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Dead Men Walking
Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,933 Views)
DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli shot Brandon a slightly incredulous look.

Personally, Eli was calm. Too calm, maybe. He was scaring himself a little. But he knew what needed to be done and he wasn’t going to torture himself about it. This wasn’t like with Evan – this wasn’t putting his need for vengeance before the needs of the group. This was the opposite of that.

Brandon, though, seemed rattled. Maybe he hadn’t made quite the same peace with himself. At the very least, he wasn’t thinking straight. He should have known his question contained its own answer.

“That’s not what this is about,” he said. That part was for Wendy’s benefit more than Brandon’s. The next part was the opposite. “I just need you to stick with me a little bit longer here. Put Tom in the van, and then cover me.”

He turned back to Wendy – their captive now, which was quite the role reversal. He waved the rifle at her.

“And you, chica,” he said. “This is gonna sound familiar – get on the ground.”

Wendy, likely recognizing she didn’t have a choice, followed his orders and sunk to the floor of the parking garage onto her stomach. Eli retrieved some wires from the van to use as ties, then set about handcuffing her with them.

When he was finished, he hauled her back onto her knees, then to her feet. She didn’t resist. Eli could still feel the outrage practically pulsating from her body.

He shoved her forward, then turned and nodded to Brandon. It was time to start moving.

They were silent as they walked all the way down the ramp to the third floor. They remained that way all the way down the ramp to the second. It wasn’t until the final one that Eli stopped walking, and grabbed Wendy’s shoulder to indicate she should too.

“I know you can hear me!” he yelled from the top of the ramp, staring down it.

Nobody down there would have a clean shot at him until they appeared at the bottom there. He felt this was the safest place to talk.

“Your sniper’s dead!” he yelled again, his voice echoing down and away. “So is your friend Julien! Your plan’s fucked!

That part was totally true. He hoped they had the sense to listen.

“Wendy’s alive, though, and so is Gorski,” he added. “And so are you! Now you got a choice to make. You can choose to keep it that way, or you can choose to end this even bloodier. Me, I feel like there’s been enough blood.”

He stopped talking and then there was silence. If the rest of the crew was down there, like Wendy said they were, they weren’t answering.

Eli gave them a good half minute, and then pressed his rifle into the back of Wendy’s head.

“Looks like it’s up to you,” he whispered. “Choose.”

He couldn’t see Wendy’s facial expression. He hoped it was one of resignation.

Turned out, it probably was. “You’ll let us go?” she asked softly.

“If they come out now, with their hands up,” he answered, just as soft. “And you promise to leave us alone.”

Again, he couldn’t see her face – but he noticed a slight tilt of her head forward, and then back up.

“It’s over!” she yelled suddenly. “Come on out, guys.”

“All of you,” Eli added, as satisfaction rolled over him.

Finally, he heard the scuff of footfalls across the pavement. He allowed himself to make a few of his own as he inched Wendy down the ramp to see who had appeared.

There were three of them – two Eli recognized from the robbery, one he didn’t. They were missing somebody. Jen counted at least four.

Eli grabbed Wendy’s hair and pulled on it, while pressing his rifle into her back. He took a few steps backwards up the ramp.

“I said all of you!” he demanded.

“Hector,” Wendy prompted, her voice sad.

A moment later, another figure appeared, popping up behind a car. It was another face Eli didn’t recognize. This time, though, he was convinced it was the last one.

“Outside,” he ordered, nodding to the dying sunlight coming from the exit.

Wendy nodded, confirming the order. With frowns, the four of them headed that way. Eli, Wendy, and Brandon followed. Soon enough, Eli could see Jen, Willow and Emmett waiting, just like he had asked them to.

Eli focused on Willow. He gave her a nod. A thank you – recognition for the important role she had played in all this.

“Search them,” he ordered calmly, just a moment later. He kept his gun pressed to Wendy.
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Is that so?
Willow have Eli a brief nod in return. She was glad that they seemed to have given up, but she didn't feel much like searching them right now. They had won the gamble, but to her it did not feel like 'won' was the appropriate word. Eli may have considered it a victory, but Willow was having a difficult time calling it that. She was simply not feeling well, physically and emotionally.

While Jen made her move towards the captive woman to search her, Willow kept her rifle trained on the defeated. Eli may have had their leader at gunpoint, but she didn't fancy any of them getting any wise ideas. A rifle aimed at them directly would quell any potential rebellions before they began.
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Strompy
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"More thoroughly than they did. Check their boots. Check down the back of their pants, check between their shoulders too, they could been keeping a blade there or something. Separate what's ours from what's theirs." Brandon pointed out.

He himself had that small piece of glass taped to the inside the back of his jacket in exactly that spot between the shoulders. Not something he could subtly access but very well concealed at least. Brandon took Hector, he judged if anyone was going to cause trouble it was him. He was satisfied he'd found everything he had on him. Guy had his kukri, Brandon kept his pistol trained on the man's liver while he undid the sheath and reclaimed it.

Brandon nodded to Eli to let him know Hector was clean. All the things that didn't originally belong to Wendy's people were collected in a separate pile to those that did. Brandon didn't want any of their ill-gotten goods. Those could stay with them.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
As Brandon and Jen got to work, guarded by Willow’s rifle, Eli headed over to Emmett. He wordlessly gestured for him to step aside so he could have a word. Emmett got the message and followed him away from the others.

“You remember what we talked about?” Eli asked him.

Emmett slightly arched an eyebrow, and gave him a small nod. Eli looked over his shoulders to the others. It looked like they had Wendy and her group handled. It looked like he had been wholly successful. With Brandon, Willow and Jen’s help, Eli had thwarted Wendy – ended the battle before it could even become a battle.

Not only did they recover their van, which was waiting above all their supplies intact, but all of their people were safe. It was an unconditional victory. Eli’s vision realized. Almost.

Still eerily calm, Eli leaned in closer to Emmett and whispered his final orders. When he leaned away, Emmett was still.

Eli felt a pang of worry. He had to wonder if he had made a mistake. If he had asked of Emmett something he couldn’t do.

Then Emmett nodded again – slowly, and almost imperceptibly, he tilted his head forward and back. He waited for Eli to temporarily eject his magazine, then he was on the move. Eli watched him slowly limp away. When he had disappeared into the darkness of the parking garage, Eli brandished his rifle.

He approached Wendy and her four surrendered team members.

“Okay,” he said, pointing it at all of them, re-establishing his authority to tell them what to do. “On your knees.”

* * *

Emmett thought about Garret. That was his name. He was the man he had captured back at the Ontario-Michigan border, and the man he had let go with a warning. Days later, he was the man waving a figuratively smoking gun, fresh off killing several innocent residents of the Flint community.

Emmett had punished Garret then by breaking his bones. But that didn’t bring those people back. Nothing would.

He kept thinking about Garret as he limped along the parking garage, towards the fourth floor Eli and Brandon had just returned from. He was only dimly aware of the pain pulsating from the gunshot wound in his side.

After the third ramp, the two vans came into view – the minivan and the delivery van. One of them had the group’s food and guns, previously taken from them so harshly. The other one had Gorski, their sardonic prisoner of the last few hours.

Emmett headed to the former van, finding the trunk open and the guns on display. He found his Ingram MAC-10, which he had grown to miss since it was snatched from him. He’d had it since near the start of all this. It had been his one constant. At this point, it had more sentimental value than practical value.

He tried not to think about that, however. As he popped out the magazine – and inserted the one .45 ACP round Eli had given him outside – he thought about Garret. He thought about the mistake he’d made then. He thought about his own words to Eli on the ride over.

“I won’t let that happen again.”

“I won’t,” he repeated his thought out loud, just so his ears could hear it in sync with his mind.

* * *

Reluctantly, and with readily apparent confusion, Wendy had complied with his order. So had the rest of her team. It was her, the other girl from the robbery, and the two men Eli had just met inside – including Hector, who Brandon had just searched personally.

They were in a row now. All of them on their knees. They were looking forward. They could probably hear Eli marching behind them, but they couldn’t see him.

Eli’s heartbeat threatened to speed up as he raised his rifle to the back of an unknowing Wendy’s head. He turned and gave Brandon a meaningful silent nod.

He tried to let him know, that what he was talking about before – now was the time.

* * *

Emmett headed for the other van next, as his breath became low and heavy. He opened the back doors and there was Gorski, staring back at him.

Emmett raised the MAC-10. He didn’t say anything.

Gorski’s eyes lit up. He would have raised his hands in surrender if they weren’t bound behind his back.

Emmett wondered if this was how his brother reacted, moments before Eli pulled the trigger on him.

But then he thought about Garret.

BANG!

* * *

BANGBANGBANG!

Brain and blood erupted from Wendy’s skull. Eli was sure she went out quick. Like a light, probably. On and then off.

He aimed at the next person in line.
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Willow's jaw fell agape and the blood drained from her face. Before her eyes, she had watched Eli execute Wendy. Execute. Although identifying her would have been difficult after what Eli did to her skull, the motionless body of Wendy lay on the ground in a rapidly growing pool of blood. She knew this was wrong. This was exactly what she had not wanted to happen. Willow wanted nothing more than to put a stop to this, call out an objection to what she saw. But she couldn't. She couldn't even raise an arm. She could only stand there in stunned shock as Eli turned his gun to the next person in the line.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be.
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Strompy
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It happened in the blink of an eye. This is what he was preparing himself for. He'd done it just moments ago. He could do it again right? What was different now? The man was on his knees? What difference did that really make? He'd be just as dangerous to everyone on these roads as he was before if they let him go.

He shouldn't be doing this. None if this should have happened. Brandon should never have had tokill another human being. The end of the world could have been the start of something for them all. A fresh start. Nobody knew who they were or what they did before, they could be anything they wanted. Brandon was a slacker with no direction and several budding addictions. When the world ended it took the old him with it. He became a survivor and a warrior. He knew focus for the first time. Knew love and comradery, he became a teacher and a protector. Now he was a murderer, or rather an executioner.

These people could have been whatever they wanted. So they became thieves and in effect killers. It was innevitable that they would change their policy, if not this group then another would fight back and they would decide it wasn't worth it to let their victims live. This was the only kind of justice that existed now. Two weeks ago Brandon would have been on Annie and Antonio's side, but this was the fourth group of hostiles they had encountered and now Brandon's patience and faith were gone.

This felt wrong not because he was wrong, but because he was close to it. If Antonio had been close to Wendy's future and past victims he would probably be singing a different tune right now. Brandon could stand feeling bad if it accomplished some good, his feelings were less import than that.

All this ran through his head in a split second. He could only imagine what went through Hector's head in that small moment of realization, before Brandon pulled the trigger, then turned his gun on the next man and did the same. When it was all done Brandon just stood there looking down at the captured defenseless kneeling man he'd just killed, running through those thoughts over and over trying to make that feeling go away. Smoke trailed out of his barrel and was whisked away by a cold autumn breeze that carried fallen leaves. Leaves caught on the body in front of him and he could see in his mind an avalanche of them coming to bury this whole scene, everything there dead and gone, and once the winter snows melted they like the leaves would magically disappear. He felt hollowed out, like he'd removed something from deep inside himself. He felt cold. Maybe it was just the weather.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
BANGBANGBANG!

BANGBANGBANG!

The last of Wendy’s crew fell forward, dead. Eli had received some help from Brandon in putting them down, like he expected. Once it was over, he lowered his rifle and felt the cold breeze on his face. It was done. He stared at the ground where Wendy lay – stared past her, at nothing at all.

An engine roared like thunder in the near distance. The sound snapped Eli out of a haze he didn’t realize he was in. His head spun to find a large vehicle approaching down the streets. A truck, it looked like.

He raised his AR-15 in the truck’s direction. Dark possibilities swam through his brain. More of Wendy’s goons? Other, unrelated scumbags? The National Guard?

The truck got closer, and Eli dispelled all those thoughts. It wasn’t just any truck.

When it came to a stop, not far from Eli and the others, Eli confirmed that it wasn’t just any driver either.

It was Jimmy. The white scar, the red hair, the trim beard. He was unmistakable.

Beside him was someone else Eli didn’t ever expect to see again – Nolan Phillips. And behind them – Emily and Kelsey. Eli was too stunned to ponder how that could have possibly come to be.

Jimmy was evidently taken aback himself. He rose in his seat, and looked curiously – even disbelievingly – down at the pile of bodies at Eli’s feet. Then he looked up at Eli. Despite it all, a surprised smile crept across his lips.

“Well, shit,” he said. “You’ve been busy.”
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The gruesome scene that greeted Nolan's eyes was not as disturbing to him as it would have been a few months ago. It was just a few bodies, shot up, bloodied, and splayed across the ground. But it was still surprising. He tried not to be too judgmental on Eli and the others since he didn't understand what had happened and what events led up to this gunfight. From what Nolan had seen, people were generally pretty terrible these days -- maybe not at their core, but they let their fear and greed control their actions. From the stories that Kelsey shared with everyone on the way back, Nolan was pretty sure that these people wouldn't have done something like this without a good reason. He chose to believe that, whatever event Jimmy has driven them into, it had been a justified outcome. And it was probably better not to ask too many questions about it now. Assuming Jimmy didn't ask those questions first.

"Willow." Kelsey had beaten Nolan out of the truck and was trotting over to the nearest person; Willow. "Are you okay?"

The young woman looked pretty bad. Worse than she had before. She looked a little shell-shocked still, but beyond that she was pretty pale and there were bags underneath her eyes that he was fairly sure weren't there before. Still, her features lit up slightly at the sight of Kelsey and she managed a weak smile. But Nolan thought it looked forced.

"Hey, kiddo. Didn't expect to see you again." Her reaction was pretty subdued.

She afforded Kelsey a quick pat on the head, but then started walking away from the garage, in the direction of a nearby office building. Kelsey wore a visible frown but made no effort to follow her. Instead, she made her way towards Brandon. Whatever had happened, Willow was pretty shaken up from it to say the least.

"Hey!" Nolan jumped out of the truck and approached the next nearest person.

It was the black woman. Jen. She had been nice to him in the past. She glanced in his direction and managed a smile that looked a lot more natural than the one Willow had given a moment ago. But she still looked a little frazzled.

"Look what the cat dragged in." Her voice was devoid of the normal enthusiasm she seemed to speak with. "I'm glad you guys are safe."

"What... uhh... what happened here? Where are the rest of you guys? Father Mendez and Annie? Are they...?"

Nolan had told himself he wasn't going to ask. But his curiosity was getting the better of him. He was afraid that they had suffered losses already. If they had, he wanted to know now rather than say something stupid and find out later.

"They're fine." Jen was quick to relieve his worry. "Willow probably went to check on them. As for what happened... I... don't think I really know, to be honest."
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Emily couldn't process what she was looking at. It was the scene of an execution, that much was clear. It seemed alien though, like an illusion of impossible geometry. Everyone standing around looking stunned, aghast and guilty. Brandon was there. She should have been smiling right now. He should have been. Instead she was staring and Brandon was on his knees staring at the gun in his hand.

...

Somewhere, Brandon was aware of other voices. It was all muffled to him as he kneeled, completely absorbed by the weapon he held. It was warm in his hands, heating his cold fingers. Yesterday had been so good. Now this? This was without exception the darkest moment of his life. He'd seen his family die, but the thought of what they'd make of him now? He'd been so sure. His mind was sure. His mind knew that these deaths would save lives, but now that the deed was done there was no fire. No righteous indignation. They were all dead. Put down like rotters, by his hand.

In front of everyone he knew he'd ruined himself, and abandoned his principles in the span of a day. Annie would never respect him again now. Nor would Antonio. Connor could never look up to him now, he was just... too good, he didn't belong out here. Jen was sweet as far as he could tell, he probably frightened her now. Eli and Emmett were his conspirators and would share this shame and carry it their own way. But Willow? She told him she loved that he was good. Could he still even entertain that thought anymore? What we she think of him now? She must find him so ugly now.

The world had won. Brandon looked up at the new arrivals and the came crashing in on him. Emily. Kelsey. The last people in the world left to believe he was good were now a witness to his defeat.

"God." he cried out, his voice wavering.

"Why did you bring her you dumb fuck!?" he demanded, as he finally lost it and began to weep.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Jimmy arched an eyebrow at Eli when he didn’t immediately answer, and instead just stared back stunned and confused. He wasn’t sure what he expected from him, but it was definitely more than that.

Jimmy didn’t let it get him down, though. Clearly, something intense had happened here, and it had happened recently. Eli needed a beat. Fair enough.

Someone else caught his eye – or his ear, rather, when she heard him talking to Nolan.

“Jen?” he asked, chuckling slightly. “My fellow J-West? That you? You, I did not expect to see. That adorable little badass there mentioned a ‘Jennifer’ but I didn’t put it together. How’s it going? Been better, it looks like.”

Then Brandon interrupted – first by crying out, and then literally crying. Jimmy cringed.

* * *

Eli blinked as Jimmy moved on. It was for the better. He didn’t really know what to say to him, really. Hello probably would have been a good start, but then what?

Then there was the matter of Nolan and Kelsey. And Emily, for that matter. He was frankly hoping to never see them again, even if he thought that in the best way possible. And if he did have to see them again, this was not an ideal time.

He glanced around. Willow and Jen looked different shades of wary. Brandon had fallen onto his knees and started… crying? And cursing God? Right in front of everybody?

Eli let out a long sigh. He had his own bearings to find, and it was unfortunate that the situation had to go down this way, but he wasn’t about to do something so melodramatic over it. If they didn’t get Wendy and her crew, Wendy and her crew would have gotten them. The sniper and the crew lying in wait attested to that. Wendy had even tacitly admitted to her failed plan.

Yeah, it was brutal. It was upsetting. But it was necessary. It was pragmatic.

And it worked.

“Brandon,” Eli said in a scolding tone. “Look around. Is now really the time?”
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"Jimmy?"

Jen had been so distracted before Nolan interrupted her that she hadn't even noticed Jimmy. Which was strange, it took a lot to not notice Jimmy. More than most people had, as a matter of fact. It was like missing a bear stampede through a room. Jimmy's lightheartedness did help alleviate some of her shock though. In a weird way, the familiar face helped snap her back to reality. Yeah, shit sucked right now, but normally she was better about gritting her teeth and bearing through it.

"You know this party ain't big enough for J-West and J-Weston, right?"
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
“Pistols at dawn it is,” Jimmy smiled back.

He always liked Jen. Probably because she was one of the few people back in Flint that seemed to like him, rather than just put up with him in exchange for flavoured bubble gum or the best instant coffee crystals. She was like the dearly departed Spencer in that way. He was glad to see her here.

* * *

Annie stood outside Antonio’s truck, behind the open passenger door. A part of her must have thought she would use it as cover, if it came to that. And she thought it might. She’d heard gunshots, after all – multiple ones, starting with Willow’s. The action had happened in the parking garage around the corner, but she half-expected it to spill over to her any second now.

That’s why her pistol was raised. Connor’s pistol, actually, and he wanted it in his own hands. Maybe he should have had it, too, since he seemed like the better shot. Annie just wasn’t ready to surrender the motherly role of protector just yet.

Her arm tensed as a figure did indeed turn the corner – not Wendy or one of her gang of thieves, though.

Willow, Annie breathed out a sigh of relief and lowered her arm. She didn’t look like she was in a hurry or imminent danger. Thank God, or, you know – whoever.

When the younger girl got closer, however, Annie’s relief turned to concern. She looked just shy of devastated.

“Willow, what’s wrong?” Annie asked as she approached. “We heard gunshots.”
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Willow stared at Annie blankly for a moment before opening her mouth to speak. But no words came out. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what she could say. For a moment or two, she fumbled and mumbled, but only managed to make sounds.

"Eli." She finally managed. "He... he lined them up... and... I thought I was doing something right. He had me shoot first. I thought maybe they were in trouble. It wasn't my fault, he told me to! She- she never saw it coming. I still fired first. I started it. Then he lined up the survivors and he... he and Brandon... they just..."

She paused again. She was too tense and too anxious to put her ideas into words. She felt guilty and responsible for what had happened. They had killed people in self-defense before, but this was different. This was preemptive.

"We had them beat. They surrendered. They thought... they thought we were going to let them go... but then he... oh God..."
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"They were on their knees... I was gonna torture him..." Brandon muttered.

The shock was over. As brief as it was his breakdown left him tired. The worst part of it was that he feared it would only get worse. That he'd become worse. Their deaths didn't way on his conscience, they had deserved to die. The fact that he compromised himself so completely to do it made him ashamed. The fact that he would do it all over again was also shameful.

The final straw was that Kelsey was right there. That he couldn't bare. Why wasn't she back in Flint?

"Why is she here?" he asked breathlessly of nobody in particular.
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Kelsey was taken aback by Brandon's tone. She would have thought that he would have been happy to see her again. But he really didn't sound that way now.

"Because she wanted to come back." Nolan answered for her with a hint of annoyance at Brandon's melodrama. "All she did was talk about you guys, smiling all the while. She was missing you guys before we even got to Flint!"
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