[hr][hr][center][h1][i][b][color=steelblue]Ashton[/color], [color=cyan]Riley[/color], [color=yellow]Niesha[/color][/b][/i][/h1]
[img]https://image.ibb.co/bFbD8b/NAR.gif[/img][hr][b][color=darkgray]Location:[/color][/b] The Hordebuster
[b][color=darkgray]Skills:[/color][/b] Mechanic (Ash) [/center][hr][hr]

Ash's eyes darted to the rearview mirrors, taking a second to note the exact position he had inexplicably gotten them into. His beloved vehicle was mired in a widening swath of Georgia's famous red clay, turned partially to slush with the melting of the season's snow. The Dead were coming closer to their position, indeed many a few were already there, clawing upon his Hordebuster and making the prospect of leaving the vehicle perilous. This would not do. Considering Riley's suggestion on the topic, he responded with determination in his voice. [color=steelblue]"Leaving the 'Buster is not the best course of action. I built this girl to endure, and we've been through worse."[/color] He tested his luck with the accelerator again, hope bleeding away but unwilling to show it outwardly. Very little in the way of movement was achieved with the Hordebuster, but Ash knew that his creation was capable of more than it was demonstrating. [color=steelblue]"Even if we [i]are[/i] stuck, we're safe from the Dead in here. We stay quiet, they'll remember there's something more interesting to the south."[/color]


Niesha sighed and nodded. It would be a long few hours until the dead figured there was nothing of interest... that wasn't what worried her. What if a group like theres stumbled along and saw them? They'd be sitting ducks, even if they couldn't get in... all they'd have to do was sit there and let them starve and dehydrate in here. 

[color=yellow]"A few hours is well and good, but if it takes the dead longer to disperse we might have to consider fighting free."[/color] she said softly, glancing down at her things, she knew she couldn't waste any arrows. She had a finite number of them... and her bat, and knife. Neither would be good with a herd of walkers... [color=yellow]"Well... not the worst situation to be in."[/color] at least they were all sane, for now.

[color=B0C4DE]"Anyone got a set of cards then?"[/color] Riley asked as she leaned back in her seat as she could hear the tires trying to move forward from the mud. She looked towards Niesha and then Ashton understanding that getting out would still be really bad. But she wasn't that keen on staying in the car with a herd of walkers nearby and surrounding the vehicle. Riley rubbed the back of her neck and looked over at her pack and her gear that was there. 

[color=steelblue]"Cards?"[/color] questioned Ash, [color=steelblue]"Doubt it. Not giving up yet, anyway. Just saying, if we have to wait, we're good for a while."[/color] Like hell he was going to stay there any longer than he had to. Taking a different approach, Ash shifted the Hordebuster into reverse and eased on the gas, hoping to gain a little purchase on more solid ground before gunning it forward. The vehicle moved, but just a little. While it was not success by any means, it was [i]something[/i]. [color=steelblue]"C'mon girl, you've got this..."[/color] His voice made it uncertain whether he was speaking out of confidence or desperation. 

Niesha shook her head, leaning back in her seat, she shifted just enough so she was sitting on one leg, the other on the floor. If they were going to be there a while, she was going to get comfortable. As Ash once more tried to move the Hoardbuster, she shifted again, glancing about them as they moved just a little. Not wanting to say something, and jynx them, Niesha leaned back in her seat.

Riley remained quiet after her comment as she looked over towards Chloe's pack she had managed to take off of her body before leaving the funeral home. She closed her eyes letting out a soft sigh. She felt the Hordebuster move slightly as Ashton tried to get it out of the mud. But still no use she reached for her radio giving it a quick look over before setting it down to the side for now, she wasn't sure if it still worked or not but she didn't want to waste the batteries on it.

The tiny amount of movement was both disappointing and hopeful, as was the sudden quiet inside the cab of his big truck. Ash could get his Hordebuster the slightest bit of purchase in the muddy ground next to the road; hopefully it was enough to get them moving again. The Hordebuster was, once upon a time, a severe duty tandem axle vehicle, useful on work sites without proper roads. While the outside received a massive makeover and the fuel system converted into a multi-fuel unit, the core of the great roadbeast remained the same. It could save them, like it had saved so many long ago. [color=steelblue]"We're not done yet, girl. One more time, please."[/color] Ash spoke, treating the truck like an old friend. He shifted into reverse, bringing the Hordebuster back further off the road. As the saying went, "In for a penny, in for a pound", and there wasn't much good attempting the exact thing that netted so little results. Shifting back into first, Ash turned the wheel sharply, gunning the vehicle along another angle away from the squishy patch that was giving them hassle. There was a tense, laborious second when everything seemed to stop. The wheels spun impotently against wet, unstable ground, until Ash could feel a change in vibration through the frame of the truck. One of the wheels had caught solid earth and was pushing against it, hauling them free. Once back on the road fully, Ash exclaimed, [color=steelblue]"Yeah! That's my baby! Now let's get the [i]hell out of here[/i]."[/color] He could be stoic in a minute. This was a time for relief. 

As Ash seemed to get the hoardbuster to move just a little bit, Niesha closed her eyes. Which didn't do much against the noises the walkers were making, but Niesha didn't care. She sighed softly. Ash would either get them out, and probably destroy the ground doing so, or they'd be stuck here for a time until the ground hardened a bit or they could get out. 

There wasn't anything she could say, nor any advice she could offer, so Niesha stayed silent, keeping to herself. There was no point breaking Ash's concentration, and for a moment, she was enjoying the respite. 

Riley kept her fingers crossed as she watched Ashton doing his best at the wheel to get the Hordebuster unstuck closing her eyes quietly praying to herself that they would get free. When the buster finally got itself free Riley leaned back in the seat and took a very deep breath. Waiting for a herd to thin out while in a vehicle was probably the worse thing that could happen in her opinion. 

[color=B0C4DE]"Thank fucking god."[/color] Riley said softly as she ran a hand through her hair, looking over towards Niesha and gave her a gentle nudge seeing that she was being pretty quiet. [color=B0C4DE]"We are free."[/color] Riley said giving her a happy smile at least something was finally working for them now.

And it certainly seemed like things were working out for the gang in the Hordebuster. The big, barrelling mass of cowcatcher primed, diesel-booze fueled machinery was back on solid, level pavement, headed forward as fast as it could safely grip the road. Cautious optimism (or something that had to pass for optimism out of sheer necessity) filled Ash's words as they pulled out into the highway intersection, [color=steelblue]"Alright... I think we're going to be okay."[/color] 

Apparently, the word "okay" was the signal that fate was waiting for, having conveniently put a horizontal pane of ice in front of them, still hard and smooth enough to make a truck of its size lose friction with the road below. Also unfortunately, the laws of physics still applied, meaning that the object at motion (The Hordebuster) tended to stay at motion, unless acted upon by another force. Now, the writings of the immortal Mr. Newton had bearing in this instance for two reasons: 1) The Hordebuster couldn't stop, and 2) the poor sap driving it (Ash) couldn't steer. Any second now, another force was going to act on it, with potentially mortal consequences for the trio inside. Ash gunned it, hoping that speed would be enough to regain some semblance of control. The results were not ideal. Oh, the truck made it across, more sideways than straight on, taking out a business sign in the process and damn near plowing into a once brightly-colored orange building that used to be a child daycare center. An eerily calm, [color=steelblue]"Damnit."[/color] issued from the driver's seat, prompting one to potentially wonder about Ash's sanity yet again. At least being off of the road for a second time gave him the gift of traction; a thing which the former Army Engineer utilized to decent effect, getting the truck pointed in the right direction and back on the road. 

Just for good measure, Ash obliterated a lone corpse shambling cluelessly toward them as soon as they were righted. It's what the truck was built for, anyway. 

As things seemed to go well for all of two seconds, Niesha relaxed. As shit once more hit the fan, Niesha couldn't help it. She started laughing, a full on belly laugh that brought tears to her eyes. She was soon out of breath, but the laughter would not be denied. As she tried to rein in the now breathless laughter, Niesha hugged herself, her arms around her stomach as the ache of laughing so hard made itself known, and still she couldn't seem to stop. 

What twist of fate, what role of the dice, what flip of the coin would strand them in such circumstances, one after the other, and still keep them alive, still keep them kicking? It almost seemed like someone was toying with them, some god in the heavens maybe, or maybe one of those trickster gods or something, that just wanted to see them suffer, and enjoy that suffering. 

For a brief moment or two, Niesha was left breathlessly laughing, slowly bringing herself back under control. She reached up to wipe laugh tears from her cheeks, [color=yellow]"You can't make this shit up."[/color]


Riley felt the Hordebuster loosing traction as it hit a patch of ice on the road, her thoughts quickly turned bad as she thought that they would end up wrecking. She strapped herself in tighter into her seat as tight as she could, Riley took in a few deep breathes as she heard and watched the sign before them easily get turned into a mess. Seeing the children's daycare center that it had belonged to.

Then another walker ended up being the next victim of Ash's driving, though it was designed to mow down a bunch of walkers. Riley looked towards Niesha as she started busting out laughing, she didn't really know why she decided to be quiet about it as Riley thought about Amelia once more, still worried about her girlfriend and wondered if she did make it out of Newnan alive still. [color=B0C4DE]"Maybe we should start scoring points on how many things Ash can run over?"[/color] Riley said with a light laugh.