[IC] War Never Changes

[Always]

Alyssa eyed the cereal bar as it was offered to her. "Thanks." She stated as she grabbed it. She couldn't help feeling somewhat selfish and needy for taking it, but it seemed impossible to deny. Her stomach seemed to jump a mile out of her stomach as she was saw the wrapping paper. She nodded at Charlotte thankfully, and teared open the casing revealing the food. She took a bite out of it and a few more till it was gone, finishing it, she crushed the wrapper in her hand.

She walked to the door placing it in the trashcan on her way. As she did so she realized something she didn't before. That the house was actually neat and somewhat organized. It was as if it was left untouched after the war. This thought seemed impossible but if it was true it would mean that there were some supplies left. " Did we check the place for supplies already?" She asked stepping away from the door.

She regretted the words after she spoke them, and prayed that Quin wouldn't be the one to answer it. She wanted nothing to do with him, nor did she blame him. Deep down she understood but she would never admit it to herself or anyone. The memories won't ever dissipate, the worst ones she holds. She could never forgive him. She wants to make him pay, but doesn't know how. The best she could do is ignore the fact he was there, but so far that seemed impossible. She knew they didn't have time to deal with this and she would avoid it as long as she could.

[Gelatinous Cube]

With a sincere nod and a quiet "thank you", Quinn took the cereal bar and proceeded to eat it in small, conscientious bites. There was lull in the moment where the group had grown quiet and Quinn involuntarily retreated inward.

"Do it, Harris," the gruff voice of Colonel Elias Vex whispered harshly into a broken man's ear. Quinn still had both of his eyes, and beneath the dirt and sweat was a face unscarred, but carrying the weight of sallow grief all the same. The loss of his wife and daughters was much fresher in his heart and mind and their face still retained distinguishing features in his memory.
"Slit her throat, Harris."
Quinn felt the weight of a colossal hand slap a knife against his chest with enough force to rock him back a little. He knew though, that was Vex's version of a soft tap. The titan of a man had enough strength in one hand to squish Quinn's head like a grape.
Quinn took the knife in his own hand and knelt down by the crying woman, eyes speaking odysseys of inhuman pain and torment. Twenty men had taken her, broken her and violated her. Quinn had been no exception.
It was a mercy to drag the knife across her throat. Her face went slack, her eyes dulled over and the dead weight of her figure fell with a thump onto the dirty ground.
"Congratulations, Harris. You've earned your fatigues at last."

Quinn was brought back to the present by the vague impression of Alyssa's voice. He had not heard what she had said, so he did not reply. He hadn't had a flashback that vivid for a long while. Alyssa had nearly been another body left in the dust, another throat slit. He wouldn't speak on the things that had been done to her, the things he had done and had let be done.
He realized he had been staring, and self-consciously looked down at the ground, clenching his hand into a fist beneath his poncho and nibbling at the cereal bar.

[jaybreezy]

Jake took a deep breath before looking towards the group. "Alright. Let's get a move on." He said, grabbing his rifle. He turned away from everyone and began walking. He smiled, trying to maintain inner peace. He walked with a slight hint of nervousness, his gait very awkward and unnatural. He was walking a bit slow, too. Jake could feel his heart beating and his head pounding. He was sweating a bit. Something wasn't right.

[SaikaAnge]

Celty leaned against the wall and rejected the cereal bar. Something no one was doing. However she did give a smile and was polite as she did. She didn't want to seem rude or ungrateful, not even overconfident in herself. It was more the concern of if she took the bar she would be possibly taking someone's last meal.
"I'm good. Thank you though." Celty thanked. Hearing Alyssa she turned to look around a bit. "Now that you mention it, it doesnt seem to have been. Far too clean. Almost unsettling."

She walked over to the kitchen and opened one of the cupboards, just to find a neat stack of plates. Another one to cups. 'Hasn't been picked at all...' Celtt thought to herself. "Does anyone know who this house belongs to? It hasn't been touched. Hell, there's not a thing out of place." she shook her head and shrugged slightly. Someone either had to be there recently, one of the group cleaned up, or the house was off radar until now.

She slowly opened another cupboard and found a rather good amount of cans of food. Vegitables and soup. "Well, that's convenient." she said quite pleased but uneasy. Turning back she saw Jake head out. "Um, I don't think he should go out there." Celty said, pulling her rifle off her shoulder. Her gut was screaming it was a bad idea.

[Always]

Alyssa looked at Jake as she raised an eyebrow at how ready to leave all ready. It didn't surprise her, but it didn't make her feel so great either. She didn't blame him either nor was she surprised, it was just wierd. Ignoring the fact she turned to Celty. "So I'm not the only one who noticed that, I don't know who owns it, but if someone did, they wouldn't just up and leave. " She stated, realizing the words she was about to say she shook her head.

'How did we just notice this now?' She wondered to herself. It seemed like something she should of noticed as the first thing but it wasn't. Her hand shook, she pulled the edge of her sleeves over them before she stated, "Wait, don't move that, everyone out of the house!" She practically shouted out.

[jaybreezy]

Jake quickly turned around hearing Alyssa shout. Out of pure instinct and reflex, he aimed his gun and looked around."What's wrong?" He asked, worry in his voice. Jake had an off feeling too, but the world right now was off too. He slowly walked back toward the group. However, something else bothered him too. Hearing Celty's small epiphany got Jake a bit on edge.

[Tsar Gatto]

Charlotte jumped at Alyssa’s outburst, she didn’t need telling twice as she heard her tone. Wasting no time she snatched up her bag and made her way towards the doorway before hesitating and turning back to see what the others were doing.

“What is going on?” she asked anxiously. She felt tense, ready to bolt at a seconds notice. Her hand went to the hunting knife at her side instinctively.

[Gelatinous Cube]

Realization struck Quinn like a sucker punch to the nose, or perhaps it was an instinct, or just some freakish unexplainable sixth sense. Whatever it was moved him before he could think about what he was doing. As Celty's hand closed around one of the tins his arm closed around her waist and using the weight of his entire body he wrenched her off her feet. As they fell he pivoted around to cover her with his mass, his arms copping the brunt of the impact as their forms hit the floor with a thud.
A roaring blast filled the air, and he felt intense heat and concussive force slide over his back as the removal of the can triggered an explosion.
One only narrowly avoided.
Quinn coughed and spluttered, his ears ringing and the world around him spun in kaleidoscopic pandemonium.

In a few moments that felt like an eternity, things cleared and his senses returned to him. He managed to rise and offer Celty to her feet.
"Probably a claymore. I'll bet my good eye those cans were fakes."
A second realization hit him even harder than the first.
"We have to move, now! If there any Blood Army nearby that blast will draw them in like sharks. Come on!"

[jaybreezy]

Jake jumped at the explosion and panicked. He pointed his gun around, trying to find the source. He then realized it came from inside. Jake's police instinct kicked in and he rushed into the house. He then heard Quinn's command, snapping Jake out of rescue mode and sending him into emergency mode. Jake slung his rifle around his back and looked around to see if and Blood Army were around.

A gut-wrenching noise was heard in the distance; a group of Blood Army shouting to go to the house. Jake pointed in the direction. "Guys, I think they're pretty damn close!" He warned motioning Quinn to be ready to protect himself, or the group, if necessary. Jake looked around to make sure the group was there and intact. "Everybody good?" He asked, disoriented from the explosion and full of adrenaline.

[SaikaAnge]

The explosion catching Celty by surprise and Quinn taking the brunt of it shocked her and made her body freeze for a moment. She coughed and took Quinn's hand to stand. Once on her feet she coughed again and dusted herself off a bit. Heart racing she grabbed her bag that had fallen off her shoulder and put it back on. "I'm not allowed to touch things anymore." Celty said half joking and half fearful.

Adrenaline rushed through her veins as she looked at Quinn then at Jake and rushed to the door. "Let's go. Even if it's not the Blood Army someone could've heard that and could be on their way." Celty stood by the door, rifle in her arms now instead of slung around her shoulder. Almost as instinct when Celty heard the shouting she raised her rifle and pointed it in the direction they heard it come from. "We don't have long. I don't have a visual yet, but will soon. I can pick a couple off when I do, but we better run like hell." her tone got colder and less frightened.

Celty waited for the slightest hint of a figure before preparing herself for the recoil each shot would have. "We have less than five until they get here." she watched them through her scope and judged the time off of their distance. Slowly she put her finger on the trigger and waited till they were in good enough range.

[Always]

Alyssa waited a moment after she shouted, eying the area Celty was in. She has seen this before how could she so stupid. She hoped to god that they would listen to her, if not they all would be dead. She paused and waited for a second. If they didn't listen, she would of up and left. They were nice people, for the most part, other than Quin, but she didn't feel any connection to any of them, almost as if she was distant, different. Leaving them behind would make no difference, she already had a bunch of blood on her hands.

A shocker, seeing that Celty and Quin did listen. She shook her head as she huffed," Great." She mumbled, another house destroyed, a place where someone used to live, memories of good and bad. She barely remembered that those days existed. She shook her head and ran out the door. Behind her slamming the door to try and block some of the explosion. "Get down." She shouted, jumping off the steps and went landing, and purposely tumbling over off her feet, her head buried below her elbows, and her hands blocking her head.

She hated this, all of it. She felt the pressure pushing her over. 'One, two, three.' She thought to herself, counting up till ten, before she stood up. If she had any injury's from it, she didn't care. They weren't important, nor did they matter. She could live with it.

Aly turned to Jake," I'm fine." She then turned to Celty. "Five minutes? Huh? Then lets get a move on, ditch the car, its efficient but to much distraction, come on!" She said as she bolted away from the scene and behind a building.

[Gelatinous Cube]

He felt agonizingly naked without a weapon. It was the way it had to be after his revelation, but at this point it was no more than a giant inconvenience.
If nothing else, he still had Blood Army training, and years of construction work had left him with a reasonable physique. If he got a hold of one, he could always just beat him to death. Or improvise a weapon from any of the detritus laying around.

"If we disperse through the houses it should break their line of sight. It won't get us as far away as a straight line, but we're no good in the open."
It was a strange sensation to be stepping up to the plate like this, it gave him an uncomfortable knot in his stomach. No time to dwell on it now.
"Celty, try and take out the engines if you can, failing that the drivers but don't stick around too long. Nobody needs to be a hero today."

******************

The sound of an explosion reached off into the distance and registered only vaguely on Elias Vex's ears. Vaguely was enough for his keen senses.
He called out to his men, in a mighty booming voice that was like a hundred swinging sledgehammers striking down all at once.
"Move out, assholes! We got a traitor to catch!"
Vex reached into a pocket on his tactical vest and withdrew a slender syringe. He jabbed it into his neck without even a flinch and plunged the blue liquid inside into his bloodstream.
It only took a moment for his pupils to dilate.
The soldiers behind him all did the same, and they rapidly grew more feral. They howled, beat their chests and pounded on whatever their fists met.
Vex and his demons were on their way.

[Tsar Gatto]

As the explosion sounded Charlotte threw herself instinctively to the ground and covered her head with her arms. Her ears rang afterwards and she looked up half expecting to see the others dead, but instead she saw that Quinn had managed to rip Celty away from the source of the blast at the last second thanks to Alyssa’s warning. She jumped to her feet and watched as the others sprang into action. Everything happened so quickly that before she knew it they were all outside before the dust had even properly settled from the trap, her instincts told her to flee as quickly as she could – only her desire to stay with the others prevented her, as well as of course the fact that on her own her wounded leg would make her a prime target for the Blood Army.

She stood beside Celty as she stared through the scope of her rather impressive rifle, listening as she spoke "We have less than five until they get here", causing Charlotte to frown and bite her tongue as panic shot through her.

It wasn’t long, but thankfully the group already had their belongings together. She couldn’t help but think how much worse everything would be if someone had triggered the trap in the middle of the night. Quinn quickly barked some instructions "If we disperse through the houses it should break their line of sight. It won't get us as far away as a straight line, but we're no good in the open. Celty, try and take out the engines if you can, failing that the drivers but don't stick around too long. Nobody needs to be a hero today." Charlotte gazed at him and noticed how uneasy he looked as he did. Their eyes met for a moment and Charlotte looked away out of more habit that anything else. Her mouth already was going dry as she tested her weight on her leg once more. It still stung like hell, but at least she’d be able to move quickly enough so that she wouldn’t be much of a liability to them.

Her heart continued to pound as she made her way outside and glanced around. The suburbs they were in were fairly large and sprawling, easy to get lost in she knew from experience. She wasn’t sure exactly what direction Gainsville was or how far they’d have to go. She shot a glance towards the car they were going to be abandoning and thought about how much easier it would be to drive. But of course Alyssa was right, it’d be far too loud and the BA would have no problem following them with their own vehicles and they’d have more fuel and resources that the group could even dream of.

As she took the first few strides pain again lanced though her leg catching her by surprise. She hadn’t expected it still to be quite so fresh and a small cry of pain escaped her lips despite her attempts to remain silent. She paused realising that without someone’s help she wouldn’t be moving very quickly at all, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything and pushed through the pain. In her mind she was scared that the others would abandon her… after all it would be the logical thing to do and just two days ago it’s what she would have done without hesitation.

[Gelatinous Cube]

Blood rushed through his head like tidal waves, drowning out his every thought as beads of sweat formed on his forehead and rolled into his eyes. He had no idea if he could pull this escape off. With each pulsing, jackhammer beat of his heart he could see a brand new vision of his comrades dead.
You're dead for sure if you don't move your ass!
Quinn steeled himself for the chase that was to come. He went over to Charlotte and roughly pulled her arm over his shoulder, trying to help take the weight off her leg.
"One eye, one leg," he smirked nervously. What a ridiculous time to joke.
There was no more time to deliberate, Quinn began to drag Charlotte along.

[SaikaAnge]

Celty nodded at Quinn then took a deep breath, peering down her scope again. She didn't have much ammo left, but it was enough to slow them down. She steadied her rifle the best she could, still uneasy from the blast, and steadied her breathing. She wasn't planning on being a hero today, she just wanted to slow them down so they all had a chance to run. She hated playing hero. I got too many cocky or brave people killed. And dying wasn't exactly on her agenda for today. Running, most likely, but not dying.

Slowly she squeezed the trigger. Watching one of the cars go up in a fiery ball of metal and smoke, as the recoil of her rifle took her a bit off balance. Celty need a more stable stance and a better view of them. "Hey! Is there a back door to the house? I may need to shoot through the window to get a better shot." She called back, hoping someone hadn't ran yet.

She began to back up and aimed again down her sight. This time when she squeezed the trigger she only hit the tire and caused the car to kick up dust and begin to swerve into the others. "Well, I guess that works." Before she could make another shot, they were getting to close for her comfort. Celty jumped up and looked behind and around her. Now she would make a run for it, and try to follow Quinn's idea of separating.