Belial's Story

***Commonwealth Mayor's office***
Barnaby cringed as the man put an arm around him. Shuddering would have been his preferred method of expressing it, but this guy weighed so much he didn't think he'd even be able too. "Ok then sir..." Barnaby said sliding out of his grip and brushing himself off. "About looking the part. I look like I'm ready to get in, as you said, get in drunken fights and sleep in a gutter." He stood back, letting out a puff of smoke from the cigar and walking over to the balcony once more. He looked back at Stanley, waving his hand out to the balcony. "Please, if you would step out here." Stanley scowled before stepping out, Barnaby following him.

"As president, you want this city to run as strong as it can. Not just because it's strength grants strength to the other territories, but also!" He grinned looking at Stanley. "Also, it grants strength and wealth to you! Now of course why do I mention this? Simple, good sir." He leaned on the railing of the balcony, looking out and letting out a puff. "Morale is the most important part about this city staying strong. When it's people are happy, then they want to work, they want to improve things. Now I understand wanting an aesthetically pleasing office building, which yeah it could probably use some minute improvements. However, sir. These people, they live a hard life, some live in the gutter, some simple homes. The richest workers still are not what we'd call upper-class in the old ways of life."

"Get to the point, Mr. Turncoat." Stanley said, tapping his cane.

Barnaby looked at him, standing up off the railing. "For you, looking high-class as you do works, because you are the complete man in charge, and you deal with us mayors. So you need to look this way to let us know our place." He could see the nod from Stanley, Barnaby wanted to roll his eyes. "But for me, I need to look like the "drunken brawler." First off, it's what I wore surviving this whole mess we call the zeds. So it's very comfortable for me. But also, Mr. Mockerson, it let's these people know that they are being led by a man with experience in not only surviving, but climbing out of the hell-hole that was created. They want to follow me, not because I look powerful or ambitious, but because they know I've fought and survived the same and even worse conditions than how they live. And they respect that. They do what I ask because they trust me as well."

Walking back into the officer, Stanley following, Barnaby took another long drag of the cigar and let out the smoke. He then turned to face the president. "And any resources you are going to give me for improvement will go to improving their lives, not mine. And by doing so, it will not only make them happy, but it will also improve productivity because they are happy! Make sense?"

***Belial***

Belial stood nearby Scott's position. Currently the mutant was not wearing anything other than his pants, arms crossed as he listened to Scott speak to the men and women of the NDO army. Strong willed, determined, disciplined people; all fighting for the new cause. It really amused Belial, to think Scott had made it so far. Of course, it was because of the strong arms of operatives, especially Belial. He had no idea how many people he had killed by this point, and how many were dead because Scott needed cretins out of the way. He smiled, his sharp bottom canines still protruding from between his lips.

For a long time, Belial was Scott's secret weapon. Now though, he was Scott's terror weapon. To the majority of the world's population and people, he was a boogey man. None knew if he actually existed or not, but not the men in charge. To those of power, they knew of Belial's existence, and many had to sleep with one eye open less the mutant devour them. They never knew if they were Belial's next target.

To these soldiers, he still served a couple roles. Primarily, was something of inspiration, or at least an example to follow. In battles, Belial would join the fray and charge the enemy. Sometimes it helped the soldiers by distracting the enemy. At other times, the presence of the blood crazed berserker would even drive the soldiers into something of a similar blood frenzy. This ferocity was often enough to break the enemy, or at the least cause severe casualties. His other form of "inspiration" was the same as before. You turn from the NDO, you die. You run from our enemies, you die. Your life for the NDO, it was as simple as that.

It was unfortunate. As of now, there had been nothing of the Children of Our Fathers resistance group than had really been causing trouble in the United States. Granted, Belial certainly was finding resistance members of different groups, which is why currently he was sitting in an abandoned building, watching out into a abandoned town while munching on a severed arm. It had only been a day-or-so ago that Scott had given Belial clearance to come to the states, and it had been a several hour flight by a cargo plane. Fortunately, the plane had been scheduled to head to the state to drop off more Enforcers, so Belial simply boarded it to make his way over.

Most of the Enforcers watched the mutant with apprehension, not sure what he was or what he was going to do. It was nice though, as it meant Belial got to sit by himself and not be bothered. It wasn't long since arriving that he ran off to find some meat to eat, a.k.a. rebels. He bit another chunk of flesh off the arm, chewing the hunk of meat as he continued to watch. His shotgun and sword were resting on the ground next to him.

The sword was caked in plenty of blood, considering Belial used it to hack his way through his enemies. He watched as several infected were roaming about, looking for a bite to eat. In fact, several were in the room with the mutant, feasting on the corpses as well. Belial hadn't noticed when he had first been mutated, mostly because everywhere he was sent meant he was not amongst infected. However, as time went on, Belial realized that, for some reason, the infected never turned hostile towards him. In fact, they tended to simply ignore him as if he was one of them. Which was probably the case, as he was an infected, just with a degree of sanity due to a mutation of the parasite and his implants. It was actually one of Belial most powerful weapons. Just guide the infected to the people he needed to attack, and let them draw fire and attention. By the time they noticed Belial, somebody was already being mauled. Then the rest of the infected got in because the defenders lost their organization and, well long story short they were then quickly begin devoured by Belial and the other infected.

Belial took one more bite before tossing the arm behind him, an infected quickly going to it to devour what remained before Belial collected his gear. Strapping the shotgun to the small of his back, he then placed the sword into it's "sheath" on his back. All it consisted of was a reinforced pouch to support the point of the blade, then a long kevlar strap travelled up the length of it where it then connected to a thick strap that buckled closed to hold the blade in place. Walking to the window, Belial quickly just jumped out of the building, falling for a few moments before landing on the ground, falling to a knee as he did so. Growling, Belial stood up, not noticing the gash that had formed on his knee when it smacked into the ground from the landing. It however, just quickly healed over.

He started walking, watching around, heading off to find some new people to fight.

Belial was perched up in a tree, looking down at the newly found individuals. Two women, four males. One of the men was approaching from a hiding place, probably having been observing the situation, as well as covering fire. At least, Belial was assuming it was covering fire by the way one of the women looked over at the man as he approached. All of them looked quite young, in their twenties at the least, maybe early thirties. He wasn't to sure, nor did he really care.

He normally would have assumed them to be rebels, considering they were so far away from any places of civilization. He only went on that assumption, because after six years of this mess going on, people had usually migrated to safe zones and such. Only people who wanted to stay away from prying eyes, hence resistance members, usually braved the wastelands were infected roamed.

Kneeling down so he could get a better look at them, he cocked his head to the side. Few of them actually seemed to know one another though, and that was the only reason Belial had decided not to attack. If most of them were strangers to one another, then they just had to be a bunch of unlucky schmucks just lost and wandering about. Course, even random individuals Belial might have attacked, but over the years he had certainly simmered down a bit. Least in regards to randomly mauling strangers. He'd only do so if the thirst was really strong or he was particularly hungry (the two did kinda go hand-in-hand). The only people who ever met his unwarranted aggression were those he had been tasked to kill or those who had decided to turn hostile upon himself.

Remaining up in the tree, he smiled some as he shouted down to them. "You know folks, it might behoove you to know that there is a fuck-ton of infected coming this way. Largest horde I've ever seen to be honest. But before you depart, would it be rude of me to ask if any of you are members of any known/unknown resistance groups working against the NDO? An odd and random question yes, but it's very important for me to know."

"You know folks, it might behoove you to know that there is a fuck-ton of infected coming this way. Largest horde I've ever seen to be honest..."
Leo paused and looked at the group behind him, for he second he thought that it must of been one of them who had spoken, but no one seemed to of heard the voice and it definitely hadnt sounded like anyone he knew.
Great... Leo thought, shaking his head, Im going crazy.
And then the voice spoke again, at first Leo wasnt able to catch what it was saying, but the last few parts he understood,
"...Any of you are members of any known/unknown resistance groups working against the NDO? An odd and random question yes, but it's very important for me to know."

Leo blinked and looked up, since he realized that that was where the voice had been coming from.
Leo was surprised to find a man sitting way up in a tree.
He couldnt see him clearly, but from what he did see, the man didnt look quite human... odd.
NDO? Leo thought,
No... him, Aarti, and Alex werent exactly working against them... but they werent working with them, either.
They were just kind of... not really doing anything.

"Uh... no. I mean... I dont think so." Leo called back, not sure of his answer.

Barnaby watched as Mando fired off the gun, before he started to panic himself. While he and his guards knew that Mando was not firing at him, those on the wall may not realize this and Barnaby didn't need this turning into a shootout he wouldn't survive. Quickly turning around, Barnaby looked up at the wall and held his hand up, trying to signal to the men up on the wall not to fire. To be safe, he looked at one of the guards nearby. "Tell the guys up on the wall the man is just having a spaz attack please!" One of the guards quickly hoped on his radio to inform, Barnaby watching before he suddenly felt someone grab hold of him.

Barnaby was caught off guard as the young woman hugged him, Barnaby just standing there before he awkwardly patted her on the back. "Yep...you are welcome miss." She then quickly scampered behind him as Mando approached again. Barnaby looked at the woman before back at the slaver. "So, do we have a deal here or not Mr. Ortega?" Barnaby was still unaware of who exactly Mando had attacked, as the woman in question was out of his sight and so it left him with little go on. He did hope they got out ok, in fact he kinda hoped they could find their way to the wall. Atleast that way they may have a chance to get noticed by the guards.

One thing the walls did have was various ladders and rope variants as well to allow quick access in and out of the city. The only thing was that these ladders were under heavy guard, and could only be deployed form the inside and only in certain circumstances were they ever deployed. Hopefully the guards would feel somewhat merciful on the unlucky sap running for their lives.

***Belial***

Belial chuckled as the boy's uneasy response. Belial decided to get down to their level more, so began hoping down the branches before landing a few feet away form them. He wasn't surprised at the odd and uneasy looks. He got plenty of them from people who lived in relative safety, so he'd expect people who had to watch their backs for infected and slavers twenty-four/seven to be even more cautious. "Well least it means we won't be trying to kill each other then!" Belial said with a smile

"None of you know where any might be, hm? I've got a very important job to do and it would really helpful if you did let me know." Honestly, Belial was really only making conversation cause he was bored. He wasn't really expecting any solid information out of these people, but it was a good way to break the ice, at least Belial thought it was. "Don't let my odd appearance put you off! I've had my fill of meat lately, so I'm just looking for any bits of info people can give me and maybe a nice conversation while I'm at it!"

(OOC: Ignore the Alexis Rivera tag, that was me accidently clicking it while trying to get Alex. Sorry!!)

***Barnaby***

Barnaby pinched the bridge of his nose, looking over at the little firestorm that was started. "Fuck a duck and call me a monkey..." he mumbled to himself. He looked back at Mando, "Right then...I'll go get the stuff rounded up, then we'll finish this business. See you in a few." Barnaby said before he turned around. He looked at the slave girl and gestured to his guards. "Just stick with them if he scares the bageabis out of you." Barnaby said before he turned and began making his way back towards the gates. "Oy...I am one lucky son of a bitch aren't I..."

***Belial***

He looked around at the group, still getting the uneasy looks from them. None had spoken up yet, and it was somewhat irritating him on the inside. "What? I heard you guys have some good chit-chatting earlier! Fuck the boy was brave enough to speak up, come on! Besides, not like you haven't seen disfigured folks like me before!" Course he should be smarter than this, to realize how these folks were not exactly going to be forthcoming with him. After all, he certaintly wasn't the prettiest of guys on the block nowadays.

Nicholas was looking around, he put his hands down since it looked like no one was attacking him. Suddenly a man jumped down from the trees, and one of the men said something to him. Nicholas could not hear anything. The strange man looked as if he was really angry and like he was telling everybody off. Nicholas had no idea what he was say, the earphones were still in his ears and all he could hear was his music playing while the man was telling him off. Nicholas wasn't really afraid of him. Well, he had been living in an apocalypse, so this should normal according to everything else that had been happening in the passed years.

Nicholas took his earphones out of his ears, and walked back slowly, so that he wasn't in the middle of everyone else. "I was just passing by, I don't want any trouble. I got sloppy just for a minute, but I'll get out of your way." He said to the strangers and also to the strange man. He turned his mp3 player off and put it in his pocket. He couldn't handle all of the staring, and he was pretty sure that the other man was getting tired of it as well. "Sorry I didn't answer you, I just couldn't hear you."

((OOC: I would of posted earlier but I had a shitload of homework to finish DX ))

Aarti stared at the man, unable to think of anything to say. She was doing her best to hide her surprise... it wasnt everyday she saw someone who looked like... that, but it was clear she was failing.
She wished that Leo had kept his mouth shut and pretended he hadn't heard the man speak, but what was done was done.
"Sorry! Normally people like you... I mean, the ones that look kinda like you..." Aarti trailed off, lost of words.
The way the man looked shocked her, if he hadn't spoken Aarti would of guessed he was one of the infected.
Maybe he was, maybe he just wasn't fully infected...?

Suddenly the new kid, whatever his name was, took a few steps back,
"I was just passing by, I don't want any trouble. I got sloppy just for a minute but I'll get out of your way...Sorry I didn't answer you, I just couldn't hear you."
Truthfully she was kind of disappointed, being around Alex and Leo was surprisingly boring, and Aarti didn't know if the blonde and her brother were going to stick around or not... maybe not, Alex had been planning to kill her, after all.
But still, having a new addition to the group would of been fun.

Aarti flashed a smile, wishing she could use the kids excuse of 'I didnt hear you'

***Belial***

He chuckled, look at the young woman. "'People like you.'? Some might interpret such a comment to be racist!" He said with a chuckle before looking towards the boy backing away. "As for you, now you can hear me. And besides, who cares if you were just passing through! Now you've got people to talk with."

He looked back at Aarti. "To let you know, I am the same, but I'm not the same. To go any further in-depth would be...confusing. Not to mention it wouldn't really make my employer very happy." Belial sat down on the ground, looking around at them. "So what brings all of you folks out into the middle of butt-fuck nowhere? Granted it's a nice forest," he said while looking around. "Butt it's certainly not a friendly one with all of the groaners and moaners wandering about for a snack."

Aarti's face went red with embarrassment, "Sorry."
She was glad that the man didn't seem offended, but she reminded herself to be more careful with her words.

Alex was listening to what the man was saying, and the words 'my employer' caught his interest.
He was working for someone?
"So what brings all of you folks out into the middle of butt-fuck nowhere?" The man said, not giving Alex a chance to question, "Granted it's a nice forest, but it's certainly not a friendly one with all of the groaners and moaners wandering about for a snack." He continued as he looked around.
"Well... i've been traveling with these two idiots," Aarti said, pointing at Alex and Leo, both of them didn't look like they appreciated what she called them. Then Aarti hushed her voice into a whisper that was still loud enough for everyone to hear,
"Honestly they're both complete dumbass's."

Alex narrowed his eyes,
"You said something about a hoard of infected heading this way... did you actually see it with your own eyes or did you just hear it from someone?" He asked the man, completely ignoring Aarti.

Nicholas answered the man. "Just escaped a small town and trapped them with a wall of fire. The fire was necessary because I alerted all the infected by killing a crawler. I'd rather have a group of infected than one crawler on my ass."
He looked at the group and looked away.
"See ya." Nicholas turned around and walked away deeper into the jungle.

As he was walking away, he shook his head, disappointed in himself, he could've died just from being sloppy.

"Idiots, eh? guess I'll have to take your word on that one then." Belial said while placing his hands behind his head and leaning back against a tree. "As for you boy," He said while looking at Alex. "I did see them. In fact I had walked through a part of it. And boy, there were plenty I'll tell you what!"

He looked at Nick though next. "Right, and that point would be~? What? Besides, Crawlers are pretty adorable! Cute little fuckers I tell you what! They always squirm around though when I try to hug them...but I'll admit that when they scream it can be very annoying..."

Taylor remained silent, observing cautiously, and as she was about to open her mouth to talk, there was a voice from behind her, up in the trees. She whipped her head around, instantly spotting the man among the trees and watching him, knowing that behind her Max was doing the same, gun still in his hand, but pointed down. Although abnormal for him, he wasn't really talking. For once, he was taking a tip from his sister and watching.
Looking at the man, he noticed strange things about him, the type you see on newly affected and the like, although he surly was a man. He allowed a slightly confused expression to take over his face, not even trying to hide his curiosity as he all but stared. Taylor was different. Pushing a blank expression on, she glanced at the man, watching him speak for a few seconds, then turning to see how Max and Scout had reacted, Scout now standing, ears perked and watching.
They watched him jump down, one of the boys speaking with him, and then the girl. The man replied, then the newest boy replied, turning around and walking away. Taylor knew this didn't matter. Either within the next week they would find each other crossing paths, or they would never meet again, and it was what it was. Taylors blank face slipped into a bit fo a smirk, although not for any reason necessary other then the man was searching for NDO's.
Watching him talking to them, She glanced at her brother, signally for him to say something, and he slowly nodded, twitching his fingers so Scout would sit again, then speaking up.
"N-NDO rebels?" He shook his head slowly, gaining more confidence. "We don't mess with them, they don't mess with us." Taylor watched, interested, and waiting to see how the situation would unfold.

As Nicholas walked through the bushes, to get away from that group he looked at his watch, which showed 2:00p.m. "Shit!" He thought. Nicholas was worried because it was going to be dark in 4-7 hours, and Nicholas didn't know how long it would take to find another town. "Looks, I'm going to have to run."

Nicholas sprinted into the "never ending" forest. Nicholas had been running for 2 hours and a bit, and he had still been in the forest. He stopped suddenly, and hid behind a bush. As he peaked through, he saw a massive horde of infected coming his way, and it would most likely make it to the group that he just came from. "I can't take them all on... I bet that huge guy could take them on though." Nicholas quickly climbed up the tree with ease, and this tree was very high. The only infected to get him would probably only be a Crawler or a Nightmare, but luckily it was daylight... for now.

Nicholas sat on the highest branch that could support him. He grabbed the stage curtain that he took from the nightclub and strapped himself to the tree, in case he fell of while sleeping. As he watched the infected passing through from underneath him, he thought; "Those guys better move quickly..." He wasn't worried about the other man though.

***Belial***

Belial watched the dog with a smile as one of the young man spoke. "N-NDO rebels? We don't mess with them, they don't mess with us." he said. Belial then pouted some, looking back at him.

"A shame, least on the fact it means I have to keep searching for the rats now. Good for you folks though, it's not usually a good idea to get mixed up with those folks. You folks already have enough trouble dealing with the infected, it'd only be worse to now have to worry about running into any enforcers." The boy who spoke about leaving had done so a few moments ago, but the other people didn't seem so interested in separating.

Well, judging by the blonde haired woman's look, was far to excited to see what might occur. He then looked between them all, his one eye looking over each and everyone of them. Quite a group he had to say, and he certainly liked how the women looked. Twas a shame that there wasn't a women alive that he'd want to sleep with that'd feel the same way about him. Shaking his head, he then stood up, brushing himself off. "Well, I can't say I envy you folks. lotsa runnin', lotsa hidin'. Course some of oyu look good in a fight, which is also my preferred method of handling things."

There was a distinct groan that came from a ways away. Belial could hear it easily, but he wasn't sure if the others may have picked up on it. Turning to look, he could see a single infected blindly strolling through the forest. At the moment, it had failed to notice them, but Belial knew that it only meant the rest of the horde was not far behind. He grinned, chuckling some before looking back at the others. "And unlucky for you folks," he said while using his thumb to point over his shoulder, back at the walker. "that would be your warning to get the fuck out of here. Unlike you folks, they don't want to nibble on my flesh. Can't blame them though, I probably taste pretty damned awful..." Belial said while looking himself over.

Watching the moves of the man, and his eyes, Taylors head was turned before he pointed and spoke. The first infected, although slow, and groaning, was not a good sign, and sadly, one that Taylor knew very well. It meant that they had not a lot of time, and by the looks of this place, the nearest city was probably miles away. Not nearly enough time to get there.
Glancing back at the man, giving him a quick once over, interested in what he was saying, though not enough so that she was going to ask. She looked at Scout quickly, the dog back on his feet, a low growl sounding from his muzzle, but a quick meeting of eye contact shushed him. The fortunate side of having such a well trained dog tended to involve the fact that they didn't have to worry about unpreventable noise.
Taylor turned back to the man, hearing him finish his words and simply increased her smirk. "How fortunate for you." She said, taking a few steps the oposite direction as the zombie, then turning back and looking at the group, especially her brother and dog. "I believe there are taller trees this way, and we should at least try to get ahead of the horde, before we do anything."
Max shrugged, taking a step towards his sister then pausing. Were they going to work with the trio, or would now be the time to split? He turned back to them, and watched.

Aarti clapped her hands together,
"Well! Thank you mister, for giving us the warning... I guess we'll be on our way now!" She exclaimed, flashing a smile as she picked up the backpack.
She was grateful that he had taken the time to warn them, even if it was just so he would be able to ask them if they were working with the NDO, it was nice of him.
And as nice of a guy he probably was, he creeped Aarti out.
Sorry...

Aarti pointed at the boy and the girl,
the girl had just spoken, something about taller tree's and at first Aarti wondered if she had meant to suggest climbing them, but Aarti decided against it. They'd probably be trapped up there once the hoard passed through.
"Anywho, I hope you two don't mind if we tag along, do you?" She asked although she wouldn't listen if they said no.
There was no way Aarti was going to go back to wandering around the monster-filled world with just two people, it just wasn't going to happen.

Max shrugged at the girl, turning towards Taylor for a confirmation. No matter what Max said, or how manly he tried to be, he always took his sisters thought into mind, considering she knew best often. She gave him a look only understandable to him, and he turned back to the trio, nodding his head, and beginning to walk.

"Of course. But we need to get moving. Fast." He said, glancing around, seeing his tracks from where he came, then just deciding on going with Taylor. Scout stood quick, sheepishly sniffing the girl before trotting over to Taylor and Max, who quickly aimed his gun at the infected, hitting it once then turning back. He knew he had hit it where he meant too, and he didn't need confirmation.

Taylor, while beginning to walk, pulled her backpack around to her front, beginning to dig through it. Max watched out of the corner of his eye, expecting the trio to be right behind them, considering they had just asked to come with, and said just loud enough for them to hear, although he wondered what the plan of the lone man would be.

"Hungry, or are you all covered?" He figured they were fine, but then again you never knew. Majority of people just went day to day, finding as they went. Although Taylor and Max weren't like this, they tried to take in more food every day, and he looked around constantly for berries or other plants he knew were safe to eat.

***Barnaby***

He really must be bipolar then, Barnaby thought. Bipolar or not though, he was not a fan of this fella flipping shit on him. "Ok, Mr. Mockerson. First off, they are not getting into our damned walls and secondly I just told you I am not trusting our safety to them! I just told you I'm going to keep our guards at the ready and they will be running even more training exercises to be ready for a fucking fight." This time Barnaby approached Stanley, stopping close to him and leaning in, "And thirdly, who. gives. a Flying fuck!! About some god damned wine!!"

He shook his head before turning back around. "If you are so mortified at the loss of a chance of getting drunk, then find more ways to get more alcohol in here. But I am willing to part with it if it means we get more resources into this city and don't have to fucking waste manpower to go out and hunt fucking slavers!" Barnaby then walked over to Sarah, looking at her and nodding head in a random direction. "Come on, let's walk and you can finish telling me what you were saying." He said with a smile to her as he started walking.

***Belial***

After the individuals had left, Belial had chosen to continue his hunt. He'd been travelling for a couple hours, which with his immense stamina and speed, meant he could cover a lot of ground fast. Currently, he had managed to find his way to a small town that held and NDO outpost. Friendlies, and it meant he may be able to get information from them about any rebels. He was sure they knew of certain locations, but lacked the manpower to deal with them; Belial however would be that manpower.

Currently he was resting on the rooftop of the outpost, leaning on the edge and watching people go by. He'd taken a hooded coat to wear, using it to cover his head. He still only had the jacket and pants, and the jacket was open in the front, but it made it harder for people just casually glancing around to really get a good look at the mutant. Leaning his arms on the railing atop the roof, he continued to watch the people go by and about their business, sword resting against the railing next to him with the shotgun still on the small of his back.

He was glad the thirst was dormant as of now, mostly because he had eaten some unlucky bloke not long before coming here. He really didn't want to go berserk in the town though, because then the rebels would go on alert at the news of some super freak running about and maiming people.

He turned his head some, oddly drawn to look at a man and woman walking along. He couldn't make out their faces well from the distance, but he could definitely see that the woman was very finely dressed for a place like this. He shook his head, watching them go while he talked to himself. "Damn bitch is just asking for trouble. Not going to be surprised if she ends up dead in a gutter or something..." As he watched, he narrowed his eye. He couldn't help but feel like there was something important about the man, but then again it could just be the thirst driving him to feast. Shaking his head, he continued to watch them go for a few before they were finally out of his sight.

Richard escorted his wife through the town. He felt eyes on him...thirsty eyes that were burning a hole in him, but he couldn't seem to spot anybody glaring at him. It made him nervous...very nervous. As they approached the small supply shop Richard spotted a band of NDO soldiers marching down the street like there was a parade going through town. It was probably just to make sure the people here remembered who was in charge.

"Let's try to be quick about this babe." Richard whispered to her as the two walked inside the market.


***Sarah McCarthy***

Sarah was hard at work telling Barnaby her story. She told him about how Mando had attacked her small settlement and how he had killed her mother and brother. Every word was spoken through thick tears,

"and he..he made me do things." Sarah began to cry