Survivalist Plot: All That Scarcity Promotes is Desperate Men and Tyrants

[meat_mooks]

Day 3 and 4

The remaining hours of the night are tense and ugly, marred by the smell of blood and the complete distrust sewn by Bridge's death. When the sun finally rises, it feels as if the night's been far too long and yet their chance to rest was cruelly short.

The sun peeks over the horizon and onto the parched desert. In the bright sky, if one squints, it's possible to make out that lights are still flashing on the radio tower. The rest of the town is dead, as usual.

Comments

Re: MONSTERBAIT

[meat_mooks]

And come they do, or at least, a few straggling beasts dragging themselves across the expanse of desert. Three of them, all looking hungry, all the size of bears if bears were emaciated and stripped of fur.

They surround the corpse and start to feast on the remains.

Re: MONSTERBAIT

[teethofneedles]

Karis slides into the passenger seat and shoots a grin at Howard.

"Punch it."

Seatbelts are for wusses.

Re: MONSTERBAIT

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard wasn't expecting there to be more than one. Maybe he should have thought of that. But it's a bit late for that now. He winks at Karis.

He waits for the creatures to gather up in a line and slams on the gas, hard enough that he and Karis are thrown against the seat backs. The monsters don't even understand what's happening when a half ton of machinery slams into the first one. Howard loses control of the wheel.

The other two start loping away while the car slips and slides across the mess of the girl's body. Howard panics and slams on the brakes, bringing them into a fishtail turn before abruptly stopping.

The monster they ran over is thrashing on the ground, trying to get back up. Howard decides to wait in the car.

"Your turn!"

Re: MONSTERBAIT

[teethofneedles]

Karis barely avoids going through the windshield when Howard slams on the breaks as it is, she has to brace herself against the dash. And she's a bit squashed against it. So she shoves herself away and then almost kicks the door open.

"Time to get stuck in."

She stalks out towards the thrashing monster, axe dangling from one hand.

Best part of her day is when she gets to kill something.

Re: MONSTERBAIT

[meat_mooks]

The beast hisses, twists around, raises one of those overlong arms and slams its needle fingers, all five of them, right through Karis' chest, where her lungs and liver are. It's a blow that would kill a full-grown man.

But Karis is not a full-grown man, nor is she alive.

Re: MONSTERBAIT

[teethofneedles]

Shit.

That fucking hurt.

Well, she thinks it hurt, anyway. Her body is telling her something is wrong, but it's not exactly pain. She wasn't expecting it to move that fast. She staggers for a moment and then reaches up and grabs the arm, holding those fingers in her chest. Her other arm comes around, blade in hand, and bites into flesh and bone.

Then again.

And again.

And again.

Karis is cursing up a storm all the while.

Asshole.

Re: MONSTERBAIT

[meat_mooks]

The creature gives out a scream akin to a pig's squeal as the blade descends again and again. Then it stops and goes limp. Blood pools on the ground, and the fingers in Karis' chest twitch a last few times before all the life is gone from them.

Re: MONSTERBAIT

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard bolts out of the car and does something truly disgusting. Before even checking Karis' injuries, he descends on the monster and presses his mouth to one of the wounds, sucking up the blood like a vacuum. Whatever. Dehydration blows and fluid is fluid.

After a few gulps the process is yielding diminishing returns, so he pulls back and looks up. The other two monsters are perched a few hundred feet away, watching but not attacking. He glances over at Karis - they both look a sight right now, her with the monster's arm still in her and him with blood dripping from his face.

"You okay?"

[teethofneedles]

Karis slowly tugs the needle-fingers out of her with a grimace. Shit. She's gonna need to patch that. Somehow. But, hey! Look at Howie. She ruffles his hair (well, tries) and grins.

"Shit, I knew you had it in you. Gettin' right in there and doing whatever. Makes me proud to know you."

She brushes at her chest.

"I'll be OK. Shoulda seen me when I took a sword to the chest..."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard's grin is a bit lop-sided, partially because he's trying to get past what feels like a thick wad of the taste in iron in the back of his throat. He's fine with desperate measures, but that doesn't mean it isn't gross.

"You have such weird standards, Fangs." He grabs the garbage bag out of the car. "Let's get it in here before we lose all that blood."

He leans in and squints at the wounds on her chest, momentarily forgetting that Karis has boobs. "You sure? I can stitch those back up. Nothing's easier to find than needles and thread."

[teethofneedles]

"Nah. Not like they're gonna get infected or anything..." She bends down and starts helping Howard scoop the corpse into the truck.

"Let's just get this done with."