ZRP-2: Chapter 4, Backtracking

(James)
"Then it's a sadistic one. Force a parent to do nothing as their child endures horrors."
=I didn't care then, if I was insulting his faith, or his beliefs. I wanted to lash out at this god who arranged or allowed these situations to happen=

(Book)
"Perhaps, but that makes it no less important. I am sorry I can't be of more help."

(James)
=I stood then, moving for the door=
"No padre, it's fine. I just....I just can't sit here is all."

=And then I left, heading back to my room. When I walked in, I heard the shower running. God, I needed to talk to her, so I walked inside=
"Hibiki?"

Hibiki looked up.
"Hey James...you ok?"

(James)
=I sat on the edge of the tub=
"No.....I'm trying, but all I want is to get out, and go for them. Even if I die in the process."

"Don't you fucking dare die on me. Don't you fucking dare." Hibiki said. "I might find my daughters raped, so don't you dare think of idiotic ways to kill yourself. Please."

(James)
=My breath came out in a ragged sigh=
"I won't....but sitting here, waiting? It's killing me."

"It's killing me. Dammit James. I barely told her sorry, barely started atoning for my fuck up. I want my daughter back. I want them hoth back. I want to hold them close and go to sleep with them in my arms."
Hibiki started crying. "I want to tell Eve I love her. I want Sam and her to date again and be happy. I want everyone to be happy."
Hibiki started to shake.

(James)
Have faith James.
=The phrase rang in my mind, reverberated through my being. I didn't have it in me to believe in god or a god. But it was enough to make me believe that Sam and Eve would be alright by the end of this. So I reached down and took Hibiki's hand=

"And we will. We'll get them back. We'll be happy."

Hibiki looked up...and managed a small smile.
:let me dry off and get dressed....we have planning to do."

(James)
=I stood up, managing a smile myself=
"And then, we're getting our daughter, and our friend back."

Hibiki shook her head.
"Sam is and will be my daughter. End of discussion."

(James)
"Heh, moving a little fast here aren't we?"
=It was a poor attempt at humor, to lighten the mood=

Hibiki smiled though .
"Not fast enough."

(James)
=Giving her a swift kiss, I walked out if the room and waited for her=

Hibiki exits ten minutes later, dry and in a red pair of her new lingerie. She pulls out a simple dress and slips it on.
"What now?"

(James)
=Despite the current situation, I still looked at her in the lingerie, before she put on the outerwear, with an approving look=
"Now.....we do the hardest thing of all: we wait."

Hibiki sat beaide James.
"And pray those raiders are flaccid."

(James)
"Yeah."
=So we sat there, she and I. It was easier, less painful to wait this out with her by my side=

(Sam)
=Sitting in the cell, I placed my back to the wall and eyes on the door=

Eve finally was left alone, sitting on the floor, both hands tied to the bedpost.
Her defiance cost her.
She whimpered. She really had to pee.

Hibiki laid her head on James' shoulder quietly.

--Right Freaking Now--

(Sam)
=We got up, the two of us, though I stood on shaking knees. I gripped the knife in my bloody hands, the blade trembling even as I reached for cold steel to calm myself=
"Eve, do you hear that? It sounds like....gunfire. Shouting."

=Hope lit up inside me, and it fueled every step I took=
"Come on Eve, let's go!"

(James)
=The building we had entered, some kind of old, dilapidated officer building, a small one meant for this warehouse or industrial zone. There were raiders in there, armed with knives and other melee weapons that charged us. It was stupid of them, as I mowed them down with my gun=
"BRING IT ON YOU FUCKERS!!"

Eve held her gun tightly.
"Rull clip. Twelve shots. All I have." She gripped Sam's hand before assuming a cop stance.
As the gunfire...
"Mommy's here." She sobbed out as...

Hibiki charged those fuckers down. Ahe mowed them eown, based and broke necks, sbe was a fucking force of nature.
"GIVE ME BACK MY DAUGHTER YOU FUCKERS! I MIGHT MAKE YOUR DEATH QUICK!"
She hid, reloaded, and came out firing.
"PRAY I DONT RUN OUTA AMMO YOU BASTARDS! BECAUSE MY SWORD WILL ONLY MAKE YOU DIE SLOWER!

(James)
=I wasn't even standing behind her. I stood by her, though making sure to give her some space. When the clip on my P90 ran out, I grabbed my bow and began putting arrows into targets=

(Sam)
=Shoving the door open, we slowly crept into the hallway. Seeing that it was clear, we ran, and I slammed my shoulder against the next door. Then there was gunfire, loud and close by. When I say close by.....I mean we were on the receiving end. We had come out in a hallway, with Raiders in front of us but their backs to us, and at the other end.....James. Hibiki. Without thinking, I let go of Eve, ran to the nearest Raider and slammed the knife down into the base of his neck=

Eve did something smarter.

She doubled tapped the remaining two in the heart as Sam fought the other.

Hibiki saw Sam.
She saw Eve.
Dropping her guns, she drew her katana and fucking charged. Sam might need help.
She was pissed.
Sparta at it's finest.

(James)
=Even as she charged, I loosed one more arrow. It impacted in the throat of one more Raider, and he went down clutching at his throat as blood poured from his mouth. Then he was still=
"Sam! Eve!"

=I ran forward, wanting nothing more than to crush them in a hug=

(Andrew)

=I continue to pour gunfire down range, the smell of cordite still hanging in the air like a fog=

This is for hurting my sister, you fuckers...

=I feel around, finally finding the beta mag for the 416=

Alright, it's a whole new ball game now, boys...

=I switch the gun to full auto, letting out a long burst of gunfire=

COME ON, YOU SONS OF BITCHES, I HAVEN'T EVEN BEGUN TO FIGHT!

=I let loose another chattering burst of gunfire=

Hibiki slashed the chest of the Raider who Sam stabbed, for good measure, before cleaning her katana on a rag.
She then looked at Eve...and ran over.
Hibiki knelt and crushed her daughter in a hug, crying.
"I love you Eve. I love you more then anything." She sniffed. "I love you sweetie. I love you."
She kept kissing the side of Eve's head, refusing to let go.

Eve hugged back just as tightly, and she two was sobbing.
"I knew you'd come mommy. I knew you'd come for us sith daddy."
Eve buried her face in Hibiki's neck, shaking badly.

Hibiki looked up at Sam.
"Did we make it. Please. Tell me you're both...tell me they didn't rape you. Either of you. Please."

(Sam)
=I didn't exactly shake, but I felt my skin crawl as I shivered, the memory of what nearly happened fresh in my mind=
"They....almost got me. But he's dead now."

(James)
=I stared at her, stunned=
"Sam....god, we should have been here sooner. I'm sorry."

(Sam)
"Yeah, you should have."
=Stepping towards him, and shoved him against the wall=

"Where the hell were you? Eve and I were here, for a whole goddamn day. They tortured us! They humiliated us!"

Eve broke away, her arms around Sam's waist and her face buried in Sam's back.
"Please. Dont do this Sam. Dont do this..."
Her voice's defiance was gone, replaced with an unfathomable fear, a fear that was finally allowed out.
"I'm safe. You're safe. Please Sam. Not here."
She hugged tighter, and finally burst into tears, hiding against Sam as Hibiki stood up and grabbed head guns, watching.

(Sam)
"No, not yet Eve. I want an answer, after all the shit we went through."

(James)
"You want an answer?! We had to plan, organize ourselves, and choose the best course of action. But I am telling you right now, that not a minute of it was pleasant. Every second of waiting was agony, because you and my daughter were going through all kinds of hell. So I'm sorry, okay? I wish we could have come here sooner, but we didn't. We couldn't. But we're here now, so lets stop arguing, and get out of here."

Eve stayed quiet as Hibiki placed a hand on Sam's shoulder.
"James had to nearly handcuff me to keep me from shooting Cooper."
Hibiki then yanked Sam away from James and hugged her tightly.
"I waited in agony. I'm sorry Sam. I'm sorry Eve." She sniffed, showing signs she might cry. "I wanted to hold you both close as we drifted off to sleep. Now please. Let me do that with my daughters."

(Sam)
=Gently, I pushed away from her and expire everything, arched a brow at her=
"You realize I'm not a child, right? And I'm not your daughter. Not yet anyway."

(James)
"Ladies, time and place. Last I checked, we still have a small army of raiders surrounding us."

(Andrew)

=I cut loose another volley of gunfire=

WHAT YOU GOT, BITCHES! WHAT YOU GOT?!?!

=I take cover as a volley of gunfire brought some sense into me=

Well...I guess a sibling bond can make you do crazy shit...

=I reload, taking a few deep breaths before I continued to fire=

Hibiki arched her brow back.
"I know. But one, I consider you my daughter, and two, why the fuck should I have to explain why I want to hold you both close as I can? Do I really have to?"

Eve tugged Hibiki's shirt. "Mommy. She gets it." Eve sniffs. "Can we...just go home?"

(James)
"Come on, lets go now!"
=I took a spare pistol out of my pack, and handed it to Sam, then reloaded my P90=

"The tank and bus are keeping them busy, but we have to go now."

(Sam)
=Sliding the chamber back, I smiled at the reassuring sound of the click=
"Okay then. Lets kill some raiders."

Eve herself makes sure the hammer is back before she, chamber loaded, and clip mostly full.
"How about we just go home instead of play a miaaion of Grand Theft Auto?"

Hibiki chuckled, reloading her shotgun and G36. "Let's blow this joint."

(Andrew)

=I hear a few bullets ping off of the cover I was behind=

Come on, you guys...get moving...

=I fire a short burst, trying to keep the raiders from returning fire=

-Whatever time my last post took place-

After a couple minutes of chatting further (carefully finding a new topic after receiving silence as an answer for the odd question) I left.
I found James again. He basically said we were leaving tomorrow. That's when I realized it was night. I told him goodbye and went back to my apartment.
There I spent a night alone and sleeping restlessly. Because tomorrow I knew we would not only attack but also rescue POW's.

The next day I grab my stuff. My coat, gun and hatchet. Then immediately went down to the ground level and out of the building.
Just in time to see a man attack another in a wheelchair. I rush over see what it was about, learning Andrew had done it. And it was his sister, not a man.
I hear that she was a shepherd but betrayed them or something. I don't know, it was all very fuzzy. She wasn't killed so I guess it's okay with me.

Mere minutes after that was resolved we left. No sooner did we arrive we got out. Seconds later everyone started shooting eachother.

=Outside, it was a certifiable war zone. Bullets flew across the area, blood soaked the ground, and small explosions occurred here and there. The bus, with its twin mounted turrets, poured round after round into the entrenched raiders, wearing down their cover, and reducing other into bloody mists=

(James)
=I led the way for us, back the way we came. Whatever raiders were in here, were either outside and busy, or dead. Either way suited me fine, I just wanted out=

Hibiki kept Sam and Eve in front of her, covering the rear.
"James! How much further to the exit?" She called, checking thier six quickly.

(James)
"Shouldn't be much farther. But once we get the door we should stay put and wait for an opening. I'm not walking out there with bullets flying!"

(Sam)
"Yeah that would be kinda sad. You go to all this trouble for us, only to be killed by a stray bullet."

"That would suck. A tip babe; duck."
Hibiki said that deadpan.

(James)
"I don't think I'm that fast Hibiki."
=We reached the door, the entrance a little ajar. From here,I could hear the din outside, bullets being fired, people screaming, and tiny explosions. Nudging it open just a bit, I peeked out=

"Okay, the way to the bus is clear. Sam, Eve, you stay between us and we'll get you two home."

(Sam)
"Well, we're kinda between you guys already, so that's half the plan done."

Eve moved closer to Sam.
"Let's do this."
Hibiki tossed her shotgun to Sam. "You might want that while out there."

(Sam)
=Catching the shotgun, I checked for ammo and found it full=
"Groovy."

(James)
"Alright, lets go!"
=Opening the door, we charged out into the hail of bullets and field of bodies=

Eve followed Sam, pistol raised. Hibiki was close behind, once in awhile firing at someone who the ned their direction.
"Keep moving!"

(James)
=Putting the bow away, I switched back to the P90, firing rounds into raiders that strayed too close, though even now their numbers dwindled. I reached the bus first, the door already opening for us=
"Go! Inside, now!"

(Sam)
=We rushed in, Eve and I. The bus was slightly empty safe for a few people, most of them wounded. There was a sound, like a trumpet or horn, and I was aware of more people beginning to pile in=

As Hibiki shoved James in and slid into the driver's seat, Eve buried her head in Sam's chest, hugged her tightly, and completely and utterly boke down into tears.

(Andrew)

=I ran back into the bus, my face flush with adrenaline=

You four sure took your sweet ass time getting out!

=I reload the 416, my breath still feeling slightly labored=

(James)
"Hey, at least we got out alive Andrew. Besides, you got your kill count up, so stop your whining."

(Sam)
"Eve, dammit you really pick the worst times. Cry when we get back dammit!"
=It was hard to say that, since I wanted to cry as well. But I wouldn't be any good if I broke down here=

Hibiki floored th bus the koment the doors closed.
"She's fourteen Sam, and nearly lost the girl she lves, so give her a break!" Hibiki shouted back, not bothering to swerve and instead ran over some raider.

Eve...she just seemed like a little child now.

(Andrew)

=I give a weak smile, panting=

You make a good point...

=I sit down, my adrenaline ebbing, and I feel the pain from the recoil=

Wow...that was a rush...And man is that going to hurt in the morning...