9 Måneder Og Noen Få Stater Over

Nine months... it had been nine months since the world went to hell. She'd enjoyed those nine months. She'd enjoyed hell on earth too, it really wasn't all that bad. She'd been free those nine months, sure there was some running involved but there weren't bars. She hated bars. Not the kind that served alcohol, oh no she loved those. There was nothing better than raiding a bar to find that the place was still fully stocked after her year and a half of drought and icky bars.

No the bars she hated were of the cylindrical metal variety. They'd be there all neatly in a row mocking her, damn bars. And now she had a bunch of crusading wannabe G.I. Joes happy to let men with sticks up their asses boss them around who wanted her back to counting bars while stuck sitting in a box. As far as she was concerned, hell would freeze over first. Generally though it wasn't best to test Fate when the world had already ended, she figured hell freezing over would just be the next step.

CRACK

The sound jarred Flay from her thoughts shocking her back to the present. The woman spun around on her heels pivoting towards the source with a malicious snarl across her lips and a rabid gleam in her blue eyes which was only punctuated by dark circles. Her brown duster and scarf rustled while they whipped around behind her. Her arms shot out in front of her each clutching a black pistol but there was no one there. The trees stood there in silence, she imagined that they were mocking her from their ever vigilant perches above the forest. Frankly she would too if she was in their position but at the moment she didn't find it very funny until her blue eyes wandered down to find that she'd just spooked herself. A snapped twig sat there on top of the damp earth partly buried by one of her now brown dirt covered tennis shoes.

Flay just paused there for a second staring down at the culprit and listening. Anyone watching might think she was in a trance or had nodded off to sleep with her guns drawn. God, she wanted to sleep.

A wild gust ripped through the tops of the huge trees overhead causing the forest to sway and swing to its whim. The wind picked up her short blue hair and tousled it like a playful sibling who knew you hated it when they did that. A frown crossed the young woman's pale lips before she gave a grunt and moved out of her stupor. She slowly turned back in the direction she'd been heading and took off at a jog. The pistols remained clutched in her hands.

She didn't care about noise now, she'd heard another snap followed by a quiet rustle. That was all she needed to know. The sons of bitches were close way too close and she shouldn't have stopped. Screw Fred and Mary for telling her to stop. That was the last time she listened to them! Although if she was honest with herself it wouldn't be.

There was another crisp sharp crack that reverberated through the air like thunder followed by an unwanted zip which put an extra kick in her sluggish steps. Flay hated this crap, running through the woods hiding behind trees in a never ending game of hide and seek wasn't a fight... survival, yeah, but she'd kill for a straight up fight right now. A simple kick in the door and shoot whatever moved would be a nice change of pace. Nothing to think about, no zagging through the woods trying to not get her feet caught on roots, just shooting and impulse. Knowing there was a nice steady supply of ammo to fuel her itchy fingers helped too. She was missing that dearly right now.

There was another zip, one close enough where she could feel the gust coming off the bullet followed by the staccato of gunfire.

"Shit!" Focus, Flay, focus! Lunging to the side, she ducked and rolled behind a clump of trees. Tennis shoes promptly planted on the soft soil halting her tumble before she popped back up to her feet and took off at a sprint again. One of her black pistols raised back behind her while she glanced back over her shoulder and fired a few rounds in retort while wistfully counting off each shot to remind herself that those were two bullets she wouldn't have back. She doubted that she hit much of anything, but it would keep the bastards at bay a little longer... well maybe possibly. She hoped it did if not she'd be chewing out Fred later.

Svein Andersen ran his hand along the bridge of his nose before he turned and looked off to the left thinking that he might have heard something off through the trees. Instantly his hands were clenched at the ready around his Colt C7 assault rifle. His rifle raised just a tad as the sharp featured man panned slowly back to the left like a hunter tracking his prey but in this case the man was worried he was once more being hunted on this foreign land.

'Nothing, must have been the wind.' He thought swiftly as he relaxed his grip on his weapon once more as he leaned back against the tree that he had picked out with unhidered vantage points.

"Fordømme vind" The man muttered to himself as he once more tried to catch some sleep when suddenly a closer much more agile movment cut his eye just as he tried to breath easily again. The flash of a man, uniformed such as Sev had been some time ago.

Again Sev's well trained reflexes were over and he rose up from the tree and rolled to the left and braced his Colt at the target and prepared to squeeze the trigger. But unfortunately as it had been times before there was no one there and Sev looked back and forth to make sure it wasn't just another time he'd been imagining things.

"Spøkelsene av den forrådte ikke å hvile lett." Sev muttered with a bit of a heavy sigh as he considered his own words. He knew it wasn't true but it didn't help him feel any better of things.

Then something he was all too familiar with broke the silence and he knew in his gut that it wasn't just his imagination and hunger playing trips on him.

"Ingen spøkelsene bare flere folk med våpen. Hell av en dritt storm du har fått deg i Sev." The Hærens Jegerkommando whispered to himself as he stood up from his spot, weapon at the ready as he took a few steps forward toward the disturbance that had the distinct retort of weapons fire.

No time to stop, no time to stop... come on fucking legs move!

Flay could feel her right calf threatening to crap, the muscle spasmed revolting against her command to move. There was a gasp as her leg threatened to give way, the feeling was only alleviated when her left foot took the weight. Unfortunately the relief was only there for a second before she was forcing her right shoe back against the dirt again struggling to battle her stubborn muscle. So far she was proving to be more hard headed.

Determining how long she could manage the battle against her body while having to avoid what had to be at least three or four idiots with guns in camo though, the woman's deranged mind reached a quick conclusion. She was going to have to end this one way or another soon. It had gone on too long and she couldn't keep this up forever. So what better way was there to handle things than shoot a few bastards?

The gunfire had slowed and she could hear them barking at each other in the distance.

A modest white one story home, the kind you'd expect from some sort of cheesy show that was supposed to be about 'normal' people, flooded her thoughts. For a moment she thought that she could hear dogs, actual dog barking. It was that happy yipping tone, the kind that clearly showed how excited they were that a new person was here to pet them. A flag fluttered in the front yard from a metal pole embedded in the ground. The concrete base interrupted the perfect green healthy hue of the grass in an otherwise bland yard. But you didn't focus on the base, you focused on that flag. It picked up the wind so well, that light fabric in red, white, and blue. The reminder was always there flapping over head distracting everyone from anything else. That flag was little more than a relic now, a worthless artifact no one would give a damn about.

A smile crept across her lips as the wind gusted once more whipping through the trees and tugging at her coat and scarf. "Lightbulb." She barely whispered the words allowing the breeze to handle the rest.

Blue eyes quickly skimmed from tree to tree jumping from branch to branch, leaping from trunk to trunk while she pressed on. The dogs with guns were barking louder and it suited her just fine because right now Flay had an idea. Bingo! And she'd just found the perfect tree... well not perfect but good enough given if she didn't find one soon she was going to loose her window.

Her aching feet ground to a halt before she whipped around a tree. In one swift swoop of her arms the two black pistols were in their holsters restrained by the worn tan leather wrapping across her legs. Her right hand moved to her neck and yanked at the light brown fabric around her neck about choking herself in the process... colors that blend in are a must and in the desert sandy brown makes the cut. Blue hair doesn't really but that wasn't really something that Flay cared to consider. But she wasn't in the desert now, now there were fucking trees.

Right now she loved the fucking trees. She'd hug this one if she had the time. Getting the unruly fabric still content to get twirled about in the gust knotted on the low branch before her ranked a bit higher than hugging the tree. Staying alive was more important than having a momentary mental lapse that reduced her to a temporary hippie. There wasn't time to really check her work short of a quick yank. And with that she was off again. Her tennis shoes lightly brushed across the forest floor while she did her best to maintain some sort of crippled jog. Her leg was starting to beat out her own stubbornness.

Flay just had time to duck behind another massive tree trunk and sweep her coat back when the wannabe G.I. Joes seem to think that they were heading in the right direction again. Morons. There was the pounding of steps, the cracking of light twigs under heavy combat boots on unaccustomed feet and all Flay could do was slid her pistols back from her homes at her hips and wait. She didn't dare crouch down despite her calf muscle begging her to. Her lungs burned in revolt as she slowed her heavy breathing almost to the point of holding her breath. She couldn't risk noise. Noise would conflict with sight and sight needed to rule. Unfortunately the wind after doing its best to tease her decided to be a jerk and die exactly when she needed it.

Steps slowed. They had to be creeping along, wondering if they'd gone the wrong direction. Snap, crackle, pop... at least three... no three she was sure it was three.

A jolt of pain shot through her body as she bit down on her tongue. It was a habit and a necessity. With the three idiots about it was hard to not snicker. Now she just needed the wind... any day now, no need to be a fickle bitch.

The crunch of steps was growing clearer, crisper, cleaner. Flay's left eye twitched. Any second now... now wind. Come on. One... two... three... fuck.

She could hear the rustling in the trees in the distance before the gust barreled past her position and swept across the forest. Branches, leaves, sticks all twisted and spun on its whim. Her scarf clung to its modest branch while the wind tossed the tails of fabric like a flag flapping in the wind. A second hadn't even passed before one of the morons pulled the trigger. Bullets peppered the innocent cloth and its simple tree leaving holes in their wake.

Perfect.

One... two... three... BAM! The sound of her pistol interrupted the crisp clicking of condensed automatic rifle fire. The blue haired woman didn't have time to pause or think. BAM! Impulse was her ally. BAM! It hadn't failed her all that often. BAM!

The shots rang out within the span of seconds and then there was blissful silence... well short of the thud of bodies and guns hitting the forest floor. She loved that dull thudding sound. Three little wannabe G.I. Joes all laid there in crumpled heaps, two of which hadn't even seen which direction death had jumped them. Few ever did catch a glimpse of death when its courier was a twitchy girl whose life revolved around being able to fire as quickly as possible.

Now that it was over, she could see it all replaying in her mind again. One little action figure had lacked a helmet and the little blue bitch aimed and fired and scattered his brains as a sacrifice to the wind. Tsk, tsk. The next little action figure hadn't been wearing kevlar. Silly G.I. Joe, real heroes wear bullet proof vests under their camo. The third had been a bit harder. He was quick, he likely had training. Pity he was wasting it out with idiots. He'd managed to catch a glimpse of her and was turning to level his gun. She shot his arm before taking his throat. That little piggy had a helmet on and his camo sat a little weird. The little bitch didn't care to risk him actually having a vest.

Her blue eyes were vigilantly scanning across the forest. She stood in silence with her head cocked like a curious puppy listening, but she heard nothing beyond the wind.

That meant one thing, it was time to loot corpses! Normally she got a bit giddy at the prospect, fresh dead bodies could have all sorts of wonderful things on them, and there wouldn't be bars in her future. Right now she was far too tired to manage any display of glee beyond a grin worthy of a Cheshire cat and a deep breath.

"Fred, Mary, I will never doubt you two again, ever, ever, ever." She gave her pistols a look of genuine appreciation before sliding her left one back into its holster. The right remained gripped between her fingers.

Ammo, she was going to need some more ammo. Water, food, a compass if she could find one... one of these idiots had to have one. They didn't look adept enough to manage without. If they had a radio, she'd possibly get to hear just what the guys with sticks up their asses might be up to. The one pretend soldier's vest if it was a proper vest was tempting... very tempting.

Flay took a single step before her right leg locked up. She could feel the muscle fibers spasming beneath her dark khaki pants just as she'd put all her weight on it too. "Fuck." The word was all that she managed to slip out before she toppled over. Her arms barely managed to prevent her from eating a mouthful of dirt. Both of her limbs were too tired to do much good, she had run for too long. Now that the woman had actually stopped, it was catching up to her. At least she had a little chance for a break though... right? It wasn't exactly a break she was taking by choice, but she had to at least work the cramp out so she could walk again. Things had seemed safe enough too.

In reality she was the farthest thing from safe. Catching her held a certain prospect the proud people of California or well their council found too appetizing to pass up. Their target wasn't an easy one to keep track of either. Help had been neutralized, no backup would be coming for the girl. Squads had been herding her guiding her this way, and now the sniper had the girl in his sights. He'd been on the verge of pulling the trigger to shoot the monster who'd just taken out the rest of his squad and the thing had tripped. A quick adjustment, a deep breath, and with one pull of the trigger the chase would end.

Suddenly from behind the sniper he could just hear the sound of a twig snap to his left and the rifle armed man immediately turned to spot the disturbance that was so close to him and his post. Rifle sights immediately scouted the source of the sound but he could only see the small rustle of leaves over some small object and he curtly enough returned his sights to the target. It was time to end this once and for all. As his finger applied pressure he suddenly felt the tip of something sharp and solid pressed against the small of his back.

"Jeg ville ikke gjøre hvis jeg var deg." He muttered to the man although he was quite positive the man understood nothing of his native tongue. All the same the man seemed to take his meaning at least the part about not doing anything.

The man said a few words as he tried to keep calm but his finger definitely relieved the small amount of tension he had placed on the trigger and he let the sniper rifle's barrel fall just a tad. As Sev kept his Gladius blade at the ready he did pick up a few words such as. "Crazy, Insane, Dangerous, Her, Council."

If times had been different Sev knew he would never have even brandished a knife to an American but times were different now and of course the Californians weren't really even considered Americans anymore, were they?

Still he had a enemy combatant targeting a girl via a sniper scope. Sev needed to know why she was being hunted.

Unfortunately as he considered how to raise that particular question he was caught in the chin by the butt of the man's rifle and sent tumbling back from the sniper's perch on high ground. As the sniper turned around to level his rifle at the strange man in Sev rolled to his left reflexively as the man pulled the trigger on the rifle.

The high velocity round at such a close range tore into the earth where Sev had been moments ago but now he knew the man had to load a fresh round and Sev estimated the small window he had. Grabbing at his blade the Norwegian commando stood up and hurled the blade expertly at the man's hand slicing across the roof of his first two fingers on his right hand causing the rifle to falter.

Sev rushed in determined to stop the fight once and for all and caught the man with a right hook that sent him back a few steps and the rifle fell loose completely. Then in one swift movement as Sev went in to deliver a knock out blow the sniper pulled a blade from his utility vest and cut across the outstretched arm. The former commando's strike still connected however and slammed into the man's temple continuing to send him back. As Sev moved to push his advantage he realized he should have knocked the man out in the first place and avoided the whole entanglement. It had proven a possibly grave mistake on his part.

And then he heard it, not loud but still definitely there and close by. The simple crunch of leaves echoed in his mind and was followed by a pistol leaving it's holster. Sev dodged to the left to avoid a knife attack and then he wrapped his left arm around the sniper's neck while he wretched the knife from his hand as he looked forward to the new entry.

A soldier in a similar getup as the sniper opened fire with his pistol and four shots pierced into his comrade before he had realized what happened. As the unfortunate man's body slumped in his arm Sev's eyes narrowed and he hurled the acquired blade right into the newcomer's throat. As the knife pierced skin and muscle blood spilled freely and roughly in sync the two bodies collapsed in front of the fair skinned man from Norway.

Cursing silently to himself for this mistake he knew now was not the time to dwell on it. If they had gone through all this trouble to take out one girl then there would be more and he needed to be gone before that happened. Everything was spinning out of control and the utter weight of the situation settled once more again on Sev as he realized he was lost and alone with dwindling supplies, no squad, no one who understood him and no way home. For a moment he looked down in the direction the sniper had been aiming and after quickly relieving the two corpses of any ammo and weaponry and after collecting his blade the man headed down toward the other stranger.

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Settled behind a few trees to stay out view of the strange blue haired woman Sev pondered exactly what he was going to do to not end up like the group of bodies not too far from the girl's location. Part of him argued it was a suicidal move to think she could even help him but it wasn't like the Californian's he had come across were any better and another part realized he had nothing left to loose now.

Leaving the sniper rifle and his Colt 7 at the spot he took a calming breath and then made a few cautionary steps toward the girl with his hands held up palms facing here to show he was unarmed. As he got within around twenty five steps he called out to her.

"Ikke skyt. uh jeg er venn. Friend." He muttered away the last word recalling the english equivalent as he took a few more slow steps toward her.

At the sound of gunfire, Flay shot up like a rocket. Her pistol whipped around towards the direction of the sound on reflex. She could feel her pulse pounding. Wide eyes glared off into the woods, but no bullets zipped past in her direction. The hell? Her mind was racing, mutants, more G.I. Joes, slavers, cannibals she'd heard so much about, raiders, hunters, some of the possibilities were far more enticing than others.

The blue haired woman stood there waiting just a moment longer hoping to hear some sound, some clue. But the guns had silenced and the rough wind muffled the sounds of conflict her ears could pick up while it toyed with her bullet hole riddled scarf. She didn't like this... something was out there and she could hardly take a hobbling step at the moment with that damn leg cramp let alone run. Movement, she thought that she saw something or did she? It was pretty bad when someone whose sanity was officially considered more than questionable by the entire state of Arkansas was questioning their own sanity.

A man though, she was sure she saw him now. And he came out of his hiding spot with his arms out to his side and no guns... maybe this was some sort of forest mirage? Did forests have mirages? Or no, tired, yes she was just so tired she was imagining things. The possibility of finally loosing it wasn't enough to make her lower her weapon however, the black pistol remained trained on the man shifting ever so slightly as he moved in order to stay trained on his face while it's match remained at her hip.

And the imaginary man was speaking complete and utter gibberish. Icky kites? Jig or win? Friend seemed to ring out clear enough but the rest was nonsense. So this was how it finally occurred, she hadn't lost her sanity in jail or in the heat of the desert, the trees had stolen it and were now mocking her. Damn trees. She would play their little game, then she'd find a match and then they would all die in a fire.

Now the question was would mirages answer questions? If they did, would they answer truthfully? She supposed she could shoot it, figments of her imagination didn't usually bleed when you actually shot them. But then she'd possibly be wasting a bullet. Why the hell was she contemplating any of this again?

"I haven't seen a kite in ages. Winning for sure. And I don't know who the hell you are." God, she was talking to some weirdo her mind cooked up. She had to be. He was wearing camo and he didn't have a gun, there was no other explanation... sure his jacket wasn't camo but it was green and that was close enough. People in camo always had guns. As her mind had concluded after she'd had to run from morons in that shit for who knows how long now, camo was a bad thing. But this guy had mentioned friend. But it could be a trick! Her delusional and exhausted mind really didn't know what the hell the think anymore.

Sev tried to remain as still and calm as possible as the girl's pistol was immediately set against him. He had to figure out a way to ensure her that he meant no harm. He cursed himself for not learning more English before the trip but he knew now wasn't the time to dwell on things.

Thinking quickly through his vocabulary for something suitable he decided perhaps a visual might help her. Moving slowly he turned toward the direction he had just come.

"Snikskytter, " He mimed like he was aiming down the sight of a gun and he hoped she got his meaning. "Sniper." He said recalling the accurate english word and then he held a finger and pointed it toward her.

"En snikskytter var rettet mot deg. Jeg stoppet ham." He once again adopted the holding gun pose and then pointed at her again while searching for something that might translate better.

"I, stoppet, ham." He said and then after considering another gesture he holds up his left hand opened palmed and them smacks it lightly with his right hoping she didn't take the gesture the wrong way.

Then he placed a hand on his chest.
"Sev, Friend." He sort of mentally crossed his fingers hoping any remnant of luck he might still have held up.

The blue haired woman watched and listened as the man seemed to spew forth more nonsense. Part of her senses, however, were busy waiting, observing, expecting to hear the sound of shuffling boots before bullets began to whiz by yet again. It was hard to give what she thought was a figment of her imagination much attention anyways.

Maybe she should pinch herself. That was the surefire way to know that you weren't dreaming... or well that's what people said. People were liars though. Still it wouldn't hurt. Actually, it would but that was the point wasn't it? Or was it?

Flay had been on the verge of pinching herself when the man turned around. A snarl spread across her lips as her attention shot back towards the stranger. The gun remained aimed at his head while her finger pressed a slight bit harder against the trigger, but she still hadn't fired. She hadn't quiet yet anyways. Then he mocked looking down the sight of a gun. Given the girl spent a lot of her time around people with guns, she didn't miss the gesture or the pointing directed towards her. It was starting to get difficult to resist seeing if imaginary people bled.

And now he was back to more nonsense... dog, jig, ham? God, she could go for a good ham right now. Her evil subconscious was taunting her with ham. Didn't it know that she'd had enough right now? Damn you trees! Damn you!

Then he hit his hands. Flay flinched and moved to take a step back, unfortunately that step back put all her weight on her cramping leg. Pain seared through her muscle digging through her nerves as she cringed and her balance faltered. The next thing she knew, she was back on the ground yet again eating a mouthful of old rotting leaves and dirt. The declaration that he was 'friend' barely registered in her mind. She was far more concerned with running through every curse word that she could in an attempt to avenge her cramped calf from who knows what. She supposed the culprit was the trees and California in general, damn them both!

Then she remembered that the imaginary guy was still there, or was he? Her blue eyes rolled up. Sure enough he hadn't vanished, which reminded her that she didn't have the gun on him anymore, and resulted in a lethargic yet panicked scramble to her knees allowing her to move to direct the gun in his general direction again. All the while a savage look flashed across her eyes while she cringed in pain. Fucking cramps.

When he realized she was falling backward Sev moved quickly obviously not content to have things continued as they were. Waiting around and delaying could only lead to trouble. As she muttered what had to be a list of obscenities Sev slowly moved to the right so that he'd be out of her immediate sight when she got set back up.

'Vel dette er bare flott.' He thought to himself.

Considering what might happen if he just let things lie and taking a glance back behind him he was sure that there might be more enemy combatants hanging about the area and sticking around would not be a good choice of action.

Moving close he offered the strange blue haired girl his hand hopeing that she didn't shoot the gloved hand off in some sort of knee jerk reaction. Looking to her he tried to keep the best face of calm and poised as he looked her in the eyes as he held his hand out to help her up.

"Sev...Friend."

Flay froze as she shakily leveled the gun back at the man. The mix of exhaustion and the sudden panicked rush of adrenaline sent tremors through her hands. Bright blue eyes locked on the stranger in the same manner a cornered animal might glare at the hunter who had come to check their traps. There was a fury beneath the placid blues displayed more clearly in her furrowed brow, but her index finger had yet to pull the trigger.

Her eyes lingered on the hand while she wondered if the imaginary guy would just vanish if she tried to grab it and it was all just still a trick. She still didn't trust the trees, they watched, they gossiped and mocked her, she was sure of that. But he hadn't attacked her? That wasn't normal and it could still be a trap. Why was she suddenly craving fried squid?

And he still seemed to be insisting that he was a friend. At this point all the blue haired woman could think was simply 'what the hell'. She could still feel the cramping muscle knotting in resistance and twisting against her will, running wasn't going to go well, and now this thing seemed to want to help. So what the hell! If she couldn't move, she was likely going back to bars or die. If she tried hobbling along on her own and couldn't then she was probably going to die. If he was a cannibal or CC guy in disguise or any numerous other things she was likely going to die too. If he was a figment of her delusionally tired mind he was just going to vanish... or well she thought. Best case scenario she just gained a giant walking gibberish speaking guy who could likely shoot crap.

"Alright Mr. gibbberish man, you could be handy. Try anything though, and I'll blow your head off faster than you can blink."

Flay lowered the black pistol before hesitantly moving her empty hand to take his. This was a stupid idea, she knew this was a stupid idea. Why was she listening to Fred again, this was a completely idiotic idea.

The Norwegian sort of plucked the girl up when she grasped his hand. Looking at the strange girl with a growing sense of uncertainty to her state of mind. But she hadn't tried to shoot him outright or tried to stab him in his leg. He resisted the urge to itch the recently treated injury and he knew she wouldn't be going anywhere fast.

"Vi bør gå. Nå. We. Go." Sev said before he headed out slowly but swiftly to the spot he'd stowed the sniper rifle and his Colt 7 assault rifle. Regrouping with the girl he looked around for an sign any subtle hint of trouble before refocusing on her.

"We. Go." He uttered before sort of taking lead through the tree covered landscape.

Well her hand hadn't just gone right through him, she supposed that meant she could rule out imaginary. Even as he helped her along, she still found herself tempted to poke him just to make sure he was real. A person could never be too sure after all. So yeah... scratch imaginary which still left a wide variety of things he could be that she would rather avoid. She doubted she'd get much of a straight answer though if she just flat out asked if the strange man was a cannibal or something. There was no way a person would just be like 'of course I'm a cannibal', that would be stupid. Fred and Mary seemed to agree that it was stupid. Flay still hadn't holstered her pistol either though she seemed a bit more content to keep it lowered to her side rather than have to have it continually pointed towards the weird guy.

Flay wasn't all that thrilled when he left her a moment and returned with a set of rifles either. Her exhausted mind froze in acknowledgment of combination of camo and guns and she had to fight the reflex to raise her pistol and blast the man's head off in one swift swoop. His mention of going again at least gave her a distraction.

"You even know where we're going? And what the hell are you supposed to be anyways?" Whether she actually expected the guy to understand her or not was anyone's guess. And she didn't expect a straight answer to the second question either way but she'd asked anyways. It couldn't hurt to ask right? Or did it?

Sleep, god she needed sleep. Whatever gibberish he was occasionally sputtering might make sense if she didn't feel like she was on the verge of nodding off while attempting to walk... erh hobble along. Walking didn't go so well when one of your legs was seizing up and refusing to function. It was taking a huge amount of effort for her to just keep her damn leg locked in a position which allowed her to put weight on it. The flicker of a grimace crossed her face with every step as pain shot through her cramped leg. On the bright side the pain was keeping her awake for now, on the downside she was starting to adjust to it feeling like there was a knife jammed in her calf and that meant she would be liable to nod off mid step regardless in not too long.

As Sev led the way he occasionally glanced back in the strange girl's direction and he managed to catch her grimace giving some window into what she might be experiencing. He knew from before that it didn't look like she'd been at 100% but it was hard to tell with her given her capacity to still look like she was ready to lunge at him every moment during their exchange.

After they had started moving she spoke again and Sev glanced back with a bit of a exasperated expression on his face.

"Jeg forstår ikke noe du sier." He uttered although he knew it was probably all for nothing but it felt good speaking all the same. He hadn't spoke to anyone for some time. Well at least anyone who hadn't been trying to shoot him. Wait.

The Norwegian commando shook the thoughts from his mind and focused on keeping himself prepared for any more signs of trouble. After a bit more walking the man's well trained eyes caught sight of something that stood out from the large assemblage of trees that seemed to be all around them. A simple wood cabin that looked like it had seen better days loomed on a rise ahead of them.

"Fint sted." He muttered back to Flay before readying his rifle as he got prepared in case tey ran into trouble at the cabin. So far he didn't hear anything out of the ordinary but that could mean any number of things. Best be prepared.

All in all Flay still wasn't thrilled at the prospect of following some strange guy. She had no idea what he was, why he was around, and more importantly if he had any damn idea where he was going. The glances back in her direction weren't helping matters either, she'd taken to just glaring back with a slight snarl on her face every time she caught him doing it.

And his answer had been nonsense... jig four star icky no two sir? The blue haired girl didn't even care to attempt to sort through it at this point, instead there was just a grumble as she muttered a few curses at the trees before she responded with frustration clearly ringing in her tone. "Ugh, slow the fuck down and speak sense."

Yet again whether or not she actually thought he could understand any of it was anyone's guess. Between the hobbling, exhaustion, and trying to still remain vigilant in case more men in camo appeared while attempting to keep up with the weird guy, it was safe to say the likely already crazy girl was likely further loosing her mind at least temporarily. But her ears didn't pick up any more noises than the wind periodically whistling whipping her holey scarf back behind her while her jacket rustled accordingly and the crunching of two people trudging through the forest. The occasional crisp crack of a twig under foot still made her flinch before her blue eyes immediately darted around, but no zipping bullets followed at least not yet.

Sleep damn it, she still wanted sleep.

Noticing that the gibberish guy seemed to focus on something ahead, she directed her attention in the direction as well. Really Flay wasn't sure what she expected to see, it wasn't like the man had made any sense whatsoever yet. She couldn't say she'd be surprised if he was just staring at a tree or a rock something else boring. As her blue eyes stopped on the cabin though she raised an eyebrow in consideration. Whatever words came out of the man's mouth, she didn't give a crap. That was a god damn cabin! In this post apocalyptic world, Flay had learned one simple formula with the help of Fred and Mary... where there was a building, there was stuff, and often people who didn't want you to take their stuff. Fred and Mary always dealt with the people, Flay wasn't good at talking anyways and they always seemed to know just what to say. Taking the stuff was never an issue after wards. And in this case a cabin was a place to rest, currently there was nothing more that Flay wanted than that at the moment... well and for gibberish to start speaking damn English.

Picking up the pace of her hobbling, she moved ahead of the man in silence. Maybe if talking didn't work, that sign languagey mess would. Extending a free hand back towards his position, she pointed at him while her blue eyes flickered from him towards the battered cabin ahead. She followed this gesture with keeping her hand extended and flattening her open palm while her fingers remained straight and her hand was perpendicular to the ground. Hopefully the signal for stop was universal enough. Holding the gesture a moment, she then pointed to herself before pointing towards the cabin. She wanted to go handle this and leave him here, and she wanted to make that clear. Of course, she had no idea if the guy knew what the hell she was signing, but the signals were pretty standard or well she figured they were.

She pointed back at him before signaling like a person was liable to in order to tell a dog to stay before turning fully back towards the cabin without waiting for much of a response and raising her already drawn black pistol. Mary seemed inclined to inform her it was stupid to let a stranger stay behind her where she couldn't see him, but Flay didn't seem to care to listen. He could have tried to shoot her a few times already... then again who knows, maybe Mary was right. Right now, Flay just wanted a bed and preferably a pillow, maybe some water or food or something and the best place she was going to find it was the weathered cabin.

Flay softened her steps as she bit her bottom lip in response to the pain in her cramping calf. She could manage it, she was almost there. Inching along the side of the cabin, she paused pressed against the wall of the structure while her blue eyes shot over towards the window in her path. The glass dully reflected the sunlight or what little the clouds and trees didn't catch first. The pane was covered in some grime and dust, evidence of drops of water remained etched in the dirt stuck to the glass. There was no sound beyond the general noise the trees and wind liked to make as they played their games. Damn trees! That didn't mean that there wasn't someone in the cabin, someone who might have guns. The prospect of guns and ammunition was appetizing, but Flay wasn't going to get her hopes up. For all she knew there could also be nothing more than an empty dog dish sitting inside.

Crouching around the window like some sort of aspiring spy, the blue haired woman returned to her full height which in itself wasn't that high to begin with before slinking to the door while passing by a few places on the wooden building that appeared to be rotting. Someone clearly didn't know how to treat a building or maybe the trees hated the building too? Could be given it was made of trees. Hmmmmm... Her mind was quick to focus back on the building and what could be inside like the crack of a whip. She could already feel the adrenaline in her veins ready for a fight. The door itself was modest enough, simple rotting wood. It looked like someone had bothered to cover it with carvings once, now part of it was missing and most of the carvings had been whittled away by the elements to nothing... one section even appeared to have been scrapped away by something. Flay had no idea what had claws like that and didn't want to find out either. She wasn't exactly thrilled to spot that the other window at the front of the little building seemed to have been covered in scratches as well.

The blue haired girl adjusted her grip on her pistol before sliding a hand down to retrieve the other still sitting at her hip. In a burst, she leaned into the door with her shoulder, leveled her pistols and swiftly scanned the room. Dresser, bed, table, chest, stove... something fluttered and her blue eyes shot towards it while her pistols followed in a flash but no shots followed. There was an orange scarf still sitting on a hook by the door with a fine layer of dust coating it. As the wind filled the cabin, it had picked up the loose fabric and teased it. Beyond that the little cabin was empty. A cabinet sat next to the wood burning stove, an unopened can of something still sat on the table. There were no remotely recent signs of people though. Just old dust. Spinning in place, she pivoted back around... instantly regretting the motion as her leg bit her again and she found herself sitting on the doorstep thankfully without having accidentally shooting Fred and Mary. That would have been bad but she'd just accepted the fact that her leg was going to give and was content to fall on her ass rather than risk damaging her guns.

There was a grumble and some mumbling before she leaned out of the doorway and waved to the weird guy to come. "Clear." She didn't care to get back on her feet at the moment. A tempting thought did cross her mind though, she could just shoot him... shooting him though made noise, shooting would waste a bullet, shooting meant no one to make keep watch, and possibly loosing another gun. But shooting meant she didn't have to worry about what he might have planned for her. Fred and Mary weren't agreeing on the matter either which wasn't helping any. Oh well, for the moment she was just content to sit there a second. Sitting was currently a wonderful thing. She could likely even fall asleep right here, right now, just sitting in the doorway... the doorway that some thing had clawed, alright maybe she wasn't tired enough to doze off yet.

It wasn't hard for Sev to take the oh so subtle meaning from the girl's hand signals but he was just as fine letting her take point on checking out the building. It almost felt like being part of a team again and while it was under quite strange circumstances but it helped calm his nerves ever so slightly.

Crouching low to the ground in one slow and deliberate movement. Continuing to make sure that he didn't make any fast twitchy movements he resettled his Colt 7 and then unlimbered the sniper rifle so that he could keep a better watch over the mysterious girl through the scope.

He let a bit of a grin loose as he recalled someone mentioning how American girls were crazy but he had never figured them to be this crazy. But there was something about her movements and attitude that he managed to pick up on even with the barrier between them.

She had been hunted for a while, probably even before the event. He had seen people changed after they truly began experiencing the incident and the changes it left upon the world but something about her was a lot different. He wondered if he would ever find out just how different she was.

Then he saw her mouth move through the scope and he rose somberly and quietly with well trained muscles before he survey the way they had come and then headed up quickly and fluidly toward the cabin.

When he arrived at the doorway he found her still posted there and he just looked quietly for a moment.

"Noe galt?" He said while giving her sort of a puzzled expression while he kept the sniper at the ready.

Great, more nonsense. Then again did she expect anything more than gibberish? Nope. Her blue eyes shifted from teh two black pistols still in her hands back towards the man... still tempting. A sigh escaped as her attention returned to the guns and she slid one back into its holster. Flay wasn't content enough to do the same with the other which she kept her in hand while she shifted from her spot on the ground allowing her legs to stretch out in front of her. "There is no damn goat, speak English."

If there was, she'd be eating it right now... her stomach rumbled at the thought causing the girl to frown. Sleep was still taunting her as well although the pain in her leg was making sure sleep wasn't an option. Fully taking weight off of the muscle this time seemed to just make it want to constrict more. Fred reminded her that there was only one way to settle that, attempt to stretch the leg. The prospect had her hissing at her constricted calf already. Stretching it while just sitting on the door step likely wasn't the smartest thing either, even by Flay's standards and that meant she needed to move again, fuck.

Her blue eyes rolled from her feet, to her still drawn gun, up along the door frame. Hmmmmm... if she could get to her feet, she could possibly hop. The issue was getting back to her feet which were now throbbing in her tennis shoes begging her to stay off of them and how to do it without holstering her second gun or crashing to the floor when her calf hurt even more like hell than it was already. She'd have to not crash while hoping as well, likely not going to happen when the world almost seemed to spin while she was just sitting there. Scratch that. That left another option, one she was even less fond of but held less potential for her to accidentally shoot herself... crawling. There was no way she'd be crawling across the entire cabin, but just inside the door would work. Out of sight out of mind erh sorta.

Planting her hands back behind her, she managed scooting herself a bit more inside the cabin before pulling her legs around and leaning back against the wall behind her with a grunt. She seemed content to just sit there a moment until she heard the meandering whistle of a bird in the distance carried along by the wind. The sound seemed to jar her back to the present instantly. "You," she pointed towards the man before directing a finger back towards the interior of the cabin," inside, now."

Sev gathered up his gear and then moved up in a bit of a crouch run as he quickly advanced on the door that the girl had entered into. As he got to about the halfway point he panned back and forth with his recently acquired sniper rifle but again he heard no disturbance and after doing one more turn around he stood up and then quickly stepped in through the doorway.

Inside he found the girl more or less exactly in the state she'd been in since meeting her. Angry and with pain definitely inherent in her tone and movements. Settling the sniper rifle against the wall immediately to the left he then moved over to sit opposite of Flay.

As he sort of settled in he rested the assault rifle across his knees just to ready in case of trouble. As he looked across the way to try to find something anything as to why the girl acted as she did he decided it was probably a conversation for another time. If he survived this night of course. Sev decided then and there that he was probably not going to get much sleep in the next couple of days given his uncertainty over his new 'associate'

Recalling her sort of just calling out in his direction again he tried one last thing before settling in for a long night.

"Sev." He said before putting two fingers together and then pointing to himself hoping his message got across to the strange and enigmatic woman.

Flay remained frozen until the whistling faded off into the distance scattered by the breeze. With the noise gone, her blue eyes shot back towards the strange guy from their former spot locked on the doorway. Ugh and what the heck did he want to mumble about now? Pointing to himself, alright she could play this game... erh maybe. Her brow furrowed a moment in consideration before she pointed back at him. "You are Sev?"

There was a pause after she lowered her hand and seemed to murmur in consideration. Names... what was in a name anyways? Well a lot actually sometimes but meh. Fred and Mary told her to shut up but she ignored them, they were loud talkers and she was really tired... and likely not in any sort of state of mind to be making judgment calls about anything either but that hadn't really crossed her thoughts yet. Raising her free hand again, she pointed a finger back towards herself while paying no mind to the dirt embedded under her fingernails, clearly it didn't bother the girl in the slightest.

"Flay." It wasn't like she was going to give him her first name, it was horrific and she despised it more than the wanna be G.I. Joes who'd taken to trying to shoot her.

Satisfied that the gesture was clear enough, she pointed the toe of her right leg upwards and she gave a growl while she moved her empty hand towards her foot. It was going to hurt like hell, she knew it was, and of course it did. Her eyes almost looked like they were tearing up as she gritted her teeth and managed to touch her toe, but she didn't stop her stretching. She was gonna need that leg again shortly and the best way to make sure it worked when she moved again was to stretch the damn cramp out. In the meantime, the pain worked to keep her awake a little bit longer.

She still didn't trust Mr. gibberish to not try something and sleeping would leave her open to attacks... which of course he could have shot her a few times already but still. There were the issues of the men in camo skipping around the woods and whatever decided it would use the door as a scratching post too, although her heavy eyelids were quickly reminding her that they were going to wind up victorious in the end. Sleep was a necessity and a person couldn't go forever without it, not even if the person was likely extremely insane and had blue hair.

"Flay."

Sev looked at her with the same sort of steely stoic expression he'd held for most of their interactions but he did nod lightly. After once taking in the area and figuring out the best option in case someone approached the door the Norwegian took out one of his Colt 7 magazines and slowly slid out a few of the lethal rounds. Once he'd collected seven of the brass colored rounds he set them in front of the door as a precaution to both cause some disturbance from a incautious visitor as well as the possibility that they might slip and completely incapacitate themselves without Sev even having to lift a finger.

Wishing that there was more he could do to set up a defensive edge to the building especially given the disturbances that he had noted Sev eventually subsided and knew he'd just have to rely on being a light sleeper as he had been conditioned to be. Watching Flay stretch her leg for a moment Sev paused as he considered his situation again. She obviously wouldn't have been his choice for someone to share a foxhole with but she seemed capable and despite her continual glancing toward her pistols he still knew in his gut that she was still more hospitable then the CC troopers had been thus far.

Taking a seat so that he'd be aimed right at the door in case of a imminent threat Sev set the sniper rifle to his left and set the Colt 7 right in his hands for a rapid response deployment. Glancing once in Flay's direction he hoped that he wouldn't have to resort to anything but there was only so much you could do to prepare before you just ended up jumping out of that air plane into the unknown with just your weapon and your wits to keep you alive.

Starting to count off another day he'd managed to elude capture and almost certain death Sev wagered he hadn't done that bad so far and he hoped his luck would hold till Flay was ready to move again.

Flay's blue eyes flickered back towards the man hearing her name. There was a moment of recognition and a pinch of surprise as if she'd forgotten that she'd even mentioned it at all to the still strange guy. She tensely watched him as he moved towards the door, a swirl of curiosity and mistrust mingling in her blue irises in the same manner that you'd expect a wild thing to observe some odd new object or unfamiliar intruder. She'd said her name, sure. But that didn't mean she suddenly trusted the guy to not shoot her or worse the second she closed an eye. Fred and Mary were quick to remind her of what a bad idea that would be. He was bigger than her, probably a whole lot more muscly, and the way he carried himself reminder her of the G.I. Joes that knew what the hell they were doing. None of those were comforting thoughts, short of the fact that she'd killed bigger meaner looking men before easy enough and done so in twos and threes. Better to kill more people at once, no one wanted to die alone anyways that way they had a friend or two or three of occasionally four or more.

Catching a glimpse of the man removing some of the ammunition to place by the door, a frown of disapproval crossed her lips before an eyebrow arched in mild confusion. Her attention shifted from the gleaming metallic ammunition placed all neatly in a row back towards the now sitting weird guy and repeated the cycle. Stupid to treat precious ammo like that, very stupid by her train of thought, though one could argue that the train had slipped off its rails awhile ago and was now tumbling down some god forsaken mountain. Really though, she could just sleep across the doorway, anything touched her she'd be up like a rocket shooting whatever it was and the pretty bullets wouldn't be collecting dust.

But now she was too tired to try to argue with the guy who couldn't even speak straight. Still mid stretch, her eyelids had drooped granting her eyes a much needed break from timidly dashing from one rustling bush or one snapping sound to another. Her head lolled forward. Sleep was playing its harp in the back of her mind luring her along like a temptress with promises of restoration and reprieve for her weary body. With a quick snap, she shot upright catching her nodding skull and staring wide eyed at her legs in front of her. Caravan, camo, guns, guts, screaming! Ed knew! Ed... knew...

As soon as she'd fought off the veil of slumber, it was looming over her again and she was on the verge of nodding off once more. Sleep's siren song was drifting through her thoughts and she was drawn towards its promises like a weary sailor. It would take all her aches and pains away for a moment, let her breathe without fretting about where the next shot was going to come from, let her forget her little nightmare for a few hours and escape into bliss... well if one considered dreams the sort that the insane woman had and enjoyed most bliss.

There was one final long exhalation as her muscles relaxed and her shoulders slumped back against the wall behind her before slow steady rhythmic breathing took its place. Her legs remained stretched out before her while she sat there mostly upright short of her head of blue hair, which had rolled to the side a little. Her eyelids had drifted shut leaving behind the even more prominent rings around her eyes, the dark coloration likely wouldn't be relieved for awhile. And of course the girl hadn't bothered to relinquish the pistol which still sat loosely in her off hand with an index finger still resting lightly across the trigger, there was something about it all that made it clear that this wasn't the first time that she'd dozed off in the otherwise awkward position or that she'd likely be capable of pulling the trigger instantly should anything disturb her. Needless to say most things didn't bother to bug her.

Caught in slumber's light web, Flay quickly discovered that its silent whispers and enticing promises were lies. It was a trick a scheme and she hated sleep like she hated the damn trees. But there wasn't anything she could do, she was already bound and gagged by its overseer powerless to force her eyes back open like she'd managed before. The next thing she knew, she was back... back at the caravan, back with her people, back with the snakes...


"Cap'n how much further til drop?"

Just another routine drop, take the horses and the buggy, meet the man with the lantern on the back road leading to Cali, swap the goods for uniforms, food, and info, and head back. Simple enough, she'd done this a few times before and it was always a walk in the park... or well trudge through the sand for most of it anyways. "Almost there. Just looking for a light."

The wheels of the wagon creaked beneath the weight of the cart, the weight of metal, lead, powder, stocks, barrels, the weight of wonderful things. She hated the fact that they were trading it all, but the boss said they had enough and insisted the supplies were worth it. So the blue haired girl had reluctantly ordered her little troop to load the crates biding the various weapons a final pat of farewell sad that she wouldn't be the one to use them. Currently she was just angry that they'd given her a squeaky cart. Squeaking was irritating... and not exactly what you wanted when you were trying to sneak towards a hostile border in the dead of night. But these were back roads, trails only snakes knew about, and the scout had given an all clear. At least the horses were keeping their mouths' shut even if a few of her more chatty comrades weren't.

There was little that kept the trail lit beyond the light of the moon glaring down at them from above, its white light reflecting off of rocks and outlining trees with a painter's precision. But this time it was a little hazy... hazy wasn't right... was it? Fred and Mary weren't talking either, she didn't like that normally they wouldn't shut up. They were always chatting, always trying to advise her one way or another. Just shoot first. No wait they could be friendly. But we're bandits, we just want their stuff! But they could lead us to more stuff... they about drove her insane before that ambush. It took her a minute to remember, she hated remembering. And with that she forgot again.

The now silent group short of the creaking wheels and the occasional snort of a horse or yawn from a man crested the hill. She scanned the darkness a light should be easy to spot, but there wasn't one. That had never been an issue before... and noting their leader stopping the others halted as well, their narrowed eyes glaring down the gentle slope before them searching for a glimmer or a reason for concern. Other bandits? Maybe they were sleeping? Or lost? Trouble perhaps? Returning empty handed on a simple drop and swap mission wouldn't go well... she knew that. Vipers weren't forgiving creatures and botching something this simple was a crime among criminals. A waste of resources was a crime to the boss and it wasn't a short hike back across the desert either. There was really one option swirling through her mind, keep looking. Fred and Mary seemed to agree. "Did I say stop?"

All it took were those words and the little troupe of desert raiders were in motion again as quickly as they stopped.

Something wasn't right, something bad was about to happen. Through the fog she tried to break through the veil, tare the bindings keeping her restrained, forcing her to live through it again... but dreams kept a tight knit web and with every protest, they seemed to just ensnare her even more. She knew what was next... but all she could do was sit there and be forced to endure it again and again. Sleep was a necessity, even if dreams were evil and she'd gone too long without it.

"Look a light." Her spirits lifted as did everyone else's. After so long trudging across the desert, the prospect of returning with a cart full of much needed supplies to their sand filled fortress was enticing. None of them wanted to travel any closer to god forsaken California, they'd all be happy the day it fell and it would be their's soon enough that they were certain of... well eventually. The little band of raiders had grown, expanded, and multiplied into a real force to be reckoned with. Vipers owned the desert, now they wanted the coast and little bands here and there were getting sick of their iron fisted overlords and their silly council clinging to what was left of civilization.

The group picked up pace, the creaking of the wheels becoming more frequent and heralding their arrival to the beacon below. Uniforms to infiltrate for fuel to feed the fire of dissent. One step closer...

There was a click. She froze. The softened sound of flying bullets grazed her ears, the distinctive muffle of silencers and many of the others in her little party froze too... before they dropped like heavy sacks to the ground. There wasn't time to think, there wasn't time to breathe. Fire rang out, flashes in the darkness. The lantern she'd been searching for was left swinging from a tree next to the limp body of its former courier. The horses reared back kicking and neighing in fright. Her pistols were firing towards invisible targets, bullets catching only air before she lunged for the cart and dove over the side. There was a thump and the sound of bullets pinging against metal and chipping away wood. Someone gave the reigns a snap sending the two shocked beasts bolting down the path before their driver dropped into the cart with a thud. His wide glossy eyes remained open as a glint of red dribbled from his mouth.

The cart rattled in protest before a boom resounded. One horse dropped, the other drove on and she was flying. Flying?!

One month later...

She hit the bottom of her wooden crate with a noteworthy thud. Her blue eyes peeled open to glare at her wood walled prison while she bit her tongue. No noises, she couldn't make noises, not now. Now would be bad. Couldn't she even have that same damn nightmare in peace? Just once? Was that too much to ask? Mary seemed to think it was. Shut up, Mary!

The murmurs of men talking while they lifted and shuffled boxes beyond echoed from within Flay's box. The few small holes which had been drilled to provide some air did nothing to make whatever they were going on about any clearer... though she did catch a few choice curse words which followed a particularly loud thud. She hoped it fell on his fucking foot so badly. Damn crate said one side up and handle with care! Could they not freaking read?!

Ugh she had to have a few splinters after that too... she quickly determined that nothing good came from wooden boxes, or well nothing good came from stashing yourself in a wooden box. Train rides weren't worth it, she just hoped whatever the hell they were hauling was. She'd find out soon enough, for now she was going to have to wait while contorted stuck glaring at wood grain unable to shoot anything. Going back to sleep wasn't an option, she was sick of that damn dream anyway. She'd like something new for a change, zombies maybe, or hell she'd even take unicorns and flowers at this point. Sev better not be taking his time.

The mumbling of the men outside had died down though periodically she heard an even more muffled grumble or retort. There was the occasional crisp flip and barrage of tapping. Whatever it was the blockheads weren't doing their job. It half sounded like the two were engaged in a grueling card game. The prospect had the blue haired girl, whose natural brown coloration was now beginning to show at the roots of her hair, pondering somehow propping herself up in her box. Small air holes let in muted trickles of light but did little to illuminate her cramped temporary cave.

After a short spell of trying to finagle her limbs into better positions, Flay gave up and resumed her glaring at the faint hint of splintering wood which she knew was right in front of her face but could barely see. Why the hell did she agree to this again? It was a small tight space... it reminded her of bars. The long hard metal kind. She hated bars. A slight spike of panic shot through her thoughts as her breathing quickened. Out she wanted out, she wanted out now. But she was supposed to wait... Mary and Fred were reminding her to wait. She needed to get the package.

Her wide blue eyes snapped shut, not that it did much good in the darkness anyways. Happy thoughts... then again the ones she did have were liable to encourage her to bust out of the crate and start shooting the damn place up. She gave a silent sigh. What was there to think of besides shooting people or being shot at? Nothing was coming to mind and it was only making the itch worse. Wait, wait, you're supposed to wait... the damn box is sealed, remember, didn't want them to consider peeking inside. Stupid idea... then again she'd wanted a chance to kill a few G.I. Joes again and this included that and the potential for pay with few restrictions. She just didn't consider the fact that she'd be stuck in a fucking box in the dark glaring at splintering wood while she picked up a few herself at the time. Wait, wait, wait... she needed to wait, then she could put some bullets in the skulls of some morons, get the package which seemed to be so important, and then decide whether or not she wanted to keep it for herself... though that might depend on what the man wanted for it.

Hearing one of the voices let out a yelp, Flay perked up at the prospect that she'd be out of the box soon... then she heard the other ramble on in aggravation and the first seemed to be gloating? Then the slap of cards sounded again and she banged her head on the wall of her temporary prison in annoyance. If much of a thud resounded, the people outside didn't seem to notice or care. She wanted to shoot them so badly... so very very bad right now.

Was he here yet? What about now? Now? Now? Now?

Soon enough Sev found himself at the entrance to the cabin one cabin away from where Flay was situated. Of course if the information packet they'd been provided with was correct there would be at least two maybe three guards between him and the cabin with Flay, where probably two additional CC soldiers were hanging out as well.

As the door opened before him Sev found himself staring into the face of an obviously hard liner military man with a brooding look on his face accented by his military fatigues full with the CC logo.

"This area is off limits to civilians sir please return to your seat." He said in a very direct and humorless tone as he sort of loomed before Sev.

The Norwegian offered up a off grin and attempted to make some for of communication. "My, uh papers. They are here." Sev said as he reached down to one of his suit pockets and began digging around. While it looked like he might be finding some for of letters of mark or something Sev was actually threading his fingers through a set of brace knuckles with the initials J.R. on them.

The CC looked like he was about to lose his patience and shifted his feet slightly right before he realized that something shiny was headed towards him. Sev's strike struck straight and true and the former commando heard bone and cartilage breaking as the man reeled and fell backward. The one other soldier close by immediately began reaching for his sidearm as Sev moved to close in to ensure no one alerted the rest of the military soldiers on the train.

"Hah! Gotcha!" One of the men decked in camouflage and with a large gun strapped to his back jumped up from his spot sitting on a box hovered over yet another crate being used as a make shift card table while his comrade scowled.

"You're cheating, you've got to be cheating and hush will you, we don't need them coming back here to check on us" the clearly less thrilled man snarled. The winner was still standing there triumphantly with a wide grin across his face as his attention shifted back down to the pile of bottle caps he'd just won before a thud cut the momentary silence short.

"You hear that?" The following louder thud answered the man's question before his comrade had a chance to respond. Both men reached for their weapons and moved towards the door in the front of the car hesitantly. They'd just turned and raised their weapons towards the entrance when another more immediate sound rang in their ears...

Now! Combat boots pounded against the side of the crate as the blue haired woman decided that she'd had enough of her damn box. The nails promptly popped out of wood ripped from their places by the force of Flay's kick. Whipping out of her crate, her twin pistols locked on the two guards who had turned towards the pile of boxes. Squinted eyes glared down her arms in line with the barrels of her weapons. Two shots sounded hushed by the silencers attached to the girl's weapons as wide eyes were scanning across the cargo, they couldn't afford to just shoot cargo willy nilly. Between the precious containers of water and food, they'd get worse than a court marshal if they had to explain to higher ups why grain was spilled all across the floor of the train car and why packs of perishable good were now littered with bullets. The first dropped like a pile of bricks. the second gasped as metal zipped through the air and ripped through his hand into his arm.

Ugh, see this was what boxes did, they made Mary grumpy and not want to aim right. Fred had to agree and with another click of the trigger the would be yell of the man was shortened to a yelp as his gun clattered to the floor seconds before his body followed.

There was a growl as the blue haired woman still sporting a bullet ridden scarf around her neck slid from her spot sprawled out belly down on even more crates. Her body wasn't appreciating being cramped up in that fucking box for so damn long, but she wasn't in the mood to deal with it's protests. It was always grumpy when it had to be still. She was grumpy when she had to be still. Her boots lightly hit the floor as she stood up and took a quick second to admire her handy work. Fred was berating her for wasting a bullet. Fred could can it. Silencers didn't do what they were supposed to clearly, they just made the shots quieter, they didn't do anything about the voices.

Her blue eyes skimmed across the three bullet holes appraising the fresh flow of blood from the G.I. Joes' bodies. She'd happily shoot men in camo playing soldier all day if it came down to it, though she couldn't afford it when ammo was worth its weight in gold... though gold wasn't so useful when no one had a reason for it short of snobs in California who hadn't lost anything. Her guns remained level as she swiftly turned her attention back towards the door, the pair of corpses had been interested in before as Mary was so quick to remind her. Time wasted meant more people to shoot, not that Flay gave a crap. Now?

When the last guard made a grab for his black metallic pistol Sev wrapped his hand around the hand gripping at the semi-automatic weapon and then smacked the man right in the kisser to keep him from giving out any alerts to the disturbance. Teeth flew and skin broke when the reinforced jab collided against chin and mouth and the man's head recoiled back a bit before Sev readied another punch and slammed into the man's chest.

With the wind thoroughly knocked out of him the man crumpled and with one fell smack of the commando's knee cap to his face the man fell into sweet unconsciousness. Satisfied that the men wouldn't be going anywhere fast the Norwegian candidly approached the door and opened it with a slow deliberate movement knowing Flay might shoot him if she suspected another CC was coming to meet their maker.

Spotting the very dead CC soldiers settled in front of him Sev looked at the bodies for a moment and then suddenly a flash of one dead soldier with a Norwegian Special Forces patch on his shoulder and a few bullets in his chest and Sev just sort of paused for a moment and took a step back and then realized once more he found himself looking down at the CC corpses.

"We should continue." Sev said looking up and towards Flay while he picked up one of the fallen soldiers assault rifles and a hand radio so that the commando could keep tabs on enemy deployments.

Finally, she was getting sick of waiting as were Fred and Mary and the clattering of the train was already irritating. Blue eyes locked on the Norwegian an instant before the blue haired girl lowered the pair of pistols directed towards the door and tapped her right foot against the floor of the car in a display of impatience and jittery nerves. Being in a box in more or less complete darkness for awhile hadn't exactly left her in a happy place, and right now she wanted to move. Staying still on the train wouldn't do anything but get her surrounded and shot after so long... though jumping was always an option, a painful option, but jumping beat bars. Bars sucked.

"Yeah, yeah. Just give me a sec." Of course now that she was out of box and wanting to go shoot more people in some sort of jaded sense of vengeance on all things donning camo, her body was going to remind her of how damn annoying it was to be stuck in a position it wasn't supposed to be in for hours. Rolling her head and stretching her arms out to the side a moment, her attention shifted towards the crate where the cards now lay, the bulk of the deck was still sitting there in perfect order while the cards the two men had been dealt were still sitting face up on the wooden surface. Moving towards the table, she quickly holstered a pistols, snatched the cards, unzipped one of the pockets of her cargo pants, and shoved them in there without a word before drawing her pistol again and moving towards the door. She didn't given the bottle caps a second glance, she knew they'd make noise and cards were useful. Cards would have been nice to have in her box... though it wasn't like she could have really seen them, but she wasn't in the mood to listen to Mary being a know it all.

"Let's move." She waved her gun before smooth steps carried Flay towards the door as she raised her weapons towards the offensive object and what would likely be more irritating camo and C's beyond it. A few inglorious possibilities were zipping around in her head regarding trains... trains on fire, trains flipped over, trains falling off cliffs, she was currently pondering the train flipped over on fire off a cliff combination. But that would mean everything on the train went down with it, which had Fred scolding her. Focus on getting that thing, then ponder trains.

"You get the door this round, I shoot the first bastards behind it, you mop up." It was simple enough, she had two guns, two guns didn't leave an extra hand. He had one gun and a free hand. It made sense to her anyways.