Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

[OAMP]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

Melissa awake after a good sleep to Jamie trashing around behind her. She's still holding on, fists grasping Melissa's shirt. She's mumbing something unable to be understood. Perhaps she's having a nightmare.

On the bright side, the two are still secure. Despite the woman's thrashings, they're safe, though if Jamie starts screaming, they might attract a monster.

(Time is now roughly 5:30 AM)

 

[xivvix]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

The sudden movements behind her jolt Melissa awake, turning her head as much as she could to stare at Jamie. Never a morning person, it takes Melissa a few seconds to remember just why she's lying on a pile of clothing in front of the sarge. With a sigh, she turns back forward, but reaches a hand behind her to softly stroke Jamie's hair. "S'okay, Jamie,' she mumbles sleepily, "We're okay."

Without thinking about it, Melissa's other hand comes up to gently pat one Jamie's fists clutching her shirt. Still a little sleepy, Melissa relaxes a little, but keeps her attention on the sleeping sergeant. If the woman calms down, then she will allow her to sleep a little longer. Otherwise, they are safe enough in the back room for her to cry out a little...

 

[OAMP]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

Jamie quickly reponds, fists relaxing as her arms slide all the way around Melissa again. Her head gently rests on the bluenette's shoulder as she murmers something. Chance are she never even woke up during that, but her dream moved on to something more plesent.

Letting the minutes go by, it's clear the sarge is going to sleep all day if Melissa lets her. However, before she wakes the sleeping woman up, it might be best to get a plan for the day together. No doubt Jamie will be hungry when waking up, and will need a bit of time to gather herself.

 

[xivvix]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

Melissa slowly grows more and more awake as the minutes drag by, every so often attempting to slip out of the sleeping woman's hold. Jamie holds fast though, letting Melissa know she would have to wake the sergeant if she wanted to get up. With thoughts about how the two women would handle their situation today, as well as worries plaguing her about her companion's state of mind, Melissa gently starts to nudge her snoozing superior. "Hey, sarge," she calls softly as she pokes the woman, "Sarge wake up, we're going to have to get going soon."

Yesterday, the two women's primary concern had been finding shelter after the massive explosion had turned everything in the damn city upside down. Most of the monsters must have been just as disoriented by the blast as they had been, Melissa reasons. Today, they'll be rested, and probably out and about. If they want to make it to the other base unharmed, the two would have to move quickly, and try to stay out of sight. Though traveling by the streets will probably offer the most direct route to their destination, it would also leave them fairly exposed, although the interiors of the various buildings they would be passing would offer just as many hiding spaces for the various creatures as for the women. Either option has it's own dangers, and with Melissa not being familiar with the city, there was no way to know how exactly they should move about. The two will just have to make do playing it by ear.

Travel through the monster infested city is not the only concern, Melissa realizes as her stomach grumbles. 'I haven't had anything to eat since yesterday morning,' she realizes, not having had time to think about it yesterday with all the excitement. 'We can probably find something still good in the food court,,' she thinks, 'At worst, there's always the vending machines.'

After extricating herself from the sergeant's grip, Melissa stands up, stretching out the kinks from lying on the makeshift bed, before heading to check out the shotgun she had salvaged from the cowboy last night. Billy, the man she had killed. The thought sends a shiver down her spine. The man was attacking them, sure, but he was still human, not like the infected from earlier. She could have disabled him, knocked him out, tied him up, or something. Instead, she had lost control and bashed his skull in. 'We're in a crazy situation,' she reasons, 'We have to do crazy things to survive.' In her mind, it sounds reasonable, but she still can't shake the idea that she had murdered a man. 'We have to do crazy things to survive,' she repeats in her mind, trying both to console herself and to prevent her from thinking about it again, while opening the shotgun's chamber to check how many shells were inside it.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

The shotgun was a standard civilian model, as such it could only hold two shells at a time. It was fully loaded right now, but now a small detail came to light. Melissia did not have any shells besides the two already in the gun. Perhaps the man would have some more on him, hopefully. If not this gun didn't really do them any good, did it? An alternative to the grenade launcher was sorely needed too...

As Melissa inspected the gun, Jamie sat up and leaned against a wall. "Ugh... I really wish we had some coffee right now..." She tried to move around a bit, but winced and quickly relaxed against the floor again. Her legs were still giving her trouble. Might be a good idea to check up on them, it would have been an even better idea to have checked before bed, but too late now. An infection was probably out of the question, Melissa had done a pretty good job taking care of the sarge, all things considered, but one couldn't be to careful. If anything, finding some water to clean her legs up, getting rid of dried blood and whatnot, would do the girl a world of good.

 

[xivvix]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

The two shells in the chamber are actually a surprise to the corporal, Billy didn't seem like the type to conserve ammunition. As much as she doesn't want to go near the corpse, extra shells will probably come in handy. First though, Jamie needs her attention.

Placing the shotgun back against the wall, Melissa walks over to the sergeant. "If we find can find some grinds and hot water, I'll be glad to make you some," she says as approaches, "But don't hold your breath." Coming to stand before the woman, Melissa reaches out to touch Jamie's legs. "How are they? Maybe you should let me take a look." The first aid kit should still be around somewhere, as well as the medicine she had found in the nurses office. At the very least, she can change sarge's bandages. "Do you mind?" she asks, gesturing to the woman's pants.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

"Go right ahead." Jamie even helped Melissa remove the pants to get a better look. Despite being nessisary, the girl soon regretted the descision.

Jamie's legs were in a sorry shape. So much activity the previous day ment most of the larger wounds didn't heal much, and they really needed cleaning. In some areas the cuts even looked like something might be in them! The woman squeaked a bit at the sight. That must mean she didn't feel any pain from them, which while nice at first, was probably a bad sign.

 

[xivvix]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

Looking at the wounds, Melissa hisses in sympathy. "Damn," she says softly, glancing up at the sarge worriedly, "We need to take care of this." The corporal does what she can for the wounds for now, cleaning them off as much as she can and redressing the wounds. "Tell you what," she speaks up while helping Jamie put her pants back on, "We can kill two birds with one stone. We'll find something to eat, and some clean water in the food court." With a look back down at the woman's now covered legs, Melissa adds, "Maybe you should stay here and rest while I take a look around." She declines to add that not bringing the injured woman with her will let her move faster and stay out of sight of any monsters easier.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

Jamie hisses in pain as Melissa deals with her legs, gritting her teeth and balling her hands into fists. The pain is worth it, however, and the bluenette manages to clean the sarge's legs quite a bit, though the water is still needed. The woman does not protest Melissa going off on her own, recomposing herself after the attempt. "Fine, but before you go, check to make sure everything is secure. The back, as well as the front. Incase we don't have anything to transport water, we can use our helmets like they did along time ago in wars." Jamie's voice was a bit off from dealing with the pain. "Pass me a few more pills, too." It had been atleast ten hours since the woman last had one, a bit overdue, even if they'd been overdosing her earlier.

 

[xivvix]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

"Roger that," Melissa says, her tone sounding like that of a soldier to her commander, though her pose and movements are much more comfortable. She reaches into a pocket and pulls out the bottle of pain pills, opening it and shaking two out which she passes to the sergeant, before quickly returning the medicine back to where she kept it on her. "Just stay in here and rest up till I get back."

Deciding it better to stay light, Melissa leaves the grenade launcher here, grabbing for the shotgun instead, then heads out into the store. After a quick look around to make sure there weren't any infected milling about in view of the store, she cautiously heads over to the cowboy's corpse. She stares down at him for a second, then quickly begins to rifle through his pockets for shotgun shells, and anything else he might have of value. When she is done with the body, she drags it over behind the counter at the front of the store. 'I'd rather keep this thing out of sight, and as far from the back room as possible. It's going to start to stink,' she thinks, as she positions it as best she can.

Turning away from the corpse, Melissa checks the gates, a quick tug to check the motor, and slipping the key into each lock to double check that as well. After that, she moves to the back hallway and checks out the doors she had stacked the boxes in front of last night.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

In the first pocket Melissa searched she found two shells bound together in a quick feeder case. Odd thing was, the price tag was still on it. Maybe the drunk picked it up from a sporting goods store in the mall. As she kept searching, she found four more such cases in various locations. Must have been already drunk when he picked them up, very disorganized. The only other thing she found was the man's ID. Just some random Joe, nothing special.

After dealing with the man, next up was checking the gate, it was fully secure, motor still locking it down. Nothing in sight in the mall, but the light was a bit low. Only the sky lights lit the halls, and the sun wasn't fully up yet.

Lastly, the back room was fully secure as well, the sarge grunted as Melissa passed by again. None of the boxes had been moved, though if someone or something tried to force a door, it was doubtfull the boxes would have moved anyway, so hard to tell if there was a break in attempt last night. Then again, there weren't any loud noises either, so probably not. Fortress secure, Melissa was now free to search for supplies.

 

[xivvix]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

Glad that all of entrances still look secure, Melissa heads to the door that leads to the electronics store. 'No sense going out the front and painting a big sign that says "PEOPLE HERE",' she thinks as she begins to tug on the boxes blocking off the door. Rather than move the boxes all the way from the door, she only moves them enough so that she can open the door and wriggle through. It doesn't matter how uncomfortable it is for her, as long as it will give anything trying to get a hard time. The sarge still isn't in fighting condition, after all.

Once through the door, Melissa immediately takes a quick look around to check for any threats, before looking around for some way to seal the door to the clothing shop off from this side. A key to lock the door would be ideal, but she doubts she will be lucky enough to find one. If nothing else, she can just find some more boxes to put in front of the entrance. Rather than keeping the door from moving, though, these boxes wouldn't have to be heavy. A bit of cover to keep the door hidden from a casual inspection will probably work fine.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

This shop offered very little cover. Electronics displays didn't really lend themselves to blocking a view like a clothes stand did. Fortunately, there were no threats here at the moment. Melissa had a full view of the trashed store. Alot was missing, but alot was still here. The check out was particularly trashed, for some reason the warehouse section of this place was directly connected to the main portion to make the store larger. A few TVs were nearby in big boxes, they could probably be slid over to block off the door a bit, though it'd be pretty obvious with this layout. Finding a key in the mess up front would be pretty hard though.

 

[xivvix]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

'Looters ,' Melissa thinks as she looks over the trashed store, a little annoyed at the state. She shakes her head, then grabs a few of the TV boxes and slides them over to the door. 'Those... zombies won't know why a bunch of boxes would be stacked up here,' she reasons, 'but I don't anymore Billy's showing up while I'm gone.' Rather than make an obvious pile, Melissa attempts to position the boxes to look like they had been shoved where they are chaotically, rather than specifically to block the door.

Once she's satisfied with the way the boxes are stacked, Melissa creeps out towards the storefront. She peeks out into the mall, looking carefully in the low light for any movement, before moving as stealthily as she can. The food court isn't too far away, so if she hurries and finds what she's looking for, sarge should be fine.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

Camouflage comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and hiding a door in the aftermath of a looting by randomly trashing the place works quite well. Though perhaps smashing a few TVs would complete the picture.

At the front of the store, Melissa had a good view of the quad. All was clear. The path to the food court showed no signs of activity, despite the slightly different view, it was clear the zombies hadn't even walked by again. Might still be a good idea to sneak around the side instead of taking a direct route.

 

[xivvix]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

Keeping alert, Melissa walks carefully towards the food court, keeping near the walls as she does. Along the way she peeks into the stores, taking note of anything that might be interesting, but not stopping on her way to her objective.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

This are seemed mostly to attract the moderately wealthy, more designer clothes, name brand electronics, fancy appliances. Nothing of practical value during this situation. Most were looted dry anyway. The fact remained that over 80% of this mall was unexplored, no doubt usefull things were to be found somewhere.

The foot court broke up this routine. Not all was as Melissa left it. Several tables were gone, and many of the chairs were flipped. Other details, such as which doors were open and which were closed, had probably changed too, but Melissa couldn't be sure. Fortunately there was no activity right now, whatever, or whoever, had caused the disturbance had moved on, it seemed. Or hiding, that was a possibility too. There might be food left, but if this was the work of an inteligence, the stocks would probably be alot lower then yesterday.

 

[xivvix]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

The idea that someone who isn't simply out to attack the women is encouraging to Melissa, but she doesn't let it get to her head. With her shotgun held ready, she makes her way over to the nearest food shop. Most of the food will probably be spoiled, but the corporal is sure she can scrounge something up. Soldiers are trained to survive on whatever they can get, after all, so even if all that's left is stale bread, a meal is a meal. Clean water, on the other hand, might be trickier, if the city's water system is as messed up as the electrical grid. Intent on finding something, however, Melissa doesn't let those thoughts deter her, and tries to find anything she can bring back for the sergeant.

 

[OAMP]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

It was not the worst case scenario, there was no one hiding in the stalls and shops. However, the best food was indeed gone. Plenty of junk food, but humans could only go so long on that alone, even if they were pretty fit. It would do for now, though. On the bright side, the candy bars and chip bags easily fit into some plastic shopping bags that were still around, adding to the litter.

Before Melissa could really shift gears, she noticed that one of the sinks in the food court's kitchen was dripping. The water was still on! What's better, the big cups used for soft drinks were still mostly around, though knocked all over the place. She could simply fill those and bring a few back to their hiding spot.

 

[xivvix]

Re: Not Your Typical Work Day (xivvix)

With no enemies in sight, and plenty food and water at hand, Melissa relaxes with a sigh. 'Maybe the situation isn't as bad as it looked,' she thinks, a smirk on her face as she begins scooping up junk food into a plastic bag. After grabbing enough chips and candy bars to last the pair for a couple of days, she hooks the bag onto her belt, then swings the shotgun over her shoulder. With her hands free, she finds eight large drink cups and fills them, flipping the water valve all the way open. She fills each cup almost all the way, then sets them up so that she can hold four with each hand, one finger gripping the inner edge of each cup so they are held tight against each other to keep them from slipping.

Once the supplies are gathered, Melissa sets off back to the electronics shop, stepping lightly, more to make sure she doesn't spill any water, than to keep quiet.