@Flightless_Soul@DriveEMOut

Sarah still had her rifle lowered, as if she didn't see the girl as a threat just yet. "You're outnumbered, miss." she said, her rose-colored eyes and voice both void of any emotion. "So lower your gun and tell us what you're hoping to gain by coming around here and we won't use our weapons."

Aaron laughed, slightly menacing. "Sarah, raise your damn rifle. She's got a gun pointed at someone, so you better put a hole in her head before she does exactly that to me. We're already off schedule as it is. Hurry it up."@Flightless_Soul@Nikki Moonlight

@Nikki Moonlight @DriveEMOut

Harley grit her teeth, her hand slightly shaking as she fought to keep her gun steady, trained on the girl pointing a rifle at her. Weird looking girl she was. Harley had never seen a girl with hair so white...or eyes so pink. Pretty face though, she thought.

"Now I ain't lookin' fer no trouble, ma'am, but if y'all gon keep pointin' that damn gun in my face, I'm liable to git pretty ornery!"

Slowly, she let her revolver down, a brief sigh before answering. "We just got into town, me and Riley here. Figured we'd rest here for the night, but y'all don't look too friendly, 'specially you, friendo." She added lifting her revolver again, this time on the boy with the knife.

"Y'all got alot of nerve pickin' a fight with a lady! What? Mama never teach y'all no manners?"

Aaron laughed bitterly. "You mean the mom that died? Yeah, she did. But it's the new world. And you better accustom. I'm not going to kill you. Heck, I'll even let you join our little group." He shoved the knife back into the sheath on his calf. "Now that we've all calmed down, I hope, we can get the introductions rolling. "I'm Aaron and this is Sarah. We've got several others inside I don't feel like naming. If you like you could go inside and meet them, but I doubt you trust us. Now, would you like to join our group? I swear we're peaceful."
@Flightless_Soul@Nikki Moonlight

Ivan finally blinked his eyes open, looking around to see that everyone was gone. He jolted as if struck by lightning, jumping to his feet and running out to the cleared area, still finding no one. He then searched the entire store, before finally heading outside.
That's where everyone had gathered, apparently. A few new members had joined their group.
Including the albino girl with the sniper rifle.
They all seemed to be in a standoff, some people even having their weapons drawn.
Ivan stepped back, fingering the holster at his belt. The boy wasn't sure what was going on, but it seemed intense and like something he wasn't meant to be a part of.
He opened his mouth to apologize for intruding, but his English failed him. "Прости! очень жаль!!" He cried, not sure what to do. In a flash, he noticed that one girl had a revolver out, and for self defense he pulled out his own shotgun. He had no intention of shooting anyone who didn't shoot at him first, but it was a precaution he had to take.

@DriveEMOUt @Nikki Moonlight @Vortex @The Critic @Flightless_Soul

@DriveEMOut@Flightless_Soul

Sarah said, "I'm not the one picking the fights here. But alright." She put her rifle on her back and folded her arms over her chest and she yawned, as if things like this didn't even bother her. She wasn't about to go telling her life story to most people, especially ones she didn't know.

@Nikki Moonlight@DriveEMOut@Oliver

She hesitated at first, Harley, but ever cautiously she slipped the silver Smith & Wesson back in the leather holster hanging off her hip.

"Harley." She gave a curt tip of her stetson hat. "I reckon y'all are a peaceful bunch, seeing how y'all ain't shot me yet. but I'm keepin' my eye on y'all. No offense, but I done shot my fair share of varmints, and I ain't afraid to shoot more neither."

She said with a confident smirk, a little finger gun pointed at the two. Three actually as some other young kid came bumbling out into the open, a shotgun in his hands as he spoke some really weird language the Texan never heard before. Harley flinched a little at that. Having a shotgun barrel leveled at her head...it brought back some bad memories.

She sighed, "I'm just lookin' fer a place to rest and gather supplies. I ain't gon be here long, three, four days maybe, then I'll be outta y'alls hair. I need a place fer my horse to rest too. Y'all got one?"

Ivan slowly lowered his gun as Harley did the same, tucking it back into his holster. He still desperately wanted an answer as to what was going on. Where the strangers had come from, why they were all outside with guns pointed at each other...
He didn't ask, however. His English was failing him at the moment, and he couldn't think of how to phrase it. He looked off to the side, hands shaking and knees wobbling a bit. He just looked up at Aaron, his sharp brown eyes wide and confused.

@DriveEMOut @Flightless_Soul

Aaron sighed. "Ivan. Get back inside. We have important matters to discuss."
@Flightless_Soul@Nikki Moonlight@Oliver

Ivan obeyed immediately, scurrying back into the store. He climbed upstairs to where the open window was, trying to listen quietly to whatever they were discussing. He needed answers.

@DriveEMOut

@DriveEMOut@Oliver@Nikki Moonlight

After not getting a clear answer, Harley shrugged her shoulders and messed with her hat a little, "Well if y'all don't mind, I'll just go look fer a place to bed down Ol' Riley here. C'mon boy." The horse snorted and shook his mighty head as Harley took him by the leather reins, leading him past the group, including the strange looking girl with pink eyes. They had a name for them kind of people. Harley remembered her daddy saying it when she got in trouble for making fun of a girl like that long ago. Damn did she ever get a whipping for that. Now whst was it? Wasn't it....albino?

"Kinda like a cactus flower, huh Riley?" She whispered to the horse. Riley bucked his head up and down softly as if to agree. Harley smiled. "Yep. Real pretty to look at, but I reckon she don't want no one gittin' near her. I reckon any of these folks don't want no one gittin' near."

@Flightless_Soul@Vortex

With her exceptional hearing Sarah caught the girl talking to her. She shook her head a little. It wasn't that she DIDN'T want anyone near her. She was almost afraid to get close to anyone because of what had happened in her past with her father, her real father. She shook her hair away from her face, noticing Charles inside, resisting the urge to shoot him, just clenching her fists a little. After all, she and him were a part of the same group now, and needed to work together if they wanted to survive.

It wasn't much for the poor Paint horse, but in the end of days beggars couldn't afford to be choosers. At least it would keep the rain off. Harley managed to clear out a small space under a makeshift awning in the grassy lawns of the shop. Course that was after having to move some of the junk and dead bodies lying about. Thank God above she still had her ranching gloves on.

It didn't faze her much either. Death and depravity were the norms of this new world. One mangled and chewed up corpse was no different than another. Before, she would have been puking her guts out and crying at the sight of so much gore, like the first time she and her friends went and watched SAW, but now...after seeing so many dead bodies, her reaction was just a bitter sigh.

Once her buddy was settled in, she sat down on the old engine block beside him, her chocolate amber eyes falling to the ground tired and heavy.

"You reckon these people ever had families too, boy?" She asked in a frail whisper. Twas obvious at one time yes, but maybe some didn't. The horse was too busy gnawing grass to give a proper response. Harley just sighed instead. She was worn out. It had been a month long ride across the country, and wherever she roamed, so too did danger lurk.

Aaron took his keys out of his pocket and started up the SUV while he waited for the others to bring the food and videos they would use to trade. Soon enough, his thoughts drifted to his Mom, and his last memory of her. And boy, was it a horrifying one. His mom smiling at him with the cake in her hands after leaving Aaron and Audrey in the car. In another moment her face was nauseous, and another, she had dropped the cake and was coughing up blood. Then it was pouring out her eyes, and pretty soon she was slamming her fists against the windows as blood coated every inch of her and her guts were practically bursting out her stomach. Aaron snapped back from his memory and curled up in a ball, crying inside the SUV.
@MissCapnCrunch

Isaac took the encounter as a sense of dismissal for everyone, deciding he'd try to find a gas can with some fuel, or at least a gas station with some water bottles that weren't completely busted. As he roamed the town, he did find a gas station, and even a jerry can.

"Well, at least there's some sense of luck still."

Isaac walked into the convenience store part of the gas station, assuming it would've been looted by now. For the most part it was, apart from a single granola bar buried under some wrappers, almost as if hidden. He wondered if anyone had hidden it for later, but shrugged and thought to himself, "Finders keepers." He went back outside, filled the jerry can as much as he could, and began the trip back to his car. If he had tried to imagine himself hauling a jerry can for a mile before all of this had happened, he would've laughed. He was used to driving places, only walking when going down the street for lunch or walking through office buildings, but necessity is the mother of invention, and apparently the step-mother of change. After a bit, he finally reached his car and filled it up. Isaac threw the jerry can in the back, plopped down in the front, and hoped the car would start. After a few seconds of struggling, the engine finally caught and came to life. Isaac smiled and put the car into drive, heading back toward the town and his new... Well, not friends yet, but acquaintances, sure, even allies. He parked the car along the street near the grocery store.

As he hopped out, he saw the newest arrival, a younger girl with a horse of all things. Isaac had seen a few horses in his travels, but they were all wild stallions, and he had no way of even attempting to catch one. He walked over to her, since she seemed to be alone.

"Hey, do you need any help?" I just thought I'd offer, seems to be what everyone else around here does, figured it wouldn't hurt."

@Flightless_Soul

@The Critic

She must've dozed off for a moment, jumping up when a young man started speaking to her, asking if she needed help. A nice gesture yes, but she was still uneasy around these people. "Nah, partner, I'm good. Sorry but ya scared me there a little. Name's Harley. Nice to meetcha." Harley introduced herself tipping her cowboy hat.

"I just thought I'd offer, I'm sorry for startling you. And I guess I might as well, start sharing my name. It's Isaac." He nodded at Harley. "I guess I'll head back inside, see if anyone else needs help." He walked back in to try and find someone to help.

@The Critic

"Hey hold on there now!" Harley called afer Isaac running up to him. "Don't suppose y'all know where a gal like me can git cleaned up, do ya? I've been needin' a bath ever since I left my home down in Texas." Her cheeks reddened a little mentioning that. It wasn't the most flattering thing, but she was honest. After spending nearly weeks on end sleeping in mud, fighting her way through filthy savages...and them, she was starting to smell like a pig sty.

Isaac stopped, not knowing of anywhere to take a bath.

"No, I don't know," he replied. After noticing the slight blushing, he added, "I haven't bathed in a while either, don't worry. I only got here a bit before you did, but I'm sure someone knows." He walked through the store for a bit and, after a few minutes of finding his way around, found Audrey.

"Hey, Audrey, would you happen to know a place where anyone could take a bath or shower or anything? Harley was asking just now, and I'm still not sure what you guys have here and what you don't."

@Flightless_Soul@MissCapnCrunch

@The Critic @MissCapnCrunch

"Well...thanks I guess." Harley muttered a tad disappointed. It was to be expected in the end of days. The comforts of home were now relics of the past in this dog eat dog world. The only hope she probably had of getting a nice shower was standing out in the middle of a cold rain butt naked, and that...well...that was just asking for trouble. She blushed just thinking about it.

After a while or so, she figured it was best to introduce herself to the others. No use in being a stranger if she was going to be staying here for a few days, right? She might as well get comfortable with the others around here.

Her boots clopped loudly and her spurs rattled as she made her way into the store, looking around with an astounded whistle, "Damn! Mighty fine place y'all got here! It's kind of a dump, but hey, at least it keeps the bugs and the rain off, right?"