>> Taking a Risk << [open]

[Deleted]

Jo Talbot

It was a hard call to make. Usually when it came down to a hard call, Jo erred on the side of caution and abandoned the mission. No risks usually meant you live to see another day. But sometimes risks had to be taken. Jo considered this as she crouched in the overgrown brush on a hill above a local Walmart. Her brow was furrowed and she frowned down at the dilapidated superstore with a crumbling, weed-infested façade. The pack on her back was alarmingly light, meaning supplies were running dangerously low. She only had a couple more days of food, at best. She needed to replenish her stocks.

But was it worth it to do it here? Even from where she crouched, she could see walkers milling around or standing like decaying statues in the parking lot. Tons more were bound to be inside. It would require infinite skill to get in and out without being detected. If she had someone at her back, it would be much easier, but since her brother Asher disappeared, she was on her own. Chance of infection was uncomfortably high. And, to make it even more risky, who’s to say she would even find anything inside? Most stores had been cleaned out. Precious few had anything left of value in there. But, seeing as there were a large amount of walkers around, that may mean more supplies inside… most survivors tended to avoid such high concentration of the infected.

With an aggravated sigh of resignation, Jo crawled backwards back into the cover of the trees before making her way around the building. A front-door entrance would be just plain suicidal, but the service entrances in back might be less dangerous. Several abandoned semi-trucks crouched like skeletons behind the store. She ducked around and among them as she hared her way to one of the back doors, which was slightly ajar. She crouched outside of it, listening carefully, as she pulled her bowie knife from the strap on her leg and tugged the bandanna around her neck up to cover her nose and mouth. No sounds from inside. She immediately ducked inside and froze, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness. After a moment or two, she discerned aisles upon aisles of backstock space. She started moving along the wall, making a careful note of where her door was. When in doubt, know your way out.

The first walker she came upon was slumped facing a wall, and she killed it with a knife to the back of the head. She lowered it to the floor slowly, wrinkling her nose at the smell. Hearing no others, she quickly started perusing the aisles, but they had been virtually cleaned out. Nothing that was left mattered to her. Which meant, as she knew it would, she had to go out front. Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself before finding the double doors that led to the main part of the store. Peering through the tiny, foggy windows, she saw the store in ruins, trash littered everywhere and abandoned, useless items covering many of the shelves. To the left, a clump of walkers shuffled slowly down the row, oblivious to her. Jo pulled away and put her back against the wall. She pulled out her gun and ejected the clip, taking stock of how many bullets she had before ramming the clip back in place. “Okay,” she whispered to herself, “nice and easy, like always. You got this.” She really wished Asher was here now.

Word Count || 590
Muse || Excellent
Tags || None/open
Notes || I'm excited to roleplay, anyone/everyone is welcome! (:

[CharLee]

Eric 

Along their way to the town's Walmart, Eric had sworn and said every dirty, nasty word that he could think of under his breath. He knew the place was crawling with walkers. He also knew that his daughter had insisted on coming on the next run with him. Of course, had he known this was going to be their destination, he would have never allowed it. The huge store had obviously been overrun. All you had to do was get within fifty feet of the place and you could just smell the dead's stench coming through the walls. He had been all set up for the raid, had promised Emmerson that she could tag along, and then the bomb got dropped. "We need more this time, Eric. You're going to have to hit the Walmart." His face had gone ashen and his mouth had gone dry. They had to be joking?

Of course, they hadn't been joking. They would choose the one time that he would allow Emmy to come along to send him on a suicide mission. It could just be his nerves that made him think that Emmy couldn't handle herself. She was small, and quick. If she couldn't kill, she could run. He didn't have a doubt about that. But, this was her FIRST one. 'You've got to calm down, Eric. If you let her think for one minute that you doubt her or yourself, she'll panic.' He closed his blue eyes, took a deep breath, and then turned towards his daughter. They were hiding out in their clan's car behind the superstore while he thought of a plan. "Now, Emmy, listen. There are going to be a lot of walkers in there. And we've got quite a few things to get," he held up a large bag "I will cover you. But, I need you to keep an eye out for walkers. If you see any, don't scream, just let me know. If they get too close to you, kill them. If they try to touch you and you don't think you can kill them, run. Do you understand?"

Eric paused for a moment, looking out the car's front window, and watched as another woman entered. 'Oh, shit... Could things get any worse?' He furrowed his brow and frowned. Now there was another PERSON in the mix. Someone that they didn't even know. "There's another person in there. Stay out of her way if you can help it. Just take it easy and follow my lead." He wished that he could trust her to go in first, but Eric wasn't sure how familiar she had become with her weapons yet. He had a bow and arrow on hand and some throwing knives. Those would have to do. 

Eric opened the car door, and motioned for Emmy to follow his lead. He was quite and gentle as he closed the door of the car and made his way towards the service entrance of the store. He was almost tempted to check the semis that littered the area, he was almost sure they had been raided by now. He quietly opened the store's door and saw the woman stabbing a walker in the head. 'At least she's not going to jeopardize us any.' The thought comforted him a little, and he slipped in. He chose to make his presence known to the woman so that she wouldn't shoot them on accident for whatever reason. Since Emmy was with him, he chose the more aggressive route. 

As he scooted in her direction, he had his weapon drawn. "Ma'am. My name is Eric Winter, and this is my daughter. We'll stay out of your way if you stay out of our's." He knew he sounded like an idiot when he used old world terms like "ma'am" when it came to strangers. But, old habits die hard.


Word Count: 645
Outfit: Link
Tags: None
Notes: Hope you don't mind if we both join you!