Mullin Eschmann's Story

Nico pedaled on the bicycle generator, looking out the window across the scrapyard he and Mullin had come to call home. He heard strumming, immediately recognizing the tune and humming along. Simultaneously, the two 'retired' mercs began singing.

"There was once a girl I'd felt I'd known forever."

"Her name in every song, her smile in every summer."

"Across the continent, we'd go on adventures."

"But now, we are apart."

Nico picked up the percussion by tapping on the generator at his side with one hand. The two sang for another minute before Nico stopped and shouted.

"Oi, we got a shambler in the yard." He climbed off the bicycle and walked over to the window, where his pneumorifle was propped up. "Bloody hell, there's more than a couple of zeds out there. I spot... half a dozen. Put your bloody guitar down and get over here, Mullin."

He brought his pneumorifle to his shoulder and, after a few moments of careful aiming, fired a shot at one of the shamblers.

Mullin sighed, set his guitar aside and took a swig of beer.

"Too early in the morning for this shit."

He got up and moved into an adjacent room, and picked up his own pneumatic rifle. Noticing the pressure had dropped overnight, he pumped the canister a few times, before moving back and joining Nico. Propping his own weapon up on a windowsill, he sighted, and pulled the trigger. With a puff of compressed air, a crossbow bolt shot from the first of 8 barrels, and imbedded itself in the skull of a zed.

"Awesome, the accuracy issues are minimized. Your turn."

Nico took a gulp of vodka while Mullin readied his shot. When his turn came around, he set the bottle aside and looked for a new target.

"Think I can get the one in the red shirt in the eye?"

"Five 9mm's says you can't."

"Deal."

Nico took a deep breathe, and exhaled as he pulled the trigger. His rifle puffed, and the red shirt dropped to the ground. He grabbed the binoculars between them and looked through.

"Looks like you owe me five 9mm's, friend." He passed the binoculars to Mullin.

Mullin peered through the binoculars, and groaned.

"Fine, you get that one. Buuut..."

He began to pump the air canister again, putting all his strength into it. He gave it one last push, an audible hiss of escaping air indicating the over pressurization of the canister.

"15 says I can shoot no-jaw over there through the face, and into the one behind him."

Readying himself again, he sighted, and pulled. With another puff, the bolt shot out towards the zed. With a crack it passed through it's head, before imbedding itself deep into the heart of the next.

Smirking, he turned to Nico, and took another swig of beer.

"looks like you now owe me 10."

"I'll be damned. Take 'em, you greedy pig." Nico rolled a handful of rounds over to Mullin.

"Half of them down. Let's finish them, shall we?" Another minute passed, and the zeds were inanimate once more. Nico took a moment to load his pneumorifle back to maximum capacity and attach a strap before climbing down the ladder and into the warehouse's main room. With his USP holstered on his thigh and his pneumorifle slung over his shoulder, he began to make his way through the scrapyard, occasionally spotting a potential component and tossing it across the yard to the warehouse entrance. At the fence, he took a quick look around before opening it slightly and slipping through.

Nico started dragging zeds from the fence to a nearby pile, noting that it was getting overly large and that they would later need to burn it. When the job was done, he went back within the perimeter of the fence and locked it back up, joining Mullin in the scrapyard, picking through the acres of junk behind and next to the warehouse.