[IC] From the badlands

[Leda]

It was the crack of dawn as the sun had barely begun riding over the mountains. The long cold night had almost ended which means it was time for the caravan to head out before the weather picked up. The wind had been fierce as of late making visibility almost impossible due to sandstorms. The heat as it always was had been unbearable, yet manageable. Supplies were in demand, but there was enough for five days which meant they needed to be within reach of a source of water. The nights were the only time the caravan had to rest, yet the nights were the best time to travel meaning breaks were far and few in order to cover as much ground as possible.

"Come on, you remember right? Stand straight, feet shoulder width apart, keep your grip relaxed, pull the string back." During the few times they took to rest, Piper had been instructing one of the children in the ways of the bow and arrow using the rocks around the camp as targets. As the child drew the arrow, he let it go as flew towards its direction only to stop short of its target. She put on a warm smile as she noticed the child's frustration, even though he thought he seemed to be getting nowhere, she had seen his progress.

"That was better"
"I'll never get better shooting rocks Piper, come on, take me out with you to shoot some real targets"
"You're not ready for live game yet, you know that"
"Arrows don't kill rocks"
"Neither do little hunters who can't aim their bow."

She walked over to the child to help him with his aim. As she grabbed his hand and gently guided it to the bow's grip, she straightened his stance for him and gave and put an arrow between his fingertips "Just like this, relax, fire when you're ready." He pulled the string and let the arrow fly hoping to hit his mark. The arrow reached its target landing with a loud clicking sound. The child's face lit up with excitement as he realized he had hit something as he turned to Piper. She could sense the jubilation beaming off of him as she greeted it with slight chuckle and a warm smile.

"See you did it"
"Am I ready for a hunt now?"
"Not yet, you still have a lot of practice ahead of you"
"I'll tell you what, there's a few days before we rest again, if you practice, I'll take you to hunt rabbits."
"Really?!"
"Really."

The child met her gaze with determined eyes as he made her promise to which she agreed. They continued their session as the sun had started to peek over the mountains.

[jimapple]

Brax was about done getting his gear all loaded into his backpack. He appreciated traveling light because he could be on the move in under five minutes. He had just finished wrapping up his sleeping bag and was about ready to go. He was thinking how he couldn't remember a time when he didn't have this brown homely looking sleeping bag. It was definitely old but it has worked for even very cold temperature drops. Once he was ready he flung one of the straps of his backpacks on his right shoulder stood up and said to the group, "Folks, it seems best for our group to travel during the nights instead of the morning. I think we should consider resting in some sort of shelter today and do most of our traveling tonight. Also, do we know how long it would take us to get the next water source? Perhaps it is also time to start rationing our supplies to ensure we have enough to go around even if we somehow get delayed in reaching our destination." Brax then takes a drink of water from his canister. After doing so he covers the lower half of his face with his red bandana to minimize sand inhalation because of the sandstorm that was starting to pick up.

[Jasper19]

Eric woke up with a start "shit I'm late."he picked up his bag,and gas mask bolting out the door.He ran from his makeshift shed down towards the path he knew the caravan would be taking." I really hope I get there in time." He started to see the caravan in the distance and began to run faster.he eventually reached it panting hard. " sorry I'm late I overslept because of an experiment."He went to get his water bottle then realized something.'damn it I forgot my water'he thought. He sighed and stood up straight "At least it was an interesting way to start the journey" he mused to himself.

[Leda]

Piper and her young protege had reached the camp in time to hear the announcement Brax had made. He made a good point, it was dangerous to travel during the unpredictable weather. The heat would mean that people would need more water to keep from dropping dead from dehydration, water was scarce enough. "It's hard to tell, we'll have to send people to look"

"We'll need people to volunteer to go out and look" someone had spoken out to answer Brax's question. The odds of a search party were often risky, as there was no telling if they would find anything, or if they would even come back. Returning parties withstanding, It was worth the risk. Five days of supplies for a whole caravan would not be enough. They were days if not weeks away from the other side and if they were going to make, they needed to stock up as much as possible.

"I volunteer" Piper stepped forward, she was not much of a fighter, but she could hold her own if the group ran into trouble. She did not care what kind of danger was waiting for her, if it meant the survival everyone here, she would not hesitate. If they were lucky, finding a source of water would not take but a few days.

[Jasper19]

Eric Looked around at the caravan in his mind they were kind of a sorry lot. Supplies were low and everyone seemed worse for the wear. Suddenly he heard someone announce "I volunteer!" He looked over and saw this girl with a child holding a bow. Not knowing what she was volunteering about as he missed Brax's speech he decided to speak up anyway "I volunteer!" 'Anything to get away from this trainwreck' he thought. Besides he was eager to test out some of his new theories and inventions if anything came up so what was the harm in joining.

[jimapple]

Brax thought to himself that these were just kids volunteering. He was sure that none of them would be even older than twenty. Perhaps in a different world they would be allowed to grow up into adults before ever risking their lives. He was sure that not all of them really understood what kind of dangers they were putting themselves into. Brax looks at the two and breathes a deep sigh. And he looks straight at Piper and says, "I see you have a bow with you. At least that's something." Points his index finger straight at Eric. "Do you have anything to protect yourself with? There are horrible things out there and if you both are going then you might be the best chance our group has to survive. Let's set twenty four hours for you guys to get back. Hopefully, with reports of water and food sources, and a shelter too. After the twenty four hours we are sending out another group. But they won't be looking for you. They'll be looking for the same thing you are. I wish you both the best on your travels." Brax pauses for a moment considering that this group might just be sending these kids to their deaths."I am staying here and help coordinate the rationing of our supplies. You guys should go as soon as you can."

[Jasper19]

Eric smiles and brings out his switchblade "I have this and then a few ideas that can help besides I'm smarter than you think. Also I probably know what you're thinking I look too young well you look to old in my opinion but I'm sure you can kickass. Besides I can assure you that I know my way around the wasteland I was born and bred here. If you are ok with sending just us then maybe would you mind giving me some Cesium I'm sure you guys have it. It looks silvery and is fairly soft so I'm sure some of the woman have it as jewlery. "

[jimapple]

Brax stares at Eric for just a moment and then turns to Piper and says, "If you guys need extra rations of water let me know. Also you might have your hands full, so above all things you should try to survive." He then turns to one of the men in the group and says, "We need an exact count of men, women, children, elderly, and those that are ill." He then turns to a woman and asks, "Do you know how many people here have any weapons and know how to use them?" Brax takes a few steps and breaks a twig from a tree. He points towards the landscape and says, "Over there is the best place for our group to set up for the day until the sandstorm is over. It will protect our group from most of the harsh elements of the storm." Kneeling down he then uses his twig and draws a map of the landscape and motions a perimeter around it. "We then need to set up a perimeter around our site and have people do rotations to be on guard to protect the caravan. We keep the most vulnerable in the center. Finally, once we get there we need to ration our food and water so aside from these two who are going out, we will need everyone to bring out what you have for sustenance when we get there so that we can start a tally of what we have. If we don't do this then we all might die out here.

[Jasper19]

Eric squats down near Brax " so is that a no on the cesium also I will tell you a secret I learnt living out here. If you dig to about four inches into the sand there are usually what I like to call sand grubs living there. Now they went but so they won't fill you up but they are nutritious so they will be able to hold every ones appetite. he then stands up and grabs his gas mask putting it on and said his voice slightly muffled now. " hope that city lives up to its promise old timer. " He grabs a circular object out of his pack and holds it up. " Are we venturing North or west because we have to do it soon we only have three more hours of daylight." He puts the object back in his pack.

[Savepoison]

Sarah stood guard at the front of the caravan, eyes scanning the distant wastes with precision, in her hand her large sharpened broom handle, Slowly, she turned to face Eric, saying calmly "I assume we'd continue North. Eventually we will hit the mountains and be out of this mess. At least I hope, The water situation is getting a little to dire." She'd then turn, fiddling with her various pieces of equipment, and glancing at the ground, a small worm slithering past her boot, which she was quick to squash "You'd be best to watch the girl with the bow. She's bound to injure somebody, and that's just more dead weight." She'd glance at those coordinating the various fleets of men, exhaling and wiping the sweat from her brow "What is this, an old-time militia? Lighten up."

[Jasper19]

Eric turns toward Sarah and smiles. " I like your thinking and about the girl with the bow id rather her have my back than most people here as she isn't sick or old."he pulls out this thing that looks like a rough version of a gernade. " I'm leaving one of these for the caravan you pull the pin and hold the lever. As soon as you let go of the lever it will pop off and you have the seconds to throw it. " he hands it over to Sarah "Now if you will excuse me I need to sharpen my knife."he pulls out a rock with a groove in the middle and starts to run his knife through it.

[jimapple]

Brax looking towards the distance he pointed to earlier with his binoculars. As if speaking to the wind so that most of the people in the caravan group could hear, "We have only five days left of supplies, no watering hole to refill at, we are at the mercy of these harsh elements, we have kids and maybe ill and injured folks with us, and we are exposed to bandits and mutie attack, and whatever else the wasteland throws at us. I think I'll lighten up once we get to sanctuary." He continues to look through his binoculars in all direction then says, I don't see any potential dangers, although it's hard to be certain with all this sand blowing everywhere. We should get moving to that location we identified earlier. Let's get out of here!" Brax's clothes and gear had sand almost everywhere. He tries to dust some of it off the top part of his face as he starts walking forward gripping his binoculars firmly as if the sandstorm would try to take it away from him.

[Leda]

"twenty four hours seems like a short time, but I'm sure we can manage to find some thing" There had to be something out there. Even with the short time they were allotted, Finding resources would not be too much of a difficult task. "Some have weapons and can fight if needed, we are not completely hopeless" Piper had been with the caravan for as long as she can remember, she had trained with the people and had been trained by them. She knew who could defend themselves and who could not. To be defenseless out here was foolish, most of the people who were with the caravan were nomads, but they were not naive to the necessity of surviving. "I can handle myself, don't you worry" She let out smile towards the other woman who had just joined the conversation. In any other case, she might have taken offense to the woman's statement, but she could understand her distrust. "should we bring something to signal you in case we find something before, or after the storm hits?"

[Jasper19]

Eric looked at Pipers bow. "So who made your bow from what I've read about the world before it went to shit this would have been considered very well made. he walks around to face Piper while making something out of scrap." I also heard you're sorta this caravans guardian angel is that also true? He throws his little scrap creation on the floor as it was just a crudely shaped animal.

[Leda]

"Piper I want to go too." She felt a tug at the waist of her pants only to find her young determined student looking to jump head first into danger. While she would love the extra hand, she could not risk putting him in danger. "Absolutely not, your mother would never let me hear the end of it" She knelt down to meet his gaze "I already told you, we will go hunting if you practice." She smiled at the boy who in return let out a disappointed yet compliant sigh. "Good, now run along, I'm sure they need all the help they can get at the caravan" and the boy ran back. She turned her attention back to the others just as Eric asked her a few questions. She couldn't help but laugh at one of his question "guardian angel, I don't know about that" she noticed that Eric had an eye for her bow, he had asked her where she got it "It was...given to me by someone special. They're...not here anymore."

[Jasper19]

Eric nodded his eyes full of understanding. " I understand what you mean..and your pain. "He looks at piper"so what are your arrows made on of?" He starts to smile " because I have been thinking of a way to make sharper blades but I still don't really have the technique down. " he puts his hands in the pockets of his jacket and rocks back and forth on his heels." This sandstorm is getting pretty nasty hopefully we don't lose supplies. "