[IC] The Walking Dead: The Journey North [Chapter I]

[bellumeterna]

A full day near wasted: Wasted time, wasted effort, wasted ammo, and worst of all another wasted life. All of this waste just for the sake of looting an already stripped town. The redhead sighed, what was his name again? David, no Damien? Had she already forgotten his name or had she never learned it? The redhead forged ahead, her face screwed up in consternation, trying to remember the man’s, actually little more than a boy’s face, or even the sound of his voice, anything to relieve the gnawing guilt of having forgotten.

“It sucks.” A voice came from her immediate right, shocking the woman out of her reverie, “Poor Daniel, hell poor Julie, she’s going to miss him, I guess we all are.” The man said looking over at Alex for confirmation.

The woman swallowed hard and nodded, “Yeah, he was a good guy.” Like you would know, you forgot his name. She shook her head staring straight ahead.

The man nodded, “That he was.” And that was all the grieving required for Daniel as the man’s face reset into a ‘just business’ expression, “Hey, mind running this to the clinic. I know you have a couple of things you found for Karen as well.” The man, what was his name, said handing her a cardboard package of Benadryl, fully half the pills already gone and the rest questionable as to whether they were still good.

The redhead gave a curt nod and took the medicine, breaking off from the group to deliver what little she had found. A bottle of Tylenol, more a luxury than of any real medical use, but she knew it could probably still save someone some pain. On the other hand, she could keep it, it’d be good to just be able to pop one and boom, instant headache relief, it was funny the luxuries you truly missed but never would have thought of before all this. The Benadryl would ensure dreamless sleep, for a short while anyway or for those particularly bad nights. A small voice began digging at her mind, What about the epinephrine, the inhaler, surely someone around here has asthma, allergies…? The voice cut off as though a door had been slammed in the speaker’s face. That was Cody’s medicine, she needed it for him. Cody is… The door slammed again.

She found herself standing in front of the medical building, not remembering the journey at all, hand outstretched as though to knock on the door. After a moment’s hesitation her hand rapped sharply once against the door and walked in, stepping aside to let Edward, Earl the voice called admonishingly, pass by. She cast a sideways glance at the others in the room, nodding a greeting to them all before placing the Tylenol, Benadryl, and half used containers of aloe vera and cough syrup each on the table, “Sorry that’s all the medical supplies we found before we had to get out. Walkers have moved in on that town again.” She said awkwardly, eyes casting down suddenly, almost as if she were ashamed of something, “I’m not even sure if any of it is in date or useful in any way, but it’s yours.” She said, already taking a step backwards to leave again. They were probably discussing their plans for leaving, she really should stick around figure out what the plan was if she were going, but right now she just felt sick to her stomach, she always felt nauseated, she supposed the others did as well, hunger and feeling sick were just a part of what it meant to be alive and not one of them now.

[Skittlez]

"I got your gun a couple days ago," said a voice behind her. Piper turned to see who it could be, stunned. "I didn't intend to give it to you. I can't watch you out there ya know," James continued as he forfeited the pistol. She remained silent but accepted the gun. "You see, I promised Connor if he didn't come home, no matter what, I was gonna watch over you," he explained.

"Stop," Piper demanded meekly.

"But I realized that- here, we're sure gonna die. And you don't even talk anymore here. Maybe you're waiting for it. Maybe there you can live, ya know?" he continued, despite her request.

She turned back to her bag, packing the last of her things. "So why don't you come?" she asked.

James sort of laughed weakly. He was a southern rebel who drank plenty of beer and always had showed Connor a good time back on base. The only thing left of that James was an accent. "I been fightin' as my job for years now. It's the only thing I know. It wouldn't feel right goin' AWOL," he explained simply.

Piper had nothing left to say. That was it. They were parting ways and she needed to go meet up with the others.

"But look here, you keep your ass outta trouble and don't you ever try playin' hero, understood?" James demanded.

"Promise," she said, holding up her finger to him out of habit. She paused before letting it drop. Whoops.

James gave her a sympathetic sigh. "You'll be alright," he promised in return.

She gave him a nod and left towards the makeshift hospital where she was to meet with people she knew vaguely to depart for a better opportunity at life. She travelled light, always had, picking up things she needed along the way. She arrived at the meeting seeming to be late so she slipped in quietly behind the others, unsure of what else to do. They had decided to ride horses. How? The only way she'd every rode a horse was in a western saddle with an English bridle and it was fully trained. She basically just climbed on and was carried and that was years ago. Lord knows she couldn't ride bareback. Nonetheless, no one seemed to complain so she sat back silently in the back corner and watched the discussion continue and everyone interact with one another. She realized for the first time just how quiet she had grown.

[GuySenpai]

Blake nodded and turned to the shop, he walked over to the doorway and stepped inside, scanning the room for his trusted rifle. He moved forwards and took if from the sparely packed rack of collected weapons, checking the safety was on he lifted the scope to his eye. Jacob had done a good job, the smudges that had accumulated were gone as we're the sticky grease stains by the loading mechanism. He slung the hunting rifle over his shoulder and left the gunsmith's room, considering his next move. The food and fuel supplies were good, the RV was prepared to move, he was armed with his rifle and had two boxes of ammo safely stowed away in the vehicle along with his trusty hatchet, all that was left was to gather a group who wanted to leave. Looking out of the window he saw it was getting quite late, he decided to wait until the morning, he'd move out after breakfast.

Blake headed up the staircase to the top floor of the house, he opened the double doors that lead to the balcony that they used to keep watch. It was a good place to sit and think which is exactly what he planned to do. Who was likely to join him?
First off there was Karen, like him she had made her intentions of leaving pretty clear. She wanted to travel by horse however Blake was confident that she didn't want to travel alone so as long as non of the others agreed with her she'd most likely join him.
Then there was Earl, he was the quiet but he seemed the sort that could handle himself. Blake and he had worked together a few times, he would probably go north.
Jason would be useful, he was from the military, if Karen couldn't be convinced he'd at least have one person with medical knowledge.
Blake wanted Jacob along as well, the man knew guns and that was never not useful. He doubted that the man would have many reservations about leaving.
There were a couple of good salvagers in the group as well, with the slimming pickings they might tag along.
Finally there were the few good fighters, though they likely had mixed feelings.
Who else was there? There was no way he'd be taking babies and old people, too much hassle. He wasn't sure about the views of the other capable members of the group like Mason and his brother, it'd have to wait until the morning.

Leaning back in the chair, he surveyed the surroundings. The main road leading to the main building and motor pool was dead and silent and he couldn't see any movement in the woods beyond, it was dark though so he probably wouldn't see anything until it left the woods and moved to cross the road.

---

"This the place?" Asked one man, his mask slightly muffling his voice. "I dunno, maybe it's that other fortified farm house lit up like a Christmas tree." A deeper voice replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. A slight thud could be heard as he slapped his team mate over the head. "Now 'member, boss wants the gunsmith and the doctors in one piece." Said a third voice. "We wait for the others to go in then we hit the main door." The voice continued as the group stayed crouching in the shadows, watching the house from their vantage point and waiting...

[tchtkrmkc]

Jason listened to Karen's speech carefully. He agreed with her on most points, although he still wasn't sure if it would really be best to make the journey on horseback. It would take longer, and also most people didn't really know how to ride with proper equipment, let alone bareback. His thoughts were cut short by a woman who walked in and put some small bottled pills on the table. He noticed that most of the stuff she brought wasn't the important stuff they were looking for, but it was nice to have some painkillers.
Jason decided that the room was getting too stuffy, and anyway he wanted to go visit Blake to see what are his plans, so he turned to everyone, notified them that he was leaving, and if anyone needed medical attention they could find him with Blake. He exited the hospital and set off to the store with the balcony where he knew Blake liked hanging out. Blake said it helped him think or some bullshit like that. Whatever.

[TheMadAsshatter]

Jacob didn't get the chance to hear much of anything before Jason asked if his pistol was ready. It did get annoying, hearing the same old phrase as often as he did, but it was his job, and he was good at it, so it didn't bother him too much. Still it wouldn't hurt to throw in a hey, how are you doing, now and then. "Yeah, I got it ready for you. I would have brought it if I knew you'd be here," he said. "You know where my shop is, you can pick it up anytime."

He then turned to the rest of the group. "If anyone else gave me their gun, you can pick it up whenever. I finished all of my orders about an hour ago," he said. It was true; he had spent the entire day cleaning guns, probably in preparation for the trip. Of course, Jacob doubted a lot of people knew his intentions. He didn't make a habit of talking about it, not that he had much of an opportunity. He was still relatively new to the group, so not a lot of people came to talk to him, nor did he go out of his way to do the same. His isolationist attitude held strong, though the supposed promise of finding a more or less permanent settlement did sound pretty inviting. He had his doubts, sure, but he never liked staying in one spot for extended periods of time, unless of course it is like this place everyone seems to be talking about. Either way, it seemed like if he did decide to go with these people he would basically be committed to staying.

That was when Alexia walked in and put some medicine on the table. Good timing that someone brought some extra supplies just as everyone was talking about the trip. Speaking of which, he figured it was time he joined the conversation. "Just for the record, I'm planning on leaving as well, though I don't feel comfortable with leaving everyone else without a gunsmith. If you don't mind, I'd like a day or two to teach someone a few basic things, or at least write up some instructions and whatnot."

[RumikoOhara]

"How long has it been since this all started?" Says Karen to herself followed up with the depression that always follows.

She looked around the room seeing everyone still here watching her as if she were in charge.
Karen's profession had made learn how to take pressure when ever she'd been called to testify but she had never craved attention. In her personal life her family had often worried that her reclusive nature would cause her to a spinster.

She was actually thankful that Alexis came in and momentarily distracted attention from her.

She took time to catch her breath and rearrange her papers. She'd spent hours calculating the supplies she and her three horses would need. She had also written down a series of compass way points at river, road an rail road crossings.

She didn't want to go Alone but she knew she would if she had to.

How could she convince these people that it was time to give up all those modern convinces they seemed unable to do without.

Cars, Trucks, RVs, Boats unless they were sail and Air Planes. Electric lights would become scarce as the manufacturing of bulbs struggled to catch up.
Weapon technology would suffer due to the loss of critical skills in manufacturing gun powder, battles would be fought on horse with steel an bow.

Goddess she hated her ability to project probability as she saw a future where the Warlords ruled an democracy was cast aside like a dirty rag.

She felt herself once more drifting on the memories of her past as she sought escape from the future.

A Year and a Half ago.....

"Sometime I wonder if I'm not simply delaying the inevitable after all we're all already Infected by the Pathogen." says Doctor Shepard as he and Karen observe one of the reanimated be exposed to extreme cold.

Karen feels a shiver pass through her body as she takes notes on their observations so far but it isn't the cold that makes her shake but the abomination before her.. She knows that to understand what they are dealing with they must conduct experiments but she still wishes they would just go ahead a drill it's head.

"God I miss the days when I was a corner and the dead stayed dead" she thinks as the pen in her left hand flies across the page.

"Sergeant Ruckford when ever you feel you're ready" says Doctor Shepard into a mic.

On the other side of the glass a soldier clad in a suit similar to those used to train attack dogs but reinforced with wire mesh enters the room with the tethered subject. The effect is apparent but slow to happen, much slower than the subject went after private Kerns at ambient temperature 71 f.

Karen couldn't help but wince when she looked at the walker as some called them, he had wires coming out of his body that were plugged into a bevy of different monitors in a belt secured to his waist.
She saw this as disrespect for the dead but was he truly dead after all he could move.

[tchtkrmkc]

On the way to Jacob's gun store to meet up with Blake, Jason remembered that Jacob said that his handgun was ready. So when he arrived at the store the first thing he did was look for his Jericho. He found it sitting on a table. He picked it up and looked it over. It was very clean and seemed to be in perfect condition. Jacob was a really good gunsmith. He put the gun in his holster and walked up the stairs. As he thought, the big balcony doors were wide open, and there was Blake sitting on a chair, thinking. The air was cool, and the darkness was a bit daunting.
"Hey Blake, how are things going?" greeted Jason. He stood next to the chair and continued, "So I just wanted to know what are your plans for the journey to Canada that everyone is talking about. I guess you'll wanna take your RV, but Karen has some good points about taking the horses. What do you think?"

[GuySenpai]

Blake turned to look over at the source of the voice. "Things are going just fine thanks for asking." He replied simply before turning back to look out, he could hear a cricket out there somewhere and the sound was beginning to get on his nerves, did they have crickets in Canada? He wondered to himself, furrowing his brow slightly to think about it. It was cold so probably not, that was good, he had always hated the sound of crickets as he tried to get to sleep, another point in favour he thought to himself.

Jason explained that Karen was still on about riding to the border, he frowned and said. "The day I ride an ass to Canada is the day pigs sprout wings 'n fly over the moon. Why the hell should we ride an animal that needs food and water, with a mind of its own that can get spoked or bitten by a snake or scamper off when we set up camp? 'Specially when we got a set of perfectly good, reliable vehicles just sat there?" He shrugged slightly, still looking out at the road. "I don't care if cowgirl wants to try her luck with the mules and I don't care if you wanna' go with her, I'm takin' the RV, that's final."

[Skittlez]

Unfortunately enough, those around her seemed to be parting from the meeting and she hadn't really come much closer on any sort of plan they had developed. When a young woman she had never seen before approached Karen to give her some over the counter pain killers, Piper slipped out just as quietly as she'd come in. She took a steadying breath. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all. She quickly pushed that thought of her mind. It was the only shot she had.

On her way back, Piper recognized one of the men from the meeting as she watched him duck into Jacob's shop. Without hesitation, she followed. Perhaps if she spoke with him, he could offer greater insight to the group's plans.

"... I guess you'll wanna take your RV, but Karen has some good points about taking the horses. What do you think?" he was saying.

The other man replied with, "The day I ride an ass to Canada is the day pigs sprout wings 'n fly over the moon. Why the hell should we ride an animal that needs food and water, with a mind of its own that can get spoked or bitten by a snake or scamper off when we set up camp? 'Specially when we got a set of perfectly good, reliable vehicles just sat there?" He shrugged slightly, still looking out at the road. "I don't care if cowgirl wants to try her luck with the mules and I don't care if you wanna' go with her, I'm takin' the RV, that's final."

Smirking felt odd, but she couldn't help herself. In any case, these were valid points Piper hadn't realized while in the meeting. Sure, an RV would need fueling but she and James had stuck almost entirely to main roads and had made it safely to their present location. They didn't even have the protection of an RV.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, I really am but I have to agree with you. Have you tried explaining all this to Karen? Perhaps she'd change her mind," her voice was still meek. She'd grown out of speaking frequently since Connor's death but communication was necessary and she'd have to find her voice soon enough.

[RumikoOhara]

God it was so annoying to find herself the focus attention, Karen wished she could just head off on her own but then she'd be an easy target.

She knew that the lazy nature of humanity would insist on the easy way which motorized vehicles weren't. They would be like rats in a maze funneled into traps. She had seen it when she was with the army troops that headed to St. Louis, of course the convoy she'd been with hadn't been attacked because it had been made up of three military vehicles.

What she saw though were cars an trucks that had bullet holes in them and she knew some were attackers but some were victims. The officer in charge of her group told her that the age of the Highway man had returned and the only safety was in numbers and fire power.

It sounded good till they ran into a pack of wacks in St. Louis who used fire crackers to draw the walkers. Corpreal Willis fired the saw till it's barrel was smoking and the floor of the Humvee was littered with so shell cases that you almost couldn't see the floor.

That's when the Wacks attacked, the used sniper fire to kill Willis as he was switching barrels. Karen's convoy had run dead into an ambush which only she and another managed to escape from.

She looked down at her maps and thought that at least with her course they'd only be attacked out in the open. Hell if they could get a couple of those huge tractors working she'd consider taking them along but their fuel millage was a joke.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

In the darkness outside about 400 yards from homesteads perimeter Hal Peters Leader of the Comanche blood as he named his group waited for the recon team to return or the sounds of battle neither mattered to him so long as he got what he wanted.

His group was 120 strong on this raiding party with another 60 men back at camp 5 miles off. He also had better than 55 slave women to help entertain his men who would one day help him create an empire out here in the plains.

His mind was awash with thoughts so grand that if he told anyone they'd think him mad but the thought that was foremost was of her. Young, fit, beautiful and smart, she'd make a perfect empress once he trained her.

[Anvil]

Earl didn't remember what he was doing. It was almost as if... As if he had just phased out. He had to tell somebody something, but that was about as much as he could recollect. 'Damn, all this boredom. It must be starting to get to me.' He thought to himself. He trudged slowly down the stairs, and had a look around.

What was he looking for? He decided he would help get them moving as soon as possible. His brain was starting to turn to mush with all this over exposure to nothing in particular. Blake! That was it. He had to find Blake. He walked over to the nearest window he could find. "Hey Blake! You out there?" He yelled. They weren't supposed to make too much noise, but he had come to the conclusion that it couldn't be too big a deal. If there were to many stiffs nearby, somebody would have mentioned it by now...

[RumikoOhara]

Nate Singer was in the lead element of the Dog Soldiers the Comanche Blood's infiltrators. Some of the men with Nate were good at what they did but two thirds were frankly useless except as cannon fodder and likely to soon give away the positions they held; in fact Nate was counting on it as he an three of his best Dog Soldiers moved closer to the Hospital.

Nate knew his chief's plans for the doc but there was little he could do about it he only hoped that she was a tough lady who wouldn't fold up an become useless afterwards like that Nurse they caught a few months ago. The Blood could use the services of a good doc and even trade her skills with friendly local bands such as themselves.

Nate had never been in the military like one of his men had but he had been an excellent thief with several years of experience. Using that skill now he melded to the building that one of the fools they had captured said was the Hospital he peeked in the window and saw her.

It was no doubt the doc as she'd been described and boy was she a looker. Nate carefully moved back from the building an made hand sign to his guys to encircle it and added no gun play or the Chief would have their nuts.

[Anvil]

"Blake?" he shouted one last time. "ah forget it..." he muttered grumpily. He turned around to some lady looking at him disapprovingly. He shrugged it off. He turned to try the other side of the house but something stopped him. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw something. It wasn't much, maybe something outside. He turned back to the woman. "Hey uh, what is it? Shelly or something? Anyway did you see-" he started, but she just turned around whilst shaking her head. "Huh? Well thanks for the help!" he spoke under his voice so as she wouldn't hear him. He picked up his rucksack, tucked his axe into his belt, and headed back over to the hospital...

[bellumeterna]

Her vision swam, head throbbed as she held a hand to her temple, "Gah, why now?" She asked aloud, staring down into what appeared to be the package of stale crackers she had eaten earlier. The redhead hadn't really had all that much trouble with her stomach since making it to homestead, but it seemed every time that 'voice' decided to wake back up she had trouble keeping her lunch down. The woman stood back up from the bushes wiping a hand across her mouth. How long had she been like that, struggling against her stomach? It was already getting dark. She squinted into the changing light, had she really only made it that far? Her stomach rolled again as she looked towards the hospital, "Fine, fine." She said angrily under her breath. She'd give Karen the medicine if....

She froze, cocking her head to the side as she looked towards the hospital. She may have just been a patrol officer, but she recognized breaching tactics. Luckily she was far enough away that focused on their task as they were they did not notice her. With no cover anywhere near her she slowly lowered herself to the ground and flattened out, her pistol drawn and in her hand. She could get away, right now, they'd never see her, but what about Karen. She might not know the doctor very well, but she was important to their group, if for no other reason than because she could patch people up, "Shit, shit, fuck this, fuck me." She was new here, and even if it was the best place she had found so far, it wasn't her responsibility to defend it, certainly wasn't worth her life. That was her mind made up, Alex went to holster her pistol, but of course fate raised the stakes. Karen they might just bully over, take the medical supplies and leave, but the man walking towards the hospital? They couldn't see each other yet, but if anything unexpected happened, men like this would start killing wantonly. She crawled to a position where she was just out of anyone's peripheral vision and started waving her hand overhead madly, her free hand drawing her pistol and readying it. She could only hope whoever it was got the hint and also that the bandits didn't see her first.

[GuySenpai]

Blake looked over to see Piper who asked him to try telling the doc about his plans and the logic behind them, he shrugged simply and replied. "I'm pretty confident she's got a counter argument for everything I say." He crossed his arms and chuckled slightly. "I doubt she's gonna change her mind without divine intervention or something stupid like that." Leaning a little further back in his chair he let out a sigh and shut his eyes, considering just what it would take to convince her.

Blake's thoughts were interrupted by Earl shouting, he stood up and moved to look over the balcony up the window below that he was leaning out of. "Hey shut it you idiot! I'm up here on the balcony!" He quickly scanned the surroundings to see if any dead heads were closing in, luckily it didn't look like the noise had drawn any. When no response came he could only assume the guy was heading up so Blake just sat back in the chair and wiped his face angrily, soon he'd leave this sort of thing behind.

Once he was comfortable again Blake looked at the others who were still hanging around upstairs with him. "So there anything else you guys wanna talk about or can I get back to my peace and quiet?" Of course there would be no silence with the infernal sound of crickets that never ended.

---

The walker went down with a quiet thud and squelching sound, the head having been split open by a heavy blow with an axe. "I think that's all of 'em." Said one of the raiders. "I thought these guys were smart, the hell are they thinking shouting like that?" Asked another before a third replied. "You think they've found the other team?" There was a slight hesitance and nervousness in his voice. "Dont be stupid, stay calm and keep it quiet, won't be much longer 'till we get our signal." The first voice said, his frustration made clear. "At least we have a clear way out now." A meek sounding forth voice offered to try and make the best of the bad situation, it was never a good thing to encounter walkers especially at night. The group returned to thier positions, the time for thier attack drawing near.

[Mason]

Mason went to go take a look out the window when he noticed a girl laying on the ground outside. He took a closer look and realized that she was pointing her gun at something. He looked in the direction and saw about 20 men circling the hospital tent.

"Shit." he whispered under his breath.

"What?" Ellis asked getting up from the bed to take a look. When he saw the men, he backed away from the window slowly, face growing with fear.
"You have to go alert other people."

"My first priory is you. Get under the bed." Mason help moved the trunk of their stuff out from under the bed so Ellis could fit in then moved back to cover him back up.

Mason grabbed his pistol he kept hidden under his pillow and headed out the door. "Do not come out for anybody but me." he said as he walked out the door.

He quickly ran up to the 2nd story of the homestead searching for anyone he can find. He knew it was a risk taking on these men who looked well equipped, but Karen was important. She might be the only person who could be able to help Ellis or himself if they ever got hurt. He ran through the rooms upstairs not seeing a single person. He started to panic when he heard faint voices coming from the balcony. He rushed over, finding Blake and Piper in mid conversation.

"Sorry to interrupt, but there is a group of about 20 well-equipped men encircling the Hospital."

[TheMadAsshatter]

Jacob turned back to Karen, who still hadn't said a whole lot since he arrived. Not that this didn't happen every now and then, but there was something about now that made Karen seem particularly disturbed. "Oh come on, not you too. Tell me someone in this building is healthy, physically or otherwise," he said, half-jokingly. After another moment with no response, Jacob sighed and turned to leave the hospital, adjusting the sling of his AK. If she was spacing out this badly, it was probably something Jacob should just leave her alone about.

As Jacob got to the doorway of the hospital, he thought he heard something on one of the exterior walls. He figured it was just the building settling, but he did get a bad feeling about it. As he opened the door, he saw movement in the distance. It didn't take him long to discern Alex's figure waving a hand around, and... He couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like there was a pistol in her other hand. He heard a twig snap to his right and saw a man with an assault rifle; a man he didn't recognize. Just as they made eye contact, the man began to raise his rifle.

"SHIT!" Jacob yelled before slamming the door and retreating to Karen's office. He unslung his rifle, took a knee, and yanked the bolt carrier, leaning just out of the room to give him a good sight on the door. It was unfortunate that the scope made it awkward to aim down the iron sights, but at least it was doable. "Not sure if you noticed or not, but we got company," he said, not taking his eyes off of the door. He did, however, use one hand to unholster his CZ and hand it towards Karen. "I don't think they're looking to make friends," he added.

[Anvil]

Earl heard Blake shouting back as he climbed the wooden hill. "Why don't you shut up, eh? No wonder the dead are rising, they're sick and tired of hearing you yelling all the time!"

Earl liked Blake, and he grinned as he prised open the big oak door. "You heard?" He asked whilst lifting a hand towards the girl. "They ain't letting you take the RV!" Earl didn't know the girl too well, but he had seen her round a couple of times. He grabbed a chair and pulled it up next to Blake.

"Looking forward to movi-" He started before a rather load "SHIT!" Interrupted him.... A door slammed near by, and he heard people talking downstairs...

[GuySenpai]

Blake looked at Mason with a puzzled face when he arrived upstairs, next he heard a door slamming and then he decided that it was indeed true. Bandits and raiders weren't uncommon but they hadn't attacked homestead for ages, too many well equipped people but now they were caught off guard. There was no time to work out how the group had gotten this close undetected, instead Blake looked over at the others.

Raising a hand to point at Jason and Mason he spoke quickly. "Ok, two of you head down stairs and arm up then get to the doorway near the hospital, don't let any of them inside the house." He moved to point at Piper and Earl. "You two grab a gun and move to the windows over looking the hospital and be ready to shoot." He lowered his hand and addressed them all. "Don't shoot 'till you hear me fire, with any luck we'll be able to take 'em all down at once."

With that Blake took his rifle and jumped the fence of the balcony, creeping carefully over the roof he laid flat and raised his sight to his eye. "God dammit." He muttered under his breath as he surveyed the scene, he took aim at one of the armed men and waited a few moments for the others to get into position. Now he just had to wait.

[RumikoOhara]

Karen had seen too much that was for sure but she still wanted to live, the hell if she'd go out like some of those she'd seen since this all started. How many had simply given up and gotten killed or even worse ended it all themselves? She shook it off when she heard Jacob's comment "Oh come on, not you too. Tell me someone in this building is healthy, physically or otherwise,"

"Just a hell of. A lot to think about Jacob, I'm not cut out to be the leader sort but seems some think I might be.
Hell I was just a corner in a little podunk town before all this started" she said as he left.

She was just about to return to plotting her escape course when Jacob backed into her office once more only that time he was un limbering that commie sellout rifle of his. Karen didn't need to hear him say anything or for that matter even care what was out there as she picked up her 12gage semi an simply clicked it off safety.

"Thanks for the offer Jacob but I already have my own and am a much better shot with it than a hand gun" she says looking at the CZ briefly.

Using her foot she drags the M2A1 ammo box from under her desk.

Containing 175 rnds of military grade 12 gage shells she feels ready as she pops the metal can open pulling two rounds out and cupping them under the forestock so if she fires three times she can shove them quickly through the loading port.