" I don't mind the crumbs; if you save the best for last." Yuuta responded.

" Damn. This is going to make sleeping even more unlikely. Stupid bandits and their eating habits, fucking up my sleep schedule. Times like these I wish I could read a bit better, or actually have a book."

" Sleeping is better than reading in my opinion, if you want I can lend you a manga but it's in Japanese." Yuuta replied casually. " Here, return it to me once you are done with your haircut," he handed the scissors to Rio. He was wondering how to pass it to her and was glad he had the opportunity. Rio seemed happy. It wasn't that Yuuta was naive in this post-apocalyptic world where most people try not to be too generous or trusting, but guarding against everyone can be tiring and he knew from experience.

Cora, appearing agreeable to Wade's plan, was urging the group to start moving.

"Bandits travel at night and half of us don't have a clue on how to correctly fire a weapon, never mind effectively use one to kill another human being if it comes to that. We'd get slaughtered and left to cook in the sun the next morning."

Yuuta remembered his ammo-less Desert Eagle Mark XIX which he traded for a loaf of bread. It is funny how hunger makes you realise what is more important. Unlike Boston, Yuuta suspected most of them in the group could fire a gun required. After all, weapons and ammunition were actually more common than finding canned food.

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With Wade leading the way Jessica found herself back in the main lobby before long, but during their silent stroll his words rang in her thoughts constantly and for some reason Jessica felt as if she saw a part of Wade not many had gotten the chance to. Standing at the top of the broken stair well in silence her eyes still slightly blood shot from her tempermental outburst of emotions only she looked to the ground in fear of anyone noticing. Carefully she let her rounded ass fall to rest on her heels, her long arms wrapping about sharp angled knees to pull them in closer to her chest. Long deep breathes were taken in measures to control her over all apperance, to relax and calm herself.

Frank made his way out of the main room and headed for the stairs. His eyes caught sight of Jessica curled up at the top of the stairs. Frank swiftly made his way to her side, placing one hand upon her shoulder. His body sank down to his knees as his head lifted up to Jessica. "Everything okay?" He asked in the gentlest of whispers.

Prying her eyes from the splintered wooden floor Jessica looked up to Frank with a small sinister smirk that had pulled at the corners of her lips, crystal blue eyes had still slightly glazed over but she still managed a small remark. “I’m fine - just morning rituals, you know?" Her voice rang out to reach only his ears in a feather light touch. His hand reached up from her shoulder to the top of her head and rustled her hair playfully.

"Well would you like to know what you've missed out on in the conversation?" He said with a light tone and a cheery smile.

With Frank's comment Boston's voice rang out "Bandits travel at night; and half of us don't have a clue on how to correctly fire a weapon, never mind effectively use one to kill another human being if it comes to that. - We'd get slaughtered and left to cook in the sun the next morning." Then rather blatantly he said "I don't think it's a good idea."

Jessica's smile widened not even bothering to look at the group which had collected lower than them. "Let me guess - Wade wants to travel at... night?" with a quick wink of thick black lashes.

Frank's smile pulled to one side of his cheek into a smirk " Yup yup, but it's not going over so well it seems. I think it wouldn't be the worst thing to mix it up." He said with a small bit of confidence in his voice. "Saves my ass from the blazing sun and it's not like we haven't travelled at night before. How do you feel about the whole thing?"

"Not realized you such a pussy," Wades gruff voice chiming out - a comment which Jessica didn't hold back her laughter unlike Kitty - She nearly busted at the seams rolling onto her side as Frank fell to the stairs on his ass trying to keep his laughter from getting to loud.

"I'm pretty sure we can all fire a gun, How else do you think we've gone this far, huh?" Kitty responded also which only added to Jessica's fit of giggles, her hands now gripping at her sides.

"Hey if Kitty's okay with it then I see no reason why the rest of us should even blink an eye at the thought." Spoken loud enough for the whole group to hear, and even if her comment could have seemed rather rude her voice held a small taint of adoration for the small girl, a clear indication of the care she held.

"Kitty has a point and so does Jess. None of us would have made it until now without knowing how to deal with what lurks across the terrain." Frank said with a tone of seriousness. "Each one of us can do it, it would just mean being more mindful......which we already are." With Frank's words Kitty had removed herself from the room and Jessica's eyes widened with a shake of her head.

"Someone go after her." Rolling her eyes Jessica came to a slow stand and carefully came down the stairs, glancing over her shoulder at Frank, passing Wade, Cora, Rio, and Yuuta - but as she made her way to her belongings she stopped merely a few inches from Boston, faced nose to nose. With deep burrowing nearly seductive eyes she gave him a demeaning look over, a snort, and a light chuckle before proceeding across the room speaking rather crudely "I think someone’s bite isn't nearly as bad as his bark."

"I'll go check on her." Frank said as he came down the stairs towards the front enterance. The shotgun he had slung to his belt slapped against his leg as he shot a quick smile to everyone as he passed by and gave a wink to Jessica as he walked after Kitty. He took a grip of the scarf that laid loosely around his neck and pulled it over his face as he walked out of hotel after her.

The sun beat down on the two of them as they ventured out, the rays gracing each surface of flesh hidden beneath light fabrics. The air was heavy with moisture making it rather difficult to breath, and when one looked out to the distance a waving haze could be seen. "God I hate this fucking sun." Frank said weith a huff. Each traveler of this new world knew that the heat given hallucinations could play tricks on the mind - and in the not too far distance there looked to be a group of figures - and they had been gaining closer to the Georgia Inn. From inside the building Jessica crouched at her belongings, any comment by Boston was ignored along with the others; Jessica was in a - different kind of mindstates this morning, something much darker than usual.

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Yuuta hesitated as Frank chased after Kitty almost expecting Wade to follow them as well. He could not really understand the situation whether Jessica comment had offended Kitty or something else had caught Kitty's attention. Frank stopped suddenly as he approached Kitty and before Yuuta came to a logically conclusion that both of them saw someone or something out there, the sound of clanging metal drew the attention of everyone that was still in the inn. Wade scanned the room quickly as if to account for the members in his group. Clearly, there was someone else in the inn other than the six of them and the rustling feet was more than enough evidence that it was not merely a trespassing animal.

Nervous beads of perspiration dotted his forehead as he realised that he was standing closest to the attendants desk. That fact alone, heavily implied that he should be the first one to check on things or at least the source of the noise. "Maybe we should go," he mouthed hoping to sway the group's decision towards another alternative. While Yuuta could not see what was happening out the inn, it seemed that some of the others became aware of the approaching travellers. Just then, Yuuta saw a bit of the intruder's golden brown hair and a pair of hazel eyes. The person, whoever he was, did not seem threatening and seemed to be considering whether to just show himself. Meanwhile, some of the others in the group were drawing their weapons out.

Yuuta stared at the man, he was signalling for him to come over. It was understandable that no one would dare to just pop out of the table and risk being pelted by bullets. Uncharacteristically, Yuuta took a deep breath and crept towards the man behind the desk. He could only hope that the man did not blast a hole in him because, despite himself, he had spotted the tip of the rifle that the man had placed on the ground. Yuuta did not know what questions he was suppose to ask, or even if he should introduce himself.

As he reached the desk, he managed to say, " Hi."

Meanwhile, it as apparent that the group of people heading towards the inn were not apparitions or hallucinations. Of the minimal number of a 100,000 people, it was as if human nature cause people to cluster in the same areas.

It seemed like things were going to hell rather quickly. Ugh, and they hadn't even started moving yet!

Now Cora remembered why her instincts told her to stay away from groups like this. It took a certain mindset to get through every day and avoid a knife in the back or a bullet in the head. And this group didn't seem to have it. At least, not with each other. Individually, they were survivors, she could tell that much. But the group's focus and cohesion were...lacking, to say the least.

She still needed to decide how to act. Some of them had gone outside, perhaps unaware of the fact that there had been noises from inside the building that certainly weren't their own. Yuuta and Boston had gone to inspect the situation. Cora struggled with the situation for a moment, before taking action. She poked her head out the door and hissed at Wade slightly to get his attention, before gesturing to the room, putting a finger over her lips to indicate that silence would be ideal. Cora figured it would be best if Wade knew everything that was going on, since the big Russian was their unofficial leader.

She then pulled her knife out from her belt and held it at the ready, stepping quickly but quietly after Boston. Her soft boots made next to no sound as she moved after the two, something she had trained herself to do over the years. Cautiously, she slid into the next room behind Boston. Cora was somewhat surprised that Yuuta had taken the initiative here. From first impressions, she'd figured him for the spineless type. Maybe she'd misjudged him.

With the three of them against the one apparent intruder, Cora figured their odds were pretty good. Perhaps there didn't need to be any violence here at all. The would be best. Still, Cora gripped the hilt of her knife firmly. Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst.

Jessica had heard the noises in the other room but really, in all honesty, she didn’t give two flying fucks. Maybe if she would have known about the ‘figures’ in the distance she would have given that some attention but, again, in all honesty, probably not. She let her ass fall to the dirty ground with a cherry smile she also pulled out her Texas Mickey of Jack Daniel’s and began untwisting the cap. It seemed as if her booted feet bobbed along to a beat in her head as she pushed the glass jar to her puckered lips.

She had a shit morning, travelling with shit people, who are all a shitty mess, and Jessica really didn’t like the way it smelt. Peering over her shoulder she saw Boston, Yuuta, and Cora head over to check out the noise. At this point Wade was still in the room with her, somewhere, at least she thought so anyway – same with Rio, maybe. Jessica shrugged her shoulders, her smile going wider. Good let the two biggest shits of the group check out the noise – sadly Yuuta was with them but one good man to lose two shitty ones – someone has to make a sacrifice and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be her.

Maybe her and Frank should have kept to themselves – but she was starting to grow attached to both Kitty and now Wade too – even Rio seemed to hold a special bit of Jessica’s heart, if she ever openly admitted these things or not – hell she didn’t even like thinking them but they were true.

Jessica tipped the gigantic bottle of whiskey to pour into her mouth, not enough to get her drunk, but enough to take the edge off her piss poor mood – kinda. She placed the bottle beside her legs as her feet continued bobbing to the soundless music, and began rummaging through her bag.

“Ah-HA!” She murmured as her flare gun was pulled out and loaded, she then repacked her bag, now attempting to cheerfully whistle this song that was seemingly stuck in her head – but Jessica couldn’t whistle.

Letting her long legs stretch out before her Jessica leaned back against the bag, ready to leave whenever they were done being morons – a still eerily cheerful smirk on the woman’s face as she imagined Cora screaming in terror in symphony to the tune she now orchestrated with her hands.

Misfired, miscalculated. Cowardice and chaos were not his forte. Nevertheless, Myles was planted in the thick of it, and he had only himself to blame. It was something that was bound to be carried over from the old world to the new, this failure at first impressions, this dearth of cool and luck. He was only going to warn them - shake hands, wish them well, and, forgoing his own chances, depart as soon as he'd arrived. Fortune would decide to take the piss out of him this time. So, so daft he was.

Stifling a curse, he eased out of the frightened doe persona and into something less skittish, wincing as he rose gradually, trembling hands raised and bare. His rifle was useless for now; the crowbar, which had slipped from his grasp and attracted them to the desk, even more so. Words danced near his tongue, evading coherent speech. Sweat moistened his brow. The charred earth soiled his mouth as well as his clothes, and the dirtied fabric of his scarf draped loosely from from his neck. His eyes darted between the three of them, taking in their distinctions at a glance. They were endlessly fascinating as much as they were troubling; it seemed they had managed to retain a fair deal of their youth against the grit, yet the tension in their postures suggested a rigidness about them even outside of danger. He could not blame them: although the man who initially found him gestured to safety, then spoke thereafter, Myles hardly wavered, locked in place by the sight of their weaponry and a startlingly uncharacteristic lack of logic.

But the roving band on the horizon would not wait for them to act. Should the strangers be hostile, this scatter-shot group would likely be disadvantageous. Thinking of this was what finally prompted him to speak: "Hello."

Awkwardly.

And then, with clipped tone and forced smile: "I'm terribly sorry - I assure you this went over more smoothly in my head, and, well--it's a lovely day, certainly, but have you seen the people about? It might be in your best interest to take off. Start anew, as you were probably doing. Don't mind me, oh no. I'll just be taking off, so sorry, so sorry."

This was awful.

Taking a deep, abrupt breath, he added, "I'm Myles. Myles Dunaway."

"Dunaway.."

Yuuta thought about the inappropriateness of making a joke in a situation where Boston and Cora were about halfway convinced that they needed to attack this man with a limp and decided against it. He noticed the limp the moment Myles stood up and perhaps it was the way the man phrased his sentence so unexpectedly polite that Yuuta was inclined to trust what Myles was telling them. Yuuta could only guess that Boston and Cora were still apprehensive towards Myles, he did not mind their guarded personality, at least Boston cared to give him some cover and then Cora probably felt like she needed to do something.

Not really taking control of the matter in a direct way, Yuuta introduced himself, " I am Yuuta, uh nice to meet you." Yuuta imagined that the awkwardness of the situation could drown all of them at that moment. He hoped that Wade would take over the situation and tell them what to do, in his own militaristic style. Of course, Yuuta was afraid that he could make a mistake in trusting Myles, he was absolutely frightened of what Myles had just said about other people nearby, he had the urge to just dash out of the building but then.. "Then what?" he thought.

" You know, I agree with you, we have to go, " Yuuta said to Myles looking to Boston and Cora for support. He had somewhat implied that Myles seemed to be in their "we" group but who cares about the details now - he did not have any say in who joins their odd gang. He wanted to say, "We have to get out off here fast, get Francis and Kitty. Why the hell are they still standing there? We should get all our people and go." but he could not muster the courage to do so. One for cowardice, zero for leadership.

He ran back to where Rio and Jessica were. He knew Rio was definitely ready for action but before Yuuta could figure out what Wade was doing, he was shocked by Jessica. She had definitely drank some alcohol and despite what she thought about herself, her eerie smirk and her disposition made Yuuta doubt her sobriety. Yuuta just pulled her up on her feet, without judging or any words of comfort, as if it was just the matter of making her stand up and appear less dysfunctional. He only hope that the others were getting Frank and Kitty back. The group that were heading towards them, looked worse than menacing, they looked desperate.

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