So there were a decent amount of people inside. And armed. And all giving him request, at gun point. "So, what is it, get on the ground or show my hands? Because doing both is not easy, and honestly, is not good for the back. Plus, you guys could easily shoot me dead once I am down on the ground." Was this the best time to be a smart ass? No. Was that going to stop hunter? Hell no. Though it should have. "How about we talk this out? Because I don't think any of us want to get shot, or die, or both. But shooting off our guns would definitely draw a lot of attention to some not so nice people."

He thoughts about it for a moment. Chances are if these people were going to hurt him they would have done it already. "How about this, I put my hands up..." He put his hands in the air, showing his sawed off shotgun, pointing it in the air. "I keep my guns, but you can come out and search me if you want. But I don't like the idea of... executions. Those generally suck. But, if we can talk this out I could show you all some cool magic tricks?" Best magic trick he knows, how to awkwardly hide a card in his sleeve. Which in short sleeves doesn't work so well.

Celty thought for a moment and looked over to Jake. "He is right about the back thing. That is difficult for civilians." part of her reverted back to Service Celty.
Slowly she pulled the sniper away from her shoulder, but kept it trained on the man, and sat down on the porch. "This one is up to you officer." she joked a little. She had a thing for trying, and failing, to lighten up the mood in tense situations. It was easier to talk things out that way.

Jake sighed. "Sorry, man. Just a bit...tense to say the least. Just don't do anything crazy." Jake said as he approached the man. Jake lowered his gun, looking at Celty. He motioned his head to search Hunter. It's not like there was a reason to do so. There were no laws anymore.

"What brings you to the outskirts?" Jake asked as he looked around. He noticed the clouds covering the moon and the breeze that was turning into harsher gusts. There was going to be a storm soon. Jake felt small raindrops here and there, rain falling gently as the grace of the storm began.

Celty stood and walked over to the two of them. "Not many walk this way, but Im not one to talk." she flashed a smile at Hunter and stood there. A raindrop tapped her cheek causing her to look up and see the storm brewing. "We may wanna get inside Jake. Storm is almost here and she doesn't look like a nice gal." she added then looked back at the two.
"Think your friends will mind the company?" Celty asked, partly joking but .mostly serious. If she wasn't welcome, she couldn't go back to her tree. If lightning struck it she would be fried. And she didn't want that.

Inspection was over. They seemed friendly enough. "What brings me out here? uh, lack of food and desperation? That seems about right." Hunter looked at the guns they were holding. Decent bits of firepower. Someone's been stocking up. Maintaining them though must be a pain. Then the rain started to come in. Not a lot but getting sick now was a death sentence for anyone with out proper medication or proper conditions.

The place was nice on the inside. Still decently furnished, the building was standing. And guess what, more people. Things seemed tense though.

Jake nodded and looked to the door. He walked to it and gently placed a hand on the metal knob and turned it. He opened the door, a small burst of warm air escaping the house. Jake motioned for the two to come inside, the storm getting a bit more rough. Wind blew hard and rain finally fell, the size of the drops making noise. Jake then looked at Quinn against the wall as Alyssa stood against him.

"What the hell...?!"

Celty stood behind him a bit confused. "Looks like this isn't the best of times. I can wait outside," she offered pointing back at the door. She wasn't about to get involved in someone else's fight. She had already done that once, and it ended terribly. Three dead and one had an arrow through their eye socket, her arrow.

Celty sighed and walked back out the door. "I'll be out here when you guys are done." she sat down on one of the steps and leaned against the porch railing. "One hell of a day." she muttered to herself. The rain was starting to get harder and pour more now. The porch kept her dry though, all but her boots she had sticking out from under the cover. "Hell of a day." she repeated.

Jakes voice sent a chill down her spine but she didn't move the knife away or anything. She glared Quin the anger building up inside her. She gritted her teeth as she scolded Jake," Shut up, you don't know anything." It may of been hard to understand. She could barely prevent her self from crying and the words were forced out. "Get out!" She told him. She had no intention of following his rules and such as.

Quinn's one good eye suddenly darted briefly to Jake as he came back inside. The tense moment between Quinn and Alyssa had completely shut off the world around him, to the point where it was like he had been inside a fathomless black void. One comprised of rage, regret and bitter, bitter guilt.
The sight of Jake was like a punch to the gut. Quinn felt limp, numbness overcoming him.
A torrential flood of thoughts and emotions assaulted him in the span of only a few seconds, causing his head to start pounding. He briefly considered attempting to apologize, but he knew he was far beyond that. Far beyond any sort of restitution, or redemption.

His shoulders slumped, and at length he let out a small sound.
"Fine then," barely more than a whisper.
It was just another storm for him to face alone. His fate, his sentence, his fault.
Quinn gathered his things and turned to leave, pausing a moment by Jake's side, but not looking at him at all.
"See you round, officer. Sorry it had to end this way. Promise me, when the day comes that I'm staring down your barrel...don't hesitate."

Jake was way beyond confused. "Wh...what the hell...?" He asked, not understanding what just happened. Did Quinn try to touch her or something? Maybe got a bit physical? Jake looked to Celty, then Alyssa, then back at Quinn. This was odd. Jake rubbed his head and sighed. He hesitated, but followed Quinn.

"Hey. What the hell just happened?" Jake asked, trying to piece together events to try and figure something out. He couldn't do it. Jake found nothing out of the ordinary, but apparently this wasn't the case.

"I haven't been completely honest with you. I didn't think I needed to tell you, but..." He paused, unsure of how to proceed. He decided it was best to just tell Jake everything.
"Alyssa knows me. She knows me because I used to be a part of the Blood Army. She was a captive of my platoon. I thought I had left it behind, thought I was out. They left me with this," he turned his head and pointed at the scars on his face, "my punishment for desertion."
Quinn turned his head back, unable to look at Jake.
"I've done...I've done terrible things. No matter how many of those bastards I kill, it doesn't go away."

Aly backed away from Quinn as he began to move keeping the knife in her hand till he left. He sighed as she closed the knife and placed it in her pocket when he was by the door. She sank down on the wall and placed her head on her knees, letting a few of her tears slip as the images she tried to forget played on and on in her head.

Jake was appalled from Quinn's confession. He felt sick to his stomach. "Y-you...? In the Blood Army...?" Jake asked, both stunned and confused. He tried to remain calm and not jump to conclusions. He took a deep breath. He felt angry when he learned he had taken Alyssa hostage before. He took another deep breath, still in a bit of disbelief.

"Quinn..." Jake started, turning away from him. But then something clicked. Desertion. Quinn wasn't affiliated. "Wait. Desertion?" He asked, trying to find the good in the situation. If there was any at least.

Celty heard parts of their conversation and didn't know what to think. Blood Army, desertion, all kinds of different things. She just sighed and watched as the rain fell. There were a few flashes of lightning and booms of thunder.

"It's getting pretty messy out there. It's best everyone stays in till this storm passes." Celty said with a sigh and sat against the wall next to the door. "Who's taking which watch? I don't mind taking a double, don't sleep much these days anyways." she offered holding her rifle against her shoulder.

"I couldn't stand it anymore...the killing, the torturing...the raping. I tried to run away after dark, but they followed me. They don't punish desertion lightly. I barely got away, nearly died. I wish I had."
That night had been a blur of running, gunfire and explosions. He could clearly recall blinking through hot, sticky blood as it poured down his face. His breath grew more and more labored as his legs burned and turned to jelly.

When they eventually gave up the ghost it was because he managed to reach the city limits and steal away into the night. Guess they figured that the shambling freaks of the night would have gotten to him.
Instead, he survived until morning until the caravan of merchants rolled by and got him. It felt like a dream, they seemed so damn out of place. Quinn spent almost three weeks drifting in and out of consciousness before finally awakening free of pain and infection.

"I'm sorry you had to find out like this. Were it up to me, I would never have even told you."

"We've all had to do things" came Charlotte's sudden voice from the doorway, the young woman stepping into the room from where she had been lurking in the darkness listening to the heated conversation. Raised voices and the distant rumbling of thunder had kept her from sleep, then upon venturing down she had hear new voices and silently had made her way down the stairs before stopping to listen.

Her gaze was fixed on Quinn but her expression was not one of anger or fear. She understood the desire to keep the things you regretted clutched close and hidden from those who knew you, and after everything that had happened since the world went to hell it never seemed to surprise her what she'd seen other people do, sometimes what she had done. Her expression was more one of thorough appraisal, as her eyes bore into his face like she was trying to see into his very depths. After a few moments she stated flatly "Quinn saved me, Jake too. I owe them both as much as each other, together we've all found this place. He hasn't given us a reason to kick him out, and I think every one of us could benefit from at least one good night's sleep before we decide who exactly is leaving and who is going with who." At that point she glanced around at the rest of them, particularly the two new faces that were awkwardly listening to what was being said wondering who they were.

It wasn't that Charlotte didn't feel for whatever exactly it was that Alyssa had been through at his hands, in fact quite the opposite. If she was face to face with anyone who had done... whatever it was that he had done to her, well suffice to say there wouldn't have been much talking. But the young woman hadn't done that, and Charlotte didn't think she would. Either Alyssa would do something or she wouldn't, but Charlotte figured that was her own business to deal with. The time she had spent alone had definitely dulled her sense of compassion, and more so her own actions too had shown her that people were capable of anything and without the boundaries of society you had to do what you had to do to stay alive. As she saw it Quinn was out of the Blood Army, he'd done the hard thing and left instead of staying with that band of demented sadists, and he'd paid a high price for it. She accepted him for what he was now, despite what he had been. More than that though she suddenly felt a sense of attachment to him, and to a lesser extent Jake too. She'd only suddenly realised it when it looked for a moment that he was about to walk out of the door, and a strong desire to leave with him had overtaken her.

As she stood silent again her gaze went back to him before again returning to staring off distantly as she listened and thought, realising that despite the number of relative strangers around her for the first time in a long time she felt safe.

It was enough to make his head spin.
He had held onto Charlotte's gaze for as long as he could, before he lowered his eyes like a damn coward. He was suddenly aware of the two new faces in the room, and how the attention was focused on him. His face flushed red, and the heat made his scars itch like made. It was everything he could do to keep from scratching them like a feverish junkie. He was thankful for the poor light.
He shook his head.

"Jake," he said at last, "You used to be a policeman. You're the closest thing we have to law right now. If you let me walk out now, I'll never come back and you'll never have any trouble from me. Though, I'll be the last person to argue against you executing me right now."
It was living with himself that he struggled with so much. Every good deed done, every life saved, or settlement helped was an act of atonement. He never accepted any remuneration for his work unless he was truly desperate and even in those circumstances he only took the bare minimum.

The question remained his mind.
Is it enough? Will it ever be enough?
There was no taking away from the terrible things he had done, no excuses. He could try and preach survival, but the reality of it was that he had been too dead inside to fight it. The loss of his wife and two daughters had been devastating.
Lastly, the thing he would never admit to anyone for as long as he drew breath.
He had gotten to the point where he had liked it. The rush he got from killing, or dominating another human being, stripping them of their worth...it had become intoxicating.
That was when he had left as pleasure turned to disgust and his nauseating conscience had seeped back in through his skin.

"Look, I may not know this guy but it seems he's traveled with you guys for a bit at least." Celty started as she stood up, still leaning against the wall. "Has he tried to kill a single one of you yet? I mean, I don't trust strangers easily especially creepy lookin guys, no offense, but he doesn't seem as sketchy as you may think. To me he just sounds like a normal guy nowadays. Conscious is a bit fried and eating away at your sanity, but still trying to make things right. A ton, more than you can probably count, are 6 feet under the ground or dead on top of the dirt you walk. How many more regretful people have to join them?" she crossed her arms and looked arpun the room.

Taking in everyone's expressions she shook her head and sighed. "I may be a stranger to all of you, but I'm inside. What has stopped you from shooting me?" Celty started to worry a little that someone may take that and just shoot her now, but it was a risk she was taking. The guy, yes he was a grade A asshat, but she could see he was somewhat guilty for it. "If you haven't shot the stranger, why shoot the friend?" she added quietly.

"Also, if you've known this whole time why didn't you say something to the others? He could've been luring you all into a trap, and if he did you would've felt guilty for not coming out with it sooner. Just a thought." Celty shrugged and didn't mean to attack the girl, but it sounded as if she was. "But this is all your guy's business. I just ask if you do kill him, no blood on the boots. Had these for a long time and not a drop has made it on them, I don't want to ruin that streek." she leaned against the wall, arm crossed, again and watched for what they would do or how they would respond. She may be going back into that tree tonight.

Jake stood there in deep thought. What was best for the group? Alyssa could possibly leave, an asset lost in the world. He could let Quinn go, but then there would be an absence in combat. Jake took a deep breath. "Listen, Quinn. I understand you fucked up. I can see that you feel sorry. And so I'll give you a chance to prove it, not to me, but everyone who doubts you. I believe you aren't going to kill any of us considering we're all intact." Jake said, turning to face Quinn.

Jake then looked to Alyssa. "Alright. You have two options. You stick with us, Quinn still a part of the group. Or you can leave, no questions asked, no interference, no harm." He said. Jake knew damn well he wasn't fit to be a leader, but he had to speak his mind sooner or later.