Post by Arkadiy Sokolov on Oct 15, 2011 22:09:12 GMT -6
Huh. Quite the poker face on this girl. Woman, he quickly corrected himself. She didn’t look too much older than him, but the way she held herself told Arkadiy that she had come fully into her own, that she was an independent, self-defined lady. One who could probably kick his ass. There was something compelling about the way she moved; proud posture, no-nonsense stride. Like she was completely unafraid…[/u]”
BANG.
Arkadiy let out an incredibly manly yelp as the gunshot echoed through the air. He fumbled with his gun as he frantically whipped around to face the source; after a few moments, he realized that the man had not, in fact, gone crazy, and he lowered the M4. His hands were shaking with adrenaline withdrawal. Jesus Christ on a cross, if this kept up he was going to have heart problems.
Before he could say anything, the woman was past the blockade, bike and all, and was wasting no time asking just what the hell the other man had been thinking. Arkadiy watched them argue, unsure of what to do, until the man ignored the woman’s retort and addressed him directly. Then they were both staring at him, waiting for an answer. All right. Time to be a professional.
Then the walkie-talkie on his jeans crackled with noisy static and he jolted like he’d been shocked. A voice issued from the small speaker, too distorted for him to tell who it was. “Arkadiy, you read me? I repeat, do you read me?”
He smiled an awkward apology to his two guests and unclipped the walkie-talkie. So much for professionalism. “I read you. What’s up?”
“We heard a gunshot from down there. Everything all right?
“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine. Nothing to be concerned about…” Arkadiy glanced at the man, who was looking more and more exhausted with each passing second. The woman was in better shape, but her bike was definitely not. He couldn’t leave either of them hanging. “Actually, uh, we’ve got two new arrivals down here. Friendlies, but they took a chunk out of the blockade. We’ll need a team of two or three to get it mortared together again. I can take these two to HQ in the meantime.”
“Good. I’ll get some volunteers.” The static cut out; Arkadiy clipped the walkie-talkie back to the waist of his pants, took a deep breath, and refocused on the two people before him. “All right!” he said, voice taking on his usual cheer. “Once someone shows up to take my place, we can get going…” Arkadiy trailed off as he noticed that someone was already running towards the blockade from HQ. Wow, that was fast. He shot them an exaggerated wave that they did not return, but that was okay because running took a lot of energy, after all.
Man, all things considered, this was going pretty well. With any luck he’d have the woman’s bike fixed by sundown, and they might even decide to stay with Stella’s Freedom. He glanced at both the woman and the man, face radiating sunny optimism. “Looks like we can head out right away. If you’ll follow me, please.” He took a few jaunty steps toward base, only to turn around and tack on an addendum: “I’m Arkadiy, by the way. I’ll be your guide for this evening.” He bowed from the waist, flourishing slightly with his hand, smiling the whole time.[/size][/blockquote]