The...lady, grimaces, knife flying out of her hand. She raised them grudgingly, muttering under her breath. Now that she's still it's possible to get see a few more details: she is apparently the same man as before, in mannerisms and clothing, but her body is slim, reddish-brown, and very beautiful. A zombie lumbers a few yards behind her, and she glances back irritably, not really concerned.

James pauses while dragging his captive to the trucks and asks,

"Did you know he was a she? Who is that?"

"Uh, I don't know nothin'!" The man asserts. He is, evidently, not the brightest bulb in the knife drawer.

There are no obvious threats viewable from the sky besides zombies, zombies, and more zombies approaching ever-closer. Soon they will be thick enough to cause serious problems.

((In other words, I will start rolling dice instead of extrapolating from dots. ))

Morgan calls over the radio, "Ok, people, we need to get a move on, the zoms are getting too thick. We're going to have to abandon whatever vehicles we can't get on the road in the next couple minutes. We can come back for them later."

Preston simply stood there with his weapon trained on the shapeshifter lady as he waited for the rest of these people to come and take her off his hands. As one of the crawling dead started to come close, he aimed at it with one of his weapons and fired a three round burst into its head.

Preston's senses allowed him to turn without turning, keeping an eye on the others.

"Hey!" He said, loudly. Not quite shouting, but loud enough for at least the jumping man to hear him. "Do you intend to come pick this girl up or am I just standing here for my health?"

Annoyed at the chaos, but somewhat relieved at the lack of enemy action, Priest answers the call.

"Willy, keep those tires coming. Ladies, work fast."
The last is a joke. It isn't like either of them want to be out here with zombies all around without wheels.

He calls up to the front of the column.
"Colt, with me."
He readies his Glock and HK then heads out towards Preston's prisoner. Moving with what appears to be a cavalier attitude toward the two, they make good time running through the grass.

[Premonition still running]

"Thanks Mister. I'm Priest. This here," motioning to the man covering the lady shapeshifter, "is Colt. Care to tell me who you are and what, if anything, you know about this little ambush?"
His tone is more that of casual conversation than a demand. Priest makes sure to keep his HK on the girl as well.

"And while we are at it, why don't we all just trek back to our busted up little convoy."

Rhonda looks over her shoulder, a series of emotions crossing her face, making her look all the more vulnerable, young and so inexperienced.

"I ...," she lickes her lips lingering perhaps just a little too long, "I'm with Priest."
Its a lie and she's not a good liar.

Violet can tell she is ripe and untouched, but at the same time Rhonda has a hidden strength and resolve to her.

Violet didn’t realize what Rhonda was implying with her words. Only on second thought she saw the girl’s insecurity and most likely confusion as to what Violet actually wanted from her.

Am I having such an dramatic effect on people?, Violet wondered but before she could follow through with that thought her eyes wandered back to Rhonda’s beautiful body. Shaking her head she gathered the willpower to shake off her lustful thoughts and set off to help get the truck ready.

(ooc: Violet will help using her M-Str but only when no one watches)

James points to the nearest person with a gun and says,

"You! Watch him!"

Then James says to the 'bulb',

"Don't make me go leaping after you!"

Assuming he has access to a working radio, James sends back,

"Morgan, I'll bet we could tip over some of these cars and form a barricade."

Obviously torn between holding back the zombies and doing anything else, if the mystery woman is still within leaping distance James will go back.

Morgan responds, "Sorry, but they are gathering too thickly. We will run out of ammo before we run out of corpses. We can always come back for the cars. Lets move forward and head on to our destination, we were planning to pick up more vehicles there anyway."

"Thanks Mister. I'm Priest. This here," motioning to the man covering the lady shapeshifter, "is Colt. Care to tell me who you are and what, if anything, you know about this little ambush?"

Preston was almost surprised by the amount of weaponry that got pulled on this one little girl. Sure, he had his guns, but these people had bigger toys. And more of them. Then again, they didn't know about the monster he had over on the roof back in town.

"Preston Waters, United States Marine Corps, Force Recon. Retired. Nice to meet you. I'm not sure what ambush you're talking about unless you mean this little lady here and the guy Leap Frog Man took off with. I was in town just hitting a bucket of balls when I heard some shooting and came to check it out."

Preston's tone is straightforward, matter-of-fact. He doesn't seem like he's lying or even being remotely deceptive.

((assuming James jumps back))

"Looks like he's on his way back."

Things began unraveling quick but finally someone took charge of things and they seemed to be moving out again. Upon hearing Preston's introduction Dan steps forward and nods. "Nice to finally have another Marine around." He extends a hand. USMC Captain Daniel Hawkins, formerly of Fort Bragg." Since he was retired and hadn't specified rank Dan didn't salute, instead using the more traditional civvie greeting.

He makes his way back to the humvee and retrieves the remaining clips he brought for the battle rifle and rejoins the group. "Let's go people, these things aren't geting any thinner." With that he starts heading to the town, meticulously shooting any zombie that happens nearmy in the head with his pistol now, as a method of conserving the ammunition he has left for the assault rifle.

James lands next to the mystery woman and tries to grab her wrist.

(If this works)

James doesn't pressure but he does make sure he's using his strength on the grip. He says to the teleporter,

"Hello, thanks for the assist. I'm James, are you a friend of Fox's?"

James will attempt to lead her back to Violet.


(If it doesn't work then we're in combat and James will try to clinch her).

Preston watched as this jumping man walked over and grabbed her wrist and started leading her away. Very much in a 'Me Tarzan, you Jane' manner too. It was almost as if the obscene number of automatic weapons on her wasn't enough, he had to drag her back towards the small group of people a little ways away. Seeing that he had a fairly firm grasp of the situation, literally, he put his weapons back in their respective holsters.

((at the moment Preston is clad in a tank top with police issue shoulder holsters which he has modified to hold dual MP5 automatic pistols. He has a short cut, obviously military hairstyle and sturdy urban camoflage pants.))


"Hello, thanks for the assist. I'm James, are you a friend of Fox's?"

"Sure, don't mention it. Nice to meet you. Not that I know of, who is Fox?"

James would make a good movie 'Tarzan' since he was covered in dirt and badly ripped clothing with heavy muscles showing under them. Just like in a bad movie none of the damage to his clothing had scratched the skin under it.

He replied,

"Ah, that'd be him." James points up at the flying nova. Captain Morgan Fox. He's what passes for a leader hereabouts."

"I just figured, you look military, he was military... but I guess it was a big place. You live around here?"

"Well, it was a good jog," Priest mutters. "James, if you have her, I've got a truck to fix. Thanks for the help Mr. Waters."

With that he and Colt start heading back toward the truck and the rest of his crew.

The woman seemed strangely resigned; indeed, both these 'vandalists' went gone nearly limp, eyes glazed over. The woman shook her head in hazy disgust. "Fools," she said softly, and said nothing else, staring at Violet coldly.
The tires were changed out in short order. One zombie had actually got pinned under the tires when they stopped; it had already lost its legs. As they walked past it snarled at them ferally, half its face gone. The woman lifted her foot and crushed its neck under her heel without looking.

Violet eyes the woman critically and flinches for a short moment as she crushes the Zombies neck with her heel.

While she scans the womans overall emotional state she decides to greet her and see how far she gets with the 'being nice' treatment.

"I am Violet... we had kind of an accident here. I think it was more a setup, a trap. You don't happen to know who could be responsible for this?"

(ooc: Emp. Manip. just to scan her emotional state; the question is phrased using 'The Voice')

The woman is slightly irritated but not experiencing any strong emotion. She seems very detached from her surroundings as well. The woman stares at Violet blankly as she poses the question, then shrugs. "Who knows?" she asks with a mocking undertone, rolling her eyes skyward, as if to say heaven, save me from well-meaning fools.

James keeps his concentration on maintaining his grip. He half expects the unknown woman to attack him half way through the conversation and if she does what he wants to do is not let go.

Morgan growled and swooped back in next to the vehicle. He yelled through the window loud enough to be heard, "Lets get a move on folks. I'm gonna fly low to make sure there aren't any more surprises like that last one. We've got a lot of time to make up. Keep a close watch on the prisoner. She made quite a mess of our vehicles. I'm of the opinion she can work off the damage she's done."

Julia trudged onward, her head down as she walked, thinking. That last was a lie. She wasn't thinking. She was trying not to think. She was getting better at it, as the miles rolled away behind them.

Ben was slouched against her back, his arms hanging over her shoulders as he dozed. She had her arms wrapped around his legs, holding him against her body. He felt lighter and thinner, perhaps, but Jules didn't want to think about that. Six-year boys shouldn't lose weight like this; he should be heavier every day. Jules tightened her arms around his thin legs and tried not to think about how little food was left.

Horse kept up her easy walk next to her, Cal guiding her quietly along from her back. The tall boy was black, with curly hair he kept closely cropped to his head. He claimed to be eighteen, though Jules believed he was closer to sixteen.

Zeke went on sudden point. Jules stopped when the black German Shephard did, looking the direction he was staring. Cal also stopped, looking nervous. As if agreeing with Zeke, Horse snorted and gave a nervous whicker.

Jules knew why the animals were nervous. She could smell the death, too. And it was close. One of the first dead men shambled over the crest of a hill, and another one was close behind. "Ben, wake up," she demanded, twisting so that Cal could grab Ben. The dark-haired boy came awake protesting, even as Cal placed him across the saddle in front of him. "Cal, head into Lawton and hide," she ordered as she pulled the aluminum baseball bat out of the quiver hanging from Horse's flank. "I'll find you."

"Mommy," Ben cried, but Cal was already pounding his heels into the side of Horse, and the animal was more than happy to run. Zeke bounded off with the horse, but stopped and came back to her.

"Go on, you," she said, waving at him. "Go with Cal!" The dog turned and dashed away from her, and Jules faced the zombies. Something had them stirred up, she thought as she tightened up on the bat and lifted it high. As the first one shambled into range and she took her swing, she heard the first gunshot.

Something big was going down. Jules prayed for her son and began killing the dead.

"I'm under the impression that you bit of something too big for you to chew and now you seem fairly pissed at your failure. I honestly don't care if you don't want to cooperate. I suppose the men are more than willing to get from you what they want. But that could get nasty... Why don't you try and talk with me first? Maybe I can convince the others that you're not such a bad girl after all?", Violet steadfastly smiled at the woman unphased by her rude behaviour.

(ooc: Persuader active and Emp. Manip. to make her more friendly towards me)

Morgan suddenly came rocketing back toward the vehicle. Over the radio he says, "Prepare for combat. We've got a live one being mobbed by the zombies we stirred up. I don't think she was with the ambushers. I saw a couple kids running into the town away from her just before the zombies started mobbing her." Morgan turns toward the fight which is just off the highway to the right in the direction of the town and pulls his rifle off his back and zooms forward to move into best positioning for firing. "Violet guard the prisoner and shoot her in the head if she even twitches. Everyone else that's able lets save us a survivor!"

With that he begins to fire the sniper rifle taking headshots with each round fired.

((@Jules))

The zombies come and they fall, and they fall, and they fall...they're not difficult to handle if you can keep them from surrounding you, you're not taken by surprise, you're standing on solid ground, and you don't get too tired. You are getting tired. Your grip on the bat slips from your sweaty palms as zombies fall before you.

((@Violet and Co.))

The woman stares at Violet blankly, completely unimpressed. She starts as Morgan speaks, looking towards the way he disappeared to. Her lips press in a thin line. "I honestly don't care either. You may find that life gets a lot goddamn easier when you stop caring about it so strongly." She shuts her mouth with a snap, seeming to think she's said too much.

((@Dan))

You reach Lawton after about ten minutes of steady flying. It's...haunting. The streets are utterly empty. Almost no undead are in sight...to your immediate left is a trailer and father down, a packaging plant. To your right is the road, branching off into the city...to your far right is a Wal-Mart.

"Hmm... bitterness is all that is left of you? I understand and it's a sad thing, too. Like I said, it's your choice but I suppose you already decided what to do.", then Violet changed her mood to a more aggressive tone pushing the woman slightly with one finger as she continued to speak, "And don't tell me anything about life. You don't know me."

Violet crossed her arms in front of her impressive chest and furrowed her brows getting pissed at the woman by the minute.

"Dan calls out over the Radio. "I'm in Lawton, it's too damn quiet here. Nobody on the streets, not even the undead. We've got a walmart here, I'm moving onto it to see if there's anything left we can use there. May not be the tires and such we really need, but ammunition, and canned foods and such keep a good while. Over."

He made his way to the Walmart carefully, taking note on the condition of it's doors and it's general condition.

(((OOC Questions. Is this a Supercenter? Does the store look intact? Does it have power? If it doesn't have power and is a supercenter does it reek from spoiled produce, or meat? Are any of the skylights open? Are any Broken? Are the Doors opened or Closed? Is the Garden department surrounded by a Metal Cage (older stores have this) or is it a form of chain-link fence? Where is the propane Tank Cage? (Normally by Garden Center or one of the entrances) I'll roll if you need me to.

This was bad. She hadn't seen so many since that cluster fuck in Angel Fire, when she'd lost her first real home since the world had fallen apart. She kept her aikido training in mind as she attacked, dodged and attacked again. Ben. Just let Ben be ok. Ben.

The bat was gone in the space of a heartbeat, slipping from her grasp and ending up in a sea of zombie legs. She had to back up, abandoning the bat to keep herself clear of the mob. She hesitated, trying to decide if now she could run for Lawton and find the others, or would she be leading them to her little family? The gunshots had stopped long ago, but that didn't mean much.

A zombie's head exploded just after the crack of a rifle sounded. At the same time, Jules caught sight of a dot in the sky, which she thought was first a bird and then a plane before realizing it was a man. A flying man.

Her jaw dropped as she stared. She'd heard about these super-human men, who could fly and do incredible things, but she hadn't expected them to be true!

A body slammed into her, teeth scraping at her right shoulder. Grunting, Jules stumbled to the side, caught her legs on a branch and fell. The zombie fell with her, its stink filling her nostrils and making her gag. Two more piled on her without hesitation, and Jules gave up trying to push them off. Instead, she began to wiggle out of the interlocking zombie puzzle with inhuman flexibility.

Hopefully, Superman would get here soon and use his laser eyes on the zombies. She had to get out of here and find Ben and Cal.

[OOC: Using Flexibility enhancement to escape Zombie-Grapple!]

Morgan cursed, "Damn it! We did not just find a survivor just to lose her now!" He zoomed in closer and took careful aim at the zombies immediately surrounding her and started firing as fast as he could. (Once he empties the clip he will fly down and use the rifle as a club to bash zombie heads.)

James looks at Violet, looks at the woman, then back at Violet. He's only slight torn, ideally he'd leave to fight the zombies, but leaving his girlfriend-without-combat-powers sitting next to a hostile nillistic nova just strikes him as not a good move. Instead he asks her,

"I'm James. What's your name?"

Teeth sank into her flesh, finally getting a real bite. She already knew she was immune to its disease, but human teeth have a remarkable capacity to cause pain. Jules howled with pain and punched the zombie in its teeth, ignoring the scrape of teeth over her fist. She managed to knock a couple of teeth loose, sending them spinning down its throat.

One of the zombies over her leaned in to claim its own mouthful. Its head exploded as another rifle shot rang out, pouring brain-goo and thick, black blood on her. Ech! I had my mouth open! Jules fought to not vomit as the foul, dead flesh and blood hit her tongue.

"I fucking HATE zombies!" Jules shrieked, lending voice to all of the rage, frustration, fear and grief she'd hidden from Ben for these last few months. They'd taken everything from her but Ben, and now they were making her vomit and ruining more clothing.

Enraged, she wiggled free, coming to her feet with a warcry. The blood of her ancestors rose in her - Cherokee, Fox and Navajo - and Jules wiggled out from under the zombies. Immediately, she kicked the one who had bitten her in the head. Her feet pounded with the strength of a weight-lifter, and its skull cracked on the third blow. The fourth kick ended its struggles.

There were just too many, even for the enraged Indian warrior Jules had been transformed into. She acknowledged this, even as she hated fleeing. It's all she'd done lately. Getting clear of the zombies with some quick dodges, she extended a hand to the man in the sky, hoping he could carry her away.

Morgan saw the woman go down and he felt there was something familiar about her, but the glimpse of her face was too brief to really tell and then she was down and being swarmed. He heard fired and destroyed one zombie that was on her, but then he heard a scream of pain. He wanted to howl in frustration! Lost another one, and they were so close, worse, she'd been bitten and still managed to scramble and fight her way out of the press and held her hand up for rescue. He could see the blood from the bite and more zombie gore splattering her face... she was dead and just didn't know it yet. It was heartbreaking to come so close to a rescue and even though he knew there was nothing they could do for her he couldn't help himself. He flew down and took her hand pulling her into the air with him. He considered ending her misery himself with a quick drop from a height, but he just couldn't do it. After the mornings disappointments with the ambush and losing the other vehicles he was near his own breaking point.

He called harshly over the radio, "I've got the survivor, get back to the road and keep heading north. We're gonna get those damned weapons and supplies. I'll catch up to you in a minute."

Landing in a clear spot distant from any zombies he set the woman down and looked her over. He was surprised, but she looked pretty healthy, very healthy in fact compared to what he expected for a lone survivor. "I'm Morgan, what's your name?" Again he was struck by the woman's face, he had the distinct impression that he'd seen her before.

Jules caught the hand holding her in a tight grip, reaching up to grab his wrist with her other hand. She did not want to fall. Her shoulder throbbed with each movement; even breathing hurt, with her arms pulled high like this.

Flying while being held in the air by one hand was not fun. The ride would have been easier if she'd been held against him. It probably even would have been cool. But not like this; this was frightening. It was a relief when he put her back on the ground; shaking, she sank to her knees, just refraining from kissing the ground.

Instead, she peeled off her flannel shirt, exposing the tank-top underneath. Hissing with pain, she examined the bite-mark in her bronze skin. But what was more interesting to Morgan was the faint scars of other bites. Zombie bites didn't heal, not on ordinary people.

To her embarrassment, she was barely listening to him when he spoke, caught up in her shoulder. "You said Morgan?" she replied, getting a good look at him. Her jaw dropped, because for a moment, she saw Danny. Her Danny, alive and well before she'd watched him die twice. The second time, it hadn't really been him, but she'd had to kill him herself.

With effort, she shook the impression away. This was a stranger, not her lost love. "Sorry... Pain makes me dumb. I'm Julia. Friends and people who save my life can call me Jules."

Ben.

She surged to her feet, pressing the ruined shirt to her bleeding shoulder. "I have to find my son. He fled to Lawton. I have to find him!" She sounded hysterical; with effort, she forced some calm and added, "He's six and he's with another kid, so I really need to find him."