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Aberrant: Dead Rising - Being Human (Fin)


Karren Gaunt

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*Marion, Indiana. Two weeks after the purging of Jon's laboratory*

Fox's warp opened to the intersection of two roads heading out of the south-west side of the city, between what appeared to be an airport and the city proper. The roads had the usual scattering of abandoned cars, weeds and grass working in from the roadsides and out into now fallow fields. A river burbled to the east of their location, and the scene was for the most part still and quiet in the noonday light.

Sarah, for weeks now her rock-steady composure weathering from within due to the stress of Myf's revelation about the other side of their gifts even as they helped set up the Doctor's new enclave, sighed in relief and pointed northeast towards the city over a park going wild by inches, specifically a fence enclosing a large cluster of buildings about a mile or so away. "Indiana Weslyan University," she announced happily, blonde hair catching the sun and the blade sheathed on her back under a pack full of sample trade goods, "Home of Morgan Fox's Enclave and the place I found the hope I needed to live again. Everything looks okay from here, and I'm sure Mr. Morgan will arrange for one of us to leave quarantine in time to tell the Captain everything's good for us to continue for the next few days."

Those words seemed to buoy up her smile further and she looked down at Dan with an eager 'shall we go now?' look.

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Dan had worked tirelessly to effect the needed repairs and upgrades at Myfwany's lab bunker complex. This trip with Sarah was another good way to occupy his time, keeping him from thinking about everything else that had gone wrong in the last few weeks.

"He's really named Morgan Fox?"

He smiled suprised that two people with the same name, both became supers and ran enclaves. He chuckled. "It could always be the same one."

He nodded. "Won't be the first time I sit in Quarantine, likely won't be the last either."

He nodded and started down the road, his pack the standard for a Marine, including both pistol and rifle. While he didn't expect trouble, he would always be prepared.

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"Heh," chuckled the blonde megamorph.

Sarah started after him, restricting her strides with an effort to avoid making him quicken his pace after her, pointing out the way to the nearest gate in the fence. As they went, there were more and more signs of an active settlement: an absense of lootables, partially-concealed burned patches where trash and the dead had been purified, and eventually, a human voice.

"Halt where you are, or we'll shoot you where you... Sarah? Is that you?" came the voice from the cover of a building just inside the fence, that of an older man, grizzled tones giving way to wonder, the barrel of several rifles withdrawing from second story windows.

"It is, Sean. This is Dan Hawkins, a friend and metahuman from a settlement to the west," she called up at the voice, relaxing all the way, smiling like the sun, "May we come in and be treated as guests and family under the hospitality of Mr. Morgan?"

"Oh, by faith, you may, girl. It's good to see you," Sean replied before saying something incoherent which provoked more noises of humanity in motion, the outlines of two more guards appearing in windows to look down at the supers, Sarah in greeting, Dan in curiousity.

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Dan stood there, decked out in the fully combat fatigues of a United States Marine, his rifle stowed against his back, but his bearing stating succinctly that could change with amazing alacrity. Once the guns were removed he nodded, knowing things were often the same at home.

He didn't speak, these were Sarah's people, at least not until spoken to directly, he'd remain silent.

Nothing seemed to perturb him, it was clear this sort of thing was rote and routine to him.

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Soon enough the gate was rolled open enough to admit the two supers by a nervous-looking teenager who smiled up at Sarah and her 'friend'. "Enter and be welcome," he intoned quickly, gesturing for them to come in.

Sarah did so without hesitation, strides long and sure as her smile, blue eyes drinking in everything she was seeing, craning her gaze about to see more. Oh, thank god, it was all still here. The university buildings with their slowly-weathering facades marked by the occasional burst of color from the murals Sam had put up using some cheap paint they had found. Patches of what would have been called weeds but now would produce wildflowers come spring and summer. A distant glimpse of one of the school quads now repurposed into a struggling garden patch or field by the enclave's farmers. The Administration building where she could but imagine someone rushing to find Mr Morgan and finding out where he actually was, probably helping someone.

Sean, a grizzled blue-collar type, emerged from the improptu guardpost, a rifle over his shoulder and matching her smile, "I've radioed in your arrival, Sarah. Shouldn't be more than a few minutes before we get a proper reception for you and your friend before you're off to quarantine. I tell you, Micheal is going to be glad to give you that one duty back much as he'll try not..."

Sarah smiled down at the man who came only up to her shoulder and coughed to indicate she wasn't the only new arrival.

"Oh, forgive me. Mr. Hawkins, was it?," Sean spoke with a rueful grin and the offer of a gloved handshake, "A Marine, I gather? And a metahuman, too? Welcome to the Christmas City Enclave."

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Dan nodded, noting the faltering Garden. He looked to Sean as he shook his hand. "That's right, I doubt I'm the last Marine Corps Captain, but I've not come across many others."

"Thank You for the welcome. Sarah's been of great help to us, and spoke highly of her home. Things have normalized at home somewhat, so here we are."

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"Mr. Morgan will be glad to hear all about that," replied Sean, "Me? I'm just glad to see Sarah back with good news and what seems like good company. You don't get a lot of eiether these days."

Sarah nodded, "There's a lot of bad out there between here and Las Vegas, Sean, and there wasn't a day I didn't wish I could be back here. But there's some good, too. Dan's Refuge for one, more people then I thought you could have in a enclave and more than a dozen metahumans. It's up to Mr. Morgan, but I have a good feeling about them."

Sean laughed, looking to the center of the compound, "I've missed your spirit, girl, much as your strong arm. If you say they're good people, I'm sure they are... Tell you what. How about you head towards quarantine and I radio Mr. Morgan to meet you there? Wouldn't do to keep company standing around."

Sarah blushed a little and almost started off, pausing to give Dan a 'shall we go?' look.

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And lead she did, to the campus police services area near the eastern edge of the fence. The handfuls of survivors they passed looked busy, but not too busy to call greeting to Sarah if they noticed her and Dan as they passed. The blonde megamorph returned the greetings with waves and smiles and often names.

"There aren't too many of us here," she explained warmly, feeling pleasantly like a tour guide, "Just fifty-three if we haven't lost or gained anyone since I left."

Campus police services was staffed by a man in his late twenties with the look of someone who'd lost alot and found it again, determined not to lose it again, his gaze sure as he rose and measured Dan with a look that only partially softened as he took in Sarah as well. "Oh. You'd be Sarah's guest, the new metahuman," he intoned, pulling open the door to the smallish cellblock, "Well, that means you just get six hours in the cells with Sarah instead of the full forty-eight. One meal, one shower, for each of you. You leave your weapons and gear with me, and you get 'em back if you don't turn into a zombie or get sick under my watch. Okay?"

Sarah smiled through the reading of the rules, bolstered up again by the familarity of a spiel she herself had had to give often enough, easily shucking off her laden pack and unstraping her blade's sheath. "I missed you too, Micheal," she laughed, bringing the barest hint of a smile to the man's lips.

"You can have this job back any time you're done with Mr Morgan's walkabout, Sarah. Really," he returned.

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Dan nodded. "Very well. Where do you want it all?"

"Here on the table."

Dan nodded and unlimbered the eighty pound field pack, the table groaning a little as he set it down. six clips of ammuntion for the istol, the holster containing it off his hip, three K-bar knives, and a smaller .38 revolver from his ankle.

He looked at Michael and nodded. "That's all that I can take off."

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Matt walked slowly with his hands stuffed into his pockets, a trucker ball-cap stuffed onto his head of ridiculously long and.....pink hair.

"Halt! Or we will shoot you where you stand!" The guards level their guns, with the sun at their back.

Matt takes a few steps looking around, seeing nothing but the wall and the sun and sky, he shrugs and keeps walking, "now I'm hallucinating."

One guard cock and fire a warning shot, "cease your progress or the next one will be in your head!" The other then radios for back up.

Matt stops and jumps ten feet back, "crap first voices and now the grounds blowing up?!" He pauses, "wait, is that you god?" he shakes his head, "why would god want to shoot me!?"

"Just wait there, and uh, just wait...is that back up coming or what?" The guards watch the lunatic guns at the ready and await their back up.

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Meanwhile, at the quarantine...

Micheal's radio chattered to life even as the improptu quarantine officer lugged Sarah's pack into a secure sideroom, "This is north gate. We have a lone stranger, young male with long pink hair who seems a little... off. No idea if he's a metahuman or not yet, but he seems unarmed. Over."

The voice on the other end of the radio seemed bewildered and wary before snapping off in a crackle, Sean's voice replying over the radio, "South gate here. You know the drill. Two of you keep him covered and check if he has any friends; the third goes out to calm him down and see if he's friendly. Over."

"North gate here. Understood. Over," went the first voice one more time.

Micheal gave Sarah and Dan a look, "You expecting any stragglers of the pink-haired variety today?"

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The guard who drew the short straw sighed and cocked his rifle and headed out to meet the pink haired weirdo while the other two kept aim on his vitals. "Whats your intention for coming here?"

"Well, lets suppose you're more than just a figment of my imagination and entertain the idea that you're really an armed guard in the middle of wherever the heck I managed to be today, and say I have no intention other than not becoming a zombie snack." He sighed, "but you're not real, haven't seen a living soul since that day."

"I think he's just a harmless idiot, alright bud, lets get you into quarantine, make sure you're not carrying anything, and get ya some water."

The guard radios in that he's alone and they get the go ahead to bring him to quarantine. After receiving the go ahead the pink haired loner is brought to quarantine, guns at the ready, but they get him water which he downs gratefully, "Delightful, not sand! At least yet....hrm..ignorance is bliss as they say."

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Sarah and Dan are in the two leftmost cells of the cellblock by the time Mathew arrives, the blonde megamorph leaning back against the wall and studying the ceiling. "You know, Dan? I think I've memorized every crack in this ceiling."

In the other room, Micheal gives the newcomer's escort a questioning look and gets a 'yes, really' nod in return, "All right, here's the rules, Mr..? Why didn't you get his name on the way here, Steve? That's rude."

"Sorry, slipped my mind," shrugged the guard, rather more concerned with keeping a very eccentric potential metahuman from going from happy crazy to angry crazy.

"Fine. Just try not to let Mr. Morgan catch you doing that," conceded the quarantine warden, looking the new guy up and down and not seeing a weapon on him, "Okay, once I get your name, I'm going to lock you in one of my cells for two days. You get two meals, one shower per day. And if you don't turn into a zombie or get sick by the end, you're free to help out and mingle unless you prove you can't be trusted. But we aren't going to have those kinds of problems, are we?"

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"Oh, yes right, names Matt, pleasure to meet you illusion Steve, and I'm quite sure, no zombie here, at least I hope not, this could be part of the delirium...or you're real and I just need to sleep." Matt looked around as he's put in the cell. "Nice place."

"Lets hope that insanity clears up, and we can get some useful information out of ya, enjoy your stay at casa de quarantino."

Matt sits down on the rack and leans against the wall, "for a delusion, this is a pretty sad one, but, y'know, it's nice to have conversation again."

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Steve left and shouldered his rifle on his way back to the south gate, leaving Micheal facing the three supers in their cells, although he didn't suspect Matt as one much yet. "Okay, Mr. Morgan should be here any minute to talk to you and your friend, Sarah, and then probably him, so try not to fall asleep while you wait," he reeled off, looking his charges over, "Oh, and I'm Micheal. You need me, I'll be out front watching the desk. Just yell."

He leaves then, causing Sarah to chuckle and smile at Matt, the blonde megamorph assessing the pink-haired stranger as she clenches and unclenches her hands on her knees in antisipation of a reunion she'd been thinking about ever since she left this place. Without Mr. Morgan, she wouldn't be... well, a good person, and she wanted, *needed*, that reassurance right now, especially with the 'veins' of super zed black Myf had told her were running through her 'golden aura'.

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They only had to wait a short time. The door opened and a man entered the room. He wasn't that much to look at, to Dan, who was used to following Fox. Morgan was just under six feet, with tan-dark skin and black hair. His brown eyes emanated warmth and peace as he stopped before Sarah’s cell. The smile lit up his entire face, making him seem both young and ageless.

“Sarah,” he said and that one word held a world of love it – not base carnal love, but a purer emotion. “We are so glad to see you come home.”

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"And I am pleased to be able to come home with what I judge as success, Mr. Morgan," replied the towering super as she rose to her feet and bowed her head, the name filled with the deep respect a pupil would display for an honored master, her hands held together in front of her.

She held the pose just moment before relaxing, an electric smile lighting up her features, "I have so much to tell you, but please let me introduce Dan Hawkins of the Refuge, an enclave to the west although I understand they are relocating. He came with me to represent his people as you sent me to represent ours."

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"Then welcome, Dan Hawkins," Morgan said with a smile. It was just as warm as it had been for Sarah, only without the familiarity he'd shown Sarah. "We're pleased that you have both won Sarah's regard and that you have come to see us."

Morgan turned and looked at Matt. "Is this young man with you, too?" He was still smiling, his expression open and welcoming, despite Matt's strange actions and talk.

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Matt stands up, "well provided the best hypothetical answer to finding other individual humans after 9 months of nothing, and this is one big delusion of my imagination, yes I am, of course there is the small chance this is actually real and you all just believe me to be crazy, which is equally justifiable given my claims of this being my own delusions," he takes a breath, "but in the event that this is real and not my own psychosis, nice to meet you sir, names Matthew Thomas Case." He takes off his cap and bows with a sweeping motion of the cap before standing back straight and tucking it over his ridiculous locks.

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Dan looked at Morgan, and noted how he spoke. "It's good to be here. Finding other enclaves of humanity is generally a good thing in this desolate world."

He looked to Matt and shook his head. "You're not half as crazy as some of the people I know. I assure you this is real."

"It is good to meet you both, Morgan Fox, and Matthew Thomas Case."

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Sarah, aside from a brief considering glimpse in which she decided to keep an eye on Matthew in case he threatened Mr. Morgan, had all her attention for her mentor with a broad nearly couldn't believe she was here smile on her lips.

"I hate to make my first statement a request, Mr. Morgan, but the man who brought Dan and I here, the metahuman leader of Dan's enclave, will be reopening a portal one mile from the enclave walls in about, oh, 44 minutes to confirm that we found this place intact by all good luck and good faith. He will be expecting word from Dan or me. I would ask that Dan be permited to depart quarantine at that time, fly to the point, and return to finish our talks when he has confered with his leader. He's a good man and will keep his word."

The smile twisted with good-natured amusement at the topic of the conversation, at the company she had for it, and the many reunions and introductions she hoped to make tonight with Dan at dinner.

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“Then Dan will go and meet his contact,” Morgan said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. There seemed to him to be no question of funny-business or betrayal. He seemed to take Sarah’s word as gospel. It was the talk of a few moments to confirm plans for how to proceed.

That settled, Morgan leaned back with a smile. “I’d love to hear your stories, Sarah, but I think they should wait for dinner,” he said, crossing his arms. His expression was gentle and serene as he spoke. “And I look forward to telling you our stories as well. I’m sure they’ll be more boring than yours.”

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"Nothing would makes me happier than there to be boring stories for me to hear. I've seen so many failing enclaves, more without metahumans than with, and I had worries that this might become one of them when I was tired and and alone on my trek west. It makes me happy to see my fears proven as baseless as you told me they'd be."

The statement was phrased like a confession, the blonde megamorph, chuckling as she gestured at Micheal's security area. "I think I may be able to add some variety to the meal tonight. My pack is full of goods I bartered for at the Refuge. It's amazing what they're able to raid and grow there."

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Matt watched the exchange between them, "fly...like in a..never mind," he shook his head, "soooo how many people survived the George A. Romeroing of the world?" He says this kind of nonchalantly, while pulling out a beat up pack turkish silvers.

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Sarah nodded grim agreement with Dan's statement, "And those places that still have people have a lot of problems, much more than even we metahumans can solve with a snap of our fingers. It's not going to be easy to..."

She raised an eyebrow at Matthew's producing a pack of cigarettes, a high value lootable pretty thin on the ground in all but the most zombie-infested regions, curious as she remembered this eccentric survivor had showed up at the gate, alone, unarmed and claiming to have not seen anyone since Z-Day. Could he be..?

"You weren't able to do anything new since the zeds arrived, have you? Got infected and changed instead of dying?" the blonde megamorph asked warmly, genuine interest in her blue eyes.

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Matt listened politely and flipped the top of the pack open to reveal his last cigarette, the "lucky". He pulls it out and places it between his lips while stuffing the pack in his pocket, no need to litter.

"Must be real, and my lucky day." he cups his hand around the cig, "tschk" he pulls his hands away from the lit cigarette and takes a nice long drag, being polite he blows the smoke away from his cell mates.

"Its good to know that others made it out."

He seemed to be dodging her question, either that or he's just too relieved that it's not a delusion.

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Sarah shrugged away her curiousity, not wanting to pry into the past of someone who had aparently been having an even worse time of it than she had before coming here. God knows she wouldn't want to talk about those days eiether, lost and broken and so, so cold in her hurt that she had gone around hurting others in small petty ways that were too small scale to make it worth retaliating against the amazonian metahuman who had helped them get so much haul the day before. She didn't like to think about being that person.

She turned her eyes back to the man who had shown her how to get past all that and smiled, "Please don't let us keep you from whoever you were helping when we arrived, Mr. Morgan. I've spent enough afternoons in the quarantine to not get bored. And while Dan is proven company, Mathew seems pleasant enough."

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OOC: Okay, time to advance this baby using my This-Is-a-Fic-Which-I-Started-Powers! Ho!

Five hours, a quick run back to gate by Dan to inform Captain Morgan of what was going on, and a lot of change later, Micheal came back into the cellblock and unlocked the cells containing Dan and Sarah, his expression a little less severe now. "All right, you two. Your gear is up against the wall in the other room. Now get over to the dining hall and tell Ted I expect him back here to take over the night shift once they're done gushing over your return, Sarah."

Sarah stretched and stood, smiling down at the man, "We will. Hopefully they don't make too big a deal over me."

She seemed to realize her pathetic pun almost as soon as Micheal did, covering her mouth and shaking her head, the quarantine warden almost but not quite smiling at the verbal slip.

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Dan didn't laugh or smile but he did lay a hand on her shoulder. "Ive heard and said worse than that."

With that he moved on, repacking his gear, and reholstering his weaponry. He hefted his pack onto his back and waited for Sarah to catch up and collect her things as well. As for Matt he figured he'd be let out soon enough as well, likely to his own recognizance.

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Sarah followed Dan after securing her gear and making sure her sheathed blade was back in it's place, able to be smoothly drawn into readiness on a moment's warning. The evening dusk was quiet in the Christmas City Enclave, peaceful, the former campus nearly deserted as a last few urgent tasks were undertaken before nightfall forced all but the night's sentries inside till the return of the sun. The blonde megamorph looked content and relaxed on the trek, in her element and walking familar paths more than she did even at the Refuge.

"I missed this place," she stated, "The Refuge is a wonder and I'll be glad to go back there to do the good works we're doing, but here is where I became the kind of person who wanted to do good works again. Who anyone could count on to do one task more than they were paying me to do. It's... home, really, far more than what's left of my hometown."

The smile turned bittersweet at that confession, and Sarah looked away to point at a central dorm building that was even then lighting up entrances and choice windows, "We sleep and eat there. Would you like to find a room to drop some of our stuff in or eat first? You're the guest, so I'll let you choose."

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Matthew continued to enjoy his smoke, he nodded as the two left him in his cell and blew a couple of smoke rings as they left, time passed and he finished his cigarette, "hey, when can I get a bath?"

"When ya get out, just hold tight until then." he went back to standing his watch and Matt just sat there, eying the scenery.

A crash, followed by an explicative followed by the guard looking to see what happened, while it was nothing other than someone else dropping something, it was enough time, for Matthew to slip out.

He got far enough into the small settlement before he slipped out among the people, "excuse me, I just got here, any way I can get a bath somewhere?" Some alarms sound, "wonder what all that ruckus is about....anyway..." the people avoid his plea upon the alarm and Matt exits stage left, finding a dorm, to which he finds a bathroom not currently in use and some clean clothes that fit, and a washing machine, mom would be proud. He put his things in the wash and began taking a shower.

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Dan looked to Sarah. "The Refuge is largely the same for me. My hometown, well there's nothing there but memories."

He nodded. "Dropping off some of the gear is fine. I doubt I'm going to need all this weaponry, and I don't need the other things I brought at the moment. Then a good meal sounds great."

"For what its worth Sarah, I'm glad you have someplace like this. Everyone should have somewhere they can call home."

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