Pinnacle -Lock please-

[DRdoctorlady]

THIS IS THE OLD THREAD. PLEASE GO TO THE NEW ONE BY CLICKING ON THIS MESSAGE. THANK YOU :3

.:Pinnacle:.

First Chicken Smoothie posted story, hope to post on fairly often ^^ This is, of course, a work in progress, but I hope its enjoyable nonetheless. I'll probably add tidbits every other day or so, so keep watching for more to come :D
If there are errors (grammar, spelling, I screwed up the storyline again, something I do annoyingly often) please point them out (politely!). All Critiques, comments, praise, etc. is welcome, just no destructive slamming that does nothing for me. So, whoop de doo, here we go

~The Gang~
(... basically the starting characters, in order of joining the group)
Jarrah- The Narrator; She is the 'founder' of the group, and the one who found the house they live in and the plot of land, and collected the group together. Almost 13 year old girl at the beginning of the story.
Grasswhistle- Reason for the funky names everywhere XD. Very stoic and regal, with a largely unexplained history, about 15 years old at the beginning.
Racoon- Coon, to put simply, is Coon. He's constantly nearly killing himself just by being him, and has a nose for food. Loud and very rambunctious. About 7 at the beginning of the story. He is the only person who bothers to keep up with time and other things that have been made obsolete.
Dagger- Nearly killed Jarrah and Coon when he first met them. Very sarcastic and quick to get in a fight. Also very good at running away when he pisses off someone with a knife. Starts off at 13
Flyby- An adorable little blond girl. Uniquely alive somehow when she was found, and melts everyone's heart (besides, ironically, Ice). Somewhere around 2 and 3 years old.
Break- Small, young, and vulnerable. Cannot be around fire (causes him to go into nervous break-down mode). Suffers mental breakdowns. Has an assortment of personality. Age 10
Badger- He's a good samaritan. He's good at calming down Break and taking care of Flyby. Age 12.
Rosethorn- Prickly attitude, almost identical to Grasswhistle in person. She's quick to the point, and blunt. Pretty, but dangerous, almost always on raids. Age 15
Laurels- Fanatical about health and learning. Usually very shy and unassuming, but has her moments. She knows how to deal with stress and handles everything with maturity. Age 8
Icechips- Everyone calls him Ice though. Has strikingly cold blue eyes (his namesake) and is hostile and distant. In times of stress, he simply loses all emotion. Age 16, oldest in the group, least known about

~Table of Contents~
Courtesy of Smile :D The names on the tops of the post might not match up with the ones you clicked on, because I made quite a few mistakes (Smile caught them though so I'll fix 'em later), but I assure you, those are the correct sections (if not, tell me XD)

Chapter 0 - Page 1 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=0
Chapter .5 - Page 1 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=0
Chapter .5b - Continuation - Page 1 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=0
Chapter .5c - Continuation - Page 1 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=0
Chapter .5d - Continuation - Page 2 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=10
Chapter .5e - Continuation - Page 2 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=10
Chapter .5f - Continuation - Page 2 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=10
Chapter .5g - Continuation - Page 3 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=20
Chapter .5h - Continuation - Page 3 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=20
Chapter .5i - Continuation - Page 3 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=20
Chapter .5j - Continuation - Page 4 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=30
Chapter 1 - Page 5 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=40
Chapter 1b - Continuation - Page 6 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=50
Chapter 1c - Continuation - Page 6 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=50
Chapter 1d - Continuation - Page 7 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=60
Chapter 1e - Continuation - Page 7 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=60
Chapter 1f - Continuation - Page 7 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=60
Chapter 1g - Continuation - Page 8 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=70
Chapter 1h - Continuation - Page 9 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=80
Chapter 1i - Continuation - Page 10 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=90
Chapter 1j - Continuation - Page 10 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=90
Chapter 1k - Continuation - Page 12 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=110
Chapter 1l - Continuation - Page 14 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=130
Chapter 1m - Continuation - Page 14 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=130
Chapter 1n - Continuation - Page 17 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=160
Chapter 1o - Continuation - Page 18 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=170
Chapter 1p - Continuation - Page 19 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=180
Chapter 2 - Page 20 viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=190
Chapter 2b - Continuation - Page 21 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=200
Chapter 2c - Continuation - Page 22 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=210
Chapter 2d - Continuation - Page 22 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=210
Chapter 2e - Continuation - Page 23 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=220
Chapter 2f - Continuation - Page 24 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=230
Chapter 2g - Continuation - Page 26 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=250
Chapter 2h - Continuation - Page 31 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=300
Chapter 2i - Continuation - Page 31 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=300
Chapter 2j - Continuation - Page 34 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=330
Chapter 2k - Continuation - Page 35 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=340
Chapter 2l - Continuation - Page 36 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=350
Chapter 2m - Continuation - Page 37 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=360
Chapter 3 - Page 40 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=390
Chapter 3a - Continuation - Page 40 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=390
Chapter 3b - Continuation - Page 43 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=420
Chapter 3c - Continuation - Page 45 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=440
Chapter 3d - Continuation - Page 58 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=570
Chapter 3e - Continuation - Page 66 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=650
Chapter 3f - Continuation - Page 69 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=680
Chapter 4 - Letter 1 - Page 83 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=820
Chapter 4 - Letter 2 - Page 85 -

Coon's Escapade - #1 - Page 7 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=60
Dagger's Escapade - #2 - Page 12 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=110
Ice's Escapade - #3 - Page 15 - viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=140

Alternate Dimension Fan Stuff - #1 - page 34 viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217&start=330

~Buttons~

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[url=http://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217#p7671587][img]http://i56.tinypic.com/v4uki1.jpg[/img][/url]

- Courtesy of Serreth :3

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[url=http://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=325217#p7671587][img]http://i661.photobucket.com/albums/uu337/Zerzee/pinnaclebutton.png[/img][/url]

~Progress~


~Completely Amazing and Awesome fan thread made by Ser :3~
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=468570&start=0

~Notices~

*Undated Notice*
I'm in a story war with Alexandria Gateau of the Sidewalk Chalk story (alexgateau). If you might, please comment when you see this, as each comment helps in the whole scheme of things.
~I LOVE YOU ALL~
*5/14 Addition*
AlexGateau now goes by the name .:Aisling:. :3

*3/17 Notice*
Editors wanted! People to help me catch my spelling and punctuation issues, along with tenses, story problems, etc. By story problems, I mean slip-ups. To get an example, see the Phil and Clara conundrum.

*3/26 Notice*
I'm working on a compiled version of the Pinnacle pieces as I know it must irritate people to scroll through all the comments.

*4/21 Notice*
I need peoples to help me compile Pinnacle T-T *points at contradictory notice above this one and bursts into frustrated tears*
*5/10 Addition* Temp (Or Ghost, or Levitas, or whatever he is now) and AlexGateau (Or .:Aisling:.) have compiled Chapters 0 and .5 together :3 I LUFF YOU

*4/28 Notice*
I'm thinking of setting up a directory to look for posts >.< Too much spam twixt each post
*5/10 Addition* The lovely SmileProject has made a directory/table of contents/thingy for me! Send her some lovely feelings as well :)

*4/30 Notice*
Special shout-out to my first four fans, whom I really appreciate: AngelInWaiting, Ser'reth, Abi_the_LionXP, and Viriami. Thanks guys for being just pretty much awesome. And of course, I love my Bridge fans, but thats another thing :D

*5/10 Notice*
Special shout-out to all the others, among which are Crookshanks, Temp, Standardpoodleluv, and Smile (if I've left you out, please tell me XP), of whom are also amazing peoples that deserve coolness :D

*6/13 Notice*
Sorry I haven't been on in forever, but, with the beginning of Summer, I have a schedule I shalt follow :3
Sunday: No post (I gets to clean up my house >.<)
Monday: Pinnacle Postage! (at least a thousand words)
Tuesday: Miscellanious book postage (Whatever I have muse for; basically the other scraps of story I have on CS right now)
Wednesday: No post (for plotting/mah business)
Thursday: Pinnacle Postage!
Friday: Random discussions and such
Saturday: Pinnacle Postage!

~Prologue~
See next post~

[DRdoctorlady]

Chapter 0- Of course

"Coon!" I hissed. Darkness was settling. Dusk was stretching its shadowy fingers through the sky outside (woah, isn't that poetical?), and the feral dogs roaming the cities were not something I wanted to contend with in the dark. And I couldn't very well leave Racoon here alone, no matter how much I wanted to sometimes. Namely in times like this, when he disappeared without a trace, and we had to leave.
I hefted the pack on my back to a more comfortable place, cursing violently under my breath. I stood up and scanned the empty Wal-Mart warehouse for Coon.
"Coon!" I hissed again, this time a little louder. I didn't want to attract any predators. On a mission with only two people, that's usually dangerous as all get out. But alone, you don't stand a chance. I had to admit, I felt a little chill on the back of my neck as I looked around the bleak warehouse, and was starting to get freaked out.
Didn't help that Coon took that moment to jump out from behind a pile of crates.
"What?!" He said, his voice muffled. I jumped back in surprise, then narrowed my eyes. He had crumbs on his face and food in his mouth.
"Shh," I intoned, shoving my finger violently in front of my mouth in the universal shut-your-mouth signal. I motioned for him to get his pack on, but he just shrugged and started going back behind the crates to get more food. I felt like killing that boy.
I walked over to him, grabbed his shirt collar in one hand and his actually fairly heavy backpack in the other and started dragging him out of the warehouse. He was shouting profanities (Coon unfortunately swears like a sailor) and spewing crumbs everywhere, so I dropped him roughly. His head banged on the floor and he started saying a string of curse words with the occasional 'the' or 'and'. I sighed and shoved my hand over his mouth, quieting him, and ordered him to be silent, pointing out the fact that dogs and the encroaching wildlife tended to be violent, and if he didn't shut up, I was going to personally go find them and feed him to them. He stopped trying to cuss for a minute and glared at me, then grunted. I lifted my hand and sprang up away from him. Coon mumbled something and grabbed his pack.
So we were about to go on our merry way and bring some stuff back home for everyone, when of course, knowing my luck, everything just had to go absolutely wrong.
Oh no, not dogs.
Something I didn't think I'd ever hear again.
An adult's voice. One dripping with arrogance and condescension. And idiocy, but that doesn't really fit the mood here does it? And by his sentence I knew there were more.
"Well well, what do we have here, Ralf?"

((I shall post chapter .5 tomorrow, I swear of it :D... And no, chapters won't usually be this short. This is only a small tidbit... If anyone guesses why these guys are all like this and haven't seen adults in a while, I will personally make sure that I A)make a picture for this and B) post an entire chapter next time ^^ Anything in particular you'd like to see in the story, feel free to suggest))

[AngelInWaiting]

Bookmarking ^_^ Love this so far

[DRdoctorlady]

Thank you so much! I'm going to possibly add more later today ^^ There's going to be an explanation on the mysterioso things that must be explained and on why Racoon is well, coon :D

[DRdoctorlady]

Chapter .5- Some Explanations
((This is the third time I've typed this up *bangs head on the walls* and I will not fail again! Anyway, this won't be the entire chapter, since Chicken Smoothie is intent upon killing all creativity and will to go on in me, and also, anything below this in parenthases will still be Jarrah speaking [the narrator if you have already forgotten XD] but brackets might be me [])

I suppose I owe you some explanations, and should get this out of the way before I get into the thick of things. So let's start shall we?
Now, in Western Europe, everyone mysteriously seemed to come down with a disease. If I remember correctly from the news I had heard, it was a very deadly disease that killed you within four days of contracting it. It entered in through your nose or mouth and traveled down your airways to your lungs, where it rooted itself and basically killed your respiratory system. Once attached, it would release a secondary bacterium (something about there being a symbiotic relationship between the two or something) and that particular one was usually the cause of death. It would target your brain and nervous system, sometimes in other mutations your heart, and would proceed to wreak havoc upon your body. In the end, you would die a very slow and torturous death.
Pretty grim stuff.
Anyway, this disease started spreading all over the world, and infected every country and nation. (Well, maybe not some of those tribes deep in the middle of nowhere-jungle). My town called it the Scourge (ooh spooky right? You have no clue...), and it ravaged every single civilization. But there was something funny about the Scourge (not funny ha-ha, funny as in sickly twisted yet the thing that saved me)
It was less lethal to kids.
Now don't get me wrong here, it still killed plenty of children, toddlers and babies even, but that was the weird thing. We (the kids) were the last to get infected and the last to die. Take Germany for expample. Completely decimated. But in the beginning of the infection, when world-wide aid still existed and everyone hadn't taken to their shelters, they would survey the area and pick up sick and dying children and have news reporters show the damage to the rest of the world. No matter how hard they looked though, they couldn't find an adult in all of Germnay when the Scourge was in its last death throes there. Only kids with a few hours to live.
So how did I exactly live? Well isn't that a story.

[DRdoctorlady]

Chapter .5b
----> Continuation
Think of it like this- I'm just smarter than the average bear.
I left my home as the first official death by Scourge was announced in my neighborhood. The city was still in fairly good shape, with officials still in charge, Wal-Marts still open, and basic amenities still working.
How I miss flush toilets... Anyway,
I left, which, mind you, wasn't an easy thing nor really a heart breaking thing to do. I didn't want to leave my Dad or even my mom particularly, but also, I had been considering not only running away from my very angry mother, but you know, trying to live perhaps. So, packed up a backpack with what I thought necessary and hiked for say, two days trying to find a good place to hideout.
And I did. Aren't I a lucky person? Irony at its best.
I found a half rotten wooden and metal shack thing, which at first glance, looks unworthy of attention. Inside its almost completely wood (and not as bad as on the outside) and looked like it may have at one point been a smaller-ish barn but someone had tried converting it into a cabin. And failed miserably. It has a loft and on the wall for it, where the ladder was, were about 5 bunk bed places stacked one on top of each other, leading up to the top loft.
I bunked down there and stayed there for a long while, miserably waiting for the end of life as I knew it and for the Scourge to kill off the entire city so I could go (semi) safely into town... And by safely, not get the disease from the cashier or get caught by a security gaurd while I stole from some store to stock up on goods. Some things I did not expect later were the pet dogs in the town to get free and go completely feral but... Never mind thats a story for later.
About 2 weeks later, when I was certain the Scourge had run its course and killed off everyone, I got the courage to steal some things.
At first it was the necessities- Some water, some bedding, anything to make my life a little more bearable. I didn't really like going into town as it reminded me too much of before the Scourge, and it smelled like dead bodies, open sewers, and things I really don't want to go into. But later I got things to trick out the hide out (oh joy I can rhyme), like solar panels, and some sparklers (don't ask why)---(continued tomorrow)

[AngelInWaiting]

Ooh, such an original idea, I can't wait till you continue :3 You have a really nice way of writing (lots of great vocab). I'm excited to meet the rest of the characters as well ^_^

[Skyblaze]

Cool! I really like it. You have great voice. ^^

[DRdoctorlady]

occ; thank you guys! I find it amazing that you guys like it! After all, it's just my first book here ^-^. So if Chicken Smoothie feels like cooperatin, I shall post more. Most likely. Maybe. Okay.

Chapter .5c
Continuation ------->
And basically adding some color and making my little place a kid's paradise, just missing toilets, steady food supply, or even a shower. You know, the little things.
So skipping days of scrounging and living and finding some surprising things (I found two chickens once- later Coon named them Phil and Clara... That boy is messed up sometimes), while attempting to become Ms. Farmer (which failed. Completely and absolutely.) and stock up on some food, we eventually come to a rather interesting point.
If you guessed that I met someone in the apocalypse, then you are right. Thankfully. I was starting to go insane from not having anyone but two chickens to talk too. Yup, that bad.
Since I had thoroughly explored the woods for up to a half mile behind my little clubhouse, I had already found a nice far off area to go to the bathroom (funny how important that becomes when toilets and showers don't exist and you have to hike for a two days to get some toilet paper), and a little freshwater river thing, complete with pond at the end. So, with my recently filched UV water purifier [which I saw on a commercial for camping gear on the TV once XD], a pack full of water bottles, I hiked up there to go get some water.
So here I am, walking through the woods, whistling some random tune, when I happen to stumble upon a person drinking from my post apocalyptic pond/river/thing, in my post apocalyptic forest, in my post apocalyptic time period. So of course I do the natural thing when you see someone else in such a place.
Curse extremely loudly and startle the person across from you nearly falling into the pond.
Of course, Ms. Steals-mah-water looks back up at me and pulls out some handy knife. I of course take my rather harmless pack of water bottles and hold it up threateningly, hoping she assumes there are bombs that explode knives inside it, and we have a stare off.
After a while, I break the rather awkward silence, sling the pack in front of me in case she attempts to throw the knife at me, and ask her for her name.
She considers this for a moment, tapping her chin and furrowing her eyebrows.
So I ask "Do you speak English?", because you just never know.
She snorted and lifted her chin to pin me with her eyes. "Yes I speak English." She pauses another moment and I happen to notice an array of nasty looking scars mottling the inside of her arm.
"Depends, do you want my old name, or what everyone called me?" She asked me.
My turn to think, and I say what everyone called her once upon a time. So she nods and snaps her fingers.
"Grasswhistle," She says, in what I assume a friendly and welcoming tone. Of course thats just optimism spinning everything around, but meh. Whatever.
So she has a cool name, and being the weirdo I am, I make up one too. I mean really, apocalypse, and who wants to be called Jane or Roberta or any other name?
"Jarrah," I say, trying to look bored, and possibly failing.
So what is Jarrah you may say? Its a type of Australian tree that reminds me of the Warrah, an extinct fox thing. Its leaves are deadly poisonous to everything but the Koala (its a type of Eucalyptus in fact) and I had done a project on it and its relationship to Koalas in Sixth Grade.
Grasswhistle merely stares at me in response, then, coughs and sticks out her hand across the water. I shake it (a bit reluctantly, cause she may just decide she dislikes me and stick a knife between my ribs) and then just like an old friend, I dump the bottle-bag on her lap and take out the purifier stick thing and some bottles.
And so we bonded over water and my ripped up backpack.
I basically brought her home (yes yes don't talk to strangers, don't bring them home, whatever... Gosh reading that sentence just now it seems like I brought home a lost puppy or something >.<), we became fairly good friends, and with some of her new ideas and the fact that I now had an extra hand around the place, the living conditions rapidly got better after that. She even came up with an idea on how to use this rusted out hippie peace van in the brush a few yards away from our house to dry fruits and stuff. In the summer, with the black tinted windows, it got blisteringly hot in there.
Anyway, about a week or something like that after she came here, maybe five since the van got renovated, we started to lose food.
Grasswhistle thought it was a racoon stealing the food from our van, though how it would be clever enough to slide open the van's door, we didn't know. Maybe it fit through the side of the door, which never completely closed.

((See more soon, as it is now around bed time where I am now!))

[AngelInWaiting]

So here I am, walking through the woods, whistling some random tune, when I happen to stumble upon a person drinking from my post apocalyptic pond/river/thing, in my post apocalyptic forest, in my post apocalyptic time period.

I laughed out loud at this xD

And also, is this a flashback Jarrah's having? Or is the story beginning with her meeting the other characters?