SET Initiative

Austin stopped as soon as he heard Addison take a sharp breath. "Sorry," he whispered. "You've never been to the beach? Huh. It's not all that it's cracked up to be. Unless you've got a hotel room where you can listen to the waves and read a good book. Then it's awesome. Not bad to look at either." He laughed when she said she was a scorpio as well. "That's awesome."

Austin looked down at Addison. "I'm glad I did, too. It's kinda my job."

Addison smiled faintly. "Nah.. Spent all my summers growing up in Ireland, never went to the beach, haven't really seen the ocean.." She sighed. "You're fine, by the way.. I took a bat to the back of my head and right around there when I was a kid, just hurts sometimes.."

She chuckled. "Well, don't worry.. once we get out of this and I get you your coffee, we won't be your problem anymore." She laughed quietly, squirming beneath him to get comfortable. She glanced at him over her shoulder with a sigh.

Austin nodded. "Okay. Well, I've always wanted to go to Ireland. I hear it had beautiful oceanfronts, though. Then again, a country has more than just borders." He chuckled and continued to gently massage Addison's middle-upper back. "No wonder you're so tough. I couldn't handle a baseball bat to the head."

Austin laughed at her remark. "Hey now, don't jinx it. And I did say I was glad I did my job, didn't I?" He met her eyes with his own and put his hands on her shoulders, molding them like dough. "What if I want more than just one coffee?"

Addison laughed. "Yeah, she was a crazy girl.. Screwed up my vision, can't see out the sides anymore.." She sighed as he pressed and rubbed at her middle-upper back, then her shoulders, smiling. Felt good, her muscles were aching, but starting to relax.

As he spoke of of having more than just the one coffee, she propped herself up on her elbows to glance more fully at him, an eyebrow lifted,eyes caught with his. "Are you sure you want coffee from the girl with the attitude more than once?" She winked, grinning playfully.

Austin shook his head and clicked his tongue. "That's a shame." He continued to mush and mold into her shoulders, rolling his eyes when she brought up his remark. "Oh, the attitude is the reason I'd want another coffee anyway." He winked right back at her.

Austin had almost forgotten that they were living in post-apocalyptic world by now. He smiled at her.

~~~~

Morning arrived shortly- Austin lost track of the time. He had gotten off of Addison after another half hour, and laid down on his back. When the first rays of light hit the window, he looked over and sighed.

"Looks like the night's over. I say we give them an hour or so more rest before we head out. What do you think?"

Addison nodded. "Sounds good.." She had sat next to him once he laid back, and had fallen quiet for a while.

After a while, she got to her feet and sighed, hand rubbing down her face before glancing over to him. She was starting to look scared again. She knew today could go badly, and she wasn't sure if she was prepared for it. After stretching her arms slightly, she sat next yo hom on the edge again, frowning slightly at her hands.

Austin sat up next to Addison and looked at her with confusion written on his face.

"What's wrong?" He asked simply. He stood up and stretched his arms as well, rolling his neck. After that, he sat back on the bed and picked up his boots (or footshod if you want to get really technical about it) and put them on.

Addison shrugged.

"Just have a weird feeling about today.." She watched him put said boots on before moving towards their remaining supplies. She grabbed a bottle of water and protein bar for each, returning and offering him his. She managed to flash a smile before sitting once again to eat, wanting to make sure they could go as soon as the kids had been tended to. She glanced towards him again, just watching for a few moments. Sitting up and talking had been nice.

Austin nodded- It was understandable. He wasn't entirely sure about today either. He'd watched highly trained operatives with mastery of the armor die under lesser circumstances. Austin himself? Just an amateur winging it with the knowledge and skills he had.

"Yeah, I get that." He took his water and protein bar with a smile. "Yummy peanut butter crunch. Definitely an essential part of a healthy breakfast."

Austin laughed at himself and looked out the window again. It couldn't be any earlier than 6:30.

Addison laughed and bumped his shoulder with hers again, downing her bar with her water before sighing and laying back with a groan, arms flopping over her head. It could be the last time she felt a bed, at least for a while again. She rolled her neck, and glanced up at him.

"What are we going to do if.. if the checkpoints not there anymore? " She was pretty sure she knew the answer.. it wasn't a good one, either. But they were out of options by now.

Austin smirked and chewed his energy bar, then took a drink of water. He looked over and smiled at Addison as she fell back onto the bed.

"If the checkpoint is closed down, I may be able to fix it. If not, then we move on to the next one. If there are no more checkpoints- Which I doubt- then we survive the way we have been for the past week or so. This infection can't revive the dead, in my experience. If we can survive long enough out here, my group will eventually exterminate or cure all the infected."

Once the bar was finished, Austin set the water bottle on the nightstand and slowly put on the rest of his armor. "I'm counting in there being a checkpoint, however."

Nodding, Addison sighed.

"Alright.. I'll start getting the kids ready to go.." She graspes onto his arm to pull herself up before standing fully, releasing his arm, and walking around to stir the children. One by one, she woke them up, gave them all a bar and some water, and let them sit quietly to eat. Returning to his side, she seytledi on the bed for their last little bit of rest. "How's your back? Is it better?"

Austin finished putting on his armor, and downed the last of his water. He watched Addison walk over to help the kids get up, and smiled at her as she sat back down next to him and asked him about his back.

"It feels lots better after you worked your magic last night. How about yours?"

Outside, clouds began to gather.

Addison smiled back, nodding faintly.

"It's better.. you aren't too bad with your hands yourself." She flushed immediately at her realization of what she said. "Sorry, I just meant it helped a lot." She shook her head laughed quietly. "I'm sorry, I'm just tired." She glanced back towards the kids, making sure they had finished their protein bars and water. "I guess you're right, they are kind of my family." She smiled fondly as she watched the kids, quick to change the subject now that she had embarrassed herself.

Austin closed his eyes and leaned forward. He laughed for a few seconds and put his hand on the back of his neck.

"Good to know," he said before chuckling again. "You don't need to apologize. It's fine." Austin, being no stranger to embarrassment himself, obliged Addison's subject-change.

"Well, you're doing a good job of taking care of them. They're coping with this whole thing really well."

Smiling slightly, she gave the kids another glance before getting to her feet,grasping his shoulder to pull herself up. Despite her back being much more relaxed, she still ached everywhere, and moved stiffly. "I think they're scared senseless, they just.. don't know what to do besides what I ask them to do." Once they had finished, she stepped back over to them, ensuring shoes were tied, and jackets zipped up tightly, anything she could do to make them feel safer.

It was inevitably time to start moving again.

Austin finished putting on his armor (sans helmet, which was lost,) and stood up. He turned to Addison as she made sure everyone was ready.

"You ready?" He asked her, his eyebrow raised and his head bent slightly forward. Austin wasn't just making sure that she was ready before they left: If she didn't want to go just yet, then he would wait. Who knew what was waiting for them out there, anyway?

Of course Addison didn't want to go. But, she knew they had to; staying here was most certainly a death sentence, and if there was even the smallest chance that the checkpoint was still open, they needed to take it, and find out.

She nodded. After lifting one of the bags to her shoulders, and the remaining ammo for her shotgun, she lifted her rifle, and nodded again. She was pale, but jaw clenched, determined.

Austin nodded at her and made sure he had everything. He picked up his bags and walked out the door.

They walked for quite some time before actually reaching the heart of Ft. Worth, but when they did, Austin instinctually found the checkpoint.

It was a small building. It was a dark, glowing blue around the outside, and a few odd looking machines (appeared to be generators) of the same color and similar build as Austin's armor and gear were around the outside.

The doors were boarded up. Austin set down the bags and turned to Addison.

"I'm going to check it out. I need you to wait here. If I'm not back in an hour, I want you to find a vehicle and head for Dallas. It's around 30 miles east of here. Find the checkpoint there."

He turned back around and kicked the door in.

Addison nodded. She gathered the children behind her, keeping them back, rifle held up and ready to shoot at anything that moved. The children were silent, holding hands as they always did, and after a while, they sat, just looking around, and drawing in the dirt that seemed to coat just about everything.

Addison kept glancing at the door Austin had disappeared into. The fact that it had been boarded up had given her a sinking, discouraged feeling, and at this point, she was just anxious for him to come back out.

And so she waited. And waited.