Realistic or Modern T-Minus Never

[gouache]

Before Leon had time to react to the sudden change of scenery, he was pulled away by a smaller man with a rough grip on his arm and a quick tongue. In fact, Leon couldn’t understand a word he was saying. The friendly manner in which this new man pulled him forward was rather rash and confusing to him. He didn’t know him, so a stranger being so upfront was irritating to him- especially from another man. Leon wanted to pull his arm away from him, but decided it was best not to start anything or make any sort of fuss.

So the father quietly went along with it anyway even if he didn’t want to. He noticed the young man awkwardly placed next to him had red hair much like his wife. Leon had the desire to reach out and touch his hair, but he obviously wouldn’t do that. That would be very weird. The man kept speaking, and he could still not register what he was telling him to do. He could only make out being told to bend down for some reason.. so he did as he was told. Leon’s brows knitted together into a glare at the sight of a camera being pulled out and put directly into his face. He regretted his choice to be here, all he wanted to do was go back to his children. Madeline must still be crying for him and he couldn’t be there to take her back.

The out of body feeling he had as this chaotic man put his arm around him was almost unbearable. This would unfortunately be his life for now, so there wasn’t a point in fighting it- only acceptance. The blinding flash of the camera made him turn his head and blink hard. Strange orbs of light floated around his eyes once he opened them again, so he pinched his eyes shut in an attempt to rub it away.

He sighed in relief once the 'professional photographer' thankfully left himself and the red haired young man. Sadly, the fuzz of colors from the flash still hadn’t gone away yet. It greatly irritated him. Leon turned his attention to the doctor to find a safe place to stand away from the others to set himself straight again- so he quietly moved to stand beside him. “It’s good to see you again, doctor.” Leon held out his hand to Charlie to shake with a small reassuring smile on his face.

 

[Hard Boiled]

"NicetomeetyouLeon,nicearmsthereman,notevenahandshakeandIcanjustfeelhowfirmthatgripis.Ifeellikeyoucouldcrackbonesinthepalmofyourhand,noproblem.Weirdthoughtbutfirstthingtospringtomind,whichisn'treallytoobadbecauseI'vethoughtaboutwhatcomesafterdeathandwhatit'sliketodie,andletmetellyou,that'ssomegrimshitrightthere"

Just as soon as he'd changed his mind, he remembered why he generally kept distance from Teddy. Poor Leon, he thought, though at this point, being verbally ambushed by Ted was somewhat of an initiation.

“It’s good to see you again, doctor.” Leon held out his hand to Charlie to shake with a small reassuring smile on his face.

"Likewise, Leon," he shook the man's hand. Ted was right, quite the firm grip. He'd ask how Leon's kids were doing if he hadn't seen them only a week ago for a check-up.
"Welcome to the errand squad."

 

[Vudukudu]

Ryan only waits a short time after the photo is taken before putting his helmet back on and rapping his knuckles on it. "Alright, Casualties aren't gonna kill themselves, and I'd like to be back here with a glass of that piss you guys call whiskey before nightfall." He says, then gives Florida a jab in her armored ribcage with his elbow. The fact of the matter is he doesn't like whiskey at all to begin with, but she'd convinced him a few nights back that a little carousing with the locals wouldn't hurt anybody. He begged to differ - that shit burned coming in and coming out.

"We're not trying to draw any attention on our way in. You see a Cee and it isn't in our way, we just keep walking. We see a Cee and it is in our way, Florida has it covered. Keep the chatter quiet, eyes open, and if I get shot you better get the bastard who did it because I'll be mighty pissed if I die out in this shithole and don't get avenged." He briefs, nodding to Florida when he mentions her. In response, she shakes a crudely made spear. It has a bar set across it, and its a popular weapon all over the world given how useful it is for stabbing a Casualty in the stomach to hold them still while someone else brains it. Naturally, Ryan still prefers to leave such things up to the less risk-averse members of his team.

"Keep a little spread going. Lars, here you're are local wilderness navigation expert. Need a way around to the municipal airport that isn't going to take forever and is also going to keep us away from any Cee herds. Think you can manage that?" He asks, leading them off to the gate.

A single Casualty, half-rotten, claws at the outermost level of fencing surrounding the Mall. Groaning lowly, it grabs futilely at the chain-link, tugging on it with hungry desperation as the group gets closer. They mostly operate by smell, and its what makes them so hard to sneak around sometimes, and seeing so many living humans must seem like a buffet to its barely functioning brain. Ryan snaps his fingers and Florida steps up quickly. While he unlatches the gate and pushes it open, throwing his body weight into it to throw it open and carry the Casualty with it, Florida slides through the opening and impales it, using the crossbar to pin the zombie to the fence. "Dibs." Ryan calls out, then pulls the knife off his belt and sinks it into the Casualty's skull from the top, wrenching the blade back and forth once to really get up in the brains before pulling the blood-caked blade back out.

 

[Togy]

"Zombies," Teddy mumbled, unheard, "You can just call em' zombies".

 

[queendilettante]

Here goes nothing. Sybille swung her shotgun strap around her shoulder, clicked her tongue to get Santa's attention, and started off toward the gate. "Let's roll," she called back, not looking. She appreciated Teddy's excitement and attempts to keep things light, but couldn't help but think how any of them could be dead within the hour. Getting too close to people that could die or disappear at a moment's notice was no longer a risk Sybille found herself willing to take. Kat was bit, but that could have been any of the innocent people Sybille conscripted into helping her. Hell, Charlie, the closest thing to a friend she'd made since she lost Claire, could have easily been the one being executed as he was doing the executing.

Sybille shook her head.

"Dibs." Ryan calls out, then pulls the knife off his belt and sinks it into the Casualty's skull from the top, wrenching the blade back and forth once to really get up in the brains before pulling the blood-caked blade back out.

Sybille apathetically observed Ryan kill the infected from the fencing before walking over to the gate.

At the gate, Sybille waved to Marianne, the short blonde guard stationed there. She was a few years younger than Sybille and, only having been at the Mall for a few months, was in rotation for Outer Gate defense with the rest of the SecDep guards on the bottom rung of the totem pole. Living only a few hundred feet from the Outer Gate, though, Sybille was well acquainted with the crew that kept watch. Without a word, Marianna opened the first gate and, once the entire crew was inside, closed that gate and opened the second. Sybille smiled at the woman and gestured for her crew to follow.

About 20 feet outside, Sybille stopped and turned to the group.

"Lars, Teddy- you two take point about 20 feet ahead of us," she began. "Ollie and Ash, you two watch us from behind. I'll walk about 20 feet to the left of the main group, and-" she paused. Shit, "Leon, could you guard the right?"

Not waiting for a response, Sybille walked out to the left of the group and started scanning the tree line.

 

[Aeris]

She was back in the world hidden among the pages. Wendy was telling the children a story about a mother and father who had lost their kids after they flew away with a strange boy. After concluding how sad those parents must be the kids ultimately decided to go home, taking the lost boys with them. Peter on the other hand, was not happy with the news. He allowed them to leave, telling them they could never return. The Darling children and lost boys were about to bid Peter a farewell when-

Another interruption.

Ashlynn glanced up from the pages once again as Ryan announced to the group it was time to get going. Ash frowned but closed the book anyway. She brought up the rear of the group, watching silently as Ryan took care of an infected. The last thing Ashlynn should've been doing as they passed through the gates was daydreaming. They were no longer within the safety of the walls, anything could attack. For once however, she found she wasn't particularly concerned. After all, they had just left. What was the worst thing that could happen?

Ashlynn looked up to the sky, book still clutched in her hands. The smooth cover helped ease her worries ever so slightly. As she did so she couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like to fly, like Peter Pan. What if humans could fly? Would it make things any easier? Better yet, would it make surviving this hell easier? Probably. Zombies were the absolute last thing she ever expected to happen. Now that they existed... anything felt possible.

"Ollie and Ash, you two watch us from behind...

Sybille's voice broke through the daydreams. Right. The mission.

"Yes ma'am," Ashlynn reluctantly exchanged Peter Pan for her compound bow before falling back. She pulled the string back ever so slightly, should anything happen, she had to be ready. Everyone was making it back to the mall safely this time. And she refused to take anything else for an answer.

 

[Solar Daddy]

Lars was, as always, doing his best to just be another face in the crowd. When Ryan spoke directly to him though, he stepped forward. "I can get us to the airport. It'll be a trek, but if we move fast we can get there in probably less than five hours. Whoever our slowest member is will set the pace for how fast we actually get there, of course. I can take point as Sybille suggested. We've got a lot of land to cover, let's move." Lars took point with Teddy to his side, advancing beyond the group to be acting pathfinders and vanguard for them. Lars had spent a good deal of time in this neck of the woods, so he was confident in finding a route with minimal herds or complications. He regularly pulled out a map from his back pocket with various scribbles on it, indicating constants like caches, no-go areas and safe places. He plotted a route that would give them optimal times to pass a couple of his caches along the way, at least until they exited the city. His hope was that, while still being about as direct of a path as they could get, Lars could also rearm at one of his nests if need be. He doubted it'd come to that, though. With Teddy by his side, Lars was confident they could hustle the group into a good pace without much slowing down. And, of course, he also had confidence in Teddy's marksmanship. Lars was feeling bolstered by all these factors and, for once, didn't feel the need to throw on his mask. Not yet, at least.

"Keep up and we'll all make it there alive. Hopefully." Lars readied his rifle off his shoulder and began his march ahead.

 

[Viper Actual]

Relieved to see that the group was finally beginning to move after several more brief introductions and quick snapshots from the camera, Fredrik sighed and rolled his shoulders once more before taking up position next to the dronkey. Much like Sybille and some of the others Fred watched with minimal interest as Ryan and Florida eliminated the zeke clinging to the perimeter fence. An easy kill, if only the rest of the mission would be just as simple.

Grunting to himself Fred slowly shook his head. He was never an optimist and quite frankly it was a little too late to start now.

"Zombies," Teddy mumbled, unheard, "You can just call em' zombies."

Fredrik glanced at Teddy and then at Ryan. Does it really matter what we call them?

His eyes then shifted over to the newcomers, or rather, newcomer, as Fred could only see the one guarding the right flank with the other one being behind him. Before their departure Fred had attempted to get a read on both men. They seemed kind enough, though the one on the right flank seemed more in-sync with the gravity of the mission ahead. Fred just hoped that both of them could hold their own.

That and that they are relatively competent.

 

[evermoon]

Ollie gave a quick salute at Sybille's word, before reaching around to sling his shotgun into his hands. The weight of it was familiar, but it also reminded him of the stakes of the situation, and after a moment, he tugged up the face mask that had been resting over his chin. He wasn't a fan of the way it pushed his own warm breath back into his face, but he didn't want to risk forgetting to pull it on of things escalated quickly.

Time to get your head in the game, he told himself.

After all, while he trusted Sybille, and he knew she wouldn't pick anybody stupid or dangerous to come with them, he didn't really know any of these people.; it wasn't like he could trust them to risk their lives for his if it came down to it. He needed to be focused and prepared, because dying was really the last thing he needed after making it this far. Plus, he didn't need to seem incompetent, especially at a first impression. Being the idiot of the group was not on his agenda for the day.

Taking a few quick steps forward, he fell into step beside Ashlynn to fill out the back of the group. He debated on introducing himself, if only because the two of them would be walking in step for the foreseeable future, and he didn't want it to get awkward. However, he wasn't sure if any real conversation would be welcomed, even if it was little more than pleasantries, and he chose instead to keep his focus on scanning the area around him and pushing forward.

 

[Solar Daddy]

"-And it makes sense, right? Runners push their bodies to their limit, wear themselves to the bone. That has to be what turns them into run-of-the-mill zombies. They ruin their bodies, practically die from exhaustion, and the disease uses the burnt-out husks as a host from then on. Birds moving East" Teddy stopped momentarily, squinting past the glaring sun towards the birds' panicked flight from the West. He didn't have to say it, Lars already knew. Something to the West startled them.

"Anyway, I'd bet that if you chained up a Vector, kept it healthy, and stopped it from killing itself from an Adrenaline rush, you could keep one alive for WAY more than two weeks. And, well, wouldn't that be cool as hell if it just stayed like that indefinitely? The secret to immortality and everything? Bet it wouldn't be too bad living like that. The infected guy would probably still be conscious, stuck in a body that isn't theirs anymore, but hey! At least you can still watch movies, maybe eat some Bacon, get taken outside in a straight jacket when you want some sun. Wouldn't that be the life?" Giving a chuckle at the thought, Teddy resumed walking with a skip in his step.

"Been doing the whole lone wolf thing way too long, nice to talk to someone" he mumbled to himself, rifle slung over his shoulder.

Lars never took his eyes off their surroundings. Despite Sybille asking for them to stay on point twenty feet ahead, Lars had set a pace that - with Teddy no doubt keeping up - ended up being a bit further than that. His Remington was held in a tight grip as they patrolled ahead of the main group. Teddy spoke freely, as he often did, and Lars kept one ear on him and another on their surroundings. Granted, he only caught a portion of what Teddy was saying to him, but he caught the gist, more or less. When Teddy had taken a moment to breathe after his monologue, Lars chimed in. "Interesting hypothesis. Ever thought of trying to chain up a Vector in your basement to try it out?" He asked, smirking just a bit, though it was concealed under the hood he wore. Hell, if it weren't for the fact he was moving, it'd be pretty damn hard to know he was there at all. He had picked a perfect array of debris to match their environment. Only his limbs stuck out of his poncho, clearly visible in comparison.

Lars noticed the disturbed flock - he wasn't worried, knowing if anything a good handful of Zeds would haphazardly chase after the birds and keep them occupied. However Teddy had stopped, and so Lars held his hand up behind him as a silent signal to the group to hold. A few moments later after ensuring nothing was going to jump out at them, Lars signaled the all-clear for the group, and began marching again.

"I'll ask Sybille with puppy dog eyes and a 'pretty please with a cherry on top' for your pet Vector project. Maybe we can even find Kat and make her the first zombie Founder to still hold office after her passing." He joked with a light chuckle. "Unfortunately our doctor un-alived her."

That garnered a snort from Teddy, making the man smile brighter upon hearing his fellow blonde's much softer chuckle. Lightening the mood was always a win in his books.

"Maybe we could dig up Mackenzie King, put him back in office. Get someone to translate his snarls and incoherent screams, string him up in the living room of Sussex Drive, and feed him the losing candidate each election. I'd actually tune into the debates if it was just two politicians fighting for their life against a raving Mackenzie King" Teddy said, grinning at the thought. As soon as he finished his train of thought, characteristically, another three emerged.

"I'm from Alberta, by the way, if the scarf wasn't enough of an indication," he said, waving vaguely at the piece of cloth wrapped around his head like a shemagh, his aviators covering his eyes and presenting much, if not any, skin from showing. The mix between hippy and paramilitary was not a cross that really needed to happen, but Teddy liked to think he made it work.

"Nice hunting, nice neighborhoods. Cold as hell though. Threw boiling water out a second-story window once. Froze over, turned to icicles, and crushed the roof of my father-in-law's car. What about you?"

Lars had gotten used to the way Teddy could never stop thinking of a new topic to talk about. He was glad, though, since it usually meant Lars seldom needed to speak in return. When he said Alberta, Lars had to take a moment to think where exactly that was. A lot of pre-apocalypse information like city names often just didn't matter to Lars anymore. He didn't need to remember the capital of every country in the world or who shot Abraham Lincoln (which, of course he still knew was Lee Harvey Oswald, he wasn't an idiot). Finally after digging through the old-world information in his head, he remembered, mostly.

"I'm from Seattle," Lars began. "Just outside of it. Used to live in the suburbs until I just... felt the call of the wild. Lived on my own in a cabin far out from Seattle for a long time. Of course, when that city was turned to little more than a pile of rubble, I probably wouldn't have made it out alive. Living isolated kept me alive from the bombs and the fires." Lars paused for a bit. "Before I came to the Mall, I called the Ashfields my home. I miss it dearly." He didn't elaborate further, but stewed in his own thoughts over his memories of that place. What it was like to be an Ashen. Lars then shook his head and cleared the thoughts from his mind. He needed to focus on their task at hand. "Eyes sharp. Think I may have seen movement ahead. Don't stop moving, but be prepared in case it's a Zeke."

Teddy nodded sympathetically. The memory of a mushroom cloud rising over the city he grew up in wasn't something he liked to remember either. Canada was cold, unforgiving, teeming with hordes, doused with radiation, and almost completely inhospitable at this point, but it was still his home. Sometimes, when he was traveling near the Western coast, he'd entertained the idea of nabbing a boat and making a trip back home, just for old time's sake. A part of him didn't want to ever go back, though. Too many bad memories.

The blonde scanned the area, his rifle raised slightly. "Got a bearing?".

"Southeast, 10 o'clock," Lars said softly, more focused on watching for an ambush. As they kept moving forward, Lars stopped as the single Casualty stumbled out from behind a tree, mouth ajar from it's jaw nearly being blown off completely. It swayed as it stumbled, and Lars stopped moving. The Casualty turned to face them, and locked its eyes on Lars. "Get around it, I'll be bait." He said, keeping his rifle trained on its chest. "Don't shoot. We don't want to attract more."

"Eh, don't worry," Teddy began, quietly, as he looped around the dead man, his footsteps soft. Slinging his rifle across his back, he pulled out his butterfly knife with an exaggerated flourish. "I might look like a dollar store Clint Eastwood sometimes, but I'm really not much of a gunslinger" he mumbled, focused more on the zombie than his words.

Lars nodded to Teddy, making sure to keep its attention by snapping and whistling at it. The Casualty kept moving towards Lars, and he abruptly shoved the barrel of his rifle against its chest to keep it from moving closer. With the Casualty held in place for a moment, Lars said, "Now, kill the thing."

Lars hadn't even finished speaking by the time the knife was embedded into the thing's skull. Letting the blade fall to the ground with the body, Teddy bent down to yank out his knife and wipe the blood off on the relatively cleanest part of the zombie's filthy clothes.

"Think he's from the airport?" Teddy asked idly, searching over the body for anything useful. Respect for the dead only went so far, he wouldn't hold it against whoever looted his body once he dropped.

Lars released his stiff grip on his Remington, scanning around for any others. "Has to be. We're too close otherwise. Let's hope the majority of those Zekes got loose. It'd make it easier to secure the airport itself. If we have some kind of hive situation going on, we're screwed. Might be best to just airstrike the base and pray we can rebuild."

"They don't really need hangars, do they? All an airport really needs is a runway. I say we just burn the entire place to the ground if it's a hive" Teddy said, standing back up and resuming his pace.

Lars mumbled something about a suicide mission before readying his rifle and carrying on. The others would know why they stopped briefly when they passed the Casualty's corpse. They were close to the airfield, they needed to stay as quiet as possible now.

 

[gouache]

Leon remained completely quiet as he trekked alongside the others. He kept his eyes on the ground to watch where he was stepping, paranoid about accidentally finding himself in an ant pile. He was unfocused on the actual threat ahead of him, even after the rude awakening of an infected person directly beyond the gate. He hadn’t been outside in the wilderness sense he was much younger, when he would hunt with his father. After many instances as a child where he fell into an ant pile.. He became weary of the possibility of it happening again. Even in his pair of sturdy leather boots did he fear them.

Suddenly, Leon quickly lifted his gaze up from the dirt at the sound of his name being said. He didn’t exactly understand what Sybille said to him, beside “the right”. So without hesitation, he moved to the right of her. Leon stared ahead at the trees and the backs of the group ahead of him. He clutched his rifle close to his chest, silently listening to the banter between the two men he had forgotten the names of. Leon felt uncomfortable and out of place, considering he rarely spoke with adults. It seemed they all knew each other so he felt like an intruder. The goal he had in mind was to make it back to his children, and not to worry about making friends.

He would just do as he was told, and keep to himself- per usual. In between the chatter of the group did he closely watch the men raise their guns, before the sudden pang of a gunshot rang deeply into his ears. The unsightly look of the infected being blown to bits made him feel a sense of guilt. These “infected”, no- human beings, were all once somebody's baby, now reduced to nothing but flesh. Seeing what was left of these people fell heavy on his heart and how desensitized the others appeared to be by them.

One of the men plunging a knife into the head of the “thing”, did it become clear to him they were far from the thought of this once being someone's child. Leon thought maybe if he didn’t have two toddlers that he would feel less for them, but couldn’t find it in himself to not grieve for their lives. The only way he was able to go about putting down these once humans, was by the belief they were being taken out of their misery. In hopes that peace becomes an option for them, a precious choice they deserve the humanity of feeling once again.

Leon kept observing the others to take in what personality he learned of so far. In the few moments of being near them, he had come to many conclusions as to who these people are. Hardened and callous was the only words that came to mind, but he understood it wasn’t a choice. It was survival. If it meant losing some of his humanity to get back to his children, then he would do it willingly.

 

[Vudukudu]

Ryan rolls his eyes at Teddy's interjection. If he actually cared, he'd explain why DHQS preferred the term. Its one part administrative, and two parts "studies show that fresh recruits are more comfortable shooting Casualties than Zombies because of the emotional weight associated with the term zombie." Something about it being linked to the idea that zombies used to be people, and that Casualty reduces the target to something that's already dead. Regardless, he's not really in the business of getting into pointless arguments with his tactical assets. He had other things to care about - getting home to his wife and a desk job, not catching lead from one of them, and sorting out a way to bully the Mall into submission with as little blood and ammo expended as possible. Explaining what a few psychologists thought about terminology wasn't going to help with any of that.

Listening to the guide and his buddy talk about Vectors was its own unique entertainment. DHQS had tried that, years ago. Vectors turned, no amount of sustenance did much for delaying it. Just another inscrutable element of the Blight, in its endless ability to disobey all modern science. At least it was something to listen to though, and he much preferred clear human voices to the dull murmuring of the dead or the screaming of Vectors. Frankly, anything that didn't sound like Cleveland was an improvement as far as he was concerned. His left upper arm still bore the tattoo he'd gotten done to commemorate his survival, a crude stick-and-poke "32." He'd scrounged stale rations and ammo off the dead, survived a bite and held a gun to his own head for hours, took more shots at NUSA uniforms than he ever thought he'd have to, and slept in dumpsters while Casualties battered the outside. It was like reliving the Crash - Vectors everywhere and no where truly safe to hide. Everything else since that had been a cake walk.

About two hours into their trek, a flicker of movement catches his eye as the group proceeds. "Hold!" He barks, taking his hand off the foregrip of his rifle to hold it up. "What the fuck is that?" He asks, revulsion dripping in his voice. The dead have become a basic fear, but this is human work, and that sends a shiver down his spine.

Up ahead, a casualty is buried up to the chest in dirt. The corpse is horribly damaged, the sort that would barely even revive from the blight. Its arms are pinned back behind it, and its hands seem to be buried as well; the thing can't move, but its jaws snap feebly in the group's direction. Those more familiar with ranging outside the safety of the Enclave might recognize the handiwork - this is the doing of the Meek. Its a common execution method among their ilk, leaving a captive buried for the dead to descend on.

The mutilated zombie struggles pointlessly, leaning towards the group and gnashing its teeth. A faux-leather messenger bag is strapped to its one shoulder, and judging by the visible bulges in the material, it looks to be full. Beside the unfortunate victim, there's little else to the area - a dilapidated barn with the doors sealed, a few rusted cars along the side of the dirt road, and telephone poles lining it.

(anyone wishing to interact with the Casualty, write up a post and send it to me. I will tack on consequences.)

 

[Togy]

The Canadian didn't hide his disgust at the sight of the half-buried zombie. He'd seen much worse sights-participated in the making of some-but this was just distasteful. Kill the guy, sure, put a bullet through his head, yeah, do what you have to. This was drawn out though. Whoever did this, didn't have to do it. It was just cruelty for the sake of cruelty. At some point, you had to have standards, dammit.

"You know the meek, right?" Teddy asked, crouching down to a squat to stare at eye level with the buried zombie. "Pretty sure they've attacked the East a couple times, you guys have probably heard of em'. Real tree-huggers, those guys. Start vector outbreaks, infect people, overrun settlements with the living dead."

Scowling, the man stood back up. "Disgusting."

Shouldering his rifle, Teddy walked towards the nearest tree and grabbed the lowest hanging branch. "Oh, and I wouldn't touch that if I were you. Their attacks are usually the post-mortem kind," he grunted as he pulled himself further up the tree, into the leafy canopy and out of sight, "if you get what I mean. Never know what they're gonna pull".

A soft, barely audible hum was heard from a good dozen feet or so above in the tree's canopy "Not really seeing anything up here. Coast might, might, be clear."

 

[Aeris]

Ashlynn had spent the last couple of hours with her eyes firmly glued ahead, tuning in occasionally to whatever Teddy and Lars were talking about. She didn't quite understand what exactly was being discussed, but had figured it was better than letting her own thoughts take over. And, if she was being honest with herself, that was the last thing anyone in the group needed. The energy was already tense as it was, no need to add on to the negativity.

"Hold!"

She shifted her gaze up towards where Ryan was looking. At first glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

And then she saw it.

The zombie was half buried in the dirt, what was poking out mutilated beyond anything Ash had ever seen. It was clear this had been deliberate. Whoever did this had wanted this persons death to be long and painful. It was cruel. Disgusting. And, inhuman. The zombies milky eyes met Ashes for only a couple seconds at most. It was more than enough time, however, to send her heart racing. Ashlynn gripped her bow hard enough that she was sure the outline would be imprinted on her hand for weeks. The last thing she needed to do though was make a scene. This wasn't like last time, Ash was in no immediate danger. Even if she was someone would be able to take the zombie out.

Everything was fine.

Ashlynn listened half-heartedly to what Teddy was saying. Something about Meek? She'd heard of them, though, it was few and far between. Ash had made a point to do scavenger rounds close to the mall, so she would never have to risk running into them. She risked another glance at the zombie, who, once again, had to make eye contact. Nope nope nope nope....

Her gaze snapped back to the ground where she was sure it would stay until they were back in the mall.

Why could she still feel the things gaze...?

Eyes still focused on the ground, Ashlynn inched a couple steps back until she was standing behind Ollie. A part of her felt bad about using him as a shield almost, but she needed to get out of its line of sight. The sooner they continued on, the better.

 

[Viper Actual]

"Hold!"

Instinctively, Fredrik took a knee and shouldered his rifle while his eyes began to scan the immediate area. Using his left hand he carefully pressed down on the volume control of his headset to increase its sensitivity. Aside from the zeke's repeated snapping-sound and muffled growls Fred couldn't identify anything but distant birds and the sound of wind blowing through the trees.

Granted, anyone with enough training or skill would be able to watch this area in complete silence while also remaining hidden.

Fred glanced at Ryan and shrugged while gesturing towards his headset as a way of telling his superior that he couldn't make out any unidentified sounds. He looked back at the rear guard and decided that, seeing as how spooked they were, he could risk leaving the dronkey unattended for a brief moment. Crouching down next to Ryan the swede grimaced. "I don't like it, sir."

"Whether it be a message or just a plain execution the entire area around us is creeping me out. I recommend we get Apocalypse Now and Tim Hortons to scout out the flanks before we advance through." Fred sighed. "If not, I'll use the telescope-stick to prod the area in front of us," he said, referring to a long, telescopic metal rod fashioned by DHQS to find Casualties covered by snow during the winter. Despite not being designed for it, the T-S could also be used to find traps or just generally unsafe terrain.

 

[evermoon]

From the back of the pack, Ollie watched as the others began to react to... something. From behind the men in front of him, he couldn't quite see what it was, but he heard a noise of disgust from another member of the group. As Ollie craned around to see what it was, he missed Ash's quick shuffle behind him, too caught up in trying to sate his curiosity.

He wished he hadn't the second he saw what everybody had been looking at. There was a zombie ahead, with swimming white eyes and flesh rotting off it's skull. God, Ollie had seen plenty of zombies before, but the sight of this one unsettled something deep in his stomach. Perhaps it was the fact that, just by looking at it, you could tell it hadn't ended up here by accident. Somebody had done this to it, and here it was: inhuman, trapped, and decaying in a hole. It couldn't even flail, not with it's hands pinned in the dirt behind it's back.

What made him feel almost as sick as the sight of it was his reaction. While his first instinct was to cringe away, he was drawn right after to the bag strapped to it. The pockets seemed to bulge, and he wondered what was inside them; no, he wanted to know. He wanted to root through the whole pack and see what would be useful to him. It almost distracted him, thinking about what might be inside, that the horror of the situation escaped him for a moment.

That was what he hated. That, even for a few seconds, he cared more about what the corpse could offer him than what happened to it. It felt like a piece of his humanity slipping away. Before the Blight, he wouldn't have thought twice about what the zombie was carrying. Now, he couldn't help but wonder if the things inside would benefit him.

After staring for a while, he tore his eyes away to glance at the rest of the group, gauging their reactions. While it seemed there was plenty of disgust to go around, it didn't seem like anybody was caught up in the same emotional turmoil, and if they were, they didn't wear it on their face.

For a moment, he considered suggesting somebody look at it, but Teddy's words gave him pause. Still, his own fingers twitched around the barrel of his shotgun, as if the zombie were gonna crawl right out of the ground and charge him. To keep himself grounded, he scanned the area around him, working out escape plans and strategies if things went south. He had enough ammo in his belt that he felt confident he could blast his way through a small hoard, but he wasn't the fastest at reloading. There was also the possibility of just running back the way he came, but knowing him, he'd find a way to get lost. Besides, he may not know everybody around him, but the idea of leaving them behind without a care made him feel dirty.

Plus, if he did, he'd never be able to really look Sybille in the eyes ever again, and he'd feel even worse if she died while he fled.

As he thought, his eyes wandered over to the few cars that dotted the landscape. They were old, and might never drive again, but that didn't mean they were useless. By the look of them, they were old enough that he could blow them up by tossing a match down the gas tank. That depended on how much gas was left in the tank, as long as they weren't too full or too empty, Even better, if any of them didn't have an EVAP system to protect the fuel tank, he could probably get away with a vodka-soaked rag and his lighter, which would probably give him more time to run away.

He spent a minute caught up in his own thoughts, before he snapped back to the reality of the situation. He watched as one of the DHQS guys knelt down to speak to another, although he couldn't remember either of their names. Instead, he waited patiently for one of them to make a call, trusting their experience over his own.

 

[Solar Daddy]

Lars kept his eyes trained on the Casualty in the dirt. He wasn't one for theatrics such as this, unless it meant a distraction or a trap. At this point in the apocalypse only the smart, strong or sociable survived, and he believed the latter two wouldn't do something like this. He was familiar with the Meek, though only through their handiwork such as this. Hearing the others speak behind him, but not quite making out what they said, he knelt onto one knee and picked up a small stone, covered in moss and lightly damp. "Watch the surroundings, and don't let your guard down. And watch your steps, carefully, we may be dealing with a trapped area." He spoke as Teddy climbed a nearby tree to his side. Given a moment, Lars set his rifle propped against his chest and the ground, and pulled out his sidearm. Lars aimed at the body and tossed the stone underhand at the Casualty. He assumed nothing would happen, at least not right away, but he wanted to stay prepared in case it triggered some kind of reaction. Lars was no novice at creating visual targets such as these, whether it was to keep people away from his stashes, or to blow someone up if they got too close. That's why he was sure to toss it from as far away as he could while still landing the throw, roughly twenty-five/thirty feet back.

The Casualty, reacting as one would expect getting hit in the head with a rock, ricocheted back and gargled a mix of groans and hisses. Other than this, the rock unceremoniously fell to the ground without much else occurring. Lars kept still for a bit, waiting for any kind of delayed reaction. Other than the Casualty now a bit more livelier, nothing seemed to have changed. "It looks clear, but I wouldn't get close to it. Or any more we find. Teddy, let's get moving."

 

[Hard Boiled]

Purple = Viper Actual

"Lars, Teddy- you two take point about 20 feet ahead of us," she began. "Ollie and Ash, you two watch us from behind. I'll walk about 20 feet to the left of the main group, and-" she paused. Shit, "Leon, could you guard the right?"

With no instruction given to himself, Charlie raspberried the air, following behind Santa rather than Sybille or Ryan. He trusted the dog's judgement more than anyone else here's, anyway, including his own. He barely registered the agents' shenanigans with the first zombie, there were already far too many bloodthirsty proto-sociopaths in the apocalypse for him to lose any sleep over it. He did agree, though, "zombie" has a much better ring to it than "casualty" or whatever other movie codename anyone wanted to give them.

Naturally, his attention was drawn to the Boston Dynamics robot following them around. Not particularly fond of his trapezius being crushed into his collarbone over the course of several days, he strolled over to the feds and their bot.

"Morning..." He greeted, to little enthusiasm in return. "...Will you shoot me if I stow my bag?" He gestured with his head towards Dronkey.

Fred, still crouched next to Ryan, looked over his shoulder. His eyes locked onto the Mall doctor, Charlie. "No," he said with a serious tone. "But it might cost you down the line if you manage to break the drone."

"Noted." He ducked his head under the shoulder strap of his bag, pushing it on top. The bright blue fabric and white reflective strips of his equipment stood out like a sore thumb against the assortment of OD-green canisters and boxes. They could always throw a blanket over it when it got dark.

He nodded towards the doctor. "Just make sure to strap it in incase we need to move. I don't want to hear any bitching if half of your collective medical supplies end up in a remote ditch."

"Mmh..." Charlie grumbled at the agent's unnecessary abrasiveness, even by his standards. That said, he followed the man's instruction, hooking his bag down with a couple carabiners.


For the hours in between events, he spent his time mostly watching the dog. The last thing he needed was an I Am Legend situation. It wasn't that he didn't trust Santa, he knew he was well-trained, but dogs were prey now, unfortunately. The remainder was spent playing chopsticks or rock-paper-scissor with Sybille across the line, about twenty feet apart.

"Hold!"

Holy Saint Luke... Charlie crouched beside the drone, holding Santa by his collar.

Meek. Just your average Mad Max type that get off on recreating SAW traps. The sight of their modern art piece shook him right to his core, as it did everyone else, yet he was too desensitized to even think to look away. Even if he did look away, he'd still see it. He'd be seeing it later tonight, and the night after. And, god, the smell, even from that far away. He would kill for some Vicks.

There's no way they're planning on going this way now, right? All of them had been around the block enough to know that whatever was in that thing's bag was likely combustible, infectious, or useless. They would be out of their collective minds to even consider trying to pass such an obvious trap, it's Pascal's wager at this point, and of course Lars just threw a rock at it.

"Syb..." He started, carefully unzipping his bag with one hand and retrieving his handgun. Letting go of Santa for a moment, he checked the chamber, magazine, and safety, then stuffed it appendix. "We shouldn't." He shook his head, waiting for further direction.

 

[queendilettante]

Lars = Yellow

"Syb..." He started, carefully unzipping his bag with one hand and retrieving his handgun. Letting go of Santa for a moment, he checked the chamber, magazine, and safety, then stuffed it appendix. "We shouldn't." He shook his head, waiting for further direction.

"You're right," Sybille started, not taking her eyes off the clearly booby-trapped creature. Its weak thrashing was briefly exacerbated by Lars' stone, but it had since returned to its previous level of struggle. Slowly aiming her gun forward, she called to her group: "Hold up, everyone." She put her fist in the air and took a small step forward. "Ash, eyes on the Casualty," she said sternly before slowly scanning the environment. A couple trees, some cars, a moving truck, a-

Sybille's eyes scanned back to the old U-Haul truck with its back doors closed. It was about a quarter mile down the road in the direction the group was walking and had a perfect sightline to the squirming zombie. Bingo. After a quick scan over the rest of their environment, Sybille called back to the group. "Alright, we need to go another way." Before the group could interject or question her decisions, she continued, "The U-Haul up there is almost definitely rigged to open with God knows how many infected trapped in the back. We need to find another way around.

"Lars," she called out to the man trying to hide his face, "you come out here a lot. Is there another road we could take to get to the airport?"

Lars thought through the terrain he knew of the area for a moment before giving an answer. "There is. It's going to take us a little less than an hour longer. Gonna need to head back the way we came too, by about 20 minutes."

The rest of the journey to the airport, while significantly longer and more exhausting, was completely uneventful. The group, thankfully, did not stumble into anymore obvious traps and made it to the airport with a little less than half of the day left remaining. About 30 feet from the gate, Santa stopped moving forward and started growling. Even at this distance, Sybille could see that the gates to the airport were both damaged and swung open by about 5 feet.

"Everybody, hold up, we have to assess-" Sybille started, seconds too late.

Interrupting her with a bloodcurdling scream, a Vector clad in Latent outer-armor was sprinting from inside the gate at the group. When the recently turned woman was about 100 feet away, Sybille could start to make out her pleads for forgiveness as she ran forward with superhuman speed. As she started closing the distance with blinding speed, Sybille noticed three Casualties behind the Vector that seemed drawn to them all by the noise.

Fuck.

 

[Togy]

Lars felt backtracking wasn't a terrible plan, though he admitted he didn't quite feel like taking even longer to get to the airfield. He didn't want to risk arriving at dusk or later. However, Sybille was probably right; least risk by taking a different route entirely. Lars took up the lead once again, guiding the others through the terrain. It wasn't a difficult trek but the distance made for less than ideal fatigue on their bodies. As they approached a gate up ahead, Lars made sure to keep extra vigilance; if they had encountered a trap before, there was a good chance for a trap at the entrance. At least, that's where Lars would plant one.

That's when he heard the scream. Shit. Lars immediately went into a ready stance, rifle raised and scanning ahead of them where he heard the scream. Then he spotted the Vector pushing up towards them, covering large amounts of ground. He instantly knew the only chance they had out here in the open was providing some kind of barrier to slow it, and that gate looked perfect for the job. "Gate, go!" Lars shouted, hoping to grab Teddy's attention in as few words as possible. He dropped his rifle to move faster and sprinted ahead, turning to see Teddy already in motion and a few feet ahead of him. As he ran, Lars pulled his sidearm and hastily aimed towards the Vector, firing off haphazardly towards it. He hoped to slow down the Vector, but his primary goal was to just get to the damn gate. If he managed to hit the Vector, great.


Teddy had the same idea judging from the rapid-fire pops and bright muzzle flashes emanating from the pistol gripped in his right hand. He'd split to the side towards the right to get his half of the gate, Lars heading for his.

Lowering his firing arm momentarily, Teddy sped up before performing a running shoulder tackle against the gate, making it creak to all hell as it skirted across the ground before stopping on some uneven patch of earth. Resuming his firing, Teddy pushed with all his might against his side of the gate.

Speeding bullets tore small chunks of flesh from the Vector's skin, but the creature showed no sign of slowing down or as if she... it? had been hit at all. As the two men swung the chain-link gates closed and held onto it with their bodies, the Vector slammed full force into the gate, tearing up its body in the process, but knocking both of the men back multiple feet, sprawled onto their backs, and into the NUSA force at the center of the group. The tumble had been violent, half of it spent launched through the air, the other half spent skidding across the ground, hitting it at odd angles before bouncing another foot or so each time. The Vector stuck briefly to the opposite side of the fence, but its thrashing quickly dislodged it.

Skidding across the ground, Teddy let out a loud "Oomph!" as he impacted a foot to the right of Ryan. Dazed and blinking stars, Teddy scrabbled for the rifle on his back. Looking up, Teddy shot the taller man a grin with a quick "Hey, big guy!" before looking down his sights and leaning up to get a good shot. Immediately, he opened fire. He seemed to be enjoying this much more than he should be.

He nearly winced at the feeling of recoil impacting his wrist. His palms were scuffed and bleeding minimally from small cuts, but his left wrist felt particularly bad. A larger cut sat above his right eye, slowly dripping blood. He'd need to bandage that and get something for the bruises on his legs. Which, speaking of, his left leg may or may not have dislocated. He couldn't tell, but it wasn't giving off good feelings.

Lars was prepared to be knocked back, but damn that thing had some power. It always took him by surprise, no matter how many times he encountered a Vector. He was immediately pushed back from the force of the hit, squarely landing on his back with a thud. The fall had roughed him just as much as Teddy, with empty lungs and banged up knees. His wrist wasn't doing too great either, but it was too soon to tell whether it was sprained or not. Lars groaned a bit, grabbing his sidearm from the ground and opening fire once more at the Vector. He hoped he wasn't cross-firing with anyone behind his target, but right now that mattered less than killing it.

 

[Hard Boiled]

DISCLAIMER: This post contains graphic imagery of human suffering. If you are squeamish, stop reading past the red line.



White - Yours Truly
Purple - Viper Actual
Yellow - Solar Daddy
Green - Togy
Pink - queendilettante


Charlie released the breath he'd been holding when Sybille agreed to take a detour. Not today.

That's when he heard the scream. Shit.

Thank God he'd taken his handgun earlier. Charlie drew his weapon as Lars and Teddy ran for the door, backing towards the Feds to cover them while they closed the gate.

As the two men swung the chain-link gates closed and held onto it with their bodies, the Vector slammed full force into the gate, tearing up its body in the process, but knocking both of the men back multiple feet, sprawled onto their backs, and into the NUSA force at the center of the group.

Fred had little time to react or reflect on the sudden appearance of the vector and as the two scouts of the group decided to charge towards it in a bid to shut the gate (if temporary) Fred raised his AK5C. "Helvete!" He glanced at Ryan; "Contact front!"

Side-stepping into a crouched firing position, Fred cursed as both Lars and Teddy blocked his line of fire. Engaging a moving target was one thing but with two friendlies that close he might as well aim directly at them instead. Then, before anyone else could do anything, the vector used its superhuman strength to hurl the two men back towards the group as it slammed itself into the gate. Fred narrowly avoided getting struck by the weight of a full-grown man and instead opened fire.

"Get the wounded out of here!" He yelled while firing in short bursts of two or three rounds each. Most of the bullets were directed at the vector- specifically its pelvis and thighs- but some were meant for the rank-and-file zekes approaching behind it.

Lars landed between Charlie and Fred, vulnerable on his back. Charlie stashed his pistol, though in his rush to drag Lars to a safer position, he found himself in the middle of a storm of lead with a single vector running straight at him. By the time the vector had managed to bitch-slap Charlie across his face, the sheer volume of fire from five people discharging their weapons at the zombie had obliterated its pelvis, sending it squirming to the ground.

"Oughh..." He stumbled behind Fred, his vision completely white. While the others turned to engage the other targets, Charlie composed and assessed himself: He'd bitten a chunk out of his own cheek when he was hit, but he was otherwise unscathed. He briefly locked eyes with Lars as he finally made it over.

"C'mon, pal..." He held the man under his left arm and his collar, dragging him behind the front line. "You hurt?" He quickly frisked him for bites.

Lars gave a grimace and a quick look over his body, making sure he still had all his limbs. "I don’t think I was bit, but I'm not sure. Keep an eye on me for a few seconds, make sure I don't turn." Lars didn't have fear in his voice, but it was clear from his tone that he expected a quick bullet if he began showing signs.

As the vector fell, Fred got up and marched up to it just to send an additional burst of 5.56 into its skull. Once satisfied, he backed up, switched magazine and rotated to face Charlie and Lars. "Are you alright?" He asked, finger still on the trigger and with his rifle in a low-ready position. Fred's eyes darted all over Charlie and Lars as if looking for bites or scratch marks.

Charlie patted Lars on the cheek, transferring care to Fred.

"I'm fine!" He shouted over the sporadic gunfire, pointing to himself as blood dripped down his chin. "...This is my blood!"
"If he starts growling, shoot him!" He then pointed to Lars, nodded, and proceeded towards Teddy, who appeared to have gotten the brunt of the force.

Nodding, Fred unholstered his sidearm and kept it ready and while the muzzle wasn't directly aimed at Lars- but rather at the dirt before him- it was clear that the swede was preparing himself to put down the scout if needed be.

His eyes locked briefly with the now unmasked man. "Count to thirty. Out loud," he said with a grim expression. Fred glanced only briefly at Charlie, the AK5C was pointed in his and Teddys direction. A precaution.

Lars did as instructed; he began counting to 30, which seemed to have much more numbers in it than normal; the wait was killing him. Is this what it felt like to turn? He wasn't feeling anything yet, should he be feeling something yet? When Lars got to 30, he waited a few moments longer with a heavy breath. Giving a sigh of relief, he offered his hand to Fred. "Thank you." He said solemnly. Once up, Lars equipped his mask and breathed into the familiar smell deeply.

A larger cut sat above his right eye, slowly dripping blood. He'd need to bandage that and get something for the bruises on his legs. Which, speaking of, his left leg may or may not have dislocated. He couldn't tell, but it wasn't giving off good feelings.

The first thing Charlie wondered was if Ted's eye was still in his skull, he couldn't tell from all the blood. He patted Florida and Ryan on their backs as he circled behind them, kneeling beside Teddy.
The second thing he wondered was whether Teddy would ever be able to walk again, by the look of his leg. His knee was laying grossly disfigured on its side, clearly visible through his torn pants. Ted was still shooting, so either he didn't realize or he simply had too much adrenaline to care.

"Hey, bud!" Charlie shouted to Ted, patting him on the shoulder to get his attention. "Hold your fire for a sec!"

"Hey Charlie!" Teddy yelled over the gunfire, cocking the lever of his rifle, "Did you see that air, man? Me and Lars went a good seven feet up! This is insane!" Mad laughter punctuated his comment as a thunderous noise echoed from the barrel of his rifle, splitting a distant casualty's head apart.

"Yeah, yeah, I saw, hey, stop shooting!" He made an X with his arms, shaking his head with raised eyebrows before looking behind him. He couldn't just do this with what he had on him, he needed his bag. This would not be pretty.

He didn't want to move Ted anywhere before his leg was splinted, he'd only make it worse.
"Don't move, I'll be right back!"

Charlie crept low to the drone and tore the blanket off of his bag. He heard several people call out "Clear!", so he stood and picked up the pace unhooking his equipment.
"Lieutenant, Sybille," He called, gesturing towards the drone for a quick meeting.

Upon being called, Fred's gaze is fixed on Charlie. The grip on his rifle hardens as he moves a bit closer. "Yes?"

Sybille's attention quickly snapped to Charlie at the mention of her and the Lieutenant. "What do you need?"

"Ted's knee is dislocated. I'm going to try to reduce it, but I need your help." He glanced over his shoulder at Teddy, still apparently ignorant to his condition, then back to the conversation.
"I need you to hold him down."

Fred nods and after a quick glance at Lars to make sure that he isn't turning, Fred decides to holster his sidearm and take a knee next to Teddy.

Sybille glanced in the same vein as the NUSA soldier at Lars before kneeling opposite him and near the injured Teddy. "Christ, Teddy..."

"Alright..." Charlie started, carrying his bag over and placing it next to Teddy.

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

"I'm not gonna lie to you, boss, your leg is pretty jacked up." He told him very quietly and very frankly. "I can try and fix it, but it's not gonna feel good. I mean it. You're gonna want a bullet for about thirty seconds. I can give you something to take the edge off, if you want." He pulled a tiny syrette and a handful of bandages from his bag, looking around for something to use as a splint. A nearby branch about the length of Teddy's leg would do. If he didn't feel it yet, he was about to.

“Shit, really? Thought it was supposed to bend that way...” Teddy grumbled, trying to make himself comfortable.

“Fuck it. No painkillers Doc, winners don’t do drugs.” Presenting his leg, the blonde prepared himself.

Poor kid. He clearly had no clue what he was in for, but Charlie obliged anyway, returning the syrette of opium to his bag. He started by taking Ted's shoe and sock off and feeling for a pulse, which he found.
"Can you move your toes?"

“More or less.” He did so.

"Okay," Charlie poked Ted's foot with the side of his shears. "Did you feel that?"

“You know when your foot falls asleep and it feels weird an' numb? Like that.”

Not good. With a sigh out of his nose, he cut Teddy's pants leg open and looked to the other two.
"...Ready?"

“Yeah, ready as I’ll ever be, Doc.” Flashing a thumbs up, the light of the sun reflected off his simple gold wedding ring.

With impressive strength in his grip, Fred places a hand on Teddy's shoulder to keep him down.

Sybille bit her lip and forced a weak smile at Teddy before pushing on Teddy's arm and shoulder with as much weight as she could without breaking anything else of his.

"...The leg, too." Charlie nodded towards Teddy's good leg, which one of them also held down.

"On three." He took hold of Ted's calf with one hand and thigh with the other, taking one last moment to examine the knee. In the short time it had been dislocated, the lopsided cap had swelled to be thicker than his thigh, angles of bone protruding in grotesque fashion under his skin. He was trained years ago to reduce a knee dislocation, fairly straightforward: The leg would be carefully bent ninety degrees, then slowly straightened again to guide the knee cap back into position. However, he'd only get one shot at it. Any more would risk too much vascular damage.

Realizing his pondering was only prolonging Teddy's suffering, he held out a strap from his bag for the usually happy-go-lucky Canadian to bite down on.

"One... Two." On two, he smoothly pushed Teddy's shin towards his thigh, bending his leg. The grating of crepitus was nearly unbearable as the bones scraped against each other underneath his skin, pinching nerves and squeezing vessels as the knee cap shifted. Though, Teddy's cries of agony helped mask the sound - whatever pain he felt before would be a droplet compared to the ocean of suffering he was currently experiencing.

"Almost done!" Charlie shouted ten seconds into the procedure as the leg fully bent.

"FUCKING BETTER BE!" Teddy all but screamed, composure well and thoroughly fucked to high heaven. When he wasn't screaming incoherently, he was spitting enough profanities to make a sailor blush. If only mom could see him now, she'd be so pissed.

“Doing great…” Charlie extended the leg, watching the knee turn like a lock, finally settling back into place with a crack once fully extended. A wave of relief washed throughout Teddy’s leg as the pressure was released. If the swelling decreased and there wasn't too much nervous or vascular damage, he should be fine in a month or two.

“Theeeere we go…” With the dislocation reduced, he quickly lined the stick up against the outside of the leg, tying it on as a splint with four bandages. He took a deep breath and nodded to Fred and Sybille, signaling them to let go. He laid the blanket from the drone on the ground next to Teddy.
"Help me."

With some assistance, he slipped the blanket under Teddy to carry him if need be. Charlie's first thought was to put him on the drone, but that was up to the agents. He took a patch of linen and used it as a bandage, sticking it to the cut above Ted's eye.
"All better."

"Kinda... Kinda lost my cool there." Teddy mumbled. "Thanks, Doc."

"You did just fine, brother." He closed his bag, looking around at the others as he stuffed a small fold of cotton into his bleeding cheek. Go team.

 

[Solar Daddy]

Lars took a breather just taking in their surroundings for a few moments. He heard Teddy's screams, something he wasn't accustomed to. Even still, he kept up his strange but undoubtedly strong charisma through the pain, which Lars commended him for. Despite already being rather good friends (at least, compared to most relationships he had with others), they had just ran at a Vector together in unison. Lars felt he trusted Teddy more than ever after that kind of comradery. Was it smart? Maybe not, he was sure he could've easily taken a bullet for the action. But in the end, what the group needed in that moment was a decision, an executive decision, made in the exact moment the threat appeared. Considering the worst they had was a dislocated leg and some banged up bodies, Lars felt he had made a good decision. Poor Teddy would probably be out of the count for a good while now, though.

Lars stood and attempted to stretch each muscle, getting a feel for what he hurt. Any weight on his right leg gave him some severe pain, not enough to collapse but enough to notice every time he tried. His left wrist was also in a rather gnarled state, though compared to Teddy's leg, it looked pristine. He'd get Charlie to look at it once he had a moment. For now though, he grabbed his pistol and rifle from the ground and scanned the area, ensuring nothing was getting too close to the group.

 

[Vudukudu]

Ryan watches the chaos unfold with the grim visage of one who is fairly certain he is about to die. Fortunately, the lower half of his face is protected by his helmet, the plexiglass visor above it just large enough to give a good field of view. Protocol when facing down a Vector at close range was for everyone to stand their ground and open fire. At that range, precision mattered less than severing the spine or anything else that might slow it down, though the secondary nervous and muscular system provided by the Blight made that difficult anyway. Standing your ground wasn’t meant to be a safety thing - it was about cohesion. If everyone trusted everyone else to stand still, it was better for the group overall than any sort of retreat. DHQS had the stats to back it after this long, though he did have a tiny bit of respect for the suicidal bravery it took to charge at the enemy instead of run away.

That’s why seeing the two Mall-men rush the gate sent a cold shiver down his spine. They were blocking lines of fire instead of opening them, and seeing the two of them get bowled over like paper figurines reminded him all too much of early operations that went wrong. One hot bite, then two, then four…

As the Vector barrels down on them, Ryan brings his rifle to shoulder and lets rip, venting half his magazine into the Vector’s pelvis and abdomen to chop it in half. Still, it drags itself along the ground screeching until Fred finishes the job.

“Hey! Eyes fucking up if you aren’t wounded or tending!” Ryan barks, keeping his barrel pointed downward and gesturing at most of the group. “Still got a job to do, and every biter in earshot is headed this way. We need the injured moved ASAP.” He barks. Under normal circumstances, he’d shoot Teddy in the head and move on, but that didn’t seem like the best way to keep the Mall watching his back right now.

“Doctor, get them mobile immediately.” He adds, doing a quick visual sweep by spinning around. “The plan is unchanged. Cut a way to the private hangar on this side of the strip, seal and clear. Once we lock it down, fortify and get settled.”

He wasn’t in the business of asking for objections anyway, and even if he was, the wailing groans building in volume from all directions gave things a little added urgency. He’d really hoped they’d make it to a structure before something like this happened. Being in the open was bad news.

 

[Togy]

Struggling to stand up without bending his right knee, Teddy took the time to flash Charlie a smile and stretch out a hand for a fist bump. He either didn't notice or didn't care, so Teddy was painfully left hanging. As if relocating his leg wasn't enough. His heart was still pumping a mile a minute, despite his best efforts to cool it down.

Grunting, Teddy hesitantly put weight on his right leg when he was finally upright. Hot, searing agony. What was he expecting? Playing off the agonizing pain in his leg, Teddy gave a small, pained grunt as he used his rifle as a walking stick to move further.

One foot in front of the other. He could handle this.

Lars made sure he didn't lose anything from being flung like a toy, collecting a few items that had dislodged from his kit. With his rifle in his hands and a roll of his rest to feel what kind of pain he was working with, he walked up next to Teddy. "Good work with that gate. I'd have easily been Vector meat by now if I were to do it alone." He winced a bit as he looked over Teddy's condition. "Looks like you'll be riding out the rest of this mission nice and relaxed, huh? Leaving me to do all the scouting on my own?" He teased with a hint of a smile, which quickly washed away. "Let me know if you need anything. I need to remain at the front, but I'll check back on you every now and then. Though we're close to the airfield, so maybe its best you and the doc wait it out. Can't be risking our injured and medicinally inclined folk."

"Nah, nah, put me in coach!" Teddy pumped the air, his enthusiasm blocking out the pain in his leg. "I can still play ball! Wouldn't dream of letting you Yankees have all the fun" With a stagger, Teddy almost tripped on his own two feet. "I mean, I don't need legs to use a gun, do I?"

"Ted, you can hardly walk," Lars said solemnly. "If you shoot, you'll attract a bunch of Zekes to you, and you won't be fast enough to get away from them. You're probably better off just watching the entrance, making sure nothing sneaks up on us."

"Self-preservation is a coward's concept."

"What about group preservation?" he asked. "You get tacked by Casualties, you go hot, and murder the rest of us." Lars gave a pause. "Whatever you do with your life is your own decision. I respect that. Just maybe give thought to the idea of not throwing yourself on the pyre as well, if possible? At least, not yet."

"Alright, fair point" Teddy held his hands up in surrender, bowing his head. "Just lemme play overwatch for a bit? Sit up on a roof or something, watch over you guys, tell you what I can see over the radio, that sort of thing. Could test out my leg, too, see if I can just walk this whole thing off."

"Now that's the kind of compromise I was looking for. I'll see what I can do about perching you up in the control tower or something. If you don't have anything for range, I'll lend you my rifle during our time in the airfield. Deal?"

"Deal" Holding out his fist, Teddy looked to the taller blonde expectantly.

Lars looked at Teddy's fist for a moment before awkwardly bringing his up to press against Teddy's. "We've got this."

 

[Aeris]

evermoon - orange
queendilettante - red
Ashlynn - white

All Ashlynn could do was stand there, dumbfounded as the two men charged towards the oncoming Vector. If she hadn’t been certain before she was now, those two were insane. There was no way they were going to be able to beat it to the gate. It just wasn’t possible. And yet somehow the two managed to slam into the gate just as the Vector made contact with it. She almost wasn’t surprised when the two were thrown back several feet, landing in front of the DHSQ crew. Almost.

She flinched as gunfire turned to screams. Of course they hadn’t come out of that unscathed. Even from her position in the back of the group, Ash could see the blood.
Please please please be okay.
She wouldn’t be able to handle it if they lost someone else and Gods, she was so, so tired of losing people.

Ollie winced as Teddy's screams filled the air. Not just for the man's pain, but for the fact that the noise would surely draw more zombies to them. He'd felt useless as the vector charged them; wielding a shotgun at the back of the pack meant that there was no way for him to pick off anything that had charged them without the risk of taking down one of his allies.
Ryan's order, however, spurred him to life. Ollie swept his gaze around the area behind him. Even though he could hear the distant sound of the dead approaching them, he couldn't see any that were a direct threat.
He glanced down at Teddy, and the people surrounding him. With his leg, taking point didn't seem much like an option for the man anymore.

Ashlynn raised her bow once again, pulling the string back until it was taut against her skin. Of course the screams and gunfire were going to attract more infected. Though she couldn’t see any, Ash could just barely make out the distant noises. And, with Lars and Teddy wounded, she was going to have to push aside her fears, for the group's sake.

Ollie looked over to Ryan and Sybille for a moment before turning to Ash.
"Maybe we should offer to take point," he said in a low voice.

For a moment Ash thought she had misheard Ollie. Them take point? To be more specific, her? Ollie wasn’t with them on their last mission, he didn’t know she froze up. Ashlynn looked at the group, at Teddy and Lars, before turning back to Ollie. “Yeah… let’s do that.”

Ollie offered her half a smile, before looking back to the others Between Sybille and Ryan, he still wasn't sure which one to consider the leader. Sure, Ryan seemed like the more equipped and dominant one, considering his clear military ties, but Ollie knew Sybille. She was the one who had invited him to come, but beyond that, she was the one he trusted.
To save himself from trying to pick one or the other, he turned to the group as a whole. "Do you want us to take point?" He asked.

Sybille briefly met Ollie's eyes as he seemingly scanned the group. She offered him a weak smile; it was the best she could do to reassure him that things were as okay as they could be.

Ollie did his best to offer back a grin of his own, but he doubted it was that much more convincing than hers. Shotgun still in his hands, he picked his way around the commotion, careful to skirt around Teddy and his leg to avoid making anything worse. Out of nervous habit, he checked to make sure his weapon was still loaded. He'd already made sure twice, once during packing and a second time while leaving the mall, but he felt compelled to check again nonetheless as he made his way to the front.
He felt a strange sort of pressure at taking over the lead, even if he'd offered to do it. Still, he pushed it down, glancing back over his shoulder at Ash to offer her a smile, hoping it seemed more genuine than the one he'd given to Sybille.

Ashlynn watched as Ollie and Sybille exchanged tight smiles before Ollie began moving up through the group. Not wanting to be left alone, she followed. Ash kept her eyes focused on Ollie, even as they passed Teddy and the others. She couldn't believe they were actually taking point. That Sybille was letting them do this. Where there was fear however, Ash also felt a small ounce of courage. If she could make it through this mission without having an episode, the group might view her as more capable- not that they'd told her she wasn't. But it didn't take a genius to see Ash had been completely useless since joining.
She looked up at Ollie, offering a small smile of her own. They were going to be fine- everyone was going to be fine. She was certain of it.