Hit the Road Jack- Zombie Apocalypse.

What was going on? Fire and then rain? Were the elements themselves against the two of them? But the fire was easy to tell that it was not just a coincidence. Markus had to bet that it was that damn weirdo sniper's doing, really. Seeing as it had originated on his side of the forest. But it was not going to be an easy thing to get rid of or to dodge without making some noise. Luckily, the rain gave some sound to break their footfalls as they began to race through the trees ahead of the flames. Of course they were being pushed back to the river. Most likely for an ambush. Not too tough to tell there, he never liked the methodical ones. Reason he was originally alone in this place. No one could fully be trusted, except for the hunted sticking with the hunted. A pack to change the tables and turn them around. They could not run forever, even he knew that. Once they hit the open space of the river, they were sure to be surrounded by the spitters, and that would not be pleasant.

And the blood covering Raven was not a good thing either. Maybe they needed to change their strategy... It was time to take a bit of a turn to becoming one of the undead, but not literally..

Markus came to a halt atop one of the branches and motioned to Raven to come over. He needed her input on it first. And maybe she had the supplies to help him in this little change he had in mind. "Raven. We need gloves. I have a plan to get away from these things while being on the ground. But we need to kill one and gut them. Basis hunting 101. To become a predator, you must mask your scent with theirs. Like in House of The Dead 2 with the swat member...."

Markus was really dreading this idea really, but they couldn't simply hop with the trees. They needed to blend in, and quickly. Eyes averted from the female to the ground below. A walker all alone? Awwww how luck shined on him today. But after a second or two, Markus drew a dagger from his sheathe beltline and fired off a silent kill toward the forehead of the monster. It was the precision he had practiced that he descended the trees quickly and withdrew the dagger, driving a gutting line down his body and pulling out the entrails of the zombie. Of course it wasn't effective in shifting him unless it entered a cut or some way into the body. Seeing as currently he had no cuts, he was safe from the contamination as he spread the revolting crimson and black liquid all over him. A stomach churning kick of nausea hit him as he finally finished the process. It was time to test it out. And hope for the best.

"I'll be damned..." Under his breath, Cronos uttered these few words. He never expected to find someone else from a military branch out here; especially not THAT someone. He was a pretty popular conversation witin the multiple task forces Cronos had been apart of. Of course, they rarely chatted anyways, so it wasn't something to be concerned about. Actually, he could remember meeting the guy once. Didn't seem too bad, but they did only pass with a casual "Hello." Pleasantries wasn't in their job description. Quickly, Cronos reached into his pack to grab a his radio and reply. A man like Noah could be an asset out here; if the rumours were true. With a series of clicks and buzzes, he made out his reply best he could. It'd been awhile.

"System Chronos. USASF. End.. Nearby. Travel South. 2 clicks. End. Walkers scarce. End.. Will keep posted. End.."

That was all he needed for now. If he chose to come, they could speak more in depth. Though the walkers were few and far between, it'd be dumb to light another fire and give away his position to not only them, but the supposed armed and dangerous bastards that were running around. Deciding to stay low for the time being, Cronos took a seat and pulled out a bottle of water. "And the wait begins."

She followed the male, fleeing from the choking smoke and searing heat. Though at the site of him beginning to cover himself with the innards of the undead, she held back the bile beginning to travel up her throat. The smell alone was revolting, yet the act of placing it all over one's body was even worse. She stayed within the tree, unwilling to cover herself like the male was. To her it made no point, the rain that had begun to fall would wash off whatever they put on.

"What's the point of covering ourselves in their scent just to have it wash off when the rain worsens?" Her voice was low as she sank from the tree, drops began to wash the blood from her clothing. Her thoughts wondered as she listened to the calls, even if she couldn't understand what they were saying she knew it wasn't an animal. The calls were purely human, used to zone in on them. Slender digits ran through her bright blonde locks, leaving streaks of crimson through it.

"Why are they even trying to kill us? We want nothing to do with what they have... We could easily have helped them with their food supplies... I don't understand any of this... I hate humans..." Raven caught her bottom lip in her teeth, swallowing back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her. She had to stay strong, think about something else when she remembered one of her favorite TV series.

"What if we just cut off their hands and jaw and made them walk around with us... It would mask us and keep us safe." The second call back caught her full attention making her turn towards the direction of the sound, unlike they had thought the surrounding trees only seemed to help her pin mark where they were, even if she couldn't deceiver the code words that tweeted back and forth.

Instead of waiting to be found she began to fulfill her own instructions, locating two loner walkers before dissecting them to the needed requirements. Once they were disarmed she used a length of rope from her backpack, tying the two up by their necks in order to haul them around behind them. Just as she managed to finished the rain picked up, pouring down buckets at a time. It cleaned her clothing, yet drenched her to the bone leeching out all of her warmth.

"We have to find where the trees are the thickest so we can begin to warm ourselves... I'm less worried about being hunted if we die of hypothermia first." A slight joking tone filled her voice as she spoke, trying to sound more confident. Grabbing the boy's arm she lead him deeper, in hopes of finding cover from the downpour. The rain seemed to help less than she thought, even if it slowed the walkers, the newer breed of beasts didn't seem fazed by anything. Raven hoped what she had heard about the newer breed was right, even if they were smarter they still mainly hung around water seeming to know it was needed for survival.

Markus was pulled from the body and taken off before he could finish. It was a valid point that the rain could wash away all of the scent and the blood, but with all the cover they had seemed to traverse through, he thought it to be unlikely that they would be getting too wet between their current location and the river. But then again, they weren't heading for the watering hole. Even HE knew the trap there would be one that most likely the sniper had well planned. But if they never reached it, then there would be no way for it to be as bad. The rain had begun to wash over the land, putting out the fire as he Began to take one of the ropes holding a body and pulling to help her with the weight. For them to survive, they had to stick together. Survival of the fittest, and they were obviously better than these blasted zombies.

The shuffling steps of their feet was drowned out by the drip-drips of rain falling from the tree branches and skies above. A nice sonic camouflage really as they were going through the trees. But then a question arose in his mind as he looked to her. What did she have planned for these bodies? They were zombies, they had no real use but for good target practice. This simple question raised alarms in his head as he started to slow down his pace.

"Hey. What exactly are we doing with these bodies? I mean, they are weighing us down. I'm a bit confused."

THE TORRENT OF RAIN AND TREES MASKED NOAH'S EXACT LOCATION BECAUSE THAT'S HOW SOUND WORKS, THEREFORE THE GIRL WITH THE BOW WAS TRACKING MUFFLED, BOUNCING ECHOS AND NOT NOAH. IN OTHER WORDS SHE WASN'T PINPOINTING JACK SHIT. (See how that works, Raven? Physics, honey.) With that in mind he peeped out another message from his shoulder unit to Cronos; strange though. He'd met the man once or twice, and he seemed pleasant enough. Well, pleasant in a way that he didn't waste time with small talk, or attempt to engage in a pissing contest the way the rest of his assassin ilk did. How useful the man was, was an entirely different matter however. Typically Noah tried to stray away from anyone else in the military especially those in the governments back pockets, of course some would swear up and down that he too was on the GOP's payroll, but contrary to their belief Semper Unit much like Delta operated on their own terms. Not even a four star had clearance to view his missions or records.

"Approaching your location. Sit tight. End."

With the rain wetting the ground he was less likely to make noise when walking, but still kept his slow, steady pace. Old habits. On the other hand the patter was also a hindrance and he was now unable to hear whispering voices, or grunting walkers; though, thankfully his eyes made up for it. You weren't a sniper if you didn't have 20/20 vision, or at least you weren't a Semper sniper. Keeping low he moved between trees and screens of vines, he even used a few zeds as cover, following closely behind them before veering off again.

But oh what he wouldn't give for a UAV, or some coverage from a vantage point, but those luxuries were long gone with the days when he toured. In some ways he missed his old crew, they were the closest thing to "friends" he had. Oh well, if they weren't dead they were probably hiding out somewhere else.

Through the trees he could just make out a faint outline in the shadows sitting on the ground. Putting his bow and arrow away he shuffled over with hands up as a sign he wasn't going to attack; when reaching Cronos he promptly saluted then got down to business in a hushed voice.

"There's a compound a few clicks south of here, but my dipshit spotter blew half of it up. The ammo vault should still be intact along with bunking. First, we need to hunt some rabbits. I don't know their names, but neither of them are very smart. We can't force them to move around too much with the rain washing their smell away, but if I could get lights on their position the zeds will see them and attack."

As he spoke Noah drew a map of the area in the wet dirt with his finger and marked the waypoints and where everyone was. Eventually he looked up at Cronos, his brassy eyes blank and void of any emotion at all.

"Let's do this without any favors from above."

He was of course talking about choppers, and knew by the condition the mans gear was in that he'd spent time safely tucked away. However, now was not the time to analyze. Now was the time to plan.

"The other civvie is moving up river towards them, she probably won't last long against the two of them. The highest priority is the male. He's got guns."

With his business concluded Noah stared at the crude map in the ground pensively.

"Contamination Alert."

The loud speaker had blasted this message throughout the entire compound, waking Tweak in a frenzy. He scrambled up from the bed, and took a moment to gain his senses after sleeping for just under an hour. His head was light, and his body wobbled. He shook it off, and ran to the closet and grabbed his partial face mask that cleansed air while he moved. Tweak also grabbed a backpack and his rifle before heading towards the kitchen. He was slamming doors open and grabbing cans of food and supplies. And, that is when the speaker had blasted once again.

"This was a test, The test is over."

Chuckling softly to himself, through the rapid beating of his heart, Tweak still gathered supplies. There was no one here, supplies were low, and the ammo cabinet was locked. Guess who had the keys? Noah. Tweak lopped the backpack upon his back, picked up his rifle and headed for the exit. Maybe he should head out and find Noah? Or, he could head towards town, jack a car and get more supplies. Decisions. There were two. He could only do one right now. Which one was more vital to him? Surviving or Hunting down a man that could be a mile away in the other direction?

"The fuck am I supposed to do? He up and leaves after making me his spotter, and there's low food supplies here."

"Somethinks else isss in this forest, Ralph"

Del had had quite enough of the whole situation to be perfectly honest. Her curiosity over what had appeared to be a compound had waned, now she was tramping through what remained of the forest hunting for two people who may or may not ease the growing ache in her stomach. The storm was peaking, battering her with rain which would surely clean her body and reveal her whereabouts to the snappers.

Too many variables. Too little certainty.

She didn't know where the man had went, only that it was in the opposite direction like she had indicated. No time like the present.

Del hitched her pack higher, first checking that Ralph was secure. The city held all the basic amenities that she needed, the fruitless trek out into the sticks was little more than curiosity on her part. It was time to go home. Without wasting any time, she melted back into the forest, grabbing handfuls of leaf litter from the ground and smearing the muck on the parts of her that were exposed. It would have to do, and it would be a continuous thing until she reached the city limits.

The people that she had met became nothing more than a memory held in time.

(Sorry guys. Jumping out of the roleplay. Got some shit to do IRL and idk when I will be back. I will be back, though.)

( Okay. We'll have Del or someone kill off Markus.)

(I am gone a month or two, and nothing has happened?)