Smithsonian Castle

[Crim]

Description: The Smithsonian Castle used to be a grand building. Now it is deserted, dusty and dilapidated, in places some of the structure has completely fallen, other areas it is unstable. Some areas are still okay to move in but it is still sensible to take care whatever part you are in. There are few things left from when it was in use. Most things have been raided or broken. There are random things located in places though.

This is also Joel's nest/home [Played by Luxin]

 

[Crim]

"Ya need to go into the castle and hunt for food." Ember told her twin.

The girls had left the safety of the car on the bridge once moe to go scavenging. Ember wasnt one to sit in the car all day. She liked to be out exploring. Morgan on the other hand was quite happy to stay in the safety of the car. She didn't want to be shot or eaten.

"Alone?" Morgan looked at the dilapidated building.

"Yes. Alone."

Morgan didn't want to go alone. She was scared. Terrified. They'd never been in the castle before. "Why aren't you coming in with me?"

"I'll be out here watching for raiders and looking for things." Ember sounded like Morgan had just asked the stupidest question ever.

Sighing, Morgan knew she couldn't win and that she had to do what Ember said. Ember was the boss. With thst realised, Morgan frowned and headed inside the castle to look around for resources.

 

[Luxin]

Joel was sitting in one of the smaller rooms of the Castle, a hub of sorts. Above him was a complex web of strings and wires, all tied to a few old cans clustered close to each other. He'd picked up the trick when he was camping with his pa years and years before. Animal touches the string in one place, the string moves and makes the cans clank together. Easy system for early-warnings. Why he was sitting there, however, had nothing to do with it. Instead, he'd made the room extremely comfortable, as well as defensible. From the room's window, he had a glorious view out over the Mall, facing towards the Tower. He was just really relaxing, setting up his ammunition in a more convenient place, when the cans above him jingled together.

Immediately he was on the alert. He grabbed his rifle and walked towards the door, ensuring his line of sight down the hallway was clear. If there was something coming in, he hoped it would make for a nice dinner.

 

[Crim]

Morgan didn't think anything of the string as her leg touched it. She stepped over it and moved inside the castle at a slow pace, hesitant that someone or something might jump out at her. She got caught by the dogs before. You never knew when dogs could appear and they liked to eat people. They were just as hungry after all.

Once inside and nothing jumped out at her, Morgan carefully moved around. Ember was still outside messing around and taking no notice of if Morgan was in trouble. There was nothing that she could see straight away of any use. Frowning, she moved down the hallway, peeking into doors as she walked to see if any of the rooms leading off had anything of interest.

 

[Luxin]

Joel eased open a slot in the door, having cut it out when he'd first chosen this room. Made for a real nice peephole for his girl, and gave him a good view. As he gently placed the chunk of wood on the floor, the redneck took a look down his sight, leaving the magnification at only two-power. Nothing fancy, though the hallway was a bit long. On the far end, he could make out a shape of someone wandering aimlessly, popping in and out of room. He placed the magazine into the bottom of his rifle and cycled the bolt, loading the first .308 round into the chamber.

Unfortunately, with how quiet the building was, and how loud guns could be, the sound of a racking slide would be more than audible as it echoed down the hallway.

 

[Crim]

Morgan heard a noise from up the hallway just as she was about to enter the next room. It sounded almost like a stick snapping when someone stepped on it, she thought. Her head turned to look down the hallway. She couldn't see anything. Not to say that something wasn't there. Morgan moved herself into the room that she'd been heading into before poking her head slightly around the corner to see if anyone made an appearance. Her heart was pounding, but she didn't want to go back out in case she was chased.

If she could see something, then she knew she'd have to try and shut the door and keep it shut. Maybe she could get to the window and alert Ember if she was quick enough, and if her sister was there, of course.

 

[Luxin]

Joel watched calmly as the person ducked into a room. So they'd heard him, but not seen him. They just knew he was in the area. He let the thought roll over in his brain a bit, sucking on the wad of dip under his lip, before spitting a glob of less-than-attractive spittle into the corner.

"Who'n'a hell are you?" he called out through the door, training his rifle to where their head had popped out. At times he wished he's put up some kind of lighting, but lights attracted idiots, and idiots got you killed. Not the most attractive prospect. "The hell you doin' here, too?"

 

[Crim]

Someone was there! They spoke. It was a man. That was never good. If it was a girl then they sometimes were nice. But the boy she'd found before was nice. He'd saved her from the dogs. Didn't mean this man would. And he didn't sound happy either. It was then that Morgan started to panic. She didn't want to answer him. What if he got madder?

She pulled her head back into the room and closed the door, it was broken anyway so it wasn't going to keep him out. Immediately Morgan went to the window and looked out. Ember wasn't to be seen. Frowning, she didn't want to shout for help and make him get mad either. Looking around the room there wasn't much choice of hiding places. Maybe he hadn't seen her. There was lots of rubble around and one of the walls had partially collapsed. That was the best thing to do. And so she hid.

 

[Luxin]

Joel listened after he'd shouted, waiting for any kind of response. After a few moments, he heard the sound of the door shutting, though it was broken to the point where it wouldn't latch properly. He grunted in frustration, pulled his rifle back throught he slot, replaced the wooden block, and pulled out his chaw, dropping it into a small bucket.

"Guess it's time tuh do it the hard way. Fuckin' buzzards." He was talking to himself while looking for a piece of wood he could use well enough as a club if need be. His gun wasn't gonna ever see that kind of work, and he damn well wasn't gonna try and make a shot point blank. After about five minutes, he found what he needed, and it had nails, too.

Joel popped open the door, resting his rifle inside against the door frame and hefting his makeshift bludgeon before he walked quietly down the hall. He placed his feet with care, avoiding anything that would cause noise as well as the creaky bits in the floorboards. When he got to the door he'd seen the person duck into, he paused before kicking the thing in, causing the wood at the hinges to snap and the door to twist violently into the room.

"C'mon out, ya rat! Show me ya at least got the guts to look me inna eye when ya break inna mah home!"

 

[Crim]

It didn't take long to hear the door getting kicked in and for the man to talk. Her heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest and she covered her ears, closing her eyes in fear. His words didn't sound anything near encouraging for her to come out. And she didn't want to come out. If he had a gun... Morgan opened her eyes to look at the other room where the wall had collapsed. She wouldn't make it if he had a gun.

Maybe he wasn't looking in her direction.

She bit her lip, trying to think on what the best thing to do was. Should she or shouldn't she run? Would he really shoot her? Carefully, she manoeuvred herself to get onto her knees as quietly as she could and sneak a small peek around the corner of the rubble. And as soon as she realised it would take him a moment to realise exactly where she was and shoot, she was confident enough that she could run. She still had no idea if he had a gun or not. But she immediately got up and ran into the other room, heading straight for that door and not turning around to see where he was.

 

[Luxin]

Joel heard the rubble shift just in time to catch sight of a pair of legs disappearing into the next room. He immediately broke into a run to follow, nimbly leaping some of the rubble to gain time. As he entered through the wall, he heaved his plank of wood at the girl, hoping to hit her, regardless of where. It wouldn't be dinner, but it might be something just as good.

Whether the wood hit or not, he'd continue to chase after her, pinning her if he could catch her, getting her out of his house if not.

 

[Crim]

The wood hit Morgan on the leg, or more so caught her leg. The nails caught her, scratching her leg and it caught her by surprise, causing her to fall with the sudden surprise. She cried out, hitting the floor and grabbing her leg, already crying and examining the scratches and the blood that came with them. There wasn't a lot, but still, it hurt and the wood and nails had caught her.

"EMBER!" She wailed. "EMBER!"

The man was suddenly there, and moved back out of fear, screaming in the process. Ember didn't appear though.

 

[Luxin]

Joel quickly caught up to her, now that she'd fallen, and even though she managed to yell before he got there, once he got to her he clapped a hand over her mouth and pinned one of her arms and one of her legs. If this girl had friends, he'd have a whole mess of trouble up his ass sooner than later.

"You tell me now, girl. You alone, or you got friends? One squeak for alone, two for friends." He seemed more calm now, but confident and in control. There was even a dangerous edge to him, though the effect of it was slightly lost by him suddenly sucking at his gums. "Cause there's a few ways this can go, and some is more pretty'n others."

 

[Crim]

Morgan tried to raised her arms for protection but the boy had her fast. She was pinned and there was a hand over her mouth suddenly. Her blue eyes were full of fear. She was obviously terrified. He was bigger than her now that he was practically on top of her. She was still crying. He gave her instructions and Morgan really didn't want to get Ember involved. But if she lied and Ember came in looking for her... they could end up dead.

Morgan managed to let out a squeak. And then she let out another squeak to let him know that there were friends.

 

[Luxin]

"Piss'n'beer..." The swear, muttered softly, was all Joel could think about. She had friends, which could mean one of a million things. A parent, an older sibling, hell, even a dog. He could eat a dog, at least, but the rest would be no end of trouble. He paused for a moment, raising to his haunches. What was it she'd said as she'd run? Had to be important, didn't it? Suddenly the light went from out to bright in his head after a few flickers. He turned back to face her, bringing his tobacco-filled breath well within smelling range.

"Who'n'a fuck's Ember? Dog or some shit?" he asked, still keeping his hand on her mouth. He realized the fact that she wouldn't be able to answer like that, so he moved his hand off, instead using it to hold her head where it was by pressing on her forehead.

 

[Crim]

Morgan watched as he stayed angry. Her eyes flickered to see if he was armed with anything. She couldn't see that he had anything. And she couldn't see that he was about to kill her. That didn't mean that he wouldn't.

He moved his hand from her mouth finally after asking another question. Who was Ember? He thought it was a dog. Should she lie? No. Lying was a dangerous game. Her mother taught her to tell the truth. That telling the truth helped. She frowned but answered his question. "Ember's my sister. My twin sister. She's outside looking for things. We were looking for things. That's all." She barely whispered. The fear went from her eyes to her voice.

 

[Luxin]

Joel stopped. Twin sister? Oh jesus, it was a pair of little girls trying to scavenge. For a moment, he almost felt bad, but he knew that there was nothing to be done about it. He wasn't going to deal with any one child, let alone two. It wasn't worth his time, or his resources. He was glad, for once, that hadn't fired his rifle. He shut his mouth, which had started to hang open.

"Yer a damn idiot lil' girl, y'know that. Ya don't just fuckin' go inna some fuck-off buildin' just 'cause ya need stuff. Now, yer gonna be real lucky today, cause I ain't got a need tuh kill ya, and yer sis is prolly either gone'r dead. It's a rough fuckin' world. I'm gonna putcha outside, and yer gonna run along. You come back without my permission, I'll put a bullet in yer brain. You turn around once while yer walkin' away? Bullet. Brain." He stood and yanked the girl up, easily carrying her to the door she entered from. While he wasn't rough, when he tossed her out, he wasn't gentle about it either, and despite the long scratches on her leg, he'd not even offered to aid her. He bent down to reset his tripwire at the door before calling out one last time.

"Oh, an' if yer smart, ya won't go lookin' for all the goodies at the Tower. Place is full'a good stuff, but not fer me."

 

[Crim]

Morgan cried her eyes out, listening to his words as he escorted her out. She was out on her ass faster than when she'd made it into the building. She was still crying, but her ears perked at the tower of goodies. Morgan wasn't going to dare ask him where it was. Instead, she got up and ran off to find her sister. Well, hobbled morre than ran. Her leg hurt a lot. And she didn't dare look back.

As soon as she saw Ember she burst into more tears.

"What happened to ya?"

She frowned, not sure what to say at first. "There was a man in there. He hurt my leg. I didn't find anything."

"Ya idiot. Do I need to do everything?"

"But he talked about a tower of goodies somewhere. Said he didn't want 'em."

"Where?"

Morgan frowned. "I didn't ask. If I turned around he was gunna put a bullet in my brain."

Ember let out a frustrated sigh. "Come on. Lets get ya dumb leg sorted. Then tomorrow we'll go an' hunt for the tower."

Morgan followed Ember away from the castle. It was going to get dark soon, she figured. And they didn't want to be out in the dark.