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| Dead Men Walking | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,829 Views) | |
| DoctorYerishi | Mar 5 2016, 02:37 PM Post #3706 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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His vision was blurry. So were his thoughts. He tried to raise his head and everything just went more out of focus. He had to stop and close his eyes, trying to blink the sleep and confusion away. How long was I out? he wondered. It was one of many questions that came to mind. He opened his eyes. He was in a room indoors – he was able to gather that much. He didn’t know where or how he got there. As his vision slowly became clearer, he looked around and gathered some more. He was in some sort of office. It seemed safe, at least moment. And he was alone. So how safe could he be? * * * “Oh,” Annie said again. “Well, uh – sure, okay.” She didn’t know if agreeing to such an offer was the wise choice, but the request had taken her by surprise. This whole check-up had, really. Besides, he had just offered to give them everything they needed. Not to mention she was hungry, and the very idea of dinner sounded good right now. “That sounds good,” she affirmed, now that she’d had a second to think. “I’ll…” Her eyes picked up a shadow appearing by the doorway, and she looked up. The sight made her jaw hang open. “Emmett?” He was standing there in his black t-shirt and jeans, looking tired and the littlest bit confused – which given how non-expressive he usually was, meant he was very conused. One of his hands was gripping the frame of the door to help keep himself steady. The other hand was gripping a gun and holding it out in front of him. “Emmett, wait,” Annie snapped out of her surprise. “It’s okay! He’s not one of them.” Uncertainty flickered across Emmett’s brown eyes. He lowered the gun slightly, but not all the way. “Who...” he strained to get the words out through a dry throat. “Who is he?” |
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| Strompy | Mar 6 2016, 05:10 PM Post #3707 |
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More posts, more Busey.
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"I'm Sa-Saxon King." Saxon answered, stumbling over his own name nervously despite his attempt to sound confident. He cleared his throat and regained his composure, reminding himself who he was. "I'm the owner of the Red Lion here in town. Your group and mine have worked out an arrangement. It's all very peaceful." he assured Emmett. |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | Mar 6 2016, 05:25 PM Post #3708 |
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Is that so?
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"So far, at least." Willow added from the corner of the room. She had been leaning against the corner of the room and silently watching and listening. Admittedly, Saxon hadn't made any suspicious moves. In fact, everything he was saying sounded somewhat believable. And had she been the same woman she was in Mount Kisco, she very well might have. But things were different now. Despite her hesitation in all of this though, she couldn't have Emmett going off the handle. She made her way over to him and placed her hand on the top of his gun, making sure it stayed lowered. "It's alright, big guy. We're in Nevada now." |
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| DoctorYerishi | Mar 6 2016, 06:21 PM Post #3709 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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“Nevada?” Emmett repeated. “I…” Then he cringed and fell to one knee. Annie cringed too, in sympathy – it seemed like a dizzy spell to her. She looked to Willow, and nodded her head sideways towards the big man she was now helping to keep on his feet. “Willow, could you help get him back to his room?” she asked. She advanced a little before facing Emmett again. “Saxon’s telling the truth,” she assured him. “We’ll explain everything, don’t worry. I’ll be with you in a second. I'm glad you're awake.” Emmett looked up, his soft brown eyes meeting hers. He nodded softly, then let out a grunt as he climbed back to his feet. When Willow and Emmett were gone, and Annie was alone with Saxon, she turned back to him. “I’m – well, I’m sorry about that,” she said. |
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| Strompy | Mar 7 2016, 04:26 PM Post #3710 |
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More posts, more Busey.
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Saxon's cheeks were flushed after that brief interruption. "Honestly I'm more shaken by the girl, I forgot she was close by. Probably heard everything. I'm a very private person, I don't like people knowing my business. Not even my own people." Saxon said as he rubbed the back of his neck. He waved his handin the air as if to shoo the thought away. "Your man was only being defensive, by the look of him he's smart to be. I'm guessing that was Salt Lake City. They seemed so genuine, even after all the tattoos and shaved heads they seemed..." he continued with a sigh. "Anyway. I think you were agreeing to dinner?" he asked, eager to change the subject to something more agreeable. |
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| DoctorYerishi | Mar 8 2016, 01:46 AM Post #3711 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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Annie summoned a hesitant smile. She was relieved that Saxon didn’t take Emmett’s interruption personally. She was also relieved Emmett was back on his feet, even if he was unsteady. “I was,” she said. “I’ll be there. And don’t worry about Willow – she’s a good person, and I’ll make sure she’s discrete.” |
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| Strompy | Mar 9 2016, 03:41 PM Post #3712 |
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More posts, more Busey.
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"Then I owe you my thanks again. I look forward to seeing you again." Saxon excused himself beford making his way back outside with a pleased expression. ... Brandon maintained an almost unblinking vigil outside. He wouldn't allow himself to lower his guard around these people, not even with women and children present. Just because it was unlikely that something would happen didn't mean Byron wasn't taking notes or that they were being watched from elsewhere. The only thing they'd see was that they were alert and ready. The front door opened and Brandon stepped aside. Saxon made his way out and gave him a courteous nod. "Acute bronchitis. Should clear up just fine so long as I get plenty of fresh air a refrain from smoking, or over-exerting myself. Nothing to worry about, just like I said." King informed Byron as he made his way to the van. "Ah, Brandon you'll be glad to hear your friend is awake. Oh and I forgot to offer this to her, but I can have somebody come here to pick Annie up later." Saxon said as he got into the van. "No it's fine, thank you." Brandon declined calmly, hiding the fact he didn't know what he was talking about or that he wasn't okay with whatever it was. Emmett was awake though, whatever else was happening that was a much needed for them. For a moment he'd been worried they might have another situation like with Jen. That couldn't happen now, not after all this. Not after everything Emmett had done for them. Brandon waved the next patient forward. A woman in her mid thirties got off the bus with the little boy holding one hand and the toddler carried in the other, her little arms around her mother's neck as she burried her face and cried softly. Brandon stopped them at the door. "I need to search you." he informed the mother. "You've got to be kidding." she protested as she secured her toddler more firmly. "No. Those are the rules." he answered. "Well-" she said helplessly gesturing to the weeping girl in her arms. Brandon sighed and slung his rifle before extending his arms to take the child from her. Reluctantly she gave her over and Brandon held onto her with his right arm and patted the woman down with his left. Once it was done he gave the girl back to the woman who gave him a very displeased look. Brandon looked down to see the boy standing with his arms out and his legs spread. "No, kid, you're cool." he said and gestured for them to continue. "Why do you have that?" the boy asked, pointing at Brandon's eyepatch. "Oliver!" his mother chastised him to which he was oblivious. "I can't see out of this eye anymore." Brandon explained simply. Brandon remembered looking at himself in the mirror for the first time and seeing his broken face. "Why?" Oliver followed up. "Because a bad person hit me and broke it." Brandon explained. He thought about those fists. About the anticipation of the next blow. About theones that broke something. "Why?" Oliver asked again. "Because he liked to hurt people." Brandon continued. Then he thought Cory's face. About the little titter after a particularly savage blow. He also remembered Cory was dead. That made him feel a little better. "Why?" Oliver asked yet again. "Oliver that's enough." his mother insisted and pulled him inside by the hand. "Mommy that lady has pink hair!" Brandon heard Oliver observe excitedly. ... The last of Annie's patients boarded the bus. There were no life threatening ailments among them fortunately, one woman was simply a little anaemic, the toddler had a bead stuck inside her ear and there was a genuine case of bronchitis. Once the bus was gone around the corner Brandon finally relaxed and headed back inside. He found Willow first. "Emmett?" he asked. ... "That's good, Romain."Dwight informed him. He shouted but it was still unlikely Romain could hear him over the sound of the excavator. The thumbs up he was giving the man however indicated he could stop digging. The hole had been widened and extended to accomodate the extra occupants. Romain shut the machine off and hopped out to inspect his work. Nearby Emily and Iris chatted next to the truck. "Iris. Work time." Dwight informed her and she almost jumped to attention. After spending so long loading those bodies onto the truck the now faced the only slightly less unappealing job of pulling them back out. At least they were close to the hole. "So you can't just leave them, but why not burn them?" Emily asked. "The smoke'll draw too much attention. If it won't draw wendigos it might draw people." Hunter explained. "So now you're averse to people?" Emily asked. "No, we just like to control how we encounter them. We had ample warning that you were coming, so everyone was indoors when you arrived." Dwight answered as he dragged a body to the the ramp. "Kind of exciting when people come through, doesn't happen so much anymore. Used to get a lot of people passing through at first, mostly from California going inland. Then today we get two groups going to opposite way. You're kind of a big deal back at the Lion. You guys have people in California or something?" Iris asked. Emily raised an eyebrow and looked to Antonio or Hank to field that one. |
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| DoctorYerishi | Mar 10 2016, 11:24 PM Post #3713 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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Hank had been silent as he helped Dwight and Romain with their grim task. The pain of losing Andy was too fresh, it hurt too much, and he didn’t trust himself in this mindset. These were new people, and he didn’t want to say the wrong thing, so he said nothing at all. When the job was done, however, Iris had asked them a question. When he realized that Emily wasn’t going to take it, he sighed as quietly as he could, then spoke up. “I, uh, I guess we’ll see when we get there,” he said. The lie didn’t come out of his mouth easily. He would have preferred to be honest. But the secret of the so-called cure wasn’t his to tell, so he sucked it up. He was about to turn his back in the hopes of warding off any follow-up queries, but then a few of Iris’ words stuck in his head. “Wait, two groups?” he asked. * * * Annie wasn’t exactly with Emmett in a “second,” as she promised, but as soon as she could she headed back to his room. She found him on the same couch, but sitting up this time, his eyes focused on the door as she entered. “Hey,” she greeted him with a smile. “Hey,” he returned the greeting, his voice still dry. “Don’t worry, those people are gone,” she said. “I know.” Annie’s smile widened – she believed him. “Of course you do,” she said. “How are you feeling?” |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | Mar 11 2016, 05:58 AM Post #3714 |
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Is that so?
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It was hard not to be anxious. With so many people here now, Willow had to try not to look as on edge as she felt. But nothing happened. Nobody stirred up any trouble. Nobody raised a hand against Annie. Nobody did anything. People were scared, of course, but they were civil. This was how people should behave. By the time Annie had finished with everyone, Willow could have sworn she was even relaxing a little bit. "Oh, hey." Willow greeted her boyfriend. "Uhh..." She took a moment to collect her thoughts. As she did, she peered through the window. The bus was gone and so were the people. She knew that. But her eyes kept glancing outside anyway. Just in case, she told herself. "He's fine. He was pretty paranoid at first. Came into Annie's room and pointed a gun at Saxon while he was in there. But he calmed down after I told him we were in Nevada." She explained what happened before tilting her head in the direction of his room. "I escorted him back to his room, sat him down, and asked him a few questions before making sure nobody was giving Annie a hard time. I mean, I'm not a doctor or anything, but he was ambulatory and cognizant; and I take those as good signs, you know? If you wanted to see how he was doing, he should still be there, though I'll bet Annie is with him right now." She knew she was rambling, but Emmett waking up was pretty big news. She was sure he wanted to hear about it. After what happened to Jen, Willow got the feeling that she wasn't the only one that was glad to see him conscious again. "I don't know if he knows about Nolan yet. Or Eli and Kelsey. I didn't really fill him in..." |
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| Strompy | Mar 15 2016, 08:47 AM Post #3715 |
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More posts, more Busey.
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"Well yeah." Hunter said with a grunt as he shoved one of the many corpses into the waiting grave "There's you and John's family." "So John, how about you and your family?" Dwight asked. "Huh?" John responded as he and his son handled a larger corpse. "What brings you out here in the first place?" "Wendigos. Stayed with a few camps since this started. Same story everytime. Always seems people stay in one place too long they get killed. Last time nearly cost us everything. So we're staying on the move." John answered. "We're doing fine so far." Jake protested his reasoning. "How many people have you lost?" John asked in response. Jake didn't have an answer for him. The conversation abated at that, with a pall being cast over it. King's people didn't seem interested in asking any more questions, so the work continued without interruption. Finally aseveryone stood around rubbing their backs and grumbling, Romain got behind the controls of the excavator and without any more ceremony began burrying the dead. "Seems like a lot of effort when you're just gonna throw them all in a hole together and not say any words over them or anything." Alex pointed out. "They're not rotting on the streets. That's better than most get." Hunter defended. John placed a hand on his son's shoulder and motioned for him to stay put before making his way over to Antonio and the others. "I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier today. I realized you hadn't gotten one yet. That sort of thing... that's not our way. You want that food back I'm happy to give it over." he said meeting Antonio's gaze. ... "I'm going to go check on him. Be our eyes out front?" Brandon asked. Without waiting for a response he gave her a tiny squeeze and made his way to Emmett. Seeing something good was always better than hearing about it. Emmett still looked like crap, but he didn't look like he was about to die at least. "Enjoy your nap? I hear you waved a gun at King." he greeted him with an amused grin. |
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| DoctorYerishi | Mar 15 2016, 08:19 PM Post #3716 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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Oh, right, Hank shook his head at the reminder. John’s family. They were the people that had robbed Brandon, Connor and Antonio. The entire time they had been out here, Hank had noticed Connor stealing glares in John's direction. In his absentminded state, Hank had forgotten the cause of that. Once Romain was operating the excavator, and everyone was standing around, Hank caught Connor wearing the same expression once again. He followed his icy gaze over to John and Antonio. It looked like the former was hoping to make amends. * * * Before Brandon arrived in the office, Annie had given Emmett a brief recap of what had gone on since he passed out. She told him the secondhand story of her and Willow’s rescue, Andy’s death, and their road trip here to Nevada. She admitted she had him on an improvised drip at one point, right up until she ran out of dopamine. She reiterated how glad she was that he had pulled through. For his part, Emmett seemed relieved as well – though more about Annie and Willow than himself. “I let her get taken,” he had said. “Emmett, you almost died,” Annie replied. “You didn’t let anything happen. You fought harder than anyone could ask you too.” That didn’t seem to satisfy him, but they moved on regardless. They were just about done when Brandon interrupted. “I didn’t wave it,” Emmett said, shrugging. He looked up at Brandon and gave him a subtle smile back. “You... You look like you could use some sleep yourself.” |
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| Strompy | Mar 17 2016, 08:30 AM Post #3717 |
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More posts, more Busey.
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"48 straight hours of it, I'd say." Brandon said with a rueful smile. He tried nog to think about how tired he was. The solution to both not thinking about it and stsying awake was to keep himself occupied. Unfortunately there was nothing to occupy himself with, so every minute felt painfully long as he kept slipping dangerously close to sleep with nothing to do but thimk about how badly he wanted to. In a way he was grateful King and his people came by, they kept him alert for a little while. "I'm glad you're still with us. We still need you, and not just because you can shoot." he said, being serious. "Annie, do you think he needs you right now? There's something I wanted to ask you." he informed Annie as he remembered the other reason he came. |
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| DoctorYerishi | Mar 17 2016, 10:52 PM Post #3718 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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“Thank you,” Emmett said. He gave Brandon a slow, meaningful nod, then turned to Annie. “I’m okay,” he said. “I guess he’s okay,” Annie said. She had to smile at his resilience, as she turned to Brandon. “What do you need?” |
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| Strompy | Mar 18 2016, 12:03 AM Post #3719 |
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More posts, more Busey.
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"King mentioned sending somebody around later to pick you up. What's he talking about?" Brandon asked. |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | Mar 18 2016, 03:28 AM Post #3720 |
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Is that so?
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"Empathy? It means to, uh... understand someone else's perspective, right? Try to see it from their point of view. Like when you feel bad for someone. Simpatía is the word, yeah?" Antonio's answer didn't seem to satisfy the other man. Marius was his name. A black man with broad shoulders and a good heart -- despite the stern look he wore on his face and the tattoos he wore on his arms. "No, man." Marius retorted. "You're thinking of sympathy! This shit's different. Empathy means more than just to feel sorry for someone, it means to understand 'em at a personal level. If you wanna know why I'm getting out of the gangs, Tony, you gotta understand empathy." "The fuck's empathy gotta do with this?" Antonio furled his brow in genuine confusion. No more than 10 minutes ago, Marius had told Tony that he was getting out of the gang. He was leaving the Bloods. It sounded crazy. And that was because it was. One didn't simply leave the Bloods, that wasn't how it worked. And though Antonio was trying to stop him, he couldn't even understand why he was leaving. He thought they had a good thing going here. But Marius met Antonio's gaze and his stern eyes softened. "You remember my brother. How I was there when he died last week? Despite all the emotions I got going on here, it gave me some clarity. About my situation. About my life." Marius paused and silence lingered in the air between them for a few moments. "I remembered shootin' a guy for the boss. He was laundering money. Capped him on the street in front of his family. I didn't give a shit about all that. The pain on his family's face. The panic. The helplessness. I laughed at it. And now I know what that feels like, watching your brother die in your arms. I can empathize with it now. And I'm done with this shit. This 'business' cost me my brother. And I... I don't want it to cost me you, too." Antonio froze for only a second or two. That conversation with Marius, from so many years ago, just popped into his mind immediately after John stepped forward and apologized. Any of the anger that Antonio might have harbored about that situation seemed to dissolve. He got an apology. And, perhaps more importantly than that, he could empathize with why that had happened and how it had come about. After all, Antonio had been witness to much worse atrocities -- even when he was still calling himself a priest. "Thank you for the apology. But it... is alright." Antonio finally answered John. "Our group was in trouble, but we were lucky enough to run into Saxon and his group. Your family needs food too, after all." He paused and glanced in Connor and Emily's direction for a moment before returning his gaze to John. "I'm fine letting you keep the food for them. As long as Connor and Emily are okay with that." |
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7:27 PM Jul 10