Apocalypse.

[Roland Bishop]

Seeing how afraid and sad X looked, Roland felt he had to cheer her up some. Though he himself was terrified beyond belief, he tried not to show it.


"Hey." Roland said to the girl to get her attention before moving closer to her and putting his free hand on her cheek. The hand that had her's in it gave a light squeeze. "Don't worry. We will be fine. I promise you that."


After his promise, Roland let go of the girl's hand and stepped away from her. "Let's keep going, shall we?"

 

[InkyDarkness]

She flinched at his touch, keeping her eyes pinned on him. She wasn't comfortable at his sudden closeness or the contact. Instead of calming, it seemed of distressed her already panicking heartbeat.


She shook her head, struggling to let out the breath she was holding. Feeling a small amount of relief as he moved from her. She still however couldn't order her thoughts, his sudden touch had caused her to panic and she couldn't pinpoint the reason as to why.


She found herself wringing her hand on her sleeve and she looked down at the floor, humming dully in agreement. She couldn't handle the bombardment of emotions, and kept her head down while trying to steady her breathing. Little voices whispered past the flood of thoughts 'You're worrying him' 'quit it'


With that she dissolved all the emotions from her face and looked up blankly waiting for him to lead once more, although now she made a point to keep her hands out of his reach.

 

[Roland Bishop]

Roland quickly glanced at the girl and said "Let's go" Then headed towards the warehouse district. His plan was to break into one of the warehouses that he had tried to before, but couldn't break the lock.


As the pair arrived at the warehouse district, Roland headed directly to one in particular. As he got closer, it was obvious that he had tried to get in for awhile, as there was bent bars all around and the windows of the warehouse were cracked. He walked up to the door, it was dented but the padlock on it seemed perfectly fine. "Care to try your luck with the goo on the padlock,dear?"

 

[InkyDarkness]

She examined the area, following close but not too close behind the man. Talking in the broken warehouse she was a little shocked to see the multiple attempts at his 'break and entry'


With a curt nod, she pulled the jar from her pocket and walked over to the lock. There was a small his as she turn the lid off the jar, tilting towards the lock. As the goo landed on the lock it began to sizzle, the rust and mental meting into the alien substance.


Loosing purchase on the now non existent lock it fell to the floor with a squelch. Before she scoop it up, it began to gather itself and quickly it was in a small human-like form.


Small details became visible and within seconds there was a tiny roman-like glowing man standing at about 6 inches off the ground in-front of the pair. With a tiny speak it announced itself "Khavaul" pointing roughly at its gooey chest.

 

[Roland Bishop]

Roland smiled wickedly at the sight of the lock. He had finally gotten entry to the warehouse and the goods that laid inside. that is when he noticed something strange, as X bent down to pick up the goop it started moving. As the goop transformed into a humanish shape, Roland could help but take a step back and put a hand on his gun. "What the hell is that!?" Roland said to X as he stopped himself from pulling out his gun and shooting it. He eyed the goo off suspiciously as it said its name, ready to shoot it if it tried anything.

 

[InkyDarkness]

X remained still as the goop moved before her. She found herself full of confusion as the small body formed. Not daring to move at the strange thing occurring before her.


'T-thats odd' she thought with a gulp as the corrosive substance pointed at itself confidently. She instinctive found her hand reaching out to it, one eye shut and her head turned away, as she placed her hand upside down beside it.'Please don't shoot it, please don't melt my hand" she thought as she waited for one of the two men around her to move.


Eventually the small man side-stepped gingerly onto her hand, a relaxing, cool sensation dancing on her fingers as he stood up again and stared at her. "d-Don't sh-shoot it r-roland" she said in a quietly worried tone. Turning her head to Roland before looking back at the thing.


She moved her hand slowly and stood back up, keeping her gaze on the thing in her hand. "h-hi there?" she asked keeping her hand flat and away from her. "Khavaul" it replied crossing it arms with a small grin and nod.

 

[Roland Bishop]

Roland watched the little 'demon' as X went to pick it up. At X's words he ignored them and continued to hold his hand over his gun. The thing had just melted through metal and was now perched on X hand. It was complete unnatural, even by the Apocalypse standards. Being unable to comprehend what the little monster was ,he quickly moved into the warehouse trying work out what it was.


While internally screaming Roland looked around for the food that he needed. Over in the back of the warehouse was what he was after, a large open shipping container filled with cans of food. He moved towards it and focused on collecting on as much as he possibly could, ignoring the monstrosity behind him.

 

[InkyDarkness]

Although confusion still scratched the back of her mind she frowned when Roland walked past. Leaving her a little stunned as she held the small being, she also had the realization the thing in her had just finished melting through the thick metal lock that was on the door. As it hit her she froze up, before harshly flicking the man from her hand. It spattered it on the ground with a harsh squelch before slowly rising back up to the 6 inch subject.


"'O-oh.. um"' she mumbled scratching her arm awkwardly. The small man looked up at her with a frown dusting himself off. "Khavaul!" he stated with a small stamp of his gooey foot.


She then felt bad for the small thing, her mind racing before she found herself bending down to pick it back up again. "i-..I'm sorry.. i-i.." She put the small man on her shoulder, her sentence trailing off. The man seemed contented to sit there, his gooey being sticking to her shirt as a perches to not fall. Turning her head awkwardly, she saw the small man seemed happy to be there and followed Roland into the warehouse.


She walked up to him, to help him gather some more cans, shoving them into her satchel, hoping to keep both there minds occupied with the initial job they came to do.

 

[Roland Bishop]

Roland pulled out the plastic bag from his pocket and started collecting the nearest cans, not paying much attention to what he was grabbing. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed X who had also started collecting cans. Glancing at her, he noticed the blue goop monster was sitting on her shoulder. After looking at it for a few seconds he looked over at X as if asking her why it was on her shoulder. Shaking his head lightly and muttering to himself. He continued to collect cans, trying to ignore the thing on X's shoulder.


Soon Roland had finished filling the plastic bag full of cans, looking over to x and purposely ignoring the goop on her shoulder. He asked her if she was ready to continue on.

 

[InkyDarkness]

She caught Roland eye, a small amount of worry visible for the small creature on her arm. She filled her satchel with an alarming amount cans, before straightening herself and nodding gently to Roland. "Y-yeah, r-ready."

 

[Roland Bishop]

Nodding to the girl, Roland started heading out of the warehouse. As he got to the door, he waited for X to leave before closing the door and picking up a bent peice of metal and placing it on the door where the padlock used to be. Though it didn't look convincing, he hoped it would fool someone from a distance and stop them from entering and collecting some of the food. "Alright dear. We have an extra thing to do now. We need to find a few parts for the motorcycle back home. It would take too long to walk to the next city, and a car wouldn't be able to get past the masses of other cars. There should be a parts shop close to the same place we are getting the metal. Actually, thinking about it, a parts shop should have everything we need. I will have to get a bit creative, but it should work." Roland told the girl, trying to think of anything other then the fact that X got stranger every moment.

 

[InkyDarkness]

Following him out she gently hoicked her satchel up and nodded to him. 'Motorcycle?...' She absent minded-ly scratches at her arm, looking at the small being on her shoulder before looking at him. Noting the small look of confusion she gestured with her other hand, "Ok then."

 

[Roland Bishop]

Leaving the warehouse behind, Roland started heading towards the more industrial area of the city. There where many different kinds of shops and factories around here, though most had been raided. The fuel and oil all taken, tires and spare parts for cars all missing. Though not many people have taken things for motorcycles, due to the fact that you cannot carry much on one. The pair soon arrived at a part shop. It faintly smelled of oil and fuel. "Find a few chains for me dear, would you? I need to find some parts." Roland asked the girl as he began scrounging around.

 

[InkyDarkness]

Her nose wrinkled at the smell as she stepped into the shadowed area of the large shop. Glancing around, she looked for the said chains of metal, her eyes glancing around the shop with mild intrigue. She stopped a couple of doors in the back, with little much idea on where else to look she headed to them, peering inside.


The first room was a small office like area, multiple papers littered the cramped desk and a small dusty bookshelf covered in car magazines sat in the corner. The second door revealed a small storage room,massive shelves sitting against each side of the wall. She scoured the shelf's, spotting boxes and a few stray (mostly flat) tires, coming up with no chain. With a quiet huff she walked out looking around, her eyes then hitting on the long chain dangling down to the floor beside the far shed door.


She walked over and tugged gently, already seeing it wasn't going to come off easily she glanced at Khavaul. She craned her neck to look at him and flicked her eyes at the chain in a quiet signal. He hopped off her shoulder and grappled onto the chain. With a quiet huff of concentration the small gooey arms had wrapped around the chain, and a small hiss was began to follow.


With a few quiet clicks the chain began to separate. Suddenly the chain clunked to the floor and the small goop body fell up as the chain began to unwind towards the ceiling.


There was a quiet splat that was blocked out by a rather large bang as the second shed door had fallen shut.


Khavaul however was left peeling of the ceiling, landing in a puddle on her foot. She jumped at the noise, her eyes now harshly bright, and her hair on end. 'Oh dear..'


After fighting the obvious shock, she carefully scoped up the puddle in the jar that she had placed on top of the pile of cans and gently put it back in the bag, before focusing on the chain. She lifted the large amount of chain with a quiet grunt of effort, and proceed to head over to Roland with it.

 

[Roland Bishop]

Roland quietly salvaged through the messes of parts and tires. He was looking for two things. A motorcycle engine and a tire. It wasn't much, but it was very important. They wouldn't get very far without a tire or engine. After inspecting tire after tire and them being either flat, the wrong size, or just flat out broken, he finally found one that would fit the motorcycle. Putting it to the side so he knew where it was, Roland continued his search for an engine.


Heading into the back room, Roland easily found the parts he was looking for. No one had taken them, so he was lucky in that department. Grabbing a few other things, a drill, a hammer, and a pocket full of nails, he left the backroom.


Just as he left the room, he heard a loud bang and physically jumped at it. "What the hell was that?!?" Roland practically yelled, looking right at X, as he knew that it was her fault. It was always her fault.

 

[InkyDarkness]

She filched as he yelled, hooking the chain loosely over her shoulder and ignoring it wack her lightly on the back, and scrape her shoulder. She winced before looking back at the shed door and loosely pointing at it. "I-i went to get chain.." she stated.

 

[Roland Bishop]

Looking at the girl, Roland shook his head a little bit before putting on a smile. "Thank you for that dear. Your a great help. I wouldn't be able to carry all this by myself." He told her as he carried the parts over to the wheel and dropped them into the middle of it. He then grabbed the sides of the wheel and lifted it up with a soft grunt of effort. Though it wasn't has hard as pushing the water around, it was still difficult for the weak man.


He began heading for the open metal door, and talked to X as he went. "Careful with that chain. Don't hurt yourself."

 

[InkyDarkness]

she smiled a little and followed him over to the tire.


"I-I'm ok." she said stopping at the door with him.


Seeing as the chain was already rather secured she looked at the weight he had before questioning if he needed a hand. "You sure you're alright with that?"

 

[Roland Bishop]

Shaking his head a little more, Roland said to X "I'm fine dear. But if you could keep an eye out for some zombies that would be great. That loud bang probably attracted a few." Her told her as he began to head home. It would take a while for him to set everything up and fix the motorcycle. All of what had to be done before sundown. Accidentally running into zombies would slow that down a lot.


The pair where quickly off to head home. Roland was relatively quiet along the way, as he was focusing on carrying the heavy load he had, trusting X to keep an eye out. After they arrived home, the young man set down the wheel in-front of the house. "Well. That was a fun trip. Would you mind giving me bit more of a hand? We have plenty to do in a short amount of time."

 

[InkyDarkness]

"Mk" she said, grasping the chain and gently flicking it over her other shoulder so she could use her left on, that still concealed the dagger, if she needed it. The chain flicked her lighter this time at her more ginger movements, but stick left a dull ache on her shoulder non the less.


She spotted on handfuls of zombies and none really got to close, she kept out a vigilant eye but also remained quiet. When they reached the house she dumped the chain of her shoulder with an internal groan, there were most likely some scratches on her back 'that wasn't smart..' she thought chewing on her cheek at the though of the possible cut on her back.


"Just tell me what to do."

 

[Roland Bishop]

"The first thing that needs to be done is making it so that those window protectors cannot be pulled off. Grab the chains and follow me." He told X as he grabbed the drill and a few of the screws. He then headed into the house and to the nearest window. "If you could get your little pet to melt the chain into lengths of only a few segments. After that, hold it close to the window sill, but just to the right of it. That way we can just tie the chains to the window bars." Roland explains, ready to start drilling.

 

[InkyDarkness]

She nods, picking the chain up in a bundle with her arms, thoughtful of not slinging it over her shoulder again. 'Oh, Him' She looks down at her bag before picking the jar out of it, the small man now formed once more curled up in the tiny place.she taps it lightly, the gooey thing looking over and then getting to his feet. She points at the chains, pointing at various points to segment them. With a small nod she opens the jar and lets him out, to burn the chains apart, soft clunks being heard as each piece is dropped on the floor.


Gathering a few of the segments she stands beside the window as told, holding the chain up and awaiting his move.

 

[Roland Bishop]

Roland quickly and easily drilled through the hole in the chains, the screw being long enough to not need to drill all the way through. Once each window had a chain at the bottom right and top left, that way they couldn't be moved either way once connected to the window bars. Though they wouldn't be using this house again anytime soon, it was still good to fortify it as well as they could, that way if they every headed back out this way, they had somewhere to sleep.


"Alright. Now that is done, i can work on the motorcycle. Can you go into the shed and push the motorcycle out for me while i grab the tire and parts?" Roland asked the girl as he put the drill on the nearest table. He then walked outside and collected his tire and motor parts.

 

[InkyDarkness]

She followed him around, eventually scoping the small man back into the jar.


She headed outside and walked out to the shed. With a tiny grunt of effort, she shoved the motorcycle round to the door, she wiped her brow while she waiting for him to re-appear.

 

[Roland Bishop]

After triple checking to make sure he had all the parts, Roland walked over to the motorcycle with the parts. "Thank you dear. I don't really need much help now. This is a one person job. Go have some fun and relax. I'll be inside before sundown." He told her, putting on a cheerful voice. After he turned away from X and focused on the motorcycle, his whole body language changed. He was doing something he was great at, and there was nothing stopping him from excelling.


As Roland worked on the bike, the sun slowly began to fall. He had gotten a small tool kit from under the seat and worked without noticing the parsing of time. The tire was easy enough to put on, but the engine was hard. Soon it was sundown, and Roland had not finished, nor did he really notice the sin was going down.