(Collaborative post written by [color=0072bc]Tomahawk [/color]and [color=00aeef]Sterling[/color])

[color=00aeef]Having traveled together for quite a while now Marni was used to and comfortable with the silences. Robin would take the front, she’d take the back. They’d discuss things pertinent to their actual hike and stay quiet for the morning. Marni wasn’t much of a morning person and if she wasn’t the one fueling the conversation it typically went unsaid. 

Which wasn’t much of a problem, the blonde didn’t mind Robin’s self reliant nature. She actually preferred it. 

They were making their way up the last hill (at least according to their map) before Leonard Wood would be visible when Marni started her typical round of 20 questions. 

“Favorite dessert?”[/color]

[color=0072bc]“This shit again,” he replied, grunting. “I assure you, darlin’, I am not that interesting. But… strawberry cheesecake, prob’ly.”[/color] 

[color=00aeef]“Yum! That’s a good one...I’d say strawberry shortcake.” Not that he had asked.[/color] 

[color=00aeef]“Who’d you go to prom with?”[/color]

[color=0072bc]“Didn’t go.” Robin chuckled. “Better parties to attend elsewhere.”[/color]

[color=00aeef]“You didn’t go? So there aren’t cute pictures of you in some tacky tux?”[/color] 

[color=0072bc]“Absolutely not,” he answered. “An’, truth be told, I fuckin’ hate suits… and tuxedos… and the like. Wasn’t built to dress nicely.”[/color]

[color=00aeef]“Have you been doing squats while I’ve been sleeping? Is that why your ass is so perky?” Perhaps there was a note of envy in this last one.[/color]

[color=0072bc]“That’s your question?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder with a cocked eyebrow and an expression of incredulity. “And - just to satisfy your curiosity - I had a fantastic ass LONG before I met your scrawny rear-end, woman.”[/color]

[color=00aeef]She frowned unhappily. She was trying to gain weight in her ass! Twinkies n all![/color]

[color=0072bc]“Just kiddin’. Your ass is fantastic, Marni.”[/color]

[color=00aeef]Readjusting her grip on the strap of her duffle over her shoulder Marni reached for one of her water bottles as they trudged on.[/color] 

[color=0072bc]“Here we go, here we GO,” Robin murmured, eager to view Leonard Wood in its glory: surely a Marine Corps base couldn’t collapse under the weight of an enemy invasion - one unlike anything the world had seen before, maybe, but regardless… with as much fuckin’ trash as Marines spit on joint ops and during training exercises, Robin had assumed that they would be able to back it up and hold out after the deflation of society.

He was aggressively wrong, per usual. “Son of a bitch,” Robin whispered, staring out at the half-ruined Fort Leonard Wood, crown gem of the Ozarks, home to fucking NOBODY - nobody that he could see, at any rate. Months of wasted time and energy, broken dreams of order and purpose settled atop Robin’s shoulders, undoing weeks of periodic tension-releasing massages from Marni.

He visibly sagged.
[/color]
[color=00aeef]At the top of the hill she paused beside Robin, looking down at Leonard Wood. “Well…” She sighed uncomfortably. “So much for the Marines…” Leonard Wood looked rather… Unoccupied.[/color]

[color=0072bc]“So much,” Robin muttered, placing a Marlboro between his lips with one hand and lighting it with the other, “for the Goddamn Marines.” Flicking the Zippo shut and tucking it into his plaid shirt’s breast pocket, Robin exhaled a tiny cloud of smoke, brows knit together in what could be described as the three time war vet’s only response to stress: annoyance.[/color]

[color=00aeef]Marni’s delicate nose wrinkled at the smoke wafting her way from his lit cigarette and fanned it away from herself. Disappointment wasn’t really the word she would use in this situation, she hadn’t thought Leonard Wood would hold anything of importance for them anyway, but being proved right hadn’t been as pleasing as it normally would have. [/color]

[color=00aeef]“Useless fuckin’ Corps cocksuckers, always bleatin’ on and on, [i]every Marine is a rifleman[/i], [i]semper fidelis[/i], [i]the few[/i], [i]the proud[/i] - [b]fuck[/b] you and [b]fuck[/b] your stupid oorah-spoutin’, corn shuckin’, cock[i]suckin[/i]’ Marine Corps.” Robin’s voice carried as he forgot himself in a bout of rage, furious that his prospects of leading a normal, structured life on a military base imploded before his eyes.

Marni glanced over at Robin before pulling her duffle off over her shoulder and fishing out her binoculars. Being a Navy girl she could have taken offense to this little speech. She didn’t. [/color]

[color=0072bc][i]Fuck[/i] the Goddamn Marines.

“What now, sweetheart?” Robin inquired of Marni, casting his simmering eyes in her direction as he worked furiously on his cigarette. “Oh, look,” he added, pointing at a rundown bright-red vending machine: “They had Redbox.”[/color]

[color=00aeef]Bringing her binoculars up she was quiet for a time. “One of the buildings appears to have power…” She murmured, lowering the binoculars and then passing them to Robin as he looked over in surprise. “See the red light above that door? It’s lit…”[/color]

[color=0072bc]Eyeballing the three-story building with her binoculars, Robin frowned, clucking his tongue. “First sign of electricity I’ve seen in just about nine months… the fuck you think that means?” There were a lot of possibilities, and it went without saying that the facility must have a fairly large generator tucked away somewhere, probably chugging away on diesel. Robin hadn’t seen a lot of viable diesel in the last few months, however… who could have a large enough supply of fuel to power a reasonably sized building for any serious period of time in this environment?[/color]

[color=00aeef]Marni shrugged. She had no idea. Obviously they had some power source… Who ‘they’ were or where they got it she didn’t know.[/color] 

[color=0072bc]“I don’t think we should rush into this,” he stated, setting the binoculars in his lap. “I think we should stay outta sight and keep an eye on the building; if somebody lives there, they gotta come out for fresh air eventually. Probably.”[/color]

[color=00aeef]“I agree...Wait out here...Watch for a bit… This wasn’t what we came here looking for...We need to regroup...Make some new plans…”[/color]

[color=0072bc]“Mmhmm,” Robin replied.[/color]

[color=00aeef]Part of her new plans included eating another twinkie. Unwrapping it she picked her binoculars up out of Robin’s lap, peering through them once more while chewing thoughtfully. “Guess the deaders don’t pay attention to the light over the door… Aren’t attracted to it…” That was good to know. Though her theory had mostly concluded the zombies were more smell and movement oriented.[/color]

[color=0072bc]“Yeah, they seem to be focused on sight and sound… not nearly enough juice left up-top to worry about a li’l red light.”[/color]

[color=00aeef]“Wanna set up camp then?” They were in a fairly good space, top of the hill meant no one could creep up on them...Of course that meant they were also rather visible…. Still! [/color]

[color=0072bc]“Yeah, darlin’,” he drawled in reply, “let’s do it… but let’s move, we’re silhouettin’ pretty bad up here. Anybody comes out they’ll spot us in a heartbeat.” Robin shouldered his ruck and his empty rifle, 1911 tucked into the belt of his jeans, and began making his way down towards a more palatable resting spot, a copse of trees and underbrush from which they could maintain a line of sight on the door without being terribly obvious about it.[/color]