Safe Haven - Jules and Ricky pt.2

[...Posted by Ted H]

And alas the final bit from my NaNoWriMo 2011 is up. A little editing here and there has happened for every post but in large part all 50K words are as written.
As for 2012?
I've already decided on what I'm doing for that. Safe Haven is on the back burner since I'm not sure I can churn out another 50K on the fly like last year. Plus that novel required me to keep track of way too much in terms of characters and intertwining plots. Now Ive got 2 jobs (1 full time) and Id rather do something a bit easier. Plus I wanna change things up a bit since the last year has been the Safe Haven show featuring Oblivion.
More on the 2012 NaNoWriMo project as it develops, but rest assured that I still refuse to grow up and will be writing another zombie tale this year, this one a bit less character driven and more zombie focused.

MEANWHILE!

The play is 99.9% done. Our Town 2 Act III will be up NEXT WEEK.
Ive got a couple things Id like to say on that that I'll save for then, but yes, I finally managed to wrap things up. All Ill say now is that I'll never start a project like that again so close to NaNoWriMo again. Seriously, Act 3 would've been up in January if not for me losing all my focus in November.

So yeah, enjoy the last bit of NaNoWriMo 2011...

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[Safe Haven - Jules and Ricky pt.2]

Despite being one of the more noted Rogues around, Jules was told to stay behind when Teto and company headed out to find the missing convoy. She had a good feeling that it was because of Tucker and Teto decided to make a choice over which one to take, opting to take the sniper they’ll definitely need over the medic they might not even use.

Jules hated Tucker, who was the reason she rarely had the opportunity to tan. The little punk and his sniper scope had been spying on her nude tanning ever since she started and it wasn’t until after many, many years of doing so did she finally catch wind of what the little perv was doing. Keeping true to her track record of being calm, she sought Tucker out and beat him to within an inch of his life.

With Tucker gone, Jules at least had the chance to do her tanning worry free of any snipers. With the boys (and Cooper) gone though, there was a distinct lack of anything interesting to do. No shipments were going to be needed for a long time, Teto’s little side project in the city was as done as it could get with his current supplies and joyriding on Jordan’s ATV wasn’t as fun if he wasn’t around to chase after her screaming. Life was once again boring.

“Hey sis!” Ricky called out from the base of the coaster, well out of sight but not out of range “Sis, Billy just got back and you’re gonna want to hear this! Get down here!” Jules sighed as she sat up and reached for pants. She really didn’t want to make the effort but Billy had snuck into Safe Haven a couple days ago despite Teto requesting that they stay out of the city for a while.

Pants on, she threw a tight black sleeveless tank top on and laced her boots up. She left the rest of her clothes where they were since she had every intention on returning and picking up where she left off tanning. She made her way down off the roller coaster and found where a bunch of Rogues were gathering. Billy was in the middle of the group, already telling his tale.

“I kid you not,” he said “a fucking uprising broke out in the street. Half our distributed weapons were probably involved but the fuckers made it count.” Rogues listened close and were cheering as Jules made her way through the group. Billy was a bit of a dumbass, the kind of guy who went to college for one year, learned nothing but partied every other day. He had a mean streak in him though, and legend has it he punched out fifteen zombies without getting bitten.

“You won’t even guess the best part,” Billy said as he put his hands up for people to quiet down. The crowd indulged him and requested the reason behind the riot. “All the shit those people go through when it comes to the ResEs and the straw that breaks the camels back is when they started gunning down the women in their strip joint.” Immense laughter erupted in the crowd as everyone started talking loudly again. “You gotta be kidding me!” someone shouted as Billy smiled and shook his head.

“I shit you not,” he said “A few sluts go down and that’s where the line gets drawn.” More questions were shouted out, mostly as to why something like that would happen when the Rogues weren’t present. Jules felt jealous since a full scale uprising would’ve been just what the doctor ordered for her boredom.

“So what happened? Is it still going down?” someone asked and Billy shook his head. “Nah,” he said “Even if we sprinted for it from here the second it started, we would’ve been too late. Over as fast as it started.”

“How many ResEs bit the dust?” another person asked. “A bunch,” Billy responded “Not a whole lot though. Nothing they can’t replace at least and we’re still in the minority in a big way when it comes to overall numbers.”

“I say we go in there now and make some more dead ResEs,” another person spoke out. “I wouldn’t,” Billy said “They have gone on absolute lock down when it comes to patrolling lately. It’s a good thing we’re suppose to be laying low for now.”

The conversation continued to devolve into a back and forth question and answer segment hosted by Billy. Jules had listened to all she cared to hear. A riot broke out in the city when she wasn’t around and was now long over. Time to move on. Right now she was burning daylight and sunny days weren’t plentiful lately, neither were Tucker-free days. She jogged back to the roller coaster, her long black hair swaying behind her as every running step she took made her regret going braless for this short break.

As she reached the coaster, an idea struck, which made her turn back and track down her brother. She still wanted to play some part in knocking out some ResEs, and if she couldn’t jump in with the riot, she might as well let it serve as some inspiration for something else. Her idea was dangerous, but it was also a great plan to cure her boredom.

“Hey, wanna have some real fun?” she asked Ricky as she found him in the back of the group still talking to Billy. He looked at her sideways and shook his head. “You want to do something stupid, I just know it,” he said as Jules ran her hand over his short, curly blond hair. She knew he would agree to come, it would just take some convincing on her part.