Scott ran his hand along his chin for a moment, thinking the situation over until he glanced back over to Mark, "How are you so sure it's still there?" He asked the mechanic in stern tone,
"Look, I've been up in this tower for a solid week. The day my friends died we were about to install the battery and drive out of here. Everything was fine until some assholes showed up and started shooting. When I realized we were in a losing fight, I hid the battery under a workbench and on top of that, I was scouting the perimeter everyday looking for an opening to escape. No one but you guys have come back here and even when I was asleep, I would have heard someone taking that humvee. No one has been here, I promise you," Mark explained with a surprising amount of vigorous fervour,
Scott nodded his head and glanced back over his shoulder, Lilly was shooting daggers at him while Lee seemed uncertain. His eyes then drifted to the wounded officer clutchin the wound in his shoulder, "Andre...how is that?"
"Bleedings slowing, I'll live but...I can feel myself slowing down, I lost a lost blood already man," Andre weakly replied, leaning his back against the wall,
Scott nodded again, "Guys, we need to get Andre home fast, I know we need food but our priority always has to be survival. Andre won't be dying for a couple rations, so we need to focus on a safe exit first. This humvee, not only will it help us carry things, and give Andre a safe place to rest, we'd have a serious weapon to help defend our camp. We go for it," The man finished causing Mark to let out a grin of approval,
"Hell yeah, man, it'll be worth it," Mark tacked on,
"God damn it Scott! You're risking our lives on something that doesn't even work!" Lilly exclaimed with a toss of her hands, "Why can't you ever see reason, why can't you stick to the plan istead of going off on some suicide misson for nothing! We came here for food, food that will keep everyone alive, Kenny's family, Clementine, my father! If you can't see that as a priority then I don't know what the fuck is wrong with you,"
Scott turned his head, keeping his eyes off of Lilly, letting the woman get her berating out towards him. As she finished, Lee let out a long anguished sigh, "So...we're doing this then?" Scott merely nodded back, "Fuck...alright, well we need to move fast and quiet,"
"Follow me, I know the place like the back of my hand," Mark swiftly offered while moving towards the door, "There as plenty of wrecks and debris we can duck behind while getting to the hanger,"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Lilly snapped back, "You show up, shoot our friend, shit out a story about a magical humvee and now you're in charge? You could be trying to lead us into a fucking trap!"
"Lilly, come on," Scott sighed,
"I worked on this base too, I can lead us over," Lilly sharply replied.
Scott thought for a moment, weighing the option between Mark or Lilly leading, but after remembering how Lilly led them to the watch tower and how reluctant she was for this plan as a whole, Scott thought differently, "Mark knows exactly where all this shit is and he's been living here, he should take us,"
"Scott, I swear to fucking god, I will -" Lilly began to hiss back only for Andre to jump in,
"Listen, we can sit in here yelling at each other until we're blue in the face, or we can just go get this shit done so we can get back," Andre gruffly interrupted, "Mark, get us moving,"
"On it," Mark immediately agreed as he pushed open the door and snuck out into the airfield. Lee followed behind him with Andre close on his heels, Lilly gave Scott one final hard glare before reluctantly following along with Scott taking up the rear.
Hopping from cover to cover, Mark led the group of four around the side of the airfield, keeping away from clusters of walkers while some others continued to shuffle towards the control tower, chasing the sounds of the former gunshots. Andre cringed as he noticed a pair of roamers stop on the spot of pavement where he was shot, licking up the pooled blood from the ground.
Finally, the group reached the large mechanical hanger and slipped inside through the wide open doors. Mark stumbled on his step as he saw a pair of military officials now turned skulking around, "Oh shit…" He whispered under his breath only for Lee to step past him,
"I got it, we can keep it quiet," Lee motioned to his fire axe and moved up, with two precise wacks both walkers dropped to the ground and everyone was able to relax, "Looks pretty clear to me for now, gunfire must have drawn the main group away,"
"There's the humvee," Andre groaned with a weak point of his finger, "Looks alright to me,"
"Fine, whatever, Mark go find your damn battery and get it going before something bad happens," Lilly ordered as she turned her back to the group, keeping a watchful eye out on the airfield,
"Yeah...right," Mark nodded as he took a few steps and hesitated, looking down at the fallen walkers again,
"You alright, Mark?" Scott asked while approaching the man,
"Those were...my friends," Mark sighed with a shake of his head, "I knew they didn't make it but seeing them like that it...it something else entirely,"
"I'm sorry for your loss, man," Lee added on,
Mark nodded, gave his head a quick shake, and looked back up, "Okay, the battery, right," Mark nodded as he jogged over to a workbench in the far corner, "Scott, do me a favor give the gun a once over, Lee, pop the hood for me,"
The two men sprang into action rushing over the vehicle and doing as Mark ordered. Scott hoisted himself to the roof of the humvee while Lee popped up the hood. He wasn't overly familiar with this type of weaponry but with his received basic training Scott was able to clear the gun, check the ammo and make sure it was in functioning order, at least as far as he could tell. A moment later they heard Mark grunting as he approached with a heavy duty battery and with Lee's help the pair lifted it and placed it into the engine.
"Keys?" Andre asked as he limped over,
"In the ignition," Mark clarified while hooking the battery up,
The cop pulled open the humvee door and got inside, waiting for Mark's go before starting the engine. The car easily turned over but their joy was quickly overtaken once they heard Andre speak up, "Mark, this thing is a beast,"
"Told you guys," Mark grinned, "Now we can cruise over, light those fuckers up and fill it up with everything the commissary's got,"
"I don't think so," Lilly interjected with a frown, "The gun will be a last ditch effort of protection. We save it unless our backs are to the wall instead of wasting that ammo and waking every brainless for miles," Lilly sharply ordered, "We can bring it over with us but after that we get out and do this quiet,"
"Sneak into the overrun commissary?" Mark grimaced, "That sounds a hell of a lot more dangerous than just shooting them,"
"You said it yourself, we need that gun for camp protection, wasting it on the first walkers we see does nothing," Lilly argued, "Come on, I can't be alone on this,"
"She has a point," Andre quickly agreed," I can stay in here, keep the engine running while someone else holds the gun. The others sneak in, grab the food, and we go all quiet like,"
"Or we sneak in, get trapped like at the drugstore, and someone doesn't make it out," Lee replied, his tone more reminiscent than arguing, "I don't know...we clear the area and can relax while grabbing every last piece of food instead of just what we can grab in time. I vote for that way,"
"Jesus, everything with you four is a fucking arguement," Lilly bitterly muttered before glaring over to Scott, "Let me guess, you're in camp go shoot up the fucking building, right?"
What Plan Does Scott Prefer?
Shoot The Walkers With The Machine Gun So We Can Gather As Much Food As Possible
Sneak Into The Building To Scavenge, It's More Risky But Save The Ammo For Camp Defense
Lilly 5/10 - Absolutely furious you took the risk to get the humvee, even if it worked it someone could have died or it could have been a trap.
Lee 7/10 - Lee is grateful that you have the humvee now but is slightly concerned that you risked Andre's life to make it happen.
Andre 10/10 - See's that the humvee may very well save his life for the rest of the run and will protect the camp later on, thinks you made another great call.
Mark 9/10 - Is thankful you trusted him enough to go for his side project, and hopes this proves his worth to not only you but the rest of the group.
A/N Sorry for the long wait on this one, had some personal stuff come up and lost the will to write. But it is back now, so please vote on this one and the next one should be out within a day or two, trying to get back onto that schedule haha