Another Bump In The Road

Mark smirked as Claudia talked about Cassie and how glad she was to have someone with experience in the medical field. "Yeah Cassie is one smart girl. She went to school for nursing and we both worked at a restaurant to try and keep a roof over our head. Those were better days." said Mark softly. When the kids came over mark put his hands on his hips and eyed the kids that were in front of him. His smirk went away and he was in military mode as he watched at how Claudia took charge of these kids and as they left to go get their weapons he turned to her to listen to what she had to say. He understood her concern for them and he nodded to her. "Yes Ma'am I'll watch them closely." said Mark in a calm tone. When she left Mark walked over to the kids to check out what they had. Mark looked at them and nodded at least they were smart enough to put on protective gear like pads and helmets. But Batshit had a ton of guns on him and Mark shook his head. "That won't do. Look at you...You can barely stand with this much weight on you." said Mark to Batshit. He let out a heavy sigh and took off the shotgun, assault rifle and the vest of ammo he had strapped to him. "Let's start with something easy like..." said Mark to Batshit as he walked into the armory. He looked around and he smirked as he picked up a Two Tone Sig Sauer and a knife. He walked over to Batshit and handed it to him. The boy looked at Mark confused. "But why does Dean get the big gun?" asked Batshit to Mark who looked at Dean and Camille before looking back at Batshit. "You had to much weight on you to begin with and those guns and your size you would fall back from the first shot from that shotgun blast." said Mark to Batshit.

He walked over to Dean and held out his handed. The nervous nerd handed Mark his Remington 700 BDL and Mark looked at Batshit. "Now Batshit, Dean here has a Remington 700 BDL now Dean tell me have you ever used this?" asked Mark to Dean who looked nervous and looked down at the ground for a minute pushing his glasses up for a moment. "W-Well a few times but I was thinking-" said Dean before he was cutoff by Mark. "Have you ever killed anything with it?" asked Mark to Dean who looked more nervous then before. "W-Well no put whenever we had target practice I usually did good." said Dean to Mark who let out a heavy sigh and handed him back the rifle. He lastly looked at Camille who had a Smith & Wesson Model 10 and a Glock 26. He nodded approvingly as he checked out her weapons but he noticed that she didn't have a knife or anything to defend herself in case a walker got to close. "You got a knife or anything?" asked Mark to Camille who shook her head. "I didn't think I would need one." said Camille to Mark. "So let's say one of the dead are face to face with you and you are out of bullets. What do you do?" asked Mark to Camille. Camille took her eyes off Mark and began to think but Mark snapped his fingers which made Camille jump. "Dead." said Mark in a serious tone. He walked back into the armory and grabbed two knifes handing one to Dean and one to Camille. "Alright let's move it." ordered Mark to the trio. He definitely had his hands full on this trip.

Frank smirked as he heard Mallory saying that maybe he will see things differently over time. He let out a light chuckle as he shook his head. "Surviving is all we know sweetheart. I might see things differently over time but as of now think of us helping you as an...Investment." said Frank with a smirk to Mallory. "I'll tell you this though when me and my guys leave if anyone of my boys gives you trouble you come to Old Orchard Beach and tell me. I'll gladly put them in their place depending on how bad their actions are." said Frank to Mallory as he wanted her to understand where he was coming from. Troy walked over to them and Frank patted him on the back. "Just saw Mark and a few of Claudia's people leave. Looks like they were going on a run." said Troy to Mallory and Frank which made him chuckle. "Finally soldier boy gets to play hero. I better start taking bets and seeing if any of them are coming back alive." joked Frank to the duo. Frank always had a dark sense of humor about him and he considered it to be one of his charms.

Mark and the recruits started to walk off but as they did Ayako came up beside Mark. "You're coming along?" asked Mark to Ayako who didn't even bother to look at Mark as she kept her eyes forward. "Yes." said Ayako. Mark looked at Ayako confused and he looked back to see that Maria was following behind them. "Whoa hold up." said Mark as he got in front of Ayako and held up his hand signaling for the group to stop. "Look I understand having these three here with me but I'm not taking her along. She's a kid and she can barely walk as it is." said Mark to Ayako keeping his voice low as he didn't want Maria to overhear. Ayako turned to look at Maria and walked over to her as she knelled down to the girl. "You can't come with us Maria. This is more dangerous than hunting we-" said Ayako before she was cutoff by Maria. "But I want to go I want to try help out." said Maria to Ayako who smiled at the young girl and brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. "You are helping out by keeping the rest of us safe while you are here." said Ayako to Maria She admired how brave the young girl was even with her limping.

"I'll tell you what while I am out there I'll find you something sweet like candy." said Ayako her accent becoming more noticeable when she said the word candy. A smile appeared on Maria's face and she nodded. She hugged Ayako who was not used to it but none the less she embraced her and smiled as she hugged the young girl. "Alright go help Luke with skinning the animals we found I'll be back I promise." said Ayako to Maria who started to walk away. Ayako turned back to face Mark and the recurits her smile completely gone as she went back to her cold look. Mark just smirked at her and he chuckled as they walked. "So...That little girl is your weakness huh? What is she to you? You guys don't look related." asked Mark to Ayako who didn't respond at first. She just ignored Mark and kept walking but that's when one of the recruits chimed in. "That girl Maria was found by Ayako awhile back in the woods well she was floating in-" said Dean before he was cutoff by Ayako who quickly turned to look at him coldly. He tensed up and Mark's smirk went away as he shook his head. "I'm guessing that injury came from Big Dick and his men?" asked Mark to Ayako who nodded. Mark once again shook his head. "We will get the town back no worries about that. Just got to have careful planning and big balls to pull it off." said Mark to the group. Within twenty or thirty minutes they arrived at a small store that Mark had seen on a map. Hopefully for them it wasn't looted completely.

Mark looked at the recruits and he could tell they were scared shitless. A few of the dead or Onis as Ayako called them were outside the small store and Ayako took her bow off her back and grabbed an arrow from her quiver. She then lined up her shot and let it go. Her arrow hit one of the dead straight in the head. It went down quickly and she had another arrow out and was ready. Mark had his bat and tightened it in his hands as he looked at the trio. "You do not use guns do you understand me?! Use them as a last resort." said Mark to the trio. As the dead came close Mark hit the one closest to him and followed by another one. Dean bit his lower lip and watched as one fell to the floor tripping over a cart. He quickly stomped on it's head while Camille and Batshit were standing their like a deer in headlights. One of the dead grabbed Dean and he panicked causing him to fall to the ground Camille got into action and saved Dean stabbing the rotter in the head before helping him up. "Alright guys backs against each other in a formation now!" ordered Mark. Mark and the recruits were back to back taking out the walkers that were getting close to them while Ayako took out the ones from afar. 




Soon after the dead well were...dead again and everyone took a breather. Mark was proud of them and he looked at Batshit. "Hey Bat...What's your name kid?" asked Mark to Batshit who wiped the blood off his knife. "Tommy." said Tommy to Mark who nodded. "Alright Tommy looks like you ranked up. But now what we need is in there. So here is how this is going to go, Tommy with me, Camille and Ayako and lastly Dean you are on lookout." said Mark to Dean who nodded. Mark and the others went in while Dean stood by the door with his rifle in hand. Mark and the others began searching the store. Mark was behind the counter with Tommy while Camille and Ayako were searching the aisles. Camille was stuffing her bag with pens and notebooks thinking of Josephine who she hadn't seen around camp in quite sometime. Camille shrugged it off thinking the girl was probably in camp but Camille had been so distracted with work she hadn't noticed her. Ayako grabbed a few candy bars and smiled as she thought of Maria. She put them in her bag and joined Mark back at the entrance who had the ammonia in his bag as did Tommy who had one in his bag as well. 

"Alright Ramblers let's get rambling!" said Mark to the group and they began their walk back to camp. A small smile appeared on Ayako's face as she noticed that the group was getting along and it was one of the things that seemed peaceful. They made it back to the camp in about twenty or thirty minutes. Mark walked over to Claudia with Ayako beside him and the trio behind him. He opened his back and pulled out the ammonia and so did Batshit. "So the trip had a few bumps in the road but overall it was good. We came back with a few supplies not much but it's something." said Mark to Claudia.

Troy had for most of the day helped out around camp and looked after Maria along with Ayako. The biker and the Japanese tattoo artist got to know one another while eating some candy bars with Maria. He was trying to show her not all the bikers were bad and she seemed to get that but still he understood for others it would take a lot more time. When it was later in the evening he was called over to the tent along with Frank and a few others. He knew that the plan to take back Bar Harbor was soon happening and he listened to Mallory's plan as did Frank who grinned when he was told that he and his bikers were to run on in and create chaos. "It's what we do best." said Frank with a smirk to Mallory. Mark nodded as he understood his role in the plan and he looked to Cassie who nodded as well. They both knew what they had to do and they both understood what needed to be done to take over Bar Harbor. When asked if anyone had questions Troy cleared his throat. "Well I'm pretty good at stealth but I've never used scuba gear before. Was wondering if I could get some practice out of it?" asked Troy to Mallory.

When asked about another volunteer Mark spoke up throwing in a name. "Ayako is pretty handy with a bow saw how quickly she took down walkers with it and I've seen her train with that sword of hers. I think she could be pretty good for the stealth mission." suggested Mark to Mallory. Frank crossed his arms as he looked at Mallory. "Our deal still stands right? After we take back Bar Harbor me and my gang get first picks out of any of the houses we want." asked Frank to Mallory as he wanted to remind her of our deal.