Bounty hunters of the apocalypse

Recon thought about it, then shrugged.

"Well vote's a vote I guess. I'm not going alone on the train. Truck it is then." He holstered his gun, almost forgetting that he had it still drawn. "Now the only question is when are we heading out?"

"Hopefully as soon as possible. We'll need to pack our personal gear, get food and supplies, stock up on ammo, decide who's going, and wait for Garnett to finish her final repairs." Red told Recon.

"Am I forgetting anything? Also, Sheriff, can you get someone to get ammo together in a shopping basket or something like that? We'll need it."

edited 19th Apr '14 8:30:14 PM by FantasyLiver

"We should get some maps of the area," Max said. "All I know right now is we have to head 'east'. We could try stopping at the first town along the way and seeing if we can get a proper trailer for carrying the jeep. Or hell, it's a big world out there, we're bound to find a semi-truck or something out there that Garnet might be able to patch up. Build ourselves our own little caravan."

Somewhat bristling at how the voting went, Shay knew not to argue, at least until they had reached the train station. Although a smile curved around his lips as he asked, "Well, if we're gonna be crammed in that truck with little space, how are we going to manage to fit things on? Because, I don't know about you but I'm gonna get pretty annoyed, squished up against, what, 12 people, and all of the supplies, which is a whole load of gas and tires, plus food. And again, we're gonna need cash, and to contact U.N.A.M before we go, preferably while we're waiting for Garnet to fix up the engine."

After hearing what Max had to say, he mumbled, "Yeah, it's a big world. Which means a truck is gonna be traveling a lot of ground. While weighed down by all of the people and supplies. And crossing around three states. It's gonna take a loooong time. While squashed up next to a dozen people. And be a ripe target for bandits."

"Wait, an imp took down a helicopter?" Lisa asked, referring to the goblin but calling it by its more confusing proper demon name, because... Well you should know by now. Also, she was unconscious when the event occurred. "Did it take out the pilot? Because the only other ways I know of for an imp to take out a helicopter would have involved a more powerful demon, at least at some point" she commented.

After the conversation went on for a bit, Garnet spoke up. "Well, what I know right now is that whatever we're doing, we're gonna want the truck running. Either to use it or to run stuff up to the train station then hopefully load onto the train, so... Yeah I'm gonna start working on that" Garnet announced, and nearly left but then paused. "Oh, I don't know about towing what's left of the jeep; it's kind of... Bent. But, I could attach that van I've been working on to the firetruck; that way you'd have plenty more space to fit people and supplies. Plus maybe I could get it working at some point during the trip!" she suggested a bit excitedly, then headed out the door.

"I don't care if we're taking the train or the truck, though it sounds like the truck is the popular choice. What I do care about is that we try not to stop unless we absolutely have to, so I say the wolves either stay here or get loaded up too. I don't want to be waiting every few hours while they rest up from constant running" Lisa said, glancing over at Dusk and Gray.

"... So wait, this truck you guys have been talking about is a firetruck?" Arthur asked, not wanting to interrupt and so holding off until now when there was a slight lull in the conversation. As he asked, Flyer wandered into the bookstore, still using the makeshift crutch.

"So uh... What's going on in here?" Flyer asked, looking just a tad shaken up by his encounter with Jub-Bub.

"The bounty hunters are discussing plans to go after Mephisto" Shevon answered him, since she was still near the door.

"Oh... Could I come with?" Flyer said, glancing at everyone else in the room.

"What? Why would you want to go? It's not like we have another helicopter for you to use" Shevon pointed out.

"Exactly. I know I don't want to stick around here anyway; if I go with them I could maybe help out, like if they... Get another helicopter, I guess" Flyer kinda petered off, knowing just how extremely unlikely that would be. "Well, I can still make a right good lookout. That's all I ever did back in Glassy's crew, 'sides help fly the helicopter" he added, pretty much grasping at straws at that point.

edited 20th Apr '14 4:21:08 AM by FirockFinion

"Wait...you guys have dire wolves too?" Earl asked, trying to figure out which monsters weren't a part of Green Fields.

"Sure do." Red said to Earl. "And we can save a lot of room in the Jeep if we load them up with our materials like pack animals. Maybe put 'em on top of the Jeep?" Red offered his idea. When Flyer listened, Earl rolled his eyes at the kid but Red listened carefully.

"Flyer, if you and Garnett want to come - I have no objections...on two conditions. Condition A is that you two, on the trip, will take boxing lessons from me and shooting lessons from whoever in our little posse can shoot. Condition B is that if any of us tell you to run away or go for cover or even to head back for town, you'll do it. Deal?" Red asked the two youngsters, some of his parenting techniques coming into play.

"I can hazard a few guesses as to why the young bandit wants to come with," Recon said. He didn't give any outward hints as to what they guesses were.

"Anyway, we have enough firepower. Me, Max, Lisa, whoever those two guys are," he waved vaguely at Shay and Earl. "We need utility. People who know how to do useful things other than fight. Garnet's a mechanic, she's a no brainier. The young bandit can fly machines, so he should come too. Who else?"

edited 20th Apr '14 2:45:41 PM by gameknight102xx

"Doc? Or the Mongolian guy who can cook?" Red asked Recon, flexing his muscles as he was a bit insulted that Recon had left him out.

"No offense Gas Mask, but I'd be right happy with as many guns as we can get on this trip. Remember we're goin' after a fucking Deceiver here, not your schoolyard bully. Maybe we could get some of those bigger caravan guards if we promised them a paycheck. Some of them looked pretty fierce." Earl interjected.

"Red, unless your fists somehow morph into machine guns you don't count as firepower," Recon said bluntly. "And I'm very aware we have to deal with Fisty, that's why we need firepower in the first place. But if we have all brawn and nothing else, we're gonna sink pretty fast."

Recon shited his shoulders, barely able to keep still. "Look, just take my word on this. Before I came here, I worked with a team of 9, all with their own skills and utilities. We had a mechanic, an ex-general, a businessman, a priest, and more. If we want success it's not a matter of packing heat. We gotta cover all our bases. That's what needs to determine who does and doesn't go."

"My fists seemed to knock you out pretty fast." Red muttered, but he nonetheless nodded in agreement.

"I'll be right back. Keep talking logistics." he said as he went outside to try and find the biggest caravan guard that he could.

"I'm sorry, you want me to what?" Flyer asked Red incredulously. "Punch things, like with my hands? What do you expect me to do with that, yank, tickle a demon before it murders me?" he continued, mocking tickling motions with his hands, "I fail to see how learning bloody boxing would help me against any of the things out there that want us dead, right."

"He's kind of right, you know" Lisa said to Red. "I know you've got this whole 'hating guns' thing going for you, but it's most likely going to get you killed where we're going, and trying to teach anyone else how to fight like you do really isn't going to help" she continued, shaking her head a little bit, "besides, what are you going to do if Garnet refuses your 'conditions', force the only good mechanic we have available to stay behind?"

When Recon mentioned Flyer being a bandit, he protested. "Hey! I'm not really a bandit! Especially not now that I've helped you all with Fang; the deal was I'd get a right clean slate after that" Flyer said, frowning at Recon a bit angrily. "All I ever wanted to do was fly a helicopter. Nobody was ever going to let a kid like me fly a helicopter, except for Glassy's guys, because they couldn't be right picky. I never robbed no one, never killed no one, and I never did anything to any captives except give them food. All I ever did was keep lookout and help fly the helicopter" he went on, folding his arms in frustration.

"Ugh, all this talking. I need some fresh air" Arthur muttered, and headed for the door right behind Red, stopping right as he was about to exit. "Don't you dare think about leaving me behind. Those bastard demons took my patients; I owe them some payback" he said sternly over his shoulder, then left and headed the opposite direction that Red headed.

"I think Coline has a similar sentiment" officer Clark mentioned idly, still standing next to the French woman.

The biggest caravan guard was quite possibly Coline; it was definitely Coline if you counted her armor. The second biggest was the other guard with the LMG, (who may or may not be Dale) whom Red would encounter after going towards Garnet's auto shop, the guard apparently just coming from there. "Oh hey, that guy said he was feeling a bit weak and could use some raw meat" the guard told Red, motioning over his shoulder. Back behind the guard, Red could see Garnet working on the firetruck just outside the auto shop; standing just a bit behind her and slowly approaching her was Arthur. "Figured I'd drag one of those dead spiders over here; see if that would work. Think you could give me a hand?" the man asked Red.

"I want them both to be prepared for anything. Boxing may not be for everyone but it's kept me alive so far and if we end up facing bandits or cultists, knowing how to fight hand to hand could end up saving their lives. And I certainly hope you have no objections to teaching them about guns because I plan on learning something or other about 'em as well." Red argued, before heading out.

"No problem." Red said as he began helping the guy out.

"By the way, if you're looking to earn a little cash, we could use a big guy like you where we're heading. UNAM's going to give us a pretty penny for our troubles and it sounds like Coline and a few of your other friends are going as well. You in?" Red asked the LMG guard, exagerating just a tad to sweeten the deal.

Meanwhile Earl just shook his head at the whole damn situation. In his opinion, the boxer guy was just plain stupid. Mercenaries who only used melee weapons weren't unheard of but Earl had never heard of it ending well. He had seen one former fencer try and use his rapier on a runner horde. His sword snapped and they ate him like hungry wolves. He still grimaced at the memory.

Molly turned,looking at the window, "I'm sorry, but, I don't think we should bring Arthur, Coline's a good shot, and we'll need her translator...Of course, Garnt's a must..." though she turned to Red, "You need to learn how to use a gun, alright? You saw what the spiders did to me, imagine what they would do to you."

edited 20th Apr '14 9:03:09 PM by TroyandHawk

"I think Arthur should come. He's a half runner, he could be useful" Lisa mentioned to Molly.

"I don't think so man. I'm not much in the mood of trying to earn money via suicide missions; besides, I still don't really trust that succu-" the guard was cut off by a pained scream from behind them. (Only Molly out of those in the bookstore would hear this.)

Turning around, they'd see Garnet lying on the ground several feet from where she was previously, clutching her face which was bleeding profusely. Back where she had been, Arthur was standing, one arm raised up like he'd just swung it, and his hand a large mess of claws. He quickly swung his arm back down, tearing a huge gash in the tire he was standing next to. He then turned back to Garnet and started to advance towards her.

He got about one step before a six-inch blur started appearing around his feet, Emerson stabbing and slicing away at his feet. With a pained howl that was far too deep for any normal person, the illusion faded as the inccubus tried to bring out his wings and get off the ground, away from the gnome. "What in the fuck?!" the caravan guard yelled, and started running back that way, getting his LMG ready.

edited 20th Apr '14 9:42:02 PM by FirockFinion

"Garnet can do whatever she wants, I'd be glad to have her coming along. And you're right, she is the only mechanic we have, so Red's conditions don't matter," Max said. Then he zeroed his gaze at Flyer. "But for the twerp, he's not the only 'can-fly-a-helicopter-if-by-some-miracle-we-manage-to-find-one-in-the-middle-of-the-Goddamn-apocalypse' guy we have, so if he's going to just be a teenager, we can't be dealing with that. Red might not like guns, but he's at least determined and proven himself, and I can always teach him how to handle the truck, given how much he liked the jeep. For now, I'm gonna go check on the guy running that cafe that Red mentioned."

With that, he started heading towards the cafe, and when he got there he'd look around for the Mongolian man.

edited 20th Apr '14 9:37:53 PM by nman

Molly sighed, "And that's the point! Can we trust him on not losing control?" Pyro was vibrating trying to keep from laughing, Molly sighed, "I know, I know, I'm a hypocrite, but he's more dangerous! I have to transform, he's always half walker!" She turned to Arthur, "Will you kill walkers?" She asked, before freezing up at the scream, she heard it.

edited 21st Apr '14 4:12:24 PM by TroyandHawk

Red immediately grabbed the nearest object he could and hurled it at the incubus. Then he'd tackle the demon in an attempt to keep it away from Garnett, punching every inch he could.

edited 20th Apr '14 9:30:14 PM by FantasyLiver

Recon looked at Flyer for a few seconds.

"I don't believe you," he said simply.

edited 21st Apr '14 10:38:20 AM by gameknight102xx

"And you've got a problem with that? Even if he did rob from people, or kill people, or whatever, I don't give a shit, and you shouldn't either if you've promised him a new slate. But, what's your whole problem with Flyer exactly? I think we should get it out in the open, don't you think." A glare was shot at Recon, his implications pretty clear to Shay. But Shay neglected to mention his past until Recon actually brought his problem with bandits out in the open.

"And, if we're going on the truck despite its many faults, we're definitely gonna take the van as well. And we can take everyone, including the half-runner, since I don't see why werewolves and demons should receive any special treatment, except Flyer unless we can get his leg healed soonish. And even then, only if we have space." An apologetic and somewhat uneasy look crossed over Shay's face as he said this, uncomfortable with rejecting Flyer.

His awkwardness was solved when Molly froze, grabbing his gun from his belt, he pointed it at Molly, suspecting her losing control. He stayed his hand, for now, to ask, "What is it? Are you shifting, or losing control or something?"

edited 21st Apr '14 3:48:26 AM by Tricksen

Having already been leaving, Arthur didn't respond to Molly; whether he had even heard her wasn't clear.

"I can heal the kid once I've rested up" Lisa said to Shay as he mentioned possibly leaving Flyer behind due to his injury. As Shay noticed Molly responding to the scream and freaked out himself, she looked over, momentarily curious herself. Even Shevon put a hand on her revolver, worried about what was happening and glancing to Lisa.

"I think she's okay. She might have heard somethi-" Lisa was cut off by the sound of a light machinegun firing off in the distance. This everyone did hear.

"What's going on out there?!" Shevon asked after getting her radio out.

Red's throw of a piece of trash just kind of bounced off of the incubus' chest; had it not already been preoccupied with Emerson, it probably would have distracted the demon for a moment. Red's tackle caught him just as he was taking off the ground, throwing both of them away from the firetruck; behind Red, the caravan guard yelled, "damn it dude, I need a clear shot!"

The incubus roared in pain and frustration, wanting to bring his tail up to stab Red, but a certain gnome was grabbing onto the end of it and stabbing away at it. Even so, the demon wasn't entirely at a disadvantage, and it grabbed Red's left wrist and right hand, cutting them both as its own hands were claws. With the punches stopped, the demon followed up by headbutting Red.

The headbutt probably wouldn't have hurt nearly as much if not for the incubus' set of ram horns, but as it was, Red was sent down to the ground with a headache so bad it felt like his head had literally split open. Stars danced in his vision as in his daze, he could vaguely hear the caravan guard firing his LMG for a moment. "It's a demon! It just attacked your mechanic and boxer, and slashed one of the truck's tires!" the caravan guard yelled back into his own radio as he ran over; ironically everyone in the bookstore would hear him say it through Shevon's radio, but for Red his voice was kind of coming in and out of focus. "Are you okay man?" he asked Red, crouching down and shaking the ex-boxer's shoulder.

"What's happening now? Did you get it?" Shevon said over the radio.

"He got away from me, but the gnome was on him and I can hear them still going at it" the caravan guard answered into his own.

When he heard the news, Earl ran out the door, heading for Red's location. He was fairly certain that he could handle one incubus and it was best to deal with incubi in the open and not hide - that way you were sure to know where and who they were.. As he ran.down the street, he sweeped his rifle back and forth, looking for any suspicious movements. If he saw demon, he'd open fire.

Red just grabbed his head in pain and shut his eyes. As a boxer, he was no stranger to blows to the head but horns were something new.

"Fine...worry about the kid." Red said, gesturing to Garnett.

edited 21st Apr '14 4:53:20 AM by FantasyLiver

"You could just go there y'know." Shay muttered at Shevon, before following Earl out, catching that there was a demon and that it'd done something before he was out of hearing range. Instead of all of the swiping around nonsense, Shay just ran towards the sound of light machine-gun fire.

If Shay saw the demon, he would, like Earl, fire of a couple of shots, before rushing over to Garnet and trying to apply some first-aid with his first aid kit.

"Welp, what're we standing around here for then? Let's go!" Recon drew his gun and rushed out the door to the sound of the LMG.

edited 21st Apr '14 10:39:20 AM by gameknight102xx

"Shit, not another one," Max muttered to himself when the guard finished radioing over. He stopped walking towards the cafe, and started to run in the direction of Garnet's workshop, Thor bouncing along behind him.

"You could just go there y'know."

"Oh yes, running towards machinegun fire is always a good idea" Shevon responded sarcastically, getting her revolver ready and exiting the bookstore as well. The caravan guard with the dual revolvers followed, Lisa followed, and so did Coline and officer Clark just as soon as the latter was done hastily translating what was happening to the former. Flyer stayed inside, what with being on a crutch and all, but Arthur regrouped with them outside, having heard the shots and doubled back.

"If it was after Garnet and the truck... Sabotage. Mephisto's trying to slow us down" Lisa said as they moved towards the auto shop. As they got closer, she perked up and her eyes turned red. "Oh yes, I sense him now" she muttered, her demonic voice back on, "it's an incubus, and he's trying to flee South... Heh, Emerson is slowing him down."

"Everyone, regroup at the South side of town!" Shevon ordered through her radio to the other caravan guards and officers that were still elsewhere.

When Shay got to Garnet, he'd see the caravan guard with the LMG crouched next to her, looking unsure what to do as she clutched her face and sobbed in pain. Shay would get as far as getting his medkit out before suddenly Lisa pushed him and the caravan guard away. "We need her fixing the truck now, not later. I'll deal with this; go kill my shit-stain of a little brother" Lisa told him while pointing down South, then looked down at Garnet. "Now hold still, this is going to hurt" she stated, then without waiting for the mechanic to reply, pulled Garnet's hand away with one hand, and brought her other hand down to the large claw wounds on Garnet's face, her palm glowing.

Garnet started to scream in agony once Lisa's palm made contact, but the wounds on her face nevertheless started to heal.

Those who headed South would finally see the incubus, flapping a few feet off the ground in the middle of the street just before the South gate. He was still dealing with the little blur climbing around on him when they caught up, finally managing to grab a hold of the gnome and throw him to the ground. Emerson hit the ground roughly, bouncing a couple times before rolling to a stop; he started to get back up immediately, but from the slow speed of it, that had clearly hurt. The incubus snarled and raised up one hand, a ball of fire appearing in it as he readied to throw it like a baseball at the gnome. He paused then, eyes widening as he noticed all the caravan guards, police, and whoever else had come along, all lined up with weapons ready.

The barrage was loud, but over quickly, the demon turning to dust so quickly under the hail of bullets that he didn't even get to scream out in pain. "... Ach, what, over already? I thought ya would put up more of a fight, big folk demon" Emerson said as he got up, stumbling around a bit.