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 Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 8:19 pm
Alex wandered the streets in the early parts of the morning where the sun had barely risen over the horizon. The air was still cool and he could move without attracting too much attention. Keeping an eye out he moved from empty house to empty house trying to find help. He was hungry and thirsty and was not even sure how long he had been out.
Eventually he made his way to a section of town that seemed to have life in it. He could hear the sound of people and the rustle of carpentry at work. Moving to the sound he found the shelter. He smiled with relief, thankful that he had found a place that could possibly help him.
Upon entering the shelter he was greeted by a middle aged woman. She greeted him with a cheerful smile. "Ah a new face. Welcome to St. Mary. Do you seek shelter among us?" she asked. Alex scratched his head slightly embarrassed. "Honestly, yeah I kinda was." he replied. She could see the hesitation in his body language. "Of course. You are most welcome to share in what we have. It's not much but I'm sure you will find what you need." She directed him to the kitchen where he could get a meal and a change of clothes since he was covered in dust and mud from trudging through the swampy and wet roads. Sitting at one of the tables he watched as many of the people about were moving boxes, cleaning and other house chores. It seemed that keeping this place running required a lot of hands.
With his belly no longer empty and clean, dry clothes on his back, he went to offer what service he could in repayment for their hospitality. Occasionally he tried to chat with the residence and learned more about that many were survivors from outside, had lost their families or otherwise had no where else to go.
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Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 9:20 pm
James had stayed late to help that night, late enough that it was actually early. He had the day off from work and didn't have anything else going on so he had decided to stay at the shelter and help out. They tended to be shorthanded and there was always something that needed doing.
As he worked James took note of another of the volunteers. He looked a lot like one of the people that had come in earlier for the meal. James looked a little harder and was surprised to see that it was the same man. A little food in him, a wash, and some clean clothes and he hardly looked homeless at all, at least no more so than the rest of them. He was quite a large man, with a shaved head. That was a bit unusual too, most people didn't bother with regular shaving these days, since razors were harder to come by and people just didn't prioritize it like they used to. James decided to introduce himself to this mysterious man.
"Hey," James said as he approached the man. "I'm James. You new around here?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 7:20 pm
Alex had been busy lifting the heavier boxes and timber around the area. Many of the others who were staying were actually glad that he was around to lend a hand. The residents seemed friendly enough and he got along well with several of them already in a short time. As he was unloading one more box, he was approached by a man roughly his size. His clothes were not as worn as many of the others around him, but that wasn't really anything strange since he had moved a number of crates with used clothes.
"Hey," he responded to the greeting. "Yeah, just dropped in this morning actually. Ms. Alice was kind enough to let me stay. You a resident as well?" he asked curious as he had not seen him before."
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Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 10:54 am
"Actually, I have a place over on the other side of town with my folks. I just volunteer here. " James said. "So, uh... Don't take this the wrong way, but... I know most of the homeless and vagrants around here on sight, and I don't recognize you at all. You lose your job or something? Sorry, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I'm just a bit curious."
((Nice new title by the way.))
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 7:49 pm
((Thanks. And sorry for the absence. Gaia seems to have a habit in deleting my posts more than once and it is getting annoying.))
"Yeah, I'm pretty new. Made my way from outside the city. Those swamps can be a real pain now that they are starting to take the roads back." he said with a bit of a laugh. "I'm from....from.....hmm. That's weird. I forgot." he said surprised. He remembered he had made his way through the Louisiana roads to get to the city, but he couldn't recall how he got there in the first place.
"You know, that's really strange." he said crossing his arms wondering what had caused him to lose that part of the memory. "Oh well, I'm sure it will come back."
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 9:07 pm
"That is a little strange." James said with a frown. "Did you hit your head? Maybe a concussion? How about we go and check with one of the ladies over there, she's got some medical training. She can check you out and make sure you're okay."
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Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 11:25 am
Alex shrugged. It couldn't hurt to be examined. Although he felt fine except for that one little detail of memory lapse, he wasn't sure why he forgot in the first place. "Sure I guess. I don't see why not." he replied. He felt his head for any bumps, but felt none. Only the smooth skin on his skull. He informed the others that he would be going with James for a medical check up and would be back shortly. He then gestured for James to lead the way.
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Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 3:10 pm
James led Alex over to one of the other volunteers. A middle-aged woman with brown hair heavily streaked with gray bound into a long braid. She had a stern face, but James knew that that was no fault of her own. She could be stern when needed, but she was really a well-meaning person.
"Alex, this is Lanie." James introduced him, "Lanie, Alex here is having a bit of a memory lapse. He can't remember where he's from so I thought I'd ask you to check him for a concussion."
Lanie nodded. "Alright, Alex, right this way."
Lanie led the two young men into a small examination room. She then ran Alex through an array of tests to determine whether or not he had hit his head recently.
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Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2013 7:48 pm
Alex followed after and shook the woman's hand. She informed him that she would do a series of tests that would deduce if he had amnesia due to trauma or otherwise. She examined his balance, skull and asked several questions. Finally she concluded that there was no sign of head trauma nor anything wrong with his other memories. However she did point out that there were some suspicious pinpoint marks on the back of his neck. There is a bit of redness in the area, but nothing major. She asked if he had been in an accident or remember being pricked. He denied ever knowingly being hit.
This raised her suspicions more. She requested that he take a blood test which he complied. After examining the blood, she found traces of a mental depressant drug present. She shared her suspicions with them stating that she had come across this drug before, but it was used to suppress mental trauma by helping patients forget or at least diminish the memory. There was a rumor about a group of hunters that took people to be sold into slavery and used drugs similar to tranquilizers to knock them out and sell them. If Alex was one of their targets, he was fortunate to have escaped. How she wasn't certain, but he was certainly lucky.
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Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2013 9:14 pm
"Huh." James said, cupping his chin between his forefinger and thumb while he contemplated what they had just learned. "Sounds like you got pretty lucky, getting away from them, even if you don't remember it. I'm curious, though, why do you think they wanted you? For your size?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 2:15 pm
Alex shrugged. "Don't know." he admitted honestly. "Maybe they just got careless or maybe I was too heavy. Who knows?" There was a sigh of relief in his voice. "I hope it comes back to me. Really." he said.
Lanie nodded. "Well there's no need to rush it. It will come back on its own in due time. For now consider yourself lucky and in the mean time get some rest." She escorted them back out and they later joined the group.
After they had left the office Alex began thinking of how to get his memories back. The scratched his head wondering how long this ailment would last. Just outside, a woman began moving around worriedly. She began asking the people around and finally came across the two. "Have you seen my son? He's been gone since last night. I thought he was in the shelter but no one has seen him." she began to describe him as a 17 year old teen with dark hair and baggy clothes. Alex denied seeing him but said he would keep an eye out.
"where did you last see him?" he asked. "He told me he and his friends were going to find some supplies in the old warehouses a few blocks out. Since there were 5 in the group, I didn't think too much of it. But no one has seen any of them."
Alex looked at James, "Well umm. I don't have much to do at the moment so I guess I can go check on the warehouses. Want to join me?" He hoped nothing bad became of them. Just maybe they decided to take a detour or deviate from their plan. Still it wouldn't hurt to check.
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Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 2:25 pm
Wow, his memories must have all kinds of holes in them if he thinks it's okay to go into the warehouses by himself. I'd better go with to keep an eye on him. Guy just got away from slavers, don't need him getting killed or recaptured right off the bat...
"I suppose I could. Let's keep it brief though, it's not safe around there for only the two of us." James said with a sheepish smile.
James then began to lead the way towards the warehouse district, as he was fairly confidant that Alex did not actually know where he was going.
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Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 8:17 pm
Daniel had listened to the whole conversation between the woman and the two men. Watching as the two left he slipped his worn copy of The Return of the King back into his bag and stood up. He was taking his time allowing them to get a head start so he could follow them without them realizing it.
Abandoned warehouses...
Seventeen year old teen, dark hair, baggy clothes.
He repeated the description in his mind as he slipped his bag away in its normal spot and walked to the door and out into the night.
As he slipped out the door darkness began to cling to him and in moments he was another shadow. He could see the two men making their way down the block. He moved after them and stepped up onto darkness until he was on the roofs following behind them.
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Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:01 pm
With James leading the way, they made their way to the warehouse. The two were unaware of the person who was tagging along behind them. They reached the warehouse which was a run down three story building with much of the glass missing. It seemed to be the remains of what was once a manufacturing facility, but was converted into storage.
The two approached the side door which was unlocked. Upon opening it, the hinges squealed from the built up rust which echoed inside the facility. After the two had entered, Alex suggested they find the the power box. Fortunately it was not too far from where they were and there was enough light coming inside to outline the switch. Pulling the switch, there was a brief pop, but the lights did not come on. "Huh, guess it must have shorted." he said. "Just leave the door open to let in enough light I guess so we don't go stumbling around. Shadows dotted the facility as they saw toppled crates laid about.
Suddenly they heard the sound of a door opening. The sound of something scraping the ground could be heard. Alex moved to the side behind one of the crates and peed around. He could see three silhouettes in the distance. The one in the middle seemed to be shorter than the two that flanked it. He kept quiet as he heard one begin to speak. "Got another one huh?"
"Yeah. This one's young and will fetch a good price." responded the other.
"Hey, did you leave the door open?"
"No, did you?"
"No."
"Well go and close it. Someone might see us."
As he said this one began moving toward the open door. The silhouette in the slumped as the one on the right braced himself to catch the weight. Alex braced himself against the crate as one of the shadows approached. It seemed that these individuals were capturing people and selling them to slavery.
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Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:16 pm
s**t, more slavers.
James darted behind a crate opposite Alex. He crouched down there and listened, hoping that these men would not notice him as they passed.
Another one. Young. That could be the boy we're looking for. Damnit. That means that we're going to have to attempt a rescue. And there's no way I can pull that off without using my ability. I might and up having to show this Alex guy what I can do. I just hope he can be trusted to keep a secret.
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