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Description

Outside of Hope’s Tavern, David was checking the makeshift walls they had managed to build after the encounter with the Rogue US Marines group. They barely made it out of their alive. He still couldn’t get over how Sally had managed to break into the building to save Kevin.
She can be scary sometimes. He remarked, nodding to himself as the walls proved to be stable, shoddy, but stable. We’ll need to build onto these some more.
Jason was nearby, sitting outside on the hood of his Pontiac GTO with a smile. While the car was armored up, and changed a bit, it was still the car that saved his life, and he was glad to be reunited with it.
“Hello?” a very familiar and gentle voice called out from the forest near the motel.
David looked up from the wall, peeking over the wood and out into the forest, he saw a face he had been hoping to see. He smiled, “Hey, Mari!” He called out to her, waving a hand her way.
She returned his smile, and pushed through the overgrown grass and jogged over to him and Jason. There was a slight limp in her step, but she actually looked healthier than before. She wasn’t just bones and skin now, she actually looked like a healthy well fed 13 year old.
David quickly opened the makeshift gate that was built out of sheet metal, barrels and shopping carts filled with sandbags and allowed the girl entry. Jason hopped off of his car and jogged over to the girl, both eyed her with concern. “Mari, are you okay?”
“You’re limping.” Jason said, eyes showing nothing but concern for the young survivor.
She looked down at her leg, “Oh, right… Um the doctor said that part of my bone had been blown off, so one leg is shorter than the other.” Marigold shrugged, not seeming to be bothered by it.
David and Jason winced, both remembering the fight at the cabin and what happened afterwards. “Damn girl,” Jason moved his cap back, looking at the leg. “It hurt at all?”
“Not anymore” she smiled lightly. “Anyways, I’m guessing everyone else is here, so where are they?”
Smiling, David gestured for her to enter the parking lot. “They’re all here, Joel and Kevin are in the bar,” he pointed over at the bar, which had its broken windows and door fixed and replaced with something more sturdy such as metal plates and barbed wire. “Preacher’s in there too.”
Jason gestured to the garage, where an armored up Ford Raptor was sitting, along with Jason’s armored GTO. “Sally’s in the garage with her Motorcycle,” The racer then pointed at the two story motel, where a semi truck and trailer was sitting. “Ann’s over by the motel, on the roof with her rifle keeping an eye out for anything that might try and sneak up on us.”
Upon hearing Preacher was there, Marigold frowned, remembering what happened before, but then smiled again when she heard of the two women. “Okay, I’m gonna go say hi… Oh wait! I have some news. I want to tell it to all of you though” Her once timid voice around them much more confident now.
Jason nodded, patting both David and Mari on the back. “I’ll go round them up, you two catch up, eh?” He said with a smile as he jogged off towards the bar.
David smiled as he turned to face his young friend. “So, Mari, how have you been?” He asked her, he hadn’t seen her since the cabin battle, and he was glad to see her again after so long.
“I’ve been alright, I met Preacher at the last raid. Oh yeah! Mink let me borrow one of her guns, and I learned how to shoot!” She smiled brightly, “But I had to return it, she doesn’t quite trust me enough to have a gun on me at all times” she scratched the back of her head, laughing a little self-consciously.
“The last raid, oh yeah I remember that. We got attacked also, and I think Joel and them were attacked too.” David crossed his arms, a thoughtful frown on his face as he recalled the new infected. “A lot’s happened to us since the cabin, lotta stuff.” He sighed. “Oh yeah! We met a guy who used a bow to fend off the infected.” he chuckled.
“Really? I’ve never seen a bow before, well… my mom used to put bows in my hair, but I think you’re talking about the weapon,” she giggled.
“I don’t think anyone can use those kind of bows you’re talking about,” David laughed, “but yeah, we did meet a guy like that, he was quiet though, didn’t talk much during the battle. Don’t get me wrong, he was really good with the bow, I think Sally has a crush on him or something.” he giggled to himself, remembering how Sally was acting when they met the man.
Marigold laughed, “Wait, Sally?” she asked, then laughed some more, not believing it.
She was still laughing when the rest of the gang finally made it out of the motel. Jason lead Kevin, Joel and Preacher, along with Sally who carried her new weapon on her back. Joel was also carrying his new gun on his back, the black M16’s strap wrapped around his shoulder.
Marigold was trying to stop laughing, but continued to giggle every now and again, she also had to wipe some tears that had formed in the corners of her emerald green eyes.
“What’s so funny?” Sally asked with a grin, looking at the younger girl. “And nice to see you again kid! How’s the leg?” She asked, eyes staring at the appendage in question.
“Oh” giggle, “Nothing” she giggled even more now that Sally was there. It took her a good minute before she could answer, “My leg’s fine, just a little shorter now.”
The eighteen year old looked suspicious, but said nothing. Joel however came over, lit blunt in his mouth as he gave Mari a tiny smile. “Good to see you again, Mari.” He said as Preacher stood off to the side, silently watching them all with a thoughtful frown on his face as Ann made her way over to the group, her M24 rifle held in her hands.
Marigold smiled back up at him, “It’s good to see you guys again too!” Her eyes then widened, “Right, right, I’m getting distracted” she shook her head as though clearing it. “Mink has told me to try and find you guys, since you haven’t been to the factions in a while, that a new group has been kidnapping faction members. I don’t know the specifics, except that the base is in the south, near lake… um… Ire… wim…” she sounded out the word slowly.
Everyone silent at her explanation, no one spoke as they processed her words. Someone was kidnapping people from the factions?
“What about the Fang?” Jason asked, arms crossed.
“It’s not them! It’s some group called the… Raiders? I think, sorry, my memory is failing me…” she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.
“Oh, I was just wondering if the Fang was getting kidnapped too,” Jason said, sheepishly smiling.
“Mink didn’t say anything about them, so maybe,” Marigold shrugged.
Joel crossed his arms, thinking. “So what do we do?” He asked the young girl, already thinking of what needed to be done. Probably go check it out.
“Mink wants us to go after them and bring home the kidnapped people” Marigold stated matter-of-factly.
Called it. Joel nodded. “This is almost like the first mission we did with you Mari, remember?” He asked.
“Oh yeah! It is! And that was so long ago, I was only in the faction a week!” She smiled.
“It’ll be like old times!” Jason laughed lightly, hands in his pockets. “Man.”
“Except this time, we’re going up against unknowns,” Ann chimed in.
“She’s right,” Preacher added, speaking for the first time since he came up. “We know little to nothing about these ‘Raiders’, other then they are kidnapping people from all over. ” He looked to the ground, kicking a small pebble forward. “If they’re doing that, they must have plenty of weapons and a large fighting force, probably more organized than the Fang are.”
Marigold nodded her agreement, despite the slight glare she was sending Preacher. “I’m sorry, I don’t know anything else though,” she frowned as she looked at the others with soft eyes.
David put his hand on her shoulder. “You told us enough, we just have to go save some people.” He told her with a smile.
She returned his smile, happy to know she was helpful at least a little.
“We got this!” Jason cheered, pumping a fist into the air.
“We’re better armed this time around,” Kevin spoke up, hand patting his desert eagle. “And we got vehicles, we should have an advantage.”
A small excited gasp came from Marigold, “Vehicles? Can I drive?!”
A collective silence ensued from the group, David coughed into his hand as Sally looked away. Joel busied himself with his blunt, coughing as smoke exited his mouth in a thick plume, Kevin and Preacher just turned to look at the wall as the latter asked if it was as strong as it looked, Jason made a nervous humming noise as he fiddled with his hat.
“I don’t think you should… be driving Marigold,” Ann droned, giving her a look. “Just...” She coughed, looking down at the ground, examining her rifle.
Marigold looked a little disappointed, but she didn’t seem too bothered by it, “Okay, well, that’s probably for the better, I’ve never drove before.”
Joel came over and patted her on the head, “Maybe when you’re older.” He said in between pats.
“Okay.” Marigold smiled, not bothered at all. “I don’t know why you guys were acting all weird, it was just a question.”
More silence… followed by a violent cough by Joel. “Anyway, we should uh… get moving, and... shit.” He said quickly, pulling out his truck keys and walking over to the semi truck.
David turned to Marigold, “You’re coming with us right?” he asked, a hopeful tone to his voice.
“Of course I am!” The blonde exclaimed.
David’s smile got impossibly brighter. “Sweet! I’m hitching a ride with Joel in his truck, you want to… uh… join me?” He wondered, rubbing the back of his head.
Marigold looked up at him a little confused, then got over it and said, “Sure!”
With a nod, David led the young girl over to the truck as engines roared to life. Black smoke spewed from the Semi truck as Joel started it up, Marigold climbed in first, followed by David. Marigold sat in between Joel and David, a bright smile on her face from being so high up.
David did the nice thing and strapped her in with the seatbelts, the last thing he wanted to see was her flying through the windshield because they crashed. After she was strapped in, he put his own belt on.
Outside, Sally drove out of the garage on her motorcycle, revving it up with a grin on her face, as Jason’s own car roared to life. Behind them, Kevin started up his truck, and for some odd reason Preacher was sitting in the bed of the truck, on the outside. Sally drove out of the parking lot, getting off her bike quick and opening up the gates to let everyone drive out, Jason was first, followed by Kevin and Joel.
Sally gave one last look at the place, after everything that happened last week, they managed to scrounge up wood, metal and other supplies to fix up the buildings. The doors were all replaced with metal doors and small barred windows, complete with locks, and the windows were replaced and reinforced with wood and sheets of metal. The walls were built out of a combination of wood, metal, burned out cars and trucks, barrels and shopping carts filled with dirt and sandbags. It wasn’t much, but it held strong since they built it.
Sally grinned as she closed the gate, locking it shut before revving her bike. “Time to ride~” She peeled out onto the road, speeding up to catch the convoy. The girl drove past Joel who remained at the back, Kevin who was in second, and Jason who drove up front. They had established the order of what vehicle goes in front, Sally drove up front, she didn’t mind…
It just meant she was first in line for the fight ahead.
Marigold watched as Sally rode by, “There goes Sally,” the blonde commented.
With the vehicles, it wasn’t more than an hour to reach the river, the group left the vehicles in a place somewhere hidden but easy enough for them to find later.
Marigold waited for David to slide down, then she followed behind, having to fall a small way, due to the semi being so high up. She hit the ground and cringed ever so slightly, but then hid it just as fast as it came.
David turned to the young girl, “Are you alright?”
“Y-yeah, I’m fine” Marigold nodded to confirm her words, as she smiled nonchalantly at him.
The man seemed a bit worried, but gave her a smile and nodded as Joel hopped down from the other side of the truck, slamming the cab door shut. The construction worker came around to the front as Sally drove up, shutting off her bike and patting the side of it as she whispered things in spanish to it. “Manténgase poner mi pequeño amigo~”
Marigold began to limp over to the power plant, looking down at it, as they were on a hill. A light suddenly flashed in her eyes, and she looked over to where it came from, seeing a man with brown hair waving to her. She waved back, and she saw him turn around and seem to say something, when she saw a white dot start to charge up the hill.
Jason got out of his car, Ann exited from the passenger side and held her rifle up as Kevin and Preacher followed suit. Soon everyone was standing out of their vehicles, eyeing the power plant in the distance.
“We’ve got a dog running at us,” Marigold announced, as the white dot turned into the form of a small familiar dog. “And it’s one I’m sure most of you guys know.”
Jason saw the dog and grinned. “Hey, its Cricket!” He called out, “I wonder if that means Orla and Zoya are here to?”
“Maybe.” Ann said, walking out in front of the car and looking around. Preacher came and stood beside her, hands in his coat pockets as the wind started blowing.
The dog finally made it to the group and ran around in circles hyperactively, yipping it’s head off. “Cricket! Shut up!” Zoya shouted up the hill, her voice able to travel far. The dog stopped yipping and ran back down, jumping into Zoya’s arms, who then tossed the dog to Orla.
“Hey Orla, Zoya!” Jason waved to his fellow bandits, Sally’s head snapped to the left and she saw Zoya, she frowned deeply, saying nothing as she patted her bike one more time before standing up.
Behind the two women, a man unknown to Joel’s group, Preacher, and Marigold, followed the two women, a bow strung over his shoulder and chest. His blue eyes looked up and saw Sally, he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, almost scared of her.
“Well hello~” Sally waved, leaning on her bike with a smile. “Fancy meetin’ you here, Niño bonito~” She chuckled. David and Kevin giggling to themselves, unheard by the girl.
Marigold looked up at David, seeing him giggling, her eyes widened, as the blonde whispered, “Is that her crush?”
David nodded, leaning down to whisper. “Yep!”
“She’s got the hots for him.” Kevin chuckled quietly as Joel rolled his eyes, and Jason shrugged.
Marigold tilted her head, “What does that mean?”
Kevin was about to say something, but then his eyes caught sight of Sally glaring at him, hand on her chainsaw grip. “Ehh...” He chuckled, quickly running away as Sally chased after him with a yell.
“I know you were talking about me!” She yelled at him
The archer made it to the top and muttered under his breath, “Again?”
All the while Marigold still looked confused as to what Kevin had said earlier. She looked up to David, “Do you know his name?” she whispered.
“He’s Aaron, he’s the archer guy I told you about back at the Tavern.” David answered, watching as Sally chased around the soldier, wielding her, thankfully turned off, chainsaw at him.
Orla was holding Cricket, while Zoya watched with a curious eye for Sally’s behavior. A small smirk came to Zoya’s face as she thought of a devious plan. Orla looked at her partner, having seen that face before, “Zoya, wha’ever you have planned, whenever you have tha’ face, i’ turns ou’ funny, bu’ horrible a’ the same time so... “ Orla thought for a bit, “Have fun!”
Joel decided that, while one of his teammates was probably going to be murdered by Sally, he would introduce himself to the new guy. Walking over to Aaron, he gave the archer a nod. “Name’s Joel, you a part of the Remnants?” He asked, looking over the archer quietly as Jason and Ann came over.
The archer nodded in response, “Yes… I’m Aaron… good to meet you.”
“We’re part of the bandits, that’s Jason,” he gestured the man in the white shirt, “and this is Ann.” He pointed to the girl, who nodded towards him, staring as she always did and inspecting him in excruciating detail.
The way Ann was staring at him was different from how Sally did it, so he wasn’t as creeped out, as he nodded to each of them in return. He shrugged his right shoulder, moving the bow into a more comfortable position.
“You here because of the kidnappings?” Jason wondered, fiddling with his hat as he always does. In the distance, Kevin was sprinting back to the group, a tired Sally chasing behind him.
Aaron nodded in return, when Zoya walked up, smiling a sweet smile to the archer, her plan beginning. “Yes, we all are, and I see little Marigold is over there” Zoya winked at Aaron, before walking away, her hips moving a little more than normal.
Orla watched curiously, then began to giggle, as she figured out what Zoya was doing. Orla ended up going over by David and Marigold. To stay away from the firestorm about to begin.
“Oh jeez,” David cringed as he saw what Zoya was doing, “that won’t end well.” He noted, wringing his hands together as Sally caught up to the group, chainsaw in her hands.
“One of these days, Kevin… one of these days.” She growled, her eyes whipping over to Zoya, they twitched.
Zoya could feel Sally’s eyes on her, but Sally didn’t see what she just did, so there wasn’t too much to worry about… yet. Orla looked at the duo beside her, “I sugges’ you two stay ou’ of the minefield, Zoya knows how ta piss people off, and she’s really good a’ i’ too.”
David nodded his head rapidly, he knew Sally’s wraith first hand, thankfully it was never directed towards him.
Marigold only nodded as the archer then walked away from the two crazy women, and over to the small trio now, containing Mari, Orla, and David. Aaron nodded to David and then gave one of his small half smiles to Marigold, who returned with a bright smile. “Hello, I’m Marigold~” The young girl said cheerily.
“And… I’m Aaron” he greeted the younger girl nicely, then looked around the small encampment.
Orla then spoke up saying, “Oh yeah, hey guys, the boa’ ta ge’ ta the Raiders base is gonna leave in like, two hours, so we may wanna ge’ a move on.”
Joel nodded his head, pulling off and checking his M16 before giving the entire group a look. “Well people, let’s move out.”

Description

Outside of Hope’s Tavern, David was checking the makeshift walls they had managed to build after the encounter with the Rogue US Marines group. They barely made it out of their alive. He still couldn’t get over how Sally had managed to break into the building to save Kevin.
She can be scary sometimes. He remarked, nodding to himself as the walls proved to be stable, shoddy, but stable. We’ll need to build onto these some more.
Jason was nearby, sitting outside on the hood of his Pontiac GTO with a smile. While the car was armored up, and changed a bit, it was still the car that saved his life, and he was glad to be reunited with it.
“Hello?” a very familiar and gentle voice called out from the forest near the motel.
David looked up from the wall, peeking over the wood and out into the forest, he saw a face he had been hoping to see. He smiled, “Hey, Mari!” He called out to her, waving a hand her way.
She returned his smile, and pushed through the overgrown grass and jogged over to him and Jason. There was a slight limp in her step, but she actually looked healthier than before. She wasn’t just bones and skin now, she actually looked like a healthy well fed 13 year old.
David quickly opened the makeshift gate that was built out of sheet metal, barrels and shopping carts filled with sandbags and allowed the girl entry. Jason hopped off of his car and jogged over to the girl, both eyed her with concern. “Mari, are you okay?”
“You’re limping.” Jason said, eyes showing nothing but concern for the young survivor.
She looked down at her leg, “Oh, right… Um the doctor said that part of my bone had been blown off, so one leg is shorter than the other.” Marigold shrugged, not seeming to be bothered by it.
David and Jason winced, both remembering the fight at the cabin and what happened afterwards. “Damn girl,” Jason moved his cap back, looking at the leg. “It hurt at all?”
“Not anymore” she smiled lightly. “Anyways, I’m guessing everyone else is here, so where are they?”
Smiling, David gestured for her to enter the parking lot. “They’re all here, Joel and Kevin are in the bar,” he pointed over at the bar, which had its broken windows and door fixed and replaced with something more sturdy such as metal plates and barbed wire. “Preacher’s in there too.”
Jason gestured to the garage, where an armored up Ford Raptor was sitting, along with Jason’s armored GTO. “Sally’s in the garage with her Motorcycle,” The racer then pointed at the two story motel, where a semi truck and trailer was sitting. “Ann’s over by the motel, on the roof with her rifle keeping an eye out for anything that might try and sneak up on us.”
Upon hearing Preacher was there, Marigold frowned, remembering what happened before, but then smiled again when she heard of the two women. “Okay, I’m gonna go say hi… Oh wait! I have some news. I want to tell it to all of you though” Her once timid voice around them much more confident now.
Jason nodded, patting both David and Mari on the back. “I’ll go round them up, you two catch up, eh?” He said with a smile as he jogged off towards the bar.
David smiled as he turned to face his young friend. “So, Mari, how have you been?” He asked her, he hadn’t seen her since the cabin battle, and he was glad to see her again after so long.
“I’ve been alright, I met Preacher at the last raid. Oh yeah! Mink let me borrow one of her guns, and I learned how to shoot!” She smiled brightly, “But I had to return it, she doesn’t quite trust me enough to have a gun on me at all times” she scratched the back of her head, laughing a little self-consciously.
“The last raid, oh yeah I remember that. We got attacked also, and I think Joel and them were attacked too.” David crossed his arms, a thoughtful frown on his face as he recalled the new infected. “A lot’s happened to us since the cabin, lotta stuff.” He sighed. “Oh yeah! We met a guy who used a bow to fend off the infected.” he chuckled.
“Really? I’ve never seen a bow before, well… my mom used to put bows in my hair, but I think you’re talking about the weapon,” she giggled.
“I don’t think anyone can use those kind of bows you’re talking about,” David laughed, “but yeah, we did meet a guy like that, he was quiet though, didn’t talk much during the battle. Don’t get me wrong, he was really good with the bow, I think Sally has a crush on him or something.” he giggled to himself, remembering how Sally was acting when they met the man.
Marigold laughed, “Wait, Sally?” she asked, then laughed some more, not believing it.
She was still laughing when the rest of the gang finally made it out of the motel. Jason lead Kevin, Joel and Preacher, along with Sally who carried her new weapon on her back. Joel was also carrying his new gun on his back, the black M16’s strap wrapped around his shoulder.
Marigold was trying to stop laughing, but continued to giggle every now and again, she also had to wipe some tears that had formed in the corners of her emerald green eyes.
“What’s so funny?” Sally asked with a grin, looking at the younger girl. “And nice to see you again kid! How’s the leg?” She asked, eyes staring at the appendage in question.
“Oh” giggle, “Nothing” she giggled even more now that Sally was there. It took her a good minute before she could answer, “My leg’s fine, just a little shorter now.”
The eighteen year old looked suspicious, but said nothing. Joel however came over, lit blunt in his mouth as he gave Mari a tiny smile. “Good to see you again, Mari.” He said as Preacher stood off to the side, silently watching them all with a thoughtful frown on his face as Ann made her way over to the group, her M24 rifle held in her hands.
Marigold smiled back up at him, “It’s good to see you guys again too!” Her eyes then widened, “Right, right, I’m getting distracted” she shook her head as though clearing it. “Mink has told me to try and find you guys, since you haven’t been to the factions in a while, that a new group has been kidnapping faction members. I don’t know the specifics, except that the base is in the south, near lake… um… Ire… wim…” she sounded out the word slowly.
Everyone silent at her explanation, no one spoke as they processed her words. Someone was kidnapping people from the factions?
“What about the Fang?” Jason asked, arms crossed.
“It’s not them! It’s some group called the… Raiders? I think, sorry, my memory is failing me…” she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.
“Oh, I was just wondering if the Fang was getting kidnapped too,” Jason said, sheepishly smiling.
“Mink didn’t say anything about them, so maybe,” Marigold shrugged.
Joel crossed his arms, thinking. “So what do we do?” He asked the young girl, already thinking of what needed to be done. Probably go check it out.
“Mink wants us to go after them and bring home the kidnapped people” Marigold stated matter-of-factly.
Called it. Joel nodded. “This is almost like the first mission we did with you Mari, remember?” He asked.
“Oh yeah! It is! And that was so long ago, I was only in the faction a week!” She smiled.
“It’ll be like old times!” Jason laughed lightly, hands in his pockets. “Man.”
“Except this time, we’re going up against unknowns,” Ann chimed in.
“She’s right,” Preacher added, speaking for the first time since he came up. “We know little to nothing about these ‘Raiders’, other then they are kidnapping people from all over. ” He looked to the ground, kicking a small pebble forward. “If they’re doing that, they must have plenty of weapons and a large fighting force, probably more organized than the Fang are.”
Marigold nodded her agreement, despite the slight glare she was sending Preacher. “I’m sorry, I don’t know anything else though,” she frowned as she looked at the others with soft eyes.
David put his hand on her shoulder. “You told us enough, we just have to go save some people.” He told her with a smile.
She returned his smile, happy to know she was helpful at least a little.
“We got this!” Jason cheered, pumping a fist into the air.
“We’re better armed this time around,” Kevin spoke up, hand patting his desert eagle. “And we got vehicles, we should have an advantage.”
A small excited gasp came from Marigold, “Vehicles? Can I drive?!”
A collective silence ensued from the group, David coughed into his hand as Sally looked away. Joel busied himself with his blunt, coughing as smoke exited his mouth in a thick plume, Kevin and Preacher just turned to look at the wall as the latter asked if it was as strong as it looked, Jason made a nervous humming noise as he fiddled with his hat.
“I don’t think you should… be driving Marigold,” Ann droned, giving her a look. “Just...” She coughed, looking down at the ground, examining her rifle.
Marigold looked a little disappointed, but she didn’t seem too bothered by it, “Okay, well, that’s probably for the better, I’ve never drove before.”
Joel came over and patted her on the head, “Maybe when you’re older.” He said in between pats.
“Okay.” Marigold smiled, not bothered at all. “I don’t know why you guys were acting all weird, it was just a question.”
More silence… followed by a violent cough by Joel. “Anyway, we should uh… get moving, and... shit.” He said quickly, pulling out his truck keys and walking over to the semi truck.
David turned to Marigold, “You’re coming with us right?” he asked, a hopeful tone to his voice.
“Of course I am!” The blonde exclaimed.
David’s smile got impossibly brighter. “Sweet! I’m hitching a ride with Joel in his truck, you want to… uh… join me?” He wondered, rubbing the back of his head.
Marigold looked up at him a little confused, then got over it and said, “Sure!”
With a nod, David led the young girl over to the truck as engines roared to life. Black smoke spewed from the Semi truck as Joel started it up, Marigold climbed in first, followed by David. Marigold sat in between Joel and David, a bright smile on her face from being so high up.
David did the nice thing and strapped her in with the seatbelts, the last thing he wanted to see was her flying through the windshield because they crashed. After she was strapped in, he put his own belt on.
Outside, Sally drove out of the garage on her motorcycle, revving it up with a grin on her face, as Jason’s own car roared to life. Behind them, Kevin started up his truck, and for some odd reason Preacher was sitting in the bed of the truck, on the outside. Sally drove out of the parking lot, getting off her bike quick and opening up the gates to let everyone drive out, Jason was first, followed by Kevin and Joel.
Sally gave one last look at the place, after everything that happened last week, they managed to scrounge up wood, metal and other supplies to fix up the buildings. The doors were all replaced with metal doors and small barred windows, complete with locks, and the windows were replaced and reinforced with wood and sheets of metal. The walls were built out of a combination of wood, metal, burned out cars and trucks, barrels and shopping carts filled with dirt and sandbags. It wasn’t much, but it held strong since they built it.
Sally grinned as she closed the gate, locking it shut before revving her bike. “Time to ride~” She peeled out onto the road, speeding up to catch the convoy. The girl drove past Joel who remained at the back, Kevin who was in second, and Jason who drove up front. They had established the order of what vehicle goes in front, Sally drove up front, she didn’t mind…
It just meant she was first in line for the fight ahead.
Marigold watched as Sally rode by, “There goes Sally,” the blonde commented.
With the vehicles, it wasn’t more than an hour to reach the river, the group left the vehicles in a place somewhere hidden but easy enough for them to find later.
Marigold waited for David to slide down, then she followed behind, having to fall a small way, due to the semi being so high up. She hit the ground and cringed ever so slightly, but then hid it just as fast as it came.
David turned to the young girl, “Are you alright?”
“Y-yeah, I’m fine” Marigold nodded to confirm her words, as she smiled nonchalantly at him.
The man seemed a bit worried, but gave her a smile and nodded as Joel hopped down from the other side of the truck, slamming the cab door shut. The construction worker came around to the front as Sally drove up, shutting off her bike and patting the side of it as she whispered things in spanish to it. “Manténgase poner mi pequeño amigo~”
Marigold began to limp over to the power plant, looking down at it, as they were on a hill. A light suddenly flashed in her eyes, and she looked over to where it came from, seeing a man with brown hair waving to her. She waved back, and she saw him turn around and seem to say something, when she saw a white dot start to charge up the hill.
Jason got out of his car, Ann exited from the passenger side and held her rifle up as Kevin and Preacher followed suit. Soon everyone was standing out of their vehicles, eyeing the power plant in the distance.
“We’ve got a dog running at us,” Marigold announced, as the white dot turned into the form of a small familiar dog. “And it’s one I’m sure most of you guys know.”
Jason saw the dog and grinned. “Hey, its Cricket!” He called out, “I wonder if that means Orla and Zoya are here to?”
“Maybe.” Ann said, walking out in front of the car and looking around. Preacher came and stood beside her, hands in his coat pockets as the wind started blowing.
The dog finally made it to the group and ran around in circles hyperactively, yipping it’s head off. “Cricket! Shut up!” Zoya shouted up the hill, her voice able to travel far. The dog stopped yipping and ran back down, jumping into Zoya’s arms, who then tossed the dog to Orla.
“Hey Orla, Zoya!” Jason waved to his fellow bandits, Sally’s head snapped to the left and she saw Zoya, she frowned deeply, saying nothing as she patted her bike one more time before standing up.
Behind the two women, a man unknown to Joel’s group, Preacher, and Marigold, followed the two women, a bow strung over his shoulder and chest. His blue eyes looked up and saw Sally, he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, almost scared of her.
“Well hello~” Sally waved, leaning on her bike with a smile. “Fancy meetin’ you here, Niño bonito~” She chuckled. David and Kevin giggling to themselves, unheard by the girl.
Marigold looked up at David, seeing him giggling, her eyes widened, as the blonde whispered, “Is that her crush?”
David nodded, leaning down to whisper. “Yep!”
“She’s got the hots for him.” Kevin chuckled quietly as Joel rolled his eyes, and Jason shrugged.
Marigold tilted her head, “What does that mean?”
Kevin was about to say something, but then his eyes caught sight of Sally glaring at him, hand on her chainsaw grip. “Ehh...” He chuckled, quickly running away as Sally chased after him with a yell.
“I know you were talking about me!” She yelled at him
The archer made it to the top and muttered under his breath, “Again?”
All the while Marigold still looked confused as to what Kevin had said earlier. She looked up to David, “Do you know his name?” she whispered.
“He’s Aaron, he’s the archer guy I told you about back at the Tavern.” David answered, watching as Sally chased around the soldier, wielding her, thankfully turned off, chainsaw at him.
Orla was holding Cricket, while Zoya watched with a curious eye for Sally’s behavior. A small smirk came to Zoya’s face as she thought of a devious plan. Orla looked at her partner, having seen that face before, “Zoya, wha’ever you have planned, whenever you have tha’ face, i’ turns ou’ funny, bu’ horrible a’ the same time so... “ Orla thought for a bit, “Have fun!”
Joel decided that, while one of his teammates was probably going to be murdered by Sally, he would introduce himself to the new guy. Walking over to Aaron, he gave the archer a nod. “Name’s Joel, you a part of the Remnants?” He asked, looking over the archer quietly as Jason and Ann came over.
The archer nodded in response, “Yes… I’m Aaron… good to meet you.”
“We’re part of the bandits, that’s Jason,” he gestured the man in the white shirt, “and this is Ann.” He pointed to the girl, who nodded towards him, staring as she always did and inspecting him in excruciating detail.
The way Ann was staring at him was different from how Sally did it, so he wasn’t as creeped out, as he nodded to each of them in return. He shrugged his right shoulder, moving the bow into a more comfortable position.
“You here because of the kidnappings?” Jason wondered, fiddling with his hat as he always does. In the distance, Kevin was sprinting back to the group, a tired Sally chasing behind him.
Aaron nodded in return, when Zoya walked up, smiling a sweet smile to the archer, her plan beginning. “Yes, we all are, and I see little Marigold is over there” Zoya winked at Aaron, before walking away, her hips moving a little more than normal.
Orla watched curiously, then began to giggle, as she figured out what Zoya was doing. Orla ended up going over by David and Marigold. To stay away from the firestorm about to begin.
“Oh jeez,” David cringed as he saw what Zoya was doing, “that won’t end well.” He noted, wringing his hands together as Sally caught up to the group, chainsaw in her hands.
“One of these days, Kevin… one of these days.” She growled, her eyes whipping over to Zoya, they twitched.
Zoya could feel Sally’s eyes on her, but Sally didn’t see what she just did, so there wasn’t too much to worry about… yet. Orla looked at the duo beside her, “I sugges’ you two stay ou’ of the minefield, Zoya knows how ta piss people off, and she’s really good a’ i’ too.”
David nodded his head rapidly, he knew Sally’s wraith first hand, thankfully it was never directed towards him.
Marigold only nodded as the archer then walked away from the two crazy women, and over to the small trio now, containing Mari, Orla, and David. Aaron nodded to David and then gave one of his small half smiles to Marigold, who returned with a bright smile. “Hello, I’m Marigold~” The young girl said cheerily.
“And… I’m Aaron” he greeted the younger girl nicely, then looked around the small encampment.
Orla then spoke up saying, “Oh yeah, hey guys, the boa’ ta ge’ ta the Raiders base is gonna leave in like, two hours, so we may wanna ge’ a move on.”
Joel nodded his head, pulling off and checking his M16 before giving the entire group a look. “Well people, let’s move out.”