Pitre paused in place and tried to determine the direction of the shots to figure out where the bandits were at the moment. Shaking his head, he released his grip on the rifle, which swung back beside his body, and grabbed Anya. Struggling with the fact he found her heavier than he thought she was, he cradled her in his arms and began to dive deeper into the trees. His goal was to get out of the area without encountering any resistance. He scooped up Anya because he knew she wouldn't have been able to keep up if she followed and now he had to deal with not being able to fight back with his rifle.

"So uh what should we do from here?" Patrick asked the woman. He had a bit of suspicious about her, but then again, she could probably say the same about him. "I'm not really sure about where I was about to go, I just went here." he scratched his head.

Matthias trudged onward toward the city ahead, more than a little bit annoyed to have to postpone his personal retribution against the mentals. Like it or not, he was low on supplies and would need to get his bearings before heading blindly back into the wilderness. It wouldn't hurt to lighten his coin pouch while he was at it. As the city came into view, two things became apparent. First, this was New Moscow. The landmarks were unmistakable, but the bounty hunter hadn't expected that his exploits would land him this far north. However, this revelation took back seat to the fact that there was obviously something wrong. Giant Bolsho Beetles were swarming all over the place, and smoke billowed from within the city walls. Knowing that Bolsho Beetles were not to be tampered with, Matthias was extremely careful to steer clear of the city proper.

Disappointed with the wasted time and effort he put into making his way here, he was about to leave when he heard conversation nearby. It sounded like a woman and a child, their voices originating from the ruins. The hunter temporarily shelved his urge to hunt for mentals. For now, he had questions. Throwing caution to the wind was foolish, often fatal, but Matthias was more than confident he would be able to handle himself should the owners of the voices give him any trouble. He approached the strangers, on his guard but doing his best not to show it. As expected, the sources of the noise were a young woman and a boy. The younger of the two was speaking.

"So uh what should we do from here? I'm not really sure about where I was about to go, I just went here." The boy sounded disoriented. Matthias decided a little bit of instruction might be in order.

"Well, you can start by giving me some answers." he interjected roughly, earning looks from the other parties. "What exactly happened here?"

Lucas pulled out his sword, for the moment ignoring the other travelers he had stumbled upon, his attention having been captured by the creatures in front of him. The last thing he wanted was to have to fight them, as they were well known for their aggressiveness when they felt threatened.

Unfortunately, Lucas had no say in the matter. Fight them it is, then. He glanced over at his newfound comrades. "I don't know who you are, but if we work together, we'll have a much better chance of surviving this."

Without waiting for a response, Lucas charged toward the beetles, his coat flying behind him like a cape, his sword fully extended at his side, ready to strike. Looks like things are about to get interesting.

OOC: Which group has Lucas stumbled upon?

OOC: Ivan and Hadrian, Bartholomew, and Frank.

A Bolsho Beetle burst through the wall and screeched in an insectoid manner that was harsh to the ears, while rearing up on their hind legs threateningly. They looked back and forth between Lucas, Ivan, Hadrian and Bartholomew, the black compound eyes unreadable. Lucas rushed the beetle without a moment's pause and ran toward it with his sword drawn. The bolsho beetle screeched and lowered its head, the horn on its head levelled at Lucas and charged toward the young man.

---------------------------

"Well, you can start by giving me some answers." spoke a man whom Trisha had not noticed earlier. She berated herself mentally for keeping her senses closed as to not even feel his approach, had he been threatening they both could have been in danger. Even so, she found herself unwary of the man. "What exactly happened here?"

"We were celebrating the centennial anniversary of New Moscow," she began hesitantly, unsure of how much to reveal "A brilliant professor managed to establish a working electrical circuit...unfortunately however, we were unaware that a swarm of bolsho beetles had taken nest nearby. They were attracted by the lights and began to attack the city so everyone fled." She was pleased, technically she hadn't told a lie, it was the gist of what had happened, she just left out the part about the violence between the mentals and non-mentals.

--------------------------------

Anya was surprised when Pitre picked her up and she clung to her bunny as they ran among the tree. She closed her eyes as he run, not wanting to deal with any more bandits. She wasn't hungry, a fact she found startling because she was used to always being hungry, but she was tired. She didn't understand why all these things kept happening, why did everyone always want to hurt each other. She didn't understand the disaster of New Moscow, neither did she understand why the bandits were in hot pursuit of her and Pitre, all she knew was that she wanted to rest.

"They're in the brush!" called out a voice on the far right.

"Red deer territory!" yelled out another voice.

"Red deer? Let's get out of here!" stated another.

"We can't let them get away so easily" stated the original voice.

"Don't worry about it," stated another voice "If we don't get them, the red deer will"

The walk was a long and quite one. Arthur was surprised by the lack of words this group had, considering how one of them acted as a dictator before. During the journey, Arthur pondered about what next. Not sure on deciding where to go by himself, he decided to consult the group. Arthur stopped in place and asked:

"Does anyone have any idea where we are actually headed to?"

uhm s*** i need to post

Having been startled by the charging beetles, Ivan reflexively created a massive, clear barrier between his companions and the attackers. He felt two brief, splitting migraines as the bug and sword bounced harmlessly off his shield. He had dealt with these creatures plenty of times before, since they were nesting nearby the areas he used to scavenge. They were tough to kill, and the man was no good at fighting anyway, so generally he would just slip away after letting them crash into his barrier. Just like always, the bugs seemed to be hesitating, most likely mulling over whether or not to charge and risk smacking into another invisible wall.

Ivan turned to his new, previously unnoticed companion.
"Hey there," he said cheerfully, as if there weren't a horde of biblical plague monstrosities a mere ten feet away. "Sorry about the shield, but you almost got a horn in the face just now, cuz that sword wouldn't do much against these things. A bug that big has to have a tough exoskeleton right? If you want to fight them, you're gonna need a gun at least. By the way, I didn't catch your name!"

Ivan's ability to get distracted was the stuff of legend, but the buzzing sound coming from a couple yards away reminded him that now was not the time for pleasantries. "Uhm, we should probably find a place to hide," Ivan continued. "I really hate using my shield on these things. I feel so bad, y'know? These guys are gonna live their whole lives thinkin' that the sky can just solidify randomly and knock them outta the air! Like birds, when they hit a window after you use Windex, they don't know what's going on, they think the sky is just a dick. You don't know what Windex is, though, do you? Right. Sorry. I'm not from around here. I'm Ivan, by the way, nice to meet you!"

It's incredible how many words he can cram into five seconds.

"... Uhhh, what were we talking about?"

Pitre seized up when he heard about the red deer. He killed one before, but that was the only successful attempt. Living in these forests for most of his adult life, he had several encounters with red deer. Being the self-taught survivalist that he was, he watched all predatory creatures from afar and tried to absorb as much knowledge about them as possible. He stumbled upon red deer several times in his escapades and knew what they could do to their prey, and as useful it would be to know what they could do to a man, he did not want to find out.

Pitre scouted the area ahead for signs of red deer, checking for footprints and the signature markings on trees. He decided he needed to free up his arms so he could wield his rifle in the case of winding up near a deer.

"Cher, get on my back," He muttered to Anya. He did not know if she was scared or not, but he added,

"We will not be dead."

"Well I came here since it looked like a festival," Patrick started, a bit more at ease than before. Trisha already gave an answer to the man before them, although it sounded like she was somewhere far from what he was in. "There was a riot I think, gunfire, panicking," he paused and gave a sad look. "And then this old woman attacked me. I only wanted to help her, but she attacked. I fended her off and then ran here."

"She called me a...a abomination, I didn't know what she meant by that."

Lucas charged forward, and stabbed his sword, intending to eviscerate at least one of the Beatles. He didn't get the chance. His sword hit something invisible in front of him, bounced off, and nearly took his eye out in the process.

He stood there, and tried to figure out what exactly happened. Then one of the people he ran into turned toward him and spoke. "Hey there, sorry about the shield, but you almost got a horn in the face just now, cuz that sword wouldn't do much against these things. A bug that big has to have a tough exoskeleton right? If you want to fight them, you're gonna need a gun at least. By the way, I didn't catch your name!"

Lucas just stared at the man, still trying to figure out what he was saying. The man continued without a breath. "Uhm, we should probably find a place to hide, I really hate using my shield on these things. I feel so bad, y'know? These guys are gonna live their whole lives thinkin' that the sky can just solidify randomly and knock them outta the air! Like birds, when they hit a window after you use Windex, they don't know what's going on, they think the sky is just a dick. You don't know what Windex is, though, do you? Right. Sorry. I'm not from around here. I'm Ivan, by the way, nice to meet you!"

He then stopped, and looked at Lucas. "... Uhhh, what were we talking about?" Lucas laughed. He liked this fellow. He sheathed his sword, and glanced at the Beetles. "I'm Lucas. Lucas Hawthorne. If it's all the same to you, this sword has kept me safe from many a creature, and it hasn't failed me yet. I'm not much of a gun person."

He then looked back at Ivan. "You said you made that shield. I assume then, that you're a Mental?" Before the man could react, Lucas continued. "Don't get me wrong, I happen to like Mental's, unlike the majority of the people I find. But I like to know who I'm traveling with." He again looked at the Beetles. "I don't know about you, but I think it'd be safer for us to travel together, with all the Beetles around. Where are you headed?"

The hunter listened to the woman's explanation in silence. The scenario she was describing seemed plausible, and he didn't expect she'd have any reason to lie. With a vague idea of what had transpired, his curiosity was satisfied. He turned to go, trying to think of any nearby cities where he could restock, when the child spoke.

"Well I came here since it looked like a festival," He began. "There was a riot I think, gunfire, panicking," Matthias stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder as the child continued. "And then this old woman attacked me. I only wanted to help her, but she attacked. I fended her off and then ran here. She called me a...a abomination, I didn't know what she meant by that." Matthias wheeled around to face the two strangers once more, more than a little bit ticked at having been deceived. He looked at the woman.

"Well, I'd say you could learn a thing or two about honesty from this kid." He snapped angrily. "Let's try this again. What exactly happened here?"

Trisha glanced at Patrick from the corner of her eyes, he was so naive, of course it was because he was a mental the old woman attacked him. Perhaps he did not know that he was a mental himself? Either way, even before the stranger spoke, she could already sense underlying emotions of anger bubbling within him, and she wasn't sure whether it was wise to reveal that they were mentals to the man. She was slightly regretting her decision to walk off on her own.

"As I said, the lights attracted the beetles" stated Trisha calmly "The chaos turned the situation into a sort of free for all, and everyone began to attack each other for supplies, money, anything. You could trust no one, even I was almost attacked by a group of men, had it not been for a man I happened upon who helped me escape. I dread to venture back into the remains of New Moscow."

------------------------------------------------

Without another word Anya scrambled onto Pitre's back, her tiny arms wrapped around his neck, but not so that it would choke him. She wasn't afraid, as she had no idea what a Red Deer was, but she understood the urgency in Pitre's voice and obeyed.

"It's here!" screamed a voice. There was a sound of a harsh animal cry, and the sound of crunching and screaming. "Help me please! Oh my god please someone!"

"I'm coming Donny!" screamed another voice. The sound of someone approaching through bushes recklessly could then be heard, followed by a gun shot. "Donny!" Once again the animal cry was heard followed by hoof beats and a feeble attempt to reload a weapon of some sort. The weapon dropped and another scream could be heard. "Guys help me, the antler, it's in my leg GOD!"

"We're sorry James...we...we can't..." yelled another voice.

"Oh god! No! AGH PLEASE!"

-------------------------------------

Erm...KP and Doctor can continue without me...I can't really do anything while the shield is up. I'd rather not smash through and send KP into a coma yet.

-------------------------------------

Will be waiting for Elias.

OOC: anya is badass
didn't you say your character snuck away