Darkwind - Viewing Topic: Small Victories

Bytten
The Bytten Squad
Autodueller
Renegade

Member Level

Group: Members
Posts: 449
Joined: Oct 23, 2008

Richard "The Fixer" Nieman nearly choked on his beer as the bedraggled figures stumbled into the bar.

"Boss! Is that you?"

The lead figure nodded slowly, as if his head might fall off with the effort. It was more than fatigue - he bore the effects of long term radiation exposure, suggesting a very long walk in the open wastelands - but he was definitely James Reese, the thought-lost leader of the Bytten Squad.

He tried to speak, but could only croak. He gave up and gave the usual hand-tipping gesture that meant "drink". Richard narrowly avoided falling off his bar stool in his haste to do so.

"Boss, we thought you were dead! Those bastards in Butane... they killed Eugene, so we heard, and we thought they'd got you too... you and Burt." Richard nodded to another of the group, now collapsed in the corner.

James "Incoming" Reese chugged down an entire bottle of beer in one go, and signalled for another. His voice, when it came, was cracked and weak. "Not dead. Sold to the arena, Firelight. Burt and I won our freedom."

"So what happened? A couple of the gang here in Badlands had some crazy idea about looking for you - went off days ago in a Landy..."

"They found us. Made it to Firelight and even scored a Symphony outside the gates. They were bringing us back when Rolling Thunder got us. They had four cars to our one, and there was a steep hill behind us. They caught us up easy."

"Did you fight?"

"Hell yeah! But we had one HMG and our armour was half gone by the time we could turn. Perhaps if we'd gone off-road, we could have made it... but out there, if you don't know the road, you're likely to die easy. And we don't know the road nearly that well."

James took a long drink before he continued.

"So we surrendered."

Richard blinked. "You surrendered?!"

"Good thing too, I think, or we might all be in that arena again before you could say 'Aaaargh!'. They let us all go. And we've been walking ever since."

"What about the... creatures?"

James smiled. "Three rifles on the team - they were no problem."

"Boss, I have to tell you... you're not in charge any more."

"Let me guess. Slumdog? He's been itching to take over for weeks."

Richard nodded. "Yeah, old Jamal Wright. He's been doing some camp runs up by SS, scouting round for pirates and scoring a fair few kills. You gonna do something?"

"Naah. Let him have his day. I'm gonna rest up a bit first, and then I'll see what I can do to reclaim my top spot. Now tell me - what's all this nonsense I've heard recently about zombies...?"

......................... vet wv
Posted Nov 8, 2009, 12:03 am