Samara
Samara quietened down as Blake began to speak. She nodded firmly when he tasked her with finding a tent for the group and followed them quietly out of the door and onto the street, parting ways with the rest of them down an alleyway a street down from the hotel. Samara knew most of Lismoore quite well, and so had no trouble in finding her way to the black market district of Lismoore. Samara looked this way and that as she walked down the isles of market stalls and a small smirk crossed her face when she saw the woman Nicole speaking with one of the vendors a few stalls down. The man motioned for Nicole to enter the tent, and Samara smiled again, "They always want the same thing..." she laughed, wondering if Nicole would oblige him.
Samara soon stopped focussing on Nicole and moved to a closer stall and shouted above the din of the other shady market goers to a gruff looking short statured man; "Hallsey! Hey, Hallsey!" Samara weaved through the crowd to stop at stall filled with various ropes, traps and hunting equipment, "Haven't seen you in a long time!" Samara said nonchalantly as the small man Hallsey walked over to her with outstretched arms, "My favourite little scavenger!" the small man bellowed as he embraced Samara, "I've missed you.." he said with a toothless grin as he smacked Samara's arse. "Still as feisty as ever." She said, rolling her eyes. The small man got back behind his stall and locked eyes with Samara, "What're you doin' here?" he asked, getting straight to the point, "Y'know this place ain't happy with you..."
Samara looked around the streets, almost nervous at Hallsey's words, almost. She looked back to the small man and rolled her eyes again, "No one knows i'm here Hallsey..." she sifted through his stuff, trying to act casual, "What is it you want?" he asked sternly. "A tent and maybe a few sleeping mats.." Samara said trailing off. "Well you're in luck." Hallsey walking back into his tent behind his stall, "Come in here then..." Samara obliged and followed the small man into his tent and smiled when she saw him standing by a rolled up tent and a few sleeping mats. "Excellent!" she exclaimed as she walked towards the man, placing a hand on the tent. Before she could pick the items up however, Hallsey grabbed her hand and threw it off, "Uh uh uh Sam..." he said with an almost fatherly look, "You know nothin' in this world comes free... how you gonna pay?" Samara pouted her lips girlishly and looked down to Hallsey, "With an I.O.U... please?" she asked, stretching out the please. "No deal Samara... They're sayin' this is gonna be the toughest Darkness yet... and I need all the income I can get to make sure I survive it. No freebies.." he said sternly, then looked sideways towards her chest, "A little show might compensate my losses". Samara's face recoiled in disgust, "You're like my father!" she spat. "But i'm not..." he replied with a wry grin.
Samara wasn't one to usually say no when getting her way only meant showing a little skin, but Hallsey really was like her father and the thought of showing him any part of her that was private was off putting. A few moments passed and Hallsey spoke, "Well... You can either come up with $300 or show me your tits Sam... your choice" he said, making his way out of the tent. "Damn it." she hissed, "Hang on then.." she spat as she undid her top, "But you only get 30 seconds." she said sternly. "Good enough for me" he said with a lightened smile as he gawked at Samara's chest. "Alrighty!" Hallsey said with a childish grin, "Take your shit and go Sam... and be careful" he said worriedly as Samara pulled the tent onto her back using two straps that came attached to it when it was rolled up. "yeah yeah..." she replied halfassedly, "I always am.."
As Samara made her way to the tent's entrance Hallsey grabbed her arm and looked her straight into the eyes, "I'm serious Samara... They're still lookin' for you here... And the Darkness... well that's just another bitch to worry about." Samara stopped for a second and thought about Hallsey's words, "I know Hallsey. I know ok. But you also know I don't go down without a fight... that's why they're still looking for me" she said with a small grin cracking across her face. Hallsey shook his head sarcastically and looked back up into Samara's eyes, "You're a worry girl" he said with a smile crossing his lips, As Samara made her way back into the market Hallsey grabbed her arm again and whispered quietly into her ear, "The town runs on separate electricity supplies, be careful where you tread... we've been havin' problems of late with district power supplies cuttin' in and out... Best you move on as soon as possible.. I know I am" Hallsey said with another stern look.
Samara nodded and moved back into the crowd, weaving her way in and out. She passed the tent she'd seen Nicole enter earlier and noticed the vendor looking bloodied and irate, speaking to the local authorities of Lismoore. Samara's lips turned slightly. She may not have trusted the wastelander, but she seemed to, by the looks of it, have a little fire in her.
Samara neared the end of the market and was almost back onto the main street of Lismoore when a shout down the ways caught her attention, "Samara Dougherty, stop right there!" Samara's eyes widened as she turned to see a tall lanky man holding a gun outstretched towards her, about thirty feet down the ways. "You really had the balls to come back here after what you did?" he sneered to her. Suddenly more men appeared from around the crowd, the tall lanky man kept speaking, Samara stood contemplating her next move. "Crossing the Lancers was your second stupidest mistake..." he said moving towards her. Samara turned her head to the side and mockingly replied, "What was my first one?" The man was only a few feet from Samara when he reached out and pistol whipped her, forcing her to her knees; "Your first one was coming back to Lismoore."
Samara looked up from her kneeling position and laughed coldly, "You're all a bunch of walking dicks without balls." she sneered. The man's face screwed up in anger and he pointed the gun point blank to her face, pulling back the safety, "Stupid bit-"
His words were cut off as the power around the market district cut out for a few seconds and total panic erupted throughout the street. Samara took the opportunity to get to her feet, whip her left leg across the ground and force her near-executioner onto his arse. "Love to talk Pete, but I've got people to do and places to see." Samara bolted to her feet and stood up just in time for all the street lights to flick back on. Revealing the mass panic throughout the district.
Samara turned on her heel and dodged back into the crowd, ducking as a spray of bullets flew into the crowd. A lady to her left fell to the ground dead as one of the bullets meant for Samara hit her instead, "fuck it" Samara hissed as he ducked harder, jumping into and rolling out of a nearby stall. Samara got halfway through the market when suddenly she was slammed up against a nearby power tower, situated in the square of the market district. "Fuck" she hissed as the air left her lungs and she felt yet again the blunt pain of the end of a gun across her head. "Stupid whores never learn" she heard the tall lanky man - Pete - sneer. Samara looked up, her vision blurred, but saw the end barrel of the gun staring back at her, "Can't we.. just... talk" she wheezed, trying to fill her lungs with air.
The whole market seemed to have stopped moving as they watched the scene before them. Pete just shook his head and laughed, "time for laughter is over.." he joked as he pulled the safety back for the second time. Pete's finger felt the cold steel of the trigger as he pushed the gun to Samara's head but his chance to execute her was cut short when someone from the crowd shouted loudly, "Slinker on the roof!"
Samara looked to her left and sure enough up on the roof over a nearby building stood the tall frame of a slinker. The creature it seemed, was quite content to sit above the lights of the market, and didn't seem to mind the small amount of light it was subjected to. This fact alone caused another mass panic within the crowd. Suddenly gun fire echoed loudly as anyone who had a gun fired up towards the beast. The bullets barraged the slender creature, but it was too quick and jumped from the rooftop straight across to the power station tower Samara was kneeling at the bottom of.
As luck would have it. The Slinker hit the tower, and was instantly electrocuted, the beast fell to the ground dead. It's long lanky body crumpled just a few feet from Samara. She could see it's elongated limbs. It's blackened skin and large dinner plate sized eyes. It's ragged claws and sharp teeth were almost pearly white. It had two slits for a nose and two slits for ears. It's skin looked almost charcoal in it's colour and the general look of the creature sent a small shiver down Samara's spine. Not so much because of what it looked like, but more so the fact that she remembered the horrid ability of the Slinker - it was able to contort it's body to fit into almost any space.
The bad luck, as fate would have it however, was that the force of the Slinker's body hitting the power station tower was enough to cause the structure to move violently a few seconds after the creature hit the ground. As the tower fell, so did the lighting for the market district. Mass panic ensued for the third time in the last ten minutes, and Samara once again seized the opportunity. She sprung to her feet and bolted through the pitch black as fast as she could in the general direction of the hotel she was meant to rendezvous at.
However, as she frantically ran through the dark, Samara quickly realised that the Slinker who had caused this catastrophe wasn't the only one about. As she ran blindly she could hear the blood curdling screams of Lismoore's residents as the creature's took the opportunity to descend upon the town. As Samara weaved carelessly, she suddenly found herself running side by side with a man who had a flash light. The two with words unspoken dashed together, pushing and shoving people out of one another's ways.
As the Samara and the mystery man came clear of the massacre in the darkness, they saw the alleyway they need to run through to get back into the surviving light of Lismoore. The two were stopped short of leaving the alleyway however when a Slinker landed right in their path. Without thinking however, Samara grabbed the man to her side and slung him right into the claws of the slinker and dove out into the street light as his muffled screams echoed down the alley.
Samara rolled into the light and began to hyperventilate as people who were safe in this district watched down into the darkness, listening to the chaos in the markets. "What's happening?" a nearby woman screamed to Samara as she stood shakily, "The power in the market is fucked." she hissed as she pushed past and made her way to the hotel.
Samara pushed open the doors of the hotel and dropped to her knees when she saw Eve and Nicole nearby. "We... need...to.. go" she heaved, wiping sweat from her brow... "This place is about to go to the shitter..." Samara looked up and around the lobby, "Where is Blake?"