[M] [IC] Fallout: Ain't That A Kick In The Head?

[Holocene]

Nikola's words bounced off of Joe's hazed mind. His only reply was a groggy, "Sure...yeah..ok..." Joe stood up, and started looking around. Ethel had already gone down the stairs, and Joe was oblivious to the fact she was ever there. He started stumbling around the living room, trying to remember what it was that he was supposed to be doing.

Get to Delta. Access the computer. Then he would be free. But this wasn't Delta, and there was no computer...

Of course, Nikola's plan was too little and too late, even if Joe were conscious of what his part in it was. Downstairs, the situation had reached it's crises moment.

Ethel had come down the stairs, and froze when she saw Dani's knife to the throat of Ernest. Her eyes were glued to the bleeding Ernest, she was completely unaware of Stephen with his shotgun.

Ethel froze, but didn't lower her gun. Ernest managed to spat out, "Don't do it Ethel! They're monsters. They'll tear us to pieces if we give 'em the chance!"

Ethel, still afraid and confused, lowered the gun slightly, and shakily said, "If we let you go, you promise you wont hurt him?"

Ernest started struggling, but his strength was waning, and it was unlikely he could escape from Dani's grasp.

It was clear Ernest had lost control, and Ethel didn't have the grit that Ernest had built up from his years wandering the wastes.

[abbiejlee95]

Dani took a steadying breath and answered Ethel as smoothly and calmly as she could. "Yes Ethel. I swear on my life we will not do any further harm. The only reason he is at all injured is because he shot at us first. We have no desire to harm you. If I had wanted to kill him I wouldn't have gone for his ankles. Please Ethel hand my friend your gun and we will be on our way." She glanced over at Stephen and nodded at him to approach Ethel.

[LupusSilvae]

Stephen sent an incredulous glance at Dani in return. "She's fuckin' insane. The second she lets him go, he's going to kill us." In spite of his inner fury with Dani's call, he very reluctantly stepped forward and extended one hand to take the gun from Ethel. It wasn't a particularly promising situation, but he had a small sliver of hope it would turn out in their favor.

[UserError404]

As the events unfolded inside, Nikola went back to where they had dropped their weapons. Niels followed in tail, as the scientist went to the rusted mailbox. Underneath was his trusty plasma rifle. He picked it up and examined it briefly before running back to the house. As he approached the door, Niels cooed quietly. Nikola turned to see a shotgun in the mouth of his companion. Joe's shotgun from the look of it. He gave the intrepid little gecko a soft pat on the head and put his ear up to the door before slowly opening it, hoping he wasn't too late.

[Holocene]

Ethel begrudgingly handed her pistol to Stephen, and then ran over to Dani and her husband. Ernest was almost frothing at the mouth as he yelled at Ethel to not trust them. But her touch, or the fact that there didn't appear to be a clear way to fight, or maybe the fact he had just run out of energy calmed him down a bit, and now he was no longer resisting Dani.

With Nikola coming into the house rearmed, it now seemed that everything was now under their control. But that left decisions to be made. What would become of Ernest and Ethel, and their cannibalistic lifestyle? What would the group do for the night that had now set upon them?

[abbiejlee95]

Dani's mind raced as Ethel handed off her gun and came over to embrace her injured husband. She knew she was now the weakest link of her party as she was pretty severely injured. Though she was doing her best not to reveal how disoriented and in pain she was.

She looked over at Stephen and slowly rotated around the couple, turning her back to the stairs but keeping her eyes squarely on them. She knelt down to pick up the shotgun she had kicked away from the injured old man and spoke as she trained it on the unarmed couple.

"Stephen, if you would, please head up the stairs and gather the others and our weapons and get the hell out of here. I'll stay with these two until you are at a safe distance. Give me five minutes. If I don't appear outside the house by then book it and forget about me."

[LupusSilvae]

Stephen did not need to be asked twice. As soon as Dani gave him the go ahead to leave, he was halfway up the stairs. When he got to the top, Rhea jumped to her feet in relief, but Stephen paid her no mind. He did not even pause on his way to the front door, looking at Nikola and Joe and snapping, "We're leaving. Now. Go."

[UserError404]

Slowly opening the door, the barrel of Nikola's gun meet with Stephen coming up the stairs. Slightly lowering the gun, he stood in confusion as Stephen walked towards the door. Opening his mouth to ask a question, he was interrupted by Stephen who abruptly said they were leaving. With Stephen out the door, Nikola turned to Joe, "Uhhh... So what the hell happened? Where is Dani?"

[Holocene]

Joe's head was still in a haze form the drugs, but he had adjusted to reality enough to comprehend what was going around him. In good timing too, as Stephen had just come up the stairs and given the order to leave. Joe looked at Stephen confusedly, still unaware of what had been happening. Joe saw his bag, and grabbed it, before heading to the door, ignoring Nikola's concern about Dani.

He looked outside into the darkness, becoming only more confused on why they we're leaving, and in such a seeming hurry. "Did I sleep through the whole night or something? It seems to dark to be travelling."

Downstairs, Ethel and Ernest looked again like a harmless old couple, in a weaker state than they had seemed before. If it we'rent for the half consumed man hanging behind them, perhaps it could almost be easy for Dani to believe that again. The warrior was too weak and injured to show distress at the fact that he had not been rescued.

[abbiejlee95]

Dani waited until she heard Stephen talking to the others upstairs before she slowly started to back up the stairs. She kept her gun trained on the old couple but she couldn't help but spot the scene behind them. This was really the first good look she had had of the carnage and her stomach turned and she felt her head begin to spin again. She had to get out of here.

She wondered if the mutilated warrior behind them was even still alive but shook her head. She couldn't worry about him. "You know, you really shouldn't eat people. It's... Not right. Not all of us are bad. I know that you know it's immoral." She couldn't help but try to plead with any remaining humanity these two had left before she turned to run up the stairs. Slamming the basement door behind her.