Only The Strong Survive

Vanessa
Picking up the end of the lasso Outlaw had thrown her, she whistled Stormy over and told her to sit. Careful not to tie it too tight, she fashioned a makeshift harness and slipped it onto her dog. Giving it a last few tugs to make sure it would hold Stormy's weight, she gave Outlaw the OK.

Outlaw
At Vanessa's OK she carefully pulled the dog up. She crouched down next to the dog and gently undid the ropes, coiling the lasso back up and returning it to it's position on her hip. She then slid back down the ladder onto the ground. "You can come down Moon" she informed the panther. The big cat scrambled down the tree and came running to her side, rubbing against her leg as if it had been ages since they'd seen each other. "You big goof" she muttered to the cat, scratching it behind it's ears.

Vanessa
Satisfied that Stormy was in good hands, she turned to the woods to retrieve her horse, pausing for a moment as she beheld the man still sobbing by the horse pen. Figuring that she would do more harm than good by saying anything, she walked away from the pen and into the brush. Prying herself away from the thorn bushes, she walked to the tree where she had left Hawke. She blinked as she realized that Hawke wasn't there. She looked around, thinking maybe she had actually tied him to a different tree. She walked forward a couple more paces, stopping when a broken halter dangling from a branch almost hit her square in the face. Gasping as she realized the halter belonged to her horse, she tensed up and listened for the sound of the undead. She whirled around when she heard the sound of twigs snapping underfoot, followed by the moaning and gurgling sounds that accompany a group of mobilized rotting corpses. A horse's whinny pierced the air, followed soon after by the sickening thud of a hoof hitting decaying flesh. Realizing that her mount was still alive, at least for now, Vanessa crept around behind the trees to where the sounds emanated from. Sneaking around the trunk of a particularly large tree, she put her hand to her mouth as she witnessed at least 5 walkers stumbling towards Hawke. The horse had his ears pinned back and pawed the ground as he was slowly backed into the underbrush. One zombie lay motionless on the ground, its skull evidently crushed by the enraged horse's hooves. One of the walkers suddenly lunged for the horse, causing him to rear up out of reach. Not sure if it was the right call, but not wanting to see her horse killed right in front of her, she whistled for Hawke, two long and low notes. His ears instantly perked up and twitched as Vanessa repeated the whistle. Snorting, he tried to muster the courage to jump, every muscle quivering with adrenaline. Vanessa whistled one last time, hoping that it was enough. Hawke suddenly goat jumped over the zombies that had slowly turned towards Vanessa, striking one in the head in the process. He sped towards her, and as he drew nearer, she rose out from behind the tree and sprang onto his back, holding tightly to his mane to keep from falling off. 
"Ok I don't think I need to tell you this, buddy, but RUN!" 
Hawke sprinted out of the woods, heedless of the branches that whipped him and his rider as they flew by. Vanessa pulled him to a trot and then a halt as they neared the horse pen.
"Dang, that was a close call."

Ryan
 Oblivious to their conversation, and even really the girl showing up, Ryan had chosen to untack his horse instead of clawing his way back to reality. He slung the saddle up over the top rail of the pen before unlatching the gate and leading the tired mare inside, pulling it closed behind him so neither she nor the stallion could escape. He undid her bridle, his movements seeming completely normal to him, though in truth he was moving incredibly slow, not at all in touch with everything else that was going on. He turned, hung the bridle on the horn of his saddle, and exited the pen, closing the gate behind him. When he did so, he stopped, finally taking a minute to get out of his head. He sighed, rubbing the wetness from his eyes and making an attempt to obscure the tear tracks on his face, before beginning to turn away. He patted his mare's rump through the fence before making his way over to Outlaw. "You have a panther," he commented, not nearly as surprised as he would've liked to be. "What's the story behind that?"

Outlaw
She watched the girl come crashing through the bushes on her horse after some time, while watching Zach out of the corner of her eyes as he took care of his mare. When he came over and asked the question she looked down at the big panther while thinking back to how that had happened. "I stole her from a gang that was gonna sell her on the black market" she replied, deciding to go with the truth for now. "She was anyways wild caught, so I took her and let her go, but she decided to stick around."

Vanessa
"Hey guys," she gasped as she slipped from Hawke's back. "Sorry to interrupt this lovely little chat, but I just thought you should know that there's like 5 or 6 adorable bundles of rotting flesh heading our way. Also I have literally no weapons. Just thought I'd let y'all know."
Taking a minute to catch her breath, she led Hawke into the pen where he instantly started rolling to free himself from the flies that thought that he was the cause of the stench of death that had followed them into the clearing.

Outlaw
"Oh lovely" she grumbled. She swiftly scaled the ladder into the hut, and pulled her French Guycot Chain Rifle from under her bed. She swiftly and expertly loaded the chain, then slung its strap over her shoulders, and went back outside, sliding back down the ladder with the gun. "We'll see em try anything now" she remarked rather cheerfully to the panther as she returned to its side.

Last edited on 2019-06-16 at 20:04:20 by Midnight Outlaw

Vanessa
"Ok, that's a cool gun," she remarked, "I'd offer to help but you seem to have the situation well in hand. Also I have no means of helping anyone at this point."
Hawke suddenly spooked as he caught wind of the panther, skittishly trotting to the farthest end of the pen.

Outlaw
She shot Vanessa a slight grin. "It's a right handy gun alright" she agreed. "Once I've taken care of our friends out there I'll find a gun. You comfortable with pistols? I got a couple extra pistols lying around." She raised the gun into position as she heard bush crackling, sighted it in the direction of the sounds, then waited patiently for her targets to appear.

Vanessa
A grin slowly formed on her lips as she realized that maybe, just maybe, she could be useful after all. "Yeah, I'm a pretty good shot with a pistol."

Outlaw
"Good" she murmured to Vanessa as her quarry started to appear. She waited until all 6 where out of the trees and starting across the quite large clearing the hut and corral was located in, then moved the gun slightly to sight on the first one. Steady it out, point the gun like your pointing a finger she reminded herself in her mind, then fired. She pulled the trigger in rapid succession 6 times, each time hitting on of the intended targets and dropping them each with one shot. She lowered the gun slightly, and once the gunsmoke had cleared checked the area for any others. When she found none she fully lowered the gun and turned calmly to Vanessa. 'You use a holster for your pistols or no? And one or two guns?"

Vanessa
"um..what..holsters yeah yeah holsters are good. And two is good too. Dang, where'd you learn to shoot like that?"

Outlaw
"You learned to shoot or you died in the times I was born in." she replied, heading towards the hut. "You might as well come up and see your grand new house and get you're guns." She added over her shoulder to Vanessa.

Vanessa
"Well, that works for me." she said quietly, more to herself than to Outlaw. Grasping hold of the ladder, she pulled herself up and followed Outlaw. Looking down to see how Hawke was doing one last time, she saw the man taking care of his horse, almost in slow motion, and decided to ask Outlaw about him later.

Last edited on 2019-06-17 at 12:18:54 by Sessa4hawke

Outlaw
She laid the rifle on her bed and then opened the cupboard over her bed, pulling out three guns and their holsters. "Colt Single Action Army, aka Peacemaker, Smith and Wesson Model 3, and Walch Navy 12-Shot Revolver." She listed, placing each gun in it's holster and onto the bed. "What one you want? I'll get you a second one of whatever one you choose." She said, turning to Vanessa.