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Post by NotAvailable on Jul 7, 2011 8:35:59 GMT -5
Chase had took a long drag of his cigarette and let out a cloud of smoke, squinting his eyes a bit and concentrating on the roads ahead. Something Kidd had said earlier had bounded around in his head. Because of it, he created ritual rounds around the treelines to ensure their safety. He kept this up for another six hours when the camp was completely silent besides the light, occasional, snoring.
The tall man had relaxed a bit and put his cigarette out in the side of the bus before dropping it and sighing. He still had contemplated what to tell the Colonel when they got to Stoneville and he'd leave. He'd travelled with the Convoy for awhile now but he needed to reunite with his partner. She would be around soon and it was probably best that his partner knew before she's get the jump on her. Right now, she was already in Russia for Lord knows what reasons in which case, she was treading in the relentless merc's territory.
As he thought about that and the monster Kidd went on about, he'd swore under his breath a bit, frustrated with both situations. That's when he heard a scuffle going on towards the woods. Moving on over, he could faintly make out Colonel Masters being grabbed by what looked like a man. She'd stabbed him in the side but he didn't even seem to flinch.
Whipping out his side arm, he'd ran into the scene and took two shots at the man, nailing him in the arm and the same side he was stabbed. Masters had punched him around the same time and when she did, he couldn't take another shot, she'd moved into his target. The man let her go, however and fled into the woods.
Chase ran upto Masters, grasping her shoulder and glaring off toward the direction he'd disappeared.
"Colonel, are you alright?" he asked before slowly bringing his gaze back to the woman.
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Post by Winters on Jul 7, 2011 14:25:12 GMT -5
Not seconds after the scene had unfolded, a handful of the camp had been woken up by the gunfire, Barry being one of them. Grabbing the Glock 17 from the seat, he quickly moved out of the bus and not long after that arrived at the scene. He had the sidearm drawn like a modern gangster, a firm aim at the treeline but his eye contact on the Colonel other two. "That there wunt no man, ive hunted them. Human on the outside, but animal on the inside..." Barry started into the treeline, keeping his finger on the trigger, and his eye sharp for any movement. He knew it would come fast, or not at all. "Dont know for sure if its going to stick around, too much people here alerted to the gunshots. Lets just warn everybody and depart a soon as we-"
But as he spoke out, Barry was hit in the chest, and felt a kick to his wrist. The glock flew into the air as he was send back a good five feet to the ground, and the man now held his gun, aiming it at Masters and Chase. The way he held it was military, a soldier, somebody who held a gun for more than half of his life. However, the both of them already had their guns pointed at him, and ready to fire.
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Post by Caliber on Jul 7, 2011 18:14:43 GMT -5
Masters sat on the asphalt, grasping her own throat, her legs out to the side. She let her bangs hang over her face as she caughed. Before she had time to stand, Chase had already been at her side, asking if she was alright.
"I'm fine, it's okay," she told him in a rasp-y voice, caughing again.
The entire camp was now on alert. Civilians in the school bus were all crowded against the windows, looking out, and soldiers were surveying the area. A man came closer, aiming his Glock pistol at the treeline, and began speaking. Before he could finish, the creature darted out of the trees again, and kicked him to the ground. Somehow, the creature ended up with the pistol, and was now aiming it directly at Masters and Chase. Several yelps and screams were heard from the school bus as people backed away from the windows.
Masters sat on the ground, unarmed, while Chase aimed back at the creature.
Inside the school bus, Lisa carefully (and quietly) hopped out of the back emergency exit. She landed in the gravel, and immediately crawled under the bus. Next to one of the tires, was Masters' rifle, that had been launched out of her hands. Lisa gripped the rifle against her chest and rolled out from under the bus.
"Colonel!" she yelled, sliding the rifle across the road, to Masters' feet.
While the creature was distracted by the girl, Masters snatched up the rifle, retracted the bolt, expent the empty cartridge, and loaded the next into the chamber. She took aim at the creature's chest, roughly ten feet away, and pulled the trigger.
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Post by NotAvailable on Jul 7, 2011 18:41:38 GMT -5
When the Colonel had gotten the rifle, she'd rolled onto her feet and within a matter of seconds fired at the bastard. He hadn't much time to tend to Barry but he knew the ol' Cowboy was gonna be fine. He held his firearms steady and watched the man barely reel back. It was almost as if he'd barely felt it. He wanted to shoot at him, hell, all instincts had urged him to kick the bastard and empty a clip into his face but he hadn't.
He was still human, he looked it, anyway. "Masters, shootin' the f*ck isn't killing 'im. We'll hafta shoot him between the eyes!" he told her before glancing at the man and scowling.
"Whaddya want!? You're not tryin' to kill us right off so what the hell are ya up to?!" he yelled. The other men hadn't even waited for any command or an answer, they'd began shooting off rounds from their assault rifles and shotguns. The man dove behind one of the vehicles for cover.
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Post by Winters on Jul 7, 2011 19:22:54 GMT -5
Feeling the deep impact in his abdominal, the man still aimed the gun at the one who spoke. He didnt really think they would shoot him, but in the blink of an eye, things changed quickly. Diving behind one of the vehicles, he felt the bullets from the other soldiers in the convoy start to breeze by him. Feeling the wounds on his body, the man lay on the ground, eyes closed. He couldnt control himself, he needed other people to do it for him, and the bullets were stopping him for the time being. They were snapping him back into reality, his own self, or rather the person he used to be.
Reaching into his pocket, the man pulled out a leather wallet, and from that an ID Badge with the BSAA logo in a metal plate along the front. Now hunched up against the vehicle, he held onto it, and just lay back, letting the pain subside and his wounds begin to slowly heal. The bloodloss stopped already, is as far as things would go until the bullets were cleaned out, and he was in now shape to do it himself. For the first time since going into a frenzy, the man felt in control, but it was already too late.
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Post by Caliber on Jul 7, 2011 20:06:08 GMT -5
The other soldiers began firing there weapons, but the creature dove for cover. Masters retracted the bolt of her rifle and slammed it forward again, ejecting the empty cartridge. All guns were trained on the jeep that the creature had dove behind. After a short silence, Masters adressed her soldiers.
"Hold your fire!" she yelled, putting her fist in the air, using a hand signal.
Masters picked up her Kukri and returned it to its sheath, then grabbed her pistol as she walked by it, returning it to its place, as well. She kept her rifle trained on the vehicle, and she could clearly see that the man on the other side was lying against it in pain. Just as she took another step closer, the man held an ID card up high enough to be seen over the hood of the car. Masters reached over and took the ID card out of the man's hand, looking at it.
"The hell..." she said quietly to herself. "He's B.S.A.A.!" she yelled to her soldiers.
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Post by NotAvailable on Jul 7, 2011 20:13:52 GMT -5
Chase walked after Masters and quickly grasped her arm, sharply. He'd kept his eyes on the man, shining his light over his face. He seemed sickly and miserable. When he'd seen the wallet in his hands, a familiar badge insignia in it, he'd crouched down, still keeping his gun pointing at him as he'd let Masters go.
"You're B.S.A.A..." he trailed off. He'd taken another glance at the man, squinting an eye at him. "What's your name, son?" the Lieutenant asked. He didn't look very old, weary, but youthful. He'd never seen this agent before on base though, atleast, he didn't think so and he'd been in the B.S.A.A. for almost a decade or so.
"Colonel, I think he's okay now..."
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Post by Winters on Jul 7, 2011 21:17:25 GMT -5
Opening up his eyes, the man stood up from the ground, the other helping him stay on his feet. "Listen, you dont wanna know me. Just get these bullets out, and ill be on my way... Im going to Stoneville, looking for someone. I dont wanna set you back any, but I need medical attention. Just the bullets, I can manage the rest on my own. I dont have anything to trade." It was good to see the others not shooting back at him, but it was obvious that they would be confused about the mishap before. It would be foolish for them to even call it a mishap, it wouldve turned into a massacre had theyre aim be a little more off.
"Your not gonna like what you see, im... Infected. Starting the mutate on the inside, just under the skin. I can feel it. Im not going to change again, not today. Just help me get the bullets out, and ill be fine."
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Post by Caliber on Jul 8, 2011 6:05:20 GMT -5
Masters listened as the man spoke, unsure of what to do. After all, he had just tried to kill her.
"Well, we don't have anybody with more than basic medical exper--" Masters began, pausing mid-sentence. "Oh, wait, we... have a nurse. I won't force her to help you, if she wants to step up, she can."
Masters looked around, scoping out the crowd that was staring at her, watching the scene unfold. She knew the nurse was wearing bright pink scrubs, and it would be easy to pick her out of a crowd. She easily found the woman, who was leaning against the tire of the school bus, kneeling on the ground.
"Lisa, right?" she yelled over to the girl, giving the girl a 'come here' signal with her hand.
Lisa stood up, surprised that she was being addressed. She jogged over to Masters, shooting a glance at the wounded man.
"Oh," she said, immediately understanding why she was called over. "I'm... just a nurse-- I can barely do a proper suture."
She shrugged, looking back and forth between Masters and the man.
"I guess I could try to do my best, though..." Lisa said, reluctantly.
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Post by NotAvailable on Jul 8, 2011 6:19:34 GMT -5
Chase reached down, grasping under the man's arms while The Colonel kept her weapon on him. Lisa was going to try to help him out best to her ability but the only way to get that done was to place him in proper lighting and somewhere more sterile. He hadn't ignored the part where he mentioned 'infected', but he'd question that later.
"I'll assist Lisa, Colonel. Ethan! Kyle! Get yer ass over here and help me!'' he called to two other men. They'd ran over, relieving Chase of the man's weight and pulling him toward the back of the bus, where the other occupying it had fled from the inside.
Lisa had began to prep herself for the procedure and it was obvious she was a little nervous. She was dealing with something she knew little about not to mention touching infected blood. He'd made sure to pass her some rubber gloves from the bag given to them. Masters was nearby, probably ready to press him for questions.
"You said you're lookin' for someone. Who?" he asked.
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Post by Winters on Jul 8, 2011 19:35:33 GMT -5
Fully confident that his ID badge was in good hands, Arc was relieved that he was in the presence of people that could handle themselves. "Its one thing to be the burden to somebody, but another when they cant hold it up on their own shoulders. Im looking for a red headed woman, or rather the group of people she was with. If youve seen her, youd know what im talking about..." Arc didnt like being honest about something like this, but since they were already going out of their way to help him, the least he could do was be straight with them. "...I was with her group, and we got separated. Just wanted to let them know that I was still... Human..." When Arc spoke in the tone he did, it was unclear whether he was joking about not turning from a previous wound, or if it was in their general concern that he was alive. The former couldnt be any closer to the truth, written in the undertones of the sentence.
~~
The sun was coming up, but it wasnt very bright out yet, so the only place they could take the man was inside of one of the busses. Peering up the bus from the outside, Barry seen the others carry the man inside and lay him on a stretcher that came out form under another seat. It was the easiest way for somebody to lay down and receive medical attention, better then laying them on the ground, or an unsterilized seat. Looking at the mans wounds when he got inside, Barry got a little nervous, as did the few others that remained on the bus. There was no way they were going back to sleep now, he morning started with a bang.
"Ya know, ive fired my gun quicker then any zombie could open their mouth, and quicker than any man could unbutton their holster. You reacted faster than anything I seen. A soldier, no doubt, and a damn good one at that. But theres something else --" Getting a look from Chase made Barry zip his mouth, and nod. After that, he walked back to his seat at the end of the bus, still keeping eye contact with the man. Arc knew that he was the only one here so far that seen him do something inhumane in clear light, and would definitely be keeping his guard up. No matter how nice these people were to him, Arc wasnt going to compromise another group of people just to get his point across. He was a killer, always was and always will be. Its how he killed from now on that decided who he really was.
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Post by NotAvailable on Jul 8, 2011 22:41:51 GMT -5
Chase reeled his head back a bit. He was looking for a redheaded woman and a group of people? Was he talking about his partner and the Checkpoint? He wasn't sure but he did say if he'd seen her, he'd know what he was talking about. If that was the case, maybe this was the wandering soldier she'd told him she'd met early this year when the outbreak first started. He didn't know what to say or what Agent McGraw would want him to say. As Lisa went to work on the man, Barry had began to go off about something extraordinary about Arc but Chase shot a glance at him. He'd gotten quiet afterwards in respect.
He crouched down in the bus and looked over the woulds the nurse had tended to.
"You say a redhead? Short in height, messy hair, brown eyes, scarred face?" he asked. "What do you want with her?" The man had gone off to say that he wanted to let them know he was still human. He didn't know if he would say that himself, but the guy really didn't seem like a bad guy.
"You're looking for the Checkpoint, huh? No point, she's not there."
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Post by Winters on Jul 9, 2011 21:34:18 GMT -5
"Shes not there? Who is there? Did something happen? Did it get overrun?" Arc had began to panic, even if just a little. It was so easy for something perfect to be taken away, and if The Checkpoint had gone under, it wouldve been his own fault for not staying. There was reasons he left, and there was reasons he couldve stayed. The reasons he left just came first, no idea why, they just did. His mind had been racing in different directions for the longest time, and just when he was about to stop and settle down, something else came along and prevented him from doing that. When nothing was around to prevent him from leaving, he would leave just because of the thought of something worse happening.
But after a few moments, Arc just lay still and let the nurse do what she needed to do, and keep still. "Do you know where I can find her? I know shes not dead, shes too good at staying alive to quit. If you dont know, or dont wanna tell me, then at least point me in the right direction. If you cant even do that, then I guess im wasting my time." For one reason or another, Arc had been getting angry. More than likely another effect of his condition, but to these people, it wouldve been a personality trait. But really, he didnt care what kind of impression he made, he just wanted to find Anna, and make sure she was alright. Arc had been jabbed with a needle, he could tell, even though he had no feeling. Looking at the nurse, Lisa, he spoke out in a light tone. "Just help me..."
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Post by NotAvailable on Jul 10, 2011 14:57:36 GMT -5
Chase listened to the delirious man as he grew increasingly irritated with assumptions that something could have happened to Anna. She was fine, as far as he'd known. The Checkpoint was fine as well...also as far as he'd known. He chuckled.
"Yeah, nothing can kill that woman," he'd mentioned his gaze drifting off elsewhere. He was contemplating telling this guy about her whereabouts but he seemed to know her well and talked highly of her. He had to be the soldier she'd told him about.
"Anna's my B.S.A.A. partner. So I'm dedicated to keeping her safe. I'll tell ya what I know but I'm goin' with ya to go see her. I promised someone at the checkpoint I'd make sure she was alright," he explained, watching Lisa work on the man's wounds.
"She's in Russia right now. Lookin' for some old friends. The chopper at the station in Stoneville took her back to HQ and from there she'd gotten a ride out to Russia. We can get a ride there but it'd take awhile...."
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Post by Caliber on Jul 10, 2011 16:27:05 GMT -5
Masters stepped back and let the situation play out, letting everyone play their part. She watched as the 'Arcian' guy, as designated on his identification, was loaded onto a stretcher. Lisa flinched and hesitated as she prepared to clean up the man's wounds. She poured isopropyl alcohol onto a dish towel, and prepared the suture kit. Examining the man's wounds, she noticed that the skin had already began to heal, and the bleeding had stopped-- he'd be fine on his own, if he had to.
"Your skin is... already healing over the wounds. There aren't an equal number of entry and exit wounds, which means you've still got a few slugs inside ya'," she told the man. "I'm not a surgeon, so I'm not going to cut you open. The best I can do is clean out the wounds and bandage you up, that's all."
Lisa hunched down, preparing to press the alcohol-soaked rag against the wounds. She knew this was going to hurt, and was afraid of being attacked. Farther off in the camp, behind one of the vehicles, Masters aimed down the scope of her rifle, keeping the reticle on the man. She lowered the rifle and began walking toward the stretcher, in case she was going to be needed once Lisa began. With Masters only a few feet behind, Lisa pressed the rag against the man's wounds.
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