Despite Ryan, Alice and Katie clearing out the entire building of zombies, Lickers and the Executioner, Claire insisted that the convoy sleep in the foyer, with Ryan guarding the front entrance to the building, Katie guarding the east door, and Alice guarding the west door. She'd even had the upper area's door barricaded to prevent any surprises.
Late in the night, Ryan had left his post for a few minutes to restock his 5.56mm ammo for his G36K, and to drop off his Paratus-18 in the M35. When he returned, he was met with an angry Claire on the building's front steps.
Extending his hand, Ryan noticed that Claire appeared to have just woken up; her hair was a mess, and she was very pale. But her angry expression was evidence enough that she had quite the fire lit inside her.
However, Claire slapped his hand aside, and took a threatening step closer to him. "What were you thinking!?" She snarled in a fairly quiet whisper. "You were assigned this spot for the night. You'd better have a good reason to not have been here just now!" She hissed at him like an angry goose, then grabbed his hand roughly. "Answer me, now!"
"I went to the M35 to drop of my Paratus and grab more 5.56mm ammo. I only had one mag left." Ryan explained, which, to him, was a valid reason to have stepped away for a few minutes. In fact, he had simply placed the Paratus inside the M35, grabbed a small crate that carried a portion of their 5.56mm supply, and dumped some of it into a knapsack, which was currently slung over his shoulder. He'd intended to load the rounds into his empty magazines while he sat on the steps.
To simply put it... he was bored.
"You know what... that's fine. But you should have done that while we ate dinner. Next time, have someone else at least take over your place until you return. Got it?!" Claire snapped, letting his hand go and turning back to the front doors.
Ryan gave a sigh, then sat down on the steps, pulling his knapsack off his shoulder and began to slide rounds into his empty magazines, one by one.
Later that morning, just before dawn, Ryan was still sitting on the steps when he saw movement in the parking lot. He spotted the source, and immediately called for Alice and Katie.
They came jogging outside moments later, weapons at the ready.
"See the red pickup truck? Someone is hiding behind it right now. I saw them sneaking across the parking lot. All I caught a glimpse of was blonde hair." Ryan explained as he pointed out the specific truck.
"I see them. Katie, you come with me, We're gonna cover Ryan from the second floor while he tries to catch them." Alice took Katie by the hand, then turned to Ryan and added vocally. "Alive."
Ryan gave a nod, and slung his G36K onto his back. He handed Alice the knapsack and said. "I grabbed some ammo with this earlier to refill my supply. There's about fifty rounds left in there, hang onto that until we get back on the road."
With that, Ryan tugged his mask down, gave Alice a quick kiss, then sprinted down the steps and began to long jump from car to car, landing on the hoods, headed straight for the intruder.
With Ryan's rapid - and somewhat unnerving - approach, the intruder saw him coming and made a break for the front gate, sprinting for their life from what they'd perceived to be a jumping black shadow... a fast one at that.
However, Ryan smiled at the reaction he'd been expecting. The moment he'd landed on the ground from his final jump, he instantly sprinted so fast that for a brief moment, he was invisible to the naked eye.
He reappeared a few feet ahead of the person as they neared the gate. However, he slid on his heels and extended his hand at the gate, causing it to slam shut with a clang. He turned back to face the person as they slid to a halt.
"Stay back! I'll kill you! Whatever you are!" The person, a young girl by the sound of it, said in a panicked voice as they drew a pistol from their hip and aimed it at Ryan.
Ryan held up his hands very slowly, palms facing her. This action actually surprised her and she lowered her gun a few inches.
"Wait, you're human?!" The girl asked, to which Ryan gave a thumbs up. 'You should have said something while you were chasing me!"
Ryan gave a very pronounced and exhaggerated sigh. She tilted her head in confusion at the action. 'What's with that sigh? What's the deal? You can talk... right?"
Ryan shook his head and slowly reached for his mask, pulling it down until his heavily scarred throat was exposed.
"Holy shit! How'd you even survive after that!?" The girl slowly approached, sliding her pistol back into her holster. "My name's Taylor, Can I give you a nickname?... for now, I mean." She held out her hand for him to shake...
Rookie mistake.
Quick as a flash, Ryan grabbed her by the wrist, and pulled her arm around behind her back. With his free hand, he pulled her pistol out of the holster and shoved it into his belt for the moment, effectively disarming her. He then pinned her other arm to her side by wrapping his metal arm around her torso. She immediately felt his electrical aura and became terrified.
"My name is Ryan. I don't need a nickname. Come with me, you've got someone to talk to." Ryan smiled as the girl tried to futilely struggle free from his expert pin and superhuman strength. She then went pale when she realized she'd heard him speaking in her head.
"What the fuck!? You can talk?! You lied!"
"Keep you voice down. And no, I didn't lie. I can't talk in the way you think. I'm Telepathic. I speak with my mind, and do so through direct skin contact. Now, kindly come with me so that I can get back to what I was doing before I caught you, okay Taylor?" Ryan began to lead her back to the museum as he spoke. "And don't worry about your gun. I have it."
Taylor went silent. She'd forgotten to grab a knife when she left to come here. And she also didn't carry a second gun either. She meekly allowed Ryan to lead her backwards past dozens of cars that had their hoods opened, and here and there were disabled beartraps.
When he'd reached the museum steps, he spun her around and altered his grip in her so that she was pinned more effectively for transport.
When Ryan lead her to the top of the steps, the doors were pushed open from the inside by a tall blonde woman and a black haired little girl that had heterochromatic yellow and green eyes. They seemed curious, so that means he'd been on guard duty outside when he'd caught her.
"Caught a stray." Ryan explained, and Taylor cringed at the sound of his voice sounding so casual instead of low and threatening. "Says her name is Taylor. Nothing else."
"Taylor, huh? Come with me. Ryan, release her." The woman took her by the shoulder with an equally strong grip as Ryan's bone crushing pin. Ryan instantly released her hands and walked along behind them.
"Weapons status?" The little girl with the eyes asked, which prompted Ryan to reach into the back of his belt and retrieve Taylor's pistol. He handed it over to the girl without a word. "Ah, I agree. It's definitly a Sig P226. Feels like it's only got a few rounds in the clip though."
Taylor shot the girl an alarmed glance. She was insane! Having a conversation with herself like that! What had she gotten herself into with these people?!
"C'mon, hands on the back of your head, let's go." The woman ordered, and Taylor instantly noticed the subtle agressiveness in her body language. She immediately put her hands on the back of her head, and felt the woman grip her wrists together tightly. "Follow me."
Taylor turned to the woman and realized that she wasn't being held by her. But try as she might, it still felt as if her hands were being crushed in her iron grip, or even as if it was Ryan again.
She glanced behind her as best as she could and realized that Ryan was still standing with the crazy girl, who was still talking to herself. Surprisingly, Ryan gave a nod and then a shrug to her words.
"What the fuck is going on here?" Taylor mumbled to herself, which earned a glare from the tall woman.
"Wouldn't you like to know. Now, let's go! Move!" She crooked her finger, and Taylor felt her legs beginning to move forward. Try as she might, her legs disobeyed her brain's commands to halt. Her arms were still immobile as well, which was beginning to scare the shit out of her.
"Claire, we've got a stray. Ryan found her outside." The woman spoke to a redheaded woman who was walking towards them. "Her name's Taylor."
"So, Taylor... I see that you're lightly armed. That means you're part of a larger group. What was she carrying?" Claire, who appeared to be the leader, asked her then asked the second question to the woman that had somehow restrained her and manipulated her body.
After a moment of silence, the woman replied. "Katie says it is a Sig P226. She only had a few rounds in the clip, so I'm assuming she met some zombies on her way here." The woman then turned to Taylor. "Is that right?"
Taylor nodded, quickly deciding that Claire was the person to focus her attention towards. This strange woman appeared to be a lieutenant within their group, whilst Claire was their leader. She stored that theory away for later reference.
"Just a Sig, huh? So... Where are you from, Taylor?" Claire asked as she crossed her arms and began to tap her foot.
Taylor heard footsteps behind her and felt a charge in the air, like really intense static electricity. It was followed a moment later by a rise in temperature, and her back began to sweat. She remembered when Ryan had grabbed her, and deduced that Ryan was the source of the static, and she then guessed that the girl - Katie, was her name? - was somehow the source of the heat.
"And if I refuse to tell you?" Taylor asked, not trying to sound defiant, rather, she was weighing her options... not that she had many to begin with...
"Ryan will fry your central nervous system, Katie will melt your flesh, and Alice will dislocate your brain from your spine." Claire replied coldly. "And if you're wondering why you're unable to move, you can thank Alice for that." Claire glanced pointedly at the tall woman beside Taylor, who gulped.
"Fine... I'll tell you. I'm from a place a few miles from here." Taylor explained. "It's a community of survivors."
"A community?" Claire repeated. "How do you keep out the infected?"
Taylor had seen the various vehicles parked outside of the museum; the school bus, the news van, tanker truck, army truck, tow truck, Hummer... these people were a mobile convoy!
"We have a whole town completely surrounded by a huge concrete wall, plus we have a hydroelectric dam to power the town." Taylor explained. "My mom is expecting me back in a few hours. I was sent to find a scavenging team that came here yesterday, but hadn't returned. The rest of my team that went with me were killed, so I'm the last one left."
"That doesn't answer the question, blondie." The crazy girl, Katie stated flatly. "You're coming with us to go to this community place."
"What?" Claire turned to the girl suddenly. "What the hell are you doing, Katie?!"
Ryan stepped forward and took Claire's hand. He was clearly explaining something to the redhead with his Telepathy thingy. She gave a nod in agreement to whatever he'd said to her.
"Alright, but I'm only agreeing to this because it's your idea, Ryan." Claire said sternly. "Alice, you and Katie bring her back to her mother, and find out more about this community place."
"Um... Can I say one thing before we go?" Taylor piped up as crazy Katie and the woman... Alice? turned and began to lead her back outside.
"What?" Claire raised an eyebrow, while Ryan narrowed his eyes, which Taylor realized for the first time, were glowing yellow, just like Katie's left eye.
"My mom says that it isn't a community..." Taylor pointed out. "She says the place has an official name."
"And what is the name?" Claire asked, sounding like she was humouring Taylor.
"Sanctuary." Taylor replied flatly, before allowing Alice and crazy Katie to lead her back outside.