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Dead Men Walking
Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,952 Views)
Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"Maybe later..." Kelsey uncertainly suggested when Eli arrived.

After last night, she didn't really want to slow him down. Or do anything that might make him mad. He looked less crazy than last night, but... it was still there. Last night had proven that. If she stopped everyone for a haircut now, it might happen again. She didn't want that for a variety of reasons.

"Ready when you are, boss." Willow chipped in.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
“Ready now,” Eli said simply and brusquely.

He headed for the car.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"Oookay then." Willow slowly said as Eli made his way to Antonio's truck. "Guess I'm driving the van again."

He probably didn't trust Antonio yet. Or wanted some time in a quieter environment. As far as Willow was concerned, that was just as well. As much as she trusted Eli, the man needed some time on his own.

* * * * *

The drive back south was as uneventful as it had been the previous day. Unsurprisingly, nothing had changed since yesterday. Antonio led the way once again in his truck, with Eli once again in with him and the radios distributed accordingly (still as a precaution). Everybody else rode in the van behind them, Antonio could see the pink-haired woman, Willow, once again driving behind them.

As before, the ride was awkwardly silent.

Thirty minutes of silence later, they were back at Highland High School. It was in the exact same condition that it had been when they left it before. It was really no better than an undisturbed graveyard. Antonio paid it minimal heed as he hit Vine Street and made his way southbound. Towards Haskins.

Antonio drove slowly down the open, two lane street. He didn't want to miss a potential dirt road or hidden sign that could give them a valuable clue to finding this 'Haskins'. All they knew was that it was south down Vine. One by one, the streets passed by, but with no signs apart from the names of the streets. They were fairly spaced apart, but over the course of the next 10 minutes, they passed by a handful of them.

175th. 180th. 190th. 192nd. 202nd. 220th.

While there seemed to be no real pattern to the street numbers that they passed, Antonio was quickly growing more concerned. The streets could go on like this for a while. Any one of these could potentially lead to Haskins. But the letter had said that it was right off of Vine. So, in theory, they must not have hit it yet. Or so Antonio kept telling himself. The truth was that while he had been working for the university for a number of years, he was not a native to Iowa. He had moved here for the job from Chicago. His knowledge of the area was more limited than it should be since he hardly had any reason to leave Iowa City. He had been to Ainsworth a few times, and that was how he knew that there was no Mather Street there (the entire city only had about ten streets). But he had never seen any sign for Haskins during his commutes down there. Finding this place could be akin to looking for a needle in an unmarked haysta-

Antonio slammed on the breaks of the truck. The street he had almost passed had houses on it. It was a small road that swiftly turned to gravel like a handful of other roads. There was a community here. And the name of the street, which lay obscured behind the trees that lined the north side of the road, was one that was very familiar as well.

Mather Street.

"Maybe the license wasn't a fake after all." Antonio spoke the first words in the truck since they had left the church almost 45 minutes ago.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli shot Antonio a wary look when he broke the silence.

“That doesn’t inspire confidence, ’mano,” he said. “What else are you gonna be wrong about?”
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
If Antonio was capable of an angry look, that was exactly what he shot Eli after that snide remark. After all the assistance that Antonio had been offering, he still seemed incapable of showing gratitude. It did not last long before it evaporated into a more neutral look. He remembered what the Bible said about turning the other cheek and not giving into the negative influences of anger. Self-control was an oft overlooked virtue, but one that he was intent to abide by. Especially now.

"Confidence is something that nobody has right now. Nobody can even be confident that Nolan is alive and nobody can be confident that we will find him. We have come this far on faith and hope alone." Antonio explained. "If confidence is what you are looking for, then why even come this far in the first place?"

Antonio turned the wheel of the truck and slowly started driving down Mather Street.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli considered Antonio’s words for a moment, and found he didn’t have a reply. There was a truth to what Antonio was saying that he couldn’t rightly deny. Even if he could, he wasn’t after an argument. He wanted to stay focused on Nolan. On the mission.

He looked again to the road ahead. Mather Street.

He raised his radio to his mouth and pressed the button, so everyone could hear.

“We need to keep an eye out,” he said. “Anything that would indicate somebody ‘sides a rotter’s been here recently, we need to notice.”
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"What did the ID say? 299?"

Antonio glanced to the first rundown house they passed on their right. It was numbered 599. The next was 499. Apparently nobody in this state knew how to count. Antonio was learning this fact more and more by the day. However, there was a pattern evolving here. Mather Street was not very long, but the houses were pretty spaced out by comparison to the more suburban environment of Iowa City. It was a different experience from suburban land. And unlike back in Iowa City, Antonio could only make out about ten rotters shambling about, most of them far enough away from the small road that they posed no immediate threat.

The house at the end of the Mathers, before it turned north and continued on, was the fabled 299. Antonio pulled the truck to a stop in front of it, and the van did the same behind them. This was supposedly the house that Jonathan's ID card said he lived. Like the others, it was a rundown little house that showed no outward signs of habitation. But neither had any of the other houses. Had they passed it without checking Jon's wallet, this house would have never stood out from the others. But right now it represented the only clue they had to finding Nolan; that this was where he would have been heading.

"It is worth a look if nothing else." Antonio couldn't hide a hint of disappointment by what they had found.

He had hoped, however briefly, that they wound find something promising here. But it was just another abandoned house.
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
As the van pulled up outside 299 Brandon reached over to his right and took Kelsey's hand. He gave it a light reassuring squeeze. He may have also been doing it for himself though. He wagered everyone had quite a lot of emotional investment in the outcome by now.

The house looked as still as any other. But then again, given the rotters and the fact that the National Guard had just killed all his friends, if Nolan was there he'd want it to look that way.

"Now might be an opportunity for some on the job training. Show you guys how we operate?" Brandon suggested to Annie from the back seat.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Annie bit her lip. She wanted to say ‘no,’ at least as far as Connor was concerned. The others’ descriptions of what they found at the high school were disturbing, and potentially signalled immense danger. She didn’t want her only child anywhere near that.

But there were more important things than what she wanted. That’s why they were in this car in the first place, and not at home in Flint. She had to keep that in mind.

“Okay,” Annie said, failing to mask her hesitation entirely. “But take it slow. And if something serious happens…”

She hoped she didn’t need to finish that sentence.

* * *

“It’s worth more than that,” Eli said. “Let’s go.”

He was the first one out of either vehicle. As his feet touched the ground, his hand rested on the holster of his Supergrade.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"Hey, we'll take it slow, don't worry." Jen assured Annie as she popped open her door and stepped outside. "We'll all be close by."

This was going to be close quarters. Her first thought was to grab her baseball bat and let that be it. But she had learned in the lab that swinging a baseball bat in confined quarters was not only difficult, but potentially dangerous to everyone around her. Back at Flint, when she only engaged the rotters outside, there was no difficulties with it. But if they were clearing a house, she needed something more compact. She still had Maxwell's butterfly knife in her pocket. She pulled the blade out and flipped it open. It was small, but sturdy enough to pierce a skull. She had learned that already. Of course, with her luck, she was going to be stuck outside again anyway watching over the kids. At least there were a few rotters making their way over here, so it wouldn't be entirely boring.

When did I start thinking that killing rotters was fun?

"It's gonna be tight inside though." Willow cautioned. "This many people in a house like that is gonna be cramped as hell."
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Brandon placed a hand on Annie's shoulder.

"It'll be safe. I just want you guys to see the procedure. We'll keep a path to the exit clear if things get interesting. Being safe is top priority." he said before exiting the van.

Brandon tapped his foot nervously as the others got themselves ready. He double checked his weapons, and did another ammo count. This wasn't just any sweep and clear. If Nolan was inside he didn't feel like making his presence known, after what happened at the school he could be jumpy as hell. If he were alive, which now he thought about it seemed less and less likely. Brandon rolled his shoulders and nodded to Eli to lead on.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
“Willow, Jen – you keep watch,” Eli said as he walked by. “Keep the area clear.”

He had overheard Willow say the house would be cramped inside, so he hoped she would understand being left behind again. Besides, there were a few rotters on their way. Their task was legitimately important.

He had also overheard something about the kids being involved. He wasn’t keen on that. Kelsey’s safety was his utmost priority these days, and Connor was unseasoned – but he couldn’t deny they would benefit from the practice.

He nodded back to Brandon, and led on.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
Antonio followed closely behind Eli as he made his way down the driveway, shotgun at the ready. He could feel his heart pounding more than he had for a while. They had been following Nolan's trail through Iowa City and Highland High School. It had led them to this house. Would they find him here? Would they find a clue? Or would the trail go cold and leave them with nothing to show for it? Antonio had only been helping these people for almost a day now, but he was invested in this. He knew Nolan, however briefly. At least for now, he wanted this to have a happy ending. He wanted to reunite a family.

The house itself looked relatively intact; no broken windows or anything too out of place. The house had probably been rundown looking from even before the fallen showed up. They cautiously made their way in through the cracked open front door and found that the inside of the house was not nearly as undisturbed as the outside. They found themselves in a living room with carpeted floors that were littered in glass -- some broken, most unbroken. Among the glass laid two rotters, and older couple that had succumbed and were apparently executed by blunt force trauma to the head. A few chairs were on the ground in the entrance way between the kitchen and living room to their immediate left; a coffee table and cabinet were pushed in front of the hallway that was straight ahead.

As they stepped inside, a soft groan erupted from the kitchen. Antonio peered inside the kitchen and saw a pair of young children, a boy and a girl of no more than 10 or 11 years old. They were long since dead, but still on their feet. Their blank faces noticed Antonio and they slowly made their way across towards the makeshift blockage that separated them.

"That is... messed up." Antonio managed.

He'd had to shoot a lot of the fallen, including children. But they had always been the most difficult. Even now, he wasn't able to raise his shotgun to redeem them.

Redeem.

That is what he had always called it. But the fact of the matter was that deep down, he knew he was killing them. Killing a person that had become something they no longer were. And even though he really was saving them from a fate worse than death, it never made dealing with the young ones any easier.
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Why were the children so upsetting? He'd seen his share. He knew most of the children in the country were like this now but for some reason seeing them was still distressing. Normally he'd be reconstructing the scene in his head but this time he actively avoided it. He didn't want to know their last moments. Brandon raised his knife but paused as a terribly practical thought came to mind.

"Connor. Kelsey. I think these are about their speed." he suggested, his tone betraying his regret.

He'd rather they never had to do this sort of thing but eventually they may be stuck without a choice. If that happened he wanted them to be prepared physically and mentally to do what they had to to keep themselves and eachother alive.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
“Yeah…” Eli said, in response to Antonio. Then he turned to Brandon. “And not a chance. Did you already forget about Julie? All it takes is one false step. No way does Kelsey – or Connor – get anywhere near those things if they don’t have to. Maybe if we kick out their teeth and cut off their hands first. Maybe then.”

He released his hand from his gun holster and instead drew his knife. He advanced past Antonio and into the kitchen. He met the male rotter first. And that’s what it was. A rotter. Once a little boy, but no longer.

“But not right now,” he added.

Without hesitation, he brought his knife down into the creature’s skull. He reminded himself once again what he was truly dealing with.

When it was done, he pulled the knife out of the skull, dragging a trail of blood along with it. The other rotter was on him soon after. With his armoured forearm, he smacked it hard in the face, knocking it over.

He gave himself one more reminder, then knelt down where that rotter had fallen. He drove his knife past its stringy blonde hair and into its forehead.
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