Lilith R. Avery's Story

"You don't like my new shirt?" She joked. "Or maybe you just like me better topless, huh?" Lips curving to one side as she waggled an eyebrow.

That got a genuine smile and laugh out of him.

"Actually, believe it or not I am from here, the middle of nowhere Highgate. I lived up in LA for a while, just came back a few months ago and if I get out of here alive, I plan on going straight back, or maybe New York. How about you? London, that's pretty cool. I've always wanted to go there. How did you come to be here in BoringVille? Hey! Maybe I'll go to London instead. There's no Zombies there right?" She smiled, it was too hot to be unpleasant.

She could be civil to the guy. Marcus was right, Leon wasn't so bad. Darcy turned and watched as Lilith walked out of the Gas Station with her dog and headed towards the truck. Marcus was still inside. Her stomach flipped with nausea but she tampered it down and concentrated on what Leon had to say.

"Well yeah, no zombies in London and My father.." He almost hesitated.
"My father came here for buisness and I plan on going straight back to tell my family. If they'll believe me."

He looked at the dog and Lilith and smiled. "So you and Marcus aye?" He said quickly. not sure if he wanted to bring it up but there was nothing else to talk about.

(OOC: I go way for a few hours and you guys add 2 pages, lol.)

Natalie finished her sandwhich as people continued to talk, insult and argue. While they made their way outside she sighed and flopped back onto the counter. She lay on her back and rested her hands on he stomach. She was beginning to feel weary, understandable considering she'd spent a very long day living on adrealine and next to no food.
She turned her head as the third member of the Mr and Mrs Rude's party, she girl with the dog, apologised for the couple's behaviour. That's nice of her, Natalie thought with a tired smile as she watched the girl go. Dammit.
Natalie quickly sat back up, waited a moment for her head to stop spinning from the sudden movement, then swung her feet off the counter and dropped back onto the floor. "I'll be right back," she called to a scowling Jin as she grabbed two somethings off a rack on the wall and jogged out to the trucks.
She gave Darcy, who was with the new kid, a wide-ish berth and went towards the truck. She actually considered approaching Marcus since he was apparantly the leader of the small band but the big bad boy was napping, she smiled. She'd much rather talk to the Lilith girl anyway.
"Um, hey," Natalie called. Lilith stopped and turned towards her. "Here," she gave the girl one of item she'd grabbed. Absent-mindedly she pat the dog's head as she explained. "It's a two-way radio, a walkie-talkie. Not massive range but it's only a small town right? I'll give you a mobile number as well, but just in case the network goes down or something... There's not many of us, and while I question your choice of travel companions, I see the benefit of sticking together and pooling resources. So, uh, you guy's have your whole secret John Hill mission thing going on, but once your done, if you've some spare seats on a clear ride out of here or you need anything from us... we should keep in contact and know each others locations. Have each others backs, sorta thing."
She drew a breath realising she was talking heaps. "So um, yeah... we'll keep ours on channel seven. We might turn off the conserve battery but we can check in every couple of hours, like 6am - I mean - 0600, 0900, 1200 etc. You know, if the boss-man agrees."
She nodded her head towards the sleeping man in the truck.
"And... good luck," she put a hand on the other girl's shoulder before turning and making the return run to the store without looking back.

She walked back into the store and looked at the place. The bodies of the infected and the other dead littered the floor along with their various fluids. The glass doors were still wedged open around a pile. Food had been pilfered, although there was still a good deal left. Not really the best place to spend the night.
"I want to get high up," she said alloud to herself. "I want to get out of town. Marcus is a jerk but he might actually know more about what's going on than we do. So maybe we should what and see what the brute's got planned. Meanwhile, I want something more secure, more defendable. Somewhere where I can push an infected off the edge and know he won't be coming back." The thought made her smile darkly, even as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.

She'd intended to go to the restroom but detoured when she got near the truck and saw Marcus was fast asleep. To the far side was Lilith, who was engrossed by that pretentious girl with the crowbar; she was giving Lilith something. The two didn't seem to notice her at all. Darcy opened the passenger side and rested the side of her head against the door, watching Marcus sleep.

What she was asking of him wasn't fair. He had his own things to deal with. How had she ended up here anyway? She'd just gone to the HGPD to get some help and now she was in some sort of whirl wind. Looking down at her seat she saw her backpack, gun and leather jacket. Peering back over at Marcus made her heart bleed, she could clearly see all the worry and tension on his face even as he slept. She wondered if he'd ever have peace.

That's when she decided, not allowing herself to feel any emotions; she pulled on her cropped leather jacket followed by her backpack over one shoulder and grabbed her gun and walked towards the restroom at the back of the gas station.

Leon sat on his bike, Marcus had gone to sleep and Darcy went to the bathroom by the looks of it., Lilith was talking to a girl that wasn't apart of their group, he still didn't know some of their names. Leon sighed as he lifted his head to put his glasses on, it was pretty bright today and he could tell if any zombies were coming from a while away. They weren't to close but still had to be cautious, they had been there a while, he thought looking at his watch.

Marcus got out and was about to tell everyone to saddle up when he noticed something was amiss. They were one person short, who was it? He looked over each person carefully then it hit him, Darcy was gone. He walked over to Leon, the last person he saw Darcy with, and called to him "Hey you, Leon. Where did Darcy go?"

"Darcy is leaving on her own. Spread the word that anyone who is coming along with me that we are leaving right this second. You drive, bring me to James house." Marcus said without looking at her. He moved to the other side of the truck and got into the passenger seat and through his backpack on the floorboard. He put lay his head back again and looked to the horizon...the sun was coming up. That would make it easier to move around the city at least....

~Langley, Virgina. CIA HQ~
"Do you think he can do it." Deputy Director Carter asked.

"If he doesn't, this whole situation will be out of hand. There may be nothing the research team can do" The director replied

"Do we need to destroy the town? The political backlash could be catastrophic."

"Tom, the world is plagued by a parasite that is bringing the dead to life." He glared at his subordinate "I think destroying a town is the least of our concerns. But there is to much people could discover from the bodies of the infected there. We have no choice." He looked to a file of the plans to destroy Highgate "The Aries Fuel Bomb will get rid of any evidence."

Leon watched as Marcus walked away to the women's bathroom, that desperate, eh? But then he came storming out, Darcy not in sight. Not a good thing but I guess it means he was leaving as he saw Marcus growl at Lilith who spoke to the others and then merrily jumped back into the truck.

"Finally." Leon whispered to himself and started his engine.

Leon rolled his eyes at the angered man walking out of the Bathroom hopping into the truck, such a temper. He overheard the asian, "Topless." He couldn't help but chuckle, it was something about when he said that made him just want to laugh. He quite liked this asian guy even if he wasn't dressed the nicest and looked pretty rough. He guessed something happened in the bathroom and Darcy had changed what was wrong with these people. Was it that time of the month for her or did she just have a bad attitude? Better not get involved, luckily he was on his bike and didn't have to ride in the truck, the tension of Darcy and Marcus would be way to strong. That is if she was coming, it seemed like she lagged behind. He wouldn't mind taking someone on his bike, though it'd still probably be awkward.

Leon turned around and Marcus grabbed him by the arm "If you're going with her..." he looked at Darcy as she walked away. He wanted to hate her, but he couldn't "You keep her safe Leon or..." he took his silenced pistol from his holder "I'll hunt you down." He the shoved the pistol into the boys hands and handed him all of his remaining magazines. Then without saying another word he turned around and walked towards the truck "Lilith we are leaving! Let's get on the road!"

Lilith took off at Marcus's command, though her thoughts were elsewhere she was perfectly capable of driving the familiar streets. She was more than a little worried about Darcy, but she'd seen the other people following her so she was actually a bit worried about them. Darcy was in a foul mood and they went following her, stupid people. Then there was the fact that she was seeking out a guy she hardly knew. She could live with that though, she doubted she'd die looking for the guy. On the other hand...
"Hey, Marcus," she asked hesitantly, "What are we going to do if Hill isn't at his house?"
As she thought about it Jake could probably track him if they found a sent, but he was more of an attack dog than a tracker. She was secretly impressed he was being so well behaved with all the strangers they'd met, but she assumed it was because he preferred them to the zombies. Also, from experience he was more likely to attack them only if they seemed dangerous to her.

"Hey, Marcus," Lilith asked hesitantly, "What are we going to do if Hill isn't at his house?"
Freelancer had thought about this. If he couldn't find the guy at his house he could probably get satellite coverage to look for him, or track his cell phone through tower pings. But most of the Towers were offline now, so that was probably useless. The dog wasn't a blood hound unfortunately so he probably wouldn't be able to track a human very well.
"I can probably call in a few favors. But if worst comes to worst we can search this town until we do find him." or the government loses patience and just destroys this place. If he took too long they might decide not to wait. There were other successful experiments, they just wanted him because he was the first successful. Then without warning the truck made a violent clanking sound and slowed to a halt. No, no what was wrong. He looked at the gas gauge, empty no! no! how could he forget to check the gas?! That was worse then a rookie mistake, that was a civilian mistake! A stupid civilians mistake!

CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia

Deputy Director, Carter looked over the files from "Project Antmen". They were very risky experiments, Freelancer's Marine squad wasn't the only group of people tested. They ran tests on civilians, cops, firefighters, government officials the list went on. He read past the list of names of each test subject, then past the names of the unsuccessful tests, then the tests that resulted in death, then the successful tests. He shook his head and put his face in his palm, he could remember when he first signed the document giving permission to the Agents to begin these tests. He had been told that the scientific research crews had created a artificial parasite that mimicked the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungal parasite that can take over the mind of ants. The research teams said that these parasites could be used to compel human beings into committing acts that they would normally never commit. He had signed it with a smile, he thought that it would change the way America conducted operations forever and it would be thanks to his approval. The way it evolved in the successful test subjects was magnificent, until it appeared to stop altogether and the operation was scrapped until a break through appeared...and instead of reading the warning signs he made a deal that would doom the world....

"Aren't you the brave little girl all the sudden." Freelancer said as as he grabbed his backpack and brought his rifle to the ready. "You and Koojoo lead the way, I'm right behind you little girl." He had to like her spirit, she was a tough one.

"If you say so," Lilith replied, rolling her eyes at the return of the 'little girl' jokes. If that was the worst she was going to get she could live with it, "C'mon Jake."
She took off, keeping her pace fast but even. Keeping near the line of bearing she adjusted her planned root, she could use more short cuts on foot. Unfortunately as she ducked into one of the alleyways she realised that the zombies also seemed to prefer these paths.
"Jake, attack," she commanded, lifting her sword more defensively. This way was faster, she wasn't about to turn around. Jake darted forward, growling fiercely with Lilith right behind him. What'd it matter if she got a bit more blood on her? She still hadn't cleaned up from her meeting with Marcus.

"Jake, attack"

Marcus flipped the rifle to three round burst and pulled the trigger as he pointed his weapon on the horde of infected freaks that paraded towards him and Lilith. The bullets tore in the undead, blowing their brains completely out of their skulls and causing them to fall lifeless to the cement. Lilith chopped and hacked at the zombies as Jake did tore into their legs with his teeth. He watched as a zombie ran towards Lilith and tried to grab her arm, but failed and instead tore the bandage right off her arm. He had to turn away at that second and fire a multitude of rounds into a few infected who almost made it to him. As the fight raged a long and thunderous beep went out across the city, it sounded like a humungous blow horn as being set off. It was almost deafening. Moments later a male voice came over an intercom and filled every alley and street with his voice.

"Attention, attention this is the State National Guard, we have restored power to the emergency broadcast system. We advise all remaining civilians, Emergency Service personnel and military servicemen and women to report to Evacuation Center Zulu on 32nd Street and Garden Street at the "Welcoming Arch" at the North Entrance into the city. Be advised the following centers have been overrun and are no longer operational, Alpha center on 72nd and Main, Bravo Center on Locust and Blackfoot, X-ray center on Georgia and Maverick, and Yankee Center on Ford and 42nd. The only operational center still operational is on 32nd and Garden Street, I repeat 32nd and Garden Street. This message will be repeated at 0900 hours."

So the National Guard finally got their asses moving. He looked to Lilith as she slaughtered the last zombie, and he saw on her arm the defined marks of a bite. That wasn't good, she probably didn't have more then a few days left without a paralyzing injection. It wouldn't stop the parasite but it would keep it from spreading so rapidly, some of the test subjects who weren't immune took it and the progress of the parasite was halted to a rate that the scientists expected it would take years to turn them into the waddling freaks they were just killing. Problem as if even a few injections were missed the Parasite would spread at thirty times the normal rate, giving the host about a half hour life expectancy. He frowned, he liked that girl. I promise Lilith, he thought to himself, If it comes down to it....I'll make it quick and painless...you won't even see it coming.

Lilith breathed heavily as the number of zombies trickled away. Thank God. She listened to the voice as it re-laid the message. She hated how some people managed to give a really important speech and fill it with unnecessary blather. Feeling secure that Jake would give her warning if anymore of the zombies turned up Lilith looked over the bite mark. It was actually healing well, though it could just be that she'd been too wrapped up in everything else to remember it. As she investigated it Jake came over to sniff warily at it.
"It's fine," she assured the dog, who eagerly received the offered scratch, "Just like when you bit me as a puppy. 'Cept his teeth went quite as sharp and I didn't have to kill you." She mumbled the last bit, then glanced up and noticed Marcus frowning at her.
"I've got more bandages in the bag," she assured him, offering a smile, "I'll rewrap it when we get to Hill's house. It should be right around here."
That said she climbed around the corpses and out of the alleyway. This street was lined with houses and she spent a moment trying to figure out which one she wanted before realising that, just a couple houses away was a boarded up building. Looked good to her.

"So how much further?" Freelancer asked as he pretended to ignore the bite. It had been but maybe an hour and he had already lost too people he actual cared about saving. He shook his head, fucking figures.

So this was it...he had finally found James. It had taken him long enough. It ended up that the boarded up house was his and that it was just across the street from the alley. "You wait here Lilith, I'm going to go take a look." He said as he crept up to the door with his rifle raised. He knocked on the door "James you there?" no answer "James?!" Freelancer called again, but only dead silence replied to him. Well shit, guess he had to do this the hard way, hopefully he wasn't dead. He looked at the door, if he kicked it in it could take a few tries and he could catch a bullet in the process, he didn't want to but he would use a door charge. He took his pack off, unzipped it, and retrieved a small, round disk. He pulled down a key shaped device from the back and inserted it into the lock of the door then stood to the side and pressed a button on the front of the disk. It was time to get this mission over with.

BOOM! the charge went off, sending a confetti of wood and metal flying inwards to the house as the door flew open. Freelancer charged in with his rifle at the ready. The Agency said he had to unharmed, that just translates into not dead so he wasn't afraid to take out a leg or arm if he needed to. He cleared the living room while he shouted "NSA come out with your hands up and no one needs to get hurt!" he cleared the kitchen and dining areas. There were some dirty dishes in the sink and some dirty ones on the table. Someone must have been here recently, Freelancer thought. He cleared the rest of the house, ending with James room. Freelancer started to pace around the room, growling with anger "Goddamn it! Son of a bitch!" He kicked a dresser and sent it falling over on it's side "Where the fuck are you huh!?" He shouted to the empty room. He had gone through a a thousand missions with a million setbacks but he was absolutely through with this one. He was so sure that this would be it. He stood with his hands on his hips and bit his lip trying to calm himself down. That's when he noticed a picture on the wall, it looked familiar. Freelancer got closer to it, and he immediately recognized it. It was him and James with his old squad during their early days in Afghanistan. He looked at the picture of the six men grouped together with beers in their hands and smiles across their faces. They were huddled in front of a Humvee with their fatigues on, just screwing around acting like idiots. Oh those were the times. He took the picture off the wall to hold in his hands, and that's when he felt something hard on the back, he flipped it over and saw a metal plate with an engraving on it.

(occ Some mood music for this point down.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpV91wWecPM

To our fallen brothers, gone but never forgotten. it read at the top and under it was a list of five names

Charles C. Holland
Jacob R. Black
Jamal F. Freeman
Jack T. Thompson
all names he knew so well and at the bottom one he had known his whole life
Richard C. McCarthy
a name he would forget the day he was recruited by the Agency. A dead man among the living, not literally thank God. Freelancer stroked his hand over the name...his name. Then he read the words in quotations at the bottom
"Marines don't die, they just go to hell to regroup."
Freelancer smiled, it all seemed so long ago, back when he was in the best years of his life. Nothing but him and his squad against the world it seemed like, just screwing around trying to live another day. He felt like crying, but he wouldn't he had been through too much to cry over this, he told himself that at least. Some days he longed for that old life back, to be able to see his parents who were both dead from cancer now. Died thinking their child was a war hero. He shook his head, they never had any idea of the terrible things he had done, unforgivable acts and sins that he committed in the name of "Freedom" and "Democracy". Serving the people who caused this hell to break loose today...what had he done with his life? This was the first contact he had, had with his old life for many years, and now all the memories he had tried to keep locked away ere rushing back like a stampede of angry bulls. Had he made a mistake by joining the Agency? Had he...he looked at his hands...so much blood on them...some people he killed deserved it but...he reached back into his backpack and shuffled through the items of targets, his old boss, his partner...Misty...sweet Misty. He pulled the necklace from the bag and looked at it with regretful eyes. She was just a women doing her job, and because she knew a little too much for the governments liking...he killed her...her and all of the members of her team. She said she loved him and...he killed her...cold blooded..no remorse until now. He set the picture down and thought of Darcy...no wonder she used me, he thought...who could love a monster like this. He looked at his hands again, thinking of the dozens of people he has killed, maybe even hundreds, Christ he didn't know anymore he had killed so many. He was a murder, a man with a license to kill just in the name of security and peace. Suddenly he noticed Lilith watching him in the doorway with Jake at her side. She asked something but Freelancer ignored what she said and just replied

"He isn't here...I'm going to go make a phone call...you stay here." he said as he pushed passed her and walked outside, he still had to find James, for the good of mankind. As he pulled his phone and dialed 3 he thought of the quote from the back of the picture, he would be going to hell alright...but none of his friends would be there to greet him...they were somewhere meant for heros.

Lilith watched worriedly as Marcus stood in the house looking at and old photo. She asked if he was ok, he'd seemed so solid all the time she'd spent with him and now he looked like he was in shock. He didn't reply to her question, instead saying, very flatly, that Hill wasn't there and he was going to make a phone call. She had no idea who he could be calling, but she thought he would want to be left alone. Still, she'd never been good at withholding her curiosity.
Carefully she moved forward and picked up the picture he'd been looking at. It looked like and army squad. Investigating each face she recognised Marcus, though he hardly looked like the man in the picture. Probably the lack of smile. She flipped it over as she'd seen him do and read the engraving. Five names. Frowning she flipped it back and counted the people in the picture. Six. If Hill was in this picture and still alive, as well as Marcus, something was missing.
Glancing outside Lilith slipped the photo into her duffle bag. It was good to keep those memories, even if he didn't want them right now. That done she went and stood in the doorway again, silently watching Marcus but unable to hear what he was saying.