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Dead Men Walking
Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,821 Views)
Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"It's not going to come to that, because I'm the one going. This was my call. I'll set this straight." Brandon assured them, and himself to large extent.

As confident as he felt that he could resolve all this peacefully he couldn't ignore that he might not be able to. If they couldn't be reasoned with, they'd have to be forced. Saxon's people had every advantage in a fight, so that wasn't an option. But what Connor suggested had more than a little merit.

"I have job for everyone else. You're going to take whoever's in that SUV hostage, without them raising the alarm. If I can't convince them to release our people we'll need somebody to trade."
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Emmett nodded solemnly.

He was onboard, and resolved immediately to do what he could to help. He wasn’t sure how effective he would be in his current state, however. His mind was sharp, he thought, but his body wasn’t. He still knew how to assess terrain and determine which path is the quietest. He knew how to walk close to the ground, heel-to-toe so he wouldn’t make noise. Those were skills he had learned traipsing around the forests of Ontario, where he was careful not to disturb the local wildlife. They were skills he had further developed in his own time. But could he put them into practice them effectively, as weak as he was? He wasn’t sure, but he had to try.

“We’ll handle it,” he announced.

Yeah, we will,” Connor said, his eyes alight, clearly excited to be taking some action.

Emmett looked around, his eyes settling on Hank’s corner of the room. He looked equally solemn, but not as determined. He raised his hands.

“I’m sorry, I’m out,” he said. “I can’t put my family in that kind of danger, not again.”
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"I'd never ask you to. Just keep them safe, we'll take care of this." Brandon acknowledged Hank.

Aside from his desire to keep the Kellys out of harm's way there was the more practical reason for not involving them. They weren't fighters like the others. It was better for everyone that they stay out of the way.

"Okay. I'm going. I trust you guys to figure out a way to get to whoever's out there. Hirt them if you have to but keep them alive." Brandon informed the others before heading for the door.

...

"They'll get us out of here." Emily said softly and calmly.

They'd come through worse situations than this, and since she was innocent of this she was confident they'd see reason. The sound of footfalls was only a brief warning but it was enough for Emily to quickly give the others a quick beep to signal them to cut communication. She switched the radio off and stashed it behind one of the servers and placed her hands innocently back in her lap.

One of the guards from outside the door opened the cramped room and gestured for Emily to get up. Her knees clicked loudly as she got to her feet. How long had she been sitting in there?

"Yeah?" she inquired.

"Mr. King wants to speak with you." he explained.

"Finally." she griped as she stretched.

Byron and another guard conducted her through the offices to a door marked General Manager. Byron opened the door and in an oddly gentlmanly fashion gestured for her to enter first. Saxon was sitting inside on the opposite side of the manager's desk. The guard waited outside and Byron entered with her, closing the door behind them. Byron remained standing by the door and Saxon gestured to a chair opposite himself.

"Explain to me your version of events." he instructed her.

"I went downstairs to get a look at your supplies. I saw your man leaned up against the wall and inspected his body. When the black haired kid came I hid and tried to get back out when he left. Before I could somebody struck me in the head and took off. I made out two figures but I couldn't discern anything more than that, I may have been seeing double so it could have been only one. I went after them and that's when your people found me." Emily recounted.

"And why were you checking our supplies?" Saxon asked.

"To see how much you had." she answered.

"This is not an appropriate situation for a smart mouth, not for you. Rigjt now half of my people want you dead, the other half wouldn't mind if that happened." he explained sternly.

Emily made an apologetic gesture.

"We needed more information about you. To see if you were on the level or selling bullshit to trap us." Emily confessed.

"Who ordered you to do this?" he probed.

"Nobody ordered me to do anything. Brandon asked me." she said candidly.

"Brandon..." Saxon repeated, shaking his head.

There was a sort of relief in his expression that Emily raised an eyebrow at.

"Alright. How did you get inside?" he continued questioning.

"One of the back doors. It was locked but not barred."

"My people know those doors are to be barred shut at all times. How did you get in?" he repeated the question.

Emily was telling a half truth. The door wasn't barred but only because Iris let her in. She wasn't about to give her up.

"Well then somebody isn't following the rules. Maybe they went out back for a cigarette and forgotto bar the door when they came back in." Emily proposed.

Saxon gave her a dubious look.

"You're wasting time talking to me. I didn't kill that guy, I was just looking around. You should be looking for the ones who took off with your stuff." she explained.

"We've got people following that claim. They haven't found anything except the garage door which has been tampered with, which I believe is how you got in and where you were planning to get out again. I've been informed all our vehicles are accounted for so whoever your accomplices were are on foot." Saxon said.

"Accomplices!? You think this is from my accomplices?" she asked indicating to the gash in her head.

"I don't know what to think. Maybe you got that from Mitch before one of your friends slit his throat. He caught you in the middle of looting our stores and they panicked, leaving you behind. I don't know. But it's possible, and the facts are our supplies have been stolen, Mitch is dead and you were found fleeing the scene." Saxon laid out for her.

"Those are the facts you see. I know I didn't kill him and I know there were others down there at the time. From what I know this looks like an inside job." Emily countered.

There was a knock at the door and Byron leaned out to converse with somebody outside quietly. He closed the door a moment later.

"We've just completed a head count. Everyone is accounted for." Byron explained.

"So much the insider theory." Saxon said with a sigh, and gestured at Byron who opened the door for the guard to enter.

"That doesn't prove or disprove anything. They could have stashed the supplies and plan on leaving later. I didn't kill that guy! Whatever you're planning on doing about this you better consider what's going to happen after! You have no idea who you're dealing with!" Emily said in a rising tone as she was lead back outside and to the server room.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Connor stood outside the doors to city hall, across from Antonio, wearing a scowl on his face. He paced left and right, looking up at the former priest, then down at his feet, then around – looking everywhere except the one place Emmett had told them not to look.

His pistol was visible in his pants, his shirt tucked under it, and he wanted to draw it. He thought he’d feel better with a gun in his hands. He didn’t, though. Another one of Emmett’s instructions he had to listen to.

“This is bullshit,” Connor swore. “They can’t just kidnap my mom! Not again! They can’t just get away with that.”

He kept pacing, unable to quell his mounting frustration. All he could do was hope that Emmett knew what he was doing.

* * *

Emmett was a shadow. In his zipped up leather jacket and black jeans, and with the hood of his sweater tied tight around his neck, he was barely distinguishable from the darkness that surrounded him. That’s how he managed to sneak out of city hall through the back door, then circle around the neighbourhood to the site of the ‘reddish glow’ Brandon had reported before setting out on his diplomatic mission.

He was in a crouch when he spotted the dark red SUV. He remained in a crouch as he approached from behind, gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain in his stomach, willing himself to remain silent – no heavy breathing, no grunting, nothing that would blow this situation up in his face.

He was successful. He thought he was successful, at least. He was about to find out for sure.

Hopefully, the man – or the men – in the SUV were paying attention to Connor and Antonio. Hopefully their minds were wrapped up in what the kid and the priest were doing or planning, in whether they were about to make a move, and if so what kind. Hopefully it was enough to keep them from looking around until it was too late.

Emmett made his move. He rose up, appearing at the passenger’s side window with his machine pistol drawn and aimed.

“Don’t move!” he growled.

The ’or else’, he hoped, was clear.
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"What's he doing now?" Roy asked from his reclining position.

He had the passenger seat leaned right back. He reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved a pack of cigarettes.

"You light another one up in the car and I'll put it out on you. It reeks in here. And nothing, he's still just walking back and forward, old guy's still just standing there." Tony answered him.

Tony was leaned back too, but only enough where he could still see over the dash. His arms were folded and his foot was tapping thin air as he and his undersirable partner as they kept an eye on the other group. Just a little earlier another one of their's headed off on foot in the direction of the casino. Even before they got the news about Mitch they'd had a close eye on them, now they were watching them like hawks. Or at least Tony was.

"I'm exhaling into the filter." Roy objected holding up a smallair filter for smokers to breath out their smoke into.

"There's still smoke, it smells bad and it gives me a headache." Tony informed him sternly.

"I'm sorry. I'm just stressed out about what happened to Mitch." Roy defended himself.

"You barely even knew him, don't talk to me about stress."

Movement to his right caught his attention. Standing at the window was one of the other group. The big one he'd been told about, he assumed. He growled the order at them but the piece in his hands spoke a lot louder. Tony looked at him for a moment in disbelief, while Roy slowly raised his hands. Tony leaned his head back and looked up at the ceiling pursing his lips with a botter scowl.

"Fuck!" he barked in frustration.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Emmett allowed himself a hearty exhale. There were two men in the car, and neither had reached for a weapon. It looked like his gamble had paid off.

He kept his eyes trained on the two men as he released a hand from the Mac-10. He reached and felt around for the handle of the door to the backseat. He found it, tested it, and concluded it was unlocked.

“Don’t. Move.” He repeated the order, more forcefully. “This isn’t the only gun you have trained on you.”

Quickly, he opened the back door and slid inside. As he did, he drew a Glock 17 from his waistband – it was Annie’s standard sidearm, but she hadn’t taken it with her to the casino. He pointed a gun at both headrests and adopted his most fearsome and serious expression as he stared into the rear view mirror.

“Now sit up,” he instructed in his low rumble. “Slowly. We’re going to take this one step at a time. Sudden moves will be bad. For you.”

The part about having other guns on them was true, at least as far as Emmett knew. He asked Willow to cover him, but more importantly to stay hidden. He hadn’t gotten confirmation that she had found her spot. He hoped he wouldn’t have to rely on her insurance anyway.

“Turn the key,” he said. “Put it in drive.”
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
So far, so good.

Antonio looked on as Emmett got the jump on the guys in the van. The lack of gunfire was pretty much all the confirmation he needed that Emmett had successfully ambushed the men in the van. He did not like this idea. He didn't like it at all. He felt like his entire sense of right and wrong was being tested, standing by as an accomplice to such heavy-handed tactics against a group that was as scared as they were. Yet so long as nobody was killed, Antonio had agreed to play along.

It was part of the reason he was glad that Emmett and Willow were the ones in charge of the guns here. He trusted both of them not to use excessive force.

"Looks like we're in business." Antonio sighed.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Connor looked over his shoulder as Anthony sighed. He faintly caught the door to the SUV opening and closing, and similarly concluded that Emmett must have gotten the jump on them. He was a little bit satisfied, but his scowl didn’t dissipate.

“Good,” he said.

He went ahead and drew his gun now, and waited for Emmett to deliver them their hostages.

* * *

The coyote roasted over the fire, and Eli held the palm of his foot in his hand. His knee was inches from his cheek; he had to crane his neck to look past it and down to his injury. The other night, Lowell had managed to stab him there, hard enough to pierce his shoe. That was back in the hallway of the hotel in Salt Lake, right after Eli had caught him attacking Emily. Eli had almost killed Lowell in that hallway. Looking back, he should have.

Lowell hadn’t gotten close to killing Eli, however. How could he have? Eli was invincible. The hole in his foot proved that. It was causing a faint throb of pain, easily ignored, and wasn’t hindering his mobility. It was already looking better, only a couple days after the cultists had treated it and wrapped it up.

Invincible. How else does that kind of fortune get explained?

Eli sighed at the thought, knowing it was crazy, knowing he wouldn’t say it out loud, not to Kelsey or anyone else. But also knowing it was true. He couldn’t be stopped. He started rewrapping the wound and reached for the pin that would keep the wrapping in place. As he went about that, he looked up at his dining companion. She was sitting cross-legged, staring transfixed at the fire and the animal cooking over it.

“Kels?” Eli prompted. He looked from her, to his foot, then back to her. “How’s the critter comin’ along?”
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Tony carefully adjusted his seat and placed both hands on the wheel. He turned the ignition and without turning on the headlights slowly pulled out and rolled up toward town hall. If he wasn't rigidly staring straight ahead he'd be staring daggers at Roy. He'd given away their position, he was sure of it. Tony's knuckles were white on the wheel as the SUV came to a stop in front of town hall.

"This is a really dangerous move." Tony warned Emmett.

...

The walk to the casino took a while with Brandon's injured leg. He knew it would, but that it would give the others time to secure their hostages so that if necessary Brandon could play that card. He used the ditch blade as an impromptu walking stick, it wasn't ideal but it was adequate to take some of the weight off his leg.

The occasional rotter was the only life on the streets. A quick and simple swing was all he needed to get past them. Eventually the casino came in sight and even at night there were enough shooters on the roof that he could make out movement up there. He couldn't know how many but he guessed more than enough to kill him even if they were amateurs. He didn't announce himself but waited out the front for one of their people to alert those in charge. A few moments later Byron came outside.

"Yes?" he asked, feigning ignorance artlessly.

"I'd like to speak with Saxon about getting my people back." Brandon informed him directly.

Byron turned to somebody behind him out of sight and returned his attention to Brandon. He didn't say anything but stared, calmly confident in their control of the situation. Before the icy silence could become an awkward one Saxon himself emerged in the doorway.

"I see the instigator in this debacle has come. I was hoping to speak with Antonio as a matter of courtesy between leaderships." Saxon declared.

"You are speaking with our leadership." Brandon informed him.

Saxon seemed momentarily taken aback slightly but continued without pause.

"Well, I can respect you coming to me forthrightly this time. I've spoken with Emily and her account is plausible but unfortunately I'm still unable to simply release her. I'm afraid I simply can't. We have a dead man here, a good man, a man who's worked for me for almost two decades and a friend of mine. She was at the scene. That's all we absolutely know. I have to wonder how you found out about all this. Clearly she wasn't he only person there as some of our supplies are gone. It could have been you down there." Saxon spoke clearly.

"You think I'd leave one of my people behind? She told us what was happening over the radio." Brandon explained.

"You said they searched her." Saxon said quietly aside to Byron.

Before Byron could reply Saxon raised his hand as he realized their slip up.

"Annie." he said quietly nodding.

"I didn't just come for my people. I came to apologize. For the secrecy and the deception. I felt I had to know more about you and your operation, I spat in the face of your hospitality and I'm sorry. But it was only for information, Emily isn't a murderer, whoever did this is was already inside." Brandon presented the most sincere sounding apology he could manage.

He wasn't sorry in reality. He regretted endangering Emily and Annie but as far as he knew none of them were really safe from these people.

"And you mean to tell me you hadn't thought about stealing from us?" Saxon asked.

"Of course it crossed my mind, but it was never anything close to a plan." he admitted.

"I appreciate your apology. And even if I really don't think Emily did this I can't ignore that so far she is the only suspect. I can't just turn her over to you, we'll have to figure out what to about her among ourselves. I am satisfied in Annie's non-involvement in all this so, she is at least free to go." Saxon said.

Brandon didn't respond as he considered how to proceed next. Saxon took that to mean the conversation was over and turned to leave. Brandon lowered his head and cracked his knuckles to do something with the nervous energy he had building up. He exhaled sharply as he prepared to take this conversation in another, unpleasant, direction.

"That's not acceptable. I don't trust Emily's safety to you people, you just lost somebody, maybe you're not thinking straight. I'm going to be completely honest now, when I said I was sorry, I lied. I'm not sorry for spying on you. I don't trust your hospitality either, we've payed for doing that before. I'm not sorry, because you haven't shown us the same respect you want from us." he confessed.

Saxon gave a weary sigh and turned back around to speak to Brandon.

"We're all in a very delicate situation here. If I were you I'd reconsider if you weren't the one not thinking straight." Saxon replied with a hint of agitation.

"I am thinking straight. My people, for your people. Simple." Brandon informed him.

It didn't take more than a moment for his meaning to take. Saxon spoke quietly to Byron who produced a radio from his belt and spoke into it.

...

"Roy. What's your situation?" Byron's voice came from the radio laying on the dash of the SUV.

Tony looked back at Emmett and tilted his head in its direction.

"Are we answering that?" he asked.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Emmett didn’t outwardly react. He just kept his weapons where they were and looked deliberately at the rear view mirror. When the car stopped in front of city hall, he remained stone faced – right up until the radio piped up.

“We are not,” he said.

Not yet, at least. First they had to make sure the situation was truly under control.

Emmett whistled – the cue for Antonio and Connor to make their move, to drag these two out of the car and pat them down.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"Let's go."

Antonio gave the order hesitantly. He still did not like this plan. He preferred negotiation to taking hostages. Yet this time, he did not voice those concerns. He had realized the futility of doing so long before now.

The two of them quickly made their way to the vehicle and opened the driver side door. Antonio grabbed the driver and forcefully pulled him out of the car and onto the ground.

"Please don't try anything stupid." Antonio pleaded with him quietly before leaving him face down on the ground for Connor.

He then repeated the same thing with the passenger before he started to pat him down.

* * * * *

Kelsey prodded the roasting critter with a stick -- or at least the parts of it that were over the fire right now. They had far too much coyote meat to simply stick the whole thing over the fire. And despite the lessons she had received from Brandon about butchering, she was no expert at it. She had just followed his general guidelines on where and how to cut. Kelsey, and she suspected Eli as well, didn't exactly care that the coyote looked like it had been dissected by a novice. They only cared that the beast was edible.

"Almost done." The young girl told him. "It's still a little too squishy, I think."

The scent of cooking meat was like heaven right now. A heaven that she could not fully enjoy.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Once the others were out of the car, Emmett finally allowed himself to take a deep breath. He tucked Annie’s pistol into his pants, leaned forward, and reached for the radio.

“Roy is fine,” he said into it. “We just want our people back.”

* * *

Eli grunted as he put his shoe back on.

“Let’s just hope it doesn’t have some weird coyote disease,” he said.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"Still better than starving or eating flowers." The young girl rebutted.

A brief silence fell between the two of them. Kelsey didn't know what to say now. Eli was still a scary guy. She wished Willow or Brandon were here instead since they were easier to talk to. But she doubted that they would have the same resolve to help her through this.

"Hey." She broke the silence, staring deeply into the flames that roasted the coyote. "What happened with you back when we were with those crazy cultists? I tried asking Nolan what was going on, but he just... he didn't really tell me anything."
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli was about to look up at Kelsey, but the question froze him in place. He ended up staring into the fire, and letting the silence linger until it became uncomfortable.

Some words echoed in his head. Words spoken by Brandon, Willow and Annie. By Emily too – she told him he made the wrong choice. That made him mad at the time. But Emmett’s words made him madder.

Maybe I made a mistake.

Eli remembered how those words filled him red-hot anger. The embers of that anger were still there, even, but the fire had died. It was snuffed out when he saw Nolan laying in a pool of his blood, and Kelsey on the back of that truck, on the fast-track to the same fate. Then all that mattered was Kelsey, and the promise he made her father.

He wanted to forget the rest, at least until he got Kelsey back to the group. Forgetting wasn’t easy, though. He was starting to accept that it was maybe even impossible.

“I…”

I decided to leave the group. That’s what he was going to say, but he stopped after the first word. The lie felt immediately pointless.

“They didn’t want me in charge anymore,” he said quietly, still staring at the fire. “An’ if I couldn’t get on board with that, then they were gonna go on without me. We argued. It got heated.”
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Saxon closed his eyes as Emmett answered the radio. Brandon could guess at what thoughts and feelinhs were simmering beneath the surface of his composure. He understood perfectly but felt no sympathy. It didn't matter to him if they were in the wrong by invading these people's territory, if Saxon had a right to monitor them and ask questions of them. Saxon was asking for trust he never really reciprocated while holding the lives of Brandon's oldest friend and the woman who saved his life among others and who they'd likely need to save them again. They were on even ground now.

"I need proof of life." Saxon said after a moment.

Brandon gestured for the radio and Saxon nodded his permission for Byron to hand it to him.

"Emmett, can you put whoever you've got there on the radio, please? We need proof of life." Brandon spoke into the radio.
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