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Dead Men Walking
Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,835 Views)
Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"That would be conditional. We know it's a lot to ask, that it's a big leap of faith, but we'd need you to surrender your weapons. We have rules for our own safety. This is Mr. King's establishment though, and it's our home. You'd be guests, working guests, but we don't spill our guests blood in our home without a good reason." Byron explained, shifting a little in place.

Up top the women with the rifles shifted a little too. There was a tensing all round. Emily tensed too. Surrendering their weapons. That wasn't going to be a popular proposal and personally she was already inclined to simply move on.

"Yeah, blood is a pain in the ass to clean up." the elderly woman from before explained jokingly, eliciting a small ripple of laughter among the women up top.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
Antonio's lips curled into a frown. It wasn't the news anybody wanted to hear, though it was a fairly predictable policy.

He had what he wanted. He could leave now and report his findings. OR he could drop his weapon and go inside to see if they were legit. He didn't care if anything happened to him. If these guys were no good, they could kill and rob him, but at least nobody else would fall into the trap. It was definitely safer than everyone falling into the trap at once. But if he did go in there on his own, odds were that Brandon and the others would insist on launching a rescue attempt anyway if he never came out. That might get even more people killed.

"I'll need to consult with the rest of my group. But they won't like it." Antonio said flatly.

He glanced over his shoulder to Emily. In so many words, he asked are we done?
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Without a word Emily got to her feet, giving Antonio his answer. With more than a little awkwardness she managed to keep her rifle up and aimed at the women with the guns as she did so. She didn't expect them to shoot and she guessed they weren't expecting her to either, this was all just a show, so that everyone knew where they stood. They could both fight if necessary. And they considered each other a real threat.

"We have a lot to lose, and there are plenty of people who wouldn't have a problem hurting us to get it. As much as you don't like there are plenty of people here who like letting you in even less. Your friend doesn't need that gun anymore, nobody is going to shoot you." Byron promised.

After a moment of consideration Emily lowered her rifle and made her way toward the car. The women on the roof lowered theirs too.

"Let's head back." Emily said as she opened the passenger side door.

...

The mere minutes Emily and Antonio had been away felt like hours. Brandon wasn't the only one feeling highstrung. Everyone had a weapon in hand. Annie kept her vigil over Emmett. Willow, Brandon and Connor kept rifles and eyes on the street. When they finally returned there was a collective relief. Brandon told WIllow and Connor to maintain watch and went to go see what the others had learned.

"So what do you think?" he asked.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"How do you think?" Antonio shrugged.

On the ride back, he had relinquished Emily's aviators. Because of that, he was able to rub the bridge of his nose with his fingers. He then exhaled heavily.

"It's hard to say, but they sound legitimate. They've made it this long by trading the supplies they scavenged for work. As it stands, the man I spoke with was not the one in charge. To meet with him, they wanted us to relinquish our weapons."
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Brandon inhaled sharply through gritted teeth and shook his head with a bitter chuckle. Make themselves defensless, was what was being asked.

"No way." Emily chimed in.

Personally Brandon was inclined to agree with her. If he were in any other position he'd voice that inclination. He wasn't making choices for himself alone now though, so he had to consider the needs of all the others. They had practically no food, no medicine or medical supplies, not much water either. All they had was their weapons. It was a huge sacrifice to art with those even for a short time. But Emmett was in a bad way and needed better care than they could provide him under these circumstances. Emily was looking at him with an expression that said she knew they were on the same side. That expression changed when she noticed his.

"Okay." he said.

"You can't be serious." Emily said incredulously.

"I am. We could be here for days waiting for Eli and Kelsey, maybe longer. Emmett needs a real bed and real food. We all do." Brandon responded reluctantly.

"Last time we just walked into somebody's house..." Emily began.

"They told us to keep our guns. They made every effort to make us feel at ease, and we that's why we knew we couldn't trust them. These people haven't made any effort to hide their suspicions of us. That tells me that they don't think they're in control. Not like those freaks did. I think they're like us." Brandon explained.

"We should see what the others think." Emily said and Brandon nodded his agreement before they headed back inside to do just that.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
Antonio's lips dipped into a slight frown. He did not want to risk the safety of everyone on an unknown, but they did need the supplies. Of that there was absolutely no doubt. And he meant what they said when he mentioned they seemed genuine.

"Agreed."

* * * * *

Willow sighed. No more than a day out from Salt Lake City and they were already running into more survivors. And all it did was raise more questions and cause more anxiety. Without the calming and numbing side effect from her hydrocodone, she found herself increasing restless thanks to this new development.

They came back safe though. She told herself from the couch. That means it probably went well enough! Be optimistic, Willow!

Then Brandon came back into the room with Antonio and Emily in tow. Her eyes widened and she perked up from her seat.

"How did it go?" Willow asked before anyone else could say a word.
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"They want us to give up our weapons before they'll deal with us. Brandon thinks we should do it." Emily informed them.

"No. I think we don't have a lot of options, and that these people are in charge. If they've cleaned out this whole town they've got to have better numbers than us. And weapons. If they really wanted a fight then they'd probably win. Even if they did they know we don't have anything to take." Brandon reasoned.

"I think we could take a bunch of old ladies." Emily commented.

"Old ladies?" Brandon followed.

"Yeah. They had a bunch of women with rifles on the roof when we got there. Some of them old." she explained.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"Well that just makes me more suspicious." Willow voiced her thoughts openly. "They probably want us to, like, think they are weak, you know? We let our guard down because we see some old ladies and then they got us where they want us."

Admittedly, Antonio remembered thinking the same thing, so he could hardly blame her. It seemed pretty logical at first. And considering her recent lack of trust, it was the stance he had expected her to take.

"Like Brandon said, if they really wanted us dead, they could have done it by now. Several times over, as a matter of fact." He rebutted as he ran a hand over his short hair. "I admit, I would rather avoid all of this if possible, but they have supplies that we need right now. We have guns, but they have food, water, and medicine."
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Strompy
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"They've got old ladies with guns. I mean if I weren't completely and obviously wrecked right now I'd look pretty formidable, and I could bench Willow and Emily because they're both tiny and Connor hasn't even started growing facial hair yet. We've all got guns though, so we're scary. I don't think they're trying to fool us. I think they're just being honest." Brandon mused.

Brandon scratched at his thickening scruff and was respulsed by the greasiness of his face. He'd been a little bit of a metro before all this. He always took good care of his skin and hair and body because that was all he had going for him. At least he thought it was. Turned out he had a lot more to offer. Despite faultering he had people who trusted him and not just in that trust excercise mutual respect for feelings safe place way. He was a leader. Right now they needed a decision from him.

"I believe them. I believe they've got what we need and that they're willing to give it to us if we work for them. We need to know the particulars though. Did they mentioned what they wanted us to do?" he asked.

He wiped the grease on his fingers off on his equally grimy pants. Maybe these people had running water. They might even be able to bathe, like humans.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"He said they will trade heads for supplies. Falle- no, rotter heads. Five 'things' for one head. Its their way of keeping the area relatively clear."

Antonio relayed what Byron had said to him earlier.

"Alternatively we can talk to their supposed leader, a Mr. King, about other jobs we might be able to do. He is the man wed need to hand over our weapons to have an audience with."
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Strompy
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"Doesn't look likes there's many heads left in this town. May have to look into those other jobs. They probably don't have a doctor! So we can just, you know... keep working Annie like a medical slave. Yeah, didn't really think that one through before I started saying it. We'll look around for more rotters. Sounds like a pretty sweet payout. Five... things? For each rotter?" Brandon said stumblingly with waning hope.
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Is that so?
"Things." Antonio verified. "He really did not seem like the most knowledgeable person to be having that conversation with."
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
“It’s all very… vague,” Annie finally contributed her two cents.

She looked at Emmett on the couch again. He was still unconscious. That was starting to get worrisome.

“And I’m willing to help, Brandon, but the last time I offered my services freely I ended up on a train. And the last time we surrendered our guns, it was a prelude to…”

She trailed off again. She didn’t need to say what it was a prelude to. They knew. They were all thinking the same thing.

“But you say this sounds different, and I want to believe that,” she added. “And the fact is we need food and water. There’s no getting around that.”

She frowned. She was still just stating the obvious.

“It sounds like we still need more information,” she said. “It sounds like we need to speak with this King person. I just wish we had some manner of insurance, some way to know for sure that whoever walks into his office – or his throne room, or wherever is – will be walking out again. It’s frustrating having no cards.”

She frowned deeper.

“The important thing is I don’t want to fight again,” she added. “We’re not in any shape. I’d rather leave a note for Eli and Kelsey and try our luck in the next town.”

Brandon said that if these people wanted a fight then they'd probably win. Annie wasn’t so sure about that. The past week had taught her that she shouldn’t underestimate herself or this group. Their ability to overcome was powerful. They had fought and defeated Cory and his militants, and had survived impossible odds against the New Hope – both of which were surely tougher than a gang of old ladies, with guns or not.

But the group hadn’t come out of those encounters whole. And the thought of losing more people to pointless war was an extremely unwelcome one.

The thought of taking more lives was also unwelcome – but after Salt Lake City, Annie couldn’t summon the same moral indignation at the idea as she once could.
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"Antonio said he thought they seemed legit. I think if they ment to roll us they'd make the offer more enticing, like back in Salt Lake City. Or they'd just jump us like Wendy's crew. They've made an offer. They want to pay us." Brandon reasoned.

"They want to use us. Who's to say once we've done what they want us to they won't stiff us? Or kill us?" Emily asked.

"Who's to say we won't stab them in the back if they let their guard down? Take over their home? Steal their supplies? They're taking a risk even announcing their pressence, and for what? A couple dead rotters? I think they're trying to do the right thing, but also keep themselves safe." Brandon came back.

There was another concern which Annie raised again. They still had two people unaccounted for. Leaving might seem like the smartest option but wasn't it better the devil you know? The next town over could be swarming with rotters. Maybe they wouldn't be able to reach Town Hall there. Maybe it was home to a group as well. They at least had Town Hall secured in Elko. There were few rotters around, and a group that at least wasn't openly hostile. They knew more about what they and Eli and Kelsey could expect here then they did down the road.

Brandon felt he owed it to those two to stick to the plan, to make Elko work.

"And we can't leave without Eli and Kelsey. We need to give them a couple days at least. Don't lose your nerve now. If this isn't on the level then we'll deal with that, and history says they'll end up paying for it worse than us." Brandon appealed.

He meant what he said, but he couldn't ignore the wisdom of the other stance. It was so strange to think that not even a few months ago everything was so different. Once order was taken away people seemed to show their true colours. People didn't seem to be communities anymore. They were tribes, and outsiders just couldn't be trusted. It was insane.

"What do the Kelly's think? And Connor should be in on the discussion too, he's got just as much of a stake in it." Brandon said as he took a seat and supported his head with a clenched fist.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Annie wasn’t totally convinced by Brandon’s rationale. As far as people were concerned, these days it seemed like the only thing they could count on was that they couldn’t count on anything. People were unreasonable and unpredictable. They could attack them or betray them for any reason, even a bad or self-defeating reason.

She didn’t offer any counterargument, however, because she didn’t have one. Brandon was right that they couldn’t just abandon Eli and Kelsey.

“Hank said to let him know if something changed, which hasn’t quite happened yet,” Annie said. “I think they have made it at least implicitly clear that – for now – they want to be left alone. Once we’ve made a decision, one of us can bring him into the loop. As for Connor, you make a fair point. Honey?”

“Thank you,” Connor broke his silence.

Until that point, he had been listening quietly from the corner of the room while gently biting the edge of his lip – just like Annie tended to do. He bit it a little harder as the eyes in the room turned to him.

“But, um… I dunno.”

“I know what you mean,” Annie said. She turned back to the others. “Like I said, this is all still very vague. I appreciate the risks you all took meeting these people, but we still don’t really know what they want from us or even who we’re dealing with.”
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