Hate Me Love You [Charlie]

Engine trouble had delayed Charlie starting on his runs for the day, and he had desperately tried to make up the time but he still found himself running up against darkness and what looked like an approaching storm with still some distance to go until the next settlement. He swore under his breath, not many were brave...or perhaps more accurately...crazy enough to make runs at night, especially not in a storm at night. All sorts of *things* came out at night, and none of them were good.

He would have to find someplace to hole up for the night, but he wasn't familiar enough with this stretch to know exactly where he might be able to go. But he would need to do it quickly, before he lost what light he had left and was trying to find his way in the pouring rain and pitch black darkness. He thought he saw what looked like a road...more like a trail, but tire tracks on it seemed reasonably fresh and he decided to take his chances. Going off-road had it's own risks...you might run into a Nest...or more likely you might run into someone else's territory and get shot before you could explain you weren't there to steal or kill...but it was a chance he was going to take.

The road wound back out of the way for a while, he was just starting to be convinced nothing was back here and to head back to the road, upset at the precious time he had lost, when he came on a bit of a clearing and several strange structures, the tallest in the middle seemed to have the most recent tracks near it. Someone ahd been here...but how long ago...and would they be friendly? He pulled his car around behind it, half hidden by bushes and trees, before taking his weapons and creeping closer, hopefully someone on top wouldn't just pick him off as he did. He couldn't even quite tell where an enterance was on this place, as he moved carefully around it, looking for a way in out of the rapidly chilling air as the wind started to pick up.

Solomon had been settling in to eat when he heard the sound of wheels outside, feeling alarm bells ringing in his head, it was way too late for that to be Ian, way too late for that to be anyone sensible. Too late for anyone who didn't have ill intent to be creeping around his location.

He swallowed and put his food to the side, pulling a small handgun from a holster fitted into his wheelchair as he moved to roll up to the surveillance level, peering into the screens. He felt his heart leap from his chest when the man stepped from his vehicle and pulled his weapons out, taking a moment to arm the gun before rolling down to unlock the door, watching it carefully until the man came inside.

When he caught sight of him he glared with a warning tone in his voice, "I wont shoot you unless you give me reason to." He couldn't hide the shaking in his hands as he pointed the gun at him, "I-I don't want any trouble...P-please explain yourself." He tried to be brave, put on some bravado, but it didn't carry as far as it could have, "Who are you? W-what do you want?"

He finally found a way in and let out a breath of relief, the sky had opened up with little notice and it hadn't taken him long to get fairly waterlogged by the time he got inside. He closed the opening behind him, in the silence inside he could hear the water dripping off him to the metal flooring below.

He started to look around the space but froze as he found another man staring back at him. "Fuck..." he muttered to himself as he slowly raised his hands, keeping them in plain sight the whole time.

"Not here to make trouble. Just...wanted to get in out of the dark. And the weather. Not safe to drive out there right now...see, no trouble." He leaned forward painstakingly slowly to set his handgun on the ground in front of him, before standing back up again, hands still up near his head. "I run routes through here, going up north. But I got a late start today..."

The guy didn't look the sort to kill him out of being angry or malicious, but he did seem the sort to shoot him out of panic, and that could be nearly, if not more deadly. No quick movements, no loud noises. "If you want me to leave...I will. Like I said...don't want trouble..." His eyes scanned around, in case he had friends also around, lying in wait.

His eyes were trained hard on the gun in the man's hand, looking nervous, "how'd you find this place...n-no one ever finds this place...D-d-did someone tell you?!" He couldn't help the fear at the implication that people might know where he was, if his name and what he did got out he would be a sitting duck, a brightly painted target just begging to be robbed and killed.

He watched closely as the man moved to put his weapon to the side, and once he was sure he wasn't going to reach for it, he did the same with his own, reaching down to slip it into the holster at the side of his chair, "So you just happened to show up here? No one sent you?" His voice was tense as he spoke, "I hope you're not lying." He looked him over, "I'm gonna let you stay. Try anything funny and I will kill you." After another tense moment his demeanor relaxed.

"I'm Solomon, you are?" He turned waving for the man to follow, "watch your fuckin' drippin'. Lotta delicate machines n' shit in here." He smirked at him, "you hungry?" He gestured to the kitchen, "help yourself...Well not TOO much...Supplies are limited and I can't get more until my old man brings me more."

"Totally an accident, I fuckin' swear." Charlie said in a dead serious voice, he really didn't want to be shot by this obviously very nervous man. He was getting the impression the guy was in here alone...who knows how long he'd been in here alone either, didn't seem to see people much.

"I thought I saw a turn-off, I'm over an hour out from any safe spots I know so I thought I'd just...take the chance I wasn't wandering into a raider camp or somethin'...this thing's so fuckin' far back I almost turned around thinking nothing was back here...so no one told me, no one else knows." A pause. "And I won't tell no one else either." he promised, feeling that might help ease the other's mind.

At the invitation to follow and the comments on dripping he shrugged out of his coat, the thing that was dripping the most, and left it near the door, picking his way carefully through the mess of machines and technology. "I'm Charlie." he introduced himself, but his attention wasn't so much focused on Solomon, as it was on everything else around him. He was pretty sure he hadn't seen this much all in one place, especially not since the Pulse, and he found himself fascinated, he'd always loved this stuff, and had rather keenly felt the loss of so much possibility, the future of what could have been.

"You need some supplies? Got some extra shit I can share." he offered, still hoping to get in good with the man, at least to the point of convincing him he meant no hard, and didn't really need to be shot in his sleep. "Or...what else do you like? Don't have a lot of tech but...or...tapes? You like tapes?"

The fragile plastic cassette tapes seemed to have gained an economy of their own, no more radio, no more internet, and large numbers of people that traveled long distances in ones and twos, or holed themselves off to be safe, to work on trying to restore what was lost... Music, books on tape, anything that filled the achingly eerie silences was highly prized and traded.

He looked at him for a long time when he promised not to tell anyone, and then nodded as if satisfied with the reply and gave him a calmer smile, "good. Okay. Sorry for spookin' you." He looked to the side, "I ain't no coward, but I can't fight back as well." He gestured around himself, "and with all this shit here, I'm a big fuckin' target for armed robbery." He laughed, "only person who knows I'm here is my dad...It gets lonely though." He admitted, going back to his sandwich, "so I guess terror aside I don't mind the company." He tossed him a playful grin, "you don't seem out to kill me in the night. So I think I'll be okay." Of course he would still be wary for now, but Charlie was attractive and he could use some company from someone other than just his father.

"I've probably got enough food to last me about a week...But more couldn't hurt...But I'd hate to take from what you got?" He chuckled, "I think I'd be fine lasting without until my pop makes his rounds through here." He ran a hand through his hair, "probably isn't the best habit, but I'm used to going without food." He looked interested when he mentioned tapes though, "what kind? I don't...Actually have many...Ian brings me some sometimes but." He chuckled, "I'd hate to take those from you too though...I know they're kinda vital to being on the road!" He appreciated what this man was trying to do, but part of him felt guilty taking anything from him.

Charlie chuckled slightly. "It's okay, you kinda fuckin' spooked me too..." he admitted. "I didn't know if anyone was in here..or maybe you had like ten goons in the shadows waiting to shoot me...or if you'd just decide to shoot me yourself..." he rubbed a hand through his hair, some water flicking off but careful not to get it on any of the machines.

"Yeah, this place...scavengers would lose their minds over this shit...I can see why you'd get all protective..." He continued to look around curiously but didn't touch any of it, only half understanding what much of it was.

"So you live here with your dad? Or he just passes through?" He asked, a bit concerned about the admission of how he got used to not eating as much as he should.

"And I don't mind sharing. You're letting me stay here and you didn't shoot me. Trade is fair, right? And I'm not gonna give you *all* my fuckin' tapes." Another laugh. "But I got some I'm tired of, don't mind swappin' out." He did appreciate the other man letting him stay, and he did want to impress on him he was friendly and meant no harm. Hell, if it went well enough he might end up with another contact or waypoint he could use, he wouldnt complain about that.

Solomon couldn't help but feel a little satisfied that he'd managed to spook the man, but then he attributed that to this guy not being a raider or a scavenger, "Well at least I scared someone...Better than nothing I guess!" He laughed softly, "Hard for me to ever intimidate!" He looked around with a thoughtful expression, nodding, "Mmhm, I've had a lot of time to do all this...I can't do much else for the world, but at least I can do this." He chuckled, "Ian brings me new bits and bobs he finds out there when he comes through, he's a runner, like you." He looked down and pursed his lips, "I live here alone." He shrugged a little, "It suits me...But I get fuckin' lonely sometimes. Human nature I guess."

He glanced up at him with a smirk and nodded, "I got some we can swap. having new shit would do wonders...It's been the same for such a long time..." He never really bothered Ian for tapes much, it was something he never really thought about, "So, Charlie, tell me about yourself!" He chuckled, "be nice not to have a total stranger sleeping in my home tonight."