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| Dead Men Walking | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,960 Views) | |
| DoctorYerishi | Jun 6 2015, 12:37 PM Post #1741 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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“Good,” Eli said, nodding appreciatively at Kelsey before turning back to Antonio. “Then go ahead and get in. I’ll take one more ride up top.” He gulped a little just saying that – being up there was not fun. Maybe 15 years ago it would have been. Today, at his age, and in his frame of mind, the recklessness of it just made him cranky. If he lost his grip or if the driver got into an accident, he could break one of his limbs. And if he did that, he’d become a drag on the group, the very last thing he ever wanted to be. But time was of the essence, and it was better than walking. He could do it one more time – just to the other side of campus. He walked away from Antonio, making it clear the discussion had ended, at least on his part. He moved over to Brandon, getting close. Before speaking, he reached onto the roof and retrieved Antonio’s shotgun from where he left it. He held it out with one hand for Brandon to take. “What do you think of all this?” Eli hung his head, looking up at Brandon and speaking low. |
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| Strompy | Jun 6 2015, 07:35 PM Post #1742 |
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More posts, more Busey.
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Brandon considered the priest before he replied. Just a few days ago he'd a spent a night praying to God for Willow. When she woke up and told him she loved him he was certain he'd been heard. He had looked at all the near misses they'd had and their incredible luck in finding Marcus and Candice, and determined that God may be protecting them. Of course he'd been emotionally distressed, mentally and physically fatigued at the time so he was receptive to all kinds of nonsense. Glenda's death confirmed that. Then Julie and Randall? He should be grateful to someone who let his family and friends die along with all but a few people in the entire country? That was insane. Anyone who saw this as God's work and thanked Him for not killing everyone was either insane or had incredibly low standards. This wasn't the work of God or a matter of sheer furtune. They saved this guy because they were in the area. They were in the area because they were looking for Nolan. He and Nolan had met because they were two of the few survivors in this city. None of it was luck, they'd chosen to come here and chosen to save him. This was their work, not God's. This guy could be just like Max. But then, this guy wore his crazy on his sleeve. There'd be no surprises from him at least. Brandon gave his answer to Eli by holding Antonio's shotgun out for him to reclaim. He was no threat. Only an idiot would try anything with this many armed and practiced killers around him. Brandon alone had killed... was it five people? Six? "I think we've got a good head of steam now. If you think his information is reliable then I say we keep up our momentum and jump on this lead ASAP." Brandon said as he detatched his magazine to check his ammo. |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | Jun 6 2015, 08:55 PM Post #1743 |
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Is that so?
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Antonio accepted his shotgun back from the blonde man. Brandon was his name. "Thank you." He gave Brandon a slight bow of his head. He grabbed the weapon with his fingers off the trigger and lowered it to make sure it was in the least threatening position possible. "Don't worry, the church is not far. By car it will only take a few minutes." Antonio tried to assure him. * * * * * "Looks like we got our answer." Willow mused with a drawn out sigh as Brandon gave the priest his shotgun back. She hadn't been sure what to think of this priest. Father Antonio Mendez he had introduced himself as. She had never really known any priests, but he seemed to fit the description pretty well. Even his inflection sounded humble. Or at least it was more humble than Maxwell's had been; whenever you spoke with him he sounded like he was being condescending. Like he knew more than you did. Willow had seen a few stories on the Butcher of London, but the speculation all said he was probably charismatic and charming. Maxwell had been pretentious and self-absorbed. He probably enjoyed killing women because they were easy prey. The second the tables turned around, she was told that he had cried like a baby. A psychopathic manchild if there ever had been one. Thinking about that smug bastard and everything he had done made Willow want to vomit. The fact she almost trusted him made it even worse. While she was hesitant to make that mistake again, this priest seemed different from Maxwell. But that didn't make him potentially any less dangerous. Picking up Emily was dangerous enough -- Willow had almost voted to leave her behind -- but now they were picking up a second. Willow still had a lot of questions for the priest; why was a priest using a shotgun? Why did he seem so calm and collected despite all this chaos? Why did he praise a God that had let the world degenerate into this? There would be time for that later though. Right now, they were burning daylight. "Sounds like Eli is riding on the back again." Jen told Willow. "Least until we get to this church. Guess you're still driving?" "Guess so." She responded. "This time we can go slowly for him since we won't have rotters on our tail." * * * * * Willow drove slowly to help Eli along. Antonio directed her; she was to go down 1st Avenue, and then take a left on Melrose after making it through the University campus. There were more than a handful of rotters on the campus, but they were spread out enough that Willow was easily and gently able to weave through them. By the time the rotters could turn themselves to face the van, they were already past them and going down the road. True to Antonio's word, the trip only took a few minutes. He led them into a small suburban area just outside the campus and pointed it out as they approached. It looked like a larger than average, modern house. A widespread, single story stone house with residential doorways and a wheelchair accessible ramp up. If it had not been for the quaint parking lot and the sign on the front lawn that read 'First Mennonite Church', Willow would not have guessed it was a church from the front. Maybe the house of a rich person, but not a church. What surprised her just as much was the complete lack of any rotters in the immediate area. There were small, suburban houses on all sides, but they all looked abandoned and quiet. No rotters. Not even any corpses. "No need to worry about the fallen." Antonio was quick to explain as Willow pulled the van up alongside the church. "I took care of them early on. Every once in a while, a couple will slip into the neighborhood, but they are easily dealt with in such small numbers. Overall, this is one of the safest places in the city right now." As Antonio opened up his own door to grab his stuff, Willow popped open the driver's side door and peered toward the roof of the van. "How was the ride, boss?" |
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| DoctorYerishi | Jun 6 2015, 09:05 PM Post #1744 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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“Never again,” Eli answered as he brushed himself off. Once again, he relieved to be back on solid ground. He let himself soak in that relief for all of two seconds before he scanned the area with suspicion. Everything looked to be as the priest said. These days, though, even good news was suspicious. Hell, the good news was especially suspicious. Eli didn’t think he’d ever be able to trust again fully. “Get your truck and let’s go,” he added quickly. “I’m riding with you.” He took a few steps towards the front seat, then held his palm as he addressed Willow. “Stay close,” he instructed. “An’ let me get my radio back, in case something happens.” |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | Jun 6 2015, 09:41 PM Post #1745 |
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Is that so?
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"You know, you could have just sat inside with the rest of us." Willow managed a smile as she handed Eli the radio he had lent her. "I'm sure Connor would have been okay squeezed next to his mom for just a few minutes." If he didn't look so flustered, Willow might have guessed he had wanted to ride on top of the van. Had she been in better health, a part of her would have wanted to try it. There weren't many times one had a legitimate excuse to ride on top of a driving car. Sure, it was probably pretty stupid, but Willow had always been good at stupid. "We'll be close, don't worry." She assured him afterward. * * * * * Antonio already had a majority of his belongings. In the small bag he had been scavenging with he carried what few worldly possessions he still had, what small amount of food he had obtained, and the extra rounds for his weapons. Had he ever been robbed, he would have lost everything. But he did not have much to give in the first place. If God willed for him to be robbed, then at least his supplies would go to aid someone else in need and maybe the Bible he carried within would help convert one of his thieves. "It is the old, white Dodge pickup in the parking lot." Antonio pointed to the truck he had just described. There were a few cars in the lot, but that was the one with the most gasoline. And the most carrying capacity. Antonio had stripped most of the groundskeeping supplies that had once adorned it and the truck looked more bare than it ever had in the past. But since it was a 4-door from the turn of the millennium, it did have enough seating capacity to lessen the load on the van. If they ever came to trust him enough. |
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| DoctorYerishi | Jun 7 2015, 12:29 AM Post #1746 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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Eli grunted an acknowledgement as he led the way to the truck. He was in no mood to tarry and they were losing valuable daylight with every passing minute, so he didn’t wait to open the passenger’s side door and climb in. When he was seated – and he was thankful to be in a seat this time, and not on the roof – he realized it might be just a little too awkward if they drove in complete silence. So he asked an obvious question right off. It was one he was legitimately curious about, even if he would have been fine with shoving it aside for good. “So what have you even been doing out here for the last few weeks?” he asked. “You said you haven’t seen anyone in a while. Why’s it taken you so long to check out these relief camps you pointed everyone to?” |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | Jun 7 2015, 01:55 AM Post #1747 |
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Is that so?
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Before he said anything, Antonio reached over and dug the keys out of the glove compartment and turned on the truck. He was glad that this man -- Eli he had learned his name was -- decided to at least try to talk with him. Antonio liked to talk. It was part of the reason he had gotten into this particular line of work. "When Kinnick Stadium was brought down from within, there was a pretty big panic. People that had been taking shelter there ran in all directions like animals from a fire." Antonio shifted the truck into reverse and pulled it out of its parking space. He paused to take one last look at the Mennonite Church that had been housing him these past few weeks. It may not have been his denomination, but they worshiped the same God. And Antonio never felt safer than he did inside the house of God. But as long as he was faithful, God would watch over him. That was what Antonio believed. The van that the others were driving pulled up behind Antonio's truck as he drove by. He could see the woman with the pink hair was driving and the silent mountain man in the passenger seat. As per their agreement, they would follow him to the high school. "A good number of people were successfully evacuated, but nothing could be done for those that fled. So I stayed behind. Those sheep had left their flock were still out there and I felt it was my duty to find as many as I could and bring them back into the fold. Since I was standing against the forces of evil, I made sure to come prepared." Antonio nodded to the shotgun. "In the early days, I must have helped direct at least a hundred people down there. But after a couple of weeks, I stopped finding people entirely. They either all got out of town or succumbed to the fallen." |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | Jun 7 2015, 03:51 AM Post #1748 |
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Is that so?
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"So, Willow and Emily and I were kinda talking about this earlier..." Jen decided to break the silence inside the van as they started moving; she was mostly talking to Emmett, Annie, and Brandon. "But what do the rest of you guys think about this priest guy? Antonio. I know you guys aren't too great with new faces, but... I don't think he's so bad. Didn't think anyone was too religious these days, but that doesn't really bother me much." |
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| Strompy | Jun 7 2015, 06:52 AM Post #1749 |
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More posts, more Busey.
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"He isn't a threat and he's given us some promising info. If he turns out to be nuts at least we won't let it come as a surprise this time." Brandon mused with a slightly bitter note. "This time?" Emily inquired. Brandon had completely forgotten she wasn't aware of what had happened. He'd fill her in with an up to date account of their trip later, with one or two omissions. He trusted Emily but he understood the others had no concrete reason to, and he wasn't about betray their trust by divulging certain details before they felt it was okay. Chiefly that was the cure, how they found Emmett and of course why he was following them in the first place. "We picked up the wrong person and a lot of really good people died because of it." Brandon summarized. "A lot of very bad people too." he added with a hint of vengeful satisfaction. Emily decided now wasn't the best time to inquire about that any further, it was likely still a sore topic for everyone. "I think this guy's on the level. A whole different level, but at least that's obvious about him. He's not setting off any alarm bells." Emily remarked. |
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| DoctorYerishi | Jun 7 2015, 01:35 PM Post #1750 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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Eli rolled his eyes a little. It was a sad story, but so familiar now that Eli could feel only a numbing kind of sadness, not a profound kind. Besides, that wasn’t what he wanted to know. “You said all that already,” Eli said. “What I asked was – what have you been doing since? If it’s been weeks, why you just comin’ round to investigating now?” * * * “Not for me either,” Annie contributed. “Granted, I didn’t know the… other person, but Antonio strikes me as sincere. He’d clearly heard from Kelsey’s brother, too. He couldn’t have invented that.” She avoided dropping Maxwell’s name. She had barely met him at all, but she had spent a little time with his victim, Glenda. She seemed beloved by the group and Annie didn’t want to taint the mood in the car by invoking her so directly. |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | Jun 7 2015, 03:46 PM Post #1751 |
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Is that so?
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That was the second time Eli had gotten curt with Antonio in such a matter. Clearly he was not choosing his words very well. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Perhaps I left too much to be assumed." Antonio started. "It is true that this encampment was nearby, but... I was concerned that if I went to investigate, I would end up staying there. I wanted to be sure that I had done all that I could here first. The guys that were overseeing the effort seemed like good men. If they said they were getting everyone to safety and taking them to Highland High, then I had no reason to doubt them." Antonio shrugged. "If it turns out that I have been sending people into a death trap without my knowledge, then..." He trailed off with a forlorn look on his face. * * * * * "I think he's sincere." Willow sighed from the driver's seat. "I'm not sure if that is really what I think or if it's what I want to think though." She could say the same of Emily. But Emily was not only in the car with them but also an old friend of her boyfriend. Outwardly being wary of her as well was more problems than it was worth right now. But that didn't mean she was going to stop keeping an eye on either of them. |
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| DoctorYerishi | Jun 7 2015, 04:24 PM Post #1752 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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Eli glanced across the cab of the truck, studying Antonio for a moment. He was either a good actor, or he was genuinely hurt by the thought. Eli felt a little bad for him – at least, he knew he should. The feeling was more intellectual than anything. “Whole world’s a death trap, pretty much,” he said, with a shrug of his own, and left it at that. |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | Jun 7 2015, 05:54 PM Post #1753 |
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Is that so?
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They had been driving for a little under thirty minutes so far -- most of which had been on Highway 27, which lived up to Willow's expectations of an Iowa freeway. She could recall stories of the flatness of middle America. Some people had said it was eerie and uncomfortable to be in a land so flat and have so much open sky. She had been a New York girl for her childhood, so this was her first time experiencing it, but she felt safer here than anywhere else so far. So much land and so little people. Occasionally they would pass an exit leading to a small town, including one small town called Hills about ten minutes back, which Willow and Jen had joked was ironic given the landscape. Thankfully, that same flatness of the land and lack of any railing or dividers had made navigating this far easy. This was a highway that Willow guessed would have seen minimal everyday use, so it made sense that there were very few cars or rotters on the road. But even those that were could be driven around. It almost felt too easy so far. She hoped that the rest of middle America would be this easy but dared not get too invested in the thought. "Do you really think we'll find Nolan...?" Kelsey seemed to be opening back up a little. "You can bet on it." Jen was quick to assure her. "We've come this far, I don't think any of us are leaving until we find him." As much as Willow wanted to assure Kelsey herself, it was difficult for her to muster up the will to be hopeful for her. She had already lost so much today that Willow didn't want to inject her with false hope again. She feared that if they found him and the worst had come to pass, then she all her progress would come crashing down even worse than before. She wanted to be realistic. I guess I really have changed. Her internal dialogue was cut short. Antonio's pickup turned on its left turn signal -- an action that caught Willow off guard -- and turned off the freeway onto a small, almost entirely unmarked gravel road. Willow turned the corner behind him, catching a glimpse of a small road sign that labelled it as '170th Street'. * * * * * "This is certainly a strange place for a high school." Antonio's brow was furled as his truck climbed the slight gravel incline. He had never been down to Highland High School. All he had gathered was that one drove south on the 27 and then took a left on 170th Street, which he only knew was coming because he had been looking at the other streets as they passed by them on the highway. The naming scheme was, fortunately, very predictable. But this looked like an isolated little residential neighborhood. Very quaint and rural. At the top of the incline, he took a right and followed the road. A minute or two later, the pathway turned left. As he took this turn, he the area cleared out a little bit. On their right in particular was a chain link fence separating the road from a large field with a quaint little football field and a baseball diamond beyond it. On the other side of those was a red building that stood eerily still; presumably the school building itself. Yet despite finding the school, his heart sank in his chest. Bodies. He could see bodies strewn across the untended grass. Not the ones that walked either, but the ones that stayed on the ground. "No..." The color faded from Antonio's face. "No, no, no... this can't be..." |
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| Strompy | Jun 7 2015, 09:25 PM Post #1754 |
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More posts, more Busey.
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Brandon was guarded about their prospects of finding Nolan. Antonio gave them a good lead but it was old information. A lot can happen in a couple weeks, he knew that personally. Just two weeks ago he never would have imagined he'd be where he was now, with who he was with. He never could have imagined he'd come to care about these people so much. It was precisely for one of them that he didn't get his hopes up. He'd always tried to keep a hopeful outlook, but recent events changed that and he wanted to protect Kelsey from disappointment as much as possible. If Nolan wasn't here he didn't know how long it would take for her to recover from that blow. When he saw the bodies it didn't come as a surprise despite how out of the way this place seemed. It was like wherever there were people the rotters just knew it. He dreaded what they had to do now. They would still need to go in and look, either for survivors or for confirmation of Nolan's fate. "Doesn't mean anything. Those could be rotters that strayed too close and got put down. They may be leaving them out there to mask their scent." Brandon said, more logically than hopefully. |
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| DoctorYerishi | Jun 7 2015, 11:30 PM Post #1755 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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Eli inhaled deep as he looked out at the bodies littering the school yard. He wasn’t surprised. He couldn’t be, not after everything he had seen and experienced. “Keep it together,” Eli instructed, after sparing a glance at the priest and noticing him getting pale. “This was always a possibility. A likely one, even.” He frowned a little despite himself. He focused on following his own advice – on not allowing his mind go down a rabbit hole of doubt and despair. The situation demanded he remain cold and pragmatic, so that’s what he did. “There still might be survivors,” he said. “If not here, then somewhere else, and they mighta left a clue to where. So take us closer.” |
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7:29 PM Jul 10