[hr][center][h1][color=steelblue]Ash[/color] & [color=DC143C]Dexter[/color][/h1]
[img]http://www.chud.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Aliens_5_70072.jpg[/img] & [img]http://i.imgur.com/kq4MyaO.png[/img][/center]
[hr][center][b]Location:[/b] Newnan 
[b]Interacting With:[/b] Lorna, Meg, lots of Dead People
[/center][hr]

Ash was having a bad day. 

Don't get me wrong, the past handful of hours weren't that great for anyone else. But Ash was having a [i]really[/i] bad day. 

Now, the plan was going ok, more or less. The occasional hiccup occurs with every plan. For instance: Walking down to one's truck from the front door of a building should take a half minute, maybe less. If one finds a penny on the ground and stoops to pick it up (for luck), maybe a little more. Now, add flesh-devouring corpses and armed invaders to the mix, and that simple jog to the truck becomes a poorly choreographed epileptic circle-jerk, dominated by the smell of rot and the flash of midday sun glinting from the ascending and descending steel of melee weaponry. 

Just getting to the truck was an exercise of stamina. Two people pushing a gurney to run blocker for the rest of the crew sounds easy enough in theory. Accounting for the Dead that got knocked down, or that were three deep, required course corrections. It required various pauses to split rotting faces, bludgeon through putrid wig melons. The movement of a few scant meters took way to much time and WAY too much effort, and though the payoff for such a move was minimal, the penalty for not making it was catastrophic. 

They fought for every inch of ground between the door and that pickup. Eventually, Ash had to keep purely to swinging his longer blade while Dexter used the gurney as a mobile barrier. Luckily, a good half of the Dead were distracted by Zoie's unorthodox maneuver. That lady had problems, in Ash's opinion, but the crazy country girl had given them a better opening to get their job done. As soon as he got his cap back from Kris, he'd make sure to tip it to her. 

As soon as they all made it to the vehicle, Ash grabbed the gurney and swung it back around behind them, trying to block the progress of the last few stragglers. From the corner of his vision, he could see that Lorna was in a tight spot. The Marine could handle herself, true enough, but this would be taxing for anyone, doubly so after the day she and Kris had, if their descriptions were accurate. And [i]this[/i] one could swear with the best of them. Unfortunately, this latest bout of profanity was symptomatic of an issue slightly more pressing than their usual "we may die at any moment" fare. 

[color=olive]“How the fuck do these things manage to keep their strength?! God fucking damn it!”[/color]

With this latest [color=olive]damn it[/color] variation, Ash had vertically inserted his machete into the skull of another Walker. The angle, coupled with the irregular distance across the gurney, made it just a little easier for Ash to be less attentive to his follow-through. His blade held fast in its calcified Bastille, prompting a change of plan for the embattled engineer. Lorna was in a bad place. This in mind, Ashton released his hold on his blade, simultaneously dropping to his knees and freeing his knife from the back of his belt. His free hand wrapped around the forearm of the corpse clawing at Lorna's leg, pulling it toward himself, even as the tip of his blade reached forward. Hard steel met and split creamy eye wide open, continuing inward to pierce its corrupted brain. 

It didn't even shudder; it was like a switch turning off. The re-dead creature simply stopped moving, partially on Lorna's boot. Ash rose, twisted his machete free, and opened the truck door for Meg to enter. 

His walkie sounded from his belt, their eyes above passing along something distressing. [color=lightgreen]"Hey Ashton, its Maria I see someone in the alleyways making their way towards the armory. I don't know if its one of ours or one of our new hostile next door neighbors what do you think?"[/color]

[color=steelblue]"Shit. It's a race, guys. Let's haul. Lorna! You good?"[/color] He hopped in the back of the truck and unslung his carbine, piping back to Maria, [color=steelblue]"Heard. We're in route. If you get a clear shot and it's a stranger, take it."[/color]