countrygirlholden-blog
Just A Country Girl
“Because the South can be a dangerous place, especially for those who don’t understand it.”
Skill Set: Lima
Name: Jessica Maria Holden
Born: September 5th 1989
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I have a headache, a badge, and a gun. Behave.
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colton-langley:
It’s easily been four days since his training session with Henry, and Colton still feels his body sore from being thrown like a rag doll. Getting him to participate was like pulling teeth, but thank God for Henry’s patience with getting him to actually try. Colton’s pulled some from it, but not enough to save his life. Learning is a process, though. That was only lesson one, and he hopes there will be more before they have to leave and have no time to train.
He’s out for a walk with Leo, again. Aside from Jay, Colton enjoys Leo’s light and positive nature. There are too many others with sandpaper tongues that spew out abrasive comment for him to tolerate again today. Yes, Colton provokes sarcasm and sharp retorts due to his needless taunting, but some people are prickly without the help. Leo was free at the time when Colton found him, so he prompted him with being his ‘babysitter’ for a walk along the fences. He needed fresh air and some light conversation to distract from everything else.
Leo is enough sunshine for Colton to last the rest of the day when it is mentioned that their MMA fighter needs to get ready for patrols and all the other responsobilities that Colton is expempt from. But, before they turn and make a path to the house, Colton spots Jess alone. He waves Leo off and makes a quick bee-line to where she is seated at the edge of a deep hole. Expectedly, she has some project going on. Why wouldn’t she? Miss All-Work keeping her hands busy with something new for them. Colton steps up behind her and makes a face when she looks over her shoulder at him. Their last conversation isn’t exactly fresh in his head, but Colton would be lying if he said he wasn’t still somewhat annoyed.
“What are you up to, Sunshine?” He looks to the wood and metal, and the stake she’s sharpening in her hand. He shrugs and arches a brow down at her. “You know, other than being a literal stick in the mud.”
Jess is surprised Colton came over to her, their last sharing if words didn't go well and she thought he'd never bother her for some time. Her shoulders stiffen slightly when she feels him looking over her shoulder. "Traps, for Zulu and other unwanted visitors." She chooses to ignore his jab, focusing on the easy process of bringing the end of the wood to a sharp point. The work needs to be done soon and Jess isn't going to let this conversation distract her from it.
Continuing to sharpen the stake Jess waits to see what he's going to do, she didn't hold her tongue the last time they talked and if she was different she might apologize but that's not something she's going to do, not now when so much is on the line. At least Colton seems to want off this farmland now, or at least she thinks he does.
She finishes with the stake in her hand and tosses it in the pile of others, it's a decent collection of wood and metal and she's happy they had a good supply, whoever or whatever falls in won't be getting out easily if at all. Hopping into the hole Jess grabs the shovel and starts to dig again, "I could use a hand when this gets deep enough, the stakes need to be put down and an extra set of eyes and hands wold make things go faster?"
A Shovelful of Dirt || Jess & OPEN
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hardhat-jay:
Jay snorts and pictures Maya objecting to that really quickly. “Maybe we should put zip-lock bags on the supply list or something like that next time.” Jay doesn’t feel the need to say that she would be willing to carry the meat. It is meant then getting a good dinner? Jay wouldn’t care at all about it and would do it in a heart beat.
They move a little farther. Idle chat and Jay watches and ask small questions about the traps as Jess sets them up. It takes real talent that Jay knows for a fact she herself doesn’t have. It’s amazing watching Jess move so quickly as she does it though. Like it is second nature to her almost. “I swear you need to teach me all of this one day.” She has asked Jess before this. And she has does a good job of explaining and letting Jay help when she can. Still Jay always wants to learn more about everything.
Jess’ attention is down on the trap while Jay keeps watch for zeds. It is a common way they do these trips. But for once Jay spots the game first. At first she is pretty sure she is just a hungry hallucination but then she sees a second follow and Jay all but jumps for joy and she backs up to nudge Jess. “Turkeys.” She points with the mallets to the direction the the second followed the first behind some brush. “Fuck just one of those would be great.”
She waits for Jess’ lead. This is where she just follows in silence making sure no zeds steal their meals. “I thought all larger things would be gone?” She ask at barely a whisper and knows she might have to wait for an answer until after as Jess moves already in the direction of the birds.
Jess nods and smiles slightly, “trash bags would probably work too, hell we could wrap them in sheets too, anything to keep zulus off our backs.” Jess thinks they’d have a good chance to move away, get farther from the zulus even though they had fresh kill on their backs, the guts they leave behind may help keep the zulus away until they got far enough ahead of them.
As they go, Jess answers any questions Jay has, it’ll be nice having someone who can help set them, she’ll have to show Jay how to tie the knots right so things can be set up even faster. “I’d be happy to honesty, extra hand means things get done quicker, my father always thought we should teach others. No sense having skills if you aren’t willing to show off and share.”
When she feels the nudge and hears the word turkeys, her head shoots up and she rises to her feet quietly and quickly, it’s been so long since she’s seen a turkey and she smiles as she lifts her pistol and moves slowly forward, being careful to not disturb anything. She wants a clean and clear shot before trying anything, too much noise would be dangerous.
“I’d have thought so too, but they must be stragglers.” She doesn’t know all the travel times for birds, and she knows they must be smart enough to avoid this area after all that’s gone down, but she’s not going to think too much about it, they’ve discovered some good food and Jess won’t be against them. “We’ll take one, as soon as it’s down, you get it, I’ll take it apart at the house, we’ll move back quickly and I’ll gather the traps.”
Hunting for Luck || Jess & Jay
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flipping--fallxn:
Even if they weren’t on the best of terms, Fallon somewhat looked up to Jess. She had never been much a girly-girl, but growing up in Chicago was like living in a concrete jungle. Jess seemed to be one with nature–both the good and bad. Fallon got a crash course upon arriving here in Atlanta. She hadn’t been out in the country much, but at least she wasn’t squeamish. She wouldn’t allow herself not to survive, but she certainly wouldn’t have thrived. Jess would have. For that, she admired her a little.
For a moment, she thought Jess would turn her away, but she only received a shrug in response, with a wave of her hand towards the shovel. She spoke, and a soft smile formed of Fallon’s face as she made quick steps towards it, slender, callused hands wrapping around the worn wood. Fallon nodded in response, glancing down at the hole. “Cool. I can do that.”
She took another glance at Jess, narrowing her eyes a bit. “What are you making?” She asked, the shovel hitting the dirt hard. Even if she was tiny, she certainly wasn’t weak, and it showed as she lifted the shovel, putting the loose dirt to the side. She heard the older woman once more, and attacked the ground harder, hoping she’d get it deep enough–prove she wasn’t completely helpless.
For a long moment, Fallon simply worked. She felt the sweat forming on the back of her neck, and she took one or two breaks to crack her knuckles. After minutes of shoveling, she paused, glancing down. It was a bit deeper, and she looked to Jess for approval. “How’s that?” She asked her, wiping the bit of sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. She didn’t mind getting dirty.
The next command came shortly after, and Fallon sighed merely out of habit, setting the shovel down and going to the rocks. “Got it.” It was a simple enough task, and after a brief moment, she decided she might as well try to get to know her group member better. It might settle tension. Fallon cleared her throat, biting her lip briefly. “So…Jess. How long have you been with the group?”
“Stakes, they’re going in the bottom of the hole.” She continues cutting and sharpening the tip, while she watched Fallon work on the hole.The two women kept to themselves and for that Jess was grateful, she had little interest in having a conversation and she hoped the girl didn’t start asking question, when she does though Jess is happy that it has to do with work, but the follow up has her pause before she works again.
“Deeper. We don’t want something to get in only to be able to get out again.” Jess hates private questions, she’s not one for sharing, Henry, Jay and Cam have been the few to breakdown some of her walls but Jess doesn’t know this girl well enough to give her a lot of info, she knows it may seem childish to be unwilling to give up a simple bit of information like length of stay, but Jess doesn’t want it to spark even more questions.
“Long enough.” Months, she knows it’s been months, but she hasn’t kept track of time. She won’t say she doesn’t remember the moment Henry found her, she does, and she remembers her time alone in the woods most of all, deep in the woods alone for months does something to a person, and after many nights listening for zulus and one night of hearing someone scream for their life. It made her into someone new.
A Shovelful of Dirt || Jess & OPEN
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sgtblake:
If Jess says she can do it, Henry doesn’t doubt her. Even if she can be a little cocky, he’s yet to see Jess come across something she says she can do that winds up being a failure. He doesn’t have any real skill with tying knots. He can put up a tent and tie his shoes, but she has skills that Henry will probably never learn, so he doesn’t question it. Maybe, if he had been a boy scout instead of a lazy teenager who only showed up to football practice, it would be different.
Henry knows that look, but he doesn’t want to start a fight. Whatever Jess does in her free time is her own business, as long as it doesn’t interfere with her responsibilities. The dirty is packed harder the deeper he digs, and Henry has to put more effort into his jabs. They’ll have to disperse the dirty afterwards. A giant mound of loose dirt is a clear giveaway that something’s amiss, and it would defeat the entire purpose of the pit trap. He’s still got a solid ten minutes of digging down, but he doesn’t want to dig himself too deep with no way to get back up. Henry eyes the ledge, making sure it’s close enough that with a running jump, he can get up. He’s still got inches to spare as he continues digging.
“Did you think about putting something on the stakes?” Henry asks after a moment of debating in his own head. What he’s proposing isn’t exactly moral, but morality isn’t black and white out here. If someone comes into their camp with ill-intent, they have to find a way to stop them. Poisoned spikes would work, especially if they were a scout. If the person wasn’t so hostile, well, they do have antibiotics and a medical professional available.“In Vietnam, they had spike traps. They would rust metal spikes or cover the sharp ends in feces and toxins, so if someone fell in and didn’t have a direct route to antibiotics, they’d be poisoned.”
She likes his suggestion, the poison would work even better at stopping unwanted visitors who didn’t wish them good feelings, despite the fact that she wanted to leave this place quickly, it was still a decent place to live, and some less than decent people would probably kill for it. “I’m sure someone had a book on plants, we can see if there’s any good poisonous ones around, or we can use the feces, it’s gross to think about but anything to keep the place safe.”
She watches as he continues to dig, tonight she’ll get out the rope and start to get loops or knots in it. See which works best, she throws the next wooden spike onto the pile and picks up the last thick stick, and works on making the point a fine edge. “We’ll have to keep our ears open too, if someone does fall in the hole and doesn’t die right away, they can possibly draw some zulus in, though I would hope they’d be smarter than that and not wish to bring unwanted friends on top of them.” Zulus were mindless walking corpses, they wouldn’t know they were walking into a trap, especially if they were looking for a meal.
“I’ll get the spikes done, and head to the house, get the rope done so we can get these things in, there aren’t many traps left to do, the others went up easy, the digging is the most time consuming part of the whole thing.”
A Shovelful of Dirt || Jess & OPEN
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sgtblake:
Henry lets himself into the pit she’s digging very slowly, using his palms to slow his descent. When his feet connect with solid dirt, Henry turns slowly and wrestles the shovel out of the dirt. It’s very obvious what Jess is building, and even if Henry didn’t help design the defense plans, her ever-growing pile of sharpened wooden stakes are very, very obvious indication. He starts in almost immediately, digging straight down. A pit is no good if it isn’t deep enough to hold anyone that is fortunate enough to miss the spikes. There also needs to be enough momentum for bodies to fall into the pit, as horrid as it sounds. The harder they fall, the more likely they are to be hurt or killed.
“Smart. Just make sure it’s a portable ladder. We don’t want to leave any hostiles a way to escape. I’ll check around the extra farming supplies. I’m sure we can secure a blade to the end of something with decent reach.” Henry already knows which weapons he wants to utilize, and it should be easy enough with the sheer amount of metal parts they have laying around that it’ll be easy.
“Don’t get too ahead of yourself, Holden,” Henry says with a shake of his head. They can’t prepare for everything, and as much as he would love to dedicate time and people to prep for a possible evacuation, they just dont have the time or man power. Stretching the group too thin would be careless and dangerous at this point.“We can’t possibly plan for that right now. Once we’re on the go, I’ll be the first one to volunteer, but right now the farm house is priority alpha, and everything else is just a hobby.”
“I’m a champ with knots soldier boy, we can leave it where those can find it, so when they go out they know where to find it.” It would be easy to make a rope into something easy to carry and into a form of ladder so others can use it, she hates to use up some of her rope but they’re going to need it, she’ll have to find a way to work the knots so she can find another use of the rope later when they move on.
She hates the idea of waiting, planning ahead is what keeps her nerves calm and her mind straight. She shrugs to his comment but she knows later she’ll start planning those ideas, keeping the scenarios running through her head, she won’t ignore it and she can’t push it away. Pausing in her carving she watches as Henry continues to dig. There isn’t a lot to do around the house, nothing new for them to keep their hands busy, so the traps are giving all those willing and able to work a chance to get things done.
“There aren’t many traps left to set, I’ll grab a new set of eyes and take them around tomorrow, see if they can spot the traps.” She wants to see if they can see them, then she’ll show them how to spot the trap, but first she just wants to know if someone is going to see it if they simply come by. Not everyone in the world is a good person, so Jess wants to make sure the place is protected from those that wish them harm.
A Shovelful of Dirt || Jess & OPEN
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sgtblake:
Jess is gone by the time Henry gets back to the house. It’s not one of their work out days, so he doesn’t really think anything about it. Jess disappears, a lot of the time, and no one really says anything. She likes her time and personal space, and she has the combat skills to take care of herself. Jess disappearing isn’t something new or to worry about.
But when she doesn’t come back for dinner, Henry takes notice. He’s been trying to salvage the fields, but as the seasons start to change, Henry knows they’re going to be cutting food short. Jess and the others haven’t been able to bring in any significant game that’s lasted longer than a day or two. Their canned supplies are solid, for now, but they’ll run out very quickly if they have nothing else. It’s another thing to stress and worry about and Henry doesn’t have the time to do either right now. So when he notices that they’re down a person at lunch, he makes a mental note to go check on her. He has a couple of smaller jobs to do first, but at about four in the afternoon, he seeks out to find her.
The shed is empty. So is the kitchen and Jess’s room. When Henry looks near the back of the house, it’s completely empty. He settles on scouting along the fence edges. He has a feeling that Jess is working on the traps that they’ve been setting up, and Henry has the map memorized. It’s easy enough to check on the variou spots at or right outside of the fence, and he doesn’t have any reason to pull out his knife or Beretta.
“You’ve been gone for awhile, Holden. Why don’t you let me take a shift.” Jess has been working herself to the bone. Henry volunteers, and she’s been putting him to work, but in typical Jess fashion, she silently shoulders most of the work. Henry assumes it’s her independent streak, and her resistance to rely on anyone else unless it’s completely necessary. Jess’s skill is impressive, but one person can only get so far. She’s slowly starting to realize it, and Henry’s hoping she won’t give him too much arguing today. He’s been stressed, frustrated and antsy beyond belief, and with their opposite schedules and the incredibly amount of work that needs to get done, neither of them have had time for anything purely recreational.
She doesn’t usually like to skip meals but she wasn’t starving and the time could be put to better use. And to her it doesn’t hurt to save the food for later. She’s throwing another sharpened piece of wood to her pile when she hears the sound of footsteps on the ground behind her, she tenses for a moment before she hears them stop and Henry speaks. She only shrugs and goes back to her piece of wood. Things are ahead of schedule and Jess doesn’t mind having another helping hand.
“Go ahead, shovel’s there.” She points to it sitting down in the hole and she stays where she is, sharpening the wood doesn’t take anything out of her and right now she doesn’t really want to go back to the house, there’s still so much that needs to be done. And she’s in no mood to really argue. “I’ve been thinking, I’ll take some rope, turn it into a sort of ladder, knots running up it. If we need to climb in to clean it out, we’ll need an easier way to get in and out. We should also make a sort of sharpened pole, so we can kill a zulu if the stake misses it’s head.”
Jess watches as he gets to work and she waits before speaking again, things are quiet for now and Jess knows it’s only going to be a short lived kind of quiet. The shavings of wood fall into the hole and Jess pauses for a moment in her work, there’s been too much going on for her to really enjoy a break and Jess takes short comfort in the calm around her. She closes her eyes and lets the light breeze cool her skin.
“Before we get out of here, we should make plans for traps that can be set up when we’re on the go. Maybe even an alarm system.” She uses the bandanna around her neck to wipe at her face, she’s so filthy and tired. But now there isn’t time for stopping, she’ll feel better once plans are made and they have some plans for the future.
A Shovelful of Dirt || Jess & OPEN
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flipping--fallxn:
Even if she had been here for a few weeks, she still felt like a stranger. It wasn’t really anybody’s fault–she was still new to most of the people. And even if she wasn’t, it didn’t take long to realize she wasn’t high on a lot of people’s lists of people in the group to hang out with. She would be lying if she said it didn’t bother her a hair. But then again, she wasn’t too upset about it. She wasn’t looking for making friends. Not anymore.
Her tasks for today weren’t difficult, and she finished them rather easily–she helped clean the kitchen, organized outside, and packed…repacked her backpack. She even just lounged around for a moment, but that soon grew boring.
Fallon found short steps to outside, on the porch. She soon found herself walking around, her mind thinking about everything. She had only been outside for a second as she found her jeans sticking to her skin, beads of sweat forming on her brow. She hated heat–she would be grateful when it grew colder. Already she could feel the wind. She wasn’t sure how cold it would get down south, but surely it’d be better than the summer heat they experienced, even now in the fall.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been walking, but it wasn’t long until she saw Jess in the distance. She thought about turning around, but after a quick contemplation decided against it. She made short strides in the grass, seeing her busy. “Hey. You…need any help?” Fallon’s voice was soft, though almost sounding a bit hopeful. She knew they weren’t best friends or anything, but didn’t want them to be on weird terms permanently. She didn’t want enemies, either.
The quiet footsteps behind her caused her to stop her work on the wood for a moment before she heard Fallon speak, the help would be nice and despite the fact that Jess didn’t care much for the girl, she would be of use. Jess wanted the hole dug by the end of day and the stakes in as well so she only shrugged and waved her hand at the shovel leaning against the wall of the hole. “You could dig while I sharpen these.” She held up the wood in her hand, a branch that was about as thick as her wrist.
She waits for the girl to make her move and Jess goes back to the wood, once it’s sharp enough she throws it on the pile of others she’s had and picks up another, starting the work to make the end a sharp enough point that if someone or something goes in it would pierce, “there’s still a good distance to go before the hole is deep enough, and then we need to place these at the bottom.”
The traps had been coming along nicely, a few in the house had already been shown the plans and the locations had been shown already, once they where fully done Jess would take them out and show them where they were, making sure they all knew the sigh that they’d be coming across one. Everyone needed to know where they were in case they needed to make a run from the house, and stumbling on one of the traps would end poorly. They she didn’t make them in mind to let anything live, and if you fell victim to the lethal ones there really wasn’t much hope for you.
“If you find any big rocks, get them out and put them on the edge,” she points to a pile of large rocks she’d already found, “if they’re good enough we can use them at the bottom too. Or use them as some sort of marker.”
A Shovelful of Dirt || Jess & OPEN
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A Shovelful of Dirt || Jess & OPEN
The work has been long and hard. Jess is relieved the weather isn’t staying as hot as it would be had they been doing this in the summer heat, but she’s still sweaty and filthy, dirt clings to her everywhere and she’s still going, still digging the hole even deeper, she had it about three feet deep, and five feet long, she still wanted to get it deeper but she was taking a break to re-hydrate and let her body relax for a moment. Next to the hole is a pile of make shift stakes, wood and a few sharp rusted metal pieces. When she gets the hole to the right depth she’ll start setting the bottom so if anything falls in it’s going to get stuck.
Taking a long pull of her water though it’s warm it’s not as hot as her body is, and it feels cool going down. Sweat makes her hair stick to her neck despite it being up in a bun, and she wipes a stray hair from her forehead. Sitting at the edge with her feet hanging in the hole Jess is happy to have gotten as far along as she has, there are still a few traps to set up but so far things are going on schedule, she does what work she can when she’s not on patrol, and others help when they can. While she takes her break, Jess pulls out her knife and grabs a piece of unsharpened wood and starts to make the tip a point, her back is to the fence and she keeps her sense trained to hear if someone or something comes around, the only sound she hears is the quiet of the woods and the scrape as her knife takes part of the wood off.
When she hears the sound of footstep approaching behind her Jess turns to look and when she sees that the sound is a friendly Jess goes back to work quickly, she doesn’t really have time for chit chat and she needs to get these last few stakes done before she gets going on the hole, she hopes to have it done before night falls.
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hardhat-jay:
Jay gives a quiet laugh. She has no clue about any of it. Hunting, trapping. It is all a big mystery to Jay. Sure she has been able to catch and learn a few things from Jess. She now knows what a deer print looks like in the dirt. Rabbit too. Still if Jess left them no one who ever be as good as she was at this. Jay knows they are lucky to have her around and from what she remembers of Jess when they first found her, Jess is lucky to have them too.
Her stomach almost growls at the sound of Jess mentioning a stew. Real home cooked food that didn’t come out of a can was all to rare now a days. Hell she is pretty sure if Jess just skinned it, cleaned it, and throw it over the fire Jay would chow down so fast. Anything is better then canned meat. Jay has grown use to it and she never was a picky eater which really does help now a days but she mouth still waters as she thinks of Jess cooking up something to night.
She tries to stop thinking about food and get back to watching as Jess sets up the last trap. “When we leave the house will you still be able to do traps like this?” Jay knows it is more of an if then a when but she still likes to think positive that they will be getting out soon. “Or will it be harder since we will be moving around so much?” Jay voice is only a whisper and she stops talking when Jess tells her too. She is good at reading her surroundings and Jess to know when to shut up and when it is okay to talk.
“Rabbits are great and all but I just hope what ever direction we leave in will be closer to something bigger to eat.”
She mules it over for a moment, they’ll be on the move but if Jess can find good spots when they’re getting closer to the place they’ll set down for the night Jess can set traps and then just backtrack later once camp is set up. “It would take some timing, but I could set them as we get closer to wherever we plan to set up for the night. We’d just have to see where we are.”
She hopes for something bigger too, Jess can feel her mouth watering at the idea of having a fat deer steak, something big and hearty to fill their stomachs, they’ll need the energy the meat gives them and Jess knows they’ll have to plan things right, they’d have to butcher the meat and do things quickly, they don’t want to risk bringing any zulus to the camp since they’re going to be out in the open more and the risk of something coming to them is greater.
“I don’t see why not, the farther from zulus we get the better chance we have of finding something big. We’ll just have to be careful, it’s too bad we don’t have any game bags, it wouldn’t take me long to butcher a deer in the field, we’d be able to take the meat with us and leave the rest behind. But I’m pretty sure that no one really wants to carry blood meat around in their bags.” Maybe she’ll need to start looking at other things to use as game bags. Something to make it easier and faster, it wouldn’t take her very long at all to breakdown a decent sized deer, and it would be even faster if someone wanted to help.
Hunting for Luck || Jess & Jay
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hardhat-jay:
Jay nods and follows Jess out. “Wait you are telling me that hunting isn’t like riding a bike?” She can’t help but laugh slightly. Jay can’t picture Jessica ‘forgetting’ how to hunt. It would be like Henry forgetting how to be a soldier or Layne a nurse. It just seems impossible and completely unlikely. Jay is pretty sure the only time that would happen would be if they were dead. But she doesn’t like that thought.
They travel and Jay nods but knows when she needs to be quiet. This isn’t her first hunting trip with Jess that is for sure. Jay is just glad Jess is always willing to take her long even if she can’t shoot yet, at least not well enough to hit anything with out going through the whole magazine. Jay is glad to be out of the house and off the farm. She is glad to be away from all the mess that seems to be happening there.
If she was just hanging out with Jess then Jay would bring up how she thinks they need to go. She knows Jess agrees. Half of the people in the house agree. The others are scared and Jay sure as help can’t fault them for that. But she is getting to the point where she feels like they need to suck it up. Live scared or die seems to be the only options now a days.
When Jess tells her to stop Jay does so. Watching her work Jay tries to keep watch around them. The area seems less travel which is good. Jess is right. The first thing Jay really learned from Jess is animals are smart. They even know something fucked up is going on in the world. When Jess says lets move Jay stays close behind her but still giving her her distance before going forward and following.
Jess smirks at Jay’s comment and she can’t hide the laugh in her voice, “in a way it is like riding a bike, but I haven’t been riding this one for a while. I know I can get something if the locations are right, I just haven’t made one in a while. And it’s trapping, I could never forget how to hunt.” She throws a wink as she moves into another clump of brush and drops to her knees to set up the next trap, this one is more hidden and she sees the small trail where the rabbits move through, this one will be a good chance at finding something.
“Even if we don’t get many, which is more likely, just a few rabbits will make a decent stew. It’ll be a nice change from having everything canned.” They eat what they need to survive, well all of them except Martin but Jess doesn’t like to think about him, she guesses it’s more meat for the rest of them. She makes quicker work of the second trap and before she knows it her and Jay are back on the trail headed farther down the trail, as they go Jess stops ever now and again, and Jay stays and keeps watch.
She makes a mental note to add more twine on the list, if she’s going to be making more traps she’s going to need more twine to help make them, the wood is always easy to find given they’re surrounded by woods but twine can be harder to find, she may need to start looking for something to replace it with. When they’re on their own she can try using some rope, she thinks about splitting it and making it into smaller pieces, and possible using other pieces of flexible wood.
“When we get on the move, we should have a better chance at getting more.”
Hunting for Luck || Jess & Jay
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deputyrichard:
Richard nods before looking away. He can clearly hear the sarcasm in her voice, no matter how faint it was. Richard know that Jessica isn’t his number one fan. She isn’t at the top of his list either. But even if they can’t see eye to eye they both are in the same group here and now a days that meant everything.
He gave a nod before grabbing to take a final drink from his water bottle and set it on the porch. “I’ll see you around Jessica.” Richard turns and starts his run out the fence.
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Morning Routine|| Richard & Open
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sgtblake:
Henry nods. He doesn’t know if Colton will volunteer, or how much trouble he’s going to give Jess, but Rich should be gung ho about the idea. It’s another fortification for the farm house. Henry has no illusions about how fragile their base camp really is, but fortifications and traps will do nothing but help.
When Jess announces her plan to leave, Henry doesn’t have much to say. He’ll have the map ready for her. They’ll obviously have to make a new one, with more detail, descriptions and to better scale. The last thing they need is to lose civilians because a pit isn’t marked right. That would just be… cruel and unnecessary.
“Sweet dreams, Jess,” Henry mutters without thinking as he falls right back into the maps. If she gives him a look or says anything afterwards, Henry doesn’t see it. In the blink of an eye, he’s back sorting and cross-referencing like she was never there, dragging the old pen across paper in an attempt to keep everyone safe and sound. It’s one of many thankless jobs, and when Henry’s eyes burn and his shoulders slump, he finds a soft pillow to rest his head on for a couple of hours until the sun comes up, and his day starts anew.
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Plans To Protect || Jess & Henry
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sgtblake:
Henry smirks at the way she words her answer. Despite the length of their dalliances, no one else seems to have picked up on Henry and Jess sneaking off on more than one occasion. They’ve been discrete, of course, not out of shame or anything else as petty. Henry’s a man who needs his privacy, and who he sleeps with is his own business. It gives them these small, candid moments that always seem to leave him smirking or laughing.
“How about Colton and Rich?” Henry ignores any rumblings when thinking about Richard. He has to be an adult. Usually, this sort of thing isn’t a problem, but Rich has gotten under his skin and now it’s strained and strange situation. Henry tucks that away, though. “Richard runs the perimeter most days of the week, and Colton’s the exact opposite, so he’ll be looking at everything fresh.”
It’s slightly painful to know how useful Alex would be in this situation. If anyone could help them with terrain-based traps, or if anyone could sit out and offer a second opinion, it would have been her. Henry doesn’t miss her personally. Alex was like a pricky cactus most days, and Henry isn’t good at small talk with socially adept people, let alone someone like Alex. But her skill, her contributions, and her drive to help made her a good person. Alexis is gone though, dead by her own mistakes and his hand. There’s no time to waste reminiscing, but Henry feels the loss regardless.
“I think that’s as sound a plan as any,” Henry says with a nod. If Jess is up for it, then Henry is as well. They won’t know how long the traps will need to function for, but any deterrence is better than none. They’ll get everything set up, ready to go, and keep their civilians safe.
“I’ll say something to them, the more eyes on the traps the better.” Though she hopes Richard won’t take this as some sort of plan to stay forever, Jess won’t let him think she’s changed her mind on the matter just because she’s doing something that will make their time left here safer. This is only a temporary addition to the place, and Jess won’t let him think otherwise, but his help will be needed. Colton would be good help as well, despite their sometimes strained conversations, he’s got an odd sleep schedule and he could be of decent help.
She nods when he seems to be ready for the plans to be set in motion, she feels the anticipation rising for her new job. She’s not new to the idea of making traps, but the application of them in this case is new, she’s never made a trap to catch a person but she’s seen plenty of traps made for larger game that she’s used now. This job will be long and hard and Jess hopes it’s not too late, all the work they’re going to put into this would be a waste if the herd comes as soon as it’s all up.
Standing and stretching Jess feels her back pop and she sighs, it’s been a long day and she’s actually tired, hoping she’ll get some sleep tonight before she gets to work tomorrow. Rubbing her eyes she starts to gather her things together. “I’ll make a pass tomorrow, see where the locations are and get things started.” Tomorrow she should get a good head start on the traps, she’ll gather a few extra hands and let them know what was going to be done, see who would be willing to work when she was off on patrol when she needed to be.
Plans To Protect || Jess & Henry
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sgtblake:
“I have a couple of locations in mind. I’ll draw you out a map and you can approve or change the layout.” If Jess can get him the traps, Henry can figure out where to put them. He already has about a half a dozen locations that should appeal to walkers and unknown people. It’s a guessing game, but as long as the traps are spread out and marked, it’ll all work out fine.
“If you need anything to get done, let me know.” Henry can dig a hole, lift a log, or do any other thing necessary just as well as the rest of them. Jess knows that he can, and that he would, but he wants to make sure she knows he’s at the top of the volunteer list. He may not be able to do some of the other, more specialized jobs, but Henry will do what he can. Since he patrols almost every day, sometimes more than once a day, they’ll be easy enough to check out. He knows that Jess will keep an eye on them as well, and Jay’s perfectionist streak should lend well to the situation.
“Of course. It’l be added to the schedule, and we’ll have a map in the kitchen. No one’s going to be stumbling into them, and they’ll be kept up until we leave here.” Henry tries not to emphasize the word ‘until’ but he isn’t entirely successful. Jess knows exactly how he feels about base camp, and staying at base camp, but he’s tired of going on and on about it. It’s the time to act and do, and stop thinking about how shitty it is that they’re at the farm house and not anywhere else.
She nods along as Henry goes over his plans and ideas, she trusts his judgment and she knows all he wants is to protect the rest of the group. If they’re lucky, the traps won’t be needed for very long. “I can probably adapt the traps to fit the location, just depends on what the area looks like. I can make them work though.” She’ll make sure to mark on the map the exact location of each trap, she’ll leave a small description as well, marking it in a unique way that the group will only know.
“I’m sure I’ll need your muscle.” The smirk is in her voice and Jess already knew she could easily count on him, there’s few she trusts in the house and she knows Henry is always at the top of any list to get things done. “I’ll probably take Jay and the other people out who aren’t on house arrest, show them how they all work. I don’t doubt we’ll all have a hand in setting them up though.” She’ll get them all in on it, not being on house arrest gives them freedom to go out and work on the traps.
“I’ll need fresh eyes on the traps once they’re set up. See if they can spot them without help, I’ll mark them somehow after that, I just need to see if someone can spot them from farther away.” Most people don’t exactly have a trained eye in spotting a difference in the terrain, zulus won’t know anything at all about the traps so they’re not a worry, it’s the less than friendly living she worries about. “Maybe I’ll have someone who knows the terrain sit out as well, they know the area and if we can keep them from seeing them we should be covered.”
The one thing Jess is mostly worried about is the traps being spotted and someone stepping over them, they can’t risk someone coming inside and attacking the house. “What do you think about it?”
Plans To Protect || Jess & Henry
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sgtblake:
He can’t help the small laugh at Jess’s very dry joke. It reminds him of some of the deadpan drawls he heard overseas. The way that soliders joke can be a bit morbid and seem unfeeling, but it’s what keeps everyone’s mood slightly lighter and stops too much emotions from leaking out. Being in near-death situations every day can dull people, make them feel stretched too thin and stripped of positive emotions. Humor, however lewd, is an outlet for that that Henry understands all too well. Surviving physically isn’t easy, but the real challenge is coming back 100% mentally intact. You do what you have to do to survive, emotionally, whether you’re in Iraq or Valdosta.
His food isn’t particularly tasty, but it’s something in his belly and Henry appreciates it. Besides, it’s better than MREs. Henry reaches for her papers, wanting to see the sketches to understand what she’s doing. Some of them look primitive, but they appear like they’d get the job done. Henry hears heavy footsteps and he tenses, hoping it isn’t Rich coming down the hall with the growing tension between them. Thankfully, he just sees Leo peak his head in on the way to the kitchen, and he can settle back in relief and focus on Jess.
“You’ve been busy, Holden,” he whistles appreciatively. “We’ll see if we can get some of these set in motion. The key will be saving supplies that we’ll need if we leave while maximizing the defensibly of our perimeter.” Henry shakes his head. They have too many things to worry about. They need to be prepared to leave, and have supplies ready to go for outside of base camp, while at the same time keeping the defense ready, the fences up, and as many chimes and alarms they can manage. It feels like an impossible balance. They can have one or the other, but not really both. But what it feels like doesn’t matter when what they need is everything.
“We’ll build some pits, utilize, some of these,” Henry motions to three of the designs she’s drawn out. The logs will be the easiest to use, and they can get rid of the rusty blades that can’t be used any more. Rusty doesn’t mean dull, and not only will the blades stop a zulu if they’re at head level, the rust can poison and injury any intruders on their property. Henry nods at his own thoughts. They’ll be as prepared as they possibly can. “Find someone you trust that works quick, get the supplies ready, and we can start production on them in a couple of days.”
She grins when he laughs at her joke, when he arrives and starts working on his food, she lets him get a but into his food before she slides the book to him and waits for him to go through some of her designs. She spares Leo a glance when he pokes his head into the room and she waits until he leaves to get back to business. When he gives her words of appreciation she smiles and shrugs, “I’m good at hunting. I just, broadened the definition.” She’ll do what need to be done to make this place more of a threat to those outside, and safer for those inside the fence. She nods when he mentions what he wants, making small notes to the traps he points out.
The supplies they have aren’t the best, many have to go to the fence to keep it safe and secure, so Jess has less to work with but Jess can work with what they have. “The pits will be the easiest, if we need to replace sharp objects at the bottom of the pits, there’s plenty of trees we can get wood from. And Kai would be a big help in getting some sharp points.”
Jess would need all the help she can get in order to get things done faster, but she doesn’t want to take away from patrols, when she’s not on one, this will be what she’s working on. She’ll need to start asking people to help, she’ll see if Leo would give her help with digging, she knows Henry would probably give a hand when he wasn’t busy. “I’ll start asking around now, get people lined up. Also I’ll start gathering supplies to use for covering the traps.”
She’s actually looking forward to getting going on the traps, it gives her something new to work on outside of the monotony of the farmhouse, she’s growing anxious about everything and she needs something new to put her attention on. “We’ll have to make plans as well, make sure to check the traps often, when I don’t have the late patrol I’ll make a pass over them at night. Make sure everything’s in order.”
Plans To Protect || Jess & Henry
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