Utterly Mad

The claiming of another man’s life was never pleasant.
But it felt empowering to Ralph in a way that nothing else reminded him of being alive.
The copious amount of alcohol made the endless screams of agony at night fade away.
They deserve no better. At least that’s how he justified it.
And that’s just how he justified it when his fake hand crushed the throat of the choking bandit.
His eyes rolled into the back of his head almost instantly as his corpse swung against the wall like a heavy sack of potatoes.
Sweat had formed on Ralph’s back, darkening a large space in a shade on the back of his white shirt.
The motel was creaky. He knew he could use this to his advantage, but the floorboards were traitors, even to him.
Of course, the loud squeaking of his defunct cybernetic leg wasn’t helping his case.
He leaned against the left wall of the tight hallway, just as the door a few feet in front of him flew open.
His 1887 flew from shoulder-hoisted, to chest height in a matter of seconds, pumping whoever was standing in the doorframe full of lead.
The shadowy figure flew back into the room they came from.
Ralph didn’t bother checking, bandit or scavenger, they were either going to bleed out very soon, or in this case, be dead upon impact as the flechette rounds made their way squeezing through the ribcage into the heart.
While the shot was silenced, Ralph was sure unless the last few survivors were deaf, they’d know something was up.
He racked the lever back and forth in one swift motion, just as the door next to him creaked open.
A gloved hand slowly peaked a Glock 22 out the small open space, prompting Ralph to shuffle his body in front of the door, his boot following suit as he kicked the door against the hand.
A loud popping noise, followed by a gunshot rang out- Only interrupted by the muffled “FUCK” of the would-be assailant, though everything following the gunshot was just drowned out for Ralph and replaced by a familiar ringing.
He kept his boot on the door, pressing down harder, shotgun directly up next to the door, which much to the bandit’s dismay, fired and penetrated.
The disarmed hand went limp instantaneously- confirming the kill.
Ralph took his foot off of the wooden door, resting his eyes on the gunshot entries for just a second, interrupted however by a .22 firing into the doorframe.
He turned on his heel just in time as a second and third shot went off, adrenaline pumping, and it was that same feeling of excitement again, the same feeling that defined his state of being alive.
He racked the lever and fired- and even as the body dropped he kept on racking and firing until the firearm refused and clicked.
His breathing so heavy it turned into wheezing, he stared at the mutilated corpse, as if it could jump back up and shoot at him at any second.
But even after minutes that felt like eternity to Ralph, it didn’t, which put him at ease.
This would be the last of the grunts, then.
He stepped over the mess of flesh, blonde hair, eyeballs and brain matter, undoing the first two buttons of his sweat covered shirt, and reaching into the chest-holster underneath it.
And while he was stepping into the run-down room, he pulled the P38 from it.
“Listen man- I-I don’t want any trouble alright? I’m unarmed-”
Ralph turned slightly, empty shotgun in one hand and used the butt of said shotgun to shove the door closed.
“Mind sitting down?”
Ralph nodded towards the torn down bed, which he himself wouldn’t sleep in even if somebody paid him for it.
Teary blue eyes stared at him, confused for just a second, but ultimately convinced by Ralph nonchalantly waving the barrel of the P38 at him from leg-height.
“Right then, how do these work again..”
Ralph pulled out a small mobile grey camera, ridden with scratches.
“W-What are you trying to do? I think you’re supposed to press that-”
He fiddled with the grey device a bit longer before being interrupted again.
“The button, on the top of the camera-”
Click.
“Yeah, that one.”
He looked at the displayed photograph of decaying wooden floorboards on the display of the camera for a second, before aiming the camera at the young man.
“Say cheese.” Ralph muttered, before taking the picture. The flash blinded the gangster sitting on the bed, Ralph however ignored his tormented “What was that for?!” yellings, his vision fixed on the picture displayed, suddenly aiming the Walther at the target’s head and firing.
He looked up from the camera’s display towards the corpse of the charcoal-haired man, before aiming the camera at the body again, and taking a second picture.

“Before and after.” He mumbled, holstering his Walther, turning on his heel once more and leaving.

Mica made a single, high, shrieky noise and scrambled away from the tigress. Sometimes Mica thought that maybe Lilith didn't have any concept of exactly how large she was, or maybe that she did know and didn't care. Mica crawled, she still couldn't manage to gain her feet without feeling incredibly dizzy, and grasped at the air placatively. "Give My-ka morsel small man! My-ka 'sposed to be watchin' for Kat-nyp!"

Nathaniel ignored her, if he was going to hand over Kathrine to anyone, it wouldn't be someone looking as grizzly and predatory as Mica did in that moment. Besides the look Lilith was giving her told him that it would be better, at least for now, if she didn't touch Kathrine at all.

     Lucian grinned, shrugging, "Tripped." he said simply. "Actually had a mark to take down,
I brought the knight with. Got a wee bit stabbed through." He says oddly casually.

Mica looked from one group to the other. "Already going?" She asked. She hadn't been expecting everything to go over so smoothly or quickly for that matter. Though, "smoothly" wasn't really the word for it. Her nose and throat stung like hell, her head swam menacingly, and her tongue was an agony in her mouth. On top of that, her silks were ruined. The resin was beginning to set in her mouth, always slow to do so in there, and most of the smaller cuts would probably be mostly healed by morning. Her "lure" though would be a good month, maybe two, until it had grown back. Until then, she wouldn't be able to taste a thing.

"Eh. What lizard gonna think?" She asked aloud. "Lizard gonna think somebody be hurtin' on My-ka." She sorely wished she was still in possession of the regeneration complex that had kept her alive through so many "hungry time" fights. It had had to go though. The healing had always made the hunger worse. Such vitality came at a cost.

"Going now?" She asked again.

   Roxanne and co were surprised to be greeted at the door by such a young man. What was more surprising was that he had what looked like the mask of insight Helen wore hanging by the side of his person. His nervousness was easily noticed; specially by Roxanne who’s job pre-cataclysm included gathering information from people in one-on-one interactions. Victor and Melody discreetly downed their respective pills for the little thing they had planned.

   "Hi there! I don’t believe we have met. I am Roxanne Luna, he is Victor Ironwood and the girl is Melody. Huh, hey Melody, do you have a surname? No? Ok then, just Melody it seems. Anyways, we are here since Helen invited us to a party she is organizing; but it seems she noticed something that required her attention.", Roxanne said to sol as her little introduction; Victor leaned in and whispered into Roxanne’s ear which caused her to smile, "Hey, it seems these two forgot this was a party and forgot to change into more appropriate clothing. Would you mind telling them about someplace around here where they can get change uninterrupted? Thank you dear."

   They then heard the radio broadcast come in from the one-way radio Melody was carrying. It was Hector announcing the return of the others who had gone on their little adventure. Roxanne had not seen him since their last little interaction before they set off to take down Randael; she seemed to spring to live upon hearing this broadcast but tried to hide it as best she could. "Oh, he is coming here! Ahem, I mean, good. Guess another guest will be able to make it. I’ll wait around here for him to arrive I supposed..."

Roland nodded to the man that had greeted him, about to say something until he noticed the man rush off to speak with the others. Shrugging to himself he decided to go see if he could make himself useful. No sense sitting here with a thumb up my ass, may as well start with seeing if they need a hand in the kitchen...

Alexei meanwhile had made his way back with more than enough fire wood to cook his deer and help with anything they'd need. Walking in he set the axe where Sergei had retrieved it from before walking back to the kitchen and informing them about the surplus of wood he'd gotten. From there he retrieved his knife to go butcher the deer for cooking.

The work was something he'd become accustomed to after seven or so years in the apocalypse..or after it. He wasn't so sure which of those applied to be honest but it had forced some of his rusty skills to the forefront. Soon though he had pretty well everything set aside and ready to be prepared to cook with the skin kept almost intact, a few cuts here or there but still usable. He should probably let Helen or someone know..probably Sergei now that he was thinking of it since he seemed in charge of preparations.

The tank drove on, and Mica watched over Kathrine as dutifully as a trained dog. "Morsel?" She mewled over and over, punctuating each instance of the word with a not unpleasant purring rattle from somewhere in her throat and chest. "Morsel?"

"What..." Kathrine moaned. She didn't want to talk to Mica. Mica was one of the ones she labeled a "meaner." On top of being mean, she was also scary and dumb. Mica sidled in closer and Kathrine shrank back painfully.

"Why you so sad Morsel? Cuz Kat-nyp not here?" She asked. Kathrine nodded slowly, looking to be on the edge of crying. She wasn't going to cry though, not in front of Ms. Mica.

"Mistress left because I was mean and she hates me..."

That didn't make sense to Mica, but she wasn't about to argue. She didn't know where her sister had gone, but she knew that if Catnip was really dissatisfied or even angry with her morsel, she would not have told Mica to protect her. Mica liked to believe Catnip would have given Kathrine to her to eat if she hated the morsel, but didn't say so. She wasn't sure she even wanted to eat Kathrine anymore.

Kathrine, as if reading her thoughts, asked "Ms. Mica, are you going to eat me?" Mica looked shocked. No, she didn't want to. Now that the question was out, and Mica told her so. She was disturbed a little by Kathrines disappointment.

"Alright everybody, we're home!" Came the call, and Mica carefully helped get Kathrine out of the tank.