Alexandria
He was glad that Kazmir seemed alright to take the reigns with the conversation. Dallas was not a man of many words, and oftentimes could be seen as impolite. He tried to not come across that way— he really was trying his best here. But it seemed Kazmir either was intuitive to that fact, or perhaps he was just naturally good at leading these things. Either way, he felt somewhat grateful to the stranger in front of him. 

Dallas offered the hammer to him, setting about dragging the last trap a short distance off to fix it into the ground. He was setting it up properly, using his hand to press the spikes down and his boot heel to push it as deep as it could get. 

"Your sister," He repeated. "She from 'round here?" *Here* Not being Briar Ridge, but perhaps the general... Area of sorts. The state, even. "Sounds like you came a long ways and ended up here. Figure that's how everybody ends up here that ain't from here." It's how he ended up here, at least. 

With the beasts in question, he did chew his lip. "I seen 'em. Twice." A long pause followed as he pried open the mighty jaws of the bear trap, setting it properly. "Once during a huntin' party. Damn near ripped my arm off. Second time..." 

He felt some shame wash over him. He'd been placed in that cabin for a reason; to *Protect*. His misfire could've cost them a lot. Thankfully, no one had died that night. But he still swore at himself for his carelessness, his... *Panic.* 

"I'd say gotta be at least two. Prolly more. But I'd say two... Three maybe." He scratched at his face, feeling the stubble he'd yet to tend to with a razor. "I'd say guns ain't done much damage in the long run. At least not where we've been hittin' em. Seems to slow em down, but not for long. Persistent little shits." 

He shook his head. "That's why I'm hopin' these will slow em down. Maybe we can finally blast one in the head." 

He turned to the stranger now. "Not a great time to come rollin' on into town, I'd say."
Joseph
"Heh, no. She is from the West coast. But she has visited a time or two." *From,* He felt was a relative term. Perhaps the most accurate explanation would be the most recent, that she was *From* New York, but he supposed it did not particularly matter for the purposes of this exchange. 

Kazmir's hands hesitate as he handed off the hammer, paused, and adjusted to follow Dallas' lead. Spikes braced with a firm grip, heel of his boot driving down hard. Dallas clearly had some muscular heft that Kazmir's frame could not match but, as he had said, he was sturdier than he looked. His willowiness should not be confused for daintiness. 

Both hands pried the jaws apart, lips turned down at the open maw before him. He wished that he could warn Nina to be careful through the woods, should she come that way. 

Dallas' voice trailed, tugging Kaz's head back up to survey his silence. 

It was plenty of explanation. 

"Glad to find you alive and intact, then. If you would like a hand checking the traps, I am not far. Our caravan is parked off the woods." Just enough away from the town proper to grant them privacy without making the walk in arduous. Just on the other side of the water from the woods to create at least one obstacle between them and anything that took their brightly colored home on wheels as an invitation. 

Kazmir rose to his feet to inspect his handiwork against Dallas', content with his copycat job. It would hold most creatures that tore through and triggered a spring, but from the relentlessness he had both encountered and heard, he doubted they would become more than a rustic accessory to the wolflike creatures in question. Even so, the heavy steel maw was certain to hurt and probable to hinder. 

And it was better than nothing.

** **
He parted his lips with a new curiosity, but what emerged instead was an abrupt, deep velvet laugh in response to Dallas' final declaration. "No," He tossed his head back for a deep breath, sending a wave of inky black over his shoulder. "No, it is not. But we do not have much of a choice."

Kaz took a step back, allowing himself the opportunity to look Dallas over in full. "These things, they seem to tear through doors like curtains. Are your traps here the first that have been laid? I would think the safe houses might benefit from *Something.* Bear traps? Palisades?"
Alexandria
*West Coast.* That was pretty damn far off; he'd say. He didn't make comment on it— but he couldn't help but find it interesting that they seemed to be traveling such long distances, losing track of where they were or where they were going. Did they even have a map? Well, whatever the case, it wasn't none of his business anyhow. 

"I seen that old wagon," He said, nodding his head. "Sticks out kinda like a sore thumb out here." Amidst the greens and browns and soft blues of nature, that colorful caravan was like a crimson flag. "You paint it up like that yourselves?" 

Clearly, Kazmir and his partner were colorful characters, if their little house on wheels was anything to go by. He wondered if this business partner of his was the same. Kazmir himself didn't seem too flamboyant or flashy off the first glance, but looks could be deceiving; Dallas was well aware of that. 

"They're strong as hell, that's for sure," He said. "All we got so far is weapons. Not much outside— think maybe people been worried that bear traps around the outside might keep people trapped inside, but it ain't a bad idea. And... I dunno what the hell a... Palisade is," He said, scratching the back of his neck. "But we probably ain't got those neither."
Joseph
If Dallas thought the explanation odd - for which Kazmir would not have blamed him - he had the grace not to mention as much. It perhaps helped that Kaz was making a small effort to fit in - flat front pants in a nondescript grey and a fitted vest to match over a too-crisp white shirt. Boots made for hiking, stretched halfway up his calf where his pants tucked like breeches, laced tight with a thick heel to catch footholds. 

In all fairness, Kazmir would imagine that much of the town had noticed their little encampment if they got anywhere near the limits.

His inquisitiveness earned another chuckle. "No, it was like that when we got it. Red wards off evil spirits." 

A statement Kaz had taken to heart in the moment but was more thankful in the present than anticipated. 

"I saw that." He knew the anxiety was bound to leak into his voice eventually. "I don't know that being trapped inside is much worse than the situation as it stands." 

The confession, however, caught him off guard. Mostly because Kazmir could not remember the last time he had admitted to simply *Not knowing* Something - it felt foreign to hear the words. 

"It's, ah - fortification. Sort of like a fence, but with upright or angled pikes so they are hard to move around and cannot be climbed." 

He ventured a step back, inclining his head in invitation to follow back out. "When that thing came through the window I thought a few spikes might have at least slowed it down."
Alexandria
He usually didn't have trouble saying what he did and didn't know, unless he felt like the particular subject would judge him for not knowing. Like Max— Max wouldn't judge him, and the man knew far more about lots of things than him. And Kazmir... Well, he was a traveler. Dallas probably wouldn't have to worry about embarrassing himself in front of someone who would be gone in a month's time or so. 

"Oh. Well, I could make somethin' like that, easy." He was the local carpenter after all, and lumber was sort of his whole business. "You mean like them spikes in the storybooks?" He asked as the two of them worked their way out of the woods. Dallas walked with confidence in the woods, at least. He knew where to go, most of the time, and when he didn't, he knew what signs to follow. Rivers and creeks that ran towards town, old fallen trees he'd recalled in his travels. Dallas Sinclair wasn't very booksmart, but he had skill sets all his own. 

"You were camped out in one of them safehouses and not yer little anti-evil wagon?" He raised an eyebrow.
Joseph
He could make something like that, easy - a pleasant reassurance, as Kazmir thought as much. He had not forgotten either that Dallas had apparently been one of the townfolk who has reinforced homes. That he owned the lumberyard. 

Absently, he wondered if the man had lately preoccupied himself with making coffins. 

"Yes, like in the storybooks. They go around as walls and interrupt pathways." 

Dallas was quite at risk of making him laugh again, Kazmir thought. "I am superstitious, not stupid. Our little anti-evil wagon is a wooden can." At least in a safehouse there were more than two targets and a solid handful of able-bodied people with weapons. 

"Even if your town doesn't want Palisades, I might. Or *Some* Reinforcement. I can buy or trade, whatever your preference, if you're interested.

"How often do those things make an appearance?"
Alexandria
He gave a curt nod. "I can do that for ya." He said. "Trade is fine by me." He didn't feel too right about taking money for defense against things like this. Or patching up people's houses when they were destroyed by monsters. 

He was sure he could bang out a few *Palisades* In an afternoon or two, build a nice little wall around the caravan for some protection. It wouldn't be a terrible idea at all. Maybe he'd have to bring it up to the sheriff, or somebody else involved in the defense efforts. 

"Every full moon," He said. "Like clockwork, too. Gives us time to know when they'll be back around." He said, shaking his head. "I ain't know how to make heads or tails of it, honest. It ain't always been like this," He said. "Keeps gettin' worse. The first few times... Just felt like people got some bumps and scratches. Except Beaux— poor son of a bitch keeps gettin' the worst of it." He shook his head again as they emerged from the tree line. 

"You ever seen anything like this before?" He asked Kazmir curiously. It seemed like he'd travelled— why would this happen in some no-name town in the middle of Nowhere, Appalachia?
Joseph
"Volkolak." The word struck him in an instant. He had not thought it when the maw of the thing was within ripping distance, but *Now* With time and proximity between himself and the beast and Dallas' additional explanation in his ear, the word came all too clearly. 

Had Dallas read any sort of Gothic horror? He doubted it. He was rather sure they'd need to draw and measure a plan for palisades. The poor thing was not hiding away a collection of Shelley or Tolstoy or Stoker. 

"My babka and my father used to tell stories. About men and women with the power to become a wolf. Witches and sorcerers - or people cursed so their children become monsters, children punished for the sins of the father. They are fast, strong. They are cannibals - their power peaks with the full moon." 

But that was absurd. 
Or rather, he wanted it to be absurd. 

"Wolves used to be revered hunters, god symbols. They were wise. But aggressive. Outsiders. Meant to be feared but admired. Christianity contorts the majesty of nature and spirit. I would not be surprised to find it has done so here."

Kazmir's hand waves as if to clear the notion from the air between them. "Anyway. What are you in the market to trade, Dallas? I think between the pair of us we can figure out how these reinforcements should look, make sure we are thinking of the same thing. I trust your capability otherwise."
Alexandria
"Werewolves," He said. "That's what they're called here." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Ain't that crazy, if ya think about it. Don't know how much time you spend out here in these woods... But you see things. Hear things. If yer superstitious, I'd suggest you never follow nobody screamin' for help in these woods." He told him. 

"Not even if it sounds like yer mama. Cuz whatever it is out there... It ain't her." He was sure that was about all the warning he'd have to give him. 

He cleared his throat, shrugging. "I dunno. What kinda business you do on the road?" He asked with an eyebrow raised. "With yer wagon like that, y'all look like yer part of some traveling circus or performers or somethin." 

He whistled. "I ain't askin' for much. Honest, I'm just tryna keep people safe out here." He glanced aside at Kazmir, observing him again. He certainly was odd, but he seemed harmless. 

"Alcohol goes a long way here. Tobacco. Any kinda good or service, really. We ain't much for money round here, yknow."