Post-apocalyptic fun (ic)

[your_vice]

“... can you say... Shit!”

Lyra ducked down as the sky erupted and nearly shot her own foot in the process. The bullet hit the floor and ricocheted away into the darkness, towards the convoy. Fortunately, the guy who had spotted her was equally distracted. He ran a few steps away from her and stared at the convoy until the explosions had passed. His face had been illuminated for a few moments and Lyra had got a good look at him. She replaced the safety on her gun and the weapon dangled uselessly from her hand like a child's toy.

“god I hope my car’s ok”

Lyra was unsure what to do now. Approaching the convoy immediately after those explosions was going to be a bad idea. Interacting further with the guy whose silencer-equipped gun was bigger than hers was equally unwise. While he worried about the state of his car, Lyra turned on her heel and sprinted into the darkness, sending bits of rock and rubble skittering out from under her feet.

She had no clue what was happening, all she knew was that this was somewhere she definitely did not want to be. At least starvation was a relatively peaceful death.

She was hampered somewhat by her backpack but she had lowered her eyes away from the blast whereas he had been staring right at it. That meant she would be harder to find in the dark for a minute or two and she wouldn't need much longer than that to find a hiding place for her tiny frame. This guy wouldn't stay interested in her for long. He'd look around briefly and then go worry about his wheels.

Church and Lyra near the convoy, just after the explosions.

 

[knight713]

Unknown to Eve a lone soldier silently walked into the tent, the man slowly sat his gun beside the table and removed his side arm and placed it on top of the table.

The man begun to stroke Eve's face kissing her cheeks.

" I might as well have some fun with whats going on" He whispered as he looked for a way to take off her body armor.

" How in the hell do i take this off" He replied as he looked all over her body to find a way to take it off.

He soon heard Eve moan and open her eyes

" One word and I'll kill you" The man told her as he grabbed her by the neck

Eve gave him a look and to the man's horro she quickly grabbed him by the neck and increased her grip on his neck. The man tried to increase his own grip but by the time he tried to a loud snap was heard and he fell over dead.

" Where am I " Eve asked as she looked around

Eve quickly got up leaving the mans body on the bed, she saw that he had part way tried to undress himself. It was his own fault for doing what he did.

" No where is he" Eve whispered as she picked up the side arm and the rifle.

Eve quickly walked out of the tent and looked at the destruction that was going on.

 

[ChaoticLove]

Ashlynn gasped as she was thrown to the ground before she could speak the two newcomers. Her head hit the ground with a soft thud and she whimpered in pain. It took her a second for her mind to clear, but that was when she registered the weight that pressed down on her. Her mind went into panic mode and she struggled against the weight. She whimpered and pushed at the man above her. All she could think of was to get this person off of her but her vocal cords were frozen in terror.

 

[kittenofdeath]

Church was pissed, his gun still trained on the approach to the convoy, his mouth uttering a constant string of curses under his breath, his friends (acquaintances to be honest) were possibly dead, and, his car was likely now shrapnel that helped kill them, to top it off, he suddenly became aware that his little catch was getting away.

“Oh no you don’t!” he shouted, pivoting and breaking in to a run, following the sounds of the makeshift armor his prey apparently wore, his nose practically sniffing the air like a bloodhound “come out here and I’ll think about being nice!” he continued as he chased her, the sounds of her getting steadily louder as he quickly closed the distance.

It wasn’t long before the sounds disappeared though, no doubt she had tucked herself in to a hole and gone as quiet as a human could, hoping he would give up, but she wasn’t in luck, he had set his sights on her, and now he had one hell of allot of frustration to vent as well, he wasn’t going to let her go unless one of them died.

**********************************************************

Blue was about to speak up and take some attention away from Ayumi, he didn’t want any, but he was hoping to glaze over her being so forward, most people in the wastes weren’t quite as fond of being so outgoing.

Before he could do anything though, he was distracted by the sounds explosions, then once those were filtered out, he heard the stress of the buildings supports moments before it began to come down around him. He followed Ayumi’s example and hastily removed both himself, and the other woman from the building.

***********************************************************

Xaphia flinched Backwards when Ayumis hand came out at her, it wasn’t that she was exceptionally threatening or repulsive (in truth, she looked quite the opposite, her curves put the girls in her magazines to shame) but Xaphia had learned to be distrusting.

She didn’t have time to react when she came at her with speed, her hand trying to get to her holster before she realized what was going on around her, the building coming down them and all, that helped to calm her down, in regards to Ayumi anyway.

Once they were outside and safe, she reluctantly went to get away from her embrace, her strong, safe and oddly… quiet embrace… but then, she realized how close Ayumi was, the look on her face, it dawned on her that her hood was off… oh crap.

She couldn’t bring herself to move as her hand came to caress her ear, the touch making her whole body burn with a mix of fear, embarrassment and a strange attraction, but as she saw the other pair start to get up her senses returned to her. Something pressed hard against Ayumi’s abdomen, with enough force to separate the two easily as Xaphia quickly covered her face.

***********************************************************

Blue covered the woman from any kind of shrapnel, he doubted there would be any but it never hurt to be sure when it came to more fleshy targets like her. As soon as she started panicking he backed away, staying down on one knee as he held his hands up to show they were empty.

“I’m better than being covered in debris, trust me on that one” he said, his eyes idly searching for the anomalous heat reading, mainly to take his mind off the now fresh memories of being buried.

 

[Stetson10]

The explosions had prompted him to tie up his brahmin and go scout what was going on over the hill. Now Orion was getting some quality entertainment watching an exchange through his binoculars behind a rock formation near the top of the hill he'd crossed. A girl, who seemed to be fairly new to the open waists, being chased by a convoy-man. It was amazing how resourcfull a scared person could be, if she proved to be resourcefull enough he might even help her out. A convoy wasn't a terrible place to end up but it could be kind of rough for a girl, even he knew that.

 

[sfaigon]

Ayumi

The strange human(?) woman seemed to stiffen at her touch. Ayumi smiled until a thick appendage pressed against her stomach. Her eyes widened in surprise as it easily pushed her android body off the small girl's.

"What are you?" The BIMBO tilted her head to the side as the mysterious woman covered herself with the hood. "No, wait. Don't do that. I think you're beautiful."

She still blocked the girl from view when she noticed the arm-piece. Then her eyes lit up. Ayumi snapped her gaze to the girl's perfectly-shaped lips, her sharp eyes, and the device.

"Are you mute?" She quickly added, "I mean, it's okay if you are. It's just going to make it much more difficult to communicate." She then pointed to the wrist instrument. "Unless we could maybe use that to communicate?" She leaned in. "I know one of your secrets so I think it's only fair to tell you mine." Ayumi took a deep breath before letting it go. "I'm an android."

 

[your_vice]

Lyra had heard him gaining on her and had ducked into the nearest derelict building. There were some broken bits of furniture littered about that had clearly been overturned by previous scavengers. She ducked behind a mostly intact cupboard door, stuffing her pack in first and then curling herself up into the remaining space. It wasn't much of a plan but in another minute or two he would have caught up to her. She quieted her breathing, forcing herself to take slow, shallow breaths through her nose. Lyra became motionless, painfully aware that movement of any kind would make her scrap metal vest clink and give her away.

She heard him stomping about over her hammering heartbeat and prayed that he would lose interest. Then she remembered it was no good praying any more.

Lyra hiding from Church somewhere near the convoy.

 

[thewhiteone]

Lovisia

The Ghost had instinctively dove for cover when the explosions shook the building. Even as she dove, her sensors were analyzing both her crumbling environment, and the explosions themselves.

Too late she remembered Ashlynn and Xaphia.

Fortunately, the androids seemed to have dove to protect them.

She turned her attention back to the building and it's surroundings...it wasn't good...nor was her own positioning. She was trapped under some ruble, easy to break out of for her, but it would reveal her presence. Worse, the building's new damage had broken a gas pipe that apparently somehow still worked...and one of the next door buildings was on fire. They had maybe a minute before the gas met the flames.

She would survive the explosion most likely, as would the two androids. Ashlynn and Xaphia however, would certainly die.

Lovisia's armor gave of a pulse of energy (one that the AIs had never heard of) which scrambled their higher sensors for 8-12 seconds. She wanted to prevent them from getting a shot at seeing the weak forcefield she would be errecting, but not fuck them over completely, not that getting a good look would do them much good anyway...protocol still had to be observed.

Microseconds after the pulse, she heaved the slab off of her, throwing it at the broken pipe, covering it. Even as she began to move, the weak forcefield sprang up, repelling the dust and materials that had been on her, and would have revealed her form had they been seen, which since the field had been up before the slab was no longer between her and them, was not a problem.

"Go. Run." she said in her ghostly voice. She had covered the leak, but there was still a chance that the escaped gas would have enough punch to penetrate the ancient slab of wall.

Lovisia crawled along one strong section of the wall, for going on the floor would have meant walking on all that debris. She was going to keep an eye on Xaphia and Ashlynn, especially Ashlynn, making sure they got out.

Lovisia still cloaked in the damaged building with Ashlynn, Xaphia, Ayumi, and Blue.

 

[kittenofdeath]

Xaphia blushed as the woman called her beautiful, but didn’t lower her hood, that stayed in place, but she did manage to stay put as the distance she had but in between them quickly disappeared.

She didn’t answer when asked if she was mute, not that she could, but that seemed to convey the true answer well enough, and her expression didn’t change when told that she would tell her a secret of her own, after all, what could really compare to hers? The woman wasn’t an angel or a demon, they would have recognized each other on sight.

Xaphia’s eyes twisted in confusion, she was not expecting that, an android… she was really an android? The confusion slowly drained away as her more inquisitive tendencies took over, she had always been somewhat of a tinkerer, and the idea of a real android being right in front of her was making it rather hard to keep to herself.

She reached out and gently took her wrist, marveling at the realistic feeling of the skin beneath her fingers as she lifted her arm up, the way her body reacted to each move was amazing. The fear and confusion was gone now, completely consumed by curiosity as she inspected the work of technological art before her, completely oblivious to everything else.

**********************************************

Blue’s head snapped forward, his sensors had registered something, then they went dead, someone else was definitely there, but if whoever it was was this good at staying out of sight then he would let them, no sense looking for them if they could knock out his sensors like that.

He started to get back up to his feet, then he smelt the gas “what?” he turned and looked at the source of the smell, noticing how close it was to the fire “oh that is not good” he whispered “ok, I know you don’t like touching” he said as he pulled Ashlynn up to her feet “but we really need to move”

He turned to the other two, confused for half a second by what he saw, but shrugged it off as irrelevant “Ayumi, there’s a gas leak, we should probably put some distance between us and it”

Blue, Ayumi, Ashlynn and Xaphia near a gas leak, unaware of Lovisia

*********************************************

Church had her cornered now, had had found her tracks leading in to a building, but there were none coming out. He walked inside, pulling his pistol as he went “you’re quite good at running and hiding, I think it’s a waste of my time to bother looking for you” he smiled and leveled the weapon with the closest possible hiding spot “luckily I have a better idea”

He squeezed the trigger, sending a round in to the shadows, the sound of the bullet resonating though the building “I figure I’ll just keep shooting at shadows” he fired at another hiding spot “eventually I’ll hit you” he fired again “then either you’ll be dead or in no condition to run”

Church in a building near the convoy and shooting anywhere Lyra might be hideing.

 

[your_vice]

Lyra leapt at the gunshot, causing her armour to clatter but fortunately the echo around the room covered the sound. When the man announced his intention to shoot every shadow however, she knew she wouldn't survive very long. Lyra gripped the cupboard door and waited till there was enough of a silence between shots, pitching her voice slightly lower than was natural.

"Ok. I'm coming out. Stop shooting!"

Lyra crawled out of the cupboard, pulling her pack after her. A huge pair of boots appeared in front of her nose and she scrambled to her feet, staring up at this violent guy who was suddenly so damn interested in her.

"What do you want with me anyway?" She asked, trying not to look quite as intimidated as she felt. "I don't have anything you'd want." She lied. Lyra wasn't about to admit to having any bottlecaps and she was still hoping this man assumed she was a teenage boy. "I just wanted to ask the convoy for some work... haven't had a meal in days."

Lyra with Church in a building near the convoy.

 

[Stetson10]

After watching first one and then the other enter a derelict building, Orion began wondering how much of an asset this girl would be really. As it seemed the wait was going to be a bit longer, and he did want to see the result of all this, he lit up a cigarette to enjoy while listening to the gun shots. He did, however cock his rifle, chambering a round and then setting the saftey on, not being one to be caught with his pants down.

 

[ChaoticLove]

"Shut up you little bitch! You've been asking for some man to take you since your father died." Those words were the only thing that broke the frantic whimpers that spilled from the girl's throat as she struggled to get away from the man who pressed down on her.

She'd come to the stream to bathe, never expecting that one of the older men would be there waiting. The elders of her little ruin city had told her to marry soon after her father's death for fear of this exact thing happening.

Struggling to breathe, she looked around frantically trying to find something, anything that she could use for a weapon. His mouth was wet against her neck while his sickening hands groped at her...

It was Lovisia's voice and Blue's concerned words that broke Ash out of her vivid memories. Looking over, she spotted the slight outline of the woman who had helped her earlier and bit her lower lip lightly. She shivered slightly, realizing for the first time how cold she felt.

"Gas..." she repeated hollowly as she looked around and glanced at Xaphia. The fact that she seemed so intrigued by the woman who stood next to her made the girl's stomach clench slightly with disappointment. It didn't matter anyways. As intriguing as she found certain people to be, she was too damaged to actually do anything with them.

"We have to go," she said, as she let Blue pull her to her feet. The effects of her memories still with her as she struggled to get her body to comply with what her mind knew needed to happen.

 

[sfaigon]

Ayumi

She allowed the girl to position her body however she wanted. Her curiosity shone through her apprehension as Ayumi allowed herself to be touched. The hooded woman seemed fascinated with her arm, perhaps her entire body. The BIMBO chuckled as the other woman became totally engrossed in her body.

"Okay, I know you don't like touching but we need to move." Blue's now familiar voice warned the other woman.

"Gas... we have to go." The woman responded after a long moment.

Ayumi stiffened, causing the other girl to look up with slight panic in her beautiful eyes. She leaned in closer to her.

"Don't worry. But we really have to go. There's a gas leak." She held onto the hand underneath the oversized greatcoat and pulled her along.

Ayumi dragged her until they were neck and neck with Blue and the other woman. She slid an arm around him and gave him a quick hug before they moved away from the leak.


Ashlynn, Ayumi, Blue, and Xaphia walking away from the danger.

 

[kittenofdeath]

Church stopped shooting as soon as he heard Lyra, his gun staying in his hand as he walked over to loom over her little hiding spot as she slowly crawled out and straightened up in front of him, putting up a false display of courage, but he could see straight though that.

“What do I want?” he wasn’t entirely sure on that note, he believed her when she said she didn’t have anything he wanted, he had mainly chased her because she ran, however, during their little chase he had seen a few glimpses of her rear end as she ran, so now he wasn’t completely convinced by her attempt to look like a boy.

“I want everything” he said with a smirk “your gun, your things, your clothes, all mine now” his face darkened “just like you are”

*****************************************

Xaphia was so engrossed in her inspection of Ayumi that she didn’t hear a thing that was said by Blue, it wasn’t until Ayumi stiffened up that she snapped out of it, she was so worried she had somehow offended her, or worse, broken her, she was so relieved when she explained… well, as relived as someone could be by a gas leak.

She didn’t resist when Ayumi took her hand and led or onwards, trusting her enough at this point to know she would be purposely leading her in to danger, she was rather amused by the affection shown between the two androids though, either it was fake to make them seem human, or whoever had programmed them had been a true master.

She turned away from the pair and grasped Ashlynn’s hand, pulling her in to step with the rest of them, gripping her hand tightly when she saw the look in her eyes, there was something different about it, and it made Xaphia’s own look change, to one of concern for her friend.

******************************************

Blue waited impatiently for the three women around him to be ready, then smiled once Ayumi hugged him and they could finally get underway, he had no desire to stay near the gas leak, he also had no idea of where to go now though.

He put his arm around Ayumis shoulders, hugging her back as they started walking in the opposite direction of the gas leak, and he noted that it was also towards the convoy that had picked Ayumi and himself up earlier “There’s people ahead” he said “a convoy, judging from the placement of the bombs, I’d say it was the target” he looked across at the three women “we may be heading in a bad direction”

 

[your_vice]

Lyra stared up at him, her eyes flitting from his face to his gun. He seemed to be waiting for something and she sincerely hoped it wasn't for her to surrender her clothes. She proffered the backpack, knowing when she was beaten.

"Look, I just wanted to try and find some work, a living. I don't care what you take so long as you introduce me to the convoy, get me some food and a bed and let me worry about earning it." She pleaded. "I have caps in there, probably nothing else you'd find useful. I just want a bed and a job."

Lyra held her loose garments close about her, glaring up at him mutinously.

"Please tell me you can put a word in with the convoy. There's nothing else around here and I'm starved as it is. I'll work like a dog for food and shelter. I worked on a plantation all my life."

It was as much as she was prepared to allude to her austere upbringing and Lyra hoped he wasn't rude enough to probe further. Everyone knew how religious and superstitious farming communities were.

 

[ChaoticLove]

Ashlynn barely noticed when Xaphia took her hand, though she squeezed it lightly without a thought. She let the other woman drag her along until her body finally started to comply with her mind's commands to push the past aside for the minute. There would be time for her to deal with it all later, at least that was what she was hoping.

When her eyes focused on what was going on around her once more, she saw the look of concern on Xaphia's face and just shook her head slightly. This wasn't soemthing another person could help her with, not when there were more important things to focus on.

"Where else can we go?" she asked Blue hollowly as she realized that he had spoken. In times like this, there weren't many safe places.

 

[sfaigon]

Ayumi

Her usual chipper persona wilted at his observation. To think of that many large explosions all centered in one location. All that damage. The possible casualties... Ayumi found herself walking automatically, her legs taking her along for the ride as they followed Blue, his arms still wrapped comfortingly around a bare shoulder.

Ayumi looked slightly upwards until she met his gaze. "She's right... Where else can we go?" She swallowed. "Into the desert, where I came from? This world is scary and empty, but still filled with unknown dangers." She shuddered slightly, giving Blue's comforting presence a small squeeze. "We had to stick together if we are to make it. We're a team now, right?" Her eyes glance from face to face before coming to rest on the human.

"Here I am talking about being a team and such when I realize something." Her smile returned. "You know mine but I still don't even know your name."

 

[knight713]

Kris quickly made his way through the convoy he could see fire burning all around and people screaming in pain. Kris quickly tried to help those he found mainly the ones who were on fire.

" i wonder who would attack like this" kris whispered to himself, it was strange bombs went off but yet no one cam erushing in to kill them or inslave them.

Kris knew he had to get a move on he knew Eve must have woken up with what all was going on. he hoped Marlina escaped but how things looked he was not sure if she didn;t escape with out injury.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Eve quickly made her way through out the convoy ingnoring the screams she had a job to do.

" where is he where is he" eve kept on tell herself as she walked past dieng and dead soldiers. she wasn't going to let anything slow her down she was going to find him and kill him.

She soon saw one soldeir standing there looking at the distruction, she quickly moved silently and grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into the air.

" were is the man that was brought here" she order him

" who I I doon't know what your talking about" h ereplied trying to get his breath. he didn't know what she was talking about he had never seen her before.

" Please i don't know any thing" he added as he placed his hand on her arm.

" I see" eve whispered as she loward her head and looked at the ground

the soldeir thought she going to let him go but when he saw her looked up all hope left him as he felt her grip tighten and that was all he remember.

" The you are no longer a use to me" She said as she looked at the soldeir she quickly tighten her grip and broke his neck/ Eve quickly let the man drop to a crumple heep and walked off into the darkness.

 

[kittenofdeath]

Church was silent as he took her pack, idly rummaging through it as she spoke, she was right, there was nothing else in there of any worth to him, even the caps didn’t interest him much.

He tossed the bag aside when she was done “I can get you a job on the convoy, but not for anything in there” he said with a glance to the discarded pack “I don’t think theres anything you can offer me worth a job on the convoy” his face curled in to a wicked grin “however” he inched closer to her “I think we could come to an agreement on the bed part”

He slowly put his gun away as he moved even closer, forcing her back against the cupboard she had been hiding in “so boy” he said, laughing inwardly to himself with the last word “how badly do you want that bed?”

************************************************

Xaphia frowned at the look Ashlynn gave her, then ended up getting angry at herself for not having the guts to just admit what she was to her, then she would be able to talk to her. She gripped her hand tight and pulled her a little closer, her eyes locked forward and she tried to think of a way to make her feel better.

************************************************

Blue couldn’t argue with them, he knew better than any of them just how desolate the land was around them, though he wasn’t entirely sure about the four of them being a ‘team’ as Ayumi had put it, he was happy to have her as company, she could handle herself, but those other two could be a liability.

“The building collapsing did get in the way of the introductions, didn’t it” Blue said with a smirk as they continued onwards towards the convoy, the wind carrying the sounds of people milling about and trying to get the damage under control.

 

[ChaoticLove]

Ashlynn couldn't help but hesitate at the mention of being a team. It wasn't like she usually played well with others, Xaphia and Lovisia had been the only exceptions thus far since her...ordeal. "I'm Ashlynn and this is Xaphia," she said with one last look at Xaphia.

She didn't explain any further, she wasn't sure they could trust these people and she wasn't sure she wanted to wait and see what happened in the long run. These two were different than other people she had met and different wasn't always a good thing.

 

[sfaigon]

"At least I know your name now." The quirky blond grinned. Then she looked between Blue and the woman she now knew as Ashlynn. "Where to Captain?"

Ayumi absentmindedly drew her Glock from its leg holster and started to dissemble and clean the piece with machine precision. The cloth in her hands worked furiously over the barrel and she finally set it down when satisfied of its condition.

The BIMBO's attention was again riveted on the claw hanging loosely by her male companion's side. The rest were forgotten as her hands played over the claws, careful not to touch the sharp tip.

 

[your_vice]

He sounded like he was being sarcastic when he called her 'boy.' Lyra had no clue what he really meant by it though. Was he the kind of man who lay with boys or had he figured out she wasn't one? Men who got unnaturally lustful towards other men were cast out of her community and Lyra only heard about that by eavesdropping when she wasn't supposed to. Even if he thought she was a girl, it was becoming clear that he planned to rape her and Lyra's small stature meant she looked underage no matter what gender he assumed she was. These confusing thoughts swirled around her head as he pinned her to the cupboard and she stared up at him, terrified.

"I don't want your bed." She confessed, pitching her voice low enough to be androgynous, hedging her bets as long as possible. After a brief struggle Lyra bowed to futility and fell still within his grip. "Surely there must be another way."

Lyra was disappointed he had shown no interest in the caps. She had assumed they were quite valuable but either he was too wealthy to care or she had been mistaken and only carried a useless amount of currency. It was possible he was just distracted and planned to take the caps anyway once he was done with her.

Lyra swallowed hard at that thought. She had been betrothed from birth to a fellow farmer but their deeply religious community had permitted them no time alone together and they had not so much as kissed. Lyra had not been looking forward to the marriage but wedlock within the plantation community was about family alliances and merging land, not love. She knew virtually nothing about sex or her own body. Women were supposed to be educated about sex and the connection their monthly cycles had to childbirth in the last days before a wedding. Sexual pleasure was not even mentioned then, only the virtues of serving a husband's needs and bearing sons for him. Lyra didn't really understand what exactly he wanted from her, only that it was sinful and wrong. She knew that if he defiled her and took her virtue it was irreplaceable. No man with any self respect would ever want her.

"P-please let go of me." She stammered.

Lyra with Church in an abandoned building near the convoy.

 

[Stetson10]

It was too quiet. The gunshots weren't there to listen to and he had no other way to tell what the action was like inside the house so Orion would begin climbing down the rocks, quitly, rifle in hand. He made sure the hammer was pulled back on his pistols incase he needed to quickly chamber a round and fire. Soon he was close down by the house and could listen to what was going on through some cracks in the boarded windows of the shack.

 

[Wyld52771]

Grey stood silhouetted in the moonlight, the wind causing his hooded cloak to flap and flow around him as he overlooked the ruined city from the hillside above, watching the explosions and tracers of gunfire ripping through the night below. He shook his head in resigned disgust. Violence seemed to be the way of things in the world…he himself had killed, and he knew he would kill again…but only out of survival and necessity.

Grey couldn’t help but think that mankind might be destined for something better. Once, it was the promise of an afterlife, but now that the departed God was no longer present, there was now not even a promise of eternal life to fall back upon after a lifetime of suffering. Now, there would only be never-ending darkness, and the rot and decay of flesh left behind once this life was over. Grey was resigned to that…he was a pragmatist above all else, and had never put much stock in a world beyond this one. After all, this world alone had more enough mystery and enough versions of Heaven and Hell for a race to put stock in, that it seemed unthinkable for a separate divine or demonic locale to be necessary. Still, he had to admit to himself that some small part of him held out hope, seeking some sort of inner enlightening or awakening that would leave him to believe that the human race was meant for more than scrambling around for patches of land or scraps of a long-dead society.

Living in the present, however, meant following the way of death…or in his case, following in the wake of it. For as long as he could remember, he had been trailing behind caravans and convoys, living off the cast-off remains of the various battles, first with the band of now long dead tribe members who found him as a boy, and for the past few years, by himself. Scavenger…that was what most would call him, their tones derisive in nature…but to his way of thinking, it was better to take away from the dead and dying who would have no need of material things, than to go the route of most of these convoys, and kill and take anything of value from those who did. Survival of the fittest…natural selection…while in this world, there was some truth to those concepts, but when spoken aloud and dealing with human interaction, all those terms seemed to be created by the strong to justify brutality, as far as he could tell.

So, he was a scavenger. It was not an easy life, survival being the only goal, and isolation being his only companion, but it was one he had grown accustomed to. Even had he shared the mindset with the people who tended to group together and congregate in packs, traveling with the convoys was not an option...past experience had caused him to come to the realization that most would at best treat him with an unwarranted fear, and at worse, outright violence, once his true nature was revealed to them.

These thoughts flew from his mind, as he noted that the gunfire had slowed, and the explosions had stopped for the moment. Checking his gear, hoisting his pack upon his shoulder, and drawing the well worn blade from the scabbard on his back, he slowly began to head down the precarious trail to the ruined city below.

“Time to go to work,” he whispered to himself, readying himself for the bloody remnants of the battle below.

 

[Ausus_girl13]

Marlina and Alder had parted ways earlier, best to be caught individually if anyone was looking for a couple. Alder had been pretty pissed at her, but he had to get back to the convoy, in order to move it to a safe space. They had agreed that he would get the convoy and meet her on the other side of the hills.

So, through the hills Marlina went, jumping from rock to rock. She was really enjoying the challenge, moving her body with the earth, leaping, scurrying up the hard rock face, her hands finding little purchase in the stone. She leapt with the sun shining above her, her coat flowing out behind her, and with a soft little landing, she stopped and listened.

Something was coming down the hill, and from the sound of it, is was big. She climbed to the top of a rock and watched. It was a man! He was loaded to the teeth, and he was huge, but his eyes were a strange color of grey. Marlina was fascinated immediately, but did not dare show herself. And as he began to make his way down the hill further, Marlina followed him silently, leaving only scattering rocks behind her.