(Ooc: Be warned. This will be reeeaaaally long post. Is why I am taking this much to figure it out e3e. And hope you don't mind, I am about to aggressively move this story a bit forward. If there are any grammar mistakes I am sorry but I ain't fucking going through it to check xD)
They progressed surprisingly fast, and by each killed mutant, they gained more and more confidence moving downwards, towards the city in parallel formation, taking down the creatures that came in waves. When one would ran out of ammunition, others would cover up and so on. Maverick smirked as he offered a nice and pretty impressive headshot to the incoming hell hound. Even though his eyes started to hurt mildly from the aiming, he was still able to go the long way. And just for a second there, he asked himself...where the hell did he left his glasses the last time? He hasn't been wearing a pair ever since he lost the last one and since then his eyes seemed to be doing just fine, except for a certain amount of painful headaches and tired eyes he simply ignored. He wondered how long will it take for his vision to get worse. So far so good. Nobody had to know that he was as geeky as it gets.
"MAVERICK!"
It snapped him out if his thoughts. Loud, piercing shout, coming from Vann and he learned it meant only one thing. Trouble. Without asking twice he turned backwards and lifted his guns towards the incoming skinwalker, slipping and leaning against the destroyed pillar in the process (Ooc: I can totally imagine this in slow motion xD). However, before he spent a bullet on it, the mutant swayed and growled in pain, before it fell lifeless on the ground. Wiping a cold sweat off his face, Maverick exhaled in relief and leaned on the pillar. His shoulder was hurting.
"Holly shit man." He looked at Van, but it didn't seem like he was the one taking it down so he turned to Gail.
"Holly fucking shit. Nice shot." Gail shook her head and nodded behind her.
"Thank him." Only then had he seen a decently tall, muscular male, putting down his shotgun. Needless to say, he looked like absolute shit and he didn't seem to care. Resuming his stand, Maverick nodded to the newcomer. He was oddly familiar, but he simply couldn't put his mind to it.
"Thanks. You are an ass savior." Instead of replying, the guy simply proceeded, walking forward into the city.
"Hey! wait..." Vann called out, but he was interrupted by Ryan's sudden announcement. "
I gotta do this. It was an honor." On which Gail nodded and looked at Vann as Ryan ran off. Vann clenched his jaw and nodded.
"Let's move."
For a while, the three of them moved deeper into the residential area, after the guy that made his appearance. Maverick hurried forward and walked beside him.
"You are either skilled as heck or foolish enough to move around like that alone." He took a glimpse at the guy's arm.
"What the hell happened?" He seemed to be completely forgetting about the rest of the group that was now falling behind. Vann and Gail walked slowly, the silliest duo ever.
"Where are you planning on searching?" He asked and she looked around.
"The turn should be here somewhere. Hard to tell with all this debris laying around." Vann nodded.
"I see. And you think it is worth it?" There was a moment of silence as Gail stopped and sighed.
"Look. If you think I am delusional enough to believe I will find them safe and sound, then you are an idiot." Surprisingly, Vann was nowhere near shocked by her response. He learned, through the teamwork, that there was more to that girl than meets the eye. She continued, now offering him a glare full of determination and anger.
"The real reason that I am searching is different. Much different." He didn't mean to, but he was about to ask her anything else, it would be cut off by a dull underground strike. And even though he was in every mean a former scavenger for an example, Vann couldn't possibly notice it better than Gail that was much more sensitive to changes in her surroundings. She suddenly stopped, blocking Vann's path with her arm. It meant nothing to Vann, resistance-wise, but he knew better than to ignore it.
"Wait!" Vann stopped, mildly confused.
"You hear that?" No matter how much he tried, Vann simply shrugged, slightly frustrated.
"What am I listening to, Gail?" At the same moment, just as if they were telepathically connected. Maverick halted as well, referring to the guy that now walked in front of him (Ooc: Aaron, in case it isn't clear).
"I think we are in trouble." Turning around slowly, he faced Gail that nodded and confirmed his doubts.
"Well you gotta be shitting me right now..."
Vann replied somewhat mockingly.
"I apologize, but I doubt that building will hold just by us not moving." The residential building leaned now dangerously above the group.
"This thing will fall." Gail applied more pressure on his chest as he moved forward.
"If we move, we're dead." Vann frowned.
"If we DON'T move now, we are dead no matter what." The building leaned and moaned more and Maverick groaned nervously through his teeth.
"Not the bloody tiiiime!" The noise came closer to the surface and passes under Maverick's feet, towards the Gail and Vann.
"We have to move!" Maverick hissed.
"You can't outrun that...thing!" Vann smirked, covering up the nervousness.
"Oh I am not planning to." Before the figured it out, Vann grabbed a piece of concrete of a decent size as the building detached from it's base, hurling towards the ground. Vann tossed the concrete piece under the falling building and instantly grabbed surprised Gail, running aside. Unable to see them anymore because the first pieces that fell down raised a ridiculous amount of dust in the air, Maverick only managed to catch a glimpse of a decent-sized scorpio mutant reaching for the concrete piece before the building collapsed over it. Sudden silence occurred when the dust settled and Maverick glared into the body of the building now blocking the path. He approached, looking for any space, big enough to crawl through. He shouted out, forgetting about the mutants, the group and the stranger that he met just few moments ago. For the first time he was honestly worried about his teammates.
"Gail? Carson! Where are you damn it!" He reached to climb over it.
"I am climbing over!"
"No!" He heard Vann's voice from the other side.
"We are fine. Go forward. We will find the other way around!" Maverick jumped down and sighed.
"You better not pull my leg on this one, Carson." Checking his ammunition status, he grabbed his backpack and moved forward.
"Oh joy." He mumbled before he headed forward. He referred to the stranger.
"Considering you will have to look at my annoying face, at least until we split our ways, name's Maverick. Good? Good. Nice to meet you." He then moved ahead. He sucked at communication.
@MST3K 4ever > Ryan Mach
@Autumn_Burns_Red > Aaron
***
Gail smiled at Vann.
"Thank you." He nodded back.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Gail smiled and put the crossbow on her back.
"Yes. If anyone knows this place, I do. I will check to see if there is anything else we can use along the way." Lying to Maverick somewhat made Vann feel bad, but Gail asked for a simple thing. Not to be disturbed. He had no choice but obey.
"You do realize if something happens to you, the special Snowflake there will kick my ass." Climbing up the small pile of debris, Gail smirked.
"Good thing nothing will happen to me then. And keep off the ground. Find the group and stay safe yourself." With that, she disappeared between the wrecked buildings. As he climbed over what was left of the building, he felt a mild pain in his leg, but it was far from alarming. Even for him, it was quite an adventure to get on the higher grounds. Luckily enough, due to the utter destruction, it was easier to find a high ground than a plan flat one. In the time of need, it was a major advantage. Only thing, he wasn't really a mountain goat and his climb would seem more than ridiculous to a bystander. Soon enough, as he reached the top, he mover towards the said meeting spot, hoping for group making it all the way there. He had faith, but considering the unpredictability of the creatures, anything was possible. As he heard the shooting not too far away, he jerked and looked around. It seemed to be coming from the City Hall. He stood there for a moment, but in the end, the group was of higher importance. It didn't take long before he heard a familiar angry sounds. It was Vi and he was certain about it. No other female had such strategy. Not that it was the best one, but it for sure worked well as a marker. Vann slid down the ruins and jumped onto the other ruin, approaching the sound. Soon, the group appeared in front of him, pushing their way through the horde.
"Hey!" He shouted when he saw Jocelyn emerging from the crowd.
"Jocelyn!" He was uncertain did she even hear him over the racket so he slid down more.
"They are underground!" He shouted, but before he managed to climb down, the massive tank smashed through the debris and knocked him off, straight onto the ground, further ahead of the group.
Vann gasped for air that was slammed out of his lungs. He managed to duck tank's smashing strike, but instead of striking again, the tank grabbed his leg and slammed him into the pile of rocks and dust before Vann could react. As he struggled to get up before the mutant struck again, he couldn't help but feel how it was more to it than a simple attack and kill strategy they had before. They were evolving. Fast. He was angry and annoyed. Grabbing his machete, he charged at the mutant, managing to cut him several times before it reached and slammed him again.
@Shattered♦Secrets™ > Vi
@Autumn_Burns_Red > Jocelyn
***
Skylar "Sky" Finlay Carson
The dust seemed to be settling around the City Hall as the horde pulled back. The Scavengers cheered and celebrated, but Skylar remained collected and frowned.
"Oh come on! We fucking did it!" The girl shouted and patted her back. Sky simply replied with a smirk, not taking her eyes of the surrounding area. Boy would those binoculars come in handy now. But seems that some of those things didn't really care what is it made of if it is small enough to swallow. They reminded Skylar of an overgrown bunch of retarded children. As hideous of her as it may be.
"Well then, you are stupider than I thought. Too bad." The girl Scavenger looked at her, surprised, before she set her eyes in the hordes that pulled back and hell hounds that sniffed the air.
"What do you think it is happening?" Skylar frowned.
"Easy. They found something more interesting. And supposedly easier." One of the male Scavengers looked at her, speaking up in a hard Australian accent that she dearly hated, but kept silent about it.
"Excuse me? Didn't you say how everyone in this bloody place is dead?!"
"I did." She replied calmly.
"Because everyone from THIS shithole is dead. I never said there are no other survivors out there." The male waved his hand and walked away.
"You are ay crazy as ya get eh." By the look of her teammate's face, it was certain, nobody was taking her seriously, though she was persistent. Usually, falling buildings were usual after the disaster and no one would batter an eye over it. But today, something was different. It didn't take too long before she and the lookout Scavenger were left alone on the dome, while others joined their teammates and a ridiculously idiotic Senator in the great hall to celebrate surviving yet another horde. Skylar sat on the edge of the railing going around the dome and looked over the destroyed city. The lookout scavenger yawned.
"Look. I will be here and will let you know if anything happens, alright? Go take a break." Instead of a reply, she asked him back, seemingly unrelated question.
"I wonder how many more parties will they manage to arrange before we are all dead?" he looked at her, shocked by her question and gulped lightly as she proceeded.
"We are running out of food, people, room. Soon enough, we will end up eating each other to survive and committing altruistic suicides so others don't have to kill and feel bad about it. Not to mention soon enough you will be drinking your own piss to stay hydrated if the rain doesn't fall any time soon." He stood up and picked up her gun smirking deviously.
"That is, if you hope that same rain will not turn you into one of those things if you drink it." The lookout didn't reply, but simply nodded. Scaring the crap out of them was what Skylar did the best.
"Have a nice ev..." She suddenly turned back and ran towards the railing to lean over it once she heard a series of shots.
"You heard that?" Jumping off his seat, the Scavenger fixed his hat and leaned forward as well.
"Well I'll be damned." Lifting her sniper riffle, Skylar zoomed in on the movement coming from the one side. She saw a group a group of people, pushing their way through the incoming mutants and there was more of those they couldn't see.
"We need a rescue mission." Her teammate glared at her.
"Are you SERIOUS?! Our people will get killed there!" Skylar growled.
"So will they if we don't do something." No matter how much they all secretly hated her will to help anyone possible, he couldn't ignore the fact that he himself would be dead if she didn't stood up for him. He never forgot it.
"Eh. Fine. What do you need me to do?" Skylar smirked and tapped his shoulder.
"Send out a light signal. Hopefully they will noticed it and head down this way. It will make our job much easier. Don't make unneeded noise." He obeyed and lit the torch.
It was hard for all of the Scavengers to hide their protest and disappointment once Skylar demanded a rescue mission. After several moments, only those that she had expected, joined her. Mister G, the big and hulky Scavenger, the Reaper, swift assassin, the Blonde and the Australian, both skilled in ranged fight and ambush. For Skylar, it was more than enough. As the door opened, they moved out swiftly through the debris, towards the group, following the sound of the bullets.
***
Gail Nolan
She sat in the corner of the room that was only left standing on a spot where it used to be their family home. In front of here, there were three neatly made shallow graves. Two bigger ones and another, small one, in the middle. She did it the best she could. Collecting the remains she could find and filling the gaps in with what was left of their clothes was the hardest part, but she let no tear go to waste as she arranged and buried her family. Only after she paid them a respect they deserved, did she slid down into the corner and glared into the emptiness in front of her. She felt pain. Awful pain that burned her from inside and yet, no treas dared to show, only slow, shallow breathing.
She noticed a brown lump laying close to her. She looked at it and smiled. It was her brother's teddy bear. Surprisingly whole and only dusty. She couldn't help but shake away the cold chills that ran down her spine as she picked it up and stared at it's dead marble eyes. All that was left. Not even a picture to go with it, but only a simple, popular toy that her brother simply loved. Embracing the soft toy against her chest, she was again able to hear the dull sound coming from the underground. They were back. She was bruised and exhausted and her hands were dirty and bloodied. She had to fight for her family's remains and now, the same monster was back for it's revenge.
She remained still and numb as the piece of wall fell down to the ground and it barely startled her at all when the giant scorpion-like mutant emerged and hissed. There was nowhere to run as it was blocking the only way through the debris. But not like she even wanted to run. She was indifferent. She didn't care. The creature looked around and stared at Gail, debating whether it was his pray and would it move. Even though she refused to move, Gail tightened her grip around the toy and mumbled silently but angrily.
"You don't scare me anymore. None of you..."
