[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/PExzdE5.png[/img][/center] [hr] [color=darkorange][i]Huh? It’s just a stupid mutt.[/i][/color] The “beast” that came to ambush Dallas was nothing more than a wild dog. Standing about 20 inches tall, the stray collie was covered in shaggy, matted hair and had a serious overbite. It was hard to tell, but the revenant was convinced he saw some fleas jumping around on its head. It was by every meaning of the word, ugly. Dallas lowered his weapon and knelt down. He patiently waited to see what the mutt would do. Rather than approach him, the collie walked over to the mound of dirt nearby. As it did so, Dallas noticed that the dog had an obvious limp. He looked it over from a distance and spotted a clump of dark red fur near the dog’s hindquarters. So that was the blood he’d been smelling. [color=darkorange]”Was this your owner? You must have really liked them, huh? Sorry, I didn’t have time to build a casket.”[/color] Dallas gazed sympathetically at the former pet as it circled around the spot where its master was buried. It really sucked to have a revenant’s nose at times like these. The dog [b]stank[/b]. It must have been hovering around this place since the human passed away. A small part of him wanted to help the dog out, but wasting medical supplies on an animal he had no intention of raising would be a poor economic decision. [color=darkorange][i]Anyways, I better get out of here. I’ve wasted enough time as is.[/i][/color] Dallas took stock of his equipment one last time and then left the grave behind him, accompanied only by the cries of a lonely canine companion. [hr] Dallas reached the edge of Tranquilo not too long after his encounter in the field. At first the only indication he was inside the town limit was a solitary gas station. It was tempting to storm into the convenience store and grab himself a couple of beers, but he was low on bag space and didn’t want to be drunk on a solo mission. There wasn’t much else to see for a few minutes besides the tallish buildings in the distance where the bulk of the town had been developed. The first place he passed through seemed to be an old residential zone. There were a couple of rows of houses that looked like they were brand new in the 1960s. Dallas thought to himself that the place was so run down, it might have been abandoned even before the apocalypse. Once in a while he encountered a thrall wandering aimlessly about, but with a few swings of his battle axe he had the street to himself again. [color=darkorange][i]Ah shit, where am I even going? The Nest didn’t have any maps of this town. I should backtrack…[/i][/color] Dallas turned around and retraced his steps towards one of the gas stations he’d passed by. When the place was within visual range he instinctively took cover behind a conveniently placed wreck. The gas station was no longer empty; there was a dark gray pickup truck parked next to one of the pumps. There was a man in the driver’s seat and two outside the vehicle. A fourth person, a woman, was keeping watch with a DIY gun turret mounted on the truck bed. [color=darkorange][i]What have they got there? A thirty cal? Fifty?[/i][/color] Dallas calmly observed the party of four from a distance, well out of range of human perception. There were several actions he could take here. He could leave without a word and risk taking a bullet later in the event of an accidental encounter. He could go and greet them, and risk taking a bullet if they were bandits. Finally, he could kill them all first since they might try to shoot him either way. No matter what scenario Dallas imagined, he couldn’t see himself not getting shot today. Unvetted strangers made him paranoid. While he thought the situation over, he noticed an odd sound coming from behind. It sounded like… Cerise’s teleportation ability! The burly revenant crouched down ready to jump out of the danger zone, but he was a microsecond slower than whoever was behind him. [i]Click[/i]. [color=darkorange]”...”[/color] Big D had been held up enough times to know the sound of a hammer being cocked. In a way it was a good sound to hear. It meant whoever had the gun pointed at you wasn’t aiming to kill on sight. He stood as still as possible and waited for the perpetrator to say something first. [color=#40E0D0]”Toss your weapon.”[/color] Dallas complied and chucked his axe into the dirt out of arm’s reach. [color=#40E0D0]”Lie down on the ground. Hands where I can see them.”[/color] Dallas got on his stomach and put his hands on his head. He twisted himself as best he could to see what the gunman’s face looked like, but the man had a black ski mask wrapped around his face. [color=darkorange][i]Does this guy think he’s a special forces operator or something? What a joker.[/i][/color] The humor he felt inside didn’t reach Dallas’s face. The stone faced revenant observed that the interloper wasn’t patting him down for weapons or anything. How laid back. As much as he wanted to make a sarcastic remark here, it was probably not a good idea to antagonize the other person as long as he remained empty handed. [color=#40E0D0]”Just stay the fuck there until my people are finished. We don’t want any trouble, but take note. Your life means nothing to me. Don't try anything."[/color] [color=darkorange]"Sure."[/color] [color=darkorange][i]Jackass.[/i][/color] If he really wanted to he could probably kill the guy, but Dallas played it cool. Poppy always got mad when he came home full of holes. That thought was enough to maintain his self control.