Operation: Skyfire (zombie/post-apoc/etc thread) OPEN

There was the sound of the lizards clawed toes clacking off behind her and dissapearing into the quiet of the city, sounds only dotted by things slowly crumbling, a far off tumble of buildings, the sound of the wind over the skeletons of buildings, and the sounds of things that moved, but avoided her- whether Bedbugs keeping from the light, or Rats without a meal keeping to the safety of the shadows. Cities might just have been the quietest places on the planet. It was a sound that immediatly triggered a feeling of familiarity in Bree and reminded her what years of her recent life had been like- the quiet, the only voice being her own, the only sounds those of the apathetic surroundings and her own traveling. It was both nostalgic and suddenly more accutely lonely than before- the same kind of lonliness she had experienced in starting two weeks after she had first seperated from her parents and their group and had been out on her own at 14. It had dissapated, but it had taken time. She wondered if it would take less time since this was the second time she was going through this.

She knew that she could power through it, but if she wanted to come out on the other end as mentally stable as she was now, she was going to have to really attack this proactively. She had no idea whether he would return or not, or whether or not he could if he wanted, so to err on the side of safety, she assumed she would never see him again- dead or alive. This far away there was no way she could assist him. That said, as if on cue, there was an odd cracking sound behind her, like it was in the air- unusual since most sounds came from the buildigns on the ground. Not only that, but it didn't sound like a building- not really- or did it? Another sound like that one sounded off, and another after that and she was sure- that was not a building. Turning to look over her shoulder from where she went under an overhang that had once probably been a skybridge between bussiness buildings on either side of a street, she saw in the distance what looked like spots of color in the sky- what was that? A flare? A signal? She couldn't tell- it was too faint against the uniformly lit grey sky, and stopped before she really had a chance to get to know. It was in the general direction of his apartments, but she couldn't be sure it was his. She wondred about it until she discovred her mental attack on her mental state was going sideways and got her rear in gear.

She continued down her road, quiet and observant, trying to meditate while she rode.

Continuing on her personally discernable route, Bree began to take notice of noises going on around her. She slowed her bike to a quiet stop and the walked it a bit, listening closely. She couldn't tell exactly what was going on, but she was sure she heard movement at a fairly steady rate. Needing to be sure, she went about looking to find a hiding place to spy out from and quickly came upon an external staircase over wha had once been a ginormous furniture store based from somewhere in Northern Europe, taking her bike up with her just in case. Crouching there at the top of the platform that led to a knobless door- one most likely like before that only allowed passage out and discouraged entering from such a place, she was able to look out down at the ground for a ways off. While she wished she had binoculars at a time like this, squinting proved just good enough as she looked down to identify and understand what had been going on the streets she was sharing with something else.

There were Stumblers, mostly in small groups, and scattered about. Not a wave of them, more like a trickle, but all heading in one direction as if they had been called. She assumed it was the direction of whatever she was sure she'd seen earlier, faint colors in the sky, and whatever those popping noises were- perhaps even they could tell the difference between those oddities and and the actual sound of dilapitating structures. Looking out the direction she was headed, she found that it would be best if she waited a bit, let the Stumblers go about their path undisturbed by herself, and then finally, once they'd passed, she took her bike back down the stairs in safety and started off once agian, trying to make sure she didn't run into any straglers on the way.

As she made her way now, she heard something approaching fast on her six, and before she could do much any investigating into it, she was pulled from her bike like a clothesline, while the contraption teetered forward a few more feet, and threw her fist back to free herself from whatever was going on. All she ended up hitting, well, knicking with her first two knuckles really, was Corbin's jaw. She pushed herself out of his grasp curtly until he let go and then backed up to put some space between them, barely listening while she did this, to what he was saying. Still, she got the basic gist of it,

"Rules." She annoucned, "Unless instructed otherwise, let's keep all contact prohibited up, and not exceeding, to emergency situations only." She dusted herself off a bit, "Furthermore, we will not discuss the incedent anymore. Any attempt to bring it up will be met with silence or dismissal of one party or the other. You say you're sorry, I choose to believe that, now let it die. If you have 'feelings' you just can't handle, then simply speak about it- refrain from acting, if you would. Finally, don't question me or my own feelings. If I want to talk about something, you can believe I will bring it up." She looked up then,

"These are the new terms, in addition to 'fall behind, left behind'. You can accept them and come along, or reject them and we'll seperate."

Pulling her clothes straight taughtly with a small snap, Bree turned on her heel and went to go check on her bike- it seemed unharmed. She then pushed off with one foot on the pedal and then threw her leg over to continue where she had been going in the first place, getting herself more than a few Hands in front of the Lizard and keeping herself at that distance. He seemed to be intent on following, so she said nothing about it, and instead went where she was going to go. If he found a better place for his much larger companion to sneak about he could take it, but she wasn't going to go out of her way if it couldn't just hid where she was. Concentrating on her breathing once again, but this time for a different reason, she kept a vigil eye and tried to hear around the animal's accompanying footfalls, to make sure all was still safe.

When she finally fell back into stride, she sighed a bit, partially in releif, partially in exhausted exasperation. She was going to have to keep an eye on him. She considered this a learning experience, as he was the first person she had made contact and stuck with since her own exodus. She learned that she let down her gaurd far to quickly and if he had been a more vile person she could have been wounded badly. When accepting a person into one's life, things must be gradual and very slow, she learned, or else you'd let something avoidable happen and regret it. Eventually she broke from the urban, and it became the outskirts, though still with long roads- probalby leading to some kind of outer bussiness district with suppliers to the stores within the city, stocks, and warehouses, and factories. Those places often served as checkpoints for militant, or cult groups so she avoided them whenever possible, trying to head down the road that seemed to go into an interstate that stretched on further than her eye could see.

Bree relaxed far more as she approaced the wide open road. It was made to accomidate three lanes both ways, wide lanes that could fit semi's down each one simultaniously side by side, so they were comfortable strips a plane could probably even land on. Besides that, with the city behind them and now heading onto a very high overpass that would lead eventually, down this road, back down and cut through a dense and large forest spotted by small towns, rest stops, and places to eat and fill up on gas. There was no city, so the urban dwelling monsters most of the time kept from coming too far out, though with Angels it was best not to assume anything. There were also no buildings around here, so teh road was clear save for cracks that had occoured over time with unmainenenced weather damage and overgrowth that gained hold on the tar, blacktop, or asphault and took to slowly but surely weakening and eventally cracking it. All and all it was a far easier ride than through the streets and when she hit the decline of the overpass, she wouldn't even have to pedal for a bit.

Heaving a sigh, out loud and unabashed, she relinquished the stealth modis operandi she'd had to adopt while within city limits, and cleared her body of the tensiion that came along with it. In the forest, it wasn't so much that there was less to be afraid of, the creatures were simply different, and the wilderness now so big that it was like the ocean- tons of things there, but much fewer oppourtunities that they crossed paths than in the man made jungle. Hitting the decline, she pulled up her legs to rest on the frame of the bike and simply enjoyed the wind in her face while she navigated her way down avoiding larger cracks that might flip her or puncture her tires. It was mid afternoon by now. Mostly what she did on these places was find a semi to camp out in- most had just been left by the roadside, especially at rest stops, and often had beds. Sometimes they even had cargo that she could make use of. If she couldn't find one, a gas station or rest stop shelter was best. If both were unavailable, she tried to find cover in the trees and make a small fire a ways off, camp out in the dark, and shoot anything that approached the human made light leaving their bodies to litter as a warning.

OOC: No problem, don't worry about it, get some rest, night.

As she coasted back into the need to pedal, she could allowed the sounds of Corbin's voice calling out to her to reach her ears and travel up to be interpretted by her brain, whereas before she simply wouldn't have the few simple things in life she enjoyed spoiled by chit chat. Pedalling quietly down the road and getting into the quiet of nature, where birds could still be heard sometimes, and cicada's too, chirping or buzzing or humming or whatever it was cicada's did, and the soft whisper of leaves on trees washed over the surrounding area with the sunlight from the clouds, making soft shadows with it's overcast heavens. She looked back at him for a moment before turning her head forward, nodding up toward the direction they were heading and turning her attention back to where she was going, seeing as if she had not, she might have accidentally run over what looked ot have once been a tire iron strewn in the middle of the street- confirmed as such when they passed a car on the side of the road a bit further up halfway through an abandoned tirechange,

"We're heading North. With the cold seasons coming, few things have the ability to survive in the cold that don't already thrive in it. Humans can adapt, so the farther north we get, the better chance we have of getting through winter. Most people travel south, trying to avoid the cold, but so long as you know what to do, your chances of survival in the winter monthes skyrocket the colder you take yourself. If we start out now, from where I believe we are, we can make it into the upper half of the northern territories with just enouugh warm season left to build a shelter and wait out the cold." She spoke of the plan she had been following herself since before she even met him, quoting knowledge she'd learned way back when, "Most creatures will be travelling south for the warmth, so depending how lucky we are, this trek could be a smooth one or an uphill battle. That's the one stark downside to this."

OOC: It's fine

Bree pedalled on, unconcerned with much else, seeing as she'd already eaten, still had two water bottles full of fresh rain- she hadn't even had to purify any water, and she was on her way. Her shoulder wasn't so much hurt as it was anymore, it was just a little sore, as if she'd slept on it the wrong way, so while she continued to give most of the work to the other arm, she didn't think too much was wrong anymore. Luckily, she thought, it had just been a dislocation. Still she continued on, happy enugh just to be on her way once again and to be back on schedule for where she had wanted to go. It also made her happier that she had decided not to wait around- she had a very rudementary schedule, very vague and with a lot of grey areas, but that just made it all the worse when she full on got off of it and was very late for one thing or another. She felt she was still making good time, seeing as the time was a wide estemation, though curbed to the shorter end to give herself any safety netting she could. THis of course, channeled into her answer,

"Well, I've been travelling North for about a month, before this, so as long as we keep to my speed we should reach my ideal lattitude in a couple months. After that, I want to spend half a month building a Good shelter- a cabin, though, actually, with another person helping, that time could be cut in half. After that, just make sure we have the food to survive the cold months- though depending where we end up, ther might be some Snow monsters that may need contending with, but we'll get to that if we have to." She explained. She sort of spoke without having to think much about it- without anyone else her plan had taken up the greater deal of her thoughts during the trip, taking inot consideration all kinds of possibilies and planning out how she would be dealing with them successfully. It was a productive way to spend time, but now that she got to talk about it, it felt more real.

OOC: Agreed

While she rode, Bree kept a weather eye out around her. Things seemed normal thus far, but she keptg her guard up anyway. While she pedaled though, further and further away from the city- so far it was nearly out of sight by now behind the tall trees, she thought she heard some thunder. The sky showed no signs of a storm when she turned her head up though. She wondered if perhaps a tree had fallen- that happend sometimes, though she'd only witnessed it once. Could it be someone out there chopping them? That was a lot more likely, but the distance of the sound seemed a lot further than a person out there, if they were out there, would be able to here her or even the Salamander while they moved along. She kept an ear out anyway, only turning over her shoulder, legs pausing their pump as she looked up at Corbin with confusion and disbelief, remembering to pedal only after the calls of some birds flying off overhead reminded her of the world around her,

"You can't seriously beleive the world, which has fit billions of people on it for longer than anyone can remember, ends only a few weeks bike ride from your previous base, right?" Did he really not know? Had no one ever told him?

"The world doesn't even end where we're going- it's still months and months further up, and you'd have to cross an ocean after a while. Plus since the world is a circle, it really doesn't end, once you go far enough in one direction, you just end up where you started, but that's- depending on what vehicle you use to do it, could take years. The world is huge, Corbin, and just when you think you've seen all of it, you've missed at least 80%. Don't be fooled, this is going to take ti-"

She nearly finished her sentence, but just as she was the pavement in front of her bowed up, cracking along a path as the hump in the road moved from one end of it ont he other side across to the forest on the opposite side, making her brake her bike hard, skidding sideways to a stop in front of it. Just as she made it to that stop, out from the dirt rose a pale, slimey tube tall as she was twice over, and so wide it would probably take two and a half of her reaching toe to hand-above-head to ring around it- and it wasn't even completely out of the ground. It turned it's top down to face them at a point, whcih then oppened up like a sleeve and gurggled a loud roar down at them, rows of tiny razor teeth all cycling in alternating directions acround the whole of the orifice, and dissapearing down it's throat.

"Sh*t, Earthworms." She growled, pedalling hard and riding the bowl in the road up like a ramp, jumping it and landing like a sports biker just as it brught the hole down where she once was. Having picked up some street as it came back up, the rocks tumbled around like they were inside a toothed tornado, breaking apart into smaller peices so easily they may as well have been crackers. While the blind thing sought out the new heat signature of its moving target, said target pulled out her shotgun, pulled the lever and pulled the trigger blowing at it's boddy with her rounds in a loud shotgun 'Bachh!'. The thing was far too muscley for the shotgun to go through, but she did blow open a layer of it's muscley skin, of which it had at least half a dozen, and it receded under the ground.

"It's gonna come up agian!" She called to Corbin who was a little further away now, "We need to move! Only way to kill it is to get through all it's layers to the insides- once you can blow them, that thing'll fall!"

She knew this usually meant hitting the same spot multiple times- as hitting a new spot would start the layer digging all over again- but it took time and patience and a lot of evasive action. When that thing got hit, it dug, and it dug quickly.

The tail, armed with a long barb on its tail that was so hard and so long it might as well have been a giant blade, shot out of the ground, right next to Corbin and his Lizard, nearly knicking the animal's side.

When it dug, it used the vibrations of the ground- loud as a stomp, quiet as the pumping blood of something big enough to be it's meal- to pop up and try to snatch out of the ground the things it needed. The pavement made it harder to sense them, but only so, like it had, it kept just barely missing. If given enough time, it would be able to course-correct. Now that it was enraged, though, and in pain, it was going to move erratically when it resurfaced, so it was going to be very hard to pick out that open wound as a target and keep hitting it.

Bree could see the undergroud moving after the sharp tail attack from the Earthworm and could hear it when it got far enough off- the thing was quick, nearly 25 miles an hour when it travelled underground at it's fastest. They needed to get a move on- if they stuck to the middle most part of the interstate, it would have trouble pinpointing them and judgeing for trajectory and movement with that fickle informatioin would give them an edge. She didn't know how fast his ride could go, but if she hauled, she could just get around 30 mph, going all out. Worms would loose interest after a while, that while depending on how long it had last been since they ate, so if they were lucky, perhaps they could get away.

"Come on!" She called, shoving off hard, "I said we need to move, so let's move!" Throwing her gun back over her shoulder, she lifted herself off the seat of her bike and churned her legs hard, the bike wobbling from side to side as she did, picking up her speed steadily and quickly and trying to breath it out. Oh man, was she glad she had had potatoes and bacon for breakfast now. The Worm was at least a little hungry, because as soon as they got moving, the ground next to the interstate bubbled up, follwing her as though the Earthworm were a dolphin, barely surfacing a couple of times before just ridding just beneath the surface. It then proceded to cut in front of them, trying to throw them off or trip them up, going under the asphault. It caught her by surprise, but Bree had enough time to brace and position for a jump, coming down and going again- but the worm wasn't giving up. It decided to keep up the criss cross which slowed Bree down, and was getting harder and harder to stay upright on.

Bree hopped the hills that kept popping up in front of her like a motocross racer, trying to avoid sharp things or whatever popped up. Sometimes pebbles and shards would pop up and smack her in the face or on her hands, as the rest of her was well covered, but she ignored it while she contined trying to keep ahead of the thing- it wasn't leaving. It had been at least five mintues, which normally wouldn't be long at all, but on the run, it seemed like 10 times that. She growled but swirved behind Corbin and his ride, to the other side. He reached out for her, but she shook her head,

"Not yet," She called back, "Let me try something!" Mostly her concern was keeping her bike, and should she get too tired, not pushing past the limit and getting caught. Instead, she might as well get rid of this thing now- didn't seem like it was going to let up, so it was probably extra hungry. Throwing her leg out on the ground and clasping the brake of only the front wheel while she pulled her weight all to one side, she turned and spun around on the wheel as one might on a motorcycle and with her still trying to move back wheel pulled off the directioin she'd come from, slamming down hard on the hills to draw the worm. It began to work, and it came back and she began leading it around, criss crossing it across all it's old paths erratically, missing it's tail bit by bit whenever it'd throw the thing up. Jumping high over one hill, she continued flying through the air while the worm chased, just as the ground it had weakened fell down on top of it and her bike crashed down on it's back hard. She slid off, and now, completely exposed in its hole the worm squirmed and roared, unable to get it's momentum back with all the weight on top of it.

Taking out her shotgun, she levered, and shot again and again as fast as she could until it threw her off. She'd had to take on a new spot, but she got 4 rounds off before she fell, and it relled trying to get a particularly heavy peice off it's tail as it couldn't move with it wedged on it. It could still move it's head end though and began striking after her, where she had to jump and tuck and roll out of it's way, trying to get back to her spot on it's back to get rid of it, seeing as they had been unsuccessful losing it.

Having fallen of the slick surface, Bree fell down on it, and with no hand holds, slid all the way to the ground of the pit it had created, using her arm to make sure as it wriggled and squirrmed that it did nothing to crush or suffocate her. She could hear Corbin return on the Salamander and thought she couldn't see them as of her location. Instead when the Earthworm's moving began to slow and become restritted, she took the opppurtunity to slide herself out from beteen it and the pit wall to a hole where she climbed up a spot it's tail had previously tried to attack her from, hearing gunshots- small caliber- ring out as she did. From right next to the collapsed part, the small strip of still standing road between her and the worm fell through, simply making the large hole bigger and having her slide back down a little bit. It was fine though, seeing as the thing seemed to be dead now.

She could hear Corbin speaking to her as she climbed out and rolled onto her front, wiping any excess Earthworm slime off herself on the ground- it smelled putrid like a person's morning-breath saliva, and though it was a sublte smell, it was persistant. Not many things ate Earthworms, so she didn't have to worry about the scent leading her to be tracked, she just didn't particularly want to be exposed to it any longer than she had to be. She got up once she was through and went to get her bike that had also fallen, but in a place she could reach it.

"Is your lizard going to eat any of it?" She asked, dusting herself off now of the dirt that was sticking to her on all sides, "How long's it been since she's eaten. Moving through the ground all the time, their meat isn't harmful to Bio-Naturalis. In fact we could eat it if it was cooked- high in protein." She noted.