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Dead Men Walking
Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,906 Views)
Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Brandon froze in place as he heard voices down the hall. They were bringing somebody in from the sound of it. He knew what they were in for. Everything he'd said about these people , about them being cowards, came back to him as he readied himself to make his escape. How could he leave anyone behind here and consider himself better than them? It wasn't the same though. He could barely stand let alone spring somebody else. He just needed to get back to his friends somehow. If Eli could be counted on to pull it off, Cory wouldn't be a problem much longer anyway.

With his disguise he could possibly make it to the wall, and as painful as the prospect sounded, climb over it. Make a break for the town, maybe find a car. It was a lot of maybes really, but it beat the hell out of the definitely being pummeled to death there. Once the voices and footsteps receded he opened the door again. There must be a back door.

The halls were poorly lit, which made his face less of a concern. Once he was outside he could practically disappear. Two guards walked by deep in conversation about some of the women around camp, Brandon turned his back and leaned against the wall casually as they rounded the corner and walked past him. For a few tense moments his finger hovered over the trigger of the shotgun he'd taken. Fortunately they felt relaxed enough that they barely took notice of him. He staggered his way through the building as quietly and as quickly as subtlety permitted. In the dim light he made out the "exit" sign over the back door.

He opened it outward and was pleased to see the safety of almost complete darkness. There was no guard by the door. The door closed behind him and he heard the sound of somebody inhaling to his left. He turned his head to see one of the guards from the front that ushered him through the building standing by the door having a cigarette. Even in the low light he could see an expression of recognition on his face. The man's eyes went wide as Brandon swung out with the butt of his gun and struck him across the jaw, sending him tumbling to the dirt. Brandon was on him with a celerity that pained his chest, back and made his head throb even harder. The knife he stole took another one of Cory's men as he plunged it into his neck. Brandon staggered away as quickly as he attacked making a beeline for the wall. Let the bastard turn, give Cory and his men something to distract them while he made some distance.

Climbing proved to be very easy, with so many hand and foot holds. Comfortable though? Brandon's head pounded with all the blood pumping through his body. His chest was burning. His hands were shaking and his legs felt like they might give out from the pain of it all. Eventually he reached the top and managed to flop over the side, his hands finally giving out as gravity yanked him back down to earth. He gasped as he hit the ground, if he had the strength to cry out he might have. For a good minute he just lay there on his belly before he pushed himself up to his hands and knees and then slowly to his feet. He undid the buckle on his helmet and removed it, an action that was both painful and relieving strangely. His head throbbed a little harder, but at least there was far less pressure.

Brandon was over the wall but he wasn't out of harm's way. There was still a guard post to his left and some open ground ahead of him. He kept his profile minimal, pressing himself against the wall and moving to the right towards the river. He could use the banks as cover and make his way into town from there.

...

"I only do bad cop." Emily replied with a smirk.

Not true. At least she didn't think so. But then everybody liked to think they were the good guy didn't they? She did kind of enjoy seeing people squirm when they got pulled over sometimes though. All you had to do was stare at them from behind a pair of shades. The fact they couldn't see your eyes made you unreadable and that made people nervous. It was kind of funny.

"Go grab one of my radios. We should send one of them in with a hostage. Show them we're willing to give their people back. Then we give them the order, they give us Brandon, we give them four of theirs back." she informed Nolan.
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Cory mused that this must be why dictators had gotten such a kick out of things before and never wanted to give up their power. It felt pretty good to have everyone so terrified of your presence that they would cater to your every whim and desire. At the end of the day, it boiled down to one thing; control. It was the primary motivating force behind everything Cory had ever done. At Sarnia, he'd had to share control with Jason. And even then, those guys weren't exactly the type to cower from him. But with these guys, it was different story. The entire community was eating out of the palm of his hand. He said he wanted something done and it got done. He had a group of loyalists willing to be his eyes and ears and personal bouncers.

As he entered the unoriginally named room 7, he caught sight of a muscular, Hispanic man tied to a chair. The story wen that he was rounded up on the border of the encampment. He was one of the people that had attempted to enter his encampment without his explicit permission. That was a mistake.

"You must be tight with that blonde pretty boy to try coming here for him." Cory said, closing the door behind him.

He wasn't sure if the two events were actually related. He considered the possibility to be fair. All he could do was dig for confirmation. If they were related, it might be fun to drag blondie in here and execute him in front of this guy. His lips curled into a smirk just at the possibility of it.

* * * * *

Antonio tossed the duffle bag of weapons into the back of the van. They would be able to return them later, if a good opportunity arose for it. Antonio wasn't sure that they would have any such opportunity. While Jen was on lookout and Annie watched over the kids, Antonio dug out a few zip ties that he had taken from Walmart. He had originally picked them up as just another batch of car repair supplies, since zip ties did have their uses there too. But after hearing about how Emmett had used them to restrain people, Antonio had the idea of using them on the hostages.

He pulled out five of them and made his way back to the prisoners. Though they had fallen into an awkward silence, they were all still cooperative and allowed themselves to be restrained. Nolan's promise apparently held some weight with them. He was glad that Nolan was the one making it here; he had a feeling that Nolan would actually try to carry through with that promise.

"And that is the last one." Antonio announced as he pulled the zip tie closed between the wrists of a young woman; her arms now locked in place behind her back.

And by 'last one', he meant out of the four he was going to tie. He had left the middle-aged woman unbound. To her, he handed one of the radios, already set to their frequency; another prize from Walmart.

"You have a special mission." Antonio nodded to her. "Get in your car, drive back to your encampment. Your people have one of ours and we will give all four of yours back in return for him. This radio is how you will contact us."

The woman glanced at the radio. It was clear that while she didn't like the look of this situation one bit, but she was also visibly relieved to be getting the go ahead to just up and leave.

"Promise you won't hurt them." She asked quietly so that nobody else would hear.

"I promise I won't." Antonio assured her. "We just want our man back."

She sighed and nodded her head. With her hands still above her head, she slowly and methodically made her way over to her car with the radio in hand. She was clearly terrified, but cooperative. Once she reached the closest car, she jumped into the driver's seat and sped off as quickly as she could. Hopefully she could be counted on to do her job.

"Good." Nolan clapped his hands. "Get the rest of them into the bed of the truck and let's get a move on. Emily, I'm counting on your to get information and directions out of them while we drive, alright?"
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DoctorYerishi
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Cory was everything Eli was expecting and hoping for. Cruel-looking, neo-nazi tattoos, the kind of hard that came with prison time, and a hateable snarl on his hateable lips. When he entered the room, Eli’s anxiety faded away. The way forward became clear again.

When the door was shut, a certain calm washed over Eli, much like it had when he had Wendy’s crew on their knees in front of him. Any second now, he knew he could make his move and end this sick fuck once and for all.

Then Cory spoke, and Eli blinked in surprise. Blonde pretty boy. He knew someone like that. He remembered Wendy calling someone y that name repeatedly. It can’t be… could it be?

The calm was gone. Yanked away from him, before he could even really appreciate it.

There was so much he wanted to say to Cory. So many taunts he had practiced in his mind on the drive to Green River. They were all gone now. Inaccessible.

Could it be?

“What… what the hell are you talkin’ about?” he asked, trying and failing to remain level.

* * *

Emmett wordlessly accepted Nolan’s orders. Frowning only slightly from the pain, he got out of the bed of the truck, then started leading the hostages back on it.

So far, so good.
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That was it! That was the look that Cory had been hoping for! All of the resolve and bitter determination in his eyes wavered after just one sentence. It wasn't quite the look of defeat, but Cory had seen it enough times to know that it was the precursor. Hurting people was great, but breaking them... that was where the real joy rested. His snarl curled into a grin. The one thing that confused him was that amidst the hesitation was something Cory had not expect -- surprise. If he had come here, then surely he knew that his friend was here. Maybe it was best to give him a little more detail and see where it went.

"Early, mid 20-s I would guess. Was a pretty boy when he came in, but couldn't say he is now." Cory carefully watched his captive's face for any sign of movement as he spoke. "One of my teams picked him up in Vernal. Said he was wandering around a jewelry shop with a brown-haired kid. Killed one of them, but brought the other back for me alive."

Oh, he recognized him. No matter how much he tried to hide it, he could see the recognition and familiarity in his eyes.

"Maybe I should drag him in here for you?" Cory lightened his tone and pondered. "See if you can still recognize him in person."

* * * * *

Deeper in the employee area was what had previously been a large meeting room. On her way down to it, she had passed by Cory -- nearly giving Danica a heart attack in the process -- but he continued on his way without paying her much heed. The meeting room was now the armory; Duke had made it the armory in the early days, after transferring the contents of the local police armory over. Outside of the meeting room was an open space with chairs and tables that served as a kind of central meeting area. There were three hallways in this area; two of them formed a small loop which included the last few offices, while the third was the one she had just come down. When Danica stopped and thought about it, there really were a lot of offices here. But on the other hand, this was a 4-building hotel plus diner. There was probably a lot of stuff to manage.

She decided that this would be the place to create the distraction. She could pick off at least a few guards that were nearby at the time, and it would draw everyone to the armory and away from the prisoner cells. As long as she was able to get out of here quickly afterward, she should be in minimal danger. Should be.

A few people looked at her strangely for being back here, but none of them tried to stop her. She reached her hand into the duffle bag, pushing aside the medical supplies until she found what was buried at the bottom; the nail bomb.

* * * * *

Emily still had their radio, so Nolan decided he would leave the negotiations in her hands. She was probably better with that sort of thing than he was. He realized that he was depending on her abilities and knowledge a lot here. He may have been calling the shots for some reason, but it was only because he knew the others knew what they were doing. Well, most of them did. He was hesitant to say the same of Willow right now, who was still in the van and looking simultaneously high and distraught.

"Hey Emily." Nolan crossed his arms as he waited for the hostages to pile into the bed of the truck. "What if Eli is inside Green River as we speak, saving Brandon without us? Then this is about to become a whole fucking mess in a second. I know I said we are driving, but do you think it's worth the risk to get closer to the city and see what's going on? Assuming we can get accurate information out of these guys."
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Strompy
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"What if he's been captured too? All we know is that Brandon is there. We have to act based on that." Emily said reluctantly.

It was true this might be putting Eli in danger but if they did nothing it would mean leaving Brandon to die. They were the most sure hope he had right now.

"Okay listen. This town is tiny, it won't take long for your people to find us if they send out search parties, and they probably will. I need you to tell me where we can set up, that's near enough for these radios to work, that gives us a good view of activity nearby so we have enough warning to relocate. The reason you need to tell us this is that if any of those parties find us the first thing I'll do is kill all of you out of spite and there won't be anything left of you to come back. Silence isn't an option if you like being able to walk." Emily informed their prisoners.

...

Brandon practically collapsed as he reached the river bank. He'd stopped considering how much pain he was in, that was a simple fact of moving at the moment. He paused there, as he lay flat on his belly out of sight and regained his breath. He began to crawl sideways, always keeping an eye on the wall and guardpost as he made his way slowly toward the town proper, and towards the buildings that would hide his movements.
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DoctorYerishi
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What the fuck!?

Eli didn’t say out, but he knew the thought was playing out on his face. He couldn’t help it, couldn’t hold it back. Cory had volunteered enough details that it was impossible to misinterpret – Brandon was captured, tortured, and he was here. At Green River.

What the fuck!? he thought again.

His hatred of the man in front of him fought a vicious but losing battle to his concern over Brandon. He had come here alone – or close to alone – to avoid putting his people in danger. Somehow, they had found it without his help. What the fuck was he doing wandering around a jewellery shop? And was the brown-haired kid Nolan? Was he really dead?

Eli shook his head, not at Cory but at himself. His thoughts raged as he processed this new information.

If Nolan was dead, then so much of what they went through in Iowa was for nothing. Then Kelsey had lost her last living relative. Then the group had lost so much hope.

The group… where are they now? he asked himself, that thought poking through the maelstrom. If Brandon was taken, what would they do? Would they…?

Then he smelled smoke. He was waiting for it, expecting it – hoping for it, a minute ago – so he noticed it when it appeared. It was acrid. He expected that, but he also expected it to smell sweet, just because it meant Danica had come through and the plan was on track.

But Eli couldn’t see the track now. He didn’t know if Brandon was on it, or if the rest of the group was. He didn’t know if the train was about to run them over.

He needed more time. Cory had offered, mockingly, to bring Brandon to him, which meant he was still alive. If Danica had waited, Eli could have taken him up on that offer, and acted then. He could have saved them both at once. If he had more time, he could have pulled it off.

But there’s no more time.

Eli panicked. He didn’t bother with a retort – he just leaned over, reaching under the chair, grabbing the handle of the Supergrade in his fingers. He was supposed to wait for the explosion, draw when Cory was wondering what the fuck had just happened.

No time, Eli thought.

So he drew now. He raised the Supergrade to Cory’s face. He squeezed the trigger.
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A middle-aged man with unkempt facial hair and a cowboy hat spoke for the group in the back of Antonio's truck. He looked like he may be the leader of the group.

"I-I dunno. I guess maybe the old auto store?" He was unsure of himself as he suggested it. "It's pretty close to the inn, just down the street a couple hundred feet from the back entrance. Hidden at the top of a hill behind the gas station."

"That's a bit close for comfort." Nolan added disapprovingly.

"Yeah, it is! But anywhere else ya go, you're gonna be in densely packed suburban housin' areas. Won't be able to see anyone comin' from there. Ya got the river on one side and the freeway on the other. And they got the freeway guarded. Only one direction you can come from." The man made his case with no small level of uncertainty.

"There's also the church." A younger man suggested an alternative location with a little more confidence. "It's in the middle of all the houses he's talking about. Decently sized lot, you'd be able to park all your cars there. It's surrounded by buildings, but they got a street that ends 'bout 50 feet away and looks out over the Oak Tree Inn."

Nolan thought that the church sounded like it might be a better area to hide in. They could nestle themselves inside some buildings and have a lookout perch over the city to see if any cars were leaving. But he didn't voice his opinion; he waited to hear what Emily thought of the two suggestions.

* * * * *

Danica placed the nail bomb in a cheap aluminum trash can. That should hopefully keep it out of sight long enough to go off. According to Eli, once it was planted, she would have about 60 seconds to get the hell out of the area. And then after that, she was supposed to lay low and wait for all of this to be over. Her part was done.

"Oh, hey." Andrea cut Danica off as she entered the hall, once again toying with the knife in her hand.

Shit!

"Second time I caught you sneaking around like this. It's starting to look a little suspicious." Andrea tilted her head to the side as she said that.

Probably about 40 seconds now...

"I just turned the wrong way." Danica tried to play it off like it was nothing. "Silly me, huh?"

Andrea opened her mouth to respond, but stopped. Her brow furled and her nose twitched.

"What is that smell?" Her gaze turned from suspicious to dark far quicker than was comfortable.

BANG!

As soon as the gunshot rang out, Andrea's knife was swinging. Danica threw herself backwards, the blade of Andrea's knife narrowly missed her throat and slashed against the nearby wall. She recovered instantly, drawing her arm back in and thrusting it toward Danica's exposed chest. Danica violently twisted her body to the side, but the knife still sliced cleanly into her left breast at an angle.

"GUARDS!" Andrea roared.

Danica clutched her stab wound backed away. For every step back that Danica took though, Andrea took another one in, twirling the freshly bloodied knife in her hand as she eyed her prey like a psychopath.

Fuck this hurts! How many seconds are left? FUCK!

Danica spun her body and sprinted down the nearest hallway. Maybe there was a stairwell or emergency exit or something that she could exploit. She heard Andrea fall in line behind her.

* * * * *

Cory's eyes widened slightly as the man proved he was not actually restrained and reached underneath the chair. His grin of glee became a grimace as the realization came over him. This was a setup. With reflexes that hardly seemed human, Cory threw his head to the side as the gun was pointed at him. The gunshot flew past his ear and impacted the wall directly behind him. It left his ear ringing from the close call. But he did not miss a step; Cory surged forward and all it took was one stride to close the distance between the two of them.

Cory threw his left arm out and grabbed the wrist of man's extended gun arm, then twisted that arm inward and away from himself to wrest the gun out of his grip. At the same time, he send his right arm in for a hook to his now unprotected face.
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Strompy
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Brandon heard a gunshot come from behind the walls. They'd found his present. No time to be careful now. He got to his feet and staggered his way past the gas station and into the residential area. the first street he came to was thankfully free of rotters. He didn't know about the rest of the town but at least they kept their backyard in order, that would also make any search for him easier too.

It was becoming a little bit difficult to breath. He remembered back to some of the basics his mother had taught him about first-aid and injuries. It could just be that he was in a lot of pain, pain could do a lot of weird things to the body. Or it could mean he was bleeding into his chest cavity. Maybe that fall he took had worsened his injury. He prayed it was nothing. If it was something serious then he needed to find Annie as soon as possible.

There were cars in the streets but he knew better than to even try them, the tanks would have been siphoned off by now. He should have stolen one of their cars. What good was getting out of there if he had no wheels? He hadn't been thinking straight.

Headlights up ahead of him made him freeze. He ducked behind one of the abandoned cars instinctively. Then he remembered his outfit. The people headed his way had no idea what was happening behind those walls even if somebody had found the man he stripped. To them he'd just look like one of their own. He straightened his posture and did his best to look comfortable and calm as he walked out into the middle of the road as the car approached. He turned his face down and to the left a little to try to hide the damage it had sustained. He let go of the trigger on his shotgun reluctantly and held out his hand for the driver to stop the car.

...

"Church. We want to be close, but not too close obviously." Emily decided.
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DoctorYerishi
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BANG! BANG!

Eli squeezed the trigger a couple more times, the bullets thudding into the floor as he and Cory wrestled with the gun.

In a second, the whole plan had fallen apart. In a second, Eli had lost the upper hand and was fighting desperately for his life. And he was losing. A quick and sudden despair shot through him.

Cory’s punch connected with his cheek, and half of Eli’s vision went black. He lost his grip on the Supergrade and his legs kicked the chair over as he staggered sideways. Cory punched hard. Hard enough to almost knock him over, and hard enough to knock his thoughts – including his panicked ones – out of his brain. He locked into combat mode.

He struck out with his elbow, aiming for Cory’s throat.

He could still smell the smoke.
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Cory saw the strike coming for his throat -- since he had to maintain his grip on the enemy's weapon arm, there was no way he could block or avoid the blow. All Cory could do was move his body to the side so that the elbow slammed hard into his neck and not his throat.

BANG! BANG!

More shots echoed through the small room and left Cory's ears ringing.

Despite the miss, Cory cringed at the impact on his throat. He was strong; his biceps were for more than just show. Instead of another punch with his free right arm, Cory grabbed the enemy's other arm and forced it out of the way. With both his arms tied up holding down the prisoner's arms, Cory only had his legs to work with. In the contest of raw strength, they were surprisingly equal, but Cory hooked his leg behind the Hispanic man's and forced his legs out from under him. They both toppled to the ground with Cory in the superior position.

His offense was halted for a brief moment though as an explosion roared from the complex behind him.

* * * * *

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

As she ran, Danica could hear gunshots rattling off elsewhere in the building.

Danica risked a peek behind her, Andrea was hot on her heels, though she was less encumbered than the armored head of security, so Danica had an edge in speed. Though she wasn't sure how long she'd be able to keep this up with her stab wound. What she didn't expect was when Andrea flipped the blade into her hand and hurled it at her. The cold blade whizzed through the air and planted itself firmly in the meaty portion of Danica's rear end. She let out a yelp as her right leg lost its range of movement and she toppled to the ground.

Fuck!

"You should have known you weren't going to get away from me." Andrea bragged.

Down the hall, Danica could already see a couple of guards on their way down. Andrea's backup no doubt. This was pretty sad; Danica was going to die to a crazy woman who rammed a knife in her ass cheek. She found herself hoping that Darren wouldn't find her like that. That would be literal insult to injury.

Fuck me...

Just as she was conceded to her fate, the nail bomb went off. The explosion deafened her and sent nails flying in all directions. The guards coming down the hallway to help were blown off their feet; they fell to the ground and didn't get up. Andrea looked wide-eyed at the destruction behind her. And as Danica expected Andrea to take her rage at the incident out on her, she was surprised when the head of security instead walked away from her, back toward the site of the explosion. With a sense of haste and purpose.

Well, it's not like I'm going anywhere fast right now. Danica somberly mused to herself.

* * * * *

Rose slammed her brakes on the car as the blonde-haired guard showed up in front of her on the road. She didn't know why he was outside the community, but truthfully, she didn't care. She was a friendly face and she needed one of those right now.

She stopped the car and got out, holding the radio out to him. He was aiming his gun at her, but she knew he wouldn't fire. They were on the same side, after all.

"Thank God you're here! Please, they have my friends and husband hostage!" She pleaded with him. "They want to negotiate a hostage trade!"
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Eli was waiting for it. He knew it was coming any second. It was hell, but he forced himself not to panic, even as Cory straddled him. And when the explosion rattled the room and startled him, Eli seized the moment.

Crack!

He grimaced, closed his eyes, and grinded his teeth as he slammed his forehead into Cory’s face. When he felt Cory’s grip on him loosen as a result, he violently twisted and knocked Cory off of him.

Smoke seeped in through the cracks in the office door – the bomb had clearly made a lot of it. Before it could totally obscure his vision, Eli’s eyes found his Supergrade. He reached out and grabbed it with one hand. With the other, he pushed himself backwards towards the door.

He raised the pistol just in time. As Cory got up and tried to stop him, Eli got a lock on his mass.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The shots drilled into Cory’s torso, just before the smoke enveloped him. Through it, Eli could see his silhouette lying motionless.

When he didn’t move, Eli caught his breath, and pushed himself up along the door with his feet. He had expected this moment to be a lot more satisfying. But the knowledge that Brandon was still here somewhere, and that the group might not be far behind, dulled that satisfaction.

Green River was on the verge of becoming a warzone. He couldn’t really think about Cory right now. He had to think about the group.

Shakily – and with a rapidly forming black eye – Eli felt for the doorknob and twisted it. When he turned around, he raised his arm in front of his eyes to protect them from the stinging of the gray cloud that greeted him.

If everything had gone according to plan, Darren would be waiting outside in a car, packed and ready to go. And Eli should be on his way to him.

Everything hadn’t gone according to plan, however. Brandon wasn’t part of the plan.

Wasting valuable time, Eli stumbled towards the other ‘torture rooms,’ dreading what he was going to find. He practically ripped the first door off its hinges – he found it empty, and moved on. The same story with the next two. The two after that had people in them, but they weren’t Brandon, and they weren’t alive.

Anxiety started coursing through him. It started in his heart and pumped through his veins like blood.

Had Brandon been moved? Had he died? He didn’t know the answers to these questions, and that terrified him.

He opened up Room 3, which he thought was a tame name for what might as well have been a Siberian torture chamber. Two bodies lay on the ground. One was a woman. Her chest rose and fall – she was alive. The other was a man. He was stripped down, with a faucet of drying blood running down from his neck. He was definitely not alive.

Eli darted forward and flipped him over. He didn’t recognize the dull eyes staring back at him. He wasn’t Brandon. Which meant Brandon wasn’t here.

Eli looked around, unsure how much that was supposed to relax him. There was a lot of blood in this room. He didn’t think all of it was the dead guy’s. That thought kept him terrified.

He didn’t know where Brandon could have gone. He didn’t know if he escaped, didn’t even know if that was possible in his condition, and hell – I don’t even know his condition. He wasn’t there, though, which meant Eli shouldn’t be either.

He ventured back the way he was escorted in, squinting and holding his breath to fend off the smoke. He wasn’t sure how many rounds were left in his Supergrade – had lost count in the chaos – but raised it anyway, in anticipation of any danger.
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Brandon looked back toward the camp in concern as gunfire contiinued to ring out. An explosion rocked the camp and Brandon was unsure of what to do next. This was Eli, it had to be. That meant he was inside. What should he do?

He wanted to run back in there, but as he was he wasn't doing any running and he sure as hell wasn't in any shape to fight. If he went back he'd only get in the way. Eli wouldn't have made a move unless he had some kind of plan to get out. Brandon decided to go against his own impulse to go back, and to trust Eli to handle the situation. He needed to handle his own.

He took the radio from the woman in front of him and pressed down the button, keeping a decent distance between them and keeping his gun not aimed at her directly but still in a threatening position.

"Hello?" he spoke.

...

"Hello?" the voice came through the radio.

Emily sat in Antonion's truck, pointing a gun at the passengers riding in the bed through the rear window.

"Stop the truck!" she said urgently.

"Brandon?" she answered.

...

"Brandon?"

It was them. Brandon bit his lip and nearly cried out in relief.

"Yes. It's me." he responded happily.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay." he lied.

He was alive but he was far from okay.

"We're going to work out a trade." Emily assured him.

"No need. I'm already outside and I'm borrowing somebody's car. Tell me where I can meet you." he said, cradling his shotgun under his arm with it pointed at the woman now.

He gestured for her to back away from the vehicle and and made his way to the driver's seat. There was a moment of quiet. Eventually Emily's voice returned.

"The bridge into town. We'll leave pick you up there and leave their people for them to find." she informed him.

He placed the radio onto the passenger seat and closed the door. He leaned out the window slightly to look behind him.

"Sorry lady. You might not want to go back in there just now. Take cover in that store there, I'll tell your husband where to find you." he said before putting the car in reverse and taking off, pulling a sharp turn and speeding away from the scene toward the meeting place.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
Darren strode from the diner with a single key in his hand. It had taken a little more than he expected in order to get it from Beth. She was a kind woman, but also had a tendency to play things by the book. Darren was just about getting ready to knock her out and steal a set of keys, but she finally ceded after a few minutes of debate. It wasn't a great car, but it didn't need to be. It needed to be a car that could get them the hell out of here.

In the sprawling parking lot, among the hummer, the pimped out 16-wheeler, and a few armored police cars, Darren found the turn-of-the-century Honda Civic that Beth had given him the keys to. No sooner had he jumped in the driver's seat and turned the ignition than did an explosion rattle from inside Building D. Darren's heart raced; this was it. All he could do now was hope to God that Danica had gotten somewhere safe before the explosion and was able to wait out this shitstorm. He pulled the car our, shifted into drive, then made his way toward the main entrance of the building.

Eli was not the first one out though; a few of Cory's militia were outside first. It was the two that had been standing guard at the front -- they ran outside to get some air as smoke filled the inside of the building. Their eyes fell on Darren as he drove up to them with a car and they lifted their weapons. Darren pulled out the flare gun.

"What are you doing!?" One of them shouted.

"Out of the car! NOW!"

More of them would probably be on their way outside. Darren didn't have time for doubts. He pressed the button to open the sunroof. Slowly but surely, the window on the woof of the car slowly began to open up.

"I SAID OUT OF THE CAR!" The guards weren't going to give him that much time.

Darren lifted the flare gun and pulled the trigger. A single flare shot from the weapon like a rocket and sailed into the night sky above. Darren simultaneously hit the deck and huddled himself as close to the floor as possible as the guards finally opened fire and riddled the cab of his car with shotgun and rifle fire.

* * * * *

Andrea grimaced as she checked for pulses on the guards that had been following her. Both of them were dead, their backs torn apart by what looked to be nails. A nail bomb. Had they not been there, Andrea might have been the one to die instead. Her blood boiled at the murder of her comrades. Danica may have been responsible, but Andrea wanted her alive for this. She wouldn't get far as she currently was. It was clear that there were others involved in this and she highly doubted that Danica was the ringleader of the operation. Her primary concern right now was Cory. With the nail bombs confirmed as an attack, that meant that the gunshots from earlier could very well have been another attacker.

Another dead guard was on the ground near the explosion site as well. Andrea scooped up his riot shotgun and pointed it down the hallway as she made her way toward the front of the building. The entire hallway was filled with smoke by this point, visibility was low. With no idea how many intruders there were, she moved slowly with her finger on the trigger.

"Andrea!"

The voice belonged to Barry. He stumbled toward her, squinting his eyes to see. It was clear he didn't know what was going on either.

"Barry, you're with me." She ordered curtly.

The overweight man realized what she was implying and nodded his head silently. He turned back in the direction he came from and took point. After a minute or two of creeping forward, she noticed a figure in the smoke ahead of them. It was hard to make out, but it was definitely a male and he did not look like any of hers. It might have been the man that they were bringing in earlier. Andrea didn't wait for any sort of order. She didn't care anymore. She pulled the trigger on the shotgun.

BOOM!

* * * * *

Antonio smirked at the news as he shifted the truck into park. They were at the bridge right now, so all they had to do was wait. Nolan looked pretty relieved too -- Antonio had gotten the feeling that he was partly blaming himself for what happened. To hear that Brandon was alive and well after that, it must be a burden off his shoulders. And to realize that they wouldn't need to have a standoff with a fully armed community as well. Everyone could be happy about that.

"I'll go tell the others." Nolan offered.

The young man opened the passenger side door and hopped out.

"Now all we need to worry about is Eli and Jimmy." Antonio hummed, more to himself than anybody else.

He thought he could hear the rattle of gunfire in the distance.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
For a moment there, Jimmy had started to get bored. He had made it into position quickly, setting up a perch in time to see Eli arrive the wall. While everyone else was looking at the fire he set, Jimmy knew better, and was able to find Eli and his sights and watch him climb inside.

But Eli had disappeared from sight a while ago, and if he had re-appeared any time since Jimmy had missed it. Waiting for him to make a move, the tension had built and built until it reached a plateau, and then it had faded away and all Jimmy was doing was watching a bunch of guards with indistinct faces mill around.

Normally, he wasn’t opposed to the notion of flying by the seat of one’s pants. In this particular case, though, he wished he knew there was a plan, and he wished he knew what that plan was. That way, he would what he was waiting for.

Then an explosion rang out and smoke started billowing out from one of the buildings. His attention snapped back into focus, his finger tightened on the trigger of his rifle.

That must be what I’m waiting for, he realized.

Soon after, Jimmy saw it – a line of red smoke burning through the night sky. He heard it too, a sharp pop unlike any of the others that had rung out since the explosion.

And that’s what I’m really waiting for, he knew.

In a second, he readjusted his aim, finding the flare in the sky and following its path to the ground. Its source was a decade-old Honda Civic. The driver was out of sight. Was Eli the driver?

That question didn’t demand an answer, though. Jimmy’s next actions were clear either way. He held his breath.

KA-BANG!

He breathed out calmly and professionally. A smirk crossed his face as the guard with the shotgun fell from his feet, a brand new hole in his head. At least he wouldn’t come back as a deadhead.

You're welcome, Jimmy thought.

He held his breath again.

KA-BANG!

* * *

Eli saw the figures through the smoke and reacted quickly.

Click.

Shit.

He threw himself against the wall and out of the way.

BOOM!

He cringed and braced himself when the shotgun blast rung out. For half-of-a-second, his heart stopped beating in anticipation of maybe never beating again. But then it started up again and Eli realized that whoever had shot him had missed.

There was a thinner figure in the haze, and a larger figure behind him or her. He wasn’t going to give either of them a chance to try again. He charged forward like an outside linebacker going for the sack.
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Is that so?
I missed!?

Andrea was dumbstruck for only a split second. The figure in the haze immediately made a move for her with surprising speed. This would normally be the time when Barry was supposed to shoot. But he wasn't. The moron was hesitating! If she wasn't about to be tackled by a giant, angry man, she would have taken the time to punch Barry in the jaw.

Click-click.

Not fast enough. The man slammed into her like a wrecking ball; pinning the shotgun against her chest while her finger accidentally pulled down on the trigger.

BOOM!

Another blast echoed through the smoky halls. The slug slammed into Barry's chest and knocked him against the wall and to the ground. He would probably survive that thanks to his armor, but she really wished he hadn't been standing right there. He was a moron, but he was a moron she wanted able-bodied right now. Now it was just her and this guy. The Hispanic dude that Darren had brought in earlier. Both those damned siblings must have been in on this. Andrea was definitely smaller than this guy, but she wasn't weak and he wasn't well grounded yet. Using her right hand as a fulcrum, she pushed up on the shotgun with her left hand and threw the man off of her and into the wall.

* * * * *

After two distant shots, the gunfire pelting the car ceased. Darren stayed low for a few seconds, unsure of what had just happened. A sniper? Did Eli have a sniper out there?

Cautiously, he peered above the dashboard. The windshield was covered in holes and cracks, but miraculously still held. The inside of the car was in similar condition. It probably wouldn't be seeing much use after tonight. Outside the car, the two guards that had been firing at him moments ago were both dead on the ground. He was able to breathe a slight sigh of relief.

But gunfire was ringing out all over the place now. Darren didn't know what was going on. Who were these guys fighting? Were people just panicking and shooting weapons? Was there actually an attack going on here? Or was he just hearing sounds of gunfire echoing from inside the hell zone that Building D had become. Regardless, there was panic. And panic was dangerous.

Come on Eli... Darren nervously looked to the front door. Get your ass out here, we gotta go!
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