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Clay. It was horrible stuff. After a recent rainfall it became like glue; thick and grey, sticking to everything in great clods, and ruining the shape and beauty of things that once flourished; now floundered. A single flower was poking its head bravely out from the entanglement; a single poppy, it's stark red vibrant and contrasting so completely to the mud surrounding it that its beauty was thrown out of proportion, to the point of obsession. It mattered not that the brave little flower threw its shoots up from the chest cavity of a man long since dead, nor did it matter that the plant itself was on top of a corpse pile. What mattered was the clay. Thick and clogging, it threatened to choke the poppy before its time. However, its fate was not to be; a calloused hand clumsily reached down and plucked up from between two ribs, and with some care, pocketed the beautiful flower. Sinner clambered back to his feet and stretched. It was dawning on him that he had tarried for too long, especially in an area as hostile as where he was. He clambered back down the mound, several times slipping on the wet muck on his descent, before he finally reached the bottom. And then he was off again, moving silently through the sparse landscape, head down, hand on weapon hilt. The days walk was uneventful, and it wasn't until dusk that Sinner first encountered what was commonly known as a 'crazy'. The man literally stumbled out of no where, into the flickering light of Sinners campfire. At once he was on his feet, blade drawn, watching with discontent at the site before him. The crazy was wearing the remains of a suit, torn and faded, and hanging off the mans gaunt frame in rags. His hair was long and unkempt, and he had the makings of a full beard. His eyes were sunken deep into the pits of the sockets, and rolled around crazily. The strange thing that had struck Sinner was that the man hadn't even noticed him; instead the crazy was busying himself with waving his hands frantically at invisible demons, flittering around in his imagination.

"Can I help you brother?" Sinner said, cautiously eyeing the shiv poking bodily from the crazies pocket. The madman turned, and cackled manically, and reached down towards his trousers, and towards his weapon.But he never managed it. Sinner watched with the sheerest empathy for the man as machete met the jugular in a fountain of red. The crazy dropped to his knees, and clawed at his throat, trying to breathe despite drowning in his own blood. A second later a second stroke of a blade ended the man as painlessly as possible, a strike between the eyes. The man fell dead to the floor, gurgling quietly away. Sinner did not sleep that night.

Morning came, and Sinner left camp site, travelling east. Beside the burnt out campfire was a freshly dug grave, a simple wooden cross hammered in at its head. And upon Sinners arm, another scar.

"Thou Shalt not kill"

BIC:...

Whiskey jumped at the sound of a deep voice coming from her right..

"You dont need to worry about that pig anymore... I had a talk with him and found hes lost his balls" Said a man with a scared face and a dead looking eye who was approaching her.

Whiskey quickly drew her pistol and crouched low in a combat stance..." Who the feth are you..?" she said thumbing the safety off her weapon..

The man stalled and raised a hand.." Names Terrance...and you can put the gun away...I mean no harm."

Whiskey kept her sights fixed on the mans chest.." Hmm...well Terrance...trust isn't one of my stronger qaulities...so I'll just keep my guard up ..if you don't mind"

" Suit yourself" Terrance shrugged ,seemingly unphased by the gun being pointed at him..

" Now.." Whiskey said " What do you mean I dont have to worry about that pig...and you had a talk with him..?...who are you refering to?"

" Garro.." The man said " I saw what he did back in his shop...when you were there."

Whiskey stared at the man..." and..?" she prompted..

" Well Ma'am...I don't think a lady should be treated that way...so...like I said...I had a talk with him.." Terrance replied.

Whiskey placed her hand on her forehead,letting everything sink in..." You had a talk with him...and cut off his...?" she trailed off..

Terrance nodded " Yes Ma'am."

" Ay Dios" Whiskey muttered lowering her weapon..." Well...you certianlly messed up my plans my chivalrious friend."

Terrance tilted his head slightly..appearing confused .

Whiskey sighed..." I wasn't particularly worried about chubs back there...I planned to use him for as long as I could...for ammo and supplies...if it meant him oogling my backside from time to time..so be it.." Whiskey shrugged.

" Well" Terrance said..." I doubt he'll be in an..oogleing mood any time soon.."

This struck Whiskey as funny and she threw back her head and laughed..." No...I suppose not.."she eyed the strange man for a moment..." Well...the way I see it...we'd probably best put some distance between Elysium and ourselves...before anyone see's what you've done."

Terrance nodded.

Whiskey slung her pack and started off away from the city at a brisk pace,glancing over her shoulder she saw Terrance following close behind...

" There a reason your following me..? " Whiskey said over her shoulder.

" Figured I owed you..." Terrance replied..

" Owe me..?" Whiskey asked..

" Well you said you had an arangement with Garro for supplies...figure I'd help you get some." Said Terrance.

Whiskey glanced back at the man...unsure of what to make of him...she shrugged " Ok Cowboy...follow me."

(good work mate)

Terrance makes a note to himself to avoid that weapons firing arc in the future, he diddnt fear it, hed dealt with worse but theres little need in wasting ammo. He turns slightly and looks back towards the shop, already people are gathering around laughing slightly, a guard bustles through and sees what happened and he laughs too, the mans talk drifts back to him, "What happened Garro? You slip on something you fat pig?" then garro points down the street and Terrence taps Whiskey on the shoulder, "I think wed best leave"

His SMG is in his hands and up to his shoulder, as he hears Whiskey yell to him he turns and runs with her, bullets cracking out kicking up dust and flecks of cobbles from the road. A shot hits him square in the shoulder but falls to the ground, his jacket stopping it admirably. He barely stumbles from the blow "Thats gonna bruise"

He spins ducking slightly behind a wall and aims his SMG, two bursts spit silencced death into the guard. Terrence turns and keeps running, "You shot first matey", He tugs whiskeys jacket as she heads right, "This way" he slides under the fence at his exit point and covers her as she sprints out with his SMG. One of the patrolling guards sees them but doesnt get a chance to yell as two silenced rounds puncture his neck. His companion falls with a bullet through his forhead.

Terrence nods at Whiskey for the last shot and they sprint of into the desert. His hands are swift at the mechanisms of his gun as he ejects the clip, laoding more bullets into it from his other pocket rather than loading a full new clip in. He slings the weapon over his shoulder onto its bandolier sling and nods to a building, ragged and nearly torn down by windstorms it stands in a cluster of other buildings about 300 metres away from Elysium.

"That'll do"

(ohhh, I want to hear more about these "Sovo slavs" although I have a good idea what they might be, the details might be important to my character later...)

Dimitri sat at the bar of the Saloon, unceremoniously dubbed "The Green Dragon" because of the neon sign in the shape of a winged dragon on the front of the building. He had ordered a round of vodka for him and his squad and they were currently enjoying a round of poker on a table on the other end of the saloon. Rivendell was a quaint little settlement, not just because of the trees, but also because of the people. Most of them were hard working ranchers or farmers trying to eek out what living they could from the mostly barren earth in these parts. While it certainly wasn't paradise, Dimitri had to admit that the town was about as close as one could get in these times.

He took another sip of the vodka and blenched, well, the alcohol was still horrible but at least they were set for the next few days. After they had gotten situated, Dimitri and his group had bartered and bought enough supplies and water to last them at the very least to get to Troy.

"Why do we have to leave?" Sergei had said, his mouth full of salted pork. "This place is pretty nice."

"Do you really want to be here when this place gets burnt to the ground by raiders?" Dimitri had said coldly.

"What?" Peter had asked.

"Things that are too good to be true usually are, trust me, in the next few days or weeks, this town will be swarming with those vermin."

"I dunno chief, you seen those 'rangers' they have? Those guys are pretty pro looking to me." Sergei had protested.

"The bandits have autos and vehicles, these 'rangers' are gonna get chewed to pieces." Dimitri had retorted.

"Well, considering your average raider cant tell the butt of a rifle from the muzzle..." Sonya had interjected. "If you don't think they can stand up for themselves then why dont we help them?"

Dimitri had given here a scowl. "Are you out of your mind woman? Do you all really want to stay here that badly?"

"This is the best place we've found since we crossed the channel, boss, you really wanna give it up for Troy? Where every raider in a hundred mile radius goes to have a party?"

Dimitri had become a little put off at this point. "Oh yeah? Well last time I checked, I was in charge. Enjoy your furlough, at dawn tomorrow, we head for Troy."

That had been about an hour ago, Dimitri's nose crinkled, the Saloon stank, he needed some fresh air. He walked outside and took a cigarette out of his webbing and lit it, drawing in the smoke slowly. It was late afternoon, and people were headed back to their houses from wherever they worked. A lot of the passers by gave Dimitri and his friends strange looks, at first Dimitri had wondered why but soon he figured that his own squad was dressed very differently from anyone they had seen in a long time. There hasn't been a professional military presence in this area in a while. But also Dimitri suspected it could have been their accents, he doubted anyone around here would appreciate Russians, so for now Dimitri had forbidden the use of the language among his squad. Dimitri had to admit, these people had it together for a town of about two hundred to two hundred and fifty people. They had roads, decent constructed buildings, water pumping and purification, a market district, and despite his own misgivings, a competent protection force and a decent fortification around the town.

Perhaps he was wrong about this town, perhaps Sonya had a point, maybe if they helped this town out with their special knowledge and expertise, it would have a good chance of surviving and thriving. And after all, isn't that what Dimitri and the others wanted? To thrive?

Dimitri shook his head, what was he thinking? He was right, in the next few weeks this town would be a scar on the landscape and he wouldn't be part of it.

A pair of booted feet approaching interrupted his thoughts. Dimitri looked up and flicked his spent cigarette away. Before him stood two men, on he recognized was Rosco, the other was a much older and more rugged man who had a large scar going down his jawline. Both of them were dressed similarly, in dusters and cowboy hats.

"This is him chief." Rosco said indicating Dimitri.

The older man walked straight up to Dimitri and penetrated him with his hard stare. Despite himself, Dimitri had never seen a man give a look so hard. Just as Dimitri's mind began to race, wondering the stranger's intent, the man's expression softened to a smirk and he stuck his hand out to shake, which Dimitri shook apprehensively.

"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr..." The older man said, indicating that Dimitri should give his name.

"Dimitri" he said, the older man hesitated for a moment.

"Well, Dimitri, welcome to Rivendell, Rosco here tells me you had a run in with some brigands earlier."

"Yes sir, we took care of them pretty easily with his help."

"Oh, how rude of me, My name is Marston, I'm the chief Marshall of the Rangers here in Rivendell and unofficial mayor of this little town. I'm sure you've noticed the foliage?"

"Yes sir, its quite...different."

"Yes, well, tell me, Mr. Dimitri, what do you plan on doing while you are here."

"Nothing, my people and I are leaving tomorrow for Troy."

"Ah Troy, I'm sure you've heard all about it, but allow me to make you a proposition."

Dimitri didn't like how this was going. "Actually, sir, We're--" He began until he was cut off.

"Excellent, come to the Ranger Station in an hour and bring your people, I'm sure your interest will be piqued." With that Marston tipped his hat and the rangers turned and left.

Dimitri watched them go and sighed, he knew he wasn't going to like this.

(rivendell... really?)

Tyranic Marta wrote:(rivendell... really?)

...Any port in a storm ...

(facepalm)

Tyranic Marta wrote:(facepalm)

...I did catch the LOTR referance BTW.

all of them? there were a few

the green dragon, rivendell, and rangers were all I got

but rangers isn't really LOTR specific

no but with everything else floating around it was

and yeah thats pretty much it,

anyhoo, FITZZ, ur up mate

OOC"...I'll be posting up an RP briefly...got a few ideas brewing.

ok mate

BIC:...

"That'll do" Terrance said indicating a cluster of ruined buildings off to their left.
Whiskey glanced towards the structures ..." Any port in a storm" she thought to herself and veered along with Terrance sprinting for the delapidated buildings as she snaped a quick glance over her shoulder to see if the Elysium were pursuing them.
She saw no one ...but that didn't mean patrols wouldn't be hot on their trail soon.

Whiskey poured on the speed,sprinting the last 100 yards to the structures,she was slightly amazed that the man had kept pace with her...falling only slightly behind.

They skidded to a halt outside one of the larger buildings and pushed at the door,it held fast and Whiskey cursed kicking it open.

Inside,the two leaned against the filthy soot covered walls catching their breath.

" Well..." Whiskey panted.." We just killed three Elysium Guard...we'll be lucky if the don't send out a whole platoon to find us.."

" They shot first..." Terrance said glancing through a shattered window through his riffle scope..." I don't see anyone anyway....I guess we lost them."

" ...or maybe their loading up for long range patrol.." Whiskey said..." Either way...we should probably..."

That's when the floor they were standing on gave way...spilling them both into the basement bellow..

" Damn it!" Whiskey exclaimed sitting up from where she'd fallen...rubbing her head and examining a large vertical slash along her arm.

Terrance popped up from a pile of cardboard boxes he'd landed on rubbing his backside..." You ok?" he asked Whiskey.

" Well...I'm pouring blood...so I'd guess not..." she said trying to stem the bleeding of the wound in her arm...

Terrance stooped down and examined the wound..." Need to stitch that" he said.

" I seem to have forgotten my sewing kit." Whiskey said.

" It's ok...I got mine" replied Terrance,he quickly poured antiseptic over the wound causing Whiskey to wince..

"sorry bout that..." He said threading a needle from his first aid kit.." This might hurt a bit..."

" No gak huh,," Whiskey said gritting her teeth as Terrance sewed the wound in her arm up..covering it in a steral bandage when he was done.

Whiskey stared at the field dressing and nodded " Nice work...thanks.."

" Happy to be of service.." Terrance said with a nod..

Whiskey climbed to her feet and looked around the basement...nothing there of any value..just piles of empty boxes and rusted tools..." Guess we should get moving.." she said heading for the stairs.

" Hold up." said Terrance..." I found something.."

Whiskey turned ,Terrance was standing by a small metal doorway...

" Wonder what's in there" she said walking towards the door..she gave it a tug and it slid open with a shriek of rusted metal..

Terrance flipped on a flashlight and shined it inside..." Looks like some sort of passageway ." he said.

Whiskey glanced inside,a long stone covered hallway loomed before them,she looked over her shoulder back towards the gaping hole they'd fallen through...and the thought of what might be arriving outside at any moment..she shrugged ..." Might as well check it out." she said.

Drawing their weapons..they entered the hallway.

Terence checked the load in his wepaons, for the fiftieth time he thought grimly, this place set him on edge. His flashlight was clipped to the end of the muzzle on his SMG, wide arcs of light spilling of the walls.

eventually the pair came to anouther door, nodding to Whiskey he grasped the handle and waited whilst she got into position, he pushed the door open crouching down aiming his weapon through the doorway, Whiskey behind him her weapon's muzzle a foot abouve Terrance's head, even crouching he was still tall.

the room apparently clear, Terrance battle signed to Whiskey and to his amazement she understood perfectly moving through the darkness parallel to him as they scanned to room, open doorways seemed to streach on and on, after clearing half a dozen rooms in what seems to be un underground bunker of sorts. They stop and in an unspoken agreement clear the final room andbarricade the entrances, "thisll do for the moment i think... weve found nothing down here, where do you think we should be going now?"

OOC:...

Night?...it's still morning...Whiskey had woken at dawn,walked to Elysium (which took about two hours),handled her business with Garro ( which took maybe a half hour to forty five minutes) and then met Terrance...so,by my calculations it's just 10:00-10:30 A.M...perhaps a bit later depending on how long the two have been searching the underground tunnels...but surely not time to call it a night.

oh... my bad that timed badly

ok lets sort this out....

FM Ninja 048 wrote:the green dragon, rivendell, and rangers were all I got

but rangers isn't really LOTR specific

(Ding ding ding, give the man a prize!

I'm sorry do my references offend? I'm currently studying Tolkien for my English class and its been fresh on the mind, plus, I love Easter eggs...

If its such an eyesore to everyone I'll knock it off

also, 'rangers' were more of a general term and that similarity was unintentional, I did, however, base their appearance on the force from F:NV )

reposted

Kat and Lev walked alone. The other women decided to stay in the town, in the non-burned buildings. Their funeral.

"Lev, we've been walking for days! Where on earth are we going?" Kat whined, her feet covered in blisters.

"We are seeing my brother." Lev said, in his monotone Russian accent.

"Brother? You have siblings?" Kat seemed surprised. She had thought that Lev's family was dead.

"Yes. We haven't talked much, but we need to talk."

"Why?"

"Because he had my gun." Lev smirked at the thought of another touching his precious weapon.

Kat remained silent until she saw their destination. She had only heard of it from stories of merchants and bards, a myth of the plains. But there it was, it's massive walls withstanding for years.

Troy stood like a diamond in the ash wastes, a glistening metal statue of human resistance.

The two walked up to the gate, and the guards began to pour out of the towers.

"Put down your weapons, and put your hands on your heads!" The loudspeaker was crackling.

The duo placed their weapons on the ground, and hit the deck. Then came the guards. Prodding with their weapons, the men in the ragtag uniforms searched Lev and Kat until they were satified. They picked them up, gave them their weapons and shuffled them into the massive gates. They were shoved into a small room, where a man in a pristine suit came in.

"Welcome to Troy. I understand you are carrying firearms. May I see them to check for illegal modifications? And will you please remove the... Suit? May I call it a suit?" The man had a high, whiney voice. Lev wanted to punch him.

"You may not, sir."

"Ah, then. I will still need to take it off."

"You may not, sir."

"Well, I can make an exception... For a small fee..." He was staring at Kat's breasts, licking his lips.

The cold steel of the .50 caliber rifle dug into the man's stomach.

"You will not. Never. Do not even look at her."

The man's pants became wet with sweat and urine.

"Of-of-of course, sir! Please follow me to enter the city."

The three entered the city. One was awestruck. One was bored. And one was lying in an alley, with a knife wound in his side.

cute

but ultimatly well done

Will managed to get into Elysium without too much of a hitch. It’s amazing what you can do with a posh accent and a doctorate in medicine. As he moved through the walkways of the market a man and a woman ran past. Thinking nothing of it Will continued, up ahead there was quite a commotion and a large crowd had gathered outside a shop. Will immediately ran over and pushing his way through the crowd he found a large obese man passed out on the ground with a large bloodstain around the crotch. People started clamouring around him asking who he was. “Relax”, he said, “I’m a doctor.” It was only a short time before he bandaged the man up. “Now where can I find the nearest hospital,” he called out to the crowd.
“Follow us.” The reply came from two uniformed men standing nearby.
“Gladly” and the two men helped Will haul the large unconscious man outside to a stretcher.

BIC:...

Whiskey glanced over at Terrance and pointed at a small footlocker shoved in the corner of the room...

She crouched by the locker and cautiously opened it..inside she found an old knife,2 boxes of 9MM ammo,a tin of sardines...she grimaced at them and tossed them over her shoulder to Terrance,she also found a small battered journal ...she squinted in the dim light and read the top of the first page...

" I saw hell tonight" she read " or rather those who should dwell in hell,Reapers I have heard them called,but I know Satan's minions when I gaze upon them.."

" Nice" Whiskey Muttered shoving the ammo and journal into her backpack and fishing out two cans of tinned meat..she tossed one to Terrance..

" First we eat some lunch.." She said " Then we head out..perhaps make for Troy.."

Terrance cut a slice of the canned meat loose and chewed it..." Go back the way we came?" he asked..

" I figure we'll go out through the sun roof." Whiskey said pointing to a small metal hatch above them.

Kais! Gimme an event! I thrive off events!

Terence nods, "check your loadouts, i dont trust this place... it sets me on edge"

They check their guns proving terence wrong when full magazines are all they find but he still doesnt trust it.

He silently ate his way thorugh the can. Then out of his pack he grabbed his medkit, "lemmie look at that cut" after checking it and putting a fresh dressing on he cleanses and washes the last in boiling water, which he then puts purifying tablets into.

Some time later he takes the water and puts it into a canteen, apparently pure. Then he begins to look around the room for a route to the exit exit, quickly finding the desired material he builds a crude set of platforms with assorted materials which he clambers up, taking an iron crowbar out of his pack he smashes the lock.

"Ladies first?"

Garro lay in the hospital bed. It had only been a few minutes since he had regained consciousness.
“So… who exactly did this to you”, Will inquired.
“Sonna b***h named Terrence, why do you care?”
“Just asking, so is there any particular reason why he did this to you?”
“Nope… no reason at all”
Will could tell he was lying. Not only was he sweating and twitching like a madman but he wasn’t hiding it well, due to his injury. “Well anything I can do just let me know, other than that the doctors can help you out. So if you excuse me I’ll be leaving.”
“Hold up, now there is something you can do for me. You’re an army man aren’t you?”
“Hardly”
“Well you could go and find him for me couldn’t you? I can pay you.”
“I’m no hired assassin Garro”
“Well then what do you want?”
“I do need a map of the area and some rations could help”
“Why sure thing you seem like a dependable man so why don’t you just take my jeep”
“What?!?!”
“No it’ll be fine It even has a map and rations in it and when you return I can give you something extra.”
“Okay…”
“Well here’s the keys, she’s parked out the back of my shop.”
As soon as Will saw the Jeep he understood why Garro was just letting him use it. The outside was completely rusted and on closer inspection even had mould on some of the seats. Having a look at the engine told him that this thing was going nowhere fast. A quick stop at a mechanic with borrowed cash from Garro’s till helped him get it going and he was soon out the gate. Judging from the map and the current landscape he’d say Terrence was heading to a settlement, most likely Troy.

Whiskey smirks and shakes her head, "Nope, you got us down here and your gettin us out"

Terrence nods even though he doesnt quite agree with that statement, sometimes its better to let ladies have thier say. His hand presses against the cold metal of the hatch and pushes explosivly upwards, he vaults out of the room and crouches down behind a row of crates, theyre still in the wrecked settlement although some distance from where they entered. Terrence reaches down and gives Whiskey a hand out of the hatch.

Looking at the light Terrence nods again, "We sould leave this place, who knows how long this place is going to stay up, we dont wat to wake up in the night with a girder through our guts."

"Whiskey looks at him briefly "Sure thing... but where to go?"

"I came from a settlement furthur down the road, its less than 2 hours walk"

"London???"

"must be, havnt been in England for a long time though"

Whiskey laughs
"Its a bit bigger than a settlement"

Terrence turns to her,
"plenty of room to hide then"

"alright then, lets go"

The two of them pick their way through the rubble of the settlement, Terrence realises why hes been on edge
"why havnt we seen signs of pursuit?"

"I dont know... maybe they cant be bothered for that pig?"

"perhaps..."

"I say we leave now before they find us?"

"Agreed"

And with that the two head back to the road as a marker for the journey.

The jeep turned out to top out at a grand speed of about 70kph. The barren landscape panned out in front of Will. Burnt trees and dusty rocks set into the ground came into view and dissapeared as he sped by. Two spectres came into view as he continued along the decrepid road. He soon pulled up beside them.

"Why hello there folks, and how are we all doing?"

(I assume you mean myself and FITZZ)
Terrence looks up at the man in the jeep, assessing his threat then noticing the carbine on his back he nods, taking his pistol he puts it between the mans eyes, "whats your name?"