Urban Dead: The Price of the Oath

[Caz]

"It's only scary if I end up like you," she said with a smug look, then timply keeled over, head clunking against his shoulder. Gunshots rang out in the far distance and Sherry rolled her eyes. "Listen to the music of the night, eh?"

[Hedgecore]

Lasko drank greedily from the water bottle until he ran out of air, and was forced to put the bottle down and gasp for air. His stomach tightened and half a moment later he coughed, choked and he leaned over the edge of the bed as the water came right back up. "s-sorry" he whimpered, guilty and embarassed.

[Josh]

"It's the sound of freedom," he answered with a chuckle. "Zombies don't use guns, yet. So long as guns are going off, people are alive."

[Caz]

"Shh," Melanie said soothingly, "no worries."

She dug through a drawer at the nearby table and returned with a washcloth, dabbing up the water from his shirt and chin.

"We're going to get you something hot to eat, okay?" As though he'd refuse.

[Caz]

"Alive and shooting each other, probably," she said. But such was the way their race operated, right? What separated them from insects.

And a disconnected comment: "I missed your laugh."

[Josh]

He hadn't been laughing a lot lately, not with everything going on. So she hadn't missed much.

"Missed your common sense," he said.

[Caz]

"'Course you did," she said. "Lord knows you haven't got any."

[Josh]

"I did not, however, miss your fucking biting wit one god damned bit," he informed her solemnly.

[Caz]

She kissed him on the cheek, smiling innocently.

"Wouldn't bother you if I wasn't right."

[Hedgecore]

"I don't want to waste your food" he sighed, defeated. "I can't promise the same thing won't happen again"

Way to be a bad-ass, Lasko thougt. Bitch, moan, and have the physical capabilities of a 2 year old.

"Really, though I'm sorry. I already owe you more than anyone could repay, then I show up, hat in hand again..." he trailed off.

Great that's much better, bra-fucking-vo.

[Josh]

"Oh, shut the hell up," he said affably. "I'm about ready to send you back out on another honeymoon. Maybe you'll find a fucking stocked distillery next time." He wiped his cheek. "EWWWWWW... why don't you just drool on me, ASS!" he mimicked in a horrid imitation of her voice.

[Caz]

And she recognised him in that instant. The voice was what did it, when not choked up with water. He'd been a blood- and gore-covered mess... back at the hospital in Dartside...

She shooshed him again. "Won't happen as long as you stay here," she said gently. "You're safe here. We all are." She considered that for a moment, then added: "And you're also welcome here, okay? So quit the shite and eat up."

Saint of saints indeed.

[Caz]

Sherry gave his shoulder a shove as she tossed the spent cigarette from the mall's roof, watching the embers scatter onto the rain-soaked debris below.

"My drool's better than yours," she said simply.

[Josh]

"It's more acidic, that's for sure," he retorted, shoving her back. "Y'know what I missed? You're the only other honest-to-god criminal around here. These are great people, but god damn are they so painfully upright..." he shook his head, chuckling. "Excepting Frank, who has the black heart of an accountant..."

[Caz]

"Bet Frank's drool's like formaldehyde," she opined. She then realised that was a conversational alley she didn't particularly want to stumble down and looked to him with a smirk.

"We're not criminals," she said. "... Anymore."

[Josh]

"Mama always said I coulda had a career in politics," he said. "I regret to say that I ended up living down to her expectations."

[Caz]

"But you're your own special flavour of politician," she countered. "Kind of like your own special flavour of malignant bastard, ya know?"

[Josh]

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. "I'm trying to figure out where the insult is in that..."

[Hedgecore]

"Look, just don't let me have a lot, okay? I know that you know way more than me when it comes to this sort of thing, but I do know that too much, I won't be able to keep down." he sighed "that was the dumbest sounding sentence ever uttered."

[Dark Silver]

For the first time in weeks, peace descended over the the bulk of the mall, a night of celebration to be had. Silver watched it all with detachment, when Mike and Sherry had rolled up with the trailer of livestock and supplies, he made sure to stay out of the way.

He didn't go back into the mall after the fight with Petro, he instead took up shelter in one of the abandoned buildings nearby, after gathering up his discarded equipment. He stayed what used to be, ironically enough, a matress store, a double level affair with the primary storage area on the second floor.

The few unsalavaged matresses were old and ratty, but they would suffice for a few nights of rest, while he struggled with inner demons.

He had sent the message to Petro via the Second where he would be, with standing orders that the Second would be on R&R unless mobilized. There was plans to be made, developed. Petro's idea for the Mall, turning into a miniture Castle, would draw attention. People would come, and demand what they had. Zombie's would get wind, and eventually a horde would descend on them, even if it took awhile for the truly large ones to make thier way from downtown.

The Second would be the Mall's first line of defense, Silver decided on that. The Knights who patrolled the kingdom, as it where, and he would be the Black Knight.

He made the plans, the new training regiments the Second would go through, forming ideas for the patrols, tactics to deal with invaders, both Zombie and Human.

He didn't like the idea that they would have to fight other humans, as much as he relished the hunt, as much as he was looking forward to killing Jaycee, and making him suffer; Silver only wanted to do it to see justice was served.

And it was, though not to his liking, or the liking of the voices. They whispered at the edges of his mind, urging him. He was forcing himself to ignore it, to disreguard them, and it was working for now. The entire ordeal with Jaycee had played hell on his will, and they had gotten through, more vocal. With time, he was sure he could control it.

As Sherry and Petro sat on the Mall's roof, and Punt underwent some kind of Voodoo ritual, Silver was hanging out of the window of the second floor window, in plain view of the mall. His muscled tensed, as he preformed reverse pull-ups, shirt removed to keep it from getting soaked through with sweat. His eyes were closed, as he counted them off in his head...10.....11.......12.....13...

[Caz]

"Don't worry about what we'll do," Melanie said, placing a hand on his chest and gently bushing him back onto the bed. "Just sit tight for now."

Dorian returned a few moments later with two bowls of stew--fresh beef, incidentally, from the livestock Sherry and Mike had somehow wrangled near them. He pushed his hair--white grey, it had gone that way since the outbreak--from his eyes and mumbled something like 'get it while it's hot!' to Gator, handing the bowl and utensils over.

"Thanks," Melanie said. She grabbed a pillow from the bed beside her and told Lasko:

"Sit up; that way you won't choke."

--

"Who says there was any insult in that at all?" Sherry asked, mirth twinkling in her eyes.

[Josh]

"Because it's something you said, so there has to be some witty undercurrent to it," he said fondly.

[Caz]

"I'm not that predictable," she cooed. "Even if there was some witty undercurrent to it, I'd say there wasn't just to keep my mythological wit hidden so I could jab you later with the element of surprise still on my side."

Not a hint of humility in our Sherry, was there?

[Josh]

"You're just taking advantage of my gentlemanly nature," he pointed out. "Dirty pool."

[Caz]

"You weren't the slightest bit gentlemanly to me once you got it through your dense dome that I didn't want to fuck you," she said.