No Rest for the Wicked

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It had been two weeks since that fateful encounter there in the outskirts. It was supposed to have been a simple transaction…that pistol for a pass into the city. He never would have imagined that he’d get tailed by the brigands or that they’d be intelligent enough to even manage to track him in the first place. Of course, that wasn’t his only regret.

He’d done a damn good job of hiding the truth of what he was to everyone, but that wound had ripped away the veil of his charade and he didn’t even have time to reassure Scout before having to take off. Of course, it wasn’t like she’d have even listened to him if he had been able to find the time. From what little he knew from their interactions; she was very headstrong.

She had also said she’d kill him. He didn’t necessarily doubt the vehemence in that statement. He didn’t much believe she’d find him, but he’d been wrong before…that very day in fact… so anything was possible.

Because of that, he’d waived off a couple of other scavenging runs that he was supposed to do with some people from Eclipse. It was safer just to spend time in the Abandoned town. He had temporarily considered heading out into the No-Man’s land for a while, but he ultimately decided against it. He was an urban creature now. The desolation didn’t agree with him. Not that much desolation anyway. Besides, it was a damn big town and he knew all of the hidey holes and other places to disappear to in it.

In fact, he was on his way back into the Abandoned Town now from the Junkyard. He’d gotten to one of his bolt holes only to find that it was missing some critical survival things. He hadn’t been able to restock this one, but it was one of his more out-of-the way ones, so it hadn’t been a priority, not until now.

In hindsight, he probably should have taken an alternate route away from the Eclipse base. There was a fair amount of traffic on this road and it was the same one that he often met his contacts at when taking them into the deeps of the town. It was one of the most predictable routes he could have taken if someone had any skill in finding out information.

Predictability and complacency led to mistakes. He’d drilled that idea into the heads of the soldiers he used to lead and yet here, now, he was falling prey to it. He hiked his pack up higher on his shoulder, eyeing the outskirts of the old town that he was just reaching.

”Just need another hour or so and I can kick back for a while,” he muttered to himself as he glanced around, pale eyes taking in the dense scrub and the edge of woods that gave way to the town itself. It wasn't long before he could make out the sight of Hudson High School and he idly wondered if he should dip inside before continuing on.

Scout Gadsby

Posted 12-25-2021, 08:02 PM

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Time ticked by at an alarming pace when you knew your days were numbered. Scout had an expiration date, and suddenly because of that, work seemed prodigal. A complete and utter waste of her time and what little she had left of it. However she was caught between a rock and a hard place. If she didn't work, she would call attention to herself and knew she was garner more concerned stares other than Clay's. Of whom, consistently looked as if he were on the cusp of turning her in every waking second she spent in any sort of public domain. He constantly reminded her of it. Not that he threatened her knowingly with tattling, but that he tried to guilt her absolutely any chance he got.

It was an unsurmountable amount of pressure to be under. It would of been terrible enough to live knowing that she was going to turn into a beast within weeks all on it's own, but throw in Clay and it become unbearable.

Day 13 and Clay had raised the stakes, he had gotten it in his head that Scout was now obligated to go to their superiors and turn herself in. A day early none-the-less. The problem was... Scout had never even considered holding up her end of the bargain. It had all been a lie, and for some reason she still felt as if she had the right to be angry that he was rushing her along. She had to make a decision, and that particular decision accumulated into a bullet to the head.

Clay's.

He lay there on her floor, blood pooling all around his head as if it were a crimson halo. All the while she ripped through her apartment in search of any item of value that she could shove in a pack. What little ammo she had stashed, the pistol that had lead to Clay's death, and in a round-about way her own, rations, a change of clothes, a flashlight, and of course her throwing knives.

She left Clay there, certain someone would find him quickly as she left the apartment and headed for the wall. Scout didn't have time to feel guilty, bad, or apologetic. The only thing she could focus on was that the pistol had one more person, or rather, monster to kill, and she had every intention of fulfilling that promise she had made to Malachi.

Getting out of Stronghold had been laughably easy. No one questioned that she had a 'secret' mission that required her to go out at night beyond the barricade. Scout knew however, it would most certainly be the last time she saw the inside of the city. After they found Clay on her floor, there would be a manhunt. That was fine. She had resolved to realize she deserved to be hunted down like a dog.

Day 14

"The drifter with the white hair. Tell me what you know." she held the man by the scruff of his collar, the pistol held to his forehead, the man's teenaged son stood approximately ten feet away, frozen in place. They were from Eclipse, or so she had the stinking suspicion. The man stayed tight-lipped and Scout tightened her grip on the pistol, "Tell me." The son took a small step forward, making the executive decision to save his pops. "He just left the Junkyard, he went west, that's all we know, he took Deering Road! That's all we know, I swear!"

"Towards the High School?" "YES! That direction." "Thank you." She drew back her weapon and smacked the father across the face, he fell limpy onto his side. The son gasped and Scout shot him a glare. "You should run now." She aimed her pistol in his direction and the boy took off, for an odd second, Scout considered killing him. After all they knew her face and could send word perhaps to Malachi.

She didn't need to. Scout planned on finding Mal before the sunset, the likelihood they could somehow affect those plans seemed low.

Back to the matter at hand, Scout now realized she needed to cut him off. If he truly was on Deering Road and hadn't made it to the High School yet, she had to take a short cut and beat him there. It would be a perfect place for an ambush. Granted, she had to admit, she was less familiar with Hudson High than other sectors. It still seemed like a solid plan, and so with that idea forming, she cut through the abandoned town and approached the school from it's north facing side.

Crawling in through a broken-out window, she cleared a good chunk of the bottom floor before setting up shop at what was a clear entry point. Tucked out of the way, she had a clear visual of the road.

It was there she waited and hoped her patience would be rewarded.

Tag Malachi Blake

Posted 01-12-2022, 11:53 PM

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Malachi moved slowly towards the High School. Major buildings like that around this area always tended to draw in more infected and so one had to be cautious. He’d been in it a few times and it was always a grab bag on whether he’d have to kill one or two. Thankfully, it never seemed to collect a large amount of those poor souls. While he had little compulsion about defending himself, he never knew how close some of them might have been to reaching their own point of freedom from the animal that had taken them over.

Just in case, he pulled out that pistol from his holster, keeping it low and ready as he moved from cover to cover, being as quiet and cautious as he could while passing along Deering Road. He saw the big double doors that rested there at the top of a short flight of steps. They provided a good view of the road given that Deering was positioned there running directly toward it. His shadowy form moved closer, pausing at the aft end of a bus long left after it had crashed into another and apparently stalled there long ago.

The main doors were the easiest way inside, but that didn’t mean they were the best. Malachi eyed them for a long moment speculatively. Something raised the hackles on the back of his neck, however, something that the beast in him sensed that he could not. Figuring there were probably some of his more ravenous kin there, he decided to cut right between other abandoned cars and go towards the wing that he knew would lead to the science section. He’d never had much opportunity to scavenge that portion yet and he was curious about whether or not it would have anything of value.

It didn’t take long for him to pass out of sight from that main entry point, expecting that if he had any unwanted friends that they would likely not make a move while there was still light outside. If he was lucky, he could bar the science section off from the rest of the school and clear it with minimal interference.

Still, his fingers tightened on the grip of that pistol. He couldn’t shake the feeling that eyes were watching him and as he neared that side door, his index finger stroked the side of the gun. A breeze lightly flitted through his pale hair.

Scout Gadsby

Posted 01-20-2022, 08:33 PM

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TRIGGER TOPIC WARNING: SUICIDE

While she patiently waited to finish what had started, Scout's mind swam with thoughts of what was, what could have been, and what would be. This situation she found herself in was devastating. Even though she appeared as cold as winter about it on the outside, internally she was struggling with the thought of killing herself; because that was what was at the end of this journey. There would be no happy ending, but she would have revenge. It was the only thing that mattered now. Righting the wrongs and then making her exit. She didn't know if she would stand judgement for what she did to Clay or not, but she knew as soon as she had a moment to really understand what she did... she would crumble.

-- And so she chose not to. The moment her partner came to mind she shook her head and took a deep breath. Thankfully, nothing more was needed as she saw a lone figure immerging from further down the road. His vague outline and shape immediately told her it was broad shouldered male.... fitting the description of her target. She hunkered down into the scope of her rifle, peering through and finding Malachi in her sights.

Perfect. The information she had extracted from the man and the kid had proved good.

She had him, and then she … didn't. He had dunked behind a bus and Scout lost him. He was being cautious, and if it were any other time she would of commended the behavior, but it wasn't going to make this easy. He seemed to be steering clear of the main entrance, why, she wasn't sure. There was no way he could see her from her vantage point, no way for the wind to carry her scent through the air being that she was indoors.

Watching, she caught a glimpse of him turning the corner and going around the side of the building. Inwardly and outwardly (though silent) she cursed; lips moving to make out the obvious choices but no sound came from her tongue. Fuck this. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Lifting from her lowered position she remained crouched and carefully crawled to the other side of the room; trying to make out his position from another window. Only the fleeting sight of his boot caught her eye as he disappeared towards another section of the school.

For a moment she chastised herself for not taking the shot earlier... but had she given away her position, the odds of taking him out would dwindle. She had to catch him unaware if she had a hope or a prayer.

She wasn't certain which area of the school in particular he was going to try to come in through, but she knew he had headed around the west side. Quietly she exited the front room and carefully headed down the hall, focusing on the left side of classrooms and peeking in through the small glass slits of their doors. She did so quietly, deciding it would be easier to let him enter the school and set up whatever he was attempting to do, peg his location, then decide her ambush method. If she got too far ahead of him, he might see her before she saw him.

Tag Malachi Blake

Posted 09-06-2022, 09:42 PM This post was last modified: 09-07-2022, 08:21 PM by Scout Gadsby

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Malachi sidled up close to the wall along the science wing, crouching low not to silhouette himself through the window and using the wall as cover. He carefully tested each window, looking for one that was unlocked. He wound up testing down most of the way down that wing before one of them shifted, despite the grime, wear, and tear of the intervening decades. With one hand on the pistol, he used the other to push the glass up carefully.

He was fortunate that the grime that made it hard to move with any semblance of stealth also helped keep it up in the sill. He carefully sniffed the air from the window, not catching a scent that made him pause. Only then did he finally peer within, carefully scanning the room. It was a classroom, as was expected, and he was fortunate that it appeared to be the kind with broad benches for working with beakers and other scientific instruments.

Smiling to himself, he holstered his pistol momentarily and carefully hoisted himself up and through the window. Dragging himself over the sill, he twisted and came down onto his feet with unnatural grace, which shouldn’t be so easy for a man his size. He slid the pistol free and brandished it as he moved through the room, scouting out the nooks and crannies, searching for anything that might indicate one of his kind had made a residence here.

Fortunately, luck seemed to be on his side. Nothing here seemed disturbed at all. The only footprints in the settled dust were his own. Satisfied, he made his way to the door, sliding up next to it so he could eye out the narrow window, peering as far down the hall one way as he could before looking down the other way. Nothing caught his eye, so he eased the door open and moved out with his head on a swivel.

Instead of moving toward the center of the school, he made his way to the left, toward the end of the wing and the rooms there. He entered the next one just as his unknown stalker rounded the corner into the hall. His back and shoulder were visible for a moment before they disappeared into the room and out of sight, almost like a dream.

Unaware that he was not the only hunter, he carefully worked to clear the next room, moving his way through it methodically before finally deciding it was clear. Another classroom, this one had locked cabinets that caught his eye. Pausing near them, he gripped the handle of one of the metal cabinets. He twisted it, applying pressure until it stuck…then using more. He cringed as the mechanism gave way with a brief, softly tortured sound of metal rending before the door popped open.

Malachi stilled, listening intently, waiting to hear the sounds of others like him scrambling down the halls toward the sound.

Posted 09-07-2022, 08:08 PM

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Scout continued peaking in through each door-window extremely carefully. After clearing the first three, she got to the fourth and caught the smallest glimpse of the palm of a hand trying to lift an external window from it's seal. She pulled back and then pressed her ear close to the hinges of the door frame, just listening and only making out the quietest attempts of what one might call burglary, even if it wasn't just. She smirked to herself, but didn't allow the small shot of adrenaline get to her head. Scout wanted so badly to say she had him, but he was master of his species, something else entirely, she refused to jinx it.

The small sounds came to an end and Scout realized he had moved onto the next room. Quickly but quietly she moved to the next door, this time listening before taking the smallest peek. With confirmation that he had found a 'working' window, Scout checked herself. Adjusting her stance and taking a better grip of her pistol, she decided she would let him enter the building first, then get the jump on him. The only issue was the door was closed... in fact, staring down at the handle, she wasn't altogether sure it wasn't locked. It was too late to test it. If she rattled the lock he would be immediately tipped off. Her face scrunched as she took another glance through the narrow window and saw him going through the classroom... then neared the door. She pulled away quickly and took several steps back until she got to a recessed bathroom, the boys, and dunked into it.

Pressed up against the cool painted concrete block walls, she kept her pistol low as she tried to listen for footsteps. They seemed to be moving away and further down the hallway instead of towards the front of the school. For a moment she would of preferred if he had came toward her, she would have been able to pull the trigger and taken a clearer shot instead of having to relocate him. Taking a peek out, she saw that he was gone entirely. Fuck. Scout hated this cat and mouse game.

Inhaling and exhaling softly, she left the restrooms and took up a position on the other wall in which would put her on the inside of the corner turn that she would so obviously have to make in order to track him back down. She made her way around the corner, taking a glance first and caught the view of his shoulder. She paused immediately. Making sure he was fully in the next classroom before she crossed the hallway. Her heart was beginning to beat wildling with the prospect of finally fulfilling her desire.

She didn't continue just yet, something told her to wait, and she was glad for it as she saw him move on to the next classroom.

Enough was enough.

She moved quickly towards the door of that classroom and tipped herself in to gather where exactly he was. When that was evident, she lowered herself and crawled towards the first large solid and raised science desks. They would provide excellent cover. Exhaling again, she popped out long enough to fire the pistol -- but just before she squeezed the trigger he had made a disturbing sound that caught her off guard. There was a two second delay of pure silence, both from her and him. Then, realizing the mistake, she fired.

The bullet clipped near his left ear and flung into the glass window of the metal science lab cabinets; destroying the small portrait-like reflection of her behind him. Quickly she dunked back behind the desk for cover; pissed beyond measure that she had missed.

Posted 09-13-2022, 08:48 AM

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That moment felt like an eternity. It crawled by as he looked back and saw Scout there…saw the gun, pointing at him. The barrel was dark and menacing. It promised death, but the shot didn’t seem to come. His eyes shifted from its lethal black to her wide green eyes. He saw much emotion there.

He also saw the realization, which made the predator in him react, trying to jerk away, twisting as fire seared along his ear, and the sound of the bullet snapping by it, and the gunshot echoed painfully half a heartbeat after. He hissed as he fired back, bullets skipping along the granite tops and peppering her hair with shards of the desktop as the bullets lodged into the blackboard behind her.

Ducking down, he scrambled behind the back row of those desks, glad they went all the way to the ground so they couldn’t just trade bullets underneath them. He swore, clutching his ear with his hand that didn’t hold his pistol and feeling the blood seep, sticky and hot, onto his palm. Pulling that hand away, he looked at his palm and hissed, swearing again.

What the fuck was Scout doing here? The question pinged around in his head even as he wrestled with the Other that wanted to rise and rip the throat out of this presumptuous threat. His lips curled back involuntarily, and he shook his head.

Not this time, motherfucker…. he told his bestial rider.

He glanced around the corner, trying to catch sight of her, listening intently with that unnatural hearing to ascertain better what she was up to so that he could predict what she was doing. He’d gotten lucky this time; he didn’t think that would happen again. Whatever she’d frozen for, she wasn’t anymore.

”Scout?!? What the fuck are you doing here? His tone was incredulous as he shifted to look around the other side of his scholastically themed cover. ”I fucking spared your life, and you repay that by trying to put a bullet in me?”

Posted 09-13-2022, 08:11 PM This post was last modified: 09-13-2022, 08:11 PM by Malachi Blake

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It was hard not to get lost in the moment, in the failure of missing and putting this whole ordeal to bed. Now it had to drag on. It wasn't just the thoughts she had to wrestle with in her head, of completing this last mission, but what came after. Scout feared the more time she had to think about what had to be done, the more likely she couldn't do it. The only thing that stood in her way was Malachi's death.

She heard him swear and had an unconfirmed assumption that she might of tagged him, even if just a little. Covered in dust from the returned fire, she pressed herself up hard against the back end of the table, and used her opposite hand to wipe the debris from her eyes. Her heart was pounding in her ears, loud and ringing with adrenaline. On the outside she seemed completely composed, serious, and without distraction.

He shouted her name and she couldn't believe he had already ascertained it was her. It had all happened so fast... she wasn't expecting he would already know who it was. She kept the back of her head up tight against the backside of the corner of the set of desks; glancing to her left and noting a tall laboratory stool there in front of her.

Disbelief came from her in the form of a scoff-like sound from her nose. "Is that what you did? Spared my life?" She gritted her teeth, how dare he even consider making her into a monster was at all sparing in any form or fashion. "Were you born that stupid or was it the infection that did it?" She couldn't help herself with the goading.

"I made you a promise, I'm here to keep it." With that last hint she kicked the stool that was in front of her with her right boot, making it tip over and loudly crash to the ground outside of the cover of the row of desks. It was meant as a distraction. Leaning out on the opposite side just enough to get a sliver of a viewpoint, she fired another shot at what she thought was a tuft of his white hair-clad head; then tucked herself back behind the desk; hoping for a successful sound of pain to come from him.

Posted 09-14-2022, 09:42 PM

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How he hadn’t recognized the smell before, he didn’t know, but he did now. Even with the pungent aroma of gunpowder in the air, this closed room was enough for him to catch the underlying scent of Scout. The beast within him recognized it only too well. He’d found himself more drawn to the taste of her blood than ever before. That dark Other inside stirred at the scent of its newly favored snack before he bared his teeth in a snarl and shoved it back down to where it had come from.

Fuck off, freak. He mentally swore to himself while he listened for her, trying to figure out what she was doing. His eyes flicked to the left and right as he heard the more subtle sound of her movements before he heard the sound of disbelief from her. He rolled his eyes when she threw out that insult. Malachi was all too ready to fire sarcasm right back at her. ”You are alive, aren’t you? Healthy and fucking whole. I don’t know what kind of higher learning you get in that city, but they tell you the difference between alive and dead, right?”

The hell is her problem? He growled, frustrated further, when she reminded him of that “promise” she’d given him. He’d never imagined that she’d go through with it or somehow manage to predict his intent to come here. Now all he wanted to do was find out who managed to put her on his scent…if he survived this.

The sound of that boot crashing had him glancing around the edge of that desk, trying to catch sight of her with his gun at the ready. He almost missed the more muted sound of her shifting around from the other side of that desk she’d taken refuge behind. His eyes widened as he realized he’d gotten played by the oldest ruse in the book. As he saw the upended feet of that stool and he jerked back.

Malachi jerked back, but not before that bullet stitched a line of fire along his retreating bicep. He hissed at the pain. Anger flared up, and he snapped up his stool as he stood. Swinging it around, he launched it at the blackboard in front of her. It flew through the air like an arrow. The edge of the padded seat bounced against it, cracking it as it deflected back from that wall toward her.

Meanwhile, he brought his pistol back up, training it in the direction of that desk to try and catch her if she tried to pop out.

Posted 09-17-2022, 09:25 PM

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Scout couldn't believe her ears. Did he really think that? That what he had done to her was sparing her life, that she was whole… healthy? Was he mad? Her eyes widened briefly as at thought of his idiocy, but then immediately narrowed. He was one of them, of course he thought it a better way of life. But he was some kind of other wasn't he? A talking, walking, comparatively intelligent (though not terribly so, obviously). "But at what cost?" she mumbled to herself, glaringly obvious in her tone that it both angered and upset her. It wasn't meant for his ears, but she assumed he would hear it after the fact.

"Ooh, what was that?" she yelled confidently, a little pride in her tone, a smirk curling over her lips. "Was that a hit I heard?" she couldn't help herself after hearing him hiss with pain. She had waited what felt like eons for this exact moment, if it was the last mission she had, she would enjoy it.

There wasn't much time between the shot and what happened next. Scout had only a few seconds to revel in catching him off guard until he flipped the script. The other desk stool hit the board in front of her and realizing it's trajectory was aimed for her in some kind of roundabout trick-shot; she pulled her arms up in front of her to shield her face. It slammed right into her, making a particularly feminine sound of pain pierce the air. Fuck this guy. She was definitely going to have a black eye if she survived till dawn.

Now she was angry.

She pushed away the rubbish that had collided against her and the desk she took cover behind. Out of her peripheral she saw a glimmer of a reflection; his reflection. The clear glass windows of the lab cabinets that hung higher on the walls, along with the way the light came in through the windows, allowed for a murky side profile of him to appear. He was well-trained on her position.

"Why'd you do it?" she said loud enough to be heard clearly. "Why did you have to bite me?" She sat there, pistol at the ready, but didn't engage again just yet.

Posted 09-21-2022, 09:05 PM This post was last modified: 09-21-2022, 09:06 PM by Scout Gadsby

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His unnatural hearing did indeed pick up her mumbled words, despite her volume. There weren’t many other things going on in the room, and the ringing from the gunshots was finally fading. He bared his teeth a bit at that and shook his head. The girl knew how to misread a situation completely. It was surprising she’d even made it this long like that.

He let out a low, animalistic growl when she crowed about her newest hit to him. She could see or hear enough, but all it did was cause him to simmer and react in kind. When she made that slight sound of pain from the desk bouncing into her, he couldn’t help but smile in return. He no doubts mirrored the same self-satisfied expression that she had.

*Bout time you got to put down a peg or two, you little ingrate.*

His head cocked at the sound of her moving around…he paid careful attention to it this time, that barrel waving from one side of the desk to the other as he kept it on where her likely exit paths were if she did try to hop out to fire or tried to make a run for it. He wasn’t about to take any more chances with her. He’d had enough of these games before she called out her questions. His brows furrowed in consternation.

” It wasn’t something I planned or wanted, Scout. You saw that gut shot. I was injured. Badly. Survival instinct is a hell of a drug…and whatever I am now is hooked. I needed blood to heal, and the beast inside…that I used to be… it went for the nearest source. You. At that point, I couldn’t stop it any more than you could stop needing to breathe.”

He sighed, shoulders slumping, even though he never let the barrel of that gun waver. He couldn’t afford to…not if he wanted to get out of this alive .”I couldn’t stop it from acting out on its imperative to survive. It took everything I had to ensure it didn’t infect you and try to propagate while it was at it.”

Posted 09-26-2022, 10:17 PM

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They were at a stand still. Scout didn't know how she was going to turn this situation to her favor, but as of the moment, he seemed to have the higher ground. His position was easily defendable, he could keep an account of her actions before she finished making them -- and then there was the higher senses. None of this was going to be easy, in part because she had fucked up, but it wasn't over. In this little interlude, she pressed the palm of her hand to her eye, testing how sore it was and already feeling it swell.

As he spoke, Scout turned her chin up to watch him speak through the reflection. She shifted then, turning more towards him and changing position to the other side of the lab tables. The thought being his voice would semi-conceal her calculated movements. Even though she was trying to use the moment to her advantage, that didn't mean she wasn't listening to every word he said. All the while she thought it nothing but an excuse.

He was a beast. That was certain.

One that needed to be put down.

Scout stilled. He sighed and then revealed something that lit her hopes on fire before she quickly mashed them down to embers. "What do you mean?" she half-shouted back, anger in her tone. "What do you mean, it didn't infect me?" she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You bit me, of course you fucking infected me. I'm not dense, you lying bastard." Surely he had figured it out by now, why she was here, why she was trying to kill him... he was just trying to cover his ass.

Posted 10-04-2022, 01:23 PM This post was last modified: 10-04-2022, 01:23 PM by Scout Gadsby

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Malachi shifted, the barrel of that gun adjusting to the small sounds of the movements she was making so that it was hovering over the other side of that desk. His eyes narrowed. This was exasperating. He’d gone through a hell of a lot of trouble to keep this bitch alive, and how did she thank him?

By trying to fucking kill him.

He suddenly wished he hadn’t gone through all that effort, given how much appreciation she showed him. His lips curled back as the beast within him fairly snarled at the primal desire that his anger caused in wanting to rip out her throat and bleed out the lifeblood she didn’t care that much about.

Pale eyes widened at her anger…and then she had the gall to call him dense. Given just how little she knew about his kind, the ludicrous assertion caused him to laugh. It started as a short bark of laughter but became a deeper bass rumble from his belly. It was enough that tears formed in his eyes as he tried to suck in breath enough to speak finally.

” That… shows…how dense…you are…” He had to draw in several breaths to be able to speak around that black humor and disbelief coursing through him. He kept the gun trained on her position, though his other hand was wiping at one eye at a time to try and clear away the salty dampness from his eyes. ”You just showed how fucking dense you are, Scout.”

His tone chilled suddenly, the humor bleeding from his voice as he carefully enunciated the next words. ”The last thing I ever want to do is sentence someone to what I’ve lived through, Scout. If I’d infected you, I would have put a bullet in you myself.”

Posted 10-08-2022, 08:22 PM

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Gazing through the hazy glass cabinets above them, she made out Mal's large and bulky form … overwhelmed with … amusement? The reaction seemed so out of line, so misplaced, Scout didn't trust her judgement at first that he was in fact laughing. She was caught off guard, which in and of itself, was unusual … uncomfortable even. No words came to her, not even ones of rebuttal as he laughed and choked himself through the first words; throwing back the insult she had just used on him. Paranoia and suspicion however, did kick in. She straightened her position as much as she could without exposing herself from behind the solid desk. Her fingers flexed around the gun, reaffirming her readiness should this all be apart of some elaborate distraction.

All the while she kept her line of sight on his reflection, she could see him wiping away at his eyes. It almost appeared …. genuine. Her brow rose, not sure what to believe, but the very idea of the circumstances that now surrounded her felt a little heavy in the gut. Mal couldn't be telling the truth, because if he was, she had killed her partner … for nothing. That narrative couldn't be right. If it was, she couldn't live with herself.

None of this changed the fact that Malachi was one of those beasts. Even when the revenge was stripped away, piece by piece, beneath it all, she had been trained to kill his kind. He was the enemy.

"Well, now I know you're a liar, you couldn't put a bullet in me if you tried." she tossed back, looking around her side of the desks for anything that she could use to gain the upper edge all the while continuing this pointless exchange.

"You know, I can sit here all day. I'm in no hurry." she kept her eye to his reflection, "It's you that's on the clock. Reinforcements are on their way." She wanted him to run, needed him to run in hopes that he would make a mistake with the added stress. There was no way he didn't know reinforcements weren't on the way. Even if the only thing he had to worry about was the noise they were making and what creatures it might awaken instead.

Posted 10-11-2022, 10:46 AM

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” If I wanted to put a bullet in you, we wouldn’t be talking, Scout. I’d have drained you and been done with it. If I wanted to put a bullet in you, I’d have done it while you were recovering from the stool.” He sighed, catching sight of movement from her in the glass as he realized the reflection was there. He looked at it, hoping he’d catch her eye. Reflections work both way, after all. If she could see him…he could see her.

At her next words, he stiffened, but took time to seriously consider what she was saying. She’d clearly been able to suss out that he’d come through this way. One of his contacts must have talked. She had enough of a head on her shoulders to use the school and its sightlines as a chose point. Yet…he hadn’t run into a kill zone there at the front, when he would have been perfectly exposed and vulnerable to one…especially if there were others. He believed there’d been one…no one would try to do the ambush like she had, in here, as the first attempt. Too many things could go wrong, as the present situation showed. Finally, looking at the glass, he shook his head. ”I don’t believe it. You’d have killed me out front then. Perfect kill zone with multiple angles of attack. You didn’t…so either everyone missed me…or only you missed me. You didn’t call in backup…” He tapped his ear, ”I’d have heard. So unless you are counting the beasts…I’m placing my money on the fact that it’s just you or me.”

Sighing, he changed topic. There wasn’t any way to prove that she didn’t have backup…nor was there a way to know if they hadn’t drawn the attention of other vampires. The only thing he could do was wait…and be prepared to exit the window quickly if needed.

”The bite is only infectious because the others are still slaved to their instincts. Fuck, fight, feed…but in this case, fucking and multiplying is done through oral transmission. They can’t control themselves or the need to propagate their kind. I can…and did. If you want to kill me…it won’t be taking me with you. It’ll just be you murdering me for what you think I did. Why would I lie about this, Scout? You’ve seen that I have no compunctions against killing them. Just…think about it, for a moment?”

Posted 10-16-2022, 05:32 PM This post was last modified: 10-16-2022, 05:33 PM by Malachi Blake

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