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Post by NotAvailable on Apr 29, 2011 22:34:32 GMT -5
When Anna and Alex were pushed up against the wall, the men that grabbed onto them had patted them down to see if they could find any concealed weapons. As it goes, the man grasping onto Alex had felt something tucked away and glared a bit. "What do we have here?" he asked.
Meanwhile, the man patting Anna down had felt the hard shape of what felt like a gun. Of course this specific man was tired of his boss' crap and instead of making it known that she was strapped, he'd left it alone and gave a slight squeeze to her shoulder. "Keep cool..." he said lowly.
Anna raised a brow when both men had moved away from them, training their weapons on the two. "They're clean now, Myra. Switch the lights back on!" one of them exclaimed. Before long, the lights had flickered on, every last one of them, termorarily blinding both women.
"You okay, Al?" Anna asked.
"Did they have any ammunition on them at all?" the woman asked, her face was covered in what looked like a ski mask but blond hair peeked out from the bottom and any signs of a feminine form was cluttered and mishaped by her fatigues.
"Nothing, they were empty. Got all their weapons right here," one of the men told her. The beads from their laser sights had been removed as they'd discussed their issue. As they did, Anna backed up closer to Alex. "Grab the colt, Al. Back of belt," she said through pursed lips.
Myra growled and harshly rubbed at her masked face. They were dangerously low on ammunition. "Just f**king kill them then."
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Apr 30, 2011 7:07:26 GMT -5
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good," having the lights switched back on was like snuggling with a warm velvet quilt. For the first time since they had gone out she exhaled a long, exasperated breath, calmed by the glow even if it did hurt her eyes a little. Her knife had been taken; there went that plan. She wasn't sure whether to be grateful not to use to charge, or spiteful that a chance of escape had been slid right out of her sheath. Anna had inched over to her ever so slightly when the two frisking soldiers turned back to their supposed leader; a whisper from her redheaded partner snapped Alex out of the incandescent daze she'd fallen into. "Grab the colt, Al. Back of belt," "Uh..." she regained her composure; an improvised plan which had the PI putting her skills to the test. Sure. Global conflicts were more up her alley, a little gunfire wasn't anything to poke a stick at. Least not for Alex, "Mhh," a small sound of acknowledgment came from her lips. "Just f*cking kill them then."What? Oh dear; no time left. Sounds of slide catches being released could be heard; there wasn't any time left. Alex's right hand wrapped around the 1911. It had a thinner grip than her Browning, it felt unfamiliar to her, 'Oh god I'm gunna screw this up,' grimacing throughout her 180 turn to face the bandits. PAP. She'd shot the man who frisked her first, a bullet clean to the head. PAP. Being the second bullet fired meant accuracy had deteriorated since the last trigger pull, Alex were off her mark by several inches catching Myra in the shoulder instead of the head. The woman shrieked, collapsing in pain. Click. Click. Click. The pale girl kept pulling the trigger in disbelief. Only two rounds had remained loaded. Anna had given her a gun to kill three people with only two bullets! "Ey, ey, ey! Woah! Easy!" the man who had frisked Anna backed off, finger off the trigger of his Glock, motioning his hands downwards to get Alex to avert her aim as well. "I'm not gonna kill you. Relax.""You bastard!" Myra spat, "You deceiving sonuvab*tch!"He had turned to his former bandit member on the floor, "Sorry toots . No hard feelings," a smile seen in the cutout of his own ski mask. Myra growled at him, picking herself up with a hand to her shoulder and charging back out the door of the room. She could be heard shouting one last curse before being completely out of earshot. "Um," Alex wasn't sure what to say, not after having the intention to shoot the guy, "Cheers for the assist..." maybe thanking him would be enough for forgiveness.
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Post by NotAvailable on May 1, 2011 0:37:18 GMT -5
The man had removed his own ski mask to reveal short, brown hair and clear green eyes. He had a square-like jaw, broad and with stubble an ugly scar on the bottom of his mouth dipping into mid chin.
"It's alright, let's just get the hell out of here before she comes back," he told the two women, gesturing for them to follow him. Anna wanted to object. She worried that the crazy chick would attempt to hunt them down and cause problems later, killing her now would save them the trouble.
She frowned, checking her watch. It'd already been a little over an hour since they'd left Keith alone. They were really pushing it. She'd glanced over at Alex as she reached for her Browning and taken her Colt back. She then grasped the knife from the dead man's hands, passing it over to her.
The man, grasped onto Alex's handgun and Anna's shotgun which were closer to his feet, handing them over as well. "Let's get the hell out of here, please?"
"Not so fast, Alex, if we leave this lady alone, she could f*ck sh*t up later for us, God knows what she'll do. Of course we still have Keith back in the shop. I honestly don't know what to do and standing here isn't very smart..." she trailed off.
The other man shook his head, running a gloved hand through his messy hair. "Look, Myra's gone. She ain't gonna---" before he could finish, the sounds of security alarms had blared throughout the entire vicinity.
"She escaped," he commented.
Anna looked around the corner at the main entrance, a group of new undead shambling inside. "No, she just opened up the buffet line!" she growled.
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Post by Lunapocalypse on May 1, 2011 1:08:08 GMT -5
Like being given back her favorite blanket; Alex was a lot more comfortable having her sidearm and knife on her, "I don't think we should be going on a witch hunt, Anna. Myra's bleeding out. If she doesn't die from blood loss first then the infected'll likely get to her," the PI shrugged, "And if she's as low on ammo as speculated," slotting the Browning back into its holster. Their savior made it blatant that the ski mask woman had escaped once fire alarms went off all over the block. Anna took their awareness a step further. "No, she just opened up the buffet line!" "Cripes. There's no time to look for her now, we gotta get out of here," she looked to the man, "Know a backdoor in this place?" Alex asked courteously. Surely he wouldn't mind leading them out of this new deathtrap; his own life were at stake as well. "Easy," he smiled, "There's a fire exit just on the North side of the Confederation exhibit that leads to the prop loading bay. C'mon!"Alex had begun to follow when she forgot one very important thing they had entered the museum for, "Oh wait!" turning on her heal and bolting to the counter the map lay on. Soles of her shoes skidding across wood as the girl picked the parchment up, pulling away just in time before a zombie could lunge at her and sprinting back the way she came, "Let's go!"They had passed through a doorless entrance into a grand exhibit hall, all sorts of placements lit up with faint spotlights, "What's your name?" Alex felt obligated to ask. "Bryan. Name's Bryan. Nice to meet you.""So..." it was a little delicate asking this; it didn't feel right to pry into any history he might have, "Why did you decide to save us?"He shrugged, "Didn't feel like killing anybody today.""But one of you shot that crazy guy, didn't you?""Who?""The body you place in the room you hid at!" Alex barked accusingly, "Propped up against the couch. He was alive only moments before we entered. That was you, wasn't it?""We had been hiding in there for a while; didn't see anybody else in there 'cept for you two. Actually we haven't killed anybody, at least not during the time I spent with Myra and Duke," something in his voice suggested discomfort, "I hadn't signed up to kill anyone. As much as it saddens me that both of them had to get shot, I don't regret it."Looking over their shoulders saw the small horde shambling about a third of the way through the exhibit. Bryan held open the door for both of them to enter, closing it and blocking it with a broom stick before continuing. An open roller door had let snow flow into the storage and docking area; it was also the only major source of light. Everything else was shrouded in darkness and the poking limbs of mannequins could be seen sticking up from random locations around the warehouse.
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Post by NotAvailable on May 1, 2011 1:25:43 GMT -5
Anna shivered a bit when her arm brushed up against a stiff hand. She'd immediately pointed her flashlight's beam at whatever it was and shot a glance at what looked like still, dull, grey eyes with a wide, painted smile. It was so uncanny that she, herself, had to turn away and keep her eyes on what lied ahead. It seemed safe enough in the warehouse like store room, but it was still pretty dark and menacing.
Bryan had his own light attatched to his rifle which he kept firmly in his grasp, pointing the light around the room. The exit wasn't too far but just booking it there could lead into any possible dangers, he knew better.
"You okay, Alex?" Anna asked warily, shifting her eyes back and fourth in the room. There were faint sounds of crashing and muffled groans coming from the museum halls and their haunting moans had echoed through the walls. It was unsettling, to say the least.
"C'mon girl's, we're almost toward the exit, should be just around these giant shelves here," he informed them.
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Post by Lunapocalypse on May 1, 2011 1:47:16 GMT -5
"I'm doing okay. I just shot two people... but I'm doing okay," a touch of frost met her nose again, "I don't really mind going back out into the snow again if it means getting away from all that," they passed around the massive shelves to see the paleness of otherside again, "How 'bout you?" she sniffed in return.
There wasn't much clue how Anna were faring with this whole situation, she seemed rocksteady more than anything else, but it would have felt inconsiderate not to ask.
It was like walking through a shield, moving from stale cold into ice frozen blades of wind, "A bit of a breeze has cooked up," Alex donned the captain obvious flag, "Snow's died down though," it made visibility a little more bearable.
"Here," Bryan had approached Anna, "Have my mask. You can wear it as a beanie. It's important to keep your head warm in this kind of weather," he said with a charming smile. No longer hanging out with the gruesome twosome, he wouldn't need the mask any longer.
Bryan stepped back to the roller door for a moment, clobbering a lever with the stock of his rifle causing the gate to come falling down, "There. That'll keep them bloodthirsty fiends off our backs,"
Alex unscrolled the map, "Here's the museum, where to from here... urgh," moving closer to Anna, "Could you shine the torch on this, please?"
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Post by NotAvailable on May 1, 2011 2:04:06 GMT -5
Anna gratefully took the mask and pulled it atop of her red hair and down to her ears, feeling left over warmth from Bryan's head, which was pretty awkward for her. She'd nodded a bit and stuck one hand into her jacket pocket, shining the flashlight down on the map Alex held. Looked like they still had quite the walk to go before finding the Evac Stations.
"What genius decided to put the station all the way on the other flippin' side of damn island?" she asked, feeling the muscle behind her left eye begin to spasm. Bryan had been keeping lookout as the two observed the map before chuckling.
"Does it matter? We should get going so we can radio for help...oh sh*t."
Both women looked up from where they stood, glancing at Bryan as he slumped his shoulders forward, defeated.
"What's wrong?" Anna asked.
He pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand, loweing his rifle with the other. "David and Vince are hanging back at the station right now. Myra told them not to let anyone get in and to shoot to kill, she was already psycho when we got here a few days ago so, yeah," he explained, wondering just how the two ass kissers were gonna react to his defection.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there, meanwhile, how much ammo do you two have? I barely have enough for the colt in my holster pack, half a magazine in this browning and two shells for my shotgun."
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Post by Lunapocalypse on May 1, 2011 2:31:32 GMT -5
"Couple'a mags worth I think," Alex lifted the tail of her coat up, feeling for the ammo around her waist, "I haven't fired my 9 too much, still have about half a mag left loaded," she opted to switch it with a fresh magazine, clapping a fresh load in and releasing the slide catch, "I found this ammo back at the convenience store, Anna. It isn't compatible with my firearm," she handed the box of .45ACP rounds over for her Colt, "30 on me all up. Nothing that can pack a punch."
"I'd been hangin' onto this clip for a while. Kinda hoping to spare it for a funky scenario," Bryan showed off the mag full of 5.56 rounds, "Guess that'll be when we get to the comms station. Only another 2 loaded. 32 all up, another 5 in my Glock."
They seemed pretty peachy, so long as they didn't run into a huge mess of zombies. Really this was all in consideration for the firefight they might have to deal with once they stumble into Bryan's former comrades, but anything could happen on their trek across the island, and nothing was certain that they would find any more ammo along the way.
"It seems like the best path to take would be straight through the Statue of Liberty," Alex pointed on the map, "There's still a bit before and after it though. A huge mess of trees leading up to the causeway that ends up at the entrance. We'll have to cut straight through it,"
"Right then," Bryan exclaimed in vigor while resting his rifle against his shoulder, "I've been across Ellis once myself, I'll go ahead and take point," the rifle fell back into his hand and he started ahead of the two women.
Alex looked to Anna with uncertainty, "I know we gotta hurry for Keith, but I'm not sure this is safe," she would rather take the long way around, follow the shoreline. Regardless, they moved towards the trees, across the green, and away from the museum. The smell of salt water behind them.
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Post by NotAvailable on May 1, 2011 2:47:11 GMT -5
Anna nodded a bit and followed along side Alex, reloading her Colt pretty fast-like. She didn't want to get caught unprepared, afterall. The snow fall had seized and the sounds of the ocean waves had been rather soothing after all the screaming, groaning and shooting she'd endured the past few weeks. It was serene but since she had already known of the inhuman dangers in their environment, it seemed less calming and more creepy. This entire island, infact, had some pretty screwey things going on since they'd arrived earlier that day.
A sudden chirping sort of noise could be heard. It wasn't a soft chirp either, but a deep,insect-like chirp. The three immediately pointed their weapons around, nerves up and hearts racing. It inevitably faded away.
"That was...odd..."
Bryan frowned and scratched at his stubble. "Don't worry bout it, probably nothing...so anyway, you two seem to know how to carry yourselves, good with the gun and certainly tactful. What's up with that?" he asked, trying to encite conversation to ease their worries.
Anna kept walking at a steady pace, colt and flashlight drawn. "CIA."
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Post by Lunapocalypse on May 1, 2011 3:03:51 GMT -5
"What!?" the dark haired girl's copper hues waved over Anna in astonishment, "You hadn't told me that!" Alex wasn't offended, she just, "... didn't expect that," she had worked the the CIA once before, but this felt way more platonic than the emotionless agents she usually buckled up with.
The lithe girl wasn't quite so keen on speaking of her own profession, although it didn't really matter. The way things were, Anna had probably already heard about Alex's Berlin Brawl; depending how long she had spent time with the Agency, "Got into forensics when I was young, joined a Homicide squad in Chicago. Firearm training is pretty much mandatory there," she finally said in a nasally tone, "I broke away from the precinct and started my own Personal Investigation firm taking gigs under the table. It sent me into plenty of third world countries, lots of opportunities to pick up experience with all kinds of weaponry."
They finally passed through the tree line; the darkness of the shadows was enough to make the three stiffen a little, the only light shining off of snowflakes that passed through the canopy of leaves above their heads. Alex wouldn't let it get to them, though, "How long have you been with the CIA?" she asked Anna, as curious as a cat; the redhead seemed so departed from the norm, it was uncanny, "Do you still get in touch with brass often?"
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Post by NotAvailable on May 1, 2011 3:25:27 GMT -5
Bryan had a broad smirk on his face as he took notice to the young woman's child-like demeanor. She seemed suprised to hear that this Anna woman was former CIA and the way she'd taken the news was that of a youth. It was refreshing to see such innocence. Anna, however, smiled a little bit and laughed lightly.
"About nine years ago this coming month, actually. I lost contact with HQ about a few weeks ago, I'm assuming the worst, but eh, crap happends and in the long run, I'm alive," she said, trying to keep it short and sweet.
Learning about the girl's past adventures, she'd raised a brow and her tired eyes had looked over at her, questioningly.
"Wow, sounds like you've accomplished alot, huh? Private Investigator too? Did ya take on missing persons, too? Woulda been nice to have known ya a couple of years ago..." she trailed off, allowing her mind to drift.
Bryan was a bit suprised as well. He'd never pegged someone so young to have had more experience than he had.
"Impressive," he told her.
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Post by Lunapocalypse on May 1, 2011 3:47:43 GMT -5
"I did a bit of everything," she answered with a challenging smirk at her seemingly vast, yet rather constricted experience. Alex put her had to her mouth after noticing the honest regret in Anna's voice, "I just got it in my head that I'd be some Soldier of Fortune or universal mercenary fighting out these golden battles across arid deserts and through lost cities. It kinda put realism into perspective for me."
There were no kidding Alex had an unusual lifestyle; an evening out partying was more like a night out spooking for information or getting caught by security guards. It didn't differ the fact she was normal; just with different, albeit extreme, hobbies. It had all sort of flash by in the blink of an eye; Alex wasn't sure if she would have a job to go back to after this.
Anna on the other hand, a mother of two, had spent 9 years with za la-CIA. Not an essence of spook came from her. How she had fit it all in with family life was a good question; but a personal one too.
She sneezed violently, exclaiming an nonsense curse with sharp angled eye brows, he expression changing to exaggerated sadness at the click of the finger, "Why the hell didn't I think of grabbing cold syrup back at the convenience store?"
"SHH."
Bryan had issued the halt suddenly, holding his hand out while looking around at the trees with wide eyes.
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Post by NotAvailable on May 1, 2011 4:00:16 GMT -5
Then came that damned chirping noise again. Before long the leaves of various trees began to rustle and there were small glimpses of these large, brown, things. Anna had stepped up slowly among the others and narrowed her eyes as she tried to train her eyes on one of them, but they kept disapparing from sight.
"They almost looked like bugs," Anna said quietly. When the sightings disappeared, Bryan seemed rather frustrated.
"No bugs are that damn big. Unless..." the burly man trailed off. Alex and Anna exchanged confused glances before staring at him, expectantly.
"Unless?" Anna asked, urging him to continue.
"When we came here the last time, we had eight of us. Three of us disappeared when we were on the way back from the evac station right before we were attacked by some giant bug-thing. It was pretty creepy...had these pincers...all these arms and long tongue," he shuttered.
"That doesn't sound good...c'mon, let's hurry the hell up then. David and Vince might already be dead if we're lucky," she said, picking up the slack.
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Post by Lunapocalypse on May 1, 2011 4:16:54 GMT -5
"You didn't bother telling us this sooner, why?!" Alex asked in an exacerbated manner holding her hands out accusingly as the two started jogging through the trees, "Hey, waitup!"
She didn't have a problem with bugs so much. Whether her mind would change when it came to bumping into mother beetle was another question, but surely they wouldn't have anything on the sort of rolling mutations she had seen before. Or Giant snakes... gees, she didn't need to remember that.
The skittering noises gradually began to get louder and louder as they made their path through the forest of sorts, almost to a point where it felt like it were upon them. It may have been Alex's schizophrenia acting up considering as soon as they passed through the barrier of the other side of the opposite treeline it went quiet, like somebody had killed the volume.
They stood in a massive paved circular area, tall flag sticking out of the centre. It was as messy as well, far more than where Anna and Alex had been before. This must have been where the outbreak for Ellis island all started. There weren't so many bodies to speak of, a couple skirting the area missed major limbs and important pieces to function; most of the rough tumble came from newspapers, personal belongings and battered hot dog stands.
Looking over the circle of hell stood the jade woman, "There she is. Good ol' Lady Lee-bur-tee," Alex wasn't entirely sure why she had exaggerated the name, it probably had something to do with irony or sarcasm too deep for her to understand either.
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Post by NotAvailable on May 1, 2011 4:28:33 GMT -5
Anna kept her attention over her shoulder at the trees they'd just left behind. Whatever the hell those abominations were, they weren't trying to attack, but what worried this former agent is the idea that they were watching them this entire time. As absurd and paranoid as that sounded, it still managed to send a chill down her spine.
"There she is. Good ol' Lady Lee-bur-tee."
Anna finally looked on ahead, then scaled the massive statue upwards until she could only make out her flickering torch. Scowling, she'd started to walk forward, passed what looked like a few completely decayed bodies. They were so rotten that their body parts were damn near skeletal and practically disintigrating. No way they'd get up anytime soon.
"Damn, look at these things, they're...gross," she said, nudging one's arm a bit, only to have it break off completely with very little effort. Knitting her brows together, Anna grimaced.
"Sorry."
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