Three weeks later.....

Aufeis · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Aufeis** on Wed Nov 11, 2009 4:16 pm

Ryan Baker was sitting at the radio when the voice piped up again, "They left a few moments ago. They should be there in a few minutes. Just don't shoot them, alright?" He joked, coughing on some arrant dust as it blew into his mouth.

Hanson, on the other hand, was trekking across the sand with two other guys, his tactical gas mask strapped across his face. He began to walk up the side of the dune and came face to face with a woman. He put his gun away and pulled out his ID, and pulled off his gas mask, "Sgt. Hanson. US Army. Who are you?"

Pomona · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Pomona** on Fri Nov 13, 2009 7:13 am

Zarya didn't reply to the man on the radio, settling down instead to wait for the people coming to rescue her. Shifting her rifle to keep the butt from grinding into her back she stayed there until the men came into eyesight. Shoving up from the ground as Sergeant Hanson mounted the dune and removed his gas mask. "Uh.. Nice to meet you, Sgt. Hanson. I'm Zarya Bruckner. It's so good to see your faces."

Zarya pushed a lock of hair back from her forehead and stuck her hand out towards the Sergeant. "How do we get up those cliffs? How did you all wind up here, luck or military foresight? Who dropped bombs first? Is the whole world like this now?" She was brimming over with questions, thirsting to know what had brought them to this point.

Aufeis · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Aufeis** on Fri Nov 13, 2009 7:15 pm

Hanson sighed. Why was it always the same way with civies, "Look. We don't exactly have a lot of time for idle chit-chat. How about we get into the caves, and then I'll have someone brief you in the situation." He said, re-applying his gas mask. He fished around in his pack and pulled one out for her as well, setting it into her outstretched hand instead of shaking it, "Take this. It'll help with your breathing, keep the dust out. It's not good for your lungs."

Pomona · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Pomona** on Mon Nov 16, 2009 5:02 am

Idle chit chat?! Zarya couldn't keep a glare from her face while taking the mask from the man. Chit chat for him perhaps, but for her those were the most important ones she had ever asked. "Fine, it can wait." Zarya's voice had gone from exhausted to bitter and angry in seconds.

The girl pressed her mask to her face, pulling the straps into place around her head. It instantly gave her a sense of claustrophobia, of small spaces... Of half a week in a root cellar with her mother's corpse. She took several deep breaths to try and fight back this sudden hysteria.

"H..how many do you have? You three, the one on the radio, and the one that left? To find that other woman..."

Aufeis · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Aufeis** on Mon Nov 16, 2009 6:51 am

Hanson shook his head, and spoke through the mask with a sense of urgency, "We've got about a platoon in the cliffs. And we got here by luck, and nothing else. Come on, starting to get hot around here. Means a sun-spike is coming. You alright?" He had noticed the quivering in her voice when she spoke after putting on the gas mask, but didn't think anything of it. Probably just shaken up after being out here for so long by herself. He hoped that answering a few of her questions would soften the glare in her eyes, but didn't really care one way or another. He wanted to know how his Corporal was doing, and standing around here wouldn't get him a sit-rep. He took notice of the rifle on her back and asked, "You have any weapons? Aside from that I mean?"

Pomona · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Pomona** on Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:50 am

Zarya shifted her rifle to her other shoulder, farther away from the sergeant. "No. This is it. I'm not giving it up so don't freaking ask!" The gas mask made her voice strangely muffled and distant sounding even to her own ears. Grabbing the nozzle filters and adjusting it gently against her face.

"Yeah, let's get going." A quick, random bow followed by a flourish of her hand. "After you, sir."

"Hey... What's a sun-spike anyhow, Sergeant Hanson? OZone caused it, right?"

Aufeis · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Aufeis** on Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:50 pm

Hanson shook his head, "The only reason I'd want to take that thing, is to either give you a better one or to go and get myself killed. Frankly, I'm surprised anyone could live off of that thing." He said, looking up at the sun, which was getting brighter and brighter, or so it seemed, "Dunno what sun-spikes are. I think they're unfiltered rays from the sun, so technically, the lack of O-zone causes it."

He flicked a thumb toward the woman and said, "Give her the spare gun." The soldier he had talked to took the disassembled pieces of an automatic rifle from his bag and put it back together quickly. He gave it to her, never once making a grab or any other motion toward the thing she already had.

Pomona · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Pomona** on Tue Nov 17, 2009 7:17 am

Watching the new gun being assembled in quick fashion, Zarya was quite grateful of her gas mask as it hid the intense blush burning it's way across her face. truth be told she had been too afraid to hunt anything since it all started. The few animals she had seen had been... altered or sickly. Nothing she desired to eat, for sure.

The new, larger weapon had it's strap adjusted to fit about her shoulder without the muzzle getting twisted up in her knees. Shading her eyes with one hand Zarya looked up at the dust covered sky, the painfully bright ball of sun.

"Everything is so f***ed up." Grabbing her backpack off the ground Zarya started down the dune half walking, half sliding. As she reached the bottom, Zarya looked to see if he men were coming along or if they had a separate destination.

Aufeis · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Aufeis** on Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:46 am

Sergeant Hanson stood atop the dune as the woman slid down, and his two men followed her. When they looked back at him he had his binoculars our at mashed to his face, watching a cloud of dust as they got closer, "Shit. Shit, shit, shit! Run! Go, if you don't want to end up dead!" He yelled, making his way haphazardly down the side of the dune, cursing the whole way, "Black bears. And they aren't looking to play around. Holy shit, I've never seen them so pissed off. Look like they'd kill just to plat soccer with your head!"

This area was known to have all sorts of wildlife, especially after the zoos had been hit by fallout. That was part of the reason everything was such shit. But these things. They were like some weird combination of wolverine and black bears. Shitty tempers and a whole lot of blood lust.

Pomona · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Pomona** on Thu Nov 19, 2009 5:12 am

Zarya slowed to nearly a complete halt at the sudden stream of profanity, turning to walk backwards while staring at Hanson. Bears... Doubts began to surface suddenly, about the sanity of the men around her. Perhaps they had a creeping insanity instead of the rabid lunacy she had been expecting.

Zarya was preparing to pepper the man with questions again when she realized that he and the other two soldiers were booking it, not bothering to explain or stick around for her. With a last glimpse at the rising dust cloud, Zarya turned to chase after the men, rifles banging against her back as she ran.

"They're running in a pack?" Looking forward to the cliff and caves, back towards the ever approaching dust cloud she felt a worm of fear in her heart. "Can we make it? We won't make it!"

Aufeis · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Aufeis** on Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:28 am

Hanson smashed his finger to his com-link, "What the fuck are my snipers doing?! Cover us!" He yelled angrily, more than annoyed that his snipers were napping when he needed them, "If you don't keep running, 'we'll' make it, and you won't!"

As they reached the bottom of the cliffs, the soldiers grabbed the rappel lines, climbing up with their feet dug into the rocks. Hanson wondered vaguely if the woman was going to be able to follow them up the cliff face, but he didn't turn around to find out. Instead, he lobbed a grenade over his shoulder, listening for the bears howl of pain when it went off, "Shit, those things can rip you to shreds in seconds, kevlar or guns."

Pomona · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Pomona** on Tue Nov 24, 2009 10:57 pm

"You jackass!" Zarya was far from fit, at least to the fitness level of soldiers and trailed behind the trio. The grenade explosion served as a great motivator to catch them up. The noise of the bear creatures being wounded was horrible, making ears ache as she grabbed for a dangling rope.

"I never should've come here!" Bellowing up at Hanson while wrapping the rope around her left arm a few times. Maybe that would keep her from plummeting to her death. Zarya groped her way a few feet up the cliff face, hanging like a moth on a window. Footholds seemed to disappear once the soldiers used them, evaporating as her toes hunted for them. Hauling up on her dangling arm gained her a few more inches like she was climbing rope, stretching while looking down over her back. "How high can they jump..."

Aufeis · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Aufeis** on Wed Nov 25, 2009 12:10 am

Hanson got up to the top of the cliff and turned around, watching as the bears got closer, "Give me a hand!" He yelled to the nearest soldiers. They hoisted Zarya up, hauling the rope up the cliff face, "You could have taken your chances out there, but you'll always run into the same problems! Would you rather face it alone or in a group with guns?"

He pulled her up to level with the cliff and grabbed her wrist, and then by her pants waistband, hoisting her up over the ledge. He breathed heavily as he looked out over the side of the cliff. The bears scratched at the bottom of the rocks, but finally they decided they weren't going to get any closer to a free meal, "That was pretty damn close."

Pomona · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Pomona** on Fri Nov 27, 2009 6:39 pm

Zarya grunted as she was pulled over the edge of the cliff, scrambling forward away from the edge.
Reaching up to pull her gas mask off, Zarya rubbed a hand through her scruffy hair. "Sorry.." The apology came out monotone and unenthusiastic as she stood up to peer down the cliff at the departing creatures.

A few shakes of her hand unlooped the rope from her arm, allowing her to reach back and start unburdening herself of pack and guns. She started to slip back into a tired fugue, anger and adrenaline leeching from her body. "Here, it's full of water and tinned food." Her pack dropped to the ground as she spoke, rolling shoulders to loosen up knots.

Aufeis · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Aufeis** on Sat Nov 28, 2009 7:14 am

Hanson picked up one of the pieces of tinned food, "You been eatin' this shit? No wonder you're so tired. Here, let me show you to the real food. Maybe then you can get some strength back. You'll waste away eating this condensed stuff." He said, throwing it over the edge, not bothering to watch it careen down the side and splatter on the ground. As they began to make their descent down into the caves, he looked around at his soldiers. There were people on either side of the corridors, making battle preparations, eating fresh crops, or just chatting casually. Though most of them were still in their uniforms, most of them had grown their hair out, or were wearing something small and colorful, anything to ease up the regulations that no longer existed, but in a way, did. They had moved past being soldiers. They were like family here, in these caves. Electric lights hung from the ceiling on ceiling supports, while wires trailed along between them. Doors had been installed in caverns. Basically, they did anything they could to make it seem more like home. And when you lived in bunkers all the time, this was pretty homey.

They finally got to the farm, a small sub-cavern that was perfect for growing food. The soil was fertile, and the ceiling had been rigged with sun-lamps. He grabbed an ear of corn from a nearby stalk and chomped down on it, feeling the lush juices flow out. It was nice to hear the crunch of freshness.

Pomona · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Pomona** on Sat Nov 28, 2009 12:44 pm

She watched the tin of food fly over the edge, face desolate. A shrug dismissed the lost can as turned to follow Hanson through the caves, keeping practically on his heels. Zarya's head swiveled almost constantly as she attempted to take in everything at once. The one thing that seemed beyond belief, not that the whole situation had elevated into surreal nightmare realms days past, was the number of people. Shaggy or military precise like Hanson, it seemed as if they had managed to collect everyone here. "Didn't think there were so many left..." The comment was off-hand and aimed at no one.

Descending towards the farm, questions began to ferment in her mind. How are they making up for lack of sunlight? Did they knock a hole through the cave roof? How did they pull any of this off? Watching Hanson bite into the fresh corn, Zarya's stomach suddenly let itself be known with a loud grumble. Reaching out to rip an ear of corn from the stalk, she mimicked him as she peeled back the corn silk and bit into the corn. "Hanson... This is incredible. How did you pull this off?"

Aufeis · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Aufeis** on Sat Nov 28, 2009 2:55 pm

Hanson smiled slightly, wondering that much himself, "Well. My predecessor, Lieutenant Jared Lakefield did most of this. He...he passed, recently. But, as much as I can make out, we were able to use the zip lines to get up those sun lamps. They work well, but it gets to be real hot down here, so we've got some fans down here as well, all hooked up to a nice little generator. Problem is, we run out of gas. So far, we were able to siphon it out of car and such, but we've begun to run out of that was well. So, we're working on getting a solar panel or two and run a line to the top of the cliffs. Use the real sun to fuel our fake sun. There's a problem with that too, though. A sunspike hits it, and we could lose the panels, and they are not exactly easy to build, what with our materials running low. But, I supposed we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Some of the boys down here have been trying to round up enough sky blue paint to get these rocks all gussied up. Then you could come down here and fantasize about what life used to be like before the world ended..." He said this last line with apprehension. No amount of paint would allow him to remember what it used to be like. Not without his little girl. He stared at the ground for a moment longer before shaking his head slightly. The past was past, and what mattered now was survival in the present. Still, it was difficult to think straight sometimes. Death seemed to be common place now.

Pomona · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Pomona** on Sat Nov 28, 2009 5:22 pm

The sudden pain in his posture was clear, the temporary silence brittle. Reaching over Zarya lightly touched his back with her fingertips. Retracting her hand back to her side she cleared her throat roughly to separate from the moment. She doubted Hanson would be interested in opening up to a complete stranger, when surrounded by a community. "Well, you've all made something absolutely amazing here Hanson... Is it irrigation or is there an underground lake or something?" A thought occurred to her then that lit up a smile.
"Do you have places to shower? I've been conserving water a great deal."

Aufeis · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **Aufeis** on Sat Nov 28, 2009 5:36 pm

Hanson was brought back to the present by a soft touch on the shoulder. He laughed, realizing that the girl looked like she come out of a dust storm, "Yeah, women's restrooms are down the hall on the right. There should be a sign or something. If Corporal Alans was here, I'd have her show you where. But I'm sure I can find...ah, Private Sheppard!"

Denise Sheppard looked up from the crops she was tending and jogged over to the pair, "Yessir?"

"Would you show our new friend to the restrooms? She needs to clean up a bit." Hanson said with a bit of a laugh, "Denise works here on the farm. I'm sure she can tell you everything about it. I think it may be a sprinkler system or something."

Sheppard began to lead the way, and Hanson nodded. He snatched up another ear of corn and looked around, making sure nobody saw him take it. They were supposed to be rationing.

TheGoddessReborn · **Tips:** 0.00 INK by **TheGoddessReborn** on Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:38 am

Alyssa heard the people and sighed, she had been traveling by foot for about 3 days no food nor drink. she to took out a picture of her son gaberial and knew she might have a chance to see him again. he would be about 13 years now. he loves his mother and she loves her son. "im coming my love." she put the picture back in her pocket and looked up. "damn.." she began to run toward to people at full speed near the man stealing corn and used his back as a jumping point she flipped into the air unloading her pistol using both hand hitting the small army of zombies in the head.

not paying attension to her landing she large harshly on her back in front of the man, knocking the air out of her. she began to gasp lightly trying to put her breathing back in order. "shit.."

Three weeks later.....

a topic in Futuristic Roleplay, a part of the RPG forum.

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