Noa Bellamy (sharpthings) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2016-07-08 13:58:00 |
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Entry tags: | # 2019 [07] july, noa bellamy, sasha whittaker |
Who: Noa Bellamy, Sasha Whittaker, US Soldiers (and zombies :|)
Where: 2708 S Lamar Blvd #100c, Austin, TX, Greenbelt District
What: Noa wants to show Sasha their new shop before it’s cleared out. They run into problems, and some help.
When: 7/3/19, midday
It wasn’t anything special to look at, the shop that Noa had chosen a week ago and officially claimed when she’d registered two days ago. Run down, neglected, with dust on the windows, it had a long way to go before she would ink anyone inside. But it was hers, according to the US Government. A fact that had her thinking she might need to eat some crow when it came to her own stubbornness of thought. Not only had they let her claim a building without trouble, but the official she spoke to had assured her they’d have it cleared for her by the end of the month. The woman had been around Noa’s age, bubbly and interested in Noa’s plans. She hadn’t been what Noa had expected at all; there hadn’t been a sneer, or muttering under her breath, which were things Noa had steeled herself for. Instead she had chatted through the entire registering process, complimenting Noa on her ink and her eyebrow piercing, she even lamented the fact that she had to put a retainer in her own nose piercing while she was at work. It had caught Noa off guard; the interaction had stuck with her even after she had left. Even though the building wasn’t cleared yet, Noa wanted Sasha to see it. She was excited, smiling even before she’d turned the Dyna off and dismounted. “We’ll have to go in the back, sweetheart,” she said as she hung her helmet on one of the handlebars. “The fronts barricaded.” Noa was familiar with the space, since she had looted most of the smaller supplies out a few years prior. The back door didn’t latch, so she knew they’d be able to use that as an entrance. Sasha had been practically vibrating out of his skin when Noa told him she had secured a real live building for a tattoo shop. Excited probably didn’t even fully cover how he felt about it. For a kid who had never even had a job, the idea of working in an actual brick and mortar building was thrilling. Of course it meant he had to register, but after Marina had assured him that everything would be fine, he actually felt kind of better about registering. The fact that Noa had wanted him to see it felt important too, like he was a part of this decision in some way (even if the shop was already hers). In some small way it made him feel grown up, or equal to her, the fact that she would take the time to show him. Of course he was ignoring the part where it wasn’t cleared yet and silently praying nothing terrible would happen. Sasha had just earned back his freedom not too long ago, he really didn’t want to be a trouble magnet and end up grounded… again. Climbing off the back of the motorcycle, he looked up at the building before nodding. “Alright,” was his first reply to Noa, quickly followed by a much quieter. “Is it safe?” He wasn’t afraid, but his family didn’t exactly have a good track record with buildings and zombies. Noa pulled a knife from her belt - not her butterfly knife, something larger- as she moved closer to the back entrance. “It was clear the last time I was through,” she told him, mindful of his fear, but hoping she could count on him if there was trouble. As expected, the door was ajar, and after a minute of listening Noa determined there wasn’t anything rustling around on the other side. It took her a few more moments to rearrange so she had her knife and a maglite in the same hand, but then she stepped into the backroom from the alley behind. The heavy metal door squeaked as she moved it, she hoped that the soldiers clearing would repair that so she wouldn’t have to put it on her list. “It's a small shop. It has a backroom, enough space for a couple of stations, and a front reception area,” she explained as she shined the light over dusty shelves. “When was the last time you were through?” Sasha questioned, following Noa’s lead and pulling out his own knife. He wasn’t nervous -- or at least he wouldn’t admit to it -- but the idea that there might be infected crawling around inside the building was an unsettling one. Not one that kept him from stepping into the shop behind his mentor, though. Should he have gone in first? Was it sexist to think that he should have gone in first? Those were the thoughts that replaced his previous one as they moved deeper into the darkened shop. “We’ve been working out of a shed pretty much, anything will feel bigger than that,” he remarked with a grin, even though Noa couldn’t see his facial expressions in the dim light. “So I mean, you could have said it was a mansion and I’d have believed you,” Sasha added, keeping his voice low just in case they weren’t alone. “A while.” Noa didn’t have an exact date and she’d scavenged so many shops while she’d been in Austin that some of them ran together for her. The only one she’d crossed off her map indefinitely was the one she’d been attacked in. “And don’t you go knocking that space, sweetheart. It did me good while I had nowhere else.” She tried to gauge if Sasha’s glib comments were an effort to cover up real fear while she kicked a few boxes out of their path. The door to the rest of the building was latched, but she popped it open and stepped through, since the backroom was just a disarray of empty shelves and boxes. Sunlight tried valiantly to work it’s way through the grimey front windows, but only cast an eerie light instead, so Noa kept her maglite on. “We can clean up the equipment that’s here,” she said over her shoulder with a wave towards the chairs and cabinets. “Suspect I’ll need to let them know not to gut the place.” She was concentrated on giving Sasha the tour, and not concentrated on their surroundings, so the shambling walkers that must’ve been trapped in the work station just ahead and to their left went unnoticed until they were only feet from them. “Wouldn’t it just make sense not to gut the place?” Sasha questioned as he stuck close to Noa as she began giving him the dime tour. “And I wasn’t kno--” His words died on his lips as the shamblers they had failed to notice upon first entering the rest of the shop began moving towards them now. “Shit.” The word slipped out in a sort of panicked hiss and Sasha was already sheathing his knife and reaching for the gun at his hip, but just as his fingers wrapped around the grip, he froze. Without warning or permission memories of how Sasha lost his mom flooded into the forefront of his mind, mingled in with the thought that he might go out the same way. Grabbing Noa’s arm with his free hand, Sasha tried to keep the panic out of his voice as he said. “We have to get out of here!” He was already stepping backwards towards the door they had come in through, intent on pulling Noa along with him if he had to. Except that way wasn’t clear either. Another biter was slowly moving towards them, its gate stilted, but still quicker than what made Sasha comfortable. They were trapped. How could they have both been so careless as to not have kept their guard up? “We’re fine,” Noa murmured, more of a reminder to herself than it was to Sasha, though his fingers on her arm were uncomfortably tight. They were outnumbered, but if she let any desperation bleed in they’d be in worse shape. He was only barely staving off full panic, she could tell. She maneuvered out of his grasp and shifted the both of them so they were back to back, with Sasha facing just the one. “Suspect they’re the only ones, so if you shoot, sweetheart, it ain’t going to attract more.” Were they fine? Because Sasha sort of felt like it was the opposite of being fine. He didn’t say anything though, instead he allowed Noa to maneuver out of his grasp and shift so that they were back to back. He barely heard her comment over the racing of his heart and the pounding in his ears, still he muttered a quick, “Okay.” As he raised his gun and prepared to aim. The three walkers had probably been trapped by someone else to begin with, since the backroom had been latched. Noa didn’t have time to think about that, just shortly after her words were out of her mouth the first of the two was on her, grappling and grasping for purchase on her clothing or flesh. Even though it was slow, she struggled to bury her knife in the side of it’s skull; blood was rushing in her ears loud enough that she missed the sound of breaking glass and boots. But the first crumpled, and then the second, the one that was just reaching for her fell like a marionette that had its strings cut. The spray of the gunshot that had downed it missed Noa by only a few inches. “Sasha?” she asked over her shoulder, her heart racing and her eyes focused on the three fatigue clad soldiers that had busted in through the front. Sasha’s finger had been poised on the trigger, ready to fire, when the soldiers had made their appearance, gunfire ringing out in the space - gunfire that was not his. “Yeah?” His voice sounded shaky even to his own ears, the zombie he had been aiming at laid out on the floor in front of him in a heap, just a mere foot or two from him. “I'm good, I think…” Sasha glanced down at himself, fully aware that if he had been hit by the spray of gunfire he would probably know, although he had also read that adrenaline dulled you to things like that. “Ma’am,” the first soldier addressed Noa. “Are the both of you okay?” It was easy to read the concern on his face as he stepped forward and around the corpses while the two others went to sweep the rest of the space. “We’re fine. Just shook up.” Noa subtly ducked out of his reach out of habit. “Thanks.” “Do you think they’ll fix the bullet holes before we move in?” Sasha asked quietly, turning around to join Noa in looking at the three new faces. She swallowed her laughter down at the earnest teenage question. Sasha hadn’t been as quiet as he thought though, since the man - his uniform said Smith on it - wasn’t as successful as Noa had been, and laughed audibly. “Shouldn’t be any,” he told Sasha. “All our shots landed where we wanted them to.” He jerked a thumb at the walkers on the floor. “This wasn’t our first rodeo.” There wasn’t any bravado, just an assured tone that gave Noa the impression that it really wasn’t the first time they’d had to clear the undead out. “First time there were already people in a building though.” Smith holstered his gun and looked between the two of them. “Doesn’t seem like you were scavenging.” Again Noa was thrown for a loop, since she would have figured the assumption would have gone the other way. In all honesty Sasha was barely paying any attention to the soldiers who had just saved their asses. He was far too amped up on adrenaline, his heart still racing a mile a minute in his chest as both the reality of the situation sunk in and the severity of it. What would have happened if the soldiers hadn’t shown up? Noa was immune, but God knew if he was. Sasha’s heart sunk as he realized it could have all ended so, so much worse -- it could have been a repeat of his mom all over again. Fuck, his dad was going to freak out. “We’re not.” Sasha finally snapped back to the present, shoving the ‘what ifs’ to the back of his mind. “She owns this shop.” He inclined his head in Noa’s direction. “I don’t have any official paperwork on me,” Noa clarified at the raised eyebrows Smith turned in her direction. “But my name is down for the space. Noa Bellamy.” It felt strange to give that information up, but if it kept the both of them from getting into hot water, she knew it was necessary. “Not a problem,” Smith assured. “We’ll take your word, ma’am, and check our list later.” He smiled before he looked back around the space and made a few motions to his men. Noa returned his smile belatedly, a momentary shock at the fact that he’d smiled at all, and that he hadn’t been suspicious of her. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to keep the equipment and clean that up myself once I’m allowed to move in.” She glanced at Sasha for a minute to gauge her apprentice and his mood. In truth Sasha wondered if these men knew just who he and Noa were associated with? If the soldiers knew they had Hellhound ties would they be as friendly? Of course he wasn’t going to raise that question while they stood in the shop just now, outnumbered and still buzzing from the near death experience. Sasha may have also made a mental note that their first few weeks in the shop would be spent cleaning equipment after Noa made her wishes known in regards to the items. He also didn’t miss the look she directed his way, and while he was still sort of freaked out (or more like absolutely freaked out), Sasha tried at a smile, one that looked a little strained around the edges, but he hoped would let his mentor know that he wasn’t going to do anything stupid or say anything stupid. “So, ah, are you done with us?” Sasha questioned Smith, not necessarily trying to get out of the shop, but knowing eventually he would have to go home and let his dad know what had happened here. Meanwhile Noa resisted the urge to facepalm. That’s not how she would have worded it, but Sasha was a lot younger. “You’re free to go,” Smith confirmed, thankfully he seemed to take Sasha in stride. “We’ll make a note about your request, and you’ll get a notification when the space is safe, Ms. Bellamy.” “Thank you,” Noa replied before Smith stepped away to join the others in their sweep. “You have enough bravery left in you to backtrack, sweetheart?” she directed at Sasha, some humor infused in the question. He’d done better than she could have expected, but she knew there was going to be fallout regardless. Glancing between the soldiers and the back exit, Sasha nodded. “Yeah, I mean, that’s where the motorcycle is,” He answered Noa, hoping he sounded braver than he felt in that moment. The idea of backtracking only played a small part in his unease, the other, much larger part came into play upon returning to the Dog Park. Still, even with Sasha’s concerns about facing his dad, he began moving back the way they had come. His hope was that while they had been in the front of the building a zombie hadn’t decided to sneak in through the back. “We’re going to have to tell my dad about this, aren’t we?” Sasha questioned, glancing over his shoulder at Noa as they moved further in the direction they had originally come. He was certain he already knew Noa’s answer, but he asked the question anyway. “Honey, there ain’t any way we can’t,” Noa confirmed, ushering Sasha out to the relative quiet of the back alley. Her Dyna was still there, unscathed and she grabbed her helmet from the handle. “Lying ain’t something I’m going to encourage.” |