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I feel as if I should give a eulogy, many eulogies. Though, I know no matter what I could say the words would not help you. At this moment, I only can say that you need to brace yourselves for what is about to come. Life is a fickle thing, it is given and taken away in a heartbeat, or even less. What occurs is just the results of the luck of the draw. There was nothing more and nothing less to it. Sometimes the dice fall in your favor, but please remember, every time you cheat death it is bound to come back. So it was this evening. Here is what happened.....

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Over in Franklin things are not going well. The attack on the school is heating up even though people are trying their best to pick off who ever is in the line of the trees. Sana takes the piece of cloth and smiles towards Ed as she quickly goes to tie it around where she is bleeding. Tightening it around her calf, her cross bow is set down next to her. She knows she needs to stop the bleeding and apply pressure if she is going to be able to make a dash to better cover for her and Ed. It is for naught though, as she finishes tying it into place, she looks up, just in time to see the results of a bullet tearing through Ed's back and out his chest, her body getting covered in the splattering effect as the bullet embeds next to her in the cars door. "Ed!! NO!!!!" she screams as she lunges forward to catch him and pull him down but there is nothing she can do, the Cabbage is gone. Lyon is out in the yard of the school, ducking down and grabbing Sana. "We have to pull back," he yells but Sana is fighting him, she doesn't want to leave Ed behind. Not like this. Lyon isn't having it, he picks her up and makes a mad dash for the school.

Not knowing of the events unfolding outside Mike looks over towards Amelia and shakes his head. "No, we were at blank spot in the rotation, so the guard was down," he says as he shuffles to get his rifle on his shoulder to make the climb up to the roof. That is until he stops and he hears gunfire inside the school. Turning as another bullet makes its mark but thankfully does not do as much damage as the one that hit Ed. Amelia is hit in the forearm, just a graze but it is enough for Mike to grab her and dive for cover in a room, kicking the door shut behind him and scrambling in his bag for a flashlight so he can see. Turning it on, he shines it around a minute to try to get a look. "Shit, are you okay?"

Over in Newnan, things are not going any better. You see, even without the threat of Walkers or Attackers, there is just life and life is a strange thing. As I said, it comes and goes in the blink of an eye. Zoie looks over to Froggy and picks up her radio. "Yeah, a few hurt but nothing ba.." she says but is cut off suddenly as she stops speaking. She just sits there for a moment before one of her pupils dilates suddenly, part of her face sagging as her breathing stops, her fingers release the radio as it stops to the floor beneath her. Gradually she starts to slump over as Froggy races to her and catches her before she manages to hit the ground. Checking her pulse he lowers his head and lays her down gently. He knows that look, that lack of pulse. Pulling a sheet over her Froggy takes a deep breath. In the end, it was a simple aneurysm that had blown. Nothing could have stopped it.

"Neisha, please get everyone patched up while I move her to the back. No one needs to see this right now. Kris, do what Neisha tells you to," he says as he scoops Zoie up in his arms and makes his way to the back room beyond the infirmary. No one needed to see her body right then, they had injured incoming and people hurt in Newnan. They did and they would have more. Outside Dick meets up with Sophia as he runs back towards the armory. Sophia has a bit of a head start on him and as the alleyway erupts in flames Dick finds himself behind hit in the chest by Sophia's body as she is sent by the force back into him. Hitting the ground they both roll and topple; head over heals, side over side. Dicks tools scattering on the ground as Dick gasps for breath, the wind having been knocked out of him. Rolling over he looks around and sees Sophia unconscious and burning. Ripping his jacket off he lunges over her and starts patting her to put out the flames but at this point it doesn't matter. The blast, the hit, it was like a grenade going off. Sophia has joined Zoie.

Out on the road - You know when you say things can't get any worse? Well yeah, we know that is never the case. It can always get worse and it does for the group on the road. Astrid is doing what she can to keep those in the back of the truck stable but Marx's leg getting tossed around like they are in the truck, the injury, everything, it is just too much blood loss. Slowly he slips away. Astrid is hanging in, the fever not setting in yet as she drapes a blanket over him and gets back to work on Ciel, grabbing him as the truck suddenly cuts a corner towards Newnan but the corner didn't show the downed trees. This wasn't the route they had taken to Franklin so it hadn't been cleared. Slamming on the breaks they come to a sudden stop. "Hold on," Astrid says as she opens up the IV and tries to adjust it to get the much needed fluids into Ciel even faster. Tryke is not so lucky to catch the sudden stop. Cutting the corner behind the truck, her bike slamming into the back of the truck and sending Tryke over the top of the truck and into the downed trees. Her chest is impaled by limbs. "Pokker," she mutters under her breath as she looks at Trykes body. Picking up the phone she shakes her head. "We have a road block, hurry," she calls in and leaves the line open as she gets back to work on Ciel. "You, get that leg up higher," she tells Tiffany pointing to Ray as people from Franklin are scrambling to move the debris enough to be able to get around.

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Ciel flinched, gasping sharply as the truck came screeching to sudden halt. The woman with the bitten shoulder steadied him just in time for him to see the woman on the motorcycle go flying over the car and hit the ground with a sickening crack. She was dead, no doubt. Ciel turned pale, his eyes widening, but there was no point in grieving a stranger. Besides, next to him in the truck a blanket had been pulled over the man with the impaled leg. She wasn't the first to die. Hopefully, however, she would be the last.

The bitten woman then went to getting Ciel on IV. The fluid entering his bloodstream increased his level of alertness, but unfortunately did little to ease the pain in his abdomen and throat. However, staying hydrated would greatly increase his chances of surviving this trip. He kept looking around at the others in the truck, seeing that only one had died so far. The man with only one leg and the boy whose leg was broken still seemed to be alive. If anything, Ciel was more bored than scared now. Seeing the last two fatalities reminded him that he'd been on the brink of death for almost three years now, and had gotten surprisingly stoic about it. He didn't want to die, by any means, but there was no use in complaining.

He sat up straighter, looking out over the side of the truck. Why had they stopped? They couldn't have reached their destination already. They were still on the road. Worry began to set back into his system, but he quickly forced it down. He intended to survive, and getting frightened wouldn't do him any good in that regard. He silently continued to watch, hoping that the bitten woman was still a long ways off from turning. The last thing they needed was a walker in the truck. He'd die for sure if that happened.

Niesha wanted to keep Sophia safe, to tell her to stay and help where she could, to not have her go out in such a dangerous situation, but she knew she couldn't. She stood for a moment, watching Sophia walk away. She shifted, going over to check on Tom, keeping an eye on Tatiana. Fluid loss was going to be a big thing with Tom-the skin wasn't generally there with burns to keep fluid inside the body. she doubted there was much cling wrap around. Just what was she going to do? Getting a saline bag solution set, she set it by Tom, glancing over as Zoie stopped talking. Within moments, it was clear that Zoie wasn't going to live.

Shit. Things really must be bad. She wached Froggy take Zoie's body away, and a sense of regret and sadness churned in her stomach. And Anger. Anger at whoever had attacked the community earlier. Anger that they didn't have the technoloy they drastically needed to save lives. Anger at the whole thing. Left with Kristina, and the injured, Niesha drew in a slow, steadying breath. "Kris, can you see if she hit her head? Take her pulse, and check her pupils. See that they are the same size. I'll set up this bag for Tom, and clean the burns. IF she has any bleeding, put pressure on it, and I'll come over as soon as I can" She said to Kristina, nodding towards Titania, as another explosion seemed to rock them. "Tom? I'm going to check over your wounds, and treat them as best I can"

Just how many more injured would they have? Shaking slightly, she pulled herself together, and trying to find somewhere she could insert the IV port in, Niesha drew in a breath slowly, letting it out just as slowly, and steadying herself. This wasn't the time. Leaving the saline running at a steady rate, she checked Tom's pulse, and tried to listen to his breathing, hoping they wouldn't lose someone else, so soon after Zoie. She didn't let herself think, rather act on what she knew, focusing on what she knew had to be done.

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A second explosion rocked the streets of the Newnan settlement, just as Ash was crossing the street. He looked around to see yet another casualty laying on the pavement, this one fully aflame. The usual emotions flashed through him; shock, fear, anger. Cruising up from a pit of nowhere, though, deep inside of himself, Ash felt a growing, encompassing fatigue. He was tired. So very tired. Everything seemed to pile up all at once, as if perpetrated by some unseen force with a sick sense of omnipresent humor, like a vast, sadistic child with a magnifying glass standing tall over an anthill on a sunny day.

Two of theirs were in trouble, far from their walls. Then inside their walls, someone else dies. Then another one. Injured parties, more people important to the community. Friends. Family. An explosion that threatened to engulf the Armory, then another that dashed the life out of a newer arrival. The Captain had enough. He looked to the guard that had just been assigned to escort Bazhooli, commanding him in a loud voice, "You're with Dick on repairs. Help him gather the tools, do whatever he says. Go!"

He then hopped on the radio. He even sounded tired over air and light static. "Okay, we've been hit. People are down. Security teams: Stay on the Walls. Last thing we need is someone taking advantage. Domestic teams: Need people to get our down and injured to the Infirmary. That's a now thing. Sally, organize this. James: You are now my Acting Second and Acting Security Lead. You and Guy get your asses up to the Tower, after you bring me what I asked for. Drag out the new guy's box, it's marked "Jack". We are still going out. Our people still need help; they are surrounded by the Dead. I expect this place to be in order by the time we return. Rescue team leaves in two minutes, everyone who's coming meet me at the 'Buster, across from the Courthouse."

"And someone find out what that second explosion was."

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Explosion number two killed yet another person. This wasn't a horrible attack from the outside, oh no. This was infrastructure coming apart. Usually a damaged infrastructure didn't randomly kill people, but today seemed special somehow. The Great Bazhooli stopped, if but for a moment, to attempt to help with the injured. The Armorer, Tom, was carried past them to the Infirmary. Not much for him to do there. The Second, a lady that he didn't remember seeing before, lay dead with a cloth over her face. Not much to do there. The other... just died from shock and fire. Bazhooli felt awful. He could do nothing to help these people, just as he could do nothing to help his Circus in what seemed like so long ago.

The Great Bazhooli existed to entertain. At least he used to. He would like to take up that role again, but he sincerely felt it would be a very long time before such trivialities would become important again. He was as his environment had made him, in his solitude and will to survive, despite the best efforts of living aggressors and the Returned. All of the qualities at his disposal that might be of use to these people, actual use, revolved around his physicality, his accuracy with a blade, and his ability to remain stealthy in the face of adverse conditions. While Bazhooli was unsure as to how any of these would be of use in the coming rescue mission, he knew with near certainty that he would be of even less use inside the Walls.

"Can do nothing, Mr. Jack. Nothing I see.Let us get your things, and go back to angry man. Save damsels in distress, da?" He picked up the pace, running into Armory, hopefully with Jack in tow. He turned back for just a second to share a thought, "Hey... if I die, you and bride take care of Schrody?"

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He heard Ash's orders. They seemed fitting. Tactically sound, even. The kind of hard decision that a Commanding Officer would make, and the kind of trust that needed to be placed in the right people under his command, phrased in such a way as to inspire confidence in one's abilities yet still prop them on with a sense of urgency. You know, just in case the multiple deaths and explosions didn't already instill enough urgency in the first place. There was just one flaw Ash's logic, from James's point of view, one which he most wholeheartedly expressed over his radio.

"Um... Bossman? I'm with ya, but you gotta understand... I ain't no leader, Ash. Just ain't."

It would be a basic observation for one to make. He was a farmhand, first part of his life, and became an excellent Hogger. Probably the best one on the continent. Definitely the best one now that the population had been near annihilated. And true to form, he had gotten the agricultural needs of the community started, before he handed it over to Maria. Then took it back after her demise. He had a lot of help with the actual work of it, but did not make him a great, multitasking leader, capable of making hard decisions in seconds of time. The people that could do that were either leaving town, or laying dead in the streets.

Oh, dear God. Zoie. James's heart hurt, actually hurt when he thought of her extremely recent passing just moments before. The shock of the situation covered it up almost instantly, but he could tell that it was still there, lurking until blood cooled again, waiting to destroy him. Zoie was his friend for years before the Outbreak. It was a matter of pure chance that they met up again, here in Newnan. A single spot of pure, uplifting joy in the middle of a world that suddenly seemed designed to kill them all, and in the most horrifying ways imaginable. Now she, the last living link to a time back when the world sucked far less, lay deceased. She took a gentle part of James with her.

Meanwhile, Ash didn't seem to give a more or less decent rat's hindparts about any insecurities James might be having at that moment, and decided to let him know. The radio barked with his now-strained Virginian accent, "Goddamnit, James. You are a leader today. Newnan knows you, Newnan trusts you. Move your ass, and move it now."

The ebon-skinned hog hunter sighed. "Yeah, Boss. I'm on it."

Alright, fine. Just for today, he was a leader. James moved to do exactly as he was ordered, locating and moving out the box labelled "Jack". Then a Russian-sounding man barged into the room, mumbling something about his "Schrody". That was awkward.

Just for today.

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She listened to the girl on her way to death and lifted Ray's leg. He was unconscious and she didn't know whether to be thankful or worried. He didn't have to worry about their situation, but she would rather know if he was alive or not. Given how things were going, she didn't think being alive was any better.

They managed to break through the horde and she hoped they would be in Newnan soon. They had to get the kids and Ray to safety and she would volunteer to help in any capacity. She could shoot and defend with the best of them. She kept a close eye on the woman with them, in case she went out of it. She seemed to be handling things fine and Tiffany admired her bravery in this instance. She hoped she would make it and be able to decide her own fate.

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Kristina looked over towards Zoie as she spoke through the radio and then through midsentence she watched part of Zoie's face sag and then dropped the radio, she paused feeling helpless as she watched a friend die in front of her again. Kris looked away as Froggy quickly went over and confirmed that she had just passed away she closed her eyes tightly and sighed loudly and nodded when Froggy told her to listen to Niesha. Kris turned to Niesha when she heard a second explosion go off holding the counter for support, she really hoped that they wouldn't lose anyone else tonight. "I'm on it." Kristina said as she limped over towards Tatiana looking at her remembering some shows and movies. Kris heard of another casualty from Zoie's radio that she dropped she bit her lower lip for a moment and listened to Ashton's voice as he started to give orders to everyone else who had radios.

"I guess I am your nurse this evening." Kris said trying to do her best to try and ignore the death of Zoie as she watched Froggy taking Zoie's body off to another room, sighing slightly as she went to check Tatiana's pulse on her wrist. Though she truly didn't know what the hell she was doing. She was just a simple high school student before the end of the world happened, then Kris leaned in closer to look at Tatiana's pupils. Seeing Tatiana's busted lip Kris went over and grabbed a cloth and pressed it up against Tatiana's lip looking over towards Niesha as she went to tend to Tom who was in worse shape then Tati was.

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Meghna started to drive the sedan down the street to meet Ash at the Buster just as she heard a second explosion go off, then she heard Ashton's voice on the radio giving out orders. She looked towards the streets as the security teams and domestic quickly went to do their jobs. Meg paused for a moment hearing Zoie's voice getting cut off mid sentence sighing loudly as Meg ran a hand through her hair and stopped at the Buster. Meg sat back in the seat as she waited for whoever else was coming through with the rest of the team to go out and rescue their own.

Meg was surprised listening to James and Ashton, he had given James the second in command while he is gone, she knew that she wouldn't be able to lead the rest of the community as well as Leann or Ashton could. She was just glad it wasn't her as the second for now, she wouldn't know where to start on leading a town, she knew how to just run domestic and that's about it.

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“Wait… they attacked in the moment we didn’t have a guard up there?” Amelia asked in pure shock, realizing some implications of this. Unless the attackers were the luckiest people ever, this was an incredibly well thought out plan! They either waited patiently to see the schedules and pick the right time or they had a person on the inside! This was insane!

Suddenly Amelia heard the shooting from closer than before… there were people shooting inside Franklin! Very next moment she felt pain in her forearm as she cried out in pain when a bullet struck her there. She was lucky to get away with just this, but her mind was cleared empty from because of the pain for a moment as she was left shocked in place.

For her greatest luck, she got pulled away by Mike who got them into cover in a room nearby. Amelia was holding onto her arm as the man closed the door behind them. She was breathing heavily in attempt to get some sense and logic into her thought processes.

“Yes… I’m fine… I think… it just… hurts!” She replied, some tears swelling in her eyes. Amelia was not a stranger to pain, but that sure didn’t mean she got used to it!” Are we pinned in this room?” She asked, knowing that they got shot out in the corridor! The enemies were in Franklin after all!

“There’s another exit out of this room?” She asked, blinking and trying to get a feel for the surroundings from Mike’s flashlight.

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The death and destruction continued, with another explosion ripping its way through the streets of Newnan. Jack bit down on his lip. This wasn't something that normally happened. He'd never lived in a settlement before--the closest he ever came was squatting down in a bunker with some vets--but all of this death and chaos? It couldn't be normal. They wouldn't have been able to build as much as they did, create and foster this community, this paradise, if it was. Perhaps this onslaught was the price of heaven.

Jack bowed his head slightly as the dead were taken away. His heart sank slightly, realizing who the dead girl had been. A cloth covered her face, but Jack recognized the stump of a hand. Thankfully, Tatiana was safe inside the Rec Center--but where in Newnan was safe anymore? The chaos increased with each and every moment, from what Jack could tell. Bazhooli was right, of course. There wasn't much they could do. They had no medical knowledge, and best they could do was grab their belongings, and return to Ashton to help fight off whatever undead sons of bitches were outside the walls of Newnan.

Running alongside Bazhooli, Jack broke into a smile at the mention of Bazhooli's cat. "Schrodingah? Sure thing," Jack promised. "And if I bite the dust, look after Tati? She's strong, don't get me wrong, but shy. She needs someone." As they entered the armory, Jack spotted a box with his name on it, carried by a man he didn't recognize. For a moment, he was tempted to run to Bazhooli, and mention that Jack wasn't even his legal name--it was his middle name.

"Hi, I'm Jack," Jack introduced himself, extending a hand to the stranger. He would have made some sort of pun about Jack-in-the-Box, but with the death and explosions, it didn't seem to be the appropriate time. People were stressed as fuck as it was.

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The second of Newnan was dead but no one but the people in the infirmary at her time of death knew that. That meant that only Victor, Tatiana, Neisha, Tom and Kris were aware. None on the street, none over the radio. It wasn't announced so no one else knew. (Glad that is cleared up)

The armory has had two explosions now. One inside and one outside. The place is on fire, having killed Sophia and knocked Dick back. (Oh, some of you ran in? Tsk tsk, why would anyone run into a burning building >.>) - Yet no one was taking care of the flames. (Seriously, I find this funny. Two explosions and no one even tried. You all really have made this round all too easy on me.)

Now, where was I? Oh yes, what is happening now, not what was happening last couple of rounds. Forgive me, I do so like looking back and chuckling. Though, you do know I could have had this post done by now but right now I am taking my time. (Game of Thrones is on, it is rather inspirational)

The flames in the Armory in Newnan are creeping higher inside, smoke is billowing up and crawling over the ground as the flames lick the ceiling by the basement door and are making their way towards the main room where all the weapons are housed. This isn't good, especially considering the list of items in there. There are some boom boom materials. That isn't the only problem, a single stream is rocketing out of a broken pipe outside of the infirmary outside in the alleyway.

While in Franklin the bullets keep flying. Amelia and Mike are trapped in a room with no other exit. Outside the sounds of gunshots can be heard, some in the far distance (must be outside) and some that echo (must be inside) - that is until the sounds in the hallway go silent. It is a long moment before the handle of the door starts to turn slowly.

On the streets of Newnan, nce Dick has Sophia's body put out, he lays his jacket over her and scrambles to get his tools. Picking them up he runs back towards the alleyway but stops in his tracks as his hand comes up to cover his face. The flames and heat is too much. Taking a detour he runs towards the other side of the building to try to get to the propane tanks. It's time he cut of Lady Propane from doing anymore damage.

Inside of the infirmary, Froggy rubs his face as Tatiana is tended to. She is alright, just a little banged up but she looks worried, biting her bottom lip as she sits there. Froggy grabs he radio from the ground where it fell and looks over towards Neisha, not believing what he is about to say. "Neisha, you're in charge, I'm going to check the streets for wounded and see what I can do there," he says. Froggy darts out the door with his medical bag. Tom looks over towards Neisha and sighs as he lays back. "Well this fucking sucks. Not you girl, but the whole damn thing..." he mutters.

In the forest near the down tree there is the sound of screeching tires and the small sound of a crash. Chloe is in the woods, does she want to check it out? She hear voices of people. They don't sound threatening but sound angered. If the girl looks out from where she had made camp they will see a Viking looking woman covered in blood trying to tend to one man and then jump over to a child, trying to control bleeding but there is nothing she can do. A quick thrust of her dagger to the back of the boys head and it is over. Another child is in the truck and Astrid gets back to work on him, trying to steady him. Poor thing looks sickly and like he hasn't eaten in weeks. "Get her corpse, make sure it doesn't come back," she says.

"Ash, we got this," Froggy says through the radio. He isn't about to announce Zoie's death right then. People needed to focus. Miss Sally gets outside of the Rec center and starts directing people to start getting water and fire extinguishers to the armory. Dick radio's in. "Keep everyone clear until I get the gas turned off!" he yells through the radio before getting to work to try to stop the flow of gas and things getting a lot worse.

Beatrice is coming up on Newnan from the north when she hears the explosions go off one shortly after the other. You can see the wall from where on the road you are and smoke billowing up. There is no gate to enter from what you can see from here but hey you can see people on the wall looking around. At this point it doesn't seem like that have spotted you though, they are looking within the walls towards where the sound of the explosions came and not out and about outside of the city.

The door to the room where Amelia and Mike are held up in is slowly opening, Mike places his finger to his lips to quiet Amelia before picking up his gun slowly. The door swings open. "Put that damn thing down man and get on the roof, school is clear," Lyon says as Sana looks around from the floor outside of the door from where she is sitting. "Amelia, get her to the infirmary for Medic to take a look at please. Come on Mike, we have work to do," Lyon says before turning and heading towards the ladder that would take them to the roof. Sana looks over towards Amelia, peeking in through the door. "Well isn't this fucking fun..." she mutters as she holds her hand out, needing help to get up.

Riley is coming in towards Franklin, the roads are pretty clogged at this time from the cars pushed here and there in the streets to block others from getting too close. As you come to a crawl you can hear the gun fire off in the distance but you can't tell where it is coming from or why at this point. You want to turn around but sadly because of the debris in the road one of your tires is going flat. Try to drive on it too much longer and you might not be able to use the car anymore.

In Newnan, an orange cat is just sitting there looking at the charred remains of Sophia. Oh god, please tell me he isn't about to have lunch. Oh shit, look out. Sophia's body sits up and tries to grab the cat!

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For all Ciel was aware, people were dropping like flies. The bitten just straight up murdered the other kid, which made Ciel think she might be close to turning. The man with the missing leg wasn't looking too good. He still hadn't woken up, at the very least. If he died, that would mean that Ciel would be the only one of the initial patients of Franklin to survive the trip. That is, if Ciel didn't die first.

He knew he was in no condition to run. Even in the best case scenario he'd only make it a few feet before getting overrun by walkers or simply passing out and starving to death alone in the woods. He decide his best option, if Astrid was to turn soon, would be to climb up onto the roof of the truck. He'd escaped walkers by climbing before. The ones he'd seen seemed to have a bit of difficulty with complex motor skills.

He stayed upright and as alert as he could force himself to be. Only a few of them were left, and he wasn't about to give up. He wasn't exactly afraid of death, but he certainly didn't want to just yet.

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Kristina watched as Froggy came out and grabbed his radio she looked at Niesha when he told her she was in charge of the infirmary something she didn't really expect as long as she had known the two of them they never got along. She finished cleaning up Tati's busted up lip she seemed fine just shaken up over the whole ordeal of the explosions that had just happened. Kristina got up from where she was and started to walk over towards Tom seeing the burns on his skin. He was still awake that was a good thing but she wasn't sure what she could do to help him and turned towards Niesha for orders.

"What else should I do?" Kris asked looking over towards Tatiana she gave the woman a soft friendly smile towards her, she didn't know what else to do. Her ankle was still hurting so she couldn't be much use outside trying to fight the flames that were made by the explosion. And she couldn't go back to her apartment and just sit there and do nothing while everyone else was out there doing their part.

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Riley had spent most of the day on the road, now that it was evening she was looking for a place to settle down for the evening, as she drove closer and closer towards Franklin the roads started to become more and more congested with abandoned cars. As she drove more towards the center of town she heard a loud pop on one of the tires. Riley closed her eyes letting out a very loud and annoyed groan as she stopped her car. Maybe she could find some tools and some sort of tools to help her remove the slowly deflating tire. Riley reached for the water bottle that was in the cup holder next to her, it had been three days since she finished off her last can of food and now she was starving.

"Well looks like I have to go on foot for now." Riley said to herself as she reached for the crossbow that was in the front passenger seat along with her machete. As she grabbed her weapons Riley checked the ammo for her gun seeing it was still full, she then grabbed the car keys and stuffed them into her pocket. Her car had been her home for the last three years she hated leaving it behind, though it had seen better days it got her all the way from California to her. Just as Riley was about to get up and leave she could hear gunshots in the distance.

She didn't know if they were hostile or not, but Riley wasn't going to get anywhere near where the gunshots were coming from she got up from her car and locked it up. Though she knew that it could most likely be stolen it would be a pain in the ass to try and get out of the car flooded streets. And the flat tire wouldn't get them that far either, she made sure that she stayed low and hid behind the cars in case the shooters were close by. Riley headed to the back and opened the trunk to the car and grabbed the two gallon container of gas, if she could find fuel it would be good to and maybe even a replacement ride in case she couldn't find tools to replace the flat. Sighing slightly to herself she started to make her way slowly towards the center of town to hopefully find some food and avoid whoever is shooting the guns. The shooting would most likely also draw attention of walkers to her she needed to remain alert.

Niesha looked over at Titiana, noting her worried expression. Niesha seemed to recall Sophia mentioning that she'd come in with someone else...or maybe she'd seent hat herself when taking Sophia around? It didn't seem to matter, the day blurring together. So much had happened..,As Froggy put her in charge, there was a moment of panic. She wanted to say to him to stay, that anything could happen out there, but knew that was selfish. "Okay, but don't die and leave me here with all this" Hopefully Astrid would be back soon, and while she was bringing more wounded with her, it would be a relief to have someone else who knew what they were doing. Drawing a breath in and out, she looked back to Tom.

"I'll second that. Its been a heck of a day..." Her mind went back to the teenager she had had to put down, to Sophia out there somewhere, to Zoie dying just like that, to the explosions going on, to the walkers out there, seeking for a way in, a weakness, barrelling down on those trying to get here. She couldn't dwell on that, not when there was so much to do. "Just what the hell were you doing, to end up getting hurt like this?" She asked him, not really wanting to know, but rather wanting to keep Tom talking. If he was awake, that was a good thing.

Reaching for some of the medication she'd gathered, she tipped some into glass, and said "this will help with any pain you have". She glnced over to Kristin when she sked wht else she could do, "Don't let her fall asleep, okay? I'll come over in a minute and try and see if she hit her head, but until then, I don't want her falling asleep in case she has a concussion" Pharmacists might not be doctors, but Niesha had learned quite a bit about determining what was wrong with someone. Concussion was generally easy to spot. She turned back to Tom, "Shit. I forgot the basics. Can you tell me your name, where we are...hm. I'd ask for the year but I'm not too sure I even know what day it is anymore, let alone what year" she stood perplexed a moment, then shook her head sighing.

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The sound of the explosions stopped Beatrice in her tracks. She had been walking down the road, drinking a bit of water as she contemplated her next move, when she spotted a structure from the distance. It looked like a town, potentially--which meant stores to raid and shelters to construct. However, as she walked down the road, coming from north of Newnan, she realized it was some sort of fortress. And with two explosions back to back, continuing to head towards it didn't seem like the brightest idea.

Putting away her water bottle, Beatrice pulled out her pair of binoculars, doing a quick check to make sure no walkers were near. Confirming her relative safety, she peered through them, spotting guards on the wall. Smoke came up from the settlement, but from what she could see, no one was paying attention to what went on outside of the fortress. Chuckling a bit, Beatrice rolled her eyes. Someone should have been looking out. Their defenses, as far as she could tell, were hardly there anymore. What good was a wall if you didn't monitor it?

Beatrice put away her binoculars, and munched on a small handful of trail mix. There was no need for a rush decision. For all she knew, she'd be shot on sight if she approached the fortress. And did she really want to go in the direction of the explosions? It didn't appear to be the wise thing to do. But the explosion was just as troubling. It'd draw out walkers, Beatrice suspected. And she didn't want to be wandering around and get caught in a hoard.

Explosions or walkers? Biting her lip, she put on her sunglasses, and continued on her walk towards Newnan. Death in a tragic explosion could be fun, after all.

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Chloe frowned for a moment, reaching for her machete, rather than for the bag of fruit snacks. She had intended to stay in camp for a while, and then scout ahead for shelter after having a small snack. She never was quite comfortable with sleeping in the woods, it made her feel exposed and vulnerable. But at the same time, she hated confined spaces as well. The SHU changed her, for her brief stay--though to be fair, Chloe didn't even know how long she had been incarcerated down there. She had lost track of time.

"Oh god...That's...That's gangsta," Chloe muttered to herself, as she peered out towards the sound of the angered voices. Her machete was in her hand, defensively if anything. After seeing a Viking murder a small child, and barking medical instructions, she shook her head slightly. She hadn't been high in a long ass time...Did she snort something and not remember it? Last she checked, vikings weren't commonplace things. Everyone else seemed to be fine with it, though. Did Vikings invade Georgia while she was in Los Angeles? But...There was a chance Riley was with them, somewhere. Maybe they had seen her sister. Fucking damn it.

"Wait....Wait!" Chloe called out, going over to the people in the truck, before she fully understood what she was doing. "I'm...I'm a medic. I mean, I was. I can help..." She paused for a moment, realizing girls running out of the woods probably didn't seem trustworthy. At least they couldn't run a background check on her, right? She didn't have her friend Ronnie there to vouch for her moral character.

She missed that little punk.

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Froggy's words came through loud and clear, announcing that the centrally involved people of Newnan, in fact, "Got this" Noting the various announcements and orders coming through the radio, the townspeople were rallying around the people with knowledge necessary to handle their situation. He had a good group of people. Sadly, each and every one of them were in danger at that point. Moreso than usual, anyway.

"Heard. I'm counting on you guys." he responded, turning his back to the scene unfolding and jogging to his home away from home, the Hordebuster. Noting that Meg had already picked out a vehicle from the motor pool and was waiting for them down at the gate, he prepped himself to leave as soon as possible. Every second that passed was an opportunity for disaster. Ash was sick and tired of people that he cared about dying. And they all seemed to in new and interesting ways, seemingly every other day.

Ash opened the driver's side door to his big, modified dump truck, and climbed inside. He parted the curtain in front of the sleeper cab portion, and grabbed two things of some importance that he had left there earlier: A flak jacket, which he quickly donned, and an M4 Carbine, which he inspected quickly leaned on the dash next to him, safety activated. He settled into the driver's seat and exhaled a long sigh. It was quiet inside that truck. Almost peaceful. Ash knew better, though. Peace cannot be had from sitting someplace familiar, not when the rest of the world crashes down outside.

He took a few seconds to scan the interior of the 'Buster. Everything seemed to check out. While he was not a man in the habit of wasting fuel, he did take an element of pleasure turning over the powerful diesel engine, and listening to the initial mechanical hum of the roadbeast as it woke from the slumber of disuse and the first bits of alcohol vaporized into flammable mist, ignited into tiny, controlled explosions, giving the creation life and mobility. It was truly centering.

"Alright. Security is on standby. Domestic has repairs underway. Rescue team: You have one good minute before I leave. People need you. Run."

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Burning building, yes. Funny, it didn't seem burning from his particular angle when he was running up to it. But silly him, it's obviously aflame. Must be what they were talking about on the radio. And the mysterious explosions. But there was no time for suppositions ad the like, he and Jack had just unwittingly run into a building that was licking fire, containing the bulk of Newnan's firearms and ammunition. And some explosives, from the look of things. Yes, this was a less-than-intelligent idea.

But so long as they were in undue peril, he might as well make the best of it. The Great Bazhooli gave a very cursory look-around, trying to locate any ammunition suitable for his hunting rifle. He saw other weapons in there, possibly better suited to the task of dispatching enemies, live or dead. But he knew that his weapon was reliable. Bazhooli was no great marksman, anyway. Reliable, decent, but not an amazing rifleman. That's why he had knives. Besides that, he really didn't want to waste the time looking for ammo in an unfamiliar place. You know, that was on fire.

Now the knives, and a lot of them, were present. Some matched, many irregular, but most of a shape and size useful in his endeavors. Then he saw them: two sets of tactical throwing knives. Oh yes, he was home. Now, before "home" blew up on him, ending his concept of corporeal existence, he snatched up one of the sets, wrapped the belt around his waist, and headed back toward the door. "Good to meet, Mr. Jam-es." He had heard his name and voice over the radio, deftly matching both to the man in the Armory. "Jack! Please, ve must go. Grabbing of shit, da?"

The Great Bazhooli leaned out of the door before committing himself fully, in time to see a fuzzy orange blur up the road a piece. He exited the building fully, putting a little distance between himself and the structure. "Hey! Is Schrodinger! Here, kitty kitty kitty..." He saw the little animal raise into a defensive posture, tail straight and back arched, fur all puffed up in a manner consistent with an upcoming feline beatdown. The cat hissed and yowled at a lump in the road, now with continued observation identifiable as a body. A body that lurched and sat up, clawing at his cat even as it decided to take the intelligent approach and get the hell away from the crispy, moving corpse.

He had been with that cat long enough to know that it could easily tell the difference between an injured/incapacitated person and one of the Returned. He was especially useful at night - he would provide warmth and food, the cat gave an early warning system, of sorts. Feline senses, much sharper than our blunt human ones. Bottom line, if the Schrodinger was making that kind of fuss, then whoever that person was was a Dead Guy Walking.

"Um, Jack? We have problem."

The Great Bazhooli drew two of his professional knives, twirled them around twice, and began walking back up the road.

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James was ordered into a sniping position with Guy, and told to take over responsibility of the safety of Newnan for a little while. Ok, he could do that. Step one was getting out of this building with his internals still internal. He had gotten what he needed from the Armory, and now sought to exit as quickly as he came. "Good to meet y'all, but if you smart, y'all better run."

The overall-wearing blackneck presented Jack with his box of goodies, gave them both a pert nod, and walked toward the door, stopping only to grab a pile comprised of three canvas bags. The last thing one might hear from him, as he removed himself from the premesis, was James mumbling, "Good thing this ain't Distillery storage..." James had a sniping post to get to.

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Amelia couldn’t believe her luck! She barely arrived at this place and it came under attack! She really didn’t want to die like this. Maybe it was fated for such thing to happen.’ NO, I REFUSE!’ She thought as she braced herself as the door started opening. Mike had a gun so what happened next depended on who can probably pull the trigger first!

She awaited the bullets to start flying, but for her surprise it was Lyon’s voice that rang throughout the room as the door opened. She let out a sigh of relieve as he stated that the inside of the school was safe…ish for now. She then nodded and looked at Sana. The other woman was on the ground.

“Alright…” She replied quietly and walked over, reaching with her uninjured hand to help the other woman stand up.” Let’s go.” Amelia then stated, throwing looks about the place, checking the corridors. She wondered if there were more enemies that would storm into the place again.

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Even though the evening sun is setting and their has been a lot of noise coming from where those on the road are, things seem to be calming down. An explosion miles away has gotten the main attention of the hoard and it is turning before it rounds the corner and sees the group stopped at the fallen tree. Ray is holding steady and with some IV adjustments and the hanging of a new plasma bag, he should be coming too. Astrid looks over towards Tiffany and asks her to put the gun away for now. The last thing they want it draw more attention to them. Pulling out her long sword she hands it to Tiffany. "Rest of the group seems to have things covered but if any get too close or I black out, you know what to do," she says rather matter of factly.

Ceil should be doing better despite everything, a lot of IV fluids with various vitamins and minerals, plus the medication he is being given by Astrid should have him feeling better than he has in a while. He will still feel hungry of course and weak but no where near deaths door unless he is a hypochondriac at this point. He will have a long road of recovery ahead of him but as long as he holds still and doesn't try to move too much he should be stable for now.

Looking over as Chloe came out of the woods Astrid narrowed her eyes. A new person coming out of no where? Normally she would have just tackled the woman but she was too tired and feeling the fever beginning to set in. It wasn't time to turn away help. The members of Franklin kept an eye on her as Astrid motioned for her to come over. "Good, we have several dead and two left alive that we are trying to get to our doctor. One has lost a limb, the other is suffering severe malnutrition. You take the leg, leave weapons on the ground before you come close or someone is going to take your head off," she said coolly as she added medication to Ciel's IV and checked it's position on his arm to make sure it was open and flowing.

Over in Franklin - Sana gets to the infirmary with Amelia and starts telling Amelia where bandages and such are so they can get to work on cleaning her knife wound and putting some stitches in. The sounds of gun fire continue outside of the school but they are slowly dying down. It isn't that the people of Franklin are picking off whoever is attacking them, just that the group in the woods is starting to pull back at this point considering they have picked off a few of the group. Doesn't seem like they want to raid the place. Out near the center of Franklin there is the round of trucks and cars starting up and people laughing over the fact they killed people. "That'll keep them scared a while longer," one says before climbing into the bed of a old Ford and driving off towards the north east.

Down in Newnan, things are going better than expected - All those piling up to leave - ARE GONE NOW! (All characters that are planning on leaving out of the front gate at this point and on the road.) Jim makes sure the gate is locked up tight once the crew it south of the outer wall. Guy and several others are getting the fire put out and Dick manages to get the gas cut off so it doesn't spread anymore. The walker formerly known as Sophia is rising up, still smoldering from the fire and begins shuffling down the street towards anything that moves - Right now that is Bazhooli since he seems to be heading towards her. Froggy looks at Sophia and sighs as he sees her walking in her now toasted form but has to turn his attention to Dick who comes out from behind the armory holding his hand from a severe burn on.

In the infirmary, is where things are going bad. Can't tell what went wrong but Tom is starting to convulse. Seems like the burns are far more severe than one might have first thought, or maybe when everything erupted he took some major blunt force trauma. Either way, the obvious pain in his eyes doesn't last long. Tatiana gasps as he just goes limp and his eyes close, there is nothing more that can be done for him.

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Ciel was feeling almost half okay at this point. Not great by a long shot, but definitely several steps up from where he was before. If everything went alright and he didn't get killed by the soon-to-be-walker, he'd almost certainly get to see the end of this awful trip. They were still stopped; probably someone from Newnan would be showing up shortly to bail them out. Hopefully before things got any worse.

The eleven year old stayed sitting in the back of the truck, though he felt like he could probably move if he had to. He almost wished he'd brought a book or something to draw with. Well, he had, but he presumed his pack got left in the infirmary back in Franklin and he definitely didn't plan to go back for it. That would just be needlessly endangering his life, which was already slightly in danger to say the least. Children were usually among the first to die in situations like these, and he was smart enough to know that he was lucky to have made it this long. Now, if only he could keep up his winning streak, he had a solid chance of making it through this.

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They managed to get through the horde. So of course they had to crash the truck. Why would it be any easier than that? They lost a few people and Tiffany was still reeling from the aftermath of the crash, as well as losing many that were with them, including one of the children in their stead. The other boy was fine, though he wasn't looking too hot. Ray was getting stabilized. So far, things were not looking too great.

Before she knew it, the other woman was handing her a sword. She put her gun away and grabbed the sword, giving the woman a nod. She didn't know much about handling a sword, but she figured it could take a Walker's head off pretty easily. She swung it a bit to get a feel for it.

Astrid was her name. She would remember her and her bravery if she lived through this. The woman wasn't doing too hot, but she was working on helping the injured. That spelled brave in her book. A voice called out and Tiffany looked up to see a woman coming from the woods. Astrid already took control of the situation and she was thankful. She didn't necessarily want to keep an eye on the woman, but she didn't trust her. She stood by Ray as the other women worked on making sure they lived through this. She kept an eye out in case Walkers started coming, but she imagined the explosion drove them off pretty easily. She wondered if it came from Newnan.

That would be ironic.

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Kristina nodded slightly as she limped over and sat down next to Tatiana just to make sure that the girl had company and if something did happen she would be there right away. "So where are you from?" Kristina asked looking over towards Niesha it had been a bit of a crazy day for everyone with the shooting. And then now all of these explosions she closed her eyes for a moment and sighed quietly missing her older sister and wondered what she would have done in a situation like this. She always was the person to go to for planning things and always did her best to help out others.

As Kris opened her eyes again she heard the bed shaking that Tom was in and quickly got up and moved over she didn't even know what she could do to help. She remembered watching TV when someone was convulsing they went to hold their head still which was what she was doing, Kristina could see the pain in Tom's eyes. Then just as quickly as it started Tom's body went limp and his eyes closed, at first she thought he had lost consciousness. She waited for a minute to see if Tom was breathing, but when she didn't see any Kristina moved her head towards Tom's chest.

When she didn't hear a heartbeat Kristina sighed loudly to herself looking towards Tatiana gasping, there was nothing else anyone could do as far as she knew. Kristina took out her knife looking towards Niesha for a moment, it would be a matter of time before Tom would come back as a Walker. Kris tilted Tom's head to the side and quickly thrusted her knife into the base of Tom's skull, she hated doing that to the people she knew or cared for. She had done it to her sister a month pervious Kristina then slowly pulled the knife out of the back of Tom's skull. "He was going to turn." Kris said as she moved away and looked down for a moment she wasn't sure if Niesha would scold her or not.

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As Riley continued to travel on foot stopping every now and then to make sure that no one or a walker would get the jump on her, she could still hear the gunshots out in the distance. "Hope they don't draw any attention to walkers.." Riley said to herself as she remained low hiding behind the husks of cars. She would occasionally look into some of them or even open a few doors here and there to see if there was anything of use for her. When she couldn't find anything of use Riley sighed to herself, she really hated traveling alone with no one she could trust. Some days Riley did truly miss the days she was with her group, and her sister Chloe, even though when they were younger they truly never saw eye to eye on things. Chloe was the prodigy child and she was just the street rat of the family, running a hand through her hair she wished she didn't leave Chloe behind. She didn't know at the time if she was living or not, the group told her to leave her and she didn't want to.

Then Riley started to hear the gunfire slowing and eventually it stopped, she moved her head up as she started to hear a vehicle driving she quickly lowered herself down hiding behind a sedan. Riley looked through a shattered window as she saw a red ford pickup truck driving past along with several other trucks and cars. Riley remained as still as she could closing her eyes as she reached for her M9 in case they stopped. There were several there she couldn't fight all of them, so she decided to wait until they all left maybe investigate the area where the trucks and cars had come from. Riley knew that they would take awhile for all the vehicles to pass since the roads were littered with abandoned cars.

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Meghna nodded once the gates were open Meg started to drive off through the main inner gate and then shortly after the outer gate as well and outside of Newnan. Meg wasn't sure where exactly they were going just yet as Meg brought her radio up to speak to Ash in the Buster who was just behind her. "Where would Astrid say she would be at again?" Meghna asked as she continued to drive ahead looking out the window as she rolled it down letting some air go through her hair. It had been a month since she had left Newnan she made sure that she drove carefully to avoid anything in the road.

She would drive past a few walkers and some cars that had been abandoned Meg was worried about Astrid and Bridgette since they had left to go to this other settlement. And leaving Newnan behind with those explosions from earlier, it would have bound to attract attention of several walkers as well.

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Raymond slowly started to open his eyes again all the voices around him were muffled it felt like as he slowly moved his head to the side, Ray's vision was extremely blurry as he tried to get himself reoriented. Ray's vision started to finally clear up seeing Astrid handing Tiffany her sword. Telling Tiffany if she blacked out to make sure she didn't turn, Ray was surprised still Astrid didn't seem to be scared about dying like he was. Though Ray got out lucky he had just lost his leg when he got bit, he actually should have died by now but so far he was still alive.

Ray groaned slightly he remained still as he listened around him, he heard an unfamiliar voice to him as Astrid spoke to the newcomer. If she was there to help he would have to trust her anyway, Ray reached over towards Tiffany's hand to let her know he was still alive and hanging in there. "Are we there yet?" Raymond finally asked remembering as a child he always asked that to his parents whenever they were in a really long car ride to some relatives.

Niesha watched, helpless, as she couldn't do anything to help Tom. She reached for him automatically, but couldn't touch him without getting hurt-she was only small, and a seizing man could hurt her greatly if she wasn't careful. She knew that it was already too late. The burns had been too much, she hadn't been able to do enough to help. Something might have clotted, from the pain on Tom's face. Helpless, she wttched Kristina slid her knife into Tom, preventing him from rising. Her heart filled with grief, tired of losing people, Niesha took the breaks off the bed, but was at a lose to know what to do with Tom. With heavy sigh, she put the breaks back on, and covered the poor man with a sheet.

"I'm sorry Tom...I should have done more...God, its so unfair" What had the human race done to cause this? What was going on, that Tom should be dead because of it? who the hell was destroying this once safe place? Filled with Grief and anger, she stood over Tom's body for a moment, head bowed as if praying. "You didn't deserve this..." With a heavy sigh, Niesha turned from the body, and approached Titania. "I'm sorry about that...Put in charge and I let someone die..." First Zoie, now Tom. Would she lose all her charges today? Intending to do a thorough examination of Titania, she said softly "I'm going to check your head, okay? Kris, shut the door will you? We don't need any...we don't need anyone coming in and causing a fuss. And check that...that..." Her voice cracked filled with her unshed tears. She took a deep breath. "Check that the same was done for Zoie, just in case" She couldn't remember if Froggy had done it or not-she hadn't seen him, but she'd be preocccupied with the now dead Tom.

She turned back to Titania, and holding out her hands, she reached to check that There were no tender or painful spots on the womans head, trying to keep Titania's gaze. She listened to the womans breathing, letting her breathing match Titania's, as if needing the connection to someone.