| Welcome to Wcrp. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Dead Men Walking | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,950 Views) | |
| Make-7-Up-Yours | Jun 21 2015, 06:40 PM Post #1891 |
|
Is that so?
|
* * * * * "I don't know if I should be surprised or not. This place looks completely untouched, but we're just a short, couple minute drive from Kinnick Stadium." Nolan mused quietly. He was currently sitting in a rather nice couch in some sort of lounge at the church. A very nice lounge that he been kept almost impeccably. He felt stronger, since Kelsey had given him some food during the ride back -- he didn't get much conversation in because he spent most of the trip savoring the taste of food again. The middle-aged woman, Annie was her name, was beside him now, working on his now unbound arm. He had been told that she was a doctor before all of this, so he didn't have anything to worry about. The blonde girl with fading pink highlights even personally vouched for her expertise. It made Nolan feel a little better about it. He had never been the biggest fan of doctors. Bad experiences in the past. "Antonio spent a lot of time keeping it clear." The black chick, Jen, explained to him from the other side of the room. "It was kind of his safe house for the survivors. So he tells us." "Wonder what he did with the bodies." Nolan cringed. "Probably best we don't know." She was quick to retort. At his other side was Kelsey. She hadn't left his side since it all happened. She kept glancing at him like she wanted to talk to him, but he got the feeling she wanted to talk to him alone. Due to their age differences, they had never been particularly close. He had his friends and she always had hers. They were close because they were family, but they hadn't really ever talked or even shared secrets or anything. He was overjoyed that she was safe and sound though. There were quite a few faces in the room right now, but he wasn't clear on all the names yet. He knew that Antonio was not here though -- he said he was going to siphon some gas from the other cars to refill their tanks after driving around so much. But Eli was in the room and Nolan finally settled into his seat and prepared to have a serious conversation. "We have a lot to talk about." Nolan echoed Eli's quote. "Since I have only a vague idea of what is going on, I think I'll let you start." |
![]() |
|
| DoctorYerishi | Jun 22 2015, 12:52 AM Post #1892 |
|
Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
|
“Fair enough,” Eli said, inhaling. He had been thinking about this conversation for the length of the return trip. He realized he had to tell him about the cure. He didn’t see a way around it. Kelsey knew, and he wouldn’t feel right asking Kelsey to lie to her own brother. Besides, Nolan was about to have a decision to make. He needed all the information. He looked around the room before continuing. Antonio wasn’t there, but Emily was. He supposed she needed all the information too, though he was reluctant to give it to her. She was one of Brandon’s friends from when he was a kid, but he wasn’t family like Nolan was. She wasn’t one of them. At this point, Eli didn’t know how he was supposed to avoid telling her. How were they going to explain their next move, if they didn’t? All he knew was that he didn’t want to. He decided to try putting it off. “Hey, Emily,” he said, turning to her. “You think you can give Father Mendez a hand out there?” He pointed to someone else at random, clumsily trying to avoid the appearance of singling Emily out. “Jen, you too?” |
![]() |
|
| Strompy | Jun 22 2015, 07:57 AM Post #1893 |
|
More posts, more Busey.
|
"Sure. Might even find a ride worth taking for myself while I'm out there." Emily said, happily complying with Eli's request. She didn't want to ruin the mood. They'd found their guy after a long few days of heartbreak, if she wasn't wanted there she wouldn't make a fuss. They had seem deep shit to go over. She made her way out the back to see Brandon hunched over the fire pit they set up the night before. Out of curiosity she approached to see what he was doing. He was holding something in the small fire he'd started there. When he withdrew it she saw that it was a piece of wire he'd looped and twisted and secured with a handle made of wood and duct tape. The sheath to his knife was on the ground in front of him with some letters seemingly burned onto it. He gently put the glowing wire to the leather and it hissed and smoked as he continued to sear more letters into it. "Kidc?" she asked as he put the wire back in to reheat. "It's going to spell 'Kiddo'. This was Glenda's knife, I told you about her. She and Willow were really close. This is for Willow." he explained. Brandon had always been free with gestures. She remembered once some other kids tried to tease them about spending so much time together, asking them if they were going to get married and have babies. Brandon told them they were exactly right which they had no response to other than to giggle stupidly and leave them alone. The next day he gave her a plastic ring because his mom told him that's what you do when you're going to marry someone. She took that ring with her when they moved, and was devastated when it broke. "I don't know how you find the energy to be that sentimental. Sounds exhausting." she commented. "It is." he admitted with a little smile. "Pretty big win finding your boy, Nolan. That's got to be a relief. Mission accomplished." she said conversationally, though it was a little more probing in reality. "Yeah." he responded simply. He wanted to tell her about the cure, she could tell. For whatever reason though he was choosing to keep it a secret. Even Brandon... "Well, I gotta go find the priest and give him a hand. And I've got a fat sack of weed that'll take me a long time to get through without a little help if you're down for a little celebration when I get back." she said as she walked away. "Fuck yes." Brandon confirmed with a broad grin. Emily trotted off in search of Antonio. |
![]() |
|
| Make-7-Up-Yours | Jun 22 2015, 01:14 PM Post #1894 |
|
Is that so?
|
Jen lingered for a few moments -- long enough for Emily to already leave the room. She knew what Eli was doing, but she figured they did deserve some privacy. She kind of wanted to see how it all went down, but that was just as well. It didn't really bother her much. She could already tell the atmosphere in there was going to get pretty heavy pretty quickly. Fresh air seemed like a better idea anyway. After leaving the room, Jen went straight for the front of the church and the parking lot where Antonio was. It didn't take long to reach. The hood of the truck was popped open and she could see Antonio hunched over it. Nearby, Willow was sitting on the grass nonchalantly, her FNP at her side as she stayed on lookout for any rotters that might be drawn in. It was only the two of them though -- no Emily. "Hey Father." Jen called out as she reached the parking lot. "Emily's not here yet?" Antonio peered out from under the elevated hood of the truck. He had a heavy bandage cupped over his left ear and tied down with a strip around his head, but he didn't look very disturbed by it. He looked as comfortable as ever. Jen was sure he was hiding at least a little discomfort. "Good morning, Jen." He stood up straight and stretched his back. "Didn't even know Emily was coming out here to be honest." Not here yet. Well, she didn't have any reasons to come straight here anyway; "Well, how's it going out here?" "No problems." Antonio tapped on the hood of the truck. "Both the truck and the van are full on gas, I'm just making sure everything under the hood is in good shape. With things they way they are, keeping up on car maintenance is more important than ever. For a group like you, they can be a lifeline. Do you want me to give your van a checkup too when I'm done here?" "That would be great." Jen admitted. "Would you mind showing me what you're doing? This stuff might be good to know." "Absolutely." Antonio agreed and waved her closer. "I would be happy to." * * * * * After Willow left, Nolan furled his brow at the situation. That girl, Emily. It was pretty obvious to him that Eli didn't trust her. Maybe it was just because he had spent so much time not only being on a team, but leading teams, that he was able to tell so quickly when someone was not being treated like part of the team. It was a subtle thing, but one he had grown accustomed to seeing. And it helped that Eli was being pretty clumsy about it. Still, he decided not to comment on it. Even if he wasn't physically and mentally exhausted, there were too many things he did not know. And he owed these people not only his life, but his sister's. The benefit of a doubt was the least he could give them here. Still, the room a little more cleared out, Nolan was worried that whatever Eli was going to say was going to be bigger than he had expected. He found he was unconsciously bracing himself for a metaphorical impact. |
![]() |
|
| DoctorYerishi | Jun 22 2015, 05:19 PM Post #1895 |
|
Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
|
Eli was relieved that Emily – and Jen, even – had left without complaint. It made this next part a little easier. It also made the room less crowded. Besides Nolan, only Annie, Emmett and Kelsey remained. Connor had been there a few minutes ago, but had asked permission to leave when Annie had gotten to work on Nolan’s arm. She had granted him it, but told him to stay close to the others. “Okay,” Eli said, bracing himself anew. “I don’t know how to tell you this, except from the beginning. All started back in New York. Just a couple weeks ago now, but it feels like… well, a lot more than that. I just arrived in this place called Mount Kisco, and I ran into the hideout of this special ops guy. He died, but he was carrying a package.” He glanced around the room, making eye contact with Emmett and Annie. They gave him slight nods, granting him approval to keep going. He didn’t need that approval, but it was nice to have. “This next part’s a little hard to believe, but the package came with instructions. ‘Deliver cure to Argonne National Lab.’” |
![]() |
|
| Make-7-Up-Yours | Jun 22 2015, 06:16 PM Post #1896 |
|
Is that so?
|
Nolan leaned back and waved his left arm dismissively. "Bullshit. Let me guess, did it also say 'do not open'?" The prospect alone was a tough one to swallow. The idea of a cure seemed far too optimistic -- and he was willing to bet tales of some mystical cure had been circulating through survivor camps like wildfire. Something to give people hope and make them feel like there was a reason to keep on fighting. This 'cure' they had found was probably just some relic of a misguided group of people that thought they could change the world with an empty canister or container. Or maybe they were going to use it to wiggle their way into stronger communities to leech resources. He held his tongue further. He had a lot more he could say, but he at least wanted to hear everything Eli had to say first. |
![]() |
|
| DoctorYerishi | Jun 22 2015, 06:36 PM Post #1897 |
|
Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
|
Eli couldn’t help but smile a bit. Intellectually, he did see the absurdity. If he hadn’t gone what he had gone through, he would have been dismissive of it himself. “Actually, it did,” he said. “Right on the canister. An' I know what you’re thinking, ‘cause I thought the same thing. We all did, one point or another. But no one’s thinking that anymore. Just listen. ‘Cause after that’s when I met your dad.” His smile faded at the memory. He pushed on. “He was out looking for supplies when we ran into each other. He took me back to his camp – this country club, he was one of the leaders there – and I showed him what I found. Things spiralled out from there.” He lips curled the other way, into a sympathetic frown, as he continued to tell the story. He recalled the events of that first night at the club. With a heavy heart, he told him about Elaine’s death and the decision to travel to Chicago. He told him about the border crossing and the heist aftermath. He skipped over the part about Kelsey being kidnapped – Emmett was standing nearby, and he didn’t want to distract from the more important parts of the tale. He just said Emmett joined them in Ontario and moved on. Flint, however, he described in full. He wanted Nolan to have the whole story. Soon, the young man was going to have a decision to make and he needed to know his options. After that part of the story, Eli’s throat was getting dry, so he alluded to the trip through Chicago and the collapsing bridge and warehouse stay without going in-depth. He paused to take a drink of water before moving on to the lab. He walked him through the events of that day in full, from their arrival at the campus to Randall’s sacrifice in the elevators. “He saved us,” he said to Nolan, after revealing his father's fate. “If it wasn’t for him, me, Brandon, Jen, Annie – we would have all died down there. An’ we would have lost the cure for good.” He sighed. Recounting everything like that had taken a lot out of him. More than he thought it would have. “I’m sorry,” he said. It didn’t seem like a good enough apology. It certainly wouldn’t have been good enough for Eli. |
![]() |
|
| Make-7-Up-Yours | Jun 22 2015, 07:03 PM Post #1898 |
|
Is that so?
|
Hearing about how, exactly, his mother and father had died did hit him harder than he thought. But he didn't really show it. In his head, he had accepted their deaths a long time ago. If anything, it hurt him more to find out that they had lived so long -- that his father had almost made it to Iowa City in hopes of looking for him himself. That was what hit the hardest. In his head, he accepted that his family had been dead for over a month. Realistically, his father had died yesterday. About 24 hours ago. And so close to Iowa City, not far away in New York. Their struggle of survival opened anew an old wound he had been wrestling with. "Well, if I'm going to help you get the cure to California, then I am gonna need to lay a few ground rules. First one is that you can't apologize for stupid shit like that anymore." He pointed to Eli and looked the man in the eyes. "Nobody told mom to step into a bunch of deadheads to protect Kelsey. She chose to do that herself. Nobody pushed dad out of the elevator and forced him to turn on the generator so you guys could escape. He made the only decision open to him. They both went out by their own decisions and on their own terms." Nolan wiped a tear out of the corner of his eye -- so much for the tough guy act. "And I'm damn proud of them both." |
![]() |
|
| DoctorYerishi | Jun 22 2015, 08:28 PM Post #1899 |
|
Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
|
Eli was surprised for a moment – he hadn’t even gotten to ask Nolan yet what he wanted to do, and here he was already offering. After the moment passed, Eli nodded seriously. “I’m glad you see it that way,” he said. “An' you should be. I didn’t know your mom, but from everything I heard about her, she sounds like a wonderful lady. And Randall – your dad – I know he was a good man. Maybe the best I’ve ever known.” He nodded again. He was glad this part of the conversation was over. These memories of Randall were still so agonizingly fresh. It was rough to sort through them like that. “As for California…” he continued, after physically shrugging off the turmoil. “No one expects that of you.” “It’s true,” Annie said, interrupting for the first time in a while. “Everything Eli said about Flint is true. And Marcus could use your help just as much as we could. Perhaps even more. And Kelsey could…” She trailed off for a moment, as her eyes swung to the little girl. She might have forgotten for a moment she was there. Upon remembering, she turned to look at her. “You could have a life there,” she said. She turned back to Nolan. “And if you took her, she’d have family. You both would. I joined this trip for reasons that only sort of make sense to me now. I thought my skills could be useful – and they are – and I thought my son needed it. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I do know that Kelsey doesn’t need it. She’s strong. She knows how to take care of herself. But maybe she doesn’t have to.” |
![]() |
|
| Make-7-Up-Yours | Jun 22 2015, 10:53 PM Post #1900 |
|
Is that so?
|
Nolan frowned. He hadn't really considered that idea before -- going back to Flint to care for Kelsey. It wasn't just him out here anymore. He was ready to throw everything away and march to California; even if the cure was a hoax, at least he would be doing something rather than surviving. It gave him a sense of purpose that, frankly, he hadn't had since this all started. Ever since losing Monica and convincing himself his family was dead, he had just waited in a house in the middle of nowhere and waited to die. But more importantly than that, he wanted Kelsey to be safe. But Annie was right. Eli and his group seemed capable. They had made it this far on their own. Kelsey was quite literally the only family that he had left. His main focus now should be on keeping her safe. Mom and Dad both would have prioritized Kelsey over the cure, as selfish as it sounded. A moment ago he was ready to go, but now he had to think about his little sister as well. "Maybe you guys are right." He sighed after a moment. "You are all strong and capable. You made it all the way from here to New York. Yeah, I got spirit, but the truth is I don't know how to shoot a gun. The only 'surviving' I did was running from guys with guns, frantically smashing a few deadheads, and then hiding in a house for several weeks. I doubt I'd be much help anyway. What do you think, Kels?" "I... don't want to see anyone die anymore." She said softly. "Heh. Well now I feel kinda stupid getting all fired up a minute ago." Nolan chuckled. |
![]() |
|
| DoctorYerishi | Jun 22 2015, 11:06 PM Post #1901 |
|
Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
|
Eli nodded once again. “I think that’s smart, but it’s up to you. Either way, I should probably finish the story. After we set out again yesterday afternoon, we came across Emily and then your pal, Father Mendez. He led us to the high school, which led us to you. After what went down in Flint, though, we agreed it’d be best not to complicate shit with all this talk about a cure. So they don’t know.” He paused for a second. There. Now Nolan knew it all. Except for Emmett’s story, that is, but that could come later. “Speakin’ of the high school,” he added, changing his tone along with the topic. “We were hopin’ you might shed some light on that. You mentioned running from guys with guns. What happened there?” |
![]() |
|
| Strompy | Jun 23 2015, 12:08 AM Post #1902 |
|
More posts, more Busey.
|
"Father." Emily greeted Antonio as she came around from the back of the church. She'd been a little unsure about him at first, a result of some bad experiences with the clergy, but he really did seem cool. "Ready to go when you are." she said, presenting herself for duty. |
![]() |
|
| Make-7-Up-Yours | Jun 23 2015, 01:16 AM Post #1903 |
|
Is that so?
|
"Oh, that." Nolan tensed up slightly at the mere mention of what happened at Highland. He had replayed the events in his head a hundred times at night, but they were still heavy. "I guess Antonio told you about the deal at Kinnick Stadium. Down at Highland, they had turned the high school into a kind of makeshift refugee camp. They had food stores and bedrolls and the whole thing was ghetto as shit, but it was the best we could ask for. I had Monica, Jon, Nathan, Alicia... I had my group. It was crowded, people were stressed, but we were safe. Or at least we thought we were." Nolan pursed his lips. "I don't know the story. But after a week or two there, someone died. Heart attack or something is what people were saying. But she came back anyway. She was killed again before she could hurt anyone, but the guards flipped their shit. They confiscated the corpse and locked down on security hard. After a day or two, they started separating people into different quarters. One of the guards I had kind of made friends slipped me some information -- they didn't find any bites on the corpse and the scientists had suggested that the infection may have found a new way to spread. If the guards hadn't been paranoid before, they were now. They were looking at everyone for signs of infection like hawks. They had us split into smaller sections, isolated from each other, in order to make it easier for them to manage and discourage all of us ganging together. I could hear arguments between between the soldiers outside the classrooms we were locked in debating whether they should abandon us to die or stay and do their job." Nolan shook his head slowly. "It was seriously fucked up. The tension in the air got thicker every day. Fighting outside the school against the deadheads started seeming more promising to a lot of people. The soldiers were starting to feel like captors and executioners more than protectors. Talk of escaping got out... the soldiers were opposed to that, saying it was a risk to everyone outside, letting more infected people out. It kept escalating until one night, it just turned into all out war. The panicked soldiers were mowing down everyone they saw and the people... God we were just running for our lives. Some of the soldiers came to our defense at first, but they were mowed down too." He paused. This was... difficult. He could remember the screams, the roaring gunfire. The bodies. The bodies everywhere. People mowed down as they ran. Guards shooting through the ceiling to avoid going upstairs and killing potential deadheads. It was a massacre in every sense of the word. A lot of his friends had died. He had only barely escaped himself. "I mean... we had a lot of people in the school. It was crowded and everyone was scared, I get it. But... that doesn't really justify anything that happened." * * * * * "Oh?" Antonio rose an eyebrow with an amused smile. "Where are we going? Jen and I aren't quite done with the maintenance." |
![]() |
|
| DoctorYerishi | Jun 23 2015, 01:58 AM Post #1904 |
|
Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
|
The story was horrible, but Eli was used to horrible. After everything he saw in Manhattan and on the road, horrible didn’t faze him. The way Nolan pursed his lips, however, was exactly like Randall. For a second, Eli looked at him and saw his dad staring back. For Eli, that was the hardest part to take. “I want to say I’m sorry, but…” Eli said. Nearby, Annie gave Nolan a comforting pat on his arm, taking care to avoid the length of his injury. “Is that when this happened?” Annie asked so Eli didn’t have to. She nodded to the forearm she had just finished dressing. |
![]() |
|
| Strompy | Jun 23 2015, 02:21 AM Post #1905 |
|
More posts, more Busey.
|
"We are going car shopping. You know the area pretty well by now, I'm sure you've spotted any choice rides it has to offer. Living in a truck for over a week I think I want something fun, something... with muscle." Emily informed him with a jocularly bossy tone. "Like I said though, when you're ready, and if it's not an inconvenience of course.." she said normally before turning and walking toward Willow. She sat down next to her and noted the pistol she had on her. Brandon said Willow was something of a deadeye, though Emily hadn't seen her action yet. It was hard to imagine, but then Emily didn't look like much either. Put Willow in a uniform and that'd do the trick alright. "You know you stole my fiance? He's round back putting something together for you. He really wants to impress you. That was me once. Only kids at the time and the whole wrong sex thing, but still feeling a little robbed here." Emily told her with a wry smile. |
![]() |
|
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Roleplaying · Next Topic » |







7:29 PM Jul 10