Realistic or Modern All That Remains

[Ririn]

Jack knew, at least to some extent, that Chase was right. Nothing out there would look anything like his life up to know. Nothing, anywhere would look like the life he had worked so hard to build on his own. Problem was, a big part of him managed to ignore it even now, that someone was telling it straight to his face.

"Yeah, there is a duffel bag at the bottom of the lower shelf." He instructed Chase completely forgetting to comment on anything else of what he had said.

But when he told Chase about what he had seen from the camera Jack suddenly appeared as to what he truly was. A twenty years old kid with no idea of what real life looked like. Especially when he grabbed the gun he tossed him, Jack seemed even more pale than usual. But at least he nodded.

"Yeah, yeah. I know how they work but I have never really uhm, used one before." Jack said turning to look back at the screen. Now all of them has gathered by the kitchen door and another loud slam echoed in the house.

She looked at Lee smiling. "Maybe I'm over reacting. Maybe he will go through a shock at first and then adapt like you say. I sure hope so." She chuckled realising that despite the odds of that actually being the outcome, Lee's optimistic way of looking at things made her feel better.

Lin left the coffee mug on the night stand and grabbed her boots by the door, wearing them as fast as possible. At emergencies Lin had been taught to always be ready to run.

"Is your jacket up here?" She asked going for the closet opening it up wide as she took out a gray ski jacket putting it on. "If not grab one from the closet. I mean it." She said heading for the door and cracking it open looking outside.

"They are armed." Jack said pointing at the screen. "I don't think they are sick. And I don't think the kitchen door will hold them out, no." He said looking up from his chair at Chase.

Lin waited for Lee to get ready and seeing that everything was clear though the sound kept coming she opened the door completely moving fast across the hall opening the office door where everyone else was.

"What's happening?" She asked closing in at Jack leaning over him and looking at the laptop. "Shit!" She proclaimed stepping away.
Always be fast. Faster than anyone else. Be ready to fight and be ready to RUN. Roy's voice echoed in her mind, scratching at all those old wounds it had left behind. Be faster than anyone else Kiddo and you'll make it out alive. No matter how much she despised him now, Roy was the reason she had survived back then. He might aswell be useful still.

Lin walked away from the laptop taking the gun she was more familiar with. The good old fashioned semi automatic Glock 17. Then came the ammo and as soon as Lin pulled the safety back, she felt a little switch being turned on in her brain. Much like riding a bicycle or having sex, holding a gun was something you couldn't forget even if you thought you did. Even if you thought you hated them and always fought with your brother for having so many around.

She turned towards Chase.
"How are we going with this?" She asked him before looking at Lee as well.
"The door won't hold guys!" Jack's broken voice said. And he was right. In less than a minute they would brake the few locks and the wood would go under fast.

 

[Wordy]

"You never used one of these before?" Chase repeated, then quickly approached him. "Okay, kid, let's do this super quick. Hang on." He said, "Robin, you pay attention to this, too," He said, and he invited himself to take hold of the shotgun again and position Jack's hands correctly. "One foot in front of the other, nice and grounded, firm." He adjusted Jack's feet by nudging them with one of his own. "You want the stock of the shotgun rested right here against your shoulder, alright?" He pushed it against his shoulder, "Right here. Keep it tight there - if you put it in the wrong place on your shoulder, you're going to throw your shoulder out when you fire it. Gotta' remember, these kick like a motherfucker, alright? Keep a good grip on it. Look down the sights - line the front sights up with the rear sight."

He stepped back, "Remember, be patient with the trigger. Don't get too wild with shooting quick. And with these guys..." He looked at the screen. "Probably best not to shoot right away. There's too many of them, and the last thing we need is any one of us getting shot." He said. "If we can negotiate, that's what we want to do." He said. He looked at Robin who looked... Equally as terrified, but, she wasn't really saying much. Dad knew best, she supposed, but that didn't mean she wasn't fearful.

"Robin, you stay behind us."

"Okay."

Chase took the chance he had to start loading as many of the guns and ammo into the duffle bag that Jack had pointed out. If they were getting out of here, they weren't leaving an arsenal for the angry neighbors to hunt them down with.

...

"We all have to adapt to some degree." Lee said. "He'll be okay. We're here to watch out for him, right? So we can help him adapt, as much as we can, anyway." He said. He wasn't entirely sure of how quick Jack would adjust, but, he didn't want to give up on him. The kid needed to get used to how thing were - none of them were quite at that stage yet. He had a feeling that things would be forever changing now, and it was just going to be part of life. It wasn't going to get any easier, either, but they'd at least be able to come to terms with the way life was now. That was just about all anyone could ask for.

Either way.

"My jacket's going to be soaking wet, so I'll grab one of these." He said. Most clothes from last night, at least the heavier ones, would still be soaked through and useless. A ski jacket was indeed taken from the closet, and he slipped that on along with his boots.

After that, he went with her to the office. He grabbed himself a Kimber Custom pistol from the wall - simple enough, he guessed. He didn't exactly want to shoot anyone just yet, though.

Chase, however, assessed the situation as quickly but as rationally as he possibly could, and there were only two outcomes.

"We either get out of here alive, or we don't." He said, "I don't think its any secret what these guys want from us. My thoughts? We have the upper hand of knowing the bunker won't hold out for all of us - they don't know any of that, so," He shrugged. "If we're planning on leaving, why don't we take the guns, get out of here as peacefully as we can? No point getting into a gunfight if all we want to do is walk out the front door."

 

[Ririn]

"We can't just leave!" Jack told Chase as he put a hard drive and his laptop in a backpack. "We need to pack clothes, take all the food I have. I mean, the shelter also has food and they probably know that too, everyone knew I was building one but there are supplies in the house as well!"

"Jack? That's the least of our problems ok? We'll find food elsewhere. For now we need to get out unharmed." Lin tried explaining as finally the mob broke the door down and entered the house. What was the point of waiting for them to come upstairs? Lin opened the door stepping out, getting down on one knee so she had a better view of the stairs.

"HEY!" she yelled "We don't want any trouble ok? Just tell us what you want." She thought about telling them they were about to leave anyway but decided not to. She didn't want to get them suspicious or angry. Chase was right. This didn't have to be a fight. Seeing that there was no answer she went on. "Just tell us what you want ok?"

"How many are you?" A woman's voice came from downstairs. Loud but not sure. Good.
"We are five ok? We know you are more and we have a kid with us please, we don't want any trouble." Lin insisted with her pleading hoping to show them they really weren't a threat.
"Is the tech kid here? With you?" The woman asked. Lin turned to look at Jack that was standing in the office, just looking at her shotgun in one hand backpack around his shoulders.
"Yes, Jack. He is name is Jack, he is my brother." Lin told them hoping that if they knew their names and ages they would be less determined to shoot at them. "I'm Melinda ok?"
"We want him. We want the tech kid." A man's voice answered. Someone was moving around the house. Lin hadn't seen anyone come closer to the kitchen so that was good.
"What do you want with my brother?"
"We know what he has in his yard ok?" The woman spoke again. "We came to take that shelter for us got it? We have guns, we have the numbers. We will take that shelter and all of you will leave as soon as he gets us in there. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah we got it. You want the shelter and we don't want any trouble."

Lin turned to look around her. Could they trust those scared angry people and just walk downstairs? What if they didn't let them pack anything? What if they saw the guns and wanted those too? Most importantly... How would they all leave? They only had two bikes and they were five. Jack would have to take his car. At least until they could reach the car yard and take one of the cars there.

 

[Wordy]

"Clothes and food, yeah?" Chase looked at him. "You like the idea of getting a bullet in the head more than a few days of food?" He asked, "Because if we hang around and try and fuck these guys around, saying we want to clear the food and the clothes, they have enough of them to storm this place and put us all down if we even do as much as look at them funny. Guys like this? They're..." He shook his head. "They're desparate. And desparate people are the most dangerous kind, kid, you make sure you remember that. It might just save your life one day." He said.

Desparate people do desparate things.

They rob. They kill.

They even eat each other, should it come down to it. There were some lines that people refused to cross, but it wasn't surprising how many of them actually got crossed when shit was really at its worst.

Lee looked at Lin and then at Chase, and finally at Jack. The demands had been laid out; he looked at Robin, and she was gradually looking more and more terrified. He wasn't going to be much use with the little gun he had here, and it wasn't exactly his house to bargain with here, so...

"Hey, Robin?" He said to her and stepped up, "You stay behind me, alright? We're going to be just fine. Just stand behind me until we get out of here."

"Okay." She put her head against his back, gulping. She wasn't going to move from behind him, nope. She'd stick to him like glue if it meant getting out of all of this.

Chase just shook his head, "Hang on a second." He whispered to the rest of them, then stepped out of the doorway and pointed the rifle down the stairs, poking his head out just a little. "Alright, here's how this is going to work." He called out, "I'm sure plenty of you have got kids of your own tucked away somewhere, until you can get a hold of this place. They're probably hidden. They're scared." He said, "I've got a kid of my own, she's thirteen and we came out the middle of Portland. We haven't got any clothes her size - me and her have got nothing to our name." He said, "The others? Well, they're struggling just as much."

He paused.

"Give all of us a chance to get some clothes, some food... Then we'll be on our way, no questions asked." He said, "That sound fair to all of you?!"

 

[Ririn]

Lin looked at Chase as he tried burgaining with the intruders, as he tried to insure their safety. She could hear whispering from downstairs not really making out any of what they were talking about. Looking around she saw her brother sweaty, eyes locked at the stairs, Lee acting as a human shield infront of Robin who had almost disappeared behind the much taller man. How was it that Lee, even after all these, even under all this pressure and uncertainty managed to still be so humane? So... Himself while she had so easily slipped back in her old shoes?

"We will have the house surrounded!" The man from before said. "I mean it. We are more than you and we are taking the shelter. You have ten minutes to grab your things and go. You will all walk out the front door in a single line and get the fuck away got it? Ten minutes then out of here for good."

"Yes, yes thank you. We will get our clothes and bags and leave." Lin rushed to agree knowing that they couldn't hope for anything better than that.

"Ten minutes. Front door." The man shouted again and for a while they could hear noise around the house as they all walked out the same door they had used coming in. Lin took a deep breath, realising only now how hard her heart was pounding. "Ok! Move!" She told the others standing up, putting the safety back on.
"There are clothes in the bedroom." Jack said, finally reacting. "Robin, I have some of Lin's stuff here they should be about right. I'll go downstairs and pack food." With that Jack run down the stairs.

Lin didn't think about it twice. Going in the bedroom she took the ski jacket off and her sweater. Right now thinking about being naked infront of them wasn't the point. She would need more warm clothes. First she wore a tank top then a blouse with long sleeves and only then did she put on the sweater again followed by the ski jacket. Now, for a bag. She kneeled by the bed looking under it pulling out two soft gym bags. It was the best they had.

Lee already had taken a jacket and both Chase and Robin had motor jackets. But they would need clothes.
"Robin? I'll pack what clothes I have here and we can share alright? Why don't you grab some socks from the drawers there?" She asked pointing at the other side of the room as Lin went for the closet again. How much food would Jack be able to pack? And had Chase pack enough ammo and weapons? How much time had they already spent?
They would need a helmet for Lee. And a new one of her. She couldn't stand the thought of wearing the one she had used to kill that child...

"Search for gloves Robin. And maybe scarfs." She told the girl thinking how Lee and herself weren't properly prepared to ride a bike again. It wasn't snowing now but it was cold. And it would become worse soon.

 

[Wordy]

"Ten minutes..." Chase muttered to himself, then nodded. "Robin, you stay with these guys, I'm gonna' go and make sure Jack doesn't get snuck up on." He said, "I'll see you downstairs. Ten minutes." He nodded to them all and rushed after Jack. The kid wasn't doing this on his own - and it wasn't like they needed four people to find clothes. That was a two-man job at the most, but seeing as Robin needed to be kept safe, he figured it was best that this time they made it a job for three people. Better than her being in the line of fire downstairs, anyway. Worst case scenario? He supposed they could escape out of a window, if shit royally hit the fan.

He caught up with Jack, though, and his next move was to help him load things into a bag. All the food they could carry.

Non-perishables would be best, but, beggars can't be choosers. Anything that would go bad in a short amount of time would be what they ate first, assuming they didn't find somewhere safe and appropriate to store it.

Upstairs, Robin was moving at double speed. In her eyes, if they weren't out of here in at least five minutes, they were all probably going to die. She didn't want to push it on time - she wanted to get out of there, sooner the better. She just nodded along to everything that Lin said, frantically going about the room to unearth as much as she could that would come in handy. Scarves. Socks. Gloves. There were several scattered around - and it was true, some of Lin's old things would probably fit her. They weren't all that different in built - maybe Lin's height would be the only thing that made the clothes hang just a little bit looser than needed.

"Are we going to get out of here?" Robin eventually asked, quickly glancing around. "Are they actually going to let us leave?" She looked between her and Lee.

 

[Ririn]

Jack knew they needed to pack cans and all in all foods that didn't need a fridge or was fresh but cans took too much space and honestly he didn't feel picky.

"You were right you know." Jack told Chase keeping his voice low and his head lower trying to stay away from the windows and the shuttered kitchen door. "I don't want to die for a few days worth of food or for a sweater. But I really don't want to see us freeze or starve either. You, of all of us should understand this better." Jack opened his own backpack now. He could fit a few cans in there aswell without leaving the laptop or the hard drive. Next he had to go by the front door to wear his boots and jacket, take the keys to his car and make it out alive. It didn't sound too hard, right?

Lin stopped in place, her hand over the open bag as she was ready to put a sweater in. Robin... She was right of course, to be scared. She was scared aswell. Leaving the sweater in the bag she reached the teenage girl.

"You know how you are scared? We all are honey and those people out there, they are too." Lin said with a smile softly putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Your dad was right before. They probably have kids of their own who they wish to protect. This is a very peaceful neighborhood Robin. They have shotguns because they go hunting not because they are bad people." Lin thought about how that could give a wrong impression regarding Jack having a whole armory, herself and even Chase. "My brother has guns because they made him feel stronger by just being there because I used to be in trouble. And your dad? He has those guns for safety aswell." Lin squeezed her shoulder still smiling. "We are going to walk out the front door like they asked and you will keep your head down and stay by your dad ok? We will ride the bikes and be out of here, I promise."

Kiddo, you should never, never make promises you are not sure you can keep. Big words can bring big troubles to little girls like you, Roy's unwanted voice echoed in her but she kept smiling.

"I think we should go now." She said looking at Lee, giving him a light head nod as if to encourage him but also find encouragement. Closing up the bags, Lin gave the smaller to Robin and the other one to Lee. "I'm keeping the guns for now." She announced taking the third and final of their bags, hiding her Glock in her pocket before slowly, she started walking down the stairs, heart pounding, palms sweaty.

"You took everything?" Jack asked
"We took what we could." She said taking her keys from the table to have them ready. "Let's do this!" Lin stood by the door taking a deep breath. With a last look around her, to the familiar space and their faces, Lin opened the door, taking one step outside.

 

[Wordy]

"Me understand that better? Yeah, right." Chase said, "Before this happened, all I had in my fridge was week-old Chinese food, so, I'm not one to talk to about having enough food. I don't eat even on a good day." He said. "Your food is the first proper food I've had in... Jesus. Months." He shook his head. The only reason for that was because he stopped seeing Robin - not out of choice, though. It was all drama that was now leaving a bad taste in his mouth again, but, at least it was different now. Just different in all the wrong ways. Now that Robin was back in his care, he'd be a better man - as good as one could get in a world that was now falling apart, at least.

Chase did have a point to make, though.

"None of this food or the clothes is going to do us any good unless we figure out how to actually survive all of this." He said, "And when I say that, I mean more than just learning to shoot. There's a lot we're going to have to adapt to, especially if we're going to be living life on the road. From what I can gather? Me and Lin are going to be the ones who know the most about that." He said. "So you and the doctor aren't going to be head first in on your own. None of us are. We've got each other's backs, right?" He said.

He was stuffing food and anything else useful in any free spots. The gun bag was heavy enough without the food in it; now it was coming close to unbearable. But that was okay - he'd get out of here and stash this in a car or whatever, and they'd be fine.

Upstairs, though, Robin nodded to Lin.

"They're not bad people. Got it." She said. She just had to keep telling herself that - she really didn't know how it was all going to turn out. Going downstairs and out the front door would be the most terrifying thing, going past all of those people with the guns and whatnot. Her dad would keep her safe. All the adults would. That was just what she had to keep assuring herself of.

Lee agreed, "Yeah, guns are at the ready. Let's just get out of here. I've got all I can carry that could be considered useful." He said. Sure, they wanted warm clothes, but there were also t-shirts and stuff that would just be nice to have when it came to cleanliness. People go insane without the chance to wear clean clothes or to wash, so, there was that accounted for. It was a luxury they could afford for at least a little while now.

Downstairs they went.

"I think we should do what Jack mentioned. Go by that place that has the RVs, see if we can get hold of one." Lee said. "There'll be enough room to shove the bikes in there, too, and it'll keep us out of the cold. Beds, storage space... It'll be convenient." He said.

"Whatever you say, pal. Right now I want to be anywhere but here." Chase replied.

With the house officially taken from them and now occupied by people who had acted out of desparation to protect their loved ones, they were out on the streets again. It was cold - bitter, yes, but not quite as awful as yesterday. It wouldn't be long before they were being hit with the full force of a storm again, though. Weather was unpredictable, and they all knew that they had little time to act. They needed to get situated with something, or somewhere, where shelter was a constant availability.

Moving shelter? It was a foolproof idea. Sure, it was going to need fuel, but if they went to the place that had all the RVs for rental, the tanks were going to be full. There was bound to be excess fuel supplies if someone hadn't raided it and taken it all already. They were a step ahead of the game. Everyone else was focused on getting out alive, and they had no plan of action beyond that. Them? They were planning on living after they survived it. They were taking appropriate steps.

"Robin, I want you in the car with Jack for now. No exceptions." He said.

"Got it."

The car was a blessing. It could hold the supplies.

Lee volunteered to go in the car, too. If shit hit the fan, he had a gun on him and could at least do his best to protect Jack and Robin. The way Chase was looking at this? They had to be on the bikes for maybe ten minutes. As soon as they had the RV, they could roll them in through the door and travel in comfort for a while.

One thing at a time, though.

...

The dealership/rental place didn't take long to reach at all. The only burden was the weather - being careful on the road was just as important as avoiding the freaks that roamed the streets down. The population of said freaks began to increase as they made their way out of the more peaceful neighborhood. They were coming in hot from Portland, even if it had taken them all night. It wouldn't be long before they'd stormed through these streets and preyed on anyone unfortunate enough to cross paths with them.

Once again, time was not necessarily on their side today. The sky was gradually getting more and more clouded; the air had more of a nip to it. Fog was rolling in heavy.

But the dealership was there, and Chase shut off his bike and stepped off of it. Lines upon lines of RVs. Varying in make, model, and year. Ideally, they wanted the biggest they could find, with enough beds and enough space to accomodate all the people and the bikes that needed to be loaded on, too.

There were plenty of big ones - it was just a matter of finding the keys, and if possible, more fuel.

"This is us." Chase said, quietly. Looking over his shoulder he could see more of the undead in the near distance, but they had some time. Not many people flocked to this place when all things went to hell, so they had the added bonus of it being empty.

At least, as far as they knew it was.

"How do you wanna' do this?" He looked over at her, "We can stick together, find everything as a group... Or we can split up. One group finds the keys, the other looks for any spare fuel. With all our weight and the bikes being piled into one of these things, it's going to guzzle gas pretty goddamned quick."

 

[Ririn]

"i think its better if we split up. It's faster and I don't want to spend one more minute than I have to out here with them" she said pointing at a small group of sick people that thankfully were still far from them as she turned the engine of her bike off taking the key with her. "Chase?" She said before he could walk any closer to his daughter and the two men "I don't think I'll be putting my bike in there. A RV is a big vehicle, a bike can move faster. If I drive up front I will have a better viewing plus if we run into trouble shooting from a bike is much easier." She wasn't sure what he would think of that or if he had thought the same but Lin really wanted to do this. It felt safier.

Jack had drove them here in silence. Leaving his house had been very... He hadn't found the right word to describe it yet. He knew it would happen not only out of personal belief but also because of all he had seen the last few days online. And still, the idea that he would never go back to work, never cook in his kitchen, never have a hot bath in the bathroom made his head ache.
He stopped the car sitting there for a second watching as his sister talked with Chase. Him and her hadn't had the chance to speak yet, in private and even if they had would Jack had the guts to tell her to keep away from Chase? Maybe he was overreacting but he knew his sister, he knew her rubbish taste in men and people living in such extreme and crazy times often seeked company in each other. Jack couldn't stand the thought of Lin even being close to Chase even if he had no valid reason for it. Taking a deep breath he got off the car taking the keys with him and walking up to them.

"What now?" He asked them

 

[Wordy]

"True. I'm thinking more the cold, but, that's a good idea." He said, "We can take turns doing that, actually. That way neither of us are in the eye of the storm for too long each time. Scouting ahead might do us some favors, definitely." He nodded in agreement.

He knew one thing, though, and it was one thing he never thought he'd say - he couldn't wait to be inside a car again, even if it was just for a couple of hours. The warmth, the ability to lie back and not have to worry about what's going on in the road. Maybe he could catch up on some sleep, too.

"Me, you, and Robin will stick together. I want her around the two people most, eh... Gun-savvy." He nodded. "Jack and Lee? I think it'd be best if we sent them around to look for fuel. It's going to take longer to find the right keys than it is for them to do that, so, may as well have them stick together. I'd rather that than having people left on their own in the car, or whatever. That could get hairy." He said.

When Jack and Lee joined them, Chase explained.

"We're splitting up." He said, "You and Lee are gonna' go around back and look for whatever fuel supply they have here, and me, Lin, and Robin are gonna' go inside and hunt around for the keys. We want one of the big ones at the back, look," He pointed off towards where the larger RVs were parked. "There's not going to be any way to tell which key goes to what without us guessing each time, so, it's going to take us a while. Gives you guys a chance to haul some fuel around to the front if you find any."

"Sounds fair to me." Lee said.

There was an almighty crash from within the dealership somewhere, not somewhere in view, but it sounded like a desk being tipped over - there was a lot of smashing and crashing which quickly died down. Chase looked over at Lin, drawing his rifle.

"I don't know what the fuck that was, but, it sounds like we need to be vigilant." He said.

Lee looked at Jack. "Come on, man." He tapped his shoulder. "Let's make this quick. Best not to stay split up for too long." He said. There was some signage on the wall that said 'Storage', which pointed towards the back of the building. They could walk along the side quite easily and reach... Wherever that was, supposedly.

"Ready?" He asked.

 

[Ririn]

"Taking turns might be best, yeah." She agreed with a nod. "The cold will get worse that's for sure so it would be for the best if neither of us was pushed over their limits."

As for her staying with Robin and him? It made sense even though she didn't like the idea of Jack and Lee being alone, Jack having no experience with guns and Lee having only a minimum. But she didn't like the idea of Chase having to keep a teenage girl safe on his own. Plus the inside would be more dangerous than out here. The loud sounds from the inside of the dealership came just in time to support her thoughts.

"Ok, we need to be as fast as possible and stay safe." She said looking around her, taking out her gun. "Judging from the clouds in the east we will experience yet another storm soon. Better be on the road already when it hits."

Lin walked closer to Jack giving him a hug that, as she expected he did not return. He had hugged her last night because of relief but mainly because she had jumped on him as soon as she saw he was alright. Her brother was bad with emotions thus bad with expressing any of them.
Then she turned to Lee, wrapping her hands around him aswell, standing on her toes to reach his ear.

"Please stay safe. Both of you." She whispered before stepping away. "Ready. Let's move. Robin, better stay between us." She told the girl as the three started walking, thinking that this way they had her covered by the front and the back.

"Ok, let's do this." Jack agreed looking at Lee for a second before turning his eyes away. Jack had the shotgun ready, more ammo tacked in his jacket's pocket. They started walking at the opposite direction of the other group heading at the back of the lot where it was most likely to find fuel either in gas pumps or smaller portable tanks. Either way, they would have to find a way to carry the fuel. "We will need cans for transferring the fuel back in the vehicle " Jack told Lee. "And if we are lucky enough to find a pump as soon as they have the keys we better get the RV full aswell."

Chase, Robin and Lin reached the front door. From what little she could see nothing was moving inside but she knew it wasn't truth. Not after all that mess they had heard.
They opened the glass door walking in, moving as careful as they could. Somewhere to their left, maybe from a lounge area, they could hear the static noise of a TV left open and inevitably silenced as all the channels got silenced aswell. One of the biggest inventions of the modern world had officially died. Lin's spine shivered as she began to realise the world they knew was dying aswell if it hadn't already. Life, would never get back to normal.

 

[Wordy]

"Oh, you're speaking my language." Chase said. "I'm guessing you're familiar with stormchasers, right? Well... I prefer the opposite." He said. "Nothing more satisfying, hands on the bars, going full speed down a straight stretch, seeing the storm chasing you in your mirrors. There's something about it. Something I want to take this one," He ruffled Robin's hair. "To experience one day. Suggested it when she was eight, and her mother nearly killed me." He smiled down at his daughter. "Maybe it'll happen sooner than you thought, huh?" He asked her.

"Maybe, dad." And the girl cracked a smile, but huddled close to him.

Lee hugged Lin back, though, and he nodded into her shoulder. "You too. You're too damn good to die this early." He joked in a whisper, patting her back a few times.

Lee stuck close to Jack but his eyes darted to every dark corner, and scanned over every inch of ground between them and... Wherever their objective was going to be. "Doubt they have a pump here." He shook his head. "If we're lucky, Jack... They're going to have cans of fuel already. I rented an RV once. Their terms usually are 'return it as you got it' - which means with a full tank of gas, so on and so forth." He said, "Those who are a little off on that? They probably have backup gas stashed somewhere just to top the tanks off. With a bit of luck... No pump. No pump means no noise. And it also means we get out of here a lot quicker, too."

As they rounded the corner to the back of the building, they could see a brickwork storage shed only a short distance from them. But that wasn't all they saw.

On the ground leading up to there was a mess of five bodies. One of them was torn in half - one's head was completely crushed, the others were missing limbs and... One had a terrifying set of clawmarks running deep from his chest down to his groin. It was a perfectly clean cut, too, like a hot knife through butter.

"Oh, Jesus." He coughed, lifting the gun a little higher. "What in the world...?" He took in a deep breath. "Eyes open, Jack... This is... What the fuck does something like this? We saw... We saw the people, yeah, but the people didn't..." He shook his head again.

He didn't really know a way to justify it.

...

"I already don't like this." Chase said as soon as they stepped foot in there. The static of the TV made it feel... Eerie. "Let's get in and out of this place as quick as we can, right?" He said, and then pushed onward. The staff only door was the best place to go. He figured the keys to all the vehicles would be locked away in some manager's office somewhere.

It wasn't a good sign to see that the door that was indeed labeled 'Manager' was practically split in half, hanging on by a single hinge.

"Robin?" Chase whispered, "I want you to take out a gun. Flick the safety off on the side... Remember, don't jerk the trigger if you need to shoot. Squeeze."

"Right. Right, okay." She fumbled for the gun, but, she managed it, and she held it... Pointing at the ground, at least. Her gun safety wasn't awful, which was nice.

With the rifle out, Chase shuffled along the wall until they came to the doorway. He looked to Lin, waiting for her to be ready. As soon as he was able to meet eyes with her and get that silent confirmation, he quickly spun around the corner into the office and-

"Holy shit."

Robin yelped, rather loudly, and quickly covered her mouth with one hand.

Against the wall was someone with a nametag, someone dirty, covered in blood. He was sat there, and his eyes slowly rolled over to look at them. He was literally holding his guts in his hands, and he was losing a lot of blood. Something had torn him clean open and just... Left him there, alive. A revolver sat on the ground in front of him, but by the looks of it, no bullets had been spent.

There was a rather large safe with a keypad against another wall - with no signs of any keys anywhere in here, that was probably the best place to look.

"Help... Me..." The man spluttered, blood running down his chin.

 

[Ririn]

Jack gulped at the sight of the five bodies before them. Leaving in a small neighborhood and watching videos uploaded online couldn't have possible prepare him for this sight. It was... It was a massacre! There was no other way to describe it. And Lee was right. Even the sickest human couldn't have done this. Jack walked closer to the bodies sitting on his calfs.

"Could it be an animal?" He asked Lee "Because a human doing something like this? I don't know. What ever this is it seems to make them stronger, violent, resilient against attacks blood loss etc but developing claws would be insane right?" Jack stood up looking away.
"What if the thing that did this is in there doctor?" He asked pointing at the storage shed but keeping his eyes away from both it and Lee.

Back in the building Lin felt exactly like Chase did. She didn't like this at all and wanted to be done as fast as possible. With every step they took her heartbeat rised.

And then they saw the half broken door. First Chase, then Robin and lastly Lee. She didn't yell she didn't back away, she didn't cuss. Lin stood there for a moment, eyes travelling around the room then at the man then on the gun. In just a few moments Lin had calculated the size of the trauma the rate of the blood loss and then surrounding area. As an ER nurse it came naturally. Putting the safety on and the gun in her pocket Lin passed by Robin and Chase, grabbing what she supposed was the man's blazer.

"Sir? I'm a certified nurse and my name is Melinda." She introduced herself walking up to him, speaking with a clear and steady voice. "Can you please tell me your name?"

"You ... You need to help m-me.. please. Help... Me." The man was frantic of course, Lin expected that. She knelt infront him gently taking his hands away from the open wound.
"Chase? Stay at the door." She asked though it came out more like a command.
"Sir? Can you tell me your name?" She asked again using the blazer like a shack. With a shift move she grabbed all his insides in it pushing them against his open stomach and bringing the sleeves behind his back. The man screamed in agony as the cloth soon became darker from the blood.
"Sir? Breathe through your nose please, I'm here. I just need your name."
The man looked down at her shaking but slowly he started to look more relaxed.
"T-tod."
"Ok, Tod. I'm Melinda. I'm a nurse." She repeated what she had already told him. "Tod my friends and I are here to take a RV. We will take you with us but we need the keys. Do you understand?"
The man nodded and pointed a shaking bloody finger at the vault.
"Tod we need a code to open this ok? Do you know the code? Can you tell me?"
The man nodded again trying to catch his breath.
"Robin? Sweety? Please go to the vault ok? Tod will give us the code won't he?"
The man nodded again. A thin steam of blood run from his mouth.
"T-wo... Six, S-ix, One, Zero, Fiv-e." The man managed to say tears running down his eyes.
"Thank you Tod. You did very good. Thank you." Lin said getting up taking his revolver with her. Turning to Chase she simply shrugged. There was no way the man would survive, making it a bit more comfortable for him had given them enough time to learn the code to the safe.

 

[Wordy]

"Of course that's insane." Lee slowly stepped around the bodies. "For them to develop claws, strength - to become something capable of doing this... That would be evolution. Genetic developments." He said, "Such a thing isn't even... Possible from any sort of virus. Sure, some viruses result in spores and such sprouting, I guess that's a thing. But a human or a regular animal... Mutating and changing into something powerful and deadly? Things like that are meant to take thousands and thousands of years, through thousands of generations and hardships. It's not something that can just happen overnight. It's scientifically impossible."

He stopped and shook his head.

"No, no..." He shut his eyes, "It can't be anything like that. And if something that was big enough to take down five adults with ease, we'd know if it was inside. It'd be making too much of a ruckus for us to just walk in without seeing it, or hearing it somewhere." He said.

But he didn't look sure.

He looked at the shed again, "Only one way to find out. Have that gun ready." He gulped, and slowly he approached the shed. He held the gun up and ready, until he got close to the door that didn't have a lock on it or anything. It was closed, yes, but... What if it really was in there?

He reached out and knocked on the surface.

No sounds responded, not even a whisper.

The moment of truth came, and he slowly pulled the door open and jumped back as soon as it was all the way. Looking inside, though, they didn't see any creatures of any kid, living or dead.

Just cans of fuel. Big green cans - maybe half a dozen, give or take. If all the cans were full, they were going to have enough to last for a fair while. Lee took a deep breath of relief, then turned back to Jack, a smile finally tugging at his lips.

"We're good. We should start hauling this to the front so we can get out of here."

...

Poor bastard.

Chase watched the whole interaction take place, and when Lin gave him the look, his suspicions were confirmed. It didn't take a wise man to see that the injuries were far too severe for this guy to just get up and walk away. Recovery was going to be impossible, and with the lack of medicine they had, his chances of survival had already hit rock bottom. It was a shame, really - no one deserved to die like this. He looked at Lin and nodded to her.

He knew.

Robin had done as she was asked, though, shakily punching in the code into the safe - there was the beep, a green light came on, and the door popped open. Inside was every single RV key they had - other than the RVs that were missing due to rentals, obviously. But everything in the yard was there. That was the only issue, though. There were so many keys that they wouldn't even know where to start.

"Dad... There's- There's so many keys." Robin quickly turned and looked at him.

"Look for anything with Winnebago on it." He said, "They have some of the biggest RVs on the market, trust me. We're looking for keys to that big black one out there. You see it?"

She peeked out the window, "Yeah." She sniffed.

"Just try all the buttons on the keys until you find it. Keep it up." He nodded, then looked down at Tod. "Tod... Can you tell us what did this to you?"

Tod set his head back against the wall and coughed blood across the floor, "Monster." He choked, "Big... Big thing... Claws..." He held one hand up and curled his fingers to look claw-like. "It's... It..."

"How big are we talking?"

"Like a..." He winced. "Like a tiger." He said. "Claws... Teeth..."

Chase looked over at Lin and arched a brow, but then looked onto the desk. He picked up the man's family photo of himself, his wife, and two little girls. He went over and crouched in front of him, putting the picture down in his hand.

"You've saved us today. You've saved me and my daughter." Chase whispered, "I'm in your debt. Eternally."

Tod didn't pay much mind, but he nodded, then looked at the picture. A sad smile fell onto his face. "I hope my girls are okay." He sniffed. "Maybe you'll run into them on- on your way out of town, mister." He whispered.

"Maybe. We'll make sure to stop."

Chase looked down at the picture again, studying the faces.

When he looked back up, Tod was gone. The life had left his eyes, but he looked peaceful, his head set back against the wall still, his body limp.

"You poor bastard." Chase sighed, rubbing his face with both hands. He looked up at Lin, "Something as big as a fucking tiger?"

 

[Ririn]

He held his breath, gun against his shoulder as Lee opened the shed's door. The sudden rush of the adrenaline and the feeling of his heart slowly calming down after seeing it was nothing but a shed full of fuels cans actually made Jack feel a bit dizzy. He lowered the gun and passed it around his shoulder as he walked up to Lee.

"Ok doctor! Let's do this as fast as possible because I don't like it here. I don't like it at all." He said grabbing a can with each hand and turning around. His eyes wondered off to the pile of bodies and he shook his head like that would make the horrific image go away. Nope, he definitely didn't want to be around for longer than they had to. He was most certain that whatever it was that had done this, he didn't want to meet with it.

Jack begun walking to the front, leaving the cans next to the RV Chase had picked as the most big one and thus the most useful to them. Nothing could be seen inside the dealership from where he was and nothing could be heard either. Jack could only hope th three of them were safe.

As soon as Chase knelt infront of the man, thanking him for practically saving their lifes, Lin took her gun out again moving closer to the half broken door. Nothing moved on the corridor outside and oddly enough she could hear nothing else other than Chase speaking and Robin going through the keys in the vault.

Truth though was, they weren't alone in there. They couldn't be. They had heard all those noises from outside and the state of the man wasn't lying. Something very big and strong had done this to him, oddly leaving him to die on his own. From what she had seen back in the hospital the infected stayed with their victims until they were dead. Even after that as long as nobody interrupted their meal. Could it be their arrival had drove the attacker away?

Lin shrugged. "He could be dillusional Chase. He lost a lot of blood and went through a massive shock. People come in the ER talking about angels and bright lights because they were in a mild car crush." She looked around her again, focusing on the door. "We saw something weird in the hospital, weirder than most of these..." She begun to say, thinking about that monkey like child that had wounded poor Maya and Lin had killed, smushing his skull with her helmet. Thinking that this was something Robin would be best to not hear, she looked at Chase shrugging her shoulders once again. "It looked like an animal but it was a human. Maybe he got as confused as we did."

Finally, they all heard a faint biping sound coming from outside and as Lin turned to look,she saw the front lights on the RV flushing. Robin had found the key!

 

[Wordy]

"Hey, hey, relax." Lee said, looking over at Jack. "We're fine, I promise. We're going to get the fuel, load up into an RV, and we're going to hit the road." He said. "As long as we get back to the others quick we've got nothing to worry about." He quickly glanced around. He was nervous, too, but he had someone with him who was practically still a kid, and in his mind, he was responsible for him until they could return to joint responsibility. If one thing got people hurt, it was panic and hesitation. That in itself was a deadly thing - in a time like this, hesitating could literally be the difference between walking away or being torn to pieces.

Lee took whatever he could carry, too.

"We'll come back and grab more, if we can. Let's check in on the others first, though." He said. His eyes shot around the perimeter. Things had fallen too quiet now - quieter than they were before. That felt unusual. Usually they could hear the shrieking and spitting of the undead in the distance, but now they couldn't even hear that. He knew that realistically it was probably all in his head, but, at the same time he felt unnerved. What if this wasn't just his mind playing tricks on him?

It was another bitter day, but the wind had settled. Maybe that's just what had scared him.

However, as they got closer to the front of the building, they could hear heavy footsteps crunching in the snow, accompanied by a long and low growl.

Lee slowed down and looked at Jack, this time setting a can gently on the ground and pulling out his gun.

"Stay close." He whispered.

...

"Dillusional, maybe." Chase said, "But even if it was some sort of... Fucked up human, what could give it the strength to do this?" He asked, looking down at the body again. He didn't want either scenario to be true - it was obvious that he didn't do this to himself, though, so vigilance was nothing but necessary.

"I got it!" Robin chirped as soon as she saw the lights flash on the RV they wanted. She'd unlocked it, finally, and she turned around and actually had a smile on her face.

"Good job, honey." Chase smiled at her and nodded, "Come on, let's find the guys and get out of here. Best we don't hang around here longer than we need to." He said, and he took hold of Robin's hand and immediately left the room, returning to the main foyer of the building.

But Chase stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he saw it. Looking out of one of the windows, he saw something that did indeed look tiger-sized, but almost had some human features, too. Its front legs were shorter than the back ones, with claws like hunting knives. It almost looked like a skinless creature, with a small head with tiny black eyes, but teeth that were at least a few inches long. Its entire body was covered in blood, and its chilling gaze didn't take long to stop them. It tensed up, the ferociousness returning as it slowly turned to face them.

"Dad, what is that?" Robin whispered, shakily.

Chase said nothing and slowly reached for his rifle. He made one big call and gave Robin an almighty shove, "Get down!" He yelled, and she flew to the floor behind a desk, and immediately Chase lifted the rifle and opened fire, but no quicker than the creature could leap through the window. It absorbed at least half of Chase's magazine as it charged across the room and came to a screeching halt right in front of him. With one swift swing, Chase was backhanded straight off his feet and ended up going crashing through a desk, knocking over all the technology and paperwork onto the floor. He was left in a heap of a mess, really.

The creature faced Lin, now stretching out and releasing a terrifying roar, one that was loud enough to make her ears ring.

Whatever it was, it wasn't human.

Not quite a tiger, but...

There really wasn't a way to describe it.

Jack and Lee, however, were in range to hear the whole thing, and as soon as Lee heard the gunshots, he dropped what was in his hands and started running. After the roar, he wasn't sure if he wanted to see what they'd find, but he wasn't about to abandon his friends either.

 

[Ririn]

Jack nodded repeatedly looking at his feet but deciding to trust Lee. The man was right, wasn't he? Everything would be fine. They would get through this. All of them would. They had to. Simple as that.

They started walking to the front of the yard, Jack staying only a step behind Lee as they carried the cans. But then... Jack's eyes flew to their right, to where the entrance to the dealership was. To where his sister was.

"What is this sound?" Jack asked under his breath stopping cold on his feet. It sounded.. like an animal? The young man slowly left the cans down but didn't go for his gun. Yet.

Inside the dealership, Lin was trying to think what on earth could have caused this fatal trauma and also manage to tear half the wooden office door off. Maybe it was just an animal? A sick animal?

"I've been thinking..." She begun to tell Chase as they walked towards the exit in a single line, exactly like they had walked in but Robin's question cut her in the middle. Only then, did Lin see what was outside and even then her brain couldn't fully grasp what it really was she was seeing. The dead man's words echoed in her ears. He have spoken of a tiger and that... Thing, out there, certainly had the size of one And the claws to match but she was certain it was a human before. The bone structure of the face, how the front legs were much shorter, the spine.

Lin didn't mean to, but she took a step back as if there was anywhere she could go to that direction. And then everything happend at once. Chase yelled and Robin threw her self behind a desk as her dad brought his rifle up, aiming at the animal like figure that growled and run through the windows, towards them.
Lin screamed as she saw the animal get shot right before it threw her companion up in the air and against a desk. It roared in her direction, it's muscles visibly tensed as it's eyes, eyes that didn't really looked human, locked on her.

Always fight the fight Kiddo. But always be prepared to run aswell. the familiar voice spoke in her head. Well, she wasn't running now!

As she took another step back, securing her balance, Lin aimed with the semi automatic, firing two shots straight at the beast as it roared again, this time.. in pain? Lin didn't have the time to think now. She backed away trying to win space to fire again but it run towards her, his claws scratching her palm and lower hand, sending the gun flying somewhere at the other side of the room. Lin screamed in pain, as she felt the blood, her blood, lossing her balance and following on her side. She heard it roar again.

The pistol! the voice reminded her and through her panic and pain, Lin reached at her back, trying to grab the pistol. If she was going to die, she might as well do it with a gun in her hand.

In the meantime, Jack saw Lee run inside, run towards that.. monster and the gun shots and the screams! And Jack finally run! Rifle in his hands, he run after Lee.

 

[Wordy]

"Motherfucking-" Chase struggled with the mess he was in. He'd had tech and remnants of the desk collapse on him, so he was frantically trying to struggle his way out of there. He, his daughter, and all of his new friends would end up being ripped to pieces if he didn't get out of here quick. His chest felt like he'd been hit with a cinderblock. He definitely had a few broken ribs there, but he was lucky enough to escape without any other injuries, spare a few scratches and a couple of big bruises. Robin was cowered under one of the desks, watching the horrific scene unfold.

The moment that the beast seemed to overpower Lin was a pretty good sign that they were screwed. Robin retreated further under the desk and shut her eyes. She didn't know what else to do here, really - what could she do? She knew she had her dad's handguns on her, but in reality, what good could they do? She'd just watch this thing tank over a dozen bullets with her dad and Lin's shots combined. The pistols were pea-shooters to this thing, and the bullets may as well have been mosquitoes.

She prayed to a god she didn't even believe in so that they could hopefully get out of this alive. She could still hear her dad mashing around, trying to get free from the wreckage he'd fallen into. She wanted to help, but between her and her dad was a monster that was probably close to 180lbs in weight.

It was looming over Lin, though. It was looming over her while she was fighting to get her sidearm out - it'd kill her before she even had the chance. Shit. Shit shit shit.

Robin made a brave move. She pulled out the revolver from her waistline and shakily brought it up, firing once. The recoil took her by surprise - but it was mainly the fear that threw her off. The bullet struck the creature straight in the back, but no sooner than the gun could go flying from her hands. She was too scared to shoot, to control the recoil - and now she was stood there like a deer in the headlights as the horrific beast turned to look at her, its black, pearl-like eyes forever burning a haunting image into her mind.

She'd looked death in the eyes, she was sure.

Outside, though, as soon as Lee had heard the noise, he knew that they had no time to stand around trying to figure out what caused it. In a heartbeat he took off quick, sprinting through the snow and hoping that Jack was right there by his side.

He got to the door, then he saw it. Holy fuck.

And it was approaching Robin.

Lin was bleeding.

Chase was injured and just about managing to crawl out of a broken office cubicle, his gun displaced somewhere.

Without hesitation, he started shooting - there was no time to think, but he soon regretted his choice. The beast howled and turned its attention to him instead, this time springing up against a wall and launching itself off the surface, clashing with Lee and bringing him to the ground with an almighty thud.

Its giant... Hands... Pinned both of Lee's arms to the ground above his head. It roared in his face - it was almost deafening. The most traumatizing thing was the little pieces of old flesh that flew from its mouth and stuck to his face and his glasses.

Lee was wide-eyed and certain death was about to find all of them. He was unable to move, unable to fight back.

"KILL IT!" He screamed. He didn't know what else to say - all he knew was that if someone didn't act soon, he was done for.

 

[Ririn]

Lin felt... Lost. Like in a scene of a war movie, after a grenade had exploded near the protagonist and he just crawled away, half dead his vision blurry. Funny what the mind tends to think at moments of panic. Moments before death. Some part of her, knew what was happening. It was like she could see everywhere at once. That part of her, knew Chase was trapped under a mess of stuff and parts of what used to be a desk. The same part knew she had that pistol she was trying to reach and also knew she was in tremendous pain. But that was only a part of herself now. The rest of it was scattered all over the place unable to analyse all this horror.

Lin crawled knowing it was in vain. She could never outrun this thing. But then... Then there was a shot! Lin turned towards the source of the sound and so did the beast. Robin! she wanted to scream but couldn't. The girl.. she was supposed to take care of the girl.

Jack was sunk in a mindset he had never been before. It was totally new and it required nothing of him. This new mindset, powered by adrenaline, his fear, his way of life so far and the love for his sister was enough on it's own. His first thought was to run past the mutant human towards Lin but that new thing inside him, pinned his legs steady on the floor as the beast threw the doctor down, leaning over him. Jack's mind had always worked differently than most minds. He was faster at receiving and successfully analyzing data. In this case, Jack clearly saw what could be their only solution in less than a second.

As the beast was all about eating the doctor it gave little attention to all the rest of them. But Chase was getting up, finally. And Lin held her pistol as she got on her knees and then on her feet. And the doctor was right really. All they had go do was kill it.

"FIRE!" Jack yelled bringing the rifle to his shoulder and pulling the trigger over and over again, aiming for the head.

Lin didn't need to hear nothing more. She had been in bloody situations before, where life and death were no longer devided. Taking three bit steps towards the beast, she lifted her pistol firing shot after shot aiming to it's head aswell. Being a much better shot than Jack of course, Lin was certain she was hitting the target alright.

 

[Wordy]

Suffice to say, the beast was dead.

After taking several shots to the skull, it finally dropped. A few of the shots didn't even kill it at first - it was just stunned, dazed. It was terrifying, actually. No matter how many bullets went off, Lee was convinced that he was about to be killed nonetheless. The gunshots were echoing around the room, which was wide and open - the acoustics weren't doing them favors. It was literally like being in a warzone, with enough gunshots to leave your ears ringing for hours on end. Gunshots without proper ear protection could cause immediate damage to the bones in the ear, or the ear drum. All of them would face temporary tinnitus, and Lee knew that.

But that was the least of his concerns.

He was showered in blood - his face down to his stomach was completely drenched, and in the end he had to take off his glasses just so he could see properly. Well, sort of. He had bad eyesight but at least he wasn't looking at just blood.

He screamed, though. A shocked scream mixed with elements of 'I can't believe I'm still alive', all while pushing the lifeless monster off of him. He jumped to his feet only to collapse back down into one of the office chairs, completely and utterly shook. All of his body trembled.

Chase finally brought himself up to his feet, too, wincing in pain.

"Dad." Erin spluttered and ran to him, falling into his arms. She shut her eyes tight - all of this was a lot for a child to take in. When she collided with him, he grunted. His ribs hurt too much for impacts like that, but, it was his daughter. He'd fight through the pain. She needed him now.

"What the fuck was that thing?!" Lee panicked, looking at the corpse. "How did- How did it take so many shots? And- and- and how did it lose so much blood?" He asked, shaking his head. "I'm... I'm just..." He looked down. Covered. He looked like he was the one who was shot a few times. So much blood and flesh and brain, all over him. But even in his moment of terror, he looked up at Lin - he saw the scratch on her hand and the blood dripping down. He'd escape with a bumped head and some bruising - she, however, had an injury that needed dressing and could easily get infected.

Fuck. That was another panic. That thing did that to her, presumably. What if it... Spread disease, or something?

He'd worry more about that later.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

Chase looked over at Jack, though, and he nodded to him. "You did good, kid." He said. Praise where it was due, after all. Jack's aim may have needed a little work, but if not for him... Shit, Lee's head may have been detatched from his body by now.

 

[Ririn]

They saw it fall, finally. They all saw it just collapsing on top of Lee after taking... Who knew how many bullets really? Lin was still feeling lost though the adrenaline had done it's job, cleaning most of the fog in her mind. Realising she was still cletching the pistol, she put the safety back on, realising she had no memory of taking it off, and secured the gun on her back.

With trembling feet she approached Lee that had collapsed on a chair. He wasn't a beautiful sight. Covered in blood and pieces of flesh that she hoped wasn't his, his condition made her heart jump. Lin knelt next to him, looking for his hands, holding them too tight in hers. She didn't care if either of them were in pain right now. He was alive, she was alive. They all, were alive. It was a better outcome than she could have hoped for!

"I think..." Lin looked at herself, for the first time, after he asked if she was okay. She was also covered in blood. Less than Lee but she had blood on her pants and her jacket was half torn, her left hand ... Her left hand was totally naked from fabric, deep scratch wounds run across it. Lin closed her eyes for a second, dizzy. Then she looked up at him.

"Are you hurt?" She asked him "I can't tell with all this blood... i-I can't tell..." Panic was finally rushing through her, as her body begun to tremble and she held Lee's hands tighter.

Jack, on the other side had backed away from the whole scene. Robin and him were the only ones that had remained unharmed. Somehow, they had helped bring this thing down with nobody ending up dead either!
Chase ... He said he had done a good job. Foe the first time ever, Jack looked straight up to the man's face and simply nodded.

He went closer to the door and the shuttered window from which the beast had entered. Snow had started falling again, the sky just a bit darker than when they left his house. From what he could see the streets were empty but for how long? All this screaming and the gunshots would attract unwanted attention.

"We need to leave and we need to leave fast." He spoke up, flatly but sure of what he was saying. Putting the rifle around his shoulder again, he got outside ready to bring those cans of fuel over to the cars now.

Lin looked around them. He was right. Jack was right!
"We need to move, he is right." She said but she didn't sound as sure as her younger brother.

 

[Wordy]

Lee was still too shook to really move much, but he knew that they had to. The gunfire was bound to draw attention - it was like a shooting range in here just now, and he had no doubt that everyone within a few miles had heard it. He didn't know if it would lure people or more of the freaks, but in either case, he didn't want to be around when they showed up. It was selfish, but they needed all of this fuel for themselves. They needed every last drop - the amount of weight that they'd have in the RV would burn their fuel faster, so they needed enough to get them as far as they needed to go. They couldn't let fuel run short.

It was just a question of where they were going next.

Warehouses - the bikers had warehouses, both Chase and Lin. They knew where they were and they knew what they had in them. If they headed there they'd be able to get enough supplies to sustain themselves for some time, at least until they were able to settle down somewhere on a more permanent scale.

"I'm not hurt." Lee squeezed Lin's hand, weakly. "I'm a little beat up but nothing serious. Just bruises." He said, forcing a smile. "I... God, that was terrifying." He said, then looked up at Jack and the others. "You guys, you guys should get the fuel. Me and Lin... We..." He looked at Lin's hand again and bit his lip. "We need to try and get cleaned up, somehow. Especially your hand." He said, "Guys, you good?"

"We're good. Go get sorted, we'll get things loaded up and bring the RV around." Chase said. In reality, it was the least he could do for them. Both of them had nearly died in that short amount of time, all while he was wrapped up in wires and pieces of a broken desk. It wasn't fair that they had to go through that without his aid.

He'd grabbed his rifle, kept Robin close to his side, and was now going with Jack so they could continue the job that Jack and Lee had started.

While this went on, though, Lee managed to get to his feet and instead lead Lin over to the bathroom of this place. If they were going to get cleaned up, this would be the most suitable place to do it in the immediate moment. Oddly enough, though, instead of washing the blood off himself, he simply washed his hands and his arms up to about his elbows, and then immediately shifted attention to Lin and took hold of the injured one, using the running water and a paper towel to clean around it as best as he could. He could wash himself later - this was more important.

"We'll have to patch this up more once we get settled in the RV." He said, shakily. "It's... It's deep, but as long as we prevent infection, it should be okay." He nodded, gently pressing a handful of paper towels against it. He kept his hand there, but finally used yet another one of the paper towels to clean his face off a little. He set his glasses aside, for now. There was blood in his hair and just about everywhere else, so he'd undoubtedly have to make use of the RV's shower when he got the chance... But it was a start. No more blood on the face.

"How do you feel?" He asked. "You don't feel... Any different, or anything?" He asked. "Just a lot of pain and, I don't know, shock?" He asked.

He was truly worried. As long as she didn't get a craving for human flesh any time soon, he was sure they'd be okay. Sort of.

 

[Ririn]

Standing up on her feet proved much more difficult than she had thought. The adrenaline was dying out and all the pain and the terror had started to take it's place. She needed to rest and she needed painkillers and maybe a bottle of booze? She wasn't sure what would make her feel better right now.

Like a dog, she followed behind Lee as Chase got Robin out of there, going to help with the fuel, into the bathroom. She stood there, numb, watching as Lee washed his hands, then sifted his attention to her own wound. The cold water kind of shook her up a bit but the color didn't return on her face. It was reasonable, adding the panic with the blood loss but she did look sick.

Eventually she took the paper towels and pressed them against the wound on her own so he could clean up better.

"I don't know how I feel." She admitted. "It hurts. And my head is killing me." She looked down on her feet. "Are you going to leave me now?" Lin asked, very softly, almost calm about the possibility. "Like... Like we left Maya back at the hospital?" It seemed right, didn't it? To be left behind. She had broken all her vows and left her patients alone, she had beat a child to death with a helmet, she had left a poor girl to bleed out in the snow or get eaten alive, she had told lies to a dying man... She deserved it, right?
All the things we've done will come around eventually kiddo, and bite us in the ass. Roy's voice, again. Even through all that fog in her mind his voice still found it's way to her. Had he been right all along?

Jack hadn't stayed around for the others to join him. Instead he had carried the cans they had left in the middle of the yard close to the biggest RVs Chase wanted and was now getting the rest out of the shed. As he wasn't sure which one they would be taking, he would bother later for getting the fuel loaded. For now he wanted all of it out of the shed and carried at the front. For the first time in his life, Jack's mind had gotten silent. Completely silent. He was just working, thinking of nothing at all. What was left to think about really?

 

[Wordy]

"Maya was different." Lee's voice cracked as soon as he jumped on the defensive about it. "Maya was mortally injured and we didn't have the means to bring her with us. She only would have slowed us down." He said.

He realized, though... That in itself was a truly fucked up thing. A week ago, he and Lin probably would have done everything they could to help a woman in Maya's position. This time, though, they left her in the snow.

Cold. Alone. Dying.

He took hold of her uninjured hand and squeezed it tight. "I'm not going to leave you, no." He shook his head. "This is treatable. You're treatable. You're going to be okay." He said. "You're just... In a lot of pain and probably in shock, as well. That's something I can treat. It's not a big deal." He looked down at her other hand again. Blood was seeping through the paper towels already. "It's a deep cut, you've probably already lost a lot of blood.

Thinking on his feet, he removed his belt from his pants and instead tightened it around the upper part of her arm.

"A makeshift tourniquet will reduce the blood flow until we can properly tend to it." He said, shakily. He unbuttoned the bloody shirt and took it off, throwing it into the sink. It was going to start to smell, and if the blood dried then it would be impossible to get the stains out. They may have been living in the end times, but he wasn't about to let his only shirt get completely destroyed. Clothe shopping wasn't at the top of their priority list, after all. "I'm figuring there must be some sort of first aid kit hidden in this place somewhere. Might be under the front desk or in the staff kitchen." He explained. "If I can find that... I can hopefully do some work that'll keep your hand held together."

He thought more about it and bit his lip.

"Lin, we..." He looked away. "What if that thing can spread this... Illness we've been seeing?" He asked. Admittedly, yes, he was trying to keep it together. He'd only known Lin for a short period of time, but... Trauma connects people. Now? He was potentially at risk of someone he'd managed to grow close to in a couple of short days. It was a heartbreaking feeling, and he did his best to hide the emotion. Crying wouldn't help. It'd make things worse, more volatile. He needed to stay tight-laced so he could treat her and they'd be on their way.

It was just so hard to try and fight it.

...

Outside, Chase and Robin were helping Jack with the fuel cans. A few back-and-forth trips would be all they needed as a group of three, and then they'd have everything in order. They could leave this godforsaken place that was tainted already with so much bloodshed. Chase had paled ever so slightly - he'd gone from having his ribs broken to lifting what were fairly heavy objects. Not the best combo, no, but now it was the case of survival. Robin was speeding ahead of him, though - she was actually keeping pace with Jack, her arms burdened by one of the many heavy jerry cans. She was doing her best, though. She was contributing, even if her muscles were already starting to scream from fatigue.

They'd all gone quiet, really. They'd faced off against their most horrific opponent to date - Robin had had her share of schoolyard fights, and Chase had seen enough conflict to be considered a veteran citizen at this point... But none of them had ever seen something like that.

Men ripped to pieces... A beast capable of taking more than a dozen bullets before going down...

There wasn't much that could be said about that, no.

Putting one of the final cans on the ground, Robin looked up at Jack. There was only one question on her mind about what they'd seen today - and it was a very reasonable one, to.

"Do you think there's more of those things...?" She asked, quietly.

 

[Ririn]

"Maya was different." he said, was she though? Lin listened closely to the point he was trying to make but really, it didn't make all that much sense. Yes, she was in a much more fatal condition when they left her but Lin could also slow them down right? Maybe they were better off without her.

She moaned in pain as he strapped his belt above her wound but of course he was right. Stopping the blood loss was a top priority in cases such as these and they had to work with what they had.
"We have clean clothes you know." She told him "Out, in Jack's car." Lin was acting like nothing was wrong which showed only how shaken she was.

But Lee had asked a question, one she was also thinking about, one she couldn't ignore. As a doctor and a nurse they knew, viruses could be transferred by such contact with a sick person but seeing how they knew nothing about what really caused all this behaviour and the mutations... Could they know for sure if she got it or not?
"I really don't know Lee. I really don't... I mean, I might have it?" She looked up at him with watery eyes "You have to keep an eye on me. I'll let you know if anything is wrong, like seriously wrong but we have to protect the others ok? You have to promise me." She seemed emotional but she was serious about it. There was no way she would risk any of them. Somehow, they all ment a lot to her. Trauma had a way of bonding people.

Jack left the last can on the pavement, stretching up a bit to untense his muscles. He looked at Robin then turned to look back, where he knew the beast was lying dead. She was asking a reasonable question really, one he tried not to think.

"Yeah, I think we'll see more of them." He finally answered, looking back at the girl. "More of them or ... Something else, just as messed up. We can't really know, can we?"

Jack knew he wasn't offering any help to Robin but he was never good at calming others down. Honest though, Jack had always been and saw no reason of why that needed to change now. She was as frightened and confused as the rest of them. Even Chase looked zoned out and he was supposed to be the most tough of them all, at least in Jack's mind. He wanted to take Robin's hand in his and tell her how all would be fine but instead he burried his hands in his pocket.