Hi, Old Andy! First, thank you for bringing new utility to the already delightful word “hamster.” I know the forum did it, but before now I wasn’t sure what it meant.

I’ll admit to some head-scratching in the very beginning, but I found it easy to follow the transitions in these last two updates. I’ve enjoyed all of the dialog, but the Carl and Andy parts are my favorite. Wow. I am along for the ride, and loving it!!

And, Andee....thank you for making Carl, Archie, and the whole vivid crew born from your imagination live again.

I may not always be able to comment - you know the reason why - but rest assured, I ALWAYS read every post of yours!!!

Thanks Grits I've gone back to std [censored] line... although I might toy with #@$%!!&* and the likes.. dunno


Thanks Dee



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Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
Hey hey, my my.





“Oh [censored]..., that hurt. I'm gonna feel that in the morning.” And my head was already pounding from lack of sleep, exertion, the trip up here and numerous other forms of stress.

“I'm just glad I can feel.” Carl had picked himself up, and was looking over to where the girl had previously been standing. “Which is more than I can say for her.”

“Christ. All she left was a dent in the planet.” I couldn't believe it. There was a two foot hole in the asphalt where she had stood.

“Yeah.., give a whole new twist to the meaning 'volatile nature'.”

“I was gonna go with 'explosive mood swings' myself.”

“A 'banging personality' maybe?” Carl barely glanced at the crater. we moved onward along the back service road between warehouses packed tight together. Narrow alleyways separated the different buildings, some large enough for two dumpsters side by side, others just wide enough for a single person.

Nerves. It was what was making us crack the jokes. A simple defense measure while the body decides whether shock was gonna move in, stay for the weekend, hog the tv while it drinks all the beer and screws the cat,

“At least we know where she takes her vacations..”

“Yeah, all over Baltimore. Still, she'll go far that girl will.”

Or whether the body was going to tough it out, bottle up all the acquired shock, regret and anguish it had accumulated and deal with it later.

“Yeah, by the looks of it she's gonna go as far as Jersey.” Pulling a smoke from an open packet I had and lighting it, I also held the lighter up to Carl's stogie for a re light. My hands were shaking.

'Later. Definitely deal with it later.'

“Did you see a back pack of any kind?” Trying to focus myself, pushing down the sense of shock to deeper regions, trying to function.

“Nope, and I don't think she was hiding a bomb vest under that blouse.” Carl stated matter-of-fact.

“Glad you took the time to notice.” I smirked.

“I mean, there was a lot going on under that blouse, no questions there. But a suicide vest?” Carl shook his head, “Dude, checking out a woman's rack is second nature to me, like breathing. It's what I do.”

More explosions were heard coming from the train yard behind us. We both looked back in the direction of the fireball rising in the night sky. Carl gave me a glance and I shrugged. With over three hundred meters to our own staging point outside the wall, I certainly hadn't triggered the charges.

“Oh, you think I did that?”

“You have the detonator.”

“I also happen to have exploded girlie all over me! Besides, the safety's still on.”

“I dunno.., maybe it was the explosion?”

“Sure.., a short circuited radio detonation with a two minute time delay, just because.. what? God hates us..” I was thinking more along the lines that Simba had popped the charges manually for some reason.

“Well I uhh.. you maybe. I always kinda thought He liked me-” And that Carl had never been struck by lightening also had to have a reason somewhere.

“ 'They are seeking out the un-clean for redemption by His all merciful love. For He can see all and so shall he-' ”

FUDD!!

FUDD!!

Carl looked over at me, a silenced S&W in his hand, as thin trails of smoke danced whimsically from the barrel. “Whaa..?” The girl dropped slowly to her knees as a crimson cloud of brightly colored blood began to grow on the otherwise stark white blouse she wore, much the same as the other girl had.

“You weren't actually going to wait until she was smite- uhh, smote? Err, Hang on, I know it's not smitten..., it's uhh, anyway, until someone decided to smite her down as well!” Her dead eyes looked up at us, blankly witnessing Carl's grammatical triumph over everyday speech. I was going to comment on the somewhat harsh nature of his preemptive actions, but considering current events, I was actually going to agree with him for once.

Then the dead girlie blew up as well.

With wooziness quickly winning ground from clarity, and consciousness fast on it's way out the door, the one thing that kept going though my mind was how the hell were these girls exploding?


Out of the blue
and into the black
They give you this,
but you pay for that
And once you're gone,
you can't come back
When you're out of the blue
and into the black.





As the warheads impacted beneath us we braced ourselves for our own landings. We came in hard amongst the explosions, I landed first, then felt Carl land rather heavily nearby.

“Oomph..”

Tanks. Officially spelled 'tanc', which stood for TActical Nuclear Capable. The heaviest load out that the Praetorian Powered Armor Assault Suit, and the Institute, had to offer. First the stealth unit was detached, freeing up power that was then rerouted to the shoulder mount, giving the plasma system some serious teeth. Then a truck load of extra armor was stuck on basically everywhere, beefing up vulnerable parts and reinforcing everything else. Of course, all this extra made for an somewhat rougher aerial incursion.

“Dayum but someone's getting fluffy.” Not waiting for a response, I surveying our surroundings. With thermal imaging next to useless with all the heat from the explosions, the low light settings in my helmet equally non functioning and all the smoke, I was reduced to mark one sensors -in other words; I was eyeballing the place. “Not that I didn't just feel that, but where you at?”

“Empty field next to the big chemical pipe building thingy.” Carl was also scanning for any signs of movement. “With emphasis on empty.”

“I'm just north of your pipe building thingy and behind a second building where the pipes go over.” We were in some kind of chemical refinery plant, with the main refinery bit out front a maze of corroded pipes, rusted distillation columns, and different colored transport pipes with peeled paint that sprouted along suspended support struts off to the other buildings.

“Next to the ugly admin building?” Those other buildings -Carl's ugly admin building among them, were set side by side along a service road. Beyond the road was a seriously long production hall that ran the entire length, and on the fall side of that was another production hall, which was even bigger than the first one.

“Uh-huh.” I ran, figuring where ever Carl was, the situation would soon get real interesting.

“'Kay, I'm dead in front of it.” He mentioned while kneeing down as ballistics shield fanned outward from his forearms. The shoulder mount came to life as Carl keyed it's controls, while the plasma weapon charged. In this position with arms raised like a boxer taking a defensive stance, all the extra armor plating and the shields in place, Carl could withstand everything up a direct RPG round.

At that moment gunfire erupted and dirt was kicked up all around Carl's feet, while rounds ricocheted off the armor.

“Obviously an untimely usage of the word 'dead'.., Andy? Things are getting mighty interesting over here, buddy.”

“I'm hauling wazoo as we speak. You okay over there?” The gunfire intensified as I ran along the buildings, careful to stay in the shadows and up against the walls.

“Sokay, I'm fine. I doubt they're packing elephant rounds in there.” He reassured me light hearted.

Ffffft-TONK!

“But they're packing a few .308s for sure.” Although it seemed that Carl's banter was getting a little strained, to say the least.

“Hang in there, I'm all over 'em.” Checking possible avenues of approach as I hurried to the next building.

“Well hells bells, that was the plan, wasn't it? I mean I'm not sucking up all this incoming fire for nothing, right?!?” Make that; Carl's banter was getting seriously strained.

Our plan had been a simple one ,centered around a stratagem call the 'Tom & Jerry', although I suspect it may have once had a more official military term. Hammer and anvil, a rock and a hard place, tactical redeployment along a flanking advance... whatever. In a nut shell, Carl was the bait and acted as a bullet sponge, soaking up incoming fire. Then I, doing my usual sneaky git routine, close on the opposing forces engaging Carl and neutralize them, sneaky like.

Coming around the corner I saw the side of the ugly admin building, with a door, a landing on the first floor leading to the door, and a fire escape that led to the landing. Shouldering my rifle I climbed to the landing in no time and was about to deal with the door and any possible lock situations when it opened towards me and two goons stepped out.

“I hate being the tank.” I could hear Carl mutter over the suits short range communications system. With our helmets, face-plates and everything fully sealed against all known forms of nuclear, biological and chemical agents, I could yell pretty loudly before anyone heard me outside the suit.

“Uh-huh, and you always say you want to be the center of attention.” Waiting for goon number two to exit the door -the first one had turned towards the front of the building where Carl was, I grabbed his rifle by the barrel and cupping the back of his head in my other hand, slammed it into the fire escapes railing before upending him over it and silently onto the ground below.

“Sure, when they're chasing me, all sleazy, intoxicated and bursting with animal lust. But *not* when it's incoming automatic fire!”

Goon number one didn't even hear it at first, what with the gunfire exchange between Carl and whoever was still inside the building making a ruckus. “Be glad of one thing at least.”

As he turned I was more than ready for him, stabbing him in the throat as I pushed him back into and over the railing, pulling my knife free as he fell.

“What then?”

“They aren't chasing you, prim, proper and just bursting.”

I was in.


The king is gone
but he's not forgotten
Is this the story
of a Johnny Rotten
It's better to burn out
than to fade away
The king is gone
but he's not forgotten.





“Andy.. jesus Andy c'mon buddy.. wake up.”

“Where's the toilet mommy, I think I need to potty...”

“Sssht.. they're close by.”

More or reality was swimming into focus, while I was feeling like I'd just gone fifteen rounds against a stubborn tow-truck. Carl's face focused, and I saw him holding up a finger for silence.

So I laid there, silently looking at the rafters above. We were inside somewhere large. I went through basic check list. Everything hurt like hell, but nothing seemed completely busted, except the pounding in my head, which hurt like hell on steroids. And my ribs, still tender from the friendly chat sessions I had with those lovely ladies at the WWCA compound. At least they didn't blow up everywhere.

“We're okay for now.” Having just assessed my own bodily situation and general heath, I filed that one under irony.

“But there are more of those Bursting Betty's out there.” He looked at me. “Can you stand?”

“I'm still laying on the ground.”

“Yeah, but can you stand?”

“Lemme sit for awhile, see how that flies.” As I sat up, my head was indeed flying. Too bad my body was still somewhere on the floor of that warehouse. “Hey, you know what?” I asked, sliding back into a more horizontal position, staring at the rafters again.

“What?” Carl was checking the window again.

“Maybe we should've checked out that church more thoroughly.” All I wanted to do was sleep.


My my, hey hey
Rock and roll is here to stay

Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die!

This post has been edited by old Andy: Sep 8 2011, 01:18 AM

Holee Shee Yit Andee....



This is CARNAGE in the Andee style! Bursting Boobalicious Bomba Babes (I hope you know what 'bomba' means in Tagalog) Bragaddioc Blusterous Banter, and Rock n Roll to Shok our Souls....


all ah'm gonna a-say is a YEAH YEAH YEAH WOO HOO HOOOOO!!!!

I'm working on it Andy, have just had a bit of a hectic period, lol.