[X] Creating new bonds.
[X] Base Team 1: [Lauren], [Carmen], [Orlando]
-[X] focusing on morale.
[X] Base Team 2: [Sylvia], [Sharon], [Rodney]
-[X] Use what we have to prepare an area and equipment for medical treatment.
[X] Away Team 1: [James], [Fedir], [Arash]
-[X] scavenging for food.
[X] Away Team 2: [Linda], [Thomas], [Jason]
-[X] scavenging for food.
5e.
"Nothing," you say, letting the empty can drop on the floor.
This is your third day scavenging for food, and you have little to show for it. Your ability to avoid large concentrations of zeds and hostile scavengers should've made this easy.
But so far...
"How many stores does that make today?" Arash mutters. He looks up from where he's digging through the contents of a collapsed shelf. "We must be doing
something wrong."
"Just bad luck." Straightening, you step over the remains of the building's last occupant, the man's mouth fixed in a rotting parody of laugh. You must have missed the punchline. "Someone beat us here."
"How did they get through all the zeds?" the boy asks. "I mean, I don't even know how
we did it!"
Skill, you almost say. That, and a healthy injection of superhuman abilities. But you hold your tongue. The question is one you're asking yourself, and a shop this close to your base being picked clean implies many things, none of them good.
"Where's the big guy?" you ask.
"Here," a voice booms, thick with that Eastern European accent. It's not
loud, but it echoes within the small room.
Fedir steps through the doorway, short-cropped blonde hair barely brushing against the frame. A black contraption of some kind is cradled in his arms.
A crossbow.
"Look what I find," he says. A wide grin is plastered on his face, the corners of his eyes crinkled in mirth. "Make little noise."
"Good against the dead in small groups," you say. "And in ambushes. Useful."
"We trade?" the giant asks wryly. "I take gun."
"Not
that useful," you say.
Fedir doesn't seem bothered by your refusal.
"Worth try," he shrugs.
The little corner store has been picked clean of food, but the three of you manage to find a few bolts scattered here and there. Theoretically they're reusable. But you still don't know what actually
causes the Virus, and handling ammunition covered in blood sounds like the worst way to find out.
You find:
(1) Sporting Crossbow
(16) Crossbow Bolts
"This is really shitty," Arash says as you leave the store. "We've barely found enough to feed the three of us."
"Only because Fedir here eats enough for five men," you quip.
"I have fast metabolism," the man defends, his brow furrowed in mock offense. "You think this body come easy?"
He flexes a little to demonstrate.
"Not funny," Arash says quietly. "If this goes on we'll starve."
"Boy," Fedir says. "You think we not know this?"
He claps a large hand on the younger man's shoulder with an audible slap. You
feel the wince more than you see it.
"Me and leader," Fedir continues. "Know that there is danger. That there is risk. But what panic do? Nothing. No worry OK? Sometimes bad luck. Sometimes good."
"And we're due for some good luck," you finish. "Whoever scavenged these places can't have been through them all. Every new target brings up our chances of finding what we need."
Arash nods slowly at that. Letting himself be convinced. He hasn't taken being separated from his friend Jason well.
When you'd proposed the teams for the next week, there wasn't much pushback against being sent out so soon, to your and Linda's relief. The fact that you armed and fed who you could worked in your favor.
Though there were some issues when you announced team assignments.
"Uh-uh. No. Fucking. Way," Jason had said. "Arash is my responsibility. If anything happens I need to be there."
The look on his face told you he had no intention of changing his mind. You had been about to motion to Carmen to smooth things out when one of the new recruits jumped in. Lauren, the ex-waitress.
"Now look here hun," she said, a serious but sympathetic look on her freckled face. "He'll be going with an ex-green beret soldier and the guy from Rocky IV. He'll be safer than the rest of us."
You gave the girl a nod and remarked: "As safe as anyone can be out there, these days."
It took a little more convincing, but the hotheaded teen eventually backed off. Now all you need to do is keep Arash in one piece.
"You serve in army?" Fedir says to you suddenly, snapping you out of your thoughts.
"I did," you reply, climbing over a small hill of rubble. You keep half your attention on the shuffling and moaning that marks the walking dead. "Ten years in the service."
"In America not required yes?" He looks puzzled. "Why do this to yourself?"
"Wasn't too bad," you say. "Never belonged anywhere else."
"American army must be very different from Georgian one," he says with a raised eyebrow. "In my country, no women. Food fit only for dog. Yelling all time. Many sweaty men very close."
"Sounds about right," you say with a small smile.
"And you spend ten years? No required?" Fedir asks, baffled. "I did not know you are madman."
He turns to Arash trailing behind him. "Don't take as example."
"Don't worry about that," Arash mumbles, readjusting his backpack. "I wouldn't want to be like
either of you."
Your bad luck holds, and the rest of the day is a wash.
The fourth day begins much like the last two – with you hoping that the next few hours of effort are not spent in vain.
But the stores you raid that day have your nails biting into your palms at the results. How is it possible to be doing so badly with advantages like yours?
You can only hope Linda's team is having better luck.
"What do we do?" Arash asks you. He looks tired.
You glance outside at the empty streets and shattered storefronts. You don't want to write off the whole area, but you might have to if things keep going this way.
Fedir paces to you, a hand on his chin.
"Perhaps try something new," he suggests. "So far, we go to safe areas, very lucky."
"Wait," Arash says, dark eyes wide. "Are you saying..."
"Some buildings have bigger dead people," Fedir continues. "More. Will have food, yes?"
Your finger taps against your pistol.
"You're not wrong," you reply. The buildings with higher concentrations of zeds should be relatively untouched by scavengers. You've been playing it safe.
"I see big market yesterday," he says. "Some dead. Much food."
You're tempted. For all his distaste of the military, Fedir's own training shows itself in his composure and judgement. Combined with his martial ability, that means you can work
with each other, rather than around. And a target that size could mean you're set for
weeks.
The problem is...
Arash stares at you, hand clutching at his bowie knife. You don't miss the sweat making slow tracks across his forehead.
"I- I can do this," he says. Bravado or determination? You're not sure. "We need that food. I can't, no, I
won't hold us back."
You don't reply, leaning against the wall.
He's held up well for a high school student, better than you'd expect of most. Willing to follow direction and learn, if a bit introverted. Almost like you when you were young, through circumstance rather than choice.
But you haven't seen how he performs when it really counts, when a zed is bearing down on him and he has to
act. If you can count on him to carry his weight, with you and Fedir doing most of the heavy lifting, it'll be fairly easy to get out of there with all your limbs intact.
And a whole lot of food.
You look at the two companions beside you and say:
[] "It's too risky. We'll continue as we were."
[] "It's a chance we can't pass up. Here's how we'll approach it."
[] write-in.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
You find:
+(1) Sporting Crossbow
+(16) Crossbow Bolts
Arash: Skill Changed:
Melee 0 -> Melee 5
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Author's Note:
Bit late, but here it is. If you choose to try the market, please explain in your post how you want to go about it. Arash picked up some tips watching the two of you smash heads. The food you found will be calculated at the end of the week.
Also, if any of you are art fans, my beta is hosting a kickstarter for a really beautiful artbook and gallery. You can tell her work because the updates she looks over don't turn out totally awful. And she's a brilliant artist as well. I encourage you to check it out here.
