On The Road Again

Guiding their way in Justin kept his eyes on a swivel, letting them drift between the string of long abandoned vehicles, the tall grass lined the road bordering farm patches that had since been retaken by nature, keeping a moderate pace Justin kept his eyes out for anything that didn't match up with what he considered the norm for the current environment they found themselves in as they began to approach the town of Minneapolis from the south east as they had been forced to take a detour due to multiple routes being blocked or barricaded either naturally or unnaturally by the locals that had long since abandoned the area.

Making their way into the town Justin snatched up the advertisement that they had found for the Milsurp store in the adjacent town before waving it towards the back of the camper, "Fearah. You good at navigating?" He called before hearing the soft patter of feet meeting the old carpeted floor of the vehicle before growing louder as she approached. "Navigate? I mean I'm better at it than S over there but I mean, I'm no expert." She responded taking a quick jab at her sisters near inability to find her way by map. "Yes sir. I can." Fearah then said after getting her little joke out of the way. "Good, Take this and guide me in." Justin had nearly memorized the path to CC when they had taken a rest that morning but wanted to put Fearah through a test of his own, They had previously proven themselves enough to stay in Alex's eyes but Justin was curious at just how far their knowledge went and how much this father of theirs had taught them, "Take a seat there." Justin then said before pointing to the passengers seat with his free hand, "Alright, Where to?"

The two spent the next twenty minutes making the way to CC Milsurp and as they pulled around the corner that bordered the parking lot it seemed the only cars that remained where that of whoever may have worked here before the fall of the world, "Good Job Fearah." Justin said after straightening out the wheel from the turn, Glancing back at the other three Justin wasn't surprised to see Alex already gathering her stuff, chomping at the bit to go in. Chuckling for a moment as he turned back to face the road he then guided the camper to the back alley that housed the buildings loading dock, "Alright ladies, We're here. Who's going and who's staying?

Turning the engine off and letting the silence overtake the vehicle Justin listened for the sound of nearby walkers before turning to face the rest of his traveling companions for his answer, Not surprisingly at all Justin let a smile form on his face as he saw Alex already doing the last checks before opening the door and securing the immediate area. Hearing her ask the question herself he watched as Fearah rushed passed him and quickly gathered her pistol that had rested next to her sister before practically cheering that she would go before Justin saw her disappear down the stairs towards Alex, Turning his attention to Sarah and Kelly that sat across from each other Justin slid the keys into his pocket before making his way to the small hallway that divided the living place and the driving compartment before resting his weight against the wall, "What about you two?" He asked, "No thank you sir, If it's alright with you I'd prefer to stay here." Sarah responded in a respectful manner which Justin nodded with a response of approval, Turning his attention to Kelly, "What about you kels?" Kelly looked up at her brother nervously, He could tell by the look she gave that she wanted to go but was holding a sort of apprehension at the idea, It wasn't anything new to Justin as she always got this way when they were going to be separated and so in a quick few steps he joined her on the couch, "Alex is gonna be there, I trust her with my life and yours as well, Go if you want sis."

A few more words of encouragement later Justin watched as Kelly made her way down the stairs to join Alex and Fearah outside the camper. "Looks like that's that babe, You're raiding party is complete so I'll watch the camper with Sarah here." He called before getting to his feat, coming to stand at the top of the stairs to hear any sort of response Alex may have had.

(OOC: This post is from the perspective of Fearah)

Falling in behind the Lieutenant Fearah stood awaiting the order to move out, her pistol rested firmly in her grasp as she watched the girl that had resided with the Lieutenant and Justin when they had first met make her way down the steps, an apprehensive air about her as her feet met the crumbling asphalt of the back loading dock. Keeping her eye trained on the girl as she made her way to stand next to her Fearah let a smile form on her face. "Heyo, You ready to go a-lootin?" Fearah joked but was only returned by a nervous smile from the girl. As Justin returned to his feet and disapeared around the corner Fearah felt the excitement building, coming to a head upon hearing comment leading to them moving out, "Right, Yes ma'am." she said before taking up a position behind the woman, "Hey, Get between us alright?" She said quietly to Kelly. Taking to watching the rear out of a habit that had developed between the two sisters, Sarah always took the lead while Fearah took up the rear.

Making their way around to the entrance and into the long destroyed door Fearah took notice that it seemed like it had been forced rather than opened which instantly sent her on alert, Keeping her mind on the task at hand as they moved through the entrance and into the dimly lit building. Taking cautious steps as she came to stand once again in a position to cover the rear her ears perked up at the mention of her name. Turning to face the Lieutenant the girl straightened up and came to a half form of attention "Yes Lieutenant?" she asked with the same respect she gave her father all those years ago when he had started her and her sisters training, even though she acted rebellious back then those acts were restricted to safe area's in the current times.

Upon hearing the orders to take Kelly and to search for some MREs Fearah let her ears perk up once again, the thought of food, even prepackaged ones meant for combat sounded amazing right about now, A meal other than whatever wild berries they could find for that matter would do. Giving The Lieutenant a salute she turned and waved for Kelly to follow her before quickly disappearing down the adjacent isle. What supplies were left had since been scattered in every direction, Long dropped coats and ACU's littered the walkway, Having to step over a few garments here and there the duo reached the end of the isle before Fearah took a glance at the small guide table attached to the wall, "MREs/Rations ->" she read the sign aloud to herself in a hushed whisper before motioning for Kelly to follow her, "Stay close alright?" She whispered as they stepped over a couple more thrown garments before reaching the area that had previously been marked on the wall. "There." Fearah muttered before she swung her pack off her shoulder and let it come to rest along the floor near her feet. "Stay here, I'm gonna make sure it's clear." She ordered before looking the girl over in the little amount of light that the scattered skylights of the building provided." umm, Do you have a weapon?" She asked which was quickly answered by a shake of the head by Kelly. "Okay, take this, just stab'm in the head if they lung at ya." She said as she fetched her knife from her hip and placed it in the girls hand before turning on her heals and into the section.

Making her way to the back wall she was greeted by a cluster of long deceased corpses, their heads having a clean blow to the head which wasn't surprising to Fearah as only members of society that have a taste in weaponry would have a reason to venture to a military surplus store. "Alright, so ya'll are dead." She muttered before quickly clearing the remaining three isles, each one clear of bodies which lead to the assumption that the ones that were now piled haphazardly near the back wall where the only ones. "Alright Kelly, Think we're clear." She said as she rounded the corner. As her eyes met Kelly however she saw a lurking figure behind her. "Kelly, down!" She shouted before quickly moving her M9 to face the creatures head, letting a bullet find it's way to the things head mere milliseconds after Kelly's head ducked on queue to her words. Letting her breath steady from the surprise Kelly looked up at the girl. "Alright, Now we're clear." Fearah let a chuckle out with the words, her nerves frayed from the thought that if she hadn't come when she had they would have possibly just paid the ultimate price.

"Alright, Grab the bag and we'll load as much as we can of these up as possible." Fearah ordered after catching her breath, Kelly didn't hesitate to get a move on, her head now glanced back every few seconds from the fear of the previous encounter that still lingered in her mind. Scooping an arm full of MREs from the rear of the bottom shelf where a good amount of them still resided, possible due to their location. They repeated this with the next two and before they knew it the bag was carrying as much as it could in ration packs. "Good job Kelly, Let's regroup with the Lieutenant." With those words Fearah turned and led Kelly back to the survival equipment area where they sat and awaited the return of Alex.

There were two more bodies that Alexandra had dealt with in a similar manner. One was a man in biker leathers, buckshot leaving a nasty pattern of wounds in his chest, and the other had a detective's shield on his belt. She presumed that at some point he was holding the shotgun that had done the biker in, simply because of the way his hands had been left. He had a large caliber entry wound in his thigh, the amount of blood spilled told her the round was big, like .44 magnum big. He had a knife still embedded in his side, which probably hadn't helped either. She didn't like having to waste the rounds on them, and neither of them had any ammunition on them in any case. 

She pushed those thoughts deeper and made her way to the survival equipment aisle. Along the way, she saw both women and men's clothing, with a few sizes of what she thought might fit Kelly, and possibly the two new girls. Alexandra knew that she, Justin and Kelly definitely had spare clothes, her own in her pack, but you couldn't count on there always being the opportunity to pick up some. Besides, this store had clothes that would last, and that was an important factor. For her, it was easy, she found the nearest breathable fabric t-shirts, short and sleeveless for the summer and a few thermals and an extra jacket for the winter. 

She 'um'd' and 'ah'd' for a few when looking for Justin's, but settled on something. Solids, camouflage and the like. She found a dark purple and decided that it was the biggest risk she would take. All these years later, and given what had happened since, it was hard to remember her time shopping for Vasily, and so she fell back on what she had seen Justin comfortable with and what she wouldn't mind seeing him in. On the way over, pistol in the other hand, she tossed them into a gym bag that she'd liberated from the 'on sale' stand near the clothing aisle. 

Then she came across the clothes for the girls, and that's where Alexandra was truly stumped. She'd never had siblings, and her days of shopping with cousins were long behind her. She took a deep breath, and tried to think about what they might want. She rounded the corner and saw the two girls waiting. "I heard a shot," she asked as she put the bag down, immediately looking over Kelly to make sure she wasn't injured before doing the same to Fearah, "all okay, right? Did I miss one?" She didn't wait for an immediate answer, as she realized that they'd spent enough time here. "Here," she said, placing the clothes she'd picked out, hoping silently that they'd like them, "I brought two sizes, see if they work." 

Once she'd done that, she pulled off another backpack and began stuffing appropriated items from the shelves; survival matches, a spare maglite with spare batteries, one of those stupid little 'solar chargers' for phones (never knew when it would come in handy), fuel tablets (the smokeless variety) in a somewhat frantic but still ordered manner. "If none of them fit, then speak up, yes?" she called over from where she was. There was more, fresh purification tablets, filters for their water filtration pump, and finally, a Fiskars X7 hatchet. A smile flickered across her features and she tucked it into her belt. 

Running around the aisle so that the she was with the two girls again, holstered her weapon and slinging the second bag over her shoulder, her right hand found the comforting grip of her OTs-14, and she brought the weapon up. "Alright girls, time to go. Watch my back, yes?" she asked. She tentatively shoved the door open, when unearthly growling drew her attention to the rear of the building. The rear door was now open, and she could see the undead filing through the rear of the store. She looked up in the vague direction of the sky, and hoping someone was listening, let out a tired, "Chevo (Why? But more akin to what for, in Spanish)." 

Alexandra put a pair of rounds in the nearest walker's head and kicking the door open behind her, leaned into it to hold it open before barking her instructions to the girls, "Go! Get to the camper, now! I'll join you, just have to keep them occupied!" She fired another burst, taking the neck and most of the head off of the next walker. Unfortunately, the aisles provided them cover, and she didn't have the ammunition to waste trying to fire at what she couldn't see. She signed for Justin and Sarah to cover her as she stepped back from the door, firing at another walker that showed itself. 

Alexandra thanked two things, chiefly Justin's attentiveness that caused him to bring the camper out front, and the fact that she'd learned what the US Army hand signals were during her training, and that she'd managed to retain that knowledge. However, she was down to little under fifteen rounds now, having fired the weapon earlier. Alexandra continued to fall back, trusting the girls to get back to the camper and for Justin to cover her. She couldn't move too quickly, else she'd risk failing to stem the approaching tide. 

Stepping on the gas Justin kept his eyes pealed for any obstacle that may impede them on their way out of the town. Making his way down the street he veered the camper onto the ramp leading back to the highway, making sure to keep his pace steady as the road straightened out into the highway before turning up the speed. Glancing at the dials in the dash he took note of the gas gauge that was one notch away from the red, "Hey girls? Grab the map outa the glove compartment and find me the closest town to this one." He called to his companions before seeing the silhouette of Fearah beside him doing as he was asked, a quick "Yes sir." leaving her lips as she turned to return to the rest.

Continuing down the highway the tall buildings and overturned cars gave way to fields of grass and wheat once more, the tall golden walls flanked them on either sides and the sun was high in the sky. Justin Wiped a bead of sweat from his brow as he looked at the gauge, "Find one yet girls?" he called back again returning his eyes to the road, A few minutes passed before his answer would come. Fearah returned once again with the map, holding it up she pointed to a small plot down the road that they were on, "Sorry it took so long sir, we had to wait for you to pass a sign to know where we were." The young girl answered with a apologetic air to her words. Justin smiled back at her warmly "Don't sweat it kid, Good job soldier." And with that he took the map and placed it in his lap before dismissing her back to the rear of the camper with the others. "Alright, just a little more. You got this." Directing his words to the dashboard of the vehicle like it was sentient.

About twenty minutes would pass pretty uneventfully, the gas light had since began to glow in a foreboding hue of red and the engine had begun to sputter every now and again as it was slowly running out of fuel to drink. The fields had since fallen off again and small buildings began to dot the land, in the distance the unlit sign of a gas station stuck out like a sour thumb on the side of the road. Justin pulled to the side and signaled the others to come have a look, Fearah had fetched a pair of binoculars out of her pack and peered through them. "What you see?" Justin asked turning his sights to the girls face. "People, Guns, Cars. They have some pretty rough look to them too." She responded, Justin turned his gaze to the road once again before turning off the engine, He had turned the vehicle to the side in the manner of a humvee pulling up for combat deployment out of habit more than anything but he thanked his habit for it, there wasn't a question on whether or not they saw and heard them approaching, nor was it a question on whether or not they were post up there, the question that still stood unanswered was how will they respond to strangers arriving and asking for their fuel. "Fearah, Sarah." Justin called to them, waiting for them to line up in attention in front of him before he continued. "If you trusted your shot enough to stay up high and have enough skill to hit a target at range I want you and your sister to take Kelly and find a place high enough to give you a vantage point in case something happens."

In the time that the two girls had been with them they had proven themselves to Alex, at least in some ways. And that was enough for Justin. Giving them a nod he turned to Kelly as Sarah fetched her rifle and Fearah her binoculars from the front of the cabin. "Go with them Kels, Alex and I are gonna go say hi to the people at the gas station. If we're gonna be going anywhere we're gonna need fuel." He explained to his sister in the hopes that she wouldn't cause a fuss, the uncertainty showed clearly on her face as she thought it over, her mouth opening a few times but closing before any words came out she resorted to a nod, In truth she didn't want to leave his side but she knew when Justin was being serious and at the moment he was dead serious. "Alright." she softly responded before hugging him tight. After a few moments Justin pulled away and stood up, Fetching his weapon he looked to Sarah and her sister, "Alright, Get somewhere high, set up, cover us if things go south. If you have to run take Kelly with you, Keep her safe." And with that he ushered them down the stairs and out the door. Reaching the road, the camper blocking the view of the gas station in the distance Sarah turned and saluted. "Good hunting sir." she said before spinning on heals and leading Fearah and Kelly between two buildings and out of sight. "Keep her safe." He repeated to himself before turning to return to Alex. "Alright babe, their off, you take point."

Setting out from the camper Justin waited for Alex to make her way through the door and out onto the road before swinging his rifle over his shoulder and following suit. Shutting the door behind him he made sure the door latched and locked before stowing the keys in his front left pocket. "You take point babe." He said giving her a nod signalling his readiness to begin the mission if you will. circling around the vehicle in a swift manner Justin looked over the makeshift compound that stood before them, cars and trailers had been pulled together forming a pretty formidable obstacle if for some reason they would be forced to break in or out. Taking notice of a small cluster of armed men eyeing them as they approached Justin watched as one of them signaled the other, seeing the man's mouth move in silence before he disappear behind the stacks of metal. "Stay on guard Babe." He whispered as he felt his muscles tense up, He knew he didn't have to remind her and that she was more than likely already on full alert but it was habit by this point.

Letting his eyes drift to the surrounding buildings he wondered which building their little sniper team had chosen to set up in, and internally hoped that they hadn't run into any issues on their way to carry out the orders that he and Alex had given them. Most of all however was the concern that coursed through his veins for his sister, it had been ages since he had sent her off on her own and even though he was sure she could handle herself by this point the thought of not being there to save her if something went south was his greatest fear. "Stay safe." He muttered to himself.

Picking up his pace to catch up with Alex his ears twitched as he heard one of the members of the gas station call out to them. "Stop right there you two!" the voice shouted, a rough smokers voice accompanied the first "What ya'll doing here?" the man asked, his voice carried authority as if he was a high ranked official or police officer before the end. The tone sent Justin on guard even more, even though what they had said so far seemed harmless, it was the way they had said them. Like the last thing they wanted was to see new faces, like whoever did was trespassing on their territory. "We aren't lookin for trouble folks." Justin called out in response as him and Alex came to stand a distance away from the makeshift wall where the two man stood. "Running low on gas you see, was wondering if you had any to spare." He called out once again, The rough man responded. "No, We don't. Not for the likes of you at least." brandishing his weapon he aimed it at the two of them before speaking again. "Now, I'll give ya'll thirty seconds to get back in that old rust bucket of yours and out of my site before my boys and I fill you with led. You understand kids?" He said with a snap of his fingers. Multiple heads pocked out from the wall, some armed with rifles, others pistols, some clubs and bats. "Well babe. What now?"

Watching the scene from above Sarah kept her finger near the trigger as the scene began to play out. Keeping her sights on the man who seemed to be speaking to them she figured that he must of been the leader and thus was a high priority target. Taking steady breaths she waited for things to play out, hoping that she wouldn't have to see her new traveling companions die in front of her and that they would be able to get back on the road as soon as possible she moved her finger to the trigger, resting it gingerly as she kept her breathing steady. As she kept her sights on the man she listened as Fearah relayed positions of other targets, keeping her informed of every movement so she could draw a picture without looking away from her scope. "

Alexandra resisted the urge to sigh, she couldn't believe that they'd come so far only to now have to run out of gas. There were too many of them for her taste, too many potential hostiles that were standing far too close to them. This was definitely, to quote an American phrase, a Mexican standoff. "We do what the man says, I think, dear," said Alexandra keeping her hands away from her Mk.23 that was in her thigh holster and the OTs-14 that was slung across her chest. "I'd rather none of us got shot," she said. 

As she began to step back, she immediately got an awful feeling deep in her gut that this wasn't going to go quite as she'd hoped. By the time the first shots rang out, she was already cursing herself for being stupid enough to believe that they weren't going to try to press the numbers advantage. However, Justin and her had a better advantage, and that advantage was already putting rounds downrange by the time she became distinctly aware that she'd been shot. By then, she and Justin had taken cover already.

"Yobany urod..." she cursed at whoever had shot her through gritted teeth. "Thanks, dear," she called back to him as she put pressure on the wound with one hand and drawing her pistol with the others. She stuck the weapon around the side of the vehicle and put a couple of rounds in the direction she'd heard gunfire coming from. She heard death screams, but couldn't tell if that was her or the two junior marksman's doing. Either way, fuckers were dead. They'd have to go around and put bullets in their head to be sure if they lived through this, no sense in creating more problems for themselves. 

The decreasing frequency of death screams alerted her to the fact that her sniper cover had stopped firing. She risked a glance around the corner and saw an idiot with a spiked bat coming at them. There was no hesitation, she put two rounds into his chest, and then a third into his head. Nine rounds left. An incoherent cry and the sound of heavy boots on the cement floor, she poked out once more. Her target was far closer this time, and so this time the shooting was less accurate; one went into his lower left abdomen and the other into the upper right part of his chest. A third splattered his brains out onto the ground, leaving her with six rounds left in the magazine. 

A shotgun blast smacking into the vehicle forced her to pull herself behind cover. She felt the force of the rounds through the vehicle's frame. Six rounds, that's what she had left in this magazine. She'd make it count. She threw herself flat on the ground, pain flaring up her leg from her wound. The shotgunner was caught off guard by her sudden appearance, and he started to rack the pump action. He was too slow. By the time he'd chambered a round and taken aim, she'd put two in his mid section. The man dropped the shotgun and looked at the wound dumbfounded, as if confused about how he'd sustained the wound. 

Her third and final round put a stop to that train of thought via a bullet to the right side of his head, the .45 ACP round cracking his skull with a sickening crunch. Three rounds left, and she was completely exposed. A cry of 'There she is!" followed by something far less conciliatory caught her attention, notably two men drawing closer. One had a nasty looking sawn off double barrel shotgun, the other a vicious looking tire iron. The man with a tire iron received two rounds into his stomach and the third into his kidney for his troubles, but then the slide locked back. Her gun was empty. Alexandra let out a breath and began reaching for a magazine as fast as she could, and in her desperation she called out to Justin, "Justin!" 

Alexandra let out a clearly held back grunt in response to Justin tying the makeshift tourniquet. The growing pool of blood had slowed down. "I've been better," said Alexandra through gritted teeth as she used her OTs-14 to help bring herself to a sitting position, when he had asked her about if she was good. "But I've also been worse." She leaned against the vehicle that had served as a piece of cover for them, waiting for him to come back with the medical supplies. A smile flickered across her face as she remembered patching Justin back up not too long ago. 

When he came back, Alexandra watched Justin go to work. Some people preferred to look away when they were being tended to medically, not her. She always wanted to know what was being done to her, not that she didn't trust Justin, but if she didn't she wouldn't quite know then she wouldn't quite know how much she could push her leg later on. Justin was of course doing a fantastic job with his battlefield medical aid. She gave him her best smile, "Feeling better already, dorogoy muy." 

"With motivation like that, how can I miss?" she asked, blushing. She leaned around the corner of the upturned vehicle with her OTs-14, the compact rifle held against her left shoulder. The feel of the rubber coated buttstock reassuringly reminded her of the amount of firepower she could put down range in case anyone was who was left were planning on trying something stupid. Justin came back not long afterward and mentioned that the perimeter was clear but that he hadn't checked out the inside. 

Of course, he mentioned that he couldn't check it out without his wingman. Of course, he winked and shot her that 10000 watt smile that always made her blush. She couldn't help but to do, and as she tried to wipe the wide grin that had formed on her face, she grabbed onto his forearm and pulled herself up. "When you ask like that, how can I refuse?" she said, the wide grin still plastered on her face as she shouldered her weapon. "Probably better if you took point though," she added, making light of her reduced mobility due to her wound.