Safe Haven

A crash came from upstairs. Kaira was about to go investigate when Akane came back downstairs... bleeding. Seriously? What this time?
"What'd you do this time?" She placed her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow in a look of disapproval. "Ya know, just because we have a medkit, doesn't mean we should be tryin' to use it. If anything, the goal should be to avoid needin' it at all!"

Ezra watched with a look of concern but remained silent.
 
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Royce had run back in from the unfortunately empty kitchen but relaxed when she saw that nothing serious had happened, instead sitting down next to Ezra.
"Hey kid... You alright?"
She questioned, he was being quiet and she assumed he might have a lot on his mind... Or not, either way she wanted to get to know him.

Akane looked more than a little embarrassed.
"I uhh... The mirror annoyed me... Sorry".
She mumbled, avoiding looking into her eyes.
 
"Yeah, I'm good." Ezra smiled weakly at Royce, scratching at his arm as he spoke. "As much as any of us, at least."

Which, he assumed, wasn't much at all. Though, they did seem more put-together than he felt. With the exception of Akane, at least.

"An inanimate object... annoyed you?" Kaira asked. How could that even happen? It sounded pretty ridiculous to Kaira and it showed on her face. "Well, ain't that somethin'? In the future, how about you settle your differences with any mirrors we run across peacefully? Violence ain't solve everything, ya know."

She grabbed the medkit back out of her bag, holding it out towards Akane.
 
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"Heh... That's not saying much you know? I don't know about you personally but am seriously missing my comfy bed and safe house... I don't know a lot about other people though, but even I can tell Akane at least is having issues".
Royce was mostly trying to make herself feel better by talking, and it was helping a little.

Akane could tell how dumb she had acted and looked away, face red through the dust that covered her.
"Mirrors and I have a... Complicated history, though I was more annoyed by the empty cupboard than the mirror this time...".
She admitted, taking the medkit and quickly wrapping her hand.
"Hahh... I'm gonna look like a mummy before long..."
 
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Ezra cast a quick glance at Akane, upon Royce mentioning her name. "Yeah? Well... I guess you're probably right." He returned his attention to her. "I guess it... hasn't really sunk in yet?"

His words sounded stilted, a slight pause in-between each one as if he was questioning himself as he spoke. He wasn't used to anything more than the occasional chit-chat and he normally floundered even at that. It wasn't that he didn't like people, he just... didn't normally have a whole lot of reason nor opportunity to say anything more than a few passing words to someone.

"It doesn't feel completely real? Or something like that?" He glanced down, furrowing his brow as he lightly patted the ground beside him - as if testing whether it was actually there. "It's not like I never leave town... but I guess it was nice having somewhere to go back to? But how long could that really last, anyway? So... whatever, I don't care."

Kaira shook her head again. Though she tried not to, she had a tendency of looking at people as if they were children that'd disappointed her. "You gonna end up an actual mummy if you ain't watch it. Just... be more careful? We got enough going against us right now. I'll admit, I ain't been outside of town much... but... I assume it'll be a whole lot harder to stay alive if we're injuring ourselves. Let's leave that to all the vicious stuff lurking out here, sound like a plan?"
 
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Royce let out a loud sigh in answer, she herself rarely talked about subjects other than guns or business, and hadn't talked about emotional stuff since her parents died... Still, no better time than the present!
"I sorta get that... I'm running on auto and I don't even want to think about what'll happen if everything sinks in..."
To be honest, she'd been on autopilot for years, if she did break down it was going to be bad.
"Hey... Chin up, maybe we'll find a new place? With drinkable water and land that can actually grow things... Surely the whole world can't be fucked".

"Yeah... I'll be careful, I don't like getting wounds I can't treat myself either... So I'll be more careful".
She promised.
"And as for vicious stuff... Any idea on what that could be? I've seen some fucked up animals but nothing too scary...".
 
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"Yeah? Maybe." Ezra forced a smile. "I mean... where we were wasn't so bad... so... there's probably somewhere else."

He didn't mention the fact that anywhere good they found would probably end up destroyed as well. He also left out how many awful places he'd been through before he finally found Junkroad in the first place.

"Well... like I said, I ain't really have much experience outside the walls." Kaira admitted. "Ain't never really had to leave after I moved in with my uncle. But I mean... you saw what them guys did in town. I'm sure there's plenty more like that out here. Worse guys, too, from what I've heard. Sometimes my uncle would trade with people passing through and they had some stories."
 
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"Yeah! See? We'll find a new place, hell maybe we'll find a new one, build a badass house or something...".
She half mumbled, honesty as strong as she'd started Royce was having trouble believing it... Well, they could definitely survive while wandering around for a while...
"I'm gonna get some sleep... When you guys head to bed wake me for first watch okay?"
She requested before heading upstairs.

"I've been out wandering a little but not too much further than here... I've seen people fight to the death over nothing or get mauled by angry wildlife... And this is a fairly sparse area... Who knows what'll happen near cities?"
She actually had met a few messes up people in person... It's why she worked to get decent at fighting.
 
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Ezra nodded at Royce in agreement, giving a small wave in her direction as she walked away.

"I've heard it's really bad in the cities..." Kaira said with a frown. She really hoped they wouldn't have to go near any.

With Royce gone, Ezra couldn't help but eavesdrop. "That's an understatement." He mumbled.
 
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"Me too... My umm... Parents used to travel... They told me the cities were full of gangs, monsters and cannibals... Though I don't know why anyone would eat people when there's so much canned food available".
She declared, nodding to acknowledge Ezra.
"There's also probably loads of medicines other than the painkillers that have likely been looted... Oh well, I'm sure there's got to be a well stocked pharmacy somewhere outside of the cities".
 
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"Not so much canned food in the cities..." Ezra mumbled, shrugging his shoulders lightly "More people to take it. Nobody wants to share." He paused, glancing up to cast a small smile in Akane's direction as he continued. "Besides, everybody don't got as much a knack as you do for finding multitudes of soup in weird places."

Kaira raised an eyebrow, glancing back and forth between the two. She had no idea what the boy was talking about, at least as far as the soup was concerned. "Yeah..." She agreed, in response to Akane's previous statement about the medicine. "I ain't imagine it'll be easy to find, but there might still be a pharmacy with stuff left in it. Crazier things have happened."
 
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"That's true I guess... But it's also true that there are more places for food to be hidden... I doubt most people would think to loot soup kitchens, church food donations or the cheap preserved food in hospital storages...".
Clearly Akane had thought about all sorts of places to find food.

"I don't even want stuff like painkillers and antibiotics, I swear people just loot and take whatever looks vaguely like medicine these days... Maybe I should look for chemistry books or something".
She joked, of course even if she was serious, many books had been destroyed in the war or taken and used as fire fuel.
 
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"Well, I guess so." Ezra agreed, though he still didn't sound entirely convinced. He understood where Akane was coming from, but when he thought about all the years that had gone by since the war and all the desperate people who had lived and died in the cities at this point... it was hard for him to fathom that there was anything left. Sure, desperate people were stupid, but they were also awful determined. There didn't seem much point in pushing it, though. After all, he was no grand authority on the matter; He hadn't been anywhere near a city in years, nor would he call himself the most resourceful person he'd ever met.

"Think people figure it's gotta be valuable to someone." Kaira commented. "Medicine of any type can go for a lot in trade. On the rare occasion we'd get it, we never kept it on the shelves for long."
 
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Honesty Akane herself didn't truly believe herself, but the thought that the world was simply running out of supplies, that the survivors ate everything up while humanity continued to crumble... It invoked an existential terror that shook her to the core, she'd already had to face and come to terms with the fact that many things she would want and need no longer exist but that was the best she could manage.

"Yeah... I guess that makes sense, especially stuff like birth control or supplements...".
Akane seemed a little upset for some reason.
"Anyway... I'm gonna go crash on the couch... Night...".
She walked over to the half collapsed leather couch and would drift off in minutes.
 
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"Well, that sounds like a plan to me." Kaira agreed, nodding her head in Akane's direction. "I'm gonna turn in too, if that's okay."

Ezra waved his hand dismissively at Kaira. "Yeah, yeah, get some sleep. I'll keep an eye on things for awhile."

With that, Kaira headed off to find somewhere to crash for the night herself.

Not accustomed to sleeping much anyway, Ezra wouldn't bother to wake Royce right away but would let her sleep - choosing to instead keep an eye on things himself for as long as he could stand.
 
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Nothing much would happen for most of Ezra's shift, the raiders too busy looting and burning to hunt survivors right away, even ones that had destroyed a truck full of supplies.
Of course though, whether out of mad bloodlust or some sense of revenge, they started looking.
Ezra would be alerted by the sound of a truck nearing the house, they must have been tracked! Not too hard with the blood Akane was losing and the relative lack of cover around the city.
At least he wasn't alone in wakefulness, Royce was a light sleeper, and jolted awake as she heard the noisy vehicle, and ran off looking for the others, only to trip over Kaira in her half awake state.
 
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Ezra was sat next to a window, legs crossed, head rested against the wall. He was quietly flipping through the remains of the old magazine he'd had stuffed in his backpack when he was startled to attention by the roar of an engine. He didn't waste any time and had scrambled to his feet within seconds, backpack slung over one arm while he used the other to clutch at the rifle.

Ducking down for fear of being seen, he quickly headed over to where he knew Akane was sleeping. "Akane!" He hissed, reaching out towards the older girl once he arrived at the couch. "Wake up! Someone's here and I doubt they're friendly!"

Despite being uncomfortable, Kaira had fallen into a deep sleep by the time the truck rolled up. She didn't even stir at the sound of the approaching engine. The sudden crash of feet into her body, on the other hand, wasn't so simple to ignore. With a start, she opened her eyes, looking around in a daze. It took her a moment to remember where she was, but when she did she quickly sat up, reaching up to shove a few loose strands of hair out of her face. "What the-?! Royce? Is that you? What's going on?"
 
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Akane had been clutching her pack to her chest as she slept, paranoia about loss of supplies causing her to ignore the obvious pain as the lumpy package pressed against her healing wounds.
Akane took a moment to wake, apparently a little deep into her sleep, and was groggy until his words registered.
"Shit! We gotta get out of here... Ugh... I feel like shit...".
She managed to stand up, more awake now, and reasonably sure she would be hidden I'm the shadows of the room.
"You up to lead the way? I uhh, didn't see much when we came in".

Royce grunted as she pushed herself up and climbed to her feet, even offering a hand to Kaira.
"Someone's here, with a truck, I think it's the bandits...".
She declared, drawing her gun as if to draw safety from it.
"We gotta get out before they burn this place down or something".
 
Ezra nodded his head quickly, casting a quick glance around the room in an attempt to orient himself. His eyes were somewhat adjusted to the darkness, though he still couldn't see much. Regardless, he felt somewhat confident in his ability to traverse through the room without difficult. "Yeah! Sure!" His voice sounded urgent, despite the low volume with which he spoke. "We should probably get to the others first."

He turned and headed in the direction he'd seen them go off to sleep, motioning with his head for Akane to follow.

"A truck?" Kaira stared at Royce, not quite understanding in her half-awake state. "Here?"

She glanced towards the nearest window, as if it would offer some sort of explanation, before Royce's words finally seemed to sink in. "Oh! The- Jeez... well... shit! We better go!" She grabbed her pack and pushed herself up to her feet - not bothering to take the hand offered to her - before she quickly headed towards the exit.
 
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Akane was used to working in dark places and had no issues navigating, unfortunately she had no idea where anything was in the house, and thus was glad that Ezra was there to follow to the others.
"Agreed... We can't let the bandits catch them".

"Hey, shouldn't we get the others?!"
Royce asked as she saw Kaira already trying to leave the place.
"Besides... They've already got us surrounded..."
She mumbled, the bandits were indeed all around the building.

Fortunately the two groups met up quickly.
"Hey! You're awake... Bandits... They followed us!"
Akane declared as she saw the two.
Of course any further conversation was cut off by the sound of glass hitting the building... And erupting into flames.
 
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