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Post by Daniel Black on Jul 8, 2008 21:40:31 GMT -8
Crunch. One. Crunch. Two. Crunch. Three. Daniel reached deep into the bag for another Cheetos, but to no avail, because there were none left. Had he really eaten them so quickly? Sure, there was no substance to the little cheesy puffs of goodness, but two minutes ago he'd been in possession of a full bag. Scowling in sudden ill-temper, he crumpled the bag and tossed it to one side, putting one hand over his eyes and looking up at the entrance to what they called 'The Underground', but what he personally liked to call 'Mole Kingdom'. Living in sub-human standards had been a bit of a wake-up for the twenty-two year old former UCLA student, and he was ashamed to admit that he hadn't exactly been gracious about the happenings- not that he had any reason to be. Lying at his feet like some sleeping but deadly snake was a rifle- just in case- and tucked through the waistband of his grimy jeans was his best friend, the 9mm pistol that he'd christened Bob.
Guard duty? Something like that- not that he thought any souls were going to come out to the middle of nowhere in search of humans...though the Seekers seemed pretty keen to wipe them out. Dan had no doubt, though, that he'd prove a useless host, and resolved there and then that if ever he was captured, he'd kill himself and the soul inside him. Feeling a bit grim at the thought, he reached up and rubbed his face, drawing his hand away immediately in distaste as it encountered a nasty case of stubble. Irritated, he flicked out his pocket knife, bright grey eyes narrowed. Carefully and with a practised ease (no doubt born of having to do this all the time), he began scraping gently against his cheeks, effectively shaving sans the razor. A small noise of anger was made as he nicked himself, but when he touched his face to inspect the results he was pleased to find that his face was relatively smooth once more. Sheathing the knife next to Bob, he looked down the dark tunnel once more, wishing that it wasn't his turn and that he could go to his sleeping 'room' and have a kip.
Sleep was a rare luxury now, though, and in some ways Dan didn't mind, because if a soul did stumble upon the hideout at least he'd be able to dispatch them- a bit of a treat, if you looked at it that way. His thoughts were interrupted by a scraping noise above him and immediately he was on alert, shrinking out of open view and into the dark recesses of the tunnel a little bit. It was here he realized that he'd left his shotgun exposed. Ah, shit. He still had his pistol, though, and it was with caution that he drew Bob and cocked the gun quietly, fully prepared to shoot whatever it was that seemed about to enter the cave opening.
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Post by Lela Moorland on Jul 8, 2008 22:23:43 GMT -8
Lela had arrived in California relatively quietly- she had locked up her little cabin in Colorado and packed her bags, filling them with enough things that she could live for the last two months of her pregnancy in a quiet, beach side hotel in California. She had driven- one thing the Healers had been adamant about was the inherent and deadly risk involved with taking a shuttle anywhere in her state.
And speaking of healers, she had gone in to the Healing facility immediately after arrival and let them poke and prod at her. The healers had been delighted by the movements of the tiny human being inside of her- movements that were becoming more and more frequent. In fact, as the woman tracked through the desert area she had found peaceful for her daily walks, the little one was bouncing about on the nearest thing to him- her bladder. She let out a groan and clutched at her stomach. "PLEASE stop jumping on mummy's bladder, dear." She whispered as she sat down for a bit of a rest. The darkness covered over her like a blanket and she wrapped around the center of herself with a smile. "Sweet little baby..." she murmured at her stomach, her lips curiving up into a sentimental smile. "You didn't like the walks during the day, and now you don't like the ones in the evening either? The only time you haven't done this to Mummy is when we were swimming in the ocean."
Another roll inside her abdomen sent urgent bathroom messages that forced her to look out over the dry ground for a natural hollow she could go into and hide herself somewhat- she despised just 'going' out in the open. Gently and as quietly as she could, she walked over to a hole that wasn't too far away. And as she walked, she thought about her reasons for choosing the desert for her walks.
Ever since moving in, she had heard talk of rogue humans- in the grocery store, at the beach. Combine this with the pressure she had found on her to give her child over as a host once it was able to leaver her company without becoming ill, and Lela had made a possibly suicidal and completley mad plan to go out into the desert and find the humans- not to report them to the Seekers, but so she could, after the baby was born, place it at their doorstep and let them raise it as a human. Not as a soul. A slight gasp slipped out of her lips at a hole she hadn't noticed before, significantly closer then the one she was going to. She frowned, stopped for a second, and then kept walking. It looked like there was a snake in there anyways.
Lela walked on to the hole she had initially set out for and relieved herself as quickly as she could. She pulled a roll of the biodegradable toilet paper she always kept on her person lately, seeing as one never knew when her little 'affliction' would occur. A wiggle and a grunt saw her up out of the hole, and finally back on her track- though she had decided to turn about and walk back towards her car. She stopped briefly, noticing that the snake-like object seemed like it hadn't moved. Unable to resist possibly helping a creature in pain, she crouched down and looked down at the shadow and then back further into the cave, the moonlight reflecting gently off of her eyes. And then she froze. Something was there. SOMEONE was there.
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Post by Daniel Black on Jul 10, 2008 17:49:03 GMT -8
A scowl formed on Daniel's lips once again as he heard crunching sounds from above him. The noises, which sounded suspiciously like footsteps, faded away for a little, but they didn't really make him relax from where he was, pressed up against the stone wall of the cave with a pinched expression on his face. For all he knew, it could be a Seeker scoping the area out in search of humans. Then again, he entertained a slight hope that it was another renegade human come to join them. Another set of hands would've been helpful. His train of thought was interrupted, though, as the crunching sounds came closer again, and then paused. What the hell? He began to doubt that it was a Seeker, since experience so far had shown that Seekers did not travel completely alone. Still, the fact that whoever it was had stopped above his hole was unsettling, and careful to move only very slightly, he angled himself so tha he could squint balefully up into the moonlight.
Bad move. The person-thing (he hadn't figured it out yet) froze with shock as it saw him, but this didn't perturb him too much. What really caught his attention was the way that the moonlight was bouncing off of the person's eyes...and reflecting silver. A hiss escaped his throat as he was faced with two options. One- knock the soul out and drag them somewhere far, far away so that when they woke up it'd be impossible to navigate back, or two- kill it. At that point in time, killing the thing seemed appropriate. He scrambled quickly into the moonlight for the shotgun, all throughs of secrecy forgotten, and hefted it quickly, cocking it and pointing it at the soul with steady hands. Something gave him pause, though, as his finger began applying pressure to the trigger. The soul- she? It? Whatever- something about her/it seemed odd...out of place, even. He certainly hadn't seen another soul who looked like that before.
The curiosity was enough to make him reluctantly lower the shotgun, and he resolved that he could capture her/it and perform another soul extraction experiment, at the very least. And, if she gave him trouble, that was where Bob would come into the equation. Nimbly (because he highly doubted she'd stand around forever after he'd just pointed a gun at her) he scaled the sides of the tunnel and grasped her brutally by the upper arms, a dark look of loathing passing over his face as he caught sight of those silver-backed eyes again. Brief hesitation ensued at the thought of throwing a woman around, but then he reminded himself that this wasn't a woman- it was a thing. With a grunt, he shoved her backwards into the hole, springing down lightly after her himself. A swift flourish saw one of his hands at her throat and the other one pressing the barrel of Bob against her temple. Daniel's mouth twitched upwards in a smirk and he managed to get out in a voice that was both disgusted and mocking, "Did you get lost, worm?"
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Post by Lela Moorland on Jul 10, 2008 20:02:37 GMT -8
Lela couldn't move. Her body simply froze as she realized what the snake shaped thing was- it was a gun, and a shotgun at that. And the human...for she was sure it was a human, only humans carried real guns now. And suddenly it become clear to her just how stupid this idea had been. Of COURSE the humans would attack! They were constantly vigilant for seekers and in seeking them out, she had put herself and the baby in danger. This feeling- self loathing- was a new one. The fear, not so much. It was just far more intense then she was used to, so intense, it almost felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. All of her muscles clenched and she was almost unable to breathe. An involuntary moan passed her lips, a moan that changed into an involuntary scream as the man that was inside the cave came out and held the shotgun pointing at her.
"Don't, please..." The woman managed to gasp out as he grabbed her by the arms, probably bruising her. "The baby, please don't hurt the baby..." She hit the ground, and whimpered, speaking not to the figure who had a strong, rough hand wrapped around her throat, but to the sweet, gentle curve of her stomach. "Oh, little one, I'm sorry. I didn't want you to get hurt because of this..." Lela squeezed her eyes shut, but the tears still managed to get out. And then something punched her in the stomach again. It wasn't the man who had her by the neck, she was sure, because she could feel the barrel of what she could only assume was another gun. "B-baby, stop punching mummy, please..."
It was only after the pain in her abdomen had subsided that she comprehended what the man above her had said. Whispering through her tears, she responded. "I went out for a walk. To stay healthy. I-I had to pee." A little sob escaped her mouth and she wriggled, completley oblivious to the gun against her head. And then a bigger sob, and another even larger until she was crying almost hysterically. "Pl-ea....please. Please."
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