The sign out front of the ruined convenience store read "Ammunition" there were a couple guards and a thin as a reed human behind the counter. Xanthiana needed sniper bullets, her rifle had a couple magazines, but she knew she'd need more if she hoped to kill Rushard and his men. The ammunition store just happened to be near by. The reed thin man had a name tag on that said Andrew, he looked like the result of years of inbreeding, his guards were probably family as they shared similar appearances even if they were bulkier.
"I don't see anything here worth buying miss." Xanthiana had the rifle and pistol she had gotten from top notch, as well as some magazines of pistol ammunition. It should have been enough to get a couple magazines of sniper ammunition, but Andrew thought differently.
"Come on, this is top quality merchandise." He looked at her with an unsettling stare, she felt revolted just being there. Elly was similarly grossed out by Andrew offering her all sorts of bio indicators he was a scummy person.
"You're top quality merchandise, these guns are just pieces of shit you stole from someone else, but if you want some bullets well I'm just sure there are things you can do for them." His smile gave way to rotten teeth and even from across the counter she could smell his breath as foul. She was about to tell him where he could stuff his additional services when a whoop came from outside, it was the kind of call raiders made. The two guards ducked behind the counter, Andrew did so as well.
"My aren't you three the bravest bunch."
"Fuck you lady, raiders killed my whole family." Xanthiana smiled, she saw an opportunity.
"Well I'm sure hiding behind the counter will scare them off, tell you what Andrew I need to check my sights, but I'll make you a deal, if I kill these raiders you'll give me the ammunition I want for free, and as a showing of my affection I'll let you keep the raiders gear." It was a more than fair deal that the weasel had to think over. Such was the problem with humans outside of cities, they all wanted to get more than they deserved.
"What about a fifty percent discount?"
"How about I leave the raiders to kill you and your guards and then take what they leave behind?"
"I see your point, kill them and I'll give you the bullets." Xanthiana would have shook on it, but the guy's hand grossed her out in ways she didn't want to enumerate. She went outside with her rifle and went prone. Elly gave her the indicators of the raiders. There were five of them on a busted up roller approaching in a straight line. It was pretty much shooting idiots in a barrel, but she would have to adjust the rifle's sights, hopefully the sound of the roller would cover the sound of the bullets missing their mark.
"I'm ready to provide telemetry Xan." Elly showed a line from the barrel of the rifle to its intended target. Xanthiana took aim and fired, the bullet whizzed to the right of the intended raider. She adjusted her sight, took aim and fired again this time it hit dead on and the raiders head vanished. The raider to his right noticed a second too late as the next bullet took his head off as well. The other three bandits were in the roller themselves, noticing the blood sliding down the rear window the driver swung the roller wide right, but it just brought it skidding to a halt and lined up the final bandits perfectly. The bullet exited out the drivers window after having splattered the remaining occupants.
"I believe we have a deal." Xanthiana said with a smile.
"I think I see why you had to bury your rifle Xan." Elly sounded almost scared.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Ellensburg
There wasn't much to Ellensburg anymore, even after the battle that burned the town to the ground no one had seen fit to rebuild. A row of half working wind generators slowly turning in the breeze seemed to be the only motion in the area, not even hell bugs wanted anything to do with the burned out town. Xanthiana killed the engine at the city limits, her memories of events there still raw.
"Ellensburg?" Elly asked like the child like entity she was.
"A human settlement, mostly refugees at the time, my commander suspected there was a militia force inside the town, we had it surrounded. The people tried to tell us there were no soldiers here, but we did not believe them."
"And then a fire started?"
"We set the fire, it was the optimal solution, burn the town down, kill everyone trying to leave, I was the one put in charge, Rushard had plans somewhere else, he told me for every soldier we lost I'd get a lash on my back. I didn't want anymore wounds, so I chose the route that put no one at risk. Well no one from our side anyway."Xanthiana made her way from the car to a small graveyard, she had acquired a shovel along the drive and began digging at the grave marked "Quigley".
"I'm still at a loss as to why this caused you to stop using sniper rifles."
"It was my last battle Elly, at the time, I figured I wouldn't be needing it again."
"That can't be it, you've killed several people when I've been with you, didn't seem to have a problem doing it either." Xanthiana sighed, the little EGO device just loved to pry.
"I haven't killed a child since I've been with you Elly. And that's what I did here, there was a mother running with her son, she made it pretty far before I got her, the boy couldn't have been more than three didn't even try and run, he just sat their crying at his dead mother, I killed him too, one right through the head, figured it was better to kill him than leave him to the ravages of this planet. I didn't know their names, but the mother had a dog tag of 'Quigley.' And so I buried my rifle and defected. I left the military shortly before the conflict ended anyway, in a way I've been doing penance ever since." She dug up the rifle, it seemed to still be in working condition. Down the side she had inscribed until peace in irathient. Sights were off, but she could adjust them.
"Wow that's horrible."
"I know, but I was wrong, the war never ended, it just changed it's focus, its now us against this planet, and I assure you Elly, I play to win." She took the rifle and ammunition and left the grave dug up, someone coming by might think bad thoughts, but Xanthiana didn't care, she had a mission, and she planned on fulfilling it, one high powered bullet at a time.
"Ellensburg?" Elly asked like the child like entity she was.
"A human settlement, mostly refugees at the time, my commander suspected there was a militia force inside the town, we had it surrounded. The people tried to tell us there were no soldiers here, but we did not believe them."
"And then a fire started?"
"We set the fire, it was the optimal solution, burn the town down, kill everyone trying to leave, I was the one put in charge, Rushard had plans somewhere else, he told me for every soldier we lost I'd get a lash on my back. I didn't want anymore wounds, so I chose the route that put no one at risk. Well no one from our side anyway."Xanthiana made her way from the car to a small graveyard, she had acquired a shovel along the drive and began digging at the grave marked "Quigley".
"I'm still at a loss as to why this caused you to stop using sniper rifles."
"It was my last battle Elly, at the time, I figured I wouldn't be needing it again."
"That can't be it, you've killed several people when I've been with you, didn't seem to have a problem doing it either." Xanthiana sighed, the little EGO device just loved to pry.
"I haven't killed a child since I've been with you Elly. And that's what I did here, there was a mother running with her son, she made it pretty far before I got her, the boy couldn't have been more than three didn't even try and run, he just sat their crying at his dead mother, I killed him too, one right through the head, figured it was better to kill him than leave him to the ravages of this planet. I didn't know their names, but the mother had a dog tag of 'Quigley.' And so I buried my rifle and defected. I left the military shortly before the conflict ended anyway, in a way I've been doing penance ever since." She dug up the rifle, it seemed to still be in working condition. Down the side she had inscribed until peace in irathient. Sights were off, but she could adjust them.
"Wow that's horrible."
"I know, but I was wrong, the war never ended, it just changed it's focus, its now us against this planet, and I assure you Elly, I play to win." She took the rifle and ammunition and left the grave dug up, someone coming by might think bad thoughts, but Xanthiana didn't care, she had a mission, and she planned on fulfilling it, one high powered bullet at a time.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Back To the Worst Mistake, Not The First
"So we're just leaving?" Elly's voice was like that of a child being told to leave a toy behind. They had been driving up the ruins of a highway that was marked by signs indicating it was the 5.
"That's the plan, pretty sure killing an Erep officer is against the law, and I also need something from up north." The highway was mostly in tact, which was surprising considering the war and the fauna, it was probably helped by survivors using the road as a way up north, and so it was still being maintained as much as people with small arms and crude tools can maintain a roadway.
"You didn't even give those votan's a chance to thank you."
"They wouldn't have thanked me, it was my fault they were strung up in the first place."
"Come on Xan you can't blame yourself for Cobb, he would have killed those people if not for you."
"You don't know that, I just know that because he thought he could play a sick game those people almost died. I need to stop running from my past Elly, I need to confront it, and put a bullet through it's stupid smug Castithan head."
"You make that sound like your past has a name."
"It does, he was my owner in my past life in the Votanis Collective, and he's the one running those mercs." There was a pile of stone in the road way and Xanthiana had to swerve roughly out of the road to avoid.
"So why are we going up north if the person you need to kill is back where we left?"
"Because I left something up here I'm going to need down there, I told myself I wouldn't use it anymore, but clearly I was wrong." The road up north was going to get rough, last time Xanthiana was up there it was even worse off than where she'd come from, but hard or not she had to retrieve her rifle and then she'd make sure to bring the sons of schtako down.
"Where are we going?"
"To the sight of a massacre, my first one." She gunned the engine and drove on in silence, the little EGO device only piping up to suggest alternative routes.
"That's the plan, pretty sure killing an Erep officer is against the law, and I also need something from up north." The highway was mostly in tact, which was surprising considering the war and the fauna, it was probably helped by survivors using the road as a way up north, and so it was still being maintained as much as people with small arms and crude tools can maintain a roadway.
"You didn't even give those votan's a chance to thank you."
"They wouldn't have thanked me, it was my fault they were strung up in the first place."
"Come on Xan you can't blame yourself for Cobb, he would have killed those people if not for you."
"You don't know that, I just know that because he thought he could play a sick game those people almost died. I need to stop running from my past Elly, I need to confront it, and put a bullet through it's stupid smug Castithan head."
"You make that sound like your past has a name."
"It does, he was my owner in my past life in the Votanis Collective, and he's the one running those mercs." There was a pile of stone in the road way and Xanthiana had to swerve roughly out of the road to avoid.
"So why are we going up north if the person you need to kill is back where we left?"
"Because I left something up here I'm going to need down there, I told myself I wouldn't use it anymore, but clearly I was wrong." The road up north was going to get rough, last time Xanthiana was up there it was even worse off than where she'd come from, but hard or not she had to retrieve her rifle and then she'd make sure to bring the sons of schtako down.
"Where are we going?"
"To the sight of a massacre, my first one." She gunned the engine and drove on in silence, the little EGO device only piping up to suggest alternative routes.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
The Curious Demise of Cobb
It was raining pretty bad when Xanthiana pulled up to the farm house. She could see an erep vehicle out front but no people. She also saw Sagaran's roller, it too was empty, no sign of him or Tex. Elly was running scans of the area, but she wasn't coming up with anything. Something felt wrong, it wasn't the mercs, that much she was certain, she hadn't run into them very often, but this didn't seem their style, too indirect from what she's seen of them. This was something else entirely.
"You said Cobb said to meet him here?"
"Yes he gave specific instructions."
"And yet Cobb is not here."
"Correct, Cobb has apparently stepped out." Xanthiana sighed, she didn't want to have to be here to begin with, and now it was even worse that Cobb wasn't even there. She was about to get in her car and drive off when suddenly Cobb dialed her in.
"Are you hear now cat lady." Xanthiana sighed.
"Yes Sergeant against my better judgement I have arrived, what do you want?" The tone of his voice was a little off putting, Cobb always had an accent but now it was more pronounced, he almost sounded drunk.
"Come to the back of the house I left you a present." Xanthiana didn't like where this was going, but she figured whatever game Cobb was playing if she didn't play along, things were about to get bad. She got to the back of the house and there was a sniper rifle sitting next to the railing, the bad feeling in her stomach immediately got worse.
"What's going on Cobb?"
"We're going to play a game you and I, if you win you and your votanis parasites get to live, if I win, well the opposite happens."
"Xan I've done a scan I've found the farmers, your friend, and his companion, they are currently five hundred yards away with what appears to be nooses around their necks standing on chairs."
"Fuck you Cobb I'm not playing your game."
"If you try and walk off that porch I'll put two bullets right into your ugly eyes, you'll play my game or you'll die, now I know you aren't experienced with a sniper rifle so this will be your first lesson, you got ten shots for five people that gives you two shots a person, or if you don't particularly care for any of them but one, ten for one! After your first five shots its my turn, I'll be shooting the chair legs, now I'll even be fair and wait till you have failed to kill each of them." Xanthiana felt so angry, but she knew it did her no good, Cobb had set this game up, and she was but a player.
"I can help you Xan, with the aiming."
"Elly I don't need your help."
"You said you don't know how to use a sniper rifle."
"That's not what I said." Xanthiana took up the rifle and sighted it down, the rain made the shots hard, but not impossible, the rifle was of human make with a bolt action slide, probably a hunting rifle. Cobb was an asshole though, the bullets in the hands of an amateur would in no way be able to cut one of the ropes as he claimed. "Elly I'm going to need you to do me a favor, Cobb is out there, I'm sure he's masking himself somehow, but he won't be able to mask the shots, can you triangulate from where he's firing from?
"In theory yes, but you'd have to be able to shoot him Xan, I doubt the Sergeant will make it easy."
"Just do as I say please." Xanthiana took up the rifle and propped herself on the railing. The ropes were attached to what looked like an old metal swing set, which was rusted but still holding steady, it looked to be her best chance to get them all down at once.
"I'm waiting on you cat."
"Cobb I want you to know I've never really taken much pleasure from killing, I've done a lot of it over the years, but when I kill you, I'll take so much pleasure."
"You can try pussy cat, you can try."
Xanthiana fired the first shot wide, it hit the dirt with a thud, Elly popped up helpful indicators on her vision but she shrugged them off, she missed on purpose. The next one slammed into the support of the swing set, but didn't do enough, she could hear Cobb laughing that she hadn't come close to any of the ropes. The third shot hit the other support, it also didn't knock down the structure, but she could tell she had damaged it and that one seemed to be the weaker link from what she could see, for the fourth shot she missed entirely.
"My rifle jammed Cobb you'll have to give me a second to unload it."
"That'll count as a shot cupcake, now watch a real man in action." Cobb's shots were all to the point, each one weaked the chair of each person swinging from a rope, one of them even hit three chairs with one shot. He was not playing around.
"Elly did you get a reading on those."
"It'll take me a moment, I'm calculating, stall." Xanthiana sighed.
"Cobb this rifle is really jammed, can you give me another?"
"If you don't shoot in the next thirty second I'll kill all of them and then you."
"Elly."
"I'm working on it Xan, one moment."
"Time's up." Cobb's opening shot knocked the leg off one of the chairs and the farmer young daughter started twitching. He seemed to stop to appreciate the young votan hanging as he didn't fire another right away.
"Elly!"
"GOT HIM!" In front of Xanthiana's eyes a line drew from the gunshot up to a spot on a mountain. Xanthiana fired five shots in quick succession, each slammed into the support base Xanthiana had tested earlier, on the fourth shot it snapped and the whole thing crashed over, but the fifth was just to make sure.
"Hey Cobb you might want to learn how to speak english, I said I had no use for one, I never said I didn't know how to use one." With her final shot Xanthiana put a bullet into Cobb's surprised face. She cycled the bullet out and the casing hit the ground with a thud, the rifle was empty and Cobb was dead.
"Wow that was pretty amazing Xan."
"Thanks Elly, though I did break a promise to do that, I guess I am truly damned now." Xanthiana sighed and went to check on the people who almost got hung. At least if she was damned it was for a good cause.
"You said Cobb said to meet him here?"
"Yes he gave specific instructions."
"And yet Cobb is not here."
"Correct, Cobb has apparently stepped out." Xanthiana sighed, she didn't want to have to be here to begin with, and now it was even worse that Cobb wasn't even there. She was about to get in her car and drive off when suddenly Cobb dialed her in.
"Are you hear now cat lady." Xanthiana sighed.
"Yes Sergeant against my better judgement I have arrived, what do you want?" The tone of his voice was a little off putting, Cobb always had an accent but now it was more pronounced, he almost sounded drunk.
"Come to the back of the house I left you a present." Xanthiana didn't like where this was going, but she figured whatever game Cobb was playing if she didn't play along, things were about to get bad. She got to the back of the house and there was a sniper rifle sitting next to the railing, the bad feeling in her stomach immediately got worse.
"What's going on Cobb?"
"We're going to play a game you and I, if you win you and your votanis parasites get to live, if I win, well the opposite happens."
"Xan I've done a scan I've found the farmers, your friend, and his companion, they are currently five hundred yards away with what appears to be nooses around their necks standing on chairs."
"Fuck you Cobb I'm not playing your game."
"If you try and walk off that porch I'll put two bullets right into your ugly eyes, you'll play my game or you'll die, now I know you aren't experienced with a sniper rifle so this will be your first lesson, you got ten shots for five people that gives you two shots a person, or if you don't particularly care for any of them but one, ten for one! After your first five shots its my turn, I'll be shooting the chair legs, now I'll even be fair and wait till you have failed to kill each of them." Xanthiana felt so angry, but she knew it did her no good, Cobb had set this game up, and she was but a player.
"I can help you Xan, with the aiming."
"Elly I don't need your help."
"You said you don't know how to use a sniper rifle."
"That's not what I said." Xanthiana took up the rifle and sighted it down, the rain made the shots hard, but not impossible, the rifle was of human make with a bolt action slide, probably a hunting rifle. Cobb was an asshole though, the bullets in the hands of an amateur would in no way be able to cut one of the ropes as he claimed. "Elly I'm going to need you to do me a favor, Cobb is out there, I'm sure he's masking himself somehow, but he won't be able to mask the shots, can you triangulate from where he's firing from?
"In theory yes, but you'd have to be able to shoot him Xan, I doubt the Sergeant will make it easy."
"Just do as I say please." Xanthiana took up the rifle and propped herself on the railing. The ropes were attached to what looked like an old metal swing set, which was rusted but still holding steady, it looked to be her best chance to get them all down at once.
"I'm waiting on you cat."
"Cobb I want you to know I've never really taken much pleasure from killing, I've done a lot of it over the years, but when I kill you, I'll take so much pleasure."
"You can try pussy cat, you can try."
Xanthiana fired the first shot wide, it hit the dirt with a thud, Elly popped up helpful indicators on her vision but she shrugged them off, she missed on purpose. The next one slammed into the support of the swing set, but didn't do enough, she could hear Cobb laughing that she hadn't come close to any of the ropes. The third shot hit the other support, it also didn't knock down the structure, but she could tell she had damaged it and that one seemed to be the weaker link from what she could see, for the fourth shot she missed entirely.
"My rifle jammed Cobb you'll have to give me a second to unload it."
"That'll count as a shot cupcake, now watch a real man in action." Cobb's shots were all to the point, each one weaked the chair of each person swinging from a rope, one of them even hit three chairs with one shot. He was not playing around.
"Elly did you get a reading on those."
"It'll take me a moment, I'm calculating, stall." Xanthiana sighed.
"Cobb this rifle is really jammed, can you give me another?"
"If you don't shoot in the next thirty second I'll kill all of them and then you."
"Elly."
"I'm working on it Xan, one moment."
"Time's up." Cobb's opening shot knocked the leg off one of the chairs and the farmer young daughter started twitching. He seemed to stop to appreciate the young votan hanging as he didn't fire another right away.
"Elly!"
"GOT HIM!" In front of Xanthiana's eyes a line drew from the gunshot up to a spot on a mountain. Xanthiana fired five shots in quick succession, each slammed into the support base Xanthiana had tested earlier, on the fourth shot it snapped and the whole thing crashed over, but the fifth was just to make sure.
"Hey Cobb you might want to learn how to speak english, I said I had no use for one, I never said I didn't know how to use one." With her final shot Xanthiana put a bullet into Cobb's surprised face. She cycled the bullet out and the casing hit the ground with a thud, the rifle was empty and Cobb was dead.
"Wow that was pretty amazing Xan."
"Thanks Elly, though I did break a promise to do that, I guess I am truly damned now." Xanthiana sighed and went to check on the people who almost got hung. At least if she was damned it was for a good cause.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Never Any Time For Yourself
"Here is all the shit you asked for, please for the love of all the dead bodies in your drive way find a way to cure this shit." Xanthiana was put off, she had spent all of her ammunition, the armor had taken several swipes, and the shield she had been loaned was destroyed. The only thing that she really had anymore was her health and with several cuts taken from the infected she wondered about that too. Eren was like most of her kind more interested in the work than the results of it. She accepted the supplies and went back to what she had been doing, not even a thank you or offer of help. It was enough for Xanthiana to question whether what she went through was worth it in the first place.
"I believe she has the supplies we can use to fix ourselves up." Elly was always focussed, the little computer seemed perfectly content running from one threat to the next, it was comforting and annoying to Xanthiana. But the EGO was right and there were bandages and antiseptics to use, and not taking care of herself would not make things any better. So she bandaged up, managed to scrounge up a couple magazines of pistol ammunition and made her way back to her car. The car had seen better days, she had to use it to finish off the last couple of infected and they had mangled the hell out of the front of the car.
"Ok so at least now, now we can finally just get back to doing what we can to get the hell out of this place." Xanthiana was about to gun the engine when Elly spoke up.
"Uhh about that Xan."
"Hit me Elly, don't sugar coat it."
"I've got Sergent Cobb on the line he says he needs your help." Xanthiana sighed and took her foot off the gas.
"Where?"
"Back at that farm house we saved from raiders."
"You'll have to be more specific than that Elly, put it up on the map, and tell Cobb I'm on my way." Xanthiana wanted to just ignore everyone, but she knew, just knew doing so would screw her and so in the face of a huge storm she drove on towards the farm house. If anyone she thought, maybe this will be the way to get back on the Ereps good side and that meant the way to fatter contracts with less problems.
"I believe she has the supplies we can use to fix ourselves up." Elly was always focussed, the little computer seemed perfectly content running from one threat to the next, it was comforting and annoying to Xanthiana. But the EGO was right and there were bandages and antiseptics to use, and not taking care of herself would not make things any better. So she bandaged up, managed to scrounge up a couple magazines of pistol ammunition and made her way back to her car. The car had seen better days, she had to use it to finish off the last couple of infected and they had mangled the hell out of the front of the car.
"Ok so at least now, now we can finally just get back to doing what we can to get the hell out of this place." Xanthiana was about to gun the engine when Elly spoke up.
"Uhh about that Xan."
"Hit me Elly, don't sugar coat it."
"I've got Sergent Cobb on the line he says he needs your help." Xanthiana sighed and took her foot off the gas.
"Where?"
"Back at that farm house we saved from raiders."
"You'll have to be more specific than that Elly, put it up on the map, and tell Cobb I'm on my way." Xanthiana wanted to just ignore everyone, but she knew, just knew doing so would screw her and so in the face of a huge storm she drove on towards the farm house. If anyone she thought, maybe this will be the way to get back on the Ereps good side and that meant the way to fatter contracts with less problems.
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