[IC] The Vanquishing of the Vampire Plague (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

[Sarpedon]

Kevin supposed that while out in the wasteland, knowing how to make a good cocktail probably wasn't that helpful, but he also knew that the best time for a good cocktail was when you were out in the wasteland. Zara seemed convinced that eating people wasn't so bad, though the contractor disagreed, if only because he found the thought a little repulsive. Then she assured him that there was plenty of opportunity to acquire corpses in the recovering world. He could see that, and didn't argue, though he did find the topic a little more unpleasant than he liked.

Thankfully his suggestion got them well away from dead people, and on to Zara telling him that he was wrong. Kevin chuckled a little while she did it, but before he could say anything else, the woman was back on the topic of eating people. She apparently needed to eat again soon, and he either had to buy her someone to eat, kill someone for her to eat, or let her chew on his arm. She seemed to be joking about that last point, but he decided to make something clear. "Tell you what? If you can separate my arm from my body, you can have it." he offered, entirely serious, "But if you'd like an easier meal, there is usually a small group of drugged-up psychos running around nearby. They don't like to get too close to town, but they tend to get eaten if they go any further away." he chuckled, wondering if amphetamines made people taste better or worse.

He supposed they could go find out, if Zara was really that hungry. And it would give him an opportunity to get through another week without having to worry about losing his mind. Kevin liked that idea, and supposed it was just a matter of finishing their coffee. To that effect, he downed what was left in his cup without a second thought, and then looked at his new friend. "I'm ready when you are." he assured the woman, trying not to stare down her shirt as he did. She was very shapely, especially considering the standard of living most people maintained nowadays, and he wondered if he might get his hands on her at some point. That was probably a question for later, though, since the last thing he wanted right now, was someone chewing on him for trying to cop a feel...

[sanquin]

Zara smirked, shaking her head. "I guess I'll pass for now. If this company really does plan to pay out I would give them the wrong idea if I ate you right away. Plus, you look like you have some training. I'd rather take my chances against someone that doesn't know how to fight, as long as I can make that choice." She vaguely remembered having eaten one of those drugged up nutters before, and that they tasted rather stringy and didn't have much meat on them, but it would have to do for now. "Druggies it is...though I'm not making a habit of eating those. You could compare it to eating old, dry bread opposed to fresh bread with butter." She shrugged, then made quick work of her coffee as well.

The woman then walked to her bike and sat on it. After putting in the keys and fiddling with the choke a little, pressed the start button. The first two times it didn't start. But then finally, under some protest, it started up the third time. "Guess my tinkering paid off." She spoke, excited that she had managed to fix the damn thing again even with her minimum experience. "Now, some ground rules for the passenger seat. First, hands around the waist only. Secondly, more for safety reasons, trying anything fishy while we're riding can easily result in us crashing. And thirdly, keep talking to the times when we're riding more slowly. Not because I don't want to chat, but because I won't be able to hear you anyway. Wind rushing past you and the engine and all that." Back before Zara got infected she had crashed with a passenger once. Something she'd rather not do again. As that was where she had gotten her cybernetic eye. Or rather, lost her biological one. "And that's about it. You'll have to tell me where to go obviously, as I have no clue where this company is. Considering you said it will take a week or two on foot, in another city I presume."

[Sarpedon]

Kevin was glad to see that even though she was a vampire, Zara still had some sense in her. He supposed most vampires should, when they weren't hungry, but he didn't know anyone who seen the other side of a before and after comparison. Not worrying about that for the moment, he made a mental note to avoid eating junkies when possible, apparently they weren't the most pleasant. Even that didn't seem to be something to dwell on, though, as they finished their coffee and moved to their mode of transportation. While the vampire sorted that out, the contractor put his hat back on, flicked his glasses back onto his face, and tightened up his scarf. Then he adjusted the way his weapons sat on his body so that he could sit comfortably for a long period of time.

By the time he was ready to go, his new friend had gotten her bike started, and she laid down the ground rules. Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to touch the obviously comfortable hand-holds already built-in to her appealing frame. The other rules were just common sense. No fidgeting or fucking around, and no yapping away when no one can hear him. He nodded, and casually spun his hat around on his head. He didn't think he would need nightvision during the day, and he didn't want to lose his favourite hat when they got going quickly. All they had to do was hop on the bike and get out of here. Of course, he had to figure out how he was going to hold onto Zara's backpack, too, so he took a moment to attach it firmly to his before he considered climbing on.

"All I've got right now is a grid reference. It's not in a city. I think they have their own setup, kind of like this one, but more heavily defended. Head north eeeaaast..." he blinked through his heads-up display as he trailed off, finding their destination in relation to their current position. "Call it zero-six-two-zero mils." that would also put them on a path most likely to encounter anyone looking to molest travellers. "You good?" if she wasn't good, he'd hold off on hopping on to her bike, and if she was good, then he had another exciting offer for her before they took off.

[sanquin]

"Oh great...one of those companies..." Zara sighed, but didn't say anything else about it. It didn't exactly help with building her trust towards these people though. Kevin was...fine so far. He was just a hired man. And apart from her catching him oogling her every now and then, he seemed friendly enough. Despite her having tried to rile him up a little during conversation. The man explained the direction they would have to go in, and she nodded. Though when he asked if she was ready something did spring to mind. The man did have a point when he said she shouldn't carry her gun in her pants. "Actually, I forgot one thing. I need to grab my gun's holster." She spoke, leaving the bike running stationary as she stepped off and headed to the workbench. There she opened a cabinet and took the holster out, strapping it to her left thigh. Her gun had fingerprint recognition, so she wouldn't have to worry about Kevin grabbing it as they were riding and using it against her.

[Sarpedon]

Kevin understood what Zara meant, but didn't know what to tell her. Then she ran off for a moment, thankfully having decided to take a holster along. Even if she just stuffed the holster down her pants, they would still be at least twice as safe than if she just left her gun tucked into her waistband. Fortunately for both of them, though, the vampire had a drop-leg holster and she used it properly, leaving Kevin feeling even more confident. Then, before they took off, he revealed his latest brilliant idea. "Ten bucks says I can peg the first bandit we see, on the first shot." he offered. He was about fifty-fifty on these bets, but this time he wasn't driving, so he figured the odds were in his favour. He'd never been on a dirt bike before, though, so he supposed anything could happen. It seemed fair to him, and it was only ten credits regardless.

Whatever her answer, it was time for them to go, so once the woman was settled on her seat, the contractor had to join her. He was glad of the pegs added for his feet, and managed to squeeze himself onto the motorcycle without too much trouble. With two backpacks, though, all he could really do was hang on, and maybe shoot someone with his revolver. He just hoped the first bandit that showed up was on their right side. It wasn't something to worry about, though, and he focused more on not touching Zara inappropriately as he figured out a way to sit comfortably. He wasn't exactly sure how long they were going to be riding this thing, and he didn't want to end up falling off, or making them crash, because he couldn't sit still enough...

[sanquin]

Zara smirked at Kevin's suggestion for a little bet. She wasn't really the betting woman. Her risks were taken in an entirely different manner. But 10 credits was still 10 credits. Problem was that she didn't have even that much left any more. "I'm a little short on money, but tell you what. I just found just over half a pack of cigarettes before you arrived. How about I put those as my bet instead?" A new pack was 15 credits, give or take, so it had about the same worth. And since he smoked as well, but seemed to not have any on them, he would probably take the bet that way. And she would still have a pack with only 1 taken out left to keep her busy for the next few days. "I'm hoping we'll find a raider before the drugged up nutters though..." Even if he did manage the shot, she might lose some cigarettes. But in turn she'd have an easy decent tasting meal. So this bet was basically win-win for her.

Once the man was sitting and ready, Zara clapped her hands three times, at which point the garage doors started to open on their own. It was a little program she had installed in the base's systems herself. And this way she didn't have to get off of her bike when she wanted to go out. The command only worked from the inside though. The outside worked on the standard voice recognition, hacked to recognize her voice. At first Zara decided to accelerate slowly. Kevin was clearly not that used to sitting on a bike, and people could get thrown off very easily if they weren't prepared for the G-forces wanting to throw them backwards. Her cyber eye didn't have something like grid coordinates. But she knew the general direction. And if she was unsure there was a man sitting right behind her that could point her into the right direction again.

[Sarpedon]

Kevin grinned as Zara offered him half a package of cigarettes instead of ten credits. He could deal with that. "I'll take that bet." he replied coolly. Now he just had to win. He couldn't promise they would find a raider before they encountered a junkie, but he could almost guarantee they would stumble upon, or be stumbled upon by, a group of crazies, before they got terribly far. But before he had to worry about that, he had to worry about exactly how difficult it was going to be to hang on. He had both arms looped around Zara's waist, but that didn't guarantee that he wouldn't fall off. It meant she'd probably fall off with him, but he didn't think that was a good thing either.

Lucky for him, they started off slowly, picking up speed at a pace that was gentle enough for the contractor to figure out how this trip was going to go. Paying attention to the terrain ahead, and bracing himself accordingly, the man didn't take long to feel significantly more comfortable with the whole situation. Now he just had to hope he could kill someone on the first shot at significant speed. Losing ten credits wouldn't be a big deal, but not winning that half pack of smokes would probably make him go crazy. And since he was already close enough to going crazy, the last thing he wanted was to do so prematurely and wreck something that wasn't supposed to get wrecked. He had definitely picked a terrible time to quit smoking.

So when he thought he spotted someone on the horizon, rapidly growing closer, he didn't hesitate to reach down and pull out his sidearm. The massive revolver was shakier that it should have been in his grip, however. He had indeed spotted someone, and considering the number of spikes on the person's clothing, he couldn't imagine they were anything but hostile. So he was already drawing down when he thought he saw them hefting a rifle to their shoulder. Of course, he could only have so much luck on any given day, so his smooth trigger pull turned into a jerk when they hit a bump he hadn't noticed, and the gun went off just a fraction of an instant before it should have. Instead of killing the man dead, it only took off his ear, and Kevin was left in defeat. A second shot tore a gaping hole in the man's chest, and the raider definitely wasn't going to survive that. But the damage had already been done...

[sanquin]

The moment a raider actually came into view Zara could feel her heartbeat quickening. Leaving the bet aside, this meant she would get to eat. On something fresh, no less. The corpses from the waste disposal were usually at least a day or two old, but this one would be a fresh kill. It was a bit annoying to have to restrain herself, as if she let her inner beast take over now they would definitely crash. Plus Kevin was to be the one to make the kill. A first shot was fired. And the man missed because of a bump in the road. Something she had gotten used to over time, so it hadn't even occurred to her that that might be a problem. She smirked a little, a part of her realizing that this meant he had lost the bet. That was 10 easy credits and more cigarettes for her. Though she might still give him another one as a kind of consolation prize.

Once the second shot had been fired, and had hit the target, they were only a few dozen feet away from him. And at this point Zara also gave up on trying to control herself any longer. She stopped the bike immediately, almost jumping off as soon as it came to a standstill in anticipation of her meal. "Better keep your distance~" She warned Kevin, a gleeful and hungry grin already on her lips. The woman started running towards the body at speeds rivalling top athletes. The last few feet she jumped, landing on top of the corpse on all fours as her teeth sunk into the body's neck. She ripped a large chump of flesh out, barely chewing and blood starting to drip down her chin immediately. It was like she was a completely different person. In fact, any unknowing onlooker would be fully convinced she was one of the 'first generation' the way she was now, opposed to the slightly more subdued but still very much crazy second generation of vampires.

[Sarpedon]

Kevin sighed as the bike came to a halt. He'd lost. The money wasn't really an issue. Ten credits was no big deal. The problem was, he'd just lost his opportunity at half a pack of smokes. He was going to need those cigarettes too. He could feel the stress worming around inside of him, and it wasn't happy. Lucky for him, another raider appeared before he had the chance to freak out. With his revolver still in hand, having not moved from the bike, the contractor simply leveled his weapon and squeezed the trigger. It was an effortless motion, and the man's head exploded as the piece thundered in his hand, kicking back violently. It was like a cantaloupe, the way the man's head burst. Except redder. Much, much redder. Two more idiotic assailants appeared, but these ones seemed to have the sense to use cover as they moved forward.

The next angry bark from his revolver winged one of them, and the other replied with a five round burst from his rifle. Kevin hadn't been expecting that at all. He felt the first round rip through his body, just above his right hip. The second struck above and to the left. The others continued that trend, the fifth bullet tearing open a hole just shy of his left shoulder. He moaned as he toppled slowly off the bike, squeezing off one more shot before he fell. He killed the man who'd shot him, but that left one wounded attacker. He didn't have a chance to consider him just yet, though. When he hit the ground, the pain finally kicked in, shoving its way through the adrenaline haze to shock him into clearer thinking. He tried to groan in pain, but all that came out was a bloody gurgle. The road to recovery was going to be very slow if he didn't do something about this. He'd survived worse, as his scars would attest to, but he knew the only way to do that was to give in. And now that he was dying, the animal inside of him wanted to get out. It wanted to struggle, even if Kevin didn't.

"Do your thing, Coyote." his lips formed the words, but it didn't sound like English. It sounded like hot blood and angry air bubbles. And then he remembered he was still dressed. He would have cursed, but his body was already in the throes of transmogrification. His vocal chords refused to respond for the moment. Instead he was left to thrash around as he gained about a foot in height and nearly doubled his bulk. All he could think of, now that he wasn't worried about dying, was warning Zara. He needed to make sure she was all right. Even when he looked like a gnoll from one of those stupid online games, he still retained enough sense to think clearly while he went crazy.

A growl finally escaped his throat, and he knew the transformation was complete. The only bit of his clothing not destroyed in the process were the rash guard boxer briefs he'd bought specifically because they could withstand the force of his transmogrifications. After the first couple of times, he'd realized that running amok with his junk swinging around wasn't exactly a good idea. He was slow to get up, even when he knew things were urgent, but he couldn't help that. Getting back up after being shot multiple times wasn't exactly easy. Overconfidence is going to kill you one day. a voice in his head scolded as he scanned his surroundings again, "That's what you're here for." he growled back.

Where Kevin had been just a moment before, now stood a hyena-beast, at least a foot bigger than the man in any given dimension. The only thing that hadn't changed, was the cybernetic arm. It looked almost comical, hanging there where a massive left arm should be. Instead, the mostly useless mechanical limb hung limp, and the monster relied on his good arm for most tasks. He snarled, hoping to locate the man he'd almost succeeded in killing earlier, and hoping Zara wouldn't freak out and try to kill him when she saw him...

[sanquin]

When Zara finally regained control over herself the corpse below her was missing a large part of an arm, most of his throat, and even some of his insides. She grinned contently, feeling a lot better now. Though that was quickly changed when she heard something like...a beast behind her? Her eyes widened as she jerked around, already reaching for her gun as she did so. There stood an...animal-like creature of some kind in the middle of the road, right next to her bike. Though she was very quick to realize what was going on. The creature had a cybernetic arm just like Kevin, and the man himself was nowhere to be seen. She had heard of were-creatures, but this was the first time she had ever seen one. This pissed her off quite a bit though, as he had lied to her...

The woman drew her gun, though didn't aim for the creature. Instead she aimed for a human that was currently trying to run away from the scene. Two shots missed, then finally the third one burst a hole through the guy's neck. He wasn't dead quite yet, but a wound like that would leave any normal person drowning in their own blood within a minute or two. If they didn't bleed out first that is.

Zara's focus now turned back to the were-Kevin, not sure about what creature he was supposed to be exactly. "You fuckin' asshole!" She yelled, starting to walk back to her bike, her gun aimed at Kevin just in case he was the type that lost control just like her. "You fuckin' lied to me! I should punch you in the face! Heck, maybe I'll just shoot you right here!" They were supposed to start trusting each other, yet he had decided to withhold a rather important bit of information to know before travelling together. Plus it didn't help that the adrenaline in her body wasn't entirely gone yet, so she was on edge to say the least.

[Sarpedon]

Kevin was glad to see that everything was all right. Zara hadn't been harmed by the wounded bandit, and she even managed to kill him. Of course, that seemed to be the least of his worries, since the vampire was no screaming at him. She accused him of being a "fuckin' asshole" and of lying to her. He disagreed with both of those points, the latter more than the former, and he definitely wasn't going to let her abuse him just because he hadn't told her that he was a werehyena. He put on his best offended look, and took a step back as she threatened him. If she didn't stop, he supposed he would just have to find another payday.

That gun shoved in his face wasn't really working for the man, though, and he couldn't help but growl. He wasn't capable of human speech at the moment, so a rumbling bass growl would have to do. It was the only warning Zara was going to get if she didn't calm down. He scanned their surroundings and determined they were safe for the moment, so he supposed now would be as good a time as ever to throw down, if it was going to happen. She's cute, you should be nice to her. rang the voice in his head. "She's got a gun in my face." he rumbled back, the noise indistinguishable from the other animalistic sounds he could make. Your loss! the voice laughed and began to fade away. "How about you fucking help me out here, instead?" he rumbled again, this time it was obvious the sounds weren't supposed to be vocalized.

He heard the voice sigh, and then a shudder ran through his body, starting at his toes, and working its way up. Good luck! his invisible friend meant well, but the words didn't sound very reassuring. Another moment passed, and then he started to return to normal, his bulk receding as his human shape took over. He toppled to his knees as he regained his humanity, and Kevin groaned quietly when he could speak again. "Technically, I didn't lie, since I never actually said anything about what I was claiming to be." he offered as he got up off his knees and began to stretch. Two lines of bullet scars stitched across his torso. One was fresh, the other much older, the holes smaller and more frequent. He had a whole web of other scars as well, but almost all of them were concealed or worked into his equally complex collection of tattoos. Classic Americana styled art swirled across his torso, and in the right light, had a peculiar glow.

"I also didn't mention that I was trained as a shaman." he offered with a shrug. "You might as well shoot me for that too." he laughed at the suggestion, convinced that Zara wasn't going to shoot him. Kevin was so sure that he turned around and started picking through his things. His clothes were ruined, as he'd expected, but that's why he brought extra. Lucky for him, his chest rig and drop-leg holster were sill in good condition, the buckles having given out as designed. But then he realized the one very major problem. His favourite weapon was no longer functional. He'd apparently fallen harder than expected, and the forend had cracked. Worse than that, though, the force of his crushing weight had also mangled the recoil pistons to the point that they couldn't possibly operate as intended. It was a relatively simple fix, in theory, but he didn't have a parts kit handy, and he was pretty sure no one else would be carrying one either.

His light-hearted nonchalance disappeared when he realized that his shotgun was useless, and he groaned unhappily. He'd spent all that money for nothing. "I blame you for that one." he only mouthed the words, communicating with the voice in his head. The spirit had nothing to say on the matter, however, and the contractor decided to focus on getting dressed, at least for the moment. He could worry about weapons when he figured out whether Zara was going to want to keep hanging out with him or not...

[sanquin]

And there came the rebuttal. 'Technically'. Thing is, she didn't care about technicalities. In fact, people using technicalities to excuse things they clearly shouldn't have done, or in this case should have done but didn't, pissed her off. She growled, quickening her step as the man turned his back to her. Clearly this man didn't have experience with women, otherwise he would have known ignoring them when they were angry at you only made things worse. Zara put her gun away as she reached him. Then she grabbed him, pulling him to turn around, and slapping him right across the face with her non-mechanical hand. "Fuck you and your technicalities! You expect me to trust you yet you pull stunts like this?! Next time you pull a stunt like this instead of a fist you'll get a hail of bullets in your face!" The woman hadn't even realized that it wasn't a fist but an open hand that had hit him, as her focus was somewhere else at the moment. She wanted to hit him a few more times, but decided to let go instead. Getting too worked up for her was bad, as the virus would start taking over again. And she really could use the money this private company was offering. Plus, dealing with a were-beast was going to be tough even for her when she was going mental.

The woman instead walked towards the closest corpse. So much meat was laying around, so it would be a bit of a waste if she didn't at least eat enough to be completely full. It would also help with calming her down a little bit more. Getting angry right after going wild meant that the adrenaline was still very much present. And she felt it was very likely that Kevin would piss her off again if she stuck around him for the next few minutes at least. Being a vampire wasn't all that bad if you remained sane. But it definitely had some major drawbacks here and there.

[Sarpedon]

Kevin was about to try and put some pants on when his new friend spun him around about as unceremoniously as possible. Before he could react she was smacking him in the face. Apparently she wasn't going to put up with being "lied" to. Just because he didn't want to share everything about him didn't mean she needed to flip out. That being said, two could play at this game. He snapped his human fingers and he burst into flames. Zara didn't seem terribly interested at this point, so he simply left himself to smoulder, burning off his anger as he got dressed. Unfortunately, it seemed she'd struck a chord, and the contractor was still burning brightly when he'd finished getting dressed. He grabbed a few of the larger scraps of his old clothes, and re-packed his bag. Now the only problem was his lack of weaponry.

The only real option was to grab the rifle from the man who'd tried to kill him. It did make sense. Coyote had mentioned something about that at one point, so he decided to give it a try. Stalking over to the dead man, he finally went from burning to a proper smoulder, which died out quickly once he was more interested in the corpse and its secrets ,than anything else. The raider only had eight magazines, and they were mostly a mixture of steel and aluminum GI magazines. The one jewel was the forty-round PMag squirreled away in the man's backpack, probably for trade. A bit of work had his chest-rig repurposed in a hurry, and he stashed his magazines away, fully intending to buy new ones as soon as possible. Then he checked out the weapon itself.

It looked like someone had taken a pretty standard M4A5 and put a new barrel and an A1 grip on it. Then they'd proceeded to strap as much crap as they could to it. Most of it came off immediately, the excessive accessories only made the weapon heavier than it needed to be. He only left the sight, laser designator, and foregrip on the weapon, and even those got moved around. It didn't take much time, though, since the man obviously knew what he was doing. Despite the time since he'd done this sort of thing professionally, the rifle sat comfortably in hands as he straightened up. The way he scanned the horizon, it was like the contractor had never stopped. He had to admit it felt good. "I told you so." Coyote gloated in his head. "Fuck you." he mouthed back, looking at the way they had to go. He wouldn't be surprised if more people showed up, drawn in by the gunfire. He supposed the only thing he could do about that, though, was to keep watch until the vampire lady was ready to get back on her bike and keep going. He just hoped she wasn't going to try and leave him behind...

[sanquin]

Once Zara had her fill of the large amounts of meat she could choose from the woman returned. Her adrenaline had settled down it seemed, so she could think clearly again. Most notable by the fact that she didn't feel like ripping off Kevin's head any more. And looking back, she probably over reacted just a little bit. This part sucked the most. In her little bunker she barely had to deal with people, but now... "Hey Kevin, look...uh..." She sighed, deciding it was better to just get this over with before things became too awkward to even bring it up. "Sorry about blowing up on you. Problem with being someone like me is I quickly become angry when the adrenaline starts pumping. It's not much of an excuse, but it's the only one I've got." That was also about as much as an apology as he was ever going to get from her. Life in the wasteland didn't allow for being sensitive, after all. "I'm a bit jealous that you can control yourself when you go all...were-beast or whatever you were. Would make life a lot easier."

The woman saw Kevin's old clothes laying ripped on the floor. And they looked relatively clean, so she decided to pick up a piece and wipe away the blood on her chin as much as possible. Then she walked to her bike, lifting it off the ground into a standing position, and checking if it wasn't hit by a stray bullet or something. Having to walk the rest of the way, while they had barely started, would suck a lot. "At least I shouldn't have any more outbursts for the next two or three days." She mused as she moved to sit on her bike again. "You good to go, or...?" Zara hoped they could at least reach a small settlement in an old military bunker before nightfall. As it was only slightly off the path they were taking. She didn't remember much from her 'hazy' years, but there was one person she would never forget. The man that had taken her in to help her on her feet. He had put an end to the haze. In return for being able to study her, yes. But she was able to live as she had done up until now because of him. A scientist living at the bunker, with about a dozen men. That is, if they were still all alive of course. "By the way, considering the direction we're going, I want to make a stop somewhere. We should reach it a bit before nightfall if we're lucky, so we can spend the night there as well."

[Sarpedon]

Kevin raised an eyebrow when Zara got his attention. She apologized, and he shrugged. She offered him her best excuse and he just chuckled. "It's not all it's cracked up to be... There's at least two of us in my head right now... Sometimes Coyote has fuckin' parties in there... Control is relative anyway..." he wasn't going to sit down and try to explain things, but he didn't need his new friend envying his apparent self-control when he wasn't convinced it was him doing the controlling. Coyote seemed at least as crazy as he was sometimes, he just couldn't tell who was driving the bus when things got hairy.

Kevin took the time Zara spent checking her bike, to cursorily inspect the other dead bodies, looking for more ammunition or magazines. He didn't find much of anything, though, and shrugged when she asked if he was good. "Good is relative, but let's get out of here before the vultures show up." he replied, double-checking his gear was strapped on tight before he hopped on the bike. Then his companion said she wanted to make a stop, and he shrugged, even though she wouldn't be able to see it. "Sure, as long as it's not going to get me killed..." he figured that meant most places were safe, since it took a lot to kill him. Then again, sometimes it seemed like it didn't take all that much to kill him. A big enough spike through the heart, to slow him down, and then chop off his head and put it on an equally large spike. Assuming no one messed with his body after that, and he'd die. Eventually. He shuddered a little at that thought, and pushed it away. He thought about cake for a while, clearing his mind of everything else, and after he didn't know how long, he managed to focus on their surroundings again. Then he started wondering where they were going...

[sanquin]

"The place is safer than anything else we might be able to find in the wasteland at least. They had some decent defences last time I was there, and they didn't even kill me when I was living there." Zara started her bike, and off they were once again. Strangely, she felt a bit more at ease with Kevin around now that she knew what he could do. Maybe because they were a little bit the same. Both of them were freaks, in a way. At the very least she didn't feel like he was going to kill her any time soon. Otherwise he could have done so already. The problem was when they arrived at this company that had hired him. But that was a worry for later. The first had to get there after all.

The rest of the way there they were able to make decent time. It was only dusk when they arrived, even though Zara's bike was running low on gas now. With some luck she could get some from her friend, so they wouldn't run out the next day a few hours into their travels. The woman stopped right in front of a thick metal fence, signs posted all around it warning of high voltage. The gate itself was made up of mostly scrap put together, but it looked very solid and pretty much unbreakable unless you used a rocket launcher or something. Inside stood two small buildings. One had a normal door at the front, while the other looked more like a kind of heavily fortified garage. There were no lights turned on, though that was obviously to keep the place from attracting attention to itself.

Zara waited for Kevin to get off before stepping off herself and putting her bike on it's stand. She then walked up to the gate and waited for a few seconds, looking at a small camera to the left side of the gate. Nothing happened though. The woman growled, taking another step forwards and using her metal arm to bang on the door a few times. "Geoffrey, open up or I'll kick the door in asshole!" Not that she could...but it was the idea that counted. A moment later a small spotlight turned on, illuminating the area just in front of the gate. "Zara? Three years without a word and now you suddenly show up?! Fuck you bitch! I have no food for you!" Came as a reply. "I already ate! I'm just passing through so open the fuck up!" Another few moments of silence before the gate indeed slowly started to slide open. "Let's get inside." She spoke as she turned around to get her bike inside as well. As she did, a single person in slightly worn military gear stepped out of the small building, rifle in hand, coming to greet them. He looked friendly enough, though still weary of the two sudden visitors.

[Sarpedon]

Kevin liked the sound of the place they were headed being safe. And if they didn't kill Zara, he was pretty sure they wouldn't kill him. Stranger things had happened, he supposed, but it was a start, at least. And lucky for them, the trip was practically uneventful. They got so much further than the contractor had planned, he was beginning to think that another day like that might have them at their destination. Two more tops, assuming they didn't run out of fuel. Even if they did, though, as long as the vampire was willing to ditch her bike, they would still have cut their travel time down drastically. It was something to consider later, though, since they appeared to be stopping for the night now.

When they did stop, it was in front of a scrap-heap of a fence that claimed to be highly electrified. If nothing else, it was incredibly sturdy. The were-hyena was hoping he wouldn't have to compete with the thing any time soon. The man hopped off the bike when he realized they were staying, and he was very careful to never take his hand off the grip of his rifle. They waited for a moment, and then Zara started yelling. He wasn't convinced she could kick the door in, but he would certainly try if that was the next course of action. With a little help from Coyote, the contractor was very sure he could get in.

He even prepared to do just that, when he heard the way the person on the other side spoke to his new friend. He was about to start undressing when the gate began to open, though it seemed reluctant in the way it slid. When Zara insisted that they go in, Kevin spun and lifted his rifle to his shoulder, covering their rear as they got through the gate. He let the muzzle of his weapon return to pointing at the ground as he turned again, however, when he saw the sort of person coming to greet them. Having interacted with the sort of people who wore military kit before, the werehyena took some very careful precautions. His left hand came up, and pinned the receiver of his weapon to his chest, even as he leaned forward, extending his right hand toward the man. "Kevin. Nice to meet you." he offered. His voice was a little gruff, but only because he'd had to wait so long outside, and he knew the man had to understand that. The gesture remained, however, and that normally went a long way. If not, he supposed they could always just leave. Nights outside weren't exactly fun, but he'd endured enough of them to have learned a few things...

[sanquin]

Zara took note of Kevin's weariness, finding his reaction understandable but unneeded. The guards here were just that, guards. Sure, they had been trained by a military guy, but the clothes were just what they had available in the bunker. The woman walked towards the guard, impatiently crossing her arms. "Well? Open it already. We'd like to go in." The man frowned, looking the two over once again. "The boss told me to just let you two in, but...no funny business." "Funny business? You must be new here." She replied, though left it at that. The guard went back into the small building, and a moment later the large garage doors opened. Behind it was a ramp leading down into the ground, with another, sturdier metal door that was also slowly opening now.

Zara walked towards it and entered. Though as soon as she took a step inside, a wooden baseball bat came swinging from the left side. She quickly raised her left arm at the same time, cracking the bat as it hit her. Though rather than raising her guard, she turned to her assailant and grabbed him, pulling him out from behind the wall. "The fuck Geoffrey! Three years and this is how you greet me?!" She sounded quite angry at this point. Though the man retaliated without hesitation. "Shut it ya little rat! Three years and not a word from you!" The man looked to be in his early- to mid-forties, with long messy dark hair and a pair of prescription glasses. His white lab coat was a little cliché, but it was obvious this man was a scientist of some kind.

Geoffrey swung at Zara, hitting her square in the cheek. Though the woman barely flinched, and returned the favour right away. She, in turn, sent the man tumbling to the ground. "What do you expect when you greet me like this every fuckin' time I come here?! We're staying for the night, so deal with it!" The man grumbled, getting up and rubbing his cheek. "Fine, you can stay the night. The hell are you all the way out here for anyway? And who's the though guy behind you? Got a boyfriend now or something?" Zara seemed to calm down again, putting her hands in her pockets. "I'll tell you about it over a drink. You still drink, right?" The man nodded, then motioned for the two to follow him. Zara turned to Kevin, seeing that that little display just now hadn't helped him being on edge. "Calm down, Kevin. They won't try to harm us. Geoffrey and I just have a history."

[Sarpedon]

Apparently the man with the rifle wasn't the person they were looking for. Instead, they got a warning about funny business and then the guard disappeared. That was followed by the garage door opening up, the panels grinding up and out of the way. Behind that was a ramp, and at this point, Kevin was starting to get a little nervous. There were too many doors here. And then, of course, when they least expected it, a baseball bat came out of nowhere.

Zara seemed to have things under control, but that didn't stop her companion from cocking his weapon and keeping it levelled at the crazy man in the lab coat. The werehyena was on edge through the whole exchange, and he'd already planned out fire and movement, should things go south. Of course, the vampire was very confident that things were going to be fine, and she told him to calm down. "Should have slept outside..." he mumbled, only lowering his rifle very slowly. He swept the whole area again, checking everything around him, before he reluctantly unloaded the rifle. Once the chamber was clear and he'd snapped the magazine back into place, he followed the other two with enough trepidation for all of them.

"I've got some fuckin' history for ya..." he grumbled as they headed down the ramp. No one who swung a baseball bat at him would be getting out of that situation uninjured. He couldn't promise death, not in this day and age, but he could definitely promise pain. As they descended into Geoffrey's lair, he kept one hand on his rifle, clutching it to his chest, while the other fondled the hilt of his revolver. If anyone tried anything, he was probably going to lose his mind. The last thing he needed was Geoffrey thinking he was Zara and getting swung at, so he hoped that if he looked uncomfortable enough, they might call off the shenanigans. That being said, part of him definitely wouldn't mind some shenanigans...

[sanquin]

Geoffrey led them through a few hallways. Here and there they'd encounter someone dressed in military clothing, and in two rooms they passed there were also women. This bunker seemed more like a shelter for several families than anything else. Though that wasn't it's true purpose. Eventually they arrived at what looked to be some kind of lounge. There were some couches, a music player, a TV, and even a small fridge. Geoffrey opened the fridge and took out three beers, tossing Zara and Kevin one as well. "So, have a seat and tell me what the fuck's going on. You're not the type to move from your safe spot Zara..."

The woman caught the beer and sat down in one of the couches. And since there was an ashtray on the table close to it, she decided this was a good time for a smoke as well. Heck, it was only the second one of the day so she had actually been smoking less today. "Kevin, you want one too I presume. Just uh...buy me a pack whenever you get the chance next time." She spoke, tossing him the half-pack that she had promised for their bet earlier that day. The last thing she wanted was for him to get all nervous and twitchy every time she had a smoke while they were travelling.

"Talk ya brat, don't ignore me." Geoffrey grumbled, not too keen on Zara's smoking habits, though not telling her to stop either. "Fine fine..." Zara sighed, quickly lighting her cigarette before speaking. "The short of it is that some private company wants to study me to find a cure or something. Kevin here's the one that came to get me." Geoffrey frowned, glancing at Kevin for a moment. "And you actually trust them?" The woman shook her head. "Of course not. But the pay is too tempting to pass it up before even seeing what this is about." Once again the man glanced towards Kevin. "You realize that if you get her killed I'll hunt you down, right?"