After rescuing Nicole from the school, the party regroups at the church as planned. With Nicole on board in the SUV, there were barely any room for anyone to move. The group was successful with circling around the herd of ghouls by taking an alternative route down south.

The distance from Rosedale to Shaw was not far, it only took less than an hour before the group saw the signs of the city. Their smooth drive came to a halt when the SUV slowed to a stop. A thin trail of smoke came out of the hood of the car. Terry urged everyone to vacate the vehicle after parking it next to a nearby cemetery.

The cemetery was full of dead, but none were walking. There they waited for Edward to inspect the SUV and make any repairs to get it back in a running state.

Dwayne and Mina are both standing over a grave. Natasha and Angie are keeping an eye on the kids from a distance. Nicole is sitting on the back of the truck, watching Edward making the repairs to the SUC and everyone else.

From the looks of things, the group have some time to kill. There's a small single floored house across the street, it looks abandoned from the outside.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Image of cemetery.
https://i.imgur.com/2kvXa2x.jpg<;
House across the street.
https://i.imgur.com/k4CILtN.jpg

---

This message was lightly edited by the GM at 06:37, Fri 27 Mar 2020.

Regina was glad that the group's business in the school was over, finally. Whilst she couldn't shake the feeling that the endeavor had been a waste of time, the doctor didn't dare say it aloud. Ostensibly, she was glad to have discovered Nicole, surprised, even. The girl's survival couldn't have been luck -- Regina didn't believe in that. Prying wouldn't have been tactful, however, so she kept quiet about certain suspicions creeping in. You're being paranoid again, Regina thought irritably; it had to be lingering annoyance at their elongated "rescue mission".

When the city skyline crept over the horizon, Regina began to fidget uncomfortably in the seat. As she drummed her fingers onto the car door, she let out a loud, irritated sigh. "We shouldn't be this close to the city," the doctor muttered, her eyes fixed on the driver seat, hoping that by some miracle the strength of her glare could get the car turning around and heading in the opposite direction. It didn't, of course.

Fine, fine. If they were so set on diving into the most perilous situations imaginable, then she'd have to mitigate the danger. Regina was confident in her ability to mitigate danger; she only wished stupidity was as easy. Stepping out of the car, she eyed the abandoned house in the distance. "Does anyone want to look inside that with me?" she asked, looking around at everyone.

Regina earns an immediate response from one of the kids at the grave.

"I do!" Dwayne turns around and hurries over by Regina.

Regina bit her bottom lip. Children never listened, she needed someone who'd make him follow instructions. "That's, uhm, Dwayne. Anyone else?" she asked.

Mary looks over at Dwayne and sighs softly through her nose. She glances at the house, but the windows are too small and widely spaced to get any idea of what's inside. That boy's going to be underfoot, she thinks. He'll be more trouble than he's worth in there.

Nonetheless, Mary doesn't want to push her luck with Dwayne. If she keeps telling him no, eventually he'll sneak off to find his own adventures, and Mary would rather have him screw up where she can see it rather than alone. At least, that's what she figures; she can only guess at what goes through a child's head.

"I'll come along, too," Mary says, approaching Regina.

"I'll come," Ivy chimed in. The cemetery was starting to creep the girl out, and she couldn't pass up the opportunity for a bit of treasure hunting.

Ashley had hopped out of the SUV at nearly the first opportunity, eager for a chance to stretch her legs after the cramped ride.  Without siblings, she wasn't exactly accustomed to sharing space -- and besides, nobody ever looked cool when packed in like sardines.  At Regina's call, she narrowed her eyes and shaded them with one hand, making a show of checking out the building, even though she'd already done so on their approach.  A mobile home?  Talk about dull.

"Nah," she shook her head and waved Regina and the others off.  "Looks boring, you'll be fine without me.  I'mma go take a walk."  As an afterthought, she held up a finger and added, "Hey, if you find a guitar in there, I call dibs."  Even a broken clock is right twice a day, and if she hoped long enough to find one, then eventually she would do so, however long it might take.  Not like amateur musicians were particularly rare or anything.

Anyway, back to that leg-stretching.

Quite the opposite of Ivy, Ashley had actually grown a fondness for graveyards in the post-apocalypse.  The undead seemed to follow the patterns they knew in life; they wandered where living people might have gone before, and seldom lingered long in places the living wouldn't.  Thus, a cemetery, where nobody living particularly wanted to be, was a perfect place to rest, and she'd stopped by the graveyard near the Rosedale church more than once on her supply runs, a brief respite before she had to navigate the crowds of the dead to get back "home".  That felt like forever ago now, but the basic fact remained that the dead in graveyards tended to be of the quiet variety, rather than the hungry one, and this one seemed no different.

Ashley glanced up to Nicole as she passed the truck, heading towards the graveyard.  She briefly considered asking the girl to accompany her, but she seemed like she could use a rest.  Instead, she simply gave a wave as she passed, stuffed her hands into her pockets, and continued on her morbid stroll.

The volunteers volunteered, and Ashley had...Ashleyed -- business as usual so far. Regina mmmhmm'd at Ashley's request, mentally filing 'grab a guitar' far down her list of priorities, well below 'avoid being bitten' and 'find food'. Regina walked toward the house, which looked less promising the closer she drew to it. Still, there had to be something, right? Well, of course not; the universe didn't owe them anything. In all likelihood, this was a fruitless endeavor at best -- potentially fatal at worst.

Dammit, the nihilism was surfacing again.

Regina decided to focus on the house and how many potential entry points she could see at a glance.

Graveyard

Looking at the house across the street, Regina sees several windows and a door. The door appears to be intact, and so are the windows. Climbing over the windows might be difficult as they are about five feet off the ground. And who's to say they're not locked?

Nicole waves back at Ashley before resuming her people watching activity. While taking her stroll, Ashley hears footsteps coming up from behind her.

"Can I ask you somethin'?" Mina asks. The girl catches up to Ashley and walks at her side.

Ivy looked up at one of the shut windows. It was a bit tall for her, but it worse came to worst she could find something to stand on or get a boost from someone. But first, the more obvious means of getting inside.

Ivy tried the door.

For a moment, Ashley dared hope that her guest was Nicole, come to join her and perhaps lavish her with the praise and attention she so clearly deserved.  But of course, the world was a cold and cruel place, and that spectacularly failed to happen.  To her credit, Ashley managed to keep up her too-cool hands-in-pockets pose and easy gait, strolling idly through a graveyard with a child at her side whom many of her group risked their lives to rescue, as though both these were the most natural things in the world.

Honestly, they kinda were.  That's just how the world was now.

"Don't reckon I could stop you even if I wanted to."  She wasn't entirely certain when "reckon" entered her vocabulary, but it sounded like something one of those badass cowboy movie heroes would say, so she rolled with it.  Before Mina could take what she said too harshly, Ashley cocked her head to one side and flashed the girl a knowing grin.  "That's a joke.  Ask away."

The corner of Mary's mouth quirks downward as she looks from Ashley to the building. In a house like that, the only thing we'll find is a banjo.

She glances over at Ivy and is tempted to sigh again, but doesn't. While she doesn't relish the thought of entering more children into the mix, Ivy seems more trustworthy than Dwayne. At first, Mary wasn't sure how she felt about the girl carrying guns, but she seems responsible enough from what Mary had seen, and she won't be the first girl in this state to shoot something before her first period. If anything, Ivy might be useful in keeping Dwayne under control.

"Let's see if there's anyone ready to welcome us," Mary says, approaching the house. She picks out the window with the clearest view to the inside and raps her knuckles several times on the glass.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:54, Sat 04 Apr 2020.

The House

Ivy tries the door, and the door refused to open. It appears that someone had left it locked. Dwayne knocks against the door and waits for a response.

When Mary knocks against the window everyone hears a sound coming from inside. However, after that initial sudden noise comes silence.


Graveyard

Ashley sees the child looking up to her from her side with a hollow expression.

"People come back when they die. We're in a graveyard, ain't this where dead people go?" She asks. "Will they come back?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:07, Sun 12 Apr 2020.

Something was in there. But was it a monster, or a person? Or something else entirely?

"Hello?!" Ivy called out. "Is anyone home?"

The House

"If you're planning to rob a house you better look elsewhere." A man's voice responds from inside the house.

Huh. A person, then.

"We're not gonna rob the house," Ivy answered. Granted, they were going to, but that was before they discovered that someone was actually still living there.

A living person? That's good news. Probably.

"That's fine," Mary calls up to the window. "Can you tell us anything about the area? Other houses we shouldn't rob, perhaps?"

She pauses, glancing over her shoulder towards the graveyard, then looks back up at the window. "Also, do you know where we could find a guitar?"

The House



"Yeah, sure." The man behind the door says. When Mary poses her question, the group hears some shuffling noise inside the house.

"I can't help you with the guitar-" the man grunts in middle of his sentence, "I do know the area. I am not saying anything until I know who you are and why you're here."
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:26, Tue 14 Apr 2020.

"I'm Ivy," said the girl. "We just stopped at the graveyard to rest a bit.

"What about you? Is this your house?"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:11, Mon 13 Apr 2020.

"Regina," the doctor curtly replied. "And I wish I could tell you why we're here," at that, she gave Mary a joyless smile. "At the very least I can say we're not going to rob and/or murder anyone."

The House



There's a short delay before the stranger answers. "...Yeah, you could say that." His voice fades in volume as if he's backing away from the door.

"If you can't tell me why you're here, then tell me why you left, from where ever you came from." The man demands.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:26, Tue 14 Apr 2020.

"My name's Mary," Mary says in a patient tone. "We're just passing through. We had some engine trouble and we're taking the opportunity to pick up supplies while the rest of our group fixes it. We don't want to bother you. I wouldn't even have come to this house if I thought anyone was inside."

She steps away from the window, but stays close to the wall, where she can't be seen from inside unless the speaker presses his face against the glass. She takes the opportunity to shoot the others an annoyed glance. "We're from Rosedale. It's on the river. There's nothing left for us there but death and bad memories."

"Honestly?  I dunno."  Ashley shrugged in a way that was far too casual for someone contemplating the idea of the dead rising all around her.  Of course, her feigned disinterest hid the fact that she had, in fact, contemplated this at length on more than one occasion, and she wasn't about to let an opportunity to ramble about it pass her by.

"It's a virus.  ...Probably.  If we discount the possibility of magic or divine retribution, it's a virus, probably airborne."  She gestured aimlessly as she spoke, counting off magic and divine retribution on her fingers as she walked along, seeming for all the world like she was explaining something perfectly normal and not at all unsettling.  After all, she was Ashley Soma, and she had this shit all figured out, along with everything else in her life.  "One day, dead people just started getting up, and it happened no matter how they died.  So it's not spread by blood or by touch.  We've all got it, and so does everyone else who's still around, and the only way to stop it is..."  She raised a hand to point two fingers at her temple, in ghoulish mimicry of a gun, and jerked them back sharply to imitate a shot fired.

"...Really, though, it's not all that scary."  She paused to look over a nearby tombstone, and, as direct demonstration of her words, proceeded to sit down against it, and turned a calm smile to Mina.  "Especially here.  Even if the dead folks here start moving around, there's a sturdy wood box and six feet of packed dirt between them and us.  Slow as they are, it'd take them years to dig out.  That's why I think graveyards are sometimes safer than houses, now."  Really, Ash?  That's supposed to be the reassuring part?  ...Oh, fine.  "But I like to think they all escaped this.  A virus only cares about a living host, so anyone who died before all this started gets to rest easy, I think.  Truth be told, I kinda envy them."  Her lips bent in an impish little half smirk, leaving it unclear just how serious she was being.

Ivy gulped. Something about this felt wrong. "What's your name?" she asked as she quietly side-stepped away from the door, slipping a hand into one of her jacket's many pockets to grip her .22 pistol.

Trisha keeps to herself initially, watching Fernando as he wanders about, sniffing over the graves and marking against every raised headstone. Her eyes drift over to Ashley and she considers joining her and whatever bleak, philosophical monologue she is likely to be spinning for Mina. Though she would usually jump at the chance, she has other things on her mind.

Instead, she takes it upon herself to approach Nicole. It is perhaps the first time she has seen the girl willingly separated from Ashley. Without that cloud of jealousy overhead, Trisha can suddenly find fewer reasons to hate her.

Without a word, she walks over to lean against the side of the truck bed next to Nicole. She is silent for a brief moment, unsure of what to actually say.
"You doin' ok?" Trisha asks softly. "I know don't really talk much, but it's ok if you did want to." Despite her best attempt to reach out, she is feeling increasingly awkward. "Only if you wanted to or whatever. Sometimes it makes me feel better about like, bad stuff."

Near the Truck

Nicole eyes abruptly shifts to Trisha when she realizes Trisha had engaged her in a conversation. Its clear that she isn't expecting this.

"Y-Yeah, I'm doing okay. I mean, I think I am doing okay." She replies. "There were three of us when we ran... Angie, me and..." Nicole tries to recall the name but was unable to do so. "That... foreign guy, you know who I am talking about? He died because I... I was too scared to run." She looks down, devastated. "Its all because of me and I don't even remember his name..."


Cemetery Stroll

Mina seems to be strangely attentive to Ashley's explanation. Its hard to tell how much the girl understands, but she's clearly interested.

"We all got it? So if I die then I'd come back." Mina states. "Does that mean my dad will come back too? He has this, virus, and he is dead." The girl looks to Ashley with gleaming eyes.


The House

"Rosedale, huh." There are no further reply from the man until Ivy asks a follow up question.



"Little girl, I don't see how that's relevant to you if you're just passing through." The man says. "If you need parts, there's nothing left in town, its all picked clean. I suggest you find another vehicle, or salvage one for the parts you need." The man pauses briefly. "But there is another option..."

"What do you mean?" Ivy asked.

Mary frowns. She doesn't mind his paranoia; there's plenty of reasons not to trust strangers, and she doesn't take that personally. His trailing implication, however, strikes a nerve. There's no reason to be coy unless he's about to ask for something truly outrageous - or at least, that's what she assumes after years of straight-talking negotiations in her former life.

Without saying anything, Mary shifts from her current position, creeping towards another window while keeping her back close to the wall. If this goes south, she doesn't want to be wherever he thinks she is.

Trisha rests her head in her hand as she listens to Nicole.
"His name was Chi. At least I think it was, we ain't talked much." She shrugs, seemingly unfazed by the grim revelation. "I guess I can't really get mad or nothin'. I barely knew him."
Though she isn't quite ready to make friends, Trisha sees no harm in a little encouragement.
"You'll get over it. Just don't be a wuss about it. Ain't like it's just you was killin' people on accident."
And with that, Trisha has said about all she can come up with and her attention starts to wander.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:02, Tue 21 Apr 2020.

The House

For a while, Ivy didn't hear a response. The group did hear footsteps of the man moving closer to the door.

"Why don't I give you some directions instead." Finally, the man speaks. "Keep going down route 448 with your car, you're not far, Regina, Mary." He states your names. "And Ivy."

"Stop being cryptic and just tell us what this 'other option' is," Regina snapped, having begun to tap her foot impatiently. Being told to go somewhere and listening -- without asking for clarification -- would have been idiotic.

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but... yeah, that's pretty much it."  Ashley shrugged, a tired acceptance of her fate.  If she could've given any other answer, she would've much rather done that, but it would be best for the kid to know the facts of (un)life.  This new world had no room for sugar-coated fairytales.

"I lost someone... important, too."  Her expression became distant, looking through Mina rather than at her.  It felt like a million years ago, but the wound it left still hurt like it was yesterday.  She cast a glance back to the rest of the group; to the truck, and to Nicole, before returning her attention to Mina.  "Now she's one of them, because I didn't have the guts to... y'know."  She once again mimed a finger-gun at the side of her head.

"That's why you -- that's why all of us -- need to be careful now.  You need to learn everything you can: how to run, how to hide, how to fight, how to survive."  This topic, at least, found Ashley in a somewhat better mood; she was much more comfortable talking about this sort of thing than she was at talking about her feelings, her failings.

The House

"I don't think you're in any position to demand anything out of me, Regina. I don't owe you people anything." The man respond in kind. "That's all I have to say, take it or leave it."


On the Walk

"It ain't fair." Mina protests. "They ain't gotta learn any of those things, why do we have to?" She picks up a small piece of rock and tosses it at one of the gravestones. "Ain't it better to be one of 'em? Then I can be with my dad, and you can be with your friend." The girl looks to Ashley.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:33, Wed 22 Apr 2020.

"Thanks for the tip," Mary says, then steps away from the wall. Reaching down, she gives Ivy a brief pat on the shoulder, directing her to follow, before stepping close to Regina.

"Come on," she says simply, then drops her voice so low that only Regina and Ivy can hear. "I don't trust him either, and we're not going to rob him, so there's nothing left here. Let's talk to Edward and figure out our options."

"Okay..." Ivy had been expecting a fun treasure hunt through an empty house, only to instead end up with a shady hint from some nameless stranger, which was almost obviously a trap. The girl couldn't hide her disappointment.

Ashley got that far-away look again.  "Heh.  I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it.  More than once."  A smile materialized on her lips, bittersweet in a way that a 15-year-old musing about death probably shouldn't be.  "But that's not how it goes.  They don't... recognize you.  They barely seem to think at all.  As far as any of us could tell, when you die and you get back up, it's not you up there anymore."  She tapped a finger against the side of her head.  "Or if it is, you're just a passenger.  Trapped in your own head, forever, while this... whatever it is, moves your body around like a puppet on strings."  She 'danced' her hands up and down like she was manipulating some unseen puppet, with more than a hint of morbid glee.

"That's why I'm fighting so hard to stay alive, anyway."  Ashley calmed her little puppet show, and paused to push herself up off the ground, standing with the intent of resuming her graveyard stroll.  "The world, the planet, wouldn't care if we all died off.  It happened to the dinosaurs, and the Earth's still turning.  Grass still grows, birds still sing, bears still shit in the woods.  None of it would care if all us humans, living and dead both, just vanished one day.  But... I think I'd care, if I stopped being me.  If I became something... less.  If I hurt people."  More than I do on a regular and daily basis, anyhow.  "We're responsible for whatever comes next.  You wanna paint a picture, play a song, build a castle?  Maybe even eat a good sandwich again some day."  God I could go for a fucking Hot Brown right about now.  "Or do you wanna--"  She stuck her arms out straight and stiff and staggered several steps forward, away from Mina, mimicking the zombies' unsteady gait.  After a few steps, she stopped and wheeled around on one heel to face Mina, lowering her arms and flashing the girl a toothy grin.  "That's why."

...Just when did you get all heroic, anyway?
This message was last edited by the player at 01:36, Fri 01 May 2020.

Trisha waits for a reply that does not come. 'What the hell, I was bein' nice that time. What more does she want!' She thinks as she rolls her eyes and pushes off the edge of the truckbed in a huff.
"What's Mary doin'?" She wonders aloud, stepping around the truck to get a better look at the house. After being left to herself for a short time, Trisha is growing fidgety and wishes to seek out instruction. She sees Mary turn to walk away from the house, without setting a foot inside.
"How come they ain't went in?" She asks, the question directed to nobody in particular. She walks up to the edge of the road, but deliberately goes no further, simply watching curiously from afar.

Mary raises a hand and gives a brief wave to Trisha as they approach the graveyard. It's a wave of acknowledgment, not of triumph or even friendliness. Her body language does not imply she has good news.

Near the Cemetery

"Yeah but, what if it happens again next time..." Nicole says quietly. "What if I kill you too."

A loud *thunk* interrupts the conversation. Edward wipes the sweat and grease off of his face after pulling his head out of the hood of the truck. He turns to the group.

"Ain't gonna be able to fix it here. This bad boy was on his last legs, some of 'em wires are fried." The soldier says out loud. "Why the sulkin' face kiddo?" He asks Ivy.


Cemetery Stroll

(!) Mina will remember that

After thinking for a bit, the little girl comments, "I wanna... eat a burger." She stops with Ashley and looks to to her. "What do you wanna do?"

"We didn't get to go in the house," Ivy grumbled. "Some creepy guy was there. He wouldn't tell us his name, but he said there was something down 'route 448' that could help us."

Near the Cemetery

"Don't take it personally kiddo, maybe he's just an grumpy old man. We ain't too far from that school Malcolm told us about. Goin' down this route will take us there, maybe we'll run into his friends." Edward glances over at the truck. "We're gonna have to go on foot." He states.

"Burger's a good choice.  I'd take a Big Mac."  Ashley paused with a frown.  Every so often, something reminds you of just how permanent the apocalypse is.  She drew a breath and released it in a heavy sigh.

"Personally, I miss music.  I keep tellin' myself that one day I'll find a Walkman and some batteries, but I guess it's not the '90s anymore.  We have MP3 players, and those are all dead, because it's not like you can charge 'em now."  She paused again there, suddenly looking thoughtful, eyes narrowed slightly as she mulled over a new idea.  "...Y'know, there's gotta be some places with solar generators.  Those would still work.  But in the meanwhile, just hand me a guitar and I could at least entertain us a bit."

Ashley spotted the group reconvening, the house-explorers returning sooner than expected, and turned herself back towards the road to rejoin them, waving Mina along with one hand to accompany her.  Her little stroll was shorter than she'd intended, but she'd still had the chance to do some thinking.  Maybe the others might be interested in hearing her thoughts too.

"Well just-" Trisha's reply is cut off Ed as he pulls down the hood of the truck and gives his diagnosis. She stops to hear what he has to say, then turns back to Nicole.

"You just gotta make sure it don't happen again next time." She says with a slight grin, rolling her eyes playfully, as if it was so obvious she should not even have to say it. "I thought I was the idiot."
She continues to shrug off all of Nicole's concerns, the soundest method she has found for coping with life's dilemmas.

"Anyways, you don't even gotta worry none about that last bit. If I'm dyin' it ain't gonna be for you."
Now that Mary and the others had rejoined the group, Trisha can feel her attention begin to waver as she starts to listen in on the conversation.

"I dunno..." Ivy replied with unease. "Something about this feels weird."

Cemetery Stroll

"Daddy had a guitar." Mina replies. "He gave it to that man over there." The girl points at Edward, who's currently speaking to the others around him. "What songs do you play?" She asks Ashley.

Near the Cemetery

Nicole doesn't seem convinced by Trisha's words. She contemplates with her own thoughts when the conversation moved on.

"Ya think so? I could try askin' that guy in that house, maybe he'll tell us more if he knew Malcolm." Edward says, his tone is less optimistic than before.

"What do y'all think?" He asks everyone.

"Who was Malcolm again?" Mary asks. Was he the boy that went to the gas station with Elijah and me? No, that was someone else. He must have been one of the ones the started a fight in the church kitchen.

"Maybe Malcolm's the one who made him so paranoid," Mary says dryly, crossing her arms and looking back over her shoulder at the house. "It wouldn't hurt to ask. If he was going to shoot us, he'd probably have tried already."

"I could play the hell out of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  Ashley smirked down at Mina, forgetting for a moment that the girl may or may not catch her slippery brand of sarcastic humor.  "That... that was a joke.  I mean, I probably could."  She shrugged; she'd never really given it any thought before, but music was music, and she desperately wanted to not forget music.  Even if it was silly little childhood songs.

Maybe especially silly little childhood songs, some sentimental part of her said.

"I guess... I play a lotta songs, really.  I try, anyway.  Mostly rock, indie stuff, that sort of thing.  I'm not, like, a guitar god or anything."  Rest in peace, you beautiful bastard.  Or, hell, he's probably still out there kicking ass and not even bothering to take names.  Can you imagine that?  Meeting Lemmy in the motherfucking apocalypse?  ...Focus, Ash.  "But I like to think I'm alright.  I was in a band for like two weeks, once upon a time."  Less than six months ago, if I recall correctly.  God, I hope I don't lose track of time.  For the world before this to mean anything, someone has to remember it.  "I try to keep in practice.  Well, tried.  Can't do much without a guitar to practice on."  A devious plot suddenly hatched in her mind, and she leaned down to be level with Mina before continuing.

Well, it wasn't that devious.  It was pretty ordinary, really.  But Ashley prided herself on her cleverness regardless.

"Tell you what.  You talk Ed-boy there into loaning me that guitar, and I'll play you whatever song you want."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:37, Mon 11 May 2020.

Near the Truck

"He's one of the young lad that was with us. Blonde hair with glasses, real skinny." Edward describes the young man to Mary. "He was tellin' us about this place, said there was a community at the school and he helped savin' it." The soldier shrugs. "Dunno why he didn't come back here and went with us instead." He smiles at Mary, although it slowly fades into a look of revelation. "Ya know, maybe he did piss somebody off here..." Edward rubs his chin.

Cemetery Stroll

Mina considers Ashley's proposition for a while while looking down. She resumes the stroll with Ashley. Some time later, she speaks. "It ain't his, so I can get it back if I want to." She kicks a stone off the street as she walks.

"Dad ain't good with it, and he... he..." Mina sniffs. She looks like she's about to cry.

"Maybe...one or two of us could go check it out first?" Ivy suggested. "To make sure it's not a trap?"

Trisha vaguely recognizes the name but until Ed described him, she could remember nothing at all about Malcolm.
"Oh yeah I remember him. Kinda."
She looks back at the house with a puzzled expression, wondering what exactly the man inside had told them.
"I'll do it." Trisha shrugs, not fully aware of all the details, but still happy to help.
"Ain't gonna be no traps. Like Mary says, it were gonna be a trap, woulda been one the first time. So, what am I askin'?"

Near the Truck

"Maybe, nothin' to loose takin' a quick peek." Edward comments.

"I- I'll come too." Nicole volunteers herself shortly after Trisha. "I want to help."

"No, Trisha," Mary says, "The man told us there's a place down the road that...hmm. Actually, he didn't tell us what was down there at all. He just implied it would have something that could help us, probably either a working vehicle or spare parts. That's what Ivy's talking about.

"I agree with Trisha that we can probably ask the man about Malcolm safely. I also, however, agree with Ivy that the road could be a trap. A couple of us should go first, and the rest of us follow in a way that will allow us to help them out of whatever ambush may be waiting."

Aw hell.  I'm no good at children to begin with, even worse at crying ones.  Ashley barely suppressed an annoyed sigh as she mentally scrambled for some way to salvage the situation (and what remained of her sanity).

"Hey, hey."  She laid one hand on Mina's shoulder in a way she hoped would be comforting, trying her best to deliver a calm and reassuring smile.  "What's your dad's favorite song?  I could probably play it for you."  Think of the good times, that'll help.  Hopefully.  Referring to Mina's father in the present tense, rather than past, was a deliberate move to keep the girl from thinking about him as dead.  Manipulation, sure, but it was for a good cause.

Trisha instinctively lets out a quiet snicker at the suggestion, before quickly attempting to stifle the outburst. It's not that she meant to be mean, she just thought it was a dumb idea.

"Fine." She says in a huff, knowing there will be no more said on it. As Mary explains further, Trisha begins to grow perplexed, her nose scrunching up in confusion.
"Let's go do that then." She chirps, happy to follow Mary's orders first, ask questions second. "Why ain't he said what it was? That's weird shit."

"Right??"

Cemetery Stroll

Ashley's plan worked on the little girl. Her eyes looks up to the sky as she thinks.

"He said ain't no songs better than our national anthem." Mina says. "He plays a lot of Streets of Laredo too when I can't sleep. You ever heard of that song?" She asks.


Near The Truck

(?) Nicole will remember that.

Nicole notices Trisha's snicker and quickly retracts from the conversation. It seems Trisha's response snuff out any sort of confidence she briefly had.

"Then let's go talk to this man, and be real friendly-like." Edward walks toward the house along with anyone who choose to follow.

Trisha turns to look at Ivy and cracks a smile at the young girl's response.
"Sounds like when your brothers are like "Go look under the back porch" and when you do it there's a old dead cat or a snake down there. Used to fall for it all the time when I was littler." She muses, as if she hadn't fallen for the same basic trick many times since then.
At his departure, Trisha begins to follow along. She takes only a few steps before looking back to Mary for approval.

"Quite right," Mary says dryly. "That shit is very weird."

She notices Trisha looking back at her, and motions for her to continue. "Yes, let's go talk to him. He might be trying to get us killed, but if he hasn't attacked us yet, he probably won't risk it when more of us show up."

Probably. Mary suppresses the urge to frown, then glances over the members of the group. "Does anyone want to try circling around behind his home, just in case?"

National anthem?  To say that Ashley wasn't exactly the 'America, fuck yeah' type would be an understatement... but then, any guitarist worth their salt has tried to mimic Jimi Hendrix's rendition of it at least once -- even a middling amateur like Ashley.

"Anthem I can do for sure.  Dunno if I've ever heard a Streets of Laredo, though.  Cliffs of Dover, yes, Streets of Laredo, not so much."  She shrugged apologetically, though the sentiment quickly gave way to another boastful grin.  "Think you could hum it?  I could totally play along if you give me something to work with."  Deciding to seize upon this train of thought before the girl could get back to thinking morbid thoughts, Ashley waved Mina along as she turned her leisurely stroll back towards the parked vehicles and the rest of the group.  "C'mon, let's get us a gee-tar."

"I can do it," Ivy volunteered.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:01, Wed 03 June 2020.

Lone House

The group approaches the house again. At the front door, Edward turns to look at the others. "Alright, be nice." He turns his head back to the door and knocks.

After a short pause, they hear the man's voice. "You lot, again? I thought I made myself clear." The man makes no effort to hide his impatience in his words.

"We wanna know if ya know our friend, Malcolm, he's real tall and skinny. He used to be one of y'all." Edward speaks.

"No, I don't know him." The stranger flatly responds.

That was straightforward. Mary looks at Edward and shrugs.

She considers asking about this school that Edward had mentioned before, but decides against it; first, she knows nothing about the school and anything the stranger could tell her would be irrelevant, and second, she doesn't want to let on what they're looking for. Even though the man doesn't seem to be an immediate threat, there's definitely something sketchy about him.

Eyes slipping closed with impatience, Terry lets his mind drift. His mouth hardens into a thin line as it invariably goes to to his stomach and holds for a small painfully sharp moment. He’d done his best not to think of it these last few hours but a man can only do his best when he is spread so blatantly thin.



Clicking his tongue, Terry meets Ivy's gaze and gives a wide, dangerous grin, his small, flat teeth peeking out between chapped lips before gesturing to the side of the house with a subtle jerk of his massive head. Nature smelled thinly of pine, death and urine. By the pressure in his taut bladder, the mountain of man muscle can only resign himself to adding his own blend to the cloying scent eventually. There was only so long decorum and pride could hold out. Or the human body. It had its limitations just like Terry.

Terry makes for side of the house and pauses, giving the child the freedom make a decision to follow him on her own. A quick perimeter check and then he'd piss on the fucker's place for wasting their collective time and be done with it. A smile ghost's over his mouth at the thought of pettiness.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:34, Sat 20 June 2020.

Ivy followed in the massive man's wake, drawing her dinky .22 pistol from her jacket pocket. As much as she struggled to be optimistic, it was clear by now that whoever was in that house was 100% shady. Better safe than sorry.

The girl followed the perimeter of the house around to the back, peeking around the corner to look for the rear entrance.

At the Door

Edward exchanges a look with Mary after the stranger's response.

"Our friend came from this community here in town, from Shaw High School. Are you from that community?" The soldier asks. There's a long pause before the stranger responds.

"If your friend is from there, I would know. Why is he not with you?" The man asks.

"We parted ways." Edward replies.


Around the House

Terry and Ivy spots a lone undead about forty feet away from the house. Its shambling towards their way. They can't determine if the lone ghoul spotted them or not.

They both see a window on the back of the house. if they get up close, they can peek through to see the inside.

Terry put a palm up to acknowledge Ivy silently as his eyes dart from the open window to her figure and back again, as if appraising her height.

He jerks a meaty thumb toward the window, flashing a dangerous grin at Ivy with raised eyebrows. His caricature of an oversized, mischievous cartoon wolf aside his intentions are obvious. Terry gets into a crouch and slides underneath the open window to the side near the rear of the house so that Ivy, if she so chose, could peek from the side closest to relative safety.

Terry regains his composure on the opposite side and continues pressing onward, confident that Ivy will be more interested in her assignment than the proximity of the walking dead. He gauges the distance, shrugs his shoulders and decides to peek through the window before potentially making himself visible to anyone inside. It'd be hard for Terry to do anything and not be in someone's eyesight so he needed to be certain on this.

He wasn't too keen on adding any more grams of iron to this diet.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:30, Thu 25 June 2020.

With Mary's approval, Trisha follows along with the others to the front door of the house to speak to the stranger.
As the man fails to give any useful answers, she is determined to ask him before he is confirmed to be totally unhelpful. At the first break in the conversation, she speaks up.
"I heard that you said before about followin' down some road to get to someplace. What's there?"

Mary's brow furrows as she gives Edward a sidelong look. She knows little about Malcolm and less about this fabled community Edward is talking about, so she can only guess how the man could know the community but not know Malcolm. She looks back towards the house and wracks her brain, trying to remember anything about Malcolm. Who had he been again? Had he come with Elijah and her to the gas station? No, that was some other boy. Joseph or Justin or something. Malcolm must have been in the dining room when Camellia pulled a gun.

"Malcolm passed through Rosedale four, maybe five weeks ago," Mary says to the man inside. "He must have left Shaw before then. How long have you known the people in Shaw High School? It might have been before your time.

"You're sure you don't know him?" she continues. "He was almost skeletally thin. Glasses, too. And...a New England accent! That's right, isn't it?"

She punctuates the last question with a look towards Edward.

Taking Terry's hint, Ivy approached the window and took a peek inside. The lone monster had her a little nervous, but it was just one. They could deal with it if they really had to.

At the Door



"People from the school." The man answers flatly.



"Yeah, yeah that's him." Edward replies.

There comes another long pause before the man behind the door speaks again.

"I..." There's another awkward pause. "Never met him. Look," you can sense irritation slowly building from the tone of his voice, "if you people are looking for the school just do what I say and head-" He cuts himself off in mid sentence. There's another pause before the group hears a exasperated sigh. Then the mans speaks again in a much slow, calm manner. "There's a good number of you people, they won't try anything."

Behind the House

From the window, Ivy and Terry sees a man standing near the door. He is standing a few steps away from the door. In his right hand holds a pistol. In his other hand he's holding a radio. It looks like he is actively listening to it while having a conversation with the rest of the group through the door. At some point of the conversation, the man turns around and hits the grip of his gun at his forehead out of frustration. Terry and Ivy ducks out of sight before the man spots them through the window.

When he turns around to speak to the group again, Terry and Ivy resumes their peeping activity together.

"He's using a radio!" Terry announces unnecessarily. "And he's probably feedin' us bullshit. We could be walkin' right into a trap."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:43, Thu 02 July 2020.

The color drained from Ivy's face as Terry loudly blew their cover. Maybe having him along for a stealth mission wasn't the best idea.

One side of Mary's mouth quirks downward into a frown. She hadn't trusted the man before, and she trusts him less now. She doesn't know exactly what to make of his strange, start-and-stop speech patterns, but she knows that one seldom has to stop and evaluate their exact words when they're telling the truth.

In any case, Malcolm was their one in. If the man doesn't recognize the name - or claims not to - then they have nothing else with which to convince him. Mary makes eye contact with Edward as jerks her head backward slightly, indicating that it's time to leave.

At the Truck

While the others are occupied with the house, Mina leads Ashley to the truck. She grabs onto the side mirrors and climb onto the side of the driver's window. There's a backpack in the seat that belongs to the driver. A guitar is sticking out of it. The little girl points at the backpack. "There, its there." She says.


At the Door

Edward nods in agreement at Mary's suggestion. He gives the door one last look before walking away. On their way back, they see Rufus and Natasha meeting them half way from the truck.

"As fascinating as it is to linger around the resting place of old ghosts, are we moving on soon?" Rufus asks.

"Yeah, we might gotta walk on foot. Ain't fixin' that truck without the parts I need." Edward replies.

"Well that fucking blows." Natasha comments. "Where are we headed?"



The group hears Terry's shout from the other side of the house. No doubt the man inside heard it as well.


Behind the House

At Terry's announcement, the man looks up from his radio. In that split second, his eyes meet the two of you. Terry and Ivy have but a brief second to act before the man responds in kind.

The lone ghoul at a distance growls at the source of the voice. It shambles eagerly towards the duo at an accelerated pace. It is about twenty feet away from the duo.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:09, Fri 03 July 2020.

Mary stops and turns on her heel, her expression sharpening as she looks back towards the house.

"Goddamn it, Terry," she mutters. Her hand reaches for the rifle strap on her shoulder, reflexively readying herself for another fight, but stops halfway when she decides not to escalate the situation. Instead, she moves to the nearest cover.

"We're not looking for a fight!" she announces towards the house once she's got something solid between her and the man. "Don't do anything stupid!"

"Eep!" Ivy ducked away from the window as the man looked their way, though not quickly enough to avoid them locking gazes for a brief moment. The jig was up. And to make matters worse, that monster was heading right for them. "Monster, monster."

Terry's eyes jerk from the man to his weapon and a cold finger of dread curls painfully in his middle. His chest tightens, and he smothers the urge to fling himself into further danger.

"I'm back here tryna pee and saw yer lil radio already. What the hell you got goin' on?" he sneers, ready to leap into his rolodex of insults and/or excuses.



"Where? I-” Terry stops himself from continuing to yell at the man. He brings his voice down lower.

He hears Ivy's voice above the crunch of leaves and twigs and turns his head to identify the clumsy, peculiar gait of its owner. Considering the threat he and Ivy had just detected, the dead felt came more as nuisance than anything. He couldn't consider the possibilities of not acting, not now.

He may be unarmed but Terry is never weaponless. He takes off in full sprint of the dead, intent on either knocking it over or going through it. There are no breaks on the T-Train.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:16, Sun 12 July 2020.

Trisha freezes in place as the sound of Terry's voice bellows from around the other side of the house. She is immediately struck with fear, caught off guard in such an open area. She throws her arms out defensively, showing her empty hands to anyone who might be thinking about shooting.
"We-I ain't knew that he was back there." She takes a shaky step back, feeling her heart beat frantically as she looks around for possible cover.
"We ain't tryna start nothin', I swear."

Terry & Ivy

The behemoth charges at the ghoul. Reminiscences of his past career comes to life through his muscles. The undead flies off to the side at the point of impact, lying face down on the ground. It growls at the large man, crawling closer.

They see the man walking over by the windows, gun raised. He does not fire, but doesn't seems to oppose the idea if the situation calls for it.


Being closer to the windows, Ivy hears the man's laconic response to his radio.


Outside

"We ain't lookin' for trouble." Despite what he says, Edward is already reaching for his rifle. "Hey, get down, everyone!" He urges the others to fall behind the truck he is currently using as cover. Dwayne immediately follows the soldier and stays well hidden next to him.



"I doubt that." Trisha hears the man's reply.

"From numbers alone I think its unwise-" Natasha pulls Rufus away by the arm in middle of his speech.

"All of you should leave." They hear the man say in response. There's not a hint of concern in his voice.

Terry's boot crushes the head of the dead [heh] and he spins on his heel to trudge back to the "house". As he walks he takes time to scrape the bottom of his boot against the ground in an effort to rid the gray slush trail connecting him to the scene.

He's back at the window in seconds. "Back to the front, kid." he drawls gruffly.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:06, Tue 21 July 2020.

He hasn't started shooting yet, Mary thinks. That's good. At this point in the post-apocalypse, she figures everyone still alive either has guns or friends with guns and will have them on hand when talking to strangers. If the man hasn't started shooting yet, she figured, it must be by choice. Nonetheless, she kept that cover between her and the home.

"Terry, you could piss literally anywhere!" Mary winces at swearing around the children, but urinate would take too long and she will never lower herself to saying pee. "Get up here, for god's sake."

Yes, it's harsh yelling at him for sneaking around back when she's suggested it in the first place, but there's the mildest chance she could bluff some plausible deniability into the stranger's mind. She'll apologize to him later. Right now, Mary can't stop thinking about the radio Terry had mentioned.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:49, Fri 24 July 2020.

Ivy, who until that point had been staring down the radio-carrying man, glanced back at Terry out of the corner of her eye, before returning her gaze to the stranger.

"What's a 'protocol'?" she asked, mirroring his utterance into the radio. "What are you telling them to do?"

Ivy

Ivy's question seems to have caught the stranger's attention. He lifts his finger off of the radio button and glances at the child through the window. The man takes a few steps closer. For a while, he appears to be studying her.

"Its a series of instructions that people follow in response to certain... events." The stranger looks to the door briefly, then back to the child. Ivy sees him pressing down the radio button. "How old are you?" He asks, without answering Ivy's latter question.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
NPC compendium updated.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 04:31, Thu 23 July 2020.

"Why do you want to know?" Ivy asked, without answering his question.

Ivy

The stranger leans in closer to the window. Ivy sees a pin with a majestic design of an angry cardinal.

"You look eleven." He states, ignoring Ivy's question. " Or ten." The man backs away from the window.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:21, Fri 24 July 2020.

Still no shooting. So far, so good. The stranger is out of sight, but Mary still doesn't go for her rifle, desperate not to let this devolve into a gunfight. Should I shout again? No, I can't add anything now. All I can do is hope they don't do anything stupid.

Mary ducks behind the cover and shrugs her backpack off her shoulder. Opening it, she pulls out the walkie-talkie. If the man's on a radio, surely she can listen in on whatever's being transmitted.

If only I knew the first damn thing about radios. Mary fiddles with the knobs for a moment, but gets nowhere. She bites her lower lip, then looks up. Of course!

"G.I.!" she whispers, looking at Edward. She holds out the radio with one hand towards him. "Terry said the man has a radio. Can you tap into that transmission?"

"Why do you want to know how old I am?!" Ivy insisted in a much louder voice. This situation had rapidly gone from being shady to making the young girl feel deeply uncomfortable.

Outside

"Let me try." Edward takes the radio. He leans an ear close tot he device as he tunes the dials.

*zzzzt*

Static seems to be the only thing the group hears for the time being.

... *zzzzt*

*zzzzt* "...look eleven.." ... *zzzzt*

The group hears a fraction of a sentence.

"Or Ten."

The voice sounds like the stranger from the house.

"Ten?... Is she the only one?"

No one recognizes the new voice from the radio. It belongs to a woman.

"No, there's more."


Backside of the House

"No, there's more." The stranger speaks into the radio right before Ivy demands her question to be answered. Her raising her voice definitely caught the stranger's attention.

"I'm curious." He responds. For a moment, the stranger looks to be ready to resume his conversation with the person on the other end of the radio. His finger pauses in air without pressing down the button.

"Was I right?" He asks.
This message was last updated by the GM at 20:13, Tue 28 July 2020.

Terry shrugs at his ignored prompt, looking annoyed, but not specifically annoyed at her.



Within the span of 5 minutes, Terry’s smile is gone. Forgotten as he tries not to take Mary's disappointment in him to heart. In spite of her badgering he doesn't leave Ivy's side. He glances from Ivy to the armed man in the room and wishes, with all his might, that there wasn't a barrier separating the two parties. He also wishes they would stop circling one another like alley cats.

What in the hell were those dumb ass army guys doing? Why was no one but the girl taking any kind of initiative? Terry breaks to the side of the home so he won't be seen. When he comes back into view he is shirtless, his wrapped in the cloth for protection as he drives his fist through the god damn window.

"Is this a thrill for you? Huh!? Hasslin' little girls like that? THAT WHAT GETS YOU OFF?!”

It takes an embarrasing amount of time for Trisha to realize that the rest of the group had taken cover at the first sign of danger. She rushes to join them, skittering over to huddle in close to Mary.

Trisha watches on as Mary and Edward fiddle with the radio. Her mouth falls agape in shock as voices become clear through the static.
She looks puzzled for a moment until she realizes exactly what has happened. It is at this moment that Trisha learns that walkie-talkies can change what they pick up on.

"I didn't know it could do that." She whispers, looking at Ed as if he were a magician that just performed some amazing trick. "Can they hear us too?"

Outside

"Naw, unless I press this here." Edward's finger touches the button on the device.

Suddenly, the sound of crashing windows comes through the radio. A familiar voice can be heard from the radio, and from the house in the distance.

"Is this a thrill for you? Huh!? Hasslin' little girls like that? THAT WHAT GETS YOU OFF?!”

"What's happening!?" The woman on the radio asks frantically.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:33, Thu 30 July 2020.

After hearing the man appraise Ivy's age, Mary stares bug-eyed at the walkie-talkie for a moment, lips curled in a crooked expression of disgust mixed with rage.

"Fuck this guy," she says. "Fuck all these people."

"There's more," he said. Did he mean the adults? Or did he mean Dwayne? Dwayne, and...

"Mina." Mary looks up at Edward. "She's with Ashley and the others. Go, now! Make sure they're safe. Dwayne, you, um...keep watch, here."

Mary stands, finally transferring her rifle to her hands. Pressing its butt into her shoulder, she moves for the back of the house. She can feel anger and righteous indignation roiling in her head, but doesn't let it boil over. Her movements are purposeful but unhurried, staying quiet and close to the side of the house until Terry and Ivy come into view.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:49, Fri 31 July 2020.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch truck...

Ashley briefly weighed the pros and cons of stealing a man's guitar.  On the one hand, he didn't seem to use it much.  On the other hand, it wasn't really stealing stealing, since it was Mina's dad's guitar, and since Mina's dad is dead, that means it's Mina's guitar by right of succession.

What do you mean, that was two arguments on the same side?  Psh, whatever, loser.

"Yoink!"  Ashley deftly freed the guitar of its backpacky prison, and into her obviously deserving hands.  She turned it this way and that, inspecting it like one should always do with newfound treasure, and then held it in position to play.  Just before her fingers hit the strings, though, something caught her attention.  Specifically, the very angry and very audible shout that very clearly belonged to Terry -- the man's thunderous voice was kind of unmistakable.

"...Hey, Mina.  Let's hang here for a minute, alright?"  Ashley wasn't quite certain what trouble the rest of the group had gotten themselves into, being not close enough to see the whole scene clearly, but it was obvious that adding more chaos to the mix was the worst possible choice.  Under most circumstances, she would've said fuck it and done it anyway, but Mary had a gun out and that sounded a whole lot like breaking glass just a moment ago, and Ashley really didn't want to be responsible for anyone getting shot.

Anyone else getting shot.

Anyone besides herself.

Preferably not that either.

Trisha recoils from the sound of Terry's furious voice blasting through the radio.
"What the fuck, Terry?"
Crouched on her knees, she stays low to the ground and looks back to the house, but can't see much of anything important.
"What's wrong with Mina?" Mary's tone of voice is worrying and when she starts to speak again, Trisha waits for instruction, unsure of why the woman is suddenly so concerned.
Trisha watches her leave and after a moment of hesitation, she makes the snap decision to get up and follow.
"What is goin' on?" She whispers to herself as she creeps along the side of the house to catch up with Mary.

Outside

"Here, hold this." Edward passes the radio to Natasha and steps around the truck to Mina and Ashley. At the same time, Natasha and Rufus retreats behind the truck with him. Edward takes a look at the guitar in Ashley's hands before saying anything.

"Keep'er heads down. Don't move away from here, okay?" Edward says. "Dwayne, come here!" He calls.

Dwayne looks to the soldier, then at the house. The kid hurries over by the soldier's side.

"You stay here too." The soldier says. Edward arms himself with the rifle, pointing at the house, waiting.

They hear the stranger's voice through the radio.

"Make a wrong move and you'll regret it."

"What's happenin'? Terry's over there." Mina says with a look of concern.

Ruby hops off from the back of the truck. She growls lowly at the house. In the SUV, Angie pops her head out from behind the vehicle looking for any sort of instructions on what to do next. Edward waves his hand at the woman, signaling to stay low. Angie lowers her head but keeps her eyes on the house.

"This is exciting." Rufus states. "We should introduce ourselves over the radio."

Natasha stare at the man for a few seconds. "No, we shouldn't."

"Maybe... maybe we should talk to them? Tell them we're not bad people?" Dwayne says.

"Dwayne, maybe they are the bad people." Natasha replies.

"Talk to me Marcus, what's going on!?" The same woman's voice comes through the radio.


Back of the House

Mary and Trisha circles around the house as quietly as possible. Mary is certain that her movements were as silent as the wind when she reached the back of the house. The duo sees Ivy standing out by a broken window. That explains the sound of crashing glass from earlier. Also why Terry is not standing next to the girl.

Mary and Trisha hears the conversation coming from inside the house...

The stranger draws his pistol the moment Terry crashes through the window. Its hard for Terry to read the man's expression. He doesn't appear to be tense. The stranger has a strange look in his eyes. Its hard to discern if its a look of surprise or... admiration.

"Make a wrong move and you'll regret it." The stranger says, holding the pistol in his right hand. His left hand is still pressing down the button on the radio.

"Talk to me Marcus, what's going on!?" A woman's voice comes through the radio.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
NPC compendium updated.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 08:23, Tue 04 Aug 2020.

"So will you," Ivy answered as she leveled her pistol at the man and flipped the safety off.

"Ivy, g--" Mary starts to say get away from him as she rounds the corner, but is surprised to see the girl pointing her gun at the man. "...good girl."

She moves to cover the stranger. She doesn't point her gun at him, but holds it at a position where it's clear she can do so in an instant.

"You have one chance to explain yourself, and you'll want to be extremely convincing," Mary tells Marcus. "Why are you and yours so interested in our children?"

Ashley did as ordered, reserving her protest for after everyone was safely behind cover.

"Seriously," the teen sighed, already dark-eyed and glowering, "why is it that wherever we go, people always end up waving guns at each other?"  She huffed, darkly comic.  "'s goddamn rude is what it is.  Can't we all just get along?"

Even in the midst of crisis, she managed to spare a hint of a grin as she checked the faces of her comrades, in hopes of at least an inappropriate snicker or two.

Near the house

The stranger's gaze shifts between Ivy and Mary. It looks like he is counting the numbers against him in his head. At the same time, the group hears a solid *click* from the radio before it goes silent.

The corner of his mouth jolts as a small breath of air escapes through his teeth. "Not interested." The man lowers his gun. "Just curious." He looks to Ivy, then at Terry, Trisha, and Mary.

"You people arm a kid?" Marcus speaks. His tone, inquisitive. Although there are no visible change with his facial expression, he seems more broody somehow.

"Evidently, yes." The group hears Rufus' voice from the other side of the front door.

At the Truck

"Because people are assholes." Natasha responds. "Now the world turned to shit, people are qua-triple assholes."

Dwayne stares at the house with wide eyes. "Are they going to kill him?" He asks.

"Naw, I don't think we're gonna do that." Edward replies. "We're gonna- Hey!"

Rufus walks out of cover and makes his way across the street to the house.

"Get back here! The hell ya doin'!?" The soldier calls out to the man.

"He's alone, I'm interested to hear what he has to say." Rufus states.

"They didn't do anything," Ivy protested. "I put this thing together myself." Despite the man lowering his weapon, she kept her own trained on the stranger. "And would you quit dodging all our questions and just give us a real answer? Who are you? And who was that on the walkie-talkie?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:16, Sat 08 Aug 2020.

"That's not good enough," says Mary coldly. "You told your friends how old she was, you and your friends discussed that we have multiple children, and now you're concerned that our children can defend themselves. You're well past claiming curiosity."

She takes a deep breath, then releases it, keeping her eyes locked on the man the entire time. "Given all that, what do you expect us to think of you?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:54, Mon 10 Aug 2020.

Any sense of danger Trisha may have had dissapears as soon as she lays eyes on the stranger standing alone and outnumbered.
She keeps an eye trained on the gun in his hand as she slinks past him, looking to confront the real source of the conflict. It takes one glance of Terry in front of the broken window for her to know exactly who had escalated the situation.

"What the fuck Terry, stop!" She hisses as she grabs hold of his wrapped arm, trying, and failing, to physically force him back.
Whatever the man's intentions are with the children, they aren't in any danger now, and allowing Terry to beat him to death surely won't do them any good in the long run.
Turning to the stranger, Trisha looks at him curiously and asks, in a much more sypathetic tone than the others.
"Why you in here all alone?"

In the House

"Sorry my answer wasn't what you wanted to hear." Marcus scoffs at Mary. Its obvious to Mary that he's not sorry about it. He doesn't even acknowledge her follow up question before shifting his attention to Ivy.

"I'm Marcus. Here on guard duty. Temporarily." The man glances at Trisha briefly before looking back at Ivy. "That lady from the radio is Erica. She's the one who put me here." There's clearly some friction here between him and Erica. "I think you already know who I'm with." The man taps on the pin on his shirt.

The design on the pin appears to be a rather angry cardinal. Despite its intense glare, there's something majestic about it. Around the symbol writes the phrase...

Shaw High School.

He didn't even try to hide it. Mary hadn't thought she could get any more cynical about strangers in this world, but as it turns out, even she's surprised by Marcus's shamelessness. He can't even be bothered to lie!

Mary could understand stealing or even killing, but she can't see any way to justify unapologetic child molesters. The world will be better without him in it. She knows this. She knows it. Nonetheless, she feels sick in her stomach at the knowledge of what she's about to do.

"I-" Mary's voice cracks and she falters, then clears her throat. "Ivy, go back to the truck with the others. Let them know what's going on here. We'll be back soon."

Trisha leans in to get a better look at the pin as the man taps his chest. She frowns.
"I don't care about no dumb bird head, that don't mean nothin'." She scoffs, frustrated by his attitude.
Though Marcus is still deliberately vague and distant, he is technically answering the questions he was asked, just in an annoyingly roundabout way.
Expecting to be called back any minute, Trisha steps back from the man, still eyeing him up and down. She can feel the tension in Mary's voice, making her slightly uneasy.
"I guess as long as you ain't gonna start no trouble, I don't even care. You and them talkie friends leave us alone and it's fine."

Ivy slowly lowered her gun. "Yeah. Okay." Ordinarily she'd prefer to stick around and observe, but with how uncomfortable the whole situation had made her, at that moment she wanted nothing more than to put as much distance between herself and this man as possible. The girl flipped the safety on and pocketed her pistol, before hurrying around the corner and onward in the direction of the truck.

At the Truck

On her way back to the others at the truck, Ivy sees Rufus standing at the front door listening to the conversation. The solider waves and calls her name.

"Ivy!" Edward hollers. "That man turned the radio off. What's goin' on inside?" He asks.

Ivy sees Natasha waving at her, beckoning her to duck under cover with the rest of them.


Inside the House



"Probably better for us, and you, to keep it that way." Marcus states. As blunt and cold as he initially appears to be, something has changed during the recent development of events that causes him to sound more... hostile. The man watches the child leaves from the corner of his eye. He posture relaxes slightly when he is no longer under gun point.



"You knocked on my door." Marcus bluntly replies. He looks to Terry. "And broke through the window."

"We did do those things." The group hears Rufus commenting through the door. "What is this 'dumb bird head' you're talking about, Trisha?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:11, Tue 18 Aug 2020.

Trisha does not appreciate his tone, and immediately becomes snappy in response.
"Good. We will then." She snaps, narrowing her eyes and scowling. She returns his intense glare, even as Rufus calls her name and she shouts back in response

"He got a pin with a red bird head on it. Actin' like we should care or some shit."

Like Marcus, Mary watches Ivy leave out of the corner of her eye. She waits for the girl to be out of sight before she speaks.

"Now, then," she says. "Marcus, don't do anything stupid. You're outnumbered and outgunned. Terry, please take his gun and walkie-talkie. Don't let yourself get between him and me."

She keeps her gun ready, as she had before; not pointing directly at the man, but ready to do so in an instant.

"He's a pedophile, Trisha, or he works for pedophiles. Now we know everyone wearing that pin is one."

In the House

"Oh dear! They hear Rufus exclaims at Mary's conjecture.

"That's a serious accusation." Marcus replies with raised volume, he appears annoyed by Mary's claim. His brows furrow, clearly offended. "You have a wild imagination old woman. No wonder you make that kid arm herself. I can't imagine the shit you've been feeding her. You what, studied art? Drama? Maybe a script writer that never saw her career took off because your writing couldn't even pass by some B film producer?"

(!) Marcus hated that.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:28, Mon 24 Aug 2020.

Trisha does not take her eyes off of Marcus as Mary addresses her.
"We do? How do we know that?" She asks, obviously perplexed by the accusation. This is the first she's heard of any pedophiles, but she has no reason not to trust anything Mary says. When the man begins to insult her, Trisha immediately comes to her defense. Mary is the closest thing to a loving, caring parent she has ever known and she will not stand to have her disrespected.
"Shut up, don't talk to her like that! If she says you fuck kids, then you prob'ly do." She snarls at him, before looking down to peer at his crotch. She asks him, this time in a much more subdued voice. "Did you pull your cock out at Ivy? Is that what this is about?"

"I already asked and he didn't deny it," Mary says. "He still hasn't denied it!"

Mary can feel her teeth gritting between sentences, righteous anger building within her. Part of her fears the loss of control and surrender to emotion, but another part of her welcomes it. She'll need the anger to do what comes next. She's still not sure she has the stomach for it, but an unreasoning fury will make it easier.

"He was asking Ivy how old she was, he wanted to know how many children we have, and he didn't like that we let her carry a gun. Think, Trisha! He wants to bring kids back to Erica. Why else would he ask that? If there was another reason, he'd already have told us, but every time we ask, he just dodges the question!"

In the House

"We're not pedophiles." Marcus states, loud and clear. "We're keeping kids away from people like you." He glances Mary up and down and throws an unimpressed sneer. "I know your kind. You manipulate kids and group of dimwits with your wild conspiracies and theories." After a short icy glare, he looks over to Trisha.

"Yes, think for yourself, Trisha. Forget the bullshit she's feeding you. What do you think this is about?" The man asks.

"Youse guys! There's a group of not-pedophiles coming our way!" The group hears Rufus shouting through the door.

Near the Truck

After Ivy rejoins with the others, the group hears the sound of humming engines in the distance. There are a few motorcycle's sound in the mix as well. There's a large group of people heading this way. Ruby growls and barks at the noise.

"Ah, shi- Everyone, we got company!" Edward calls.

"Fuck!" Natasha cusses. "Hey Rufus! Tell Mary and the others!" She shouts across the street. Rufus waves his hand, acknowledging her.

"Kids, get in the truck!" Edward orders. He taps no Ivy's shoulder. "You get that rifle ready and stay low, ya understand?"

Mina climbs onto the truck bed. She pulls Dwayne up into the back with her after the boy circles to the rear.

Obviously, "kids" didn't refer to Ashley -- and even if it did, there was no way she was hopping into a vehicle and making herself a sitting duck for whatever was coming.

"Shit!"  A quick glance down the road confirmed the worst, and Ashley crouched and pressed herself back against the front tire, the best cover she could find given the circumstances.  "Shit!"  Her mind raced, chasing itself in self-destructive circles.  The last time she saw a large group of people in vehicles, she nearly died.  ...Hell, the last time before that, she nearly died too.  Only the timely intervention of Captain Sawyer saved her from death, or whatever else those bandits had in mind for a fifteen-year-old girl all alone in the post-apocalypse, and even then, she still had scars.

Clearly, her mind had its own scars, too, and she found herself hyperventilating before she even realized.  Fuck.  Fuck, fuck, fuck.  Fuck!  Overthinking was always her worst enemy, and it was true now more than ever.  Nightmare scenarios played themselves out in her distressingly vivid imagination, each worse than the last.  Nothing good would come of this, and there was nothing she could do to stop it -- and all her so-called genius was no use at all, buried under unresolved trauma and hamstringed by panic.  All she could think to do was hide, and fumblingly fish the gun from her pocket, holding it close to her chest.  Even if she suddenly overcame her fear of guns, could she even aim it straight with her hands shaking like they were?

Please don't make me find out.

"Oh no..." Ivy whispered in dread as she saw the oncoming fleet. It felt like no matter where they went, they somehow always managed to get into this same kind of situation. Why couldn't they encounter a bunch of nice people for a change?



"R...Right!" Ivy nodded. Clambering into the back of the truck, she unslung the rifle from her shoulder and crouched down low. Hopefully she wouldn't have to shoot it, but at this point she knew better than to be too optimistic.

With both Mary and the stranger growing increasingly irate, Trisha quickly becomes overwhelmed and lashes out at both of them.
"Stop it don't tell me to think! I can think myself you don't gotta tell me."
The longer things go on, the more she questions the point in all this. It is the warning call from Rufus that makes her step back and evaluate.
"This is stupid. Ain't none of this even matters."
And with that, Trisha has had enough. The extent of this man's sexual deviancy is none of her business. She addresses Marcus one more time.
"I don't care what you really do, just leave our kids alone."
Just as abruptly as she had approached, she takes off, rushing to scoop up Fernando and check on Ashley and the children. But mostly Ashley.

"Oh, I'm positive you keep kids from people like us," Mary says scornfully. "I'm not so sure about the other thing you said, that you're not pedophiles, but maybe that's true. Perhaps you take them as hostages and force their parents to work. Maybe you force the kids to work. They'd be easier to control, wouldn't they?"

She takes a step forward, staring the man down, lowering her voice. "The point is, we know you were studying our girl. We heard you telling your friends about her and the others."


"Fuck me," Mary mutters. "Terry, please take Marcus's gun and radio so we can talk with his friends like adults without him making him any bad decisions."
This message was last updated by the player at 16:55, Tue 01 Sept 2020.

Outside

Rufus hurries over back to the truck with the others. The sound of roaring engines draws closer.

"Hey, hey, you good?" Natasha crouches next to Ashley.

"Keep ya eyes on the road, kiddo." Edward instructs Ivy while he does the same. "They'll be here any second now." He says.

Trisha finds her dog shivering in the back seat of the SUV. It too sense that something is about to go wrong. Fernando immediately hops into Trisha's arms when she makes a move to scoop him up.


In the House

"Whatever you say." Marcus dismisses Mary's accusations. He doesn't back down from her stare and matches it with his own. He turns his head at the sound of running engines.

"I made a few today." Marcus comments, looking back to Mary as he casually extends his hand out towards Terry with his radio in hand. "They're nothing compare to what you did."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:47, Wed 02 Sept 2020.

Despite the tension, Terry doesn’t seem concerned. He is tempted to throttle Marcus himself, see how non-nonchalant he likes being then. Instead the athlete sighs habitually and follows Mary's orders.

"I ain’t sure that line of thought serves you or me very well," he snaps as he palms the radio and yanks Marcus' gun away. "Best you stop talking now."

Without taking his eyes off of the man he obediently holds out the radio towards Mary. He keeps the weapon for himself.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:41, Thu 03 Sept 2020.

"Thank you, Terry." Only when Marcus is disarmed does Mary lower her rifle. "Please keep a close eye on him."

She steps forward and takes the radio in her left hand, shifting the rifle to a carrying position in her right. Bringing the radio to her mouth, Mary depresses the talk button. "Hello, Erica?"

"I am very fucking much not good."  Ashley leaned over to check on the approaching vehicles.  Yep, still coming.  No surprise there.  What were they gonna do, turn around?  "This sort of situation... it ends badly for me, every time.  If I'm not about to die, I'm probably about to commit murder.  That's the sort of thing you spend the rest of your life in therapy for.  On the plus side, that probably won't be very long."  Despite the grim situation, she managed a half a grin at her bleak joke.  At least she was breathing normally again.

"Even if that doesn't happen, which it very probably will because that's just how my life goes, there is a one hundred percent chance that shit's about to get a lot worse than it was fifteen minutes ago.  Why can't we run into the good guys for once?"  She sighed, burying her face on her free hand.  "Ugh, right, because we are the good guys.  Except that murder bit.  Try to forget you heard that, okay?"

In the House

After some shuffling sound from the radio, the group hears a woman's voice. "Who are you?" She sounds distressed when the voice calling her isn't Marcus'.

Outside

"I don't know if we're the good guys, but this is how shit is now." Natasha replies. "Its not you, that's how it goes for everyone. They just don't talk about it."

"Hello, Erica?"

They hear Mary's voice coming through the radio.

"Who are you?"

A woman's voice comes through the radio.

At this point, several vehicles come into view on the road. There are about seven of them, with two of them being larger military jeeps.

"Don't fire at 'em yet!" Edward commands. From sheer number alone, engaging in a gunfight with them will put the group at a disadvantage.

"I'm Mary. I'm the caretaker of that little girl your man was eyeing like a side of meat. I'm also the caretaker of the other children Marcus mentioned.

"You seem very interested in our children. Would you mind explaining that for me?"

Radio Transmission

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
All of you can hear the radio conversation between Mary and Erica.

---

"Its better if I explain who we are first." The woman speaks. You notices her Spanish accent from the way she annunciations certain words. "I'm Erica, I'm from Shaw High School. We have a community here in the city. We have many guard-posts around the edge of the city, and you're at one of them now. Usually my younger brother Francis is there. I sent Marcus there for the time being." During her explanation, the initial distress fades. Her composure and clarity with her summary of their identity suggest that this isn't the first time she had to introduce herself to a stranger.

"These outposts we have let us know whose coming into the city. We need to know if they're dangerous or if they're survivors looking for a community like ours. Most of the time we see small groups of people, or people wandering around by themselves. I was a little alarmed when Marcus told me he spotted a big group. I was a little surprised when he told me you had kids with you, we don't see them out there anymore..." After a brief pause she continues. "You see, people don't normally travel with kids because they need extra care. And you had three with you, so that tells me you're not a group of bandits." After her explanation, you hear another unfamiliar voice coming through the radio...

"Erica, I see them." Its a woman's voice, she has the same accent.

"My associates are approaching your group. I understand that you have Marcus, yes? May I speak with him?" Erica asks.

(!) NPC Compendium updated.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:46, Mon 14 Sept 2020.

"So Marcus is still new at this, I gather," Mary says. She eyes the man in question for a moment. "Alright, I believe that."

She takes a deep breath and exhales, feeling her muscles relax. She doesn't quite trust Erica, but her explanation sounds plausible. Still, if it's true, why didn't Marcus say so? Mary eyes Marcus again, idly pressing the radio's antenna against her chin. Maybe he panicked. Maybe he just didn't think of it. He doesn't seem like the quick-witted type.

"That makes sense, Erica," Mary says into the radio, "but I still don't know why you had to know her age. Can you tell me that?

"Also, don't worry. Your friend is fine." Though standing well out of arm's reach, she holds up the radio in Marcus's direction, holding the transmit button down with her thumb. "Say hello to Erica, Marcus."

In the House

Marcus looks over to the radio when it is presented to him.

"Erica." Marcus says. You sense a hint of spite in his voice that isn't directed at you.

"Marcus! Are you hurt?" Erica asks.

"No." He replies.

After a pause, Erica speaks again. "I didn't ask for their age. But, it is something we need to know for any new children we have in the community so we would know what materials they need for learning."

Everyone hears the roaring engine drawing in closer. There's a woman's voice coming through the megaphone.

"We're from Shaw High School. Lower your weapons. We will fire back if you attack. And, we will fire too if you are assholes."


They hear the other woman's voice coming through the radio again. "Erica, I'm here. Are they good?"

"Marcus," Erica speaks to Marcus again, "do you vouch for these people?"


Outside

The group sees the approaching vehicles comes to a stop about seventy feet away. Several armed strangers emerges from their vehicles and quickly position themselves in a line behind the cars. A woman with a megaphone reveals herself on top of a military jeep. She plants her right foot on the truck roof.

"We're from Shaw High School. Lower your weapons. We will fire back if you attack. And, we will fire too if you are assholes."

The woman in charge fishes something out of her pocket and speaks into it. A second later, the group hears a voice coming through the radio.

"Erica, I'm here. Are they good?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:15, Wed 23 Sept 2020.

The situation was not looking good, to say the least. There was a whole firing line set up in front of them, and apparently the only thing that would stop them from shooting was the word of the guy they'd just got done threatening at gun point. Something had to be done to fix this before things got out of hand.

"Hey," Ivy said to the lady holding the radio, whose name she forgot. "Can you push the button for me?"

Once her request had been fulfilled, the girl leaned in closer to the radio. "Hi," she announced awkwardly. "Can I say something?

"We could have avoided this whole thing, if that guy had just told us what you just told us in the first place. But he was being really shady. He didn't answer any of our questions. He wouldn't even tell us his name! Just said to go down the road a bit because 'something' was there. I thought he was trying to lead us into a trap or something. And then he started asking me how old I was, and he wouldn't say why. It was super creepy and gross!

"If you're afraid that we're bandits or something," she continued, "we're not. We just got freaked out because this 'Marcus' guy is weird and stinks at his job."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:56, Fri 25 Sept 2020.

Mary glances down at the radio and, despite the gravity of the situation, feels a small smile forming on her lips. As a rule, she doesn't trust children, but Ivy has proven herself a breed apart from most. Certainly, she's been more of an asset than Dwayne and Mina. For a moment, Mary wonders if she'd have performed so well at Ivy's age, had this situation come about then.

Mary's smile disappears, remembering her own youth. No, she would absolutely have not.

Making the most of her now cynical mood, she looks back up at Marcus, keeping her finger off the transmission button. "We didn't even give her that gun, you know. She already had it when I met her, and she knows how to use it. If you shoot at us, we couldn't stop her from using it. You'll have to kill her along with us. If you shoot at us, that is."

Pressing the transmit button, she holds the radio up towards Marcus again, microphone pointed at him to speak.

Radio Transmission

Hesitating for a momenta t Ivy's request, Natasha holds down the button. "Yeah, sure." When Ivy begin speaking at the radio, Natasha stretches out the radio at Ivy.

"That may be true." Erica answers. Mary hears a barely audible "pff" from Marcus, who now turns his head to the side. "I still trust him when it comes to people. He's very good at telling if the strangers are bad guys or not." It seems Ivy's attempt at diffusing the situation did not work.

After her brief speech, Marcus turns his head and stares directly into her eyes. Mary gets the feeling as if she's a small specie underneath a microscope. With a squint and a pause, Marcus speaks.

"I told them to leave, then they send one of theirs to break through my window, held me at gunpoint, and now have me hostage." Marcus lists out the events that transpired within the past hour. "How does that sound?" He asks.

A response comes through, but it is not Erica's voice. "Sounds like they're assholes." The woman with the megaphone comments through the radio.

"At least one of them is." Marcus' eyes meet Mary's. "No, they're overly paranoid. They say they came from Rosedale, they didn't say what happened there exactly. Whatever it was it wasn't good, one of their car broke down and they need help."

"I see..." Erica replies. The radio goes silent.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:54, Mon 28 Sept 2020.

Mary releases a long breath, only now realizing she was holding it. She retracts the radio and brings it to her mouth to speak, then pauses. Before touching the transmission button, she turns to Marcus and gives him a clearly obligatory-sounding "thank you" before speaking into the radio.

"I don't know why you're interested in what happened at Rosedale, but I'll tell you," she says. She leans against the wall, collecting dark thoughts. "We had a community of survivors. It wasn't perfect, but we were alive and, as much as anyone can be, safe. Then one of our members - just one - sold us out to some gang. They used our trust and our secrets to attack us. Most of the adults died and they tried to take our children."

She pauses for a moment, brooding, before speaking again. "We just want to pass through. One of our members wanted to pass on a message from someone who was apparently one of you, but you don't seem to have heard of him - something we also found...concerning, by the way. We'd be on our way already if our engine hadn't broken down."

Radio Transmission

Marcus tilts his head slightly, appearing to be interested when Mary reveals the story of Rosedale.

"I will have Gabriella and her men take a look at the engine for you." She says. "You said you know one of ours? What's his name?" Erica asks.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:53, Fri 02 Oct 2020.

"Malcolm," Ivy chimed in. "Really tall, glasses, kinda looks like a skeleton."

Mary considers adding her own comment, but thinks better of it. She looks down at the radio, waiting for an answer.

Radio Transmission

An audible gasp comes through the radio at the mention of Malcolm's name.

"Malcolm!? Where is he? Is he alive?" Erica asks. Marcus looks expectantly at Mary.

So they did know him!

"He's in Arkansas," Ivy answered. "We went to this big soldier base, but then a bunch of bad stuff happened, and monsters took it over. Me and Eli and Ed wanted to come back here, but Malcolm said he wanted to stay." Pretty sure that was how it had gone down. "He was okay the last time I saw him."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:36, Wed 07 Oct 2020.

Radio Transmission

"Arkansas? That's far from here. Why didn't he come back here?" Erica asks. "Did he say why?"

Before Ivy can answer, Erica speaks again. "On second thought, let's not do this right now. Gabriella?" Erica says.

"Yeah?" The other woman responds.

"Approach them, they're not bandits." She commands.

"Okay." Gabriella replies.

"Could you step out of the house with Marcus? Its better if we talk in person here at the school. We will escort you to us, and the truck." After Erica's message, the group hears the sound of roaring engines again. The line of armed men lower their weapons and appear to be standing by. The woman with the megaphone approaches the group on foot along with several other men.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:14, Sun 11 Oct 2020.

Ivy heaved a sigh of relief. The situation was finally starting to turn itself around. She'd have to remember to thank Malcolm if she ever saw him again. She put the rifle's safety back on and slung the weapon over her shoulder before standing up on the truck's bed to peek over the roof of the vehicle. Seeing the line of gunmen in front of her, she thanked the stars above that things hadn't gotten violent. Even she wouldn't have been able to get out of this one.

Mary swallows, trying to calm her nerve. They could just as easily gun Mary and the others down as soon as they show themselves, but Mary doesn't have any options left.

"Okay, Marcus, let's go," she says, motioning towards the door with one hand. Crossing the room to the front door, she opens it, then gestures for him to step through. "After you."

Once Marcus steps outside, Mary follows.

Outside

Marcus walks out of the front door with Mary and the others following behind.

The group sees this Gabriella woman up close.

"Hi Marcus! How are you?" Gabriella chuckles as she waves her hand from about twenty feet away. The olive coloured skin, and her accents are a dead giveaway of her Hispanic origins. Most of her hair are dangling freely below her shoulder. She wears a green beanie on her head. There's a small shimmering light that flashes from the side of her nose; a small piece of piercing.

NPC Compendium updated.

"Mary, right?" Gabriella addresses Mary. She swings the megaphone back and forth like a pendulum in her left hand. "Let's have you hand him over first so we can check on this truck of yours?" The woman moves her right hand on her hip and slouches to the side.

Marcus stops at the front door to look over his shoulder at Mary, waiting for her next move.
This message was last updated by the GM at 06:27, Mon 12 Oct 2020.

Mary looks back at Marcus, mirroring his expectant expression.

"Well, go on."

Outside

Marcus stays in place. Instead of taking a step forward he stretches out his hand at Mary, palms up.

"I'll need that back." He states.

"Oh, right." Mary glances down at the walkie-talkie in her hand. Stepping forward, she plants it firmly in Marcus's open palm, then transfers both hands to her hips. "Anything else?"

Outside

Once he is in possession of the radio, Marcus turns around and throws her a dismissive wave of hand as he walks towards Gabriella. The woman crosses her arms, smiling at his approach. However, Marcus walks pass the woman.

"Hey, where you going?" She asks.

"I'll make my way back." He replies. One of the armed men tosses a key over to Marcus when he gestured at them with his hand.

"What about the post?" Gabriella points her thumb at the house. Marcus shrugs and climbs inside one of the smaller cars.

"So, you met Marcus." Gabriella looks to Mary, a small grin surfaces on her face. "I can take all of you back now, unless you have other business to take care of here?" She asks, but her men are already doing a head count between the people at the SUV and the truck.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Incoming time skip. If there are no other action planned for any of the characters, we will move on to the next scene.

---

"The only thing we wanted to do here was talking to him," Mary says, gesturing at Marcus, "and that got so out of control that I don't want to risk looking for other things to do. You might as well take us all back.

Mary's eyes scan over the other men. She doesn't appreciate their head count, but tries to tell herself to calm down. If they wanted her group dead, they could probably have done so already. In fact, they were already going to before Marcus convinced them not to come in guns blazing.

"So, it seems as though some of you know Malcolm," Mary says, looking back at Gabriella. "Just so you know, I only met him briefly. The others can tell you a lot more."

"I only heard of him from Erica, never met the guy myself." Gabriella shrugs. "Boys! Let's go!" She raises her hand to signal the others. At the mark of her gesture, all engines begin to roar.

==========================================================================================

Shaw High School

Aside from those who were in the SUV, the men from this Shaw High School community escorted them into their vehicles. The cars and jeeps form a single solid line down the road like a train. It didn't take long before everyone sees their destination. A High School barricaded by large buses and makeshift metal chain linked fences.

"Here we are." Gabriella says when the vehicles slowly come to a halt at the main doors of the school.

The group see men and women going about their work. A few of them are carrying crates that seems to be supplies into the school, some are performing maintenance on the vehicles, and others scattered about the premise that shoots a curious look at the group occasionally.

As you all step out of the vehicle, the school presents itself in all of its glory. It is a large, three floored building. You imagine it used to educate hundreds of high school students. The front entrance is an ordinary set of large stairs that lead up to the main entrance. The buses and walls surrounding the area you're standing in now appears to be added as a form of extra defense. In the middle of the stairs stands a Hispanic woman wearing a yellow scarf around her neck. You notice a badge hanging off on the side of her clothes. It appears to be a school pin similar to Marcus'. In fact, you noticed everyone here is wearing the same pin somewhere on their persons. She steps down from the stairs and approach the group.

"Look at that! A school!" Rufus exclaims. "Kids! This is great! We can get you back on track with your education!"

A sound escapes from Angie that sounded like like a half snort.

"I don't like this place." Mina says quietly.

"Why?" Dwayne asks.

"They're gonna make me do math again." Mina replies.

"Hello, welcome to Shaw High School." Erica address to everyone with a warm smile. "Thanks for bringing them back, Gabriella."

"No problem boss. Is Marcus here?" Gabriella asks.

At the question, Erica's smile drops slightly. "Yes, we had a... discussion right before you came back. Anyway," she looks to the rest of you, "I hope everyone in your group is not hurt or... not healthy?" Her eyes scan through each and every one of you.

"We're fine." Edward speaks up. He's currently distracted by the other survivors in the vicinity. A group of kids, and teenagers gather by the front entrance. They whispers and points to Ruby, who is currently sniffing the ground of an unfamiliar territory. A woman walks up from behind the group of children and ushers them back inside the building. She steals a curious glance at the group when the children are gone. The woman turns around, walking briskly after the kids.

NPC compendium updated.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:17, Mon 26 Oct 2020.

Mary watches the people moving to and fro with a detached interest, but pauses involuntarily when she sees children by the entrance. She should have known there would be children here, of course; even if she hadn't been told as much, it's not as if there are daycares anymore, so anyone with surviving family will have to take them along wherever they go. Even Mary's own group has children, and she hates kids.

Nonetheless, seeing evidence of families here - a true community - reminds her of the church. She doesn't enjoy the feeling.

"The others have a message from Malcolm," Mary says. She crosses her arms, trying to throw off her discomfort. "After that, all we need is a lead on a new vehicle. We can get out of your hair after that."

Shaw High School

"Yes, Malcolm, you must tell me what happened to him!" Erica's eagerness to learn of Malcolm's well being is apparent to the group. "And for your car, we might be able to help. We should have a spare. Talk to my brother, Leo. Gabriella?"

"Yes?" The the woman steps forward.

"Could you introduce her to Leo?" Erica requests. Gabriella nods in reply. Erica turns to Mary and the rest. "One more thing. We're going to need you to leave your weapons at the entrance. You'll get them back when you leave. Not that I don't trust what you say is true..." Erica glances over at Edward. "Gabriella, have the nurse take a look a Mary." She turns to the rest of the group. "I'll need her to take a look at all of you too. Now, what was the message? Is he still alive?" Erica addresses the question to the others.

"Looks like the lady boss is going to have a chat with your friends. Alright, follow me." Gabriella gestures for Mary to follow.

Ivy stared at the familiar woman in surprise. After months of absence and traveling across state lines multiple times, the young girl had somehow managed to once again cross paths with a most unexpected person. But why was Ellison here? And why had she left in the first place?

Sadly she booked a quick retreat before Ivy could seek answers to any of those questions. She made a mental note to track her down again later.



"He's living in Little Rock now." Ivy spoke up, being one of the few people in the group to have traveled with him. "He wanted to set up a farm with some other people."

Shaw High School - Outside

"Little Rock? How did he end up there?" Erica exclaims.

"We found him and Kale and took 'em to the Air Force base with us. Things didn't turn out the way we expected. He want us to let ya know both him and Kale are alive." Edward elaborates.

"Did he say why he didn't come back here?" Erica's eyes dart between Ivy and Edward. This seems like a question she's been waiting to ask for a very long time.

Mary's brow furrows. She doesn't like the idea of separating from the others. She particularly doesn't like the idea of leaving her gun behind to do it. For a long moment, she considers saying no, she's going to wait outside, just as some of Ivy and Edward's group had when they visited the church in Rosedale.

It's only after a long moment watching Erica and the others interact that she relents. She seems genuine, and while she probably doesn't care about Mary, she probably cares enough about the others - as friends of her friend - that she won't try to murder them. Anyway, they'll surely head inside, which will separate them anyway. Even if Mary has her rifle, they could kill her easily if they wanted.

Giving a resigned sigh through her nose, Mary slips the rifle off her shoulder and leans it against the wall at the entrance, then follows Gabriella.

Ivy opened her mouth to speak, only to close it again. Come to think of it, why didn't he come back here? She couldn't remember him ever saying. Not to her, at least.

Her gaze turned to Ed. "Did he?"

Shaw High School - Inside

"She didn't mean by the door, literally." Gabriella scoops up the rifle Mary set down. "This way." She moves to a nearby classroom that had been remodeled to look like some sort of armory.

Gabriella halts at the door. "Let me take care of this." She says, entering the classroom alone.

A man sitting by the desk turns his head towards the door, staring at Mary with curiosity. His gaze snaps back to the desk when Gabriella puts down the rifle on the surface.

"This belongs to her." Gabriella gestures at Mary, introducing her. "She's Mary. Put that in a locker for her, don't get it mix up with other things. She wants it back." As she says this, she is removing the weapons she's carrying and handing them over to the man.

"Sure thing." The man replies.

"C'mon, let's go see the nurse." Gabriella escorts Mary out of the classroom and walks down the hall.

Shaw High School - Outside

Edward tilts his head at Ivy's question. The soldier appears to be thinking. "I don't remember. I think he said somethin' about not being able to come back?" He shrugs. Suddenly, he smacks the side of his head. "There's one more thing! He said, Andres died a hero."

Erica's eyes widen at mention of the name "Andres". Her lips quiver slightly, water begin swelling up in her eyes. She turns away before a tear could form and wipes her eyes in a single swift motion. Erica turns back to the group.

"We found his body. He..." She takes a brief glance to Ivy. "Its good to know." The woman sighs. "Since you're a friend of Malcolm, this makes things easier. Take a look around. If you like what you see what we have here..." She smiles. "Well, we're always looking for more survivors."

Edward crosses his arms. He turns his head to Ivy. "What do you say kiddo? Wanna look around?"

"Do we have to go to school here? If we stay?" Mina asks the woman.

"I know its not what you want to hear, but yes." Erica smiles at Mina.

"That sucks." Mina states.

"Its not that bad." Erica replies.

When Gabriella steps into the classroom, Mary waits by the door, but does not disguise the fact that she is watching the proceedings. She's not terribly attached to the rifle, but she appreciates Gabriella's instructions not to mix it up nonetheless. She's more interested, however, to see that Gabriella disarms herself as well. Once again, Mary is reminded of the church.

"So everyone is unarmed here?" Mary asks, following Gabriella down the hall. "I was in a community that did something similar. No one carried a gun on the property except for a small number of trusted security. It turned out the man in charge was some sort of cult leader, trying to control us...I still don't know the full story behind it."

Trisha keeps herself quiet and inconspicuous, practically glued to Ashley's side, as she looks around at the school's bustling little community. It's a lot to take in so soon after the failure of the church, and the similarities between the two are very distressing.
She watches Edward and Ivy speak with the woman, relaying their message about Malcolm. When Erica invites them to 'take a look around', Trisha immediately grows more uncomfortable, wary of the implication of the offer.
She leans closer to Ashley and whispers in here ear. "They tryna make us split up." She hisses, the suspicion clear in her voice. "They don't want all of us."

Sensing an opportunity to escape to somewhere less crowded and break the news to Ed, Ivy made up her mind quickly. "Okay. Will you come with?"

Shaw High School - Inside

"Not everyone, we have snipers on the roof. No guns inside because of the kids." Gabriella answers. She looks to Mary with a curious look when she mentioned the other community that enforces the weaponless policy. "You'll never find me in one of those communities. Any rules like that are bad news." She stops in front of the nurse's office. "Weird, I think I heard about this community from the new girl."

The door to the nurse's office is open. Mary sees a woman inside tending to patients lying on stretchers. "When you're ready go ahead, I'll wait outside." She flashes Mary a smile.


Shaw High School - Outside

"Of course, kiddo." Edward rests his hand on Ivy's shoulder. "Anyone else wanna tag along?"

"Me!" Mina rushes up by the soldier.

"Me too!" Dwayne follows Mina to the soldier's side.

"I want to go too." Angie walks over by the group.

"Ed, don't let 'em kids outta your sight, a'ight? I'm gonna have a word with the one in charge here." Elijah speaks up.

"Yes sir, captain, sir." Edward straightens up, saluting the sergeant. Elijah looks away as he shakes with head, a faint smile grows on the corner of his mouth. He gestures for the others to follow him into the school.

Ivy followed in Ed's wake as he entered the school. "They told us to leave our guns and stuff when we come in," she remarked as she adjusted the strap of her rifle against her shoulder. "Where do I put this?"

Shaw High School - Near Entrance

Ivy and the others enter the building after Edward. They see Mary and Gabriella further down in the hallway. When Ivy poses the question, a voice from a nearby room answers.

"Over here!" A man calls out. Edward and the others follow the voice and enters the room. This room had been rearranged to some sort of an armory. There are crates, boxes, and lockers behind the man standing over a large desk.

"Leave all of your weapons on the desk, I'll check them in. Remember to come back here before you leave." The man seems occupied by the sheet of paper he has on a clipboard. With a pencil in hand, he hastily scribbles a few words before looking up to the group with anticipation.

"Here's all I got." Edward disarms himself, presenting the modified rifle on the desk.

"Just a moment," Mary says, pausing at the doorway. "What new girl?"

So this was where all the weapons were. It would be a good idea to remember this place in case of an emergency. But for now, Ivy had to leave her stuff here.

Approaching the desk, she slipped the rifle strap off her shoulder and set the weapon down next to Ed's. A hand slipped into her jacket to retrieve the snub-nosed revolver from her pocket and set that down as well. Next was the slightly-larger black pistol. As she pulled it out and set it on the desk, it occurred to her that she couldn't remember if she had ever actually fired it. And last was the small child-sized pistol that she had assembled herself at that abandoned house all those weeks ago. The little thing had saved her life more than once. She was half tempted to keep it. But they were on thin ice as it was after that little standoff by the road. She wasn't about to sour things even harder by getting caught with a gun.

Ivy set the .22 pistol on the desk, leaving all three of her handguns and her rifle in the care of the school's armory.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:20, Fri 20 Nov 2020.

As the children excitedly make their way inside, Trisha watches on with a pit of worry growing in her stomach. She isn't sure what exactly she is worried about, but it feels right to be apprehensive.
With Mary already inside, Trisha begrudgingly accepts that it might be safe, for now. Turning her view away from the school, she speaks quietly to Ash.
"Do you wanna go in? You should prob'ly go see the nurse." She adds quickly "If Regina don't mind and all."
The last thing she wants to do is offend Regina by inadvertantly questioning her ability. The doctor had been taking incredible care of her injured friend, and Trisha will probably never be able to fully express the extent of her gratitude.

Shaw High School - Nurse's Office

"The new, gaudy girl, what was her name..." Gabriella sucks her lips. "I don't remember." She shrugs. "She said she came from a church."


Shaw High School - Armory

The man throws a curious gaze at Ivy as she sets down her rifle. He gingerly marks something in his note. When weapons were seemingly pouring out from the little girl's jacket, his eyes grow wide."Wha-" The man passes a glance at the soldier, then back at the table.

"Where'd ya get all of 'em guns kiddo? I remember givin' ya that one, where'd the rest come from?" Edward asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Woah. That's awesome, you gotta give me one of those." Mina exclaims.

Ivy pointed at the rifle. "Well, that one was a gift from Kale." Her finger drifted over to the revolver. "Whipple gave me that one." It then drifted further to the dinky .22 pistol. "And that was my first one. I found the parts when we were hiding in an empty house and put it together. You would've taken it away, so I never told anyone about it."

Mary frowns, thinking. Wasn't there that one woman who was always in nice clothes and jewelry? What was her name again? Try as she might, she can't remember, but it doesn't matter anyway. Mary had scarcely exchanged ten words with the woman in all the time she'd spent at the church. If she sees her again, she'll be a stranger. The only problem will be if the woman recognizes Mary and expects more from her.

"There's probably a lot of people holed up in churches," Mary says vaguely. "We shouldn't jump to conclusions. Anyway..."

Mary steps into the nurse's office. She waits for the nurse to address her, rather than interrupting whatever she's doing, but uses the wait to look over the room and its patients - equipment, types of injuries, and whether anyone is giving her a funny look.

Ashley scoffed dismissively, followed by her usual unbreakable grin.  "Psh, nah.  I'll live."

For all that Trisha was concerned about the school's resemblance to Rosedale, Ash was doubly so.  The entire thing reminded her of the early days, the bad days, of Whitehaven, and of... well, we've already been down that road before.  More than once.  Ashley surveyed the scene ahead of them with weary blue eyes narrowed, the weight of her exertions clearly heavy on her slackishly slumped shoulders.

"It's bullshit," she muttered to her one unfailing friend.  "It's bullshit and you know it as well as I do."  While she refused to enter just yet, she did stroll closer to the school, if only to gesture at it more clearly as she talked with her hands, as usual.  "Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they mean well.  And they'll try -- oh, they'll try.  But there's only two answers to this shit, long term, and they've got neither."  She was referring to her conversation with Mary, discussing the merits of unnavigable cliffs versus an unfordable river.  Either one would suffice, but the school seemed set to weather the apocalypse with nothing more than chain link and a perimeter of abandoned vehicles.

Just like Whitehaven.

"They've got a lot of defenses.  More than I expected, really."  She paused there to spit on the ground to one side.  That it contained blood didn't seem to concern her.  "I give 'em three months, and that's being generous."  She waved halfheartedly towards where the vehicles had been parked.  "I'd sleep in the car, but I guess hoping for a tow was too much to ask.  What's a captain without her ship?"  She pouted, particularly petulant.  "Not a captain, that's what."

Ashley's stubborn refusal to go inside and seek help comes as no surprise to Trisha and she simply nods her head in agreement.
She stares back at her friend as a breif hint of panic flashes in her eyes.
"Do I?" She questions curiously, walking side by side with Ash as they both glare up at the school. After a moment of listening to her, Trisha realises that her worries are very different than the thoughts that trouble Ashley the most.

"I ain't even thought about that stuff. I never think that far." She comments, thinking of how affected her friend must still be over the breakdown of her old community, the one that had sheltered her before she was left alone and forced to seek refuge in the church.
Trisha can't help but think herself lucky that she had never really had anything or anyone special to lose, until now. It seems easier to go on through it all if there was nothing important to be left behind.

A pang of sadness hits her in the gut as she looks at the girl, knowing how important the role of "Captain" had become to her, even when she would try to say it was all a joke; it still meant something.
"Mary says we won't stay long, so I guess it ain't really our problem." Trisha shrugs her shoulders, glancing over to where Ashley had waved her hand in an attempt to pretend it all didn't bother her. "And that lady said some guy 'round here might give us a car. We could make that the new ship and you could still be captain."
She narrows her eyes and glances around at the strangers gathered nearby, remarking suspiciously. "Guess it all depends on what they're gonna want for it."

Shaw High School - Armory

"Whipple." Edward reiterates the name quietly. "Good man." His gaze drifts away from Ivy.

"You're all set little girl." The man behind t he counter locks everything behind a locker. "Remember to come back here when you leave."

"Alright, kids, let's go see the nurse." Edward leads the group out of the makeshift armory.


Shaw High School - Nurse's Office

Mary sees two teenage patients in the room with her. One of them is daggers at Mary intense gaze. He is covered in scratches and bruises. It looks like he just got out of a brawl with somebody. The other teenager is lying on a stretcher with the nurse treating his wounds. Mary can't see much of his injuries aside from scratch wound on his arm. She hears the occasional sound of the patient sucking his lips whenever the nurse pecks at his wounds with a cotton swab.

At this distance, Mary can hear the nurse saying something to her patient. She sounds almost monotone when she speaks.

"...time I told you about how this is going to hurt really bad? I told you two so many times and you never listen. There's no such thing as a lucky rifle, they're all the same. My God, why can't you two fight over something normal? Do you know how angry he's going to be if he finds out why the two of you are covered in bruises again? Even Francis will be mad too when he hears about this. And don't get me started on you two trying to hide a rifle, you know that's not allowed. If one of the younger kids finds it I'll have more serious injuries than these scratches." For a moment it seems like a great time for Mary to introduce herself, however, the nurse continuous her preaching.

"Is this about that girl? Let me tell you something, us girls don't think its cool or sexy when boys fight over us, we think its dumb and stupid. We also don't like it when you put bugs in our shoes, or textbooks. You two remember that the next time you go out on patrol. Don't think Francis or I don't know about you two running off when he isn't looking. If you keep doing this, I'm going to have to tell him to stop shepherding you two. Maybe I should already, we need more help in the kitchen. You know, cooking is a good change a pace for you two. You get to stay here safe, and nothing to worry about. I don't understand why you kids always want to go outside with Leo and Francis. Every time you come back I see you shaking and scared. Don't you try lying to me and telling me that you aren't. I see it. I seen it many times..."

It doesn't seems like the nurse will stop talking anytime soon.


Shaw High School - Outside

A few minutes after Ivy and the others enter the school, Elijah approaches Ashley and the others.

"I gotta head inside to talk with the man in charge. I don't got a bad feelin' for this place, what do y'all think?" The sergeant inquires.

Rufus jumps to answer. "Its a school, they educate kids here, what's not to like?"

"I don't know... too early for me to say anything." Natasha crosses her arms.

Ivy followed the soldier out of the armory. "Hey Ed?" she said as they walked along. "Ellie is here."

Shaw high School - Hallway

"Hm?" Edward turns his head to Ivy. "I don't see El." He looks around the hallway in search of the Sergeant.

Ivy shook her head. “Not Eli...Ellison. I saw her with all the kids when we got here.”

Shaw High School - Hallway

The soldier stops in his tracks, his cheery smile fades. After traveling with them for so long, its still hard for Ivy to fully read his expression.

Angie and the other kids slows to a stop. Their eyes dart between Ivy and Edward.

"You sure kiddo?" Edward gazes at Ivy. "We ain't seen her for a very long time, it might've been someone that looked like her."

"Who's Ellison?" Mina asks.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:44, Fri 04 Dec 2020.

Mary makes a show of giving no reaction, but inwardly notes the teenager's angry gaze. Maybe I've embarrassed him. Maybe he doesn't like outsiders. Maybe they all don't like outsiders but he's too young to pretend like the rest of them. Am I being too paranoid? Is there such a thing as "too paranoid" anymore?

She also notes that both teenagers are competing with each other and apparently will bend the rules to do so. She may have to use that. Committing both teenagers' faces to memory, she sits on the edge of an unoccupied bed and clears her throat, trying to catch the woman's attention.

"She had the same journal. I'm pretty sure it was her." Ed clearly wasn't happy with the news, but he'd almost definitely handle it way worse if he found out later by seeing her with his own eyes.



"She was part of our group a long time ago," Ivy explained. "Then one day she stole a bunch of our guns and ran away..."

"I don't hate it."  Ashley shrugged, the lie quick and easy on her tongue.  Her face, not quite so much; over the course of a few silent moments, her brow furrowed, and a frown crept its way onto her lips.  "Okay, fine, I hate it," she admitted with a defeated sigh.

"I'm sure it's a good place filled with good people with good intentions."  She paced along glumly, kicking a stray rock towards the building.  It pinged off the bricks with a satisfying, flat sound.  "People like me don't belong in places like this.  In good places.  I'd rather be out there, on the road, until I find what I'm looking for, or die trying."  That came easy too, and it wasn't a lie.  It might have troubled her how comfortable she was with the second option, if she hadn't already spent the past several months feeling like the walking dead.  Was she, then, perhaps trying to divest herself of her worldly attachments in preparation for the inevitable?

"...Nicole should stay here though, with you.  With good people."  More than just perhaps.  She realized too late that Trisha was still right there.  Would she take umbrage at the implication that she shouldn't also stay with good people?  If I ran, would you run with me?  "Trisha--"  Poetry died unspoken.  "A word, in private?"  Her eyes, expressionless, betrayed nothing of her intentions -- in part because she still wasn't quite sure what those intentions were.  She'd sort that out on the way.

Don't lie.  Plan A was always 'improvise', wasn't it?

Barring any major complaint or interruption, Ashley would excuse herself from Eli and lead Trisha around the corner of the building, to a quiet place with perhaps just a bit more privacy.

Trisha gives Eli a warm smile as he approaches them, thankful that he had bothered to come and ask them their opinions.'Bet they won't do that here. There's too many of 'em.'
"It's fine, I guess." She shrugs, not ready to commit to anything yet, or at least not ready to say it out loud. Looking back at Ashley to gauge her reaction, she only now realises how far they had strayed from the groupShe listens in silence, her eyes wide and clouded with worry. She doesn't like the implication of anybody splitting off to stay with this new group, regardless of whether Ashley thinks they "belong" there or not.
She feels a flash of resentment at the mention of Nicole, though she does nothing more than let her face fall into a slight scowl, unwilling to let anyone know how badly the comment had stung her.
Her face softens as Ashley's gaze meets her own, unable to read any further into her expression.
"Sure..." She steals a quick, apologetic glance at Eli, shrugging one shoulder and tilting her head before following closely behind her friend. Whatever Ashley has on her mind, Trisha is determined to hear her out.

Shaw High School - Nurse's Office

"Hold on!" The nurse holds up a finger without looking back. She continues on berating the two teenagers. "See this bandage? We're going to run out of this soon if you keep making me using them on you on your silly little fights. We have someone here right now that needs this more than you do. You know, Francis, or even Marcus would really like it if you two decide to stay here and help instead." Finally, she turns around.

Mary sees a dark skinned woman standing before her. She wears a pair of thick rimmed glasses, and she appears to be a little bit chubby. Her nurse attire gives away her occupation here. Her hair style on the other hand seems to have its own story with its strange, unique style. It looks like an inspired art piece that had been abandoned half way through, like a lopsided swirl of ice-cream. "Oh I haven't seen you before, I'm Kathrine." She reaches out her hand for a shake and immediately brings her hand up to her chin before Mary could respond.

"Wait, you must be the help I requested! Finally! Here, we already have two patients that needs-" She points her hand to the two teenagers on the stretcher. "Wait... where's your pin!?  You can't go around without the pin, its official now! Everyone agreed, and voted on it. It doesn't look silly, it shows that we are part of this community." Kathrine hastily hands over a Shaw High School pin to Mary. She appears to be genuinely mildly upset at the fact that the pin is missing from your attire.


Shaw High School - Hallway

"I..." Edward rubs his chin. "I guess she made it out, huh."

"So she's a thief?" Mina asks. Angie looks over to Edward, studying his expression in silence.

"Yeah, she is." Edward answers. "Stay clear of her, kiddos." The soldier glances over the kids, then at Ivy. "You too."


Shaw High School - Outside



"Yep." Elijah nods, knowingly.

Elijah appears to be quite taken back by Ashley's response despite him making an attempt to maintain a thoughtful expression as he listens to Ashley.

"What? I..." Nicole speaks up from the back of the SUV. "I don't want to stay, I- I don't know. I don't know yet."

"You have time to think on it. Ain't need to decide now." Elijah glances over to Nicole briefly before looking back at Ashley. He was about to say something until Ashley asked for Trisha for a private conversation. At which point, he simply nods and says "we're safe for now, but don't wander too far." Elijah gives a firm nod at Trisha as she also excludes herself from the others.

Ashley very nearly dragged Trisha away, not even stopping at the sound of Nicole's protest.  If anything, that only made her walk faster.  She finally came to a stop only once the two misfit teens were around the corner and far enough away that, hopefully, nobody else would hear them.  Upon arrival, Ashley released the breath she had been holding, and collapsed gracelessly against the wall, slumping back against it with none of the coolness she would have liked.  She lowered her head and dragged her hands down her face with a groan.

"This is Hell."  Where Trisha might have expected her usual jokey grin, she was met with no such thing: there was merely the flat line of Ashley's pale, expressionless lips, and the naked desperation of those deceptively bright blue eyes, seeking some sign, something, anything, to make it okay.  "I'm dead and this is Hell.  I know what I did and I know why I'm here, and I am just so, so goddamn sorry I dragged you down with me."  It was hard to tell if she was being entirely serious.  She wasn't the religious sort, so there was no way she was being completely literal, of course -- but she spoke it like it was a figurative truth, at least.

"This is Hell and those are the fucking gates."  She waved towards the entryway, halfheartedly.  Quarter-heartedly, even.  "I walked in and-- and I thought I was going to be okay, but... it's not.  It's not okay.  It's all the same, and I can't look at it without seeing Whitehaven all over again, without seeing her all over again-- I saw her, actually saw her, for just a moment, like a vision, and it all came back.  The buses, all lined up like a wall, for all the good it did any of us.  The faces, hopeful, like they think they could actually beat this."  She spoke with a certain frantic, scattered energy, without even her usual minimal level of focus, but the bitter cough of a laugh she gave was very clear about just what she thought of their chances back then, and of these people here and now.  "That fucking alarm bell, ringing in my head, every time I close my eyes.  The toll of this Biblical fuckin' apocalypse.  It's all the same and-- and it's like I could just... turn my head, just look over there, and she'd be standing there, waiting for me to catch up.  Smiling."

It was only then that it became clear she was shaking, her face drained of color.

"I can't go in there.  I just... can't."  She wanted desperately to explain herself to Trisha, to sound perhaps slightly less crazy than she was absolutely certain she was sounding right now.  There was more to say, because of course there was, because there always was, and she wanted to say it, but at the moment she just couldn't quite manage.  The weight of exhaustion, plus her wounds, plus the demons in her own head, plus all the effort she put into pretending she was just so cool and calm and collected and so perfectly put together finally fell upon her sagging shoulders, and she crumpled, sliding down the wall until she was seated, hugging her knees with her face buried against them.

"...I'm not okay.  Okay?"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:39, Thu 17 Dec 2020.

"Okay. I don't think she'll try to come to us anyways. She didn't look too happy to see us."

"Wait. Wait." Mary takes a step backward, both hands coming up with palms outward in a warding gesture. "I just got here. I - my friends and I - are just passing through. They have a message about someone who used to be here, and I'm...I'm just here."

Mary had briefly considered the possibility of taking the pin and trying to pose as a community member, but after their clusterfuck of a first impression with Marcus, that would probably be a bad idea. Anyway, Kathrine seems so indiscreet that Mary probably doesn't need to lie to get anything out of her.

"I was told to come here and ask you to check me out," Mary says. "After that...you said you need help?"

"What's wrong? What happened?" Feeling the strength of Ashley's grip digging into her hand, Trisha suddenly found herself scared to know exactly what had upset her so much. As they turned the corner and break apart, she watches on, confused, as Ash fell against the wall and put her head in her hands.Clearly not fully understanding the depth of her friend's distress, Trisha simply raised an eyebrow and forces a half smile. "It's not that bad. Is it..?" She muttered, trying to lighten the mood.
It hadn't worked. With a look of pure misery and desperation, Ashley went on, and to Trisha, it all suddenly made sense. It was her. Sam; the girl who had meant more to Ash than anyone else in the world. The girl she had loved deeply and lost horribly not all that long before she had come to the church. Only now did all the details fall back into place in her memory.
It happened in a school.
She suddenly felt very awkward, unsure of what to do or say to try and make it better. Desperate to comfort her, but at a loss of what to say, Trisha slid down to the ground next to her. Leaning in to press he shoulder against her friend, she muttered softly.
"You don't have to go in. You don't gotta do anything you don't want. I won't let anyone make you."

Shaw High School - Nurse's Office

Kathrine sets the school pin back down on the table. "I see, take a seat and roll up your sleeves. I'll need to check for any bites." Kathrine pulls up a stool in front of Mary. "I'll need to take your temperature too, give me-"

Edward knocks at on the door to the nurse's office. He is accompanied by Ivy, Angie, and the other kids. The soldier greets Mary with a nod.

"We're here to uh, get checked up?" He says to Kathrine.

"There's more of you? Okay, come in. Roll up your sleeves and..." The nurse hastily pulls up a few chairs and stools from the corner of the room. "Here, have a seat."

One of the teenager sitting on the side of a stretches looks over at the group of strangers.

"Can I go?" He says and hops off the stretcher.

"No, we're not done." Kathrine replies.

"I feel fine, I'm not bleeding anywhere." The teenager boy states, leaving the room before Kathrine can object.

"Hey- Oh I don't have time for this. Here, hold still." She inserts the thermometer into Mary's ear.

Mary's eyes narrow in annoyance as she watches the teenager leave the room. Impertinent punk, she thinks. He reminds her of herself at his age - not a flattering comparison - and more than she'd like of herself at her age.

Mary waits patiently for the nurse to finish checking the temperature of her ear. That thermometer is electric, she notes. Either those batteries last forever or she has a supply. Once the nurse is done and is preparing for the next examination, Mary clears her throat.

"You said before that you need help," she says casually.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:42, Thu 24 Dec 2020.

Ivy sat down on one of the stools and rolled up her sleeves. "You're not gonna give us a shot are you? I hate shots."

Shaw High School - Nurse's Office

"All done. And yes! Help!" Kathrine finishes her examination on Mary. "I've been asking for more help in the office since last month! Erica hasn't sent anyone my way!" She vents as she begin inspecting the others. "What if something happens to me? What if I catch a cold? Who's going to take over my work? Not that I have gotten sick since this whole outbreak started, its never a bad idea to have backup plans? Right?" She continues before anyone answers. "It would be nice to work with someone for a change. There are days when I am in this room by myself for the whole day."

Edward glances at Ivy briefly then turns to the nurse. "You got any flu shots for us, nurse?"

Dwayne's eyes widens.

For a while, Ashley simply sat there with her head in her hands, motionless but for a slight lean against the touch of Trisha's shoulder.  Lost in the dark recesses of her own thoughts, between the rock of self-loathing and the hard place of self-pity, that shoulder was her lifeline, the only thing anchoring her to the real world for a long, silent moment.  It wasn't the eternity it felt like in the melodrama of her own head -- it was scarcely a few minutes -- but for those scarce few minutes, she was grateful.

When had she come to so crave human contact?

"'m sorry."  The words came half a mumble, another long silent moment before she lifted her head, resting her chin on her arms and staring glumly into the distance.  "I just... I know where this is going.  I've been here before.  So have you."  She shifted her gaze to Trisha, still looking sour.  "It's Whitehaven.  It's the church.  It's every place that ever felt safe, and wasn't.  And something always happens-- something always happens."  She freed one hand to gesture aimlessly with as she spoke, still resting her chin on the other.

"Whether it's raiders, or maybe the wall's just not as safe as it looks, or it is but it doesn't matter anyway, or it's carelessness or stupidity or just a simple goddamn mistake, or maybe it's bad people with good intentions or good people with bad intentions and... something breaks.  Something's gonna break.  Sometime."  Ashley growled low in frustration.  This was not at all helping her case.  It wasn't helping her not look like a nutcase, either.

"Look.  Even if I wasn't literally hallucinating, this place is still nothing but bad for me.  I'll settle in, and find a routine, and things will feel normal, and I'll get complacent, and--... I can't get complacent."  Suddenly animated, she pushed off the wall and leapt to her feet, pacing several steps away before turning and pacing back towards Trisha.  "I'm tired of half measures.  I'm tired of 'good enough'.  Good enough always ends up going bad, and everyone else is just... okay with it, okay with going from one good enough to another, move on when this collapses, leave the dead and take what you can carry.  It's bullshit."  Stopping in front of Trisha, Ashley looked down with a sigh, a moment's fury draining away with her lack of momentum.  She knew what she didn't want, but she was having trouble articulating what she did want.  "It's bullshit."

Another sigh, a long pause, and she knelt down to place herself in front of Trisha, level with her face.

"I don't wanna... live like that.  I can't."  She leaned closer, speaking in conspiratorially quiet tones, wagging two fingers at her friend.  "...Two days, alright?  Two days.  One good night's sleep, and one day to sort my shit out and figure out what I'm doing, where I'm going from here.  I can't stick around, but even I'm not dumb enough to go running off right this second, with how I feel right now.  Two days, and then I'm gone."

Ashley suddenly rushed in -- gripping Trisha by the shoulders, cheek against the older girl's, lips by her ear, breathless and halting.

"Come with me.  Stay with me."

Her fingers tightened almost painfully on Trisha's shoulders, halfway between an embrace and pinning her to the wall.  The intensity almost covered her nervous shiver.

Almost.

"Please."

"Oh, that's too bad," Mary says flatly. She had been hoping for a quick task Mary could carry out to earn the community's good will, but it was not to be. Kathrine needs a permanent assistant, and Mary wants neither of those things.

"I hope you find someone," Mary continues. "A group like this should have more than one doctor. We're just here to deliver a message. We'll be moving on before too long. Honestly, I don't know why needed an examination at all."

Happy to stay with her as long as she needed, Trisha sits in silence. The only thing she can hear past Ashley's ragged breathing is Fernando sniffing and scuffling around them, his face alert as if he can sense something isn't right with the girls. The quiet continues until Ashley lifts her head and begins to speak. Trisha meets her gaze, looking miserable and confused. Though nothing Ashley says is untrue, Trisha thinks it doesn't do anyone any good to be fretting over how unfair it all is. She looks down at the ground as she takes in the rest of her friend's worries, angry at herself for not having anything insightful to say.
"I know it's not fair. But I don't know what there is we can do about it."
Her eyes still face the ground, until Ashley leaps to her feet in a rush that sends Fernando scurrying out of her way and causes Trisha to stare up at her in shock.
"What's wrong with 'good enough'?" She mutters under her breath, half to herself. She wonders if Ashley had hear her, before being jolted out of the thought by the shock of what the girl says next.
Two days.
"What?" Her eyes widen in fear as the hears the plan laid out in front of her. She is shaken by a wave of dread at the thought of her closest friend abandoning her. "W-what about..." Her trembling voice is cut off by the sudden grip of Ashley's hands around her shoulders.
For a moment, Trisha just stares in silence, her eyes unfocused and clouded with indecision, fear and panic; her mouth hanging open as if she were unable to speak at all. Then in an instant, her expression darkens as she finally finds the words.
"No!"
For just a heartbeat, anger flashes in her eyes as she pushes her arm out to shove Ashley away, though the regret she feels for doing it is instantaneous.
"I-I can't...I can't just go. You can't just go! What about everyone else? What about Mary...and the kids?" Her voice grows softer as she looks back to where she had left the rest of the group. They were the closest thing to a caring family she was ever going to get. Nothing could make her give that up.
The stress of it all sends tears welling up in her eyes as she turns to Ashley once more.
"What's wrong with 'good enough'? Why ain't it enough that people love you and care about you and want you to be safe? That's all I ever wanted my whole life, why would you wanna give it up!?"
She pushes further away again until she is sitting more than an arm's length away, too angry at the thought of letting Ash touch her again. The sting of betrayal hangs on her voice, making her words more vicious than they need to be.
"It's fine for you cuz you don't care about anyone but your stupid, dead girlfriend! You just want someone to be like her! You know how much I want to be in a family and now I am and you want me to ruin it because you don't care!"
She looks away to wipe here eyes, stifling a few sobs before staring back at her. With her shoulders slumped, cheeks splotchy and mucus running from her nose, she looks utterly defeated.
"You can't go." She sniffs. "You can't ditch me. I love you and I need you and I don't know what I'd do..."

Ivy gave Ed a sour look as he made his little joke to the nurse. "Ha ha." Her gaze wandered over to the woman. "So...what do you need us to do?"

Nurse's Office

"Really? That's surprising, people usually jump at the chance to stay here." Kathrine pauses her examination of the soldier's arm, lifting it half way in the air. "We check everyone to make sure no one entering the school is infected. We have elderlies and children in the building, they can't defend themselves if something happens. Now about those flu shots..."

She turns to the kids. "We don't have any right now. Bad kids though, they get shots. Now, I need you to go and sit on a stool and lift up your sleeves for me. I'll need to check your arms and legs."

The nurse's gaze turns back to the soldier's arm. She is about to resume her work when suddenly she turns back to Mary.

"Wait, you're delivering a message? Then tell Erica, or Leo that I need people here! They can't keep ignoring me, I know we have people to spare. The last person they sent, that new girl, Chelsea, she said she worked with a surgeon, but she didn't really know anything! She can barely disinfect and dress a scratch wound. Tell them I need someone better, or I am g-"

Gabriella abruptly steps into the room and claps her hand on Mary's shoulder. "Hi Kathrine, I'm going to need to steal Mary from you." She gives Mary a knowing nod. "Can you check the rest of them too? See if they're clean?"

"Sure, sure. Wait, before you go." Kathrine extends her hand out to Mary. A school badge rests in her palm. Her expectant gaze meets Mary.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:09, Fri 08 Jan 2021.

Oh, so they were just checking for bites. That wasn't so bad. Ivy slipped off her bulky jacket and dumped it in a heap on her chair. It collapsed with a surprisingly-heavy 'thud.' Now that she'd taken it off, it occurred to her just how much stuff she was carrying around in all those pockets. Feeling lighter than usual, the girl sat down on the stool and rolled up the sleeves of her hoodie, before doing the same with her jeans. "Like this?"

Ashley recoiled as if struck, nearly leaping back from her kneeling position to her feet.  Wide-eyed, she took a step further back, her look more of shock than anger.  Perhaps surprisingly, it wasn't the bad part of what Trisha said that cut her.  'Stupid dead girlfriend' she'd heard once before from Trisha, back at the church, and quite honestly she was used to it by now -- expected it, even.  That trauma was hers and hers alone, and she didn't expect anyone to feel it as acutely as she did, even a friend.  Some small part of her even agreed, and she knew, rationally, that it was well past time for her to get over it, or at least compartmentalize it, so she could continue dealing with the daily shitstorm of life in this new, ruined world.

No, it was the 'good' part that really twisted the knife.



Several thoughts flashed through Ashley's mind in the space of a breath, and their reflection played out in her eyes.  Anger.  How dare you use that word with me!  Confusion.  Wait -- like a friend, or family, or...?  Frustration.  Jesus fuck, clarify your intentions if you're gonna say something like that!  And finally, the place she always ended up, her second home, the one that followed her wherever she went: defeat.  No, of course she doesn't mean it like that.  You were lucky the first time, you think lightning's gonna strike twice?  Don't kid yourself, kid.

If kicking your own ass was a sport, Ashley Soma was the gold goddamn medalist.

"Look," she began with a heavy sigh, though it was a long moment before she continued the thought.  "I don't pretend to get it.  I won't.  I won't insult you like that.  My dad skipped out on us before I ever really knew him.  My mom was my entire world, for fifteen years.  And now that she's gone -- dead, or just somewhere else, escaped and run off on her own shitty adventure just like me -- I'm... honestly just not interested in finding a replacement.  This was it, y'know?  Kick the baby bird out of the nest, it's time to fly.  So that's what I'm doing."  She spread her arms wide.  "Flying."

Ashley took another step back from Trisha before finally lowering her arms.

"I learned how to fight.  I learned how to survive.  Out there.  On my own."  She turned and continued her walk away from Trisha, towards the nearest bus in the makeshift wall, where she paused to rap a fist against its yellow side.  "I learned what to do, and what not to do.  We could settle here, for a while, and I honestly don't know how long it would last.  I was just talking tough before.  But the point is, there is a number.  Days, weeks, months -- hell, years, if they're smart enough, diligent enough, and above all, lucky enough.  But."

She turned sharply on her heel, and swung her left hand in a sudden, ferocious backfist that slammed into the side of the bus, ringing out across the schoolyard.

"This.  Isn't.  Safe."  When Ashley moved her hand away, two things were apparent: the bloody mark left by her knuckles, and the dent they left in the metal.  "Eventually, this fails.  Build a wall, build it higher.  Build a thousand, I don't care.  Eventually, some day, they all fall down.  I don't want to be on the inside when they do."

This is the part where you tell her and her walls to fuck off.  Where you finally strike out on your own, master of your own destiny, beholden to no one but the wind.

...No?

God damn it.

"...We can stay for a while."  The admission came atop another deep sigh.  She was already kicking herself for it, and for everything she already said so far, and, inevitably, for a bunch of shit she'll say in the future.  Might as well get an early start, after all.  "I don't want to be here forever.  I don't think we can.  We'll have to move on eventually.  You know it, I know it.  We always have so far, and I don't expect that to change here.  But I'm not... gonna do that to you right now, not yet."  She paced back to Trisha, finally mustering a smile for her friend, however small.  "I want to take you somewhere safe.  I know what safe is, now that I know what it isn't, and I want to take you with me somewhere really, truly safe -- you, and everyone else, if they'll listen.  But we can stay here, for now, and make plans."  She held out her hand -- the left one -- deliberately -- to Trisha to help her to her feet.  "Just promise me you'll go with me, when... whenever we're both ready.  Alright?"

Mary is in the process of tuning Kathrine out when something rings a bell. Chelsea. Mary knows that name, though not well. Was she the "gaudy" girl they had mentioned earlier? Mary's expression quirks, shooting Kathrine a crooked glance, and she's about to interrupt Kathrine when Gabriella steps in and does it for her.

Mary glances down at the school badge. A small but persuasive part of her wants to refuse it just to prove that no one tells her what to do, but her better judgment prevails. Reaching out, she takes the badge from Kathrine.

"Thank you," she tells the nurse, then leaves with Gabriella. Once they exit the room, Mary slips the badge into a pocket and asks, "So what do you need me for?"

Nurse's Office

"Yes, like that. Hold still." After the nurse finishes examining Ivy she continue her work with the rest. Some time, and seemingly endless words in a one sided conversation from the nurse passes.

"...so any other reason for coming here besides that message? I can tell you guys have more story to tell, you don't send this many people to deliver a message. Not unless you're Leo. You see, Erica's cautious about a lot of things, but Leo?" she shakes her head and lightly chuckles to herself, "he is paranoid. Last month, we thought someone was stealing supplies. We had a lockdown on our school, no one allowed in or not until he finds the culprit. Turns out someone miscounted our stock and they were too afraid to confess. So no thief, no missing supplies, just a small human-oopsie on math. Leo had seven people on watch for weeks after that. It took us-"

"Ma'am, you're Kathrine, right?" Edward asks.

"Yes, that's me. Kathrine the school nurse." She answers.

"One of 'em messages we be deliverin' is for you." Edward states. "From Malcolm."

At the mention of his name, Kathrine's eyes go wide. She appears to be stunned. "He says uh, sorry. He said he's sorry." The solider delivers the message as requested.

The nurse eyes swells up with tear. Her head slowly trembles as tears streams down onto her cheeks. "No, no... What he did, he had to- Nothing I-I could've done to save Malcolm, I- he was right, I shouldn't have... But, is he alive? IS he okay? Where is he? And Kale? Are they- are they alive?"

"They're fine, I reckon Malcolm's on a farm somewhere in Arkansas." Edward snorts. "Can't imagine him doin' any kinds of farm work."

The nurse removes her glasses. She smiles at the news of Malcolm as she continuously wipe the tears off of her face.

"No, no I can't either. But, its good. That's good."


Hallway - Mary

"Nothing really, thought you might want to get out of there sometime today." Gabriella smirks. She takes a quick peek back into the office. "Hmm... your friends might be stuck there awhile." The woman shrugs. "Ready to meet the big boss?"

Ivy watched Katherine's reaction with interest. Mal and Kale seemed to have had an even bigger impact on this place than she thought. It shouldn't have been any real surprise that they'd had his own share of adventures before joining up with her and the others, but she'd never really taken the time to think about it. "What happened when he was still here?" she decided to ask. "Did he help you take this place over from the monsters?"

Nurse's Office

The nurse sniffs after adjusting her glasses back on. "Yes, he did. He helped us with the monsters. We used to have them crawling on the third floor, he and Kale helped us clear them out. After that, he and Leo came up with a plan to clear the Cleveland outpost for the supplies. We wouldn't be here if we didn't take what we need from that outpost. Annnnd..." Kathrine fishes out several school badges under her desk. "He helped me convince Erica and everyone to go through with wearing these badges." She sets them on the table. Not so coincidentally, there are just enough badges on the table for Ivy and the others.

"Cleveland outpost huh." Edward comments to himself.

"Last time I saw him was in this office. Some local bandit took a few of ours hostage. Erica sent him and Kale to negotiate a deal but... They never came back, and we found... what's left of Andres body in a shed where the negotiation was supposed to take place. Leo was furious. He went out himself to tried and find them for days. Erica blamed herself for what happened. Did you relay the news to her?"

"Yeah." Edward replies.

"Good. That's good, she'll be glad they're both still alive." She flashes a meek smile.

Trisha turns away from her with a sour face and rolls her eyes, not in the mood for a lecture.
"Well my mama is a bitch and I hope she's dead." She mutters to herself, almost too quiet to hear. She jolts out of her own thoughts at the sound of Ashley suddenly striking the bus. Watching as the girl approaches her again, Trisha wipes her eyes and gently grasps the outstretched hand that had been offered.
It was more an act of peace than anything else, as she makes sure not to put any real weight on Ashley's arm and aggravate her injury.

Feeling embarrassed to have let herself get so upset, she rubs her nose on her sleeve to clear her face and smiles softly, as if all had been forgiven.

"There ain't no such thing as 'safe'. Not really. Not even before all this mess."
She looks away for a moment, as if distracted by some troubling thought deep within her mind, though she is quick to shake it off. Her eyes refocus on Ashley and she suddenly looks brighter.
"You know none of us was even gonna stay here, anyways. It's boring and everyone's weird. And I don't want nobody in this place thinkin' we owe them nothin'."
She screws up her nose at the thought alone, hoping the response would be enough to reassure Ashley. But it doesn't feel like enough; she deserves a more direct answer. Looking a little more solemn, she keeps on talking.
"But I don't wanna be on my own anymore. I hate it. If we left with just us we'd be all alone. Mary wants us to keep going, and I think she's right. There ain't never gonna be nowhere safe. All I care is someone even thinks about me."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:16, Thu 14 Jan 2021.

The sudden change from not-okay to okay was jarring, but Ashley did what she did best: adapt.  Matching her friend's manner, she nods along with Trisha, before chiming in with the necessary correction, because of course she couldn't just leave well enough alone.

"Mary's looking for somewhere safe too.  Well, safe-er.  You're right nothing's ever 100% safe, but we've got pretty similar ideas.  Find a secure location, build it up with all our brilliant tactical know-how, and fucking bunker down, dude.  Hang out 'till the military or the government or Area 51 or who-the-fuck-ever finally starts sorting shit out, however long that takes... and, well, if they never show up, then we might as well make sure we've set up our new kingdom somewhere a little more defensible so we don't hafta keep looking over our shoulder all the time, y'know?"  Ashley shrugged, looking rather less concerned than she actually was at the realization that came to mind mid-sentence: what if nobody fixes this?  What if it's just this, forever?

...Eh, fuck it.  Life is forever.  You scramble to figure shit out today, and then tomorrow you do the same thing again, and then you just keep doing that 'till you die.  Only thing that's changed is now a bunch of people want to eat you.

"If we stay on the road forever, we're just gonna keep walking into more deadies, forever.  Least we can do is try to work out a status quo that's a little less... eh... precarious than that."  Another shrug.  "Anywho, they're prolly wondering how long we're gonna spend out here sucking face.  Might as well make my glorious introductions soonlike."  She offered her arm to Trisha, intent on swaggering over to the door and finally making nice with this not-so-little group, at least for now.

She stopped after a few steps, unsatisfied with her own addressing of the situation.

"...I think about you," she interjected amidst her own grandiose nonsense, the briefest moment of somber genuineness before resuming her prior swagger up to the door.

"Time to go wow the peasantry, yeah?"

"Mal and Kale were running away from some bandits when we met them," Ivy remarked upon hearing the story of the duo's disappearance. "If they're the same ones you're talking about, then you don't have to worry about them anymore. They're all dead."

Mary glances back at the nurse's office. Gabriella's words implied that Mary would be separated from the others for an extended amount of time, which makes Mary uneasy. Hypothetically, this could be a way of dividing her group long enough to kill them all without rousing suspicion, but Mary doesn't believe that's the case. The people at this school don't seem devious enough for that; indeed, they seem almost guileless. In fact, what makes Mary uneasy is that they're so forthcoming, as if they don't expect her group to move on as quickly as Mary had said they would.

"Sure," Mary says in a noncommittal tone, but after a second, decides not to leave it at that. "What does the big boss want with me? I feel like he'd have more important things to do."

Nurse's office

The nurse looks to the child relaying the news of the deceased. She nods, slowly. "Good. We don't need people like them around. They caused enough harm for us." She completes her brief check up on the children and the soldier. The nurse tuts when she looks over Angie's arms and face.

"When was the last time-" Angie head turns away at Kathrine's question. Kathrine quickly glances at the group before passing a quick look at the soldier. "Keep her off of it. Even though its been a while you still don't want her near it again. That stuff is going to run out eventually anyway."

A series of door knocks ceases the conversation.

"Come in, you're with them?" The nurse asks the man standing at the door.

"Yeah." Elijah replies, stepping into the room. He greets the group with a smile. "How you doin' youngin's? Hope the nurse didn't scare you none?"

"No." Dwayne replies.


Hallway - Mary

"You wanted a vehicle right? Erica definitely could've work out some sort of deal with your group, but Leo likes to personally handle any dealing with strangers." Gabriella walks for the stairs with Mary following. "Trust me, its better this way."

They ascend the stairs to the next level. Looking around, there are adults and teenagers going about their business. All of the classrooms have been repurposed into barracks, work areas, and storage rooms. Mary sees a woman herding a group of teenagers and kids into a classroom up ahead.

"That's fine," Mary says. For a moment, she wonders if she should be making deals for the whole group without consulting anyone else, but then dismisses the question. She spent decades negotiating her own contracts over the course of her career; she doesn't need to consult with the soldiers or teenagers.

"You have a lot of children here," she says, watching the gaggle of kids file into the classroom ahead. "It must be difficult."

Mary thinks of Dwayne and Mina and the inconvenience they've caused her. Ivy's proved an exception, but Mary suspects she's a rare one. She can't imagine having to wrangle as many young children as she's seen here at this school.
This message was last updated by the player at 04:54, Mon 25 Jan 2021.

"I guess that sounds alright.." Trisha concedes. As long as her group can stay together as best they can, she doesn't care all that much where they go or what they do. She does not know what the word "precarious" means, though she assumes through context it must mean something bad.
When Ashley holds out her arm, Trisha grabs hold with a mischeivous chuckle.
"They gonna love us, for sure." She jokes.
She stops short and meets her gaze. "I know you do. And it means a lot." She replies softly. They keep walking and she says in a brighter tone, as if still joking. "Sometimes I think you're the only one that ever does."
After a beat of silence, she can't help but blurt out. "I'm really sorry I got so upset. I didn't mean any of that bad stuff I said, I just got scared and angry..."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:17, Tue 26 Jan 2021.

Ivy turned her head just in time to see Eli step into the room. "She was just making sure we didn't have bites and stuff." Her gaze shifted to the pins resting on the table, before returning to the soldier. "What should we do now?" Truth be told, the young girl was tempted to go snooping around where she didn't belong, just like back at the church all that time ago. Antagonizing these people after that close call earlier wasn't the brightest of ideas, but it wasn't like they'd get too mad at a harmless little girl, right? And that was if she got caught.

Hallway

"Maybe." Gabriella replies to Mary's remark regarding the children in the community. "Its not my job to look after them, so I wouldn't know. Leo has a way to keep them under control. Kids and their energy, you know." She grins at you and shrugs.

The duo come across of a teenage boy with a distinguishing mohawk. He's holding a rifle in his hands, pacing back and forth outside of a room.

"Hey, guard boy. Where's Leo?" Gabriella calls out to the boy. The mohawked boy turns around.

"He's in there." He nods his head at the room nearby.

Gabriella steps over by the door and peers through. She returns to Mary shortly with an apologetic look. "Sorry, looks like they're planning something. Wait here, I'll get him." With that, she excuse herself and head inside.

You're left with the armed teenage boy who is currently staring fiercely at you. His posture stiffens, almost as if he's flexing. This would've been quite intimidating if Mary's didn't immediately recognize the act he's putting up.


Nurse's Office

"We can look around." Edward suggests. "Maybe they have kids here around your age." He looks to ivy and the other kids.

"Oh we do! We have teachers here too, most of the kids should be in class. You can go take a look. Its upstairs." Kathrine comments as she instructs Elijah to sit and reveal his arm.

"We'll catch up with ya later, El." Edward leads the group out of the room.

"Stay safe. Ivy, don't let Ed do anythin' dumb." Elijah says.

The group gathers just outside of the nurse's office.

"Do we have to go up there? Can't we go somewhere else?" Mina says to the others.

"Do you think they'll let us in the library?" Dwayne looks over to Ivy and asks.

"Libraries are borin'. You're borin'." Mina states. "I want to see the pool."

"Or, or... we can look around, see if they got any cool stuff or snacks." The soldier voices his own suggestion.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:14, Thu 28 Jan 2021.

Terry feels his body suddenly became traitorous, completely paralyzed from the shock of seeing the lifeless body of the woman he'd killed reanimate, her skin pewter gray and her eyes crazed and abundantly familiar.  They stare at one another, a broken man and a broken woman, for long stuttering breaths as they grapple for domination. His own eyes squeeze shut, a tremor wracking his frame as he feels his strength waning, feels the chill from her icy skin as fingers claw into him.

Terry's train of thought sputters to a halt, having jumped the tracks of logic long ago. He ponders pursuing his original fantasy of Mary and Regina sharing a session of intimacy before articulating that is a whole world of nope right now. Thinking of women in a private inevitably brings him back to his crimes. He laughs helplessly at his own shame. It's forced, slightly manic and loud. Must this be the fate of every daydream he has?

"Fuck, man."

A few short breathing exercises later and he's back in control and alert. He exits the vehicle and feels it lightly sway as he leans his massive frame against its side.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:49, Sun 31 Jan 2021.

Mary eyes the boy's mohawk, suppressing the urge to smile. Is this some sort of tribal warrior affectation, or is it classic punk? The first possibility is uninteresting to her, but the second is interesting. She was a little too old to fit into the punk rock scene by the time it came to the States, but she'd always been sympathetic to its fierce contempt for authority and romantic, if tragically futile, resistance to society's imposed standards.

"Nice hair," Mary says casually, not acknowledging the boy's attempt to intimidate her. "How long have you had it like that? It must be difficult to maintain it nowadays."

Everyone seemed to have their own idea of what to do next. Ivy weighed her options.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Go to the library.
Go to the pool.
>Look around.

---

"I like Ed's idea," Ivy announced. "A snack sounds pretty good right now." In truth, neither the library nor the pool sounded like good places for snooping. And Ivy hadn't had a decent meal in awhile, so the prospect of finding something to eat during her search had some appeal to it.

Shaw High School - Outside

Out of nowhere, the behemoth bellows with laughter, startling those around him.

"What the hell, man?" Natasha turns to the man, following him out of the car. "You what, remembered a funny joke?"


Shaw High School - Second Floor Hallway

(?) He will remember that.

The teen's shoulder relaxes at the mention of his hair. "You like it?" His hand motions over the tip of his hair. "I had it for-" For a brief moment his expression softens, then regresses to his unseasoned intimidating stance he had before. This time, even a ten years old can see through his pitiful attempt. "Yeah." He says, barely managing to maintain eye contact with Mary.


Shaw High School - First Floor Hallway

"I want snacks, I'm hungry!" Mina exclaims.

"Okay, we'll see if they have any food for us. Now be nice, don't be mean to other kids." Edward instructs the group. "Or adults."

"We're strangers. Will they...?" Angie speaks to Edward. The soldier returns a knowing nod.

"We'll see. Let's try askin' that fella there." The group follows Edward down the hallway. he introduces the group to the stranger then inquires about rations. As he's conversing with the man, Ivy spots a familiar figure walking out from a room nearby. She recognizes the scar across his eyebrows, and the brooding face he has on. The expression he's wearing is the same as when they took him hostage a few hours ago.

Marcus stretches his wrist, and his fingers. His eyebrows elevates slightly with interest when the group comes into view.

"...think ya can hook us up with some food? These kids are pretty hungry." Edward subtlety gives Dwyane and Mina a pat on her back. Dwayne steps forward involuntarily from the sudden contact.

"Y-yes, mister. I'm a little hungry." Dwayne says.

"I'm starvin'! We haven't ate nothin'!" Mina says to the stranger.

Angie opens her mouth with the intent to speak, but decides to stay quiet in the end.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:36, Wed 03 Feb 2021.

Terry is studying the road with more deliberation than is really necessary, whilst he loiters. At Natasha's question two black brows rise high on his forehead in inquiry.

He's taking too long to answer a perfectly reasonable question. Terry reaches for the nearest version of a non-answer he can find.

"I was thinkin' 'bout somethin' Father James told me. He said 'the devil's greatest failing is that he accepts his place in the scheme of things and never thinks to make a heaven out of hell.' I've been trying to think about how that applies to some of the shit I've been doin'."

Terry's face suddenly clouds over, falls a little, and then recovers.

"You 'member the name of the nigga whose arm I cut off? Feel like all this shit got started the second I did it. Feels like goin' with my gut has been lettin' me down lately."

Shaw High School - Outside

"Okay, first of all," Natasha raises up her index finger, "forget whatever bullshit James told you. Second, just because we're in literal living hell it doesn't mean we have to be garbage of a human being. I mean, I still choose to not do shitty things." She crosses her arms and stares directly at Terry. "I was there with you dude, why did you listen to Antonio and cut his hand off? That was seriously fucked up." She looks away for a moment. "He's name was Tim, by the way."

"You cut someone's hand off?" From out of nowhere, Rufus swoops in on the conversation like a dog lured in by the smell of bacon. He looks to be in awe, and awfully curious about Terry's tale. His eyes are almost sparkling when they're looking at Terry expectantly. "When did this happen?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:16, Fri 05 Feb 2021.

Well, he's not very forthcoming, Mary thinks. The boy clearly has a lot to prove. She wonders if he puts up this kind of front with everyone in the community. She can't help but be disappointed he's not playing the spitfire rebel instead of the strong, silent type; at least that would provide some entertainment while she waits.

Fine. All business, then. "Who's Leo?" she asks, gesturing towards the door. She has a pretty good idea already, but she wants to hear a different perspective.

Noticing the familiar face, Ivy glanced over at Marcus. He looked irritated about something. Probably the fact that she and the others were wandering around his home turf after what happened back at that house. Of course, the girl maintained that none of it would have happened if he hadn't been acting so shady. Even now, something about the guy rubbed Ivy the wrong way. She made a mental note to watch out for him. Her gaze darted back to the conversation in front of her. "It's...been awhile."

Shaw High School - Second Floor Hallway

"He's the one in charge." The teenager answers your question. "He's the toughest, and bravest dude that we got." While on the topic of Leo, a man walks out from the nearby room with Gabriella following behind. The teenage boy straightens his posture at the sight of the man.

What stands before you is a Hispanic man. Although he is not as big as the behemoth you know, this man is still physically strong.

"Mary right? Your people need a car." Leo addresses you. "Let's cut to the chase. We have vehicles to spare, what are you proposing for it in return?"


Shaw High School - First Floor Hallway

Catching your glance, Marcus narrow his eyes and takes his leave.

"Well I- I don't know if-" The stranger is caught off guard by the three hungry children. "Check the cafeteria, its that way. I don't know the rules about feeding strangers." The man gives directions to the soldier before returning to his business.

"Let's go kids." Edward beckons the group to follow.

"Thanks mister." Dwayne expresses his gratitude to the stranger before jogging after the rest of the group.

"Thanks," Ivy parroted Dwayne's words before catching up to Ed's side. "I saw that 'Marcus' guy from the house," she said to the soldier as they walked. "He looked mad. I don't think he wants us here."

Shaw High School - First Floor Hallway

"Maybe he's still angry at us for holdin' him hostage earlier." Edward turns his head in search of the man. Marcus is no longer in sight.

"What about you, kiddo? Do you want to stay here?" The soldier asks.

Ivy took a moment to think. "I dunno yet. Mal's friends are here, but so are Ellie and that Marcus guy. And it seems safe enough, but something always happens to mess that up." The church. The air force base. It seemed like no matter where they tried to settle down, calamity eventually struck that forced them back on the road again.

"You have vehicles to spare?" Mary asks. She smiles, leaning forward, not just to put Leo at ease. She had always negotiated her own contracts with publishers before the dead rose, and while she'd been distracted until now, just the prospect of working out a deal makes her suddenly and powerfully realize how much she missed it.

"That means you don't want it as much as we do," Mary says. Normally, it wouldn't be prudent to let slip how badly they needed the deal - supply and demand, et cetera, she thinks - but she figures it's already obvious. "There must be something you do want and that we can spare. We don't have much in terms of supplies, but what we do have is time. Time and labour.

"I notice you have a lot of dependents here," Mary says, making a circular gesture to indicate her surroundings. "I mean children and the like. It must be hard to find enough supplies. I'm an outdoorsman - a hunter. I can catch you some game. I'm also a writer; I doubt you need that, but you never know."

Shaw High School - Cafeteria

"Maybe it won't this time?" The soldier says to Ivy. There's almost no conviction behind his own words.

Right outside the cafeteria the group sees three other children peeking out from a nearby room. They look to be about Ivy's age. One of them steps out and beckons at the kids. "Hey new kids!" He hushes as he looks around nervously. "Wanna see something cool?"

"What is it?" Mina asks.

"Not so loud!" The boy puts a finger in front of his lips.

A young girl slips out from behind the boy in front. "Only if you promise to not tell..."

"I won't tell! Show me!" Mina exclaims.

"Shhh!" The boy hushes her.

Dwayne looks expectantly to Edward.

"Y'all kiddos can go play if you want. I'll grab us some food and Angie can look after ya." The soldier says. Angie glances over to the soldier with a look of surprise as if she had just been caught falling asleep in class.

Shaw High School - First Floor Hallway

"A writer?" Gabriella looks to you with interest. She turns to Leo. "Hey, maybe she can help teach the kids how to write."

Leo raises his hand and dismisses her with a wave. "We have hunters, they can use you. What about the others in your group? Are they good with a gun?"

"Yes," Ivy answered without hesitation. Secret, possibly forbidden stuff was exactly what she'd been hoping for. Snooping time had now officially begun! With Ed's blessing given, the young girl hurried over to join the other kids. "Let's go!"

Shaw High School - Storage Closet

The soldier leaves the little gremlins in the care of the distraught woman. "Okay..." Angie mutters, tagging along behind the children.

"Its in here." The boy in charge beckons the others to come through the storage closet.

"Let me see, let me see!" Mina rushes inside.

"Shh! You have to be quiet or we'll get caught!" The girl follows Mina inside along with the other boy that hasn't said anything yet.

Dwayne steps into the storage closet after the others.

The blonde haired boy stops Ivy at the doorway when Angie makes a move to follow the kids.

"No adults, she's gonna tell." The boy says to Ivy.

"I'm not planning on staying that long," Mary tells Gabriella, smiling. She tries to disguise the smile as friendly, but really it's amused at the concept. Teaching children to write? That's what she thinks is important right now?

"Edward and Elijah are military," she says, turning back to Leo. "Of course, as you probably already know, there's more to hunting than just shooting. I don't know if they can track animals."

She considers mentioning that some of the others, such as Terry and Natasha, don't tend to use firearms but are still good in a pinch, but decides against it. She's placed a lot of trust in this community, but there's no need to show all of her cards. One part of her brain even considers saying Ivy can shoot, too, but her better judgment shuts that down immediately.

Ivy stopped at the boy's behest at the door to the storage closet. Glancing back at Angie, she gave a resigned shrug. "Sorry, can you wait here? It's just a closet, we're not gonna run off or anything."

Shaw High School - Second Floor

"Military? I have something else in mind for them." Leo states. The man looks to the side for a moment, appearing to be deep in thought. It isn't long before he shifts his attention back to Mary. "You have any experience tracking people?" He asks.


Shaw High School - Storage Closet

Angie silently nods.

"Come on, hurry." The blonde haired boy enters the room.

"I'll... be here." Angie says. She leans against the nearby wall. Looks like she'll be waiting here for you.

"Thanks." Ivy followed the boy into the closet and shut the door behind her. "So what's this cool thing?"

Shaw High School - Storage Closet

When Ivy enters the storage closet, Mina and the other two kids are not in sight. A utility cabinet is rotated at an weird angle, revealing a vent with its panel left open with Dwayne standing over it.

"Come on Dwayne, you're so slow!" Ivy hears Mina's voice echoing down from somewhere in the walls. Dwayne passes Ivy a nervous look before crawling through the small gap himself.

"Its not here, follow me." The blonde haired boy answers and climbs through the vent.

The vent itself is big enough for Ivy to crawl through with ease. Anyone older, or bigger might have a problem with maneuvering themselves inside the small tunnels.

The girl's eyes widened at the sight of the open passage. Sneaking through vents? Like in the movies?! This was a level of snooping that Ivy had previously only dreamed of! She broke out in a big grin as she hurried over to the opening. "Awesome!" she whispered as she crawled into the vent.

That's a little ominous, Mary thinks. She is lucky that Leo turns to the side, as she's not quick enough to prevent a concerned frown and furrowed brow from forming on her face. She regains her composure by the time Leo turns back to her.

"Not before, if that's what you mean," Mary says. She's not sure if Leo is asking whether she was a law enforcement officer or a serial killer, but she probably shouldn't imply either one. "A few times, after, under dire circumstances. Humans are pretty easy to track through the wilderness. Hundreds of pounds on two feet make for strong footprints. Shoe treads make it even easier."

She pauses. "Of course, that's the wilderness. If you want me to track someone over sidewalk or road, that's a different story."
This message was last updated by the player at 06:34, Thu 04 Mar 2021.

Shaw High School - Ventilation

Ivy enters the vent with ease. She hears chatter echoing through the metal tunnel from up ahead.  The vent is covered in dusts and other unspeakable disgusting substances that attached themselves to all sides of the metal surface from long ago. Ivy can feel some of these things sticking onto her clothes as she continues to crawl behind the blonde haired boy.

"I'm Elliot by the way." The blonde haired boy introduces himself. "The other two are Hemani and Viktor. They're my friends." He states.

Shaw High School - Second Floor

Leo takes a brief pause before speaking again.

"We set up small lookout spots around the city. If anyone sees anything they will signal Erica over radio." He explains. "We lost one of our post recently, I'm planning take a few men with me and find whoever killed my people. "

Mary sees the teenager looking over to Leo. He seems excited, and eager.

"If a few of your people come with me to find them I think this would good start for our trade."
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:54, Fri 05 Mar 2021.

"Ivy," the girl answered in kind as she followed in Elliot's wake. "And the others are Mina and Dwayne." A few months ago Ivy would have been repulsed by the grime coating the inside of the vent. But considering she'd smeared monster blood and guts all over herself more than once by now, her tolerance level for disgusting substances was pretty much through the roof. Still, she made a mental note to wash her clothes the next time she had the chance. "Are you sure the grownups can't hear us in here?"
This message was last edited by the player at 11:50, Fri 05 Mar 2021.

Mary means to speak, but her words stick in her throat for a moment. What's the problem? she thinks, trying to fight past the block. You're already a killer, remember? It's too late to be squeamish about that. There's no cleaning the blood off your hands.

Mary forcibly clears her throat and speaks. "Tell me about this post. How many people were there? How are you so sure someone killed them?"

Shaw High School - Ventilation

"They can't hear us. Unless you scream." Elliot replies.

"EWWWWWWW!" You hear Mina from further down the vent. A moment later, you feel a small furry animal brushes by your elbow as it scurries by.

"Hey! Be quiet!" Elliot hushes.

"It touched my nose!" You hear Mina again.

"I haven't seen you all before. Are you going to stay here?" The blonde hair boy asks.


Shaw High School - Second Floor

"Two of my guys were stationed there. This one is near the edge of the city." Leo states. "We have several posts like this in this city, we see anything coming in or out. They radioed us when they saw a group of men entering the city before we lost contact."

"Leo sent me to scout it out ahead to see if they were in trouble. I got there as fast as I could and they were already dead. Bullet to the head, both of them, hanging from a street light." Gabriella taps her finger at her forehead. "I was going to check the guard post when Leo ordered me to come back." She glances over at Leo.

"I did. And I will take care of this." The man announces.

"You're the boss." She replies.

Ivy flinched at the unexpected touch, reflexively pulling her arm away from the sensation. "Eep!" The source was quick to skitter away, bringing her no shortage of relief. Perhaps her assertion of being used to gross things had been speaking too soon.



"Huh?" Brought back to the moment by the boy's voice, the girl took a moment to register the question. "Oh, um, we dunno yet. Every time we try to stop somewhere, something happens to make us have to leave again."

Shaw High School - Outside

After a few twist and turns in the vents, Ivy finds herself outside of the school. There's also a foul stench emitting from the nearby dumpsters.

Elliot raises a rather large wooden board to cover up the vent.

"Where are we?" Dwayne asks.

"We're outside, behind the school." Hemani answers.

"There, almost." Viktor says. The boy speaks with a foreign accent.

Looking around, Ivy sees several builds in front of her. They are currently standing next to what looks to be a rather large alley in between the other sections of the school. Past those buildings and basketball courts, Ivy sees a glimpse of the track field. At both ends of the alleyway are men-made walls composed of vehicles and sheets of metal.

"There are adults around right now, we have to be sneaky." As Elliot speaks, a pair of said adults emerges from the school's back entrance into the alleyway. Instinctively, all of the kids crouched down behind the dumpsters.


NPC compendium updated.

Hanging from a street light? Mary recoils slightly, her lip curling in shock and disgust. I don't like the idea of tangling with these people at all.

"Well...that certainly rules out accidents or ghouls," Mary says. She frowns, brooding for a moment, before speaking again. "Have you considered the possibility that this is a trap? Whoever these people are, it would have been easier for them to hide your men's bodies. If they didn't know you were in radio contact, they could have tried to disguise their presence in your territory by making it look like the ghouls had done it. Hanging the bodies on display sounds like they're trying to invite reprisal. They could be trying to lure you into an ambush."

As Ivy ducked behind the dumpster with Elliot, her elbow collided with the side of the metal container, sending a pang of pain up her arm. "Mmf!" A reflexive pained sound escaped her before she could stop herself. Realizing what she'd just done, the girl felt a chill down her spine.

Uh oh.

"Eh, 'salright.  No harm, no foul."

It was not alright.  Ashley was this close to either punching or kissing Trisha a minute ago and quite honestly she couldn't say which would've been more likely, in the moment, and it was only the specter of all her various uncertainties and concerns and complexes that kept either one from happening.  That and the fact that she felt about two minutes from collapsing, and had felt that way pretty much all day, so she was having a bit of trouble maintaining her usual enigmatic intensity for more than a few sentences.

Her answer was her lack of any real answer, which seemed to be the way of things lately.  It was only the promise of immediate future bullshittery that kept her from dwelling on it, and kept her moving forward, which was precisely what she did, on and onward to the front door of the school.

"Hey," she called out in greeting to whomever saw fit to answer, throwing a quick wave with her free hand.  Her beaming grin betrayed none of the exhaustion or the uncertainty she felt.  "We're the ones who called about reserving the presidential suite.  Is that still available or are we gonna hafta settle for an ordinary room?"  If nothing else, Ashley still had bad jokes, even if her comedic confidence was running on fumes.

Yep, a bed sounds pretty good right about now.  Or a fucking grave.  'Bout the only way I'm gonna dodge having to deal with the fallout of all that nonsense back there.  Not looking forward to that.  Not even a little bit.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:50, Mon 15 Mar 2021.

Shaw High School - Outside

The two adults exiting the school halts their conversation when the woman of the pair raises her finger at the sound Ivy involuntarily made.

"Did you hear?" The woman speaks.

"No, what was it?" The man asks in response.

"Oh no!" Dwayne whispers to the others.

"I think I heard something by the dumpster." The woman takes a step closer to the dumpster before the man places his hand on her shoulder.

"You're being paranoid. It's probably a raccoon or something." The woman brushes the man's hand off as he speaks.

"If its a raccoon, we catch it. And if its something worse, I don't want Leo calling out my ass in front of everyone." The woman approaches the dumpsters with caution.

"Fine, whatever." The man walks off to the side and retrieves a packet of cigarettes from his pocket.

"She's coming over here, someone do something!" Hemani hushes to the others.


Shaw High School - Second Floor

At the mention of am ambush, Mary sees Gabriella and the teenage boy looking over to Leo who meets them in the eye before turning to Mary.

"Yes, I thought about it." Leo states. "I'm betting on it to be an ambush so I can grab the people responsible for killing my people and find where the rest of them are. I'm expecting these people to be heavily armed and dangerous. Your people are new here, and I look over the safety of my people as priority. The less people here I bring with me the better. And if your people agree to help us with this, consider our deal with the vehicle half way done."


Shaw High School - Front Yard

Erica, the woman who greeted the group upon arrival, responds to Ashley's call.

"We're taking care of that right now. We don't let strangers sleep in the school, we want to be careful, I'm sure you understand. Instead, we have many houses nearby that we cleared out and safe for your group. We have daily patrols to keep the streets clear. In fact, we have many people that are not officially with us that are taking shelter in the city." She gives you the details of the city's vacancy status. You get the feeling that he's given this small speech numerous times. Its probably why she sounds kind of like a real estate agent.

If Mary were not already frowning, she would start now. As it is, she struggles to prevent the sheer extent of her misgivings from showing on her face. Leo plans to knowingly walk into a trap and is bald-facedly using Mary's group as cannon fodder.

Is this really the price we have to pay for a vehicle? Mary thinks to herself. No, that's not right - half the price.

"I'll have to talk it over with my people," Mary says reluctantly. "You said that if we do this, our deal will be half done. What's the other half?"

Shaw High School - Second Floor

"Depends on what we find at the guard post." Leo answers Mary. "I have other jobs. You can ask Gabriella for the details, I need to go put a squad together. Get back to me soon, we're leaving in a few hours." Despise his words, Leo lingers a bit to see if you have anything further to discuss.

Ivy's mind raced. If that woman looked around the corner, she'd find them all! And there was no way all six of them would be able to hide before she got there! The only avenue of escape seemed to be preventing her from looking where they were hiding. And the only way to do that...was to make her look somewhere else!

Ivy held up her hand in a 'don't move' gesture as she reached into her pocket and fished out her pencil. Gently now, she thought to herself. Crouching down, she lightly tossed the object into the narrow gap under the dumpster, aiming in the general direction of the approaching footsteps. She heard it skitter across the ground for a few feet before coming to rest somewhere in the darkness.

The girl held her breath, not daring to move an inch. Come on, she thought. It's a rat. It's a cockroach. It's not worth it. Give up. Go away...!
This message was last edited by the player at 19:56, Mon 22 Mar 2021.

Shaw High School - Back Alley

After tossing the pencil, the woman's footstep comes to a stop. None of the children dare to peek around the dumpster. Dwayne exchanges a concerned look with the others.

"Guys, run, on three..." Elliot whispers to the others. "Two..."

"Come out." The woman commands.

"ONE!" Elliot emerges from the dumpsters, startling the woman. The other kids begin to sprint off in different directions. Mina follows Viktor while Dwayne runs after Elliot.

"You kids aren't suppose to be out here! Get back to class!" The woman shouts. "For god sake, help me!" She calls to the man, who toss aside his cigarette and books over by the woman.

Screw it. She tried.

Ivy took off with Elliot as they bolted from their hiding spot. Running as fast as her legs would take her, it suddenly occurred to the girl just how much lighter the world felt without all of those guns weighing her down. "Sorry!" she apologized as she fled.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:19, Sat 27 Mar 2021.

Shaw High School - Back Alley

"Hey! You three!" Ivy hears the man's shout from behind her.

"Over here!" Elliot makes a sharp turn behind the school building while Viktor and Dwayne dashes off towards the field. Hemani herself runs straight down the alleyway.

Mina nearly tripped when she turns to keep up with Elliot.

"Stop!" The man hollers. This time he sounded closer.

Ivy spun as she reached the corner, turning sharply and kicking off the ground hard to keep racing after Elliot without missing a beat. The man's voice was getting closer, despite their quick pace. There was only so much they could manage against someone with longer legs. "We have to lose him."

Shaw High School - Outside

As Ivy cuts around the corner of the building, she instinctively ducks her head when she feels a gust of wind passing through above her head. She sees a pair of shadows on the ground encompassing her own for a moment before it recedes.

"Dammit! Stop!" The man yells right after Ivy slips away from his grapple attempt. His momentary pause created some distance between them, but not enough for Ivy to be free from pursuit. For now, he's out of sight from behind the corner of the school. Its a bit of a way from where they are, and the man would probably get within range if they all try to run for it.

"Maybe we ask him to leave, we're not from the school." Dwayne suggests.

"No that's stupid, we can hide in there!" Elliot points toward the building up ahead. Its not connected to the school building, and looks to be about a quarter size big compared to the school.

"Its too far!" Dwayne responds. However, Elliot picks up the pace and goes on a full on dash for the building.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:27, Mon 29 Mar 2021.

"Of course," Mary says. "I'll get back to you."

Excusing herself from the room, Mary tracks down the other adults from her group. She focuses her efforts on finding Terry, Edward, and Elijah, but is happy to take Ashley, Trisha, and Natasha if they're available. She is not terribly concerned with the opinion of Nicole or Angie, but will allow them to attend the meeting, but does not include the younger children.

"I met with Leo," she says once everyone is assembled. "A couple of his lookouts were murdered recently. They were shot in the head and left hanging from a streetlight. He wants to round up a posse to get the people responsible and he wants us to be part of it. If we help, he says we'll be halfway to a replacement vehicle."

She pauses for a moment, giving everyone time to digest the information, before giving her own two cents. "This is a bad deal. He knows we're walking into an ambush and he wants us to take the brunt of it. It's all but suicidal. This is worth half a vehicle to him? The whole world is dead and they left their cars behind. Surely we can find a replacement on our own."

Even through the jokes, she can see Ashley's energy fading, reluctantly admitting to herself that her friend needs to rest. The constant buzz of activity around them keeps Trisha's curiosity piqued and she feels particularly anxious when Erica explains the sleeping arrangements.
"So y'all just have a buncha houses and cars? And you just give 'em out to people, just like that?"
She doesn't try to hide her suspicion as she takes a step back from the woman, pulling Ash back with her and placing herself protectively between the two of them.
"I wish someone would just tell me what you people want for all this stuff."

Fortunately, Mary arrives to call her away and answer and least one of the questions nagging at her. After hearing the offer, Trisha stares at the ground, unsure of what to say; or more accurately, unsure of what she thinks Mary wants her to say. So she says nothing until she hears Mary give her opinion.
"It sounds dumb. I don't wanna have to fight his bullies for him." Trisha scoffs, folding her arms dismissively. "What's he want for the other half of it?"

Shaw High School - Outside

On her way out, Mary retrieves her belongings and gather almost everyone she went looking for.  The only person missing at the meeting from her list is Edward, presumably still looking after the kids somewhere in the school.

"Just like that." Erica affirms with a smile. "Most of the houses here are vacant, you don't really need our help to find a house to take shelter. We only ask for a small payment for those outside of the school."

Once everyone's gathered, Erica steps away from the group to give them some privacy.

"Right." Elijah responds after Trisha. "Ed, the youngin's, and I are done risking our asses for these kind of things." He states.

"There's got to be at least one car they haven't took in the city. What's stopping us from scavenging the whole city, really?" Natasha says.

"Zombies, bad people, bad weather, and nights." Rufus lists out the potential 'problems' earning him an eye roll from Natasha.

"Honestly, forget them and their problem. If they want me to risk my life for half a car, I'd rather go out there and risk my life finding a car." Natasha comments.

It took very little convincing to get Ashley to the meeting; she rarely passed up a chance to listen to Mary's plan-making, particularly since it sometimes afforded her the opportunity to show off just how competent she was to the worldly woman, one of few people whose approval she particularly cared about in the post-apocalypse.  Unfortunately, she brought her sense of humor along too.

"Actually y'know what," she began, butting in uninvited, "I like that idea, helping these people.  I've always wanted to die horribly fighting someone else's fight."  She paused there a moment to cast a weary grin around the crowd.  "...That was a joke, in case anyone missed it.  Feel free to laugh."

Except, of course, it wasn't entirely a joke.  Her nigh-suicidal musings never were.  There were a thousand scenarios she played out in her head when the group was attacking the bandits' camp some time ago, all of them ending with her going out in a blaze of glory while saving Nicole (who turned out not to be there anyway, but the facts never stopped her before).  But it was, at least, still a little bit of a joke, and she hoped it might lighten the mood before dropping the heavy stuff on everyone.

"Look, I get it.  People helping people, and all that.  Might be that's the only way out of the mess we're all currently in -- like, society, the world as a whole, this ongoing shitstorm we're all caught in because it's literally everywhere.  Maybe the only way to beat this is to band together and help each other out because suddenly the world's a whole lot more hostile than it used to be, and everyone could use all the help they can get."  Another long pause.  As anyone familiar with her could tell you, here comes 'the Ashley part'.

"Buuuuuuut... even if all that shit's true, and it ain't, we're not exactly in the best position to be playing good samaritan right now.  We're underequipped and I know for a fact that a few of us are running on fumes right now, yours truly included.  We're not the cavalry; we're just another ragtag batch of down-on-our-luck refugees."  Again Ashley paused, though this time it was uncertainty rather than comic or dramatic timing; she chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip for a long, quiet moment before continuing, mulling over her concerns just long enough to come to a halfway satisfactory conclusion.

"I think we'd be pretty dumb to pass up their offer of hospitality.  We don't even know how far down the road the next safe place will be, and we're not gonna get there without at least one more vehicle anyway.  So let's set up lodgings somewhere here, get a good solid night of R&R, and reassess the situation in the morning.  They can't hold that against us, asking for a little time to recover and deliberate.  Anyone who feels adventurous can poke around and try to figure out the likelihood of finding a vehicle without their help, and if it really seems like they're the only option... well, we'll at least have a day to think on it."

Trisha jabs her friend lightly in the shoulder while stifling a giggle. She didn't particulary find it that funny, but she knows how much Ashley likes it when she plays into her jokes.

Though the others all make good points, from the sounds of things, it doesn't seem like this group has left anything in the city that anyone else might find useful.

"That bitch over there says they got a bunch of houses locked down all over the place. Told us we could stay in one." She motions with her hand to where she was previously talking with Erica. "Don't look like there's much left 'round here that they ain't already got hold of."

Ivy took off after Elliot. Regardless of whether they could make it there or not, she wasn't about to let him run into some abandoned building all by himself. It could be dangerous!
This message was last edited by the player at 08:26, Fri 02 Apr 2021.

"I don't know," answers Mary, frowning. "He says that will depend on what we find during this attack."


"Leo's heading out in a few hours," Mary says, crossing her arms with a sigh. She should have mentioned this before. "If we don't go with him, I don't know how long their hospitality will last. It would be one thing if he wanted to hang back and send us out on this suicide mission, but he's going himself. That means he either doesn't appreciate the danger or is so passionate about his people that he's willing to die for this revenge. Either way, I don't expect him to look kindly on our caution.

"We could say to hell with them and try to find another vehicle ourselves. They've probably raided a lot of the community, but I can't imagine they've taken everything. Still, if we go out alone, there is a chance we'll run into this group that murdered his men."

Shaw High School - Outside (Ivy)

It didn't take long before both Ivy and Dwayne catches up to Elliot. Halfway through the sprint, Ivy finds herself taking the lead. When the door to the building is within her reach, Ivy hears a yelp from behind.

"Let go!" Elliot cries out. The stranger snagged Elliot by the arm.

"Stop struggling, Elliot! You're not supposed to be playing outside during class." His eyes locks onto Ivy and Dwayne. "You two! Come here!" He beckons them to approach with his free hand.

Ivy slowed to a stop. "Oh come on." After all that running, she'd been undone by Elliot not being able to keep up. Disappointing, to say the least. Slumping her shoulders, she let out a sigh of frustration as she started back the way she came. "Yeah...yeah, okay."

Trisha's frown deepens as she shoots a worried glance at Ashley. She knows how much a safe, comfortable night's rest would mean for all of them, especially if they're about to be doing a whole lot more walking.

"You think he'd still let us stay and rest anyway, if we say no? They got places they ain't even using."

Shaw High School - Outside

Dwayne hesitates to follow Ivy until the man beckons him over with his hand. Reluctantly, the kids approach the man.

"I haven't seen you kids before." He states and stare at the two new kids in school.

"Miss May told me to show them the theatre." Elliot says.

"Theatre huh?" The man looks to Ivy. "Is that right?"

Mary thinks for a moment, but can only shake her head. "I don't know. I only talked to him for a few minutes. The fact that he'll personally go on this suicide mission tells me that he's...passionate. He might get emotional if we tell him no. On the other hand, this community forgave us for assaulting one of their guards. Maybe that means they won't hold our caution against us."

Mary frowns. "I just don't know enough to say right now."

Ivy nodded. "Mhm." In truth, she didn't even know that there was a theatre. But she decided to just roll with the story. "We just got here, so we don't know where anything is."

Shaw High School - Outside

The rest of the group fell silent. No one knows exactly what should be the groups next step.

"This place is nice." Rufus speaks up, breaking the silence. "They're providing education for the next generation! Think about that for a second. They're well enough to disregard the constant struggle for basic survival needs to have room for growth."

"Yeah, sure, but we still don't know these people and they're already asking us to risk our lives for some revenge mission." Natasha replies.

"We can reject this proposition if we don't like the terms and ask for a better one." Rufus asks. "Surely there are other people we can talk to other than this Leo. Unless this is some kind of dictatorship, I don't see how relevant it is to please a single individually when we can convince everyone else." Rufus looks to everyone present at the impromptu meeting. "Do yous have any alternatives in mind? Realistically speaking, the odds of finding another civilized community that doesn't attack us on sight is pretty slim."


Shaw High School - Outside of Theatre

The man sizes up Ivy and Dwayne up and down. He scratches his chin. "You two must be with that new group we found today."

"Y-yes." Dwayne nods after his meek affirmation.

"Yeah, I told you! Miss May want me to show them the theatre!" Elliot says.

"Okay, sure, then why is Viktor and Hemani with you? Why didn't she send an adult with you?" The man asks.

Right after the man posed his query, Ivy catches a woman running frantically out of the school at a distance. It looks to be Angie searching for them. She hasn't noticed the man or the kids he's speaking to yet.

This guy was getting dangerously close to talking them into a corner. Ivy's mind raced. There had to be a way to weasel them out of trouble. There had to be!

Just then, she spotted a frantic-looking Angie out of the corner of her eye. The woman seemed appropriately freaked-out, what with all of the kids she was supposed to be watching suddenly disappea-

...Wait. That's it!

"We had Angie with us," Ivy admitted. "But we got a little too excited and ran on ahead without her. I thought she'd catch up with us, but-" Cutting herself off, the young girl turned her head in Angie's direction. "Oh! There she is!" Raising one arm, Ivy waved to the woman. "Angie! Hey! Over here!"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:45, Tue 20 Apr 2021.

Elijah joined the others outside and listened to Mary's explanation. He'd let the nurse poke him and prod him a bit. He almost asked her for a second opinion on his ribs but thought better of it. Not like there was much they could do. He already knew something was fucked.

"Dunno why you're thinkin' this is a civilized one. Askin' us to play killer for hire for car parts."

He furrowed his brows at Rufus. His default expression was already pretty stern, so it came across more like a scowl.

"Sounds like a warnin' over territory, doesn't it, if they went and strung up the look-outs? If all of 'em - and we don't even know how many there are - don't get killed during Leo's plan... That's gonna escalate shit even more, I'd reckon. I ain't trying to get in the middle of any more kooky skirmishes over whatever the Hell.

Ed knows his way 'round vehicles. I'd rather see what we all can scrounge up. It's like Mary says, no way in hell they snatched up every viable part. Wouldn't tell Leo that 'til we get our weapons back in hand, though."

At least the infected were dumb. He'd rather take his chances with navigating them and scavenging than, comparatively, smarter people with guns. He was well and done taking bullets for jag-offs. He didn't know enough about either party to want to side with them over his own group.

Shaw High School - Near the Theatre

At Ivy's call, Angie doubles over. Before she could say anything, the man points to ivy and Dwayne.

"These two are with you?" He asks.

Angie darts her eyes between the kids and the stranger. "Yeah." She answers.

The man releases Elliot from his grasp. Judging by the look on his face, he isn't fully convinced of the kids' story.

"You were asked to keep an eye on them while they look around the school?" He asks.

Angie glances at Dwayne and Ivy before answering. "Yeah, I was."

"Even our kids? Why were they with you?" The man asks another question. This time, Angie her mouth and fall silent. She steals a glance at Ivy, trying to think of something to say.

"They were showing us the theatre, remember?" Ivy said. "They know this place. We don't." Her gaze shifted over to Angie. "Sorry we ran on ahead. It's been forever since we've met anyone else our age, so we got a little carried away." Despite her apologetic tone, the girl's green eyes were boring holes into the flustered woman. "It's a good thing you caught up with us."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:30, Fri 23 Apr 2021.

Shaw High School - Near the Theatre

"Showing you around, all three of them?" The stranger continues to question Angie.

"Yes, we never been here." She says.

The man gives the group one last look before turning pointing his finger at the kids.

"Keep them close to you this time. I can't help you find the other three." The man leaves.

Dwayne exhales heavily once the man is out of their hair.

"Don't disappear like that." Angie's brows furrow. This is the first time Ivy's seen her genuinely upset. "Where's Mina?"

Ivy's shoulders relaxed as the man walked off. Thank god that actually worked. They could have been in a lot of trouble if Angie hadn't shown up when she did. "I'm sorry," Ivy said again, this time more genuinely. "Mina ran off with Elliot's friend Viktor." She pointed back towards the corner she and the boys had turned during their escape attempt. "They're that way."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:45, Tue 27 Apr 2021.

Shaw High School - Near Theatre

"We're getting Mina and we're going back to the others." Angie replies. Her stern expression tells Ivy she's no in the mood for anymore games. Despite Ivy's apology, she still seem pretty angry.

"I know where they are, I can take us there." Elliot steps in. He takes a quick look at Angie before pulling Ivy and Dwayne to the side. "She can't come, she's going to tell."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:33, Sat 01 May 2021.

"What, so you want us to run away AGAIN?" Ivy muttered back. "We're in enough trouble as it is. Can't we just do this later?"

Shaw High School - Near Theatre

"I don't think we can go with you, we're in trouble..." Dwayne whispers.

Elliot listens, he glances up at Angie for a second before speaking. "I'll go get Mina, but you have to promise to not tell anyone."

"Sure, fine." Angie flatly replies. She watches Elliot runs off in the direction where Ivy last saw Viktor and Mina. Dwayne keeps his head down to avoid eye contact while taking small steps towards Angie.

"Sorry..." He mumbles.

Angie doesn't acknowledge his apology. Instead, she fishes out a pack of cigarette in her pocket. "I'm going over there for a smoke. Don't run off again." She says as she walks off and slumps her back against a nearby wall.



Shaw High School - Outside

Some time later while the group are still in their discussion, they see Leo, and a few other men walking out of the school's front entrance. They are all armed and dressed with military grade body armors. Leo sees the group and approaches.

"I'm going to assume Mary told you about the deal." Leo glances over at everyone present at the impromptu group meeting. He turns to Mary. "Do you have an answer for me yet, Mary?"

Mary takes a deep breath before answering. She knows what her answer is going to be, but she still can't guess at how Leo will react. She can only hope to deliver the news as diplomatically as possible and hope he doesn't respond poorly.

"Yes, I do," she says plainly. "This deal is too dangerous for us, especially if it only gets us partway to a vehicle. We've all been part of too many conflicts - and seen how they end - to rush into another one. We're open to other offers, if you have anything else in mind."

Ivy let out a sigh as she rested her back against the wall. This whole operation turned out to be a complete bust. And all because she banged her elbow. What a disappointment. At least she and Elliot managed to talk their way out of getting in even more trouble. And the vent they took to get outside remained hidden. The girl made a mental note to remember its location; you never know when secret passages could come in handy.

"Do you think the others managed to get away?" she asked Dwayne while she waited for Angie to finish her cigarette.

Shaw High School - Outside

For a while, Mary feels Leo's gaze on her. Although his expression remained the same, his subtle nods suggests a hint of understanding, and disappointment. Finally, he exhales.

"Like I told you before, we always need more supplies. Do a few runs for us and you got yourselves that vehicle. Talk to my second in command, Gabriella. She knows what we need." Leo turns around and waves his hand in the air. The heavily armed platoon he assembled quickly falls in line.

"Let's head out!" At his command, the squad departs. Leo holds up his radio. "Gabriella, bring the backup team, and tell the kid to meet me outside."

As Leo steps away from t he group, Erica waves him down. She jogs up to the man.

"I still don't like this plan. You're not going to listen to me so... be careful. Come back if there's trouble, we'll handle it." After Erica finishes, Leo rests his hand on her shoulder and nods before leaving.

After the conversation is over, Natasha walks up by Mary's side.

"Scavenging for them doesn't sound too bad." She comments. "What was it like in there?" She nods her head at the school.


Shaw High School - Near Theatre

"I think so. They split up didn't they?" Dwayne replies.

It didn't take long before they see a woman leading three kids making their way to Ivy and the others. It is the same woman that they were running from. At the sight of them, Angie tosses away her cigarette.

"So I heard they're with you?" The woman asks.

"Yeah, they are." Angie looks over at the kids.

Mina runs up to Ivy and Dwayne while the adult have their conversation. her eyes glitters with excitement.

"They had this cool hideout! There-"

"Hey! Shhhh! They'll hear!" Hemani shushes Mina.

"They got 'em shinin' lights that people use for Christmas. And they got candies, and, and balloons. And marshmallows! And they got King Henry."

"All hail King Henry!" Elliot and Hemani says simultaneously.

"Hail king!" Viktor joins in on the group chant a second later.

When the man she assumes must be Leo approaches the group, Trisha is immediately on guard, watching him closely as he turns to Mary. Without taking her eyes off him, she reaches over and grabs Ashley's hand in her own and squeezes it tightly.
If he makes us leave, I'm gonna say somethin'.
She thinks through the plan in her head, ready to speak up if things go poorly.
Thankfully, Leo's response isn't quite what she was expecting. She relaxes a little as she watches him depart, though she can't shake the uneasy feeling that still lingers. It all seems a bit too easy.
"Better than nothin', I guess."
She shrugs, giving Ashley the best smile she can manage.
"Yeah, that's kid's stuff." She looks to Mary, a hint of in her voice. "Do you really think he'll make it that easy?"

Mary makes eye contact with Natasha, affirming that she heard the question, but takes a moment to respond. A thoughtful look comes over her face before she finally speaks.

"It's hard to say, exactly. They took my gun, but only while I was inside. They said it was to protect the children, but I didn't ask precisely how. Maybe they expected me to forget it somewhere one could grab it. They didn't act like they suspected we were dangerous.

"They were rather friendly, actually. They even gave me this," she says, tapping the Shaw High School pin on her chest. "I don't think it was all an act, either. They seem legitimate. There's a nurse looking for help and one of the women even said they want to giving their children writing classes. I think there's also someone from the church here - Chelsea. They must have taken her in."


At this, Mary breaks out into a surprisingly dark chuckle, shooting Trisha a wry smile.

"I don't think he's lying, if that's what you mean," she says, "but I don't think he'll make it easy. If this is the alternative to going for war for him, we'll probably have to do a lot of work. He may even have us scavenging in the area where his people were killed, where he can't risk having his own people look for supplies."

A secret hideout? With candies and marshmallows? And King Henry?! That actually sounded really awesome! If only Ivy hadn't screwed everything up, she'd be feasting on sweets right now. But at least the mystery of what the 'cool thing' was could be considered solved. And depending on how long the group planned to stay here, she could very well visit the place some other time. "Hail the king!" she echoes the others' words.

Shaw High School - Outside

"Maybe she can tell us if this is legit. I'm going to see if I can find her." Natasha says.

"Hey, I'll come with you." Rufus speaks up.

"Why?" Natasha asks, then shrugs. "You know what fine, whatever, let's go."


Shaw High School - Near Theatre

"Hail the king!" Dwayne repeats after the others.

"We'll show you next time. Don't tell anyone, okay?" Hemani says. Dwayne nods in agreement.

"Okay kids, let's go." Angie puts a stop to the banter.

"You three, you're going back to class." The stranger says as she beckons the kids the follow. Elliot, and Hemani walks after the woman as they wave goodbye to the others.

"See you, again." Viktor jogs up to Ivy and the others. He bids his farewell before running after his friends.

It didn't take long before Angie and the kids find Edward inside the school. The soldier's holding a lunch plate in one hand while talking to stranger.

"Mmhm. Sure."

The woman he's talking to doesn't seem to be interested in the conversation.

"There they are." When she spots the children in the hallway she quickly points her hand.

"Hi kiddos." The soldier turns around.

"Thanks for-" When he looks over the woman is already walking away.

"They shared some food with us." Edward toss a pack of crackers to each of the kids. Mina manage to catch hers in time while Dwayne fumbles it and had to pick it up off the ground.

"Did they give ya any trouble?" He asks. For a moment Ivy can feel Angie's staring her down.

The name 'Chelsea' sounds vaguely familiar, though not familiar enough for Trisha to spend any effort thinking about it. She waves goodbye to the pair as they leave to look for her, intending to ask them about what they find out later on.Mary's response leaves her stunned for a moment, unsure of what to make of her laughter, something Trisha is not sure she has ever heard before. She moves in closer as Mary speaks, so she is almost pressed against her side. "Ain't that where he just left to?" She glances over her shoulder, before turning back to stare down at the ground, her brow furrowed seriously in contemplation.
"What if we went the way they did, but in secret?"
In a hushed voice, Trisha leans in even closer and elaborates.
"I don't wanna fight his fights, but we might as well know what's goin' on."

Shaw High School - Outside

Half way through the entrance, Rufus stops abruptly. "I change my mind!" He exclaims as he turns and walks back towards the group.

"Uh!?..." Natasha throws her hands in the air.

"Trisha is brilliant! I support that idea, I'm on board!" He says.

"Hmm!" Mary's eyebrows rise at Trisha's suggestion. The prospect is so interesting to her that, for the moment, she doesn't even notice the girl moving into her personal space.

"I like that idea, Trisha," she says thoughtfully. "Except...it would be bad if they noticed us. They already know they're walking into an ambush, but they don't know who their enemy is. We already gave a poor impression when we first met these people. If they see us spying on them, they may think we're the same people who killed Leo's men."

She frowns and crosses her arms. Her voice drops to near a whisper, as if she's talking to herself. "Damn, I do like that idea, though."

Ivy caught the pack of crackers. "No trouble at all." Things may not have gone according to plan, but in the end a bit of quick thinking salvaged the situation before it became a complete disaster. Snacking on the salty treat, the girl was content. "What should we do now?"

She turns to look at Rufus in shock as he comes rushing back to join the group.
"What, really?"
Her confused face slips into a smile as she decides to take the compliment at face value.
"Thanks, I guess. Ain't never been called "brilliant" before." She continues to look back at him, as if distracted, until Mary says her name."Huh?" She snaps to attention, quickly turning back around to focus on her. Praise from a boy is nice and all, but when Mary says something is a good idea, she means it.
Riding the wave of confidence, Trisha does not hesitate in sharing her ideas.
"Well, they want us to go get stuff from the city anyways, right? What's to say we wasn't just on the way there? We'd be doin' what they said to."

Shaw High School - Inside

"That's up to you kiddos." Edward answers.

"I want to see the roof!" Mina exclaims.

"I still want to see their library." Says Dwayne. "I also kind of want to see the classroom. Hemani said there's other kids here."

Shaw High School - Outside

"Okay, if we want to do this we need to know where they're going." Natasha walks back towards the group. She looks to Mary. "Did they tell you where they're going? If they didn't, I can go inside and poke around."

"That depends," Mary says. "They may want us to go scavenge a specific location, which may not be close to where Leo and the others are going. Natasha's right, too - we don't know where Leo is going, but we may be able to find out. It must be written down somewhere."

She glances over her shoulder at the school before turning back to the group. "That still doesn't change the fact that, if they see us, they may assume we're allied with the group he's trying to kill. We probably don't want to give that impression."

"The library sounds good," Ivy answered after a moment of contemplation. It had been awhile since she'd done any reading. The only books she'd seen in weeks had been a Bible and an 'adult' book that had been swiftly confiscated. "There should be plenty of time for us to check out everything."

"It's not like I don't wanna go snoop," Trisha follows Mary's lead and looks back at the school, though her gaze lingers a lot longer. The longer she goes without stepping inside, the more intruiging it becomes.
Despite her curiosity, the desire to snoop around is not Trisha's top priority. She lowers her voice, hopefully quiet enough that Ashley cannot hear her.
"But Ash needs someplace safe to rest. She won't go in the school, but i dunno how long she can keep goin'."
She leans in close to Mary once again. "That lady says we can have a house, but I don't wanna leave nobody nowhere if they're gonna say we're makin' trouble."