Fight or Flight 3: Texas

Hearing the male name's, the one she brought in with her, Artemesia stored it way. Landon, Derek, and Kael. A UFC fighter and Marine, a medic, someone who had yet to have a function other than obeying orders, and then her, the little sniper. They were an odd bunch, but at least they weren't killing each other like the ones Landon and Derek had downed earlier.

She'd started up the stairs hoping this school was similar to her old one and all the science labs were on the second floor. If she was wrong it was going to take a lot longer in her search. She heard the sounds of footsteps close enough together to know the person wasn't walking. She didn't say anything as he caught up with her.

It was Landon. Honestly she wasn't surprised. Derek, being a medic should hit the nurse's station for supplies. I'll have to ask him if he found any pads or tampons in there. I've only got two left. Fucking blows. At least its never regular, but that's the bad thing too. I never know when the damn thing is coming.

Art glanced over at Landon and up so she could see his face. She smiled lightly. "I have to," she turned back to the front as she made it to a door and peek inside. Dead end. She headed to the next one and got lucky. The back of the room had the labs in it. She headed inside for all the hiding places, her schools had kept the burners.

"When I was in high school and couldn't pay all the bills, the power would get turned off. If I wanted to eat, I had to break into the school, bring my meat and cook it on the burners in here. Teacher caught me once. Gave me a burner saying he wanted to hear I'd eaten dinner every night."

She commented as she pulled two thin metal pieces from her cargo pocket and slipped them into the lockets on the back cabinet door. Within seconds the lock popped and she opened it. Before her were sets and sets of burners. She took two and tossed one to Landon.

"In case anything happens." She stated as she came back over to him. The whole time she'd been thinking of how to answer his last question. Why was she here? For supplies, but that was obvious.

The two of them headed back down the stairs before she paused a second and headed underneath them and down another hallway. She came to a stop as she pulled out her gun from the holster at her side, her feet automatically moving over each other in shadow steps as her training kicked in.

This was where her teachers' lounge used to be. The door was cracked, but she didn't want to take the chance of there being another person guarding it. They wouldn't all just leave. That was stupid. Leave at least one or two people behind. If they were in there and shut the door, it would be hard to get in and take them out. So being as quiet as they could now would save them effort in the long run.

She positioned herself right outside of the door leaving Landon to have to the other side. From where she was at, she could see into the room only a little ways. She closed her eyes and put herself inside the lounge. Most people's eyes raced under the lids and their breathing increased, but Switch continued to live up to her name as everything remained perfectly calm.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and the gray orbs looked up at Landon. She raised to two fingers. She used one finger and then put her arm parallel to the ground to say the person was laying down and the last one for standing beside back wall.

That was when a voice cut through the room followed by a low grumbling.

"They should have been back by now." The voice was harder to hear meaning it was the one from the back.

"Unless them peoples had tons of stuff to pocket." This one was closer, the one laying down.

Art stole a quick look back at Landon. She'd take the one to the back, he could get the one on the couch who'd have a slower reaction time and give the large man a chance to cross the small room to him.

Taking a deep breath and raising her gun to head level, the woman slowed her breathing even further down before she moved. She slammed her left shoulder into the door forcing it open with a bang that startled the two people.

She fired one shot before the man in the back could even raise his weapon. He fell with a bullet right between the eyes. She moved positions to cover Landon in case he needed it, but she doubted he would. She just didn't want blood all over the places they would be sleeping for the night. Of course, it really didn't bother her either way.

It was different killing a human than killing one of the degraded. As soon as the room was secure, she put her weapon away, but kept her place by the door. Derek and Kael probably would have heard the shots just like these idiots had heard their friends get killed and hadn't even known they didn't take out their opponents.


Back at the fob, she'd watched Maverick's spotter carry the lifeless body into the camp. Her chest tightened as she ran over to them, keeping appearances up that she didn't know anything that had happened.
She could see where her bullet had entered from the side of his head and exited out the other side. He was dead before he even knew he'd been shot. His face didn't show the pain or fear like others she'd killed. But it was his lifeless eyes that haunted her the most.
"I'm afraid of dying, Art."
"We kill people. We know how the world really is."
"Doesn't mean we can't be afraid of the fact." Maverick commented back as he passed the canteen back over to his partner.
"Death is just a fact of life."
"What made you so cold to death?"
"I watched most of my family murder, commit suicide, or be killed themselves. Death is nothing but another stage we all go through..." She paused for a second before looking up at him. "If you ever go to die, I'll make sure you won't be in pain."
The man had smiled at her and ruffed the hair on the top of her head, ever a reminder that he was older than she was. Switch had kept her promise to the only person she'd ever loved.
As she stared into his lifeless face, she knew he'd felt nothing, didn't even know he was dead. A single tear fell down her cheek to match the one she'd shed the moment she'd pulled the trigger.


Shaking her head, Artemesia pulled herself away from the past. "I'll go get Derek and Kael. Might want to get rid of the bodies before Kael sees them though. Might not want to sleep here if he does see 'em."

With that, she bolted out of the door and back down the hall to see both the men with clear worry written on their faces. She shook her head. "We're fine." She stopped as she came up to Derek. It was nice being able to look someone in the eye for once.

"Gotta question for you. You didn't happen to find any female stuff did ya?" She whispered to him. She wasn't shy or embarrassed about it, but she also didn't like her business being on display.

"We have a camp now. So I'll get cooking and then we can get cleaned up. Or whichever order people want." She said moving away from the medic to include Kael.

Derek looked over at Kael, slinging his pack over both shoulders and pumping his 12-gauge, smiling warmly. "Shall we?"

Kael grinned. It was the first mirth he'd felt in quite some time. "We shall," Kael replied. He let the medic lead. After all, he did have the shotgun and training, and probably had a better idea of where to look for the supplies they'd need. Kael could easily watch their backs. He'd grown quite accustomed to doing so over the past month or so.

"Bingo," Derek said. Kael looked over to what the man was referring to and noticed a small sign jutting out from the wall over a door. It read Nurse. The two carefully went inside. Being a crafty individual, Kael was able to quietly unlock the door so they wouldn't have to burst in via the medic's boot. Both had agreed being quiet as possible would be the best course of action. Derek so far seemed to be more like minded to Kael than the other two, which was nice to have after being a lone so long, and hating most people before this shith happened anyway.

Once inside, they made sure the room was clear of anything living. Then, Kael locked the door behind them, just in case. They then got to work. Derek gave the list he'd scrawled earlier to Kael, so that they could both start piling the resources the'd need onto the nurse's desk. Kael got to work immediately searching for anything on the list, and had a slight bit of luck, which was interesting to him. Over his life he'd never had any kind of luck at all, or if he did, it was bad luck. Nevertheless, he grabbed anything that was on the list and set it on the desk along with Derek's finds.

After he couldn't find anything else, he began looking for anything else of note. He was going through the nurse's things, and found mostly female products. Quite a stash, too. He started to move on, but on second thought he stashed them in his pack. Not used to having a woman around anymore, he thought. He smiled as he moved to organize the piles while Derek finished his sweep. It was funny because up until shit went south, he'd always, his whole life, had women in his life. Mostly just good friends or acquaintances. And of course the occasional girlfriend, when a woman finally did come along who wanted more than friendship. And then, of course there was her. His smile dropepd into a slight frown, as Kael zoned out, absentmindedly fiddling with the ring he'd at some point brought out from his pocket.

"Hellooo, Kael?" Kael snapped his head up to Derek.

"Y-yeah? Oh. Yeah, I'm ready."

"And you got it all sorted, too. Right on. Alright, let's bag this stuff up an-" A gun shot rang out from upstairs. Kael and Derek snapped in the direction of the sound, then to each other, then to quickly securing the bit of loot they'd found in the nurse's office. They then quickly headed for the sound. They were just heading out of the office when another one rang out. they started running. Once they got up the stairs, they saw Art heading toward them, completely calm, leaving them both confused.

"We're fine," Art said, reading the puzzlement on their faces. She then asked Derek a question discreetly, though Kael overheard being that he was not very far away.

"Actually," Kael began, matter-of-factly. "The nurse had a pretty descent stash. So I nabbed it for ya." He manged her a weak, though friendly smile. He was still a bit off-put by her. So far their relationship had been awkward at best. Perhaps this might help? He'd soon find out. "So, where's this camp? We can start organizing all our supplies there. Then, I say we scope out the shower situation after we've had a moment to eat and regroup and whatever." Kael really wanted to get back to that SPAM. He'd only had a few bites. SPAM or not, meat was meat. At least now days. It was the first he'd had in a long time.

Art hit the door, knocking it open and taking aim at a male in the back. She fired, hitting him dead center between the eyes and dropping him.
Landon made a straight-line for his target, charging him as rose from the couch. The other man who was laying supine on the couch managed to stand halfway up before Landon was airborne and hurtling at him like a human-missle.
His shoulder made contact with his opponents chest and he wrapped up on him, slamming them both into the couch with enough force to tip it over and spill them onto the floor.
The Fighter recovered first, thrusting the bat down like a spear into his opponents face as he tried again to rise, then, standing above him, he swung it golf-club style, crushing the left side of the downed-man's face.
Landon lifted the bat above his head as the man lifted his arm up to desperately defend himself from the monstrous man, to which his soon-to-be killer simply slammed the sweet-spot of the improvised weapon down, breaking his forearm with a resounding crack [/]. The former marine kicked the broken arm out of the way, then slammed the bat down, square on the supine-man's face.
His victim still had the strength to gurgle out a plea through his broken face.
Suddenly, Landon became enraged. He [i] wanted this man to die painfully, he wanted to bathe in his blood and misery.
Landon Wolfe took the baseball bat in both hands, seething and his face drawn up in a snarl.
How DARE he beg for his life . He slammed the bat down again with ferocious force, enjoying the the feeling of this man's life-blood on his skin and the crunch of his bones as his life faded. He raised the bat to strike again.
No! Landon tossed the weapon away, suddenly feewling sick to his stomach and exhausted. What the fuck was that?! , he thought to himself, suddenly aware of Art talking to the back of his head.
She hadn't seem to notice what had just transpired.
"Yeah. I'll get rid of them" he responded, nodding to her as she made her way out of the lounge.

He turned back to the body noticing he had busted the guys head open like a watermelon. The contents began to leak out as he lifted the body and carried it from the lounge to keep from leaving a trail down the hall.Finally he found a janitorial closet around the corner in an alcove and deposited the brained-corpse in there, grabbing several rags as he went back to the teachers lounge for the second body.
He tossed the handful of rags down on the gray-matter-and-bloody mess he had left with the bat, scooping up what he could and depositing it on top of the second corpse before lifting it up as well and taking it to the closet down the hall, tossing it on the first corpse.
Landon went back to the Lounge and stared at the massive bloodstain on the floor, still racking his brain for what the hell had happened to him, why he lost control. Finally he gave up and sat the couch back up, dragging it so the large piece of furniture covered the stain.
He then tossed himself on the couch, covering his face with his hands as he stretched out and waited for the others.

Art turned to look at Kael. She smiled lightly, nodding her head to him. At least he'd been either kind enough or smart enough to think of grabbing them for her. Now she wouldn't have to double back on them to grab the supplies.

"Thanks." She muttered, her hand rubbing the back of her head along the extremely disheveled ponytail and braid for a few seconds, almost at odds over the fact the medic hadn't thought to grab them.

Without saying a word she headed back to the kitchen and grabbed a pan and some cooking utensils. They could come back here for other stuff later.

She really wanted to find where the people had gotten into the school at, but she knew the others were likely just wanting to bunker down for the time being. She'd go out on her own if she had to after getting a meal and a shower if possible. She headed back to where Derek and Kael were waiting before leading them to where the teachers' lounge was, hoping she had given Landon enough time to clean up the bodies.

She peeked into the door and saw the large man resting on the couch. She nodded to herself as she lead the others into the room. Finally, she was getting a chance to take her weapons and supplies off her body and give her muscles a chance to breath. Once everyone was in, she shut the door, locked in and moved the chair under the handle just for insurance. Had the other idiots done it, the fight would have gone down a lot different with them having the upper hand.

Moving over to the table in one corner, she pulled the smaller rifle off her shoulder holding the wince of pain as well as she could before setting it before her. She removed the Barrett afterwards laying beside the AS50 and then shrugged her bag off along with the mesh load bearing vest. She put everything on the table from her pockets as well before emptying it all out.

She held up the liquor flask she'd found and unscrewed the lid. She sniffed it before taking a small sip. At least the man had decent tastes. She thought to herself before screwing the cap back and putting it with the rest of her stuff. She had one full MRE left and a partial of the one before that. Ammo she was fine on as well, but still running low on her 9mms.

She undid the holsters around her shoulders and laid the two Colt 1911s down and then unstrapped the two Smith and Wesson's from her legs. Once everything was off her body, she looked a lot smaller than before, but she felt so much better. No more pressure on her weak shoulder.

Switch took the burner and pan along with the cans of food to the middle of the floor and set up her little kitchen. Lighting the burner, she set the pan on top of it and started cooking for everyone in the room.


"I hope this is going to taste all right. Coon just never does taste right when Papa doesn't cook it." Art muttered to herself. She was fifteen years old. Her long white hair pulled into a low ponytail at the nape of her neck extending to the middle of her back.
She stood in front of her station in the science lab cooking the raccoon meat and turning it with her knife. Before long it was cooked through and she pulled it off with the knife not bothering to turn the burner off before devouring the food. It had been days since she'd eaten. She couldn't even get free meals at school anymore because she didn't have anyone to sign the papers. So long as she kept quiet about it, she wouldn't be put into a home, taken off her family land.


Stop thinking about it, girl. The past is the past... but then why do I keep thinking about it? Art sighed lightly as she finished off and turned the burner off moving the pan away from the heat.

"Foods ready." She took her spam from the pan and gave Kael is remaining pieces before handing over the pan to Derek and Landon for anything they wanted. She looked at the food again as her face fell.


Little Art ran out onto the front porch just as a beat up old truck pulled into the yard. She watched both her parents and uncle climb out without her aunt. She frowned, brows furrowing.
"Where's Auntie?" She asked the adults as they passed her. Only her uncle stopped to talk to her.
"She had to go away for a while."
"But she'll be back right?"
The man sighed lightly as he put a hand on Art's black hair that had light streaks already running through it.
"I sure hope so."
Only her aunt had never come back and she wasn't the only one.

Shaking her head again trying to stop the onslaught of memories for the hundredth time that day. It was getting worse. She needed sleep and soon. Looking around the room and at the men, she hoped she could find that peace here to sleep at least four hours. More would be great, but she didn't count on it happening. Digging into the food, she didn't say anything until she was done.

"I want to find where they came into the school at and take a shower. I can go out on my own, but if anyone wants to come that's fine too." She put the burner on the table with the rest of her stuff before pulling one of her handguns down as she leaned against the wall. The gun went into her lap, hand inches away from it. She shut her eyes as she waited on them to come up with a plan. She could at least rest her eyes for a few minutes while she waited.

Kael was finally able to relax. He sat down on a plush chair and leaned back. He allowed all of his limbs and muscles to simply relax and sink into the cushions. It was strange. Kael had to actively think about doing this. Relaxing like this was something he hand't done in quite some time. He decided he'd let his guard down and trust these people. Sure, he'd just met him. But if they killed him, his worries would be over. it was nice, to finally rest his weary body, in a safe place, amongst other people, with the smell of cooking food. He never really got much of this even before the world went to shit.

Once Art had finished cooking, Kael eagerly snapped to and accepted his share. He had been anxiously waiting to eat again. He enjoy his small feast, forcing himself to eat slowly. Though it was still pretty fast by normal standards. Not only was he perpetually hungry, he was now able to have a cooked meal., and it was delicious.

After he'd finished, he laid back again to relax. He let out a soft sigh before saying, "thank you, Art. I really needed that." He remained there, reclined, eyes closed, and he let himself drift to better days, ever fiddling with the ring. It was now free from his pocket once more, occasionally being spun or changing fingers. He barely even registered what Art said when she left. He got the gist of it. She wanted to check if there was an opening somewhere and about showers. Both good things. He wanted to check, but he was now one with the cushions. He figured he'd let another go. And even so, Art would probably be fine alone, judging from what he'd seen. He was surprised he made it this long with out this kind of break. He figured he'd be more use if he could rest up first. Besides. These military guys were more fit for this kind of tough life.

Landon slid his hand up over one eye as Art handed the pan to him. He simply passed it on to Derek, who took a piece of cooked spam and handed the rest to Kael, who in turn devoured the cooked psuedo-food like a rabid beast.
"I want to find where they came into the school at and take a shower. I can go out on my own, but if anyone wants to come that's fine too.", Art said.
"We'd be wasting time looking for where they entered in from. They had been in here awhile", Landon answered from his lounging position, the back of his hand back over his eyes.
"Yeah. We found a hefty pile of empty cans that had to have been a few days old in the pantry", Derek said from around the meal in his mouth, chewing gently so he wouldn't reopen the wounds.
"That shower sounds nice though. I'm covered in other folks brain-tissue and blood", Landon said to Art, grunting as he got up.
Art opened her eyes and rose from the cushion as well and the two made their way into the hallway, weapons in a relaxed position, but ready for action.

It didn't take them long to locate the showers. They were just barely down the hall from the cafeteria, two doors on opposite sides of the gymnasium.
Landon was a bit surprise when Art followed him to the boys locker room, but he didn't say a word, figuring they were much more safe in the same general vicinity.

They reached the showers, which were simply several showerheads and nobs in a large circle, no curtains, walls or anything to provide privacy. Again Landon didn't say anything, even as he heard Art toss her clothing to the side and turn a shower head on.
Landon did the same, but upon seeing the paint-job he had done on his black hoodie, he decided it best to wash it as well and just do with the plain white shirt beneath it.
He made it a point to keep his back to Art, despite the fact that everything he was a man demanded he turn around and get an eyeful.
He simply laughed to himself, closing his eyes and ducking his head into the hot water, enjoying how it felt on his bare-skin as it washed the signs of battle from his body and stung the drying-fleshwound on his side from the scavengers .38 snubnose earlier that day. He didn't care. His tight, exhausted muscles turned to jello beneath the blazing hot liquid-bliss.
Landon began dozing off on his feet, but snapped back to reality. After a few more minutes, he shut the water off, surrounded by a haze of steam and put his socks, black-and-white digital cargo pants back on and his boots, wringing out his hoodie and sliding back into his T-shirt.
Behind him, Art shut the water off as well, sliding back into her clothes before they both made their way out of the locker room.

"When we get back to the lounge. I'm passing the fuck out", Landon said, yawning.
Art laughed. The hot shower seemed to have raised both their spirits significantly.

Switch's body had fought against getting up from the floor, but she knew the shower would do her body just as much good sleeping would. So she forced herself up and followed beside of Landon. She didn't say anything and didn't feel the need. It the comforting not to feel obligated to speak anymore. She wasn't used to small talk and tended to ramble on as a means to try and keep away from the awkward silence.

When the man started for the boys' locker room, she followed behind him without a word. It would be stupid to go to the girls' simply because of her sex. She'd been the only female in an all male company. She was used to being around men while they were all naked. She'd broken plenty of arms and probably stopped many of them from having children during her years in the military.

She wouldn't hesitate to do the same thing to Landon.

Art untied her combat boots before slipping them off her feet glad to be out of the damn things for a few minutes. She slid the pants off afterwards and then pulled her shirt over her head, wincing lightly before removing the under garments. She pulled the bottom hair tie from her hair, unbraided the locks, and then pulled the last one out. She shook her head, letting the white strands fall down her back for the first time in weeks.

She turned on the shower head not sure whether or not she would be getting hot water or not. When the water started warming up, she smiled before laughing lightly as she stepped into it. She simply let the water course over her body enjoying it for the first few minutes before she soaked her hair all the way through, brushing it through with her fingers and scrubbing her skin as well as she could. Next time she would see if there were towels.

But the most important part, she put her right shoulder into the direct line of the spray, massaging the large knot trying to relieve some of the pressure. The water was helping, but she knew it would only be temporary. Too soon, way too soon it was time to leave.

The one thing that the woman didn't miss was the fact that Landon hadn't so much as glanced over at her. She smiled. Maybe he wasn't like all the other sexist pigs she'd grown up around and was forced to work along side.

Art turned off the water and shook herself dry as well as she could before dressing quickly. She pulled her hair back up into a ponytail before braiding it. She was ready at the same time as Landon.

She glanced over at him. He hadn't been lying about needing a shower just as bad as she had. It had nearly been five weeks for her and she knew she still probably didn't smell that great, but the shower was soothing. She'd almost forgotten how much she loved the water.


"Get out of there before one of them gets you!" A young boy yelled to his older sister as she swam through the swamp around their home.
"If they come for me, they've got another thing com'n!" Artemesia yelled back at Eras, who was standing on the dock, his arms crossed over his chest. He was never happy when the girl, four years his senior did things he didn't like. He always liked to believe he was the boss.
"Artemesia!"
Art turned around to face the opposite direction of her brother. Her eyes narrowed as she lowered the goggles onto her eyes and moved the rod closer to her body. She wouldn't be strong enough yet, but she was learning. If she was maimed or died in the process she didn't care. Life was too much of a burden to worry about dying too.


Switch's lips twitched into a smile. The thing had been pretty small weighing only a little over a hundred pounds. It had been her first live catch. She'd enjoyed dragging it to land and killing it herself. They'd ate well that night.

That was when she heard Landon speaking. She caught the gist of what he was saying.

"Agreed. With the door locked and the chair in the way, we shouldn't need a watch either. First decent night sleep in a long time." She really hoped it would turn out that way. She needed the damn memories to stop haunting her dreams as well as her waking life.

"I'll raid the kitchen to see what breakfast stuff survived too once we get up. We'll decide what to do then."

Meaning whether or not this was permanent or not. It wasn't like they had to stay. They could spilt the supplies and go on as if they hadn't met, but frankly, the woman was tired of being alone. She'd always been alone in life. She didn't want to die that way too.

She knocked on the door to the teachers' lounge three times and waited on the door to open. She secured it back once they were in and headed straight for the table with her stuff.

"There's hot water for now. Take your showers tomorrow." She commented off handedly before grabbing her empty bag and sitting down beside the table, right by the wall. She could see everyone else in the room as well as the door. She stuffed the bag into a little pile before she laid down, resting her head on it.

Her gun was laying across her chest, safety on, but her finger ready to spring into action. As soon as her eyes were shut, she felt herself getting pulled under. It was almost like she was looking up into the sky from under a very dark water. As scary as it was, she found it comforting and hoped she stayed dead to the world for at least a few hours.

The sand on the gulf coast was warmed by the sun, even though the umbrella had been up for nearly an hour. The water had been so comfortable. Kael sat and watched after his dip in the waves with her. Now he just sat back and watched with the most genuine, soft smile on his face, as he watched her frolic about in the waves and sand with her little sister. It was that moment as he watched and thought about how much he really cared about this woman he'd been with for the past four years, that he decided he'd go get the ring.

The knock came, and Derek removed the chair and unlocked the door. Art and Landon had returned. Kael stirred only slightly from his slumber, hardly moving. He peered out through the slits of his tired eyes and instantly remembered what was going on. Landon's big, flushed form stood out dark pink, contrasting with his white shirt. Even through his blurred, skewed vision, he could tell the man had just had a long hot shower. It sounded so nice. But only after he'd finished sleeping. He checked for the ring through his pants. It was still where he'd left it in his pocket. Good, Kael thought. Now to go back to coma town and see her face in paradise again{/i].

[i]Today was the day! Kael had been saving for several months now, and not buying anything for himself, save necessities. It took him a little longer than he planned because he still spent some money on her. He wasn't going to not go on dates with the one he loved. But mainly, he didn't want her to find out. At least, not until now. He was on his way to their place after work, like usual. He had told her he was working some overtime, which was normal. (Obviously to get the ring fast.) Today, however, he had just wanted to have time to get off work, get the ring, get prepared, and then go home to her.

He was now on his way home, ring in box, opened and gleaming on the passenger seat. He kept looking at it, fondly, at stop signs or red lights. He wasn't even anxious, like everyone was supposed to get. He couldn't wait to give it to her. That was his only problem was all the waiting.

Up ahead, sirens wailed by as police cruisers blazed through a red light.

"Jeezus, I'm I wasn't there yet! That woulda been one hell of a t-bone..." Kael approached the intersection cautiously. It was newly dark, and he was now overly cautious due to what he'd just seen. He didn't want to get hurt, or killed, on his way home. Especially not tonight. Not now that he was so close to home, and finally with the ring. He decided to turn down the symphonic metal power ballad he had playing louder than most people listened to music. He checked all directions to make sure no one was going to slam into him if he crossed, even though it was clearly a green for him. That hadn't stopped the last cars, and they were law officers.

Now that the music was down and his caution peaked, he noticed their sirens in several other directions, too. This was definitely weird. Some thing big, or several different things were happening tonight. Kael pressed onward, wanting to be safely home. As he pulled up and parked, eh grinned. His belt had been removed a block prior. He gabbed the box off the seat and shoved it in his pocket. He then jogged inside, not wanting to wait any father. He was so distracted by all the happy singing in his head, he didn't notice how awkwardly quiet the place was.

The place was really dark. That was not normal. Kael's racing thoughts froze, as did he. No sounds, no sights. Just quiet, still, darkness. He went for the door, which wasn't there, and nearly fell forwards when attempting his usual single motion of opening and entering. It was already opened. Kael got an immense chill that spread in a wave over his whole being. The porch light wasn't on, the door open, and Kael was legitimately scared. No lights were on inside. No one had been home since before the sun was up. He frantically began turning lights on, and calling out her name. The place seemed normal, though there was a slight disarray in some places, which caused his worry to increase. He went back to the door, closed it, and locked it. He then pulled out his cell phone and the ring, and sat on the couch.

"Don't panic," he said softly to himself as he called her number. "You dont' know that she was home when this happened..." He heard the phone ring several times, anxiously waiting her answer. Kael resumed gazing at the ring as he waited. He then heard her sweetly telling him to leave a message. He hung up before it could beep. He slot the phone back under the box in his pocket. "Where the fuck are you?" He said quietly, desperation leaking out some in his tone. He stood up and called again, walking further into the small apartment, toward their room. As he did so he started hearing a muffled, but familiar sound. He quickened his pace as he got to the room. The door was halfway open. He slowly pushed it open and found the source of the sound.

There was a faint, covered light coming from the floor. The light was the source of the muffled sound. It was her favorite song. Even though he hated country, this song he could tolerate. It made him think of her, and her him. Besides, the lyrics were so damn perfectly fitting for them. Hell, he'd caught himself singing it sometimes. But none of that mattered now. He now wanted to know why the fuck her phone was still in pants on the floor.

He stepped forward, and slipped. The hardwood was wet, and his knee was now damp with a thick flood of some kind. He had caught himself on the bed ahead of him by punching his ring box-clenched fist into the mattress before him. He then groped through the gloom, cursing aloud, as he searched for the bedside table where the lamp was. He clicked it on as soon as he found the switch.

Kael's eyes eyes were instantly filled with red. He was now on one knee, just like he'd planned to about now. With wide eyes he looked toward the jeans that the phone had been in. They were still on legs. Event through the gore, he knew those legs. The rest of her was pretty hard to recognize, though there was no mistaking it. He was now kneeling before her, ring in hand, without ever knowing what she'd reply.

Kael awoke with a jolt. Derek was waking him up. He must have been really out of it and slept soundly for a long time. Why else would one of them be waking him up? It was Derek and Kael's turn to shower, and Derek must have waited as long as he could. But now it was time to get their shit together and figure out what they all wanted to do. But first things first. The two of them hadn't had their hot water time, and Kael was not going to pass up this opportunity. That is definitely not what I meant when I said I wanted to see her face again, Kael thought to himself.

It was smart of them to go in twos. Poor Derek must have had to wait until today to shower since Kael had passed the fuck out last night. "I'm sorry," Kael muttered sleepily after they closed the door behind them and made for the showers. Kael looked over to the puzzled medic. "For making you wait to shower until now. I was out before I even realized it last night." After Derek replied, Kael continued. "So, they told you where to go, right? I just woke up and followed you like a zombie... jeezus did I just really say that? Oh man..." It was definitely kind of funny, but fucked up at the same time. Still Kael couldn't help but crack a slight smile. Kael continued to walk and talk a little with the man. He felt the most comfortable with Derek, so far. Hopefully he wasn't just biding his time and waiting to fuck all three of them before bailing. Only time would tell.

They got to locker room, and Kael's sleepy spirit lifted a little. He cranked the hot water all the way over, and began to strip while meandering around the lockers. He actually managed to find some shampoo, conditioner, and body soap. "SCORE!" He called out.

"What you find?!" Kael heard the echoey reply of Derek. He put his clothes down in the locker he had looted and returned to the scalding font of amazingness.

"Check this out," Kael said as he tossed the body wash over to the man who clearly loved the hot water raining down upon him. Kael stepped into his shower and turned the temp down only slightly. "Just pass it to me when you're done, and I'll trade ya." Kael held up the shampoo and conditioner in each hand.

There was only one way to describe the shower. Fucking fantastic. Had they always felt this amazing? Kael couldn't recall once time that a shower felt this amazing. Not even after a hard day of physical work in the sun, like pulling fuck tons of weeds at his parents' house in Arizona. He even welcomed the unnecessarily strongly scented soap that some dickhole jock had decided to buy. It was that AXE shit everyone thought was cool. Asshole back in high school used to use any AXE product they could, and in great excess. Probably because they thought it would help them get women. If anything, it would keep them away.

Kael was long since clean and lost in thought, and the water was starting to not feel so cozy. He glumly turned it off and located a towel somewhere in the back of the lockers. It appeared clean, and in these circumstances, that was fine with him. He got most of the moisture off and returned to his clothes.

"Oh, fuck" Kael said about half way back to their makeshift camp in the teacher's lounge. Kael turned to look at Derek. "They're gonna give us so much shit about this smell when we get back..."

"So it's true they trying to kick you out?" Deacon asked as he walked over and sat down beside of Artemesia where the platoon worked out for PT.
"Weh."
"Why?"
"Over something I can't control. Never have." The woman shook her head as she glared out at the buildings.
"That reaction with the shot they gave you during reception?"
"Weh."
"Damn, that sucks. You know though, they won't kick you out of basic. They'll wait until you get to AIT."
"I know. I'm planning on making it to where they'll lose the best solider they've got if they do."
"That's my girl, Art."
Art simply smiled back at him.
But in the end, she'd done exactly what she said she'd done and the Commander of Fort Benning handed over a waiver for her little issue and nothing else was said about the matter.

A small smile formed of Switch's lips as her head rolled back and forth from one side to the other, low mumblings under her breath.

"Hot damn! Is that Dimitry?" A male's voice cut through the throng of noises surrounding everything around her. Artemesia turned and smiled as she walked over to met Noble.
"You really made it and they didn't kick you out."
"Nope, I'm here to stay."
"Good, cause I don't trust any of these son of a bitches at my back but you."

"Noble..." The woman whispered as her head tossed violently to one side again.

"Congratulations, on your graduation from Army Ranger training."
Art stole a glance over at Deacon who smirked back at her. They were standing side by side with another male on Art's left hand side.
"I give you the three honor graduates who have excelled at the course. However, boys it seems you've all been out beaten by a female."
Artemesia smirked. While she, Deacon, and the other male had all had the same perfect marks, she'd been the one to shoot further out than any of them with the same results.
"You will now become your own team. Get used to each other."
Both Dimitry and Noble smiled while the third only huffed.

"Fucking... Shade..." Her head tossed back again as she settled back into sleep as the hours passed.

"We're in over our heads here. Where's that damn backup?" Maverick demanded.
"No, we're mal pris, Mav. Very. We've got to do something. Otherwise we'll stay pinned here until we're dead."
Without hesitation, the woman rushed into the throngs of battle to clear a path for the rest of the team. She was the best shot out of all of them. They just didn't like it because she was a woman.
Tough shit.
She cleared the area without any problems using the smaller cover that the larger framed men couldn't use. Another reason she had to do this.
She motioned for the others to come out as she stood up. Just as a shot rang out. Switch winced in pain as another shot fired and the shooter was taken out.
"Switch?" Maverick's voice called out.
Art put a hand to her left side where her IBA didn't quite cover her lower half off to the sides. She winced as the blood started flowing through her fingers.
"I'm hit."
"Shit fuck." The man cursed.
"I'll be fine. Get the thing wrapped in green from my pack." He did without question and handed it over. Art unwrapped it as quickly as she could before throwing it over top of the bullet wound.
"It'll stop the bleeding faster, but I may need more before they get here."

"Switch, CO needs you."
Artemesia was none too thrilled with the news. They had just gotten back from a mission. She wasn't interested in talking with the commander. She wanted to go back to her tent, eat, take a shower, sleep. Not deal with the man's bull shit, but she went anyway.
"Dimitry, I have another mission I need you to take on. It seems Shade has gotten out of hand and its gotten worse over time. I can't discuss the details with you, but I need you to take him out. He's been sent on a mission just to get him in place for you."
"No."
"What did you just say?" The man demanded as he leaned into her face.
"I said no."
"He's gone rogue."
"He is my teammate. If we take out our own we are no better than those you send us to kill."
She turned on her heel to leave the tent.
"Then Maverick will be given the job." She didn't say anything as she went to find the man.

"No..." It was as if she knew what was coming up and was powerless to stop the train of events even in her unconscious mind.

"You can't be serious!"
"I am, Art. The CO is right. Shade has gone rogue. It's about time someone put him down. It would be easier if you did it, but I took the mission."
"He's one of our own."
"And he's killed our own too."
"It doesn't matter. Snipers shouldn't be taking out other snipers."
"Drop it, Art."
"Don't do this, Deacon."
"I will." He turned to leave the tent to tell his spotter about the upcoming mission.
Artemesia's face showed the pain of what she knew was coming in her gut.
"Hey, Deacon?" She waited until he'd turned back to face her. "It's Artemesia."
Noble didn't say anything as he left the tent."

"Deacon..."

Twelve hours since Maverick had left the tent, Artemesia had gone to the site where Shade had been sent. She'd scoped out where she knew Noble would set up to take the shot and then found her own place where she could see both of them.
She'd had to climb up a rock face without equipment carrying the fully loaded Barrett .50 cal. She'd gotten into position, putting herself into the focus trick they'd learned from Ranger school and simply waited.
Switch allowed Maverick to set up as she watched him. She kept willing him not to take the shot to back out. Through the scope she could see the two days worth of beard on the man's face. See the dark hair that went to his eyes. He was laying in the same position as she was, his eyes trained through his own scope, his spotter a few feet behind him. Moving the scope until it was right on his head, she took a deep breath keeping her pace only a fraction of time ahead of his.
As soon as he took the breath, she released hers and took the shot. A single tear fell down the side of her face as she turned her head so she wouldn't have to see her best friend be killed, the only person she'd ever loved.
Only this time, she reached out as if she could stop the bullet and change the course of history. She was screaming, begging, pleading for things to go differently, but still the bullet hit the target.
"NO! Maverick!"

Artemesia's head whipped back and forth violently from side to side as she twisted and turned trying to escape the reality of her past. Nothing worked and she couldn't bring herself out of the murky water the sleep had trapped her within.
"NNNOOOOOO! MAAAVVEERRICCKK!" She screamed out before she bolted up right, yanking herself out of the dream and into reality. The gun in her hand was brought to bare until she realized what had happened.
She'd woken herself up screaming again. The woman seemed to collapse in on herself as she leaned her head into the gun, holding it between her hair and her hand as she fought to control her breathing. Her entire body was shaking as she stared down at her lap having to remind herself that it was over, the memory was gone - for the time being.

Derek's mind wandered as he and Kael made their way back to the teachers lounge.
The medic hadn't really had time to think about how things had been before, but the warm shower, warm food and welcome company had taken his mind off the stress he had undergone since the world essentially ended.
He thought about his coworkers, Josh and David. Those two had been a part of his ambulance crew...Josh for three years and David for five. He hadn't been with them when the attacks sky-rocketed in Dallas. Derek had been at the UFC heavy weigh championship as part of the medical personnel for the fighters. He happened to be putting a butterfly bandage and Vaseline on a few cuts Landon had acquired in the Octagon in the second round of the championship match when the inside of the stadium exploded into violence.
Landon had looked down at Derek and said "Lets get the fuck out of here", before ducking his shoulders and plowing through the crowd to a maintenance entrance, taking the smart route to avoid the bloodshed the crowd was sure to bring at the emergency exits. After following the maintenance hallway and enduring the screams of the Degraded and their victims from above, the duo finally found daylight and made it outside, but the scene outside the stadium walls was not something Derek, even with his years as a trauma specialist in prehospital care, was prepared for.
"Oh, fuck", Kale suddenly said, jarring Derek from the sobering recollection.
He tensed up instinctively, thinking his companion had been alerted by something in the darkened hallway.
"They're gonna give us so much shit about this smell when we get back...".
Derek laughed, relaxing visibly.
"Damn it, Kael. You scared the bejaysus out of me", Derek said with a grin. "But yeah, you're right. We're going to catch some shit".

Moments later, the two made it back into the lounge where Landon and Art had already gotten comfortable and passed out.
As Kael found a place to sleep, Derek locked and barricaded the only door leading in and out of the room, removing the need for anyone to play sentry that night.
He looked over at Kael who was already face down and snoring softly. Derek shook his head, throwing a couple of cushions on the floor before pulling his EMT issue-red hoodie around his body and going sound to sleep on his side, 12-gauge within half an arms reach.






Landon jerked awake when he heard the screams and instantly grabbed the revolver strapped to his leg and aiming it in Art's general direction.
Once the grog of sleep cleared from his mind, he re-holstered the .38 and got up from the couch, slowly walking towards her, seeing as she was was armed.
Landon waited until she stopped screaming and appeared to be calming down a fraction before slowly reaching forward to take the gun from her.
"Art. Gimme the gun", he said as he wrapped a hand gently around her wrist and pried the gun from her hand. To be on the safe side, he ejected the clip and the round from the chamber before placing the sidearm on the couch he had been sleeping on.
"Holy shit. Is she okay?", Derek whispered loudly. Landon sat down next to the sniper, slowly as not to alert her.
"She will be", Landon responded. "I've seen similar shit. She looks like shes having an episode of PTSD".
"What do we do?", Derek asked, looking at Kael, then Landon.
Landon was quiet for a moment as he attempted to drag Arts upper body into his lap, a comforting action all but alien coming from the big man.
"Let her know we're there for her. I did the same thing for the boys in my squad. Support them. Help them fight their demons", Landon finally responded, leaning back against the couch cushion and watching Art to see if she would fall back asleep.
Derek pulled the hood back over his head, turning his neck so he could see Kael....who was still snoring and had barely shifted through the whole ordeal.
"....You fuckin' kidding me?" Derek said, his voice hitting a high note.
He mumbled something under his breath before rolling back over and pulling the hood over his eyes.

Now that he'd slept like a rock for the first time in over a month, and had the divine gift of a hot shower--a blessing Kael thought he'd never receive ever again--Kael was actually feeling really quite well. That is, physically at least. He wasn't quite smiling, but the usual melancholy was gone. His visage was simply bright, active, and comfortable. He looked around at his new comrades. That's what they were, now. Comrades. He'd slept so well, no one tried to kill him or rob him. He really had finally found like-minded individuals. He looked from one to the other, his eyes resting on Art last. Well, for the most part.

Art was the only one of the three that he didn't really click with. However, Kael was fairly certain she didn't fully click with anyone. And so, he decided he wouldn't worry about that. She cared about him enough. She'd grabbed his hand and ensured his safety, even though it put her own life at risk. Kael knew full well that a US Army sniper would have easily had gotten away from the situation yesterday. But instead she decided to be encumbered by the life another person. No, Kael wasn't going to give up on her yet. There was still a good person in there, under all the layers of whatever-the-fuck-her-life-had-been.

After resuming his seat, Kael looked around again at the others. The three of them certainly didn't seem quite as well rested as he felt. "Well," Kael said. "What now?" Kael asked the question they were probably all thinking. He let it out in the silence and let it sink in. He knew he was down to move on as a group, and see how it would go. Couldn't be too much worse than when he was alone. And he could always tough it out on his own again. He'd see what the others had to say.

The room was dark, but as her mind started coming back to her and her eyes adjusted she could make out almost everything around her. Her body was still shaking. She'd been asleep a lot longer than she normally would have. Most nights she would wake up before she reached the point of Maverick dying. Tonight she hadn't been so lucky.

She heard movement and realization dawned on her. She wasn't alone. She'd teamed up with three people at the high school. She'd probably woken them up with her screaming. She groaned. Not good. The last thing she needed them to do was see her as weak or needing protection.

I should have slept by myself... Or shoved a rag down my throat. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard movement off to her side seconds before a male voice cut through the darkness.

"Art. Gimme the gun," It was Landon. A split second thought of fighting against him crossed her mind, but she knew she wouldn't hold him off from doing what he wanted for very long. It was easier just to let him take the gun for the time being.

She was still shaking as the adrenaline stopped coursing through her veins. She watched the former soldier out of the corner of her eye sit down beside of her. What's he doing? Not awake enough to understand what Landon was planning, she was tense trying to stop the shaking off her muscles and trying to figure out what was going to happen so she could have a plan ready.

But listening to him and Derek talk about how Landon understood what was happening, she couldn't fight back. Up until she felt the man grab a hold of her and pull her into his lap. Her gray eyes widened as she sucked in a breath. No one had ever tried to comfort her before.

Her entire life, it had always been someone holding her back from the scene not telling her everything was going to be okay. No hugs, no words, nothing.


Adrien and Anna-Marie walked in behind of their little sister into the living room to see exactly what had made her scream. She was frozen to her spot just inside the doorway staring up at the body hanging from the ceiling fan. Their mother.
Adrien at fifteen years old was the eldest. He started barking orders at their sister who did as she was told and moved Art outside of the house onto the porch before going to get their seven day old sister and three year old brother out of the bedroom while the teen went off to try and find their father.
The four Dimitry siblings had sat outside until their brother had returned alone. And there they all stayed until five in the morning when their father returned drunk. Artemesia had sat there, her knees pulled up to her chest.
"Where were you? De' pouille. What did you just want to rodeé?"
The man backhanded his son before going into the house to see where Adrien and Anna-Marie had put their mother's body after cutting her down.
"She can't answer you. She hung herself this afternoon. Artemesia found her." He said in response to his father yelling at the dead body.
Adrien's words sobered the man up. He turned and looked at his first born before sighing.
"It seems the curse finally got to her." He muttered, shaking his head and mumbling that he would bury her in the morning after he slept off the rest of the alcohol.
Artemesia had been left to figure things out on her own. Anna-Marie had taken care of Enola. Eras hadn't really understood. The older siblings took care of everything and Art was simply alone. The suicide of her mother had started the snowball effect in her life that hadn't ended until Maverick's death.

"Help them fight their demons." Landon's voice brought the woman back to reality. She was sitting in his lap as he was leaning against the couch. He was willing to give up his comfort for her. It was beyond her to understand why, but it was there. He was doing it.

Finally, she relaxed into his chest, her hands fisted into his shirt as she laid her head against him and listened to the sound of his beating heart. The first thing that gave her peace. The sound that she wasn't alone. There was another human being there. Her body had eventually stopped shaking and she allowed herself to drift back off to sleep, praying another episode wouldn't happen.


It wasn't long before the woman started to wake up again. While she'd dreamt of things she rather she completely forgot, she hadn't woke up screaming from them this time. Instead she'd been able to pull herself out of the murky water before the screaming would begin. Her body could still feel the water dripping off of it and she shuddered at the feeling. Opening her eyes, she saw she was still in Landon's lap. He hadn't left her. She repressed a small smile.

"Thank you." She whispered under her breath as she got up carefully, trying not to disturb him. She grabbed her gun and ammo off the couch behind him and headed back over to the table where the rest of her stuff was.

Reloading the gun she sat it down in front of her as she stretched her sore muscles out as well as she could. The knot in her right shoulder was still throbbing in pain and from her probing fingers the mass hadn't gotten any smaller from the shower. She cursed under her breath as she opened the almostly eaten MRE and pulled out a small piece before stuffing it in her mouth. She wanted to head to the kitchen and see if there was anything she could mix together for a decent breakfast, but she figured the men in the room would have a hemorrhage if she went out alone.

Really, she just wanted to put herself under the water again and drown herself away from the memories. Because now that morning had come, she knew she was going to have to answer for what happened in the middle of the night. She wasn't sure she would be able to tell them. Maybe they would understand, Landon seemed to, but that didn't make it any easier. She hated coming off as weak. Hell, her squad had gotten to the point that they kept things by their bed to throw at her when she started screaming so they didn't have to get up. Eventually, she'd just requested to sleep by herself. Maverick wouldn't have it and they and Shade along with the men's spotters always slept in the same place. She knew the others hated her and Deacon for it.

She shook her head trying not to go back there again. She'd already seen his death enough for one day. She didn't want to see it anymore. She picked up the flask and opened it downing a large portion before putting it away again. She hoped it would help steel her nerves at least for a little while.

Art noticed everyone else seemed to be up and about now, so she put the flask back in the load barring vest just as Kael opened his mouth to speak. She turned towards him aware he'd been staring at her before. She hoped his question kept the others from asking theirs, but she knew she would never be so lucky. She had very little luck on her side.

"I want to hit the principal and officer's rooms. A small country town like this is bound to have a shit ton of weapons, knives probably even a few guns. They wouldn't report them since its such a small place," she shrugged her shoulders lightly. "I carried a knife on me since middle school and never got in trouble for it. It was common place in small places."

She strapped the guns back to her thighs and then pulled the upper holsters across her shoulders before putting them into place. She left the other stuff knowing she wouldn't need it until they left. When they left. They could decide all of that. For once she was happy to have a place where she wasn't constantly on the run very few hours. And maybe, after last night with Landon's actions, she thought just maybe she wouldn't be seen as an outsider, someone no one understood. She had a chance a fitting in for once - she hoped.

"I want to hit the principal and officer's rooms. A small country town like this is bound to have a shit ton of weapons, knives probably even a few guns. They wouldn't report them since its such a small place,"
Landon turned his head to Art as she spoke.
"I carried a knife on me since middle school and never got in trouble for it. It was common place in small places.", the sniper continued.
"Good thinkin'. If you three want to check for gear, I'll go look for the SRO office. Some small town schools had a deputy or police officer stationed on campus." He gave his own shrug. "At least mine did. But I might be able to find some stuff in there".
Landon then turned to Derek.
"How much gauze you got?", he asked the medic.
Derek opened the small field kit he had made with some of the nurses supplies. "Two in here and two in the big bag. Why?"
"I'd like to keep from breaking my hands", Landon said, giving Derek a smirk and flexing his hands, both of which popped, evidence of the scar-tissue in his knuckle and finger joints.
Derek grinned and tossed the big-man two rolls of gauze. "Good idea".
Landon snugly wrapped both hands from wrist to knuckles to support and pad the joints, squeezing them to check his work before grabbing his pack and baseball bat on the way to the lounge door.
"Seey'all in...15-20 minutes", he said as he opened the door and left before anyone could say something.

Landon really wished he had a flashlight. The hallways were too dim for his taste, and the lack of students and teachers crowding the the lockers and classrooms didn't make the eery feeling any better.
Despite the few hours of sleep he grabbed, Landon's nerves were still fried and his body tired, but it wasn't something he was going to let the others know. A habit he picked up as a squad leader in the Marines, his seemingly unnatural endurance and courage gave those around him motivation to be the same way, but it was all "mind over body". In reality, the last couple of months had shaken him to the core. In all his time as a marine, even a seasoned NCO, he had never seen such atrocities as the degraded inflicted on other people, something only a human totally stripped of their humanity right down to the animal-instincts and pure hatred could inflict on his fellow human.

Landon was pulled from his thoughts by a something brightly colored within an open locker and went to investigate. Upon closer inspection, he saw it was a pink and lime green backpack with a clear plastic film on the front, the words "Emily" painted on the surface.
She never got her bag......
He saw a glint of light from the strap of the backpack and turned it to get a better look. It was a silver dog-tag bordered in pink camouflage and the name "Emily Cullison, 3rd grade" etched into the surface of the metal.
Landon reached forward and snapped the fragile chain from the bag-strap and turned the dog-tag in between his thumb and forefinger.
"Emily. Well, there's no way of knowing if you're alive or dead. At least someone will keep you in their thoughts", he said to the empty air as he stuffed the dog-tag and chain into his cargo pocket and left the bag in the locker.

No one would see the single tear drop from his face.

Art and Landon had their plans, and they went to it. Kael was alone with Derek again, which he didn't mind. So far he liked the guy. He was more his kind than the other two. Kael decided to help him take inventory of all their supplies--all four people's together. Clearly, without saying anything, they were all now in this thing together. Good. He was kind of hoping for that. And the no-one-saying-anything thing, Kael understood. Everyone good see and feel it, so why say anything? That was a funny thing he noticed many time in his life. Humans... Kael smiled to himself. We're so damn silly, sometimes.

"So, how'd you sleep?"

Derek's questions brought Kael out of his thoughts. He stopped what he was doing and looked over to the medic. "Really fucking good, actually. Thanks. Yourself?" Derek grinned back at him for a moment.

"I slept alright." Kael couldn't help but feel that something else was implied here.

"Umm..." Kael began, "Did I miss something?" Derek let out a single note of laughter.

"Oh, I'll say. Art lost her shit while dreaming, and didn't do so much as roll over."

Kael smirked and dropped his gaze. "I'll tell you what," Kael began. "I'll let you sleep there tonight. That was the most comfortable I'd been in... fuck, I don't even know anymore." He paused. "Is she OK?" Kael asked softly, his tone lower. The mirth now gone from it.

"I really don't know..." Derek said, looking off somewhere in thought. "I mean, who even knows what all she's been through. We've all had our struggles. And the way that her outburst was..." He looked back to Kael. "Even if she were the type to spill her life story to us--which she's clearly not--" Kael laughed slightly. "We still wouldn't understand the pain she suffers," her tapped his head, "everyday." Kael nodded, getting his meaning.

"Yeah... I hear you." Kael paused. He looked about. Everything of use they all had brought or found was accounted for. It was quite a decent horde. Hopefully they'd be finding more of such things as they went. Even a bounty like this would be gone all too soon. "So," Kael began again moments later. "How long you think we should stay here? I mean, we have a good place here in the school, and we can fortify it. We can scavenge the town until it's empty before moving on. Would that be the best thing to do?"

No one was saying anything about what had happened. Whether she really had lucked out or it was going to be coming later, she didn't know and she didn't want to find out. Art listened to Landon as she glanced between the three men. Check for gear? Right, they can do that. Even though the perfectionist inside her wanted to do everything to make sure no stone was unturned, she knew she had to think of these men are her squad. They would do their jobs and she had to trust that the job was done to the highest standards.

The woman watched the large man wrap his hands and then bolt out the door off to find one of the very rooms she had suggested. She just shook her head as she looked out the way he'd come. Without a word, she grabbed her own bag off the floor, the one she'd been using as a pillow and followed after him. The others would understand she knew.

Walking in the direction she'd caught of glimpse of him in, she stayed back far enough to not crowd his space, but not so far that she couldn't see him either. If there was one thing she understood it was the need to be alone. Which was likely the exact reason Landon had taken off on his own.

Of course, she wasn't stupid enough to think he didn't know she or at least someone was back here following him. If he couldn't even let her go off on her own and get the burner to cook them a meal, she sure wasn't letting him leave on his own either.

Artemesia stayed back when he stopped at the locker. She couldn't quite see what he was looking at until a small ray of light came through one of the hall windows and caught the silver color. She didn't have to know what was going on to understand. Reaching a hand down to the pocket of her cargos she felt around until she found the chain that carried only two tags on it, as her own had three, and pulled it out.


Switch reached a slim hand forward towards Maverick's dead body, avoiding looking at his face. She reached under his shirt and pulled the chain from under it. She could hear the whispers around her, but she ignored them as she unsnapped the chain and held the dog tags in her hand. She'd been there when they'd gotten their tags. She'd remembered how much they meant to him. She crushed the metal between her fingers before she turned and headed for the tent she used to share with the man. His family wasn't getting the dog tags. They had his body. She wanted something of her own.

Noble, Deacon

The words stood out from the metal. She didn't need to see the rest of the tag. She had all of it memorized. Hours of staring at them hoping it would change something had lead to it. Her fist closed around the cold metal before she stuffed them back into her pocket.

"Emily. Well, there's no way of knowing if you're alive or dead. At least someone will keep you in their thoughts," Art really hated when she was right especially when it involved kids. She couldn't help but remember Enola at three years old or Eras at ten. The white haired woman walked over to Landon without looking at him as she stood beside him.

"You know, nothing we do will ever bring them back." There wasn't much more she could say to him. There really wasn't anything anyone could say in a situation like this. "I only hope when I die, someone like you remembers me. You're a good man, Landon Wolfe. A good man." She stared straight ahead of them knowing she couldn't trust herself to look at him and knowing he would still want his space. She was simply repaying her debt to him from that night. He'd comforted her the best he could given the situation; she was only trying to do the same.

Derek Frost
How long you think we should stay here? I mean, we have a good place here in the school, and we can fortify it. We can scavenge the town until it's empty before moving on. Would that be the best thing to do?",
Derek leaned back for a moment, crossing his arms and eying the stash of supplies.
"We should probably wait until the supplies dwindle enough so that each of us can carry a just a few days worth. We've got a bit much right now. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind staying here until late fall or early winter", Derek said, stopping for a moment. "Those crazies out there don't seem too keen on self preservation. The cold weather might drop their numbers, or at least cause them to seek shelter if they have more than one brain cell to rub between their fingers. We might even come across less survivors for the same reasons. Makes for safe travelin'", Derek continued shrugging.
"Personally, I'd like to defer to Landon's lead. He's the reason I got here alive and relatively unharmed'.
He turned to Derek. "So, should we get some lunch started for the troops?".
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Landon Wolfe
I only hope when I die, someone like you remembers me. You're a good man, Landon Wolfe. A good man."
Landon hadn't expected Art to follow him, but he supposed she was simply returning the favor from earlier. Nonetheless, his first reaction was slight annoyance, his peace and quiet interrupted, but he also understood. It brought him comfort.
"Humanity coming to an end doesn't change the fact that good men don't last long in this world. I saw that in the middle-east, Africa and out here in this different-yet-same world. It's just people killing people, as it always has been, Art. Good men either die or become bad men out here". Landon closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Whatever happens though, I don't intend on letting you, Derek or Kael die out here. You all have evident skill sets. It would be a waste.", Landon grinned jokingly.
Art remained silent, seeming to run a thought through her head, but she returned his grin with one of her own.
"Lets get to that SRO office, shall we?", Landon finally said, turning on his heel as Art followed in suit.


"Here we are", Art said, pointing at a plaque next to the door that stated "Deputy Miller, Reiner County Sheriffs Department, Mercy Texas".
The door was similar to the other class room doors, in the aspect that the upper portion of the door was white glass.
Landon stepped forward and tried the knob. It was locked.
"Well shit. Cover our rear, Art".
The sniper nodded and unslung the smaller of her rifles, scanning the dark hallways from left to right.
Landon clenched his fist and brought it back, putting it through the glass with a noise that caused both him and Art to flinch. He brought his fist back quickly and crouched, listening to make sure nothing was going to come charging towards the door or from the hallways.
After a moment, the only thing that assaulted them was the stench of decaying flesh coming from the office.
"Alright. Looks like we're clear", the big man said as he slid into the room, followed by a backpedaling Art, her rifle still up and scanning.
The first thing they both noticed was the fully uniformed and shriveled deputy, leaned back and limp in his chair, the top of his head had a chunk missing in it, matching the small hole between his neck and his jaw.
Landon looked at him for a moment before getting busy, pulling the deputy from his chair and leaning him on the desk and picking up the .30 caliber glock from the floor.
Next, he stripped the officer's utility belt of the ammo (totaling up to two clips), his taser, an ASP collapsible baton and LED flashlight.
"Got two more clips for the glock here", Art said, closing the drawer to the desk. "And a first-aid kit".
Landon looked at the dead cop again and sighed. He moved closer to the dead man, pulling his wallet from the back pocket of his pants and removing his driver's license from it.
Larry Miller . Landon placed the card back in the wallet and the wallet back in the man's pocket.
He then dragged the corpse off the desk to the floor, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. He didn't offer an explanation to Art.
"Alright. pack up what you found", he said, placing the new gear in his backpack.
"Lets head on home".