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."