The Jaws of Reckoning

[InkedFox]

Slam!


A sharp pain erupted through Remington's side as her body collided with solid earth. With her hands tied tightly behind her back there had been no way to brace herself as her assailant violently swept the legs out from under her. Her head swung back and hit the pavement; her vision flashed white, and though her focus had been broken in the moment, her anger and vitriol was silently seething. She never grunted or yelped in pain. In stead she met the gazes of her captors with a stony glare that read death.


"Ooohhh-- This one's got spunk cap. I like her." One man crouched near her, brandishing a large dagger. His face was obscured from her vision by a blinding light being pointed right into her face by yet a second man.


"Keep the bitch alive... That f**king doctor won't do shit for us if you kill her." A third man standing in the back of the shadowy classroom uttered in a low yet threatening tone. Remy's green eyes tried to focus in on the face just beyond that pinpoint of light from his lit cigarette, but to no avail. The man turned and left through the double doors in the back, leaving Remington at the mercy of the two thugs. The one brandishing the knife began prodding Remington's side, as if to see how far he'd have to push in order to earn a reaction. The crimson haired huntress never even peeped though, and stared at him as if any minute she'd tear his throat out.


"hehheh-- real spunk girlie.... real spunk..." He repeated and proceeded to saw through her belt with his blade.


"Hey-- what are you--?" The man holding the spot light seemed taken aback by his partner's actions, but his whimpering didn't stop him.


"He said don't kill her... he didn't say we couldn't enjoy her. --If you feel like you've f**king grown a conscious suddenly, then sit your ass in the corner and shut the f*** up..." and with that, he went about his business.


The other, put off by the sentiment, turned and walked away, seating himself in the corner of the dilapidated classroom and staring out the window as if to focus on more pleasant things. He left his flash light on a desk pointed right at her though, giving the pervert enough light to work with. But Remy had been biding her time, and hoping for the scenario. As the bastard went about tugging at her pants, Remington summoned up a grappling technique she had learned from her older brother. With lightning quick reflexes, she tangled her legs about his neck, and squeezed down on his wind pipe while flattening their bodies against the floor for leverage. With her hands tied, she did her best to suppress his arms and grunts, and luckily his accomplice --so sickened by the mere thought of his compatriot's actions; was none the wiser. She held him firmly, even as he grasped and struggled. When his flailing stopped and his body went limp, Remy released him and spun around to face the secondary threat in the room. Still he hadn't noticed, and Remington took the opportunity to snag the knife her first victim had dropped, and lunged towards the light, knocking it off the table and smashing it; cascading the entire room in darkness.


"What the--!? Hey!" That definitely called his attention and just as he turned to face the sound of the crash, Remington carefully wove through the desks and crept up behind him. With a decisive tackle, the nearly feral woman drove the blade up into his back; just under his ribs. He struggled and wheezed but the life soon left him; leaving Remy alone in her makeshift cell. Bruised and slightly bloodied, the red head's main concern was not her own well being. She sat in a chair holding the dagger between her thighs and began sawing through her ropes. Noelle was here too-- and Remy was confident that she wouldn't survive with out her. Urgency rushed her actions as she tried to imagine where they could have taken her. From what she remembered, it looked like they guys had made a base out of a high-school, and that alone conjured up sour memories for the woman.

 

[fluffdaydreams]

"Now, are you gonna cooperate, or do we have to make you cooperate?" The knife dug on the skin of her leg, and the woman flinched, a stifled cry escaping through her closed lips. He had her cornered, hands tied behind her back, propped in a chair, and him hovering over her menacingly, in an attempt to intimidate her...and while it definitely did, the medic just looked at the man, blue eyes filled with a defiant fire...laced with hidden fear. That was the last straw for the man though, as he brandished the blade against her throat. The tiny squeak that escaped her made Noelle curse inwardly. She sounded like such a terrified little mouse. "Listen here, bitch. You will operate on our guy...or your friend kicks it."


Noelle's face paled, and she couldn't keep her mask any longer, the fight in her crumbling and shattering on the ground. "Let her go. Please don't hurt h--" A crash nearby drowned the rest of her words, followed by hurried footsteps. There was a commotion outside...and her gaze darted to the door, and her mind immediately went to Remy. "Rem! Run!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, hoping it would be enough for the red haired huntress to hear the warning, wherever she was. She heard the man cursing, and the medic didn't see the palm coming, only feeling the strike like lightning, with enough force to throw her off the chair, crashing painfully on the cold floor, as she was unable to keep her balance with bound hands and legs. 


"Motherfu- Your friend might end up dead after all." And with that, he left the room, probably out to see what the noise was all about, assessing the chaos. 


A whimper escaped Noelle's lips as she tried sitting up from her place on the ground. The ties around her wrists were tight, and her skin raw from all the times she had tried loosing them up. Bruises covered her pale skin, and everything ached, her face stinging, and her mouth bleeding...but she believed nothing was broken. They needed her whole...needed her to actually be able to work. Alone, she let herself cry, the tension balled up on her chest, and overflowing after keeping it on check for so long. Weak sobs bounced off the empty walls, and for the first time the woman paid attention to the little detail on the room. Old, broken desks were stacked against one door, blocking some kind of entrance. And on the other side of the room...propped on a makeshift table...a man shifting, a clinging noise taking her attention to his wrist, handcuffed to the leg of the table. What was most noticeable though was the wound on his forearm, already festering. Was that...whoever they wanted her to see? Poor bastard. There was nothing she could do for him. 


And if she was right about it...she needed to get out of there fast. 

 

[InkedFox]

 




Remy hissed to herself as she glanced about for a way to escape. The double doors to the room remained locked, and the footsteps just beyond it ushered the huntress away. She couldn't risk being over whelmed. She had to hide or find an alternative route. Quickly glancing over the windows, she nearly growled in frustration at the distance to the ground they were but her verdant eyes settled onto a large air duct big enough to squeeze her slender frame into. Now she just had to reach it. Before the shuffling of feet got louder signaling her enemy's proximity, she went about blocking up the door by wedging chairs and tables against it to buy her time. Then using her knife and summoning up some strength to climb up to the duct via desk, the woman made sure to toss a chair through a window to make it appear as though she had taken a leap of faith. Luckily she was able to squeeze into the duct and reset the grid before the men finally managed to bust through the door. From the slits  of the vent grid she could see a familiar figure burst into the room followed by four more men. Remington cursed to herself. This encampment was bigger then she thought and played host to an unknown number of raiders. she had to play it safe. Creeping back she descended into the darkness of the ventilation system. There was barely any light save for the scant rays being cast in through the grids lining the sides of the shaft. Remington scooted her body along carefully; attentive to not make noise or shake the venting loose. She peered through each grid as she slid by, checking for one familiar face, or the flash of recognizable pink. Unfortunately she only came face to face with a few rooms hosting several raiders who were either on high alert, or relaxing with their crew. Still no sign of the doc. 
 
Just then, as Remington rounded a junction in the ventilation system she caught the faint sounds of sobbing. Following the light echoes, she came to a grid that peered into yet another abandoned class room. There in the corner she spotted a figure laid out onto a table; his condition didn't look good. Scanning over the floor, in the darkness, she could see another silhouette, and the faintest shadow of pink. "Noelle!" Remington hissed through the vent in a soft tone, hoping her voice would only reach the doctor's ears. Finding her recently acquired knife, she unhinged the grid, and attempted to drop down with it in hand as silently as possible. Unfortunately, on landing, she teettered back and fell on her bottom, forcing a muffled grunt from the hunteress as she met ground. After rubbing her back side, and letting the pain subside, she crawled towards the figure lying on the ground. "Noelle?" She called lightly and closed distance, finally recognizing her friend splayed out on the ground and restrained. "Noelle!" She gasped in a whisper and went about cutting the doctor's ropes. "Oh thank god-- we gotta get outta here. This place is crawling with raiders..." Struggling on the make shift table in the corner drew the redhead's eyes away as she finished cutting Noelle's binds. "Who the hell is that?"

 

[fluffdaydreams]

Eyes did not waver away from the agonizing man, noticing the occasional twitches of the legs or the fingers or the soft moans the man made. Pushing herself against the wall, the medic was able sit up, but hissed at the pain on the side of her face...and the numbness of her side. She tried shifting, the binds on her ankles making it difficult to actually move. "Shite..." Outside was complete chaos, she could hear the shouts and the footsteps, and she could see the shadows under the door. She only hoped the huntress had been able to escape, or at least be hidden away from the raiders. Big mess they had tripped into, but...they would get out. They had to. 


A clang, and scurrying was heard above her, and Noelle froze in place, eyes turning away from the wounded man, and blue irises shifted to the roof, suddenly alert, tense. The noise grew louder, and concentrated on the air vent grid, and she had been ready to scuttle out of the room somehow, when she heard a familiar voice, a hiss, calling out to her. "Remy? Is that you?" Oh, she was always so resourceful...finding a way out of a place like this by any means. And here she was...all tied up and teary and completely and utterly terrified. Useless. And despite her self-loathing, relief washed over her at the sight of the red haired huntress as she jumped and dropped from the air ventilation grid. "I am so glad you are alive...It's chaos outside, Rem. How did you do it?" 


It didn't matter. Not really. But her mind needed the faint distraction and clung to the faintest ray of hope that showed up in form of the redhead. "Rem--" The huntress moved to cut the ropes binding her wrists and ankles, but Noelle couldn't keep the eyes away from the man on the table...the man who started already shifting and moving erratically. "Rem...we gotta get out of here. That guy... I imagine they wanted me to do something about his wounds. He failed to tell them that wasn't a regular wound though..." the medic trailed off, turning her gaze to Remington, knowing she would catch what she meant. 


And just like that, the lethargy disappeared from the stranger, erratic movements putting him on his feet...a lost and almost animalistic look on his eyes locked in them. 

 

[InkedFox]

"Shhhhh--- Elle... Shhhh---" Remy grabbed the woman by the shoulders. The anxiety and fret clear on the doctor's face and in her heavy breaths. They needed to be calm right now. The last thing they needed to do was become panicked. They needed to be quiet, quick and as smooth as possible. Her palms cupped Noelle's cheeks, forcing her pale blue's to lock with Remy's hazel orbs. "We're gonna get out of this, okay? You understand that, right? Trust me..." Remy felt like she had some how assumed her brother's role, and his words were pouring from her mouth. She looked steadily at the woman, lucidity clear in her eyes. "Just trust me..." The red head repeated and smoothed down the pinkette's blush colored locks, knowing how difficult it could be to trust in the word of an insane person. The huntress' attention snapped to the corner of the room. The man, now turned zombie, was a minor threat; thanks to his shackle keeping him tethered to the heavy table. Then suddenly, the sound of foot steps started back up the corridor just outside. Remy froze and peered between the vent over head, then over to the door, and then the zombie. She had to make a split decision. "Come on... you're getting into the vent..." She uttered and began helping Noelle to her feet, and then knelt down beneath the hatch she had freshly opened. "Quick, we don't have time---"

 

[fluffdaydreams]

"But--" Words died in her throat, breaths still quick, short. Scared. Still, she managed to stay quiet, her face kept in place by the red haired huntress's hands cupping her cheeks. Noelle looked at her honeyed eyes, trying to read any kind of hesitation in them. Any kind of sign that would tell the medic that they weren't, in fact, getting out of there in one piece. But, she couldn't find anything. Remy's gaze was steel, completely confident and strong; and Noelle could only let go of the fear that clung to her throat with a vice grip, her muscles relaxing, only for a second. She looked at her eyes, and she could only gulp, licking her dry lips and nodding slowly. She did trust her. She trusted Remy blindly; she had saved the team more than once before. Despite what the huntress thought of herself...Noelle knew Remy was a valuable part of the family...irreplaceable. Someone she could trust. 


She soothed her further by brushing her hair almost in a tender way, and Noelle nodded again, this time with a little more of conviction. "Yeah...Yeah, alright." Slender and long fingers brushed over the huntress's hand, in a way to let her know she could let go of her, that she was ready...only to have hurried footsteps alerting them of the men outside still looking for the red haired woman. Noelle turned to look at the door, and then at the undead on the corner of the room that was snarling and trying to pull itself free from the cuffs keeping it tied down to the table...and then back to Rem. She understood immediately, and she was on her feet in an instant, ignoring the protesting muscles. Though, the moment she took a step, a sharp pain shoot through her left ankle, making her hiss. "Shite...I am all right, I am alright." She probably twisted it when they were ambushed back -had it been hours, days? she wasn't sure- then. Noelle moved over to Remy, and with her help, pushed herself up into the air vent. "Okay, Rem...give me your hand. I got you....Rem?"

 

[InkedFox]

Remington bit her lip as she heard Noelle calling for her softly from the shadow of the vent mouth. Taking a deep breath she crouched, and whispered up to the vent. "Get moving... I'll meet you on the other side..." With that she began creeping around the desks; breaking eye line with the vent mouth and heading closer to the door. The trapped zombie grunted and reached towards the creeping huntress, but the red head focused on jamming the door handle with a well placed chair. Moments later footsteps drew in, and the knob began to rattle. Remington hurried, and retreated back as an angry shout tipped her off that her assailants were on to her. Their fists and feet began to beat mercilessly against the entrance; mean while Remy had retrieved the pillaged knife from the belt of her pants, and with lightening quick reflexes; began to maneuvered herself between the undead and the table it had once been lying on. The walker did it's best to crawl back over the table at her, but by then she had already crawled under the table, and took several savage slashes at the ankle of the corpse that was still held in place by the cuff. Once the limb and cuff fell free, Remington scrambled out from under the table and made a beeline for a small row of tall cubby holes that looked as if they had been used to hang coats. The walker, with it's one less foot, crawled after her, gurgling in a ghastly fit. Luckily, the door violently swung open only minutes after, and three men rushed inside and began searching the room. Unfortunately, the vacant and bloody table was noticed a little too late, and the first man in found himself being dragged down and crawled over by a fresh corpse that made quick work of sinking it's jaw into the man's nose. He squealed like a stuck pig and his cohorts raced to his rescue. Remington took this opportunity to swing out of the cubby hole near the only exit, knocking over one of the men still on his feet, and sending him careening into his comrade who was trying to pry the walker off the first man. The surprise left them reeling, and Remy grabbed the door and held it shut as the fresh wounds quickly infected and turned their injured team mate who subsequently went after them. There was a wrestle for the door and banging could be heard on the other side as panic set in. The red head held the door fast though, clinging to the knob and digging her heels into the walls adjacent to the door to leverage it shut. When the screams and sounds of agony died down. Remington quietly and carefully released the door knob. Her mind calculated her next steps. They needed a distraction, and an outbreak was the best thing they could hope for now. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend after all..." She muttered to herself as she concealed her presence by hugging the frame of the door and slowly letting the entry way swing open. She rushed away from the room before the she could clearly hear the shuffling lifeless footsteps filling out of the room. The red head took quick and quiet foot steps down the hall; doing her best to keep her frame small and less noticeable. Her sharp ears tuned into the stillness of the somewhat abandoned school corridors. So far the coast was clear. Now she just had to find Noelle in the ventilation system. At least she wasn't in the hands of the raiders any more......

 

[fluffdaydreams]

Noelle protested. When she saw Remy turning around to face the door and away from her, she protested, almost ready to jump down the air vent and join the huntress. But, something stopped her, Rem's words echoing in her mind once again. 'Trust me'. Noelle paused for a fraction of a second, and let out a shaky sigh, before shifting to crawl her way through the vents. 


The echoes of what could be happening out there in that room was driving her crazy. First the nimble footsteps of the redhead moving around the room. The snarls of the undead, the clinking of the chain keeping it tied to the table. Then loud banging on the door. She could hear muffled yelling, but she couldn't make out the words. Her own heart thumped against her ears, and her heavy breathing seemed to drown most of the noise. Inwardly, the pinkette tried to ease her quick breaths, pressing a hand over her mouth and nose to muffle the sounds,  wanting to hear...to know...that Remy was going to get out of that room alive. The door seemed to crash against something, and she could only guess that the scavengers had managed to get inside. And then, all she could hear were panicked shouting, and wet noises of teeth sinking into tender skin...blood gurgling from throats and soft innards. Gunshots. One...two. Noelle froze on her place, unable to either move forward or backtrack to help her friend. 


It was over in a few minutes. After the initial panic, all she could hear was her own shaky breathing and she knew that whatever had happened in that room... it was over. And no one was still standing. Trembling hands pushed forward, knowing she couldn't stay there. She needed to move. She needed to find Remy. Because she was out there. 


Noelle just knew it. 


She looked through the grids at the rooms below her, pushing forward as far as she could get from that first room. She hit a dead end, and decided this was as far as she would go...and with a quick lookout, she pushed the grid open, and taking a deep breath, she dropped to the floor. Her sprained ankle protested as it made contact with the ground, and her knees buckled under her, hitting the floor with a hiss. Still, she stood up and walked over to the door, listening for any presence. Hearing nothing, the medic opened the door, and was about to peek outside, when a metallic groan took her attention back to the room just as the grid crashed to the floor, making quite the ruckus. "Oh, come on..." That would certainly catch someone's attention. Looking at the room around her...and then to the hall outside...the pinkette decided to hide behind a bookshelf. Maybe...and just maybe...she would be able to slip past whoever came to investigate the noise. 

 

[InkedFox]

A loud bang echoed through the emptied halls, and Remy's head jerked in the direction the echo had rumbled from. Her dreads split over her shoulders as she crouched low, and listened closely for any subsequent noises. No foot falls could be heard yet, but the sound had definitely come from the floor below her. There had to be a stair well that sound had traveled up. Moving swiftly and jungle running around the next corner, following the corridor down; she found it. A wide stair well that coiled up and down towards the next floors. She hurried down the steps taking three at a time and using the muscles in her thighs and ankles to cushion the noise of her giant steps. She froze as she swung around the next bend and nearly came face to face with a raider who had come to investigate for himself. Luckily the lights above her had long died out; casting the corridor half in shadow. He didn't catch her movement right away, giving her enough time to slink backwards out of sight.


The raider was mumbling to himself --something about needing more traps for the "fucking raccoons." His gun remained holstered but he wielded a modified bat with bits of shrapnel encrusting the blunt of it. He turned around the corner towards a cluster of classrooms. The hall itself was dim as most lights had also died or shorted-out from pluming having leaked into the electrical system. Cautiously he stepped slowly through the hall; scanning for any movement. Stopping short of a book case, he let out a sigh and turned to retreat back to his post. ---But it was the slightest sound of a breathe that caught his attention, and Remy watched as she continued to creep up near, as he turned and lunged suddenly at something standing behind the book case. The sudden movement and the recognizable murderous intent in his demeanor triggered something in Remy, and before she even realized she had rushed towards him, her knife was already sank deeply in his neck. Her free hand slipped over his mouth cupping his jaw shut and pressing him firmly into the blade. There was a spurt of crimson as an artery opened and the man squirmed in panic as he felt the life begin to leave him. Remy held him fast and slowly dropped him to the floor, allowing his final death rattles to be silenced beneath her palm. Her vision was pulsing now, and her ears were drumming in the same rhythm.  She stared blankly down the hall, trying to focus as all the details began to double and dance before her. The foot steps of a child running down the hall threatened to split her ear drums and she found herself swaying. The giggling of youth echoed; calling her into the darkness of the hall before her. Then, suddenly, tiny delicate fingers wrapped about her own and Remington looked over --her vision still swirling in colorful doubles. There, stood a tiny girl, with a sloppy t-shirt and mint colored overalls. Red wild hair cupped her freckled face. She peered up at Remy with warm familiarity and Remy returned the gaze. "Remy?" She heard a voice echo; light and sweet like a spring breeze. She thought at first it was the girl's voice, but the name echoed again; casting her delusion in ripples and sending her back to reality in a series of cold shivers that left the woman confused as to where she had just been. A familiar flash of pink, and soft ocean colored eyes grounded her, and Remington's wandering eyes found home, as they settled over Noelle's form crouched behind the book shelf. "Elle..." Remington whispered in a wistful yet exhausted tone. She outstretched her hand to the doctor. Her scarred fingers unrolling in protective earnest. "Let's go home..."