riverview | Text [User: South.of.Nowhere]

Just got here.

[That's his excuse. ]

Keep hearing all these rumors. Half of them have to be bullshit. At least.

Well so have I, bud.

[She's rolling her eyes, even if it's unseen. Well. She's not worried about herself at all, but she hopes he can at least hold his own. He looks like he can do alright, but you never really know until it's action time.]

I don't know, heard some wild shit but I think a lot of it could be true. They bring people back from the dead, so.

Have you seen them do that?

[Keeping the tone casual. He's heard that rumor. He's not believing shit like that without some kind of proof.

He's scanning the vegetation ahead of them, looking for anything like tracks. .]

Guess you could say that. Either they have the ability to do it, or I'm a zombie.

[There's a hint of teasing, but she's focused on the trees, eyeing a few small creatures scampering away. She's seen them inside the city, too, figures they're probably lie squirrel or something.]

Seeing as I'm not trying to eat your brains...

You talk too much to be a zombie.

[Says the guy whose knowledge of zombies is from movies. And he'd like to keep it that way, thanks.

And yeah, that was nothing. He keeps moving along their patrol. ]

Pretty sure my brains would make a shitty meal, anyway.

[She bobs her head in agreement because, yeah, he's right, zombies definitely don't talk this much. She's seen plenty of movies to back that up.

South gives a curious hum, looking down her rifle at some movement in the bushes]

I'd probably starve...

Nah. Probably go crazy. Ask my lawyers.

[On his side, right? Yet their only defense was, top to bottom, that he was mentally ill.]

It'd be a short trip, trust me

[Even before the PTSD-induced problems and the whole 'dead then made alive again' bullshit, she had issues.]

[He barks out a laugh.]

Well, we're a hell of a pair. And they gave us jobs with weapons.

[Whoever is running this city is in for a goddam treat.]

It's probably only the crazy ones who would run out into the woods with guns to kill monsters. Maybe they're onto something with it.

[She does grin behind her helmet though, venturing more towards some moving bushes to investigate. It's moving more than the little creatures caused, and now she's envisioning wild boars and other hairy beasts she's been warned about.

South eyes her HUD, checking the radar for any movement coming from their sides or back, be just her luck to find one of the roving packs of creatures she's heard about. She keeps him on her right, hopes he can cover it]

Could be.

[Makes a lot of the military make sense.

He doesn't have a fancy HUD or anything, but he can read her body language easily enough. He drops his voice.]

Got something?

Bushes are moving a hell of a lot for an alien squirrel. Unless they hunt in packs like the boars and wild cat-like-creatures.

[She's not sure what's worse, a few big animals, or a swarm of demon squirrels.

She's going with swarm]

Nothing's flanking us as far as I can see but keep your eyes up

I hate both options.

[Alien squirrel horde or big animal stalking them? Great.]

Whatever it is isn't making much effort to be stealthy.

Makes me think of lions. Send one out to be the decoy, keep everyone's focus on it while the rest of the pride move in from the back.

[Maybe she's paranoid, but she has good reason to be. She eyes the radar a little more closely at the thought.

She takes the lead, slowing slightly to step more quietly as she circles to one side, wanting to go at an angle rather than head on, to points of attack.]

Move in on my mark, sync?

[South asks in a smooth, well learned way. She thinks of her brother briefly, could hear his voice repeating it back. Fuck. Focus]

Where the fuck you from that you get hunted by lions?

[He's been to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Hell's Kitchen, and, yeah, no lions.

He doesn't answer, just nods, drawing his gun. He's ready. ]

Good god- do they have the nature channel where you're from?

[She can't help but stifle a laugh, just barely, not wanting to be too loud but listen, she's really amused.

But she stays focused, squinting her eye at the bush and maybe waiting for a reply but catches the nod and just accepts it.]

Go

[She says and doesn't wait, assumes he'll move as instructed, and makes for the bushes ready to shoot and-

Yeah it's not a nice looking boar, it's eating something, roots probably, and making a whole mess of noise. Part of her wants to try scaring it away, spare it- but. They're aggressive beasts, and they're a threat, aaaand they're not cute little piggies. So she shoots, waits and takes aim just past it to shoot the second as it comes rounding over.

Well. At least the "they hunt in packs" information she was given seems to be true. A third is making it's way over and a fourth is coming from her right. Which makes her a little irritated, given how far she has to turn to shoot it, leaving the third and possibly fifth for him]

When we got TV, we watched other shit than natural programs.

[Well, that or kids cartoons. But yeah, he wasn't down with showing his kids nature violence shows.

He's got the third and fifth--he might not have a fancy big ass gun, but it's reliable and high caliber, and two bullets through the skull will stop just about anything. ]

Gotta admit I was expecting something a little more...alien?

Nothing wrong with nature programs

[nevermind she watched it mostly briefly in the UNSC, when nothing really could come in on the tv and they settled for it. Still counts.

She steps close to one of the dead ones, toeing at it with her boot and wrinkling her nose]

Well, we’re just getting started and ya know, they say things come in the portal from everywhere so. We’ll see more.

[she says like she’s not disappointed too, wanting something worthwhile. She had scarier encounters with the Innsurectonists.]

If you say so. [There's an understood 'weirdo' in there, if she can hear it.

He moves next to her, kneeling down beside one of the boar bodies. ]

Wonder if it's edible.

[She hears it alright, doesn’t comment but she’s grinning. Goddam it she’s grinning. It feels kind of normal.

She’s missed normal.]

It probably has worms. Or-

[south pauses a second and looks out at the woods, feeling watched but not seeing anything]

[Beh, worms. There's ways of dealing with that. ]

Shame to waste it. [He's just being practical.

--he freezes when she moves, tracking her gaze, and moving, stepping back from the boar corpse, trying to flank whatever it was. ]

Could use it as bait

[She mumbles, feeling paranoid and stupid when she doesn't see anything right off.

But then she sees a branch move, something unseen moving around. Well great, invisible creatures. Just what she needs. It was probably stalking the boars, with them killed now, she can only guess who it's stalking now.

South's not sure where the things head would be, how big it is, but she takes aim at the branch that's bending and shoots]

Bait'll work. Might have worked already.

[Though he's not sure he wants to see what would be a natural predator of these things.

He sees her move, take a shot, and his own gun is aiming along the same vector, but...what the hell's she shooting at? He can't see anything out there, just moving branches. ]

...the fuck?

It's cloaked!

[She calls out when he doesn't seem to be...doing anything. Like that should be information enough to explain an invisible creature ripping through the branches.

Part of her worries if it's something from her world, definitely not form his if he doesn't know it's cloaked. But it bleeds red and not a neon color, when she apparently tags it's leg, so that's a relief at least. Probably not a Covvie.

The injury knocks off it's cloaking, and it's a big, nasty looking thing. Almost looks like a mountain troll or something out of a fantasy story, it doesn't look happy to have bullets in it's leg. Which don't seem to be stopping it much, or slowing it at all. Clearly the answer is shoot it more, at it's face now that she can see it]

[What the fuck kind of sci fi bullshit is this. He doesn't see it until it's almost on top of him.

Still, he moves fast enough, aiming his gun at one of the eyes, and sending two rounds into the eyesocket, diving to roll out of its path.]

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