Kade didn't sleep long.
Not because she didn't wish to sleep longer. Actually, had she been asked her intentions while occupying that long since dried out ditch, Kade would have admitted thinking it was possible to get more than three hours hours slumbering in twilight silence with only the barest breaths escaping scarf covered nostrils. Unfortunately, as the woman had come to learn over the years, good things rarely lasted longer than the amount of time it took someone to realize their benevolence. Tonight was no exception, and with the lack of excluding qualities like township sovereignty and policing samaritans, rigid realization left her still as a corpse when a scream ripped through the dusky darkness. Azure oculars flickered with silent panic, tracing the clouds above as though reading otherwise uneventful signs in the shapes and translucency. How soon was dawn? Was there time to get away?
One did well not to forget the sound of bones breaking, and as another scream pierced the veil of night, so too did Kade give up on her lingering assessments. Someone was being mauled, and by whatever distant details she could make out in her scramble to rise to a standing position, it wasn't far enough away to risk staying in the area. Shrinking away from the ideas as they bloomed as violent, despicable thoughts, the woman clambered out of the hole she had made her own, and bid it a dismissive farewell as her boots clapped the pavement of the highway. Even in layers, with her entirety tethered to her figure with accompanying weight of tools and weaponry of various levels of usefulness, Kade was capable of hastily covering ground. There weren't other options available in the moment; not unless she intended to attract whatever unwanted attention whomever else had just fallen prey to.
A bump in the night was just as deadly as a misstep in the ruins of the major cities.
From what the horizon's shapes offered, Kade was headed towards civilization of some sort, though there wasn't a metropolis anywhere within a day's journey, and on as little recovery time she had been able to earn, she could guarantee she wouldn't make the trip in one straight hike. Instead, she could steal a pause in the small town growing closer with each uneasy footfall, even if that was the last place she had in mind this late in the night. Despite the open of the archaic street leading into the remnants of a once populated town, it felt like a black corridor void of light- without humanity. While humans may dwell in the collapsed structures even then, they were no longer of her kind. Never trust a stranger. There were always rules to follow, and the life of a nomad was no different than that of a fugitive. Drifting meant utmost caution, and above all things, a suspicion towards those who crossed her path.
Kade had been threatened, beaten, and shot at by more individuals than she cared to recall. No one was entirely selfless. No one cared more for a stranger than they did for themselves, and if there was blood in the water of this cesspool, the sharks would quickly surface from their hiding places. Adjusting the straps of her backpack, the woman narrowed fatigued hues over the shells of cars at the edge of town, noting just how they sat in their melted rubber resting places. Untouched for decades, out of use and without purpose in a world repurposed, their once importance was laughable. Very rarely did she see a running vehicle, and it always led to more trouble than it was worth. Even caravans used mules for their trips through the sands, as gasoline was worth more to bikers and bandits than a handful of merchant's lives were. Trading in oil was the equivalent to bartering with blood on your hands- Kade didn't touch that business venture.
No. Kade wasn't a killer. She didn't have the heart or the emotional fortitude to commit heinous acts of that nature intentionally.
That said, the blonde was perfectly happy hightailing it when things became overwhelming. How many altercations had she abandoned without guilt? How many people suffered for her sins when they were left grasping at straws in the crossfire? Back to her initial admittance it went, back to the idea that company only caused more harm than good. Dead weight. Wasted obligations that caused concern and incited fear. Minds taxed over vain attempts at fleeting happiness that could otherwise be used for more pressing purposes. Teamwork meant a team, and Kade didn't want that. She didn't want to be responsible for more than her own well being, despite seeking shelter in the collectives on occasion. Barricaded sanctuaries were a comfort; a luxury. They could be used with minimal thought, and selectively, they were worth taking advantage of for the most basic of supplies. Water specifically, but work as well. Odd jobs to earn her keep for brief spells in the winter when the shrieking, moaning night winds were almost unbearable, and not worth traversing through.
And.. all powers that be, she needed a cigarette. Several, really. Bundled as the figure was, it was a longstanding habit not to draw attention to who or what she may have been. The wastes were especially cruel to the woman caught in their expanses. It wasn't that Kade couldn't fend for herself, but her appearance made matters more difficult than they might otherwise have been had she been a man. Women could be traded, sold, and sometimes, stolen from their claimed protectors. The cigarette would have to wait. There wasn't a chance in hell the scarf could be lowered at a time like this, and though she wore her hair long and tawny when she slept, her hood would be raised to block the imagery from plain sight. In passing, she was a nondescript body drifting through the ether. A spirit lost and solemn, without real destination outside the vague concept of safety.
Weary feet came to a pause near an auto parts store that had long before been ransacked for goods. A husk of it's former self, this implied scavengers had no real need or want to be in the area. Drowsiness made the decision a temporary one, even while she argued with herself over the benefits of a more enclosed location. Beyond the walls of the open garage, a howl echoed like a guttural warning, clear and precise as though honed on the woman. Tongue ran against her teeth, her brow heavy with worry, but she continued to poke around for the smallest, most enclosed crawl spaces in the building. Kade settled for huddling beneath a desk in the back, it's body still intact minus drawers having been ripped from the furniture piece in a messy search for last minute treasures. Cigarettes, more than likely. Perhaps cash, as that had once been a prominent focus to ancient society, and she assumed keeping it locked away in one's work environment wasn't a terrible idea in that time period.
Hard to question the old ways when she had never been part of them. Stories, like the magazines told. Lies. She could see the truth in the fallen cities. In the night that crawled with danger. This time, she didn't both laying down. Instead, scuffed knees were brought to rest against her chest while her bag of goods was situated on the innermost side of her hideaway. It wasn't even sleep she expected to get, but a quiet place to think. To stop moving for the time, as she had been active for so long, her muscles begged for a break in pace. That much could be managed, if only for a little while. Though during all this preparation, the howls didn't stop. In the passing moments, they rang true down the corridors of the town, echoing along alleys and through the buildings residing nearby. Instinctively, one of her hands groped at the handle of her knife where it hung sheathed at her belt loop. Pathetic piece of weaponry it was, but it could get the woman out of a bind. Hopefully. She hadn't been forced to use it yet, but with her nerves fried and her mind a sea of terrified thoughts, Kade didn't doubt her willingness.
If Kade wanted the easy life, she could find it. Unfortunately, nothing she wanted was meant to be attained easily.
Not because she didn't wish to sleep longer. Actually, had she been asked her intentions while occupying that long since dried out ditch, Kade would have admitted thinking it was possible to get more than three hours hours slumbering in twilight silence with only the barest breaths escaping scarf covered nostrils. Unfortunately, as the woman had come to learn over the years, good things rarely lasted longer than the amount of time it took someone to realize their benevolence. Tonight was no exception, and with the lack of excluding qualities like township sovereignty and policing samaritans, rigid realization left her still as a corpse when a scream ripped through the dusky darkness. Azure oculars flickered with silent panic, tracing the clouds above as though reading otherwise uneventful signs in the shapes and translucency. How soon was dawn? Was there time to get away?
One did well not to forget the sound of bones breaking, and as another scream pierced the veil of night, so too did Kade give up on her lingering assessments. Someone was being mauled, and by whatever distant details she could make out in her scramble to rise to a standing position, it wasn't far enough away to risk staying in the area. Shrinking away from the ideas as they bloomed as violent, despicable thoughts, the woman clambered out of the hole she had made her own, and bid it a dismissive farewell as her boots clapped the pavement of the highway. Even in layers, with her entirety tethered to her figure with accompanying weight of tools and weaponry of various levels of usefulness, Kade was capable of hastily covering ground. There weren't other options available in the moment; not unless she intended to attract whatever unwanted attention whomever else had just fallen prey to.
A bump in the night was just as deadly as a misstep in the ruins of the major cities.
From what the horizon's shapes offered, Kade was headed towards civilization of some sort, though there wasn't a metropolis anywhere within a day's journey, and on as little recovery time she had been able to earn, she could guarantee she wouldn't make the trip in one straight hike. Instead, she could steal a pause in the small town growing closer with each uneasy footfall, even if that was the last place she had in mind this late in the night. Despite the open of the archaic street leading into the remnants of a once populated town, it felt like a black corridor void of light- without humanity. While humans may dwell in the collapsed structures even then, they were no longer of her kind. Never trust a stranger. There were always rules to follow, and the life of a nomad was no different than that of a fugitive. Drifting meant utmost caution, and above all things, a suspicion towards those who crossed her path.
Kade had been threatened, beaten, and shot at by more individuals than she cared to recall. No one was entirely selfless. No one cared more for a stranger than they did for themselves, and if there was blood in the water of this cesspool, the sharks would quickly surface from their hiding places. Adjusting the straps of her backpack, the woman narrowed fatigued hues over the shells of cars at the edge of town, noting just how they sat in their melted rubber resting places. Untouched for decades, out of use and without purpose in a world repurposed, their once importance was laughable. Very rarely did she see a running vehicle, and it always led to more trouble than it was worth. Even caravans used mules for their trips through the sands, as gasoline was worth more to bikers and bandits than a handful of merchant's lives were. Trading in oil was the equivalent to bartering with blood on your hands- Kade didn't touch that business venture.
No. Kade wasn't a killer. She didn't have the heart or the emotional fortitude to commit heinous acts of that nature intentionally.
That said, the blonde was perfectly happy hightailing it when things became overwhelming. How many altercations had she abandoned without guilt? How many people suffered for her sins when they were left grasping at straws in the crossfire? Back to her initial admittance it went, back to the idea that company only caused more harm than good. Dead weight. Wasted obligations that caused concern and incited fear. Minds taxed over vain attempts at fleeting happiness that could otherwise be used for more pressing purposes. Teamwork meant a team, and Kade didn't want that. She didn't want to be responsible for more than her own well being, despite seeking shelter in the collectives on occasion. Barricaded sanctuaries were a comfort; a luxury. They could be used with minimal thought, and selectively, they were worth taking advantage of for the most basic of supplies. Water specifically, but work as well. Odd jobs to earn her keep for brief spells in the winter when the shrieking, moaning night winds were almost unbearable, and not worth traversing through.
And.. all powers that be, she needed a cigarette. Several, really. Bundled as the figure was, it was a longstanding habit not to draw attention to who or what she may have been. The wastes were especially cruel to the woman caught in their expanses. It wasn't that Kade couldn't fend for herself, but her appearance made matters more difficult than they might otherwise have been had she been a man. Women could be traded, sold, and sometimes, stolen from their claimed protectors. The cigarette would have to wait. There wasn't a chance in hell the scarf could be lowered at a time like this, and though she wore her hair long and tawny when she slept, her hood would be raised to block the imagery from plain sight. In passing, she was a nondescript body drifting through the ether. A spirit lost and solemn, without real destination outside the vague concept of safety.
Weary feet came to a pause near an auto parts store that had long before been ransacked for goods. A husk of it's former self, this implied scavengers had no real need or want to be in the area. Drowsiness made the decision a temporary one, even while she argued with herself over the benefits of a more enclosed location. Beyond the walls of the open garage, a howl echoed like a guttural warning, clear and precise as though honed on the woman. Tongue ran against her teeth, her brow heavy with worry, but she continued to poke around for the smallest, most enclosed crawl spaces in the building. Kade settled for huddling beneath a desk in the back, it's body still intact minus drawers having been ripped from the furniture piece in a messy search for last minute treasures. Cigarettes, more than likely. Perhaps cash, as that had once been a prominent focus to ancient society, and she assumed keeping it locked away in one's work environment wasn't a terrible idea in that time period.
Hard to question the old ways when she had never been part of them. Stories, like the magazines told. Lies. She could see the truth in the fallen cities. In the night that crawled with danger. This time, she didn't both laying down. Instead, scuffed knees were brought to rest against her chest while her bag of goods was situated on the innermost side of her hideaway. It wasn't even sleep she expected to get, but a quiet place to think. To stop moving for the time, as she had been active for so long, her muscles begged for a break in pace. That much could be managed, if only for a little while. Though during all this preparation, the howls didn't stop. In the passing moments, they rang true down the corridors of the town, echoing along alleys and through the buildings residing nearby. Instinctively, one of her hands groped at the handle of her knife where it hung sheathed at her belt loop. Pathetic piece of weaponry it was, but it could get the woman out of a bind. Hopefully. She hadn't been forced to use it yet, but with her nerves fried and her mind a sea of terrified thoughts, Kade didn't doubt her willingness.
If Kade wanted the easy life, she could find it. Unfortunately, nothing she wanted was meant to be attained easily.
BDRP Admin. Writer. Villain. Personal Blog.
I tried running from the memory and the mourning.
I tried running from the memory and the mourning.
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Nomads [closed] - by Kat - 07-05-2015, 06:32 PM
Nomads [closed] - by Kat - 07-05-2015, 07:23 PM
Nomads [closed] - by Kat - 09-19-2015, 02:27 AM
Nomads [closed] - by Kat - 09-19-2015, 02:29 AM
Nomads [closed] - by Kat - 09-19-2015, 02:32 AM
Nomads [closed] - by Kat - 09-19-2015, 02:33 AM
Nomads [closed] - by Kat - 09-23-2015, 09:42 AM
Nomads [closed] - by Kat - 09-29-2015, 11:48 AM
RE: Nomads [closed] - by Kat - 11-13-2015, 01:39 PM
RE: Nomads [closed] - by Kat - 01-12-2016, 08:19 AM
RE: Nomads [closed] - by Kat - 05-22-2016, 01:59 AM