Ashton Holloway
Location: Newnan
Interacting With: Leann, Maria, Kristina, Lorna
From what he could see, part of the wall was down, Leann had a stranger pressed to the ground with a knife at his throat, and it looked like someone had fired dead people out of a cannon randomly.
They were all over the walls, the Dead, some still stuck to solid brick exteriors like that Coyote from the cartoons, waiting to slide down comically and land in a heap. Most seemed inert, but others... Newnan would have to be cleared, if it was even still viable. Windows were broken, fences shattered. It looked very much like some angry deity took a venomous shart across the settlement of Newnan. Well, Ash did tell them to be ready to fight. Hopefully, they were locked and wary.
Ashton's eyes took on a hard aspect. If he had not switched to "Business Mode" before, he definitely did so now. Ash approached the scene and drew his sidearm, chambering a bullet in clear view of the man on the ground. He bent down and pressed the barrel to the intruder's head, just to let him know where the business end was pointed, and stepped on his neck.
"If you move," he whispered,
"if you twitch in a way I object to, if you speak out of turn, I will paralyze you and let you drown in the rainwater." As if to overly emphasize his point, Ash slid his machete from its sheath and held it at the ready.
He quickly stood, gun pointed down and foot still in place, and addressed Leann.
"Ma'am, we found two survivors before your distress came through: Kristina Smith and Lorna Dunn; Lorna of the United States Marine Corps. They're good people, Maria can vouch for them. They had enough trust to get my M4 willingly. He glanced at the two newcomers,
"Ma'am, and ma'am - This is Lt. Colonel Leann McCormick, USAF, Commanding Officer of the Newnan Safe Zone, such as it is presently."
"Colonel, what's our status?"
Caesar Gonzalez
Location: Church Street - Whitesburg
Interacting With: Meg, Satellite Phone, Survivors
Caesar shook his head from the truck bed, and shouted into the open rear window,
"Can't go back through this. Can't stay here. Get ahead of the herd, maybe head south and come back another way."He looked over to his newest responsibility, the young lady with the broken ankle. If they were driving back into a warzone, bringing someone injured that needed protection would be a liability. On the other hand, he couldn't drop them back off in the world. It would be as good as killing them. The infirmary was usually a defended location; if they could get her there, they stood a good chance all around.
Still, getting back was going to be a problem. At least, getting back quickly.
"I'll call up M'hija, see if she got that message clearer." Thank God for satellite phones. As long as he could charge the battery, it would be useful for
years to come, with a clear signal everywhere, every time.
He thumbed the number into his device, trying hard to keep the errant splatter of rain from its screen.
...ring... ...ring... ...ring... ...ring... ...ring... ...ring... ...ring...
"M'hija, where you at? You get that mes... Why the fuck do you have the phone?" He was growling now.
"What do you mean, "she's gone", huh? Was, what... no. NO YOU FUCKER! ... ... Bring them back."This was his biggest fear realized. Caesar's chest was tight. He couldn't breathe. His heart thundered in his chest; if it hit any harder it would burst from his ribcage and lay upon the bed of the truck. It certainly wouldn't have hurt any worse then the pain he felt now. His skin seemed on fire. There was such a weight on him, such a weight. It was as if his soul became a tangible thing, just long enough to be maimed and burned, and shoved back in place incorrectly. The phone slipped from Caesar's hand, clattering clumsily on the truck bed.
He couldn't speak, at least not out loud. Instead, a repeating whisper issued from the man's lips.
"...no, m'hija, no baby girl, por favor..."For the first time, possibly ever, Caesar Hannibal Gonzalez truly looked
old.
James Grady
Location: On the road back to Newnan
Interacting With: Zoie, Dexter, Jamie, Richard, and an unexpected call
The Hordebuster was full. His new arrivals were jumbled into the sleeper cabin, and into the foldaway seat located nearby. Now, the passenger seat still had no one in it, but it contained the rifle and bag that made up Alicia's personal effects. He had to shuffle some things around to accommodate the newcomers, which meant his effects and his own rifle were stacked (almost) neatly along with hers.
Moving his Barrett was the most difficult part. James had to drive, but, being out of sorts and surrounded by people he didn't know, he refused to put away his handgun. Between those details the large dimensions of the weapon, it took a bit of doing to wrangle the piece into position. Yet he did.
James began to settle in, even relax ever so slightly, when a very unexpected noise issued from the passenger seat. It was a curious beeping sound. Not quite an alarm, not quite a bell. It didn't seem like any kind of warning the truck would give before something dropped off or blew up. So for a few seconds, he just listened.
Then it struck him: this was a phone! This was Alicia's phone! The only other one he saw that even worked anymore was... crap. It belonged to El Jefe himself. he was calling his daughter, probably about the message from home they all got. Well, sorry gramps, we didn't know any more than anyone else, but that wasn't the problem. He couldn't avoid it any longer.
Tentatively, James reached into Alicia's bag, and answered the phone.
"Hello? We heard the radio, but... I, I can't she, um... She's gone, sir. We hit a horde, Jefe. You don't even know how many. Found survivors. Alicia covered, saved one. The Dead took her. They just... Yes, sir. Yes I will. Count on it, Boss."James allowed himself one shuddering sob. Telling someone, he felt better. Not fully, just a crack. But it was enough to let him reclaim part of his personality. He was given a job to do by the old man, Alicia's father. And it didn't seem like Caesar wanted to murder him. Ok, shit must be gotten together, who knows what he was going to walk into when they arrived back in Newnan.
The drive continued. Curiously, the way was clearer, more direct. They could make it back in twenty minutes, easy. He couldn't say the same for the lady on the side of the road.
He pulled up alongside her immobile vehicle, allowing enough space so tat he could clearly see her from his perch, and she him. James hit the side window, and spoke.
"Um, Miss? That is a lovely 9mm you've got there, but it looks like you could use some help?"
Oh, I'm sorry. My name is James. It's been a very emotional day, so I'mma give you the Reader's Digest version, mmkay? If you need someplace to go, I can help. But you gotta give me some assurance you ain't gonna to shoot me and take all my shit in the meantime. Now, if'n you're interested, I got plenty of room in the storage body in back. Or you can hang off of that ladder on the side. (Like a garbageman!) Or you can stay here. Whatever you wanna do, just do it fast. I got recalled PDfuckinQ."
RPM
Zman
Shadow Dragon
Not a Sayan
Simply Not Real
Fetzen
Lewascan2
Arty Fox
Lady Absinthia
