Walker paradise IC (open)

[Othermoose]

Cody reloaded his revolver and tried again. The second round of shooting had the same results as the first, except that Cody didn't even accidentally hit a can. "Seriously Emma, this is hopeless. I'm just throwing away ammo at this point. And even if I could hit a can from a mile away it wouldn't change the fact that I can't kill anything. Let's just go back." Cody said feeling disappointed in himself.

 

[SlySparrow0003]

"Cody, let me tell you something you already know, the world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a cruel terrible place and it will persistently beat you to your knees and keep you there if you let it, nobody, nothing is going to hit as hard as life. Now it's not about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take. And right now Cody your letting this get to you. And your hurting the cans. The zombies arnt people anymore there people wanting to be released from there bodies now, try one more time and I'll stop persisting you."

 

[Othermoose]

"The cans aren't people. They never were people. They don't look like people. They're cans. I've made it this far without guns, and I don't need them now." Cody shouted in frustration, flinging his revolver to the ground. He stormed out of the gun shop in a blind rage and slammed right into a zombie. "Holy fuck!" Cody shouted as the walking corpse grabbed him.

 

[Ldy_Sea]

Hiromi had heard the Kyonshi coming and was heading towards it to kill it. Suddenly Cody burst out of the gun shop and walked right into it's arms. The unthinking creature grabbed Cody with it's left arm and tried to pull him close to bit.

Hiromi broke into a run, knowing she only had seconds before Cody was one of them. Reaching the struggling pair, she grabbed its right arm to pull it away from Cody so she could kill it.

Unfortunatly this must have been one of the first to change over. The arm came off it's body like a drumstick off a turkey on Thanksgiving. Standing there with it's arm in her hand and Cody about to get bit, Hiromi did the only thing she could. She swung the arm as hard as she could aiming for the ugly, diseased, creatures head. Making solid contact, it knocked the thing to the ground, and she pulled her Katana and rammed it into the kyonshis skull effectively ending it's life.

Pulling her sword free, she scanned the area for more, and seeing nothing, she looked at Cody. "Are you hurt Cody?" she asked not unkindly.

 

[Othermoose]

Cody watched in slow motion as Hiromi sprinted over to him and the zombie, and ripped the creature's arm from its body. She bashed it in the head with its own arm, then stabbed it through the eye with her sword when it hit the ground. Cody backed up until his back hit the wall of the gun shop. He slowly sank to the ground and pulled his knees to his chest, his eyes never leaving the zombie that almost killed him. He heard Hiromi speaking, but he couldn't make out her words; she sounded very far away.

Cody stared at the rotting corpse for a moment longer before leaning over and vomiting on the side walk next to him. After he finished heaving he returned to his position of leaning against the wall with his knees to his chest. "I... It just... You... It was..." Cody babbled incoherently at Hiromi, his eyes still focused on the zombie.

 

[Ldy_Sea]

Kneeling beside him Hiromi caressed his head like a mother would a sick child. She had no idea what to say or do, but she felt this might be a turning point for him. This just might make him realize that having the skills needed to defend himself just might save his life, or Emmas one day.

"Emperor Hadrian of the Roman Empire once said, Peace through strength. Having the knowledge and skills to defend yourself, does not mean you must kill. It means you can protect that which you believe is worth protecting, like Emma. If Emma was attacked, would you have been able to protect her?"

She said to him trying to get him to look away from the corpse laying on the street, and to see the concern in her eyes.

 

[Othermoose]

After another minute of staring at the corpse Cody finally turned towards Hiromi. "N- no. No I wouldn't have been able to defend her. I'm pretty fucking useless." Cody said to Hiromi. He slowly stood up avoiding looking at the corpse. "I... I think I need some time to think. Thanks for saving me. I owe you... I guess I owe you my life." Cody said with a slight chuckle. He walked away from the gun store, unsure of where to go. After a moment he decided that the abandoned car in the middle of the street was as good of a place as any. He crawled onto the hood and sat down, pulling a joint from his pocket as he did. He lit it up and took a deep pull, thinking about what had just happened.

Cody knew that Hiromi was right; if he didn't figure out how to protect himself he was going to get himself, or someone else killed. He knew he should learn how to use his gun, but the thought of hurting something, even something no longer human and trying to eat him, made him sick. Cody took another, longer pull from his joint to clear his mind. He'd always tried to ignore his problems, hoping they'd go away on their own. He didn't want to think about how he'd almost just died, or how useless he was. He didn't want to think about anything. He leaned back against the windshield of the car and closed his eyes; he knew this wasn't a good place to take a nap, but right now he didn't care. Cody just wanted to ignore his problems right now.

 

[Ldy_Sea]

Hiromi watched Cody walk away. Entering the gun shop, she was amazed by the guns and ammo still on the shelves. A worried frown crossed her face. IF such important supplies had been untouched for this long, that meant this area must have fallen early in the outbreak and so over run with kyonshi that no one dared try to get weapons.

Seeing several knives she picked them up and added them to her arsenal. Then she saw Emma through some glass. Tapping on the glas she waved Emma over to her.

"Cody was attacked as he left. He is uninjuried, but very distraught. I thnk he needs you." She told the other woman.

Hiromi found several large canvas bags, and began to load all the guns and ammi into them. She didn't want them to be left behind for someone to use against them, and she didn't want her friends to be caught without weapons or ammo when they were attacked again.

Four bags full of weapons and ammo of every imaginable type and caliber, she took two of the bags and brought them to the restaurant, and made a second trip for the second two bags.

"We will need a pack animal or some kind of cart to move this much gear." She says to no one. Walking over to the Marine she again checks his pulse to see if he has died. Then she looks around for the other person who treateed Emma. She didn't see him immediatly which made her nervous and she decided to try and talk everyone into leaving as soon as possible.

She had a feeling in her gut that something bad was coming and she wanted to be long gone when it got there.

 

[SlySparrow0003]

A wave of panic sent through Emma, Emma ran out the door and grabbed Codys arm looking quickly for bites, without a word she tightly grabbed his arm and dragged him into the woods. She put the gun in his hand. "Don't say a word and I fucking mean it, this is the last time your about to die, because when we all die we can't be there, shoot the tree and we're not leaving until you get it down."

 

[LucasC00]

Eventually Matt returned to the diner, watching Emma and Cody run off into the woods as he walked inside. Once inside he took his unlit cigarette from his mouth and looked around. "Hey...where's that one guy? And do you have any idea why that chick and Cody are running off into the woods? Also what's in the bags? Damn...I'm gone for like 15 minutes and so much shit keeps happening."

 

[Ldy_Sea]

"Emma found the gun shop to be untouched. Those bags are full of guns and ammo, as well as some knives and cleaning suppliies. Emma was teaching Cody to shoot on the range in the gun shop. when he left after failing to hia a target, he was attacked by a kyonshi and I had o save him. Emma is not taking him into the woods to try to teach him to defend himself."

Hiromi takes a deep breath. "The other stranger has gone missing. I do not know where or why, and this has me worried. I believe we should find a different shelter in case he has hostile intentions. We will need a way to transport those bags. They are extremely heavy and should not be carried unless it is a last resort."

 

[LucasC00]

"Ooook then..." He took a pack of matches from his pocket and struck one and lit the cigarette in his mouth and took a long drag before speaking again as he exhaled, "well, I saw this thing in a zombie show once where this chick hacked off the arms and jaws of some zombies and used them to carry her stuff, maybe we could do that? What does that word mean by the way? Kyonshi?"

 

[Ldy_Sea]

"Using the Kyonshi...as pack animals. That seems dishonorable. If it were you or someone you loved, would you want to see them treated as a mule?" She says imagining someone using one of her now dead friends like that and her blood began to boil.

"Kyonshi is Japenese for reanimated corpse. It was also used as a name for a popular character who was a zombie vampire, very much like the wraith of the TV show Stargate Atlantis. I think it sounds nicer than zombie, nad it reminds me that these creatures are not people making it easier release them from the torment of not dying."

 

[LucasC00]

"Exactly, they're not people anymore. If I were one of then or my family were them I wouldn't care and they wouldn't care if we were used as pack animals because we'we'd be dead, incapable of thought. I feel like practicality is more important than sentimentality here, but that's just me. I understand completely if you and the others would rather not do that. I suppose we could make some sort of sled for the gear."

 

[Ldy_Sea]

"I was thinking of using some wheeled carts like you find at the grocery store. They are easy to push, and if the need to fight arises, no need to drop anything, just move your hands. Besides no need to construct anything. I generally find simple solutions are the best."

 

[LucasC00]

"Yeah, we could do that, but they'd be mighty difficult to push or pull through mud or just about anything that isn't paved really, that's not something I really look forward to doing. And building a sled or two wouldn't be that difficult, and this way if anyone ever got too injured to walk we could just put them on that also."

 

[Ldy_Sea]

Nodding her head at his logic, she was ashamed that she hadn't thought about heading out of town into unimproved areas. "Those are good points." She agreed. "Maybe somthing like the travois that the indiginous peoples of the New World used to move their belongings. They are simple to make and repair."

 

[LucasC00]

"I'll be honest, I don't know that word but I think I know the contraption you're talking about and that's exactly what I mean. Some lightweight flexible tree branches lashed together with rope or sheets cut into strips will do the trick nicely. Luckily I've made some stuff kinda like this before. I used to have a really good friend that was all about building off the wall shit like that. Atlatls, trebuchets, you name it. If it was useless in a modern world he built just because he could."

 

[Ldy_Sea]

"Sounds like someone who would be useful, now that civilization has ended and those useless items would be very useful."

 

[LucasC00]

At that he just began to laugh, "yeah, you bet your ass. I'd kill to ha r him here with us, but I suppose I'll just have to do in the meantime, thankfully I've picked up more than a thing or two from in the years I knew him, unfortunately I can't do what he did with the skill he had however, but I'll make do, I'll make do."

 

[Ldy_Sea]

"As we all will" Hiromi said sadly.

"I am going to look for some items I feel would be useful. Will you wait here for the others, and watch that one..." She points to the still unconcious Marine, "Until I return."

 

[LucasC00]

"You got it, just be careful and shout if you run into trouble." He took one last drag on his cigarette before dropping it and stomping it out. With that be took a seat facing the marine about 20 feet from him and placed his .40 in his lap. He made sure it was properly loaded then flipped the safety off and laid it in his lap.

 

[Ldy_Sea]

Hiromi walks out the door, and heads into town. She has no idea where teh building she is lookig for could be and this town is big enough to spend several days looking for it.

Passing a sporting goods store that was pretty well destroyed, she wondered why the gun shop was intouched when every other store around was cleaned out. Entering the store she saw that very little was left. No food, no flashlights, no lanterns, no stoves, tents or anything else even remotely useful.

Wandering around, she saw several bodies on the floor, but none were moving so she kept her distance, just in case. Getting to the hunting section, she saw all the guns and ammo were gone, but there were still arrows and a few bows left.

Making a note to come back for that stuff, she continued to search for a cart to put anything she found in it. Turning an asile she found a cart that had a few items in it. The person getting this stuff was still there, well what hadn't been eaten was...

Taking the cart, Hiromi saw it contained some clothing and cooking gear. Figuring that dutch ovens would be useful, and since she needed more clothes she didn't unload it.

Returning to the hunting section she collected teh bows and arrrows an then she went to the boating section where she found several hundred feet of braided nylon rope.

Thefishing section was cleared out, just a handful of lures. Taking them, Hiromi then went to the shoe section and found a new pair of boots. Grateful she had such little feet, that it was not uncommon for her to find footwear in her size, even now.

The last place she went was to the book section. This area was mostly untouched. She started collecting books about hunting all different kinds of game, as well as fishing, and wood craft. She even found a few books on wilderness first aid including plants with medicinal properties. Putting all this into the cart, she made one last sweep of the store checking behind and around every fixture to see if there was anything else she could grab.

Seeing a door marked employees only, she decided to check the stock room to see if there was anything in there that they could use. Pushing the doors open the smell hit her before her eyes saw the 20 or so Kyonshi back there.

Seeing the first meal in weeks, they began to run at her moaning. She shoved the cart at the closest ones to slow them down as she turned to run. getting out the door she ran back towards the restaurant scraming "Matt, Emma, Kyonshi, Lots of Kyonshi headed this way."

She climbed on top of the car in the street figuring that she would mostly be out of the line of fire, and would attract a lot of attention to herself, allowing the others time to shoot most of them, as she sliced and diced any that got close to her.

She drew her sword and waited for the onslaught.

 

[LucasC00]

When he heard the shouting Matt rushed outside to see what the hubbub was, that was when he saw the zombies roaming around, "Ah fuck me running." He took one moment to make sure the marine's bonds were tightened then rushed outside to back Hiromi up, gun in one hand hatchet in the other.

He moved in slowly, firing a single, careful shot with every step he took as he moved in until he was in melee range. At that point he simply began cleaving the hatchet into soft skulls, firing the pistol only when his other weapon was preoccupied and a zombie wandered too close to him. This was somebody who wasn't unused to combat and knew to keep a clear head in a fight, though he was untrained other than the most rudimentary of skills.

 

[SlySparrow0003]

Emma ran towards the 20 or more zombies, with only her hunting knife, thankfully being quick and sly she was experienced in knifes. Dunking under reaching arms and stabbing each in the throat, Emma kicked a zombie to the ground and turned around, stabbing another to the ground then turning and stabbing the one getting up in the throat, as four more approached her, she ran at 2 pulling out her four throwing knives, throwing them in a line, hitting all four as they fell to the ground dead. Turning around she elbowed a zombie in the face, stabbing it in the forehead. Panting she readied herself for more.