☀ 02

[hispalette]

[Action → The Highway (Saturday, 10:30pm)]

[the pilgrimage, if it could even be called that, had proven pointless. all it amounted to was sore feet all around, diminished supplies from an already piddly inventory, and an earful of screams that Red doesn't expect he'll forget any time soon. they weren't death rattles either, which was the worst

Comments

Downtown

[godisachild]

[Oh hey, look. There's a fat, blue-skinned kid behind the same schoolbus. He just barely keeps himself from freaking out at the sight of Red. Holy God, you scared him so bad.

He looks at Red for a moment before nodding at the Diner. That's where he's headed, right?]

[hispalette]

[whirling on the person he bumps into when he scampers behind the bus, Red has to catch himself from burying the knife into Pokey's neck. shock gives way to relief, and when he follows the younger boy's gaze, he starts nodding eagerly.

tentatively, he peeks out over the side of the bus. there are taillights on the end of the street, moving away from them. he glances back at Pokey and points in the truck's direction.]

[godisachild]

[Pokey watches as the lights fade and pull away before peering around a bit more. He pauses for a moment, and then points out into the darkness. There's still a few cannibals. Stragglers, maybe. Meant to keep guard, or just a different group still hunting.

Still, the truck is gone, meaning their chance has improved pretty greatly. He just nods slowly a minute before holding up three fingers.

Count of three?]

[hispalette]

[he sees them in the dark, but their attention doesn't seem to be on them or the bus. that's good. if he and Pokey are quiet enough, they can slink over to the diner and enter via the blasted out window. it's too much of a risk to go through the door; the raiders might hear it open.

with one determined nod, Red tenses himself and slowly rises from his crouch to a position more suited for running.

one.]

[Downtown]

[worstdmever]

[There's a sad looking boy with an eyepatch over his left eye, shambling slowly through town.

Weak... so weak.

Ryo's lost pretty much everything. He's been without food for days, even before Mayfield decided to destroy everything. He's lost an eye, as well as the first ten years of his childhood thanks to that evil alter ego of his. He's lost Téa, having come to consciousness to realize that not only has she been droned, but that her body is now nothing more than a charred, empty husk. He's even lost the dark spirit of the Millennium Ring, who at least would have been powerful enough to handle whatever Mayfield decided to...

No. Ryo can be strong. He has to be, if he wants to survive. His eye manages to catch sight of Red, and he begins to head towards him, speaking wearily, barely finding the energy to press his chapped lips together.]

Help... me...

[hispalette]

[it's like someone put clothes and a corpse and taught it how to walk and talk again. needless to say, Red is startled and rounds on Ryo, knife at the ready. he looks positively ghoulish, so much so that he mistakes him for one of the raiders initially and prepares to lunge.

a trick. it's a dirty, awful trick. they gave up using the truck and now they're trying to trick people -

but something lends him pause. either it's the desperation and sheer animal panic in Ryo's remaining, half-lidded eye or the sound of a horn from the adjacent block, but either way, Red tackles the other for a different reason: to grab him by the shoulders and drag him down beside the bus where he's hiding.

he clamps a hand over Ryo's mouth and places a finger at his lips. shhh.]

Action ☆ Downtown

[bluefrompallet]

[ Blue had been crouched by the bus before she moved somewhere 'safer'. She's slowly making her way back to the neighborhoods, bringing some canned foods that she found to the basement of her house. Her survivor mode is on and for anyone else she might have just kept going.

But she spots Red from her hiding place behind another car. And oh great, now she's worried. So much for self-preservation.

She holds her gaze his way, wondering if he might notice her too. But otherwise planning to follow him until he gets somewhere safe. ]

[hispalette]

[he's instincts are sharp enough to notice when he's being watched, but this particular person is too far away for him to do anything about. good thing, too - if Blue had approached him without making it apparent that it was her, Red would have surely mistook her for a cannibal.

right after Pokey makes his move and draws all of the cannibals away from the immediate area, Red glances over to Blue's hiding place, locks eyes with her, and yells out in a hoarse voice:]

Come on!

[one has to figure how long it'll take before the pack returns. for now, the diner is as good a place as any to take refuge in.]

[bluefrompallet]

[ Blue doesn't hesitate to move from her place and follow Red to the diner. This is her first time dealing with cannibals, but it isn't her first time having to hide from people that don't like her.

She'll try to reach the diner first and wait for Red once she's in. Then begin looking for a decent hiding place. ]

Funny running into you again, hm? And on a day like this.

[hispalette]

[once he's in, he shuts the door and props a half-melted steel chair against it. pretty useless considering the building's front window is completely blown out, but at least it's something. finally, he has a chance to take a breather. the look he gives Blue - horrified and utterly drained - speaks far more than any actual words do.

picking his way through the rubble, he takes another look back at the street like he's expecting the truck to come back at any minute.]

Who...ARE those people? Where did they come from?