Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by icmasticc
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icmasticc Chaotic Order

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C h a p t e r O n e



"So that's it? You're just gonna kill me right here, in cold blood?! I do recognize you, ya know! I know what you are! If it's true, how... How can you justify doing something like this??!!"

Icy pools only briefly glanced over in the direction of the frantic pleading before they returned to continue engorging themselves on the visual treat before them. The old trunk the rare prizes were hidden in was a well placed Trojan horse indeed. The trunk itself was clearly a relic of the older times, an almost distant memory of an age when things like luggage and storage containers were taken for granted and shoved under beds and in closets and in basements never to be seen or heard from again. The dark brown wood it was composed of was old, cracked, and rotting with ancient water stains and splinters sprinkled everywhere. The design seemed to be lifted from the much romanticized idea of what a pirate's treasure chest would look like complete with an overly ornate padlock and a matching, gaudy key to go with it. Some sort of metallic trim had been constructed onto the chest as well and it was rusted shut at first, but the persistent man who now squatted in front of it would not let something so trivial as rust keep him from such important contents. He squatted in place for a few moments more before finally erecting himself to his full height.

"You know... There's a saying that fits this situation," the dark-haired man began. He produced a crushed white box from his jean pocket and pulled out one of three cigarettes within. A gold lighter appeared next and a few flicks later, the smell of smoke wafted into the air inside the log cabin. He took a long drag and exhaled a stream of puffy smoke towards the low ceiling, still facing away from the panicked homeowner who sat tied in old rope and cable on the floor in a corner where two walls met. Pocketing the lighter, the dark-haired man finally turned and simultaneously kicked the trunk to the side so as to show his bound captive the contents therein. "Don't believe everything you hear. I'm fairly certain that's the saying. Correct me if I'm wrong."

The bound man's face turned beet red and his expression grew more fearful than it had been just one minute prior. "W-wait... I-I was just... "

The dark-haired man raised his hand, the cigarette in between two fingers, and the stammering ceased. "See, had I believed what I'd heard from you and your friends, I would have left here empty-handed. Because of that saying though, I knew you just had to be hiding something. And I suppose... " Booted steps slowly, deliberately, moved towards the bound captive until jean legs stood right in front of his face. The dark-haired man squatted again and blew a stream of smoke in his victim's face. "... If you hadn't believed what you heard, you might actually have gotten a chance to see the light of tomorrow's day." The knife broke the skin and slid into the muscle tissue and heart smoothly and easily. Icy pools once more fixated on the visual in front of them, the bound captive's face first contorting in pain and shock and then slowly losing color and vitality before finally slipping into the stillness that awaited every person. The dark-haired man stood up and gazed at the body with a look of stone-cold seriousness before turning and grabbing his backpack from floor where it leaned on a wall.

He went to work filling it with the contents of the trunk. There were cans of food, rolls of duct tape, gloves, some old trinkets and electronics pieces and, the most important find, bottles of medicine and pills. The medicine was what the man had originally come for and he grinned in silent triumph as he filled his pack with the stuff. At the bottom of the trunk, however, was one surprise he had not seen. His eyes widened for only a fleeting moment before composure returned, the surprise item was taken, and the trunk closed. Slinging the pack around his shoulders and adjusting his brown jacket, the dark-haired man made his way quickly towards the front door and emerged into the sunlight to be met with a single obstacle; another man, taller than he was, stood in front of the opening to the gate. Fear had taken hold of his face, but desperation kept him standing in front of the dark-haired man regardless.

"I know what you are! You killed him, didn't you!? Dale was a good man. A good father. And he was a damn good hunter for our community! The others might have run off... But I'm not gonna let you off the hook so easily! I don't give a shit if you're one of God's angels or not!" the fearful man shouted, voice crackling with nervous trembling. The dark-haired man snickered involuntarily as he reached for the surprise item he'd found in the trunk. He showed no hesitation as he pointed the barrel of the 9mm right at the obstacle that stood in his way.

"That's something we have in common then," the dark haired man cocked the hammer and wrapped his finger around the trigger, pulling ever so softly, "I don't give a shit about being one of God's angels either." The bang erupted into the air and echoed for what seemed to be miles. A small stream of smoke ascended from the end of the barrel as the fearful man immediately crumpled into the ground and a pool of blood began to form under his upper chest area. The dark-haired man released the magazine and shook his head in disappointment. "Only one bullet... " He mumbled. He shoved the piece into his jean waistband under the small of his back and began taking long strides towards the gate. As he passed the now dead man's body, he stopped for a moment and pulled the cigarette from his mouth. He dropped it onto the dead man's face.

"My name is Gabriel, by the way," he said before continuing on across the grassy meadow towards a settlement in the distance.

Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by corneredbliss
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A gunshot.

Beneath a curtain of unkempt, black hair, a woman glanced up at the noise, which came from only a wall away. With a swift motion she slipped the protein bar and the can of beans she'd just fished out of a cabinet into her backpack before moving into the next room. She was stealthy, with a figure built for agility, and her movements were akin to some feline. Mere seconds after the trigger was pulled, she was already crouching down beside the fresh corpse in the living room. His blood had not yet cooled, and his predator had already killed the last of his men. She smirked at the looter's cheek. The shot was unexpected, and was sure to attract attention, yet he pulled it anyway. Still, she would do well to hurry her scavenge of the house, and returned her attention to the situation at hand. The man who'd fired the gun would no doubt be striding off somewhere by now anyway, and Lilith wasn't one very fond of losing her toys. Especially ones that she'd been following the whole day. What a waste it would be to let him wander off with all of her goods.

Big eyes, a mixture of where the sea met the sky, scanned the doorway for any incoming trouble as she gripped the handle of the forgotten knife and withdrew it from the poor soul's heart. At times, it would strike Lilith as funny how the motion had been something of a sport for her, many, many years ago. Retrieving a blade from some fellow's most vital organ after a nightly conquest had been as normal as taking a bath. Now, in this literally God forsaken world, it had become a motion of survival. It was a perfectly good knife, made even prettier by the deep red hue of blood on it's silver face; yet another thing she wouldn't let go to waste.

The woman scanned the rest of the room, including the silly chest, for anything she may have missed, before darting out of the front door. Sure enough, evidence of her prey's naughty deed lay in a pool of his own blood straight ahead. Lilith, still watching for any sign of her man, moved towards the human and sighed with disappointment as she looked down upon him. The cigarette, which still had a good bit of life left on it, had already been put out and ruined by his victim's blood. How inconsiderate. She quickly dropped into a crouch and shoved her hands into his pockets, happy to be able to produce a small pocket knife and a pack of cigarettes for herself. Slipping both prizes into the back pocket of her dirtied denim jeans, she hopped over the dead body and began her search for the 'angel' himself.

What a joke. He wasn't an angel. At least, not anymore. The proof was in all of the blood he'd shed in the day alone. She had been his shadow as he moved from house to house, having found him in the first place she was planning to scavenge. Clever woman was careful not to alert him to her presence just yet, making sure he took care of all the dirty work while she slipped in easily and nabbed whatever he had forgotten in his wake. Lilith overheard the short exchange between the two at the front of the house, making her all the more excited to finally meet him. They had a shared history, after all.

The meadow in which she spotted him after a short walk outside of the gate was much too open for her liking, though it was good to see that he seemed to be walking in the direction of a settlement a little ways away. So. He was a family man. Maybe old habits died hard? Or maybe Lilith was making assumptions based on stereotypes that probably didn't matter now. In any case, she strayed off into the trees on the right and decided it be best to get closer to him before making a move, knowing he still had a pistol on hand. And when he neared the end of the meadow, she was right there ready for him.

Without hesitation, she darted forward, coming from the man's right side, and used her shoulder to shove him by the ribs roughly against the trunk of a tree. The bloodied blade came up to rest its hungry tip against the hollow between his collar bones, but despite the threat, Lilith flashed him an impish grin. "I think you forgot this," she purred, "Gabriel, is it?"
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by icmasticc
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The sky was a solemn mix of grey hues and shades, though the mere threat of rain remained only that--a threat. Gabriel sniffed the air as he gazed up at the gathering of clouds. He couldn't remember the last time it had rained. The heft of the handgun in the back of his jean waistband brought the now calmer man back to reality. There was no point in reminiscing now. Not after so much had transpired and so much time had already passed. Besides, there was no true home anymore, just a safe place to rest and resupply for the moment. That's what this life was now--rest and resupply. Thoughts drifted back to the contents of his backpack and Gabriel decided now would be as good a time as any to check the quality of the items.

Supply missions were usually easy enough. The area around settlements was constantly being mapped and updated by dedicated teams of scouts if the community had any worth whatsoever so the hunters always knew exactly what was around and where they could begin there search for good supplies. Once you were given the okay to actually hit the location, it was just a matter of following the map and being cautious of any bandits or strangers the scouts may have forgotten to take care of or missed in their recon operations. Once at the site, a skilled hunter would check the perimeter at least once or twice more; the difference between life and death these days pretty much depended on patience and preparation. After entry, the objective was always to get in and get out as quick as possible, but with as many quality supplies as possible. You never wanted to be in one place too long just in case other communities had sent their own hunters to the same area. And of course, one always had to be wary of nomands--the people who lived on their own and claimed no community at all. Once supplies were acquired however, the most important thing was to ensure the quality of said items. A good hunter couldn't just grab whatever looked useful, they had to make sure whatever they got wasn't rotting or falling apart.

Gabriel had almost forgotten this golden rule as he set his pack down and took one last look around the area. The meadow was a fairly open expanse punctuated by tree lines on the left and right. The hunter favored this route because even if he, himself, was open to danger, any enemy he encountered would be in the same predicament. At the same time, however, he always made sure he erred more towards the right side of the meadow so he could disappear into the tree line should he need to make a quick escape. He knelt down near the trunk of a rather tall tree and unzipped the dirtied and beaten backpack. His haul would be impressive to the rest of the hunters back at the settlement, but he kept his excitement quelled until he could verify the quality of everything. So, he started with the food.

Echoes of the bound man's pleas from the log cabin reverberated in Gabriel's head. As he check expiration dates, he couldn't keep his mind from going back to the scene in the living room and the exchange he had. A person looking from the outside in might have perceived the situation the only way it probably could have been perceived. In truth however, there was a little more to the story. Gabriel's mission had been clear from the beginning; he was supposed to go search for supplies from a promising log cabin the scouts had stumbled on after missing it during their initial mapping. Since everyone knew Gabriel hated hunting in teams, the modest size of the cabin meant that a one-person job was not out of the realm of possibility. At first, the hunter refused the job for personal reasons until he realized the possibility of a certain other communities' hunters being there. In the end, Gabriel only accepted the job in the hopes of meeting the man he would later kill.

After ten minutes, the stock was accounted for. There had only been three cans of rotten food and one bottle of expired medicine--the medicine would be kept regardless, however. Packing everything back up, Gabriel slung the bag over his shoulders and continued with long strides towards the settlement. It was only a moment later that he felt a sharp, blunt impact to his ribs and the sensation of falling towards the tree line. Before he could properly react, the assailant was on top of the man, knife to the collar bone and wicked grin on her face--her face. "Looks like you know who I am, but I'm at a loss here," Gabriel replied, reciprocating his own sly grin, "Seems kind of rude to shoot a woman without knowing her name, ya know?" Though he was pinned to the trunk of a tree, the hunter had been able to quickly--instinctively--pull the handgun from his back during the fall and now had the barrel pressed into the kidney of his unknown attacker--a good old fashioned standoff.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by corneredbliss
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Almost immediately after her advance, she felt the steel barrel of the gun press against her midsection through the fabric of her olive green tank top. Lilith supposed it was her fault for underestimating how quickly he'd be able to draw it under attack, and admittedly, she was impressed by his sharp reaction. Any other normal being would have been regretting the amush right about now; but Lilith was no normal being, and instead of inciting fear within her, it only stirred her excitement even more. With the rest of the world in predictable shambles, it was hard to find anything surprising these days - an idea that depressed Lilith as much as their eternal banishment did. Perhaps this angel was going to be more fun to play with than originally thought.

Her sudden enthusiasm, wildly disproportionate to the situation, broke the impish grin into an open-mouthed smile. With the stolen blade still taut against the base of his throat, she let her head fall slightly to her left shoulder, almost seeming flattered that he had taken the time to come to this standoff with her. "A merciless killer and a gentleman?" she gasped, "My, my... Maybe I should have given you Lord-lovers a second look a long time ago. Where have you been hiding, hm?"

Then her gaze became intent on Gabriel's face, while still bearing the air of mischief. She would search for some flicker of recognition at her next words. Regardless of whether it came or not, she kept watching him as she continued, curious as to what his reaction might be. "I suppose you can say I played for the other team in the big, bad battle. Or the big inconvenience, in my opinion." She chuckled at her own joke, and tacked on an afterthought, in case she wasn't clear enough. "Lilith: ex-demon, at your service."
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by icmasticc
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With their gazes intently deadlocked and the grin never leaving his face, Gabriel peered directly into the olive green of Lilith's eyes.

"Good to know ya."

And then he pulled the trigger.

Click... Clack.

The duo were surrounded in an instant. Six figures emerged from the shadows of the inner depths of the woods behind them and each brandished a long-gun or handgun of some sort. They were all dressed in brown jackets and either black or beige khakis, some with thigh straps and holsters and others with large hunting knives secured to pistol belts. All of them wore black masks that only covered their faces with a collection of straps that contoured around the back of their heads and met somewhere near their crowns. The masks were completely devoid of anything on the outside save for angrily arched eye lenses that, though black in color, were obviously tinted so each person could easily see what they needed to. Every barrel held steady on Gabriel and Lilith on the ground though the group wisely kept some distance between them and their targets--smart, almost as if learned or trained behavior. Gabriel's finger had only managed to pull the trigger halfway before the unknown mob pounced and his gaze had long since broken with this previous attacker in order to keep eyes on the new, obviously more dangerous threat. He narrowed his eyes.

"Well, shit," he flatly stated, "And here I thought karma was no longer a fucking thing."

One of the figures, a taller, slightly bulkier one with a single-barrel shotgun, took two steps forward. He was directly in front of Gabriel which put him to Lilith's rear considering her prior advantageous position. "Now this is a shock," a raspy voice grumbled, "I didn't think we'd catch two of'em at the same time."

Another figure, clearly feminine in stature and shape, spoke up. "I just wanted the goods, but you all always have to push for just a little more. We got lucky they got into it with each other, but we can't keep relying on luck. This has to be the last time, at least for a few months."

"A few months?!" Another lighter, younger male voice exclaimed. His grip on the hunting rifle he held was a little shaky, but he never took his eyes and barrel off the angel and demon. "Fuck that! We took a goddamn break after the last time and now how long's it been since the last job, huh?? We keep takin' fucking breaks, people're gonna quit hirin' us, shit!"

The female sighed and shook her head. The bulky man stepped closer to the two on the ground and motioned upwards with his shotgun. "Get the hell up. You're both coming with us. There's someone who's gonna wanna meet ya. And don't fuckin' try anything stupid. Even if you take me down, the rest of my group will mow you down before you even get the chance to look their way. And remember, it's not like your kind is immune to good ol' fashioned bullets anymore."
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