"...I'm the last friend you have in this world!" - Mary

They stand at the familiar crossroads once again. The tire marks, the burnt out campfire, and the distant moaning of the dead are exactly as they remembered a day ago. Antonio explained the plan was to rob what supplies the church had, and leave the survivors they agreed to protect to their own misery. He did not anticipate himself to be left behind. His gang had a separate building complex apart from the survivors they enslaved. It is about a few hundreds feet apart. That particular building also served as a warehouse for their supplies. Salomon and his men should still be there, if they haven't left already.

"We'll be out numbered." Samuel states.

"No shit." Natasha comments. "Do you think they're still there? We're probably too late if they already left..." She asks the question out loud.

"Okay boss-woman, here we are. What's your next move?" Antonio grins, staring at Mary, as if mocking her.

As they come to the end of the road, Trisha feels as if she is the only one that doesn't recognize the area. Her attention falls on the large building not too far in the distance, assuming that to be the place Antonio described to them.
She listens as the others voice their concerns, but only speaks up when Antonio asks for answers from Mary.

"Shut up! This ain't on her, this is on you. That's the whole point we ain't killed you yet." She snaps at him, before softening her voice and stepping closer to the man.
"What would you do? Since you're so clever and all." She asks in the same mocking tone.

Mary ignores Antonio, silently regarding Salomon's campground. She hadn't been able to explore the area fully the last time she was here; while she feels fairly comfortable with the geography and buildings, she's not familiar with the people within.

Mary smiles slightly as Trisha speaks, glancing over at Antonio. She cares little for his opinions and doesn't trust anything he says, but hearing Trisha tear into him is its own reward. Leaning over, Mary speaks quietly and quickly to Samuel.

"How many and how good are they?" she asks. "Any more like you, or just idiots with guns and instructions? Will they be out and about? How loyal are they to Solomon, anyway?"

"Me?" Antonio's grin widens. "I would take you with me, walk up and say hi. Then I'll introduce the pretty girl to them." He casually replies. Its not clear if he's serious.

"Without me and Antonio, there's ten. They're their own people, don't expect any of them to sit and wait in the building." Samuel replies with relatively the same volume as Mary. "They know how to shoot, and kill, we take the best killers." He takes a brief pause before answering Mary's last question. "As loyal as we are to you right now."
This message was last updated by the GM at 18:47, Thu 26 Apr 2018.

"Yes, you were the best of the best when I came by here last night," Mary tells Samuel dryly, giving Terry a knowing glance. She looks back at the camp and thinks for a moment.

"You're loyal to us for the sake of someone you're trying to protect," she remarks, looking back at Samuel. "Antonio's loyal because it saves his skin. How many of them are as loyal as you, and how many are as loyal as him?"

Park Cross Road

"Two of them are siblings, the gang protects them both, and they will keep each other safe. The others stay because we're stronger than they are alone." Samuel answers. "If you're thinking about tearing them apart from the inside, forget about it. You have nothing they want."

The last few hours have felt like a blur to Buford. He struggled to understand the conflict he volunteered to get himself caught up in. As the others talked it was all Buford could do not to take out his notepad and instinctively right everything that was being said down. Alot of information was being passed around but he still didn't have a clue. This was a familiar feeling...

He looked over to Mary as being the only familiar face out of the group. "Excuse me, a moment? How many people are we rescuing here? Is this place small, just ten of them in a single building?" He asks.
This message was last updated by the player at 03:43, Sun 29 Apr 2018.

"I ain't joking. What's it gonna take to make them give us Mina back?"
She seems to have grown tired of fooling around, knowing that the playful banter will not bring her any real answers.
"That guy you said. The one that got her. If he's the boss now, how do we get to him? How mad would the others get if we killed him?""

"It's a bit bigger than that," Mary tells Buford. "Building, fence, guard tower, tents for their prisoners. There's sure to be someone in the guard tower now. We're here to rescue Mina, a little girl, and Sam's here to rescue Samantha. They have other prisoners, but I don't know them."

She eyes Sam again. "How likely are they to cut and run if things get rough? Would any of them run off if we plink away at them from the forest? Would they panic if we killed Solomon, as Trisha said?"

Cross Roads

Antonio shrugs. "You can try trading your stuff for her, we like stuff. Everyone likes stuff, yeah?"he eyes Trisha down with her last question, as if she's wearing a string of cheese as a necklace. "Girl, you saw happened with me, same thing will happen if you kill him. Someone else makes the call."

Sam looks to Mary. "If shit goes sideways, they all run. They don't split up. Someone gets killed, someone else takes their place. Doesn't matter who."

Trisha frowns at his suggestion, throwing her empty hands into the air.
"Y'all took all our stuff! There ain't nothin' they don't got already."
She huffs and rolls her eyes before glancing over at Mary, as if contemplating something.
"I mean..." Her eyes drift back to Antonio. "We got a tiny bit of, I think coke, but not enough to buy a kid."

Buford watched the others talk of what to do. Mary had painted a dire scene for him. These people weren't cops, they weren't trained. What could they do?

"Back in my day when we had people held up under siege... W-they used sounds, noises, music to dislodge them. We did it in Panama, played the worst kinda rock you ever heard for hours straight until they gave up." He said outloud, not talking to anyone in  particular.

"Those walkers are attracted to noise, make enough noise, get enough walkers and I'd imagine they wouldn't hold onto the place for long. We'd have to act fast in that confusion but they wouldn't pay any mind to prisoners while they're trying to get their equipment and bug out." He said, shrugging. "Just a thought, doesn't sound like we can exactly clear them out ourselves."

Crossroads

Antonio laughs when he sees the pack of white powder. "Oh shit girl, that's what we've been giving Timmy." He then nods. "Yeah, we don't touch that shit. Its bad for you, yeah? Reeva's hooked on that shit, and she's all fucked up."

"There are a lot of ghouls in these woods," Mary says, turning to Buford. "All the same, I'm not sure we can panic them. They have good, strong fences to keep them out. I think they'd be safer holding their ground than bugging out."

She eyes the bag of powder in Trisha's hand, intrigued by Antonio's words. "So that's how you controlled Tim, is it? You know, he's still in there. Maybe if we could get a word with him, in private, we could use that as leverage. He'd be our man on the inside, if we played it right."

She addresses Sam again. "How many prisoners are there? You know, people like Samantha. How much freedom do they have? Do you think they'd be willing to help us?"

Cross Roads

"A handful. They're not allowed to leave, and they're not armed. They might be willing to help, but all you're going to accomplish by getting them involved is getting civilians killed." Samuel states bluntly. "There's no time to get them organized, Salomon's probably taking everyone to leave as we speak if they haven't ditched this place already."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:54, Sat 05 May 2018.

"Dammit."
Trisha grumbles to herself as she stuff the bag down her shirt. The more Sam and Antonio reveal what they know of the camp, the more hopeless the situation starts to feel.
"Well we gotta do somethin' fast. Unless they all want ten blowjobs all in a row, we ain't got nothin' to get 'em to deal."
She looks across at the building once more, searching the area around it for a way to approach without being seen. Feeling unsure, she wanders aloud on her idea, hoping someone else will step in with a little more direction.
"Think we could get up in a window and sneak in there? Do they got much guys on watch?"

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
21:34, Today: Trisha rolled 11 using 2d10+5 ((2,4)).-PER

---

Mary studies Sam out of the corners of narrowed eyes.

"You know, Sam," she says slowly, "you speak like you've already got a plan of your own. What would you do? You're the only one here that knows anything about this place or these people, after all."

Cross Roads

From this distance, its impossible for Trisha to see who might be standing in the watch tower. In fact, she can't even see the watch tower with all the greens in the way.

Antonio shrugs. "Normally I put two on watch. They're packing up to leave so they're probably all outside."

Samuel doesn't respond to Mary's question immediately. After a moderate pause, he simply states "I wouldn't attempt a rescue in broad daylight and outnumbered. I would follow them and see where they go, then try my luck."

Mary weighs her options. She'd penetrated the forest up to the camp without being detected before, and she feels she can do it again. When she was spotted, it was by Sam, and despite what he says, she doesn't think there's anyone else in the camp as eagle-eyed as him.

She's about to run off and trying surveying the camp from the forest, as she had before, when something occurs to her. She turns towards Antonio, a scowl forming on her face.

"Wait a minute," she growls. "If they're moving, why would they even take Mina with them? She's a little girl. She can't do any work for them, and if they leave, they can't bargain with us for her."

She gives Terry and Trisha a meaningful look, then steps towards Antonio. "Why did you take her in the first place?"

Crossroads

"You make really good points boss woman, but I don't know." Antonio shrugs. "I wasn't going to take those two kids with us, I was using them as hostages so I don't get shot." He touches his wounds then mutters, "but I got shot anyway."

The idea sounds promising and Trisha is eager to get moving as soon as possible. "Let's go follow 'em then." She chirps, looking impatient and agitated.

At first, she is visibly frustrated, but her tone changes when Mary confronts Antonio. The woman questions thing Trisha herself had not even considered, which only serves to confuse her more. She looks at Antonio, expecting answers and upset to find there are none to be had.
"God why is we even keep you for! You don't know shit, you're an idiot!" She spits at him before turning back to Mary.
"C'mon let's go check it out. We can't see where they go from here."

Buford stands observant, making mental notes to everyone who is talking. As it stands the best out of this group had to be Samuel and Mary. But even then it was clear there wasn't much of a plan.

The girl however was a hotshot, and her flippant attitude and spitting made the older man chuckle at Antonio. When it sounded like they could be moving he arched an eyebrow. "What shall the rest of us do?"

"Elegant and insightful, Trisha," says Mary. "I couldn't have said it better myself. Thank you."

She crosses her arms, eyeing both Trisha and Buford. "I managed to sneak up on this place twice yesterday. If we're quiet and careful, I think we can do it again. That'll at least get us close enough to see what's going on. I don't have a plan for actually getting in there yet, but it'll be more useful than trying to dig a useful fact out of him."

She motions towards Antonio, but doesn't deign to actually look at him. "If they're really taking off, I don't know if I can follow them. I can track an animal through the woods, but not a car over road. Nor do I know whether they'll take Mina with them when they go. They might just shoot her and save themselves the trouble. When we go, we might need to do something crazy. Are you ready for that?"

The older man shrugs. "This kinda thing seems like a young mans game don't it? Yet here we both are." He looks down, mulling his options and finding very few. "I don't like to go off half cocked on a plan. In my experience thats how people die. But I'm with you, we'll get that girl back, anything more I wont guarantee." He said, looking back up and meeting her gaze.

"Thanks!" She replies, more than happy to take the compliment, even if she doesn't quite understand all of it. While Mary isn't looking, she sticks her tongue out and makes a face at Antonio, silently mocking him.

"Hell, I'm always ready for somethin' crazy!"
Trisha immediately steps forward to volunteer, but has a moment of hesitation as she looks down at the dog standing by her side.

"Oh no. But Fernando can't come. He might get hurt or run over or somethin'."
Though she knows she must help bring Mina back, she also has a responsibility to keep Fernando out of danger. It is a frightening thought to leave him, but the trust she has built with the people around her eases her mind.
Looking at him with a soft, pleading expression, she asks.
"Terry you ain't so good at sneakin'. Could you stay here with Ash and Fernando and keep 'em safe? I wouldn't ask no one but you."

Cross Roads

Antonio doesn't respond to Trisha's mocking. He did flinch when she unexpectedly spit at him. "Hey now, I'm pretty useful. Just have to put me in right place, yeah?"

Terry agrees to watch over Fernando for the time being. Ashley reaches down and beckons the little creature to come over. The dog stays at Trisha feet and ignores her.

"Do you want me to stay or come with?" Natasha approaches Mary after asking her first question then whispers discretely. "And what about them?" Her body shifts slightly towards Antonio and Sam.

Mary's mouth twists into a mix between a sneer and a frown as she looks as Antonio and Sam. Neither of them have been worth the trouble of keeping them around so far.

"Sam will help us or he won't," Mary whispers back. "We can't force him either way, we just don't have the means. I don't care what happens to Antonio. I don't even know why he's here."

She straightens up, taking a deep breath. Once again, she's the de facto leader. She has to present a vision of authority, even though she has no idea what she's doing.

"If we cut through the forest, we can sneak up on the camp. Follow me and I'll show you the way - and that includes you, Natasha. Terry, you're more...in-your-face. You should probably stay here. We'll scope the camp out and make a decision then. Remember, all we want is Mina. We don't need to turn this into a firefight."

She pauses, eyeing the others. "Unless we have to, that is. Any questions?"

"Actually, a question just occurred to me." She turns towards Antonio. "Antonio - or Sam, I suppose - would Mina be at the camp with the other slaves?"

Crossroads

"They're not slaves, more like people that hired us to protect them, ya? Anyways, your girl's probably with Salomon at our little cabin." Antonio replies.

Trisha stamps her foot down, trying to get the little dog to move. He skitters away a short distance, but does not move when told to.
"Oh come on! Move!" She orders, pointing angrily while he simply looks away. "Fine, we can do it the hard way then."

While listening to Mary's instructions, Trisha fiddles with the top of her jeans. She unravels a long, thin cord she had kept looped through her belt in case of situations like this. Kneeling down to Fernando, she slips the cord around his neck and adjusts it into a makeshift leash. She hands the leash over to Ashley, giving her a reassuring smile.
"You ain't gotta watch him long. We ain't gonna be gone a minute."

"Since you know where it is, I guess you better show us."
She rushes up to Antonio, just to be the first one to shove him forward. The blow is more forceful than it needed to be.
"Mary, you seen any cabins when you was out there last?"

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
If needed, I wanna use 1 SU on the rope for Fernando. Could come in useful

---

"You've got a lot of strong opinions all of a sudden," accuses Mary, turning on Antonio with a glower. "You can't even tell me why they'd take the girl, but now you're sure she's at the cabin? I think you're full of shit, Antonio. I think everything you've told us is shit. Not a thing you've told us has been worth the time to hear it so far, and I have a feeling you're trying to get us killed."

She turns to Sam. "Sam, assuming they even have her, what would they want the girl for? She'd be at best an unskilled pair of hands in return for their food and protection. I'm tempted to walk up, tell them I have friends in the woods, and offer to leave quietly if they give her to me. Do you think they'd let that happen just to avoid a fight?"
This message was last updated by the player at 22:15, Wed 30 May 2018.

Crossroads

Antonio stumbles a few steps forward after Trisha shoves him. "Ey girl, easy. Its this way. That's where we live, and keep our supplies. When they leave, they'll need to pack whatever we got." He replies to Mary.

"We didn't plan on telling anyone we're leaving. Our plan was to leave without any of them noticing we're gone. Salomon isn't the type to back down from threats, or negotiate with strangers. If you do that, you'll get a bullet in the head before you finish talking." Sam adds. "Honestly, that girl might not be here. She's probably already dead."

Trisha was able to leash Fernando with a rope and hand him over to Ashley.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 17:25, Fri 01 June 2018.

Mary sighs through her nose. Yeah, she probably is.

Every new piece of information she learns is another reason she can't do this. She looks over at Trish and Terry and the rest - even Buford, as little reason as he had to trust her or her to trust him. They need a victory. They're counting on her to provide it. She's failing them.

"Keep watching for a little girl," Mary tells Sam. "Before, you said you'd follow them to their new location instead of trying anything here. How were you planning to do that? We can't just drive after them. It's not as if we can hide in traffic."

Crossroads

"You keep a long distance and tail them by looking for anything they leave behind." Sam answers. "We stop frequently to scavenge, or when we see people. Follow the trails of any broken windows, or dead bodies and you'll find them."

As the situation seems to grow even more hopeless, Trisha stands headstrong in the face of futility. It will take more than a few well armed, well organized bandits to keep her from finding what she is after.
"She could be dead, but I ain't stoppin' 'til I know for sure. If she's with this boss guy, then we gotta follow where he goes and find out. Let's watch 'em go and then chase 'em, like Sam said."

Buford moves his hands up to his face and rubs his hands into his wrinkled skin. Taking a deep breath. This was the kinda plan Buford hated, aimless. But he already threw in with them. What else could he have done, run off with the couple and played third wheel?

"Alright, lets get this thing in gear." he said softly.

Mary grimaces. She doesn't like the idea of having to follow them in a car without being spotted. A person can hide in the forest rather easily; a vehicle on an open street is far more conspicuous, whether at long distance or not. Following the trail of broken windows or corpses doesn't sound too reliable, either. I'm getting too old for this shit, she thinks to herself.

"It doesn't sound like we have a choice," she says, her voice determined and just a bit resigned. "We'll wait for them to go. If we catch a glimpse of Mina, we'll follow."

She looks over the group and nods encouragingly, but here eyes linger on Antonio. She fully intends to abandon him somewhere as soon as she can do so without risking discovery.

Crossroads

Samuel slings his rifle over his shoulder and speaks to Mary. "I think our deal is done. I'm going to look for Sam in the camp." He briefly glances to the others expecting a response.

"You don't need me here right?" Antonio grins. "I can just leave, ya?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:00, Mon 04 June 2018.

"I don't need you here, nah," Mary scowls. "I don't know what you'll do if I leave you in eyesight of your old friends. We'll drop you off after we're done tracking them."

She motions to the others. "Let's get out of sight until they're on their way. I don't suppose any of you have followed a car undetected before?"

Crossroads

Samuel takes his leave for the camp. Antonio lingers his gaze on Samuel until the man is no longer in his vision.

When Mary poses the question, everyone shake their heads simultaneously. The group slip into the trees. About a few minutes later, they hear the sound of multiple engines approaching int heir direction. They see a pick up truck leading three other vehicles out of the park, to the East. They watch silently as the raiders drive out of their sight. Before the group emerge from the trees, they see someone jogging down the road in the direction where the vehicles are headed. Its a familiar dark's skinned little boy.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:20, Thu 21 June 2018.

Mary stands up, eyes on the disappearing vehicles. They'd have to move fast to track them. As she moves, however, she glances at the boy and frowns.

"Dwayne?"

It is a little disappointing to see Samuel take his leave, but Trisha knows it wouldn't be right to stop him. In the brief time she knew him, he was only ever interested in one thing, so it was only a matter of time before he would finally depart.

"Good luck. I hope you find her." She is unsure if he heard her, but figures it doesn't really matter anyway.

She makes an effort to ignore Antonio, trying hard to pay close attention to Mary. When the trucks pass by them, she ducks down into the grass, terrified of being caught in the moment. However once they pass, the fear quickly fades and she emerges to watch them drive away.

"What next?" She asks, approaching Mary carefully. Before she can be given an answer, Trisha is pulled away by the appearance of a friend she thought she had lost forever.

As soon as she has seen him, she is upon the boy, wrapping her arms tightly around him.
"Dwayne! It's you! What are you doing out here? What happened? Is the others with you?" She asks in rapid fire succession, barely giving the child time to answer.

Crossroads

Dwayne jumped when Trisha emerged from the bushes and hugged him. He froze in place, holding tight onto a pair of scissors in his right hand.

"The bad people took Mina, but everyone keeps saying its too dangerous for me to go, so I came here alone." He explained. "They're still back at that house." Trisha saw her own reflection through the young boy's eyes. "Did you really kill Wilson and his brother?"

We do not have time for this shit, Mary thinks, but opts not to say out loud.

"Dwayne, are you sure they're still back at the house?" Mary asks quickly. "We just saw people leave. If we want to catch them, we have to go now."

Crossroads

Dwayne looks to Mary and shook his head. "I meant Miss Carter and everyone else stayed back at the house."

Mary's brow furrows in confusion. She closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose, sighing through her nose.

I hate dealing with children.

"Which house, Dwayne?" Mary asks patiently, before turning to Trisha and the others. "Do you know anything about this?"

Buford once again felt more comfortable being a wallflower than an active participant in a situation he ultimately didn't understand. While e had experience in tracking, especially in doing so undetected it would invite too many questions. He didn't need that, the others could figure it out.

He observed the child, looking to see how the others reacted.

"I don't wanna talk about it right now." She tells him firmly, though she seems uncomfortable and anxious about the question. "We ain't got time anyway."
Trisha stands up and grabs the boy's hand, trying to hurry him along as he answers Mary's question.
"It don't matter what house they're in. We left on purpose so we don't have to see them again." She announces, eager to move on from the subject. Squeezing Dwayne's hand, she smiles at the boy, hoping he will be an easy sell.
"We gotta get movin' at get Mina back. You'll help us, right?"

Crossroads

"Oh... Okay." Dwayne doesn't seems to be satisfied with the response from Trisha. Ashley passes a look to Trisha. She appears to be just as uncomfortable with the topic as well. The child's eyes glitters with hope when she asks him to tag along. "Yes!" He immediately replies and accepts the invitation to search for Mina.

The child steals a few glances at Buford at every chance he gets when the man is not paying him any attention. His wariness of the stranger soon fades when he sees Antonio in the group.

"What's up little man." Antonio greets the boy.

Dwayne quickly side steps to Trisha's side. "Why is he with us?"

"I thought he might come in handy," says Mary. "What can I say? Everyone makes mistakes."

She waves her arm, motioning for the others to follow her. "Come on! We have to move quick if we want to follow them. We can talk on the road."

Intersection of Route 1 & 8

Following the road out of the state park, the group noticed tire marks off the road that weren’t there last time. They tracked what little marks they can find on the road until they came across the intersection between route 1 and 8. Antonio decided to be useful and suggested they were considering heading West, to Arkansas. He pointed out the way to go would be either going North or South on route 1. No one could determine whether he was telling the truth or not with this information. Based on his estimation, its around fifty miles to get to Mississippi river’s crossing. It will no doubt take an extraordinary amount of time to get there on foot, especially with Antonio and Ashley's current condition.

Everyone briefly stopped at the crossing, in the parking lot of a small grocery store, Dino’s. They’ll need to re-evaluate their plan and figure out which way the raiders might have went. There’s an elementary school, and a middle school just up North of the intersection. They also see a larger grocery store down route 8, within walking distance. If the group wanted to prepare for their journey, now would be their chance.

“I didn’t have the chance to take anything with me when shit went down. We should check those stores for anything we need.” Natasha gazed at the Dino’s grocery store. “It’s probably scavenged, but we might find something in there. Or maybe the schools.”

“I’m so done with schools.” Ashley exaggerated her tone to mimic a spoiled school girl. She cleared her throat, regretting her decision for doing that. "Sorry."
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 22:49, Thu 21 June 2018.

Mary surveys the buildings with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. Of course, she has to leave Rosedale. Of course, she has to go running across state lines in pursuit of a girl she doesn't even like and has no obligation towards. Of course, she still doesn't have a goddamn rifle. Of course, Antonio is providing just enough help not to be dumped immediately.

The smaller grocery might have a few scraps left over, if it was overlooked, Mary thinks. The larger one is probably empty of everything but ghouls. But the schools?

Mary turns to face the group. "It's been a long time since I attended a public school, but back in my day, they didn't stock much in the way of perishables and ammunition. What do you expect to find in there?"

Trisha can see the boy is uncomfortable, so she wraps her arm around him and pulls him away from Antonio as they walk.
"Y'ain't gotta worry about him. I can't get rid of him just yet. I ain't decided how mean I wanna get. I'm still mad about a lotta stuff."

She keeps Dwayne close to her as they approach the store, but splits off once she feels the area is clear. Watching Mary survey the building, Trisha runs up to the window to get a look inside.

Trisha finds the joke very amusing, laughing along even after Ashley resigns from the joke.
"Hah! Totally me too! Ain't nothin' good ever happen in no school."

Pulling her head away from the window, she turns to Buford, curious to hear his take on the matter.
"Hey, guy!" She skirts around the fact that she has already forgotten his name. "You know about schools? Ever find somethin' good in one lately?" Her head turns back to look in the window as she continues talking. "'Cause I was kinda wantin' to go in here, but now I don't know."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

05:27, Today: Trisha rolled 20 using 2d10+5 ((10,5)).

---

This message was last edited by the player at 19:28, Sun 24 June 2018.

Intersection

"I was thinking we raid the vending machines and the nurses office for any medical supplies. I'm pretty sure we can find water in there too." Natasha answers while squinting at the school signs. "Middle school... and an elementary school."

Despite Trisha's words, Dwayne remains wary at the presence of Antonio. His eyes constantly gazes at the man as if expecting him to suddenly attack one of the group members. Dwayne follows Trisha up against the store windows and peek inside along side her. The windows are boarded up by sheets of metal and wooden boards. Looking underneath them, Trisha can tell the windows were shattered by whoever made these modifications.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:02, Mon 25 June 2018.

"It's worth a shot," Mary says. Despite her earlier skepticism, she finds herself warming to the idea of searching the school. "Schools are often pressed into use as crisis centers, aren't they? If we're lucky, there may be aid supplies in there. Lord knows they must be somewhere."

She looks over at Trisha, watching the boy beside her for a second before speaking. "Do you see anything interesting in there? A decent rifle, perhaps?"

Buford was lost entirely in thought, looking at the maps and wondering just exactly what they could hope to find at either site. A woman with a southern accent had spoken to him, and his eyes opened just a little more than usual, as if he was now taking care to watch and memorize everything around him, including the woman.

"Well miss it's been some years since I've been a student. But 'round here sometimes the only landmark is the local school. Lotta times they used as evac shelters, when I was a  kid ours was a bomb shelter. Cause of the Russians." He said, quickly finding himself droning on about nothing.

"I'm partial to the school. In times of crisis the first place sacked is the grocery mart, I'm assuming someone in this little bandit group got the sense to know that, and head away from it." He shrugs.

"Then again, if'n he a bandit he can't have all much sense in the first place." He looked at the blonde woman again. "You a local here?" He asks.

She peers through a slot in the boards, relaying what she sees to the group.
"Don't look like it got too much in here. There's some dead guys walkin' around and a bunch of boxes and shit all on the floor. Nothin' good, like guns or whatever."

Stepping back from the store, Trisha glances at the school in the distance.
"I guess let's take the school, then." She agrees, happy to follow along with the majority.

"Nah, I ain't never been 'round here." She perks up at the question, as if surprised that he would ask about her life. "We used to live in Canton, near the big chicken plant. There was a school there too, but I didn't go much."

Fernando waddles up to Trisha and she greets him by scratching his neck with both hands.
"How bout you, though?" She asks Buford as she lifts her hands away from the dog. "I know you ain't from someplace like this, you use too many big words."

"What, don't I use big words?" Mary asks Trisha, in a tone that makes it hard to tell if she's joking or not.

You have to give her credit, Mary, she thinks. You're not from here, either, even if you did come here decades ago.

"Let's make a note to remember this store," Mary says, walking with the others towards the school. "I don't put much stock in any groceries nowadays, but if it's full of ghouls, that's a sign that no human being has been in there recently. It just might be possible there's some merchandise forgotten near the back, if we can get past the security."

She glances down at her shoulder holster with a frown. "Of course, that's a big if. I'm well and truly sick of this sidearm being my front line. My kingdom for a decent rifle!"

"I'm from Texas, Miss. Born and raised, since then I've ah, moved around the country alot for work. Is Canton a nice place?" He asks Trisha.

"Yeah you do." Trisha giggles, amused by Mary's reaction. "You, like, went to school and stuff, you're super smart."

Trisha prepares herself for the walk to the school. She calls Dwayne over to her, though her attention is on Buford as they continue to talk.
"That's cool, you been all over. I ain't never even been out the state." She seems genuinely impressed by his worldly travels. "Canton's a shitheap. It stinks like dead chickens and everyone's an asshole. That's why I ain't goin' back."
With that, she pulls herself away to tend to Ashley, content to have the conversation stop there.

"Well look at you," Ash began as her friend bounced over.  "Makin' plans and makin' friends.  Almost be proud of us, if the situation weren't so fucked-up--"  Her voice cracked and crooned, drained of the adrenaline that had sustained her earlier, but still doing her level and self-destructive best at putting on a good face for everyone else.

"So tell me the tru tru, you're dragging me back to school?  Shit place for a delinquent like me to be, y'know."  God though, she sure could crack a smile, could and would and did -- even with a bullet hole not inches from her heart, that same Easy Ashley Charm glowed right on through with scarcely even a hint at the pain, looking like she believed for all the world in the girl standing in front of her, like she could do nothing wrong and most things right.  Until she got her wits about her and her feet under her a bit better, Ashley was all aboard for tagging along on whatever plan Trisha might concoct.

Or maybe that's just the gradual blood loss talking.

Buford chuckles lightly at the young kids spunk. Stating each opinion like it was the truth. He remembered a time when he was much the same. "I hate to disappoint you Trisha. I'm 'fraid there are assholes all over the place, in fact you cant escape them." He jokes with her.

Intersection

"Any of you got a smoke?" Antonio asks while sitting against the hood of a broken down vehicle. "You see any cigarettes in there, little man?"

"Yeah, I hear you." Natasha ignores Antonio's question and comments at Buford's remarks. "Assholes everywhere." Its clear whom her implication directs.

Dwayne shoots Antonio a quick glance before shifting further down the windows to distance himself from him. Something seems to pique his interest in the store. The child reaches his hand through the window cracks as an attempt to grab something...
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:29, Tue 10 July 2018.

"I'd expect you to be grateful, Ashley," Mary says, giving the teenager a slight smirk. "I raised some hell myself when I was your age, and I'd still like the chance to go back to my high school and shoot anything that moves in there."

Hearing Antonio's voice, she scowls over at him. "Now you're sending children to fetch you cigarettes? I appreciate your creativity in finding new ways to make me disli - Dwayne!"

Breaking into a rare run, Mary crosses the distance to Dwayne and shoos him away from the broken window, fighting to keep her voice calm. "Don't. Do. That."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:31, Wed 11 July 2018.

Intersection

Panic sparks in Dwayne's eyes like a child caught stealing when Mary yells his name. He retracts his hand immediately from the window and looks to Mary. A few undead inside the store turn their heads to the windows, two of them shambles toward where Dwayne's hand was.

"Sorry..." Dwayne looks down then points to the window's cracks. "I saw a binocular inside, I thought I could reach it." There is indeed a binocular resting on top of the shelf through the windows. It may be just out of reach for a child, however, an adult may be able to reach it.

"Yeah but these assholes ain't family." She replies, though the statement is more for herself than anyone else. "I'd pick Wilson over my shithead brothers any day."
She smiles at Ashley, happy to see her regaining some of her snarky attitude. It means a lot to know that she has not yet lost her best friend; the one friend she knows she can relate to more than anybody.

"Hah! You know it, girl! I just decided I finally wanna learn how to read." Even with the stress of finding Mina hanging over her head, it has not tainted her ability to lavish in the fleeting moments of happiness that happen to come her way.

The sharp, sudden yelp shocks Trisha into attention. She grabs Dwayne's arm and yanks him back even further from the window.
"Don't be an idiot! That's my job."
Stepping in front of the boy, she crouches down to look, spotting the binoculars Dwayne had mentioned.
"I could maybe reach 'em. But now all these guys know we're over here, they might get me. D'you guys want 'em? Should I go for it?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:38, Sat 14 July 2018.

Mary looks over her shoulder towards the window, then back at Dwayne.

"What if those ghouls got their hands on you?" she asks. Her voice isn't chiding, instead more like she was asking him out of curiosity. "Or forget them - what if you cut yourself on the broken glass? That could kill you just as easily."

Mary looks around until she finds an appropriate stick on the ground. Picking it up, she taps it against her hand to test its sturdiness, then steps over to the window, carefully poking the stick through to catch the neck strap of the binoculars.

"Awareness, caution, and innovation, Dwayne," she says, not looking at him. "That's what separates us from them."

Though she isn't spoken to directly, Trisha's question is answered when Mary picks up a stick to poke through the window, instead of using her hands.
"Wow that's clever." She announces, looking over to Ash and Terry, hoping that they had also seen it. "I ain't never woulda thought of that, huh?" She asks them with a soft chuckle.

Eyeing Trisha out of the corner of his eye, he scoffs. "If we ain't doin' this the safest way then we ain't doin' it at all," he says tacitly. His words are complimentary, but his tone is aggressive, belying his growing frustration.

He sighs, refusing his allow his temper to chafe the moment. His eyes roll over the pair in contemplation.

"I woulda given anythin' to have a mom like Mary." he says, at once impressed and troubled. "She doesn't cloud the mind with, I dunno...issues."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:32, Thu 19 July 2018.

Intersection

The stick passes through the two undeads undisturbed. Mary successfully hooks the binocular by its strap. It dangles on the edge of the stick until Mary safely retracts it back to the window. Dwayne's shoulder relaxes when the binocular is safely in her hands. He then nods in agreement with Mary's words.

(!) Dwayne will remember that.

Other than the dust that's gathered on the lens, the binocular appears to be in good shape.

Mary inspects the binoculars, then carefully wipes the dust from the lens using the hem of her shirt. Once they're clean, she hands the binoculars to Dwayne.

"I might need these, but hold onto them for now," she instructs Dwayne. "I'm glad you noticed them. That was good thinking; they'll come in handy."

She looks back at the others. "What were we doing again? Investigating the school?"

"Yeah!" Trisha replies, having let her mind drift from the matter. "We might find somethin' to eat before we keep goin' for Mina."
After rounding up Fernando, she approaches Antonio from behind, shoving him hard with her elbow as she passes in a show of dominance.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
let's skip there soon

---

Intersection

"Okay." Dwayne smiles and gladly takes the binocular from Mary. He eagerly puts it to use. The child looks across the road to the schools through the magnifying lens.

"I think this one is already picked clean, might get lucky with that other store there." Natasha takes a quick peek through the store windows, then points to the larger store across the streets. She glances over to the schools and answers to Mary's question. "Where ever you want to check, I'm ready."

"I see a sign at the middle school. It says 'refugee' and 'shelter'." Dwayne says. "That's where dad said was safe, and he was going to take me there."

That's nice, Dwayne, Mary's about to say, then pauses, looking down at the boy with an expression of pleasant surprise.

"That..." she starts, slowly, "...is exactly what we're looking for, Dwayne. You're paying attention! Good work."

She gives Dwayne a nod and a smile, then turns to the others. "Thank you, Natasha. I'm inclined to go straight for the school, but if you all would prefer to raid that store first, I'll help you."

Buford walks over to the others, listening to Dwayne and Mary. "Well I'll be... We might find something yet." He says, pawing at his mustache. He looks over at the rest of the group. The older man had no intentions of turning over a store. Looting was a younger mans game, but he wouldn't be averse to seeing what the others found in doing so.

Intersection

Dwayne smiles faintly at the compliment. He seems to be genuinely pleased.

Natasha taps her finger on the side of her waist. After a few seconds she replies to Mary. "We can take a quick look. If it doesn't look promising, we bail." She turns to the others. "Anyone else want to come?"

"Can I come?" Dwayne looks up to both Natasha and Mary.

Though she is reluctant to split off from Ashley, the possibility of a good find in the store is too exciting to pass up.
"Let's do it! I'm good at that kinda stuff."

In the past, Trisha would have answered "Yes!" without a second though; but since losing Mina, she has doubled down on her efforts to curb that kind or reckless behaviour. Rather than say anything, she also looks to Mary and Natasha, curious to see how they will answer.

Terry turns his head and give the older man accompanying them a strange look, as if he's just seeing him for the first time.

Before he can form a cohesive opinion his attention is taken by the voice of questioning voice of the small, fragile child in the group.

"No." Terry answers in the place of both women with an authoritative degree of finality on the matter. His tone is terse, as if challenging someone to say otherwise.

He then looks at both women, his expression guarded. But having been around Terry for this long it's clear he's expecting nothing short of unconditional support of his response.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:12, Fri 03 Aug 2018.

"Just be caref-" Mary starts, then looks over at Terry when he interjects. She raises an eyebrow curiously, then looks down at Dwayne. "No."

She pauses for a moment, then glances over at Antonio. With a grunt from her lips and a flare of pain from her knees, she couches down, putting her at eye level with Dwayne.

"We need a lookout when we're in there," she tells Dwayne conspiratorially. She taps a finger on his new binoculars and nods significantly. "If you see anyone or anything sneaking up on us, I need you to call for us. Can you do that?"

She resists the urge to glance at Antonio again as she leans in closer, her voice dropped to a whisper. "I need you to watch Antonio, too. If he tries to hurt you, or steal the vehicles, or anything fishy, you scream. Got that?"

"I can stick with the boy if that's quite alright with you folks. I'm not... happy with turning over properties like this and you all seem more than capable. I'll stand watch with..." He looks down at the boy. "Dwayne is it? Good to meet you son, I'm Buford." He says in a much softer tone.

Crossroads

Natasha briefly turns her head in surprise at Terry's sudden declaration.

The hopeful light dims in the child's eyes when Terry quickly reject his request to partake in the scavenge run. However, he seems to be overjoyed when Mary present him with another task. Dwayne steals a peek at Antonio before replying to Mary.

"Okay, I can do that." He nods at Buford when he asks his name.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Buford." Dwayne states after Buford's introduction.

"Us three then. Terry, you coming?" Natasha asks the behemoth.

"Looks like y'all got it figured out then." She smiles, pleased to see Dwayne happy with the compromise. "You'll let Dwayne look out for ya, right, Ash?" She shares a look with Ashley, encouraging her to play along.

Breaking ahead of the group, it seems Trisha cannot reach the store fast enough. With Fernando keeping pace beside her, she has no choice but to slow down, or risk running too far ahead.
"C'mon let's get movin'! We gotta get back on the road and track down Mina."

"That's good," Mary says, rising. "I'm trusting you."

She follows after Trisha, though far less exuberantly. She likes to think she's still spry for her age, but she's well past the days of dashing about for the sheer hell of it. As she watches Trisha run, Mary can still feel the ache of her muscles from last night's life-or-death sprints.

"Naw, yeah, we're good."  Ash flashed a smile and a wave to Trisha as she turned to depart.  "Little man's got my back, we'll hold down the fort for you."  She was no fan of children (even though that's exactly what the older members of the group would call her, too), but better to keep Dwayne close rather than let him risk the possible crowd of monsters in the store.

Not exactly a fan of standing around in open parking lots with basically no cover either, she half-muttered to herself, her audience long since departed storeward.  Not like she had much of a choice there; she faked a smile easily enough, but faking a full-speed sprint would be tough if she had to nimbly escape the jaws of death, and she'd be no help for searching, distracted as she was by pain and the need to move carefully to avoid aggravating her injury.

Ash looked over the lot, sizing up the nearby vehicles.  None of them would likely be any good for looting, having been picked clean months ago.  But she wasn't after loot, just a solid bumper to sit down on.  She'd check underneath and inside for any surprises, of course, and also check for the Red Light of Death -- that blinking red light on the center dashboard console that indicated the presence of a car alarm, also known as "dinner bell" -- then very nearly collapsed to a seat on the first suitable bumper she found, heaving a heavy sigh as she finally let her energetic facade drop.  Oh well.  Less people around means less people to see me like this.

Intersection

Mary, Trisha, and Natasha jogs off to the distant grocery store, leaving the others behind at the parking lot. Dwayne have his eyes set on Antonio, but avert his gaze whenever the ex-bandit leader meets him in the eyes.

"Dwayne, yeah? Its rude to stare at people." Antonio smirks at the boy. He turns his attention to the blonde girl. "What was your name? Ashley? Did my boys did this to you?" He remarks on Ashley's injuries.


Grocery Store 2 - Parking Lot

The trio arrived at the larger grocery store. The vast space of mostly vacant of vehicles. There's a single SUV right at the entrance of the store, it looks like its purposely parked in that spot to serve as some sort of a barricade. Looking at the store, they see the front entrance where the SUV is parked is actually open. There's a lone undead stuck in between the door hinge and the top of the SUV. It doesn't seems to be moving or making an attempt to free itself from its current predicament.

They can see the store through the SUV's windows. The interior is dreadfully dark the further the aisle stretches inward. They detect no movements. Hidden danger may lurk in between the aisles, or deeper in the store.

"You think people used to live here?" Natasha asks the others.

"Why not?" Mary shrugs at Natasha. "It makes as much sense as living in a church."

She crouches low enough to peer under the SUV, confirming there are no ghouls down there, then stands to the sound of cracking knees.

"Do you suppose that's someone's idea of an intruder alarm?" she asks, pointing at the trapped ghoul. "I don't have a quiet way to dispose of it. Any volunteers?"

"But how come they ain't here now? Think someone came and wrecked it up, too?" Trisha wonders aloud, though she is obviously more concerned with exploring than theorizing.

At Mary's word, she approaches the unmoving corpse to poke it with the end of her gun.
"I won't shoot 'em if he gets up, I'll just bash 'em." She reassures them, hoping to show her commitment to a more responsible lifestyle.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:01, Mon 27 Aug 2018.

Grocery Store - Entrance

Mary does not see any hidden dangers underneath the SUV.

"Probably." Natasha comments at Trisha;'s speculation to the fate of the possible previous inhabitants. "We can try pulling it out, then crawl through the gap." She walks by the SUV door and casually pulls the handle. To her surprise, the door opens without any resistance. "Look, its not locked."

"Hmm," Mary says, tilting her head and looking at the SUV quizzically. "Do you know what that means? It wasn't meant to stay here for long. Long enough to block ghouls, perhaps, but the driver must have planned to leave before any people wandered by.

"That means they may have left something useful inside." Mary steps up to the SUV, then carefully pokes her head in, checking for ghouls. It's unlikely one would be inside and hadn't already noticed the group, but safety is the best policy, after all. After confirming there are no dead inside, Mary enters the SUV, then moves to the front seat and checks for anything useful.

"Turns out your people ain't got the monopoly on bein' assholes around here."  Ashley snarked dryly from beneath her unruly mop of angel-blonde hair, made dirtier by travel and messier by stress.  Her curt manner and short word choice suggests both her wound and tiredness were getting to her, but she wasn't about to let that stop her.  She lifted her head just enough to look up to Antonio, and jerked a thumb back towards the SUV she's sitting on.

"Y'ever hotwire one of these things?  Nice, roomy, sits at least eight, plenty room for supplies for the trip..."

With no response from the walker, Trisha leaves it alone and moves to the other side of the car. She believes her best bet is to climb over, but she holds off as the door to the car swings open.
"Oh cool!" She exclaims, peeking through the door after Mary.

Pulling her head away from the car, she stands on the seat and lifts herself up to look clear over the roof.
"How do we know they ain't still in there now?"
She struggles to identify whether the idea excites or terrifies her. Either way, the sooner she can know for sure, the better.
"Should we call out? Just in case? I don't want no one thinkin' we sneakin' up to get 'em."

Grocery Store

Mary finds a set of keys resting beneath the pedals. They appears to be the keys to the vehicle. However, there's no telling if this SUV is in good condition to run.

The undead seems to wiggle at the noise the three ladies are making. It grows more and more agitated as their conversation goes on.

Natasha peeks through the SUV dirty windows. "Depends... if they're already dead then we'll be ringing the dinner bell." She replies to Trisha. "Anyone got a flashlight? Its pretty dark in there."


Intersection - Parking lot

Antonio chuckles at Ashley's response. His brief laughter is cut short by his coughs. "Yeah, I know a thing or two." He replies, approaching the SUV in the parking lot. The door resists his attempt to open it from the outside when he pull the handle. He slams his shoulder against the window as an attempt to break it. With his current injuries, he doesn't pose much of a threat against the car window.

"Hey big T, give us a hand, ya?" He decides to ask the bigger man for assistance.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:05, Wed 29 Aug 2018.

A glint of metal from the floor draws Mary's attention to the keys. She picks them up, then places them on the dashboard in plain view. Reaching over, she pops open the glove box and grins, looking back over her shoulder at Trisha and Natasha. "Aha!"

She reaches into her backpack and pulls out her maglite. "I have light, but I'll need new batteries soon enough. I think we can handle the ghouls inside if we're quick, smart, and keep an escape route clear. I have a gun, but if I have to fire, I'll do it in there so it's harder to hear from outside."
This message was last updated by the player at 11:49, Fri 31 Aug 2018.

Grocery Store

"That will do I guess." Natasha shrugs. She unlocks the backseat doors and pulls the handle to let herself in. She searches the back of the vehicle for anything useful, however, her brief scavenge bears no fruit.

"Does it run?" Natasha asks, noting the car keys Mary discovered.

None of the three ladies are able to determine if there are hidden lurking dangers hidden in the darker sections of the store. The only way to find out what awaits them is to advance deeper in.

"I haven't tried yet," Mary tells Natasha. She slots the key into the ignition. "I suppose there's no time like the present."

With another glance inside the store, Mary turns the key. If the engine starts, she taps the gas pedal and sees if the vehicle moves at all, but doesn't pull away from the entrance yet.

Grocery Store

Mary hears a promising roar from the car's engine. The car moves for an inch before the engine dies. It seems like the vehicle's out of fuel.

The undead stuck in between the car and the door frame slides slightly off to the side. It is still unable to free itself from its current predicament.

"The engine works," Mary says, pocketing the keys. "If we find some gas, it may come in handy."

She points to the reanimated corpse, still jammed into the doorway above the vehicle. "Once we get inside, that ghoul will be able to see us, and it'll start moaning loud enough to...well, to wake the dead. We might as well put it out of our misery. Which of you wants to do the honors?"

"Ooh what is it?"
Trisha climbs into the car beside Mary, leaning in close to see what she has found in the glove box. A short claw hammer, scuffed up with just a little bit of blood, sits alone in the compartment.
"Aw yes! I want that! Can I have that?" Her eyes light up as she reaches out and takes it. Falling back into the seat, she tests the weight of it in her hands while Mary tries to start the car.
-------

With the new-found weapon in her grasp, Trisha is eager to test it out on an easy target. She is quick to volunteer.
"I'll do it. I'll jump over the top and get him with the hammer real quiet like."
Before she has even finished her sentence, Trisha is already halfway over the top of the car. She slides down quietly and approaches the walker, aiming to swing the claw down into the back of the skull.

Grocery Store - Regina Introduction

In the deeper section of the grocery store, Regina rests behind the counter of the pharmacy section near the front entrance. Its not exactly completely safe, but the minor fortification with chairs and tables are enough to ward against the mindless roaming undead that still lurks in the store. The door to the backroom of the pharmacy is locked, and no doubt there are valuable medicines inside waiting to be claimed. The rest of the store remains unexplored territory for her. Its near impossible for her to see anything beyond the front entrance section due to the lack of light.

A ruckus from the front entrance and sound of people conversing disturb Regina's moment of rest. She sees a woman smashing a claw hammer into the head an undead that's stuck in between the doorway, just above a SUV parked right on the entrance.

"It looks clear."

Regina hears a young woman's voice.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Howdy Survivor!
Your character has been introduced. You are currently in a grocery store in Rosedale, Mississippi. The time of day is around 9:00AM. Here's a few things to think about while you're writing up your first post.

Good luck!

• What is your character's goal?
• Was she traveling with someone? Or why was she traveling alone?
• Is there anyone she's looking for? Or a place she's trying to reach?
• Why is she here in Rosedale?

---

Grocery Store - Entrance

Trisha easily dispatches the undead. The body goes limp, dropping both of its arms against the side windows. Natasha exits the vehicle to join Trisha on the other side, where they can see the signs at the entrance offering 20% to dairy products and sausages.

"It looks clear." Natasha states.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:07, Tue 11 Sept 2018.

How had it all gone so wrong, Regina thought, her mind as exhausted as her body from piling up a hasty barricade against the walking corpses that had wandered into the pharmacy. Regina could still hear the screams of her companions, a kind-hearted couple she'd known since the first days of the outbreak, as they were ripped out of the SUV and eaten alive. Regina escaped the accident with plenty of bruises and the rucksack with all of her possessions, bruised, but otherwise fine. A pharmacy wasn't her first choice for a safe haven, though an exhausted person couldn't be picky about where their shelter lay. Unfortunately, she hadn't fully anticipated the walkers' tenacity, and thus she'd ended up hiding from the small horde for several hours.

That is, until a very human-sounding exertion rang out, followed by a voice. Not a moan, another woman. Peeking out from behind the counter, Regina could almost make out a group. Whether helpful or not, she didn't know for sure; they had to be a better choice than sticking with the walkers. Her hand shot up from behind the counter, faster than a walker could ever hope, and she twirled her finger in a tight circle -- another form of dexterity lost to those monsters. Slowly, she started to stand up so that the group could see her while her hand drifted towards her rucksack -- out of which she drew a black glock.

The weapon was held under the counter, and the look she gave the group was blank. She canted her head towards the various undead skulking around. How would they be handling this?

Grocery Store - Interior

Natasha quickly turns to observe Regina's movement behind the pharmacy counter. At first, she tighten her grip on her pistol to focus her aim at the silhouette. Her shoulder relaxes when she recognizes Regina's movement to be human. The gun remains raised, however,

"Trisha." Natasha whisper. She pokes Trisha on the side with her elbow, alerting her of the stranger's presence.

"It's gonna be clear when I'm done bashin'." Trisha boasts, taking pride in one of the few things she is able to do well. She is efficient and well experienced in the art of bludgeoning, as it requires little to no precision or skill. All that is needed is the raw energy to keep bashing until you have broken whatever it is you are intending to break. Luckily, energy and perseverance are two things Trisha has in spades.

She is too busy feeling good about herself to notice the figure that appears within the store. The jab in the side brings her back in to focus and she turns sharply to respond to the warning. At the sight of the stranger, Trisha jumps in surprise, raising the hammer in front of her, as though it would do her any good from a distance.
"Oh, hey!"
She calls out just enough to be heard, still wary of any dangers that may be lurking in the dark. Her expression is soft and her voice is bright, if not more than a little confused.
"Sorry we didn't know it was your place. Is that your car?"
With plenty of backup from her companions, Trisha does not immediately fear the woman and feels confident enough to address her.

--

Keeping his distance, Fernando continues to skulk around underneath the car, his nose trailing the ground as he investigates the entrance. As he hears Trisha speak, his tiny head appears from under the car. He stays put, but his large ears swivel around and his eyes stay alert.

Desperation did funny things to the mind of rational women; Regina often shied away from strangers after what she'd seen in New Orleans, she just lucked out with her former friends. It was too early to judge these people, too early to believe they wouldn't try anything. "It isn't clear," Regina whispered, her voice was hoarse and scratchy -- God she was thirsty. "So I wouldn't recommend shooting me," she slowly placed her gun onto a cubby below the counter and raised her hands.

The one who put down the walker was more trusting, and she seemed almost childlike in her enthusiasm. Regina regarded her with some bewilderment as if someone this happy was utterly alien. "It wasn't...mine," the doctor wrenched her eyes shut, and her voice took on a solemn tone, "A couple owned it. They're probably among the dead in this store." Selina and Terrance, good people whom Regina met shortly after escaping New Orleans. Gradually, Regina leaned on the counter, her gaze shifted to the floor as the pointlessness of their deaths washed over her again.

"There's a locked door," said Regina, who forced her sorrow back for now. She pointed at the door in question, "I can't help you get inside, but I can put what you find to good use. I'm a licensed doctor."

Mary stays in the front seat for the moment, watching the woman. She is acutely aware of her pistol's position in her shoulder holster, silently calculating the time she'd need to draw and fire, trying to guess whether the woman would try shooting through the car door if she had a gun. When Trisha speaks, Mary's eyes dance around that half of the store, trying to gauge where other people could be hiding, waiting to jump out and attack.

Mary relaxes slightly when the woman raises her hands, but only slightly. She's acting weird. Is she hiding something, or just traumatized? The promise of medicine and the skills to use them seems too good to be true, and Mary involuntarily thinks of the ambush weeks ago. God, it feels like years.

Finally, she steps out of the vehicle, keeping her hands at shoulder height and her palms out. A gray-haired and middle-aged but fit woman, she doesn't reach for her shoulder holster but makes it clear the woman can see it.

"Hello, I'm Mary," she says. Her voice is steady, but low. She motions to the corpse trapped between the vehicle and the doorframe. "Was that your alarm system we just killed? Are there more ghouls walking around in here?"

The woman, Mary, did a good job of conveying just how outgunned Regina was, no doubt about that. Her eyes lingered on the older woman's holster, was it loaded? Regina didn't want to find out. "My name is Regina," she wanted to get off on the right foot with these potentially helpful, potentially dangerous people. A rueful stare at the dead walker made Regina's lips curl into a distasteful frown, "No, it was like that when I got here. I wasn't a threat, so I left it be."

One by one Regina took a measure of each of the women: Mary was the oldest and had an air of maturity around her not present with the other two. The woman with the claw hammer was...quite reminiscent of the type of person she'd see driving past Village De'Lest: poor, unhygienic, probably watched trashy reality TV in the old days. The one with the gaudy hair was eerily quiet -- Regina kept a closer eye on her. "As I said before, there are still more. Listen," she says, quieting down.

Mary keeps her eyes on Regina, but stays still and silent, listening.  After a long moment, she nods.

"She's right. You hear that?" Mary finally takes her eyes off of Regina, looking at Trisha and Natasha. "There's more further inside, but they sound spread out. I think we can take them one at a time if we're quiet and careful."

Her gaze lingers on Trisha for a moment, and her mouth starts to twitch into a frown before she continues. "Do you think you can - both of you can be quiet and careful? I can cover your backs, but I don't want to shoot if I can avoid it."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:49, Sun 16 Sept 2018.

"A doctor?"
Trisha exclaims, her eyes lighting up at the news. With Mary stepping in to take charge, she quickly falls back and listens to directions.
"I can be careful." She scoffs playfully, stepping forward to stare into the darkness.
"Hey what if we bait 'em out here so they get blocked by the car, then we can just pick 'em off?"
She asks Mary before turning to Regina, waving the woman over.
"You should come over here. It's safer when it's not so dark."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
01:47, Today: Trisha rolled 20 using 2d10+5 ((6,9)). (Perception.)

---

"I was hoping not to face them all at once, nor give them a chance to start moaning," Mary says grimly. "Nonetheless, I can't kill them silently. Only you two can carry out my plan. That makes it your decision."

She beckons Regina to approach. "Yes, come on over if you'd like. I'm as sure as I'll ever be that you don't plan to kill us...and we do really need a doctor."

Regina nods and bends down to pick up her pistol, which she stows inside her backpack. Slinging it over her shoulder, the doctor carefully sidles over the counter and approaches the trio of women. Whether or not she could trust them was up for speculation, but Mary made her intentions clear. "One of you is injured, or sick, then," she said. "I won't make any promises until I know more about their condition, but I assure you that it'll be easier to work with whatever this store might have in stock."

She eyes the woman with the claw hammer apprehensively, more out of concern for how effectively it could crush her skull, and the eagerness in which its owner utilized it on the walker. "I only have a gun on me, and I've exercised my legs more than my, ehm...arms." The doctor crossed her arms and frowned guiltily, "I could help...distract them, perhaps?"

Grocery Store

After reading the reaction of her party with the stranger, Natasha lowers her pistol. Yet, she maintains her sight on Regina, wary of her presence.

"A couple, huh." Natasha quietly reiterates Regina's words. She's keeps her voice low with the intent to not attract the undeads' attention. "Were they someone you know?"

"Yes," said Regina, who shut her eyes and recalled the faces she'd seen earlier that day: a grimacing man with a full beard, and his wife, a black woman with a gentler smile, who brought out the best in her husband. "They were pulled out of the car, then I heard...screaming." She didn't dare hope that they could be alive, the odds were just too low. She still dreaded finding them shambling around in this store.

Mary gives Regina a sidelong look, frowning. While she's sympathetic, the cold and tactical part of her brain doesn't like the idea of Regina creeping around in the dark, getting close to a ghoul, and then freezing up when she sees one of the old couple.

"Okay," she says with a sigh. "We'll stay here and try to attract them to the front. Always keep a route clear back to the van, just in case anything happens. Regina and I can bait the ghouls while Trisha and Natasha kill them from the back. Everyone please be careful. Ready?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:05, Fri 21 Sept 2018.

Regina nodded, apprehension slithered through her mind like a disease, what ifs sprouted. What if there were more walkers they couldn't see? What if they accidentally fired a shot? What if the women, Trisha and Natasha, missed? What if? What if.

She killed those mutinous thoughts, "I'm ready," she said, "I'll follow your lead." While dangerous, this was a chance to prove her worth to Mary. It was also a chance for goodbyes. Closure. Selina and Terrance deserved better than a hellish undeath. Putting them down was the least she could do for the sin of surviving on blind luck alone.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:29, Sat 29 Sept 2018.

Regina's solemn tone makes Trisha sad and uncomfortable. With no real knowledge of the stranger's situation, she still feels compelled to try and comfort her in some way.
"Hey it's ok." A bunch of our friends just go killed, too. You get over it."
She smiles warmly, believing the thought to be very reassuring in its simplicity.

Soon after, Mary calls them to action and Trisha is quick to respond.
"Let's do it."
She nudges Natasha in the arm before stepping deeper into the store.
"This way. I don't wanna split up, it's too dark."
There is a hint of uncertainty clear in her voice, the cracks in her fearless persona beginning to show through.

Grocery

"Let's do it." Natasha puts away her pistol and walks by Trisha's side with a knife in her hand.

As they walk further down the aisle, the lack of light sources become an immediate concern. Mary's maglite is enough to illuminate the direction its pointing to, but not their entire surroundings all at once. They start by walking down the first aisle. Most of the shelves are vacant of merchandise. Its not hard to imagine why when the maglite illuminate the hanging sign that says "Snacks/Drinks" above this aisle. However, its too dark for anyone to tell if all of the shelves are indeed empty. It is entirely possible for items to be hidden somewhere in the cracks.

The group hears the sound of moaning and footsteps approaching from further down the aisle. Eventual the maglite reveals two pairs of legs making their way towards the group from a safe distance. Their soulless eyes did not shy away from the light. There's another moan coming from the the left side, its unclear how close it is to the group without Mary directing the light towards that direction.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Due to the darkness, all hit rolls will receive a -5 penalty unless there's light shining upon target.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 21:10, Tue 25 Sept 2018.

The dim light cast by Mary did little to dispell Regina's fear of what lurked within the dark. "Shit," she whispered upon seeing the now illuminated legs of two walkers. More worrying was a third telltale moan on the left, an indeterminate distance away. "Back," she said to Mary, pointing to one of the shelves. "If it knocks over a shelf, it'll make noise; or worse, crush us." She trusted the older woman to listen as she took some few steps backward. The Japanese woman didn't believe this to be an overreaction; that third walker was an unknown element in a volatile environment, this was simply a mitigation of unnecessary risk.

While backing up, Regina strains to identify the pair of walkers as they get closer. Were they Selina and Terrance? The thought of finding them in a husked state was nauseating, but she had to know, for their sake, and her own.

Pistol held low in her right hand and flashlight held high in her left, Mary glances up at the sign before returning her mind to the task at hand, resisting the urge to sweep her light around for remaining snacks and drinks. Her flesh was weaker, however, and her stomach growled in dissatisfaction. When was the last time I ate?

"Remember, one thing at a time," Mary whispers, though there's no indication that anyone needs reminding besides herself. "Once all the ghouls are dead, we can search this place for anything we want."

Checking the make sure the two approaching figures are at a safe distance, Mary turns the flashlight's beam to her left, checking for the third approaching figure.

Trisha keeps a sharp focus on the path ahead of her, feeling anxious and vulnerable with no clear path to escape. Her fear of the unknown is quelled slightly when Mary's flashlight reveals the monsters ahead of her. With a clear view on their position, these two can no longer surprise her.
The sound of something in the darkness stops her from attacking right away. She stops dead in her tracks, before following Regina's lead and stepping back. As Mary swings the light off to the left, Trisha keeps a fixed gaze on the darkness ahead of her, just barely able to see the pair as they move closer.
"I got a watch on these two. We'll get 'em if they get too close."
She assures the group, still slowly moving back. She knows it would be much safer to lure them out of the aisle before making the first hit.

Grocery Store

Mary's mag-light reveals the third ghoul. It is within arms reach for the group, however it is currently behind the empty shelf. Its rotting face growls as it shambles its way up close to the shelf.


While backing up, Trisha and Regina maintains a safe distance between the two undead in front of them. Natasha readies her knife, standing alongside Mary. The two ghouls will soon be within their reach for them to dispose of them with weapons.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:40, Sun 30 Sept 2018.

It was clear as day that this store was in a state of disrepair. The shelf separating the group from that walker was shabby and more of a danger than a barrier between the two of them. What's more, the creature's lurching hand was grasping voraciously for the blonde woman's long locks. A plan immediately formulated; Regina approached the shelf and brace her shoulder against it. "Back," Regina said again in a hushed whisper. With as much effort as she could muster, she attempted to push the shelf onto the walker.

Grocery Store

The shelf topples over without much resistance. The ghouls falls backward from the force. It stretches its arms upwards through the gaps and growls, unable to free itself from underneath.

Luckily, when the shelf fall upon the undead, its body dampens the sound of impact.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:09, Tue 02 Oct 2018.

Trisha does as instructed and steps back. By the time she knows what is happening, the shelf is already falling, giving her no time to prepare for the sound. She tenses up at the loud crash, then quickly rushes over to investigate. The ghoul stretches out to grab at her, but it is pinned down enough that she is content to leave it for the moment.

"Let him be, we can take him last." She whispers to Regina before pushing forward to help face the two still walking. Hammer in hand, she looks to Natasha and Mary, as if waiting for some kind of signal.

Mary jumps as the shelf crashes to the ground, directing the flashlight beam down on the trapped ghoul. Once she's satisfied it can't move, she turns the light back on the two approaching figures, sidestepping slightly so Trisha and Natasha won't block their own light. She doesn't point her pistol, wary of the younger women entering her line of fire, but she's very aware of its weight in her hand.

"Good thinking," she whispers to Regina, tilting her head towards her slightly. "Clever."

"Thanks," replies Regina, whose heart was fit to burst out of her chest from all of this. She was never keen to approach walkers, finding them much easier to avoid and generally not worth the risk to kill. "We're lucky that didn't make any noise," she said, and there was a harsh edge in her tone as if she was admonishing herself for taking such a risk. What else was she supposed to do, though? Let Trisha get grabbed?

"Easier to kill them in the light," said Regina tersely as she resumed her careful, measured walk backward. While this wasn't the plan they agreed on, she hoped that they were flexible with these sorts of things.

With all the activity in such a small area, Trisha grows increasingly uncomfortable being so boxed in. There is little space to swing the hammer as violently as she would like to.

Her shoulders relax and she breathes a quick sigh of relief at the mention of the idea.
"I like that plan better." She whispers, nudging Natasha to encourage her to follow. "I can't stretch out back here."

Grocery Store

The group leads the two ghouls to the from entrance of the grocery store. With adequate lighting on the ghouls, Trisha and Natasha dispatch them swiftly. Their rotting faces reveal the time of their death to be several months. Its safe for Regina to assume these undead are not the couple she knew.

Natasha wipes the blood off of her knife on the corpses' clothing. "That's aisle one." She comments.

Grocery Store - Parking lot: Caleb

You find yourself standing in front of a large grocery store. Your stomach growls, begging for subsistence. This seems like an ideal place for a brief scavenge. You don't see anyone around in the parking lot, except for a lone SUV blocking the front entrance to the store. However, the doors to the vehicle are open, allowing Caleb passage.

Wooden planks and metal sheets heavily barricade the windows. Viewing through the tiny gaps, Caleb sees a few movements coming from the inside near the entrance of the store. At this distance, he can't tell if they're living people or a group of shambling deads.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Howdy survivor!

Your character has been introduced into the game. From here on, you are free to post in this thread as Caleb. Your character sheet will also act as your current inventory space, we will keep track of everything through there. That being said, make sure to update your character sheet whenever you discover an item! (Normally the DM would do it for you, depending on the situation.)

Here's a few things to think about for your character...

• Were your character traveling with anyone?
• Why is he alone now?
• What is he trying to find? A safe community? Companions?
• How did your character survive up until now?

Good luck and have fun!

---

His boots were heavy and his stomach groaned and grumbled as he came into view of the grocery store, the promise of the snacks and meals it once held at such low low prices tormenting him even further. He had finished the last of his rabbits a few days ago and hadn't spotted hide or hair of anything in the days since. The meager rations he was carrying of nuts, dried berries and roots he had foraged were starting to dwindle. so it was more out of desperation than desire that he made his way towards the door. There must be something inside.

Peering through the boards and metal of the window he saw movement so slowly slung the crossbow over his shoulder and retrieved the woodsman's hatchet from his belt. It was a Gränsfors, a beautiful Swedish made axe that he had long before the mess he now found himself in. Granted it was scratched and well worn now and could do with some TLC but it still served him well and didn't require reloading like his trusty crossbow.

Crouching below the slatted boards as to not make shadows across the window he made his way to the front entrance and the SUV that was partially blocking it. He reached out and touched the hood, it was cold so it had been there for a little while, the windows were still intact however and it didn't look to dirty, plus the tires were still pretty well pumped. He quickly peered inside to see if there were keys in the ignition but couldn't see any.

He gripped his axe a little tighter as he ducked and crouched his way to the front door and briefly gazed around it before pulling his head quickly back into cover, he had seen the small thin beam of a flash light cutting through the foreboding darkness of the grocery store and felt his heart skip a little. He hadn't really seen people in a while as he usually kept to the forest and tried to keep himself to himself. Partly because he was a foreigner here and seen as an outsider and partly because he knew what people were capable of when desperate.

With a sigh and one hand clutching the collection of trinkets, charms and religious symbols around his neck he decided on a course of action and closed his eyes.

"Hello?"

He kept his voice loud enough to be heard but low enough that it wouldn't draw the dead.

Trisha is overjoyed to have her target go down with one clean hit, and even happier to see Natasha's do the same. She steps back, throws both her arms up in victory and takes a moment to appreciate the feeling of accomplishment.

"I'm doin' great today! C'mon let's get the rest." She chirps, desperate to keep up the winning streak.
Just then, a strange voice calls out and catches her attention. The first response comes in form of a low growl, as Fernando creeps out from the entrance to investigate the voice. Trisha quickly shushes him and kicks at the ground near him, sending the dog scuttling away silently.

Though she is alert to the danger, her curiosity takes control and she can't help but respond. She does not draw her gun, but crouches down and motions for the others to do the same.

"Hello?" She calls back, looking behind her to keep an eye out for anything trying to sneak in from the darkness.
"We're kinda busy with somethin'. Is this your store? Or house or whatever?"

Caleb held his breath as he waited for a reply and he let out a sigh as he heard a growl and a scuff from the floor and his heart drops at the thought of having to deal with more of the dead when suddenly a voice replies to him. He crouched down even lower and held his axe ready in case. It was a female voice,



He sighed there was more than one person in there so he was outnumbered and probably outgunned. He sat tight as he decided what to do. He didn't want to tangle with a group who had already laid claim to the grocery store but he was desperately in need of finding some food. He decide he would try and work out how many people were in there before acting.

"No not my house, or my shop. Just a place that I was hopefully going to scavenge some food from, my supplies are dangerously low and I haven't eaten today."

It was somewhat of a lie, he had eaten some of the dried berries and nuts but it was hardly enough to keep going and he wanted them to think he was weaker than he actually was. He had found it was always an advantage when people underestimated you.

"Do you and your group need help with what you are busy with? Are there dead in there? I will help if you let me keep any food I find."

As the two younger women dispatch the ghouls, Mary barely has enough time to say "Good work" before she whirls as the sound of the voice. Her pistol rises halfway to a shooting position, then stops there, while her flashlight tries to find the source of the sound.


That's a bad deal if she'd ever heard one. They didn't have any food, themselves. She leans over to Regina.

"Is there any food in here? Do you know?" she whispers to Regina, still searching for the source of the sound with her light.

Regina let out a sigh of relief when the two ghouls were dispatched. She had to hand it to Trisha and Natasha -- they could handle themselves. More sobering was the state of the undead; the bodies were old, too old to be her companions. Whether this was a sign of hope or a temporary ward against the inevitably grim discovery, Regina didn't know. Pondering over their fates would be paused at the arrival of a new stranger. Rather than greet him warmly or pull out a pistol, Regina kept her silence and let the group handle the situation in their own fashion. As an outsider, she likely wouldn't have any sway in their decision anyhow.

To Mary's question, Regina shrugged her shoulders. "I never had an opportunity to explore, but if I were to take an educated guess..." she pointed down to the aisle they'd just explored. "...then I'd say most of the store has been picked clean, and whatever we stand to gain lies behind that locked door."

We, she dared to use that word, mostly to see how Mary would react to it. They were working together as a group, so in a way, she was already one of them. Why did that sound like wishful thinking?

Trisha continues to creep back towards the truck as the man speaks, hoping to get a glimpse of him without losing the element of surprise.

"Well ain't none of us ate today neither." She replies, becoming defensive at the mention of food. For Trisha, food has always been a scarce resource so naturally, she developed a bit of a complex. It will be a hard sell convincing her to willingly hand over any food.

The man implies that he is alone, tipping the balance of power in her favor. Though without a clear view, she has no way to tell if he is telling the truth. She looks back to the others again, taking in their hushed conversation.

The offer of help comes as a welcome surprise, though Trisha knows that it would likely serve no benefit to them. Even so, it is always better to have a new friend than a new enemy.

"I guess we could think about it. You got a gun?"
She slowly leans over the roof of the truck to scan the area outside. If he does have friends with him, she does not want to be surprised. Fernando does the same, but from the safety of under the vehicle.
"I ain't gonna do nothin' bad if you don't point no gun at us."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Perception roll, for flavor. We know you're alone Caleb you loser
22:01, Today: Trisha rolled 17 using 2d10+5 ((7,5)).

---

Mary keeps her flashlight pointed in the direction of the voice, but turns her head to check her surroundings. There's not much in here that will stop a bullet, she thinks, but inexperienced shooters treat soft cover like hard cover. It's not much, but anything helps.

"We're short on food too, but we can handle the ghouls," she says. And you, she considers saying, but decides it would do more harm than good. "What else can you offer?"

Caleb held his breath as he waited for an answer, a second voice rang from the darkness refusing his offer saying they could handle the dead and would need all the food they could muster, a group fo two or more would definitely need more supplies than him and would probably be as desperate to secure them.

He held his breath as he thought about what to reply when he heard one of the females voices definitely getting closer and strained his ears to work out if one of the group were approaching. Yes! there was definitely slow but steady footprints edging towards him, he had the advantage of knowing the person was coming towards him and where they would come from. There only appeared to be one door to enter the grocery store so they couldn't surround him.

Instead of turning his head right to speak into the door way he turned his head left to speak through the slatted boards across the window, hopefully to throw his voice a little and make out he wasn't right next to the door.

"A big place like this has plenty of places for the dead to hide and it only takes one false move to join them."

He gripped his axe as he heard the person coming even closer obviously trying to find him, he could possibly try and take the person by surprise. Take them hostage and then demand the others hand over their gear but it would be risky, someone could get a shot of at him and he knew he was outnumbered.

There was also the possibility of sinking his trusty hatchet into the skull of the approaching women and drag her behind the door before she hi the ground, using her body as a shield incase anyone else managed to get a shot of but this was also risky and he thought he still hadn't stooped to the level of a cold blooded killer just yet. Taking the life of a woman over what could possibly be just a tin of beans just didn't sit right with him. plus friends were also better to have than enemies.

he sighed a little and cursed himself for being such a trusting and hopeful guy.

"I tell you what I will help you clear this place, and to scavenge and carry this food back to your people. I am assuming you are part of a larger group from the way you speak."

He waited a moment for that to sink in

"In return for a cooked meal before I continue on my way tomorrow, everyones a winner and no-one gets hurt."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
06:12, Fri 12 Oct: Caleb rolled 15 using 2d10+7.  Perception roll - I know you are there! come out come out wherever you are!!

---

Grocery Store

Natasha's hand moves to her pistol. Wary of Caleb's presence, she squints at the window gaps to check for any other survivors. Her shoulders relax slightly when she deosn't spot anyone else besides Caleb. Trisha also does not see anyone else outside of the store, aside from a few undead in the far distance.

"I think he's alone." She says, quietly.

Looking out from the entrance, Trisha is presented with little more than an empty parking lot. No sign of any man, at first glance. She leans forward and cranes her neck to see further out. In that moment, she catches a glimpse of movement to her left. Something quick and distinctly human.
She crouches down, ready to shield herself from an attack. What comes from the man instead is another compromised offer, which seems to be telling of either his desperation or his reluctance to take on the numbers of the group. Either of these options gives Trisha power over the situation, which is just fine by her.

After a moment of quiet, she turns to the others and draws her gun with a confident grin. She silently communicates what she can by gesturing to her left and slowly standing again. Her elbows rest against the hood of the truck as she lifts herself up to see clear over it. With her gun in hand, she turns to her left and addresses the man directly.

"I guess that sounds alright." She chirps, pausing to make sure he knows she has seen him. "I mean, we ain't really got nothin' to cook with. And I don't really know that there's food even in there at all."
For a second, she almost looks apologetic, but a warm, inviting smile quickly conceals it.
"But I'll risk it if you will!"

He watched the woman step out of the doorway and peer around obviously looking for him and he sighed a little as he knew he would be spotted straight away and had given up the element of surprise, now would have been the perfect time to have charged her and used his strength to overpower her.

That was not the path he had chosen however so sucking his teeth a little he decided to stand up. He held the hatchet down by his side and a little behind his thigh to try and hide it while making a big deal of readjusting the crossbow on his shoulder. He didn’t want to give up all his advantage.  He slowly started walking towards her with a warm smile on his face.

He nodded towards the gun she still had outstretched that she probably didn’t have any ammo for, it was a rare commodity these days and he wasn’t worth wasting it on.

“There is no need for that thing, you should conserve your bullets and not attract the dead
with the noise.”

He continued slowly passing towards the girl with the warm smile still stretching across his face.

“I am always ready for a fight we should make sure your friends are too”

He stopped a little short of her making sure the door was on his right so the others inside couldn’t see him or get a clear shot if they too had guns and wanted to keep her between him and them.

He nodded towards the doorway

“Shall we?”

Mary sighs impatiently. The man's insistence puts her on edge; she'd already been fucked over by so-called partners earlier this very day and she wasn't in the mood for any more shit. His insistence on being paid in food they didn't have also irritated her; if nothing else, the negotiator in her doesn't like to make commitments she's not sure she can keep.

Nonetheless, she knows she's being paranoid. He's probably desperate, just like them, and if Natasha's right, he's at a disadvantage. Chances are he hasn't eaten in days, she thinks. He probably hopes he can conjure up food just by wishing hard enough.

When he comes into view, she doesn't point the pistol but she makes very clear he can see it. "We'll be long gone by tomorrow, and we probably won't cook anything," she says. "Still, if you help us, we'll see what food we can give you. Don't do anything stupid, we know how to take care of ourselves."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:10, Thu 18 Oct 2018.

"If we're done," Regina interceded, "We should continue clearing this building. Then, we should find that door's key if we don't decide to break it down," she stared further into the store, which was as pitch black as ever. "I don't relish the thought of combing this place for it..."

Perhaps it was wishful thinking, or maybe she just wanted to postpone that eventual search, but Regina approached the counter these women found her behind and scooted back over it. She knelt down and started to search the myriad of shelves and cubby spaces for the key. "Our best case scenario is that they forgot to take it with them. If whoever stayed here locked themselves in, or simply left with it...this might get a lot more dangerous," she said, squinting into the darkness.

Of course, another idea then crossed her mind; a possibility had been seeded by those two dead walkers. She stuck her head out from the counter, "We haven't found my people yet, perhaps they...managed to escape the creatures that attacked us, took the key, and locked themselves in?" She sounded just a little bit hopeful, her expression was contemplative. With a curt nod towards the new arrival, she ducked down and went back to searching.

"Regardless, those are all of the options and possibilities I can think of."

Buford had finally snapped out of one of his trances where he was going over events in his head on repeat making sure he understood every word, every nuance, every action. He wondered how much time had passed while they waited.

He snorted, and the old man turned to the others. "I figure it's been time enough in there were maybe we ought to take a look to see if they still around." He asked the men around hin. He drew his revolver out if his holster and gestured towards the door.

"Ya'll can hang back if you like, I'll be just a moment." He sets off after the rest of the group.

Grocery Store - Parking Lot

Buford goes after Mary and the others. He sees the grocery store just ahead. Mary and the others are no where insight. However, Buford does see a man standing outside of the grocery store. He doesn't recognize the man. The stranger seems to be conversing with someone inside the grocery store.

Tutting, Terry inspects his knuckles absentmindedly as the older man excuses himself. He nods his head a quarter of an inch. The only people on this team that Terry has ever shared a comfortable silence with are currently having an adventure and here he was staring at his hands.

Eventually, Terry is going to have to admit that maybe he isn't the person who is easily comfortable with others. But it damn sure wasn't going to be today.

He sighs noisily into the silence, until he remembers who is present. "Hey, Ash, what'cha thinkin'?"

Stepping into the grocery store Caleb had to pause for a moment to let his eyes adjust, the contrast to outside was outstanding. The fairly bright sunshine outside seemed to be sucked to next to nothing inside as he lifted his free hand to wave to the remaining females he had yet to meet.

He watched one dart over a counter top and start scrabbling around behind it for something as he strode in no longer caring if the lady at the door was a threat. If they were going to kill him they surely would of done it by now. He also listened to another woman as she told him that they probably wouldn’t be cooking anything tonight and his heart sunk a little but recognized that this lady must be some sort of leader.

She spoke about the group instead of just herself and when she said ‘we’ will be doing something, it sounded as if it was an order she had already given.

He strode into the store and peered around a little hoping to find something obvious they had missed.

“Don’t worry I am not looking to get myself killed today, it would be a sad and ironic way to go, with an empty belly in a grocery store.”

He smiled a warm and honest smile as he lifted his hatchet to point around the room.

“Are there any dead left in here?”

"As little as possible, my duder."  Ash responded with a cheesy grin and a laugh -- right up until she remembered just how much it hurt to laugh, anyway.  A wince and an apologetic smile later, she continued, rapping her knuckles on the SUV bumper she was sitting on, then holding up one hand.

"I'm thinkin', SUV, seats eight comfortably, two in front, three, then three."  She began counting off people on her fingers.  "Me, you, Tony over there," she made sure he was counted on her middle finger, "big man Dwayne, Mary, dude who just ran off..."  Look, Buford is a tough name to remember, alright?  Cut the kid some slack.  Also she just ran out of fingers, that was six people already and she still had more to count.  Looks like this'll be a two hand job.  A... two... fuck, strike that, remove it from the record, abort mission, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, go directly to Nevermindsville.  She held up her other hand, and somehow managed to continue without giving away just how inane her thought processes are.

"That's six, Trisha, Naaaa...tasha?  Yeah Natasha.  Eight.  Then some room for the people we're looking to pick up, plenty fine if nobody gets handsy."  Pick up, she says, like they're just going to someone's house to head out for a night of partying, and not potentially preparing for war.  "So, yeah, assuming this rust bucket starts up, we're good to go.  Just gotta bust out a window and me or Tony hotwire it."  Never mind that she's never done that before.  She read the Anarchist Cookbook back when the internet still existed, that oughta do it, right?  "Oh and uh... aim for the corner or you're just gonna waste your time."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:42, Thu 18 Oct 2018.

Buford grumbled to himself as he walked up to the store front seeing an unrecognized face duck inside. He kept his handgun at the ready as he stepped in through the entrance. Looking for the man.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:06, Thu 18 Oct 2018.

Intersection

"You know how to hotwire a car?" Antonio looks to Ashley, then glances over to the little boy. "That what they teach you guys in school these days?"

Dwayne circles around the car to avoid coming in contact with Antonio. He positions himself just slightly behind Terry.

"What about the alarm?" Dwayne studies the SUV with a look of concern.

"There's nothing around, we'll be fine, ya?" Antonio replies.

Terry's face breaks into a broad grin. It's obvious to everyone that he's gleaning joy from the social gathering. That he was around people with unscrupulous morals, just like him.

He watched Ashley in a failing attempt to not acknowledge that way she looked was making his skin tingle.

The moment passes as soon as it arrives once Dwayne appears beside Terry. He nods his head in approval at Dwayne. Quarter of an inch. It likely goes unnoticed, not that Terry particularly minds. The SUV is a more interesting object of focus.

Terry opens his mouth to speak, but Antonio arrives to his conclusion a little quicker, s the mountain of man muscle leans The Bitch softly against the SUV and begins to remove his shirt with the intention of destroying a window.

With the approval of Mary and the others, Trisha stands by and allows the man to step inside without any further hassle. She simply stands and watches Caleb while the group plans the next course of action.
From first impressions, she does not yet know what to make of him. He speaks with odd inflections, in a strange accent that seems worlds away from her own Mississippi gutter talk. So far, he has been consistently calm, civil and reasonable; and part of her knows that's why she should not trust him. But with the numbers to overpower him if anything should go wrong, Trisha has the luxury of giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Luckily, Regina interjects and steers the group back to the task at hand. As Regina begins searching for the key, Trisha believes it would be easier to simply break the door open, though she does not mention it in the moment.

"Could be." She replies, sliding her arm off the truck and tucking the gun away in her belt. She walks over to them and picks up the hammer she had left on the ground.
"We ain't cleared it all out yet. We got..." She trails off for a second to double check her numbers. "...Four. We got four so far and I ain't heard much since. I reckon we oughta start throwin' stuff and see what comes for it."

Grocery Store - Buford

Buford steps inside to see the unfamiliar man speaking with the others. He also sees a black haired woman with the group that he doesn't recognize.

"Hey. We might take a while, we're trying to clear out this place so we can find the key to that backroom." Natasha fills Buford in on their plan. She points her finger at the door behind the pharmacy counter. "This is Regina, we found her in here earlier. And this guy..." She looks to Caleb, brows furrowing. "What was your name?"

"W-wait!"  Ashley lurched suddenly to her feet -- likely a terrible idea, but she did it anyway -- and held up a hand towards Terry, hoping to forestall disaster.  The look in her eyes was just this side of genuine terror, far more than the scrappy little girl normally let herself show.  To say she's obviously had an unpleasant experience with alarms would be like saying the ocean was 'a little damp'.

"...no, it's alright, never mind."  She quickly smoothed her expression, restoring her usual lopsided smirk.  "I checked for the little blinky light, it's cool.  Wouldn'ta sat down on it otherwise."  She gestured to Terry's gun, and the grip he had on it.  "Just grab it a li'l further back, you don't wanna cut your hand on the glass.  Pretty much the shittiest feeling this side of getting shot."  Her concerned frown returned for just a moment.  "I won't get all offended if you wanna double-check that blinky light thing though.  Just to be sure.  Four eyes is better than two, y'know."

With a warm grin Caleb swaps his hatchet from his right hand to his left and then proceeds to reach out with the open hand offering it to the gentleman that has just stepped into the grocery store behind him. The group have already acknowledged and greeted him meaning he shouldn't be a threat. A lady that he hasn't caught the name of yet introduces the lady that darted behind the counter as Regina and then was left at a loss at introducing him.

"My apologies where are my manners, The name is Caleb. Caleb Kaine well Caleb Christian Kaine if you want to know my full name but most people just call me Caleb or Kaine, to be honest I don't have a preference."

He grinned warmly as he left his hand out to shake the mans hand almost as a introduction to the whole group.

"Found my way here this morning hoping for a bite to eat, found your friends and then here we are, debating wether to discover a long lost key to the back room or to just break down the door."

He mentioned to his trusty axe now in his left hand and he swings it a few times with practised ease despite being right handed.

"I am sure I could make short work of that door, might be a tad noisy though."

Trisha greets Buford casually with a wave of her hand after Natasha acknowledges him. It isn't until a few moments later that she begins to question why he is has come. She turns back to Burford, looking very concerned.
"What's wrong? Is Ash okay? Do we need to leave?"

Mary opens her mouth to speak, then pauses, thinking for a moment.

"Actually, that may be a good idea," she says. "Trisha's right. There can't be that many left in here, and we have our backs to the exit. We should make some noise and let them come to us. I don't relish the thought of combing through this store in the dark, but we'll have to do it sooner or later. We should reduce the risk as best we can."

She glances over at Caleb. "I'm Mary, by the way."

While Regina was focused on finding that key, she couldn't entirely tune out the numerous individuals. Thankfully, between the two Southerners, the British man, and Mary's terseness, these strangers were easy to discern by their voices alone. "That's a way to go about it. Just remember: we don't know how many of them might come," said Regina, who didn't stand up, leaving her voice slightly muffled by the counter. With their numbers, she felt more confident in risking the brute-force method. There was always that twinge of doubt, however, that things wouldn't be so easy.

"Making noise could just as easily trap us. That's all I'm saying," with that, Regina diverted her focus back to the search.

Grocery Store

Regina begins her search for the key in the dark. After a while she slowly comes to the realization that it might be impossible to find the key without knowing a specific location to track it down. The counters behind the pharmacy are empty. Medicines are quite valuable, and its very likely that this place was the first section to be picked clean by looters.

"Hey, Kaine." Natasha acknowledges the introduction, but she doesn't sound too enthusiastic with the exchange. "I'm Natasha."

"We can just ditch this place if we're overwhelmed." Natasha swings the SUV passenger doors wide open.

The door appears to be quite solid. Caleb thinks he might be able to break through with his hatchet, although he's not certain if doing so would cause any damage to his tool.


Intersection

Antonio stands aside while Terry steels himself to assault the windows.

"Shit, that necessary big T?" He watches the giant strip away the shirt.

With his massive body, it shouldn't be hard to break through.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:21, Mon 22 Oct 2018.

"Oh, quite a find." He says shaking the mans hand. "I'm Buford, I just found these people too. Nice to meet you, been in country long?" Buford asks, remarking on the mans accent. He glances over at the girl from earlier, Trisha.

"Nothings wrong out there just felt, well a little stupid standing around waiting for something. Just wanted to check in. Ash, and the rest of them for that matter are fine, if a bit quiet."

Regina knew that the chances of that door's key being anywhere in this store were slim to none, yet she still found it in herself to sigh when her search left her empty-handed. Standing, the doctor sidled over the counter, "Nothing," she said. "That leaves your suggestion, ehm, Trisha." The woman began to pace while chewing on one of her fingernails -- a common habit when she was thinking.

"Lights would be useful. Do you, do you have anything to illuminate the back?" The back of the store was hit with another reproachful glare from Regina, who greatly despised the danger that came from exploring such dark places. "As for the noise...it can't be too loud as to escape the building, obviously. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out what we can use," she said, looking around the area.

Regina nodded at Mary and Trisha, respectively, "If there's anything I can do to make myself useful -- besides treating one of your people -- please, let me know."

"So long as he keep any ghouls from getting between us and the doors, we should be alright," Mary says, though she inwardly kicks herself even as she says it. That sounds like a dangerous assumption, Mary. Aren't you trying to avoid those?

"The biggest danger, as you say, is attracting attention outside. Fortunately, Terry and the others are still out there. They'll probably give us a shout if anything comes our way. And speaking of the others, trust me - your medical aid will be useful enough."

Mary grits her teeth at the last sentence, sighing ruefully through her nose and she glances over her shoulder at the door.

He grinned at the man who seemed like the politest of the group so far, after all he was the only one of them that hadn’t pointed a gun at him, yet at least and he appreciated that.  He seemed to hold himself well and with a type of confidence that Caleb admired.

“Pleasures all mine Buford. I hadn’t been here long before the shit hit the fan. I was meant to be hiking around Yellowstone park with nothing but my backpack and then moving on to Alaska. However this excitement swept me up and here I am”

He released the man’s hand and slowly made his way to the door in question. He hoped that he could break through it with ease but it looked fairly sturdy.

“Perhaps we should have someone watching the door, and people covering me in case things go pear shaped.?”

After hearing the words "Trisha's right", she all but tunes out of the conversation. Immediately she gets to work searching for something to throw into the darkness. An empty can or a piece of broken board; anything will do.

She kicks the floor in frustration, unable to turn up anything more than some light litter. Though there is almost certainly more to be found just a little further into the dark, Trisha knows it would be safer to simply produce the sound herself.

"Fuck it I can't find nothin'. We don't got time for this, can I just yell a little?"

Thinking ahead, she asks Mary for permission before following through on her idea.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
22:27, Today: Trisha rolled 12 using 2d10+5 ((3,4)). boo you whore

---

This message was last edited by the player at 14:11, Thu 25 Oct 2018.

It wasn't. But when has that question, or any observation formed prior to and after asking said question, ever deterred Terry? He balls his shirt around his fist and pumps it with feverish energy.

"It's Clobberin' time!" he cries with an impish smile as he shifts his weight and strikes the passenger side window.

Crossroads

With unstoppable strength, Terry obliterates the window to the SUV. It shatters like glass without a single piece lingering on the window frame.

"Holy shit!" Antonio exclaims, in both surprise and wonderment. 'Wheww!" The man laughs, then coughs from his injuries. He proceeds to unlock the door and hops inside.

"Anyone got a screwdriver?" He asks, with his head and hands down below the wheel. *Click* The trunk of the car unlocks. Antonio exits the car.


Grocery Store

As Caleb begin his work on the door with his hatchet, Natasha holds her knife steady in hand. She readies herself for whatever the sound may attract from the deeper end of the store. Two ghouls comes into light. One of them is wearing a uniform with the logo of the store imprinted on the upper right of its jacket. The undead has long blonde hair with half of its face missing. The other undead shambles slowly, tailing behind the first ghoul. Regina does not recognize either of the shambling ghouls.

"Look, I think she used to work here. She might have the keys." Natasha points at the ex-employee of the place.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:40, Thu 25 Oct 2018.

"I've got a knife," Ashley quipped, strolling around both Terry and Antonio with more ease than someone in her condition really ought to, "if you've got somewhere to shove it."  She directed a vicious smirk at Antonio as she passed -- sure, he was helping them now, but this guy was still part of the group of jackoffs who wrecked the church crew.

Even though she pulled it off with panache, the implied threat of violence still turned her stomach, in a way she refused to let show.  There was really no two ways of saying it; she had straight-up murdered a man, no more than 24 hours ago.  Granted, he was trying to kill her at the time.  Didn't make it any better or more comfortable.  Best thing to do is to not think about it, to distract herself as much as possible, and so she continued on around to the back of the car, planning to check the trunk when she heard Antonio pop it.

"Checking the trunk, keep an eye out."  Since there's no such thing as 'too safe' in the post-apocalypse, Ash popped her knife out of the sheath strapped to the side of her thigh, and flipped it around into a reverse grip in her left hand.  Holding it at the ready, just in case the trunk held any unpleasant surprises, she gave the trunk a push open with her right hand, and leaned a half-step back to look inside.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
19:04, Today: Ashley rolled 21 using 2d10+4. Scavenge roll.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 02:43, Fri 26 Oct 2018.

"Trust me, my man, alot can happen when you're hormonally souped up teenager with the kinda physical growth that ain't go hand in hand with your mental growth," Terry exclaims as he flashes his overconfident, narcissistic smile and flexes his pectoral muscles in pride. "Had to bus' a window or two if you wanted to get ahead." he says with a mock dreamy sigh.

The demigod of the gridiron immediately snaps from undisguised admiration of his handiwork and throws his shirt back on.

Besides, excess testosterone made you unruly and wild. Chicks dig that type of shit.

A spark of laughter raises in Terry's chest at Ashley's threatening remark, but he is wise enough not to let an overpowering laugh draw attention to their position.

He begins to take notice of the subtle gait of Ashley's hips when she walks, the hint of the effeminate twirling of her figure as walked more apparent. While he was sure she was regaining her strength. She has a serious issue recognizing hazards that could annihilate her existence so he reasons she he'd continue to keep an eye for her. Not that you'd have to twist his arm to get him to do so.

He pulls The Bitch into his grasp before unlocking and opening the passenger-side door, intent or rifling through whatever contents he can get his mitts on.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:00, Sat 27 Oct 2018.

"Go ahead," Mary tells Trisha. "Just not so loud that they can hear you outside the store."

She peers into the darkness, then turns back towards the SUV, squinting through the windows to the outside. She keeps her pistol at the ready, though pointed safely away from everyone.

"Don't worry, Caleb," she says over her shoulder. "We have you covered."

Crossroads

Ashley inspects the back of the SUV. A toolbox blatantly rests in front of her. It didn't take long for her to spot a screwdriver in the container among other useful things.

What were you so scared of anyway?  Ashley sighed with relief, returning her knife to its sheath.  Did you think there'd be a living dead guy in the trunk, waiting to eat your face?  Pfft, as if.  Killing people and sticking them in trunks is what mobsters do in movies.  Nobody who drives a SUV is anywhere near cool enough to be a movie mobster.

"Hey guys, I found something!"  The trunk, at least, yielded something useful.  Several somethings useful, in fact.  With all the enthusiasm of an experienced dumpster diver, Ash damn near jumped into that toolbox, digging around for the good stuff not yet ruined by neglect, and stuffed much of it into her backpack.  Victorious and quite full of herself, she snatched up the screwdriver and hopped back upright to head around to the front of the vehicle.

...I shouldn't have done that.  I should not have done that.  For somebody who really ought to be resting in bed rather than running around playing hero, going from leaned-over to suddenly standing left her a bit lightheaded, to put it mildly.  Oh god don't barf don't barf don't barf please don't barf.  Okay, more than a little lightheaded.  Fortunately, she hadn't started walking around to the side of the SUV just yet, and nobody was behind the trunk to see her eyes go wide, or to see her clamp her hand over her mouth.  Equally fortunate for all parties involved, she hadn't really had much to eat or drink over the past 24 hours or so, so there wouldn't be much to come up anyway.  In fact, she may very well have had nothing at all to eat.  It was kind of hard to remember.

"What, no 'congratulations'?"  Ash stepped around the corner, screwdriver in hand, flashing a toothy grin that almost managed to distract from just how pale and drained she looked.  Still didn't barf though.  I'm calling that one a win.

After a few strikes at the door, it wasn't budging and Caleb knew it. He didn't want to risk his beloved axe any more as they had been through too much. His attempts at breaking the lock of the door had disturbed something inside however and he put his ear closer to the door to make sure. He definetly heard something moving around inside and he gripped the axe a little tighter.

He noticed the dead stumbling out of the darkness and one wearing a uniform which looked like it belonged to the grocery store. He slipped his axe back into his belt and retrieved the crossbow from his back. The door looked as if with enough work it would break open, he could see progress but he wasn't willing to risk his axe.

He aimed at the dead one with the uniform, hoping the lady was right and the walking corpse did have a set of keys that would make the door a little more accessible.

"Lets see if she does have those keys then, it would make things a whole lot easier."

He looked at the female employee with a slight smile enjoying being in the company of people again.

"Come on sweet-pea"

Mary eyes the crossbow with approval and just a bit of envy. For most of her life, she'd never seen the point in crossbow hunting, but now she regrets that she never even tried to learn it.

"I'm here, just in case," she says, raising the pistol. Hopefully, the building will muffle the sound of gunfire, reducing the chance of attracting more ghouls outside, but she'd still rather not fire if she can avoid it. She levels the pistol on the closest ghoul, resolving only to shoot if its gets dangerously close to one of the others.

Though she has Mary's approval, Trisha does not need to yell. Two of the undead find their way over with the sound of Caleb's axe against the door.
Trisha readies herself to charge at a moment's notice, just waiting for the pair to shuffle apart. She takes notice of Natasha's observation, but is beaten to the punch when offering to take down the body in question. After watching Caleb approach his target, she quickly falls in behind him.
"Then I got the other one." She slips past the group into a space with more room to swing, before calling out again to grab the ghouls' attention.
"Hey! Only stupid dummies run over here!"

At the sound of her voice calling him, Fernando emerges from under the truck. He is immediately wary of the people around him, rushing past them to watch their movement from a distance.

Buford cant help but release a light laugh upon seeing the crossbow. "You meet all kinds." Shaking his head. He drew his pistol and followed Mary's idea of overwatch. Holding off on shooting unless things went wrong.

Terry's thoughts of pleasure and plunder were disrupted when his best efforts to get into the passenger compartment were deterred by a lock.

"Shiiieeet...!" he drawls, the investigation of the vehicle abandoned almost as quickly as it began.



At the sound of her voice Terry pulls away from the passenger seat. He rivets his eyes suspiciously at the object Ashley brandishes, a thought occurring. He pauses a moment as if conferring to himself and then snorts before proceeding, subtly leaning closer to Ashley's ear. "Nice find," his theatrical whisper may have sounded hushed, but it wasn't quiet at all.

He pulls back to peers into Ashley's eyes. His eyes quickly dart in Antonio's direction as a smug grin forms on his face.

"You sure you know how ta use it?" he asks, his voice laced with skepticism.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:09, Mon 29 Oct 2018.

Crossroads

Antonio passes a quizzical look to Terry. "A screwdriver? Yeah." As odd as that question is, Antonio shrugs it off and shifts his attention to Ashley. "You wanna give it a shot or should I?" He nods his head at the SUV.

Dwayne makes his way around the SUV to the back. He rummages through the toolbox or anything else that might be useful.


Grocery Store

Caleb's bolt lands right in the eye of the ex-employee. The other end of the bolt sticks out from the back of its skull. It collapses onto the floor. The slower ghoul shamble pass its fallen comrades, making its way towards Trisha. It slowly comes into her arms reach. Natasha holds the knife in her hand, waiting for Trisha to make a move.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:13, Mon 29 Oct 2018.

As Dwayne stepped away, Ash's first instinct was to shout at the boy and call him back.  But she didn't want to frighten Dwayne, and really, she probably shouldn't be shouting at anyone right now anyway.  Instead, she waved Antonio and Terry closer, so she could speak to them quietly.

"Hey, hey.  You two keep an eye on the kid, alright?"  Ash pointed two fingers from her eyes to Dwayne.  "Mary will kick every ass in this parking lot if anything happens to him, and I happen to like my ass."  She waved the two of them off and hopped into the driver's seat.

Besides, it'll keep you two from realizing I have no fucking clue what I'm doing, at least until I figure out what I'm doing.  They do it in movies all the time, it can't be that hard, right?  I've got a screwdriver, I've got duct tape, I've got a knife.  I can do this.  Probably.  She popped open the glove box to check for an owner's manual, and began flipping quickly through the pages for a wiring reference.  Normally that sort of thing was used for repair, but today it was going to be used to keep a precocious teenager from frying her hands while doing something stupid.  Who are we kidding?  Stupid shit is literally all I do.

Regina, who had been quick to take her place beside Caleb and Mary once the walkers showed up, winced at the sickening sounds the bolt made when it pierced through the husked skull of an ex-employee. More walkers, still no sign of her companions. Regina dared to hope a little more, but only a little. "Good shot," she said while tensing up at how close the other was getting to the blonde woman with the excitable personality...and the horribly ugly chihuahua. Regina didn't draw her pistol -- there was no point to it, given the risks they weren't willing to take.

As long as I'm inclined to be useless.... Regina walked up to the side of the door they were attempting to break into, so as to not obstruct their efforts to break in. "Selina? Terrance? Are you in there?" she said, raising her voice. "It's Regina; if you're in there, unlock the door, okay?" Regina was surprised at how calm she sounded, all things considered. For all she knew, these people would be much less accommodating in time.

For a moment, she could hear her father chiding her for being so slow to trust, and she sighed in annoyance.

His eyes twinkle with mischief.

"Babysittin'? Th'fuck I look like...?" he offers vaguely, scoffing in mock annoyance before walking to the rear of the SUV.

Terry knows that he deserves a verbal admonition after his cowardly action of allowing Mina to be taken in the first place. The demigod of the gridiron did as he was told obediently to ignore the odd sensation coursing down his spine. Not keen on re-opening that dark chapter as he's rounding the the rear of the SUV before he turns rigid, at a loss for how to advance.

Children had a sixth sense for this kind of shit. A phrase, a question, a statement, a throwaway reply--any and all of 'em would betray his innermost thoughts immediately.

Terry's dark eyes follow the child's movements, his face clouding with nostalgia. The church goers were inflicted with personal tragedy just yesterday, and yet it feels as if everything they've been through happened a long, long time ago.

He shifts his stance, flicking his head and running his stocky finger through his dreads. Children needed a positive example, a beacon of optimism. He's tempted to scoop the boy up and give him a hug. But that would mean possibly violating--or worse--confusing his trust. And that is tenuous at best.

Mina.

"Dwayne," Terry chokes out, feeling tears come perilously close to erupting, "How're you doin'?" he prods carefully, squatting to level his gaze with the child.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:00, Tue 30 Oct 2018.

Caleb watched his arrow strike home with a thud, straight through the eye of the previous employee and he felt a pang of sorrow in his heart, in England he had been a hunter, mainly for food and the thrill but he had never wasted anything of the animals he killed, he was not a trophy hunter. He had carved fish hooks and needles from bones, used the sinew of animals as bow strings. Cured leather and eaten the meat.

He had never killed a person and even though he knew these strange things risen from the grave were no longer their previous selves it still hit him like a ton of bricks every time he stopped to think about it. This woman was probably someone’s girlfriend or wife, maybe even had children somewhere out there.

She had might of loathed this job or loved it either way she had decided to be here day in and day out, working away on the tills or restocking shelves. He gave a little sigh and fort to return the grin to his face, hopefully she would have the keys for the locked door on her person. He heard Regina commend his shot and he lowered his crossbow as the women he had first made contact with approached the second dead one.

“Thanks but it wasn’t the hardest shot to make.”

He moved forward a little waiting to retrieve his arrow when the other walking corpse was taken care of.

"Haha, nice!"
Trisha chuckles as she moves past Caleb, forcing some space between them before pulling her hammer back to swing. The hammer makes contact, digging into the skull as she uses the momentum to drag the monster to the ground. While prying her weapon from the corpse's head, she takes notice of Caleb's crossbow.

"Hey I used one of them once."
She mentions casually, splattering blood on herself mid-sentence when she pulls the hammer up too quickly. She pays it no more than a passing thought and carries on as if it hadn't happened.
"I even shot a guy with it. He shot at me first though, so it's ok."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
07:25, Today: Trisha rolled 15 using 2d10+5. melee hit.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 11:19, Tue 30 Oct 2018.

Crossroads

The manual proves to be quite useful. Ashley quickly learns and identifies the crucial components of the car for her to begin her work. The screwdriver she found earlier does seems to fit with the screws on the plastic cover securing the connectors.


"I think she'll kick my ass if she sees me anywhere near that kid. Right kid?" Antonio muses. Dwayne avert his eyes and ignores him. Instead, he looks up to Terry.

"I'm okay." The child replies to Terry's question. He seems calm, yet his voice carries an irremediable despair. Dwayne picks up a piece of nail from the toolbox. He fidgets the nail with his fingers.

"Do you think she's okay? Will we really find her?" Dwayne gazes up to Terry, anticipating for his response.

Grocery Store

At first, it seems like no one hears Regina's call from the side of the door. However, she hears footsteps walking towards her. The footsteps stops. Suddenly, a great force strikes the door. The door trembles from the relentless impacts. Regina hears the familiar growling coming from the other side. Whoever's in there is definitely a threat now.

The two ghouls lies next to one another, lifeless. Natasha crouches down and search the ex-employee's pockets. "Guys, she has the keys." She holds out a small, shiny object in her hand.

"Regina." Natasha calls, tossing the key chain over to her.

In the distance, the group can hear additional ghouls approaching. However, they are not close enough to the entrance for the light to illuminate them yet.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:06, Wed 31 Oct 2018.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
14:27, Today: Ashley rolled 19 using 2d10+9. Fake it till you make it! (hotwire).

---

Alright, this actually makes sense.  Easy peasy.  Knee bone's connected to the shin bone, shin bone's connected to the battery, battery's connected to ignition, ignition's connected to this... wire, here...

And they said I'd never use anything from science class.

Okay, enough joking around.  Sitting in the seat wouldn't give her a proper angle on the bottom of the steering column, so Ash shuffled down into the foot space, laying on her back looking up at her target, manual still in hand so she could double-check things.  Screwdriver to open it, knife to strip wires, duct tape from her backpack to hold them together after a quick twist.  Sticking the wrong two wires together would sting, but worse, it might short the whole thing out, and then they'd be out a ride.  Assuming there was even gas in the tank, assuming that it hadn't already been siphoned.

It had to have gas.  It had to have gas because they needed it.  It had to have gas because they needed to get moving, they needed to follow the bad guys, and they needed to follow them fast.  It had to have gas because--

I promised her.  I promised her we'd be okay.  Please, don't make me a liar.  Not twice.

Battery wires were connected, twisted, taped together.  The console lit up.  Of all the fucking things, the air conditioning hummed to life, a quiet whooshing sound of cool air filling the vehicle.  Now to spark the ignition, and pray.  Ash tapped the ends of the ignition wires together, a distinctive electric 'pop' sounding out as the metal met briefly, and the engine...

Do I lie to him...?

“Dwayne,” Terry say more urgently, suddenly desperate to have the child understand. His expression is dark with pain. He could only imagine that being so close to Mina, only to lose and his loved ones violently, must be a burden heavier than any the child has ever faced so far.

Terry feels the corners of his mouth to tug into a smile. He, in a bizarre way, felt proud of Dwayne for handling himself this well. He has an open face, honest and unassuming, so maybe it shouldn’t have come as such a surprise. But it does. Because Dwayne radiates honesty in a way few others can, and even when Terry observes him carefully, he doesn’t look away.

...Or maybe it’s just because he’s too young. Life ain't had a chance to sink its claws into him, ain't managed to disillusion him and weigh him down with all its bullshit.

As Terry well knows, the world wasn't kind to those who hold secrets, and lies get crueler and harsher the longer you kick the can down the road. Maybe one day, if Terry lives long enough, he'll look at Dwayne and see the lines etched into his face, the scars drawn by deception and fear.

He hoped not. The secrets Terry keeps ain't worth the lies he tells to keep them. And giving a kid a little bit of help, even backhanded help he can’t--or won't-- admit to, isn’t going to make his burdened past any lighter. But maybe, just maybe, it’ll help this young man realize that secrets always come to light sooner or later, and it’s never in the way you want.

Dark circles are etched beneath Terry's eyes and his skin looks pale rather than the golden bronze of a man used to the sun. He needs to get off of his feet. Nevertheless, his smile is rueful and suddenly warm.

"All of us are going to be doin' everythin' in our power to get our girl back, Dwayne. I know we can do it if we all keep cool, put our heads together and figure out a plan."

Terry steps nearer without preamble, drawing Dwayne into an embrace that is legitimately the first time he's offered one to either child. To his credit, Terry is easy to hug. Big and warm and all arms.

Then the SUV begins to hum to life.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:36, Wed 31 Oct 2018.

Crossroads

The engine gives out a series of promising roars but dies out. After a few more attempts, the engine finally hums vigorously. The headlights flashes, the SUV is now alive! Ashley notices the gas meter is about half way full, enough tot ravel for a good distance.

"Hey, you actually did it! I guess they were teaching you guys something useful in schools, ya?" Antonio exclaims.

"Okay." Dwayne nods at Terry's words of reassurance. Its hard to tell what the child is thinking, his face reveals none of his sentiments. When Terry reaches in for a hug, Dwayne takes a step back but does not move out of the behemoth's reach. Antonio watches the two briefly and turns to look towards the road. He remains silent as the intimate exchange passes.

Regina caught the keys, barely, while pressing her ear to the door. The response she'd hoped for did not come; instead, the same unnatural growls and mindless physicality was her indicator that nothing alive lay beyond. "Shit!" she hissed as the realization that the fate of her two friends lay in death or disappearance at best. A sobering thought to be sure, one that Regina forced at the back of her mind given the circumstances. This was no time to be mourning, not when the others needed her.

With a slightly shaking hand, Regina slid the key into the doorknob and breathed a sigh of relief when it turned sideways. "It's unlocked, someone with a knife should open this -- one of them are on the other side," she explains, stepping away from the door to make room for the brave volunteer.

Additional growls and moans were distinctive. "At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we need to hurry," she whispers urgently.

"For the record, I still think we should clear out the store," Mary reports, pistol at the ready. "For all we know, these ghouls may be sitting on the last canned food in the country, and I don't want to leave that pharmacy half-picked."

She shifts position, getting a clear line of sight on the door. "Of course, that's only my vote."

"Whoo!"  Ashley raised her hand skyward, holding up 'metal horns' in celebration of her victory.  The energy may have been drained out of the girl, but it was there in spirit, at least.  For the briefest moment, she even forgot who she was sharing that celebration with.

...What are we even gonna do with him once we get what we came for, anyway?  She crawled up off the floor and back into the driver's seat, settling back with a thoughtful, exhausted huff.  I wonder if the others would say to shoot him.  Ugh.  Why did that even cross your mind?  She scrunched her nose and frowned in disgust.  I mean, we can't just take him with us, right?  Right, terrible idea.  But we also can't leave him with his people; they left him behind, but I wouldn't be surprised if he found his way back into their good graces by coming back.  Another sigh, and she tipped her head back, bouncing idly against the headrest, as though it would shake her thoughts into better order.  It didn't.  I don't like it.  I don't like any of these choices.

Fuck it, I'm not choosing anything.  I abstain.  Let the others sort it out.

"Hey, Terry," Ash called towards the back of the vehicle.  She took a moment to switch off some unnecessary things: headlights, at least for the moment, and the air conditioning, much as she might miss it.  No sense in draining the battery for no good reason.  She stared for a long moment at the radio.  Wonder if anything's still broadcasting.  Some towers probably run backup generators.  If they had stuff set to play on a loop, it might still be going.  Can you imagine?  Billboard Top 100?  Linkin fucking Park?  Her previous train of thought quite clearly abandoned in favor of this shiny new one, she glanced back over her shoulder to Terry.

"I turn the radio on, whaddya think it plays?  Usher?  Ja Rule?"  She gave a sharp, half-snort of laughter.  "Nah, 'round here it'd be... fuckin'... Creed or something.  's weird, y'know, hearing the Christian rock band guy 'found religion'... like, th' fuck you have before tha--  Oh!  Right!  Plan.  What's the plan, is what I mean to ask you."  She turned her attention to the assembled at the back of the SUV, and then to Dino's Grocery, where the rest of the crew were clearly busy scavenging, primarily because she couldn't see a single one of them.  I hope they hurry things along a bit -- don't be slow, but don't be careless.  And then we drive out of here, and get Mina and Nicole.  And nobody's making me drive.

...Well, it would be an excuse to get in some practice, anyway.

Still, probably better to wait for the others.  She rolled down the driver's side window so she could lean against it to comfortably watch for their return.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:26, Thu 01 Nov 2018.

"Oh wow, lucky!" Trisha exclaims as she watches the keys fly past her, stifling a giggle as Regina fumbles and narrowly avoids dropping them. She can only stand and watch hopefully while the woman fits the key in the lock, waiting anxiously for the results.
In this moment, reality forces its way back to the forefront of Trisha's mind. The importance of what could be behind that door becomes the only thing she can think about. She is practically buzzing with nervous energy by the time Regina gives the ok.

With no knife in her possession, she glances down at the hammer and, in a move of sheer intellectual brilliance, flips it in her hand so the claw will face out.
'That's genius.'

"Close enough!"
No one else had volunteered so far, so Trisha takes it upon herself to approach the door. She taps it lightly to judge its stability, but holds off on opening it right away.
"Let's do that." She chimes in to agree with Mary. "I don't wanna leave nothin'. Anyways, I could bash these guys all day."

With a silent gesture to the door, she reaches for the handle, prepared to swing the door open and jump back immediately.

Buford looks around at his ransacked surroundings. "I thought there was some emergency to what we were trying to do." He said, alluding to the supposed tracking of some kidnappers.

"Are you folks sure you can waste the time?" He said eyeing Trisha as she opened the door.

He freezes, something like guilt flickering in his gaze, then he looks at the ground. Terry pulls away from Dwayne and pushes himself to stand. He snorts, part-humor, part-fatigue.

"You're a gift from God, girl," he announces as he rounds the rear of the SUV and lazily approaches the driver's side. A mighty peal of laughter erupts when contemporary artists are listed. It sounds forced, like it came from a man who needs to laugh more. His eyes flicker over the interior of the SUV, as if discovering it for the first time.

"Is Creed the type'a shit white girls listen to when they joy ride?" he says, as he raises a big calloused fist and chucks Ashley's jaw with it.  The gesture is meant as sharing strength. As giving a hand up. He's impressed, and his tone reflects admiration.

He wags his brows up and down comically. "Who showed you how to have a good time?"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:18, Sun 04 Nov 2018.

Trisha pulls hard on the door, producing no results. She tries again-and again- until Buford takes it upon himself to bring their methods into question.

"Well, no but..." She pulls the door again, once more for good measure. "But Ash is still hurt! And we ain't et for like, three days now! I'm gettin' whatever's in this room!"

Buford is right to question her, but she does not want to admit it. The temptation of instant gratification quickly shifted her off-course and she fell right back into old habits. This aggressive, self-serving attitude helped her survive to adulthood, but it is less effective now that she is split from her family, living with people who do not want to hurt her.
A wave of guilt washes over her before she is able to shove it away. Tears form in her eyes, but she forces them back and regains focus on the door. It is only then that she realizes her mistake.
'Doors can push too!'

Before she can embarrass herself anymore, Trisha changes position and pushes the door inwards. The weight of the ghoul leaning against the door holds it closed, so she steps back and pushes the door hard with her shoulder, hoping to produce enough force to knock it away.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
22:34, Today: Trisha rolled 13 using 2d10+4 ((7,2)).

---

She throws her body against it, pushing with all her strength. Unfortunately, all her strength just isn't enough, no matter how hard she tries to prove otherwise.
"Almost got it!"
Though she talks a big game, it is clear she will not be able to pull it off alone.

Walking to the dead employee Caleb retrieves his arrow with a sickening slurping noise as it is pulled from the ey socket and with a flick of his wrist sends most of the gore left clinging to it flying. He places his cross bow on the floor, puts his foot in the stirrup and draws back the string reloading it ready for whatever is behind the door.

He hears Buford say there is some sort of emergency and that they should hurry and the girl Trisha say another of their group is hurt, one that is not among them which makes him wonder just how many of them there are. He slowly makes his way over to the door to be able to shoot whatever is behind it.

Trisha seems to be banging on the door to no prevail so he decides two are better than one. He might not be able to have his crossbow at the ready, but that's what his hatchet is for.

"Do you need a little help with the door?"

He steps a little closer and awaits a response

That older gentlemen had set something off in Regina, and none of it good. Something about his nonchalance and hesitance to help with the encroaching walkers, no doubt. "Finding supplies is never a waste of time," she says bluntly, staring at the much larger man with a slight frown. With the danger mounting with every second, she soon found herself staring at the British man incredulously when he decided that displaying good manners was paramount over swift action. "Are you-"

Regina none too gently pushed past Caleb and braced against the door alongside Trisha. "Hey- Hey! Stop! Look- On the count of three, we'll step back and push together, okay? One, two, three!" she shouts, preparing to step back and slam into the door as she described, with or without Trisha's help.

"They need to eat and drink too," Mary tells Buford. "They'll probably stop for longer than we do. They don't know they're being pursued."

Her head snaps back to the door with alarm, now seeing multiple people shoving against it. "Calm down, for god's sake! When that door gives, you're going to push right into its open arms!"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:36, Sun 04 Nov 2018.

"No, I just-" Trisha goes to respond, but is cut off when Regina steps forward. She is relieved to have the woman force help upon her, rather than giving her the option to decline. It gives her an out, so she does not have to admit aloud that she is too weak to do it alone.
When given instructions, Trisha simply nods her head with enthusiasm and prepares herself to follow Regina's call.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Not sure if I need to roll again. Let me know

---

This message was last edited by the player at 01:32, Sun 04 Nov 2018.

Grocery Store


Mary's fear comes true. The two charges at the door, shoving it wide open. The force barely stagger the undead banging against the door. Immediately, both of them sees the two ghouls launching themselves at them. Trisha manages to step back just in time to be out of the ghoul's reach. Regina however, falls into victim of the undead'd grasp. A pair of hands grips firmly on Regina's shoulder. She sees the eyes of the dead woman, a face she recognize. The lower portion of her left cheeks is missing, and there's a knife sticking out of her throat. The other ghoul assaulting Trisha is a man, who also seems familiar to Regina. It looks like she found the couple.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Time skip coming soon!

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 16:59, Mon 05 Nov 2018.

"Naw, 's more like..."  Ash closed her eyes for a long moment, letting her face tip aside with the light press of Terry's knuckles.  She didn't really expect the layers of that question until she had already started answering it -- couldn't give a real answer and retain any shred of self-respect, after all.  Plenty of other baggage with it, too.  Instead, she simply gave a bitter cough of a laugh and leaned her head back against the headrest once more, eyes still closed.  The warmth of human contact reassured her more than it should have, and it reminded her just how far off her game she still was.

"...fuck, Terry.  I can hear the lyrics.  See what you did?  Got me thinking about bad music again."  She snapped her head upright, eyes open, and leaned over on the edge of the open window, once more wagging her free hand at the giant of a man, giving her best and cheesiest grin.  "An' if these assholes keep me waiting too much longer, I'm gonna start singin' the bad music, now that I remember it.  Nobody wants that."  She cupped one hand to her mouth in a mock-shout towards the store, speaking no louder than normal, since it really wasn't worth attracting walkers just for the sake of a bad joke.  "Come oooon, Trisha, shopping spree's over."

If there was one thing Ashley Soma was bad at, it was not doing things.  Leave her alone too long, and she would inevitably start making plans.

"Alright, y'know what," she began, directing both her attention and her idle hand-waving back to her three nearby companions, "let's sort out the getaway car so that when they finally decide to mosey their sweet little asses out of there, we'll be ready to get them and get away pronto.  Tony, Terry, Dwayne, you get the second row, in that order."  She turned her head enough to look to Antonio, the pallor of exhaustion contrasting the heavy dark circles under her eyes, drawing out the absolute flat deadness of her baby-blue stare.  "I really just don't give enough fucks anymore to lie so I'mma be straight with you here, I don't trust you any farther than I can throw you, and that's really not far, but I need my navigator close at hand, and Terry can just slap you upside th' head if you say anything stupid, so that's why you're all three right behind me.  Cool?  Cool.  Get in."  She jerked her thumb towards the back of the car and directed her eyes frontward.  Clearly the girl would hear no protest on the matter.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:51, Sun 04 Nov 2018.

"Shit!"
She yelps, jumping back just in time to avoid a swipe from one of the monsters. As she lines up to swing back at it, the second of the pair throws itself on Regina, sending Trisha into a panic. With no hesitation, she rushes to Regina, grabs the walker's arm and moves to swing the hammer into its face
"Look out! I got you!"

Behind them, Fernando hears the distressed voice of his companion caught off guard, sending him sprinting to her rescue. With his teeth bared, he runs right up to the walker Trisha had just pushed aside. He practically roars with fury as he snaps and snarls at it, running in zig-zags and circles to avoid being grabbed or stepped on.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
03:16, Today: Trisha rolled 21 using 2d10+5 ((9,7)). Shit I forgot to -5 for the dark. can I just take -5 off this roll and still use it?
Can/should I also roll to have Fernando distract the other walker? Let me know

---

This message was last edited by the player at 04:52, Mon 05 Nov 2018.

Regina's shock and fear made her freeze up, which was more than enough opportunity for the corpses to seize the advantage. Within seconds, Regina had fallen onto her back outside of the room. With a frightened yelp, she'd managed to regain her senses in time to throw her hands up and grasp both of the walkers by their necks. To her horror, these walkers were fresh, pale husks of her former companions. "N-N- Get them...off...of me!" she shouts, her voice rising high with panic. Her former friends were bearing down on her face, jaws clamping, saliva splattering over her cheeks; their sickening moans sent chills down Regina's spine.

With all of her strength being devoted to holding two fresh walkers away from her flesh, there was little she could do but hope the others were quick-- and accurate.

"Fuck's sake," Mary growls, rattled. She reverses her grip on the flashlight and crosses her right hand over her left, leveling both the light and the pistol at the male ghoul as she'd seen police officers do in films.

"Kill that thing!" Mary shouts, shining the light in the male ghoul's eyes. Again, she regrets never learning to fire anything less than a hundred decibels. "If it grabs anyone, I'm firing, damn the consequences!"

Buford brought his pistol up, attempting to move to any angle where he wouldn't accidentally harm the girl. "I got no shot! No shot!" He barks out in an authoritative voice quite different from his usual tired and calm demeanor.

He barely has time to look up from the corpse and the arrow as the two women go through the door and the dead are upon them. The one named Regina falls beneath the weight of them but is managing to fight them off. Buford and Mary are both yelling about shots and he levels his crossbow, He is a reasonably good aim but He didn't want to risk hitting one of the girls and swore under his breath as he moved round a little hoping to get a clearer shot.

Aiming at the one closer to Regina, waiting for that perfect shot he slowed his breathing, pulling the crossbow tight into his shoulder before slowly squeezing the trigger and sending the bolt flying. His shot was true and he watched it thud home into the skull of the dead one atop Regina, its body going limp and the fight disappear from it.

Slinging the cross bow back over his shoulder and pulling the hatchet from his belt Caleb makes his way forward to help Trisha with the remaining biter.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
23:16, Today: Caleb rolled 16 using 2d10+6.  attack with crossbow.

---

Terry's mouth tips a familiar grin. He finds it as easy as breathing to smile back at Ashley.

He casts a look to the far side of the vehicle and gives an ominous chuckle when Ashley threatens his physical violence via Terry's fists.

He slides his majestic muscled figure into the middle of the second row as directed taking up a considerable amount of space as he tended to do. The SUV rocks softly as he fusses about positioning his weapon.

Having the foresight to avoid risk Terry slips a meaty digit over a switch and toggles the safety feature of The Bitch to 'on'. He swallows the knot of emotion down his throat as he attempts to downplay the seriousness of the question.

"Sooo..." Terry drawls, "Feels like I've been hooked up wit' a group ever since the first dude that got the heebie-jeebies started goin' 'round and givin' niggas The Clap. I dunno how long after I hooked up wit' Mary but we been together for a coo' minute." His lips compress into a thin line. "Rest of 'em didn't make it yesterday."

He casts a look to the far side of the road, allowing silence to fall heavily onto the conversation.

"How 'bout you, Ash? You been wit' anyone else since this kicked off 'fore you got to us?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:59, Wed 07 Nov 2018.

Grocery Store

Trisha, Caleb, and Buford successfully hold off the ghouls long enough for Mary, Regina, and Natasha to scavenge the backroom. They locate a large stockpile of canned food, junk foods, and various types of medicine. Someone must have scavenged all these supplies and decided to hold out in this room. Thanks to the shopping baskets, the group carry their rightful loot out of the store.

Other than the couple Regina are familiar with, there are two sets of bodies lying in the corner of the room. A deep, wound pierces through both of their foreheads, indicating the cause of death. Due to time constraints and the darkness of the room, its difficult to tell if they re-animated prior to their death. Furthermore, Regina does not recognize their faces.

The six of them return to the crossroads to rejoin with the other members of the group.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
The actual amount of stuff scavenged will be posted in A group, I'll leave it to you guys to do the loot distribution IN CHARACTER

---

Crossroads

"Hey, no complaints from me." Antonio shrugs and gets in the truck in the order Ashley dictates. He stares at the shotgun in Terry's hand. "Big T, that thing's pretty harmless without these, yeah?" Antonio reaches in his pocket and holds out several shotgun shells in his hand. The man smirks and passes the ammunition to Terry.

"They're back!" Dwayne exclaims, pointing out towards the approaching pedestrians across the street. The boy's buoyant spirit dims when he notices the two strangers. "There's strangers with them..."

Natasha holds the shopping basket in both hands and strides proudly for the parking lot. At first, she appears to be concern with the absence of the others they left behind. However, delightful glee quickly washes over her transient worried look when she spots them in the SUV.

"Guys! Look what we got." Natasha holds up the two basket full of supplies, both canned food and medicine.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:58, Tue 06 Nov 2018.

...what the fuck is wrong with people, seriously?  Pour out your heart to Trisha, she goes 'lol k'.  Pull your hardest bitch face on this Antonio guy, he goes 'lol k'.  And now Terry wants to know your life story.

Well, I guess if anyone deserves to know a little more, it's the dude you tag-team scavenge runs with.  You know, puts his life in your hands on the regular, all that.

"Truth be told," Ash began, leaning her left arm against the open window so she could look back towards Terry, already grinning in anticipation of getting to talk about herself a little more, which was of course her favorite topic, "Mary's already heard a little bit of this when I first rolled in with Trisha.  It's a cool story filled with bravery, and heroics," and I'm going to completely skip the part of it at the very beginning that makes me the absolute trash human being I am today.

And then the Shopper Heroes came one by one out of Dino's Grocery, bearing their bounty.

"...aaaaaactually, hold that thought, alright?"  Through the corner of a narrowed flat blue stare, Ashley watched the group exit the store with a calculated frown, and counted to herself.  One, two, three, four... five, six.  That's more than they left with, and more seats than they had left.  Nobody looked nervous and nobody had anybody at gunpoint, so it was safe to assume they were friendly, but friendly didn't change the fact that ten people in an eight-person SUV would be a bit of a squeeze, and moreover, friendly didn't mean that they were in on the plan.  The plan to save Mina.  The plan to save Sam Nicole.

The very possibly, very bloody plan.

"I know you're thinking what I'm thinking."  That, to Terry, before she turned her attention back to the window and the group approaching.  She was going to need backup in figuring this out -- picking up some random nobodies for what was probably going to be a fight or at least a tense negotiation sounded like a really bad idea at best, and suicide at worst.

"Hey guys.  Nice haul."  That, to the incoming group.  She was cordial, but she wasn't ready to greet the new additions yet.

"Sweet ride, right babe?"  And that, to Trisha, accompanied by that Trademark Ashley Grin™, leaning against the open window like some cheesy 1950s, Rebel Without A Cause movie hero type.  She jerked her thumb towards the front passenger-side seat.  "Hop in, you got shotgun."  And then we can figure out what the hell to do about the rest of these losers.  Because seriously.  What the fuck is wrong with people.

With a whole stash of goodies to show off, Trisha cannot get back to the others quick enough. She leads the group, practically jogging circles around them with a boundless energy that seems to keep her chugging along forever.

The thought of real food from a can is excitement enough on its own, but there is something she craves even more than precious, life giving nutrition: validation. Praise and acknowledgement for doing a good job; an outside source to let her know she has done enough to justify her existence.
Hopefully, doing her part in retrieving food and medicine will bring her closer to her goal.

As she approaches, she is all at once shocked, delighted and relieved to see Ashley hanging her arm out the window of an unknown SUV, looking quite pleased with herself.
"The fuck is y'all doin' in there?" She  giggles, thankful to see her friend regaining some of her spark.

Once she spots the boys sitting comfortably in the back, Trisha leans over to the rear window, reaches out and slaps Antonio quickly over the side of the head without saying a word. The childish act is little more than a power move; dishing out abuse when she pleases to gloss over her own traumas and weaknesses.

Looking past Antonio, her eyes light up as she addresses Terry with the same affectionate tone she had shown to Ashley.

"What did you do, Terry? How'd she get up there?" She flicks her hair and tilts her eyes back to the girl in the front seat. "You know you ain't drivin', bitch."

"Hell yeah I got shotgun!" She states happily, before lowering her voice and taking a more serious tone.
"But we gotta sort some stuff first. Got some new blood. One of them lady-doctors, too! How cool is that?"

With their bountiful haul and bodies free of any serious injuries, Regina hoped to think she walked among these strangers as something closer to an equal than an outsider. She had a skillset that they needed, she reminded herself; her keen eyes had turned up a few more supplies than they would have found, they couldn't possibly see her as a liability. Sure, there was the danger with the walkers at the door, but that was more an underestimation of strength, really. In the end, she'd thanked them for their timely intervention.

The walkers. Regina could practically taste the bile in her throat when she realized what her former friends were reduced to now. They were still in that grocery store, rotting, unburied -- it wasn't Christian to be laid to rest like that. And here she was, having written them off as one of the many husks of people nobody would remember. Regina kept her misery to herself; it was clear there were some wounds that needed to heal. At the very least, she'd recovered a tiny photograph; a picture of the couple smiling in front of a Louisana bayou, a memory of better times.

Soon, there was an SUV with people ahead -- Mary's people, Regina assumed. Figuring out which of them was wounded wasn't exactly a challenge; it was the loud-mouthed teenager who looked as pale as a sheet. Blood loss, Regina lapsed into a clinical mindset honed by lessons, studious nights, and practical experience with a small-town doctor named Huck. She hasn't eaten enough; I'd be shocked if these people thought to change her bandages, too... Wordlessly, she approaches the driver's side window with Trisha. She heard something about 'lady-doctor' and didn't really know what to make of it.

"I'm just a doctor," she said, gently correcting that excitable blonde. "That's likely the only reason you people will keep me around, I'd imagine." There was no annoyance or judgment in her tone, only a calm, matter-of-fact statement of fact. "Call me Regina," she addressed the teenager, though their eyes didn't meet. Regina was staring down at the girl's torso, studying her wound; she wanted to discern its severity, how well it had been treated, if at all, and whether or not she had the supplies to make a difference.

"Tell me how it happened," she asked nobody in particular.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
08:01, Today: Regina rolled 20 using 2d10+8. Rolling to examine Ashley's wound and determine how it can be treated.

---

"The hell I ain't."  Though Ashley's reply was smirky and snarky, it was also dead serious.  "Y'see these?"  She held up her hands, waggling her fingers.  The tips of the first two fingers and thumb on both hands were wrapped in a single layer of dull silver duct tape.  Without insulated gloves, it was the safest way to keep herself from getting shocked while hotwiring the SUV.  Not a great solution, but the best bad solution available.  "These are my keys.  I got this thing started.  Ergo, it is my property.  Nobody else has the keys."  She waggled her fingers again, for emphasis.  "Ergo, nobody else gets to drive.  So, hop in, bestie."  And there she was, back to that cheery smile -- followed immediately by a strained stage whisper through clenched teeth.  "Because we have important things to talk about."

Ash cleared her throat, then directed her attention and a fresh smile to Regina, in a way that didn't even pretend to be a deliberate shift in topic.  The matter of drivership and ownership was already decided, because Ashley Soma said so.  It never even crossed her mind, at any point, that the dispute might instead have been because her very best friend was concerned about her health.  Nah, that would just be silly.

"And you can call me Captain Ashley-Luc Picard of the USS Ashleyprise."  Ash pointed a duct-taped thumb to her pale face, wearing a cheesy grin despite the grim situation.  The flesh may be weak, but dammit, the spirit was always willing.  "Just Ashley is fine too.  Or Ash.  Or 'hey you'."

A moment of indecision followed, but eventually Ash opened the door, undid her seatbelt, and turned in her seat to let the doctor examine her.  She wasn't about to surrender the driver's seat, but refusing assistance would be the worst kind of stupid, in her condition.  She even slipped out of her jacket, and lifted her sleeveless white shirt all the way up, leaving her bloodied bandages visible to Regina and anyone else who cared to see.

"Regina, just--"  A sudden, quiet plea as the older woman approached; Ash held up a hand to catch her sleeve, but stopped short.  She spoke in a hushed, hurried whisper, those angel-blue eyes wide and pleading.  "Just don't tell my friends how bad it is, please.  I don't think they could handle it right now."

I don't think I could either.  But one of us has to.

"I think I'll stick with Ashley if that doesn't offend you, ah, 'Captain'," said Regina, whose mouth curled into an ever-so-slight smile. That this girl managed to keep some measure of cheer, after all that happened in the world, was either a testament to her spirit or naivety. More than that, Regina felt at ease in her role as a doctor. It had been many months since she last had a patient since strangers rarely invited the aid of a stranger. Granted, a musty old SUV in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by people and a very yappy dog wasn't the ideal work environment, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

Regina liked to keep her patients comfortable, but even then, her lips pursed once Ashley displayed her injury. "Chest wound, I'm going to assume...gunshot," she muttered, gently prodding at the bloodiest-looking part of the girl's filthy-looking bandages. Most injuries were either bites or bullet wounds these days, "Not too much bleeding. Whoever wrapped this knew what they were doing. Still, chest wound..." she sighed deeply, "...and so close to the heart."

This simplistic examination was momentarily interrupted by Ashley, who had concerns, ones Regina didn't care for. She regarded the girl with a hard, no-nonsense stare, the kind of stare a teacher would give their student. "Hiding the severity of your injuries will only hurt the people who care about you," she said, in a whisper. "You can decide how important alleviating their worries is."

Without waiting for a reply, Regina looked over to Trisha, "Hand me one of those first aid kits, please; Ashley needs to have these bandages changed. And find me some antibiotics, too." Regina pointed to the passenger seat of the SUV, "And unless all of you would like to risk her passing out from blood loss on the open road, she will be resting and eating."

The look in the girl's wide eyes was one of absolute, devastated betrayal.

Ashley Soma had a mission.  An important mission.  A mission she had built up in her mind, in literary epic fashion, to be a redemption for her one fundamental failure, the salvation of her very soul... and this woman had just put it in jeopardy.

If Ashley remained in the driver's seat, she was in control.  Terry would follow her orders, Antonio would give them directions under Terry's watchful eye, and Ashley would get everyone where they were going safely.  They would negotiate with Antonio's ex-crew, or, failing that, kick their asses -- Ash never actually considered the possibility of having to kill them, not in any real sense.  But she would kick a lot of asses!  She would kick a lot of asses, and Terry would rescue Mina, and that would redeem his failure, which Ash could definitely relate to.  And Ash, too, would rescue Nicole, and that would redeem her from failing to keep Sam -- her Sam -- safe, and all would be well, and the world would be a bright and beautiful place again.

If Ashley was not in control, the world was not a bright and beautiful place.  The world was a dark, scary, unpredictable place, in which terrible things happened to her, over and over and over again.  It was a place where people trapped her, and tricked her, and hurt her.  It was a place where she lost people, people who mattered.  It was not a place she wanted to be in, and she had been doing her level goddamn best to claw her way out of it, even though it was eating her up inside, both literally and figuratively.  And now this woman was pulling the whole thing out from under her, sending her straight back to a place where she has no control, and there was nothing she could do about it.

I should have kept the damn door closed.

She at least had the good sense to cooperate and keep her mouth closed.

Crossroads

"Hey, what the hell!" Antonio moves a hand over the side of his head at Trisha's sudden slap. "Who shit in your breakfast today girlie?" Antonio then jabs Terry with his elbow. "Man, how do you deal with these crazy chicks with you?"

Dwayne unlocks the door and steps outside. He circles around to Natasha, eying the basket of supplies she's carrying in her hands. Natasha smiles, handing a basket of junk food to the boy. "I don't know if you like peanut butter candy bars, I think I saw a few of those in there somewhere."

Dwayne holds up the basket up to his head. "Yeah, I like them." He eagerly peers through the gaps to validate the existence of these candy bars Natasha speak of.

"Wait a minute..." Natasha leans in on the SUV. She places her free hand on the car. She feels the faint vibration of the machine against her palm, and the gentle roar of its engine. "The car, its running!" She exclaims to the others.

"Hey doctor." One of the passengers in the back, a Hispanic man with a handsome face, greets Regina. "I'm Antonio, I'm also passing out from blood loss." He states with sheepish grin. Despite his jovial tone, Regina can tell the truth from his injury claims. His face is as pale as Ashley's. Its easy for Regina to identify the bullet wound on the man, the entry point seems to be close to his lungs. "I tried to bandage it myself, but didn't do too good with it." He taps his finger on the bullet wound. "The older lady here did this." He nods his head at Mary then gazes back to Regina. "But I bet you're a much nicer lady, yeah?"

Natasha taps on Regina's shoulder and passes over a large medkit. "Screw him, he'll live."
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:52, Thu 08 Nov 2018.

Mary strides out of the grocery store with a shopping basket in one hand. Inside are miscellaneous medical stuffs on top of several cans of dog food, carefully arranged to disguise their labels. She figures she'll hear some grousing once they run through the other food and resort to these - possibly from Trisha, as they'll be cutting into her pet's meals - but it'll be worth it for their sheer caloric content.

She gives Ashley a polite smile and ignores Trisha's random assault on Antonio. She positions herself close to Regina, keeping the supplies in reach.


"Don't worry, we've held on to far less deserving people than you," Mary says dryly, shooting Antonio a glare from the corner of her eye.

Mary realizes she's getting distracted when Natasha plucks the medical supplies from her basket. She steps closer, putting everything in Regina's reach, and openly examines Ashley's injury from a distance. She's no stranger to first aid, but advanced treatment is new to her, and she hopes to learn as much as she can.

"Yes hi that was me, please direct all praise thissaway.  I deserve it."  Ashley threw a halfhearted wave and grin from her apparently temporary position in the driver's seat, grateful for anything to distract herself from her terrible fate -- you know, rest, relaxation, that sort of thing.  A terrible fate.


"N--now hold on, Mary, wait, hold on."  Ash held a hand up to Mary, trying very hard to maintain her appearance of levelheaded competence and precocious authority, which she seemed dangerously close to being stripped of, since her new doctor wanted to relieve her of her of position as captain of this ship.  "Is it really a good idea to take newcomers where we're going?"  It was difficult to discuss discreetly, and it was rude to talk about people when they were right in front of you (and perhaps doubly rude to do so while they were treating your wounds), but the situation was spiraling wildly out of Ash's control and her remaining options were rapidly dwindling.

Perhaps it would be better to address the newcomers directly, instead.

"It's-- ow-- it's not that we're not grateful for the aid, we are, really, and glad to help besides."  Well look at this little brat just presuming to speak for the whole group herself.  "It's just, what we're heading into is probably going to be a hostage negotiation at best.  I don't want any more people getting hurt because of us."  Her tone, and her eyes, dropped at that last part, and she could no longer meet Regina's gaze.  It seemed at least that bit was genuine.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:12, Thu 08 Nov 2018.

Regina placed her tools on the dash after doing a quick once-over into the medkits; nothing was missing, fortunately. The doctor gingerly unwrapped Ashley's bandages and let out a relieved sigh when seeing the wound -- it wasn't bleeding. "I'm going to have to clean it again," she said, grabbing a water bottle and dipping a rag with it. You should be washing your hands, she thought as she started to wipe some of the dirt and debris away from the circle-shaped puncture in Ashley's chest. It was a shame the water couldn't be expended so freely -- good hygiene was of the utmost importance.

In the back of the SUV, a Hispanic man was also requesting aid -- from what she'd observed, he wasn't very popular. "He was shot in the chest, that's more serious than a common scrape," Regina said while leaning Ashley forward so that she could clean the girl's exit wound. "I don't care to let him die over history I'm not aware of," Regina's voice was terse, and she didn't seem to be leaving any room for argument. Setting the rag aside, she grabbed a roll of bandages and re-wrapped Ashley's chest with trained precision. It was clear she'd done this many, many times.

Regina gradually pulled Ashley's t-shirt back down over the dressing. "Unfortunately, the Ashleyprise doesn't have a state-of-the-art medical wing, so lying down and resting will have to do," she looked at Mary. "Loss of blood is her main concern. She needs more Iron, which means eating -- a lot," said Regina, who popped open a small bottle and shook two blue and white pills into her hand, which she handed over to Ashley. "Antibiotics."

Then, Regina stared at the girl with an inscrutable expression. A hostage situation? Just what were these people mixed up in? All she could do was assume, so Regina chose to believe this group, with the impossibly cheerful Trisha, the self-important but clearly hurting Ashley, and the coolheadedness of Mary and Natasha, were the victims of some altercation. "And leaving me alone on the side of the road will make me safer?" said Regina coyly, moving into Ashley's view so that the teenager would be forced to look at her. Her expression softened a bit; Regina looked so, so very tired. "I don't have anyone else," she whispered, in an even tone.

With that, she approached the back of the SUV opened the door, where she beckoned that Hispanic man closer. "Your name?" she asked, before repeating the treatment Ashley had received on him.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
23:26, Yesterday: Regina rolled 14 using 3d4+7. Rolling to heal Antonio, using a major medkit to add a +3 modifier.
09:42, Today: Regina rolled 6 using 2d4+4.  Rerolling for the small medkit to use on Ashley.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 15:48, Thu 08 Nov 2018.

Leaving the grocery store Caleb felt exhilarated and slightly disappointed, he was certain that if he had arrived alone he would of been able to clear the store and retrieve what was in there by himself giving him plenty of supplies for the road ahead, however there was also a part of him that saw what he had gained was something much more valuable, possible companions.

With the world going to hell the most valuable commodity was not gold or water, guns or defences but people themselves the rest could be found, forged or figured out by people along the way. He had been going it alone in the woods for a while now and even though he was fine with his own company being part of a group could make life easier. It could on the other hand make Life much, much harder. with a lot of people came a lot of people's problems.

The group made their way across the parking lot to a waiting SUV where more of their group seemed to be waiting, Regina went to work fixing up those of the group that were wounded and Caleb just stayed back soaking in the scene, there was clearly something this group were worried about, they were on a mission of some kind, one that may involve hostages and although he didn't know these people He didn't really want to head back into the forest alone with a single can of dog food for the road.

He heard Regina say that she didn't have anyone else and it was true for Caleb too he was on his own out here, and didn't know how much longer he could last that way.

"What is it exactly you are all mixed up in? perhaps I could be of some assistance, they say strength is in numbers after all."

He was speaking to the group and for the first time, but he was really aiming his questions at Mary who from what he had seen, seemed to lead this rag tag group of survivors.

With... what?  Saliva?  Ashley sighed and shrugged.  Eh, whatever.  I've done worse.  Quickly choking down the pills, she decided to preempt Antonio's introduction (because pettiness was one of a handful of joys she had available to her at the moment) and simultaneously answer a few questions the newcomers had.  It would ease her conscience to explain why she was so hesitant to bring anyone else into this -- given that the alternative was, as Regina said, to just leave people alone on the side of the road.

"He's Antonio, and he's an asshole."  She pulled her jacket back on, taking a moment to pause while doing so and shoot the man a grin that could cut glass.  "I don't think he's an outright hardened killer or anything, but his buddies are.  He's the kind of weaselly shit that'll take an innocent little kid hostage to keep himself safe, which is exactly what happened when--"  Ash gave an inarticulate grunt of frustration, hands flexing to fists on her lap as she tried to sort out her explanation in a way that might make sense to someone who didn't have the context she did.  "Alright, so.  Really long story.  Short version, his raider buddies hit the church because they wanted our stuff, left him behind, but they've still got the aforementioned kid, so that's where we're going, and he's going to help us find them and get her back or Terry's going to slap him upside the head.  Again.  Yo Mr. T!"  Ash pointed back at Terry in the second row, finger-and-thumb held in mimicry of a gun, and jerked her hand back sharply like a gunshot, then turned her attention back to Regina.

"Point being," she continued with a heavy sigh, "this is the stupidest plan anyone's come up with in ages, and I say this as a battle-scarred goddamn veteran of stupid plans.  Unfortunately it's also the only plan.  We can't just leave Mina.  She's like... ten."  A long silence followed; Ash sagged, forearms resting on her thighs, the smugness and fire of her prior Antonio-cutting grin lost in the the somber knit of worried eyebrows and a clearly strained smile.  "And there's someone I want to see again, too.  If... if she's even still alive, anyway."

Crossroads

"I'm not that much of an asshole, I'm a nice person if you get to know me." Antonio winces as Regina treats his wound.

"Yes, he forced Terry to cut off a guy's arm. Real nice." Natasha scoffs, breaking into a short dry snicker as she rolls her eyes.

"He stole from me, and big T did it willingly. Thanks lady, you're real gentle. I don't see much good people out here anymore, you're like an angel." He passes a wink to the doctor.

"We... we have to try!" Dwayne tightens the grip on the basket in his arms after Ashley finishes her explanation.

Mary inhales deeply, slowly, meditatively. She releases it in a long sigh, then looks at Regina and Caleb in turn.

"Let me fill in the gaps," she says. "We, save for Buford, were a community living in a church in Rosedale. Antonio here led a group that attacked us. In the process, he took two children hostage - one of which was Dwayne here - and murdered more unarmed people than I can count. Literally - now that bodies get up and walk away, we can't know how many survived and how many revived, and we'll probably never find them in either case.

"They abandoned Antonio due to his injuries and left to greener pastures. He's guiding us there, and our only hope is that we'll find the other hostage: a little girl named Mina. I don't know if she's alive, but I know she lost a father, because his group killed before her eyes. Again, he was unarmed."

She levels her hard gaze on Antonio. "I know he did this because those injuries you're treating are my doing."

Trisha patiently watches as Regina tends to her wounded friend, looking on curiously as she changes the bandages. It is only then that she remembers her own injuries, and the lack of attention she has given them since being bandaged the first time. She considers that it might be wise to mention them now that there is a chance to receive some real care.
Though the thought is considered, she decides to stay quiet for the moment. The pain from the deep cuts constantly lingers, but she has suffered worse in the past and managed to live through it without any intervention. It is in her nature now to suffer and recover quietly, without anyone being the wiser.

It is clear that Ashley is displeased by the doctor's orders, so Trisha does her best to comfort her.
"Hey it's fine, don't even worry about it." She nudges the girl gently, careful not to disturb her freshly cleaned injuries. She knows very well how hurtful it is to feel useless, but is determined to save Ashley from her own self-righteous attitude.
"Least you ain't in trouble for gettin' hurt. Lucky.."

As hard as she tries to suppress it, a tinge of jealousy shows through in her voice. It eats her up inside to watch the gentle work of a kind doctor, having gone her whole life without ever knowing what it's like to be treated with such dignity. What did Ashley do to deserve it? Why was Trisha constantly deemed unworthy? Is this always how people have been, or did the end of the world change them to be this way? These are the questions that keep her up at night.


While she is pondering these implications, Regina steps away and approaches Antonio. With a vicious look, she snaps at the man as he complains about his wounds.
"Shut the fuck up! It's all your fault we're out here anyway! You don't get help!"

Though she made her point clear, her face goes pale as she watches Regina treat him anyway, wasting precious resources that could have gone to someone more deserving.
"What are you doing, don't do that! Why does he get help?! He's just here so I can fuck him up later for what he did!"

The emotional outburst brings tears to her eyes; her frustrations coming to a head in the only outlet available in the moment. She would like to reach out and claw the fresh bandages right off his body, but knows that it would accomplish nothing and only serve to get her in trouble. Instead, she simply storms away from the car, snatching a can of dog food out of the basket.
"That's mine. Me and Fernando are gonna share it."

She plucks Fernando from the ground, angrily stomps back to the car, pulls herself into the passenger seat and slams the door behind her.
"He don't get no medicine, though! Let him hurt, that might learn him!"

Slumping down dramatically, she agitates the gashes on her back. Her body jolts forward before shuffling into a more comfortable position. If there was an opportunity to ask for help, there was no point in trying now.
"I still get the front seat then, as long as we're being unfair!"

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Super sorry for the huge post. I won't make a habit of it

---

Finally, a little one-on-one time.  With Regina busy treating Antonio, Mary busy correcting her spotty explanation, and everyone else busy sorting out supplies, Ashley could turn her attention to Trisha.  She shuffled around in her seat to face the passenger side, just in time to wince at the older girl's pain -- self-centered she may be, but she has eyes, and it would be hard not to notice, particularly since she damn well knew the source.  She raised a hand towards Trisha, just barely, as though she might offer some sort of aid, but quickly thought better of it.  Some things, it's easier to just not talk about.

And neither of them was any good at honest anyway.

"So uh," she opened her mouth long before she had even figured out what was supposed to come out, and the ensuing pause soon became awkward.  Her salvation came from the grocery basket; she snatched up a can and held it up between herself and Trisha like a golden ticket, label facing her.  Vienna Sausages, it said.  "Y'wanna split some real food instead?"

Ash didn't bother to wait for a response before digging in.  Regina was right; she was really, really, really, really hungry, like eat-a-horse hungry.  For all I know, this shit could actually be made of horse.  Goddamn mystery meat is what it is and I'm on it like a fat kid on cake.  Mouth full of mystery-meat micro-hotdog, she offered the little can towards Trisha for her to take one.

"Prolly be better with some crackers, but I left all my top-of-the-line restaurant supplies back at home."  At least her sense of humor was still intact.  A little bit.  The situation did call for some seriousness, though.  "So what's with the newbies?  I'm not saying we leave the strays by the side of the road or anything, I'd be a hypocrite, this is exactly how I got saved by you guys way back when.  They're living and they seem decent, I trust them if you trust them.  But do you trust them?"

There was a part of Caleb that was screaming at him to turn away and walk back into the forest, that these people were dangerous and they are going to get you killed but once he heard the tales of their woes he had to sign there was no way he could ever leave a young girl to such a fate as being held hostage by some raiders that had probably lost all sense of morals since the world had fallen apart.

He had always hated people taking advantage of the foolish, weak and those that cannot protect themselves especially children. Now it was even more serious, children were the key in rebuilding a world into something that resembled civilisation. He moved closer to Mary his hand resting on the axe at his side and gave her a warm grin and comforting grin, he could see that the loss hung heavily upon her, as I did with most of the group.

“A damsel in distress? I wouldn’t be much of an Englishmen if I refused to aid her, besides we have to protect the youth as they are our future.”

For a moment he thought of a saying that Hitler had said during the war when establishing the Hitler youth, ‘He alone who owns the youth, gains the future’ The saying when put into a different context resounded hugely here, The group before him would be the people who laid the foundations for what was to come next, for the youth to follow on the same path.

He looked up at Mary again with a grin. He wasn’t going to quote that to the group but another quote came to mind which made him chuckle a little inside.

“You have my bow, and my axe”

Buford was carrying some of the supplies back to the rest of the gang and seemed confused by how animated the girl Ash had become since he had left for the market.

He kept his thoughts to himself, listening intently to every ones scattered outbursts. One thing had caught his attention was Trisha berating Antonio. The interaction made him uncomfortable. He looked over at Regina and then Caleb to see if they made anything of it.

Finally he spoke out to Mary. "I'll help you with the hostages. That ain't my first rodeo I already told you that but Mary I must ask what is going to happen to Antonio here?"

Details came in while Regina treated Antonio; evidentally, nobody seemed to like him for a multitude of reasons that she found, well, reasonable. Any doubts as to the truthfulness of their accusations were dispelled when she noticed how calm he was -- the man wasn't bothering to refute any of their claims. With how casually he recalled something as grisly as a medievalesque punishment, Regina swiftly had her mind made up on him. "Back then, they only took the hand of a thief. An arm is just...needlessly cruel," she said tersely, tightening Antonio's bandages without her typical deliberateness. Distasteful as he might be, Regina wasn't going to let someone walk around with an untreated injury while she was in a position to do something about it.

This act of mercy set off a volatile reaction from Trisha, which actually made the doctor jump in surprise from the suddenness of it all. She opened her mouth to protest, but the words weren't coming out; after all, Trisha had a point. Regina, a relative nobody, had just used up valuable resources to help somebody unanimously reviled by the rest of the group. Would she apologize for this? Absolutely not, "If you plan to negotiate with these people, showing that you've treated one of their own with respect could help end things peacefully," she said. As much as she believed in that, she hoped her reasoning would win over some potentially angry people.

"Trisha-" if the blonde had heard her, she wasn't showing it, and Regina felt a pang of guilt when the woman stormed off into the car. However, the way she jerked forward sent alarm bells ringing in the doctor's head. Regina dared approach the SUV's passenger side and  open the door, wherein she crossed her arms and stared hard at Trisha with a deep frown. "If you wanted me to help you, you could have asked. Though I may be well-learned, they didn't teach mind reading in medical school."

Whatever Trisha's answer was, Regina didn't wait for it. She had carried the smaller medkit with her, and it was already open on the dash. "If you're going after kidnappers...I could help," she said slowly and deliberately. A wasteland heroine wasn't her first apocalpytic role of choice, as people -- and death in general -- were hazards she strived to avoid. And yet, that downcast look in Ashley's eyes, the pleading tone of that young boy; how could anyone walk away from them and call themselves human still? "I'm a stranger to them, and I just treated one of their own. Good foundation for negotiation," she said, I'm fond of contemplation, Regina couldn't help adding another rhyme...internally.

Her mood immediately softens as Ashley comes to her rescue with silly jokes and real, human grade food. She stifles a giggle before switching back to a sour face, though with much more exaggerated dramatics for the sake of the joke.
"Ugh, fine." She huffs and rolls her eyes as she reaches out a hand. "I guess we can eat 'em like gross poor people."
Snatching a sausage from the tin, she meets Ashley's gaze with a goofy smile before taking a bite and speaking with her mouth full.
"But just this one time."
It's little moments like these that keep her going day after day, but of course nothing good can last very long.

While Fernando desperately paws at her for food, Trisha takes in the questions, thinking seriously about the implications in a way she hadn't before.

"Well I guess.." She trails off and goes silent for a moment, her eyebrows furrowing in deep concentration. Finally, after feeding Fernando her last bite of hotdog, she responds.
"I mean, I know like, people say the rule is you prob'ly shouldn't, but I ain't really got a reason not to."
She casually wipes a stray tear from her cheek, already feeling embarrassed by her tantrum.
"It's not like we got a whole lot else to lose. I don't really know 'em that well, but they seem a hell of a lot nice than most people I usually stick with. I say go for it."

Trisha had been so wrapped up in her own little bubble that she does not notice Regina approaching them until the door is swung open. She immediately becomes defensive at the insinuation that she needs help, feeling almost obligated to push back against the woman's stern demeanor.
"Don't even need it. I ain't got nothin' I can't fix by myself."
As casually as possible, she brushes off the offer for assistance and is happy to have the conversation move elsewhere.

"You sure?" A look of concern falls across her face, meeting Regina's gaze for the first time.
"We ain't leavin' 'til we get her outta there. It's prob'ly gonna get real dangerous and we might die."

"Naw, see, that's where I'm at on this too."  Being smart did not necessarily mean being a good judge of character, and Ashley Soma had only ever been accused of being one of those things.  Seemed harmless enough in this case, though.  "The bad guys of the world don't go around helping strangers they just met.  And if they wanted our stuff, they would've taken it by now; that's just simple math, a few people are easier to ambush than a lot of people.  So that means--"

She had to cut her conversation short as Regina came around to the passenger side door.

"Anyway, I'm with you: they're probably not shitty people.  Good enough for me."  She would've preferred the newcomers didn't hear themselves being discussed, simply because that would be weird, but if Regina had to walk in on any part of her little strategy talk with Trisha, it would at least be the largely innocent part, rather than the weird paranoid part.  Not that her paranoia wasn't justified, of course; one very good reason was sitting in the seat directly behind her.

Mary's probably right, he's probably just trying to get us all killed so he can ditch.  Goddamn, we need a better plan.


"I don't like it, but I don't not like it."  Ash's face popped up beside Trisha's as she chatted with Regina, arms draped over her shoulders from behind as she suddenly inserted herself into the conversation.  She took great care to not actually lean against Trisha's back.  "I like the part where nobody gets killed.  That part's good.  I don't like volunteering someone else for hazard duty, but you've got a good point, maybe a third party negotiator will help.  They're robbers, not psychopaths, they can be reasoned with.  And-- un momento por favor."  She interrupted herself with a raised finger, flashing Regina a grin that could fairly be called downright conspiratorial.

"Trish," Ash began, tilting her head to place her lips against Trisha's ear, whispering warmly and pleasantly and not so quietly that Regina couldn't hear, "you are my nearest and dearest friend, and it absolutely kills me to see you hurting.  It would be a tremendous weight lifted from my heart if you would please just let this nice lady doctor help you out.  For me?"  She pulled back just enough to give her friend the finest pout she could muster.

For a moment, Mary wonders if Caleb plans to simply leave his hatchet and crossbow and walk away, but dismisses the thought. No, that would be stupid.

"I'm glad to hear that," Mary tells him, then realizes something and smiles. "I could tell you stories about the last Englishman I worked with, but I suppose he wasn't much of one."

She glances at Antonio again, then looks up at Buford. "That's up to him. So long as he leads us to Mina, I'm inclined to go our separate ways without any more trouble, but if he misbehaves, I may have to defer to our less forgiving team members. In any case, we don't need him - his group considers him a liability, so he's no value as a bargaining chip. I don't trust them to negotiate anyway; they ran out on the last group that trusted them, and before that, I saw them shoot a man that was helping them the second he stopped being useful."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:09, Wed 14 Nov 2018.

That defensiveness of Trisha's was a nice change of pace, Regina found negotiating with stubborn patients to be enjoyable, so much that she made a game of it with her colleagues. Back then, she'd classify Trisha as the Wounded Warrior: someone whose stubborn pride prevented them from taking anyone's help for fear of being weak. Typically, they needed friends to convince them. Luckily, Ashley had deigned to lend the doctor a hand -- Regina nodded appreciatively at her. "Considering that our backs are so difficult to reach we invented a tool for the specific purpose of scratching it, I find it difficult to believe that you can fix it on your own," she added, cocking her eyebrow while she waited for Trisha's answer.

As much as she wanted to take her mind off the matter of helping these people, Regina couldn't completely ignore the nagging thoughts raised by Mary and Trisha's concerns. Though Trisha hadn't voiced it in exact terms, Regina suspected that she was wondering why anyone would want to help a group of strangers on their highly dangerous mission. Thoughts of moral protestation or gratitude towards the people that saved her life felt strangely hollow when she tried to rationalize coming up with this plan. "And yes, I'm sure that I want to do this," she finally said, leaving out the matter of her motivation. "You helped me, and...you people are all I have," as sad as that is.

Regina faced Mary and slowly shook her head. "It's less about how I saved Antonio and more about how I managed to save him. No matter how ruthless you are, you'd recognize the value a medicinal practitioner brings to any group," she kept her tone even, her emotionless gaze drifted to Antonio. "He's the proof of my skill," she patted her backpack. "And a certificate I'm...attached to,  if they still doubt me." Looking back to Mary, Regina fixated another of her stern stares, not exactly judgemental, but it was clear the doctor was challenging Mary to disagree. "However unlikely our odds, it wouldn't be wise to discount an alternative to upfront conflict."

"Shut up! No!"
She hisses back in a sharp whisper, panicked that Regina will overhear. Ashley's plea does little to change her mind, though the soft physical contact comforts her enough to let her guard down slightly. Even the trademark teen pout has no effect, as Trisha simply scowls in return.
"Stop it!"
Her eyes dart back to Regina as she goes red in the face, uncomfortably aware that the doctor had heard almost everything.

"It's not-" She trails off as Regina calls her on her bluff. Having been caught off guard, she has nothing of value to respond with. With Regina confronting her and Ashley egging her on, Trisha is beginning to feel outnumbered, which only makes her fight back that much harder.
"It's FINE!"
She snaps back more viciously than intended, causing her to pull back and explain herself in a much more submissive tone.
"Sorry, I mean I get it, I do. Kinda...But it's fine and I don't wanna talk about it no more!"

She shuffles back into Ash's shoulder, to subtly prove she is able to take weight on her back without any serious discomfort.
"Can we do this later? Please? I mean, I don't wanna waste the time if I'm just gonna get shot in the head anyways."
With a small wave of her hand, she cracks a smile as if she were more than half-joking.

Oof.  ♪Shot through the heart, and you're to blame.♪  Oh well, it was worth a try.

"It's cool, later is fine."  Ash matched Trisha's little wave, downplaying the seriousness of what she'd just said.  Part of it was just Trisha's usual cocktail of odd bleak cheeriness, but it was also a lot more true than she wanted to admit.  If things go south and guns come out, people could very likely die.  Ash sighed and wrapped her arms around Trisha's shoulders, burying her face and her fluffy mop of hair against the side of the girl's neck affectionately, her usual prickly aloofness compromised by exhaustion.

"Really prefer if you don't get shot in the head though.  I think I'd get bored without you around."  The chuckle in her voice said 'jokes', but tightness of her grip said 'you better fucking not'.

Buford keeps his eyes on the captive while he listens to Mary. "I suppose thats fine, just can't help but disagree with keeping him around like we are if y'all plan on shooting him the moment it becomes convenient."

He looks back at Mary. "Whats the next step?"

Mary cocks an eyebrow at Regina. "Are you trying to imply that you'll trade yourself for Mina? That's a...creative solution, but it could work. You're right; you're a lot more valuable than a little girl. It would behoove them to keep you alive, too, so you'll safe and well-fed for as long as you can stand the company."

She crosses her arms. "That's the issue, though - how long can you stand the company? These people are ruthless murderers. You probably won't have to get your own hands dirty, but you will be shaking those dirty hands. If you're willing to do that for your room and board, I don't judge you for it. Just know it won't be an alternative to up-front conflict."

She looks over at Buford. "I don't plan to shoot him when it becomes convenient, or at all. I just don't have any charity in me for him. He murdered our friends. They weren't even armed. He did it with a smile and he's still smiling. I'll let him walk away if he gets us Mina back, but that's more than he deserves. I am the reason he's still alive. More than one of us want him dead and they're right to do so."

Mary feels heat growing in her and places a hand on the side of the vehicle, taking a deep breath. After a moment, she exhales it and nods. "We found more food and medicine than I expected. That should gain us some ground on Solomon, but we still need fuel, and to a lesser extent, ammunition. There might be some of that in the school, if it was used as an aid center. It's worth checking out. We'll know quickly if it was or wasn't."
This message was last updated by the player at 22:34, Thu 15 Nov 2018.

"Well I mean, I ain't gonna do it on purpose."
Trisha scoffs at the statement as she leans back against Ashley's touch, reveling in the affection. She finds it comforting to be reminded that if she did die today, there would be people that would genuinely miss her.


She tilts her head to look at Mary as soon as the question is asked, curious to know the answer herself. All her talk of Regina hypothetically giving herself up makes Trisha uneasy. From what she knows of Antonio's gang and others like it, there is nothing to gain from trying negotiate fairly. Without saying as much, she simply cocks her head and looks at Regina tentatively, a look of concern clear on her face.
"You ain't gonna do none of that really though, right?"

Though Mary has yet to steer her wrong, she is put off by the thought of travelling all the way up to the school. Every minute they are sidetracked is another minute that Mina is likely suffering at the hands of the raiders.

"I kinda thought we were gonna head out now. I don't really wanna wait much more or we might not catch up."

Placing a hand over her heart, Regina looked at Mary with feigned shock, "You misunderstand me, I think. Staying with you people is appealing to me, so I'd like to keep doing that. If- If you don't mind, that is," she said, exasperatingly. "The idea is to steal her back discreetly, not exchange myself for...what was her name again? Ah, doesn't matter at the moment. Although..." she began to rub her chin and stare off as she became lost in thought, "Although I'll admit that your scenario would be the most ideal, given that I could simply leave after you have her, they might not enjoy seeing you people again if your story is true."

With her thoughts on that subject squared away, Regina felt herself falling into the same opinion as Trisha. "A school wouldn't offer us much unless you fancy starting up a school if you ever decide to settle down. More knowledge is always welcome, but remember: priorities," she said, and she opened the back door of the SUV, pushed the seat back, and crawled over to the leftmost side next to the window.

"Rather the devil you've known for twenty minutes, than the devil you've never met?"  Ashley chirped after Regina, lifting her head from Trisha's shoulder with a grin.  "All jokes aside, I'd stick with the people who would save a little girl, over the people who would use a little girl as a human shield, too.  Shit's just bad manners."  For once, she didn't throw Antonio a withering glare about that; but then, she didn't really need to.  She simply disentangled herself from Trisha and, with a sigh of obvious regret for what she's about to do, exited the driver's seat and took a step back from the SUV.

"First Officer Mary," she began, waving the group's 'boss lady' towards the now vacant seat, "you have the helm."  If she had to surrender her place -- and she had to, since otherwise she'd be responsible for delaying the rescue mission, and that's not a thing she could allow, even if it hurt her pride -- she would at least do it on her own terms.  At least, that's what she told herself, though the truth mostly consisted of childish nicknames.

It made her feel just a little tiny bit better about it, though, and that's what counts.

"You've got steady hands, and you're the only other person around here I trust to not take any bullshit from anybody."  She spared a brief frown and a glance down the street, towards the school.  "Still not a fan of the school thing, though.  Engine's running, time's wasting, who knows if we'll find anything good in there, and even if we do, there's no guarantee they'll trade what we found for what we want.  In fact, pretty sure they won't."  That frown turned to a resolute stare, turned back to Mary with a good deal more confidence than she actually felt, and just as much urgency.  Torn over having to come into conflict with her, Ash's voice was strained and thin, her hand trembled subtly at her side.  She was in no state to be waging this war, but nobody else was equipped to.

"We need a better plan.  We do.  I know.  But no matter how you look at it, they've got the leverage here, not us, so they're not going to work with us on our terms.  And that's the best case scenario.  If they've packed up and left by the time we arrive, or... if something worse has happened?  Then all the plans and all the supplies in the world don't mean a thing."

"I doubt they'd be happy to see us again, too," Mary mutters darkly, scowling. "The best case scenario is they don't even recognize us. Trust me, I'd like to steal Mina back, too. Actual negotiations are strictly a...second-last resort."

She leans against the driver's side of the vehicle, looking at each person in turn. "I'm not interested in the school for scholastic sake. The government tends to use schools and churches as aid centers during crises. I suggest we drive up and look for signs. If we don't see anything obvious, we leave immediately. It'll take two minutes. If we do see something..."

She sighs, frowning. She frowns a lot nowadays. "I know you don't like the delays, and neither do I, but we have food and medicine - not fuel, the one thing we need to catch up with them. Remember, they need supplies too, and they don't know they're being pursued. We have the advantage..."

...and I'm going to use it, Mary narrates to herself. No ifs, ands, or buts. They trust you, Mary. You have leverage. Lever it! Show them who's in charge here!

"...but if you really don't think we can spare the time, I won't force you. What do you all say?"

Regina's frown deepened upon hearing how dismissive these people were being, almost as if they were hungering for a fight, and the rescue of their friend, this 'Mina', was just an excuse. "At the risk of sounding arrogant, I'm your leverage. While I may not know these people, nor the extent of this conflict, a professional doctor is worth far more than a...is it presumptuous to assume my skillset is more varied than your friend's?" The doctor nursed her temples, she was doing it again, letting the condescension sneak its way in. This is why your colleagues couldn't stand you...

"All I'm saying," she resumed, speaking slowly and deliberately, "is that you needn't be so quick to discount non-violent possibilities, no matter how slim. It's disturbing that you put talking so low on your list of priorities, and would hardly make you better than those supposedly terrible people," she knew she most assuredly crossed a line with that last remark, but she didn't care. "As for the school, I'm against it. Places that were formerly used by high concentrations of people sound like deathtraps if I'm to be completely honest," she said, leaning back into her seat, having said her piece.

"What exactly is your plan, doctor?" Mary asks, an edge of irritation creeping into her voice. "Whatever it is, it seems to hinge on your medical degree, but you also plan to stay with us. Do you think you can give them all a checkup in return for Mina, then walk out? I should state, again, that these people outright executed their last partner. Isn't that right, Antonio?"

She glares at Antonio for good measure. "In any case, outright violence is my last resort...for our own health, mostly."

What?  You make it sound like I want to hurt whatever asshole took Nicole.

...Oh.  Right.  I guess I kinda did.

Ash huffed, faced with the questionable hopscotch she'd been playing with morality.  It's all fun and games until somebody calls you on it.  Fortunately, she wasn't the face of that part of the plan, and she could safely leave Mary to handle the explanations there, saving any personal meditation on it for later, when she could spare the time to kick her own ass for a while.  The other part, however...

"Alright, fine.  Couple minutes, swing by, see what we can see."  This compromise, she could handle.  She even headed for the back of the SUV to get in, and waved along everyone else who hadn't boarded, too.  "We've got half a tank, so we'll probably be fine unless these chucklefucks are in another state, but it won't hurt to have extra.  If it looks like there's nothing or it'll take too long to be worth it, we just drive on by.  Fair enough?"

"I'm glad you asked," said Regina, who had been waiting for Mary's prompt to extrapolate. "As previously stated, I have no stake in this conflict between your groups, save for an inclination to stay with you...as long as you don't do anything stupid, that is," she couldn't help but glance at Ashley before continuing. "After we arrive at wherever these people are staying, I'll approach with Antonio and provide evidence that I treated him. The idea is that my value to their community outweighs whatever grudge they have towards you. With any luck, they'll allow for a trade." Regina paused, letting the group absorb this information.

"This is where I go against my better judgment and trust you people to help me afterward. Granted, I have enough respect for your intelligence to hope you wouldn't leave me to the wolves, so to speak," her eyes wandered amongst the people in and outside of the SUV, "I'll be trying my utmost to get out undetected, and the rest of you will be keeping watch outside, handling any guards that might be keeping watch. If we play this right, you could have your friend and me back in a few days at most," Regina, while confident, felt that her plan was rougher than she was comfortable with. Still, she'd provided something, which was more than the others could say.

On that note, she focused squarely on Mary. "What do you think? If you think you have something better, I'd be glad to hear it," she said, calmly.

"Oh wait for me, I'm comin' too."
As Ashley exits the car, Trisha almost immediately follows, snatching up the open tin of sausages on her way out. With her personal items collected, she walks around to the other side of the vehicle, keeping an eye on Fernando as he jumps down and trots along beside her.
"Someone else can have the front if they like."
She casually offers the prime seating location, but the discussion has clearly moved beyond that.

For a while, Trisha is happy hearing from anyone that has an idea. Unfortunately, Regina manages to hit another sore spot by implying that the team would simply prefer to be violent, as if she had any idea of what they would be dealing with.
"Hey, don't do that." She pipes up. "You don't know, you wasn't there. We already tried makin' deals and bein' nice. They ain't havin' none of it."


Watching Ashley hobble her way back into the car, she knows the decision has been set. She simply huffs and rolls her eyes softly, giving in to the idea quickly.
"Yeah, sure." Her voice regains the pep in had lost just a moment ago. "Worth a try I guess."
Before heading off to pile into the truck, Trisha's eyes fall back on Regina.
"That's a bad plan and you shouldn't do it."

With that, she is off. She sets the cans on the roof of the truck before leaning against the rear door.
"Alright, how's we gonna do this?" Her eyes dart around as she counts the number of seats. "We used to all jam together in the back of my brother's truck a whole bunch when we was littler. But none of us was ever shot when we did it, so it might not work so good this time."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:58, Fri 16 Nov 2018.

Crossroads

"Who? John?" Antonio responds to Mary's accusation. "Yeah, we did do that. But hey, he was an asshole agreeing to letting us raid the place." He shrugs with a nonchalant smile.

"Its not that we're not willing to talk, those fuckheads shot everyone last time we tried negotiating. They'll probably just do it again." Natasha comments after Regina. She takes a seat in the back next to her. At the same time, Dwayne quietly returns to his seat in the SUV.

"Yep, they will." Antonio slumps back into his seat.

When Regina reveals her plan, she can sense Antonio listening in attentively from behind the seats.

A look of concern washes over Natasha as she glances over to Regina. "I don't like this. We just met you, but we know his people more than you do they-"

"It'll work." Antonio states, abruptly interrupting Natasha. He turns his head to grin at Regina. "Shit lady, you got balls. This plan will work if you can get past my crew's 'initiation'."
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:38, Fri 16 Nov 2018.

Leaning on the SUV and retrieving his tobacco pouch Caleb started to roll himself a cigarette while listening intently to everyone’s plan, some wanted all out war and violence while others wanted to try a more diplomatic approach. Looking around it was easy to see that a straight up fight was off the cards, a number of the group were severely injured and looked like the last thing they needed was another fight. He was willing to help in all avenues violence or diplomacy but he also realised that the two went hand in hand. He had reached the stage of licking the cigarette paper when he decided to speak up.

“Antonio just how many people are in your old crew? How many of them are decent fighters willing to go to arms over a little girl and are they clever enough to realise how valuable a doctor is and what is this 'initiation' ?”

He popped the cigarette into his mouth, and started patting himself down looking for his lighter.

“If their numbers are small enough and they are travelling in a convey and not in a stationery position that they could defend with ease then I suggest you attack them on two fronts when it is getting darker, early evening maybe.”

He finally found his lighter and rolled it in his hand a little as if it was helping him chose his words, before raising it to the cigarette and flicking it into life, taking a long drag on the cigarette.

“You drive up with the SUV, your headlights on the lowest setting messing up their night vision and get out with the good doctor, try and bargain for the little girl and say that Regina is willing to join them for the sake of the girl, that you will trade Antonio and Regina for the girl.”

He blew out a thick cloud of bluish grey smoke and watched it rise towards the heavens a little before continuing.

“Now before this a separate group of us leave the road and enter the woods, farm or whatever surrounds it and approaches the convoy from the rear, silently and swiftly using blades and bows, guns would only draw unwanted attention. I could easily fashion some rudimentary bows and arrows on the drive to meet them, The food cans will make decent enough arrow heads and wood is easy enough to source.”

Returning the cigarette to his lips he turned back to look at Mary.

“If their group is small enough then the distraction of the diplomacy may give us the opportunity to slip in and find the girl, once we have her we could send a signal for you to either cancel the deal or open fire yourselves, with their ranks already being thinned out. Its not concrete or fool proof but it does give you more options. I would be happy to part of the swift and silent group, with anyone else who thinks they could use a bow or is happy with slitting throats with a blade.”

He shuffled his feet a little trying to count just how many of them there were and how many were fighting fit,

“Now I would need people with me that are quick on their feet and we would need someone who knows Mina, I wouldn’t recognise the girl and it’s likely there are more than one child in their camp. People who wouldn’t lose their heads and started firing their gun in panic.”

He grinned a slightly wolfish grin.

“Smile and shake hands to their face, while you quietly slide the knife into their backs.”

This showed a side to the Englishman that was quite different to the cheerful, happy-go-lucky kind of guy he had been so far, it showed a cold and calculating part of him that was willing to do whatever was needed to either get the job done or help those he wished to help.

Bufords eyes ping ponged between the talkers and with a smooth motion reached into his coat to click the on button for the voice recording. He attempted to cover this with clearing his throat and patted his chest.

Listening intently to all sides and waiting to interject. "If I may, this seems an awful lot of risk for just Regina here. Mr. Caleb and I have no relationship with these people. We can all be a part of the distraction if that helps." He said cheerily.

"Heck, to go off Caleb's idea here." He said. Giving the newcomer a friendly shoulder pat as he moved closer to the car.

"The three of us can simply say we found Mr. Antonio and he told us where to go looking for them. Instead of a hostage, theyd view it as a rescue, while they certainly dont care for the man. They wouldnt be so inclined to be violent if we were merely returning something lost to them." He shrugs.

"I don't know the full situation, but I had a hostage crisis in nineteen-ninety-seven that went down like that if you could believe it."

For a brief moment, Ashley couldn't decide whether to be mad at Regina for producing a plan that was only a fraction less dumb than her own, or impressed with her for having the reckless abandon to suggest it at all.  In the end, she split the difference, gave a sharp cough of a laugh, and wagged her finger at the woman who had just chided her to not do anything stupid.

"The only reason I'm not making fun of you right now, is that my original plan was to try to sneak in there and sneak Mina out.  But I admit, sneaking out a competent adult who knows the plan, sounds way easier than sneaking out a scared kid with no idea what's going on.  I'd shorten it from 'days' to 'under cover of nightfall', just because hanging out around herds of deadies waiting for an opportunity makes me kinda fucking nervous, but the rest sounds like the best bad idea we've got.  If it's stupid but it works -- it's not stupid, it's awesome."  Cue cheesy grin, finger guns, and Ash strolling around the back of the SUV to meet up with Trisha now that her brilliant tactical input is no longer required.

"Trunk's roomy, we're small."  Ash poked her head around the corner of the SUV, throwing Trisha an apologetic smile.  You know, the kind of smile that said, okay, you were right, I really can't do this.  "Wanna sit back there together and guard the supplies?  Doc says I need food and rest, and..."  She paused for an exaggerated yawn, though only barely.  "...yeah, I could really stand to shut my eyes for a few minutes.  Just-- just a few minutes though."

Mary looks over at Regina and steeples her fingers, eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"That's clever," she finally says. "Insanely dangerous, but clever. I've seen some of their other workers. They kept them secure, but not impenetrably so. I've just remembered a problem, though."

She points through the window at Antonio without deigning to actually look at him. "He wasn't left behind by accident. They abandoned him when he couldn't keep up due to his injuries. With treatment, they could have kept him alive, but they didn't want to spend the resources on that. We can't be sure they'll want to spend resources on a doctor at all. They may just find it easier to shoot us and rob our corpses."

She looks over at Caleb. "I like the way you think. Still, let's keep the plans vague for now. We'll leave the specific details for when we actually know what we're up against, and where."

After expounding on the plan, Regina wasn't altogether shocked by the collective response. While a few 'opinions' were ignored (though she cast an aside glance at Trisha once she started discussing seating arrangements), the doctor nodded politely at Caleb and Buford, who were the few individuals offering up some measure of assistance in lieu of simple stonewalling. Equally unsurprising was Ashley's overly sarcastic support in a I-agree-but-saying-that-outright-would-be-too-humble sort of way. "Try to keep your torso elevated," Regina said, in a forceful 'demanding request' tone of voice. It seemed as though they were poised to leave at any moment.

Natasha's niggling continued to eat at Regina more than she'd be willing to admit. She's right, you know. Stupidly dangerous plan for the sake of strangers, Regina couldn't disagree with her voice of reason, but sensible motivations were far from her mind. In a way, there was something liberating about losing one's sense of self-preservation. Regina found it helpful in staying focused on what mattered: pulling this plan off.

Mary's agreeability was a welcome change of pace, albeit one Regina suspected came from a desire to avoid more arguments for now. "We can discuss it further on the road," she said, leaning back into her seat. She wondered if the exhaustion had always been there, and she just didn't realize it.

Trisha finds herself simply standing aside and watching intently as the discussion rolls on. It amazes her that, in a time of crisis, a group could have gone this long without devolving into vicious arguments over minor details. T
hough she is still uncomfortable with the idea of Regina, or anyone else, "giving themselves up" to the raiders, the plan seems much more cohesive than she originally thought it to be. Caleb's talk of sneaking in a silently cutting them down captures her interest, his methods feel much more grounded in reality-or as close to reality as Trisha can perceive.

She continues to watch with a curious stare, even as she falls in with Ashley and pulls open the trunk.

Though she isn't ready to flip the switch and say it out loud, she is less inclined to outright reject the idea as she was before. She mutters to Ashley as she shuffles things around to clear a comfortable space to sit, leaning in close so that the conversation might stay between the two of them.
"This is crazy. Nobody's even fightin' or nothin', what is this?"

Her eyes light up, bright and hopeful, as she looks out again to the adults. She quickly snatches her cans of food from the roof of the truck, lifts Fernando into the back and speaks again, glancing at Regina as she begins to talk about her behind her back.

"I still don't think we can "talk it out", these new guys don't know what we's up against."
She looks back out to the group and sighs, knowing it is more than likely that not all of them will survive the fight.
"You really think it's the best we got?"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:59, Sun 18 Nov 2018.

Crossroads

"There was about thirteen of us." Antonio answers.



"Something we have our newbies do to make sure they got the stuff to get shit done. T-man here  did his and passed." Antonio nudges Terry with his elbow.

"Cutting off Jim's arm was a test?" Natasha's tone sounds incriminating, rather than inquisitive.

Antonio nods. "And uh... Don't walk up to Salomon with me, he hates my guts. We'll all be gunned down before we get up close, yeah? You want to listen to the little lady." He hints at Trisha with a subtle nod. "Talking will be bad." He pauses briefly. "Talking with Salomon will be bad." Antonio rephrases his words.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:21, Mon 19 Nov 2018.

Buford smiles lightly at Antonio. "What an extraordinary line of poor descisions you must have made to wind up like this."

Cocking an eyebrow and glancing in his direction, Trisha hits back at Antonio with more childish sarcasm.
"No way! I thought they all loved you."
If she could reach out far enough, she would happily smack him in the head again, for fun.

Caught off-guard by Trisha's comment, Ashley gave an utterly graceless snort of laughter before she even realized it, quickly clamping a hand over her own mouth until she could get herself under control.

"Don't antagonize the poor dude," she said through her snickers, pausing to nudge Trisha with her elbow, "he's already got 99 problems and at least half of them are his own dumb ass."  Not like anyone else you know, right kiddo?  Right?  I'll be here all night, be sure to tip your waiter.

Ash quietly assisted Trisha with the remainder of the supply-arranging, making space enough for the two of them and one anxious, neurotic furball.  Like her friend, she leaned in when she spoke, and kept quiet; there were no secrets being shared, nothing that hadn't already been said, but she was dead tired of having to debate her plans with a bunch of people who she distinctly suspected didn't really listen to her or take her seriously in the first place, and were just going to end up doing whatever they wanted anyway.  And I'm the immature one here?

"In an ideal world, we'd walk up, ask politely, they let Mina out and everyone lives happily ever after."  She paused just long enough for dramatic effect, sighed, and continued, counting off the remaining options on her fingers.  "Plan B, we scope the place out, find a way to sneak Mina out without having to even interact with any of them.  Also probably not gonna happen.  Next option, trade supplies for girl.  Probably won't work, they can just take whatever they want by force anyway, we saw that.  So we're gonna hafta do something tricky no matter how you look at it, because nobody in their right mind wants to go in guns blazing like Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber over there."  Ash frowned at the ground, scrunching her nose in a way that probably would've been cute if she wasn't talking about the possibility of people dying at the time.

"So... yeah, it's a shit plan, but shit's probably the best we got."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:03, Mon 19 Nov 2018.

"We can't work out all the details here," Mary says, opening the driver's side door of the SUV. "Between this initiation and their shoddy healthcare plan, Regina, it looks like we'll need something more complex than simply offering your services. We won't know our options until we have Solomon's group in front of us. Let's take a minute to check a school, and if there's no sign of anything useful inside, we'll move on."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:10, Tue 20 Nov 2018.

Crossroads


"They did, they did, not as much as you and the other in this car." Antonio gives out a brief chuckle. A cough puts an end to his momentary laughter. He looks to Mary. "Boss lady, you want to go North. My boys and I came here from the South. I think they want to see new sights and meet new people on the way, ya?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:27, Mon 19 Nov 2018.

"Aww, you just think that 'cuz we treat ya better."
As she speaks, she kneels forward through the back seat. The pain burns across her back as she stretches, but she ignores it completely as her arm litfs up behind Antonio and her hand whacks across the back of his head once again, smiling playfully all the while.

Crossroad

"Ey, stop it! That hurts." Antonio swipes Trisha's hand away after feeling a smack on the back of his head.

After everyone get comfortable with their seat, the SUV drives North, up the route 1. The middle school immediately comes into view. Across the middle school lies the elementary school. There are several large, cardboard signs lining up just outside of the walkway leading up to the middle school entrance. Most of them reads "Shelter" or "Refugee welcome". Between the road and the school's front entrance is a wide, open parking lot. Several school buses are line up against one another from head to tail, forming an enclosed square fence around the campus. The walkway, which stands in a tiny gap between two school bus seems to be the only way in.

For a moment, Regina enjoyed a relative period of calm in the SUV, though she found herself staring at the grocery store. As it grew ever distant, she reflected on how her world had for all intents and purposes flipped completely for the second time. Selena and Terrance, dead, like so many people she'd known in the old world. This large, dysfunctional, family that had deigned to take her in. Their mission, of which she had been pressed into supporting, the danger of which she was surprisingly keen to confront. Again and again, she wanted to justify to herself that it was to engender their trust, but the thought of a grisly death that scarcely perturbed her was annoyingly contradictory to such a motivation.

The school came into sight, its inevitable danger offering a momentary reprieve from those uncomfortable thoughts. "I don't like how quiet it is," said Regina, fidgeting forward to get a better look out of the windshield. "Terrance and Selina told me about a shelter like this, in a church outside Fairhope. One person came down with sickness, and..." she swallowed, then exhaled, "...it was gone in hours." The doctor stared at Mary, "Call me a pessimist, but I don't see this place faring any better."

Mary glares out the window with narrowed eyes, as if trying to tell the school to get its shit together.

"No," she says through clenched teeth. "Those signs don't look official. I don't like the look of it...but it does mean people were there after the dead rose. There were enough to set up this perimeter and to try and attract others."

She inspects the signs, trying to tell how long they've been exposed to the elements.  Finally, she turns in her seat, looking back at the other sardines in the car. "It might be a trap or just a bust, but there could be something useful in there. I think we can hold on until the next opportunity arises, but what do you all say?"

"I don't think it matters if the signs are official or not," Regina said, cocking an eyebrow. She points to the school buses, "No lookouts," she adds, grimly. "One way in and out -- that we can see, at least," she settles back into her seat with a sigh. "At the risk of coming off overly-pessimistic, I don't like this at all. Based on a few educated guesses, we have...maybe two realistic ways to go about this."

Regina held up a finger, "Improvised shelters typically keep people grouped in a large building to make monitoring easier -- the gym would be our best bet. If these people are..." she paused for a moment, "...gone, then there's a good chance they'll all be in that gym, but so will their supplies. Considering most schools have the cafeteria right next to the gym, we could hit that as well," she let the rest of the group take this information in before holding up a second finger. "Second possibility: these people liked their privacy, so they took classrooms as personal spaces. Middle school classrooms are centralized in one building from my experience, but it would mean splitting up if we wanted to search the place quickly. I don't have to tell you how dangerous that is."

With that, Regina peered at everyone, as if to gauge their reactions. "Questions? Comments? Concerns?"

Ashley popped her head up from behind Regina in the back row, both hands gripping the edge of the back seat like some moppish 'Kilroy was here' graffiti and just as grim, her brow furrowing as she visibly tried to sort out the problem.

"No sign's gonna look official, out here in the boonies.  Even in a bigger school in a bigger city, we never saw any military, government, whatever.  And if there were any survivors now, someone would've seen them, we're not that far from the church.  Regina's right -- if a lot of people had holed up in there at some point, it went bad, and it went fast."  Ash frowned, but not because she was agreeing with Regina.  She was already regretting the next part, but a promise was a promise, and she did promise Mary she'd give it a fair chance.

Turns out she'd end up giving it a better chance than Mary wanted to.

"But," she began, wagging a finger towards the window, and the school, "if they had signs, they had supplies.  Next part depends on whether they were idiots.  Spoilers, most people are idiots, but there's at least a chance."  She scooted over to the right, to reach past Regina and draw an imaginary rectangle on the window with her finger.  "School's over there," she indicated the distant portion of the rectangle, furthest from them, across the parking lot.  Then she poked a couple spots to the left and right of the parking lot.  "Might be storage sheds outside, you know, Groundskeeper Willie keeps his tools there and such.  If they were idiots, then they kept everything inside the school in one central spot and we're screwed anyway, because there's gonna be a crowd of dead people in there and they're all surrounding it because that was their last stand.  If they were smart, then they put some of the supplies in the storage shed or a satellite building out in the lot, just in case part of the school gets overrun and they have to move.  Trust me, been there, done that."

Ash shuffled back from her spot at the window to a slightly more central location, joining the 'circle' with the group as best she could, though she was still just awkwardly peering over the back row of seats from the trunk space.  It was sort of appropriate, really.

"So, in my ever so humble opinion: a few of us scout the lot, check the small buildings.  Do not, under any circumstances, open the school.  It will be very, very deadie in there.  Be quick, be quiet, and if things look hairy at any point, be gone.  We do not want to get pinned in.  Five minutes, in and out, everyone else stays here, ready to put the pedal to the metal if things get ugly."

Five minutes ago you were the number one opponent to this plan.  What changed?  Oh, right, now you think you're in charge of it.

While the more insightful of the group discuss strategy, Trisha falls behind as she invests far too much time into reading out one of the large signs. She leans close to the window and struggles to sound out what should be the word "shelter".

"'Shhh' like 'quiet'. 'Shh'-she. Sell, no! Shell! Shell-er...sheller! It says "sheller". Like shells at the beach?"
Confused, she looks down at Fernando as if expecting an answer from him. In response, he wiggles his tail and presses his tiny black nose against hers. He squints and licks the tip of her nose affectionately, feeling comfortable and satisfied with a warm place to sit and a belly almost halfway full.

However fleeting, these bright, little moments are Trisha's lifeblood, and are enough to power her along through countless disappointments and betrayals. She pulls away to look back to the others, sensing another disappointment right around the corner. Finally tuning in to the real matters at hand, she is found to be correct.

It seems that everyone has their own story of a school-based community falling apart; and Trisha is no exception. She slouches forward with her arms over the back seat and nods along as Regina and Ashley say their piece.

"Yep it happened to me, too. Schools are easy, it's the first place people go to wreck up. And I ain't never seen no livin' place without no guys out front. I bet it's all fulla' dead guys in there. Prob'ly more than we got time for."

"No, no lookouts," Mary echoes Regina's statement. Leaning over in her seat, she frowns again. "Upon closer inspection, those signs don't look very recent, either. If I were living here, I'd either replace them or take them down, depending on whether I wanted guests or not. It's not a good sign that they're in their current state."

She straightens up and looks at the others. "You're right," she says to no one in particular. "There's a number of possibilities in that school, and they're all too dangerous to go inside. I do think there's value in checking external sheds, though, Ashley. Is anyone else interested?"

There was a flash of something in Regina's eyes as she watched Ashley explain herself -- respect? She was smarter than most teenagers, that much was certain. "Surprisingly, I agree with Ashley," she said, before holding up a hand to prematurely silence any smugness that might come from stroking the sassy child's ego. "However, she's staying in the car. The Ashleyprise can't be deprived of its captain," Regina started to scootch towards the door, evidently satisfied with her demand. "I'm interested in going unless you have other plans," she said to Mary.

Buford had been staring out his window at the school while the others talked. Once he had finished drawing the mental picture of the place on then did he turn to the others and speak.

"Only thing we'll find is our own deaths in there." He said, looking to Ashley and Regina.

"Hey man," Ash shifted her attention to Buford, along with a surprisingly mellow smile, "no shame here.  Contrary to my usual, I'm not gonna push, tease, or cajole anyone into anything they think ends in death -- you only get one of those, and ideally, you hold onto it forever.   'Forever' trumps a lot of silly little things."  Briefly distracted, she rhythmically tapped the back seat, quietly humming obscure lyrics for a few moments, Ash herself bobbing along, entirely absorbed in her own memories, before Satellite Ash decided to tune back in to Earth stations.

"--rain comes down, turns your shiiine back to rust... yeah!  ...Oh.  Right.  The rest of the plan."  Ash ducked nearly all the way down behind the seat, so only her eyes and the top of her head was visible.  "Rest of the plan is, Captain Ashley Picard assigns an away team, which is presently consisting of First Officer Mary, CMO Regina, and pretty much nobody else.  Wow.  What a sad showing, crew.  On a lock for Home team is me, my bff Trisha, Dwane, Antonio, and Terry keeping an eye on Antonio just in case he does somethin' stupid.  Free agents are Buford, who sounds like he's got his mind made up, Natasha, and uhhhhhhhhhother new guy whose name I don't think I quite got, Ceylon?"  She gestured vaguely towards the frontmost passenger seat where she expected to find him, after Trisha abandoned "shotgun".

"Honestly don't think we need more than around four just to scout around the area and either carry the important little stuff back, or make a good mental note of it to bring the others back for big stuff.  Four people's fine."  She turned back to Regina with a grin, reading her 'doctor's orders' as an excuse to start delegating.  "So if Regina and Mary go, they can pick their support between Buford, Natasha, Caleb.  Maybe Terry, but then I'm gonna hafta climb up there and look threatening instead, and I'm pretty sure that only works on wallflowers with face-sized bruises.  So... yeah, you guys sort out your last two, sort 'em quick, or I'm gonna get bored and go anyway."

She quickly rushed everyone away with a 'butterfly fluttering' motion of her hands, hoping to speed things along and head off as many arguments as possible, at least until later.

"I guess as long as we don't go inside the big one, it might be ok."
There is obvious hesitation in her voice as she glances back out towards the building. Trisha knows that nothing worthwhile has ever come out of a school, either before or after the apocalypse.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she is incredibly grateful that Regina had been the one to say it, saving Trisha the argument. As proud and fearless as Ashley likes to pretend she is, a firm authority does wonders in convincing both young girls to behave.

It is obvious the doctor has her best interest at heart, with the knowledge to back up her orders. Unlike herself, Trisha knows that Ashley is clever enough to heed her words, though not without a little backchat to save face.
She smiles as Ash agrees to stay behind; on her own terms, of course. Luckily enough, these terms suit Trisha just fine.

"Sounds good!" She chirps, clapping her hands together. "We can have some girl talk."
Though she'd much rather have Terry stay behind to talk with, there is no denying that he is the most physically capable member of the team. Even without his strength, his stature alone could be the thing that prevents them from encountering trouble. She leans forward again, ready to take the seat of the first person the leave the car. With an exaggerated pout, she nudges Terry in the shoulder and rolls her eyes.
"I guess you should go if you really want to, Terry. We can handle ol' Tony."
This time, instead of striking Antonio, she reaches out and gently runs her fingers through his hair. In a perplexing shift of behaviour, she slides her hand softly down his neck and speaks to him very sweetly.
"You ain't even seen how fun we can be yet."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:12, Mon 26 Nov 2018.

Watching the school grow before them as they approach Caleb takes in the aged signs and the lack of life as a poor sign, if a large number of people had flocked here for shelter then there could be a large number of dead inside. It did seem however to lack any real organisation like government or military and seemed to be a place that people just felt might be safe.

It was interesting how the majority of the local teens would have wished to spend time anywhere but schools, but would have rushed to find shelter here when shit hit the fan. He smiled a little to himself thinking back to his high school and the times he wished he could be anywhere else.

He couldn't help but notice something that the others were overlooking. The fact that they were on a rescue mission made them see this place as a hindrance that would hold nothing of value for their current mission, he on the other hand saw it as a huge possibility. If they could clear a smaller out building then they could slowly and methodically clear the rest of the school and search it for the valuables that would help improve their way of life.

He continued to look out of the window as he spoke.

"This place could be a gold mine if we looked further than the moment at hand, The library would be filled of knowledge of how to generate energy, how our ancestors developed skills and tools for agriculture before any electricity that we could replicate, books on basic medicine and culinary skills. Building techniques and scientific procedures."

He thought over all the subjects and information even a reasonably small school like this could behold.

"There would be a workshop filled with tools that we would be able to use to put this new found knowledge into practice. Enough room to make fields for growth and keep animals. There would be kitchens, bathrooms, classrooms. there would be the pharmacy of the school nurse. Science labs and all the equipment we could ever need. I never went to school in America but I imagine you have furnaces for baking clay projects in art or whatever. Walls could be built, lookouts posted  on the high roof, gates forged from scrap metal or anything we could lay our hands on."

The possibilities of rebuilding a future flooded through his brain, one idea sprouting ten new ones but he sighed as he carried on looking out of the window and started rolling himself another cigarette without even looking down at his hands, as if he wasn't actually speaking to anyone just speculating on what could become and not what the task was at hand. He shook his head a little as if snapping out of a day dream and licked the sticky part of the cigarette paper.

"I will help you scavenge if you want my crossbow, these days a quiet approach is usually the better approach."

In front of the School

Dwayne appears to be disappointed when Ashley includes his name with the 'home' team.

"Then you should show me sometimes girlie." Antonio replies to Trisha briefly before addressing the rest of the group with their plans. "You sure you don't want me out with you? This looks like a place my people will stop to look for supplies." He pauses, then adds, "I can tell if they pass by here."

"Can I come this time? I won't go off on my own." Dwayne speaks up.

Natasha peeks out of the window take a mental picture of the school. When she sees the abandoned signs, she glances over to Mary when Dwayne poses the question. She then subtly shakes her head.

"Maybe later" She answers blankly, pushing him forward as she leans away from him. Her attention falls elsewhere.
Trisha quickly finds herself hanging on Caleb's every word, both confused and enthralled by his ability to come up with such wild ideas. He seems to always be thinking ten steps ahead of everyone else, while Trisha herself is usually a step or two behind.
She finds it virtually impossible to imagine what it would be like to think the way this man does. It is so far removed from anything she is familiar with that it seems almost nonsensical.

"What planet are you even on, man?" She chuckles, bumping shoulders with Caleb in a show of lighthearted affection. He has been officially deemed a valid source of entertainment, giving her extra incentive to keep him around.
'pretty cute, too. I'd give him some.'
"You still gotta show me how to use that."
She taps her fingernails along the crossbow, looking at it curiously.


"How would you even know that? Do they leave you a note?"
She sneers at Antonio, immediately making the assumption that he is lying.

Regina opened the side door and stepped out in silence while the rest of the group talked, and talked, and talked. She couldn't remember the last time there'd been so much conversation, maybe in Lafayette, shortly after things went bad. There's another nightmare I didn't need to remember, thought Regina, shivering from the memory of it. With another passing glance over each person, Regina hoped that things would be different with them. They were damaged, sure, but they weren't broken yet.

Most of their chatter was little more than white noise to Regina, who eyed the school for any sign of movement in the darkened windows. However, Caleb's ruminations were impossible to ignore for a long-term planner like herself. "If we could clear it out later..." she muttered, nibbling at a nail, "...don't know yet." As much as Regina strove to prepare for the future, they were getting ahead of themselves. In an effort to steer them back on track, she points at Trisha.

"Do you think we could borrow your dog, Trisha?" she said, eyeing the little chihuahua with apprehensively, as it wasn't the prettiest pet she'd ever seen. Regina was more of a cat person, admittedly. "He might help us avoid any surprises if he'll listen to us."

Bufords eyes dart from person to person. Watching the new girl, Reginanleave the van, giving everyone else some more precious room.

"It would be best to keep your eyes trained on what's in front of you, boy." Buford spoke to Caleb about his high minded plans. They didnt seem to understand the danger so he decided to come up with his own plan."If you people want to do this so bad I will stay and... watch the van." He comes up with a pointless activity. "If I hear gunfire I'll start the van and try to bring it closer if ya'll need a quick extract." He says, looking out at the school again.

"We won't - " Mary starts, looking over at Buford, but then catches sight of Trisha running her hands seductively over Antonio. She turns in her seat to lock eyes with Trisha, her face wearing an intense expression of confusion and disgust.

"We won't enter the main building," she finally says, looking back at Buford. "We'll check the external sheds, if there are any, and move on. Speed is of the essence and if we find any danger, we'll just leave."

She glances over at Caleb. "I wouldn't get too excited, it's only a middle school. If you really want to capitalize on that idea, you should find a post-secondary campus. Maybe the University of Mississippi? It's probably prime real estate right now.


"No," Mary declares, but winces before the word has even left her mouth. Children are foolish, impulsive, and unpredictable. When will he choose to act out? Probably the worst possible time.

"I mean..." Mary looks down at Dwayne, features softening. "We can only make one trip, Dwayne. We need fast and strong adults. Maybe next time.

"Speaking of which, would you mind joining us, Terry? This sort of in-and-out operation should be just like getting the, um...pigskin...over the...yard lines. Antonio, I'm listening, but how do we know you're not going to just run off on us?"

Regina's request puts Trisha in an awkward position. Usually, she is flattered to have anyone ask for her help with anything and is happy to oblige, craving the temporary boost of self worth it brings with it. But Regina is asking to hand away both her most prized possession and closest friend. Like a maladapted child with their security blanket, she is uncomfortable with the idea of separating.

Even if she were to allow it, she knows there is no guarantee that Fernando will even follow them from the car, let alone obey any commands. Having never been properly trained or disciplined, he is a fickle creature that follows his whims.
His breed are known for their strict loyalty to a select few and Fernando is no exception. It is in his nature to be distrustful of strangers and even now, he stares back at Regina with great suspicion.

"Um, jeez, I dunno. Maybe? He ain't great with strangers. Or not strangers. Or big noises or stuff that goes too fast." Going down the list of his flaws, she finds the need to cut herself short, or they would be there all day.
"He might be ok maybe if I went too, but I kinda wanted to stay with Ash. Just in case."
She fidgets as she speaks, constantly looking back to her dog, who immediately picks up on her anxious behaviour.

Mary's stern voice catches Trisha's attention right away. She finds a strange amount of comfort comes from having her take control and put her foot down. Though she has a great desire to rush over and comfort Dwayne is his disappointment, she is not yet ready to turn away from Regina.

Aha!  Hero time!  Ash knew that nervous ramble.  She fell into it herself sometimes, and she'd definitely heard it from Trisha more than once.  Holding up a hand to interject, she offered an apologetic smile to Regina in Trisha's stead.  "I've been around Fernando long enough to know that he only really listens to Trisha and food, and if you have to run, keeping track of a tiny dog is one responsibility you don't want when you're trying to look out for your own life."  She laid her other hand over Trisha's, reassuring her that yes, her best friend absolutely has her back on this.  "And Trisha's here to watch over your patient and ensure she doesn't do anything foolish, so she should definitely stay, and Nurse Trisha needs her intern."

"Tony here seems to think he's a decent lookout," she continued, directed to both Regina and Mary, "so I guess take him instead, just let him and Terry buddy-system it, we know we can trust Terry to keep any bullshit from happening.  Isn't that right T!"  She held her closed hand up towards Terry in anticipation of the fistbump of confirmation, the 'secret handshake' that had been their universal greeting, confirmation, and goodbye ever since their early days as the scavenge-running duo at the church.

"Besides," she said, theatrically but to no one in particular, scanning the SUV with a broad grin before settling on Trisha beside her, "if we hang out at the car, then it'll give us time to shit-talk him in private while he's out with you guys.  I think I need a break from Antonio's smug fuckin' mug.  All in favor?  Whatchu think, Nando?  Good plan?"  She directed the question to the dog without even missing a beat, as though he was just another member of their crew, but the implication was clear: once she started asking the dog for his opinion, that meant everyone else's opinion was officially moot, and in fact, so was the dog's opinion; by that point, Ash had already made up her mind, and that's simply how things would go.

He's more of an alarm bell, not something I'd bother to keep track of, thought Regina, who knew better than to be so (vocally) dismissive of what was clearly an emotional woman's prized companion. "He should stay with you then," she said, shrugging. Once Ashley started talking, Regina found herself sighing -- loudly. How could someone talk so much, yet say so little? The doctor shut her eyes and started to massage her temples; somebody clearly needed to help Mary out and speed things along.

The older woman's suspicion towards her captive was justified, but Regina rolled her eyes at Mary's question all the same. "He's only just recovering from a bullet wound," Regina said, and she pointed to his bandaged chest to illustrate that point. "His condition is hardly better than Ashley's, so taking him with us would be really, really stupid. I say that it's a choice between Natasha, Terry or Caleb." She stares at the black man with an inscrutable look in her eye, "...Take Caleb. Terry's too quiet."

The doctor reached into the SUV, grabbed her backpack, and hefted it over her shoulder. "In any case, I'd prefer a little less conversation and a little more action."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 20:58, Wed 28 Nov 2018.

In front of the school

"No notes, we leave a mark for places we searched." Antonio expounds on his previous comment for Trisha. He turns around to face her, using his fingers to form two slightly overlapping circles. "It looks like this." He then chortles. "And a stick coming out from the center."

The beaming light quickly dims from Dwayne's eyes when Mary rejects his request to follow the group. His enthusiasm fades like a deflating balloon. "Okay..." He says, nodding his head slightly.

Antonio turns around at Mary's question. "Doctor here is right boss lady, I can't run, so you don't have to worry about that, yeah?" There's no way to gauge the sincerity in his words. However, you are certain his wounds will thwart his attempts at escape if he tries.

Ashley coming to her aid lifts a weight off Trisha's chest, helping to justify the decisions she was beginning to feel guilty about.

"That might be better. Sorry. It ain't you, it's him."
Trisha sighs quietly, giving the woman an apologetic smile. She does not want Regina to think she doesn't like her. Luckily, she doesn't seem too concerned about being denied the favor.

Once Regina turns her attention from them, Trisha curls her fingers into Ashley's palm, leaning against her shoulder to mutter something.
"Thanks. I didn't wanna look like a bitch. I'm not though, right? That is just how he is."

Her eyes drift over and she watches Antonio suspiciously, scowling at his attempt to pull off a joke.
"It's a middle school, idiot. There's gonna be dicks drawn all over." She scoffs. "And why would you even give a fuck? What do you care if we waste our time?"

Outside of the School

"Shit, you right." Antonio smacks his forehead against his palm. He doesn't answer Trisha questions immediately. The ex-raider ringleader exhales deeply before responding.

"Boss lady said I could go if I help you track down that kid. I can stick around if you want me to." Antonio passes a smirk to Trisha, follow by a wink. He gives out a short, dry laugh.

"You're not, don't worry."  Ashley gave Trisha's hand a reassuring pat, then flashed a toothy grin.  "I'm pretty much the resident expert on being a bitch, so I'd know it when I see it."

Which, of course, means it should come as no surprise that as Antonio continued to harp on wanting to go, Ashley wanted to let him.  Regina was absolutely right, he'd be little use out there if they had to move quickly, and it would serve the murderous fuck right, to get screwed by his own stupidity and left behind again.  But, no.  Bad Ash.  As satisfying as it would be, karmic justice was less important than a living navigator, even an unpleasant one.  Antonio would stay in the car.

Ash grumbled under her breath in frustration, but said nothing further.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:18, Sun 02 Dec 2018.

"Fine, then Terry can stay with Antonio, since they have such a good working relationship and all. Regina, Caleb, Natasha, and I will go. Agreed?"
This message was last updated by the player at 03:34, Mon 03 Dec 2018.

Front School Yard

"No complaints here." Natasha swings the door open and hops out of the vehicle. She stretches her arms on the side walk while the others exits the SUV.

Mary, Caleb, Natasha and Regina pass through the gap in between the school buses and disappear from the others in the car's view. They find themselves standing in a wide open yard, littered with variety of garbage and discarded furniture. There are several chairs toppled over in the yard, yet they form a circle around the remains of a campfire. They group also notice that all the school buses have their doors facing inward to the yard.

Almost immediately, the group spots three undead shambling about. They are fairly spread out across the area, and have yet to notice the group's presence. One of them appears to be waving its arms high up in the air against a school bus. Other than the three ghouls, there are no other perceptible activities in the vicinity.

Back in the SUV

Dwayne keeps his hands at the windows, his eyes peering out at Mary's group until they are no longer in sight. He rests his hands on his laps, looking down at his feet.

"Well shit." Antonio falls back into his seat. "Guess we gotta wait, yeah? What you girls do before all this shit happened?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:10, Wed 05 Dec 2018.

Buford keeps a purely neutral expression on his face as he watches the four of them walk into unnecessary danger. He keeps his eyes trained on them from the window before taking out his journal and writing inside it.

"They sure got a lot of moxie for the unnecessary, it's nice to see energy despite everything I guess." He talks aloud to no one in particular. His pencil stops for a moment. "Whats the name of the Asian woman again?"

Regina's apprehension was confirmed by the appearance of walkers past the barricade, and she grimaced at the all too familiar sight of a fallen community. "Over there," she said, pointing to the walker waving its arms high in the air. "That walker... Looks like it's reaching for something inside the school bus. Could be a good place to start searching," the doctor drew her glock and pointed it at the ground before eyeing the group with a frown. "I don't have anything else, but I won't shoot unless you need me to."

Once again, so looks at Mary expectantly for directions.

"I agree entirely," Mary whispers. "There's probably just a bird or something in that bus, but if we're lucky, there's someone who'll want to help us. Even if they're not, they wouldn't dare try to fight us with these ghouls around."

She draws her pistol, but keeps it low. "As far as I'm concerned, we only fire as a last resort. If we have to pull the trigger, this supply run is over."

She points at Caleb. Specifically, she seems to point at his crossbow. "You, on the other hand, are my first resort. Can you take that ghoul out silently?"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:19, Fri 07 Dec 2018.

With a chunk of the group away and no real task at hand, Trisha takes a moment to appreciate the calm. Not long after they had left, she had climbed through the gap into the row of seats in front of her. She now lounges comfortably along the seats, giving her better access to everyone in the car.

She becomes increasingly curious of Buford's activities as he pulls out a book and begins to write in it. When Antonio speaks, she does not have much with which to answer him.
"Pretty much the same stuff I been doin' after, I guess." She shrugs, turning to him for only a brief moment before her eyes fall back on Buford's journal.

She is much more eager to respond to this question, knowing that there is only one right answer.
"It's Regina. She's cool, I like her." She responds happily, feeling the need to include her opinion for some unknown reason. "How come? Whatcha writin' for?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:34, Sun 09 Dec 2018.

"Regina." Buford repeats, writing it into the pages of his journal. "Yes, yes I suppose she's rather nice for a stranger. Seems you folks have gotten quite a bit lucky in that regard." Buford states, commenting to the good fortune of finding three people that didn't shoot on sight.

He looks up at Trisha with an expression of mild surprise, that she would care what he was writing. "I... I like to write who I meet and what I do. Help keeps my thoughts in order. Do you do anything like that missy?" He asks.

^{(?) Ashley will remember that.}

She's cool?  Say what?  Ashley's upper lip curled in disgust and she was about to give a dismissive huff, but Buford's response stayed her.

Alright, fine, so she's nice.  Points in favor: Nice.  Points against: Kicked me out of the driver's seat.  Also not nearly as impressed by me as she should be.  She frowned thoughtfully at that.  Admittedly, not the best first impression, pale as a ghost and with a bullet hole in me and everything.  Still, I am a goddamn miracle on two legs and she could've at least been a little bit impressed by the fact that I hotwired an SUV just so we could all go save some kid I barely even know.  She clenched her hands to fists in aimless frustration, then relaxed and lowered them to her lap.  Fortunately, she was now alone in the trunk space, with nobody but a slightly confused chihuahua to witness the absurd spectacle of her thought processes playing out visually.  Note to self, though: brag about that later.  Because seriously.  Without me, we'd be walking.

"Hey, lucky's cool by me.  It's welcome a change of pace, all things considered."  Rather than popping her head up over the back row of seats to register her commentary this time, Ash stayed where she was, resting in her corner of the trunk, content to let her smirk be merely implied, rather than shown.  "I mean, they can't all be assholes, right?  Just most of 'em."

Ash sighed and tipped her head back to rest against the corner where the wall and back seat met, closing her eyes.

No, they're pretty much all assholes.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:42, Wed 12 Dec 2018.

"I know, right?" She chuckles, wholeheartedly agreeing with the sentiment. She knows that in this moment, she is one of the most fortunate people on earth.
"I mean, I been lucky before and it always goes bad, but it's nice for the while, at least. I thought for sure I was gonna be back by myself eatin' bugs in the mud when the church went south. It's been like, two whole days and I ain't ate a bug yet."

Trisha seems extremely pleased to be able to say that, as if it were some huge accomplishment. Her contented smile lingers as Buford asks her about herself, causing her to giggle at the very thought of the question.
"Nah I ain't never did stuff like that. I don't write no good."

Either failing or refusing to pick up on her tone, Trisha looks over to Ashley and begins to ramble joyfully.
"Oh my God, weird! I been thinkin' the same thing! I didn't used to never think that before. I thought everyone was assholes and it was all just a TV thing and now we're livin' it and I'm like "How come no one back home ain't never like this?" I mean, what kinda person just goes "Hey I'm a doctor let me help you and shit for no reason and not make you give me somethin' or do stuff first." It's crazy, who does that shit?"

Gesturing to Antonio with a nudge in the arm, she looks around the car for a response. For the first time since splitting up, she takes notice of the little boy staring solemnly out the window. Dwayne had always been a quiet child, but it alarming to see him so withdrawn. Trying to alleviate some of her guilt, Trisha reaches out to him with a soft voice.
"You ok, buddy?" She asks. "They ain't gonna be gone too long."

In the SUV

"I'm okay..." Dwayne replies meekly and stares at his knee. "Why won't anyone let me help? Miss Carter never lets me do anything, Mary and Terry too. I know how to stay away from the monsters." He gazes at Trisha with his question.

Antonio turns his face to the side, however he seems to be listening to the conversation closely.

Buford cocks an eyebrow up at the kid. "Dwayne is it? Tell me about yourself Dwayne." He asks the kid. It seemed like the boy was down about not being able to help. A kid his age was young enough to be of no help to anyone but old enough to realize it. Hopefully getting him to talk about himself would help his morale. Everyone loved to talk about themselves.

Front Yard of Middle School

Caleb pulls the string of his crossbow and aims it at the ghoul near the bus. His aim is true, taking down the ghoul clean without attracting the other undead in the area. He walks up to his prey and swiftly retrieves the bolt from the undead's head. The group is free to advance towards the bus without any hostiles in their way.


In the SUV

Dwayne's freezes momentarily at Buford's request for an introduction. "I'm... in the fifth grade. I'm from Mississippi and I like reading books." The child introduces himself as if he's reading out loud a list of a cuisine recipe. "I'm good at memorizing things and math..."

"Good work," Mary tells Caleb. Her voice is quiet, but matter-of-fact. "You'll have to show me how to do that sometime."

Motioning for the others to follow, Mary carefully approaches the bus, trying to spot whatever the ghoul was reaching for. By habit, she stoops over as she gets close, peeking under the bus like a child checking under their bed for monsters. If she doesn't spot anything on the approach, she knocks softly on the metal of the bus to attract the attention of whatever's inside.

"Anyone still alive in there?" Her voice is still quiet, trying not to attract attention from the other ghouls in the yard.

School Bus - Mary

Mary sees a man sitting against the side of the bus. His back is turned against her. She can't see his face. Her voice doesn't seems to register the man makes no response.

With a silent nod towards Caleb after his excellent shot, Regina ducks down and carefully approaches the unguarded bus. Every now and then she steals a worried look at the other walkers until she is close enough to the bus's door.

Event Interruption

Her pistol is raised when she takes the first furtive steps inside. "Is anyone in here?" she whispers, remembering the movements of the walker -- like it was trying to reach for something, or someone. She remains by the bus's door, pistol raised in preparation for whatever decides to show itself.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:05, Tue 18 Dec 2018.

Trisha furrows her brows and looks away when the boy asks the question. It hurts her to know that he is upset, though there is not much she can say that will make him feels any better. The answer does not come to her right away but she is determined to think of some way to comfort him.
"Well..." She hesitates, trailing off until Buford jumps in to fill the awkward silence she had left. Though Dwayne seems thrown off by the question as he rattles off a list of pre-programmed responses, Trisha is grateful to have the man's assistance. As much as she would like to play the part of a responsible adult, she is still very much a child in a lot of ways. Offering meaningful support to a vulnerable little boy is not something she is equipped to handle on her own. With no real authority on the matter, all she has is her own musings and opinions.

"Well first off, Miss Carter's a bitch and a idiot so don't worry none about that. It ain't that you can't help, but we gotta be smart about this stuff. I don't know why Mary says you can't go, I ain't smart like her. I think they're just scared somethin' bad might happen before we get Mina back."
She smiles at Dwayne, finding it very easy to empathize with his situation.
"It's just gonna be kinda tough until then. Then it's gonna be better."

In the SUV

Dwayne appears to be at a loss for words, desperation thinking of anything to add to the introduction list. Trisha's choice of language disrupts his thought process and snaps him out of this state. He stares, wide eyed, at Trisha as she speaks.

"What... what are we going to do with Antonio's friends after we get Mina back?" Dwayne directs the question at Trisha. "Mr. Jeffrey said 'we're all sinners and we can be forgiven.' I don't know think I can forgive them for what they did, even if they're sorry."

"Kid, I don't think they're sorry." Antonio comments. He straightens himself in the seat and looks as if he's about to speak further on the subject. However, a sign of hesitation overtakes him and he sinks back into his seat.


Event interruption - Regina

When Regina makes her attempt to enter the bus, she finds the door to be jammed. On closer inspection, there's a piece of wooden board stuck in between the hinges, barring the door from opening. Despite the resistance from the door, she's confident that she could forcefully break through by exerting enough force on the door to break the wooden board.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:52, Tue 18 Dec 2018.

"I think it's a corpse, or worse," Mary whispers to the others. "If he is alive, he's ignoring us. I'm happy to leave him. We don't want to make noise here."

She motions with her head. "We have a job to do. Let's not get distracted."

Mary was correct, Regina thought. Observing the makeshift barricade, she realized that removing it would be far too noisy for what they'd intended to be a simple scavenging run. Still, Regina couldn't shake the feeling that somebody was hiding out in this bus. "If you can hear me, we're friendly," Regina whispered a little louder than normal as she backed away towards Mary and the others.

"Sorry," she said, "let's deal with the rest. Caleb?"

School Yard

The man in the bus does not respond to Regina's call. Although she sees no movement, she also catches a glimpse of a backpack next to the man.



Caleb nods and proceeds to line up his crossbow at another ghoul in the distance. The bolt releases from the crossbow and pierces through the back of the skull of the undead. The ghoul crumbles to the ground, motionless.

Natasha draws her knife. "I'll get the other one." She slowly approaches the ghoul. Her feet comes into contact with an empty can. The ghoul soon turns to face her at the metallic clunking noise. It lunges at Natasha. She catches the undead by its neck, keeping its mouth at bay while stabbing her dagger at its head. She misses, and the knife lodges itself sideways from the undead's cheek.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:27, Thu 20 Dec 2018.