Urban Dead: The Price of the Oath

[Josh]

Well, so much for the stealthy approach. Pistol in hand but not aimed at Reaper, he smiled his best smile.

"Hi," he said. "Here to pick up Gwen, if you don't mind."

[Cynical Cat]

"Inside," Wendigo replied. "Climb up rear fire escape."

[Josh]

"Great, yeah, we'll do that," Petro said. "Guys, you go on ahead," he said.

He didn't precisely trust Reaper enough to turn his back on him. And his curiosity was overwhelming.

Marley, Gil, and Freddy proceeded up the stairs.

[Caz]

Gwen stirred beneath the blankets, having dozed off again without realising. She glanced around the room, confused at its evident lack of... Well... Anyone. But the fire was still burning...

"Where'd you get to?" she croaked, attempting to sit up. When the normal way didn't work, she instead just propped herself up on the pillows he'd piled next to her.

What was a guy like that doing hoarding pillows anyway?

She let her head thunk back down, knowing she wasn't thinking right.

[Cynical Cat]

Wendigo came in to the room. "Friends here. Help you soon. They'll help you soon," he corrected.

[Caz]

She smiled. "Thank you," she said. "I would've frozen if you hadn't come by."

After a brief pause, she laughed.

"Doesn't mean I'm gonna live, but for what it's worth, thanks."

[Cynical Cat]

"You're welcome," he replied.

[Josh]

And with that, the quartet of rescuers made their way in, Petro having followed them up when Reaper went back inside.

"Hey Trouble," he said, pistol holstered but catch on the holster conspicuously unsnapped.

[Caz]

"You're coming back with us, right?" she asked, not even looking to Petro and the others as they entered.

[Cynical Cat]

"No," he said shaking his head. "It would be . . . bad having me around."

[Caz]

"I don't understand," she said. "If you're not from the mall, how did you know..."

It was just then that she connected the thoughts. The thing she saw take out the two zombies that would have ended up going after her and this man that had rescued her...

"You knew I was up there the whole time," she said. "Wow," she said deliriously.

[Josh]

"Alright, alright, Gil, she needs seeing to," Petro interjected. He looked at Reaper. "And we really should talk."

[Cynical Cat]

"Go ahead," Wendigo replied. "Talk."

[Josh]

He looked at Reaper for a long moment, dark eyes glittering in the moonlight.

"That's three of my people you've take care of, from what I've heard."

[Caz]

Gwen laid her head back down, looking up at the doctor with a smirk.

"Yeah, Doc," she said. "Fix me..."

Gillian leaned over her, drawing the blanket aside. He immediately drew back, his stomach churning at the smell of her wound. For lack of a better word, she was already rotting without even dying. The bandages that Mike had wrapped her in were a sickly yellow-brown, and when he pulled them back, the infection was evident by heavy discolouration and bloating.

"It's bad," Gwen said with a laugh.

[Josh]

Marley and Freddy likewise reeled back at the stench. Petro, having camoflauged himself with corpse bits for the past several days, was pretty much past noticing such things at the moment.

[Cynical Cat]

"Yes. You have much to offer. Lives are valuable commodities. And I don't have to eat live humans. The undead do just fine. And they are the enemies of both of us."

[Caz]

"There's nothing I can do," Gil said, then hastily added: "here! We have to get her back..."

But he wasn't sure even then that they could do a damn thing. Even without the infection, there appeared to be massive internal damages... But he forced himself to look optimistic and took Gwen's hand.

"We'll take care of you, Trouble," he said.

"Call me... Miss Gwendolyn Sinclair," she murmured.

Gil looked to Petro.

"As in fucking Garvin Sinclair's daughter?"

[Josh]

He winced at Gil's unintentionally apropos choice of words. "Yeah," he said. He looked at Reaper. "You can come back with us and we can talk it over."

Because that was really what he wanted to be doing right now. With a major horde still rebuilding outside his walls, an old friend in the process of dying, an old one night stand dying, and a family waiting for him, negotiating with a walking corpse was really just high on the list of things he desired at the moment.

"C'mon," he said to his people, jerking his thumb toward the door. "Move it."

[Cynical Cat]

Wendigo shrugged. "I will carry her to the truck. Follow me. The easiest route is this way." He picked Gwen up gently and carried her out a window, down one level of fire escape, along a chain to another, and then down to the ground. The ghoul had been busy working on making access to his lair difficult.

[Caz]

She was like dead weight in his arms.

"Did I just hear Petro...?" she asked dazedly.

[Josh]

He slid down the chains after Reaper, noting the layout as he went. Clever little bastard.

And it was giving him more ideas for what they could do over the winter, too.

"I'm right here, sweetheart," he called out.

[Caz]

She laughed a bit against Reaper's shoulder as he carried her.

"Me an' Petro... Keep running into each other."

[Josh]

"Okay," he looked at Gil. "Stretch her out in the front seat?"

[Cynical Cat]

He put her down gently.