Tabitha CardellRank: Private
Squad: None
Active Mission: Contact Thanatos
Tabitha CardellThe first thing she became aware of was pain. Her head throbbed with every heartbeat, and there was a slight stinging sensation. That was what had started her awakening: the stinging. It had been strong enough to pierce through the layers of unconsciousness that cocooned her mind. What had caused it? Without opening her eyes, Tabitha reached up and gingerly felt her forehead. There was quite a lump there, and she winced slightly. An unexpected material that was not the leather of her gloves rubbed against her forehead however, and the confused young woman opened her eyes when she realized that someone had tied a cloth bandage around her head. Odd. She wouldn't have pegged her captors as being the kind of people to look after a prisoner like that...
Upon thinking the word 'prisoner,' Tabitha suddenly remembered her dire predicament and sat up suddenly in a panic. Bad idea. Dizziness swept over her and it took a lot of willpower to remain sitting upright. She couldn't afford to lie back down. Not here. Not in... where was she? As soon as her head had stopped spinning enough for her to accurately view her surroundings, Tabitha gave the whole room a quick once-over, both hands now carefully clutching her forehead.
The place was actually pretty sparse in regards to furniture: a desk, a couple of chairs, shelves on the wall to the right, a cabinet against the wall to the left. Her cell only had the one cot and a bucket, though for what she did not want to venture a guess. Oh, and there were two dead bodies on the floor.
What the hell happened here? Considering that one of the bodies seemed to have fallen from the chair behind the desk, these men must have been her guards. Someone else had obviously had other plans for them though. She couldn't rightly see the man by the desk, but the closer one's brains had been bashed out against the bars of her cell. It left quite a mess.
It was then that she noticed that her cell door was unlocked and indeed standing open, and there was rope on the floor and on the cot. As she took her hands away from her head to look at her wrists, they bore the marks of having been bound at one point. So someone had come in here, killed the guards, bandaged her head - with brain-guy's shirt, it looked to be - and then left her with the means to escape.
Why? How could anyone know I was here? It couldn't have been anyone from her vigilante crew. The three with whom she'd gone on that last mission were likely all dead. The others had their hands full with the uptown bandits.
Getting slowly to her feet, Tabitha saw something flutter to the floor. A note? Bending down to pick it up, she opened it and read it.
Thanatos? Who the hell was that? Likely the person who'd saved her bacon... and he wanted her to go to New Jericho? Surely if he'd seen her get captured, and he must've if he'd known she be here in this cell, then he couldn't have been too impressed. It wasn't exactly her best performance... Still, if he saw that and still thought she had potential, maybe she should see what he had to offer. Besides, it's not like she could stay
here.Tucking the note into one of her pants pockets, her decision made, Tabitha walked out of the open door of the cell and went straight for the cabinet. They had to be keeping her weapons in here somewhere-Ah! Here. The Kirin, Kraken and combat knife were all there, as well as some spare guns and ammunition for the guards. Nothing that could blow up the shack or do any serious building damage, but enough to leave her something she could sabotage. Perfect. Before sliding the Kraken back into its holster on her right hip and slinging the Kirin over her shoulder, she checked to see if either was loaded. The Kirin still had almost a full mag, since the mission had been a bust, but the Kraken was running low. A lot of good it had done. At least her spare cartridges were all there. She pocketed the three spares for the Kirin and the three for the Kraken, making sure she could get at them quickly if the need arose.
Next she grabbed her ringed combat knife and carefully slid it into its sheath in her left boot. They had apparently searched her
very thoroughly. She pursed her lips at the thought, more grateful to this Thanatos guy now than ever for stepping in when he did. Who knows what they might've done to her once she was conscious.
Taking a moment to glance out the window, she was able to determine her location. Downtown. Likely the guard shack on the western edge, from the size of this place. Apparently, it was also nighttime. She'd been out for a while, it seemed. Who knew when the next round of guards would be around to relieve these chuckleheads. Remembering the dead men in the room, Tabitha went from one to the other and searched their pockets. Sure enough, the one in need of a new brain had the small purse in which she usually carried her money, and all of it was still inside. Too bad he didn't seem to have any of his own to contribute. Ah well.
Moving back to the cabinet, she quickly checked the extra cartridges for the guards' rifles, but she could use nothing. Grabbing them all anyway and stuffing them in her coat pockets, she made for the door. Unsure as to whether the mysterious Thanatos had taken out that guard as well, she cautiously opened the door and glanced around before stepping out of the building. Luckily it was on the outskirts of the downtown section, so at this late hour, she shouldn't run into too much trouble. That didn't stop her from looking over her shoulder every few seconds, although it wasn't as if she'd know when she was about to be sniped until the bullet hit her. It still made her feel al ittle better.
Compared to her misfortunes of earlier in the day however, luck truly seemed to be smiling on her at last as she made it to where she and the other vigilantes had tied up their horses, without getting shot at or blown up. A cheerful whinny greeted her ears, and Tabitha smiled wearily as her cyber-horse Dawn trotted towards her.
Untied the knot yourself again? Clever girl. The mare sniffed her master over carefully before whinnying again and nosing at Tabitha's pockets, hoping for a treat.
"You won't find anything but bullets in my pockets tonight, Dawn." Speaking of which, Tabitha shoved the palomino mare's nose aside and knelt down in the dirt, digging as large a hole as she could with her gloved hands.
"Find these now, why don'tcha." she said when she was finished as she emptied her pockets of the unusable rifle and shotgun ammunition. It was only a small gesture, really, but at least it was something. After the ammo was properly buried, Tabitha led Dawn back to where the other three horses were tethered and began to untie them.
"I don't know where you'll go," she muttered as she set two of the horses loose and turned to the last one, Orion's horse Trigger,
"but you can't stay here. Your people aren't coming back." Trigger whickered at her despondently, as if he understood.
"I'm sorry."Giving Trigger one last pat on the neck, Tabitha turned back to Dawn and put her foot in the mare's stirrup, hoisting herself up onto the saddle. A moment later and she was galloping down the road to New Jericho, her Kirin sniper rifle at the ready. She would not be taken prisoner again tonight.
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