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Post by Mr.Revenge on Nov 18, 2008 21:05:09 GMT -5
These things cross all over the country, both for commuter trains and supply lines. Their ok for now, and if you follow them they will always lead somewhere. But, it wont be an easy journey, and you probably wont like where you end up.
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Post by NotAvailable on Jun 29, 2011 2:17:38 GMT -5
A helicopter had hovered aboved the barren Railroads. The pilot had been shivering in his seat as he'd looked back at the redheaded woman decked out in a heavy coat that cuffed upto her jaw line.
"This is where the drop off point is! That alright?!" the pilot yellowed over the roaring engines and blades. The woman glanced back at him and sighed.
"Yeah! It's fine! I shouldn't be long! Just got some... loose ends to tie up!" she called back before kicking the rope ladder out. It flopped lazily downward, scraping against the top of an overturned train cart.
She'd descended the first two steps before stopping. "Alright! I'll probably have to meet you back here in a day or so. I'll just... camp out somewhere warm til then. You can meet me back here, can't you?!" she asked.
"Ten-four!"
With that, she'd dropped down onto the train cart and let go of the rope ladder, watching the chopper hover above her before getting further and further high up.
"Right...well then..." she began, trembling. "Damn it's cold. I just left cold behind in Stoneville and it's f*cking freezing here..." she grumbled taking in her surroundings. It was a pretty vacant space with crashed trains and heavy snow. It was pretty bad. Telling the pilot that she had loose ends just so she could get a free ride to Russia.
Not like it was all a complete lie. She was coming to tie up a few loose ends. A friendly face was here and she wanted more than anything to see him. Well, see them. It'd been awhile and the way things were right now, now that the B.S.A.A. didn't need her at the moment and Richard was being a jackass, she needed friends. Sad that she had to journey all the way to Russia to find them. Maybe convince them to come back to America.
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Jun 29, 2011 5:17:35 GMT -5
Internal dream-state reactions to beating rotor blades were serenely normal. The dark haired young woman had been sitting in a cafe sipping coffee reading the used vehicle sales section of the paper when suddenly the ceiling fans in the room began spinning faster than normal. Nobody really paid attention, it was a hot day. When the bathtub on the second floor suddenly crashed through the roof people started to take notice.
Catori jolted out of her deep sleep; footsteps on the roof, or the wall, or whichever way the train car originally stood straight. A helicopters grinding engine manifolds began to fade away into the distance. No other sounds were made.
Regardless, Cat unsheathed her machete, prepared if something decided to cut its way inside. Of course, the last time a trench coat man had been delivered to her it had crashed right through the roof; so this must have been different. The hunter decided to take her chances, tackling the old train car door and tugging it open. Stupid thing was rusted through and through making a dangerously loud screeching sound. No complaint about that; it was the best place Cat had found to rest through the night.
"Hello out there?" she called, the light drizzle giving the horizon a grey-tone gradient reminding that she was in the thick of Russian weather. The slippery condensation all over the train car caused the young woman to slip. hands planting into mud, "Urgh," climbing to her feet and scraping the dirt off her palms with the edge of the door frame.
In retrospect the Native already looked mucky to begin with, dried mud and smudges on her exposed skin while her clothes had uneven spots of colour from muddy run ins.
Taking several steps back Cat looked up to the person standing atop her hiding spot. She looked American, yet something else the chocolate haired girl wouldn't complain about, "Sorry, if I startled you," she spoke up with a smile, one eye open, the other still trying to stave off sleep.
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Post by NotAvailable on Jun 29, 2011 13:05:58 GMT -5
The loud screeching and low rumble of the cart below had forced the redhead to whip out her Colt and when she saw the brunette top of a woman emerge, she'd aimed at the crown of her head, expecting it to be an undead. That is, until she spoke and intelligence kicked in. She opened a door and it was below freezing, no zombies here for now.
When she apologized for startling her, Anna lowered her weapon a little. Great, a local who'll probably end up tagging along and get killed hanging with her or something. She'd learned her lesson, best to be a giant b*tch and lure her away.
"Why are you sleeping in an overturned train cart?" the woman asked, voice horse from the freezing cold. "I'd understand sleeping in an upright cart but an overturned cart?" she finished with a squint of her left eye. It really wasn't important to ask right now, but there wasn't any real danger... from what she could see, atleast.
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Jun 29, 2011 22:43:10 GMT -5
Cat scratched her head, "Ahah... uhm. Well, it was the only one I could find in the dark. I mean..." she shrugged trying to make a valid reason, "I mighta missed it all together, y'know?" a light bulb suddenly clicked on in her head, "Well, why'd you land on an overturned train car then, When you could land on an upright one, hmm?" her hands planted on her hips. If she was going to be accused of her sleeping habits then she sure as hell was going to stand up against it.
No, she wasn't, "Ah-hm. You gonna hop down from there? Even in this weather you get spotted pretty easily," Cat's hands dropped to her sides, "The name's Catori. Most people call me Cat, but I prefer Nova," she held out her hand as if a long distance handshake were possible.
She looked over to the horizon where the final remnants of the chopper skittered out of view, 'Looks like I missed another ride outta here,' Cat nudged her bad luck, pursing her lips.
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Post by NotAvailable on Jun 29, 2011 22:52:26 GMT -5
Anna looked down at the cart she'd been ontop of before dropping on down, her feet and boots sunk into a thicket of mud, splattering her calves in a goopey cake.
" Blame it on the pilot," she responded with a short chuckle before looking around.
"The chopper will be back this time tomorrow, so if you need a ride, you should wait around or come back here around this time," she began to explain while pulling her feet out of the newly form sink hole of mud.
The sky was positively eerie. She hadn't noticed it until now how navy blue the sky was. Like a thicket of overcast with bright, orange-ish red hues beneath it in the horizon. It deinitely was post apocalyptic.
"Anyway, I'm Anna McGraw, good to meet a fellow survivor, Nova."
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Jun 30, 2011 10:54:23 GMT -5
"Like wise, ma'am. Not many humans last long out here," Cat replied with her own sentiment while wiping sleep from her eye. The bronze haired girl took a step forwards; for her age the woman was pretty fit hopping down ten odd feet without a wince of pain. She looked matured; Cat would even go as far as to say elderly given her complexion and tone of voice. In a 'wise' sort of way, of course.
The dirtied girl procured a bit of tech from her pocket, tossing and catching it a couple of times, "Another 24 hours. Hmph. I guess it's nothing after a month of this sh*t," she held it out, a dial with a small needle wobbled over the lowest point, "If you plan on moving about I hope you brought one of these, unless you wanna get irradiated. I'll tell you right now-" she pointed over yonder, "Forest that way has some pretty bad ass radiation. Helps if you got a gas mask too. You might be able to scrounge one up from a local," she stuck the geiger counter back in her pocket, "T-Virus and radiation combo's made some pretty f*cked up creatures around here too. If yer new to Russia, yer new to the monsters this neck of the woods."
Stretching and pushing her chest out, yawning at the same time, "Welp. Which way're you goin'? I don't have much better to do. I could help you dodge irradiated areas."
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Post by NotAvailable on Jun 30, 2011 13:17:57 GMT -5
Anna looked off toward the general area Nova pointed out. She had known about the terrible radiation and of course infection rate in Russia. The Pilot wouldn't shut up about it earlier. The redhead grimaced when she'd offered tagging along. That was the opposite of what she wanted to have happen.
"I'm fine, I've come prepa--" she stopped almost immediately, realizing her bag wasn't over her shoulder. Another annoyed look about her scarred face and a good palm inserted to face later and she sighed, shrugging her shoulders.
"Dammit, Chuck..." she grumbled, cursing the pilot. He'd flown off without dropping her bag down from the seat beside him. Before long, the agent sighed yet again and in a defeated tone, she'd glanced back over at the woman.
"Know the way to one of them places where they store their grain, 'round here? I know there's a secured facility for it, hell, I know there's multiple ones, according to my Russian friend back home... but I'm looking for a very specific one with survivors, perferrably," Anna went on to ask.
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Jul 1, 2011 8:24:55 GMT -5
"You mean like silos and stuff?" Cat raised an eyebrow; she had started playing with her hair, tying it up into a bun, "There's a spot 'bout a klick from here. Place looked ran out to me, avoided it after I saw couple'a zombies rollin' roun'," the girl pulled one sling of her pack of, pulling it around to access the top and get her gas mask out. It stood as a creature comfort keeping it at standby sitting on top of her head.
One last yawn and she was ready to go, "Jus' gotta follow the tracks, McGraw. The plantation syncs up with the rails eventually where the stuff gets hauled off," Cat kept a pace over the tracks support, avoiding having to change footing with each step.
It was a particularly quiet walk during the distance. Catori got the feeling the lady didn't particularly want to talk, or had some sort of vendetta against conversation. No problem, most people preferred not to talk anyway. It let them keep an eye out for any unsavory beings; being out in the upon such as they were made things a little dangerous. Really, stepping off the train track was more dangerous. Some of the flooded areas which broke into swamp had a habit of looking shallower than they really were and acted like super quick sand. Handy when you're trying to get out of a squeeze; for other things, though, it seemed to benefit them. It was always mentally jaunting to see an animal get dragged off into the depths for Cat.
After a while it felt good traveling with company. Like a couple of random buskers sitting down and having a jam, it felt plain cool. Cat figured they played the same sort of music anyway, so the anagram kind of stuck with her.
It wasn't much longer until the rusted silos came into view, still a ways off, "Told'ya. Zilcho activity," Cat shrugged, "If there were survivors there, there aren't any now."
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Post by NotAvailable on Jul 1, 2011 16:08:04 GMT -5
The long walk had been a silent one. Wasn't as ackward as the redhead would have expected. The silence kept her mind jogging with her mission. Finding her friends was actively playing an important role to keep her sanity in check. Along the way she'd taken note to the swampy environment that was once the railroads. A long stretch and mesh of tracks, plenty of mud and shallow, dirty, mucky, puddles later and she was still slap dab in the middle of an endless, failed, scenic route.
The brunette had been pacing her steps and looking about, quietly. She'd steadied herself around the tracks when she'd finally spoke up about the Silos Factory and how their area had been completely depleted of human life.
The Agent shrugged a bit. She knew the people she were searching for, it'd take more than radiation to kill them, the determined bastards.
"That's only one factory, there are more out here. Still doesn't hurt to check things out, never know what you'll find," Anna told Nova with a passive attitude.
"You know, besides mutated B.O.W.s or animals... or insects..." she trailed off with a slight twang of humor in her tone.
It really had been two months since she'd really been anywhere. She'd spent those months in Lake Trinity with Richard and Aryn, which was nice, but she'd always been more of a drifter, or a vagabond, whichever term seemed more appropriate. Richard knew he was too but having a child meant safety and settling down was dominate. Afterall, she herself was a parent.
Progressively, the woman's demeanor had began to shift as her mind wandered farther away about tons of things. Long enough not to notice that the drizzle had turned into practically a shower. Glancing up, she'd groaned.
"Looks like the weathers sh*ttin' on us."
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Jul 2, 2011 12:47:28 GMT -5
Cat scrunched her nose, "You get used to it," she said while looking up to the sky, her hands on her hips, "It's, like, always overcast in this area. Place doesn't know if it wants to clear up or rain cats and dogs," the rain had grown on the survivalist girl; the only real gripe she had was the racket it made. Sometimes it would be far too noisy to hear anything else, which incidentally made things all the more dangerous.
A small metre and a half incline acted as a bank all the way along the train track. The slick ground made climbing down a hazard; with a little balance it wouldn't be much an obstacle for either women. Cat slid down wobbling a bit as she hit the bottom; the Native was soaked through enough as it were. No need to add to that, she figured.
"I reckon we got maybe an hour before the water rises too high to handle. Y'don' wanna be in it once you're able to do breaststroke," Cat estimated, squelching through puddles, "Wanna be back to the track by then. We could wait on the roof, but it could be a while before the water recedes again."
It wasn't as if she were some legendary survivor; Catori was just lucky to know these things. Most of the time it was at the expense of something else's death. She wasn't about to apologize either; her fortune would run out at some stage too.
She kicked open one of the rickety doors to a silo. Empty, of everything. Putting her hand against the frame and leaning in to see light seep through cracks in the roof; steady miniature waterfalls dripping down from the holes, their sounds metallic echoing about the rusty super-container.
"Hey, what'd you say you were looking for anyway?" Cat asked, looking back to Anna, "Crummy corner of the world to have lost it," she gazed back at the darkness for a moment before shutting the door.
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Post by NotAvailable on Jul 2, 2011 14:16:27 GMT -5
The readhead had to flinch when Nova had went on about how high the rain water would get around here. Rain water carried both viral infection and radiation from radioactive areas, definitely something she didn't need. She didn't like the idea of waiting on the roof of the SIlo either. That leaves them open for any sort of creature attack. Including birds. Something else she'd rather avoid on this trip.
As they'd finally entered the old, run downed, Silo, Anna took a look around. It did seem pretty empty save for what looked like some dead birds which was completely abnormal to find here. Any tracces of contained crops had been almost depleted. It wasn't that they were all dead but that they were all gone. A majority of them, anyway.
The agent walked further in when Nova asked what it was she was looking for. Anna smirked, contemplating a cheesey one liner like, 'My past...' but immediately sobered up.
"I'm looking for some survivors. Just a few faces from my past, ya know how it is.'' she told the woman while moving deeper inside. It was completely rusted over, probably due to excess moisture from weather exposure. She's looked up momentarily to look at the holes in the roof. Some of those holes were just too big to have been any sort of accident. It looked like someone busted in there. The broken chains around the inside of the entrance doors gave that away as well.
"Someone was here though. I don't know how recent but they were here."
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Jul 4, 2011 10:41:41 GMT -5
"Eh-" Cat waved her hand in a no harm no foul way, "Prolly just some birds. Radiation gives'em a nasty brain hemorrhage. Head pops, outta the sky they come," she shrugged while looking about, unable to see any bodies under the water, "Let's check out the farmhouse. If anyone laid low best spot would be the second floor there."
From the response she received Cat decided not to press on who Anna was searching for. It sounded personal from the history they had; the archer couldn't admit to care enough for that, so she was cool hanging out with the mystery woman for the time being.
Water reached her ankles now, the cold bit Cat's toes. She trudged through causing heavy splashes while keeping her balance, it felt good to get up onto the porch after all that, "Damn," she shook her feet, "Gonna need to make a fire and cook my shoes after all this," flapping her arms to remove as much precipitation as possible, "I hope you brought a change of socks. It'll get real uncomfortable real fast otherw-" she recalled Anna's realization that she were missing her back pack, "Don't worry, you can borrow some of mine."
Cat smiled with her eyes before switching her attention to the front door, unsheathing her machete. With a deep breath the brunette slammed her heel into the wood busting it clean open and stepping inside with her machete above her head, quickly covering all vulnerable directions, "Clean," she announced while letting her arm dangle, drawing her Sigma. The pistol weighed a ton with its attachments; the hunter made that obvious after sliding the scope off its rail.
Catori started unzipping the sleeves of her jacket, peeling them away like a banana skin letting them dangle behind to free her arms up, "Okay. Which floor d'you wanna take?" she asked, looking back at Anna with an eyebrow raised.
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Post by NotAvailable on Jul 4, 2011 22:01:04 GMT -5
The redhead shrugged a bit and started moving toward the aging, rickety staircase. It was pretty unsettling that the farm house was uncanny to her home back in Kentucky. Of course that's something to be expected of a typica farm house in the middle of nowhere. She didn't mean to sound rude and just walk off without saying a thing to Nova, but it happened that way anyway.
As she started ascending the stairs, they'd creaked and claacked beneath her feet. Her hand glided up the rail and thankfully she wore gloves, otherwise she'd probably get a splinter from the worn out wood. Hitting the top of the stairs, it'd seemed normal enough. There was hideous floral wallpaper layering the walls, four doors and a window straight down. She'd carefully unholstered her Colt and moved forward, the wooden floors still creaking in her ears.
For a moment, the halls had flashed before her and the ugly wall paper had been replaced with teal paint and rosewood floors. She could hear voices coming from one of the rooms ahead, the door cracked open. Anna shook her head and grasped at it with her hand.
"No... not right now.."
"Lucy, remember this is gonna be the wallpaper that stays in your room for a long time."
"I know, mommy. I want the roses!"
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Jul 5, 2011 4:52:48 GMT -5
In the kitchen, turning a stained coffee mug in her hands. '#1 Mom' Cat read on the side. It was in Russian of course. She slapped the mug down an inch from where it originally sat, a ring left in a pile of dust. The rest of the kitchen was just that: dust, the humidity made it uncomfortably mucky. The sink left a lot of cleanliness to be desired for; the native avoided looking at the plug hole.
A rusted iron door stood out from the rest of the cupboards and pantries built into the wall; a thick, heavy chain made things all the more suspicious. Cat tugged at it. Even after being hit with the elements it remained strong; she managed to wedge the door open far enough to see a staircase leading into a basement. A fraction of light could cut through the dust shimmering on a puddle of water, "'n what was being hidden' down there," the brunette sighed through her nose, "Bound to be another way in."
Pushing away from the basement entrance and heading for the backdoor, Cat let the fly wire screen slam shut on its spring behind her. She continued along the porch to a more industrial side of the house, log chopping and wood chipping. More rain picked up and the sound of droplets needling the high tide made one hell of a racket.
Holding an arm above her head Cat jumped out into water just passing her calves now, wading around the wood shed. Soon enough she began to feel a current pulling at her feet, following the flow of water to the outside basement entrance. It was marginally elevated, the owners having somewhat perception of floods, so not a terrible amount of water made it in. All it had in its name to hold it down were several planks of wood and a simple lock.
Cat shot the lock off, the bullet ricocheting at an angle and skipping along the water. With a little resourcefulness she located an axe, hacking and wedging away the planks to free up the entrance. What light existed in the day spilled into a severely flooded basement, perhaps a little worse than what existed outside.
"Eh. There's enough time," Cat said, fancying herself as a decent swimmer anyway and carefully descending down the slippery wooden steps. A sharp click echoed about the rotten pillars bringing a beam of light with it. She frowned.
There wasn't really anything down here. In fact the place looked stripped clean. It took until Catori walked further into the basement for her to spot something out of the norm. It looked like stakes sticking out of the water, one of them in particular resembling the christian cross, "f**k."
The bun haired girl was about to turn back for the exit when something large suddenly slid through its maw blocking all light. Cat squeaked, "Sh*t-sh*t-sh*t-" turning in the knee high water and barreling for the staircase out.
Water ceased to pull at her feet after climbing half a flight. She collided with the door feeling the chain link rattle, "Nnngyah!" Cat looked back down the stairs to see hands reaching out of the water and clawing at the stairs. She pushed the door open as far as possible trying to put her mouth through the crack, "Anna! Help!"
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