A tear for every grain of sand

[CowboyBlonde]

Scott stood there in the middle of their triangle.  If he\'d had a heart beat it would be racing at this point.  Scott glared at the leader who was of the same stature as he was.  "Yes I\'m a Captain." Scott said, giving an equally uneasy stare back at Joe.  Scott quickly eyed Scraggly and Doug.  It seemed as if they were moving in closer at a very slow speed.  "I was with the Military, yes.  But I’ve lost all communication with them.  They seemed to forget about me and my platoon after we were stationed in New Mexico.  My ultimate goal was to get back to New York City, back to base camp, but on the way I found someone who had heard rumors about civilization in California.  I hoped that whoever I found would have some sort of Communication so I could call Base.  I was driving on the highway until I came to a flood of broken down cars.  Then I noticed tire marks in the sand which lead me out to the desert.  They faded though before I reached him." Scott said pointing a thumb back to Doug.

Joe started towards the cell and Scott realized his fate.  Scraggly and Doug pushed themselves closer to Scott, giving them a distance that Scott was uncomfortable with.  The vampire watched as Joe pushed open the door which made a high screeching rusty sound.  Scott\'s eyes fixated on the small dried spots of blood that were scattered around the cell floor, wondering who had occupied it first.  Scott\'s eyebrows narrowed. "No." He said with a bit of force.  "Back off!" Scott yelled to Doug at the same time as shoving him backward with a force of strength that he wasn\'t expecting to show.  "I\'m not getting in that fucking cell.  Anything you want to ask me you can ask me right here." Scott was done playing there games now.

[skeggsismad]

Doug, on the ground at this point with the wind knocked out of his,  had his eyes drift from Scott’s protest to Joe, looking at the corner of his eye at Scraggly. Usually during circumstances like this the signature method was grab them, twist their arms behind their back and throw whoever it was in the cage until things were resolved. And in most circumstances…Doug wasn’t the first one to reach the newcomers. Sometimes, Doug could be a condescending asshole. The plan couldn’t go forward. The old fart was on the ground and having a hard time getting himself back up…not because of old age, but simply because he had been slammed SO hard. Joe hadn’t missed this, and Scraggly’s eyes were wide open.

“What the fuck! Did you see that, h-h-h-he….h-h-h-he….!” Scraggly squealed high pitched, and Joe gave him a look, then towards Doug. They did have a situation on their hands.

Joe shook his head slightly. He was at a loss.

He couldn’t ask the questions right now, because Mary was out scavenging for items and she had to be present in order for it to be a proper questioning. People tended to not like being questioned twice.

Now, he didn’t have two men circling the target. At all of the commotion, from a doorway that was closest to the wall Joe was standing in, a black woman standing at about five feet tall and nine inches and about forty years old stepped out, a gun in her hand and her curly hair bouncing when she walked.

Joe and the woman, whose name was Arianna, made eye contact.
“Everything alright in here?” She asked, her glare going from Joe and penetrating Scott’s face instead.

“Is that the one Doug found?” Arianna spoke again, aiming the gun at Scott’s head defensively. Joe raised his hand and lowered it with his palm stretched out, indicating for the woman to put her weapon away, which she tucked to her hip.

“Everything’s fine, little lady.” Joe spoke soothingly to the woman before turning his attention back to their visitor.

“What in the hell!” Doug piped up, having gathered to his feet and stumbling forward a couple of times. Arianna rushed towards Doug, helping him stand straight.

“You hurt somewhere old man? ‘Cause I got a lot against givin’ you any pain medications,” She said with jest in her voice, throwing a suspicious glance over her shoulder at Scott while helping
Doug over to a sealed box to sit on near Joe.
The bulky man sighed.

“Give me your gun or get in the cage. I can’t have you knocking down people every direction you turn. And if you do that again, I’ll shoot you,” Joe threatened in a mild tone as if he really didn’t want to be saying what he was saying. Honestly, he felt like he was turning into one of those Russian twin brothers or the crazy femmi-nazis. That’s something they’d threaten, not him. But he had no choice…it was  the protection of his team, or the freedom of some lousy stranger who’d done nothing good for them so far.

[CowboyBlonde]

Scott wasn\'t sorry about pushing Doug to the ground. Hell, the old man deserved it.  What Scott was sorry for was showing a great deal of strength.  He knew that the others would notice as soon as it happened.  The only one that seemed to be vocally baffled by it was Scraggly.  Scott wondered what Joe was thinking, it was in this moment that the Vampire wished he had some sort of telepathic power like he had seen other vampires posses, in the past.

After Arianna\'s entrance, Scott wondered just how many people they were housing down here.  For a quick second he thought he would have to dodge a bullet, but she quickly gave Doug the help he needed instead.  It was silent until the moment Joe gave a proposition.  Scott had to compromise if he wanted answers and he knew that.  

"Fine." Scott said, eyeing everyone in the room. "You win."  Scott walked toward the empty cell, giving Scraggly a low growl as he passed.  There was no way Scott was giving up his gun.  To him, staying in the cell was the better option.

The pistol that rest under Scott\'s shirt beneath the waistband of his lower back was a Chrome Desert Eagle.  It was given to him as a gift by the General the day Scott made Captain.  The gun is completely silver except for its black grip on the handle, which also has Scott\'s last name engraved on its left side.  It\'s the last remaining item that Scott truly cherishes, especially since the General died of Cancer later that year.  Scott would rather die than lay the pistol in someone else\'s hand.

Scott walked into the cell that smelled of dust and turned to face Joe.  The vampire grabbed the cell door and closed it himself while scowling at the bulky man.  "So tell me, why do you hate the Military so much?"  It was time Scott started asking some questions.

[skeggsismad]

Everything was fine before Scott asked his question. Arianna swung by the cell and put the key in the lock, thus sealing the deal and the man was locked in.  It seemed that the moment after, tension hung in the air until the loud explosion of Doug’s voice boomed in the room.

“Fuck you! We don’t got to tell your dog-ass nothing!” He spat, face reddening on his seat. Joe turned his face to Doug with an annoyed expression, clenching his jaw and trying to keep the situation under control that had clearly already spun beyond that point.

“Doug…” Joe said calmingly to silence Doug. It was more so idealistically; Joe knew that Doug wouldn’t just shut up even if he was told off. The two had known each other for a long time. Doug was opinionated, even when he wasn’t top dog he always had to have the last word.

“I mean it! You can go tell the rest of them to kiss my white creamy ass cap’n, just because you get in our cage and cooperate don’t mean we owe you a damn-”   Doug started screaming again and Joe’s expression suddenly sharpened, cutting off before he could finish.

“DOUG!”

Doug looked at Joe astonished, briefly, before carrying on

“What! You’re gonna let him do this shit! You’re gonna let him walk in here like he’s some sort of-”

There was a real fury underneath Doug’s tone and it was truly trying Joe’s patience. He interrupted once again, speaking gently but firmly,

“This isn’t about that and you know-”

Doug shook his head furiously, standing up and shaking his head as he bellowed on.

“Oh, I know? I know! Your authorities shitty, Joe! Come and get me when you crazy asses are going to be reasonable.”

He headed towards the door Arianna had come out from, walking with a bit of a limp, Joe reacting by raising in a halt position.

“Doug…just,” The older man responded to the pleas only by waiving his hand over his shoulder without looking, dismissing the whole idea. Joe looked to Arianna before he took a couple steps to follow, the woman stopping him with her hands and a stern face followed with a faint smile.

“Nah, you deal with him…this old crab needs to lay down, ‘specially after being plowed down like a blade a’grass by your boy over there,” She pointed towards Scott to reference what she meant by ‘him’ and then spun on her heels towards the door.

By now, Joe was rubbing his temples, glancing around the room and suddenly realizing that Scraggly was standing in the corner with wide eyes and his body shaking. He was nervous, and as Boss, it was almost like Joe had to watch out for everybody and make sure they didn’t do something stupid. When he was skittish, Scraggly could do some dumbass things.

“Scraggly, go watch for Mary,” Joe ordered softly, looking to Scraggly expectantly. He didn’t want anyone else protesting him for the moment.

“Yes…h-h-he better stay there,” Scraggly stuttered, a shaky hand pointing towards Scott. Joe’s lips upturned the slightest and he chimed back firmly,

“He will.” Hopefully that was enough reassurance for Scraggly. And it seemed, for now, it was. Scraggly nodded, giving a lingering look, and climbing up the hatch. Joe didn’t move again until he heard the hatch shut and he sat on the box that Doug had been sitting on previous, turning to look at Scott. By now the question that had been asked before that ruffle had been completely lost on the man. Joe made eye contact and gave a somber but inviting look.

“So Captain…do you have a name?” He hadn’t gotten a name earlier- only Captain.

[CowboyBlonde]

Arianna was on the lock like white on rice.  Scott felt like an ape at a zoo.  Of course he could tear the cell door off its hinges but he was cooperating until he got the answers he wanted.  Scott chuckled to himself watching Doug throw a tantrum of a 5 year old.  Scott gave Scraggly an evil look as he left, just to scare him.  He might as well be entertained somehow while he\'s here.  The vampire smirked once Scraggly turned his back.

Now it was just Scott and Joe in the room.  The tension was high and Scott griped the bars of the cage.  "Yeah...it\'s Scott....But you never answered my question bub."  Just in case Joe forgot what the question was, Scott repeated it. "Why do you all hate the military so much?"  Scott was more than overjoyed that Doug was no longer in the room to interrupt.

[skeggsismad]

Joe knew that he had to be careful with what he said. He didn’t know who he was dealing with, and until Scott could be properly questioned, all he would be doing if he believed a word the man spoke was giving out rations of blind faith. As the leader of the team he couldn’t afford to do that. At the same time, with the incredible amount of strength that the stranger had exerted towards Doug, Joe knew he stood on a thin line between what he could get away with ignoring. The man seemed violent and had come out of nowhere. If he was with the military, it really gave Joe to raise a brow being that the young man seemed to be completely unaware of the operations going on in the desert, or perhaps that he was pretending to be unaware of it. The muscular man sat there for a long time, nodding his head at the question when it was asked but mulling on it to come up with the best response.

“A few months ago tanks ripped this place apart. They took everything that we had like they owned the damn place. It’s not that anyone around here hates the military, Scott…hell, a couple of us even severed in it- that Doug there, he’s a veteran,”

Joe’s eyes were steady on Scott and one of his hands ran over his smooth hairless head.

“Now you got to understand that…” He began with a friendly tone but paused.

“Well, if you are who you say you are, and if you aren’t, we’re going to find that out, believe me. If you lie to us you’re not going to just walk out of her scot-free. It’s going to hurt, a lot,” The man’s voice lowered to a near whisper and he sounded much more vindictive in his tone. It didn’t help to diffuse the tension of the situation much, and he was trying to keep his talking low anyhow so that he could hear any business that was going up above the hatch, waiting for the moment for Mary to arrive.

Licking his lips, he decided he was thirsty…but he knew he couldn’t just leave the prisoner unattended even if he was behind bars and contained. A lot of people had sneaky ways of getting out of containment, and he didn’t want to be the one to admit he was negligent and wasn’t fully watching the man and hence allowed him the opportunity to escape.

“You got to understand that there are a lot of things out here that you don’t understand, and if you did, everybody here would be in a hell of a lot of trouble, so it’s better you don’t ask questions until we know who you are.”

His tone had returned to a neutral one, and he observed Scott carefully to try to see how the man was taking it. He didn’t want an argument or a confrontation- but what from he had seen, Scott was prone to them. He could digress and admit that he knew sometimes Doug could cultivate that sort of crazy in people when there was something he didn’t trust or fully understand, but for now Joe stayed focused and decided that if someone reacted that way they probably had behavior problems to begin with. That, or it was the desert which could bring out the insanity in everyone if you’d been wandering it too long.

[CowboyBlonde]

Scott gained back a little respect for Doug once he found out he was a veteran. But the thought of the man still made his stomach upset.  That doesn’t make any sense Scott said to himself before saying it out loud.  "Why would they do that, they were supposed to be helping."  Scott thought that maybe it was just a couple of assholes who thought they were higher priority than everyone else.  "I have no reason to lie, that’s why I got in this stupid cage!" Scott said with an aggravated tone.  

Scott stood there staring at Joe, wishing he had just ignored what Alex said and went back to New York City instead.  The vampire was beginning to feel like he was in an episode of Lost because he had no idea what was going on, every moment seemed to bring a new mystery.  "If you could let me get to a radio or something, I could talk to them, I\'m sure they would comply." It was a stretch but worth the effort.

[skeggsismad]

Joe let another heave of breath fall from his lips. What a mess.
This wasn’t the first time things like this had happened around these parts though, and Joe was weary. He could tell by the tone of voice the Scott had responded to him in that the solider was irritated, and unlike Doug, Joe didn’t snap right back and react to that intense emotion. Being the leader sometimes meant you had to embody certain traits, and the one that he had learned that was the most important had been taught to him by a lovely lady he’d met here: Empathy.

“Now listen to me here. Being a captain, you probably know what it’s like in a time of war. Somebody shows up on your base territory and starts talking and saying they’re certain things but you don’t know for sure.”

He stayed here we was sitting, his hands resting spread out on his knees in a relaxed and open body stance. Joe didn’t want to make matters worse than they already were.

“As a captain, you got to lead and protect the people under your command, don’t you? Even if the person’s telling the truth, you can’t just let them do things that might compromise your mission.”

He tried to relate this situation to something that Scott would be able to understand, a common ground that they both had to try to put the conflict into perspective. It was of the essence to Joe that the stranger in the cell understood why he was there and didn’t think that they were being needlessly cruel. He did speak fast enough, however, that he didn’t allow Scott to respond to his comparison, for there was more explaining to do.

“Now, the way I see it, until Mary gets here, this is the way it’s got to be. I can get you some food, and we can get you all patched up if anything happened to you out there…but I can’t let you out and I can’t go letting you use the radio to contact anyone until we straighten this all out.”

He didn’t say what was really on his mind: Calling the military is the last thing you want to do out here, buddy. It’s not them you got to worry about. It was best in his perspective to keep Scott in the dark until he figured out what to do with him. Even if he was who he said he was and didn’t intend anything malicious, the very notion that he was here created issues. And if Scott wasn’t out of here quickly before the others got wind of it…some serious battles could be afoot. But what can we do with him? Joe thought to himself. As far as he could tell, there was no cut and dry solution. They were screwed.

Up above the entrance, sounds were being made...and if someone listened carefully they might even be able to distinguish a male voice and a female\'s voice. Joe didn\'t notice the noises, but it was possible that the vampire might have been hearing them as well as the approaching footsteps the entire time Joe had been talking.

[CowboyBlonde]

Scott lowered his head.  Joe was right.  Scott would be doing the same thing if this were his base.  They had no idea who he is or if he was telling the truth.  Scott leaned his back up against the back wall and slid down until his butt made a thud against the floor.  It seemed like he was defeated.  There was nothing he could do besides wait this out.  Scott didn\'t acknowledge the food offer.  With the serum the Government gave him he could stand to swallow human food but he still didn\'t like it.  It also didn\'t stay down for that long but it wouldn\'t come back up as quickly as it would if he were still a \'regular\' vampire.

"She\'s here" Scott said nonchalantly with his arms resting on his propped up knees.  Scott didn\'t care about exposing himself anymore. That is if Joe even noticed that he heard the two people above the hatch so well.

Mary....another person to worry about.  Scott wondered how she would react to all this.

[skeggsismad]

So we’ve reached an agreement. Although this situation was less than ideal was going to cause a hoard of problems even if Scott did cooperate, Joe was at the very least relieved that he had one less thing to worry about. Watching the other man shift around in his makeshift prison, Joe listened for a response to his offers, but there was nothing. Wasn’t the man hungry? Maybe that meant he hadn’t been traveling wrong, or perhaps because of the hostile tone that Doug had set from the getgo he was weary of being poisoned or something of the like. Really, poisoning would solve all of our problems. Joe caught himself thinking, shaking that line of thought right out of the water because he knew what some of the others would do when they heard wind of a murder.

Upon Scott’s remark, Joe turned his head towards the hatch entrance and watched. It did not open immediately- in fact there was at least a ten to fifteen minute wait in between and it stretched out long and silent, without Joe bothering to say anything to Scott. He hadn’t caught the fact that Scott had heard the noises long before any human had and perhaps that would be the pinnacle of all mistakes.

When the hatch did open, it was Scraggly that climbed down first and bore his gun out at Scott nervously. He didn’t like that fellow, it seemed. Joe waive d his hand in the air to indicate for him to stop and watched the ladder longer until Mary parted down. She was a Caucasian woman in her mid-thirties, with long blond hair pulled up in a ponytail behind her that fell at her waist and blue eyes that seemed to express an infinite amount of sadness and mourning. For those who were normal human beings, her mood always carried somewhat heavy and regal. Though for creatures that could sense further, they would find that Mary’s aura was a heavy felt one of pain, suffering, empathy and kindness that ran so deep she reflected the feelings that others displayed.

 Her face didn’t seem to say it, but when she looked towards Scott and attempted to make eye contact her eyes had a certain pull to them. Mary’s empathetic hand, her power, reached out towards Scott attempting to gain entry. If he had developed a shield from such powers she would retract it quickly, but Scott didn’t the hand would probe and attempt to gage his mood. She stepped forward from the hatch, Scraggly following nervously behind her before Joe raised his hand again, indicating for him to stop and allow Mary towards the bars. She stopped only when her face was inches away, sliding her hand through the bar and extending towards Scott, eyes still attempting to connect with his.

“S-h-h-he-he shouldn’t do that,” Scraggly yelped out nervously, while Joe’s face was intensely focused on Mary and for the most part ignoring Scraggly.
“I want to be alone with him.” Mary spoke aloud with a southern twang to her speech, still not looking away from Scott.

“Th-h-h-hat’s not a good idea!” Scraggly warned, and Joe did look rather disturbed by the notion, though he didn’t speak. There was a moment’s of silence where Joe looked as if he was mentally deliberating inside of his head, before he nodded his head and stood up, gesturing towards Scraggly to follow him.

“Keep your gun at hand,” Joe said deeply, speaking to her in a gentle manner what was unlike his tone with anyone else. After that, the two shuffled out, and Mary continued to stand there, staring at Scott.

[CowboyBlonde]

Scott gave Scraggly a wink as he pointed his gun at the vampire.  Scott thought it was a mistake giving that man a gun.  The guy’s nerves were so shot that Scott wondered if he would even be able to shoot it if the time came.  Scott stayed on the floor as the woman entered the hatch.  She wasn\'t exactly what Scott expected.  Something about her was different.  Scott could see it in her eyes that she had suffered a great deal of pain.  She definitely seemed different from the others.  

It actually startled Scott a little bit, the way she came toward the bars.  No one here wanted to get that close to him so quickly.  She reached inside as if asking for Scott\'s hand.

Scott glanced at Joe and noticed his worry as she asked to be alone.  And of course Scraggly voiced his clear opinion, which Scott was beginning to get annoyed with.

Scott stayed there sitting, watching as the woman reached for him like she as some sort of psychic needing to tell him his future.  But Scott was curious as to why she felt different from the others.  "What do you want?" Scott said with a cold tone, staring at her.

[skeggsismad]

Although Joe had advised her to keep her gun at hand, Mary hadn’t one in sight. Perhaps Joe had only assumed that she had been carrying one. In reality it appeared Mary was completely unarmed with a limb sticking in towards the prisoner. Her mood didn’t reflect this, which meant one of two things: either Mary didn’t sense the danger of doing such a thing, or she simply didn’t care .

The man inside of that cage looked young, young enough for the woman that was perhaps ten years or so older than the man to think of him as nothing more than a boy. The youth brought a soft spot from her as she felt physically ill by the way he was shirking away. She wanted to brush a wet thumb on his cheek to subdue some of the caked dirt that presumably was wearing on the gentleman’s face. Her lack of ability to do so just frustrated her more and Mary found her hand wandering towards his cheek anyway in an attempt to make physical contact. It was always the first step.

Mary licked her lips, eyes intent on Scott but soft growing with watery and liquidy. Her voice finally came after a few moments, speaking but one eerie line:

“I want to help keep you alive.”

There were a lot of things that her people could do to Scott that would lead to his death. Most of them were indirect consequences, but Mary knew that regardless if it was intentional or not, they were all playing with the hands of life and death. She had seen more than enough of that within her lifetime and wanted to work to prevent any more unnecessary casualties. Too, if Scott were to end up dead at some point he could end up taking the lives of those she loved and cherished alongside him. While she thought about the possibilities she was silent, for she could sense the mood that his voice carried. It wasn’t a good sign, and she knew there was very little words could accomplish to convince someone, but it must be done. Mary tried again.

“I know you’ve told a lot of people your story. But you have to tell it to me one more time and tell me the truth. They’ll believe me if I tell them that it’s true. And that’s the best way right now for you to stay alive and the best way right now for me to help you.”  

Her empathetic ‘hand’ reached out to him gently, and now, her mood would visibly rise and fall with his. If he were to show upset emotions, Mary’s body would radiate the same at perhaps twice the intensity. She absorbed emotions and was also able to tell through them whether something was true or not. As all things, the gift was fallible at times, though Mary had noted that most Sociopaths could only imitate certain emotions, not feel it.  For the most part her gauging would came out rather accurately. That was exactly why she interviewed all of the stragglers, especially at high risk times like these.

[CowboyBlonde]

Scott\'s eyebrows pulled inward. Keep me alive?  Scott began to wonder what she knew that he didn\'t. Was there a plan to kill him?  Did they even know how to kill him?  All these questions and more circled Scott\'s brain.  Finally he stood up.

Scott actually believed every word she said.  She could be his ticket out of this cell.  He walked closer to the bars where she stood.  She would let her hand grace his perfectly dirty skin any way she felt comfortable.  Scott reacted to her touch as more of a mother\'s touch than a sensual touch.  He started to explain his story for what was the third time now?

"I was stationed in New Mexico with three other members of my platoon, shortly after the breakout went national.  But something went wrong and it was as if Base forgot about us completely and we lost all communication with them.  Weeks went by and my soldiers were killed and I was left on my own.  I started to travel back to Base Camp in NYC until i met a drifter in Texas named Alex.  She was the one who led me to California saying she\'d heard rumors about some sort of civilization here somewhere.  I ended up losing as well but I wanted to keep searching on my own.  I came across a graveyard of deserted cars on the highway and searched through them for miles until I noticed tire tracks on the sand just off the highway road.  So I followed them into the dessert.  The tracks eventually disappeared but I kept on going and that’s how I found that old man in there."  Scott\'s voice was sincere.  Obviously he knew he was telling the truth but would this woman believe him?  He pulled away from her touch, he had given her enough of his sorrow.

Scott shook off the memories of losing his platoon and returned his emotion to that of aggravation.  "So are you gonna get me out of here or do I have to do it myself?"

[skeggsismad]

Throughout listening to Scott, the verdict was in by the end of his explanation. Yes, the boy had been telling the truth. Did that make him necessarily safe? No. Did that mean the he should be allowed to leave the cell until the rest figured out what to do with him? No. But the pain that Mary had experienced by making contact with him as he spoke for even that brief moment swayed her to think that despite any logic, Scott should be let out of the cage. Too, she couldn’t put her finger on it but there was something strange and…sort of supernatural about the man. Mary didn’t have the abilities to tell man from beast exactly, she just knew that there was something extraordinary about the man that she couldn’t explain.

She had been about to wander over to the door to call for the key to the cell- for she didn’t possess a copy on her at the moment- when Joe bolted through the door everyone had exited into, with the others following in rapid succession.

“The girls saw a pack of them heading our direction, we got to go Mary. Everybody, up the hatch, get yourselves armed.” Joe ordered firmly, being the first to go up the ladder of the hatch and open it up from the inside, pushing himself up to the ground and vanishing out of site. Behind him was Scraggly, who nervously retorted,

“Not all of th-h-h-em are girls. Th-h-h-here’s the man,” He countered to Joe who was long gone by now and not in ear range to hear him anyway. He approached the rings but stopped halfway when Doug spoke, standing with his arms crossed over his chest impatiently waiting for the other man to finish his climb up the ladder.

“Yeah well, what’s the damn difference? The gay’s nothin’ more than a lady anyhow,” Doug snapped back, giving a hearty chuckle at his own joke and giving the ladder a shake which in turn startled Scraggly and made him yelp out in shock.

“Well then, if you don’t want that, climb the fuckin’ ladder!” Doug responded, growing more and more irritated by the minute.

During the entire exchange, Mary was grasping her gun and eyeing Arianna tentatively. She could see that Arianna had the key, and when Doug had his shot to the ladder, Arianna swiveled to Mary and gestured to Scott.

“We been talkin’ bout it and you best leave him in the cage. Wouldn’t want anything to happen while we’re gone you know what I’m saying?” Arianna said towards Mary, who pulled away from the cage and nodded her head.

“I’ll be a minute, I just remembered that I need to reload,” Mary said after a while of realizing that Arianna wasn’t moving towards the ladder and had been waiting for her. Arianna’s gaze narrowed for a moment but she soon nodded her head.

“Be careful all alone down here. If anything happens…nobody’s gonna be mad at you if you kill him. Save us a lot of time, really, but make sure if it happens you do the job all the way and not some half-arse shit that’s gonna make me spending hours trying to wrap his wounds,” Arianna spoke, giving a wink. She had begun to make her way towards the ladder when Mary paused her with a ‘Wait’, approaching the woman and getting close enough to straighten out Arianna’s shirt that had folded up in certain areas to expose her belly.

“Aw, Mamma. You takin’ care of everyone.” Arianna said affectionately, smiling before heading up the ladder finally. Mary watched to make sure she was gone before approaching back to the cage. In her hand she had the key which she had clearly swiped from Arianna.

Holding it out to the lock, she paused mid motion in order to give Scott one final warning.

“I’m going to let you out of this cage like you want. But you can’t come up the hatch. I know that you have military experience but you aren’t properly trained for the type of things we do out here. This is the only condition I have.” Mary looked to Scott in the eye as she spoke, but she did not wait for him to affirm that he wouldn’t follow her up the hatch, instead, trusting that he would be grateful enough to be freed from his cage that he wouldn’t try to leave and endanger everyone. The lock clicked and the door opened before Mary slipped the key back in her pocket, approaching the ladders and giving Scott one look over her shoulders before she climbed up and closed the hatch behind her, leaving Scott completely alone in the shelter…and free from his prison cell.

[CowboyBlonde]

Scott could see it in her face now, something came over her.  She stared at him differently than the rest did.  Scott knew that she believed him.  There was silence for a moment before Joe exploded from the back room yelling his orders.  Scott could do nothing except watch the rushing bodies fly by his cage.  It very much reminded him of a war situation.  It reminded him of Al Qaeda attacking the American base in Iraq.  This felt like war and in a way, it was.

It was quick and Scott almost missed it.  Mary\'s hands seemed to be trained; at least that\'s what Scott had guessed.  She swiped the key without the other woman even noticing.  Scott gave a smirk as Mary hoped over to release him.  But before he could even thank her, she had stated her condition and quickly hurried up the ladder.

As soon as the hatch was closed Scott rushed out of the cell and started climbing the ladder, but stopped just before reaching the hatch door.  He pulled his pistol from his waistband and remembered that it only had a single bullet.  He then thought back to what Mary had said.  

"You aren’t properly trained for the type of things we do out here."

What did she mean exactly? If his Military training wasn\'t enough than what was?  Scott slipped his pistol back under his waist band and slowly descended down the ladder.  The radio!  Scott had almost forgotten what he wanted in the first place, with all of this recent chaos.

The Soldier stepped into the back room and discovered almost a completely different world.  The front room was so gloomy and bland where as this back room looked as if someone tried to make it feel like home.  Cot bunk beds rested against the walls as well as a few hammocks strung up here and there.  A small bathroom area resided in the back.  Scott glided towards the sink.  He looked himself in the mirror, which was something he felt like he hadn’t done in a long time.  Dried blood sprinkled his face.  Scott turned the faucet handle and was surprised to see clean water spraying out of the spout.  He cupped his hands under it and splashed the water to his face.  He looked over to the shower and was very tempted to use it.  But he didn\'t know how much time he had.

Scott turned around to see a desk by the doorway.  There was the radio.  Scott walked across the room, passing boxes of canned food and bottled water.  He sat down on the wooden chair and quickly pressed the talk button on the radio.  "Attention any and all Military personnel, my name is Captain Scott Pierce, calling for any field assistance available.  I\'m trapped here with a group of drifters."  Scott let go of the talk button and realized he didn’t know where \'here\' was.  He clicked it again, "I am in need of Military assistance to contact my operations base in New York City."  Scott frantically listened for someone on the other end but all he heard was static.  "Do you copy....Anyone?" Still there was nothing.  "Fuck!" Scott said as the tossed the radio to the table top.  Scott scratched the stubble on his face, rapidly thinking of what to do next.  

The blond stood up from the chair and walked over to the small rack of weapons in the corner.  He picked up an AK-47 and checked if it was loaded.  Scott looked up and gazed at the ladder through the other room.  Maybe I should go up....