[IC] The Walking Dead - Last Life

[True Self]

Josef closed his eyes to rest them as Chloe revealed her name to them. "It's good you decided to stay." Josef said to Chloe, taking a long, easy breath. He couldn't think of a time where him or Joan barely escaped a soldier pursuit like that. That was far too close. All that ran through his mind in the silence was how glad he was that Joan wasn't bitten. Whether she truly knew it or not, he cared for her just like a real sister even though she was only his adopted sis. The loss of his parents and younger sister was enough pain that he could handle. He couldn't lose any more family and he'd die before he'd let that happen. As he lay on the bed he almost felt like passing out into a deep sleep. All of the blood pumping madness and scare that he may have lost Joan drained him a good bit.

"Thanks for saving my ass back there. I owe you one, Chloe." Joan said to Chloe with her grin. She was feeling a lot better now that she wasn't thinking that she was becoming infected. She would rather burn alive than be changed into a brain eater. Or at least that's what she thought she felt. She walked into the bathroom, wobbling on her left leg a little, it felt like someone had dropped a brick on it from high in the air. She looked into the mirror and saw a pretty face, but it appeared a little more toward the handsome side with some dirt and her short, messy blonde hair. Joan didn't mind her boyish look; she hated to look too feminine, because it made her feel weird. She took a closer look at herself, but then her attention shifted to the reflection of the shower curtain. It was open a tiny bit and Joan could see something inside the bathtub. After sliding the curtain open she started to smile, "I can't believe this shit. You guys will wanna see this."

Josef sat up from the bed and walked inside to see what Joan was laughing about. She was standing by the shower and all he could say was, "No way in hell." The whole tub was filled all the way up with guns: machine guns, sniper rifles, pistols, shot guns, you name it.

"Who woulda left them here?" Josef said, almost as shocked as when Joan said she thought she was bitten.

"Who cares?," Joan replied with an automatic Kel-Tec pistol in her hand. She unlatched the bullet clip and smiled even bigger when the clip was loaded with a full set of bullets. "This a dream or what?" Joan said snapping the clip back into place. "Let's go get that doctor." She said with a smirk. She wasn't afraid of those bastard troops when she had something to defend herself with and she wasn't afraid to put a bullet in one of em if she had to.

"Don't be stupid J. We're going back to the house." Josef said with a now angry voice. They all were almost killed and Joan was at the highest risk of dying and yet she still wanted to go and save someone who could potentially be setting them up!

"Look, the crazy shit's over." She said matching his angry tone. Joan was relieved though that Josef started calling her 'J' again. She didn't like her real name. Josef and anyone else was only allowed to call her that when serious shit was happening. She remembered telling Chloe her name was Joan, but only because it was spur of the moment. "What's stupid is not at least going to see if he's telling the truth or not. Stupid would be losing a chance at saving someone who could help us out a lot."

"We're LEAVING." Josef said sternly with his angry tone never ceasing. "Grab two guns each and leave the rest. They'll only slow us down."

"Now I'm starting to think you're the real stupid one. We should at least hide them somewhere less obvious for later." Joan said, grabbing another automatic pistol. She made sure it was loaded and waited for a response from Josef. Surely he wouldn't just leave the firearms just up for grabs to anyone. Joan would be damned before she let the soldiers get ahold of them.

[Vgirl]

Chloe smiled when Joan thanked her again. It had been a while since she had helped anyone out and it felt good to be thanked, though she still wished she had acted quicker. After watching the girl leave to walk into the washroom, she let out a sigh and leaned her head back to look up at the ceiling. Whether she had gone with them or not, she would have run into the military. She wasn’t sure how she would have faired alone. Sure she could have probably outrun them and gotten away a lot easier but she would have been alone.

Her head jolted back down when she heard Joan calling for them. She looked over at Josef and followed after him into the bathroom. Her eyes widened, “What are the chances…” She mumbled to herself walking to the edge of the tub and staring into it. Anything they could have possibly wanted was right there for the taking. It was almost too good to be true. “I…I can’t believe it… How did I never hear something like this…” She spoke to herself softly. She reached her hand in and picked out a handgun, “They’re all loaded too…”

She stopped as the two started fighting again and she let out a sigh, picking out and shotgun and holstering it on her back. It really wasn’t her place to step into this fight but in a way they were both right. With that done she walked out of the crowded bathroom and started stretching once again. She wasn’t sure how long the trip was going to be, no matter who won and she wanted to be ready. However the more they fought, the more uncomfortable she became. In this state it was hard for her to stretch and finally she gave up.

“If I may get a word in…” She said very calmly, “This man said he was a doctor, correct? If so then I believe it would be best if we went and got him. Even if it’s just a bruise he may be able to do something to help Joan’s leg and he’ll be useful in the long run as well.” She nodded to herself, “If it turns out to be a trap then, like any other situation our only choice will be to defend ourselves and do whatever’s necessary to get out of there alive.” She nodded to herself, the man probably wouldn’t like it, but it was her opinion.

She looked down at the guns, “As for those, no matter what we decide on the subject of where we’re going, if we ever plan on coming back for the guns then we should hide them between the mattresses I think. I’m not sure how much the owner of these guns will like it though.” Finally she turned her back on them and shrugged, “It’s up to you two, I just wanted to state my opinion. Also, it may be in our best interest to get this done before those soldiers come back.”

[Espatier]

The doctor wait patiently... wondering if anyone would answer his call, would they be able to find him, would they come and who?. He stared at the many different sized boxes that he collected and placed of the 5 ton truck.

I hope they call, come... I want to live.

[True Self]

"No." Josef replied when Chloe finished. "We can hide the guns, but that's all for this morning. The last thing we need is for someone to pull a fast one on us while J's leg is in the condition that it's in." He said and then turned to look at Joan. "You wouldn't be able to outrun anyone with a bruise like that." He said looking down at the large, dark bruise that stretched down her shin. Getting kicked in the shin hurts like hell. He couldn't imagine how her leg felt at the moment. She handled it quite well though.

"Fuck it, let's hide the guns and get the hell out of this room." Joan was beginning to get bored and she could tell Josef wouldn't change his mind. She tossed the automatic pistols that she had chosen down on the other bed and then grabbed an armful of guns with barrels pointed up and away from everyone. "Are you going to help or just watch?," Joan asked, looking at Josef who wasn't budging. He walked over and helped Chloe lift the mattress up so that Joan could hide the guns in-between. When the mattress lifted, the group found several packs of unopened hotdogs, a basic can opener, six cans of tuna, a map of Colorado, and a bolt cutter. "Looks like we won't have to jump any fences now." Joan said with a grin.

"Let's check the other one." Josef said walking immediately to the other mattress and lifting it up. Underneath were three long sniper rifles and some more handguns. "This place is loaded." Josef said with an amused expression. Joan couldn't believe that they were lucky enough to stumble into this room during the chase. She was stuffing as many hotdogs into her pocket as possible and replaced their empty spots with the guns. "-Wait" Josef said which made Joan stop to look at him. He felt sorta bad for taking all this stuff when they weren't who found them in the first place. He then thought that the owner of all the goods could be dead and then thought that it could even be a soldier who left them here for storage or something. The world had become too insane to worry about taking what is needed, so he just pushed the guilt to the back of his mind. Besides, they had plenty to spare. "Leave some of the food here. Whoever left it there might still be alive. We wouldn't want someone stealing all of our food." Josef stated. He thought it'd be smarter to hide some of the guns in another room, but he didn't figure they would have the time. They had to leave the motel room as quickly as possible, because there was no telling who might spot them when they first run out.

Joan didn't argue, but she found what he said pretty pointless. This was survival. There was no time to be generous to strangers when your life and the people you care about's lives are on the line. She left mostly tuna, and Josef walked over to take the map. He was quick to steal a map, because it wasn't an absolute necessity in order to live. He figured they could use it to explore Colorado more easily since Nathan was the only one who knew how to get around a little bit. They hid as many guns as they could, but there was still a bunch left inside the tub, and there was nothing they could do right now. Time was ticking and they had to leave. When the group finally made it to the door to leave, Josef had a sniper rifle and a machine gun slung on both shoulders and he held his baseball bat and the bolt cutter in both hands. The weight of the weapons was another reason why he disagreed with going to find and save someone. It was risky enough just getting back to the car and leaving the city.

Josef cracked open the door and led the way outside once he concluded that no one was around. He felt a bit disoriented, because he forgot that they were on the backside of the motel. He crouched down and ran to the left with Joan and Chloe keeping up. As Josef peeked around the corner, Joan spotted a glimpse of downtown in the distance. Just as Josef turned the corner to sprint toward the direction of where they needed to go to leave, Joan slipped off into the opposite direction toward downtown. Most of the area that she snuck passed was empty - there weren't any soldiers to be seen. There was a couple of military jeeps parked outside a tall building, but there weren't any troops inside. She took 11th street and stopped to catch her breath behind a restaurant behind the Pepsi center. She slipped passed a group of troops just outside of the arena and she could hear screams and groaning along with laughter and applause coming from inside the arena which confused her. She just kept going and after several minutes, managed to make it safely near the walkway of the amusement park. She hid behind a air conditioning unit that was near an old bar and grill. When she spotted the carrier, where the doctor said he would be, she took a deep breath before deciding to sprint toward it with both automatic pistols in hand. It took her way longer to get here, just as she expected wobbling on her leg that felt like her shin was cracked. It hurt badly, but Joan was no wimp. When she made it to the side of the carrier, she used her guns to beat the sides of the truck and decided not to risk peeking her head up in the window. She wasn't trying to get her face shot off. The doctor told them to use caution over the radio, but not very many troops were around at all. They all must have gone to take out the zombie hoard or whatever.

[Vgirl]

Chloe nodded in response. Although she didn’t agree with his decision there was nothing that she could do about, he was only thinking of Joan’s safety after all. She was slightly surprised to hear Joan give up the argument, but she thought nothing of it. They had to leave very soon. Finally she was able to finish up her stretches before she made her way over to the mattress, as Joan picked up guns. She waited for the man to help her before she even attempted to lift the mattress. She was strong, but not strong enough to lift a mattress by herself.

When they held the mattress up, Chloe’s jaw dropped. “Seems like someone else had the same idea.” She said, continuing to hold up the mattress so that her new companions could grab what was under. After things were grabbed they moved to the next mattress and found more goodies underneath. She chuckled softly, “Well I thought the plan was clever…” She mumbled to herself as the man grabbed a sniper rifle. Well whoever had hid the guns and supplies before would probably find the guns they had hidden but they did belong to them after all. The only other worry was if someone else came up with the same plan.

As soon as the guns were hidden they left the room silently. With the safety on, she stuffed the pistol into her pants so that she could hold her axe with both hands. The guns were for desperate times so there was no need for her to keep hold of it, she just had to keep it close. They moved quickly in a line, Chloe following behind the man, with Joan behind her. She kept close to him, not wanting to get lost or separated if something unexpected happened. It was best to stick together.

While she checked her surroundings she stopped and grabbed the man’s collar, tugging it softly. “Hey. We have a problem.” There was a moment of silence as she swallowed hard. “I can’t see Joan.” She tried to speak calmly and keep a clear head. She was unsure about how he would react to this news, but she had a feeling that it wouldn’t be good. Joan’s safety seemed to have been the main thing on the man’s mind, so learning that she was not with them, with an injury would probably hit a bad cord.

[True Self]

Josef spun around when Chloe grabbed him by the collar and noticed Joan wasn't behind her, "WHAT?" he exclaimed, after he heard what she said. He looked all around, but couldn't spot her anywhere. He and Chloe had already made it close to the street that they needed to be on in order get to the Cadi. He began to freak and his mind was beginning to jump to all sorts of conclusion. She could've been snatched while no one was looking or she could've fallen. Then he realized that they would've heard something. Then it hit him, she went to get the doctor. "She knew I wanted us to GO." Josef said half shouting. He was beyond pissed off and he felt he wanted to punch out a window. He tried to calm himself, and said "She never listens to me. I shoulda known to keep an eye on her." Josef was so focused on where he was going that he didn't think to watch her carefully. He had looked back a few times earlier when she was still following along, but she must've slipped off right when he wasn't paying close enough attention. "If I remember right, she should be going to get him over there by the Pepsi center." Downtown was a good distance away and he began to worry that Joan might've gotten caught. "Stupid-" He mumbled holding back a few curses. It wasn't like him to cuss much, but he felt like dropping a few f bombs or three. He led the way toward downtown and he stuck as close to the buildings as possible just in case they had to bolt through a door if the military spotted them.

They made it to the pepsi center unnoticed and Josef looked back to see if Chloe had caught up with him. There had been several soldiers standing in groups in the parking lot. A lot of the soldiers were heading for the arena for some reason and Josef didn't care to know why. He looked to his right and pushed Chloe inside the bar and grill real fast and jumped in as well once he saw what looked to be sixty walkers walking toward the shopping outlets of downtown. Why wasn't there more? They must've eaten most of everyone and moved on to other parts of the city. That's all Josef could think of at the moment, but all he knew is that there weren't many around. "Sorry I freaked out a little." He said to Chloe and then looked around the inside of the bar. It was empty. The place wasn't exactly trashed either. He could smell alcohol strongly as if a party had just taken place and there were several army bags on the tables. He could hear walking near the back of the restaurant and he motioned for Chloe to follow him out. When they got out, he went around the side that was concealed from where he spotted the walkers and turned the corner too quickly to find a large, bulky soldier man with spiked blonde hair who finished pissing against the back wall.

"Who the-" The man put his junk away, and kneed Josef in the stomach before he could even react. Josef dropped to the ground on his knees and the soldier aimed his gun directly at Chloe. "My, my looks like we have some more rebellious civilians." He said with an almost drunken slur. He shook his head a little as if he was dizzy and he almost let his finger slip to pull the trigger and end Chloe's life.

[Vgirl]

Chloe was not surprised when Josef began to get angry and panic. When his voice began to get louder she tugged on his shirt again, trying to get his attention. “Quiet…” She said, putting a finger over her lips. If they had even a hope of finding Joan, his yelling wouldn’t help them at all. Their best bet was to stay calm and quiet. Even though she had only known them for maybe an hour or two, she was also worried about Joan; the girl was injured after all. At the very least they had some idea as to where she would be headed.

It was rather easy for her to keep up with the man, even if he was panicked. Chloe took notice of the soldiers and although it bothered her, she didn’t let it get to her too much since they weren’t looking at them. All of a sudden she felt a shove on her shoulder and, startled by it, began to trip and fall into where she had been pushed. She wasn’t sure why she had been pushed but she quickly stood up. She brushed off her pants and nodded at Josef. “It’s alright.” She said, though she had to admit, she was slightly angered by the shove.

Looking around she found that they were in a bar, a recently visited bar at that. It reeked of alcohol. Seemed like someone, probably those soldiers had been having a party. She sighed, alcohol was such a useless thing in times like these, it only dulled the senses. She froze for a moment when she heard footsteps but was quickly snapped herself out of it and followed Josef out the back. They would be safer in the alleys, less people to that had a good view of them

When they rounded the corner she cursed herself. She gasped as she watched Josef fall to the ground, holding his stomach before a gun was quickly pointed right at her. Her mind began to fill with thoughts and panic. Maybe she should try and talk her way out of this; no, he would kill her and Josef before he would let them go, and even worse, he would probably call his buddies over to watch and help out. Finally her mind went blank and all that was left was fear and the ultimate survival instinct; kill or be killed. She ran at him swinging her axe at him with a lot of force. She could only hope that her legs could carry her faster than he could pull that trigger.

[Espatier]

True Self said
She hid behind a air conditioning unit that was near an old bar and grill. When she spotted the carrier, where the doctor said he would be, she took a deep breath before deciding to sprint toward it with both automatic pistols in hand. It took her way longer to get here, just as she expected wobbling on her leg that felt like her shin was cracked. It hurt badly, but Joan was no wimp. When she made it to the side of the carrier, she used her guns to beat the sides of the truck and decided not to risk peeking her head up in the window. She wasn't trying to get her face shot off. The doctor told them to use caution over the radio, but not very many troops were around at all. They all must have gone to take out the zombie hoard or whatever.

"Those things can't speak so you better start talking or I'll toss this hand grenade outside" A familiar voice spoke. " I've got several people in here and they are all trained killers so you better just give up and toss your weapons down on the ground". The voice threatened. "Ok... we are now going to circle you now with the rest of the Army...guys and Marines too".

The Back hatch to the M113 Mortar carrier opened slowly on the back.

" Alright Snipers, Rangers, Marines... go ahead and cover me while I check to see who it is... remember to shoot if they try to harm me, yeah... hurt them really bad if they try again...yeah".

The Doctor peeks his head from the side to see whomever is unarmed as his hand is shaking...alot " Easy-y-y"

[True Self]

The blonde haired soldier pressed down on the trigger, but had forgotten to take the safety off in his drunken stupor. "HEEEEEY!" He shouted as loudly as possible when he stepped aside and fell on his ass before the axe could slice into his skull. He tried to get up, but Josef was already up on his feet and slammed the soldier in the teeth with his baseball bat. Blood spilled immediately from the soldier's nose and mouth and he fell back to hit his head on the ground. Josef placed a hand on Chloe's shoulder and said, "You can put the axe down now, it's ok."

"We have to go right now." He said to her, because the soldier had shouted way too loudly. The soldier's in the parking lot could've heard it and they could be on their way. Surely enough, they could hear the voices of the soldiers coming their way and Josef had to act fast in order to keep them from being spotted. He ran full speed to the back of the bar and grill and ran straight for an old wreck between a Jeep compass that had been flipped on it's side and a Toyota truck that was crashed into a light pole. The Jeep's windshield was mostly busted out and Josef nodded his head at Chloe before quickly ducking and climbing inside the windshield. He squeezed over the front seats that were sideways from the wreck and sat crouched down on the back passenger door with the broken glass of the window crunching under his weight. This allowed Chloe to sit somewhat less crowded in the front half of the vehicle. The whole time Josef didn't notice that the broken windshield was facing almost directly in front of the tracked carrier where the doctor said he was. When Josef moved his head to see over the seats he could partially see someone standing outside of the carrier. He leaned up closer and could see that it was Joan out in the open. She was looking toward the back of the carrier, but Josef couldn't see what she was looking at, but maybe Chloe had a better view.

Josef started to squeeze back through the seats until he could hearing loud footsteps running outside of the Jeep. "Over there!" A soldier could be heard shouting. "Holy fuck!" The soldier shouted again and then his footsteps could be heard stopping in place. Josef leaned in as close as possible when he discovered what the soldier was cursing about. A burnt, black body was walking upright and passed the opening of the windshield. It's back was toward them and was headed directly for the tracked carrier where Joan was. Three more rotting corpses walked in view toward the carrier as well and Josef's stomach sank. "Damn." He whispered, and dropped his bat and bolt cutter inside the back half of the jeep. He lifted up his sniper rifle and looked inside his scope at the burned head that was the closest to Joan, but then he disappeared out of the scope - the jeep was blocking the sight of the walker, so Josef had no other choice but to aim at the second closest one with a broken and ripped jaw.

---

Joan never put down her guns and just glared at the backside of the carrier which started to open. She stepped back and aimed one of her automatic pistols at the back side of the carrier and the other pistol at the front in case someone came out on that side. She made sure to keep out of view from the windows just in case someone tried to shoot her from the inside. Joan couldn't believe that Josef was right - it was a set up unless the man inside was lying. When she saw the head peak out and heard what the man said, she responded, "Fuck you." She said and kept her aim at the man's peeking head. She now felt betrayed, because she trusted that the man was really a doctor in distress. If this really was an ambush it was over for her. She'd be damned if she dropped her guns and die unarmed without a fight. Joan waited for more men to hop out of the carrier and for soldiers to come from all directions, but nothing was happening. Just then, a grunt could be heard from behind her and she barely spun out of the way before the burnt brain eater could take a bite out of the back of her neck! "Fuck." She said as she whacked the brain eater in the back of the head and it smashed face first into the side of the carrier. She aimed both pistols at the brain eater who started to get up, but then her attention quickly turned to three more walkers who were also approaching. One of them had a torn out jaw and behind the other two behind that one was what looked like hundreds upon hundreds or more brain eaters that were coming out of the entrance of the amusement park not too far away. Some of the walking corpses were little children that were wobbling together and groaning and reaching out for human flesh to tear into. Joan looked back at the man peeking out of the carrier and then she looked across the parking lot at a soldier who had been standing beside an old car wreck. He was running in the direction of the Pepsi center to warn the other soldiers.

[Vgirl]

Chloe had gotten lucky and she was thankful for it. She was still alive and although she hadn’t hit him, Josef had managed to get up and help her out before the soldier could regain his senses. When he said so, Chloe lowered her axe breathing heavily and trying to regain control. She managed to mumble a “Thank you”, though it was very soft and hard to hear over her panting. For now she needed to calm herself before something else came up and she did something just as, if not even more stupid than what she had just tried to do.

She was unable to have that time yet, as shouting could be heard getting closer to their location and she followed quickly after Josef. She ran after him, towards the Jeep, and after his nod, followed him, crouching and positioning herself in the front seat, making sure she kept lower than Josef so that he could see what was going on. It seemed she would have to wait in order to calm down but that didn’t keep her from trying to take deep, slow and quiet breaths as she observed Joan and the back of the carrier.

She could see the girl raise a gun to the backside of the carrier, which worried her, though it should have done a lot worse. Then the carrier opened though she couldn’t see what was inside, though she tried her hardest to make it out. She almost jumped when she heard shouting and looked around frantically before a pair of black legs stepped in front of her. She put a hand over her mouth to keep any noise from escaping and waited until the figure had moved on before she removed her hand.

She noticed a soldier’s legs make a break for it and Chloe let out a curse. “We need to get Joan out of there.” That was probably obvious. There were those things headed right for her and if they didn’t get her, the soldiers most certainly would after they had taken care of things, or maybe ever while. At that moment she regretted not trying to talk the girl out of it (though she probably wouldn’t have listened), or followed after her (even though she hadn’t noticed until it was too late). She wanted to do something but she was all out of ideas and could only stay crouched and watch.

[Espatier]

True Self said

Joan never put down her guns and just glared at the backside of the carrier which started to open. She stepped back and aimed one of her automatic pistols at the back side of the carrier and the other pistol at the front in case someone came out on that side. She made sure to keep out of view from the windows just in case someone tried to shoot her from the inside. Joan couldn't believe that Josef was right - it was a set up unless the man inside was lying. When she saw the head peak out and heard what the man said, she responded, She said and kept her aim at the man's peeking head. She now felt betrayed, because she trusted that the man was really a doctor in distress. If this really was an ambush it was over for her. She'd be damned if she dropped her guns and die unarmed without a fight. Joan waited for more men to hop out of the carrier and for soldiers to come from all directions, but nothing was happening. Just then, a grunt could be heard from behind her and she barely spun out of the way before the burnt brain eater could take a bite out of the back of her neck! She said as she whacked the brain eater in the back of the head and it smashed face first into the side of the carrier. She aimed both pistols at the brain eater who started to get up, but then her attention quickly turned to three more walkers who were also approaching. One of them had a torn out jaw and behind the other two behind that one was what looked like hundreds upon hundreds or more brain eaters that were coming out of the entrance of the amusement park not too far away. Some of the walking corpses were little children that were wobbling together and groaning and reaching out for human flesh to tear into. Joan looked back at the man peeking out of the carrier and then she looked across the parking lot at a soldier who had been standing beside an old car wreck. He was running in the direction of the Pepsi center to warn the other soldiers.

A smile come across the doctor's face as he was relieve that it wasn't a group of soldiers to take his things away, like the other scavengers were going. But as soon as he began to lower his weapon, the dead came into view. It was like slow motion as as he reached out with his empty hand to offer it to grab as the thing bite her in the back of the neck.

" Look out! " He exclaimed but it was to late and the damage was done.

the fearless woman attacked back and knocked it down to the ground as three other began to move in for the finishing kill. The doctor put one round into its head and motioned for the bitten person to come inside with him into the armored mortar carrier.

" Get inside, I'll hold them off" he fired several shots on the direction of the dead. " Hurry up!"

[True Self]

"Get inside, I'll hold them off" the man inside the mortar carrier fired several shots on the direction of the dead. "Hurry up!"

The man had shot the burnt walker in the head which was trying to get up that Joan had knocked down. Dark red blood, almost black soaked the cement and the other three walkers were still coming and had only been shot in the arms and chest by the doctor. Joan immediately used her good leg to step up onto a part of the tire and lifted herself up enough to grab the man's hand. She pulled herself as hard as she could, but it wasn't enough to get her on top of the tall vehicle. She used her other bruised leg to help lift her further and it felt like her leg was burning in open flames from the pain. She gasped, but it was enough for the doctor to pull her all the way in safely and her neck was exposed to him to reveal that she had in fact not been bitten. "Shit." She said between a half moan. Her leg felt like it was still burning and the bruise on it felt like it was throbbing. She wasn't even sure if she had made the right move by getting inside the carrier with the stranger and whoever else might be inside. She waited for the doctor to close the door flaps and she just listened to what was going on, on the outside.

Josef heard the gun shots and he began to panic with his heart banging in his chest. He feared that Joan could've gotten shot and he had to do something. "Cover your ears." He warned Chloe before he would shoot. PAH! Josef pulled the trigger on his rifle which cause the broken jawed walker's head to explode. Josef's ear's went numb and he could see that the other two walkers behind the one he shot were now looking their way. He was completely unaware that hundreds of walkers were coming their way and they were even speeding up with the sounds of the gun fire. Josef immediately squeezed all the way through the back seat passed Chloe and, was about to crawl through the windshield, when five random walkers from both sides of the windshield stuck their heads in and reached inside to grab onto Chloe. Gauuurrggghh One of the walkers groaned with an infected blood bubble gurgling from it's mouth near Chloe's face. Josef popped one grabbing onto Chloe in the throat with the butt of his rifle and dove into the back seat. He looked up at the passenger door above him and managed to push it hard enough to open it. "Up!" He shouted to Chloe as the walkers started to climb inside further to take a bite of one of them trapped inside. If she were able to climb up, she'd find that there were twenty or so walkers surrounding the flipped Jeep and hundreds more were coming their way.

[Vgirl]

It was very little warning, but it was enough to let Chloe cover her ears and brace herself, though the shot still managed to make her head hurt a bit. A soon as it was over she uncovered her ears once again. She looked back at Josef to see how he was doing and nodded before turning around and being grabbed by one of them. In an effort to get free she thrashed her legs and kicked until Josef freed her and she crawled away. He opened up the door leading to the top of the flipped vehicle and managed to pull herself up and through.

Letting out a sigh she took a moment to survey the area and her stomach dropped. “J…Josef…” She wasn’t sure if she had said his name before or if that was correct. “We have a problem.” They were absolutely surrounded by those things. Slowly she pulled the shotgun off her back. Was this really the right course of action? If it went off then it may draw more of them. No, a lot were already coming, she had to take this opportunity to clear a path for them so they could try and make a break or something.

Chloe tensed up as she aimed at the walkers and struggled to hold the gun steady. Finally she pulled the trigger and although it managed to hit something, it was off its mark. What could she do? She had never held a gun in her life, the thought had never even crossed her mind and now that she was in the thick of it she was beginning to regret it. “Please I need some help, or a plan or something.” She said to Josef, backing up slightly before trying to shoot once again.

[True Self]

Josef climbed up onto the side of the Jeep safely after kicking a rotted arm away and slammed the door back down onto a bald walker's face. The sight of all the hungry biters was enough for him to almost lose his balance and fall into the crowd of hungry flesh eaters. "Help me clear a path!" He said to Cloe, after slinging his sniper rifle back onto his shoulder and taking his machine gun into his hands. THACK! THACK! THACK! THACK! Josef shot a line of walkers down which made infected zombie blood fly everywhere. The path he and Chloe made was good enough to make a run through and they did just that. Josef jumped down off of the Jeep and bolted through the zombies. "Come on, I've got you covered!" He said aiming his machine gun at any Walker that would try to grab onto Chloe as she jumped down. The commotion distracted him from noticing the two military trucks and three military jeeps that were pulling up to take on the army of zombies. When the first truck arrived, Two of the men jumped out of the front and aimed their automatic firearms at them and exclaimed "PUT EM DOWN!" Josef immediately dropped both of his guns and raised his hands. He turned to look at Chloe and said, "Do it." He didn't want her to get hurt. He didn't know her long, but she had become a good help to him. After surrendering, the soldiers searched them for any hidden weapons. They cuffed them both then led them to one of the other trucks and locked them in the back with another soldier who watched them. They didn't trust to keep them out during the massacre of zombies, because they couldn't risk them shooting at them or trying to run away.

"Rebellious young folks like you cause big problems." A big soldier with sandy brown hair and tattoos all over the front side of his neck grunted. "If you'd just do what we say then there wouldn't be any damn problem." He blew a snot rocket in the corner of the truck without a care and just looked outside the window to see what was going on. "I can't even join in on the fun, because of you and that makes me angry. At least I get a pretty little face to look at." He said looking over at Chloe with a lustful gleam in his eye. Josef just leaned his head back on the seat and eased his cuffed hands toward the door handle closest to him. He kept his head still, so that it wouldn't be obvious, but that didn't even work. "Either one of you touch the door handle and I'll shoot you dead." He said without turning to look at them. "If ya manage to get out, I'll run you down myself." He said. The man's arms were twice the size as Josef's and he looked like he could snap a man's neck in a matter of seconds with his bare hands. Josef stopped his attempt at opening the door and his eyes widened in surprise that the man caught him without even looking. On the outside, some gun shots were heard, but the soldier mainly used swords and their blunt weapons. Walkers were dropping left and right, but the main hoard still hadn't reached them yet. Josef couldn't tell how many soldiers there were at the scene, but he could hear more and more coming outside the truck. Josef just closed his eyes to ease his mind, but he couldn't think of what to do - there were too many soldiers out there and they could easily shoot he and Chloe down before they could make a run for it.

[Espatier]

True Self said
"Get inside, I'll hold them off" the man inside the mortar carrier fired several shots on the direction of the dead. "Hurry up!"The man had shot the burnt walker in the head which was trying to get up that Joan had knocked down. Dark red blood, almost black soaked the cement and the other three walkers were still coming and had only been shot in the arms and chest by the doctor. Joan immediately used her good leg to step up onto a part of the tire and lifted herself up enough to grab the man's hand. She pulled herself as hard as she could, but it wasn't enough to get her on top of the tall vehicle. She used her other bruised leg to help lift her further and it felt like her leg was burning in open flames from the pain. She gasped, but it was enough for the doctor to pull her all the way in safely and her neck was exposed to him to reveal that she had in fact been bitten. She said between a half moan. Her leg felt like it was still burning and the bruise on it felt like it was throbbing. She wasn't even sure if she had made the right move by getting inside the carrier with the stranger and whoever else might be inside. She waited for the doctor to close the door flaps and she just listened to what was going on, on the outside.

** distance rifle shot heard **

The Doctor secured his flap on his pistol harness then looked up and asked "You ok kid?" the old man moved around crouched over while using the many view ports to see out while the vehicle was "Buttoned up". " If your hurt, I'm a doctor, I could look at your leg for you if you would like?" he spoke as he continued to look for within the vehicle. " Sorry about trying to fool you but I didn't want to get shot or captured for those "dead" games".

** Distance Light Machine gun fire heard **

pulling down on a pin, the Doc pulled out a "L" metal arm that held a small hard cold metal seat to sit on. " Forgive my manners young lady, My name is Dr Johnson and I was the Battalion's surgeon a few days ago but now I''m just another non conformist ". Doctor Johnson's attention was pulled back into one of the view ports " Poor bastards.... looks like a man and a woman got caught by one of those wandering patrols, I would want to be either one of those two bastards"

[True Self]

Joan ignored the doctor at first when he asked if she was ok, and just stayed silent. After guessing that he wasn't going to try and hurt her she replied to him, "Just a bruise." She was referring to the six-inch purpley red bruise that was stinging like a thousand hornet stings right at the moment. She was in quite a bit of pain, but she handled it like a champ and she wouldn't let him see how much it was hurting her on her face.

"'Dead Games'?" She asked curiously and just ignored his apology. Joan wasn't the kind of person to fool even once, but she mostly understood why he would've lied for his own safety. She decided she'd forgive him sooner or later, but for now she was more curious about the games he was speaking of. Joan had heard both the rifle shot and machine gun, and Josef crossed her mind.

Joan stayed exactly where she was when the doctor introduced himself. "Call me J." She said to him and watched him as he looked out of one of the small windows. She heard what he said and then heard Josef's familiar voice. Do it. She heard him say and that's when she got up to look through the view port herself. "Damn it, that's my brother." She cussed as she witnessed Josef and Chloe being taken away by the soldiers. "It's MY fault." She said and let another cuss word slip. She stepped away from the view port and sat down with her back against the inside wall of the carrier to think. A minute or two passed by before she looked up out of thought and said "We've got to save them."

Looking down at the one automatic pistol in her hand, she remembered that she had to discard the other one in order to better climb up the mortar carrier. She tried to think of what they could do and there was only one thing she could think of that could work. "Whenever things heat up out there and the soldier's get carried away slaying the brain eaters, we can sneak passed em and rescue "the bastards"." She said with a look toward the doctor, not exactly sure where the soldiers had taken them. She guessed that the soldier's were holding them captive inside one of the trucks. She sat back up to look out of the little windows again and was debating when she would go. If the doctor refused, then she'd go alone, but she'd regret ever trying to save his ass if he didn't help.

[Vgirl]

With Josef up on top of the jeep with her they were able to successfully clear a path through those things and Josef jumped down and made a run through them until he was on the other side of what seemed like an army. With him covering her, Chloe jumped down from the jeep and made a run for Josef. She dodged tried to dodge any arms that went to grab her but they were quickly shot down whether she successfully got away or not. Finally she made her way to the end and a smile of hope began to come across her face until she saw the army vehicles approaching.

Her eyes went wide and she watched as Josef dropped his weapons and put his hands up as instructed. Letting out a sigh, Chloe did the same; the shotgun, her axe, the handgun, she was empty handed and defenseless. Against one drunk soldier they had a chance but not against this many angry soldiers ready to fight. Rather forcefully the grabbed her raised arms and pulled them down behind her and put those restrictive silver bracelets around her wrists. She closed her eyes and grimaced as they patted her down to check for any weapons and when they were done they gave her a rough shove towards the truck.

Along with Josef she got into the truck and sat beside him, her face going back to it’s neutral state. At least now she had time to relax before she would be inevitably murdered. When she heard the man’s comment and saw the look in his eyes she kept her calm composure. “Gross…” She muttered to herself before looking over at Josef. For his sake she hoped that Joan was safe somewhere. And for her sake, she hoped that they'd get out of here somehow, even if this guy had disgusting hawk like eyes.

[Espatier]

True Self said
Joan ignored the doctor at first when he asked if she was ok, and just stayed silent. After guessing that he wasn't going to try and hurt her she replied to him, She was referring to the six-inch purpley red bruise that was stinging like a thousand hornet stings right at the moment. She was in quite a bit of pain, but she handled it like a champ and she wouldn't let him see how much it was hurting her on her face.

" That looks like it hurts... are you sure you don't want me to look at it a little closer?"

True Self said
"'Dead Games'?" She asked curiously and just ignored his apology.

"Yeah, well its what I've been calling them. I about a night ago or two I heard sounds like the stadium was alive again and everything was normal. But the cheers blended in with scream and pleads for help. In the dark it was easier to move but I had to find out what all that noise was. I didn't realize that those things moved around at night as well as day, they doesn't seem to sleep at all. Anyways as I blended in with a group of soldier that welcomed me to their group after a night of drinking I made my way to the outskirts of the Colosseum".

the doctor shook his head

"They had cages, dead, living men, women and children, betting tables.... "

"They had made lanes to run in like back in high school for track. They would place a living person in a lane , then tell them to run or that would would then by bow and arrow. Then the so called fun began with one of those "sprinter" released behind the living. If you made it to the end, you would live for another race. Winners would live for another few hours or a day. Truly barbaric if you ask me... "

True Self said
Joan wasn't the kind of person to fool even once, but she mostly understood why he would've lied for his own safety. She decided she'd forgive him sooner or later, but for now she was more curious about the games he was speaking of. Joan had heard both the rifle shot and machine gun, and Josef crossed her mind.Joan stayed exactly where she was when the doctor introduced himself. She said to him and watched him as he looked out of one of the small windows. She heard what he said and then heard Josef's familiar voice. She heard him say and that's when she got up to look through the view port herself. She cussed as she witnessed Josef and Chloe being taken away by the soldiers. "Damn it, that's my brother." She said and let another cuss word slip.

"Dear God" The doctor spoke

True Self said
She stepped away from the view port and sat down with her back against the inside wall of the carrier to think. A minute or two passed by before she looked up out of thought and said "We've got to save them."

"Us?... Me and you?" The doctor pointed at himself

True Self said
Looking down at the one automatic pistol in her hand, she remembered that she had to discard the other one in order to better climb up the mortar carrier. She tried to think of what they could do and there was only one thing she could think of that could work. "Whenever things heat up out there and the soldier's get carried away slaying the brain eaters, we can sneak passed em and rescue "the bastards" She said with a look toward the doctor, not exactly sure where the soldiers had taken them. She guessed that the soldier's were holding them captive inside one of the trucks. She sat back up to look out of the little windows again and was debating when she would go. If the doctor refused, then she'd go alone, but she'd regret ever trying to save his ass if he didn't help.

"Ok.... I'll help if you let me see how bad that is first. We are not going to do thing half-cocked, ok?" .

" I realize that is your brother but this would mean that I'm willing to place my life in your hands" The Doctor will examine her bruise if she will allow it.

" So with that being said then what is your plan other than that?"

" Did you figure out a way to escape and get away yet because I do have an exit strategy and that vehicle right next to this one is ready to go" The doctor point in the direction of
[link]

"I've got to trust you and you have to trust me. Are you willing to do that?".

" I do appreciate what you have done for me by coming, I'm glad that some normal people are still alive, thank God. I know that it might be hard for you trust me but I'm willing to help you go after those two. What I want in return is honesty because IF we plan to stay as a group we will need trust so everyone can sleep at night agreed?"

" Now" The Doctor reached for some clothing, picked it up and tossed it beside her " put it on...we are both going to blend in at least if seen or talk to these idiots and assholes". " If you feel that you can't change into these clothes while I'm here to save your brother them don't. Because that will be your choice as well and if you get shot, don't worry about me rending aid either I'll spare your modesty then too but I want to live".

The doctor will then after she changes of not explain his plan for infiltration. The doctor will attempt to watch glancing through the view port so that he doesn't loss sigh of his targets. He also explains that if they get separated that in 20 mins of losing sight of each other to meet up at the flag pole.

[True Self]

"I'm fine. There's no time." The urgency was evident in her voice. Joan would never be able to live with herself if she was the reason that her brother and Chloe were killed. She was patient enough to listen to what the doctor said about the stadium, because if was too interesting to ignore, but now she had to move. "What happened to fighting for our country and protecting us? Silly bastards. They'll get what's coming to them eventually." Joan said, and then ignored his third attempt at looking at her leg. She was too distracted by her urgency to save Josef and Chloe that nothing else mattered. She couldn't be responsible for their harm. She heard what else the doctor said and replied, "My trust is yours until you give me a reason to take it away." She walked underneath the door flaps above and made sure her gun was ready for firing before continuing, "I'm not normal. Just a survivor like you with a conscience. I'll put these on, but then I'm going to get my brother." She took the clothes that were given to her and immediately began to take off her clothes without shame. Underneath was nothing, but boxer shorts and a tank top, the kind boy's wore, so she wasn't worried about him looking.

"You can stay here and waste your time thinking up a plan. I get things done better when I'm out there doing it." She popped open the left flap and lay her gun down on the roof in order to pull herself up. When she got on top of the carrier, she stayed down to skim the area. So much was happening that she couldn't really focus on one thing that was happening - brain eaters were everywhere, but the soldier's had held them off from where the army trucks were. The trucks she suspected that Josef and Chloe were in one of. Walker upon walker were still piling out of the amusement park entrance and the soldiers were way too outnumbered. She waited for the doctor if he would come and then climbed her way down the carrier to land on a pile of brain eaters that had been shot down. The area around the carrier was safe, because the soldier's had pushed the hoard back a good bit, but the hoard was growing larger and much harder to manage.

She rolled over a dead walker that had been shot through the face and a looked underneath another, but she couldn't find her other gun that she had to let go. A soldier must've taken it to use for himself. That's the only thing Joan could think of when her other gun was nowhere in sight. She just shook her head and aimed her one automatic pistol to cover the top of the carrier, so that the doctor could follow her safely. Just then her jaw almost dropped when she heard someone running up from behind. "We could use more fire power soldier - let's go!" A younger soldier man said in his late twenties as he ran. Looks like the clothes worked. She just watched as the man ran off and decided she had to move now before someone else became suspicious of her. She didn't even have time to wait on the doctor anymore, so from this point forward she had no idea if he even would come with her. She sprinted to the nearest army truck with her automatic pistol in both hands and tried to open the doors, but they were locked. She stepped up on the rail underneath and lifted herself up to see that no one was inside. No Josef. No Chloe. Empty. She spun around to hide behind the front bumper when she spotted two soldiers in one of the jeeps directly behind the truck and she kept her gun ready.

---

Josef thought of strangling the buff soldier guard from behind with his cuffs like in the movies, but this wasn't the movies.. and he could accidentally mess up and get he and Chloe both killed. There were two of them though... He and Chloe... and even though Chloe wasn't the physically strongest in appearance, it was still an advantage. He looked to her with a sideways glance and pointed at the soldier who seemed like he wasn't paying attention. He pulled in both of his wrists with the cuffs as if he were choking the air in order to show Chloe what he intended to do and he needed her help. Just as he decided to go in for the kill, the soldier guard lifted his head up and bent down to get his gun in the floor board. He took a handkerchief to clean it and checked to see if it was loaded completely. Josef and Chloe couldn't see it, but the chamber was empty and he bent down to look inside his army bag to retrieve the bullets. With his head down, Josef couldn't get a hold around his neck. When the man would sit up - that's when Josef would grab him. He looked to Chloe and nodded to see if she was ready.

---

When the two soldiers in the jeep left to help to aid in fire power, Joan took advantage and sprinted to the next army truck. From what she could tell, all the military jeeps were empty except a soldier who guarded them from the outside. He was too fixated to notice her as she opened the other army door which was also locked, but her attempt to open it had alarmed a man with sandy brown hair inside. The man had risen up and glared down at her with his hawk eyes. He opened the door and she kept her gun down to act as if she was no threat and just another soldier. "You don't look familiar at all." He turned his head to the side in order to keep and eye on his captives in the back seat. When he turned, Joan could see that it was Josef and Chloe in the back seat. She looked around to see if any other soldiers around and then raised her gun.

"Get out." She said with her gun aimed at his ugly face.

"Clever kid." The man said looking down at her outfit, but he stayed seated. He didn't seem the least bit afraid of her and he wasn't even phased that the gun was aimed so directly at him. "Why don't you get out of here, while you still can? Because if I get ahold of ya then you'd wish a brain eater had ya instead." He said with a smile and shot his second snot rocket on the ground right at her feet. He wasn't able to get his gun quite loaded, but he could use it to intimidate her. He lifted his gun and pointed it at Josef and Chloe. He could see that she wasn't budging and he asked, "Would you rather stay and watch me blow your friend's brains out? Or are they your family that I get the pleasure of killing?" He said examining her face. He seemed to hit a nerve in her and he smiled, "Even better." Joan stayed quiet, but stood her ground. Her heart was pounding, but not because she was scared of him - because the man aimed the gun at her brother. The man grew impatient, because she was too stubborn to run away and he provoked her. "Well c'mon bitch, decided something." He was beginning to get angry and he sat up, planning to jump out and knock her in the face with his gun. "You gon' pull the trigger?" THACK THACK! The soldier's thighs bursted with blood from bullet wounds and he dropped his gun out of shock. Joan had shot him in the legs and attempted to pull his heavy ass out of the passenger seat. She got him out enough and let his weight pull the rest of him out of the truck and he hit the dirt. He yelled in pain and shock and she just looked down at him with her automatic in his face, but decided to spare his life.

"You asked." She said to him, before checking his pockets for the truck keys, but they were already in the ignition. She ran over to hop in the driver's seat, but right at that moment was pulled from behind by an eyeball-less walker. "DAMN!" She yelled, and looked to Josef and Chloe, but they were cuffed and locked in the back. The brain eater's teeth were grazing her ear and was going to bite it off.

[Vgirl]

While the man had been bent down, polishing his gun, Chloe had entertained the thought of kicking him in the head. She wasn’t sure if her legs would even reach and if they did she’d probably get killed but it was fun to think. She glanced over at Josef once again and saw him making motions with his hands. She thought for a moment, looking back at the soldier guarding them. His neck looked thick but with the two of them working at it, it just might work. Chloe looked back at Josef and nodded. She was willing to do this; it was better than sitting around and waiting for death.

Just as they were about to stand up and make a move, the soldier stood and went to the door. With all the planning they hadn’t noticed Joan right outside the vehicle, coming to get them. The doors swung open and Chloe looked down at the new soldier standing outside the vehicle. He looked a little shorter and slim to be one of them but other than that he looked the part. Chloe didn’t immediately realize who it was but it didn’t take her too long, still she kept her mouth shut.

When the soldier began pointing a gun at him, Chloe tensed a bit. He was preoccupied with Joan so if they made a move now they could just get him but unfortunately Joan could get shot. She preoccupied herself with some sort of plan but when she heard gun fire she looked around in a panic, relaxing when she realized who had been shot. With Joan pulling at him, Chloe did what she could to kick his body out of the door, though it wasn’t much. The man fell out of the truck, onto the ground in a groaning and cursing heap.

“Crap.” She cursed, pulling at her wrists, but Joan was already gone trying to start up the truck. There was a small window that connected the back and the front so that whoever was driving could see and watch there prisoners and it was through that window that Chloe saw it. “Oh-!” She stopped herself from cursing and could only watch as the monster got closer until it grabbed her. The best she could do was hope to distract it, now that she was weaponless, she only hoped that she didn’t get the girl killed in the process.

With all her energy she began kicking and slamming herself against a wall, hoping that the thing would lose interest in Joan and come to check on what all the racket was. ‘Please let this work.’ She thought to herself, closing her eyes and continuing her violent thrashing.