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Maelisa had never been a man who could easily commit himself to anything and yet here he was. Living in the same broken down building that'd provided him shelter from the outside hell for days. Hell, maybe it'd been weeks? He couldn't say for sure. When the hours of waiting had first turned into one day, then a second and finally a third he'd stopped caring. The world's over, he mused to himself as he idly picked at some of the rubble infront of him. No way anyone can fight against that anymore. With dull lights within, his light colored hazel eyes shifted from the unidentifiable rubble to his hands. A little pain welled up in his broad breast and for a moment Maelisa stopped moving. A familiar memory began to replay itself through his mind. It was one that he frequently thought of. The screams and cries of those first days resonated in his ears again, the volume being so realistic that it caused him to squint. Any doubts he'd had before about the existence of hell were now gone. He'd realized the true meaning of hell in those first three days, when he'd lost everything and everyone that had ever meant anything to him. His stared at the backs of his hands, frozen in place in mid-picking formation before him. For all of his life and as long as he could remember he'd been able to solve most of his problem with his hands. With these hands, with this body and life he'd made for himself he'd been able to at least protect his important stuff... people.

With an overly exaggerated sniff, he rolled his shoulders and then began to pick at his ears instead; curling his upper lip in defiance. The echoing in his ears lessened, but still lingered stubbornly. With a grunt, Maelisa stood himself up as best he could in the cramped space. All of these days had left his body stagnant and had exhausted most of his supplies. It was time for him to move again. Ever since the ground stopped shaking and the ash had stopped falling in thick, thick clumps he'd been on the move. Back at home, or what his home used to be, he'd ransacked a Cabela's. He'd been able to acquire several of the things he'd needed from it including a very large backpack for camping and a shoulder-bag to carry what he wanted. He'd left lots of it behind. Many things he would've found useful, many things he didn't acquire for his own use to begin with. Maelisa leaned forward and touched one of his filthy hands against the somewhat twisted metal he'd placed over the "entrance" to his little temporary shelter. He pushed against it lightly with his fingertips, thinking he'd just slide it to the side a little bit to let in some much-needed light. Instead, the metal "door" fell over completely from his light touch and the man inside was temporarily blinded.

Blinking and with his annoyance written clearly all over his face, Maelisa tried to clear the spots from his vision. They wouldn't go away. Even though there was no one around to see him in this embarrassing situation, he stubbornly began feeling around infront of him with his hands. A little color rose up on his cheeks as the seconds ticked by still leaving him blind and probably looking like an idiot. But blindness didn't stop him from standing up and trying to navigate his way into the light, as if challenging it. He tripped more than a few times over rubble and various other things that were in his way. Maelisa found himself standing outside a few feet to the side of the entrance. Disappointing when one considered that he'd thought himself to be walking in a straight line. He surveyed the area around his little shelter. Fallen buildings, scattered ash and dead bodies. Just the way he'd left it when he arrived here a few days ago. There wasn't a living person yet in sight. A curious thought occurred to him then. In the time since the end of the world, how many people had he seen? Not many. And of them, how many were women or even female? Not a one of 'em. His face fell immediately and he nearly lost his footing. s**t. Maelisa Dunne had been wandering the landscape, going from county to county. Back at his old home in the city even he hadn't seen any living women or female children.

He knew that most of the world had to be dead by now, but that only punks like him were remaining. What point was there in living anymore? For the first time since he'd lost everything else that was important to him, he thought about his ex and their baby. That they too would be dead.. The question or even the possibility of it hadn't occurred to him yet. Maelisa felt his body go numb and he tried to deny it to himself. No. It ain't even possible. Feeling started to come back to his fingers. They're alive out there, somewhere. He began moving again, gathering his belongings together. Olivia's made of tougher stuff. He recalled the cherubic face of his daughter, he wasn't allowed to see her in person or contact her in any way but his ex had always sent him pictures of her. My angel's just a baby, but she's got some of her old man in her. He'd seen it in her eyes when he'd look at her pictures. It was true even though he was lying to himself. Hester was a determined little one with endless ambition. She won't let anything get in her way. He chuckled a little, shifting the straps of his backpack over his bare shoulders. Hell, she's probably more useful than Olivia now with what's happened. He didn't remember where they were and he wasn't aware of where he was. As far as he knew he was still in the United States, but that was about it.

Maelisa slipped the strap of his shoulder bag which usually carried his food supplies, over his shoulders. Wherever the last things he cared about in this world were the false hope of their continued life and safety in this world motivated him. He suddenly felt like all of his wandering and moping had been wasted time. It was time for him to do something useful. With what little skills he had he knew that he'd only be good for grunt work somewhere. With an apparent shortage of food the idea came to him to start a farm. He liked that idea, a cocky smirk spread easily across his face. He stared out at the midday scenery again and nodded to himself. A job where he was on his feet all day, outside, using his strength and toning his body sounded ideal to him anyway. It was why he'd worked so hard to land his last job, before he was fired. Besides, from what he remembered about volcanoes volcanic ash made for good fertilizer. He was sure that he could find a good spot and some supplies to get started. If he did a good job of it, maybe his remaining family would be able to live happily even in this hell. His mind set with becoming a farmer, he set off.

It wasn't long until he'd left the relatively lived-in area he'd been in and for a few hours until dusk he just wandered on what was left of the road. He considered using this land upon realizing how empty it was. But kept moving, deciding that he'd rather restart life somewhere else. Preferably somewhere that'd been settled beforehand, figuring that such a location would be more reliable. As time went by and he kept walking without stopping he found himself wishing for a horse or something. All of the cars and other technology things he'd come across were busted. Traveling would be much faster if he had a horse. He wondered how many animals, if any, had survived?

Well after the night had settled in, Maelisa arrived in the small town. He stopped for a moment just before the first structures to look around. He waited, patiently and on edge. His body was tired, his mind felt worn out from thinking about his next goal but he was ready. If anything or anyone should attack him, he'd make quick work of them the way he'd done those other dumb punks. A few minutes went by with him standing in the same place, waiting for action of some kind before he realized that nothing more was likely to happen. If anyone survived in this place, it didn't seem likely that they were waiting in ambush here. If they were smart, they would've moved on already. He took a quick drink of water from his canteen before starting off again. He'd thought about it on the way there, where to find seeds and other stuff. Girls liked gardening, so he knew he had to look somewhere where girls went. As he continued on, he saw a busted up sign ahead for a crafts store and without hesitating he took off running for it. At first he didn't even see the two people ahead of him.

"Watch it!" He called out as he crashed into the taller one, stumbling to keep himself from falling. He clamped his arms around the other person as well, not knowing them to be an enemy yet and was surprised to feel something soft in his hands. He straightened and let go of the person, quickly revealed to be a pregnant woman. The other, he quickly realized as he backed away from them, was a little boy. Whether or not the kid was her's, he didn't really care of think on. Instead, he stood a few steps away from them and simply stared at the two, dumbfounded. From head to toe Maelisa's skin was blackened with ash that the man had just been too lazy to wash away. His beard, usually trim, had grown out to an inch in length in most places and was in his favorite almost devil-like style. His hair was wild, curled and loose, thick with grease and heavy with ash and other filth. He was naked except for his ash-blackened boxers, black socks held up by garter belts below his knees and two matching mid-calf height hiking boots. He wore a large green camouflage camping backpack on his back which was full and a brown camouflage messenger-like bag over his shoulders which hung limply at his side. Two childishly beaded bracelets decorated his left wrist one spelling out "M-a-e-l-i-s-a" and the other "C-h-a-r-l-i-e" both with colorful bubble letters. They were surprisingly clean compared to the rest of him. Fresh lines of sweat and old smudgings upon the ash that colored his skin suggested that it'd been a long time since he'd even bathed or made an attempt to clean himself up.

"Uuh." He let out stupidly, jaw hanging open. He'd never expected to find a living child or a woman way out here in the middle of nowhere. Not that he even knew where nowhere was. "Sorry about that Mu'um. You okay?" He spoke awkwardly, attempting to be polite mainly because he knew it to be the quickest way to get past them into that girly store. He kept his arms by his sides, visible muscles relaxed.

((Hope it's alright to assume that she'd be showing by now. And sorry for groping her right off the bat. ^_^; ))

Maelisa felt immediately annoyed with the obvious fear in the woman’s eyes and it showed. His upper lip curled and the corners of his mouth tugged down while his light colored, hazel eyes glared at her slightly. The expression exposed some of his very white, clean teeth. This woman had no reason to be so scared of him. Sure, he’d run into her and nearly knocked her over. He knew from experience that pregnant women didn’t like that. But he’d caught her before she could fall and hurt herself, what right did she have to be so upset with him? The muscles in the man’s arms tensed up a little and his dominant hand twitched at his side, as if ready to strike. But he didn’t move, blink or otherwise react while matching the woman’s gaze. To him she looked ready to defend herself even though he hadn’t done her any real harm. He didn’t like that. When suddenly her child spoke out and broke the small silence between them, Maelisa’s agitated gaze drifted downwards to him.

For a moment there, he’d forgotten all about the kid. His surprise showed on his face for the tightly annoyed expression on his filthy face loosened up a little. It was obvious that he was trying to keep his angry face up as he stared down the kid without moving his face away from the mother. When the words registered within his tired mind, Maelisa’s surprise grew. What surprised him more than the revealed relation between the woman and the kid was that the little punk was trying to put himself between Maelisa and his mother. As the woman spoke again to hush the kid, his attention returned to her. Maelisa listened to her without a word and while she was speaking and reacting to his presence the woman was the center of his world. A lifetime of fighting and reading the bodies of others had stayed with him even as his everyday life had begun to calm down. Every movement she made, he noticed. Every hesitation in her speech, he absorbed. Without breaking the eye contact with her, he was able to learn so much about his opponent. His gut was telling him that the woman wasn’t lying, wasn’t a threat. This was furthered by the presence of a child and an outspoken one at that. But in his mind, he hadn’t decided yet. While everything else about the woman spoke of her fear and her obvious inferiority to him, a few of the things she was managing threw him off.

She was terrified, yet she still was able to keep her head up and her child behind her. She was able to look him in the eye which further spoke of her courage. The longer Maelisa looked back into her own clear, brilliant green eyes he grew ever more confused and indecisive about her. This confusion was shattered when he noticed the glistening in her eyes that signaled tears were soon to come. She was pleading for her son. Again, he didn’t like that. His eyes followed hers when she glanced at the craft shop and Maelisa realized that the mother and son duo were had the same destination in mind. If he wanted to get to the farming stuff within, he needed to cooperate with the two. He didn’t look back down to the child when he spoke again, instead focused on the doors of the craft store. At first he simply ignored what the child was saying, it wasn’t unusual for some if not all of the children he came across to find him yucky in one way or another. He was an adult, he was old, he had been a man with a low-income job, he was still single and he wasn’t allowed to see his own child. Maelisa made a point of never lying to a child either. So even more so was he used to being teased or taunted by kids. The statement didn’t make him angry. He knew that he was…

Again, his surprise showed on his face. His eyes looked to the child, then to the mother. Then back to the child again, this time taking in the overall neat appearance of the kid. Then his eyes looked the mother up and down too, and suddenly the reality of his situation hit him. What the hell? He cursed inwardly, embarrassed now that he realized what kind of people he was standing infront of. Their clothes and bodies, kept clean even in this hell? Maelisa suddenly found himself counting back the days, trying to remember when he’d last bathed. He recalled his beard and was equally mortified to realize that he hadn’t trimmed it since… Maelisa’s mouth seemed to shrink into the center a little, lips tightly together and his eyes looked a little wild. A cold breeze across his naked chest and legs, that he was suddenly made conscious of, told him that he was also naked. Suddenly he panicked, unsure for a moment if he was even wearing any clothes at all. If his skin wasn’t so soiled with ash and other filth, one would be able to see the red color of his face. Even worse, he realized that the two were talking with eachother. He’d stopped paying attention since, he had no idea what had been happening. Then the kid said that he’d just wanted to help and Maelisa quickly redirected his gaze back to the adult. He was looking for some indicator that’d clue him in on what had happened.

With an audible grumble, Maelisa surrendered. He couldn’t tell what the two had been talking about, or what the woman was apologizing for. Shoulders and arms relaxed, Maelisa tilted his head downwards slightly while he thought about what he should do. He’d never been a man who was very good when it came to thinking or coming up with a plan. His eyes remained on the woman as he thought, he was subtly paying attention to her every now and then. As he thought, he reached up and began scratching dejectedly at his soiled scalp. It was a few seconds longer until he finally decided what he should do. He breathed in slowly through his nose and then let the breath out in a sigh. “I ain’t gonna hurt you, Mu’um.” He said, looking at the woman before shifting his eyes to address the body. “I ain’t gonna hurt you either, Eric. Or your Ma.”

He shifted his shoulders, sliding off the camping backpack. He let it fall behind him before he lifted the messenger-style bag up from around his shoulders and let it fall to his side. Maelisa then held his hands up infront of him, palms out and open, and he stared at the two. To further his point, he lowered his lumbering height of six feet and four inches down by kneeling infront of them. The woman’s emotional state still ticked him off. He’d heard it mentioned somewhere before that pregnant women shouldn’t let themselves get excited. That it’d be bad for the child. And Maelisa didn’t like that. He looked at her for a moment before sighing again and slowly closing his eyes.
“See?” He said, calmly. “Please, just breathe. Calm down. I ain’t gonna hurt you.” The submissive tone to his voice was mostly honest, despite how he disliked this woman he didn’t want to upset her. He stayed still, his own supplies and vitality left vulnerable and open to her.


((Dun mind! It's good. ^_^ ))

Location: somewhere in the middle of Colorado
Time: 8pm to about 10
Weather: cloudy, cold, but dry

The sun was setting, winter had brought the days to a short close even though it was nearly five o’clock the sky was turning a light blue as if the night sky had been painted over with a blanket of clouds, pretending they were the night. The light on the horizon was slowly sinking, the cold air had gotten worse, the nights were growing longer, but that meant the moon got to stay out and that was one beauty he didn’t mind, he did love the moon after all. Just over the horizon, amidst the thick clouds and the pale blue sky stood the towers of cities and skyscrapers, like watchtowers overlooking a prison, they stood towards the heavens and his only guiding light so to speak. Thick towers of smoke rose from the edge of the world, flying high into the sky from fires that were never put out, but beyond that it all seemed peaceful.

The road in many places had been torn asunder, making traveling across it difficult if not impossible, but this place still had roads that seemed almost intact. From left to right the edges that stretched from the road were forests, with tree’s uprooted and crushed, but still they were a forest with tree’s not all yet dead but the winter might take care of that, he could only hope they would be back in the spring. The ground was dead and dry; the grass all looked a horrid brown color and only left patches of pale green in little groups that were scarce to say the least. The road ahead of him looked like a road into hell, it’s the only way he could imagine it, the road was paved with a score of cars some looked dead and some looked new but mostly they were all empty and just taking up space. It was still a few dozen miles into the city but there was a town much closer by and he never liked driving at night, too many dangers and he never liked to travel through towns at night.

The night was eerily silent; the wind rustled through the dead trees, the empty streets, husks of houses and cars. It was almost too quiet until thunder struck the silence with a mighty roar. Far off in the distant was the sound of an engine, roaring like a vengeful god the sound was coming closer akin to a race car down a track, much too quickly. Through the darkness a single headlight appeared brightly through the night, on the side of the road with a cloud of dust behind him he rode through the chaos like death upon his steed. He was clad in dark armor, a leather jacket that was zipped up to the collar, a pure black helm, the visor shut down to give the reflection of darkness to all whom see it, cargo pants that were as dark as the jacket, fingerless gloves that left his fingers quite cold to the touch and of course steel toed combat boots from his old military days. He was dressed to survive the harsh weather and kick anyone’s a** who challenged him but so far no ones put up a fight. He slowed down a bit, coming to a turn off that veered into a small town and figured a nice comfy house might be nice for a change. He took the exit and sped up, the wheels spinning and the engine roaring as he raced down the road, dodging dead cars and a few bodies along the way. He didn’t see signs of anyone around, nor anyone telling him to keep out, it must have been deserted.

The night was settling in, the sky was growing darker and darker, his pathway was quickly turning to simple darkness where he could only see in front of his bike and that wasn’t good with so many cars scatter about the place. He was still searching for a place to rest, the houses were useless, each one he came upon had been destroyed in some way, shape or form and taking chances when he could easily move on was not the smartest of ideas. He was rolling along, the engine wasn’t as loud but through the dead streets it was like an earthquake to anyone nearby but still it the most versatile way to get around and hardly suffered from roadblocks or destroyed roads. He was slowly driving through a row of houses, keeping his eyes open from left to right to try and find some sort of place to sleep, even if it was just for the night. He never thought about it but he enjoyed the luxury of being on a bike, having plenty of food and water, as well as gas. He was quite lucky in that sense when compared to some people that actually had to walk but he wasn’t as lucky as those rich executives that had helicopters, if only he had a helicopter.” Well if these houses aren’t up for sale, I could always try food place, they’re built pretty sturdy.” His words were muffled through his helmet as he sped up, turning a corner and heading into the food market section of town.

His best bet was the craft store he saw a sign for about a mile back, so he headed off in that direction. The wind rushing against his helmet, the engine alive with power, his headlights were on bights giving him a much better view of the road. He didn’t see any lights on, nor anyone around so he parked up close right near the entrance, switching his bike off and taking out the key. He put up the kickstand, and then let it lean to the side. He still had a backpack of about forty pounds in total on his back and it was starting to put a strain on him. The m4 around his shoulder wasn’t helping either; all in all he was geared up but at a cost to his stamina. He had to drop the pack next to his bike, letting out a sigh of relief as he did so his back suddenly felt free of the weight of the world and all of these problems. He lifted the visor of his helmet, taking off his glasses then pulled the helmet off letting out another small sigh of relief but he could relax just yet. He still had work to do, securing the perimeter, making sure there wasn’t anyone inside and for the matter making sure no one stole his bike. He hoisted the rifle up against his shoulder, his hand gripped firmly around the trigger, with the other hand inside his pocket he produced a small black item, it was in the shape of brass knuckles, but with a thick handle and two small metal pieces on the end, it was actually a taser and a set of knuckles, two for the price of one million volts.

He stepped quickly and quietly, as soon as he entered the building he could hear the loud voices of a small set of people, he had to think the worst in this type of situation. He opened the door with his left hand, keeping the firearm still with one hand perfectly aligned with his shoulder as he entered the craft store letting the door close softly behind him, he even made sure if there was bell that it wouldn’t ring when he entered. The ex-marine rounded the corner, he had survived basic training and an apocalypse yet he still didn’t feel like the stereotypical guys he saw on t.v. but now wasn’t the time to think about that. He kept himself low, bent slightly at the knees with his back arched towards the rifle, both hands on the barrel as he ducked past shelf after shelf, slowly creeping towards the group of people. He didn’t make a sound, despite his background as a guy that should charge into situations before that he had always found sneaking to work best when trying to get out of doing work, or class he was actually quite stealthy and he would need to implement this when there were an unknown amount of enemies, low light, and dozens of places to hide.

He was crouched behind a shelf on one knee, with his rifle at the ready; he was watching a kid helping his mum towards the back of the store while a man, one you could smell from a mile away, was bent on one knee for some odd reason. He kept to the shadows, the one looked pregnant but the man didn’t seem like the fatherly type, if anything this could have been a hostage situation and that wouldn’t have been good if there were more people off somewhere else. “Case by case.” He thought to himself, which meant take on what he could see and simply expect the worse, but then the worse might have been this man be innocent and he would have shot him for no reason. The best way to handle this situation was to neutralize the target and secure the mother and kid.

He took a small step back, the shelves were full of items used to make things and what not, it was actually a good place to be if you needed to fix something but he grabbed a small item that felt heavy enough then chucked it over the top of the shelf using his sense of distance and space to have it land a few places over away from the man crouched down. He had chucked it far enough to make most people turn in a dead quite store so if he did look, he would stand with the rifle at the ready far enough away to not be rushed. If he looked the Knight would come out of hiding for the most part. He stood behind the shelf but with the rifle steady and most of his body out in the open, but the shelf was like cover. His finger at the trigger, he yelled towards him, narrowing his eyes as he aimed straight down the sight. ”Stay still, hands up, and then get on your knees.”

Katy watched with interest as the dirty man slowly mad his way to her, he was still a frighteneing sight to see, but perhaps if cleaned up a bit, and clothed, he might just be alright...or at least sanitary. Listening carefully to his words, while at the same time listening out for her son, Katy nibbled on the jerky her son had given her, one hand gently resting on her stomach. Every so often she would look off in the direction Eric had gone, motherly instict staying strong. Fewer people or not, there was still the potential of danger out there. This guy, though, seemed truely sincere and he seemed like a decent person, if a little socially awkward. As he appeared to finish, Katy opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by a loud bang, followed by a man's shout.

Katy froze when the man suddenly came out of nowhere sporting a gun, a small scream instinctually leaving her lips. Immediately she began looking around for her son, not wanting for any misunderstanding to cost his life. At the dirty man's words Katy turned her head to look at him, "Not alone? No, I don't know this man." The look on her face made it quite clear that she was telling the truth, she was just as confused about this as he was. But now was not the time to be sitting around, painstakingly she got up, her muscles, back and feet aching at having to move. Hands up and open by her head she slowly moved toward the man.

"Please, this man is no danger. He," There was a brief pause as she tried to find the right words, "He was just trying to help us find shelter. I have a son, a little boy who's in the bathrooms of the store, lets not risk his injury when he comes back." Her voice was calm and sincere as she spoke. She stood next to the dirty man, not in front of him as she did have her unborn babies to worry about. None-the-less, she was determined to help this man as much as she could, considering the service he had done for her. Which wasn't too much, but he had reign in his obvious want to hit her and he had shown vulnerability to her, this, was the least she could do for him.

"My name is Katy," she told the man with the gun, "Katy Rowley, my son is Eric." She offered a kind smile, hoping to get the young man to settle down and lower his gun, "What's you're name?"

At that, moment a little body came slowly around a corner, carrying with great difficulty a large bucket filled with clean water. When he saw the scene he froze, a panic welling up inside of him. But he was a smart kind, instead of just screaming or crying like most would do, he carefully set his bucket down and put his hands up like in the police shows. Slowly he moved his way toward his mother until he was at her side, his eyes looked between the yucky man and the man with the gun, "Why are you aiming a gun at my new friend? The yucky man's nice." He spoke with an innocence only found in children anymore, his eyes wide and curious. "Do you wanna steal our food? There's candy bars at the front of the store and I can give you my jerky."

"Eric, dear, shush," Katy tried to silence her son, "Now's really not the time, dear." Mostly she didn't want to agitate the man and make him slip on the trigger or anything of the like. If he accidentally shot her son, the man would have a very pissed off pregnant woman to worry about and it wouldn't be pretty.



Hey, we can make an ooc thread if you like, but OOC things should not be posted in the thread. razz unless it's like this after quotes.

"Feh." Maelisa spat(without actually spitting, I should mention) after the baby gunman had given his name. He had several things to say about "Knight's" choice of name, none of them clean enough to mention in his current good company. His muscles were still tense, his stationary body ready to spring into action, but with someone to protect he was stuck in place. His body's only real use being a meat shield for the pregnant woman, before she'd laid waste to his effort and moved to stand next to him. Simmering with rage that was a combination of frustration and a strong desire to pummel the enemy infront of him; Maelisa just stood still and listened as the two spoke to eachother. After the baby gunman'd left, his attitude didn't change. Twice this night he'd been ready to fight and both times his need went unfulfilled. It was more than frustrating and though he considered himself to be a determined man Maelisa wasn't sure he could shake it this time. Eyes still firmly on the spot where the baby gunman had last been before leaving sight, he began to gnaw at his cheek. He reminded himself of his present goal, reminded himself that he'd already decided to help this woman, Katy, and her son, Eric, until they didn't need his help anymore. A little of his still-present anger and eagerness for a fight still present in his body language, Maelisa finally moved.

He turned himself towards Katy, a dark expression evident upon his filthy face. "Mu'um." He nearly growled the title and had to pause before he continued. "Don't do that." Had he been calmer, that request would've sounded like more of a request than a command. Maelisa's detailed irises moved from Katy's left eye to her right. He inhaled deeply through his nose and then exhaled through barely parted, frowning lips. "What'd you do if he shot you?" It was very possible, Maelisa hadn't taken his battle-eyes off of the guy and he'd seen the baby gunman shift his gun to her instead at one point. "Feh." Maelisa spat(without actually spitting) again, deliberately turning his head away from her and stopping in order to gnaw on his cheek again. His hands were tight upon the bags and strip of beef jerky he held and it was obvious that he was agitated. It wasn't long until he looked back at her, and then that he noticed the presence of her son again. His anger started to recede, and whatever was said to him after he wrote off. It wasn't long until the gunman returned and when he did, Maelisa stayed where he was standing. He'd rather be off, continuing his search for the supplies he wanted. But he didn't trust this guy to be alone with these two helpless, good people.



((He'll continue to position himself in a way that he could protect Katy or her son, but he'll leave if Katy or Eric tells him to. Like to go clean up or something. He won't listen to Knight.))



((Btw what'd you say, Corpse?))

He stood silently for a moment, his mind left wondering where he should sleep. This place seemed empty, the town did as well but there was always trouble brewing anywhere he went. He thought of taking watch, or at least suggesting the idea, he had a gun after all and he wasn’t prone to sleeping around strangers, well the mother and child he didn’t mind but obviously the yucky man off to the left of him. At times they say to keep your friends close and the enemy closer but this was not one of those times, not to mention he normally preferred being alone or at least in the company of people of trusted. He looked down to Eric with a half smile then up to his mother. “You really should rest; I suppose I can first watch.” He watched her go through a small wave of dizziness and actually he was a fan of superman more than batman, not to mention he had the name after the knight in shining armor not the dark bat but he still chuckled at the thought of it all.

“Sleep, I’ll set up a perimeter and stand guard. Just rest… Katy.” He kept the rifle slung around his shoulder, his back was turned and he was about to leave before he thought of something: A woman traversing a wrecked world with a baby on the way and a kid to worry about and no way of protecting themselves. Normally he would just chock it up to the world today and keep on moving but walked over to her, crouching next to her as she laid down, then grabbed his sidearm pulling it from the holster with expert of ease. He held it out to her, holding it as he was going to demonstrate how to use it. ”Watch carefully, this little switch on the back? That’s the safety. If it’s on then that means it won’t fire if you pull the trigger.” He placed his finger on the small lever right behind the handle, it was pushed down so it was safe. “Just push that up with your thumb if you want it to fire, and down if you don’t. If your ever firing and it jams, just pull the slide back and it’ll eject the one in the chamber, you also have to do this to load the first bullet so remember safety off, pull the slide till you here it click then point and shoot.”

He just ran through the most basic of details but handed her the pistol no less, it was a colt 1911 .45 caliber handgun and it was chrome finished too, so very shiny. He stood up leaving her with the gun and gave her a small two finger salute before turning from her and walking away, slipping the rifle out from his back and into his hands with relative ease. The weapon fit perfectly in his palms with the way he carried it, he was well trained. He disappeared off to the front of the store, a bag of beef jerky folded up into his pocket and a small slight yawn echoing from the darkness of the store. He made his way to the front doors, standing against a register as he looked off into the darkness outside. He figured if anybody was coming through it’d be these two doors right here, the back doors are normally locked as were the fire escapes. “Tonight might a bit more boring than I thought.”

Katy froze when the gun was offered to her. She wasn't really sure what to do. Her husband had had several guns in the gun safe back home. She hadn't known the key to get them out. Not to mention she had no idea how to use a gun. She had managed to gran the bullets from their money safe just in case she ever found a gun and needed to use it. Briefly she wondered if the gun he was handing her was a match for any of the bullets. Tentatively she took the gun, the worry on her face quite clear. She had to admit she was afraid to have one, let alone hold it. Shyly she whispered, "Thank you," out of habit before very carefully placing the gun under her makeshift pillow the barrel facing away from herself and the bed for her son. She watched you younger man walk out the front door saying somethign about taking the first watch and smiled. It seemed they had gotten fairly lucky so far. With a light sigh she finally allowed herself to lay down. She barely heard any of the words going around her at that point, feeling oddly safe with these two men. Eric was usually a really good judge of character and if he liked the two men, it was very likely that they were decent.

Lazily she watched her son speak to the diry man who still had yet to introduce himself. When the man left with the bucket of water she just as lazily motioned to Eric to come on over. "Right!" She heard her son say before skipping over to her. "Mommy! The dirty man's going to go wash up so he won't be so scary looking!"

He grinned proudly and she patted him on the cheek gently. "That's good dear. I'm glad we're making friends, now come get into bed. We can get warm and get some sleep and in the morning we'll figure things out okay?" Her son listedn to her, climbing into his sleeping bag and scooting up close to his mother so they could heep one another warm and cuddle.

"Mommy, can we travel with the dirty man and the police man?" He asked with that large eyed look that Katy could rarely resist. He seemed to really like the two, especially the dirty man, even though, to Katy, he seemed like the more volitile of the two. The younger man seemed well trained, a police man might not have been too far off, but he struck her as more of a soldier type, which branch she couldn't begin to guess. But he had handled that gun like a pro so military of some kind was her best bet.

With a smile she held him close, "We'll decide tomorrow, not close you're eyes and lets pray." Eric nodded and closed his eyes as his mother began, "Dear Heavenly Father, we are so very grateful for the day you have given us. Thank you for the two men who are showing us such kindness. Thank you for each other and thank you for the food in our stomachs. We pray that we shall continue to have safety and that we will be able to find a safe and secure home in the counrty-side. We pray that the twins grow healthy and strong and that we will be able to find a doctor before they are born. We pray that we will have a nice nights sleep. We love you family, above. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."

The Amen was echoed by Eric who leaned up and kissed his mother's cheek, "Good night mommy."

Katy smiled and kissed his forehead, "Good night dear." With a heavy sigh she finally allowed herself to truely relax, the exhaustion from the day setting in as her body gave up trying to stay awake. In a matter of minutes both she and Eric were fast asleep, their bodies left to the two strange men to protect in the night should any trouble arise. Their breaths fell into slow deep intakes as all the trouble of the world washed away. It had been so very long since Katy had been able to get this kind of sleep, so very, very long.









((Sorry it took so long guys, I've been super busy lately what with the holidays and all. I'll try to be more on top of things.))