New Roleplay II

[Swordsman]

Take it away again...

[PhantomWanderer]

“first off, I’m taking you…well cause I don’t like the people who are now after you. that’s the why, as to the were, there’s a crater up a head. And it’s just on the northern edge of the Crater. There’s a rock outcropping, and a small cave system. That enough information for you right now, cause I don’t expect that we have very long before they catch up to us.”

they walked on, at a slightly quickened pace. Jaden was always on the lookout, looking for signs of followers. His caves had never been discovered, and he didn’t want to have that fact change.

Reaching into his vest, he pulled out a suppressor for his MP7, equipped the weapon and kept moving.

They reached the craters, and traversed down the side of them, finding the spot in the earth where war had left its devastation numerous times. The craters had opened up a small entrance to a cave system that had yet to be fully explored.

[Iwant2bafencer]

They worked their way into the cave system, Jaden leading the way. In a particularly dark spot, he stopped them and seemed to be scrapping around for something. Finally a match flared, soon followed by a small fire. The smoke was let out through a crack in the caves low roof.
Eli carefully put Corrine on the floor, propping her head with a jacket.

"She seems to just be sleeping now. Maybe it was exhaustion." Eli sighed as he sat down next to her.

Mike had taken a spot on the opposite side of the fire from the others, from here he had a plane view of the entrance and the owner of the cave.

"Well, she said she'd been traveling for some time now. I doubt she slept like a queen along the way." Gina replied as she slid down the stone wall to sit next to Mike. "As for the exhaustion part I'm definately in agreement with her." She sighed closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the wall for a time.

[Darion McNair]

Eli stood, looking at each person around the fire in turn and glancing down to Corrine for a second before looking at Jaden and picking up his shotgun off the floor. “Someone’s going to have to take the first watch and I’ll volunteer. You said whoever is behind us is going to catch up sooner or later anyway, right?” Eli wondered in the back of his mind if there really was anyone after them, they had no proof of any further attack and they were definitely out of Bert territory by now.

Jaden nodded and Eli picked up his bag and headed out of the mouth of the cave and found a good lookout spot atop a curved, flat topped bolder next to the caves exterior wall that provided a little cover incase it turned out Jaden was actually telling the truth. He leaned back against the dirt wall of the cave and stared off into the distance. The North Dakotan native knew that he would rather be out trying to survive instead of still back in his house waiting to fade out of existence, but he missed his old life. His lips stretched into a small smirk as a memory of watching a movie with Danielle on the couch in their living room came to mind. The mid-day movie was the last time he would ever see her with the vibrant life in her eyes that he loved so much. Better to remember her that way, he thought, than when he found her after the pathogen hit.

The light was waning more and more, the firelight behind him becoming more prominent from behind him. It was too dark to read his Bible, so instead he sat in silence and peeled his mind off of Danielle to replace it with a silent prayer. After several moments of peace, he finished with “…Lord keep us safe from harm, in your son’s name Jesus I pray, Amen.”

The crackling of leaves underfoot snapped him out of his prayer and sent chills up his spine. Raising his shotgun to the ready he rose silently and began scanning the distance for movement. His heart began pounding in his ears and was only pierced by a single though: “Not again”.

Slowly getting down from his post, he crept back carefully and quietly toward the mouth of the cave . . . but he didn’t see the tree root. Crashing to the ground in a heap he jumped up and hurried back to the cave, the movement behind him growing more rushed and drawing closer, fast.

“Guys, we got company again!” he told them hurriedly, his eyes wider than that of a deer in front of a big-rig.

[Iwant2bafencer]

"doesn't surprise me" Gina sighed and opened her eyes, standing and pulling her stuff together as Mike did the same. "How many?" She asked.

"At least two, possibly more." He replied.

"Alright we cant stay in here. Is there another way out?" She asked as everyone got their things together and Eli picked C up again.

"This way," came the voice of their newest member from the back of the cave.

The group fumbled their way quickly and quietly through the back of the cave until they were out of it.

"Ok, plan anyone?" Gina asked.

[Darion McNair]

"Don't look at me, this isn't my cave." Eli told her as he kept pace a few steps behind her, backpack bobbing violently up and down as he ran. Making sure his gun was loaded he ducked behind a boulder. "It's time to get some answers." he said, crouching down out of site.

Gina stopped and glanced at him for a moment but Eli motioned for her to keep moving, which she did after throwing him a 'you're crazy' look. Eli glanced over to see how close they were and readied himself for what he decided to do. If it didn't work he would likely not see another day ever again.

Lifting his shotgun he readied it for when one of their pursuers rushed passed. The first one came, a gently wind brushing Eli's face as he passed so quickly and closely. Tracking his muzzle on the taller, armed man, he aimed for a leg and pulled the trigger. A slug exploded into the man's leg, he cried out in searting pain as he collapsed onto the ground. Eli scrambled up and kicked his gun away from the man before stepping back a meter or so to get some distance.

The man was still screaming when Eli looked up to see three other men all staring with complete shock at him, only one of them had enough sense to bring his weapon to bear, but still he was frozen in place.

"Drop your weapons now or he dies!" Eli shouted, amid pain-filled cries and curses. The last thing he wanted to do was kill him, but he didn't want to let them know that. "And I want to know who you people are or yeah...you already know the alternative."

[Marah Seph]

oh can I join?

[Darion McNair]

*rolls eyes* naw...we don't want your kind here.

Post all you want Marah

[Marah Seph]

Who asked you Darionster? oh.. thanks too!

[three_hundred_fifty_five]

This thread died like in light speed.

[Darion McNair]

Don't know if any of ya'll will play along, but here's hoping so
---------------------------------------------

Eli glanced at Mike then back down the cave. The sound of the approaching men got louder, they were shouting to each other. “We need one of them alive,” he told Mike. “I’m not sure this is the same gang that was on our tail when we were near the mall.” Mike had a pained look on his face, knowing that taking one of them alive would be harder than running or just an all out firefight.

Just then, one of their pursuers called out. “All of you, stop right there!” Gina began to reach for her side arms but Eli held up a hand to stop her.

“If they were Berts they would have just started firing. . . .” he waited a precious second before adding. “I say we surrender.”

Mike and Gina looked at him like he was crazy, while Jaden shook his head right away. “It won’t work,” he muttered. “The only prisoners taken around here aren’t treated like people, they’re slaves.”

“These guys may be different, they could prove to be an ally!” Eli insisted, as C shifted rather uncomfortably in his arms, she was starting to wake up. Mike looked back at the approaching men, they still hadn’t fired on them. At their closing range they could easily have taken at least one of the group out by now.

“Well, you do what you want but I’m a free man,” Jaden told Eli before jumping down off the dirt path and hurrying into the thick brush to disappear.

“You’re crazier than I thought.” Gina told Eli. She looked at Mike and he shook his head. More orders came from their pursuers to drop their weapons and put their hands up. Mike complied, slowly. Gina, to Eli’s amazement did the same.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” muttered Mike, as he slowly raised his hands after setting his M-4 on the ground.

[Crin Dalmeiier]

Trying to travel peacefully with Chisel Malloy was something akin to trying to pet a very annoyed porcupine, Wes discovered early on. Not just any porcupine, too. One with a tiara.

It had been painfully easy to get into McGuire Air Force Base--there wasn't anybody left to guard it, after all. That was one of the benefits of surviving past an apocalypse: things like the F-15's and KC-10's and C-141's were left unguarded. Not that he necessarily knew how to fly them, so it didn't really matter.

"Those," Chisel said now, interrupting his stream of thoughts. "We're taking those."

Wes scratched his head. This was the Lemon Lot, he knew; his dad had purchased a car there what seemed like thousands of years before. He tamped a lid on any emotion involved with the "apocalypse" and stared at the array of vehicles in front of them. Amazingly enough, they hadn't been stolen by the gangs in the area.

"And what makes you think either of us could even drive those?" he asked.

"I'm a mechanic's daughter, Wes. I can hotwire anything, and drive anything. And I know for a fact that you were some kind of genius before the world ended. I call the hog. You can have the Yamaha." Resolutely, Chisel strode forward and up to the pair of motorbikes on the very edge of the lot. They showed the past four years in rusted pipes and handlebars, but Chisel ignored that and set to work on the two bikes. Before long, she had one up and running.

"Why are we taking bikes?" Wes asked, looking around at all of the cars in the parking lot. Several of them, including a slightly-rusted-yet-still-extremely-cool '72 Firebird, looked a great deal more enticing than a Harley Davidson and a Yamaha.

"Use less gas. We're going to have to scrounge around until we can find some civilization. By now, somebody has to have civilization set up. We can go find it after we go kill Vic." Chisel's eyes narrowed suddenly; she whipped around, gun in hand, before Wes even heard the threat. "Who's there?" The gun was pointed at a thicket of overgrown weeds just outside of the pine trees surrounding the lemon lot. "Show yourself!"

"'Show yourself?'" Wes asked under his breath.

"Shut up."

[Darion McNair]

“Woah, I don’t want n’trouble miss,” said a middle aged looking man, clean cowboy hat clashing with a beat up t-shirt and jean. He raised his hands and stepped away from the junked 92 Chrysler Le Baron. “I’m just trying to get my car running.”

“‘My car’?” she repeated, questioningly, “who are you anyway?” Her demand was loud; you could see she was a bit shaken by his presence. The other with her just stood there quietly.

“Why, I am the owner of this here fine establishment,” he tipped his hat and stood rather proudly. “Say, what’s a pretty little lady like you doing in a junk heap like this anyway?” the girl furrowed her eyebrows at the line, but there was a snicker from her friend. Nevertheless she began to lower her weapon assuming that while he may be a pervert, he wasn’t a threat.

“But you don’t-” her friend was promptly interrupted

“We’re taking the bikes,” she but in. The man started towards them slowly, a hand extended for a shake.

“I’m sure that could be ar-”

A shot rang out! The man was blown back a foot, the two visitors hitting the dirt to take cover.

“What the hell was that?” cried the young man, his weapon out in a flash along with hers trying to search out who fired. She glanced at the motionless body. The bullet had caught him square in the chest.


“I finally got you!” Whirling around, the two saw a man a few years younger than the first come out from around a pile of scrap. “And you thought you had me figured out!” he shouted at the dead body. It was then that his eyes fell on the other two and he put up his hands, realizing how bad it looked. “Now, now look I can explain,” he told them. He tried to gulp, his mouth was dry.

“You better start,” The young man replied.

“Look, you don’t know me, but I’m the owner of this place,” he said, carefully.

“Bull!” the girl shot back, “he was.” She tilted the muzzle of her gun to the dead man before training it back on him. “Who are you really?”

“Listen, I’ve been trying to catch him for the past two weeks. He’s been impersonating me so he can rob unsuspecting people like you looking for parts.” He waited moment to see if they were buying it. Then, frustrated, he pointed accusing at the man. “That’s MY cowboy hat! And you can’t tell me you bought that fake accent. Go look! You’ll find a knife in his back pocket . . . he was about to shake your hand wasn’t he?”

“Drop the gun,” she told him. “Now!”

He did as he was told, “Sure, the only bullet left was for him anyway.” The two looked back at the man lying dead on the ground. Neither one of them knew what to believe.

[Crin Dalmeiier]

For the first time in his life, Wes Matheson looked at Chisel Malloy questioningly for advice. "What do you say?" he asked in an undertone, looking at the new stranger.

Chisel's expression was stony, at best. She eyed the newcomer, then turned a dispassionate gaze on the dead body. She'd seen them before, too many to count, and figured that this wasn't the last one she'd see in her days.

"I say the old man gave me the creeps. And who only keeps one bullet in their gun in times like these?"

"You seemed to be taking the old man's side a second ago," Wes snarked in reply.

Chisel gave him the stink eye and turned back to the newcomer, pistol still trained right on his forehead. "Mind giving us a name?"

[Darion McNair]

“The name’s Cody and I’ve been in business for around twenty years,” he told them. “Ever since the pathogen, I’ve had to keep an eye of my place real close like. So uh, you’ll excuse the erm, excessive force there,” he motioned to the dead man. “He’s already killed or robbed at least four people that I know of,” he sighed loudly, still a bit frustrated. “Will you get those weapons off of me! I was telling the truth!”

[Crin Dalmeiier]

Though they'd been out for each others' blood not two days before, Chisel and Wes understood their own brand of silent communication far better than most politicians could even boast. An entire converastion passed without a word between them, and Chisel reluctantly holstered her pistol. Likewise, Wes's m9 disappeared to somewhere within the folds of his trench coat.

There seemed only one question to ask now. "You affiliated with the Sound, Cody?" Wes asked narrowly, watching the man in question.

[Darion McNair]

Cody sat down slowly, resting his back against the tire of a nearby 97 Firebird. “I keep to myself mostly. Some guys with the um…Fury I think, yeah they came by trying to run some extortion racquet….that’s when I lost my second and third bullets.”

“What happened to the first?” Wes asked. The man raised his eyebrows, shaking his head a little.

“I learned quick that warning shots don’t do jack nowadays, even if it is with something as big as this,” he told them, showing his 45 caliber revolver. “So I heard you talking about bikes before I came out. What’d you want?”

[Crin Dalmeiier]

"Just those." Chisel pointed to the one she'd already started up, and the creaky Yamaha sitting beside it. Wes, never the mechanic, shrugged to let Cody know that he was forced to let Chisel run the show for now. "We're checking out a compound about eight miles away from here, and we need a quick getaway."

"You don't mind if we borrow them for a bit, do you?" Wes asked hopefully, since neither he nor Chisel had much in the way of bartering tools on them. In fact, he was pretty sure he only had his hunting knife that could be bartered, and since that had been a prized possession of his father's, he'd rather walk to the compound. He also didn't think that Cody would let them have the two bikes for a pair of sunglasses, even if they were really nice.

Besides, he doubted Chisel would even give them up.

[Darion McNair]

“Those?” he asked, “Well if you can get ‘em to run you can have ‘em. Some kids dropped them off months ago for some cash. I haven’t touched ‘em since, working on my V.W. Bus instead. She’s my pride and joy,” he smiled.

“A Bus?” Chisel asked, “Why in the world would you restore that piece of-”

“Sounds like a deal!” Wes cut her off, returning the smile.

[Crin Dalmeiier]

Since it was more than an invitation, Chisel began to work at the Yamaha, leaving Wes free to wander over and speak to the loner that had interrupted their conversation with the man still lying dead on the ground not too far away. He figured, in all honesty, the dead guy had probably met a better end that way. Had he really tried to rob Chisel Malloy, he might have figured out where her nickname came from, and that was never pleasant.

"So," he said by way of an introduction, "I suppose this is all superfluous and whatever, but I'm Wes. That's Chisel over there." He shook the man's hand, ignoring the awkward height distance from shaking a sitting man's hand. "This is going to seem strange and out of left field, but have you ever heard of the Liberation Front?"