Evolution
PIN UP
"God-damn!"
Ryan jumped slightly from his post by the door, leaning back against the wall and craning his neck towards the voice while steadily keeping his gun trained in its prior position.
"Lee? Everything alright in there?" He called out to the room behind him, nervously looking between the entrance and the blood-stained room behind him. They'd moved out to the old base of The Stranglers this morning in the hope of finding any of the supplies they'd been bragging about before they were taken out by some big shots from Diego. There'd been a lot shooting and a lot of blood but since the boys from San Diego had slunk back to their turf (not before mounting one or two choice Stranglers on barbed barriers) it had been pretty quiet; for LA, anyway. There hadn't been any activity in this area for a while and though Trenton, the one who watched the boundaries on this area, had given the all clear for the last week, Ryan wasn't quite so sure. If there was anyone you could trust to be quiet about their business, it was a Strangler. Probably why they'd gone so easy in the end. Not a lot of guns about.
"Ryan, shit! You know that pin-up shop on Court Street that was wiped clean?" Lee appeared at a side-door, magazine open sideways and grin slashed lopsidedly into his face like it didn't quite belong there but was proud to be. "Them dirty little Strangler boys!"
Ryan rolled his eyes, reverting his attention straight back to the open doorway and trying to suppress the shiver of familiarity that slithered up his spine at the sight of the magazine. It was like being 16 all over again. Though - well. He didn't like to think about the past.
Before.
"What was it Kaitlin said this morning? Something abo-"
"Supplies being useful yeah, yeah yeah!" Cut in Lee, exasperation coating his voice "You gotta take it easy, man, we're what? Three hundred meters from base, if that. Them Stranglers are long gone. Trenton's as paranoid as he is twitchy, he wouldn't walk us into a trap, you know that, man. Just relax a little. We're cool here."
Ryan rolled his shoulders restlessly, far from comforted, still not looking towards the other man, eyes flitting around the potential cover offered by the courtyard and it's many hiding places. Better safe than sorry. That's what everyone said before they died; better safe than sorry than dead or eaten. Better a Strangler than a Feral. Better dead than living like this. Sorry. Every living human out there was a coward, or really fucking brave. Ryan couldn't tell anymore.
"Nah, nothing here but them magazines, a little but of ammo and a can of... peaches, I think. San Diego lads cleared 'em out from what I can tell. Best head back and send the twins in to look it up proper tomorrow. Trenton said he's got a feeling for sun, better finding things with some light. Clear out." The larger man strode past Ryan and into the courtyard with a self assurance that made Ryan's fingers jerk to the trigger. Recklessness. Or his own paranoia, it was hard to tell, but he followed up after Lee none the less, albeit in a more cautious manner - watching the dirty blonde's back with a carefully pointed gun and darting eyes. The Strangler's kept their place nice and ready for an ambush - crates stacked near corners, broken down cars pushed to the middle of clearings and litterings of building paraphernalia like bricks and miscellaneous metal objects conveniently placed near said cover.
Lee strode past a car with a missing door without a even a glance in its direction. Ryan flinched.
It was going to be a long three hundred meters.
Ryan jumped slightly from his post by the door, leaning back against the wall and craning his neck towards the voice while steadily keeping his gun trained in its prior position.
"Lee? Everything alright in there?" He called out to the room behind him, nervously looking between the entrance and the blood-stained room behind him. They'd moved out to the old base of The Stranglers this morning in the hope of finding any of the supplies they'd been bragging about before they were taken out by some big shots from Diego. There'd been a lot shooting and a lot of blood but since the boys from San Diego had slunk back to their turf (not before mounting one or two choice Stranglers on barbed barriers) it had been pretty quiet; for LA, anyway. There hadn't been any activity in this area for a while and though Trenton, the one who watched the boundaries on this area, had given the all clear for the last week, Ryan wasn't quite so sure. If there was anyone you could trust to be quiet about their business, it was a Strangler. Probably why they'd gone so easy in the end. Not a lot of guns about.
"Ryan, shit! You know that pin-up shop on Court Street that was wiped clean?" Lee appeared at a side-door, magazine open sideways and grin slashed lopsidedly into his face like it didn't quite belong there but was proud to be. "Them dirty little Strangler boys!"
Ryan rolled his eyes, reverting his attention straight back to the open doorway and trying to suppress the shiver of familiarity that slithered up his spine at the sight of the magazine. It was like being 16 all over again. Though - well. He didn't like to think about the past.
Before.
"What was it Kaitlin said this morning? Something abo-"
"Supplies being useful yeah, yeah yeah!" Cut in Lee, exasperation coating his voice "You gotta take it easy, man, we're what? Three hundred meters from base, if that. Them Stranglers are long gone. Trenton's as paranoid as he is twitchy, he wouldn't walk us into a trap, you know that, man. Just relax a little. We're cool here."
Ryan rolled his shoulders restlessly, far from comforted, still not looking towards the other man, eyes flitting around the potential cover offered by the courtyard and it's many hiding places. Better safe than sorry. That's what everyone said before they died; better safe than sorry than dead or eaten. Better a Strangler than a Feral. Better dead than living like this. Sorry. Every living human out there was a coward, or really fucking brave. Ryan couldn't tell anymore.
"Nah, nothing here but them magazines, a little but of ammo and a can of... peaches, I think. San Diego lads cleared 'em out from what I can tell. Best head back and send the twins in to look it up proper tomorrow. Trenton said he's got a feeling for sun, better finding things with some light. Clear out." The larger man strode past Ryan and into the courtyard with a self assurance that made Ryan's fingers jerk to the trigger. Recklessness. Or his own paranoia, it was hard to tell, but he followed up after Lee none the less, albeit in a more cautious manner - watching the dirty blonde's back with a carefully pointed gun and darting eyes. The Strangler's kept their place nice and ready for an ambush - crates stacked near corners, broken down cars pushed to the middle of clearings and litterings of building paraphernalia like bricks and miscellaneous metal objects conveniently placed near said cover.
Lee strode past a car with a missing door without a even a glance in its direction. Ryan flinched.
It was going to be a long three hundred meters.