ZRP-2 Chapter 7: Mutation

"You saw her. She's like...Katnis Everdeen mixed with Legolas with a dash of...um...I need a reference that's a cutsie lesbian. Dunno any movie or tv characters that fit the bill...wait. one of those sailors from Sailor Moon?"
Jen laughed.

"Haha... yeah, she was pretty good." I nodded my head as I got another arrow ready. "But she isn't Legolas. I haven't seen her shoot more than one arrow." I let it go again. This time it hit the tree, but not the bag.

A few minutes later, James reluctantly untangled himself from Hibiki, drawing the blanket over her form as he kissed her cheek. Then, getting dressed he made to leave the house and check on Ella and her friends. Opening the door, he looked around as he stood on the porch, and saw them down the street, looking around. He moved in their direction, shouting out "Ella!" She turned around, and smiled when she saw her old friend. "James, we were looking for you. Wanted to know where we could settle in." He nodded a bit. "Yeah I was looking for you myself. Come on, home's back this way." They followed as he led them back towards his house.

Eve nuzzled Sam's cheek.
"Hehe...it's fun to kiss you."

"Savor it," Sam said. "No telling how long it will be before things hit the fan again."

James opened the door and let his guests inside, with Estel immediately jumping onto the couch (quite literally) and resting her legs on the armrests. Ella simply frowned, before looking around a bit. "Not bad James," she said. "Certainly looks like a decent place to call home." He smiled a little, nodding. "Yeah. With luck, this may become something a bit more permanent."

Eve kissed Sam again. "I will. And...I savor every single touch from you..."

Hibiki trooped down the staircase, panties and tanktop on.
"We got houseguests?" She asked, brushing hair from her face.

Ella looked up at the source of the voice.....and despite the fact it was her best friends wife, she felt herself get a bit aroused at the sight of the attractive woman in nothing but her underwear and a shirt. Quickly, she looked away. "Uh, guess modesty isn't a word in your house around guests, is it?" Estel burst out laughing. "Wow Ella, one look at a girl in underwear and the floodgates open eh?" she gasped out, to which Ella walked over and slapped her over the head. James went a bit red in the face, while Aiden blushed a little, trying to distract himself by looking out the window.

Hearing the sound of laughter, Sam looked up, turning in the bed away from Eve. "Hear something?" she asked.

Hibiki looked down. "Hey, this actually is pretty modest at the current point in time. But if you'd like me to get some pants, I can."

Eve sighed "Yes..." she groaned. "I don't want to let go..."

Still not looking out of courtesy, Ella nodded. "Yes please. I haven't had any in two years and this is just baiting a rabbit with a carrot here." James just stood there, mouth going agape.

"Yeah well," Sam said as she got out of bed. "Better to see what it is before it checks on us." She got dressed, and opened the door to the hall.

Eve looked around. "I kinda want a dress now." Slipping underwear, shorts, and a shirt on, she followed Sam...and found Hibiki in the hall in her tank top and underwear.
"Hey kids. Have fun?" She laughed softly. "Ella got bothered with me in my panties. Oh well. Ella brought her friends so let me get some pants and I'll meet you two downstairs."

Sam stood there, a bit stunned, as Hibiki walked by in nothing but her tank top and panties. True she loved Eve but still......damn. Shaking her head, Sam headed for the stairs....and saw some strangers in the house, in addition to James. "Uh, James. Who are these people?" she asked.

"Ah," James said. "Right. Sam, this is Ella, Estel and Aiden. Ella, this is Sam, a friend of mine from the caravan I was in before today." Ella nodded, trying her best not to actually give any telling looks to the cute redhead. She already knew Eve, who stood with Sam. Aiden also nodded hello, but Estel just lay on the couch, not caring.

Eve waved to Ella, then took hold of Sam's arm, nuzzling her shoulder.

Hibiki, oblivious to how Sam had been stunned, retrieved her pants and returned, now apparently to they houseguest's level of decency.
"So. Guest, or are we sharing the house with them?"

"Well," James began. "I was hoping to let them stay. Ella's my friend afterall, and I'm sure she can vouch for Aiden and Estel. But just wanted to make sure we had room, and also wanted to let you know." Estel chuckled a little, and breathed out the words 'pussy whipped,' so that only she could hear.

Hibiki nodded. "Thanks." She smiled at Ella. "We should have room. Us four only occupy four rooms, and we have a basement and entire upstairs. We can squeeze everyone in okay. Uh. Just need to know if occasional loud noises are ok with you all."

At that, Eve blushed.

Ella grinned a little. "No worries. Slept through stuff louder than the sound of people having some 'fun.'" she said, waggling her eyebrows a little, to which James simply rolled his own eyes.

Eve blushed, hiding behind Sam. Hibiki chuckled. "Good."

"Okay," James said as he walked towards the door to the basement. "Let me show you to your room." Ella and her friends followed her, and James opened the door down to the basement. There wasn't any light, except for the light that crept in from the windows for the basement itself which illuminated it well enough, though they would need candles later. "Wow, you certainly know how to treat a girl, don't you James?" Ella teased. "Laugh it up Ella. Can always have you sleep outside." She quickly shut up, though a grin was on her lips.

Hibiki followed. "I think a bed's around here somewhere, and some blankets. Should be big enough for all three of you. Sorry for the cramped space." She sighed. "I'll see if we can't scrounge up a cot or so so you all aren't so crowded down here."

"Nah that's fine, least we've got a bed." Ella said. Frankly, she'd have been fine with a couch. James grimaced a little. "Maybe next time we'll look for furniture on our next run."

"Not like we can just go to Ikea, you know." Hibiki muttered.

James chuckled a bit. "Well, we can always search the houses around town, see if they have anything worth salvaging." Ella grinned. "I could do with getting a better mattress."

"We'll see what we can dig up." Hibiki promised.

Estel, who had flopped down onto the sofa in the basement, just snorted. "Well whatever you do, do it fast because I can only take bunking with these two for so long." Ella grinned a bit. "Come on Estel, you know you like shacking up with us." Estel glared. "I'd like it more I could shack up with a nice hot body that makes me nothing but jelly, but I'll deal with what I've got."

Sam had returned to her room so she could get on a set of cleaner clothes. Besides, it seemed that James and Hibiki could handle talking to the guests.

Eve hurried after Sam, then kissed her cheek while they got clean clothes on.
"So...guess we have housemates." She said.

"Yes we do," Sam said as she quickly changed. "Wonder how long before we start crawling on the walls."

Eve giggled. "Why don't you crawl on me instead? More fun then the walls."

"Ha, seems a bit soon for that," Sam said. Suddenly, there was a sound from outside. It almost sounded like.....like an air-horn.

The guards on the wall were the ones blowing the air-horn, a signal meant to alert the entire town to an attack. And there was indeed an attack, as the bandit caravan came rushing down the road right at the gates.

Hibiki jerked back, hand going for her missing sidearm. "What the hell?"

Hayley bounced and hit her head again. Bastards.
She hugged the floor, praying she didn't get shot.

Andrew had gotten dressed a few moments before the air-horn had jarred his senses into full alertness, and he managed to get a grip on his rifle, hoping Sarah wasn't caught up in the trouble just yet. He shook his head for a moment, before he got up and tapped Mira, saying "C'mon...I think trouble just came a knocking. And I'm thinking they'll need every rifle they can get."

Sarah watched from where she was as the bandits came rolling towards the gates, her rifle raised as the air-horn sounded, hoping Andrew heard it and came running.

Mira felt for her bra. "Dammit Andrew I SAID NO MORE THROWING MY BRA!" she finally found it under a table. Getting it on, she grabbed her rifle and shirt.

Eve grabbed her bow. "That's not good."

Frowning, Hibiki ran upstairs for her gun.

Andrew wore an apologetic expression on his face, which was a bit red at the mention of that. "Sorry about that Mira." His mind was on overdrive at this point. "Sorry to rush you...but I think trouble isn't going to wait on us."

Sarah stood her ground where she was, flipping off the safety, hoping that Andrew and Mira would find her.

Jason was behind Hibiki, while Ella and her friends were equally hot on their tails, running up the stairs. Sam was out of her room, shoes on and shotgun in hand. "What's going on?" she demanded, to which Jason shrugged his shoulders. "Trouble I'd wager. Everyone, grab a gun and get ready for trouble," he said, moving to his room to grab a weapon. Ella however remained still. "Uh.....we don't have weapons. We gave them up, remember?"

Eve tossed her Berreta to Ella. "Use that until you get your weapons." She held her bow ready. Hibimi strapped her gear on, setting her BPD hat on. "Alright. Sam, take Eve and get Ella and her friends their guns. James, lets find Cooper and figure out what's going on."

I heard some sort of horn or siren or something go off somewhere nearby. I lower my bow and tilt my head questioningly. "You hear that Jenny? That can't be good. Unless that's the food horn." I grin.

Jen frowned. "We better grab our guns then."

Sam nodded, gesturing for Eve, Ella and her friends to follow her as she looked for Cooper. James led Hibiki out of the house and for the wall, where other armed people were heading. There was a rumbling sound, and the bus with the gun turrets, along with the SWAT tank, began moving for the gate. Before they got too close though, James noted that the guards on the wall immediately jumped down, and he soon saw why: the gate exploded inwards, a large UPS truck crashing through. It was an invasion.

"It wouldn't help me. I have no ammo." I looked at my bow and shook my head while laughing. "I just have knives."
From the same direction as the horn, I hear metal clash with metal along with the sounds of cars. "Well, now we know it's not food."

"Shit!" Hibiki crouched and fired a few bursts into the driver-side window. "Jason! There's a shitton of firepower coming! Get to the house on the left so we can create a crossfire!"
Hibiki got up and moved faster. "Dammit. We could use the others here to make a more fortified position."

Eve growled. "Walls breached. We gotta move faster."

Jen frowned. "Let's find ammo."

Mira hurried after Andrew. "Great. They have spikes..."

While Hibiki barked out orders, the rest of the town defenders jumped into action, opening fire on the windows of the truck; the bus made for the hole but before it could get close two more vehicles, minivans, rushed through and the occupants jumped out. It wasn't a figure of speech either they literally jumped out of the moving vans, rolling on the ground before coming to their feet and firing with their guns. Some were gunned down, but others managed to moved back to the hole in order to plug it.

There was also the negative side effect of the gunfire and sound of screeching metal, attracting every undead in hearing distance to begin converging on the location. James knew it, and realized they needed to reclaim the gate immediately first, then plug the breach. The dead would tend to the bandits.

Andrew was hauling ass out of the house, and saw the ever devolving situation. "Let's just hope they don't have much more than that, Mira," he quipped humorlessly, and saw Sarah hauling ass back to them. Andrew had to put on the brakes to avoid a collision.

Andrew then looked around as they met up, saying, "Hibiki looks like she needs a hand. Sarah, could you and Mira possibly lend her a few extra rifles to help?" Sarah gave a meek nod to Andrew, "I'll see what we can do."

Sarah then looked over to Mira, waving her arm, "C'mon...let's see if we can't give her a hand, Mira," heading in the direction of where Hibiki was. Andrew went over to the left, firing as accurately as he could on the run.

"I don't think we've got time to look for some... you've got a rifle right? We should get going before whatevers happening gets worse. They'll more than likely need to help." I lean the bow on the house's wall and head towards where the sounds were coming from.

Hibiki picked her shots carefully. Seeing Mira and Sarah heading her way, she took out two bandits. Then she noticed something...peculiar.
An SUV had managed to sneak in after the minivans. As the occupants piled out...a woman was dragged from the back and what appeared to be rope cut from her wrists. A bandit dragged his friend up as the rest began to pull back.
"James! The brown SUV near the breach blocking the bus - they got a medic. But somethings off." She emptied five rounds into another bandit. "Take a gander and tell me what you think. Mira, Sarah! Suppress the left side and help contain them!"

Jen pushed Tyler back. "You have no ammo. Just practice the bow." She ran off.

Sarah nodded, "Yes ma'am," and fired on the bandit's left side, her old training kicking in and helping in unleashing a lethal crossfire on the on the bandits' position. Her face was a mask of calm determination. She then turned to Mira, "Just try and keep their heads down, no need to be too accurate here." Once again taking aim and pouring fire on them.

Andrew took to the right side. Taking position on the house on the right, he unleashed lethally accurate fire on the invaders.

"But..." She was already gone. And she was right, I had no ammo. I was useless in a gun fight. I sigh and lean up against the wall, hoping she'd be okay.

Mira sighed. "Conserve ammo..." she only shot when one was foolish enough to poke his head up. She actually got one.

Jen arrived near Sam. "Hey! Where am I needed?"

Looking where Hibiki pointed, James saw the woman being dragged out and her bonds being cut. "Hostage maybe?" he asked, firing off some shots at oncoming raiders. "Doesn't matter though, we need to take the gate!"

Hibiki checked. Hm.
"Medic...Dammit. I need Eve here; she could have taken those guys out...Sarah! I got two guys, a casualty, and a female medic behind that SUV. Take out the two guys only. James and Mira, once that's done, make a break for that SUV. We need to move it out of the bus' s path."
She fired a few rounds off into a minivan. "Any objections?"

While the bandits attempted to push further in, they soon found themselves sandwiched between the towns fighters....and the new running dead. Taken by surprise, some of them panicked, while others kept firing, or for those that had no guns used clubs to take them out.

"Yeah, I've got one: Who put you in charge again?" James quipped, as he shot at the bandits.

Sarah shook her head, "You got no objections from me." And took a deep breath, lining up her shot on the two men that Hibiki had marked. She waited for them to line up and her sights, and then exhaled.
A moment later she had her shot.

Sarah then pulled the trigger, watching the two drop like puppets dropped from strings.

"Ex SWAT Seargant. I think that takes prescedence over hicks and rednecks, no offence babe." She stopped firing. "Ok. Ready James." She asked. "Unless you want me to stay back, which I won't argue to."
Mira stopped firing for a moment. "Nice shot." She said to Sarah. "Andy, got a guy with an AK coming up the right!"