[hr][hr][center][h1][i][b][color=steelblue]Ash Holloway[/color][/b][/i][/h1][img]https://78.media.tumblr.com/c6f0f86d13839f8542e4b754c251da73/tumblr_ojog8uNf9k1qdhps7o1_r1_500.gif[/img][/center][hr][center][color=steelblue][b]Location:[/b][/color] Arnco Mills Safehouse (E10)
[color=steelblue][b]Skills:[/b][/color] Leadership [/center][hr][hr]

	[color=steelblue]"Zebulon, heard you."[/color] responded Ash, his voice still tight and authoritarian. Zebulon [i]was[/i] the plan. It was a good plan, all things considered, but a couple of things were nagging at him. First, they had set up caches of supplies in a number of places. Once they pushed out of the area, it would be a lot harder to retrieve them later. Second, Eden was still lurking out there. Assuming that it wasn't a huge suicide mission, and Thana was leading her team to a crushing victory, then [i]they[/i] had a ton of supplies in a few different locations that would be left unguarded. Or less guarded, anyway. Enough to make it worth the trip. Ash could make sure his people had food and bullets for a long time yet. Long enough to get someplace with a long growing season and start sowing seeds. 

	But that [i]wasn't[/i] the plan. He told Thana in very simple words that he was going to hit safehouses, then Zebulon, then Mexico Beach. They would end up meeting in one of those places, hell or high water, if they were alive. He meant to honor that promise and give Thana back her dog tags, then take her someplace quiet and make it a lot more noisy.  

	[color=steelblue]"No word from the third safehouse yet?"[/color] It was a shame. But it held a glimmer of possibility. If anyone were traveling on foot, or detained somehow, waiting until morning would give them time to check into one of the three established safehouses. And since they would have to get around Newnan (or the hole that remained of it) to get to Zebulon, it wouldn't be out of their way at all to check by Moreland on their way out. [color=steelblue]"We'll swing by there on the way out tomorrow and pick up any supplies or people we can. You guys be careful. We haven't used the fallback point in a long time. [i]Over[/i]."[/color]

        Ash looked around the room. Haggard as he was, he still wanted to move out, get as many as people he could and help with the assault on Eden, or even go raiding their supply outposts. Niesha was already asleep. The rest looked beaten down by the reality of their situation. They were already settling in. Morning. Push hard in the morning. They all needed rest now. Still, his mind was on Thana and Beatrice, even Gavin of all people. The others he didn't know, but they were risking their lives so that his people had a chance. It meant a lot.  




[hr][hr][center][h1][b][i][color=dc143c]Thalia Carmichael[/color][/i][/b][/h1][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/e4117d5f-65c8-4b8e-98df-5810a59267c5.jpg[/img][hr][b][color=crimson]Location:[/color][/b] Eden, top of stairs
[b][color=dc143c]Skills:[/color][/b] Stealth, Pistol, Sharp Weapons [hr][hr][/center]

        Thalia heard the shots. But it more than that, she heard the singing [i]stop[/i]. Abruptly, painfully, the logical part of her brain knew what that most likely meant, but she wasn't going to allow herself to believe it until she set her own eyes to it. Not even Gavin's pleading supplication to whomever was listening registered fully with her. 

        Lola was her best friend in the world. She was larger than life. She was invincible. It didn't matter that everything she did flew in the face of actual survival tactics, she always overcame whatever problems were thrown at her. These thoughts stayed with Thalia as she ascended the stairs, weapons at the ready. This was still killing ground, after all, made evident by continuing gunfire and the Texan's insistence that they had more hostiles upstairs.

        She saw Gavin first, bleeding but still kicking, and stepped around him with her 9mm raised. She didn't waste time with words, preferring to greet the person responsible for Gavin's blood seeing open air with two shots; one striking his gut and the other drilling into the top of his head when he doubled over. She mentally took stock of the rounds left in her weapon. Yeah, she was good for now. She was even becoming fond of the Beretta she claimed from Thana's friend's belongings. 

        That's when Thalia saw her. Lola'a lifeless body sprawled on the floor, covered in her own blood. Her pulse pounded in her ears aa a wave of apologetic sorrow washed over her. Lola was here because she was Thalia's friend, period. She might have been just as happy going with their original plan that took them into Texas and then Mexico, riding the highways and living off of the land. Lola made her own choices. Thalia couldn't help feeling partly responsible anyway. Slowly, carefully, she took one knee beside her fallen friend and replaced the machete in her hand with the knife at Lola's belt. She pressed the tip to the sweet spot on the back of her head near where the spine joins the skull, and with a deft motion ensured that her rest would remain undisturbed. Thalia allowed herself a second of grief; just enough that single lines of tears marred the ashen death design on her face. Somehow, it made her look more intimidating, more driven, now that she was painted with honest emotion.

        Movement caught the corner of her eye. Before she knew what was happening, her gun was already raised and firing off two shots, catching a nasty piece of someone coming out of the room to the east. Maybe he was dead, maybe he wasn't, but the son-of-a-bitch wasn't moving and there was a slowly growing red puddle around him. Thalia snatched up her machete and rose from the floor. There would most certainly be others. 

        Crying time was over for now. This was a new floor full of horrors and people who needed to be put down like the rabid dogs they were. Lola was gone, Gavin was hurt but not dead, and between Thalia and the big Texan, they had to hold the area until the others could filter up. Taking on a tone and expression that was strikingly, [i]startlingly[/i] like her Tio Caesar, Thalia called down the stairs, [color=dc143c]"We need to move. Now."[/color]