Survival of the fittest - AmyMarie and Shadowfax

[Shadowfax]

Ashelin held her tongue, though Aimee's disapproval of how she spoke to Sam hadn't gone unnoticed by Ashelin. She looked out the window as George began to drive down the road through the country. Sam meanwhile looked back through the shattered back window at the bodies of the men on the road. He sighed with relief to be leaving them behind and watched them untill they were out of sight. Once they were mere specks in the distance, Sam sat round and faced the right way.

Ashelin watched as fields passed them by and all seemed well in the world when they were out here. As George mentioned about gangs though, that tugged at Ashelin's curiosity and she looked at him for a moment.

"You got involved with a gang?"

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Aimee too watched the countryside roll by. It was relaxing in a way. She still had the window down, for it wasn't too cold to do so. Her brother was content at the wheel. He had decided not to tell Ashelin he hadn't got his license or anything, but he doubted she would care. Her curious question stirred both sibling's attentions though. George, much to the dismay of Aimee, decided to talk about it.

"Yeah...biggest regret of my life so far though" he murmured. "When the world started going downhill, and Cardiff became over-run with people out to do no-good, I decided joining a gang would protect the both of us. Mum and Dad weren't there to protect us anymore, so I didn't have much choice anyway". He paused to catch his breath. "Things were ok at first, I didn't hurt no one but had an alliance with these guys and in return, our house didn't get ransacked".

"But...they started to get funny around Aimee" he said, pulling at the collar of his shirt. "Yannow, getting a bit touchy-feely and-"
"George...". He turned around and found Aimee looking a bit upset, and embarrassed. "Can you not...talk about it please". Her brother gave her an apologetic look before looking back at Ashelin.
"You get the idea I think. So, I left 'em. They've been after me and Aimee ever since".

[Shadowfax]

How noble of you Ashelin thought to herself sarcastically as George said he had joined to protect Aimee.

She felt quite sickened that the men in the gang had been like that with Aimee though. If anyone was like that with Ashelin, she put them in their place but then she was a fully trained army Sargent and though she was in a weakened state now, she could usually defend herself easily enough. The scene at the garage replayed in her mind though and her arm throbbed at the memories.

"Don't you know how to defend yourself?" Ashelin asked Aimee, but not unkindly.

Sam was in a sort of trance. He got the odd word of George's, but he saw that Aimee wasn't comfortable talking about that experience so he didn't ask questions and merely stared out at the beautiful scenery before them.

[UncoordinatedPisces]

George was crusing along now, looking out for signs and not paying attention to anything but the road. Though he did glance at Ashelin when she spoke, not really taking in her words, just listening to her voice. His sister was looking out of the window again, which she had closed when the wind picked up. At Ashelin's question, she looked at her, before looking to her lap.

"Well, yeah, I do actually. I've done many a sport in my time, self defense being one of them. All in hope that my leg would benefit from it. My right leg...well... its kind of...shorter than the other and it affects everything else, my back, hips, feet". It was times like were she remembered how she used to have to explain to people why she had to wear shoes where one was higher than the other, and why she came into school with casts on her leg to simply 'keep it straight'.

"Anyway, its different when you're in a situation like that..." she said, biting her bottom lip. She was slightly flushed in the face. "When there was more than one of them...and when they were making you feel the way you felt". She stopped talking now. She wasn't going to go in depth with her feelings, not to Ashelin of all people.

[Shadowfax]

Ashelin listened to Aimee's words and felt a little sorry for her as she spoke. She knew self defense though, that was something. She looked out the window again when Aimee was silent for a moment before she too spoke, something she didn't expect herself to say.

"Im sorry"

With Ashelin being hard to read, there was no telling if she really meant it. She knew she did, but it often came across to others that she was blunt and didn't actually care. That wasn't true. She just had difficulty expressing herself in times of sympathy and happiness. Rare times for her. She then tore her eyes away from the window and took a deep breath.

"When we get to this store, I hope they have guns and plenty of ammo. I'll teach you all how to handle a gun. That way, nobody will ever mess with you again" Ashelin said darkly.

Sam piped up then.

"Even me?"

Ashelin almost laughed, but she kept it to a smirk.

"Yep, even you, annoying child" She said teasingly.

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Aimee, although surprised at Ashelin's sympathetic moment, didn't take it too close to heart. She didn't know whether it was her just trying to be nice, or just putting it on. George let out a laugh at Ashelin mentioned guns
"Guns? Ha...that'll be lucky. In a service station at least. Although...maybe if a gang had been residing there and forgotten to pick up a few things..." his optimistic thinking began to hurt his head so he lent back while driving.

The idea of learning how to use a gun sounded interesting to say the least. His friend Aaron knew how to use one, and he had always said it was a great feeling to have a gun in your hand. His attentions fixed on a sign and he began to smile "Service station, 15 miles, not too long to go".

[Shadowfax]

"You'd be surprised kid. Alot of service stations have guns out the back for protection, especially those in the middle of nowhere" Ashelin shot back at George.

She saw the sign ahead and she sighed as they passed it. That was still a fair way and she was in desperate need of something to eat. The virus had left her very weak and frail and if she wanted to be of use to these people and herself she'd need to keep herself fed. She looked back over at Sam and her eyes lingered on the boys backpack which she saw was empty. Again, she sighed and looked back ahead at the open road.

"Atleast you have plenty of petrol" She remarked.

[UncoordinatedPisces]

George accepted the come back. He shrugged, but felt obliged to reply to her comment about the petrol.
"Well, I did manage to fill her up before I came across you". He fished his hand into his backpack, pulling out a packet of ready salted crisps and while still trying to keep his eyes on the road, opened them up. "I thought I'd kissed this luxury goodbye already, even if they are a bland flavour". The packet made a russeling sound and his sister began to chuckle
"Honestly George, you and crisps".
"What can I say, better than chocolate in my books".

He had a couple, and then thrust them at Ashelin, one hand still on the wheel, and smiled "Take a hand full or something". He glanced back at Aimee as if to say 'want some', she shook her head though. "There's plenty to go around" he added, looking at Sam. George was one to hate eating when nobody else was, he didn't know why, it was just one of his pettier things.

[Shadowfax]

"Im fine" Ashelin said stubbornly and waved the crisps away.

She regretted it almost immediately, but she knew in less than half an hour she would be eating something from the service station. She looked ahead to see if there were anymore signs in their path, but no such luck untill a few moments later when the sign told them they had only ten miles to go now. She smiled slightly to herself, relieved they were nearly there. More than anything, right now she wanted to leave the car and stretch her legs.

"Thanks" Sam said gratefully as he himself took a small handful of the crisps George had passed around.

"You should eat Ash" Sam advised.

"Im fine. I'll eat at the service station and I could do with some alcohol" She said, her voice lowering with the last words.

"Why? Why would you want to drink that revolting stuff at a time like this?" Sam asked.

"It's for the wound you idiot. It'll help keep the cut clean and infection free" She said shaking her head in disbelief of Sam.

[UncoordinatedPisces]

George liked Sam's manners. He didn't know why it meant so much to him when the boy said thank you, but it did.
"No problems Sam". He ate a few himself, and looked again at the boy "Yannow what, have the rest" he says, pushing the packet into the smaller hands. Aimee grinned, not only had he given up a packet of crisps of all things but he was being compassionate. A trait George possessed but rarely acted on.

Her older brother's lips curled into a smile at the mention of alcohol and what it'd be used for. He didn't want to admit that a drink would be appreciated, he knew a lot of people despised drink so in case Ashelin did, he held his tongue. George wasn't exactly an alcoholic, but his Uni nights were best under the influence. More minutes passed, and he kept at a speed faster than normal, wanting to arrive quickly.

He passed another sign, and then pulled off onto another stretch of motorway, before they finally arrived at the service station. George drove into the empty car park and stopped the car. It wasn't even in a parking spot. Shrugging, he stopped the engine and looked at the complex building. It looked, from where he was, abandoned. He couldn't be sure though. None of them could.