Who: Canaan and Neena What: fighting things When: 7/2 Where: around town Rating: R for violence Status: complete
Neena was still wandering later in the day. Thomas was tracking down something for them to eat, and checking up on his family. She was going to meet him in about half an hour, and she was really looking forward to that. After a day of co-operative asskicking, she was ready to get her fiance home and undressed.
She was still in an incredibly good mood, and she whistled as she walked toward the house.
Canaan had taken a break from her husk hunting to grab a quick meal, and was now back to work ridding the city of its current menace. It was a lot of fun. She rarely got the chance to attack and kill things without any moral ambiguities getting in the way, and she never got to shoot things for free anymore.
She was a little worried her moves were getting too limited, so she was doing a bit of parkouring down the street. She jumped over a trash can and slid across a bench, waved at Neena, and then pulled a gun out of a pouch in her backpack and shot something just past the woman. The husk hit the pavement, "I'm not sure where that one even came from."
Neena turned when Canaan pointed a gun at her, and exhaled softly when she realized it was to kill a husk. She waved at the other woman, in thanks. “The fuckers step out of thin air, I think.”
"After even a week in this place, I'd believe that," Canaan replied, with a nod. She hopped down off the bench, pistol still out and eyes scanning around them, "They usually travel in packs."
“Yep.” She turned to look around them, spotting one to the left of Canaan’s bench. She shot at it, watching it go down before she moved closer. “It’s easier with someone watching your ass. I’m Neena, and I suggest we stick together for a bit.”
"Canaan," The other woman responded, putting her back to Neena. That name was familiar to her, but there had to be plenty of Neenas in the world. She'd thought her own name was unique, but it hadn't been. Now wasn't the time to ask her anyway. She slid one of her hands back into her pack, and slid out an extra clip, "Agreed. We're safer in numbers. Especially when both parties can shoot."
“Nice name.” Neena noted with a smile. “I have a boyfriend wandering around somewhere, hopefully he’ll secure a place for us to rest for a little bit.”
"Should we be making our way in his direction, then?" Canaan scanned around and put another hole through a husk's head, one that had quickly run out from between a set of houses. She switched her clips out, then, and reloaded, "Neena's a name you don't hear very often, too. It has a nice ring to it."
“Don’t like it, myself.” Neena noted, shooting the husk’s companion while Canaan reloaded. “I went by Beatrice for a while, but people kept calling me ‘Bea’ and I hated that worse.” She started off down the street at a light jog. “Where’re you from?”
"Bea is definitely worse," Canaan replied, with a nod. She took off after Neena, matching her pace and occasionally checking their six. She wondered how she'd feel about a name like that if Siam had given it to her. She hadn't even questioned the name 'Canaan' at first...
"Sometimes the names people give us fit better than the ones we choose ourselves. Sometimes it's the other way around. I was born in Afghanistan, but you could say that I'm from 'all over'."
“A wanderer, huh?” Neena asked conversationally. A wanderer who was good with a gun. Her dream experience told her that this woman was not one she wanted to fuck with. Good thing they were being cooperative.
"You could say that, yes," Canaan nodded again. The area seemed clear enough for the time being, but since it'd seemed clear before, she wasn't taking any chances. Her gun was still out and she was on high alert - one had already gotten close enough to bite her once, and she didn't want to repeat the experience, "Are you from around here?"
“Not originally. I grew up in Chicago.” She looked around and shrugged. No more husks, yet. “I moved out here about seven or eight years ago when my husband died.” She knew that was a lie, now, but it was a quicker story than the truth.
Well, how many people named Neena grew up in Chicago and had a husband that 'died' seven years ago or so? Canaan couldn't help but think that this must be the same Neena that Milo hadn't ever shut up about when she'd worked with him.
She wondered what he was up to, these days. They'd long since gone their separate ways, "Chicago is a place I've never been to, only heard about. I worked with someone once who talked about it often. He must have been very homesick."
Neena shrugged. "I don't ever plan to go back. My life is here, now, and it's a lot better." Her tone made it clear that she didn't want to talk about Chicago anymore. She looked around for something to shoot. Thinking about Milo brought back all the pain and anger she'd felt as a 'widow', with the added betrayal that came with knowing he'd abandoned her willingly.
Well, that seemed a clear enough indication that she was on the right track. Canaan let the subject drop for now. There was no point dredging all of that up when their minds needed to be on other things.
"Three more, eight o'clock."
They were moving so quickly that she was glad she wasn't alone, "... Their numbers seem to be increasing, there weren't this many around yesterday." “Yeah, no shit.” Neena made a face. “Where are they all coming from?” She turned to face the threat, taking aim at the closest one. She had the time to be careful, and she smiled in satisfaction as the thing went down with just one shot.
Another few shots and those three were taken care of, with no waste of ammunition. Canaan was impressed, and kind of turned on. She kept that second part to herself. As for where they were coming from, she had no idea, but, "You would think it would have made it to the news by now. These used to be people once. Somewhere out there has had a drastic dip in its population."
“Probably derelicts. Nobody misses the homeless.” Neena shook her head. People deserved better than this. “I want to know what happened to the poor bastards, what made them this way.”
"Sometimes it's better not to know," Canaan replied, her tone a bit grim. She frowned, though, and it looked like she didn't quite believe her own words, "I'm not a fan of asking a lot of questions. That Shepard on the network seems to know more, though. You could message her."
Neena nodded. Shepard did know a lot of stuff. “If she knew what was causing it she’d have told me what to shoot by now.”
"She knows more than she's letting on, but maybe not enough to give you a target. Or perhaps she doesn't want you to be the person doing the shooting."
Her remark was punctuated with the sound of pistol fire as another pack of husks crawled out of an apartment building. The sad fact that there had probably been people there for them to hurt only made her more glad to be shooting them.
Neena couldn’t argue with that. Shepard had her own way of doing things, but Neena was a hired gun working for Shepard when it came to these things, and she didn’t question her employers. The husks were a good distraction, she took out a couple as well and dashed over to check for injuries.
Canaan tucked her pistol away and pulled out her phone, just in case they needed to call someone. They probably did, but she held out some hope that whoever was inside was okay. Maybe they'd arrived just in time to distract the things and be heroes.
Neena sighed when she saw a group of kids and young adults. They were surrounded by groceries and emergency supplies. “The husks must have chased you down, huh? Any injuries?” She didn’t see any obvious ones, they mostly just looked scared out of their wits.
"You're safe now. You should shut the windows and doors and try to keep busy," Canaan's voice was gentle while still being slightly firm. She bent down and started picking up some of the supplies that had spilled onto the floor. None of them looked injured by her eyes, either. She nodded at Neena, silently.
Neena nodded and relaxed, and started helping the kids get back to their feet. “Looks like you’re doing a good job laying in supplies, but stay inside from now on. There’s nothing out there you need so much that you should leave.”
"Measure out your supplies carefully and set up a schedule for use. Especially the water. It will help keep you all from running out in case this lasts for a long time. It's better to be a little thirsty or go a little more hungry than usual, you won't starve or die of thirst outright," Canaan instructed. She hefted up some of the bags of groceries to help carry them in.
Neena nodded and herded all the kids into their various apartments. When they were safely isnide she sighed. “Well, that was lucky.”
"I try not to believe in luck, but this time it seems appropriate," Canaan replied. Her tone was light, like she was making some kind of joke that only she really understood. Now that they were back outside, she quickly made another check for monsters, "Where did you say that boyfriend of yours was?
“Close.” Neena said, nodding to the right. “He should be able to hear us soon, I hope.” She started off in his direction, hoping to meet up with him soon.
"Let's find him, then. I'm enjoying your impromptu company but I have a date to get to," Canaan said, heading in the direction Neena'd bobbed her head in.
Neena laughed. “Have fun. Don’t get into too much trouble.” She winked, because that was probably exactly the plan, and Neena didn’t blame her one bit.