Bounty hunters of the apocalypse

Looking for the other threads? Try here and here.

---

MISSOURI, 2017

The once vast fields of crops were now overrun with all manner of plant life, leaving few crops still standing. A lone farmer in a dirty shirt and overalls slowly moved through the field, dragging his boot wearing feet in mindless circles. The sound of tires on asphalt and a running engine slowly picked up in the distance, and the farmer raised up his head to look that way with his good eye; the other currently hanging out of the rotted socket by a few strands of flesh.

He let out a moan and raised an arm forward as he slowly shambled in the direction of the bus, but the effort was nothing if not futile. The bus passed by the field long before the walker even reached the road. It let out another moan and continued regardless, since it was nothing if not dedicated.

Inside the bus was roughly a dozen individuals, most of them bounty hunters. The bus had left the previous stop at sundown the previous day, the driver having decided it was worth the risk to make the trip overnight lest his prospective passengers go to someone else. The tension of a nighttime trip along with the need to sleep had delayed all introductions, meaning that for the moment they were almost all strangers to each other. Not that all of them cared.

Up at the front, the bus driver, a rather short man with a faded Metallica t-shirt and blue jeans, smiled and spoke up. "We should be there in 'bout half an hour. Told you we'd make it alright" he hollered back in a slight southern accent. There was no sign of a town ahead yet, but a brief glimpse of an old mile marker passing by the side of the bus that must've tipped the driver off. Out both sides was nothing but fields, with a lone, shambling figure off in the distance behind them.

edited 22nd Jan '15 5:16:44 AM by FirockFinion

You are reading this.

Placed in the middle row of seats, Nathan continued to stare out into rural landscape as he had for the last few hours. In a head that'd appear outwardly vacant, logistics were dashing around as if their feet were swallowed in flame. What property is around here? What's the weather going to be like? The wind? How many creatures are crawling around, and more importantly.......

"How will they burn?" He whispered aloud. To his chagrin, the flamethrower currently nestled to his side hadn't an answer to offer.

edited 21st Oct '12 12:46:17 PM by goodisgood

To the law and for the good of man. All I need to live by.

Tank glances at the bounty list glued to the back window. He's read it fifty times since he woke but there's not much else to do so he just sits, humming Ain't No Rest For The Wicked, waiting for the bus to stop.

edited 20th Oct '12 8:23:04 PM by gbrngfol

I think there's no point in signatures.

With his sunglasses on, Dale was keeping his eyes closed, though he would open one every now and then. He wouldn't want to fall asleep on this bus ride, what with all the people of questionable character onboard, but he was doing his best to at least get in some rest, since there was nothing else for him to do on the bus. No point in being red-eyed when he got to the town.

His left arm was draped over his torso, keeping his weapons in place, as he leaned his right side against the bus's metal siding.

Nate looked up. "Good." He was stuck for anything to do, and ther had only been so many times he could strip and clean his guns, but he still wasn't one for conversation - or politeness it seemed. He leant back against the side of the bus - and listening, he was sure he could hear something playing funny with the engine, but he was equally sure it likely wasn't terminal. He put it out of his mind and thought ahead.

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

Cranston lay back in his seat, eyes half shut observing the others.

Trump delenda est

"Talkative bunch, aren't ya'?" The bus driver joked sarcastically with a raised eyebrow as he glanced at the passengers through the rear view mirror. Currently he was driving the bus straddled over the center line rather than in either lane. Not that it really mattered, since the chance of there being another vehicle on the road was extremely low.

One of the other bounty hunters in the bus muttered something in indifference, and the trip continued in silence. Finally, up ahead a small town came into view. The exact number of buildings was a little hard to make out due to the barricades built around the edges. Every gap between the outermost buildings was plugged with busted cars and other debris, while the windows and doors of the buildings on those sides were barricaded.

The bus slowed down to a stop outside a metal gate set up on the road, and the driver honked the horn a couple times. After a minute, a figure appeared on the rooftop to the side of the gate and peered through a pair of binoculars at the bus driver. The bus driver simply smiled and waved his hand a little as he waited. It wasn't long after that that the gate slowly opened up and the bus driver pulled forward again.

The town was definitely small time before the apocalypse; a mixture of gas stations and motels dominated the layout, essentially just making it a pit stop for those on their way to other locations. "Welcome to the imaginatively named town of 'Green Fields'" the bus driver continued his sarcastic joking as he pulled to a stop in a parking lot in front of a sheriff's office. "I'll be sticking around for a while, in case any of ya' change your minds" he added as he pulled the lever to open the bus doors. Then he chuckled to himself.

If anyone looked over at the sheriff's office, they could probably make out some activity through the big glass window. Looked like a few people were getting up from their desks to head out and greet the batch of bounty hunters.

You are reading this.

Dale got up from his seat, quickly making sure that nothing was missing as he made his way to the front of the bus. "Thanks for the ride, pal," he said to the driver as he stepped off, ducking down a bit to avoid hitting the door with the baseball bat clumsily sticking out from behind him.

Seeing that some of the folks who made up the local law enforcement around here were all getting up, he figured he'd stick close to the bus and let them come to him.

Jerry sits quietly reading his Bible, twirling his knife and listing to Three Days Grace: The animal I have become on his old MP 3. With his left hand on his Beretta, in case any one does something stupid.

"Somebody barbequin'?!"

"Not a terrible layout." Nathan muttered to himself. Upon seeing the law enforcement personnel beginning to get up, his slid his arms, covered completely by thick black shirt and then a thick brown duster, into the leather arm holes of his flamethrower.

"Time to get us a job, Isabella." He rose from the seat while adjusting the nozzle firmly into a bottom compartment of the gas tank, remembering that people got nervous when he had the nozzle in his hands. He then made sure that his hand axe was still firmly strapped into his duster while he walked to the back of the bus. No point in whacking people on the head with his bulk.

To the law and for the good of man. All I need to live by.

Law enforcement, civvies or shufflers

?

Nate had left the confines of the bus, but he kept one hand on his Beretta, in case it was the latter.

edited 23rd Oct '12 12:38:28 PM by Plumbum

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

Three figures exited the sheriff's office, two men and one woman, all wearing brown police jackets. The woman stayed in front, and had a baseball cap with the word 'sheriff' on the front of it, as well as what looked like a regular police badge. One of the two men also had a badge, but the other didn't. They all had a sidearm on them, but didn't have them drawn.

"Bounty hunters, looking for work, right?" The woman said, pushing a strand of brown hair out of her face then placing her hands in her pockets. "I'm Sheriff Shevon" she introduced herself as other bounty hunters made their way off the bus, "and it'll be best if I just get this out of the way now. If you're hoping for a paycheck as soon as you go kill something, then you're outta' luck; we're pretty strapped for cash so we won't be able to pay you until a trade caravan rolls through."

She glanced back and forth at them, and looked through the windows of the bus at those that hadn't gotten off yet. "What we can provide in the meantime is free room and board, plus access to our ammunition stockpiles" Shevon went on as she sized up the various bounty hunters, "we're facing a situation of continued, purposeful monster attacks. But, the area's not infested enough for the military to intervene while there's still other areas worse off. We've already lost about half our manpower and need someone to go on the offensive and figure out where they're comin' from while we hold down the fort."

One of the other bounty hunters scoffed. "I'm not risking my ass without gettin' paid. Screw this" he muttered under the bandana covering his mouth, then turned and got back onto the bus. A couple others followed suit.

Shevon watched with an expression of vague familiarity, like she'd seen that reaction to their situation before. She turned to the bounty hunters that hadn't immediately left yet. "So what about the rest of you then?" Shevon asked, not letting the apparent desperation of the offer break her composure.

You are reading this.

Eve rose from the back of the bus, adjusting the large backpack on her back and pulling her hoodie over her head. Her bow staff, which had previously lain on the seat next to her, now acted as a third foot, clanging against the floor of the bus every second step. She took a deep breath and stepped off the bus to meet the officials, her small frame unseen behind the larger men.

The woman's words were worrisome- no money meant that her parents wouldn't be cared for. But this woman actually sounded desperate enough to hire her where others wouldn't. And little income was better than no income.

"I'll stay," she spoke up. She would rather wait for others to say something first, but landing this job was a matter of life or death.

edited 24th Oct '12 6:36:25 PM by Serendipital

"Didn't come this far to turn back now," Dale said. He found it funny that out of all these tough guys and macho types on the bus, the first - and so far only - bounty hunter be willing to stay so far was just a short girl who'd probably not even be out of middle school if it weren't for the apocalypse coming along and souring things up. And it looked like the poor girl was going to be fighting them with a stick. Then again, if he couldn't find any ammo in town, he'd soon be stuck trying to smash in the skulls of the legions of hell.

"Since I plan on outliving these monsters, I can wait 'til then to get paid, s'long as you're true to your word, miss Sherriff."

Jerry picks up his gear, closes his Bible says a short prayer and puts in a pocket in his trench coat, adjusts the strap on his M4 and takes out one earbud while Finger Eleven's Sad Exchange plays. "I'm interested in your offer, my ammo supply is dangerously low. And a real bed will be better than the concrete floor of a safe house." He said climbing of the bus.

edited 24th Oct '12 9:59:02 PM by TheLastGreatWarrior

"Somebody barbequin'?!"

Tank shrugs. "I din't come here just to go home. I'm in." He files into the line, trying not to laugh as he notices the child in front of him.

I think there's no point in signatures.

"I'm here," Cranston said. "Better to stay and take a gamble that you'll be able to pay me later than go back empty handed."

Trump delenda est

Nathan gently unscrewed the mouthpiece of his gas mask, revealing a set of dun white teeth. "I suppose I can wait." he said. "Especially if there's a trade caravan coming around." Either way, he had his own methods for people who couldn't pay up for his hard work. With all the faulty electrical systems and gas lines, people were less prone to asking about how fires start here and there.

"Nathan Ignacio, at your service."

edited 25th Oct '12 11:02:43 AM by goodisgood

To the law and for the good of man. All I need to live by.

Shevon's eyebrows raised in surprise as the first volunteer to stay turned out to be a young girl, but as others started to step forward as well, she smiled. "Good to see we're finally going to have some help on board. And given how badly we need it I don't intend on backing out from paying you once we can" Shevon said, briefly wondering how well these individuals would work together as she looked back and forth at them.

"Mel, we're not really going to send a little girl out to fight monsters, are we?" the man with the badge behind Shevon muttered to her, glancing worriedly at Eve.

"It's her choice to make, not ours. She's still alive after the past five years, so she should know the risk" Shevon responded with a quick glance at her companion. Then she looked up to the sky at where the sun was, checking the approximate time. It was still early in the morning. "We should get you lot started sooner rather than later. The monsters around here only attack at night, probably due to all the wide open space. So the daytime is the best time to go out and find them" She explained to the bounty hunters as she looked at them again.

"So whoever needs ammo now, come with us" Shevon added, and motioned for them to follow into the sheriff's office. Those who followed would be led to a back storage room, probably once used as an evidence locker but now filled with boxes and boxes of ammo. "We may not have much money, but we have tons of ammo thanks to military supply drops. Unfortunately we can't really spare any guns or mags, since we're using them ourselves, but feel free to top off what you can carry whenever you need to" Shevon told them, then waited for them to do so before leading them back outside to the others.

"Alright then. Any questions?" Shevon asked the bounty hunters, hands once again in her pockets.

You are reading this.

"I've got a question," Dale said, after he had filled up his speedloaders and followed the sheriff outside. "You said these attacks have been purposeful, but have they been doing anything abnormal? Abnormal for these things, that is. And speaking of abnormal, you got any abnormally high amounts of any one particul'r type of these things?"

"Mostly zombies and beasts. They come every few nights in a horde concentrated on one or two spots along our defense wall. We know it's purposeful because we've seen them start to withdraw when they start losing. Zombies may horde on their own but they never retreat on their own; they're taking orders from something, we suspect at least one vampire" Shevon explained, the man without a badge behind her nodding in confirmation, "sometimes a person will go missing during an attack without turning up dead. We think that's the vampire dragging them off for its meal, but we still haven't seen the vampire yet."

"We've also started seeing a few skeletons in the attacks, so we know something out there's escalating things with better raising*

techniques. Which, again, makes us think there's probably a vampire out there" Shevon went on, glancing off to where part of the barricade between the buildings was visible. "So currently your job would be to find and kill that son of a bitch so the dumb monsters become unorganized again and easier to handle" she finished as she turned back to bounty hunters, awaiting any other questions.

You are reading this.

Throwing 2 boxes of 9mm and 4 boxes of .223 in his satchel walks over to the others. "I'm game." Drawing his katana, and looking for a stick to sharpen into a stake. "When do we leave?"

"Somebody barbequin'?!"

"I don't suppose youhave any specialty ammo," Cranston asked. "I have some of my own but more is always good."

Trump delenda est

"Any fuel you could spare every once in a while?" Nathan interjected. "I got just the kind of voodoo to make it last, I'm not trying to dry this town up." Technically he didn't have 'vodoun', per say, but a touch of magic always helps to light that special fire.

"If there's any source outta' town, that's fine too."

To the law and for the good of man. All I need to live by.

"I don't use ammo. So when do we start?"

I think there's no point in signatures.