Fits and Starts

[blackpapermoon]

The large accommodation of the Hotel Gołębiewski was a mess, but it was to be expected as two bandits used the once luxurious room as a hideout. The hotel’s staff and all of the other guests had abandoned the building as well as most of the city of Białystok. Once the largest city of Poland was now nothing more than a ghost town, most had left traveling to more west ward cities in hopes to escape the expanse of the zone. Those that stayed fell prey to the early waves of mutants, or fellow humans trying to loot the remains of the city.

Tosya sat on the bed, looking over his pistols, and counting what he had left for ammo. He had enough to last one or maybe two fire fights before it was spent. He was good on ammo for his M16, having loot a quite a few magazines off of an NATO group that had come to help evacuations but died to bloodsuckers before they could have been any help. The assassin looked over the room, there where tarps and broken weapons that had been scavenged earlier on the floor. The window had been covered by a wood panel and the door had been barricaded by a cabinet.

He and his apprentice Erwin had been here for just two days over a month. After leaving the zone the girl had wanted to try to regain some of her memories and had begged him to take her to Ireland. Tosya had a few contacts in Białystok that would hook them up with fake IDs and help find good sellers for their old zone equipment. However before any agreements could be made, the zone ate the world. His contacts did come but wanted to take the equipment for themselves. Instead the two assassins paid them in lead taking the poor equipment and what little supplies they had.

But how long would the supplies last, the hotel still gave hot water and heat but for how long. They would need to move on, and soon a lot of the city had already been looted. The assassin soon started to compile a list of items that they would need. Food, medicine, water, batteries, universal generator preferably hand-cranked, repair kits, med kits, tent and blankets. Slumping back on the bed he sighed, taking hold of one of his long strands of hair. It would have to be cut, sluggishly getting up he crossed the room kicking a few junk assault rifles out of his way. He sat before the large but intact mirror, pulling out his knife he got to work. It took him fifth-teen minutes to get done, by the end large piles of his hair lay on the ground. His work was crude and slightly uneven but it would do. He really could not care about looks any more.
He heard the door the bath room open and someone step out; he did not even turned as he addressed her.

“-Get your things together we’re leaving this place,” he ordered then tossed the knife he had been using on the bed near her,

“You might want to cut that hair, we won’t be seeing running water for a long time.”

[nuclearstorm]

"Well, shit." Eirwen, stunned by Tosya's freshly cut hair, dropped the towel she was using after her shower, revealing her bare body that was still covered in small shards of ice frozen by her mutation. She quickly realized her clumsiness and rushed to cover herself back up. She found she was mildly attracted to Tosya's new hair and enjoyed it's uneven look. How fitting for someone that considers his line of work equal to that of a prostitute. "Why?" She stuttered out of sheer surprise before coming to a conclusion herself. "We're in deep shit, huh?" She sighed.

Tosya ignored her intial questioning. "You might want to cut that hair, we won't be seeing running water for a long time."

Eirwen turned around and looked at her hair in the mirror. She knew he was right, but she valued her own beautiful red hair almost as much as Tosya valued his own. "God dammit Tosya..." Eirwen started to break down a bit. "Ya know, I lose my memory, wake up in that god forsaken hellhole we know as the zone, and when I FINALLY get out to see and enjoy the world, all of FUCK follows me!" She let out one last sigh of frustration. "Well, I guess we should make the most of it. If the world is going to turn to shit, I guess our best option is to take what we want and enjoy what we can." Eirwen filled her mind with thoughts of asserting control over what the world would become for a few seconds before returning to the situation at hand. "So, were leaving then." She picked up the knife and slashed her hair. It fell around her shoulders nearly perfectly even. "Where did you have in mind?"

[blackpapermoon]

Tosya gave as wolfish grin; from his vantage point he could see all of the woman’s body before him. He liked what he saw, the assassin had standers however and he would not take advantage of his young apprentice. But should she come to him looking for some fun, then he would be more than happy to oblige. The assassin had live by himself for a very long time and so was not a modest man by any means, as Eirwen found out very quickly since leaving the zone. The master assassin crossed the room and entered the bath room, without shutting the door he unzipped his pants and relieved himself.

The girl was ranting away in the background but he paid no mind, although it was rare for her to have outbursts they were still annoying. He let her vent her frustration and stress answering her with only “I know” to show he at least showed some compassion for her situation. He had finished and washed his hands as she had finally cooled down.

"Where did you have in mind? “She asked after she had finished cutting her hair, he would have to get used to her short hair but he would never admit that he found her new look rather cute. He reentered the main room and leaned on the door way.

“-I hear that Siberia is lovely this time of year,” he responded in a playful tone, knowing full well her reaction, “Didn’t I tell you I’d get you to Ireland? Zone or no zone we still might pull a few memories out of that head of yours.”

The master assassin then strolled over to his bag and pulled out a long gray top, he stripped off his current shirt and redressed in the new one. Pulling the jumpsuit and chaps of his suit the assembled the rest. The last part of the suit he adorned where his boots and air system. He sat back down to give his guns a quick cleaning as he waited for Eirwen to don her armor.

Helping the woman in the last part of her suit, the assassins pushed away the barrier that blocked the door and enter out into the corridor. The hallway was still as one of the lights flicked on and off, the floor was covered in rubbish and minor items that were left behind. A dried blood trail lead down the hall where they had dragged the bodies of the former contacts, which they had dumped outside.

The two bandits had looted the hotel so that little to nothing was left for other would be scavengers. A few items that had been on Tosya’s list had been compiled there, food stock, medical supplies and blankest had been crossed off the list. They took one of the tarps to serve as a makeshift tent, giving the building one last look over they left never to return.

The assassins exited the hotel the bodies that they had dumped where pretty well devoured. Any number of creatures could have done the deed, rats, dogs and even Snorks were known to eat dead and rotting flesh. With caution the two continued into the ruins, most store had been loot, but it was and oddly to the master assassin that most of the items looted where electronic goods.

“What can someone do with a TV without electricity?” he asked questioning the extent of human stupidity as he broke down a door to a back room. Inside he found a room full of junk but after poking around he turned up some batteries. They went store to store shop to shop collecting more items that had been on the list.

“This is satisfactory enough,” he said after uncovering a solar charger in a pile of junked equipment. He put the device away just as something whizzed by his head and blew a hole in the wall. Master and apprentice responded by taking up defensive positions inside a store front.

“-COME OUT AND PLAY, WITH US COME ON WE JUST WANT TO KILL YOU,” boomed a voice; Tosya could see the man who was yelling. A tall man in a mercenary style exoskeleton with a fur cloak, armed with a Groza that had an even more intimating bayonet attached to it. Four other men crawled out of hiding to a company the giant. The newcomers wore bits of junk and metal over their street clothing, looking as if they had just held up a restaurant kitchen.

“-You got to be shitting me,” mutter Tosya on the verge of laughing himself into an early death, “want to be thugs dress in pots and pans. Can’t people even wait a year before making armor out of junk.”

[nuclearstorm]

“COME OUT AND PLAY WITH US COME ON WE JUST WANT TO KILL YOU!” Screamed the absurdly dressed man as more joined him.

Eirwen sighed, her frustration turning to rage. She pulled out her pistol and turned to Shade, "I'll take care of these guys. I need the stress relief." She began walking at a normal pace toward the crazy men, side-stepping their poorly aimed shots while firing her own with expert aim. One by one the men fell, bullet sized holes directly between their eyes. Only one remained. Eirwen walked right up to him as he reloaded and grabbed his neck with her left hand. He slowly turned blue as the heat left his body. Eirwen raised her hand, lifting the man into the air and after a few seconds clenched her hand into a fist, completely shattering the man's now frozen solid neck.

She sighed, but heard some shifting. Two more men came at her, flanking both her sides. Reacting quickly she shot one through the skull and threw her knife at the other, slicing his throat. She quickly reloaded her weapon and kept alert for more enemies. After a few minutes she let down her guard and went back to Shade.

"Ok, I feel better." She then realized the hilarity of the men's 'armor' and giggled. "What the hell were those dumb-asses wearing? Is that supposed to even be useful?" She laughed again. "Hah, anyway. Maybe we should get out of here before more psychos show up."

Check BPM's post to at least see what the leader is carrying... Please? Which part of exoskeleton wasn't clear? It's an armor worn by expert stalkers i.e. Someone who could hit their target...