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Post by DarkSideCookie on Feb 28, 2018 14:43:30 GMT -8
Virginia - Gas StationA gas station located on Highway 66 eastbound, Virginia.
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Post by Kristi Lynne on Mar 1, 2018 0:43:55 GMT -8
Flashback: DAY 1
*** Nora, Negan, and Grant enter from Virginia - Hospital *** Nora pulled up alongside one of the gas pumps and put the truck in park, shutting off the engine. The roads had been difficult to navigate with abandoned or wrecked vehicles and random walkers, but she hoped this place was remote enough that it hadn't been completely worked over yet. She pushed open the door and exited the driver's seat, dreading what the exterior of her truck must look like now. "Sorry, Rusty," she consoled her four-wheeled companion as she surveyed the carnage along the grill and front fenders. Grant scooted across the seat and exited out the driver's side as well. "I -- I just wanted to say thank you, Officer..." he said, breaking his tense silence. "Nora, just Nora," she informed him. "And you're welcome, Grant." She went around to the back of the truck and pulled down the tailgate, climbing up into the bed. "If you two want to head inside, I'll keep a lookout." Unlocking the toolbox, she made sure that her emergency supplies were still present: bottled water, lanterns, blankets, protein bars, a 12-gauge shotgun, and her grandfather's revolver. "You ever use one of these?" she asked Grant, holding up the revolver. "No, ma'am," he replied. "Not much call for 'em in the pharmacy." "No, I suppose not," she muttered. So he was a pharmacist back at the hospital. Duly noted. She flipped open the cylinder, made sure it was loaded, and prepared to hand off the gun to Negan.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Mar 2, 2018 12:52:38 GMT -8
Negan was thankful she just did as she was told because right now he didn't feel like arguing. Right now he just wanted to knock back a drink, preferably high percentage enough to blank shit out for at least the rest of this fucking day.
With seeable pain on his face, he left the car on the passenger side, slamming the door a little too ungentle behind. "Sorry, Rusty," A quick grin flashed over his features. He always was used to giving his motorbikes names. Had been no easy day when Johnny passed away a while ago.
"I -- I just wanted to say thank you, Officer..." Grant was a good guy. Maybe not the bravest, but a good guy. To his tough luck, the good guys don't survive for long. What a shame.
"Nora, just Nora,""And you're welcome, Grant." So, Nora that was. Negan, Nora and Grant. Didn't really had the sound of the survival team in a good horror movie. With a sigh, Negan followed her steps to the back of the car. "If you two want to head inside, I'll keep a lookout." When he sneaked a peek at the emergency supplies, he let out an impressed whistle. This lady seemed to not have been caught off guard.
"You ever use one of these?", she asked, as she held up the revolver in Grant's direction. Oh, no way this guy had, Negan thought with a slight nod of his head.
"No, ma'am,""Not much call for 'em in the pharmacy."
"No, I suppose not,"
"There's a first time for everything, isn't it?", Negan interposed casually before he wordless received the other gun. Then he suddenly placed himself in front of Nora, a provoking look on his face. "You're not going to ask me the same question, officer?" Despite the shit around and the pain his injured arm was causing him, there still seemed to be time for teasing.
Neganbanner
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Post by Kristi Lynne on Mar 2, 2018 15:12:29 GMT -8
Nora smiled in response to Negan's whistle. "Well, Daddy always taught me to prepare for a rainy day," she informed him. "Seems like it's pourin' now."
"You're not going to ask me the same question, officer?"
She quirked an eyebrow at him. "I get the feeling you know your way around a .38 special," she remarked, "but if you feel like I'm unfairly profiling you, you can take it up with my sergeant. Good luck finding him." She slammed the toolbox shut again, locked it and took a seat, checking the sight lines up and down the road.
Grant had turned away from their conversation and started to walk toward the station. For a moment, he thought it was like any other gas stop -- filling the car, then going inside to buy an energy drink and some beef jerky and maybe even a lottery ticket. But things had changed. A lot. "Uh, maybe you should go first," he called back to Negan, pausing at the door.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Mar 3, 2018 11:11:08 GMT -8
"I get the feeling you know your way around a .38 special," Negan grinned. Yeah, he certainly always had been kind of a rowdy, and due to his very own sense of humor did it please him even more to see an officer facing that fact. A fact she might extract advantages from with this shit piling up around them though. "but if you feel like I'm unfairly profiling you, you can take it up with my sergeant. Good luck finding him." Probably left somewhere with his guts spread, Negan thought, before he drew his attention away from her with one last soundless chuckle and a soft knock on Rusty's tailgate.
Despite the fact that Nora had already done before, he took one moment to check the gun in his hands was loaded. "Just checkin'.", he replied the raised eyebrow sent his way with another grin. "I know, I didn't make the best first impression."
Before she could have reacted on that, Negan followed their other companion's steps towards the station. "Uh, maybe you should go first,"
He did, as Grant wished, but not without a snide remark. "Pissin' your pants yet? No problem, I'll lead the way." And with that Negan walked inside.
"Hey!", a man was shouting at him from behind the counter, a shotgun shivering in his hands.
Negan kept calm. "Hey, man. You wouldn't want to shoot your last alive customer, would you?", he made the man wonder, while he already kept himself busy with scanning through the range of goods. All along the sudden silence, the vender seemed to not avert his gaze off the bloody wound on Negan's left arm, while Grant was observing everything from a safe distance.
"Now, that's the shit I was looking for.", Negan suddenly exclaimed, as he pulled one of the liquors out of the goods shelf and placed it on the counter right in front of the skeptical-looking vender. While he was concerning himself with the checkstand, Negan couldn't suppress a question. "What the hell makes you stay here waiting for someone coming around to buy some booze? I mean, everything's goin' downhill out there. Just in case you haven't noticed."
The man's eyes still gazed down at Negan's arm, as he started an answer. "That shit had started already a while ago. There's nothing left for me anyway."
Negan shrugged at that before he placed another bottle on the counter. "Take one of these and go home, man. Just a good advice." He didn't wait for any reaction, instead passed Grant and walked out of the station.
"Thanks and... well, good luck.", his companion stammered, before he exited as well. The vender's eyes were following, the shotgun still prepared, until both had left...
Then one single shot was echoing from inside.
Negan closed his eyes, as he paused his steps for a moment. That had been another option. With him asking or not, this probably would have been the vender's last day anyway. Just like he thought before it would have been his. But no. Not today, and not tomorrow. He would face this shit and he would fight it.
"Let's go.", was everything he said to Nora, once they were back at the truck, already opening the passenger door.
Neganbanner
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Post by Kristi Lynne on Mar 3, 2018 20:17:14 GMT -8
Nora kept staring down the road from which they had come, anxiously awaiting any sign of movement. Satisfied that they were alone for now, she hopped down from the truck bed and approached the nearest gas pump. She placed the nozzle from the pump in the tank and flipped the lever to turn it on. The place was eerily quiet considering the chaos they had left behind. But she still didn't feel like she could catch her breath or let her guard down. It might be a long while before she could.
What should they do next? Where could they go that would be safe? Did any of her fellow officers make it out alive? She thought about trying her radio but knew she was too far out to get a signal and it would be a waste of the battery. Going back to the hospital would be a risk, for sure, but it might be worth it for the weapons cache that she knew was there. Their new friend Grant might also be able to access the hospital's pharmacy and make sure they had the necessary medications and first aid supplies. She wasn't sure why she was thinking in terms of 'they,' but circumstances had thrown the three of them together and survival would be easier with them than without.
A gunshot pierced the silence and made her turn back toward the station. Negan and Grant were both walking back to the truck now. She noticed Negan's hands were empty except for a large bottle of scotch. "What happened?" Nora demanded as she ran to meet them, her hand hovering near her holster.
"Let's go."
His words stopped her from going any further. She didn't know for sure, but she could guess. You can't save everyone; isn't that what her training officer had told her? Sometimes you had to walk away so that you could be there tomorrow for someone else. She resignedly turned off the gas pump and replaced the nozzle, closing the gas camp. She flipped the tailgate closed on her way back around to the driver side and got back in the truck. Starting the ignition, she shifted it into drive and proceeded to get back on the highway heading east.
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