 20, 2015 2:12:36 GMT -5
Nodding to the woman, Rey made it clear that she wasnt going to snap like that again, remaining still and calm. Though it still might happen, it wont be unless somebody crossed her, and did something like this again. It was a hard go ahead. The knife blade scraping against her bone was nausiatign to think, even with how much shes been through, and experienced first had pain wise, but Rey kept her mind off of it. She always had a high pain tolerance, but since her last experience, it changed her, for both better and for worse in some cases. Once the knife was free, Rey felt the woman try to help her by stopping the bleeding, which was a good first reaction. With that, she deserved the truth.
"Names arent important, never were. But its Rey. Short for Reylene. Thanks for taking that knife out, but you can stop holding that shirt now." TJ came back from locking the door, and seen the two talking. Natasha had just introduced herself, but it wasnt her name. Unless he got it wrong, which he knew now he did, and fely really embarrest. Maybe she didnt notice, or didnt care, and he was just overthinking. Right now, the adults were talking, so he kept to himself, sticking close to the door as if it was his appointed job. Which is sort of was, since Natasha, or Natalie, gave him the order to.
"As for these people, I honestly had no clue who they were until I came up here. You two started throwing those noisemakers, which saved three of their little group. When I showed up, I seen one of them was bitten, so I shot, asked questions later..." At this point, Rey picked up her bow, slinging it on her back, along with her small quiver of arrows, making sure that Natlie was aware when she meant shoot, she meant with her bow. "They didnt like that, started shouting at me. I didnt like that. Then you showed up, pulled this knife out of my back." Drawing attention back to her wound, she figured at this point, both of them might have caught on that the bleeding stopped.
If she kept talking, Natalie wouldnt notice. And depending on how the next few minutes went, maybe it wouldnt matter. "So, thats it. Didnt know them, just drew a gun on the wrong person, clearly. You wouldve popped a hole in him just a quick, seeing your shooting." Walking over to the one who was bitten, Rey removed the arrow from his tempel, and wiped off most of the blood before putting it in with the others. "I was doing him a favor, but I probably shouldve let him turn, then take a bite out of his friends. They deserved it, right?" Walking around the room, stretching her back again, Rey made sure to keep her hands away from her bow when she spoke next. "Now you need to do TJ a favor, while he still has his mind. If you wont, I will."
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Post by JDrew25 on Feb 20, 2015 23:29:32 GMT -5
Natalie had wanted to wait until they could find a place more private, but the woman had talked about the elephant in the room. She knew he didn't have a lot of time, a few hours at most, but she wanted to let him have as much of it as he could. She couldn't even look at the boy now, feeling the weight of the gun at her hip, and knowing soon enough she was going to grant him some small portion of mercy. She wasn't going to wait until he had turned to take him out, but she wasn't sure when his end would come.
"You should have bled out. What the hell are you? No way you survived being stabbed like that without medical care."
She forgot about her semi-nude state, and the fact that she had a blood-soaked shirt in her hand. This was more interesting that that right now. Was she some sort of mutant? Some sort of freak from before the world collapsed? She didn't look old enough for that, but what did she know?
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Post by Winters on Feb 21, 2015 2:48:28 GMT -5
TJ had been scared of the woman now at this point, being as she wanted to kill him, but it made sense. His time was soon. What got his attention was what got Natalies, and that was the woman, Rey. TJ had a different angle on her, and seen the wound a little more closely from the door. It was definitely not bleeding, the only blood had been on her own shirt. That, and she didnt look to be in any pain. TJ heard stories from other people, and with that, held the shotgun in his hands a little tighter, almost wanting to just shoot her. That would only make the situation worse though. Things were just happening too fast, and they needed to focus on one thing at a time.
Thats when Rey started to chuckle to herself, sighing a little afterwards. She didnt want deal with this. It used to come second nature, she was so good at hiding it, but this was an unfortunate situation. Eight years into the end of the world though, it didnt seem too far out of the realm of possibility that there were things that couldnt be explained. This was one of them. Only she could sit and explain it, but she wasnt going to. "Im human mostly A little more, little less, in some ways, but im still human. Spent too much time in a lab, lets just leave it at that. Im not a monster. Not really..."
Trailing off, Rey felt maybe it wasnt going to cut it just leaving it at that, and since they were safe up here, they had time. Keeping her eyes away from the womans bare skin, she continued. "I never thought of myself as one. My mom made me like this, she was part of an experiment too, back before all of this. She was a monster. Im on my own now. Had been with the group of survivors here for a couple of months, none of them know what I am, and id hope to keep it that way. Why I ran so much, people cant accept me. On the outside, im the same as you."
Feeling like now another example might have been needed, Rey grabbed an arrow from her pack, and slit it across her wrist. "Easy, no problem." Within seconds, infront of their eyes, the cut had closed back over on its own, clearly seen once she wiped away the blood. It even made her feel more superhuman than before, as her capabilities had reached their maximum at this point in her life. "We exist. Theres plenty of us in the world. Id like to stick around though, I fit in here, and these people need my help. I dont have to worry about young TJ over there blabbing to anybody, but you. I hope you dont."
TJ collapsed to the ground, light headed now, and supporting himself up with his hands and knees. He had a headache, and felt warm. This is what it was like to turn. "Its not that I dont care about him, trust me, I do. Or I try to. I just seen so many people turn, sort of desensitized to it. You should make it quick. Then go from there." Rey really did feel for the kid, but she was becoming too much like her father now. Caring, just not feeling it. The only thing she was good at feeling was anger, and she was a little angry she couldnt help him.
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