ZRP-2 Chapter 6: Scattered

(Sam)
"Yes well with me, I need this so bad. Hot, seared meat...."
=Someone in the diner managed to find plates and silverware, and set them up for us by the deer. I grabbed a plate, knife and a fork, and the guy by the deer cut off a decent chunk=

"Oh....can you smell that? Charred meaty goodness."

Eve rolled her eyes and followed behind.
"If I knew all I would need to do to wing your heart was cook you a hot meal, I'd have paid more attention in home economics."

(Sam)
"Heh, thought that worked on men only. The way to a mans heart, is through his stomach."
=Then without further ado, I began eating the meat. It tasted so good.=

Eve rolled her eyes. "You're the exception. An angel with an appetite."

She dug in.

(Sam)
"That I am."
=It was tough to talk, since I was still chewing=

Eve giggled softly, then went back to eating.

(Sam)
=As we continued t eat, the sound of walkers outside kinda cut int the joy of eating warm food=
"God, can we just kill those things and have some peace?"



=The survivors back in St. Louis, those that had hid while the shepherds had occupied the place, finally managed to move more freely once they had left. They didn't know why, but they were thankful. Better still, there was a car in the parking garage they managed to bring back to life, and soon they were on their way out of the city, to the east since they knew that was where Cooper had been headed. They also brought the cat with them, since it had helped a bit, at least they thought it did=

Eve shrugged, then winced.
"I don't know. Maybe we should."

(Sam)
"Yeah....then again, I am eating. And they're not really coming in, so there's no real danger yet."

"You're impossible..." Eve said.

(Sam)
"Yeah well you're......impossible. Eehh."

Eve giggled, then kissed Sam's cheek.
"Least with me, it's not impossible to get me to be honest."

(Sam)
"I guess."
=My cheeks heated up from the kiss=

With a soft laugh, Eve finished her venison, then waited patiently for Sam to finish.

(Sam)
=I wasn't finishing anytime soon. This was the first hot food I've had in weeks, and I planned to savor every second of it=

=Outside the town where the civilians were resting, a group of bandits, tailing the caravan for three days now, began to move in. They were twenty in number, each armed with some type of weapon. Only half of them though had a ranged weapon, and even fewer had an actual gun though=

Eve watched Sam eat.

And, because she was an idiot, she zoned out...and fell into fantasy.

(Sam)
=I kept eating slowly, though I made to stay aware of everything. Maybe that's why, when the first cry of an attack sounded I was the one on my feet while Eve remained on her ass=
"What's going on?"

*Marcus*
=He had moved to the top of the bus, standing on the roof=
"Bandits! Coming n from the north and the east!"

(Sam)
=Shit, why did it have to be now? Ditching the plate, I ran for the impala to grab my rifle=
"Eve, diner, now!"

Eve stood and ran without question, her gun out and safety off.

(Sam)
=Cimbng the ladder to the rooftop, I got to the roof and looked around. The street we just came from was occupied by several vehicles. An ATV, a few pickups, moving van, and some dirt bikes. By the look of things, they had the van and pickups blocking the street and our way out. Several walkers saw them and moved to attack, though a group of the bandits were already blocking them, clubbing them or stabbing them=
"Get a Molotov, torch them!"

=One of the guys on the roof with me already had a bunch of bottles filled with alcohol and stuffed with rags, a precaution we'd learned to always keep around. He lit one with a lighter and tossed it at the bandits, right I. The middle of the group. A little splashed on one of them, but hitting them wasn't the goal; the light and sound was meant to draw in the walkers. A good chunk of them, now seeing the flames, were drawn to it and the bandits near it. It struck me as odd that these bandits would attack us in broad daylight with walkers around, but I guess they were desperate. There was a crack of gunfire and one of the bricks on the edge of the roof I stood on exploded into powder, and I got down and hid=
"Shit, they've got guns!"

=Inside the diner, people had their weapons drawn, everything from a pistol to a knife, and in one persons case a fork from the diner=


=As the boat continued down river, Mark checked the map for where they would probably end up next. There were a few more towns along the way they would have to stop at, especially since they were running low on water. It was almost funny to say that they were running out of water when they were surrounded by the stuff, but it was either bottled drinking water or iodine tablets or crystals=

Eve ran for the diner, and once inside, tucked herself behind the counter, staying quiet.
"Please be careful Sam." She said to the silence of the diner.

(Sam)
=Peeking out over the cover, I aimed and fired a shot at one of the closest bandits. The shot hit them in the shoulder, forcing them down with a cry of pain=

*Cooper*
=He had his men check the hardware store for anything that could be used to make an explosive. Thankfully...there was a lot they could use. Anywhere between incendiaries to shrapnel, they could make it with what was in the hardware store=
"Andrew, here's what we're going to do. We're making some bombs down here, simple stuff but it will do the job. When they're ready, we'll send them up and I want you to drop 'em on the walkers. They may be occupied with whoever's in the building, but I don't want them coming after us if they see us move."

(Andrew)

=I made a grim smile and nodded=

Will do Cooper.

=I was still smiling. I was itching to blow some stuff up=

=Two of the bandits, slipping around the front defenses, came to the rear of the diner. Its rear door was locked, but one of them wielded a crow bar and shoved one end into the slit between the door and its frame, finding purchase. Applying force, they worked at the door and tried to break it open=

(Sam)
=The molotov trick worked, forcing the bandits to fight on two fronts. Some were overtaken by walkers, others moved into buildings to hide=


=When the first set of explosives was completed, they were taken to the rear door, all of them contained in a sack. One of the soldiers climbed the ladder, carrying the sack over his back and then dropping them onto the roof when he reached the top=

*Soldier*
"Courtesy of Cooper."

Eve heard them.
She covered her mouth with one hand, clutching her gun.
Berretta M9. Military variant. Clip size: ten rounds. Ammo: ten rounds. Seven round backup.

Eve didn't move. She didn't know if the defenders were pushed back or what. But if she left cover, they might come in as she left.
She sat tight...waiting.

=There was a screech of metal as the crow bar managed to tear the door open. People inside did not scream in fear, instead readying their weapons and preparing to defend themselves. When the door opened and the first man rushed through, a bullet to the chest stopped him dead. His buddy however, grabbed his body and shoved it forward, using it as a shield as he rammed into the lead defender, knocking him to the ground. He lifted the crow bar, ready to swing it down=

Eve shot up, and planted three bullets in the man's chest, then one in his head.
She was jerked back from recoil, though, as she hadn't grounded herself or held the gun right.

She accidently hit the counter, and used it to support herself.

=No one bothered trying to congratulate her on her shooting. They were too busy with the new threat, since the bandits left the door open for the walkers that followed them to enter. Children screamed, and the adults moved to kill the zombies and close the door=

Eve slid to the ground, silently crying. She had used the wrong arm.
Fire was what her arm felt like.

She let the adults save the day.
She barely could think.

=For those that had children to look after, they ran out of the diner, heading for the bus. It was almost a stampede, but no one was trampled thankfully=

(Sam)
=I heard screams, and looked down at the diner. People were running out, panicked. And I couldn't see Eve=
"Oh crap."

=Without even thinking, I ran for the ladder and went down as fast as I could, and when I reached the street I ran for the diner, bursting through the doors. There were walkers inside, but the fighters of the group were dealing with them=
"Eve?!"

Eve heard Sam, then shakily stood up, cradling her arm as she tucked her gun into the back of her jeans.
"I'm here." She said, crying a bit audibly as she turned to look at Sam.

(Sam)
=If it wasn't for the walkers already in the building, I would have run to her and hugged her tight. As it was, I nodded at her, then turned to the people fighting the walkers, trying to shove them out. I ran towards them, stopping to grab a plastic bucket, and then rammed into the group of walkers with the bucket protecting my arms. We needed to push them out the door and then barricade it again=

Eve stood there, ready to fire whenever needed with her good arm.

(Sam)
=Right as we managed to shove the bulk of the walkers out the door and close it, one of the damned things came up behind me. Grabbing my shoulders it tried to bite me, but I twisted my hips and spun around, shoulder slamming into its jaw. It must have made it angry because it shoved me to the ground and fell on me, mouth rapidly biting at air as it tried to get closer. I pressed my arms against its chest, trying to push it off but it weighed more than me, and I couldn't get any help from the guys at the door, too busy holding the door closed as walkers pounded against it. I was going to die here, in a kitchen=

Eve couldn't shoot. It would go through.

So she threw herself forward, level. Then she took aim and fired, blasting it's brains out and trembling.
She was glad she had a very easy target. If she had missed, Sam would have killed her.

(Sam)
=One moment, the zombie was on top of me, jaws chomping rapidly as they tried to bite me. The next, its head exploded and the body went limp. My mouth was clamped shut, eyes closed, mostly done already in panic and because if the worst happened I didn't want to see, so the gore didn't get in my mouth. Pushing the body off, I slowly stood up on shaking legs. Eve was on the floor, gun raised=
"Thanks."

Eve let the gun fall, and went limp.
"Would it be wrong to say my arm is on fire?" She managed through a fresh wave of tears.

(Sam)
=Sighing, I leaned against one of the cabinets. But the guys shoving against the door grabbed our attention=

*Surviror*
"If you two don't ind, could you please fucking help us barricade the door!"

(Sam)
=I practically jumped to it, and started looking for anything to use to block the door. I settled for a grill that wasnt bolted to floor, and shoved it towards the door, but it was heavy=
"Eve, help me."

Fighting the fire going up her arm (and she was sure her wound was riped; her shoulder felt wet) Eve ran to help Sam, pushing the grill with Sam...while her shirt grew a bit darker at the place where she had a bullet wound.

(Sam)
=Once the grill was set up and blocking the door, the dull thumps of zombies outside pounding at it were the only indicator of their presence. We were safe, at least in here=
"Thanks for the help Eve. And nice shot...."

=It was only when I turned to look at her did I notice the damp splotch on her shirt=
"Eve...you're bleeding."

Eve stumbled and fell, back to the wall.
"Wound...reopened..." she whimpered. "I...could use some bandages..."
Eve looked pretty pathetic, sitting there with her tear-streaked face, trying to keep pressure on her wound.

(Sam)
"You two, get some napkins. And the medkit!"
=Both men nodded, and left. One of them came back a few seconds later, carrying a bunch of napkins which I used to press down on the wound, and clean up the blood. The other guy came back in with the first aid kit=

"I need to take off her shirt, so you two out."
=It didn't seem like they wanted to argue, so they left. And then.....well, I took off Eve's shirt. Something told me this wasnt exactly the image she had in mind for the day. Ever did such a thing=

Eve managed a smile
"Not how I imagined you taking my shirt off..." she blushed, looking away. Not all grown up, she had a supple chest, but Sam's view was marred by the blood starting to run down, going along the curve of her breast.
"Sorry I keep having to mame you uncomfortable..." she said quietly.

(Sam)
=The past three weeks gave me time to learn a lot. Since there w only one medic at the time and I was always by Eve as she recovered, I took lessons from the medic of the group, learning how to treat wounds. I was still a work in progress, but for something like this I was sure there'd be no problems=
"Well at least the blood cuts down on any erotic feelings."

=I wasn't sure about the situation outside, but I didn't care. All that mattered was in front of me. Wiping away at the blood, I used some items in the first aid kit to clean the wound and help change the dressings. But we were in short supply of actual medicine and clean bandages=
"Besides, I'm not exactly focused on your boobs now am I?"

"Least we're even now..." she blushed. "And...it's you seeing them...so...it's ok."
She didn't look at Sam, instead looking elsewhere, mainly the door that was blocked.
"Please...don't think of this as embarassing...just...think of it like...a sneak peek?"

Why was she blabbing? Was she afraid Sam wouldn't want to see her even half naked again? Or would Sam be annoyed by her thought process?
Prolly annoyed...

(Sam)
=Chuckling, I tossed the bloodied napkins and old bandages to the side. I didn't know what's do with her shirt though=
"I think a sneak peek would be me walking in you taking a bath in a river Eve. Trust me, the look kinda centers anything good about this."

=Well, she couldn't stay in here. And the bus was where she needed to be now, but she couldn't go outside without a clean shirt on. So.....I took off mine, thankful I was still wearing a sports bra, and handed it to her. Folding up the first aid kit, I stood up=
"Get dressed, and lets move."

=It would have been more dramatic had I not been virtually naked, save for the bra and pants=

Slipping the shirt on awkwardly, Eve retrieved her shirt and then her pack, stumbling after Sam.
She stayed close.
"If we get to a river...that sneak peek can be arranged." She managed to tease lamely, wipping tears away.

Abel moved through the hardware store, looking around the shelves.  He grabbed some random items and stuffed them in his cargo pockets, as he was short a bag back in his car.  Gorilla glue and duct tape filled his pockets.  Abel wandered the store a bit when he ran across Cooper toward the front of the store.

"Explosives, huh? Really trying to bring attention to us?"

(Sam)
"Ha, I'll hold you to it. Now come on, we still have no idea what's going on."
=I led the way outf the kitchen=

"Deal then."
Eve wasn't sure if it was a joke or not.

She hoped it was serious.

In the meantime, she kept after Sam, free hand on her gun.

Ace moved through the trees, jumping from cover to cover, making her way to the trucks cooper wanted.