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Dead Men Walking
Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,932 Views)
DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
“There was also this thing that happened where they got ambushed and I saved their lives, but whatever,” Jimmy said. He waved it off sarcastically as he made the leap out of his truck. “We can get into that later.”
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"Yeah, there was also that!" Nolan added in as if it were an afterthought.
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"Look around you. You're a fucking idiot." Brandon informed Nolan.

Almost at the same time he reached out and grabbed Kelsey in a tight hug. He held onto her greedily and kissed her cheek.

"I missed you too." he told her if that wasn't clear enough already.

She was there now. She'd seen. If she didn't understand now she would eventually. What was done was done. Once he'd had a little time to process he imagined he could live with it, if bitterly.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
As Kelsey hugged Brandon back, Nolan couldn't help but manage a wry smile.

"Yeah, well... no, you're a fucking idiot!" He shrugged helplessly and extended his left arm out in front of him. "You aren't even listening to me anymore, are you?"

"He's gonna need to get some Aloe Vera for that burn." Jen joked.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Annie’s heart broke equally at Willow’s news and her state of mind. She was afraid of something like this happening. This was why she didn’t want to pursue Wendy. She was worried about the damage Wendy’s crew would do to them if they hurt or killed somebody, but she was also worried about the damage that their people could to do themselves, if it was them that did the hurting and killing.

Willow’s description, though incomplete, sounded particularly tough to stomach. Then there was the fact she was blaming herself. And she seemed on the verge of tears.

Annie couldn’t take it – she embraced Willow tightly.

“I’m sorry,” she assured her softly. “I’m so sorry. It's okay. It's going to be okay. It's not your fault."

* * *

Eli was mid-stride when Brandon embraced Kelsey, and the sight made him stop in his place. He was about to take the younger man aside, tell him softly that he needed to take a beat to get a hold of himself. He looked like he was okay now, however. His hysteria – as Eli saw it – had passed.

Finally, Eli focused on their new arrivals and tried harder to grapple with his feelings about them. Jimmy was the hardest to understand. Last time they spoke, he said saving the world wasn’t his bag and drove off in a different direction.

Eli had questions. Why did he change his mind? How did he find us? What happened with Kelsey and Nolan?

He resolved to get the answers later, when they weren’t standing around five bodies and the pools of blood forming under them. They would talk, he decided, away from those painful reminders of what needed to be done here.

“Jimmy,” he gave him a simple nod as he approached, and held out his hand to shake.

Jimmy regarded the gesture with amusement – what isn’t he amused by, Eli wondered, as memories of their very brief time together in Flint came flooding back. He accepted, though, and gave his hand a professional pump.

“Eli,” he said. “Long time, no see.”

It hadn’t really been a long time, Eli thought. But it sure felt like it.

“We should get out of here,” Eli announced, loud enough for everyone else to hear. “Those gunshots may have attracted more than just yourselves.”

“Well please, let’s find a more quiet place,” Jimmy said. “We have some catching up to do, am I right?”

Eli nodded to the parking garage. “There’s some stuff I need to get.”

“I’ll come with.”

Eli didn’t object. He headed inside, for the second and hopefully final time. As he and Jimmy walked, he issued an order over his shoulder.

“Everybody, grab what you need, and get back to a vehicle,” he said. “We’re leaving.”

It was probably an unnecessary declaration. He doubted anyone wanted to stick around with the corpses of Wendy and her crew. They were likely as eager to leave as he was. More-so, probably.

As Eli and Jimmy entered the garage, Emmett exited. He and Eli exchanged an intense look, and Emmett gave him a brief, grim nod. They kept walking past each other – or limping, in Emmett’s case.

Eli spared a glance over his shoulder as he exited the sunlight. He was looking at Emmett, but his eyes were drawn behind him. Annie had appeared around the corner. Her eyes had found the bodies. Her face had fallen. Her heartbreak was painfully transparent.

Eli frowned, as sincere a frown as he’d ever had. He wasn’t sorry Wendy was dead. He was just sorry that everyone had to see it.
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Strompy
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Emily exited the vehicle finally. She approached the scene with a harrowed look on her face. Before yesterday she'd never had cause to fire on another human being. Now seeing this she was truly afraid of what was to come. She liked to think she still knew Brandon, that it wasn't in him to kill somebody like this. It was though. That meant it could be in her too.

She extended a hand to Brandon who took it solemnly. Once he was on his feet she gave him a brief hug.

"Let's get out of here. This place too much for me." she said.

"Leave their stuff. Only take ours." Brandon told the others as he collected the articles he recognised.

He dropped the gun he was carrying beside two of the dead and joined the others.
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Is that so?
After Annie's hug and a little reassurance, Willow was able to pull herself back together. The shock of what had happened had passed and she was a little more coherent and in control of herself. And then there was the fact Kelsey and the others had returned. But she didn't know what she could say to any of them after witnessing that. She was glad to see them alive and well, but was just as fine catching her breath back with Antonio and the truck.

"It's a shame that happened. I am sorry you needed to go through that." Antonio's tone of voice was genuinely sympathetic. "It shouldn't have happened. There is enough death without us helping it along."

"If Randall was here, it wouldn't have happened." Willow reminisced solemnly.

"Ah, your leader before Eli?" The father mused. "From what I have heard, he sounded like a good man. I am... sorry that I did not get the chance to meet him properly."

"Me too."

* * * * *

Jen's gaze shifted between Jimmy's trademark pimped out truck and the little motorcycle that she had ridden here on.

"So, we have like, four cars now. Does that mean I can keep the bike?" She asked nobody in particular.

She knew that a motorcycle was not the quietest thing around. But with as many vehicles as they had now, it didn't seem like that much of an issue anymore. If they couldn't afford to spare gas for it after the tank ran dry, she could just ditch it. But it was fun to ride around in the meantime. Even if she only made it through one state with it.

And on top of that, she wouldn't be stuck inside any cars. She had a feeling that the next few hundred miles was going to be really awkward. And understandably so. Jen understood why Eli had done what he had done, but it was still jarring. And at the same time, she understood why Annie and Antonio were so opposed to it. Jen found herself on the neutral ground in the whole argument. That meant that she especially didn't want to be dragged into the fallout with each side counting on her to back them up.

"Alright then." She announced when nobody objected. "That settles it then. Once I go get my stuff back..."
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Brandon walked with Kelsey and Emily, holding Kelsey's hand as they made there way back to Jimmy's truck, though it was more like she was leading him. He didn't feel like reclaiming his things just then, frankly he didn't want to see Julien's body, and especially not Tom's. He assumed that's what Emmett was sent away for, the gunshot he heard from there was a big give away. He'd promised Tom he'd try to see him through it alive. He'd said it sincerely. He wasn't sure why. If they were killing any of Wendy's gang then they were killing all of them, he knew that. But he lied, to Tom and himself.

Willow had gone off somewhere. He didn't try to follow. Didn't want to. He couldn't look at her at that moment, didn't want to be near her. She seemed so horrified by what they did. What he did. He din't want to inflict his presence on her. Couldn't look at Annie either as they passed her. He just kept his head down and his face completely blank. His vision was fixed somewhere far away, deep down in the earth as he walked and thought about just about everything in his life up until that point and everything the could come after. Looked like he wouldn't be talking to Willow about that thing after all. Might not be any point now.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Annie looked up from the murdered bodies at Brandon and Kelsey as they passed, and noted that Brandon wouldn’t meet her gaze. The sight of the little girl, meanwhile, was one shock on top of another. She could see Nolan nearby as well, and Emily. She assumed there was a compelling story there.

The surprises – all of them – made her recall one of her early conversations with Randall. It had occurred outside of Flint’s walls, shortly before a construction accident put Jen at risk and they both stepped in to help her.

Randall had told her then that none of them were clean. “We do what we have to,” were his exact words, but he didn’t sound happy with them. “I don’t like it, but sometimes it’s kill or be killed out there. And you have to make that decision in the blink of an eye.”

This wasn’t that, Annie knew. This wasn’t even Ethan. This was different. Premeditated. Randall’s justifications didn’t hold up.

It was also over. Annie had to accept that, at least, so she turned around and headed back to Antonio’s truck. She was grateful Connor didn’t have to be here for this.

* * *

“You’ve got some explaining to do,” Eli said as they walked. “It sounds like you know that.”

“Uh huh, and I’m happy to do it,” Jimmy replied. “Would you like your explanation in instalments or one lump sum?”

Eli turned to look at him as they walked. He was the same guy he knew in Flint, exactly. That shouldn’t have been noteworthy – only three days had passed – but time seemed to move faster on the road. Eli certainly didn’t feel like the same person he was then.

“Later,” he answered after a beat.

Jimmy accepted that, and there was a brief but welcome silence until they reached their destination. It was only broken when Jimmy pointed at the white delivery van. The doors were closed. Eli knew what was inside.

“What happened?” Jimmy asked.

“Nothing good,” Eli answered.

“Kinda like what happened to him?” Jimmy pointed to Julien. He was lying in a red-brown puddle now, his eyes still open, staring blankly at the ceiling above. He was due to turn any minute now.

“Yeah,” was all Eli had to say about that.

He produced the minivan’s keys from his pocket, and hopped into the front seat. Jimmy took the passenger’s, and looked around at the shattered windows and bullet holes. He probably also observed the various supplies in the back and under the seats.

“You guys really have been busy,” he said.
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Strompy
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Eeveryone road with whoever they could bare to. Brandon sat in the back of Jimmy's truck while Emily took the wheel. She was grateful to pull away from that sight. Thanks to Wendy's gang's housekeeping efforts they got out of Lincoln without any trouble. The sight of the empty streets only further embittered Brandon.

Here they were the whole time in relative safety wiyh a whole town's worth of salvage at their fingertips and they insisted on taking what little others had. Didn't matter to them that it was wrong, all that mattered was it ws easy. Until now. He felt bitter, but not angry. He'd give anything to feel angry at them again instead of whatever the hell it was he was feeling now.

"Brandon. What the hell happened back there?" Emily asked as they left Lincoln behind.

"Bandits. Took everything we had, so they thought, left us for dead. We fought back and killed one of their's. Wanted us dead. We didn't avoid a confrontation, but we couldn't fight them either. They set a trap so we set a better one. Killed them all." he summarized.

"So back there you..." she began.

"Executed them. Yeah." he admmitted hollowly as he continued to stare at nothing out the window.

His face and voice were devoid of emotion. Not like himself at all.

"Why?" Emily asked with a hint of distress.

"They were only going to get worse." Brandon said with certainty.

"You don't know that." Emily rebutted.

"Willing to bet people's lives on that? I wasn't. Not exactly like they were leaving people in great shape before either. No weapons. No food. No water. No vehicle. Their past victims are probably wandering around looking to eat people right now." he replied as if reading out a checklist of reasons and calculating whether their lives had been worth sparing.

For all that though, he didn't sound proud. It was just a completely factual statement to him.

"We need to stop and take inventory." Brandon declared after a long silence.

"There's an exit coming up." Emily confirmed.

...

Why they were called Twin Lakes Emily didn't know, they were entirely different. The two modest lakes sat right beside one another, joined by a canal. They both also had a man-made bank, completely straight on some sides. She guessed both were completely man-made which frankly took a lot of the magic out if it.

The convoy had stopped at the small recreation area by the lake. Brandon had practically jumped out of the truck as soon as it stopped and made his way to the supply van. Also barely waiting for it to stop before opening the trunk and going over its contents. Emily made her way to the waters edge and looked around for some smooth flay rocks. She found a decent one and gave it a good flick out over the water. It skipped twice before plonking into the water.

Some of these people needed space right now and she was happy to accomodate.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
Willow had been pretty quiet during the trip back. Brandon had been separating himself from her. He probably felt bad about his role in what had happened. And frankly, she couldn't blame him. Still, she wanted to reconcile with him. She was shocked and appalled by the sudden turn of events, but she didn't blame Brandon. She blamed Eli. And even then... even then, they had been planning on taking them out as they left. The sniper on the roof of the garage. The rest of her crew hiding on the first story of the garage. At the core of the matter, Eli had been right. Eli had been right to tell her to take out their sniper. He had been right to start a gunfight. He had been right to execute them -- Willow felt like she could say that with confidence. Those people were all dangerous. The fact that Eli's brutal approach had been the right one to take... that was what bothered her now.

She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind as she caught sight of Annie and her son.

"Hey, doctor." Willow approached them with a tired smile and held out an empty tube of painkillers. "I, uhh... I know that this was supposed to last me a little longer, but... it's been a pretty rough week. Did you have any more?"

* * * * *

"Father, can I have a moment of your time?"

Antonio was snapped out of his daydream by the appearance of Nolan, who was still sporting his scraggly beard. He had been absently sitting on the shore of one of the Twin Lakes, removed from most everyone else. Replaying the events of earlier today in his head and thinking about his future with this group, if there even was one, was a difficult thing. He was grateful for Nolan's appearance.

"Absolutely, Nolan." Antonio nodded. "I was meaning to ask you a few things. Where is your sister?"

"She was looking for Willow last I saw."

"And she is well?"

"Yeah, she is." Nolan took a seat on the dirt beside him and looked out across the lake as well. "She's seen a lot worse while out on the road. She wasn't phased by any of it. She's more worried about how Willow and Brandon are doing. They both looked pretty bad."

Antonio hummed lightly, but didn't answer directly. He was thinking that Nolan was maybe digging for a little information, but Antonio did not want to spoil Nolan's return with talk of what had happened while he was gone.

"Whatever we missed, I think I'm glad we missed it." Nolan sighed. "Jen told me a little bit earlier, but nobody else really seemed like giving me the rundown."

"It is probably better that way." Antonio agreed. "Why give up your plans for Flint to come back out here, anyway?"

"I got the feeling that Kelsey wanted to come back." Nolan explained casually. "She and I were never really that close. With the ten year age gap, we both just did our own things, really. Hell, the way she talked about everyone here, I started to feel like I was the one taking her away from her family. Ironic, huh?"

"And the matter Jimmy spoke of?"

"Someone set a trap for us on the highway before we even made it to Chicago. Popped the wheel of our car with what looked like a piece of debris. So when we got out to look for something, they were able to get the jump on us. Thankfully they were pretty stupid and Jimmy happened to be nearby at the time. Turns out he was from Flint heading in the other direction. Everything kinda worked out that way. I don't know why Emily decided to come with us though."

Antonio nodded his head and absorbed the information. It certainly made sense. He kind of wished that Nolan and Kelsey had decided to keep going, but Nolan's argument made sense. Family was important. Kelsey could have chosen a better family, but that was neither here or now.

"We really didn't have a chance to talk before either." Nolan continued. "I was kind of hoping you could tell me what happened to you after the university fell. And how you came to be with these guys."

That would take some time to tell, but they had some time to burn now. Antonio decided to start at the beginning.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Annie arched an eyebrow at Willow’s question. Before she approached, Annie and Connor had just been sitting at a picnic table in silence, with Annie stewing over the events of the day. The interruption was welcome, but the content of her inquiry was a little worrisome, for a couple of reasons.

“We have another bottle,” she answered honestly. “But, admittedly, we’ve been burning through them. At last count there was 10 pills left.”

That low number was one of the reasons to worry. With so many people injured in one way or another – and with Willow taking a steady diet of them – their painkiller and antibiotic supply was running out fast. A resupply would be necessary, and soon.

“I’ll get them for you, but Willow – are you feeling okay?” she posed the question delicately. This next part – this next worry – was a trickier one. “Physically, I mean. You haven’t been quite been taking it easy, and I haven’t been doing a good job making sure of that. Have you noticed anything unusual about your sputum – your spit? Have you had difficulty breathing?”

* * *

His mom was speaking to Willow – and asking serious medical questions, it sounded like – so Connor took that as an excuse to step away. Ever since they left Lincoln, she’d been clinging tight to him, holding his hand, putting her arm around his shoulder. He didn’t mind entirely, and he knew that it was because something was bothering her, but he was still a little grateful for the break.

Besides, Kelsey had come back. That’s what everyone was saying. Connor hadn’t seen her yet, but he wanted to. As the lone kid in the group – as much as he didn’t like to think of himself as a kid, deep down he knew that’s what he was – he’d been in her shoes for a day or so. He thought he understood her a little better.

“Kelsey,” he said her name when he found her by one of the cars – there were a lot of them, now, three plus the motorcycle Jen had followed them on. “Hi. It’s good, um, I mean – welcome back.”

* * *

Emmett needed some time to himself. Some time to himself with nature was a bonus. That time used to make up the majority of his day, in the years before the outbreak, and the only thing he missed more was his brother.

He had been making progress with this group, had felt closer to them than almost anyone ever. Eli, Brandon, Willow, Annie, Randall before he died – they were as good as family. He realized not long ago that he would have done anything for them. And now he had.

“Oh, sorry,” he said softly, when he came upon Emily, skipping stones across the lake. “Didn’t mean to…”

He trailed off as he turned his back to her and started to walk away, to find another spot by the water he could be at peace.

He frowned slightly and stopped, however. Almost despite himself, he turned around.

“I heard you were attacked,” he said, and he thought he sounded as he felt.
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"Eee-yep." Emily confirmed as she flicked another stone.

"Outside Chicago. Blew a tire. Didn't think anything of it. Then college boy knocks me down and there's a loud bang. Saved me from a sniper. Four of them. One of them put his hands on Kelsey and Nolan blew him away, got shot himself. Traded fire with them and was about to pull a move on their sniper when Jimmy took him out for us. Small world, huh?" Emily gave him the bullet points.

"Never shot at anyone before. Creeps I know, I've learned to live with them, but people? Didn't have any idea what it was gonna be like." Emily confessed with another powerful flick of the wrist sending a stone skipping twice.

Can never get them to skip three times. she thought grumpily with a slight frown.

"Turns out it was easy. I just pointed and squeezed." she gave yet another confession.

It occurred to her she had an opportunity. This was the first yime she could think of that she'd heard Emmett speak. Brandon mentioned he was the taciturn sort. She decided to sieze it.

"You guys had a pretty serious run in too. Brandon gave me a vague explanation of what happened though I think I could stand to hear some specifics." she ventured.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
Only ten pills? That wouldn't last long at all. Willow unconsciously tensed up at the thought of running out of them. She had been giving everything she had to be helpful, but without the ability to manage her body's pain, what would she be able to do?

"My spit? Sometimes I taste a little blood, but I haven't really been paying much attention to it, to be honest." Willow carefully explained. "I don't feel as short of breath as I used to though. But if I exert myself or something, my chest starts to feel like its burning, even with the painkillers. I'm afraid of what it will feel like without them, you know?"

Annie was her doctor, the only one she knew now. There was no reason for Willow to try hiding any symptoms. The hardest part may have been over for her, but she was still recovering from something that had almost claimed her life.

"I... may have been overdoing it a little." Willow smiled sheepishly at Annie.

* * * * *

"Hi Connor." Kelsey greeted Connor with a smile.

She still didn't have her boundless enthusiasm back, but the fact she was talking and smiling was proof of how much she had recovered over the past few days. She was genuinely glad to see Connor too. She had tried talking to Brandon and Willow, but neither of them really talked to her much. They were too distracted. Everyone was. By the time she caught up to Willow to try again, she was already talking to Annie. Connor's mom.

"It's good to see you too." She paused, unsure of what to say, until she was reminded of something she had overheard earlier. "So is it true? I heard someone say you can shoot really good."
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Specifics, Emmett thought about that, and he realized he didn’t have a lot of them. Even if he did, he was probably the wrong person to ask.

“I’m not sure what Brandon told you,” he said. “We were robbed, but we fought back. They took our van, shot me, and we took one of their people. We agreed to an exchange, but it was a trap. So we did… what we did.”

Those were all the relevant details, at least. Emmett left out the names and the details of the strategy, which he wasn’t involved with anyway. After taking the bullet – and after his plan at the border partially led to what happened at Flint – he didn’t want to be involved. There was a comfort in just taking orders.

He took a subtle breath, and then moved on to what he had stopped to ask.

“Those people you killed,” he said. “Do you believe they deserved to die?”

* * *

Connor smiled back. He wasn’t going to bring it up himself – not right away, at least – but since Kelsey had done it, he figured it was okay to brag.

“I killed four rotters in one fight,” he said proudly.

* * *

Annie smiled patiently back at Willow, after nodding along to her report. She didn’t say anything surprising, especially after all the running, walking and shooting she had taken part in over the last couple days. Provided she was being honest, Annie was even glad her symptoms weren’t worse.

She looked around a little before asking her next question, making sure the coast was clear of onlookers.

“Can I see the incision site?” she asked.
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