![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aaaaaaaagh_skyIt is generally considered bad form and highly irresponsible for the highest-ranked member of a small military party far from home to head out in front of the group all by themselves. However, there had been only so many Stealth Boys to spare back at the Citadel, and 101 had brought that stealth suit of hers. All that thing needed was some time to recharge between uses. They'd already lost a great deal of time finding a safe route around the Exclusion Zone. The only surviving maps of the region they'd been able to find were vividly marked with 'DO NOT GO HERE EITHER' over most of the area where north-south highways had run... and there was a river coming up, unless the Great War had ruined it completely. Someone had to find a way across, someone who would draw as little attention and gunfire as possible, and that meant 101.
It did not sit well with Scribe Cancio, nor with the two Knights accompanying them. Oh, it made sense, sort of, but that didn't mean they had to like it. Especially not with the wind blowing in from the southeast; stars above only knew what it might have picked up, either from the Zone or from what the maps said used to be the [CONTENT REDACTED] Proving Grounds. The longer 101 was out there scouting, the longer they had to stay and wait, and breathe whatever it was they were smelling. At least it was quiet, but between the three of them they shared a private understanding that if anywhere were ever 'too quiet', this was probably it.
So they sat and they waited, and when a shimmer like a person-shaped heat distortion appeared a few hundred yards away they came to their feet. The shimmer dropped a moment later, giving way to 101's suit. "Welcome back, ma'am," said Ponzio, saluting. "What've you got for us?"
101 returned the salute. "Good news and bad news," she said, peeling the suit's black and gold headpiece off. "The good news is that there's a community about two miles west of here, on the old post road. Bel Air. They've got about thirty or forty people, and a few of them know the way to Philly from here."
"That's fantastic," said Cancio. "Lemme get the maps."
She shook her head. "Don't bother, Jerald. According to the locals, the Susquehanna slipped its banks a couple of generations back- an old dam gave way. The maps aren't going to help us. One of the residents offered to guide us as far as the river. There's apparently a ferry there."
"Offered? Nobody offers anything. Not out here," said Cancio. "What did they want?"
101 sighed, blowing a drift of steel-grey hair away from her forehead. "The woman said she had family on the other side of the river, at a place called Octorara Farm. And that Octorara Farm has problems with scorpions."
"... so they what, want us to go on a bug hunt?"
"I didn't get the impression that 'hunt' is the right word here," said 101. "From the sound of things, the bugs do the hunting themselves."
Ponzio glanced over at the other Knight before looking back to 101. "In what sense, ma'am?" he said slowly.
"Have you ever seen a Brahmin stampede, Knight?" said 101. "Like that. But with half the heads, and a whole lot more legs."
It did not sit well with Scribe Cancio, nor with the two Knights accompanying them. Oh, it made sense, sort of, but that didn't mean they had to like it. Especially not with the wind blowing in from the southeast; stars above only knew what it might have picked up, either from the Zone or from what the maps said used to be the [CONTENT REDACTED] Proving Grounds. The longer 101 was out there scouting, the longer they had to stay and wait, and breathe whatever it was they were smelling. At least it was quiet, but between the three of them they shared a private understanding that if anywhere were ever 'too quiet', this was probably it.
So they sat and they waited, and when a shimmer like a person-shaped heat distortion appeared a few hundred yards away they came to their feet. The shimmer dropped a moment later, giving way to 101's suit. "Welcome back, ma'am," said Ponzio, saluting. "What've you got for us?"
101 returned the salute. "Good news and bad news," she said, peeling the suit's black and gold headpiece off. "The good news is that there's a community about two miles west of here, on the old post road. Bel Air. They've got about thirty or forty people, and a few of them know the way to Philly from here."
"That's fantastic," said Cancio. "Lemme get the maps."
She shook her head. "Don't bother, Jerald. According to the locals, the Susquehanna slipped its banks a couple of generations back- an old dam gave way. The maps aren't going to help us. One of the residents offered to guide us as far as the river. There's apparently a ferry there."
"Offered? Nobody offers anything. Not out here," said Cancio. "What did they want?"
101 sighed, blowing a drift of steel-grey hair away from her forehead. "The woman said she had family on the other side of the river, at a place called Octorara Farm. And that Octorara Farm has problems with scorpions."
"... so they what, want us to go on a bug hunt?"
"I didn't get the impression that 'hunt' is the right word here," said 101. "From the sound of things, the bugs do the hunting themselves."
Ponzio glanced over at the other Knight before looking back to 101. "In what sense, ma'am?" he said slowly.
"Have you ever seen a Brahmin stampede, Knight?" said 101. "Like that. But with half the heads, and a whole lot more legs."