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Dead Men Walking
Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (71,050 Views)
DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli scrambled up in his seat and looked through the back window. The smoke from the dual explosions was getting farther and farther away as Willow peeled out the parking lot and onto the road. The fort started fading from sight.

"We made it," he said, still panting. "Goddamn, somehow we made it."

More gunfire followed, but Eli didn't even hear their new car get hit. He allowed himself to relax some in his chair. His ankle was throbbing now, and it somehow hurt worse when he didn't have the immediate fear for his life to think about. All he had to distract him now were thoughts of what he did before leaving the fort. About that kid's goddamn round face. His pleading eyes. Goddamnit.

His breathing settled down, and he turned around in his seat, facing the front. He let the AR15 rest on his lap and ran his thumb up and down the reclaimed canister.

"I said it before, I'll say it again -- but good work, you guys," Eli remarked. He didn't feel at all like celebrating, but he wanted to distract himself. "Work out a few kinks, and you coulda been pros."
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"Y-yeah." Willow let out a sigh.

Now that they were out of the danger zone, she allowed herself to tremble. Tremble in suppressed anxiety and the sheer adrenaline of being alive. She had skirted on the edge of death several times today and, miraculously, survived. Everything else she was afraid of before seemed so very trivial now. In an odd way, it put a lot of things in perspective for her and she felt she was better because of it.

Probably the first time someone was a better person after being shot at. She mused.

By now the fort had disappeared and they were on their way back to the hospital. The rotters they passed, no doubt lured in by the commotion, were easily dodged by their newly acquired SUV and there were no hordes in sight.

"Say, Eli." Randall started. "What did you leave to do anyway? It must have been important, given the circumstances."
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli glanced from Randall to Willow, his face a portrait of uncertainly. That was exactly what he wanted to distract himself from.

"I'll tell you later," he said, and he meant it. "We ain't exactly out of the woods yet. Those assholes may be down, but they're not out. They still know about the hospital, an' they still outnumber us. You saw how many people they got in that nest of vipers. All they'll need is some new wheels. An' there are plenty of those these days."
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"Yeah, you're right." Randall didn't press the issue. "I knocked out four of their vehicles."

"I threw away the keys to the Jeep as well." Willow added. "If they don't have a backup that one isn't leaving the lot."

"Nice thinking." Randall was genuinely impressed as her initiative on that one. "But I am sure they have more. We bought time to get out of here and, frankly, I can't wait to have this city behind us. We might need to take shifts on driving duty until we find somewhere safe to stay though."
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Brandon made the climb up to the second floor to check on Jeff. The pain in his abdomen was really getting old. He reached the top of the stairs and exhaled loudly before going to look for Jeff.Jeff was where he left him, still looking out attentively... or maybe just somewhere else mentally.

"Yo, Jeff. Sounds like we may have some serious shit headed our way. You with it?" he asked trying not to sound overly concerned.

There were only three physically capable people among them, Brandon didn't think Max looked like much of a fighter, and neither did Jeff but with a big gun in their hands pretty much everyone could at least look like they were dangerous. It was better than nothing.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
"Uh... yeah," Jeff responded. It took him a moment to look away from the window, and when he looked at Brandon there was a glassy look in his eyes that betrayed the falsity of his words. "I'm here."

* * *

"Whatever it takes," Eli said. He took the free moment to transfer his last remaining grenade from his hoodie to his backpack. Then he settled into staring off into the distance, as rotters, trees and houses passed his view. "As long as we get far, far, away from here."
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
Glenda finished dumping the last bag of hand soap she had on the floor. A good chunk of the surface of the hallway was smeared in hand that would have glimmered slightly in the light, had there been more than a dim glimmer of light left this far in the hospital anyway. Apparently she finished her job none too soon. She heard the hum of a big car come rolling up towards the entrance of the hospital, followed by a few doors opening and closing.

"They're here!" Glenda called.

This was bad, they were early. Nobody was in position and they were already out of the truck. Her heart started to beat faster in anticipation. It may only be her here by the time they got here. Brandon was still upstairs with Jeff, and Maxwell was still barricading the doors while Julie watched the hostages.

Grabbing her Winchester, she took her position at the end of the hallway and waited. And waited. But she didn't hear any talking amongst the intruders. At least until a single familiar voice called out.

"Hey, guys, we gotta go now!"

At the same time, the familiar face of Willow turned the corner into the hallway, Ruger in hand and sporting a few new pieces of clothing.

"Willow!?" Glenda revealed herself at the end of the hallway. "Wait! Look out for the-!"

Too late. Willow stepped directly on the hand soap. Her face contorted into a look of sheer surprise as her feet were swept out from under her.

"GYAAAH!" She screeched briefly before slamming into the ground with a heavy thud, her newly found fedora flying off her head and landing on her chest.

"Willow!" Glenda ran over and started to help her back up to her feet. "Sorry, we didn't think you would get here before them."

"Fuck..." Willow muttered, clutching her side. "That hurt..."

She raised her head in time to see Randall and Eli coming down the hallway.

"Did you get it?" She simply asked as she helped Willow back onto her feet.

"We did." Randall confirmed. "But we don't have time to celebrate. They're coming and... wait, is that hand soap I smell?"
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"Oh shit! Willow. I'm so sorry." Brandon said from the entrance to the hallway, trying and failing to mask his amusement, that backfired so badly.

He offered a sheepish apologetic smile at the blunder. Whoops. He'd have to make it up to her somehow.

"Max, keep an eye on those guys, I'm gonna go get Kelsey." Julie said, stepping carefully around the handsoap on the floor.

Brandon had led Jeff downstairs with the pretense of needing help with the stairs, he honestly didn't know ifJeff was present enough to move himself. Brandon walked over to a trolley and removed a metal tray from it. The reception desk contained some tape and a permanent marker. He took them outside and began writing on the tray, using the tape to hang it from one of the pillars at the entrance.

Your men are inside. They're alive. Mind your step.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli arrived beside Randall, the canister with the cure gripped tightly in his hand. No way was he gonna let it out of his sight again any time soon. He caught the aftermath of Willow's slip, and cocked his head. Handsoap? Okay. Interesting. He had to move on, though.

"The hell happened here?" he asked, baffled. "And where's the truck?"
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"Guys watching, explosions, freaked out, soap everywhere. Car this way." Brandon rapidly spat the explaination from the doorway before taking off in the direction they left the truck.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
Maxwell found himself alone with the two barbarians, as he had referred to them. He had no love for these guys so he decided he would have a little fun with them before they left. He glanced at the two bound and silenced hostages, his normally sheepish look replaced with one of pure malice. His smile curled into a grin as he took a few steps towards the two of them, who instinctively tried to back away despite being in chairs. He knelt over, reached into his sock, and withdrew a butterfly knife, which he proceeded to flip through his fingers, the knife clattering as it opened and closed in quick succession, seemingly dancing in the palm of his hand.

"Don't think I haven't forgotten what your crew did to mine." His voice was dark and confident. "Gunned down in the streets because we didn't want to give you our supplies; sound familiar to you, you rotten little shits?"

He slammed the knife down in the chair between the white guy's legs, watching him recoil violently at the blade striking so close to home.

"Just consider yourselves lucky that I am in a hurry here." He inched his face closer to his. "Because if it were up to me, I wouldn't be leaving your people much to find of you."

He pulled out the butterfly knife, flipped it a few more times, then placed it back in his sock. Almost on cue, the door opened up and Glenda came storming in.

"Max, we're leaving now."

He shot those two one last grin before his features relaxed and he turned back to face Glenda.

"Absolutely! Let us be gone of this place." His normal inflection returning flawlessly. "The smell here is something that I could never accustom myself to."
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Before leaving, Eli quickly dashed into the exam room where Brandon had been patched up. He collected his gym bag with the Glock and the clothes he took, and quickly shoved the remaining medical supplies in there as well. When he was done, he followed Brandon out of the hospital.

They were followed shortly after by Glenda and the new recruit. Eli glanced back at him in the parking lot, wary, but couldn’t justify excluding him with just his feeling. So he followed Brandon to the garage they stashed the truck, and opened it himself, instructing Brandon not to exert himself.

Seeing the reminder of Mac made him pause and think about what happened back at the fort. He had to turn away.

“You should drive,” he told Brandon, and then he headed off. He passed Glenda and Maxwell, who had followed them to the garage.

“New guy goes in the truck bed,” Eli said to the latter, forcing a genial smile to make the order go down smoother. He just didn’t want to sit next to him in the SUV. “Enjoy the ride.”

He continued on to their new SUV, which Randall had resumed control of after reuniting with Kelsey. When he got in, Julie and Willow waited in the middle seats and Jeff had taken his spot in the back once again. Eli sighed as he sat next to him, in the same seat position he was in this morning.

It’s like nothing has changed, he thought. Except we lost a man, half our supplies, and I’m a cold-blooded murderer now.

He sighed again as Randall started driving west into the night, and away from the border. They had lost their map and Eli had forgotten their planned route, but they’d figure it out on the way. All that mattered now is they left this place behind forever.

* * *

Hours of bleary-eyed driving later, the two cars finally came to a stop in the pitch black, surrounded on both sides by miles of trees and grass. Fort Erie was now in their rear view, and Randall had been savvy enough to take a couple random turns to prevent the bandits living there from following. Brandon and Glenda stuck close behind them the whole, since the truck's headlights were no longer in working shape.

Several people in the car were hungry, others needed bathroom breaks. The SUV was also dangerously close to empty on fuel, having not been stolen fully gassed up. They still had one can in the truck to keep it going, but it was only half full. They’d need to take care of that problem as soon as they could.

As soon as they could, but not now. Now they just needed a break.

Beside him, Jeff had fallen to sleep several times, only to jolt awake minutes later. Eli was just as tired, but fared no better. When the SUV stopped, he got out as soon as he could, and emerged to the sounds of crickets chirping incessantly in the distance. No moans or groans, fortunately. In the darkness, it'd be hard to see them coming. They were taking a risk even driving through it.

He walked to the front and approached Randall – who looked as tired as him. Time to get this out of the way.

“Can we talk?” Eli asked, low.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
Despite their victory and getting the cure back; morale was still at an all time low. They were exhausted, scared, injured, down on supplies, and down a man. It was a wake-up call to the true nature of this world.

Even as they drove, he noticed Willow in the middle seat; she was clearly just as exhausted as anyone else here, but looked incapable of sleeping as she stared silently out the window. She seemed to just wrap the scarf around herself and withdraw behind it as if she were a turtle. He couldn't blame her; she was still new to this. He had been thoroughly impressed by her today, but after the adrenaline wears off, it becomes an entirely new jungle. Not only had she been shot at multiple times in one day, but she also killed at least one person. Even if it was in self-defense, it was a heavy burden. Randall still remembered the first time he had to do that. It weighed on his mind for a full week. But Willow would be okay. If he had learned anything about her, it was that she could step up to the plate when it was demanded of her and that she was far more resilient than he had given her credit for. It made him feel bad for being so dismissive of her at the lodge.

Jeff, who had barely spoken a word, was the one he was worried about. It was like his entire body shut down when Mac was shot and just never rebooted. His entire body was operating on some sort of autopilot that, hopefully, he would return from sooner rather than later. And Kelsey had been sleeping a lot; hopefully relieving herself of the mental stress. Julie was surprisingly upbeat though, and Randall was appreciative of that. It was something he, and everyone else, needed, even if they were slow to respond. When the idea struck to take a break, he was hesitant to send everyone out into the dark woods to pee and get fresh air, but he did need to pee as badly as anyone else. And the cold air might help him a little too; it was almost starting to feel suffocating in the SUV.

No sooner had he gotten out of the car and stretched than did Eli approach him. Like everyone else, Randall could see something was weighing heavy on him. When he asked to talk, Randall simply nodded his head.

"Of course." He started walking a little further down the road, away from everyone else.

"What's going on?" He asked low, once they were out of earshot of the SUV and truck.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli mustered his resolve, then looked Randall in the eye. There was no walking around this or softening the blow, Eli decided. It was straight up or nothing. Randall deserved straight up.

"I killed that kid," he said. His voice was affectless. "I followed him into his room and I shot him."
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
"Shit, man..." Randall ran a hand across his head; he hadn't expected Eli to do something quite that reckless. "I can't say I agree with that, but... I can't say I really disagree either. Mac was our friend, and it sounded like he was the culprit in that. How are you holding up?"
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