With a bit of a smirk Hadrian relaxed himself against the wall and watched Ivan closely. "Trusting, naive, and stupid.. I'm amazed he's still alive." He relaxed against the wall and waited for Ivan to return, there really wasn't much he could do at this point.

"Umm..." Patrick stumbled, trying to find the correct words. He was closing in on whatever was making the noise, and didn't want to startle anyone close to it. "Anyone here?" he simply said, meekly.



((I'll expand it later))

The four of them stood at the crossroads, staring and contemplating silently as to which path to take. India remained distant, sitting on a rock furthest from all of them. Arthur frowned at each path, his brow furrowed with worry about what path to take. Elias, his old age taking toll, was sitting on a slope as close to them as possible. Tanya was somewhere in between, neither closer to anyone nor further from anyone.

She was afraid and shocked. That house, it simply collapsed without being hit by anything at all. It was very strange. Could this have been the work of an anti-Mental movement? Who exactly was Arthur? We just met him, and now he's travelling with us. Same goes for that weirdo on the rock. Questions circled her mind while paranoia itched further closer to her already fragile sanity.

She couldn't take it. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't move. She felt helpless at the fact that she was basically relying on a group of strangers to help her against the anti-Mental movement. Sure, she suspected she might be one, but she couldn't be sure and like they say "better safe than sorry".

"Alright! Listen up!" she shouted. Arthur's head snapped up from his deep thought, India tilted his head ever so slightly in order to catch her sound better and Elias attempted to hobble over in order to avoid straining his ears.
"We are going to the mountains. There'll be water there, I already spotted a stream and the fact that it's fairly treacherous will mean that no one shall dare follow us there. All right, we're leaving in five, so grab your stuff and let's move!"

They were all astounded, not just by Tanya's sudden outburst of leadership, but also at the fact that she had clearly thought this through. This didn't seem like her, just moments ago she seemed so afraid.
The group packed up their gear and headed down the path to the mountains

On Pitre's command, Anya immediately ran for the bushes and crawled as far away from the scary men as she could. The bandits attempted to chase after the girl lunging for the bushes in pursuit and the closest one immediately was flung to the side by the force of the bullet and crumpled to the ground. They all froze confused, for a moment, they had clearly never encountered a gun of any sort or a firearm for that matter. This made them easier targets to pick off, the next one was shot, and then the next. One of the bandits fled screaming in terror, while the remaining two followed suit.

Anya waited for a moment for the smoke to clear and for silence to return to the clearing. The fire burned warm and bright and meat of a mysterious beast, mutated from some lowly forest creature of times before roasted over the fire on a spit. Despite eating what was probably a few hours ago, Anya's stomach rumbled in earnest, as if she had never eaten in years. Poking her bunny out from the underbrush she had found she deemed it safe and crept towards the warm fire. Various other supplies resided around the bonfire, dried meats, knives kept well sharp, flint and tinder, and a radio. She instinctively looked in the direction of where Pitre was covered and smiled, waving for him to come over.

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Trisha had been startled by the crash of the pillar but it was incomparable to the surprise of Frank's sudden leap into her arms from what she picked up as shock and fear.

"Erm, it's ok" she said with an embarrassed smile, "It happens to the best of us" She agreed that it was probably best to investigate what had managed to cause such a loud noise and followed him as they walked towards the courtyard. It was then to their surprise that a man fell to the ground and greeted them in a friendly albeit loud manner. She stepped back defensively by instinct and partially because she'd rather not have Frank leap into her arms yet again from the sudden intrusion. She noted that there was a distorted interference around this man, and quite reasonably she didn't trust it. Further provided he was probably insane, as she looked up to where the man had jumped from.

"Hi," she said while maintaining her distance, "I'm Trisha, I suppose you came here too to escape from what's become of New Moscow hmm?" She sensed a meekness, a gentle shyness and caution approaching, she knew it was not the mysterious man whom she could not sense, nor from Frank, the place was sure getting crowded in a short amount of time. Yet they still had yet to discover who, or what had made the loud noise.

OOC: Question, Green are you closer to us, or Panda?

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Waiting for replies to CCS's group.

Pitre engaged the safety on the rifle and emerged from the brush. Following Anya, he walked toward the fire and cut meat from the roasting animal with his knife. As he handed her a large chunk, he pulled out his canteen. Once he took a swig of water he handed it to her and strode to the radio, pocketing the flint, tinder and dried goods. He had seen radios before, his family having owned one that was much older. The soldier he ate earlier carried one as well, but he had to destroy it before killing the patrol so more would not come to scout the area.

Pitre fiddled with it, trying to find if he could catch any broadcasts similar to those he heard as a boy. The corpses' scent allured him, but he chose to stave off his instincts before the child so early in their journey. Later he would teach her.

Frank turned to meet the man that greeted them rather calmly. The scare earlier had in fact made him more aware of his surroundings and the stranger didn't get them by surprise. Someone was playing music on the roof, if that person jumped down, Frank would certainly have anticipated it. Luckily, it was an inhabitant of New Moscow. What comfort to see a non-hostile face in times like these.

"Oh hey, er," he was scratching his chin and advancing closer, but too close to inspect the face, "Ivan right? You trade stuff from the Kremlin's ruins. I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you here. How you doing? Did you forget me already? I hope not, I'd rather we get the hell out of here with more friendly faces than not. Also were you playing an instrument? Certainly wasn't a ghost I hope. Mind bringing the maestro down or something?"

The radio crackled to life "My...fe...low...mentals.......time.......conquer....New...Mos...cow.........world....ours....." Anya screamed as the three bandits who had fled earlier returned to the camp to reclaim what was theirs. One of them approached Anya with a knife gleaming in the firelight and a cruel grin on his face. The other two approached Pitre from either side of him menacingly.

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Waiting for the rest of Thai's group to post

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Waiting for the rest of CCS's group to post

After nearly seeing death right as his face, Arthur was tired and confused from the events that just occurred. He now has found himself two other men, one much older than him and the other who looks a tad insane, and another woman who was about the same age. Ever since Arthur gathered with this group of people, he's been seeing some strange images around him. Not knowing what they are, Arthur assumes he's just too tired. All of a sudden the woman shouted some commands, grabbing Arthur's fullest attention. She said that they should head to the mountains, as there is water there. Not knowing any better ideas, he went along with it.

"Okay 'Ma'am' " Arthur mumbled as he grabbed his belongings.

"Just don't learn, coonass?" Pitre muttered under his breath. He ripped out his knife from his left side in a way so that it would slice through the gut of both bandits in a single arc. He didn't feel in the mood to guarantee a full kill, disembowling them was enough as they would die as they wandered off. His main goal was to rescue Anya, and as he finished his arc, whether he missed or hit his targets, he twisted around and pulled out his rifle.

"Get down, cher!" he cried as he disengaged the safety and fired the shortest burst possible as accurate as he could. He didn't want to hold the trigger down any further, as firing would throw off his balance and a stray shot could strike her.

((Let's say I wasn't close enough to be heard, but closing n on KiKi's side))

Trisha turned her head in the direction to where she heard yet another voice, it seemed the party was growing larger and larger by the second. She was fine with this though, she thought that it would be safer to travel in groups than just a couple of them. That led to another question though, what would happen to them now? Sure, they had left the carnage that was New Moscow, but what now? Where would they go?

Excusing herself from the main group she heightened her senses, she didn't feel threatened by this new comer, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. Times such as these always brought out the worst in people. If anything, she'd overcome the intruder with a surge of paralyzing fear giving them the opportunity to escape or fight, which ever came first.

"Who's there?" she asked.

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Both bandits who had attempted to attack Pitre doubled over in pain and clutched their stomachs that spewed forth blood and they fell to the ground screaming one of them continuing to crawl towards Pitre. Anya screamed, ducked and crawled towards a fallen tree, hiding behind it while dragging her stuffed bunny with her. Had she turned to watch what had happened behind her she would have seen the man who had attempted to harm her slump to the ground as he was hit with the full force of the shot.

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Waiting for the rest of Thai's group

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Waiting for the rest of CCS's group

Pitre released his grip on the rifle and slung it over his shoulder. Rubbing the right side of his face he walked towards Anya and pulled her up. He realized that while the radio was useless here, he might find another purpose for it later on so he picked it up and suspended it from his rifle strap. There was nothing else of use in the camp and he knew the noise would either scare off others, or possibly draw them out in search of wounded. He beckoned her to follow him as he returned to the forest.

OOC: oops, totally forgot about this
oh man i was starting an Rp too I think?

anyway
short post but w/e i'm busy
IC:
Ivan took a closer look at Frank. He could certainly remember his face, but the man's name escaped him. His mind wandered off for a few seconds as he searched his memories, but then he realized Frank was still talking and snapped back to reality.
"Uhmmm, music?" He said. "Yeah, that was my friend, Hadrian."
I'm not sure if we're really on 'friend' terms, though, Ivan wondered to himself, but quickly dismissed that thought and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"He's just up there!" Ivan cheerfully continued. "I don't really know if he wants visitors, but he's pretty nice so I doubt he'll complain."

Finally! Patrick thought as he heard the voice. He however, didn't know how to respond to the voice. Like him, the person probably ran in here during all of this confusion so he could possibly join her (at least, he thought the voice had a feminine tone). On the other hand, she could be like the old women he met earlier and attack him as well and he didn't want to taser anyone again. "Me?" he said reluctantly, unsure whether to be cautious or not.

The individuals in the Kremlin remained wary of each other, though there seemed to be a mutual unspoken alliance that had been formed between the parties. While Ivan, Hadrian, Frank and Bartholomew continued to get to know each other, revealing only what they felt would be safe for themselves, they noticed that Trisha had disappeared. They agreed to collectively look for the sole woman of their group, already fearing the worst despite the mere moments that had passed.

Trisha as usual was calm and gentle with Patrick, not wanting to startle the boy more than he already was. Though she never spoke it, she was quite impressed that this boy had managed to escape from New Moscow alone.They introduced themselves to each other, and Trisha could already sense that while the boy was still wary of her, there was a growing sense of trust as well. What they did not know however was that Matthias Willard was lurking nearby at an audible distance from the two.

Lucas Hawthorne, seemed to have no such luck, and was still alone. He had barely managed to escape from New Moscow, finding a cobwebbed hole in the wall of the city, and slipped through right as the Bolsho Beetles rampaged upon the city. He scampered towards the ruins and found himself wandering in one of its expansive wings. The beetles, however, were not yet done. All the individuals inside the Kremlin looked up as the heard the buzzing wings of the Bolsho Beetles approach the Kremlin and they landed in various courtyards, violent; their rage unsatisfied. They tore up the corridors ripping through walls and towers, looking for something to kill. Unfortunately for the individuals within the Kremlin, they happened to be the things they found to kill. Having spotted the intruders, the Bolsho Beetles charged at them wildly.


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Pitre and Anya continued through the forest in silence. The girl maintaining her usual silence while she dragged her bunny along the ground. There was a gun shot and then yet another. Anya still quite unaccustomed to the use of guns put her hands over her ears and looked up at Pitre expectantly. It seems as though Pitre's assumptions had been right, there was a larger band of bandits who had happened upon the corpses of their comrades at the campfire.

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As Elias, Tanya, India and Arthur trekked through the mountains they walked in silence. Their future undetermined, as they walked aimlessly as far as they could away from the wreckage of what remained of New Moscow. Even now they could hear the buzzing wings from the Bolsho Beetles as they traversed their newly claimed territory.

They were no safer however, for they too had their own creatures to worry. Even now, as dawn slowly approached chilling laughter could be heard echoing between the mountains. Those educated in the various creatures of the new world, would recognize this as the chilling call of the polar hyena, to others, the laugh alone was frightening enough to keep the group on edge.