So... It's been what? I haven't been counting. Here's another chapter for y'all, I don't know how long it'll be but there are some... Major things goin' down at the moment in the writing. As for the frequency, sorry guys but y'all have to suffer because coursework for me is being a real bitch and generally I just don't have as much muse to write with anymore. My creativity is being sucked into Photoshop like a vac picks up dirt, y'know?
I don't need a disclaimer do I guys? You already know what I'm going to say even if I did. So here, s'another chapter for you to gorge yourself on while we're busy writing up whatever it is we're writing up for the next chapters.
- Flea.
The dawn looked lovely, even as it rose over the horizon the pinks splayed over the road in front of them. Something told her the weather wasn't exactly going to be perfect for them today but she didn't comment at all on it. Jake was lying on the floor, doing push ups with his jacket off and sweat lightly beading at his skin. The lizard that he'd found in the cupboard did indeed seem to like licking the salty liquid off him and every so often it would definitely put him off and he'd lost count. Josh was standing by the RV's door in silence, gazing out of the small window with his rifle strapped to his back, his dog tags coiled around his hand like a knuckle duster. They were due to stop soon and what he didn't want was anyone getting out there before he did. Exit stage left. The Hunter and Witch were asleep in the back room, coiled up together, the Witch in the Hunter's lap and the Hunter's head on her own, completely ignoring the presence of the others and the quilt had been clawed up to make a light nest. "Stop, Nira," Josh called, looking up. Nira pulled over quietly, and Jakobi grabbed the knife that was closest to him. "What is it?" he asked. Josh merely shook his head, pushed open the door and stepped out. "Well someone's in a bad mood," he muttered.
"When is he not in a bad mood?" Sassy suddenly asked from where she had been sitting close to Embry and Anfisa. She stood up and then she peeked out the door to find out where the soldier man had gone. Anfisa crawled from her place and went to go check on her parents only once before she went out the window to see what was going on outside. "I wish he wouldn't run off like that all the time," the young woman grumbled under her breath and she jumped down from the top of the RV and then she found herself running in the direction that Josh had gone. She could sense him and knew that all was well. Well, that was good for him and for her. Things had been awkward between the two since he had hugged her for saving not only his life, but Embry's life as well. She could hear the sounds of Sassy dragging Jake through the bushes to go find out why Josh had ordered Nira to stop the vehicle so suddenly. Everyone was curious, even Embry.
"But Sassy! I don't wanna go! It's hit fault if he gets eaten!" Jake could be heard wailing and it most likely amused Nira to no end. Of course Anfisa would end up finding him first, he was a soldier, he was trained in tracking and he'd noticed something rather intruiging. He was following something, stepping over a body and silently started going through its pockets. "Anfisa you don't have to follow me everywhere, y'know. I can take care of myself, besides, we haven't seen any Infected for miles," he said without looking around, leaning back and silently held up a locket on a chain, pocketed it and went back to rummaging again. It wasn't just one body, it was several. "They came across the road, down the embankment. Must've died right here, animals maybe or Infected. I dunno." He was just throwing things around. "Eitherway, they came from the direction we need to go. Why would they be running away from the sanctuary?" Unless they were travelers, but they weren't armed up that much.
"Did I give ya a choice on whether or not ya wanted to go?" the woman questioned, looking at the younger man. He needed to learn that when you traveled in a group, you had to look out for each other. Sassy had given up on being quiet while she stomped through the ferns. "What he say?" she asked as she looked to Anfisa then, watching the infected girl's face. Anfisa blinked once and then she crawled up the trunk of the nearest tree. She sat perched precariously on a branch as she sniffed at the air. "I think something has happened to the Sanctuary," she said as she looked down at Josh. She then suddenly shot from the tree branch and barely caught another just in the nick of time. "I shall scout ahead?"
"Don't go out of ear shot," Josh warned as he pushed himself to stand and mutely move around the bodies one at a time looking through each and every body with precision and silent skills. Jakobi made a noise, rubbed his temples. "Women yer gunna be the headache of my life one day." Jake loved Sassy's company around, she told him what to do and she also gave him no choice to do several things like going after the moody assed soldier. "What could possibly have been bad enough for them to leave the Sanctuary?" he said, looking around. "I'm not a mind reader, Jake. But my idea is the place could have been over run. It depends what Anfisa found, is Embry safe in the RV?" Jake nodded, and Josh nodded - satisfied it seemed.
Sassy was leaning against the tree now, her eyes studying the two men before she shrugged. "I told ya guys they moved west. You didn't wanna listen to me though," she said, twirling one of her dreadlocks on her fingertip. She did not know what to tell them. She had warned them that the Sanctuary had moved west, at least, those that could moved west. It seemed as though many of them had died in the process of leaving. "Though, it does make me wonder what happened," she nodded. She was curious. They would stay put until Anfisa came back with news on what was going on. On the other end, the girl had found it. She stared at the lonely clump of building. The fence that had surrounded the place had been felled and partially laid on the ground. Anfisa strained all of her senses. She could hear screams of the dying and the Infected that ate from them. There was no one else alive though, and those that were alive and being feasted on were all but goners. There was no hope of saving them.
There was no hope. It didn't seem like there was hope for anyone. Jake had silently started to move around the clearing in a circle and Josh aimed a nasty sounding punch at a tree. The bark didn't buckle but his knuckles did, thankfully the gloves stopped him from spreading the skin but he'd probably just damaged if not broken one of two of the joints. "Fuck it all." How was he supposed to bring up Embry if everything and anything would just end up being slaughtered again. Jakobi stopped his pacing, checking the rifle site. "We don't have enough gas to make it to the new location, so we just have to hope that we can make it to the remains of a nearby village or small town and find gas there..."
Anfisa came crawling back, her eyes were wild. "Going in there right now would be suicide. I say we go in only if you guys think it is worth getting whatever supplies they left, which I have a feeling, will not be much at all." Everyone had to make a big choice right then. Sassy spit out the bit of gum she had been chewing on and she wiped sweat from her brow and leaned forward, watching all three of them. "I say we go in. Nira can't leave the RV. They might of left some gas." Anfisa doubted that one. She stood tall and put her hands on her hips. Now she was looking to Josh. "Well then. It seemed like it is up to you whether or not we leave or go in to get supplies."
"I say we go in. Using a buddy system we could make it but we stay on the outskirts, any sign of major trouble we get the hell out of there. Anfisa, did you see any sort of gas station, any sort of outside vehicle support? No Sanctuary would be without somewhere to take care of the cars and APC's going in or out. Not if it was military, and even if it isn't there is still that strong chance." Josh stood up, stepping over a twig and moved around to keep his mind moving at the same speed. "Buddy system. Sas can go with Jake, Anfisa you can come with me. Embry can stay with Nira in the RV and we should talk to her about keeping the RV somewhere we can sprint to if we get into trouble." Not Josh, soldier, entirely different person.
Sassy gave a cheeky smile and she just nodded to the man before she looped her arm with Jake's and she could not help but wink at him. She liked the feisty guy. Though, he was considerably younger than she was, she felt strangely at ease with him. Anfisa on the other hand, had been paired up with the guy that had hated her not so long ago. She was paired with him and her life was going to depend on him in case something went wrong. Damn. Things could go from awkward to really bad very quickly. Anfisa cleared her throat and she rubbed a sore shoulder once before she pointed to the RV. "You only get one chance at backing out of this, Joshua. I mean, that place is littered with infected, and I smelt something else that didn't seem… normal. It's hard to explain."
"Anfisa, you are not normal and yet you don't find me backing away from you," replied Joshua as he continued to put the spare ammunition in the belt that he'd just acquired and turned to face her, pursed his lips and the expression on his face was a stoic, unreadable one. "If I wasn't sure about this would I have gone through all of the trouble putting people into teams? Unfortunately you're stuck with me. So make the most of my not trying to kill you." Because Josh was still iffy around her, although he'd grown to rely and become friendly with her he still didn't trust her as far as he could kick her about her lineage, to cover his ass in a fight though he had no problem putting that part of his life in her hands. Jakobi grinned when they linked arms and sidled off with her, the machete hanging limply from his hand but ready and waiting for anything in case it decided to pop up out of the tree's at him. Jake didn't do good with things going BWAHH! in his face very often. No. It down right scared him, then again, Sassy scared him at some points. Not for long, but heck he wasn't going to deny that on some occasions she did.
"Don't be an asshole." Anfisa growled suddenly. Well, that was the first time she had ever cussed. The young woman had been so innocent for such a long time, she had never uttered a single cuss word, until now. That brought even Sassy back. She looked between Anfisa and Josh and then she broke into a bright smile. "Well! If I do recall, that was Anfie's first cuss word! Welcome to the fucking post-apocalyptic world where zombies have taken over and cussing is the norm!" The southern belle let out a bellow of a laugh. "Oh! I think I better get back to Jake before he pisses his pants. That little guy is so damned jumpy that it's not even funny." She gave Josh a mock salute before she went marching after the jumpy man.
Josh watched her quietly with a raised brow and looked amused. "I second Sassy," he replied simply and patted himself down and then watched her with his arms folded. "Well I'm proud of you. Did Jake teach you that, or Sassy herself? Or do you just listen to our conversations in general?" He never did well with being insulted. Jakobi was incredibly jumpy, but it had kept Nira and himself alive so no one could really complain about that, he'd gone on ahead to pick up some of his things that he'd left in the RV before the groups all scattered.
Anfisa did not look amused at all. She glared at Josh and then she shook her head. "No one taught me that. I have known how to cuss for awhile now. I mean, I can't help it if you're a prick that can't get along with anyone.," she sneered and just huffed, turning on her heel and sort of just fuming as she walked away from him, towards the abandoned sanctuary. She needed to get away from him and she wanted to vent to someone, but he was going to be the one to go with her into the place, and it was as unnerving as trying to take on a Tank all on her own. She tried to act brave, but really, she was just a seventeen year old girl.
She was only seventeen and Josh... Josh was so much older, he knew more, he'd seen and done more and more than anything else he knew what the world was capable of. What it had once been, the bitterness of loosing his wife and his paranoia over not putting Embry under any sort of danger was what drove him. Embry, simple as. He had nothing more to live for, which was probably why had Anfisa attacked him he'd have been stupid enough to retaliate. When she walked away from him the soldier rolled his shoulders and followed, his rifle resting against his shoulder with the muzzle facing the air and his finger on the trigger guard. The safety was off, yes, but he still knew what he was doing when it came to weapons and weapon management.
Anfisa had glanced back to make sure that he was still with her a couple of times, but mostly she was more focused on what was in front of her and what was around them both. They could not be attacked while they were off guard. That would only lead to them both dying. When she heard one twig snap, she would suddenly look in the direction it had come and just sort of freeze. That happened only a few times, but most of the time it was only like a bird or small mammal. She was just getting herself worked up. When they got to the fence, she had to go up close before she could hear the faint buzz. "The electricity is still on. That means they could not have left too long ago." She had to find a way for Josh to get in.
He heard what she said and took his sweet time examining it and pursed his lips before he looked around. "True. If it's wired into the main grid, the station is still running. If it's wired to a generator, it could run out at any moment. Difficult to say... Digging under would take me a while, and I can't jump over so we'll have to think of something." He wouldn't risk going near it with wire cutters just in case it sparked.
Anfisa looked back and forth, down the long line of fencing. She didn't want to be standing there for a really long time with so many infected around them. And then she got it. She got an evil little smirk and she pointed to a tree nearby. "Go up there and hide. I think I know a way to get this blasted thing busted." Her catlike muscles bunched and then she jumped out of sight. She jumped from tree limb to tree limb until she found exactly what she was looking for. Of course it was not alone. There were all sorts of nasty normal infected with it, but the charger was just perfect. Her dark eyes were bright as she let out a squeal, which alerted the charger and it's posse of normal infected. The beast turned it's tiny head and looked up at her, it's beady little eyes were filled with hunger. She winked and then jumped down on the ground. It let out a loud roar and it charged at her. Anfisa twisted out of the way quickly and she began hightailing it out of there. She had a plan and if it was going to work, she had to make sure that she did not get run over in the process. She led that damned charger and it's little buddies all through the forest before she got back to the fence. She glanced up at Josh once before she came skidding to a halt.
Josh had hidden himself in the tree exactly like she'd told him too, god knows how his old ass had gotten up there so quickly but he had done and waited until the last possible moment before he hooked his legs and dangled down, grabbed her by the back of the shirt and hauled her up there with him to avoid her being trampled on by the hungry Charger as it collided with said fence. Josh would have felt sorry for it, had he been bloody human but Josh didn't feel anything for infected. Well. Bar Anfisa but that was beyond him now. "Bait. Clever," the soldier muttered as he glanced at her, still holding onto the back of her shirt before he let go and quietly exhaled, shook his head. He should have been used to this by now, whether or not the Charger was dead or not yet he hadn't stopped to check and didn't until he dropped down off the branches.
Anfisa was feeling proud of herself. Josh had actually complimented her, and she knew that was something that would likely never happen again. "It's better than trying to dig your way through, aye?" she looked proud of herself. But the woman did not let the pride go to her head when she suddenly heard a crack of thunder and she looked up at the sky. There was another sharp crack and lightning lit up the sky just as it began to pour. They were both already soaked. "Oh hell. I think we should get out of the rain." The charger had busted through the fence, but it wasn't dead. In fact, it had run out of sight. Seconds later, Sassy let out a squeal. Anfisa was not worried about them though. Jake and Sassy would be fine. Anfisa grabbed Josh by the wrist and she all but pulled him through the gap in the fence. They needed to find shelter until the storm was over.
"Surprise," Josh muttered when he heard the squeal and dropped down, crouching for his knees to absorb the shock and followed her through the fence as she grasped him by the wrist and jogged to keep up with her. It was fine in the city, pockets of Infected that they could fight through and nothing too out of the ordinary for them to really be concerned, no bellowing Tanks at the moment anyway. "That house over there looks open," he said, motioning with his other hand on her visible side and bobbed his head. It looked good enough, and it looked secure - the windows were semi-boarded and it would be easy to barricade the front door.
"Could you possibly be any more negative?" Anfisa accused as she rolled her eyes and then she headed for the house that he had indicated. She had let go of his wrist by now and she jerked open the door and she looked around inside quickly. Something seemed wrong, but she was not going to dwell on it. She was most likely just smelling mold. That was all she was hoping it was. She looked back at Josh once. And then she saw a shit load of infected into view. She let out a squeal and pulled Josh in quickly, not being careful about it. She didn't know that she had just caused him to get hurt. She slammed the door closed and she pushed a dresser in front of the front door.
"Yeah, but I'm being happy so don't kill my mood," Josh replied, well his mood did end up plummeting to the ground the moment she hauled him inside the house. The combined weight of himself and his gear had forced the wood below him on the porch to splinter, catching his boot and when she'd dragged him in she'd jarred the muscle, he hadn't been expecting it so didn't catch himself lightly either and simply hit the floor face first with a loud yowl of pain and surprise. He'd not been expecting a dinner date with dust mites but what was more concerning was the pain in his leg. It hurt. "God damn it, did you ever master gentle?" he asked, unclipping himself and rolling onto his back to sit up and see to his foot. Eh. He'd hurt himself alright.
"I guess I just don't know what it means to be gentle," she sneered at him and then she noticed that he was actually hurt. She felt guilty, but not that guilty. He was an asshole and he deserved everything he got, at least, some of what he got. She leaned down and she inspected his ankle before she said. "Be glad it's only twisted or sprained. If it was broken, that would have been bad for us. Come on. We should go upstairs. I'm soaking wet, and so are you." She had reached down and she had grabbed him from under his armpits and she began to haul him up the stairs to the bedroom.
