Post #2715209 in Adaption, a roleplay on RPG

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Kasey Kwon
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“Kasey!”

“Kasey!”

“KASEY!”

“What?!” Kasey finally responded, looking up from his rifle as he sat, his back propped up against the wall next to the gate leading out into the great known world. An M16 lay in his lap, a rag encircled around his hand as he wiped the barrel back and forth. The man calling his name whipped his head towards Kasey at his response, looking down at him with a bit of surprise.

“Oh, shit. Didn’t think you were here already.” Kasy gave a bit of a shrug.

“Hopefully you’re more observant out there than in here.” Kasey stated, ribbing the older gentleman a bit, which was met with a firm stare. Gravel, not his actual name but more a moniker given to him because of his appearance, was an aged man, early fifties with a big bushy grey beard and enough muscle on him to make the standard person think twice about trying to gang up on him. He was one of the expedition leaders for the Community, someone who took others on trips outside the walls to either deal with an encroaching pack of the dead or search for supplies. For the moment, a machete hung from a scabbard on his back as a shotgun was held loosely in his hand. A ball cap worn backwards adorned his head while a red and black plaid shirt complimented some dirty and dusty jeans that looked like they were three weeks overdue for a good wash. All he needed was some sunglasses to really nail the ‘war veteran slash lumberjack’ look and that would be it.

“On your feet then, we’re about to head out.”

“I’ve been ready to go for an hour, would already be gone if it wasn’t for you guys slowing me down.” Gravel took a few steps closer as Kasey managed to get to his feet, slinging his rifle on his back and making sure his pistol and knives were in their proper place. Aside from his weapons, Kasey preferred to travel light. A form fitting white t-shirt along with a pair of rather bland grey shorts that looked like they deserved to be in the same wash load as Gravel’s pants adorned his figure. What skin did show was calloused or tanned from days of spending it out in the sunshine running from who knows how many things that wanted to kill him. Gravel got within his personal space a bit, forcing Kasey to take a step back to maintain a decent boundary between them.

“I know why you’re going on this run Kasey, and trust me, I want to find them alive too, but don’t get your hopes up and don’t go in half cocked. They won’t be sending a rescue team for the rescue team.” Kasey gave a scoff, not like his reason for joining this little band of merry men was a secret. His friend, Charlie, had been on the last run. Against his very wishes, as she wasn’t necessarily a supply runner to begin with, but numbers had been down for over a month now. Everyone was being forced to pull a bunch of different weights at different places. He had argued against it, complained, and some would even say bitched incessantly about this very problem. Now here he was, in a situation where his comments were justified even if he didn’t want them to be.

“I know what I’m doing” Kasey stated, his irritation, anger and a little fear mixing together to create his bristly persona. “Hurry the fuck up already, I don’t have all day and neither do the survivors...if there are any.” Kasey stated, wandering past Gravel to where the rest of the group stood. Gravel shook his head, hefting his shotgun and resting it on his shoulder. The other members of the group; Johnny, Mack and Lucy all waited patiently for Kasey and Gravel to finish their conversation while the last member of their group, MacGyver finished loading up the truck they were to take to the supply group’s last known location. Once he was done, he wandered over, his toque wobbling off center as his lopsided smile seemed to brighten the group a tiny bit.

“Alright.” Gravel started, his eyes floating over each of them. “We all know what’s going on, but as a quick recap...A supply run was made by 6 individuals to a lab some distance from here for medical supplies. That was over a day ago, they’ve missed their check in and no word has been heard from them since. Our job is to search for them and the supplies they may or may not have found.”

“So basically we’re looking for corpses and pills.” Lucy spoke up, picking at her teeth with her nail. Gravel gave an exasperated sigh.

“I’m not asking for optimism, but could you please keep the depressive shit to yourself?” Lucy shrugged, flicking an invisible piece of food off her finger as Kasey glared at her from his spot in the circle. “If they are dead...or otherwise, we deal with it when the time comes. For right now, we focus on our objective, everyone clear?” There was a litany of acceptance, both begrudging and enthusiastic before he continued. “Alright, let’s load up. Sun’s high in the sky and I plan on being back before it sets for the night.” Everyone gave a nod as they took up their respective spots in the truck, Kasey and Johnny sliding into the back of the pickup as everyone else got into the extended cab. The engine rumbling was an almost comforting sensation as they rode towards the gate, stopping briefly to allow the guards to open it up. As they drove out into the open road, the gates shutting behind them as they went, Kasey stole a glance at the sign leading to their community.

“Welcome to Lintwood.”

“Looks like a bunch of runners...they’re twitching something fierce.” Mack stated, sighting the dead through the scope on his rifle as he used the top of the truck as a prop, kneeling in the bed. Gravel hissed through his teeth a bit, reprehension evident on his features as Kasey gave a glance his way.

“Any chance we can fight our way through?” Gravel asked, looking back at Mack as he scanned the horizon.

“There doesn’t seem to be many outside, but there are several windows broken on the building from what I can see. I have no idea how many more are inside.” Gravel looked back, stroking his beard as he lost himself in thought. Kasey paced slightly, his finger tapping against the side of his rifle as he held it in front of him.

“We know this is their target, but we have no idea if they’re inside or if they were run off.” Gravel stated, looking off into the distance. “They could have been chased further away, we could be wasting our time trying to get inside. Chances are if they were caught there, they’re dead anyways.”

“We still need to look for supplies inside.” Johnny stated, sliding the hammer back on his rifle as he sauntered up to where Gravel and the others were standing.

“I’d be going in anyways.” Kasey stated, his eyes glued ahead of them towards the target building. Gravel looked over at him, his mouth forming into a frown as he contemplated their actions some more.

“What did I ask of you back home?” Gravel asked, causing Kasey to glance over his way and give a shrug.

“This isn’t me going in on a whim, if that were the case I’d already be gone.” Kasey stated, irritation building with every word as he looked ready to start running into the building at a moment’s notice. Gravel gave a sigh and took one last look towards the laboratory.

“MacGyver, you think you can outrun the runners in the truck?”

“Not a problem Bosserino!” MacGyver stated, his head perking up and his fluffy toque bobbing side to side. “If Mack can stay in the back and take care of the ones who get too close, I think I can bait them away. Sound good?”

“It will give us an in at the very least. You got your radio?” MacGyver slid off his backpack, searching through it real quick before pulling out a walkie talkie. He gave it a shake and Gravel nodded. “Good, keep that handy. We’ll give you a call when we’re ready to pull out, come back and get us at that point but preferably without bringing the rest of the party with you.”

“Bah, no fun Kahuna.” MacGyver stated, giving another lopsided smile as he made his way to the truck and hopped inside. He rolled down the window, slipping his arm outside and slapping the door a couple of times. “We ready to roll out?” Gravel waved his arm forward prompting a holler from MacGyver as Mack held onto the top railing of the truck as he kept his rifle propped up.

“Rest of you, on me. Quick sweep, stay in twos and don’t take chances. We’re not going to be here long.” Gravel stated as the group started forward. The truck blared past the building, horn sounding an alarm from the vehicle as they went along with MacGyver giving out some unique insults to say the least as the Runners all turned and started bolting after the truck with all the speed their twisted and mutated bodies could muster. Before long, there wasn’t a single Runner left in the yard as the small group made their way onto the grounds. The group of 4 quickly made their way towards the lab, splitting up once they got closer. Kasey ended up pairing off with Johnny as they combed the walls for any kind of entrance or clue as to whether the supply group even made it inside.

“Found a door.” Johnny stated, having run up a few feet farther than Kasey to get a look around the corner. Kasey caught up to him as Johnny stepped up to the entrance. He gave it a push and a tug to no avail. He finally pushed his shoulder into it before shaking his head and looking over at Kasey. “Blocked. Maybe they barricaded it?”

“Wouldn’t make sense.” Kasey stated, looking out towards the rest of the town. “If they were about to get surrounded, their first priority would have been to get out and head back towards Lintwood as fast as possible.”

“True, but what if there was no way out?”

“Then it would have been easier to hide than barricade.” Johnny shrugged, looking around. Kasey pointed towards a broken window. “We can get in from there, I’ll head in first, rifle at the ready.” Johnny nodded, bringing his rifle to bear as they approached the shattered remains of glass around the window. Both of them took either side of the window, sweeping the immediate room for threats. “Clear.” Kasey stated.

“Same. After you.” Johnny stated, keeping his rifle at the ready and pointed towards the room as Kasey slung his rifle over his shoulder to get through the opening with more ease. A moment later and he was standing in a practically destroyed room with multiple objects littering the floor ranging from shelving to cracked bits of broken bottles. He stepped on the ground lightly, grabbing his rifle and bringing it up to the ready position before reconsidering and slinging it on his back again, this time pulling out his pistol and a blade. He rested his gun hand on his arm with the blade, keeping both weapons pointed forward as he took a steps inwards. Behind him he heard a crack as the glass was shattered beneath Johnny’s boot. Kasey shot a glance backwards, and was met with a silently mouthed ‘sorry’ from the man as Kasey stepped to the door leading into the hallway.

Opening the door and quickly checking both directions, Kasey was greeted with another empty area. With Johnny bringing up the rear with his rifle, Kasey stepped forward and started sweeping the areas. It took a good several minutes of checking empty rooms before they came upon one which showed some clues as to what happened. There was a crawler dead on the floor from what appeared to be a single rifle round. Not to mention signs of a fight, blood splattering the ground that was recent and signs of panic. Kasey wandered in, dipping his fingers in a pool of blood to test the consistency, confirming that whatever was bleeding had been here recently. Johnny wandered inside the room, recognizing the same things as Kasey but having enough sense to not bother saying the same thing out loud. As they went about piecing things together, Kasey giving the crawler a kick for good measure, a single word was uttered behind them.

“Apples.” Johnny turned his head slightly.

“Tacos.” He replied, at which point Lucy and Gravel wandered into the room as well, with a heavy sigh from the abrasive woman.

“Stupidest...check sign...ever.” Gravel ignored her, walking closer to Kasey.

“Anything?”

“I can’t say for certain that it’s them, but something happened here recently. The blood is relatively fresh and he’s a recent kill.” Kasey stated, pointing to the crawler.

“Human blood?” Gravel asked, making Kasey shrug.

“I don’t see any animals and it’s too red to be from the dead, so I would say yes.” Gravel gave a nod.

“If they had wounded, they might have tried to look for an infirmary. Let’s see if we can’t find one.”

“What makes you think there’s one here?” Lucy asked as they made their way out of the room. Gravel shrugged.

“It’s a research facility of some kind, they would have to have medical supplies around somewhere. Common sense I would think.”

“Since when has common sense ever factored into what we do here.” Johnny quipped with a slight smirk as he followed the group into the hallway. Gravel gave a quick ‘shush’ to shut him down from saying such things, being a man of procedure over many other things. With that, they quickly went about looking for the infirmary.

It only took them a few minutes to find the infirmary, a trail of blood leading them there that Kasey had noticed almost immediately stepping out of the room. The double doors leading to the area unfortunately prevented them from looking inside as the windows were covered in dried blood. Gravel gave a hand signal and they stacked up on the door, he and Kasey being the closest with Lucy and Johnny bringing up the rear. Gravel looked at Kasey, making sure to have eye contact before nodding and they both opened the door.

Immediately Gravel was nearly tackled to the ground by a slobbering walker as he managed to get a hand on it’s face and push it away. Lucy came in behind, bashing in its skull with the butt of her shotgun as Kasey was facing a few more of the dead. One was on the ground, doing her best to crawl towards her while the others with various wounds ranging from bullets to bites all charged forward. Gravel got his bearings once more, kneeling as Kasey did the same. No order was needed as a quick burst of gunfire came from the four of them. A few seconds later, the dead roamed no more. Gravel stood up, taking a good look at one of the faces of the dead for a moment too long in Kasey’s opinion before giving a massive sigh. “Fuck.” He stated, slinging his shotgun on his back.

“Looks like we found our scavengers.” Lucy stated with all the tact of a drunk preacher at a funeral. Kasey’s eyes darted back and forth as he quickly wandered over to each body, flipping them over and taking a good look at their faces. Johnny and Gravel were more respectful as they carefully identified each of them.

“Ollie...Eliza...Teagan…” Gravel stated, each time his voice getting a little quieter. Eventually he just pinched the bridge of his nose and stood up. “Alright, no point in staying here then. The gunfire will have attracted something, we should head out before that something decides to try its luck against us.”

“Charlie’s not here.” Kasey stated, standing up and looking around the room. Gravel looked over at him.

“I count five.” Gravel stated, looking to the others.

“Charlie makes six.” Kasey stated, his voice wavering a bit as he did his best to remain composed despite everything in him wanting to scream at the world. Gravel gave a nod, wandering over to Kasey and placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Fan out...be careful.” Johnny gave a nod while Lucy scoffed as they split up to search the rest of the infirmary and started moving out into the hallway. Gravel looked down at Kasey for a moment. “We can spare time until MacGyver and Mack get back, when that happens we’re leaving.”

“She could still be alive.” Kasey stated, his eyes still darting in every direction as Gravel squeezed his shoulder to keep him in the now.

“Keep your expectations low, this situation got FUBAR’d pretty quick by the looks of it. Just be careful.” Kasey shrugged off the shoulder, at which point Gravel started walking away and reaching for his radio to call the truck back for a pick up. Kasey was trying to look at the situation as rationally as he could, despite every fiber in his being wanting to just walk outside and unload on any walkers or runners that happened to be outside in order to feel some sort of vindication. Instead, he took note of the blood splatter and bullet casings, piecing things together slowly as he wandered around the room. The infirmary wasn’t large, no nooks or crannies to hide in, so Gravel wandered out into the hall with Johnny and Lucy as they started searching the nearby rooms for any sign of Charlie.

It took a few minutes for Kasey’s head to get set back on straight as suddenly a trail of blood starting making itself clear to him. Drops and splatters that lead into the back of the Infirmary, and there he noticed a faint mark of deep red blood smeared on a couple of the lockers. He walked closer, inspecting the marks as he did so and noticed the splatter on the handle. Raising his knife, hoping for the best and fearing the worst, Kasey swung the locker open.

Inside was Charlie...still alive as she raised her hands weakly, her face pale and breathing ragged. Kasey stood there for a moment, shock at the fact that she was still among the living before he noticed just how much blood she had on her. “Shit...shit shit shit...Charlie...hey...GRAVEL!” Kasey yelled backwards, before trying to reach in and grab at her relatively tiny frame.

“Hey, you’re going to be ok, alright? Charlie, I need you to talk to me, ok?”

Snippet #2715209

located in Earth, a part of Adaption, one of the many universes on RPG.

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