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Post by vampirechicken on Jan 13, 2013 6:47:33 GMT -5
3 years ago the suburb of Gwangi had been a nice place to raise a family, close enough to the city to be near to amenities such as good schools, hospitals and shops. But still far enough away to have clean fresh air and plenty of parks.
It sure had changed after the catastrophe.
Henry wandered down a wide alleyway, alert with one eye over the rotted picket fence to his left. He was a rough looking man, in his 30s, bearded, with blonde hair which fell over his eyes. He hardly looked out of place amongst the decrepit buildings, his faded clothes almost camouflaged him in the dull wreckage of the once shining township.
There were a few derelict shops across the road which looked promising for supplies, maybe a few cans of fruit that hadn't been looted yet. He dared to hope, raising the heavy shovel which he had adopted as his weapon.
Henry darted across the road, hunched over so as not to be spotted from a distance, and he climbed carefully through the shattered glass window of the convenience store and ducked behind a shelf.
The first thing that struck him is the smell of blood. He felt his body tense and he gripped the shovel and the pack across his back more tightly. He'd hoped for a easy run in and out of here, he wasn't looking for a fight.
he listened for what seemed like an hour, although it may have been only 5 minutes, there was no sounds... infected or looters or otherwise.
He ducked out from the shelf and examined the room, the sight made his heart drop into his gut. Looters had done this, a woman hung from the ceiling by her neck, dripping black blood slowly from a bullet wound in her forehead. Well at least she had died quickly, the same couldn't be said for the man next to her. His head mounted on the end of a mop from the janitors closet, his body was seperated into 5 more pieces and arranged carefully as though it was a message, a warning... the looters were marking their territory. Behind the gory decorations a room lay beyond, it looked like the couple had lived here for a while before their tragic demise, a matress, some empty cans.
Suddenly he heard a noise, a shuffling, a clink from the vents above his head.
Henry slipped against the closest wall, waiting dead still and looking at the ceiling. Was that a raccoon? an infected? or looters with rifles trained on him?
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Post by alexharvey on Jan 13, 2013 7:11:11 GMT -5
Pru held her breath when her movement caused a tiny noise. She carefully peeked through the grate before her, biting her lip when she saw he had noticed the noise. But he didn't seem to carry a gun or rifle like most of the other looters. He could hardly shoot through the vents with his shovel. Maybe that was her chance.
Despite all her bickering before, now she was really glad she was only a 14 year old kid and on top of that really frail, otherwise she would never be able to move so freely about in the small ventilation system.
She mechanically avoided to look at the mess in the former 'living room'. She knew how her parents looked like, she had been there to see the whole procedure. Her insides twisted and a sick taste welled up in her mouth when the pictures came back to her mind but she managed to wipe them away. If only she could get out of here, away from that other looter. She could climb out of the vents as soon as she reached it's end, kicking the grate to the outside world out and make run for her neighbors shed, where she knew he had stored a rifle and ammunition.
She started to push backwards but she didn't get all to far, because suddenly the shaft under her knees buckled and broke away and broke through the floors' ceiling, followed by her upper body, her head hitting the edge of the shaft when she slipped past it.
Luckily she fell legs first, but she still slammed to the ground like a heavy bag of potatoes. The impact took her breath away, but didn't hinder her legs in scrambling around in the wreckage. Still lying on her side she clasped her arms over her head, squeezing her eyes shut in fear.
"Please don't kill me!!", she cried, waiting for a shovel to come down on her.
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Post by spiritandsand on Jan 13, 2013 7:45:15 GMT -5
Meanwhile a decent walk from these happenings Aira was hunting a rat across the cracked kitchen floor in a random abandoned house. She was skinny but agile, and had managed to corner the rodent that soon would meet its fate. With an aggressive yank she impaled the rat with a homemade knife that was technically just a broken circular saw with leather wrapped around one of the ends. She was also carrying a belt with multiple separated scissors attached - among other things.
She carefully peeled out pieces of meat from her catch, avoiding the intestines and everything else suspicous-looking. In the middle of this grand feist she rapidly lifted her head by the sound of birds. Tentatively she walked out of the large hole in the wall, and discovered a flock of pidgeons fleeing from something far away. Her eyes flickered - something bigger than a rat must have scared them away.
Aira squatted still with the dead rat in her hand looking down at the ground. She had not seen another human for almost a year now, not even the infected ones which people had talked so much about back then... Before it happened. Before everything got so wrong, and she lost everything and everyone.
She bit her lip, and rose - infected or not, she had to figure out who was roaming around in this area. She knew the risks, but what if..
The remains of the rat got tossed, and Aira made a small jerk grapping her bag's strap before she leaped out of the hole towards where the birds had flown up from.
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Post by vampirechicken on Jan 13, 2013 8:11:19 GMT -5
Henry instinctively held his shovel out in front of him, defending as the falling shape smashed down from above him. But as he darted around her, and held the weapon above his head ready to strike, he heard her pleading voice call out. A girl, unarmed, uninfected... He lowered the weapon tentatively and stepped towards her.
"Calm down girl, I'm not gonna kill yer..." he said after a moment, his voice was raspy and uncertain at first as though he hadn't spoken aloud in months. He let his eyes dart to the dead couple, he thought there was something familiar about the kid, her red hair and freckles matched the murdered woman. He could guess what had happened and it broke his heart, but what could he do? He was hardly practiced in babysitting.
"I'm not one of them, I promise." Henry continued, resting his weapon handle on the ground as a show of good faith. "Did you see where they went? How long ago did this happen?" he asked as gently as he could. He wanted to put her at ease but it was crucial that the looters didn't return while they spoke.
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Post by alexharvey on Jan 13, 2013 8:21:56 GMT -5
The little Ginger trembled and only slowly lowered her guard, opening her eyes and mustering the man. She watched as he lowered his shovel, crouching down before her and speaking quietly and gentle. Frowning in suspicion she remained curled up in her fetal position staring him up and down.
"Yesterday" she muttered, "Yesterday night. They left at dawn."
She started crying again, her head was throbbing like crazy, especially from where her temple had hit the shaft. She didn't quite know what to make of the man, he looked nice, bulky and strong, the dirt blonde beard gave him a soft touch and his eyes were warm and friendly, but he could still turn an kill her. That shovel was huge. He could beat her to death or just crush her head with the sharp end.
She sniffed when another sob escaped her throat.
"Please", she sobbed "Please don't hurt me."
Her gaze fell back into the living room, her insides twisted and she forced herself to look away, curling up even more.
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Post by spiritandsand on Jan 13, 2013 8:43:23 GMT -5
Aira was standing on a roof - a tilted sign had made the way up easy for her - and scanned the area for potential survivors - to be exact she was looking for those who had scared the birds. In front of her was an alleyway with a few crumbled shops lined up next to each other. Not a single one of them was intact, and most had mere walls and burned shelfs as the only things still standing up. She squinted her eyes turning her head to the left - the opposite direction of where the wind came from, and that was on purpose.
As if she had foreseen it happen - and was cursed by bad luck - she spotted a wolf walking down on the streets. It had caught her scent, and it looked hungry.
She pulled out one of her scissors and flung it towards the wolf in an attempt to chase it away before it tried anything funny. It missed.
The wolf trotted over to the tilted sign and started to climb it, but Aira was ahead of it and flung another scissor that hit it right in the eye. The wolf howled out loud, but it didn't retreat, so Aira had to escape. She jumped down from the 3 meter tall house, but the tiles made her slip so that she landed on her leg. With tears of pain in her eyes she rolled over so that she could see her attacker.
The wolf walked from side to side on top of the roof with the scissor still stuck in its eye, but it was apparently too desperate to let her go. It jumped after her, but she pulled her knife just in time for it to land on her. Blood colored the street.
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Post by vampirechicken on Jan 13, 2013 9:17:16 GMT -5
"I promise I'm not gonna hurt yer." he repeated himself, almost at a whisper, trying to encourage her to keep her voice down. He glanced at the door with a sudden feeling that they would not be alone for long. "We need to get out of here before they come back... What's your name? I'm Henry...." He was rushing a little to try and gain her trust, they were sitting ducks in the shop front.
He put a hand to his belt and after a moment he slid a sheathed bowie knife across the floor to the girl.
"There... now you're armed, you can stab me if you like... But please try to trust me, it's not safe here." he whispered, kneeling back up and turning to the exit, checking to see if she would follow.
Suddenly the sound of a wolf yelping in pain sent him ducking down again, he grabbed the girl around the shoulders and guided her head down too. In his mind the injured wolf meant the Looters might well have returned, he wouldn't let those sick bastards have the child not a chance in hell. But why couldn't he hear any yelling?
"Stay here." he hissed and spun around the shelf to look outside.
A woman lay on the ground, under a dead wolf. She didn't look like a looter but Henry wasn't taking chances. He ducked his head down and waited to see what she did, Shovel clutched tightly in his hand.
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Post by alexharvey on Jan 13, 2013 9:46:38 GMT -5
She swallowed her sobs when the man spoke again, leaning on her arms to get herself into a sitting position.
"I'm Pru" she muttered suspiciously, hastily grabbing the knife and pressing it to her chest. She realized they had no time for her sobbing and pulled herself together. When he ushered her to follow him she suddenly halted.
"Wait", she whispered retreating carefully behind the counter pulling her backpack and the neighbors rifle out. "We were going to leave today. To somewhere else."
She swallowed, shouldering the backpack and the short rifle, blinking tears away and biting her lip. Jogging back to him, the knife still in her hand. He had told her she could stab him if she liked and she was going to take him up on that offer if the cause occurred.
She flinched slightly when he turned again grabbing her shoulders, but he only pushed her down to hide. She crouched behind his back, a really huge back. Her dad had been tall but not that broad, a lot finer and less trained. Henry was like a tree, with very large, rough and warm hands. And a shovel.
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Post by spiritandsand on Jan 13, 2013 10:00:31 GMT -5
Aira was lying under the wolf breathlessly trying to pull herself together. She had stabbed it right in the heart killiing it instantly, but the shock of such big animal assaulting her, its weight and the gash and blood it had left on her arm had paralyzed her.
Eventually she pushed the heavy animal away from her, and with great effort and panting managed to sit up. The gash was no big deal, but her leg wasn't feeling good. She was just about to rise when she heard a noise in front of her.
She froze on the spot, not moving an inch, looking around like a startled animal for the source with adrenaline still pumping in her veins and all senses out on her skin. She thought she spotted the edge of someones head from one of the shopdoors, and her gaze got fixed on that door, still not moving.
It was a human. And it wasn't infected, else it wouldn't be hiding like that.
This was almost worse. She could feel her legs shaking under her out of anxiety. She was actually scared of that it might be another thinking and talking person, not knowing what to do.
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Post by vampirechicken on Jan 13, 2013 10:25:01 GMT -5
Henry risked another peek out at the woman, and as he did so he instantly regretted it. She was staring right into his eyes.
"She's seen me." Henry told the girl in a low voice, "I don't think she's seen you... is there another way out of here, a back door? Go." he nudged the still suspicious girl away to the back of the shop. "take any supplies you have but hurry." he added and stood up straight facing the woman through the broken window.
She was alone, but she well could have had many accomplices watching her with rifles. That seemed unlikely though, considering that they would have left her to take care of a wolf by herself. He watched her, shovel raised on the defensive until a yell and a crash from the back door sent him into a panick.
"Well what do we have 'ere?" The looter snarled at Pru from the back door, his teeth were sharpened into points and he was decorated with blood like war paint, he was not a pretty sight to behold. These were wild people, most of their humanity lost after the catastrophe. He was looking at Pru as though he was going to eat her alive.
He spread his ugly mouth into a grin and threw the end of a crowbar down at Prus head, thankfully missing and smashing a trolley with a loud noise.
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Post by alexharvey on Jan 13, 2013 10:40:56 GMT -5
Pru had been to focused on the mans' doings when he shoved her in the direction of the door so she didn't see the looter appearing in the backdoor. When she did, it was almost to late and she yelped in shock, scrambling backwards and falling over scattered goods from the store.
She drew the bowie knife and started lashing out wildly at her enemy, pushing backwards with her legs, her eyes wide in panic.
When the crowbar came down on her she managed to roll to her side to evade it but the looter continued to lash out at her, forcing her to scramble backwards further. She herself kept lashing about with the knife, grazing the looter once or twice even, but with no notable effect.
Then suddenly her back hit a shelve and there was nowhere to evade to. She was trapped. The crowbar hit her arm and the blade flew from her hand, clattering to the floor a few feet away.
She stared up at the looter in panic, who was now grinning, the crowbar raised above his head and then going down, aimed towards her head, planning to bash it in.
Bringing her arms up to cover her head she squeezed her eyes shut and cried for help, not really knowing to whom. Maybe that Henry guy.
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Post by spiritandsand on Jan 13, 2013 10:52:39 GMT -5
Aira looked blankly at the man standing in the window, but the sound of a screaming child hurled her out of her frozen state. The man looked away for a brief moment, but if he turned around to look at her again she was gone from the spot.
For she had sprinted around the house rather fast when thinking about how badly her leg hurted - that child would experience much greater pain than she did right now if she didn't get it out of there.
When she reached the backdoor one of the looters was about to hit a girl on the floor, and without thinking twice she flung a scissor into his back with great force.
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Post by vampirechicken on Jan 13, 2013 11:17:50 GMT -5
"I'm gonna rip your eyes out girlie." the looter decided, dodging her flailing knife and moving in. "I'm gonna gut you and use your entrails for sausages."
Suddenly Henry swung his shovel full circle and hit the man square in the back of the head. The force sent the man lunging off to one side with a roar like a wounded animal. He turned to swing the huge crowbar back in retaliation but his eyes were unfocused and he threw himself off balance, slamming back into the wall next to Pru.
The looter pushed off the wall onto his feet and gave the little girl a lopsided grin, reaching for a long knife on his back and holding the tip at her chest, moving it up to her throat and pushing there just to the point where it wouldn't draw blood.
"Another move and I'll kill the girlie." the wounded man spat, dribbling blood from the corner of his mouth.
Henry spun around for another attack and for a moment panicked seeing the bastard had taken the kid hostage, but then the looter fell down... dead on the cracked tiles.
A scissor knife stuck in his back.
Henry quickly took Pru by the forearm and pulled her behind his back, he eyed the new woman suspiciously,
"Friend or foe?" he asked simply, narrowing his eyes and trying to determine her motives. It was not common for folks to jump into action to rescue a stranger. In fact it was not common to see ordinary folks around here at all, these were the first people he'd seen in months. Not including looters or infected.
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Post by alexharvey on Jan 13, 2013 11:39:10 GMT -5
Trying to lean away from the knife Pru pressed deeper into the shelf, the rifle painfully digging into her lower spine. She moved her eyes only slightly into Henrys direction with a silent pleading in them, when suddenly the pressure on her throat eased and the looter fell over, landing in front of her feet. Staring at the half scissor in his back she tried to grasp what was happening.
She gave a startled yelp when she was pulled up and behind the man, she hardly had to move her own feet, he could easily lift and drag her around. Almost cowering she clutched the Blondes shirt on his back. That was it, alright, he was good. He was on her side, that much she had got by now. She mustered the woman on the other end of the floor, red hair sticking out everywhere and another of those halved scissors in her hand.
Was she helping them? Pru then noticed blood and a nasty gash on the woman's leg. Maybe SHE needed help...
She lightly pulled on Henrys shirt to attract his attention.
"I think she is injured", she muttered.
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Post by spiritandsand on Jan 13, 2013 11:57:18 GMT -5
With heavy sighs from running it took some time for Aira to fathom the situation; The girl was apparently together with this man, and he was apparently not a member of the looters - the way he protected her made him too human for that. Maybe she was his daughter.
"Friend", she heard her own surprised voice say. Now that the danger was over she had returned to that difficult state where she didn't quite know how to act. She must have been a hell of a sight with her leg standing in an awkward angle, and blood splattered all over her chest coloring her upper clothings dark red.
"I'm a freind", she repeated with slightly more certainty, trying to convince them that she wasn't looking for trouble. The man's suspicious glare was a dagger in her chest - she couldn't really blame him for being careful, but it was a tough encounter with the first humans she had seen for ages. Somewhere deep down she had just wanted to hug them both and feel relieved, but that wasn't really a good idea.
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