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That Unimog of his was something special. It was tougher than your average caravan, and it was stronger than most vehicles, it was made for rough terrain even! The fact that he threw a brush guard on the front of it made it even more durable, and ideal for running through a gate, or a small herd of zeds! Sergei didn't like to stop, after all! It's why he was headed to Bear Lake, to see if he couldn't do some trading. He'd heard that there were decent people here, reasonable people, and he had things that reasonable people might like!
Like homemade vodka, painkillers, meth, and other illegal substances, yay!
Still though. The Unimog, it was making a slow but steady advance towards the gates of Bear Lake before stopping short just thirty or so feet before he put the massive thing in park, and let it idle. Oh, he didn't cut it off, not at all, he'd opt to let it stay warm before he got out of the vehicle and dropped down to his feet with a heavy thud. Using that heavy door as a sort of cover, he stuck out a white t-shirt and waved it about, sort of like a white flag, as if he was parleying with them!
"Excuse me!" Calling out in that thick, Ukranian, accent of his as he peaked around the door! "Excuse me! Can I speak to somevone in charge? Your leader, da? Can I speak to heem!? Or her!?" Yelling out, and loudly, hoping to get some reaction at least! Something, if nothing more than a fuck off,
It'd be something, it'd be better than getting shot at.
The sound of the Unimog could be heard from miles away. Ellen's tower guards had spotted it as soon as it reached the trailhead across the lake. She had the QRF at the ready, but they were not yet deployed. The wall was manned, and the explosives were ready for use should this Unimog hold any surprises or try to ram the gate.
As soon as the man got out the guards on the wall along with the guards in the towers aimed at him. He spoke to them in a Russian accent, asking for the person in charge. Technically the Council was in charge, but right now the one in charge was Ellen. She lowered her gun while the rest of the guards kept aim at the man and gave Charlie a quick look. Charlie nodded and Ellen looked up to the guards in the towers. They gestured that there were no other enemies to be seen. It seemed the situation was under control for the moment.
"Stop! Hands where we can see them!" Ellen answered. "No sudden moves either or we will fire, is that clear? I'm in charge, can I help you?"
Good! Someone answ-- Awww, shit. She was pretty and had guns leveled on him! "Gods damn you, Sergei." Muttering beneath his breath in Russian, his brows furrowing as both of his hands went up! Yep, he even dropped his makeshift white flag that he'd crafted from a shirt! "I am here to do trading, da?! Sergei's Trading Caravan, you have heard of me, nyet!?" Calling out and loudly, giving her a fairly large, fairly expectant smile as if he really expected her to have heard of his caravan. "I have.. I have medical supplies and er.." Pause. How did he phrase this? "Er.. How do you say.. Oh, RECREATIONAL ASSISTANTS!" He was fairly sure he got that wrong, but how best did he explain what he had? He did, however, stay slightly behind that Unimog door.
He wasn't entirely unarmed either, that Ithaca 37 Stakeout was slung over his shoulder, but he wasn't making any attempt to hide it. The way he figured it, they expected him to be armed, to have a gun. It'd be weird if he didn't, to be honest. "I go to other settlements, to trade! I also have a new shipment of reloaded ammo!" He did, of course, not that any of it did him any good. The Ukranian Romani couldn't hit the broadside of a damn barn!
"Fuck. A goddamn drugdealer." Ellen thought to herself after the man mentioned recreational assistants. Had he only sold those she'd sent him away immediately. But medical supplies and ammo, that was at least worth a look. But she wasn't the proper person to do so. Andrei was the right person to look at the medical supplies and her dad could look over the ammunition. She knew reloaded shells and bullets were less trustworthy than factory made ones and more likely to cause damage to a weapon. And there was something about this guy that just screamed 'I'm gonna rip you off'.
"Stay there, I'm coming down." Ellen said. She then turned toward Kelsey who stood beside her.
"Get my dad and doctor Andrei out here." Ellen said to Kelsey. "I want them to look and see if what this guy's selling is legit."
Ellen then had the gate opened and came out with the full extend of the QRF behind. As she walked towards Sergei, the QRF that consisted of fifteen people circled and made a perimeter around the Unimog, scanning for eventual threats.
"Alright, what're you selling exactly?" Ellen asked. "And what would you take as payment should we decide to buy anything?"
As always, Charlie remained at Ellen's side as they both approached the traveling merchant/drugsdealer. While Ellen talked to the man, Charlie walked around the truck and looked for anything out of the ordinary. For all they knew there were troops in the car waiting to ambush them in some sort of Trojan horse manner. Charlie inspected every corner of the truck from the outside and took a peek inside of the Unimog from the other side, the ones where Ellen and Sergei weren't on. Just a whole bunch of stuff she couldn't recognize.
Still, it was a vehicle worth keeping. Foreign, but sturdy nonetheless. Question rose if the Russian tradesman had brought it with him or if he had found it here. And if it was American, where had he gotten it from?
Charlie walked back from around the truck and to Ellen.
"Looks legit." Charlie said. "Bunch of stuff in the back but no other people."
Keeping her crossbow in hand, Charlie stood next to Ellen waiting for the man to offer a deal.
He had assumed that they wouldn't outright trust him and he couldn't blame them for that, he didn't trust them either. Why should he? "Is just Sergei, like I said. You see this, nyet?" Between the two of them he watched, cutting those blue eyes over to the side, to the guards they had and then back to them. "I go between settlements, and I trade. This for that, that for this. Is good business. People have roots, they like to grow them. Sergei, he does not like having roots. Is good business not to have roots, nyet?" He spoke fast, and the fact was? He understood English better than he let on, just as he didn't truly have as thick as an accent as he showed off with. Oh, it got thick when he was angry, or excited, but he found it best to let people think he was simple.
Truth was, Sergei could just about tell how smart someone was by how stupid they thought he was.
"I have medicine. Mostly I am having pain killers, as people are liking to take it as currency in some places." Explaining, gesturing his hands about as if he spoke with them. "I have antibiotics, not much, but enough. I am also having anti nausea medicine. Most is generic, but I also have pet antibiotics. Is good, vorks for people, just not as strong." With another firm nod, he gestured for them to follow as he reached the back of his Unimog to let the back down! "Most ammo is reloaded, It looked solid vhen Sergei traded for it, but I am trading as is. I am not, how you say, gun person." With raised brows. Telling the truth? Yep, it was always best to establish a good reputation. These folks looked damn solid. "Food is always priority, so is petrol and other things." Pause. Beat. "Sergei also has vodka." Pointing to the home made still in the back, near the corner. "..But he also has alcohol used to clean vounds, if you vant that sort of thing. Is vaste of good vodka." Oh, the distasteful look on his face!
Having been informed of the merchants' arrival, and having been summoned at his daughter's request, Mac made his way to the front gate where Ellen and Charlie were. The perimeter seemed secure, with the QRF scanning for threats. The merchant had opened his truck and Mac looked at the reloaded bullets. He didn't trust these kind of bullets to fire properly and this guy looked and talked like a swindler, so chances were some of the bullets had gunpowder in them, while others would just have sand or some other grainy substance in them. He'd never trust a bullet he hadn't made himself either, apart from the military surplus they scavenged along the way.
Mac grabbed the first bullet he thought was off, and inspected it. It was bend and the bullet wasn't even attached to the shell properly, he could detach it without giving it any effort. Mac poured the gun powder from inside on his hand. It smelled alright, but it was wet and chunky. Throwing everything the bullet contained on the ground, Mac wiped his hands on his jacket before giving the merchant a disapproving look.
"Well, your bullets are junk." Mac said. "But you probably already knew that huh? Wouldn't be surprised if the medical equipment would have the occasional body liquid stain as well here and there. What kinda scam you running here fella?"
Truth is, Bear Lake had the currencies to pay this weird merchant, but he didn't seem trustworthy and Ellen had a bad feeling about him. When her dad came and uncovered that the bullets were junk, her distrust toward the man became even greater. Her dad was right, if the bullet was this kind of junk, they couldn't trust the medical equipment either, but Andrei could be the judge of that. As far as the drugs went, they wouldn't have any of it.
"He's a drugsdealer too." Ellen added after her father spoke. "But we're not having any of that."
Oh, the annoyed sigh that left Sergei. "Did Sergei just not fuckings say that he did not know if bullets vere good?" Asking aloud as he cut his eyes upwards for a moment, as if speaking to a higher power that simply wasn't listening to him! "I am not gunsmith. I am nurse, I know medicine, I am knowings Chemistry! Pharmacology. I do not knows.. "He lifted his hands in the shape of guns and mock shot at them. "The bang bang, da?" He dropped his hands at his sides and gave out a heavy sigh. "They come from friend. He is trying to reload bullets using own home made powder. Brass is good, bullet is good, powder? Not so good, apparently." That much was true, if nothing else, if they had the powder? The bullets were good for that: reloading supplies.
"I have saline, I have surgical tubing, syringes. I am having needles for I.Vs. Some still in package, some I have cleaned using autoclave and other things." With a dull tone t his voice as he watched the man and his daughter. "Da. I have recreational pharmaceuticals too, as girl is saying." To Ellen as he let a brow raise up. "Is nothing wrong vith taking edge off using them." He gave a grunt before looking back to the man. "I am havings vodka too, I make it from potatos." That much, that much he could do, and do well! "..Anyvays. Vhat is it you need? What you have to trade? If Sergei does not have it, he can get it."
Post by Dan-Andrei Moldovan on Apr 4, 2015 17:03:50 GMT -5
A message through the radio of one guard came through, asking for Andrei's presence at the front gate. The guards were the ones Ellen decided would be part of the security detail responsible for the medbay, and Dan, along with Dr. Harding, decided to teach them a few thing about first aid and, more importantly, how to cleanly prevent a body from turning, without a gun. It was something they considered essential, if those men were to spend time there. Who knows, maybe they could be trained to become field medics, should enough time pass. He heard the call over the radio, and began heading out immediately, taking the device with him.
"Jim, I'll borrow this for a minute, so you can give me a call, should anything happen" he called out to one of them, as he left. In response, the guard nodded. Moving towards the gate, he spoke over the radio. "This is Andrei, en route to the front gate. Over."
Andrei came out the gate just in time to overhear Logan's opinion on the ammo. He stood silently behind, letting things unfold for now. He wanted to hear the trader speak, to get an idea about who he is. Shit ammo, drug dealer, broken English, but he did recognize the accent. He sounded like someone from Eastern Europe. Maybe the thickness of his accent was exaggerated, but it was there, nonetheless. A good time to see if Andrei's Russian was still any good.
Moving forward he began speaking in a broken Russian. The words were correct, but verbs weren't correctly conjugated and so on. (I will post what he means to say, since I don't know any Russian at all)
"Hello, I'm Andrei, the camp's medic! Might I ask your name and where you come from? Your accent sounds Eastern European." he said as friendly as he could.
He was looking up right about the time that Andrei went to speak, a small grin breaking up the frown that previously took up residency on his face. He understood the man easily enough, perhaps enough to even get that while he could say what he meant, he wasn't quite on cue with everything. Still though, the effort he put in to try made Sergei happy enough to reply back, but slowly, so Andrei could understand him. "I am from Kiev, Ukraine. My name is Sergei Petrov." With that, he tapped his own chest, going back to speaking English for the most part. "My supplies are good, even if the ammo is not." Spoken as he moved to start taking things from shelves and setting them on the edge of the back so Andrei could properly inspect them. Anti septic spray, hydrogen peroxide, cleaning alcohol, pet antibiotics, penicillin. Though, the penicillin was just outside of its expiration date, it was still good, it just wouldn't be AS effective as it was before.
There was also the manner of surgical tubing, IV bags, the proper needles and the like. Even the "previously used" paraphernalia, it was impeccably cleaned, sterile, even. "Ees good, yes?" Asking with lifted brows. "Though... If you need something specific, I can show you other stock, give you family discount, nyet?" Asking as he crouched down, still in the back of the Unimog. "...I am also having books. Textbooks for medical classes. Good to refresh vith. I could let you make copies of them to sweeten deal, yes?" Now knowledge, knowledge was a damn limited asset these days, sadly.
Ellen shook her head when the man said to take the edge off. That was about to last thing you wanted in this current world. Also drugs were addictive and caused people to behave irradical and dealing with angry junkies was not something she wanted to do. Alcohol was one thing and the supply could be controlled but drugs? Not on her watch.
Andrei had come and Ellen stayed quiet as he talked to the man... in Russian? The merchant went on about his wares but even though she was not medically trained, Ellen knew syringes and their needles were not meant for re-use. Seeing as one's health was one's most precious possession nowadays, risking venerial diseases was a definite 'no'.
"See if this guy's got anything you want Doc." Ellen said. "But no needles! I'd rather have them custom made from pressure pins than that we start using used ones. Just because the dead are walking doesn't mean HIV or Hep C's dead as well."
Ellen may not have been medically trained, but she was a former anthropology student. Human pathology and diseases were part of her education so even if she didn't know how to treat them, she knew diseases.
Post by Dan-Andrei Moldovan on Apr 10, 2015 8:20:52 GMT -5
"Got it." he replied to Ellen getting in the back of the vehicle. The guy wasn't lying, he had a lot of useful stuff. Andrei began looking through crates, and if they needed anything, he'd place it near the entrance, starting with basic supplies. Some painkillers, antibiotics, insulin, empty IV bags, bandages. Soon after, he began rummaging silently through the books, searching for things the new nurses could use, maybe some procedural guides. The guy had quite the gold mine; Merck, Harrison, Guyton and Netter, to name just a few. Those were essential. He came out carrying the massive textbooks and placed them next to the boxes, after which Dan spoke to Ellen.
"The supplies are a must have. The books would make training the nurses much easier, and make it possible to go even further than that, so it's your decision." he then left Ellen to do the haggling.
"Ees sterilized! Good as new! .. But.." He held up his hands in mock surrender. "I am understanding vhy you might have issue vith this." Spoken with a calm demeanor, despite his initial exclamations. "Some customers, not so discerning. Ees vhy I do honest business. Sergei has reputation for honesty!" No, no he didn't. He just put his hand on his own chest, as if swearing on it before he just dropped the hand by his hand by his side. The meds, the supplies, they were as Doc said. They weren't junk supplies, which was good, right? "Sergei needs fuel, and he needs food. Ve half trade?" Asking with raised brows. "As for rounds, I throw them in to sveeten it, for free. You use them as junk rounds, training rounds, disassemble and reload for later, da?" Asking expectantly as he opened his hands, gesturing as if it was a token of good will.
"Annd from now on, you become first in Sergei's trade route, ve do good business together, da?" It seemed sound, at least. The Roma wasn't an evil man, or a corrupt man, he just did what was best for him in the end, and sometimes? Sometimes he did good or bad by that standard. Without another word however, he was grabbing up one of his bottles. It was clear, but it definitely had liquid in it. Vodka, probably. He popped the top as he hopped down from the Unimog and took a hard swig of the alcohol, coughing briefly before wiping his mouth. Oh, he definitely swallowed the swig he took, holding out the bottle towards the group. "Ve even drink on this, yes?" As if he expected them to just go with it. He was friendly enough, at least. Right?
Andrei's word was good enough for Ellen. Now came the haggling with the weird Russian. He asked for food and gasoline. Food they could spare seeing as they grew their own vegetables and rabbit and deer meat was plentiful, but gasoline was a valuable commodity. The mechanics did make their own motor oil though, that was something they could spare as well. And something the Russian probably needed for his vehicle.
But when the man spoke trade route, Ellen got intrigued. So far they didn't know of any other settlements, and it would be good to get some information on those as well. Perhaps use Sergei to work out some kind of trade agreement between the settlements.
"We'll give you fresh vegetables and meat for the medical supplies." Ellen said. "As for the empty bullets, I appreciate the gesture but please, keep them. We can't spare any gasoline though I'm afraid. But how about I give you a full canister of homemade motor oil and you throw in some information of other settlements nearby? We're a peace-loving community here, and if there's others like us out there, or others who would mean us harm we'd like to know about it. Sounds good?"
Shauna Kelly: That helped, thank you
Oct 4, 2021 14:40:44 GMT -5
Ayita Hunt: dang, January was my last post.. Jeez it's been a hot minute. o7 guys, sorry for the complete disappearance, life got.. a little interesting this year.
Oct 18, 2021 22:34:19 GMT -5