From the personal journal of Emma Sayers:

Year 0, Day 8, Post-Storm

I should have known better than to try the highway. When I pulled onto I-86 it was clear sailing. There were abandoned cars for some reason, scattered here and there, and while that made for a good gas harvest, it didn't really bode well for me.

When I got closer to what I thought was Allegany State Park (Whoever used to own this car stashed an atlas' worth of state road maps in the glove box and under the seats.), I saw why. There had been a fall there, and the heat had been enough to ignite the forest. It was still burning. I should have known. I should have smelled the smoke miles away, but I wasn't paying attention, dammit.

Dammit.

So I backtracked. There's a lot of forest here. I need to find another route, before it gets dark.

---

Emma rolled her eyes. "If we find a car, I can always teach you. As long as you've got some idea about what you're doing." She relaxed her stance a bit, even going so far as to lower her knife. She didn't believe for a second that the strangers wouldn’t covet what she carried, if they knew what she had. Or that they wouldn't kill her in her sleep for it.

If they travelled together, she would have to sleep knife-in-hand. Not that she didn't, anyway.

"Okay," she finally agreed. "We can travel together for a while, see how it goes. The mutt is Nim, and you're...?"

((I'm waiting for Crazy to post, actually...))

"Oh, that'll be awesome then!" Stephanie grinned widely. "S'long as you have a car, that is..."

"Ayy, ayy! This here ain't a mutt!" Stephanie said indignantly, petting Nim's fuzzy back. "She's a pure-breed watch-a-ma-callit that I got from a breeder in a back alley in LA!" She winked. "Anywho, I'm Stephanie. You can call me Steph, if ya want. What're you called?"

Stephanie was not, of course, a very trusting person, but what she said about not wanting anything from the woman was completely true; a broken-looking radio (though it probably still worked), a pack that probably had some food and water and basic essentials... mostly stuff she already had or didn't want or need.


((OMG, Fading, I LOOOOOVE your Squishism!!!! ♥.♥))

From the personal journal of Emma Sayers

Year 0, Day 10, Post-Storm

I've been judging direction by the sun as best I can. I check the compass, too, but of course I don't trust it, and the GPS system in the car is as useless as the satellite radio. I wonder if it's because of power outages on Earth, or because meteors took out satellites in space. Or both. Not that it matters.

Anyway, judging by the sun, I've been making my way north and west. Mostly north, away from the forest fires. Some towns along the way are in ruins, others seem to be okay, but there aren't many people around either way. I only take what I need. Bottled water, gas, food. I've run out of cash to leave in return, and I feel guilty about that, but I need to get to Kansas somehow.

Somehow I've found myself at the Canadian border. There are blockades. They don't look official. In fact, they look militant, and I don't know what to do. The light is fading now, so I'll figure it out in the morning.

---

Emma shook her head, and tucked the knife back in its sheath in her belt. She could pull it out again quickly enough if she needed to. And, again, this was a gun fight waiting to happen if she wasn't careful. Stephanie was turning out to be a charmer, which just made it worse.

"I don't have a car right now," replied Emma, lamenting the loss of her hatchback so long ago. Well, months ago, but traveling on foot tended to slow time down as far as she was concerned. "But I hope to find another." She took another glance at the dog. It seemed vaguely wolfish, which made her nervous. Shake it off, Em, she thought to herself.

She focused on the girl again. "Steph. Nice to meet you. I'm Emma. Are you the only other people here? I want to check out what's left of the local attractions before we split."

Stephanie pretended not to notice as Emma put the knife into her pocket, but she visibly relaxed.

"Aww, shame that," Stephanie sighed. "But then, drivin' would make Nim soft. Wouldn't keep a lookout like she usually does, wouldja, Nim?" She tussled the dog's shaggy head; Nim lolled her tongue and panted dumbly in response.

"Naw, I'm on my lonesome," Stephanie replied, her smile fading as she remembered the long months of solitude. "Lost all my folks in the Storm, and I split from the survivors at my school b'fore they could skin me alive. Haven't seen people 'part from Raiders for a while now."

From the personal journal of Emma Sayers

Year 0, Day 13, Post-Storm

They finally let me have a pen and notebook, but I'm still a prisoner. I think it's Canada -- I can hear the Falls from the cell -- but I can't be certain. My wardens are very polite, which is really my only reason to think this is Canada, not New York. They feed me on bread, water, and small slivers of Spam. Just enough for energy and protein.

It was a mistake to approach the border. They confiscated my backpack, my knife, my car, everything. They question me every day. They don't beat me, but they don't tell me what they’re looking for, either. And they have guns, so I cooperate. Tomorrow I may offer to do something for them. I don't know what. Anything to get my supplies back. I won't hold my breath about the car.

---

"Not so lonesome," Emma replied, nodding at the dog. "Then again the grocery store group was pretty civil, all things considered." She paused, a little distant. Stephanie's story had to be common. Were Raiders the only ones not alone? Or maybe groups thrust into anarchy were more likely to lose their way than individuals. Maybe they were just more organized about it. Or was it a mob mentality thing?

Emma had spent a lot of time thinking about this sort of thing. That happened to people alone with their thoughts for long stretches of time.

"I lost my family, too," she finally added. "Who didn't? Have you listened to the Capital broadcasts? Or are you going east for some other reason?"

Stephanie smirked at Emma's remark. "Heh. I guess I wasn't so lonesome, now's you say that."

"Bad thing to lose," Stephanie said soberly, bowing her head slightly. "Capital? What's that? I don't have a radio, and all the ones I've found that're in one piece don't pick up any of the frequencies I used to like - not that they'd be playin' anythin', but anywho - so I've kinda been outta touch for... however long it's been."

Stephanie heaved a sigh, and plopped her head onto her hand, brow furrowed. "I dunno why I'm headin' this ways, but I just feel like goin' to DC, before I die. Always wanted to see the White House, even if it's in ruins - and the Declaration of Independence, I couldn't go to see it on the field trip; forgot to hand in the permission form... I dunno. I just felt like goin' to the places I never been to before I get kipped."

((has anybody seen Dark?))

((hello :D I was wondering if it is still possible for me to join?))

((hiya, guys. Well, BlackandBlueRose and CrazyWolf are nowhere to be found, so I am thinking we should move on without them. I will, however, put this to a vote. Shall we move on, or wait for them.

And no, musik, it looks like two slots may very well be opening up, so you can still join.))

((i say kill them off))

((It's been like a week right? Hmm I think move on so the RP doesn't die and then if they come back and had good reasons for not posting we can always find ways to fit them back in))

((Alright, we'll drop (not kill) BlackandBlueRose. So, Nekokid, you DON'T find anyone in the ruins of the city. Just post from when you go into the city, and we'll go from there.))

(*suddenly pops up from nowhere* I agree, temproarily drop them till they come back... unless they wanna leave ^^)

((Gah, I'm still here! I will post soon, I promise. :sweat: All this dropping... makes me nervous.))

((Thanks a bunch ^.^ I'm PMing my character sheet to you. So where would I pick up on, or do I just jump in?))

((ok then ill just get out of dance studio and be off to wherever yes?))

((@Cicadetta: LOL! It's all good, I don't think they'll be droppin' you ;) xDDD))

((@Cicadetta: No, too bad, you're out! :XD Just Kidding! You're still fine. It's just been forever since BlackandBlueRose, or CrazyFrankie, have been on.

@nekokid Yeah, just say what you would have done if there hadn't been music coming from that building [since, cause we're not bringing in BnBR now, there wasn't] and me and Chikuma will respond from there.))

((kay then ill to that...))

Adam kept mostly to the alleyways seeing raiders walk in the street looking for food, weapons and people like him to enslave "there going to get a head full of WWI metal if they even try to touch me!" he said angrily as he hid behind a wall waiting for one of them to come along... maybe one with the gas masks for him to take as he hid behind a roting remains of someone's plase of work it seemed to be

Mordecai slipped into a stormed-out building, found the stairs, then ran to the second floor. Once on the second floor, he peaked over some rubble at the group moving below. "Alright, Issac, how many do we have to deal with?"

Down below, the Bandit in charge of this team looked around. "You two! Get to work! I want all these buildings cleared by mid-day! You three! Move that debris! You don't get paid by the hour, damn it!" He looked at the last three, who were patrolling the area. "And if either of you three slack off, you'd better hope they kill you, if we get attacked, or you'll wish they had!" He moved off to go check on the two clearing buildings. No one noticed the little kid hiding in the nearby alley, but one of the guards on the outskirt was getting close.

he had hurd the yelling and looked out a bit and saw the men coming closer to him. Adam looked at his knife "Ill just kill him no harm done just one more raider dead thats all" he said thinking that they saw him and was going to kill him anyways "Ahgg....ehhhh...AHHH!" he said trying to finger if he should yell or not as he came out of the ally way launching at the man with the knife

((ooc: ok, i am going to try to jump in, though im not exactly if itll be good/right))
Ava Vade walked down the ruined street, looking closely at the buildings and rubble all around. She turned to the next street, and instantly regretted it. She saw a team of raiders moving about, doing something, though she couldn't identify what. She saw another survivor launch out of what appeared to be nowhere and attack one of the raiders. She bit her lip, not knowing if she should help or hide. She decided to wait and see how it would play out, and if it got bad for the attacking survivor, she'd jump in to help. She darted into one of the ruined buildings to her left and leaned against an inner wall, watching the scene through a hole in the wall that gave her a perfect view of the fight scene.

Adam stuck the knife into his stomach knowing that the noche's in the knife would make it painful for him as he took it out of the raider and glared at him now hitting him with his cleaver hoping the man would go down and not scream or make noises that will alert anyone else "Dont say a word or i will make it hurt more" he said putting the knife to his stomach ready to do it again

Ava watched, intrigued by the scene. The raider was a lot larger than his attacker, but the attacker was overpowering the bigger man. Ava was impressed. She squinted her eyes to see the survivor's knife and smiled, she knew a lot about weapons and knew how much pain the unlucky raider was in. She cocked her head to the side in interest.