Aaron's Story

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That had been close. How did people living out here for two years make rookie mistakes like that? First they had failed to hold up the front barricade, two had gone down right then; it also meant that the zombies broke through before he had a chance to set that other thug's leg properly. Aaron had told them that he couldn't run on it, and what at the fool tried to do? well it made a nice distraction; he dropped after the first few steps, and all that exposed blood and bone had drawn the other zombies straight in. Even if he had tried to save him from the zombies, he was bleeding too much to be able to survive much longer. The screams had followed Aaron out of the door. One other member of this wretched gang left... the squirrely little ass that they gave all the small jobs too. He must have been someone's relatives, or this lot would have shot him in a moment for his cowardice. He'd barged out of the back door at once, always an exit available of course; Aaron had followed, but only because he knew it would be safe. He'd run straight into the gang of zombies waiting outside the back door; they were always waiting. The first barrel of the sawn-off managed to take out most of the zombies that had pounced down on the nervous young man, but it was too late. He'd been bitten. He was infected. Aaron and turned, fled down the lonly alley that didn't appear to have zombies coming from it, leaving the old team that had supported him behind to get devoured. His breaths were heavy through the surgical mask as he ran, adrenaline sending him far away from the feasting zombies... but there were figures at the end of the alley, he could see. Now... how the hell was he going to get out of this one? gun still drawn, he scanned the alley he was in... there had to be a door, an escape ladder to the roof... anything.

There, to his left was a door to the building that say across the alley from the one he was just in. It was open an inch or two and was currently the only viable escape option available to him.

Great... Aaron was out of choices. He reloaded the chamber wasted on that bitten son of a bitch; didn't want to be caught out in there. He swallowed, gun in the left hand as he opened it with his right; he leant in, gun forward, scanning for the undead in here. None at the door, they must have been the ones to wonder down for an unlucky meal. The door slid silently behind him, closing completely shut. He was pretty sure he heard it lock, but that wasn't too bad; there might be something in here, but there was definitely something out there. He didn't want to find a safe place and have left the door open. The problem with zombies... the real problem with zombies, was that you could never hear them breathe really. Sometimes they did. Sometimes you heard a rasp as old lung tissue gave way, expanding, filling the dead space with air as a mockery of life... So Aaron stayed still, stayed silent; this appeared to be a large department store, like the one next door that he'd run from. This one however, luckily, was hair and beauty. feminine products. No one would search a place like this for items of use, so the windows should be in tact and the doors mostly closed. One or two straggler zombies in here... if that. He just had to listen out for their movements, and stay out of sight of the front windows. Zombies might have no reason to come in here yet.

The zombies in the alleyway could be heard banging on the door he came through, desperate to come through and get him. Several zombies could be seen shuffling around the store, looked like they may have been shopping here when the infection broke out and they hadn't made it out yet. He could see the street outside the store through the windows, and it looked mostly clear right now.

Certain death behind, uncertainty ahead, not much of a choice really. This wasn't a place for a shotgun though, these zombies didn't appear to have noticed him yet. He reached back, grabbing the bone saw he used for killing zombies; he had two, one for actual work, one for killing, and he never wanted them to get mixed up. He moved as quietly as possible, on rubber soled shoes he crept from isle to isle. The street outside... pretty bare he supposed, he could make a break for it, try and get away from the crowd of zombies outside. But there were still quite a few zombies out there... enough to lead the horde towards him. He silently approached a zombie from behind, listening to the soft groans coming from it as air escaped the shrivelled lungs. He swung the saw, slicing through skin and bone in one firm swing. It should kill it outright; the spinal column cleanly sliced and the vast array of nerves severed. It dropped dead, and there was no unfortunate spray or noise. He continued on, heading further into the store; maybe there was a way out, or a loading bay around back. Somewhere away from the crowds, and not into the open. He didn't like being alone, even though it made sneaking through these lipstick stocked shelves a lot easier, and meant that he could tell whose footsteps were whom's, it meant that Aaron had no back up. No one to help.

The zombie's head rolled forward, and hung by a small patch of flesh before tearing away and falling to the floor. The rest of the body followed shortly after. After a few more seconds of searching, Aaron found a door with an "Employees Only" sign.

As good a place as ever, but if anyone had holed up back here then it might be trapped, or worse, infected. Aaron tested the door, pushing against it lightly at first and twisting the handle. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any deadbolts in place or anything blocking the back door... Maybe someone had already forced it open before, or everyone had run out when the infection started. God knows he did, so they might have had the smarts to do so. Hitching up his backpack he started forward, holding the saw in one hand and listening out for any approaching zombies. He made sure to step away from the door before looking around it; nothing waiting for him back there... He'd seen too many people make that mistake. Walk right through the door and fall into a zombie's arms. He shut the door silently, observing the broken dead bolt. Someone had obviously smashed their way through here at some point... maybe someone seeking safety, like him. Well the bolt was useless now, if any zombie had seen him come in here then they would be able to get right through the door. He had no choice but to head further into the employee area, listening out for anything up ahead or approaching from behind.

The area looked to be a small loading/unloading area as well as a stockroom, the lights were off and the only noise he could hear was the sound of sloppy and wet chewing somewhere in the darkness.

Oh fuuuuuuun... at least it had found a victim already. He might as well check out the stock room while he was here, make sure there was nothing of use before heading off. He suspected that was where the sounds of chewing were coming from as well, so he would check it out before exploring too far. He made his way towards the door slowly, listening out for any footsteps or sounds of the chewing stopping. With bone saw in hand, Aaron gently pushed at the door leading to the stockroom, hoping that it would open easily and let him look at whatever the hell was inside.

The door into the stockroom was a large plastic, dual-direction swinging door and made little to no sound as he pushed through it. In the far center of the room was the source of the chewing. It looked like five zombies were chewing on the remains of two, possibly three, people.

Not that way then. One, maybe two he could take down but five. He would have had to use his shotgun, and that would have given his position away. Sure, some people might say respect for those that they were snacking on, but Aaron didn't want to go near that many zombies. He fixed people, he didn't fight, so this was way more than he was going to tangle with. He stepped away slowly, looking around at his surroundings before making his way slowly towards the loading area. Hopefully there would be something of use back here...

The loading area was empty except for some boxes of beauty and hygiene products. Over in one corner was a make-shift tent and mild camping set up. Seemed this was where those corpses were living before they turned into food.

Pulling the gun out, Aaron began to push aside the tent flaps, searching the contents of the camp site. If there was something of use, perhaps a silenced gun or something that he could use, then he might explore the stock rooms. If the zombies had gotten in however, that must mean that there was a way out of here. He just had to find it...

The camp was basically empty of any necessary supplies, and was probably the reason why the people left the safety of it and ended up getting eaten.

Aaron sighed, nothing. He stood up, looking around at the abandoned camp... right, so the only way out was... past those zombies. He checked his gun, both barrels full, but that would end up being false pretty soon. He'd take down two, first try, sure; one before they noticed, one when they were getting up. Then what? if he decided to slice at them that meant he'd have to have both hands tied up, if he wanted to reload then he might as well eat his own gun. But, he might be able to take down another two with a reload, but that would still leave one more... decisions. He thought as he moved back towards the zombies... dammit, he had to act, he couldn't just wait around for them to catch him.

As Aaron began to move away there was a squeak and then a thud, a few seconds later the same thing. It sounded like a door being pushed open before being shut again.

Well... crap. Ok, he'd do that instead. Fumbling into his pockets, he pulled out three shells for his shotgun and held them in the palm of the hand not waving his weapon around. If they were up and shuffling then the bone saw wouldn't do him much good. He kept his eyes open, scanning this way and that, trying to keep his trigger finger from itching as he waited for the zombie to stick its head out.

There was no zombie waiting for him near the door, nor was one trying to get it. It seemed more likely to be the result of the wind hitting an improperly closed door. However, the noise was bound to attract any nearby zombies eventually.

Well there was a way out... Aaron followed the sound of a slamming door, frowning to himself and slowly moving towards the breeze fueled noise. It could stop at any second, so he rather needed to find it fast... He grasped the door before it slammed close, letting out a small sigh and peeking outside. Now, this surely lead outside... why had the people decided to head out the other way instead of back here? Maybe it was blocked off... or maybe filled with zombies?

As he reached the door he could see that there were bullet holes and ricochet marks on the door along with a few scrapings of dead flesh and long since congealed blood. Looks like the zombies came in this way. On the outside was the back area of the store where the delivery trucks would drop off goods, that is when he spotted a young woman limping into the area, using an old board as a crutch and with a bloody rag on her leg.

Aaron leveled the gun, but noticed that the blood was oddly bright at the wound on the leg, shining in the sun. The wound was not a bite, he could tell from this distance, and she was oddly mobile for a zombie... "Hello?" he called out, slipping down from the door and into the courtyard with the woman "Are you infected"

"Not so loud!" Darlene hissed at the man. Oh, this was great. A horde of zombies and this one is calling out. And they called models brainless. "I am not infected. Just shot." At least this one talked. And wasn't taking shots at her. She held her pizza paddle higher and looked at the man. "And I would deeply appreciate you lowering that gun."

"No" Aaron said simply "There are zombies around, I need to be on my watch." He wasn't aiming it at her any more, just holding it up so he was looking around at the rest of the courtyard "Ok, so you're shot. Lucky as hell you've just met a medic. Now lets get you to a safe place. First question though, do you KNOW any safe places?"

Glancing around, Dare hitched her bag a little higher. "If I can find a car that is still in running order, I can hotwire it. The road is the safest place. We can stop somewhere less...big and zombie filled." She turned a full circle and spotted a building with a fire escape. "Until then, up might be our best choice." She knew that the zombies had a hard time climbing, and the fire escape would be the best place right then.

Aaron groaned softly as he looked up, he was currently wearing a pack full of medical supplies anyway. And roofs were NOT sterile. "Ok, but we only need to go one level up" he said "You can't make it all the way up without help and I CANNOT carry everything here. This is going to be quick, bullets out, bandage in, stitch or two, then car. Ok?" He had to do this as quickly as possible, bullet wounds were always hell to fix on the fly so right now all he could do is repair it enough for her not to slow him down.

Darlene nodded and limped over to the fire escape. This would be rough. She threw her bag up first, wincing as the cans inside clanked. Then, using her arms, she pulled herself up like a pole dancer. Oh, those hidden skills of the runway. Pole dancing had been one form of entertainment and exercise for her. Shimming up, she reached the first landing quickly and sat down, turning to help the man up as well.

Aaron was up there in a moment, he seemed designed to clamber up the awkward fire escape, as if he was part nervous ferret or something. He landed next to Darlene, huffing slightly and gazing down at her wounded leg; quite the flowering of blood... usually the bullets hit rotten flesh, exploded like a shower of giblets and made a real mess. Her flesh was tight... twisting... the blood exploded like a flower from the hole. "Right" he said, putting his back on the fire escape "Good. Lets have a proper look at your wound." He held his hands out, waiting for her to stick her leg in his lap.

Moving over so she was in a better position, Dare stretched her leg out, taking off her belt at the same time. She fashioned a crude tourniquet with it and put her leg into Aaron's lap. "The name is Dare West," she said, unsure if he would recognize her name at all. She was an internationally acclaimed supermodel, after all.

"Aaron Ilk" he replied, putting the bag down beside himself; he either didn't know who she used to be or he didn't actually care. He opened his bag, pulling out several instruments in plastic sanitised bags; there were metal shining instruments of varying terror lying out beside him. "Right, the bullet doesn't appear to have done much damage to muscles or bone or you wouldn't be able to walk. It should be a very basic procedure just to reach in with forceps and grab it. get the bullet out and bind it up so the wound can heal."

"Do what you need to," Dare said, looking away. She watched the street instead. Dare had been in worse pain. Most of it voluntary. At least this one would be only a sharp pain once. Unlike some of her other jobs. She was also glad to finally have met someone who wasn't a zombie or trying to kill her.

"If only I had something for suction..." Aaron muttered as he pulled on some gloves, digging out a pair of forceps with the sterile hands and taking a ball of cotton from the bag. He began to use the cotton to wipe away blood and open up the wound slightly, digging into the flesh with forceps and trying to wrap them around the bullet. At this point, screaming usually started. But he needed to be sparse with his painkillers.

A grunting groan emitted from Dare, but no scream. "I've felt worse, I've felt worse," she repeated under her breath, closing her eyes and leaning back. She had felt worse before, but this was the here and now, and the pain was intense. Darlene bit her cheek to keep from crying out. No need to notify the zombies.

The procedure wasn't the quickest, blood is a wonderful lubricant and the bullet was skidding around like crazy inside the forceps grasp. Finally, with a small sickly fleshy noise, the bullet came free. No powder burns, the wound could be bandaged. "Who took a shot at you?" Aaron said from behind his mask, tossing the used cotton into the bag and pulling out some fresh balls, some rubbing alcohol and some bandages. "Now this is going to sting like the Dickens" he said, putting rubbing alcohol onto the cotton before starting to bind the wound.

"Some useless prick who was trying to take revenge on my killing his two friends," Dare said through gritted teeth. She inhaled sharply with the alcohol touched the wound. "But they tried to kill me first and take my stuff." She closed her eyes tightly and opened them again, staring at the sky.

"You killed someone with a pizza paddle?" Aaron asked, wondering if there was more upper body strength to this woman than at first glance. Talking of glances, after the leg was all bound up he was taking a long time looking around, making sure there were no zombies in sight for their descent. He didn't want to drop into a pair of dirty infected teeth after all.

"Ironically enough, no," Dare said as she took her leg back. She saw her ruined pants and sighed. There went another pair of her precious designer cargo pants. "The pizza paddle is for the living dead." She put the paddle into her back sheath and pulled out her gun. "I killed the people with this." Looking around, she also did a check for shambling corpses.

It seemed that the horde was dispersing now that all the action had died down. It would take awhile before the area would be safe to move through as many stragglers were left.

"I don't quite fancy taking them out. We could head a bit further up" Aaron said, looking from the shambling corpses to the rest of the fire escape "Which would provide us a better view and more protection. Though you MIGHT suffer some pain from the wound."

"Pain is nothing," Dare said as she pulled herself up and put her bag on her back. "Just annoyance. And yes, up would be best." She moved towards the ladder/stairs, using her arms to keep her balance and to pull herself along, limping a bit in her stilettos.

"Why do you have stilettos on?" Aaron asked as he moved after Dare; he would go last, as he was the one who could probably keep their balance if they had to suddenly shoot downwards. And he could probably support such a light person if they started falling.

"They're more comfortable than flats." Darlene had reached the second floor landing and looked down. She was trying not to put too much strain on her leg. But it was hard with all this climbing. "I have a pair of flats, but I would rather wear something I'm more comfortable in."

"Why are you not dead?" Aaron asked aloud, gazing at the pointy shoes with interest. He'd seen one or two cases of what shoes did to a man's face... but really? she needed to run. How could she do that in THOSE shoes?

"You really don't know who I am," Dare said with amazement. She watched as he followed her up the stairs, almost laughing to herself. "Dare West, supermodel? Been on the cover of most mainstream magazines? Have my own clothing line?" She waited for his answer. Maybe he would know now.

"Doctorate. That means that if I read something over the last few years, it was a text book or how to microwave food" Aaron sniffed slightly, and didn't resist the urge to look up as they moved. The wound was quite beautiful. Also, a nice backside.

"I see," Dare responded down to him. She pulled herself up to the next floor and looked down again. "I am much more comfortable in heels than flats," Dare said. Finally on the third floor, she leaned against the next stairwell, needing a short break from all the climbing.

"We should be ok for a while here" aaron said, stopping beside her and hunkering down on the third floor. He looked over and gave a small sigh "damn zombies. I always hoped the number of people I killed would be below ten at least."

"I only had eyes to kill one person," Darlene said with a grin. "But now..." She looked at Aaron. "So you are an M.D.? Do you know what started all this? I'm not as stupid as most people think I am, but no one bothered to tell me what was going on when it started. They just told me to run."

"People not covering their mouths when they sneeze" aaron said in a completely serious voice, frowning slightly as he checked to see his bag her been properly packed up "The actual name of the infection, I don't know. I wasn't a high level M.D. when the infection took hold. I'm sure that I could have heard the name if I wanted, but I was too busy running."

"I think we all were." Dare opened her own bag and pulled out a pull tab can of vegetables. She held it out to Aaron. "Hungry?" Dare had a few cans still and needed to eat herself.

"No, thanks. I ate before I had to escape" Aaron said with a small chuckle, shaking his head and being slightly glad that he had found someone who had food on them. She seemed resourceful and rather surprisingly strong, something he could use as an ally in these times.

Dare shrugged and pulled out an airtight plastic container. She opened the can and dumped the whole thing into the container before pulling out a fork and eating half. "Let me know if you need anything," she said in between bites. "I have a little of everything. But no medical supplies." She supposed she overlooked the need for a first aid kit. Dare hadn't thought she would need one. The only injuries likely to occur were infection causing.

"Well perhaps we should stick together" Aaron said simply, giving a small shrug and trying not to smile. Fortune was smiling down on him it seems. Good, he could do with a partner right now, he didn't do well on his own.

"So long as you don't try anything funny," Dare said with a smile. She stowed the remainder of her meal in the container and placed it in her bag. "Then you got it. Where are you headed to? I'm looking for that safe zone out west."

"I'm just... sticking with people I find. I'm usually needed" it was true, actual doctors were very rare out here. There were some people who CLAIMED to be doctors, but then you'd wind up tied to a stick and used as bait to let them get a clean get away. Aaron gave a small shrug "and I don't do... funny."

"As in 'don't' or 'can't'?" Dare asked. She tilted her head at him. "Or are you batting for the other team?" It was a legitimate question as far as she was concerned. Besides, she had no wish to be raped or used, and if the innocent boy was his shtick, she would shoot that one down faster than a zombie about to bite her.

"Don't" Aaron said simply, giving a small shrug and looking down at the street below again "I can, and I am definitely not gay. I had the whole of medical school, and some interesting experiences. But I am not gay." He gave a small shrug, he wasn't innocent, he just had better things on his mind.

"I can deal with that," Darlene said with a nod. She sat back and looked at him, honesty in her face. "My real name's Darlene. Dare is just my stage name, so to speak. And I'm not like all the other models. Got my big break when I was eighteen after years of pulling slices to make it through high school."

"Well... I'm still Aaron" he said, shrugging and relaxing down onto the floor of the fire escape "Same old same old for me. Study, pass, drink, study, drink, study, fail, redo test, study, study, drink, start internship at hospital. Outbreak starts. Run." There wasn't anything special about him. Maybe except for the medical mask covering his face.

Dare nodded. Sounded like the general experience of most doctors. If you didn't count the whole zombie outbreak. "Well...on the bright side, you lived. Though I'm not sure how good that is after all." She looked down at her leg, giving a small sigh.

"Yeah. Woo" Aaron sighed softly, wishing he had something to drink right now. Something strong and numbing. "Do you think there's going to be a safe zone? Do you see an end to this? The zombies are everywhere." He just couldn't imagine someone managing to kill all of these creatures, or outliving such a disease. Or even repopulating the world afterwards.

"It may be tough to hear," Dare started, "but we're all going to die eventually. Or become one of them. Until they start really dying off, we have no hope. And how many people can be out there? The human population is done for either way. I just don't want to end like them."

"They might find a cure. I mean... they seemed pretty rabid about finding one before I had to run out of the hospital" Aaron gave a weak shrug and sniffed gently "I can see death. But there might just be enough, you know? Or the government pulled a fast one... underground facilities, cute researchers... There's a chance."

"I am not going to try single handedly birthing a new human population," Dare said jokingly. "Although, with your brains...I hope you have brains...and my looks, they would all be super humans for sure." She gave him an exaggerated wink.

"I'm sure that there's a few of us around. We wouldn't need to make billions of people just between us." Aaron sighed, wishing he had some kind of vice right now. He didn't smoke, didn't really drink, but he wanted something to get his mind off of what was happening all around them "All those people... dead. Just... no one would ever believe that this happened if we get through it."

"We lived through the second form of 'Noah's Ark'. The less humane version." Dare looked down the alley, which was still visible, and spotted some shamblers at the end of the way. "If we live through this, because you aren't trying to eat or kill me, you wanna procreate?" It might have sounded like a joke, but somewhere deep inside Dare, she was completely serious.

"You make it sound so romantic" Aaron said, sarcasm dripping from his lips as he spoke; though, even if he sounded sarcastic, the idea of 'romance' was one long dead in most places. He still kept some humane parts of himself it seems. "But... sure, yeah" he said with a small shrug "I mean... if we both survive. I'm not going to turn down a super model."

"I suppose a candlelit dinner wouldn't be out of the question," Dare said with a smile. "And maybe we could procreate several times." She let loose a laugh. "Be all...monogamous."

"My, aren't you a flirtatious one?" Aaron chuckled, actually finding a smile for himself for once in a while. His mouth edges just appeared at the edges of his mask, showing that he was in fact happy right now "Still... gotta keep alive first."

"The last man in my life put a bullet through my leg," Dare said, gesturing at the wound he had just patched up. "I'm hoping this new one won't try to kill me so quickly." She gave him a wink and readjusted her legs so she could slide further down into a strange half-slouch.

"I sort-of took an oath" Aaron said with a shrug "And I don't kill people. I can refuse services, which is usually just as good, but I don't kill them." He waved the gun he had around slowly in the air, fingers very much off the trigger "This is basically self defence. I don't even like fighting."

"I find a small bit of satisfaction in taking down those things when they come after me," Dare said, looking towards the end of the alley again. "So, seems like you got yourself a partner. Keep patching me up, and I'll try to keep you from being eaten."

"That's about all I can do" Aaron said with a weak shrug "I'll fix you up alright. I just want you to promise that when I say run, we run. I've seen enough teams going down under a swarm of zombies to know when cowardice is the only way out. I've travelled with quite a few gun totting nuts in these past few years to know that standing your ground means you run out of ammo for when you're running away."

"And I know that I'm no more than one hundred and ten pounds soaking wet and have no hope of taking down a horde." Dare nodded and gave him a smile. "You got it, doc."

"I'm gonna tell you the truth here. The people I've been with for two months now, they've currently zombie chow a in the next building. That big horde distracting the street? That's them." Aaron sighed, carefully releasing the hammer so the gun was no longer on a hair trigger "Broken leg. twitchy. Practically hated each other. I was waiting for this day honestly."

"Hmmm..." Dare glanced down the alley for a third time. "Interesting. As soon as I find a car, though, we'll be long gone from this crowd." She was slipping, her speech becoming a bit slurred. Blood loss and constant running were taking its toll.

The bloodloss had slowed by now, but it was still quite a bit. Aaron could see that she wasn't in shock, just shaken up; he nodded slowly at her "If you want, rest here. We're safe for the night at least. Or we could head off soon and I'll drive our way out of the city."

Dare would have answered, but she was out cold. After two days with no sleep and a gunshot wound, it would be a little while before she would wake up.

"Well... crap" Aaron sighed, settling back and holding the gun in his lap. Zombies couldn't really climb, but they could drop. Air assault from zombie... not the best death he'd ever heard of. He decided to stay awake for as long as possible, observe Dare's condition and wait for her to wake again.

It was a little over two hours before she even stirred again, and that was only because she was growing cold and uncomfortable. Dare sat up slowly, her head groggy, and groaned, looking around.

"Still here" Aaron said as she stirred awake, waving one hand at Dare as she woke up groggily "I decided that you needed some rest. Come on" he stood up slowly "The zombies have moved on by now. I can protect us until we get to a usable car at least. These back alleys usually have something."

Dare rubbed at her eyes and blinked a few time before she moved. She pulled herself up and bent her leg experimentally. It still hurt, but not nearly as much as when the bullet was still in. Dare nodded at Aaron and slid down the first stairwell, making it to the second floor. She was as silent as she could be and kept her eyes opened.

Aaron followed soon after, not quite as silent as her, but not banging down the steps after her. "Leg holding up?" he asked once they reached the second floor, noticing her she was a little bit slow right now. He might be able to make a pair of splints, that would take weight off of the leg and allow the bullet hole to heal faster. He didn't have any bits of wood right here however.

"As good as it's going to be," Dare said quietly as she descended to the next level. She crouched down and looked around, keeping her eyes peeled for any shamblers. It wasn't as if they were smart enough to hide.

The area looked clear with the exception of two that were loitering about a block away from where they were at. The sun was starting to come up, but it was still just a faint glow on the horizon.

"We can make it if we find a car soon" Aaron said, starting to head down the last of the steps towards the bottom "But I don't like walking around the dark too much. Too many surprises."

"Should we wait for the sun?" Dare started to ask. It would make sense to her. If it was only a short time until daybreak, and the shamblers did worse in the heat than at night, they should wait.

Aaron looked up, then shook his head "No, we've got enough light and this will make it difficult for far away shamblers to spot us. The problem about cities is the straight lines people can see down. Best head off now and hope we can find something useful."

"I wouldn't call straight lines a problem so much as clear shooting," Dare said as she slipped down the last ladder to street level. She held her paddle ready as she silently limped her way to where her board crutch was still laying.

"We'll head in the opposite direction from the way you came" Aaron said softly, he didn't want to speak too loudly now they were on the street level. He didn't really need straight shooting. He had a shotgun. He pointed and things disappeared.

Dare nodded and headed in that direction, keeping her eyes peeled for movement. Despite being maimed and wearing heels, she was still pretty quiet. Looking back at Aaron, she pointed ahead in the alleyway. "Did you see any likely cars when you came in?"

"I came in from the tight alleys, no cars that way. At least I didn't spot any" Aaron moved forward slowly down the alleys; the back ways usually had one or two cars... hopefully they wouldn't be burnt out or too damaged.

The cars that they saw or passed has visible signs that they wouldn't be of any use, ranging from massive damage to simpler things like the gas door being open and the cap being removed. It was starting to look like they would not be getting any vehicles in this town.

"Crap" Aaron muttered, usually the back alleys were good for that sort of thing. "Best thing to do... get out of the city" he said after a moment's consideration "This place is just... too overcrowded." Luckily where they were now was pretty empty "What direction is... out?"

"Our best bet is probably to continue that way," Dare said, pointing in the direction opposite of where she had come from. "The other way is nothing. And a whole lot of it." She didn't spot any useful cars laying about, so hopefully there would be something outside of the city area.

"Anything's better than sticking around here" Aaron said softly, making his way the way she had pointed. He checked the alleys as they moved, and kept an eye on Dare as well; the girl was injured after all, and if he saw any sign of the leg giving out or the bandages leaking, he would have to stop her and make a splint.

Dare limped forward and paused, looking around as she made it to the next alleyway. Her leg was throbbing, but in this world she couldn't afford to slow down. They needed to get out of the city, away from where the zombies could smell the blood leaking from her leg.

"Do you know of any safe areas around here?" Aaron asked, wondering if she had come across a single place where someone hadn't attempted to rape or murder her. Judging from Dare's appearance, he as guessing no.

"The last place I was at I got shot," Dare said with a frown. "We need to keep moving forward." She didn't know what was ahead, but it had to be better than what was behind. It might not be safe, but that is what excited Dare a little.

"Oh fun" Aaron muttered, keeping himself tense and ready for any attacks, listening out for anything around them. He was... just a little suspicious of Dare; not only coming through sporting a gunshot, but perhaps too eager to offer to go out with him after this was over. she was injured though, so she wasn't an incredible threat, he just remained suspicious.

Aaron may have been right to be suspicious. Dare's mind was already running through the uses that he could be. Not only as a doctor, though. Dare had never had a friend, so didn't know how to think of someone as a friend. She could only think about the way that Aaron would be useful to her. But, oddly enough, she found herself grateful that she was around a human again.

Aaron groaned as he felt his stomach give a small rumble, that meant he'd have to eat at some point. He hadn't wanted to share that food with Dare back then, but a few hours down the line he was hungry. Medically, he could probably go another day and a half, or two, without food, but his skills might deteriorate over the next hour or half hour. "Moment we see somewhere to hide, I need to eat" Aaron said back to Dare.

"There are always places to hide," Dare said, smiling to herself. "If you know where to look." Traveling on her own so much meant a lot of running, a lot of hiding, and a lot of finding places that were safe.

"Yeah, but I don't see anywhere right now" Aaron said, edging along slowly. He raised a hand, stopping Dare, then placed a hand on the handle of his bone saw; he turned the corner and thrust, silently severing the spinal cord again and cutting the zombie's head from it's body. He let out a breath as the head fell with a thud and the body collapsed backwards. "ok" he said, flicking blood and bits of skin off the blade "Come on."

Dare paused while he severed the the spine of the zombie. She shook her head. "Shamblers," she said under her breath. She continued limping forward and looked back. "You coming?"

"Yeah yeah" Aaron said, frowning as he tapped the blade on the side of a wall a few times, letting the chunks fall to the floor. He couldn't have it rusting or going too dull, if it got stuck in a zombie then it would be curtains for him. satisfied, he put it back in it's strap and followed after Dare.

As they were nearing the outskirts of the town, the buildings became smaller so there were no more fire escapes to climb or buildings with intact windows that could help repel a horde. However, about two blocks into a residential area they spotted a decently intact tree house in a backyard.

Dare pointed to the tree house, her brain working quickly. "We can rest there, then keep going. My leg is seriously killing me." Her bleeding had run through the bandage, and she was limping worse now. Being injured and constantly on her feet were exhausting.

"We need to get you rested up as well... you're more injured than I thought" Aaron tutted, wondering how long they'd be able to hole up in a tree house. "If you head up there I can try and find some blankets and stuff" Aaron said; he could scout around, a few blankets, that would do them for now. And there was almost no way that a zombie could make it up into the tree house.

Dare nodded and frowned. She didn't like the idea of being alone in her state of weakness, but there was nothing that could be done. She jumped the short front yard fence, landing awkwardly, and headed to the tree house. She climbed up the half rotten ladder and landed in the children's fort. The boards creaked, but held.

"No zombies up there right?" Aaron called, gazing up at the tree house that she was sheltered in. He should get some blankets for the wind, if they were going to stay there for a while then he should really protect the place a bit. Cover the windows, blankets, pillows, some nice insulation would be good. Turning slightly on the spot he headed towards the nearest house. It might be dangerous, but the smashed glass suggested that zombies had moved on from here.

The house was a generic home with little of interest appearance-wise. Aaron had no trouble getting into the house as nothing was locked.

No locked doors, no real chance of a nasty surprise. Aaron moved into the bedroom at once, his gun dangling lamely by his side and his belly giving another subtle growl. The bed should have something surely... Covers, a blanket, anything...

Up in the tree house, Dare lay on the floor, close to loosing consciousness. She hadn't wanted to worry the doctor, but she could feel the blood sticking the bandage to her leg, and worse, her pants around the bandage as well. She may have only been a model, but even she knew that if you lost too much blood bad things started to happen.

The house, on the inside, looked as if the people had just up and left in the middle of their everyday lives. There were even several plates of food on the dining room table with rotten, moldy remains of food on them. The bedroom did indeed hold what he was looking for, blankets, comforters, sheets, the works.

He got to the job straight away, picking up the items of comfort and stuffing them into his backpack as much as possible. He couldn't close it eventually, but it freed up his arms in case of sudden attack. Pillows, blankets, covers, sheets, even a kid's blankey was useful. He moved out once he was sure he had enough, heading up the tree house steps slowly, the mound of fluffy bedding being the first thing to appear over the lip of the tree house for Dare to see. "Got us some comfort" Aaron said happily as he moved towards the tree house door.

Sitting up to help, Dare felt her head grow heavy. And oddly light at the same time. It was that strange feeling of when you just wake up from a dead sleep but know you are about to go back to sleep in a moment. She felt herself fall back to the wooden floor, but couldn't stop it. "I don't feel so good," she said very quietly, but the loudest she could manage.

"rest. I will bandage you again, if you don't move too much the blood will stop leaking. Then I'll make you nice and warm, check on you, and make this place a bit more hospitable ok?" Hospitable... had he made a joke? Either way, Aaron knelt beside her and stretched her leg out slowly, taking the bed things off his supplies and starting to look through for some bandages. Oh goody, he could see the gunshot wound again.

Dare let out a crazed sort of quiet laugh. "This isn't as bad as the time I got a high heel thrown at my head." Her voice was one of a person who was more talking to herself than anyone else. "Took out a chunk of my head. Not a large one. And hair too." She looked down at where he was looking for bandages. "I need some painkillers." She rolled so she could get to her bag. One thing she did carry was generic painkillers, mainly for her menstruation, but they would do in a pinch. From the original twenty bottles she had looted a bit ago, she had seven left. Dare did a bit of fishing until she found the open one and didn't even bother to take the pills from the bottle. Instead, she tipped the bottle into her mouth and swallowed four pills at once.

"Hey!" Aaron snapped, snatching the pills back from her weakened hands; she would probably have swallowed more, but he took them before then. "Don't self-medicate! specially under your circumstances dammit. Uhhh, painkillers, half of this stuff thins blood. NOT WHAT YOU NEED!" He snapped and moved to the bandage again, taking it off in a hurry, putting fresh cotton and bandage on in a second, not being gentle at all, and moving up to Dare. "You still awake?" he called to her, shaking her shoulders slightly "Dare, are you awake?"

"Hi," Dare said weakly. Her eyelids were heavily lidded and her features drawn with pain. "Still awake. Almost." What he said registered with her slowly, and she became indignant, or at least as indignant as the pain and weakness would allow. "Oi! That's my bottle. And not blood thinning. I take them when I'm already bleeding, and doctors say that kind is fine...." Her voice trailed off into unintelligible murmurs.

"Well I'm a doctor and that kind of bleeding is different from arterial damage!" Aaron huffed at her, starting to pack warm blankets around her and frowning hard. Might as well make her comfy, she'd be out of it for a while. Hopefully the amount she took would be counteracted by the fact they were out of date. He didn't even need to look to know. The dosage would react differently, but it might be a little weaker for her.

It took a few minutes from when Dare took the pills to when her eyes opened again. She let out a hysterical laugh. "You wanna know something funny? We're all going to die, everyone." She looked over at Aaron, a laugh slipping out. "And we'll both die virgins! Hahaha!" She laughed harder. "And I'm a super model, too!" This was something she had always found funny, but never voiced. Not that Dare even knew what she was saying.

Aaron's hands paused, twitching for a moment as he stopped his placement of the blankets and the like. "Not everyone is going to die" he said firmly, putting a pillow beneath Dare's head "People always survive. always. Plagues have cures, and this one will die out with the zombies. People get organised. People get good. And zombies are dumb." He picked up the sheets, starting to fit them around the inside of the tree house, blocking the windows from the inside first "And why is your job so amusing?"

"Because models are supposed to be sllluuutssss." Dare elongated the word in a comical way. "But I'm not." She gave a half hysterical laugh. "We're also supposed to be stupid, but I'm kind of smart. Actually, I'm really smart. If it hadn't been for my modelling career, I probably would have gone to college." She smiled suddenly. "Models are usually slutty and stupid."

"No. Stereotypes for models are stupid sluts. Most models have got to be headstrong and determined. ok, sometimes a few don't have many braincells, but that just sours an already rotten barrel" keep her talking, keep her awake, don't let the meds take her "Congrats, you broke the mold."

"They aren't that pretty either." Dare stared at the wooden ceiling for a moment. "A model doesn't have to have a perfect face, just a perfect body. That's kind of a trade secret." She looked at Aaron again. "Don't tell anyone."

"I'm sure I won't tell any shammbling corpses i happen to see walk past" Aaron said as he moved outside slightly, starting to put some more sheets up on the outside, so they would have twice the protection from the wind. He was visible through the sheets, daylight casting his shadows on them like a twisted puppet.

"Heh, privacy curtains," Dare mumbled. Her eyes closed slowly while Aaron's back was turned. The blood loss and painkillers and lack of sleep multiplied what would have been an already tiring night and day. She fell into a deep sleep before Aaron was even done hanging his first sheet.

Aaron moved over to her after a few minutes of silence, realising that she was out of it. She checked her breathing and pulse, frowning and making sure she was okay; she didn't fancy breaking her ribs in order to get the heart started again, but she seemed to be alright... just asleep. He sighed, then began to search through Dare's stuff, he wanted some of her food, and it just might reveal a little about who he was travelling with.

Contents of Dare's bag: 6 cans of random food, 1 plastic bowl with lid half full of food, 5 bottles of painkillers, 2 boxes of feminine product, a pair of black lightweight boots, two pair of lightweight pants similar to the pair she is wearing, an old, dark brown wallet with her ID, credit cards, and other items, a can opener, spare ammunition, a knife sharpener, 2 bottles of water, a case of CDs, and a hair brush.

sorting through the bottles of medication and tossing the ones that had expired into a corner, Aaron simply sighed and moved to the food. He opened the bowl, no use in wasting food by opening more... no cutlery it seemed. With a small groan he reached over and opened his bag, pulling out a penknife. Luckily, it had a spoon on it, and he began to eat her food greedily.

Aaron had long since finished the food when Dare's eyes opened groggily. She squeezed her eyes shut tight and reopened them, trying to keep the light from the sheets from hurting her eyes.

"Rest yourself" Aaron said softly, having placed a gentle hand on Dare's forehead, as if testing how bad she still was "You took a lot of expired painkiller and you had lost a lot of blood beforehand. Resting is good."

"Painkillers are all out of date, have to take a lot to get it to work." Dare's voice was cracking, and she closed her eyes again. She was very much out of it, and couldn't help it at this point.

"Mine aren't. How about you ask before you self-medicate? Store brand medication takes about a year but mine are hospital, and properly stored" Aaron sighed softly and shook his head at the girl "Just because the painkillers are out of date doesn't mean taking more is a good idea. They have... strange effects."

Dare didn't have the energy to get angry. But she would be angry if she had. "I've been taking care of myself since this thing started," she said without energy.

"Doesn't mean you know anything about medicine" Aaron pointed out, fluffing her pillow slightly and making sure she was nice and settled; she had no energy for anything, he wasn't worried about upsetting her. "Just let me take care of that bit ok? You're probably better at shooting stuff."

A sudden thought hit Dare and she snorted with laughter. "Morphine drip for menstrual cramps?" For some reason that thought was ridiculously funny to her.

"No... just better stuff" Aaron sighed, patting Dare's cheek softly and sighing as he let her rest "Is there anything else you would like me to do for you?" Might as well ask, even if she had insulted him earlier he wasn't going to let it get to him. He should look after her.

"Um, no," Dare just lay there, staring at the ceiling. She had no energy and really didn't want to move. "How long until night fall?" she asked, wanting to get out of here before then.

"We're staying here for the night" Aaron said firmly to her, gazing down at her "I don't care what you think, you need at least a day's rest before that leg can even start healing." He sighed, wondering if he'd have to try and force her to stay here "I'll look after you. at least I'll try."

Dare made a noise of disapproval. "We should keep moving..." At least they were safe, though. It was doubtful a zombie would be able to find their way into the tree house. "Then you sleep, too."

"I will sleep" Aaron said with a sigh, shaking his head slightly "But I can stay away for a little while yet. It's not like zombies can really climb, so I doubt we're going to get one coming through the window all of a sudden."

"And if we do, then I'll just kill them with awesome out of date pills." Dare was definitely losing it a bit, and she let out a weak laugh.

"Just rest" Aaron sighed, placing a hand over dae's eyes slowly "Just do that for me please? Get some rest so we don't have to stay here even longer than I thought."

"Oh, it's night," Dare said with another laugh. "Better sleep...now..." She closed her eyes and snuggled into the blanket, falling asleep once more.

Perhaps the dumb model stereotype wouldn't apply so much if she hadn't just fallen for the same trick budgies do... but Aaron put it half down to the pills anyway. After letting her slip into sleep he relaxed back against the wall, closing his eyes and wrapping a blanket around himself slowly. At least it was warm here. Ish.

They were able to rest in relative peace with only the sound of a few birds and a single zombie traipsing by to accent the silence. It seemed like anyone who may have been in the area have already cleared out.

Aaron stirred in his rest, he'd fallen asleep slightly after walking for hours and not getting any sleep last night. He had twitched when the zombie had gone past, but since it hadn't gotten any closer he'd just fallen asleep again. They would have to look for food eventually... well, he would.

After a few hours, Dare opened her eyes and sat straight up. It took her a moment to remember what had happened, and she felt her leg, noting the new bandage and the slowed bleeding. The painkillers had kicked in and the pain was lessened quite a bit. Now she felt that she could find a vehicle of some sort. Dare's stomach rumbled, though, demanding her immediate attention. She leaned against one of the walls and searched for the bowl containing the rest of her food. But it was empty. With a sigh, she wiped it out with a cloth from her pocket and opened another can. She ate half quickly, and put the rest in the bowl for later. Looking up at Aaron, she debated about letting him get away with taking her food. He looked like he needed all the help he could get.

"Hey" Aaron said, stretching slightly, waking up with the sound of movement around the small hut "Feeling a bit better this morning?" He gave her a small smile, noticing the new food out he said "Ah, yes, I was starving hungry last night and you were asleep. You don't mind do you? I haven't got any food on me at the moment."

Rolling her eyes, she slid the rest of the bowl over to him. "Eat up. After you're done, we should try to find a ride out of here. At least locate something we can use. Plenty of garages to look in, after all." She gave him a smile. She also wanted to raid the cupboards, and the best way to do that was with a lookout.

"No, no, I can last without food for another few hours" Aaron said, waving his hands and refusing the food she had offered him. He'd just wanted to inform her that he'd taken some earlier. "Yes, and I'm going to do that the moment I'm sure it's light and clear and you're safe. Because you're staying here. You've been shot in the LEG, and every time you walk you almost kill yourself. Just... rest up."

"Staying here?" Dare said, her eyebrow raised. "Can you hotwire a car? Or fight off shamblers while doing so? Or watch your own back while breaking into a garage to even find said car?" She looked at him carefully, her eyebrow raised the entire time.

"The doors are unlocked, the shamblers moved on, I've got a hair trigger with my gun and I wouldn't even bother trying to hotwire a car until after you'd recovered a bit more and could assist me. so relax. It's just a bit of poking around ok?" Aaron sighed, giving a small shrug to Dare "While I'm touched at the sentiment, right now you might wind up more of a liability."

"If you find the right house, might not even need to hotwire the car." Dare looked away, towards the light coming through the sheets. "I would take less offense if you called me a distraction. I don't so much like being a liability."

"Trust me, with a body like yours you're ALWAYS going to be a distraction. But you'd be a liability, no matter how much BOTH of us hate that word" Aaron sighed softly and gave a small shrug "I just don't want you out there getting killed alright? You owe me a date. Now... I should really be on my way. Look around, maybe try and find something edible..." Unlikely, but sometimes people bulk bought, specially out here, and had a ton of cans lying around that they didn't get to eat before they died.

"Aww, you think I'm pretty," Dare said with a smile and an exaggerated flutter of her eyes. "Okay. I'll stay here. But I'll keep watch out one of the windows. I'm pretty good with a gun." She patted her sidearm, safely tucked in her holster. "Don't get dead."

"You promised me a date. I'm not gonna get dead" Aaron laughed gently, standing up and heading out of the treehouse slowly. First things first, the surrounding area. Just how many shambling horrors from unearthly planes were there in the general vicinity?

As he descended, Dare scooted to one of the windows, looking outward with her gun ready. She situated herself so she wasn't visible from the ground but could still get a good look outward.

The immediate area around them was clear of zombies and, by the lack of noise, didn't seem like there were any within a mile or so, at least active ones.

Aaron began to descend slowly, holding his gun in one hand as he moved down slowly. slowly was better than dead after all. As he landed he looked around for anywhere that looked posher than the rest... perhaps somewhere where someone had bulk bought a ton of food...

Unfortunately, there was no real difference between the houses other then a multi-car garage or a patio added on to the back of the house. Didn't seem like the people around here were interested in sprucing up their dwellings.

Aaron carefully picked his way along the street, pausing at a large cream coloured one and moving to the door slowly. As good as any other... gun raised, Aaron reached out with a hand and pushed at the front door, wondering if it would just swing open like the others.

The door wasn't locked, but it did seem to be barricaded from the other side as it budged slightly but wouldn't open. Now whether this meant there were people still in here or if this was just the left overs of a former shelter remained to be seen.

"Hello?" Aaron tapped on the door with the side of his gun "Anyone home? I'm gonna wind up kicking the door in if no one answers." He knocked again gently, stepping back and wondering if there was anyone inside. At least, if there was a zombie inside, this would call it to the door as well and he could handle it without a nasty surprise.

No response from inside the house.

Aaron paused to listen, then knocked hard, sending vibrations throughout the house with the heavy thuds of his gun against the door. This should get the zombies down if there was any... right now it was best to wait until one appeared. No need to step into a place with alerted dead.

There was still no response, nor any other noise coming from the house to signify a person's presence.

Right... that was good enough. He took several steps back, then pushed forward hard into the door, trying to swing it open and dislodge the stuff behind it. THIS place might have some food.

Figuring this by the second time he tossed himself at the door, Aaron tried a third time before moving off to try and find another way in. If they had barricaded that so well then they either all died inside without turning into zombies, OR they had escaped through another door... He hoped it was the another door option.

As he toured around the house looking for another entrance he discovered the back door was missing and nothing else blocking the way in.

Aaron sighed softly, well they had obviously sprinted out of here, checking inside for any traps, or hidden zombies, he slowly slid into the house. Lets see what he could salvage from here.

No hidden zombies or traps waiting for him inside, however it did look like someone had ransacked the house. All the cupboards and drawers were opened or flung on the floor. The most disconcerting thing was the spray of bullet holes that ran up one side of the wall next to the staircase.

Aaron tutted softly at the hail of bullets. Someone had wasted their ammo it seems. He began to search through the closed cupboards, searching under the stairs as well. There had to be something in here, there had to be SOMETHING that was left behind.

It seemed like the downstairs was completely empty of anything useful (unless he wanted to unclog a sink drain). There might be something upstairs.

Almost wondering what could be in a sink drain like that enough for it to clog up so badly for a few years, Aaron decided instead to head upstairs. With this gunfire around he wasn't expecting anything nice... though he hoped there weren't kids involved. he always got uncomfortable searching kids.

There were no kids upstairs. There were, however, the bodies of an elderly couple that look like they had been killed recently since there was no decomp yet and the blood was still damp. There were also no guns around them nor ammo.

"Oh come on, hogging all the supplies for yourself were you?" Aaron told the corpses, shaking his head and moving over to them slowly, gazing down at the fresh wounds... Pretty close range, he could see powder burns. "At your age you're practically one of them" he tutted "Might as well have just handed a little over." He sighed, then began to search around slowly for some supplies up here.

The upstairs seemed to have gotten the same treatment as the downstairs, completely ransacked. Even the pockets of the corpses were turned inside out. As Aaron searched, he heard a faint nose. It was very noticeable due to the lack of noise outside.

Aaron's gun came up with him as he turned on the spot slowly. Too many things lunged or reacted when you span too fast. "If you're a person, speak up. My trigger finger's itchy" he called out, wondering if he was going to have to take a life today.

As the sound got louder it became more obvious that it was not coming from the house and was infact coming from outside, the house was just echoing it up to him.

As Dare sat in the tree house looking out the window to keep watch, she heard faint noise getting louder by the second. As it got louder it started to sound like movement and some talking.

Dare shifted so she could see in the direction the talking was coming from.

Aaron moved at once, sliding down the banister for speed and no noise, settling on his feet and moving to the open door quickly. He gazed around, looking for the thing making the noise... He didn't trust small noises like that, they were usually the biggest problem.

As Dare shifted to to look in the direction of the noise she saw something very problematic, about 25-30 people walking down the middle of the road, and all of them were armed a wide range of firearms. Aaron, however, could only hear them speaking. And they were talking about where they were going to start.

Aaron snuck around the side carefully, following the sounds of noise until he caught sight of moving people. He stuck close to the house, trying to remain out of sight as he watched the group, then he sighed softly... thirty... no one had that many together and that many varieties without either being very well organised or already a gang. He scanned the group, looking for women and children in the group. That usually indicated what they were like... he was also looking for the clothing, how they were dressed. The more mentally unstable and unreliable ones tended to dress wilder. If this lot looked normal then he could offer his services... which would get him and Dare out of this without any injuries. He might lose supplies, but this was a big lot of people... might as well help.

No women or children in the group, seemed like they were all men or young adults. As for the clothes, it was the usual Apocalypse Casual wear. Nothing more then rag-tag mismatched outfits.

No women or children... bad sign. Aaron sniffed slightly, glancing towards the tree house that he had set up for Dare. They would find it eventually he was sure. He carefully put the safety onto his gun, slid it into his bag and stepped out of cover, arms not so much held up in surrender as held out to his side so the others would spot him and see he didn't have a weapon on him right now.

It took a bit for the group still in the street to notice him. "Hey, hey, da fuck you doing here?!" A man with a pair of biker goggles on his forehead said while gesturing vigorously with his shotgun. "How 'bout you stop walkin' and lay da fuck on the ground."

"charming!" Aaron replied loudly, even as he knelt down slowly "I'm a medic. You take a shot at me and you're going to get your brains blown out for killing one of the most valuable resources around this place. Everywhere else has been stripped clean." He sighed, remaining on the ground for now. Best not to fight that bit.

"The only way imma get my brains blown out is if I be a zombie." The man said as he made it over to Aaron. The smell of unbathed man was overpowering as he walked around him. "Whatcha got on ya." He said as he started to pat Aaron down.

He sure as hell smelt like a zombie. "You want to test that?" Aaron said gruffly as he was patted down "Want to see if your boss thinks it's worth keeping you around if you just start firing at people who are offering you help? How many of you lot even know basic first aid? You take me back, I can fix people up, maybe save a few lives. How's that sound?"

"Hm, I would tink that I would know if I wanna keep myself around dumb fuck!" The man said, giving Aaron a sharp kick in the ribs. "I am da boss motha fucka!" Before the man was able to give Aaron another kick, there was the distinct sound of a bullet burying itself into flesh and the man was knocked to the ground. Unfortunately he got back up and grabbed Aaron up off the ground and held him up between him and the direction the bullet came from. "Oh, so you got back up, huh? Betta tell dem to fuck on over 'ere or you won't be fixin' up any more people." He accented his words with the feel of cold steel against Aaron's temple.

"If you're the boss I'm Ronald Reagan" Aaro coughed, feeling the sting of the boot connecting with his chest; this man was obvious retarded, there was no idea way of saying it. "No, no back up" Aaron half chuckled as he was hauled up onto his feet "I came out here alone... maybe it's one of your gang hmmmm? Trying to take down the boss, pin it on me?" He was trying to calculate how long this guy could keep talking before that bullet hole made him faint "Doesn't matter now does it? You need a medic. You've been shot, you smell of blood. If that doesn't get fixed up anything could happen to you... Infections get real easily into open wounds you know? Specially when the people with the infection love the smell of fresh blood..."

"Well Mr. Reagan, I hate ta break it to ya but dis isn't da first time I been shot." The man said as he moved towards the nearest house to use it for cover. "I been doing dis longer den you been cutting people open and talkin' snarky."

"Oh really? So tell me. What's the odds of you getting out of this if you're getting shot at, you have no idea where you're getting shot from and you're bleeding out" Aaron let out a small chuckle, trying to put all his weight on his front, so he would be heavier for the man to shift. "And you'd be faster just letting me go and running" he pointed out, shifting around slowly as he was carried, trying to grab hold of his well hidden shotgun while keeping the man distracted.

"Stop movin'." The man said and shot Aaron in the back of the leg. It seemed like this guy was not in the mood to deal with a struggler. "Stop talkin' too. Or I blow your jaw off next."

Aaron let out a yelp as the bullet pierced into his leg; even as he felt his body rock with pain his mind was whirring. Soft tissue damage, right through, didn't even hit anything vital. He let out a small groan, but remained silent as he was dragged along. He would wait until he was dumped onto the floor inside... then blow this guy's head off.

Once the man was safely on the porch, he looked around and waved over two of his guys nearby. "Come over here and hold dis fucker why I go kill me a wanna be sniper." Once the two guys came over, the man shoved Aaron over into their arms. "If he moves or talks, put a few more rounds into 'im."

Aaron sighed softly as he was pushed into the arms of the others, rolling his eyes slowly but remaining quiet. Two guys, two shots. He might be able to pull it off once the boss had gone. blow the head off of one guy, pull him around as cover and take out the other. And they would probably have guns.

The boss did a quick look around to see where the rest of his men were. By now the rest of the thirty men had come out from the houses they were searching in response to the gun shots. "We got a hot shot tinking they can kill some of us wit'out getting dead!" The man said and pointed back in the direction the bullets had come from. "Get da mother fucker." The men moved scarily quickly and smartly as they moved into better positions and started moving around the houses and into the back yards. The boss waited till several men had gone ahead of him before creeping slowing around to the side of the house.

"Your boss is a moron" Aaron muttered under his breath "I've got no backup out there. One of his own is trying to kill him." The mix of pain in his leg and bitter worry for Dare was making him speak. maybe the people guarding him would believe him.

One of the guys holding him gave him a swift kick in the bullet hole. "No one would be stupid enough to try and kill him." The man said, spitting on the ground. "Even if one of them did go retarded, they wouldn't try it with this many loyal people around."

Aaron let out a yelp... good, this was getting somewhere. "A-hh..." he sucked a breath through his teeth "Ahng... no... no, that's not how mutinies work." He was swaying where he sat now, eyes closed as he wrapped his arms around himself, as if shaking from pain "No... they never tell the loyal ones... or the person they're over throwing. They shoot you in the head while you're blindly following orders. I've got no back up out here. Otherwise, why would I be searching houses alone? No... I'm alone... and you two are gonna be shot for being loyal."

The other guy pulled back the bolt on his assault rifle before pressing the end of the barrel, painfully, into the side of Aaron's face. "You seem to have a big problem with shuttin' the fuck up. I haven't shot anyone lately and I'm starting to get a killer's itch."

"I'm sorry" Aaron said, turning his entire body and raising his left hand up as if surrendering "But I just don't want to see anyone-" he cut himself off as he slammed the palm into the side of the assault rifle, pushing it into the side of the house and pinning it there. He wouldn't be able to hold it there indefinitely, but he didn't need to. Hell, he didn't even need to take his gun out of his holster as he shot backwards; at this close range the guy behind him's knees would both go sideways, possibly without the rest of him. Aaron the drew his gun, pointing it straight up into the man who had been threatening him's face and squeezing the trigger again. This one wouldn't bee pretty, but spectacular.

The man behind him let loose a horrible scream that would, soon enough, summon all the other baddies to his location. The man infront of him with the assault rifle didn't let out much of a sound other then a bloody gurgle as his eyes stopped seeing Aaron. Then there was the sound of rapid pistol fire and the distinctive feeling of being shot. The man on the ground, through his rapidly deteriorating sight and strength, emptied his clip at Aaron. Luckily he only managed to hit him three times: once in the leg, another in the left right shoulder and another ripped a nice hole through his left side, but didn't feel like it hit anything vitally important.

Aaron almost dropped there and then, but he knew he couldn't. Adrenaline, that's what he had right now, and he had to use it. He knew he wouldn't have time to work on the dead guy right now, since the other one still had a gun. He moved forward at once, shaking, then pressed the burning hot muzzle of his shotgun into the eyes of the one still awake while kneeling on his gun arm. The eye nerves were the most sensitive in the entire body. He wouldn't see after this, though he would probably die from the leg wounds. He reached out with his other arm while using the right to just hold the barrel in place, trying to grasp at the gun the one without a head had dropped.

The man who's legs were shot off struggled against the shotgun for a few seconds before his face relaxed and the struggle stopped, he had obviously bled out. By this time the first of the men arrived behind Aaron, "Bad idea doctor man." Followed by a sharp crack, a equally sharp pain in the back of Aaron's head with a flash of white followed by complete darkness.

---

"Shit," Dare muttered. There would be no more waiting. They were in the street, and she was behind a house. Shifting and packing her stuff as quickly as she could, she kept her eye on the people. Escape was forefront on her mind.

As Dare packed up her stuff she saw that one of the men was pointing at the people in the group and then gesturing off to different houses. The people he pointed at would then break from the group and head to the houses. Seemed like they were ransacking them for supplies.

Dare looked out the window. She could see everything that was happening. The one approaching Aaron seemed to be the leader. And she was pretty hidden in the tree house. She pulled out her gun and took very careful aim, taking her time to set up this shot right. She was aiming for his chest, after all, which was a nice sort of target. (OOC: If this is allowed, she would have picked up a silencer as well from the station. *shrug* If not, disregard this part.) She reached into the holster and took out the silencer, screwing it into place and looked down the barrel. It would be as accurate as she could make at this distance. Dare squeezed the trigger.

Dare's shot was dulled by the silencer, but went a bit off course as it traveled the distance between her and the target. It ended up hitting the man in his arm after he gave Aaron a kick to the ribs. The man quickly got up and grabbed Aaron off the ground, putting him between Dare and the armed man. She could see him put a gun against Aaron's head.

A gun shot wound, as Dare knew from immediate experience, weakened the limb where the person was shot. It would be without strength. Dare wondered, because she couldn't quite see, whether the man was holding the gun with his weakened arm or holding Aaron. Either way, she aimed the gun into the crowd, pulling off another shot into the group still on the street.

The group scattered as the second shot nicked one of the armed men. The man holding Aaron started moving sideways to put the house in between Dare and himself.

Moving targets were fun. Dare just shook her head. That man still had no clue where the shots were coming from, only the general direction. Pulling away from the window, she moved to the other side of the tree house, out of the view of the people on the street. Hanging out to make sure no one was outside to see her, she pulled herself up onto the roof of the treehouse, laying flat with her bag next to her. She shifted forward, using the branches of the tree that were overhanging as cover. Laying flat like this, and a bit higher, gave her a better vantage and more ability to aim. Seeing that Aaron was giving the man a bit of a hard time moving, which meant the man was not fully cover, Dare decided to use this to her advantage. She led her target, having practiced a bit, and let out another shot. There was no way it would hit Aaron, but there was a small chance that it would hit the man or someone behind him. After the shot went off, she lay flat against the roof of the treehouse, hidden from view.

The man ducked behind Aaron as the bullet whizzed past his head and hit some random person behind him in the leg. He kept moving, hopping up onto the porch of the nearby house.

If help didn't come soon, both Dare and Aaron would be dead. She heard the gunshot and knew what happened. It was getting out of hand. Dare checked to make sure no one was around before slipping her backpack on and dropping from the treehouse. Her leg buckled for a split second and she winced, but didn't make a sound. With all the noise going on, she limped to the house and waited for an opportunity to break the window. She unlatched from inside and slipped into the house, her gun ready.

Once inside, Dare closed the window once more and kept her eyes on both the front and back of the house, at least where she could see. She wouldn't hesitate to shoot anyone who wasn't a child or Aaron.

Dare could hear the man shouting to his other men about trying to find and kill her. After that was several seconds of silence, the first few people appeared from around the houses with guns at the ready.

Dare was already safely inside. So she saw the men through the window, but she was hidden. Opening a broom closet, she checked inside before sliding in and shutting the door most of the way, leaving enough room so she could see out of it and to the window to the back. She would wait until they rounded the corner, then shoot. In the meantime, she pulled some spare bullets out and hastily refilled her clip.

She could clearly see the people walking around in the back yard searching for any signs of people. One of them was up in the treehouse rooting around and it looked like someone on the ground had found her bullet casings. No one was looking into the building yet.

The sound of gunfire could be heard from the front porch and all the men in the back area started for the front. Many of them decided that it would be faster to cut through the house.

Knowing that there was no way she could take out all the men at once, so she sat back in the closet, away from the door. This was too much, even for her. She held her gun close as she sat in the very corner of the closet, her injured leg pulled up. All she needed was the group of men to find her, already injured, and decide that she could be of 'use'. So she sat there and listened for them to move off.

Eventually the sound of running feet through the house ceased, followed soon after by the sound of hard impact and a body crumpling to the floor. With the chatter that followed afterwards, it was clear to Dare that he had been knocked out but was still alive.

Today was a very bad day. Dare holstered her gun and detached the entire contraption before shoving it in her back pack, which she tightened around her shoulders. Tying her trench coat shut, she stood slowly and peeked out of the closet, hoping that no one was around. And if so, hoping that they were gentle with her.

There were a few people standing at the front door which was open, but none of them were looking at her right now.

Dare pulled back into the closet. Her pants were still blood stained, so she leaned down and messed up her bandage a little, wincing as she did so. Now it looked a little more makeshift. Pulling on her years of modeling and the acting that went with it, she slid out of the closest, limping, and tried to get to the back door before they turned. If she made it, then she would attempt to run for it. If not, she would turn on the waterworks and make it out like she had been shot by whoever had been sniping as well.

As she slipped out of the closet, the door swung open and tapped against the wall. This got the attention of a few of the guys at the door, causing them to turn and take a look. "Hey, where the fuck do you think your going?" one of them yelled as they started over to her.

On cue, the tears that Dare had been holding back for days started pouring down her face as she stumbled into the back door. "Please, please, don't shoot me again!" She held up both arms as if fending off imaginary blows, crossing them over her face.

The man was obviously confused since the only one of their group that had fired shots was the ones that were now dead on the porch. "Didn't shoot you in the first place." The man said as he watched her cautiously, as did the guys behind him.

Keeping up the level of scared, which at this point she honestly was, Dare pulled herself into a corner and whimpered. "I-if you didn't shoot, then wh-who did?" She kept her face covered, allowing only her left eye to be seen in between her arms.

"That's what we were trying to figure out." The man said as he got close to her, then he was interrupted as another voice hollered from behind. "Da fuck you got over dere?". The man turned around quickly to the person talking, who Dare recognized as the man that had used Aaron as a shield.

"Just some chick, Rasta." The man in front of Dare said, "She's been shot in the leg."

"Grab 'er up and let's go." The man named Rasta said, "Too many god damn people wit guns in 'ere."

Dare whimpered again, but was more than willing to go. They already had Aaron, and she wasn't getting away any time soon with a hole in her leg. Putting her arms out, she began to try to stand. Her newest pair of shoes, booties with short heels, where sturdy enough that she could easily pretend to falter without falling on her face. The pizza paddle on her back clanged noisily against the wall, and she looked at the man who had been talking. "W-will you help me, th-then?"

"I don't think help is what you'd call it." The man said as he got a hold of her and started to get her out of the house. As they exited the house Dare saw Aaron, currently slung over the shoulder of some guy, with a nice lump on the back of his head and blood dripping from a bullet hole on his side and legs.

Dare limped as she was drug out of the house. She looked away from Aaron, trying to keep up with the man. Dare would go along, so long as no one tried anything funny on her. She hadn't known Aaron for that long, but a part of her felt responsible for him now that he was the one injured.

The group assembled around Rasta and made their way out of the suburbs and into the woods nearby. It didn't seem like their base was going to be close by.

Keeping up as best as she could, Dare kept herself going along at a steady pace. She could feel the flesh in her leg starting to tear and bleed again, but she didn't say anything. The blood bloomed and colored the bandage bright red.

The group eventually moved through the woods on to their base, the Abandoned Penitentiary.

---

Level Five