Looking Homeward: A sequel to Looking Forward, Looking Back.

[Bearcat]

I want moar.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

I want moar.

Here you go, Bearcat.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning came and found us searching the town for Angel. Barbara found some signs of recent activity and it sure as hell wasn't from us.
"Jakob, look at this. Is this Angel's ?" Flynn asked.
"Yeah, that's the ring I gave her. I wonder why the hell she'd take it off and leave it behind ?" Jakob replied.
"Maybe that's the reason, Jakob." I said, pointing towards a burned out truck with a few bodies near it.
"Sweet Jesus, what the hell happened here ?" Flynn said.
"I don't know, but I don't like the looks of this." I replied. We checked the bodies and none of them were Angel, much to Jakob's relief.
"Chimpov, look at this." Flynn said, handing me a piece of paper.
"What the hell ?" I said, under my breath. The note Flynn handed me was a bounty for anyone bringing in captured survivors to some self-appointed ruler of the wastes, a guy named Breeder. The note had the location of where Breeder was staying and how much he'd give for certain folks. The note left a bad taste in my mouth and had bad mojo written all over it. Not to mention it pissed me off royally.
"What are we going to do about this, Chimpov ?" Flynn asked.
"We're going to pay this Breeder asshole a visit and see if he's got Angel." I replied. We traveled to where the note said to go and found a makeshift camp, similar to the ones you'd see in old photos of World War 2. We walked around the camp for a bit, making note of the guards, if you could even call them that, and other points of interest like the cattle pen with prisoners. One thing that struck me as odd was the fact we walked right in with our weapons and no one said anything. Breeder obviously didn't know the first thing about being a wasteland ruler, but then again I had no idea if that was on purpose or not.
"Attention, campers. I'm looking for a guy named Breeder." I said.
"I'm Breeder, friend." said a guy dressed in what looked like a cross between Mad Max and steampunk attire. I couldn't tell if he was carrying a weapon, but I'm pretty sure if Breeder had half a brain, he'd have a gun on him somewhere.
"Well, Breeder, I've got questions for you." I said.
"About what ?" Breeder asked.
"Well, for starters, have you seen this woman ?" I replied, showing him the photo of Angel I had gotten from Jakob.
"Nice looking girl there, friend. Sadly, she hasn't come through my camp just yet. And plenty of girls have come through here." Breeder said.
"Where do they go from here ?" Flynn asked.
"Well, that's a trade secret, friend. I can't rightly tell you that since I don't know your intentions are." Breeder replied.
"My intentions are to get the woman back from whoever has her, be it you or someone else. Now, Breeder, I'm going to be nice and ask you again. This time, I better get a right answer or I'm going to get really angry. You don't want to see me when I'm angry, Breeder. It ain't a pretty sight." I said.
"Friend, I'd think very carefully about pissing me off because you don't want to make an enemy of me." Breeder said.
"Fine with me." I said. Breeder started laughing as he thought he got me where he wanted me. His laughter was cut short by a shot from my 1911 that landed square in his leg. Before his guards could do anything, Flynn and Jakob opened fire and took them out. I walked over to Breeder, who was busy crying in pain, and asked him where Angel had gone.
"Ok, she came through here. My guys found her by herself in a couple towns over and brought her here. I traded her to some dude named Philo for some pills and booze. He said he was headed for a place called San Romero. Knew of a farmhouse near there with an old guy and two more women he could trade me." Breeder said. I saw red as I knew exactly where 'Philo' was headed.
"Breeder, tell me all you know about this 'Philo' and I may let you live. If you don't, I let my friend Jakob here, kill you. The woman you traded for pills and booze is his wife and he's not very happy that you did that." I said.
"Fuck you, man." Breeder said. He became a little more cooperative after I shot him in the leg again.
"Ok, he's got a small group of guys with him, no more than five or six. All dumb as rocks, except for him. He's pretty smart for a guy like him. He drives a black Suburban with Arizona plates on it. He left a few hours ago, so you might be able to catch him." Breeder said, in pain.
"Flynn, cut Breeder's prisoners loose. We'll let them deal with him." I said. We left the camp behind and Breeder was alive when we left, but I doubt he would be for much longer as the folks in the camp started towards him with evil intentions in their eyes and fence posts in their hands. I can't say that I'd feel sorry if they killed the bastard. I know I would've.

[Bearcat]

Thanks for moar. So was it a small camp for two guys to take out the guards?

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Thanks for moar. So was it a small camp for two guys to take out the guards?

Yeah. It was sort of a waystation, kind of like something the guys of the Pony Express would've encountered back in the day.

[Bearcat]

moar?

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

We got back on the road and hauled ass for Farmer John's before Philo and his merry band of morons could get there. We were close to the house when I radioed Farmer John and told him what was happening.
"Yeah, I know, Chimpov. Spotted a truck like that about two hours ago. They were looking mighty suspicious, so Mike took a shot at it and nailed a big ugly guy between the eyes." John radioed back.
"Well, that's good to hear. You didn't happen to see a woman with them, did you ?" I asked.
"No, sorry. Why ?" John replied.
"Well, during our little adventure, we came across another group of survivors and one of them is looking for his wife." I said. "By the way, they're going to be staying with us until all this crap blows over. Is that going to be a problem ?" I asked.
"No, the more the merrier, Chimpov. Hell, back when this was my grandpa's place, he had a family of 12 living here. Kind of cramped, but everyone lived happily." John replied. We drove up the road to the farm and when we arrived, Farmer John, Big Mike, Kat and Dallas were all standing on the porch waiting for us. No sooner than I had gotten out of my truck, Dallas damn near tackled me and locked her lips on mine.
"Ok, Dallas, you can let go now. I can't breath." I said.
"Sorry, I was just so worried about you." Dallas replied.
"Uh, guys, this is my wife Allison, or Dallas as I call her. The big guy is Mike, the girl next to him is his girlfriend Kat and the older gentleman is Farmer John. Everybody, this is Barbara Bishop and her children, Kari, Thomas and Steven. The guy in the back is Jakob Kunyevski. He's the guy whose wife we're looking for." I said.
"Nice to meet you all. Come inside out of the cold and we can talk some more." Farmer John said. We went inside and Jakob told the others about his missing wife and that rat bastard Breeder and the guy named Philo who traded his wife for some pills and alcohol.
"Breeder said this Philo guy was on his way here, possibly to kidnap Dallas and Kat. More than likely, the bastard would've killed you and Mike to get to the women." I said.
"We aren't going to let that happen, Chimpov." Mike said.
"I know that and when he shows up, we'll either send him packing or kill the bastard." I said. "For now, I want everyone to pair up with someone and do not go anywhere without a weapon, preferably a rifle. If you see anything out of the ordinary, be it zombies or this Philo guy, yell out and haul ass back to the farmhouse." I stepped up the patrols and kept Dallas close by. Flynn paired off with Kari, Mike took Kat, Farmer John and Barbara paired up and Thomas and Steven were paired up. That left Jakob by himself, but he didn't seem to mind. The patrols were uneventful for awhile and during that time, I showed Flynn how to use the AK we had picked up earlier in the month. As it turned out, the gun was in excellent condition and we got it sighted in with no problems. The 9mm pistols worked great after a bit of cleaning to get the dust out of them. Thomas seemed to grow more distant as time went on and often times Steven couldn't find him when it came time to patrol. The kid was starting to piss me off, but since he didn't try to hurt me or anyone else, I let his disappearances slide. For all I knew, he was off mourning his grandpa.
"Jakob, if you want to, you can join Dallas and I on patrol. I need to speak with you anyway." I said, after lunch one day.
"Sure, Chimpov. What's on your mind ?" Jakob asked.
"Well, it's about your wife. Breeder said Philo traded him for her, but yet Farmer John didn't see a woman matching her description with them when they first appeared." I replied.
"I know. I'm hoping she managed to get away from them before they got here." Jakob said. No sooner than we started talking about Jakob's wife, we heard yelling coming from the farmhouse. Dallas, Jakob and I hauled ass to the house to see what the hell was going on. What we found was the black Suburban from before speeding off down the driveway and Steven, Thomas, Farmer John, Flynn and Mike running after it.
"What the hell happened ?" I asked.
"Philo struck, Chimpov. He grabbed Kat, Barbara and Kari." Mike said.
"Son of a bitch." I said. "Load up, boys. We're going hunting." I added.

[Bearcat]

I'm blame kathy for all the cliff hangars the writers on ZS are so keen on using. I probably would too.

[Laager]

That Steven guy makes me nervous.....I'm wondering if when they can't find him he isn't out hooking up with the raiders.......if so then I'm thinking he has to go and not just on down the highway...but something a bit more permanent.

[Bearcat]

moar?

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

We followed Philo's tracks in the snow and they stopped just outside of town. I spotted his truck near the surplus store we had hit earlier in the year. Smoke was billowing out of the engine compartment and there were a few bullet holes in the rear glass. I walked close the truck and found one of Philo's men with a chest wound. He was still alive, but wouldn't be for much longer.
"Where is Philo ?" I asked.
"Fuck you." The guy said, coughing up blood.
"Look, asshole, you don't have much time left on this planet, so I'd tell me where your boss is headed before the zombies get here and make your death even more painful." I said. "Now, where is Philo ?"
"He's in the old hardware store. He's got the girls we took from the farm there with him and the rest of the guys. Now, please kill me." the guy said.
"No." I replied, walking off. I admit, it was a bit cruel, but I didn't want to waste a bullet on the bastard. Besides, the zombies were close behind me anyway, so I figured I'd give them a meal. We took down a few of the undead bastards, but I left a few unharmed so they could have a go at Philo's downed man. Poor bastard screamed as the crawling zombies made their way toward him. We left the scene and headed towards the hardware store. As we made our way there, the radio in my truck started buzzing.
"Hehe, they're coming to get you, Barbara." said someone, in a really creepy way. Kind of reminded me of the way Vincent Price used to talk in his movies. That always creeped me the hell out as a kid.
"Who the hell is this ?" I asked.
"I take it you're the Russian ?" the voice asked.
"Yeah, my name is Chimpov and I am Russian. What of it ?" I replied.
"Comrade Chimpov, Comrade Philo wishes to meet with you and your friends at Anderson Hardware." the voice said.
"What the hell was that about ?" Flynn asked.
"I have no idea, but I don't like the sound of it. Philo knows we're coming and I'm afraid of what the bastard will do once we're there." I replied. We walked to the front door of the hardware store and were greeted by a guy I assumed was Philo. Turned out he was just a lackey and the real Philo was sitting on the back counter of the store with his gun pointed at the girls.
"Stop right there, comrades. Now which one of you is Thomas ?" Philo asked.
"I am." Thomas replied.
"Good. Now, Thomas, why don't you come over here so I can pay you for your help." Philo said. I saw red when Thomas walked over to Philo and smiled at him.
"You little motherfucker." I said, walking towards the kid.

[223shootersc]

time for Thomas to die

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

"Whoa, hold up there, big guy." Philo said. "You don't want to do that. Move any further and I put a bullet in your heart, assuming you have one."
"I take it you're the man they call Philo, correct ?" I asked.
"Yep, Philo Briggs at your service." Philo replied.
"What the hell kind of name is Philo ?" Mike asked.
"What kind of name is Chimpov ?" Philo replied.
"It's what I call my rifle, the one that's going to be used to kill you and your men if you don't let the women go. Now, get out of my way and let me deal with the boy. Of course, you're more than welcome to stand with him. I haven't killed anyone in awhile and my trigger finger is getting mighty itchy." I said. Philo and I stared at each other, waiting for one of us to make the first move. The tension was so thick, one could've cut it with a knife. I'd have rather used that knife to turn Philo into a human PEZ dispenser. My crew was pointing their guns at Philo's crew and they were doing the same to mine, just waiting for something to go wrong.
"Where is Angel, Philo ?" Jakob asked, breaking the tension a bit.
"Who ?" Philo replied.
"My wife, the woman you traded that bastard Breeder pills and booze for." Jakob said.
"Oh, her. Yeah, she pissed me off so I put a bullet in her. It was a real shame too. She had a nice body and I'm getting awful lonely these days." Philo said. It took Flynn, Mike, Farmer John and I to keep Jakob from taking Philo's head off. As we stood there, holding Jakob back, one of Philo's men walked up. How we missed that guy was beyond me and made me wonder how many others Philo had around the store.
"Philo, we got big problems." the guy said.
"What kind of problems ?" Philo asked.
"Zombie problems." the guy replied. With Philo and his men distracted by the coming hordes, we struck. In a matter of seconds, the store erupted in a brief firefight. By the end of it,Philo's men lay dead or dying and Philo himself had a gut wound. Amazingly, the only injuries suffered by our side was a couple scratches from shrapnel and a sprained ankle when Mike dove behind a counter. Thomas was nowhere to be seen, which kept me on edge. Mike, Jakob and Flynn checked out the rest of the store and found no one else besides the few men Philo had brought with.
"Now, Philo, I've got a few questions for you. The main question being, how do you want your death ? It can either be quick and painless or slow and agonizing. " I asked.
"Hehe, how about quick and painless ?" Philo said, holding his gut in pain after his brief chuckle.
"Wrong answer, Philo. The correct answer is slow and agonizing." I said. I dragged Philo by his vest to the front door where a good sized mass of zombies were slowly making their way to and pushed him outside.
"Wait, wait. I can tell you where I stashed an assload of supplies. Just let me back in and I'll tell you." Philo screamed as the zombies slowly made their way to him.
"You're going to tell me anyway, Philo." I said. "Besides, we've still got one of your men alive here and he's singing like a canary about your supposed stash."
"He doesn't know the combination to the lock. Now, please let me in." Philo said.
"Ok, but I'm just going to put you back out there once I get the info anyway." I said.
"I'm dead anyway, but I don't want to be lunch for a zombie." Philo said, as I dragged him back in the building. "Ok, talk, Philo." I said. Philo proceeded to tell me exactly where he had cached his supplies and the combination to the lock on the building. As soon as I got the info, I dragged him back to the front door and pushed him into the waiting arms of the zombies. I'll admit it was a bit cruel of me to do so, but I did say his death would be slow and agonizingly painful. Now all I had to do was find Thomas and get some answers from the little bastard.

[223shootersc]

a man of his word, have to admire that

[Bearcat]

Wait, I didn't know it was winter, I thought it was in a desert enviornment anyways and also I thought all the zombies had disappeared.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Wait, I didn't know it was winter, I thought it was in a desert enviornment anyways and also I thought all the zombies had disappeared.

Nah, the area Chimpov and his crew are in is based on where I live and we actually get snow during the winter.

As for the zombies, I figured the smell of fresh blood would bring them back.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Flynn found Thomas hiding behind the power tools counter of the store and brought him to the rest of the group.
"Ok, Thomas, I'm going to give you ten seconds to state your case before I let the rest of the guys beat the shit out of you. Your time starts now" I said. Thomas pleaded with us to let him live, but it was to no avail. He had sealed his fate when he turned his mother and sister over to a guy who was only interested in using them for his own deviant purposes. Purposes all of us knew wouldn't end well. Jakob was unnervingly quiet until Thomas mentioned Angel. Before any of us could react, Jakob had his pistol in his hand and pointed at Thomas's head.
"You little son of a bitch. I helped your family and you have the nerve to say my Angel's name after you sided with the man who killed her ? " Jakob yelled as he held his gun to Thomas's head. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you now. "
"Because she isn't dead. Philo was just fucking with you." said the remaining member of Philo's group. "The place where he keeps his cache of supplies ? There's a room in the garage where he keeps his women. There's only three guys guarding the place. Should be a simple job for you guys. Pop the bastards, and get your woman back, dude." Jakob put his gun back in its holster and walked away. He was cursing in Russian and since I was the only one who understood it, I knew the others would be asking about it.
"What was Jakob saying as he walked off ?" Flynn asked.
"You don't want to know. Trust me, you don't want to know." I replied. I went back to Philo's man and found he had quietly passed away during that time.
"Well, I guess that's taken care of." Flynn said.
"Yeah. Flynn, check his pockets and vest. See if he has anything with more info on the cache site, like a map or maybe an address." I said.
"Righto, Chimpov." Flynn replied. Mike and Flynn released Kat, Barbara and Kari. Kat hugged Mike like you wouldn't believe and I was afraid she was going to choke the guy as tight as she was hugging him. I could see why she'd do that, though. Philo and his merry band of assholes probably told them what they had planned for the girls and it probably wasn't pretty.
"What are we going to do with Thomas ?" Kat asked.
"If I had my way, the little bastard would be hanging by his ankles over a pit of zombies, which is convenient since we happen to have some outside. Since I'm not the one who should be deciding his fate, I say we let his mother decide." I replied.
"Barbara, what do you think we should do ?" I asked.
"I know I gave you my permission to shoot him should he bring harm to the group, which he has done, but I don't think killing him is the answer right now." Barbara replied." I'm not saying we let him stay with us either. When he sold us to Philo, he ceased being a part of the group and this family."
"So, in other words, I can't kill him or dangle him over a pit of zombies like a piece of meat, but we're kicking him out of the group and leaving him to deal with the consequences of his actions ?" I asked.
"Pretty much, Chimpov. Besides, I think we have bigger things to worry about than what to do with Thomas. Notably, the mass of zombies outside the store as we speak." Barbara replied. She was right. The zombies outside the store required our immediate attention and they got it. We sat on the roof of the store, picking off the zombies until we had cleared enough to make our escape. I personally took a bit of sadistic glee in blowing the head off the zombified Philo. Dallas just shook her head when she saw me smiling like an idiot after turning his head into a shower of red mist and brain chunks.
"Can we go now ?" Dallas asked.
"Right, yeah. Everyone out of the store and into the truck. It might be a bit cramped, but at least we'll get out of here in one piece. Flynn, Mike, tie Thomas up and shove him in the bed of the truck. We'll deal with him once we get back to the farm." I replied.

[Laager]

Thomas does not have a really good future outlook, at least imho. I think I would have fed him to the zombies either by shooting him and tossing his worthless hide out the door or just clearing the building of whatever I found (like more weapons, ammo, food, etc) and then left him tied to a chair and opened the front door.

Great additional chapters.

[Bearcat]

It's a mistake to leave him alive. He already lead enemies to their home once, he's going to again.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

We drove back to the farm and once we got back, I had Flynn and Mike put Thomas in the barn. I had Mike put Thomas on the meat hook hanging from the rafters of the barn and I set out some random tools.
"Thomas, you remember how I said I'd kill you if you ever tried something stupid like punching me in the face again ?" I asked.
"Y-yeah." Thomas replied.
"Well, I'm not going to kill you, but if you don't tell me why you did what you did, I'm going to let Jakob here bash your skull in and I won't lose one damn minute of sleep over it. Now talk." I said. Thomas told us how he had picked up a piece of paper when we were in Breeder's camp and how it had Philo's contact info on it. He was pissed that I had killed his grandpa and decided he wanted to make me lose someone dear to me just as he did. His intentions were to tell Philo where we were and to have Philo abduct Dallas and kill her. What he didn't count on was Philo taking his mother and sister instead since Dallas never left my side. He figured that he'd save face by pretending to join us in getting the girls back. His plan was going good until Philo ratted him out. Thomas pleaded with me to let him stay with the group.
"Jakob, take Thomas off the hook and put him in my truck. We're taking a little trip." I said. Jakob did what I asked and I drove Thomas to a secluded part of the farm. The whole trip was in silence and I think that scared Thomas more than zombies ever would have.
"What're we doing here ?" Thomas asked as I cut him free.
"This." I replied, tossing the kid a revolver.
"What am I supposed to do with this ?" Thomas asked.
"Kid, you're not that stupid. Figure it out." I said. Thomas just stood there with a dumb look on his face until it hit him. He leveled the pistol at me and too aim.
"You've only got one shot with that gun, kid. Make it count." I said, not even flinching. It seemed like forever that Thomas had the gun pointed at my head until he sank to his knees and started crying.
"I don't want to die, Chimpov." Thomas said, through tears.
"I know, kid. None of us do, but you know I can't let you live. You've already lead the bad guys to us once. If I let you go, how do I know you won't do it again ?" I said. It was a cold winter day in 2016 when Thomas Bishop put a revolver to his head and pulled the trigger. The silence was shattered by a single gunshot that I'm sure could be heard for miles. I took the revolver from his hands and dug a grave for him. After I buried Thomas, I went and sat in my truck for an hour or so until I drove back to the farm. Everyone was standing on the porch and I could see that Kari had been crying at some point. No one said a word as I walked to the barn. It's times like this that have me wishing I hadn't quit drinking before life as we knew it ceased to be. Thomas may have been a good kid before the world turned to shit, but what he did was unforgivable. He knew what he did was wrong and that didn't matter to him. He wanted me to feel the same loss as he did, but what he didn't know was I already felt that way. I've felt that way for a long time.
I stayed in the barn for a few hours, just throwing my knives at the makeshift target and growing more and more frustrated by the recent turn of events. I guess the sounds of my anger carried to the house because I turned to see Dallas standing in the open doorway, holding a cup of coffee.
"Working off a bit of anger there, Viktor ?" Dallas asked.
"Yeah, you could say that, Allison. That for me ?" I asked, looking at the coffee cup.
"Yeah, figured you needed something to warm you up." Dallas replied.
"Thanks." I said, taking the cup from her.
"Something on your mind, Viktor ?" Dallas asked.
"Aside from the fact we nearly lost Kat, Kari and Barbara to some sick bastards because Thomas wanted revenge for me killing his grandpa, I'm good." I said, taking a sip of coffee.
"No, you're not, Viktor. Granted, I've only known you for a little over a year now, but I can tell when you're good or not. And trust me, you're not good right now." Dallas said. With a heavy sigh, I sat down on a hay bale and put my head in my hands. Dallas sat next to me and put her head on my shoulder. We just sat in silence, wondering about what life had become.

[Nancy1340]

From the 2nd chapter of this wonderful story.

The next morning, I had my trucked packed, gassed up and ready to go.

Trucked ?

Glad to see a follow up story. I enjoyed the first and have ejoyed this one so far. Thanks

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

From the first chapter of this wonderful story.

The next morning, I had my trucked packed, gassed up and ready to go.

Trucked ?

Glad to see a follow up story. I enjoyed the first and have ejoyed this one so far. Thanks

Crap, I knew I should have paid more attention while proofreading.

I'll go back and fix my little screw up in the first chapter. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

"Chimpov, we need you inside the house for a minute. If you don't mind, that is." Flynn said.
"Yeah, I'll be right there." I said, getting off the hay bale. Dallas and I walked back to the farm house and went inside. I walked into the living room where Mike, Flynn and the others were waiting. "Ok, we've got the location of the cache site, which isn't too far from here, maybe thirty or forty miles to the east. Philo's man said there's only three guys guarding the place, but we've got no way to know if he wasn't just lying. I say we split up into two groups. Jakob and I will be the first and Mike and Flynn will be the second." I said, going over the plan.
"What about us, Chimpov ?" Steven said. "Wouldn't it be better if we all went, you know the whole 'Strength in numbers' thing ?"
"Kid's got a good point there, mate." Flynn said.
"That he does, Flynn." I said. "Ok, screw the teams thing, we hit them hard and fast. All of us." We came up with a plan and when morning came, it found us on the way to the cache site to get Jakob's wife back. We stopped a little ways from the site and slowly made our way towards it. The site turned out to be a medium sized house, similar to my old house back in Arizona. Two stories, attached two car garage and three idiots armed with AR-15s and various handguns.
"Chimpov, looks like Philo's man was right. Only three guys guarding the place." Jakob whispered. "Looks like it, Jakob. I still say we be careful. We only see three guys, but who knows if there's any more on the inside. Philo's man may have been fucking with us." I said.
"True, Chimpov, but the more time we waste, the more those guys get bored and may end up killing their prisoners because of that." Jakob said. We sat out in the cold for a few more minutes before we struck. In a perfect world, I'd like to say the attack went off without any serious problems, but I'd be lying if I said that. What happened in reality was much worse. We made our way into the house, trying to be as quiet as we could. We found the prisoners, neither of which were Angel, but we arrived too late to help them. Philo's men had apparently grown tired of watching over them and put a bullet in each of their skulls. That pissed me off big time and I wanted to kill these guys even more. Jakob disappeared and before Dallas, Flynn, Mike and I could find him, we got caught by the guards. You know how in the movies, time slows to a crawl and everything moves in slow motion ? Well, that's how things went when the guards decided to open up on us. We all dove for cover and fired back. In a matter of minutes, or what seemed like forever to me, the house erupted in a blaze of gunfire. How the fuck two guys could shoot like that made me wonder just who they were and why Philo didn't take them with when he made his trade runs. After a few moments of shooting, the house went quiet. Unnervingly quiet, like being in the eye of a hurricane right before a palm tree comes and smacks the shit out of you.
"Attention, jackasses. If you're still breathing and want to stay that way, I suggest you toss your weapons on the ground and walk towards the sound of my voice." I said. I received no answer, so I cautiously made my way over to the guards' position. I found two men dead and the other nowhere to be found. I was making my way towards where we had last seen Jakob and heard three shots in rapid succession. I feared the worst as I ran towards the sounds.

[Laager]

My money is on Jakob not being very happy with the current situation. The Russian Bear, nothing like the immediate application of extreme brute force to change the dynamics of a situation....one way or the other.

I have always admired that........they do not mess around.....

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

What I found was Jakob on his knees, holding a smoking gun. In front of him was the dead body of the third guard. Bastard had a good sized chunk of his skull missing and a couple holes in his chest.
"Jakob, you ok ?" I asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Everyone else get out ok ? I heard gunshots." Jakob said.
"Yeah, we had a little run-in with the other guards after we found the other prisoners. The guards won't be bothering us anymore." I said.
"What about the other prisoners ?" Jakob asked.
"We were too late. Philo's men shot them before we got here. Probably a couple days ago." I replied.
"Fuck." Jakob said.
"You find Angel ?" I asked.
"Yeah, I did." Jakob replied. "She's over here, behind the fridge. Angel, you can come out now. It's safe.". Angel came out from behind the fridge and immediately hugged Jakob. I took that as my cue to leave the two of them alone. I'm pretty sure they had a lot of catching up to do. I walked back to where our gunfight had taken place to find Mike and Flynn taking the guns and ammo off the recently deceased guards. Jakob and Angel came out of the kitchen after a little while and Jakob introduced her to everyone.
"Angel, meet the people who helped me find you. That's Chimpov, his wife Dallas, Flynn, Big Mike and his girlfriend Kat, Barbara Bishop and her kids, Kari and Steven and Farmer John. Everyone, this is my wife, Angel." Jakob said, pointing to each of us.
"Nice to meet all of you." Angel said. After introductions were over, we looked for the cache of supplies Philo supposedly kept at this place
"Uh, Chimpov, you might want to come and take a look at this." Dallas said as she opened the door to the garage. I walked over to where Dallas was standing and my jaw just about hit the floor when I saw what she was looking at.
"Philo, you crafty son of a bitch." I said. What I saw were boxes of random survival gear and enough food and supplies to last us for a long time.
"No more running about the wastes getting shot at by random folks, eh Chimpov ?" Flynn said.
"You got that right, brother." I said. We loaded up the supplies in my truck, Barbara's van, Farmer John's van and a couple other vehicles Philo had stashed at the site. We took the time to bury the two girls Philo's men had killed and Farmer John said a small prayer for them. Flynn found their ID's and we found out what their names were. One was named Danielle MacFarlane and the other was named Vanessa Carlyle, both from Texas and both around 20 years of age. After the impromptu funeral was over, we headed back to the farm. Not before Angel set the house she, Danielle and Vanessa were held captive in, ablaze. We stood by our vehicles, silently watching the house burn to the ground.