The Journey Home

There they were...

Slightly more than half-dozen, all armed. Four pistols, one shotgun, two machine guns. Poorly built, pieces of absolute crap. They were probably scavenged from some random building, pieced together with duct-tape and glue. Amateurs.

The young man leaned forward out the window of the building, glancing out over the broken streets of the town. Several men had come together near one of the buildings opposite his own, chatting with one another. The joy in their tone was evident. They had yet another victory...but what were the spoils? He narrowed his eyes, pressing the binoculars up to them as he scanned the building behind them. Only darkness. He'd have to take a closer look once he dealt with them.

He'd been tracking down this ragtag group for a couple of days now, following their tracks in an effort to catch up. Old Ben had fed him a certain bit of information, of how they had come across a rather curious artifact from the old world. The old man had wanted it, and so his young gunman had obeyed. That was how it always worked.

The 19-year old pursed his lips as he continued to look over the group of bandits, trying to find some sort of weak point in their formation. Nothing stood out. Did that mean he'd have to do it the old fashioned-way...?

Gingerly setting down the pair of binocs, the boy reached below and grabbed hold of the rifle resting at his feet. Unlike the guns of the bandits, the young man's weapon of choice was clearly well taken after. The wood had been well-polished, and the metal showed next to no signs of rust. A fine weapon, and one would that would put an end to this group's little parade...

Pressing it against his shoulder, he aimed the barrel towards the closest of the bandits. He closed an eye, the other settling upon the man's head.

And then he pulled the trigger.

Her hands were tied to a beam, hanging from it in the abandoned building. She had been on a journey, her mate had taken her and their belongings when the food ran out. Treking across the wilderness. She was sad to leave, but they needed food and rumor had it there was a place at the other side of the mountains, but first, they had to cross the desert, patrolled by bandits.

April cursed the bandits, when the outbreak happened, those immune survived, they had been fine for the most part, but some were changed. The Bandits had turned genetically. They were bigger, less intelligent for the most part, deformed and void of hair, they were heavily muscled and lacked compassion.

The rest of the humans were quite the opposite. They were fine featured, as was April and smaller in stature, Her hair was long and flowing. This seemed to be something the bandits were really interested in. She was small with cruves, older than a lot of the civilization. Now in her 40s she had womanly curves many of the women didn't.

Her hands were tied tight, her fingers going to sleep as she hung in the dark building. Her clothes were stripped away, and her belongings had been taken and split up among the bandits as were her mates weapons and vehicle. She knew they would probably use her till they were tired of her and kill her. She looked around desperately for an escape.

The roar of gunfire would quickly meet the woman's ears, the battle having begun.

The young man squeezed the trigger of his rifle a second time, watching as the second of the bandits went flying back, splattering blood against the building. They were shouting now, screaming for the blood of their attacker. He couldn't help but to allow a small smirk to wind its way onto his lips as he pulled away from his position, his ears whistling as a hail of bullets shot through the window, tearing through concrete and spitting up dirt. He had taken down three, and the rest had probably already spilled on out of the building. If his prior guess was right, that meant another four of the freaks to take out. Good, very good. It'd been a while since he spilled so much blood.

He reached towards his belt, tightening his hand around the combat knife tucked into it. He would need to time this perfectly...

Quickly making his way down the staircase, the boy arrived at the entrance to the building, and pressed his back up against the wall to the side of the door. He could hear the footsteps, the brutish men making a dash across the street to where the sniper had taken root. Three...two...one...

He waited until the final one had slipped into the building, all four seemingly unaware of the fact that their attacker stood just behind them. How unfortunate. As quiet as a mouse, the boy lunged forward, unsheathing his knife and quickly planting it into the back of the bandit at the back of the row. He went down with just a gurgle, and by the time they could even react the second of the men had gone down as well. The last two were polished off within seconds, a bullet having been put in both their heads.

The sniper didn't even utter a word as he tossed the pistol to the ground, giving the four bodies only a quick check (to make they were dead) before turning about and silently making his way across the street. The sunlight bounced off the young man's dark brown, his hawk-like gaze shifting back and forth...making sure that none of the bandits survived. Approaching their little hideout, he gave one final glimpse over his shoulder before finally stepping into the darkness.

His eyes adjusted rather quickly, and what met his gaze was...unexpected. There was treasure, yes. Guns were piled in the corner, and not to mention there seemed to be packed food as well to the side. But, it was the woman that caught his attention. She was hanging from the middle, hands tied up and stripped bare. He narrowed his eyes, slowly taking a step forward, his gaze shifting up and down. She seemed weak, harmless...hardly a threat. But, what was he supposed to do? Urgh, Ben told him nothing about other humans.

The boy slowly unsheathed his knife again, and took a slight step forward, close enough to reach to the figure. He was quiet as he mused over his thoughts, thinking on what to do. Maybe...?

He brought the knife down, slashing through the rope and freeing the woman.

April heard the gunfire, she was barely hanging on to conciousness. her body bruised and needing water and food. The captors had been less than gentle with her. Her body was bruised and sore, hanging as she heard the fighting.

She was unaware what was happening, if they were fighting among themselves or was someone attacking. She was listening to the ginfire when she heard silence and saw his lithe form outlined in the sunlight.

He looked young and healthy, definitely not a bandit. He was, like her, a survivor of the virus, immune to it's affects. How much so she wasn't sure, there were varying levels of immunity.

Her eyes barely open, she didn't even think about the fact she was totally nude, her small body stretched out hanging there, her large breasts hung and swayed even with her body stretched. She saw him grin.

April looked at the young man, his face was streaked with blood. She saw the blood covered knife, her eyes widened. She gasped as she saw the young man bring the knife up. She gasped as it came down, her body tensed for the strike. She felt her hands go loose, her feeling coming back into her hands.

She stared at him for a moment, as she collapsed into his arms, her eyes rolled as she fainted.

aprilmay1965 said:

April heard the gunfire, she was barely hanging on to conciousness. her body bruised and needing water and food. The captors had been less than gentle with her. Her body was bruised and sore, hanging as she heard the fighting.

She was unaware what was happening, if they were fighting among themselves or was someone attacking. She was listening to the ginfire when she heard silence and saw his lithe form outlined in the sunlight.

He looked young and healthy, definitely not a bandit. He was, like her, a survivor of the virus, immune to it's affects. How much so she wasn't sure, there were varying levels of immunity.

Her eyes barely open, she didn't even think about the fact she was totally nude, her small body stretched out hanging there, her large breasts hung and swayed even with her body stretched. She saw him grin.

April looked at the young man, his face was streaked with blood. She saw the blood covered knife, her eyes widened. She gasped as she saw the young man bring the knife up. She gasped as it came down, her body tensed for the strike. She felt her hands go loose, her feeling coming back into her hands.

She stared at him for a moment, as she collapsed into his arms, her eyes rolled as she fainted.

Click to expand...

The boy gave a sharp inhale as the woman stumbled forward without even a hint of warning, her naked form falling into his arms. His features froze, eyes widening as his grip on her quickly loosened...along the former captive to fall and hit the ground. He took a quick step away from her unconscious body, eyes narrowing once more as he stared at her for a couple of moments. Had...had Ben known that this would happen, that they would have prisoners? He gritted his teeth, slowly grinding them together as he pieced his own thoughts together. Urgh, b-but...the old man knew that he wasn't a people person! What in the world was he supposed to do?!

He closed his eyes for a moment, slowly slipping his knife back into his belt, clicking his tongue. Either way, the old man would probably want to see her. He always did enjoy guests...though, he'd probably need to wait 'till she woke up, right? Great.

--

Darkness had descended over the small desert town by the time the boy had set everything up. He'd managed to gather some fuel and had torn apart some of the wooden crates to make something of a fire. The flames licked at the concrete, only a small hint of warmth emitting from the flames. At least it was better than freezing your butt off.

He'd gone ahead and found a blanket for the woman, throwing it over her sleeping form, and had also managed to gather a bit of clothing...putting it into a plastic bag beside her. The place must have been a warehouse for the bandits, and though he hadn't been able to find that artifact Ben had mentioned the boy had found a decent deal of supplies.

April awoke with a start. She could feel the warmth from the fire. She looked around nervously, she realized there was a blanket covering her nude body. She felt weak and thirsty, she knew she needed food and water. The bandits hadn't been considerate in her treatment.

April opened the plastic bag by her body. She looked inside. There was clothing, she pulled it out and unfolded it. A tattered skirt and a worn sweater, she slipped them on under the blanket, the loose skirt had a tattered hem and came about to her knees on the right side and higher on the left. The sweater was a bit small, but it stretched around her and made her feel warmer.

She looked around, trying to adjust her eyes to the dim firelight. She couldn't see the fine featured young man who had rescued her. She climbed to her feet. Her bare feet on the concrete floor. She stumbled a bit. She was still weak. "hellooo.. are you here? .. I"m April" she said softly, not wanting to alert any bandits that may still be around.

She didn't know if there were more out patroling, but definitely didn't feel safe alone She had always had a man around to protect her. Now she was alone, her mate having been killed days before by the bandits.

April moved and stumbled as she moved towards the pile of supplies near the edge of the firelight.