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Post by Skynet on May 16, 2009 12:42:53 GMT -5
From the looks he saw in their eyes, it appeared that Tanjuu and Jill already trusted the new girl entirely. Donovan wasn't so sure, but he was willing to go along with their judgment.
Gray was bloodied and broken. The blond dude who had saved Donny's butt was now dragging Gray's body from under the Cannibal's carcass. So he guessed that the blond guy was probably pretty cool as well. As he watched Gray sit up unsteadily, he figured that he would let it go for now, for the sake of everyone in the group, but Mr. Gray was still gonna get a giant kick in the balls from Donovan A. Rodrigues when he was least expecting it.
Not to mention, Donny's chest was still constricted, his breath still catching in his lungs, so he wasn't really in the best shape to open up a can of whup-ass. The boy swatted away someone's offer of help, he wasn't sure whose. Then he made his way up the side of the building, hoping that no one would notice he was just a little slower than usual.
Pain is weakness leaving the body, he told himself sternly. He stood up by Tanjuu and dusted himself off. “Good shooting, soldier,” he barked. Then, “Hey new girl, what's your name?”
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Post by Shiro on May 16, 2009 14:23:55 GMT -5
Luke watched as the others headed up the ladder and smiled before lifting Gray carefully and putting him over his shoulders. He took hold of the lower rungs of the ladder and began to acend, stopping every so often to adjust Gray's weight. When he reached the top he removed Gray's frame from his back and laid him gently on the roof. He smiled and gently ruffled the boy's hair before standing and looking at the survivors. He brushed himself off as he cleared his throat.
"I fell I should introduce myself. I am Lukas Akraka, you may address me as Luke. I saw your struggles from the gas station," he pointed to an Quick Trip across the street, "Having not seen any human in a while I decided to come over here." He shrugged and offered another kind smile before sauntering over to the skylight and looking in.
As Luke lifted him and traveled up the ladder with him over his shoulder, Gray couldn't feel any stupider. He opened his eyes slowly and for a moment he vaguely saw the man from earlier-- the one he respected and wanted to be close to. He offered him a two fingered salute as the Swede carried him up the ladder before closing his eyes and trying to sleep.
Everything hurt.
Every part of his body was nearly screaming in pain and he could hardly keep himself from groaning. However, he remained silent and let Luke do whatever he needed to do.
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Post by seravee on May 16, 2009 15:02:33 GMT -5
Marie stood up, giving a victorian era curtsy to the small boy. Looking quite silly while doing so and replied in her clipped British accent. "My name is Marie O'brian, but don't let the name fool you, I'm a Brit, not Irish." She looked over at the mostly broken Gray, feeling sorry that she had treated him bad. Her eyes rose and met those of the Swede. If it wasn't for the obvious effects of the apocalypse , he might have been more than just attractive. She gave a mental shrug, she didn't care 'bout that right now. "Hey, you guys." He raised her voice so all of them could hear her. "I am sorry. Sorry I didn't mention that I saw a cannibal earlier. It was headed the other way, and I was scared, so I ran and saw you and then we were arguing and it..." She stopped talking. Mentally she hit herself, I need to stop rambling. SLowly Marie stooped down and picked up her saber, sheathing it in the plain leather scabbard at her side.
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Post by Setsuna Kirios on May 17, 2009 10:57:39 GMT -5
Setsuna had kept his back pressed firmly to the wall of the planetarium. His mind reeled as the cannibal charged past him, was leaped on twice, then shot to pieces. His rifle probably could have helped... but it was too late now.
Sullenly, the young man climbed onto the roof. He looked about in time to see the newcomer giving an odd bow-curtsy thing to Donovan. "Marie, eh?" He shrugged. One more mouth to feed and keep quiet. Looked back at Jill and Tanjuu, then over at the swede and the broken Gray. "So, we gonna do this or what?" He peered down through the skylight.
Moving back over to Gray he leaned on his rifle, "You said do this slowly. How so? One gunshot is all the noise we need to make, and..." He trailed off, well yeah. One shot, especially from his gun, and everyone inside would know they are there.
( Christ, kill something without me why don't ya. lol )
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Post by Shiro on May 17, 2009 12:04:27 GMT -5
Although his eyes were half open and swollen it was still obvious that he was rolling his eyes at Speed Racer.
"In a time of crisis you didn't get a single gun with silencers. You have that whole duffel bag in your car and not a one doesn't make a sound?" He inhaled deeply and looked at the man, "Figure it out... I cant talk anymore."
Gray lay still again, staring at the darkening sky. He felt like shit. It was hard for him to imagine a time in his life when he had been hurt this much-- or bled this much. It was hard but not impossible. Once upon a time he fell off of a roof while him and Justin were free running and fell fifty feet into a dumpster. That had hurt. That had left him with half a bottle lodged in his leg. Justin had spazzed. Gray had gone to the hospital. He wanted to go now.
He closed his eyes and laid his arms flat beside him. His right arm was a bitch to move. It hurt, it was stiff, and every time he did anything it made this terrible ripping sound as all the scabs broke and started bleeding again. He felt his eyes swim in his head. Had he really lost that much blood? He sighed and prayed that he would pass out sometime soon. He was getting dizzy and assumed he wouldn't have to wait much longer.
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Post by Setsuna Kirios on May 17, 2009 12:53:51 GMT -5
Silencers? Ha! Maybe if he had hit up a spec-ops base instead of his local police station. SWAT didn't even use silenced weapons. That stuff was just in the movies. Then again... He looked about. "Anyone have an empty water bottle and a spare sock?" He just might be able to make an improvised silencer. "Oh, and some duck-tape." They would never work for his rifle and probably wouldn't do much for the tommy gun. But on single shot, they should quiet the MP-9s.
He gave the newcomer an incredulous look. "You forgot about a cannibal?" His voice was not scornful, just a bit hurt. "Ah, never mind, I woulda' run and forgotten about it too." He probably wouldn't have, but it never hurt to boost morale.
Gray was out of action, that was for sure, so that left himself, Swede, Jill, Tanjuu, and Donovan, oh and Marie as their active 'combat' personnel. He looked to Jill; she was still a somewhat half assed leader in his mind so she got to call the first shots. "So whats the plan then?"
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Post by Skynet on May 17, 2009 14:21:28 GMT -5
“Oh, no,” Jill said with a tired voice, a hint of anguish in her eyes as she faced Setsuna. “Don't put that shit on me. Every time I say one goddam word this little twat,” here she prodded Gray gently with her steel-toed boot, “jumps down my neck. I'm not coming up with any plans until we all agree to something right here, right now. Or else D and I are gonna jet the hell out of here and leave you to fend for yourselves.” She stared the group down one by one.
“What I'm proposing is this: There are six legal adults here. Every time there is a disagreement we vote. Since he's only 8, Donovan gets a vote if and only if there is a tie. After the vote, you go along with the verdict, one hundred percent, without any smart-ass comments, or we leave you to die. I mean it- I'm sick of this bullshit. If Gray wasn't shooting his mouth off we'd be inside already. So either he goes, I go, or we're unified from here on out. I refuse to throw in if I can't trust you all the way.”
Since she was feeling a bit vindictive, she turned to Gray. Although he was in rough shape, she would bet he could still hear her. “How about it? This dirty Mexican whore just helped save your life.”
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Post by Shiro on May 17, 2009 16:43:05 GMT -5
Luke turned to Jill and shrugged, "That seems like a bad idea if you'd like my humble opinion." He looked away and into the skylight.
"We can't make noise but we need to take these guys out--"
"Where's my bat?" Luke was interrupted by Gray who was standing and looking around frantically. His wounds were open and bleeding, but he seemed not to notice as he limped around on the rooftop, "I need it." There was hysteria in his voice and his battered face showed out right panic.
Luke looked over at him, puzzled, "I'll get if for you, calm down." He watched the boy wander around the roof looking like an infected for a moment before standing ans seizing him by the shoulder. Gray screamed in pain. Luke released him immediately.
"Sorry."
Gray shook his head and continued to limp around the roof, "I need it."
"I NEED IT!" he screamed at Luke. The Swede's face slowly morphed to that of mild fear.
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Post by Skynet on May 17, 2009 17:24:03 GMT -5
“What's a bad idea, VOTING? So we just fucking sit around and argue about what to do, while they rip off our limbs and eat our brains right out of our skulls?” Donovan sneered. “You may be straight off the boat but this is America.”
Donovan was beginning to understand the flow of things. Everyone here thought they were smarter than his mom because of her gender, her past, her skin color, God knows what else, so they argued against every decision she made. But that made it a Catch-22, because no one else had the balls to act. Just like the guys at school, who had knocked him down and kicked him in the stomach when he brought home the highest score on his book report. They knew he was smarter than they were, but they punished him for it.
“Look at you, you fucking baby,” they sneered, as Donovan retched on the ground and spat out a mouthful of dirt. “You coward, you pansy, get up and fight.” He pushed himself up, launching himself at the laughing blond boy and was rewarded with a hard right hook in the nose.
“Yeah, that's right. Teach just felt sorry for you, that's why you got the grade. No stupid Mexican half-breed could possibly know how to read in English. You stupid illegal.”
Never mind that Donny, his mom, and his dad had all been born in the States. Never mind that he got a gold star in every single subject except math. Never mind that when he gave his freedom speech at the end of school banquet every single adult in the room was in tears.
It was different with adults. They would try to undermine you sneakily, but it was still the same.
At this point Gray was running around like Spazzy McGee all around the rooftop. Donny began to get scared. What if his trauma had affected his mind? What if Gray was insane now, and he tried to attack them?
“Dude,” Donny said, pushing down the fear that rose up in his stomach and deliberately moving into Gray's path so that the young man would have no choice but to stop. “I see your bat. I'll get it back for you in thirty seconds, but you gotta promise you'll cool it.” He paused. “Remember the skyscraper? You saved my butt with the whole chain thing. You gotta be cool and calm, like you were then.”
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Post by Shiro on May 17, 2009 18:18:27 GMT -5
Gray was crying in hysteria. His breathing was rushed and he was clearly having some sort of panic attack, but somehow Donovan calmed him down. He nodded and took a seat, tears still pouring down his face. He was shaking and rocking back and forth.
Luke looked at him, "I'll come with you, little guy..." he regarded Gray warily and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. When the two of them were near Gray's bat he turned Donovan toward him and knelt, both hands on the boy's shoulders, "Hey."
He didn't know if the boy would listen, but he wanted to try, "Your mom had a good idea with the whole voting idea, but I believe that that would not bode well for out little--" He smiled as a very nerdy word settled in his mind, "Our ka-tet. I also think that Mr. Gray is being discriminated against. That is the name of the bloody silver-haired one, is it not? It seems that everyone is ganging up on him, when in truth I think he has the best idea."
He stood and began to walk back to the building, hand against Donny's back protectively, "We want to use the Planetarium as shelter, right? But is is crawling with zombies. I believe no guns should be used here. We need to pull them one by one and take them out with silent weapons. Blunt objects and the like."
He smiled down at the boy, "You can pretend that was your idea when we get back there." Luke winked before taking hold of one of the rungs.
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Post by Skynet on May 17, 2009 19:18:26 GMT -5
Bloody condescending dickwad. But even as Donovan was thinking rebellious thoughts, he couldn't help but like the tall blond Swede.
“Listen,” said Donny, standing up on his toes so that he could get closer to the man's eye level. “It'll make your life a lot easier if you don't talk down to me just cuz I'm little. But you have a point.” He paused and grinned. “I like how you think.” Then the little boy got serious again. “I want you to help me out with something, and if you do that, then I'll refrain from kicking the shit out of Gray for what he called my mom.”
Donny paused again. He needed to choose his next words very carefully if he wanted this guy as an ally. “All we do is fight. I thought it would be better when Mom and I found other people who would help us, but it's been worse. No one can agree on anything, everyone's yelling and pissed off all the time. I don't think violence is gonna solve anything. The thing is, I'm too little for people to take me seriously so I have to yell and kick shit around to be heard. But if you tell them to stop, then they'll listen to you.”
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Post by Shiro on May 17, 2009 20:16:49 GMT -5
"I doubt it. Your friends don't seem to like me or Mr. Gray very much." He began to ascend the ladder ahead of the boy. As he climbed he realized that he still had something to say to the boy.
"And I am very sorry for talking down to you. I didn't know you were so mature. Your mother raised you well for this world."
He reached the roof and surveyed those around him before letting his eyes fall to Gray. He turned and made sure Donny had the bat and for a horrible second he thought that maybe they had forgotten to actually grab the bat. His eyes quickly locked on Gray to make sure that he could hold up for just a few minutes longer. When he spotted him his heart sank. He walked over and placed a hand on the shaking boy's shoulder gently.
"Gray?"
The green eyes met his, still filled with terror. Luke sat down beside Gray and began to rub the non-injured side of his back gently, "Donovan's coming. Hold on, Gray."
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Post by Skynet on May 17, 2009 22:01:56 GMT -5
Donny scaled the building one last time. It was a struggle toward the top, especially since his feet kept slipping. He didn't stop until he was back on flat ground though, then he doubled over for a second. The little boy's heart was beating so hard that his entire body trembled with every pulse.
“Here,” he croaked, “Look what I got.” He lay the bat gently across Gray's lap, and then sat down hard to catch his breath. His next words were directed at Luke. “Please try,” he said softly.
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Post by Shiro on May 17, 2009 22:14:57 GMT -5
Gray's hand shot out from his fetal position and took hold of the bat in an almost animal-like passion. He looked like a drug-addict that just found some coke in rehab. His tears stopped almost immediately, as did his shivering. He nodded his thanks to Donovan and lay back down, realizing that he had pushed himself too far with his injuries. As much as he hated it he knew he was going to have to sit this fight out.
Luke smiled at the boy before standing and surveying the crowd once more before he spoke, "I believe that we need to put the guns away for this one. The place is crawling with zombies. We need to pull them one at a time and take them out as silently as possible before proceeding."
Gray sat up slowly, "Then I want to help..."
Luke looked at the teen and shook his head, "I know it's your specialty, Gray, but I think you need to sit this one out. You're hurt pretty bad."
Gray nodded and laid back down, closed his eyes and clutched his bat in the same white knuckled grip he had demonstrated a thousand times before.
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Post by Skynet on May 17, 2009 22:16:10 GMT -5
In the meantime, Jill had remembered her duty and was rummaging through her bag.
“I hope to God he doesn't have a problem swallowing pills,” she mumbled into the ratty Jansport. Then she found what she was looking for. Running over to where Donny and Luke were huddled around Gray, she shook a couple of painkillers from a white plastic bottle.
“Gray, sweetie, I need you to swallow these,” Jill murmured, taking his hand. “Here.” She popped the pills into his mouth, praying that he wouldn't choke. She didn't have any water on her so he would just have to go without a chaser.
Then Jill turned to Luke. “Make sure he swallows those,” she ordered. Confident that the big man would make a good assistant, she fetched a wad of gauze and pressed it to the wound on Gray's scalp. Jill's eye's darted around the group. “Um, guys... This is a little awkward but I need someone's shirt. I don't have enough bandages.”
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