#☾ Ky is just ready to go

[lunarruled]

She had wondered the same thing herself, why no one was at that back entrance but Kyleigh didn't bother to question it at the time. She was too busy trying to sneak out before the wolf took over, fearing that people would freak out more over that animal than those things out there which were basically walking corpses. She never used the same escape twice, so after she came back she didn't use that way again. So it was completely possible that there was a guard by it at this point. And until Rosita had mentioned those two guys getting out she had completely forgotten about them. Damnit this was becoming so much harder than she thought it was going to be.

"This was before they got out, so I'm guessing that any and all exits are guarded now at all times." Well there went that idea. And of course Warren had to go and push his plan again, causing her to glare at him. Yeah it was a decent one but there were problems with that one too. One or two people could easily hide behind empty containers or even boxes. But there were four of them, and if the truck was checked on the way in and out they would likely end up out there with those dead or un-dead former people.

"First of all." Kyleigh started, already sick of this guy. "I didn't think it, I knew it. I checked around and the place was clear of anyone. No foot prints, no old food containers, nothing. So I know what I saw."

Before she completely snapped on him she stopped herself, instead focusing her attention on the other two women. Surely they had to be smart enough to think of something better. Thankfully Irina was the one to speak up, her idea gaining a nod from Kyleigh. It would be less suspicious with just two at a time and easier to sneak around. If what Warren said about the times the trucks came in it would be better for just one or two people to check them out and sneak in. The four of them just had to decide who was going with who and where. Kyleigh already knew who she would want to do this with, but she wasn't going to voice it unless she had to.

Leaning over to catch a glimpse at the map Irina had drawn Kyleigh was quick to memorize it. They would need that to circle around and meet up with the truck. It would only take her about five minutes to gather up what she had, for once agreeing with what Warren suggested.

"And get whatever it is you think you have to bring with you. Nothing that can't fit into a shoulder bag or backpack. I'll bite the bullet and take the back exit. The second supply truck should be showing up soon, so we better get this show on the road."

A back entrance without a guard. How stupid was that? They should know that in times like this, people are desperate to find a safe place. People who have been infected could sneak inside and spread the disease. Rosita wasn't a fan of being locked inside here with the way things were being handled, but if she ran this place, she would have guards everywhere. One more reason to leave this place. They didn't keep it secure enough.

"Both options are risky", Rosita concluded. "The supply truck might not be there until a less dumb guard is on duty, and if the people who run this place aren't total dumbasses, the fence would be guarded now, especially after those two guys escaped", she argued. "Did you check it before or after their escape?" That was worth knowing, because she couldn't imagine the place not being guarded after the two men left the camp without permission.

"Which is why the supply truck is the only valid option," Warren insisted right as Rosita mentioned the escape of the two guys, talking over her, "the back entrance is the most obvious escape path, it's previously been picked before, so if anyone catches us running around with backpacks and looking suspicious, the first place they'll keep an eye on is the back entrance. Aside from that, you only think there were no guards because you didn't see them", the engineer claimed, glancing over to Kyleigh.

"Maybe.. we should split up and not all take the same path?" Irina suggested. "Four people running around with backpacks is kind of suspicious, right? The guards here keep an eye on everything that looks slightly off."

"I guess we could split up in groups of two", Rosita suggested. "If we all go alone that puts us at risk too." She wasn't sure if everyone was up for the task. If someone got lost or caught, it would complicate things a lot. Two minds are smarter than one. "Two people at once is less obvious than all of us, plus we wouldn't have to figure out things on our own. We'd just need to find a way to get to the supply truck in time, and we'd need good routes for each team."

Irina was quick to mention having drawn a map, and she pulled out a map with the layout of the place. While Rosita had tried to wander around as much as she could to get familiar, she hadn't had a perfect overview, so having a map was fantastic. Now they had an overview of both the place inside and outside the walls.

"If anyone needs to go to the bathroom, better do it now," Warren advised, "we might need to stay inside that truck for a while."

[lunarruled]

That little ray of sunshine in this dark world, finding out that Rosita was a mechanic as well, gave Kyleigh a much needed boost of confidence. Yeah she could pretend all she wanted that she was fearless and nothing got to her, but damn sometimes it really did. When it was right after she had lost that first group she was with the half lycan thought she was never going to trust anyone again, never going to find humans that were worth fighting alongside. And she had carried that with her when coming into this camp. But a few hours spent planning this escape with Rosita and the others had started to change all that. Maybe the four of them could really pull this off and get the hell back to their loved ones. Even if they did have to go to another state as her friend had just suggested. She wasn't sure how well all of them would do out there, but anything was worth a shot at this point.

Thankful that for once Warren didn't give her a fight, or as he probably thought of it as just expressing his opinion on the matter, Kyleigh was more than ready to move ahead with this plan. Dumb guard or not she was happy that Rosita had come up with a good excuse for her to be near the truck. Given that Irina still looked way too terrified about this whole thing it was great for her to just stay hidden. And Kyleigh? Well she was a master of distraction if she did say so herself. It was how she hustled for money when she was on the road and how she had gotten herself out of more than a few sticky situations in the past.

"Don't worry about that, I know exactly what to do." She promised, a sly smile flashing across her face. It might have been a typical 'female' thing, but hey it worked and it wasn't like she had the time to pull out some James Bond type shit.

----------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as the four of them split up, Kyleigh told Warren to go get what he wanted to take with him and make it quick. She did the same, just grabbing her bag that was always ready and casually 'borrowing' a tube of lipstick from one of the other women in her tent. Why the hell she still had that Kyleigh had no idea, but it was going to come in handy in a few minutes. Thank god she was not good at putting it on, allowing it to smear just a bit over her lips to give the illusion that she and Warren had been kissing. Of course that thought gave her the urge to throw up but now was not the time to be dramatic, that would happen in a few short minutes.

The second he saw her Kyleigh knew that Warren understood her odd lipstick look, nodding to her as she motioned for him to follow her. A gunshot went off followed by a scream, pulling the few others that were around towards the front of the camp. Shit! She hoped that wasn't Rosita getting caught or something far worse. Grabbing Warren's hand she quickly dragged him further away towards the back gate, sighing with relief when they found that no one was guarding it.

"Should only take a second." She whispered to him as she fished inside her pocket for her favorite bobby pin. It had been sharpened down on one end to be the perfect tool for picking locks, just like the one on the gate. As she promised a few seconds later the thick box clicked open, Kyleigh keeping it in her hand so that she could place back on as soon as she and Warren were out of the gate. This way it would look as if they had never been there at all, Kyleigh dragging her foot over the soft imprints they left behind.

"Go! When you hear me scream, head for the truck. I'll be right behind you!"

Waiting until they had circled back around the camp to the front and the truck was visible, Kyleigh nodded for Warren to get ready. Now it was her turn to let out a piercing scream, causing that poor guard to turn in her direction.

"Help, quick! Please, I need help!"

As soon as he started over towards her she motioned for Warren to get to the truck, hoping that Rosita and Irina were already in there. That would mean three of them down and only her left. She met the guard by the gate she was at, a frantic look on her face as she kept glancing behind her.

"My boyfriend! He's out there! We went for a walk and on the way back we got trapped. I swear he was right behind me! Those things might have gotten him! Please, he's all I have left!"

She all but screamed at the guy, forcing tears to come to her eyes. Dude was either really stupid or just felt bad for her because he climbed over the fence without hesitation.

"Go on, get back in and get checked. I'll be right back." He ordered her before taking off in the direction she had pointed.

"Dumbass. Should have never left your post."

Once his back was turned Kyleigh took off the few yards towards the front gate, the others dealing with the chaos that was going on behind the truck. Their backs were to her, giving her the chance to hop up in the truck and find a good hiding spot all the way in the back. Waiting a few moments to settle in she let out a specific clicking sound, the one that if everything had worked with the others, would quickly be returned and would let her know that now all they had to do was wait until they were out on the road to plan their next move.

As Kyleigh mentioned being a mechanic, Rosita smiled, albeit it was a bit of a wry smile given the situation they were in. She was used to being the only female mechanic among a bunch of men. She had always been a tomboyish type of girl, but regardless, she appreciated having another woman around of the same occupation. "I would say I still am", Rosita remarked. No need to say she had been a mechanic, as it implied things were over. The world beyond those walls was beyond horrible, but there was no way things had spread that far.

Was there...?

"It gets too easy losing hope when everything out there looks the way it does.. But we'll find a safe place. Somewhere else, maybe out of state if it comes to that," Rosita assured. Irina gave an affirming nod and Warren's expression remained difficult to read - disagreeing, maybe, but he remained silent.

Another smile graced Rosita's features as Kyleigh mentioned the guard. That woman really was confident. She wondered where all of that came from. Who did she think she was to be able to distract guards that easily?

"You can tell it's mere fiction because it involves me hooking up with someone, but the excuse is smart," Warren replied, speaking Rosita's mind. Acting like two people hooking up was smart, it was a good reason to sneak around, finding some place in the camp where you could be with your partner without being interrupted.

Rosita nodded at the plan.  "Sounds good. And I'll just say I need to check on a vehicle in case a guard asks us. As for Irina - she's helping out." She is, that's true - Rosita thinks, just not with fixing a vehicle but with escaping this mess of a camp.

"Alright," Rosita said, "we'll go now, Warren you keep an eye on your watch so it doesn't take you longer than twenty minutes for you to get there." As for her and Irina none of them had a watch but Rosita had an excellent sense of time.

"Just one more thing," Rosita spoke up, "We don't know how well secured the area around the truck is. Either way, there will be at least one guard keeping an eye on the area. He is not the brightest but even if it's just him, we have the problem that it's four of us trying to get inside the truck. It's not exactly subtle. I guess being part of the military, I could always tell the guard that I need to check the truck. So I have a valid excuse for being near it, and I can open it for everyone to get in. But as for you three - you need to remain hidden. Maybe one of us can cause a distraction so all of us have a shot of sneaking inside. If there are patrols, we need to think of something really good though."

If Kyleigh wants to be the one to cause a distraction? It'll be her job. Otherwise, it would be on Warren or her.

It was the only way in case they could not get into the truck otherwise. Four people escaping by trying to climb over the fence? That was near impossible. The supply truck was their only shot, and they had to find a way. Especially since the guard on duty today was the worst one.

Rosita swallowed, a feeling of uneasiness forming in her abdomen. If this shit went south, if they get caught-

No. No time to waste a single second wondering of what if's. Better make sure it went right than worrying. Worrying never helped.

--

Should have been twenty minutes, Rosita thinks. Maybe a bit more. She hoped no one had been waiting on her. In situations like that people got anxious over a delay of a mere minute.

As Irina and Rosita arrived at the meeting point, she could see the truck from a short distance, a sturdy, grey model with supply runners unloading the back of it. Damn it, Rosita thought as she realized they have not brought back much at all given the size of this camp. They were already short on rations to the point where there was no breakfast on most days and lunch and dinner were too small portions for most adults.

Maybe it was a good thing they were leaving.

No civilians around here. Just the clumsy guard and four supply runners unloading stuff. If Rosita got seen around here, she would have to claim something might be wrong with the truck or she would be sent away. Although she wonders whether Irina, Warren and Kyleigh will be allowed around if they get seen too. They would have to think of a good excuse in any case.

Her worries were interrupted by the loud sound of a shot. The supply runner's body quickly dropped to the ground as the bullet penetrated his skull. A clean shot delivered by the guard the moment he registered the new bite wound that the man had brought back to the camp. The other three were forced to stay in line as he examined their bodies. A woman screaming that it was just a scratch from one of them, insisting it was not sufficient enough to turn into one of those things. A moment after, she joined her partner, her body falling to the ground as the guard took her life. The other two were quick to leave the scene, glancing backward at the dead bodies of their colleagues as they went back to the main area of the camp.

For as inattentive as that guard could get, he certainly did follow his orders.

Now they just had to sneak inside and hide inside the truck the whole night before the next supply runners came to leave early in the morning.

Someone had to distract him, though. As close as he was to the truck, four people getting inside was just a bit much.

It was Kyleigh's turn to do something. Hopefully she wasn't as overconfident as she seemed to be.

[lunarruled]

A sharp mind was something Kyleigh always appreciated, and she was so happy she didn't have to spell it out for Warren. Yes they wanted out and they were willing to take him with them. And maybe a few others, as long as they had the same goal in mind. Didn't matter if they couldn't fight that well, as long as they could kill those things out there and run she could make up for whatever it was they lacked. Figuring that she had said enough for the moment Kyleigh simply nodded to him, though she was a bit sad to hear that Warren thought so little of his own life. She understood why of course, but just because they were down now didn't mean they always would be.

"We're not saying bring the entire place with us man. I may not be the talkative type, but I have been observing the people here and not to be that asshole but not all of them were going to make it anyway. Pure luck has gotten some of them where they are now but that always runs out."

At the mention of this other woman, Kyleigh's eyes shifted in her general direction. If she had already mentioned wanting to get out then she would no doubt be more than happy to join them. Which was good, but they didn't need a rat among the ranks either. So they would speak to this Irina in private and hopefully their plan would be ready to launch. If Rosita was telling her that they could trust her then that's what they would do, unless she gave them a reason not to.

"Yeah he was three more words away from getting his jaw broken. Can't repair that too easily these days." The half lycan quipped back, happy that Rosita was with her on that. Warren had skills though, ones they needed so for the time being Kyleigh was going to have to keep her hands to herself.

~~~~~~~

Irina was a much more pleasant experience, one that helped to boost Kyleigh's confidence that this was going to work. A bit odd with three women and one man, but that was neither here nor there. The mention of a child and the hope that she was still alive was more than enough to let Kyleigh know this was for real, a bond beginning to form between the three of them in just wanting to know what had happened to their families.

"Then it's settled. We get out there because we are getting out there, and we do all we can to help each other. Like you said I would rather die doing something than sitting here doing nothing." Kyleigh didn't know how far they would make it, if they would ever see their lost families again. But she was tired of living with the guilt of not doing a damn thing, feeling like a sitting duck in this hellhole, and never knowing if a better life was out there.

Rosita fought the urge to let out a huff of laughter as she took note of the man’s expression, all bashful as Kyleigh scolded him.

“You… want out”, he responded quietly with something in his voice Rosita couldn’t place. Skepticism? Disbelief? Ridicule? It was hard to tell.

“I was prepared to die in this camp. I’ve obsessed over how long we could last. Taking all factors into account.. my most reasonable guess was that if we were lucky, we could last one or two more weeks. Maybe…”

He paused, shooting the half-lycan a thoughtful look, “Maybe I could live just a bit longer. Long enough to pick a better place to die than this place. It’s certainly worth it.”

Letting out a breath of relief upon her realization that this was a ‘yes’, Rosita decided to chime in.

“So you’re with us, then. We’ve been trying to find people to join us, we’re planning on leaving tonight since the guard who’ll be on duty is the least competent. Do you have any ideas that could help us, any idea who else we should bring with us? The more help we can get the better.”

Warren didn’t seem to agree with Rosita’s sentiment entirely.

“You should be selective with who you let in on this”, he chided with a hint of annoyance in his voice, “Look at the scuffles the people here are already having. Imagine how it would escalate if you put them in a high-stakes situation like having to leave a camp. No thanks. The only person I deem trustworthy enough is Irina. She, in fact, wants to leave this camp as well. Why don’t you get her, she has been sitting by those green barrels throwing a ball back and forth at a wall for hours. Just make sure Fred won’t listen in, who knows if he’ll rat you out.”

Kyleigh would probably agree to this, Espinosa thought, as she had originally intended to leave the camp with just her. Rosita couldn’t exactly argue with him either. He had a point. Internal conflicts could jeopardize the entire mission. (Although, admittedly, Warren’s demeanor wasn’t the warmest either, but she could deal with it in dire times like this.) Time to talk to Irina.

“I’ve talked to her before”, Rosita brought up, gazing at Kyleigh, “I think we can trust her. It’s probably better if we involve her in this— I think otherwise she’ll leave this place on her own. I doubt she’s gonna stay, no matter what.”

As Rosita walked away from the engineer, she couldn’t help but comment, “Well, let’s hope this guy won’t cause any ‘internal conflict’, though.”

—

Irina had reacted much differently than Warren had. The woman had seemed not only happy that Rosita had come to talk to her, but she had been curious about who Kyleigh was, as well. She had been dead set on leaving, having a five-year-old daughter named Raisa out there. Much like Rosita, she hadn’t lost hope that her family was still alive; she was willing to risk her life if it meant there was an abysmal low chance of seeing her girl again. According to Irina, her daughter wouldn’t be alive for much longer as she was in the care of her aunt, who she’d called ‘reckless and irresponsible.’

“I’d rather die trying to get her away from that horrible woman than die here having to live with the guilt that I’ve done nothing.. Everyone says they won’t make it long out there — but even if Raisa won’t make it long.. I don’t want Raisa to spend the rest of her life with her”, the mother spoke heartfeltly, breaking eye contact with both of the women.