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Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 13: All Soul's Night - Fox's Refuge


Dawn OOC

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The angel rocked back on her heels, relief flooding through her, then shrugged. "It left. I don't know why...."

She looked up, scanning the skies just like dozens of others near them, but the speck that had caused so much destruction so quickly was still conspicuously absent. She frowned and helped the doctor out from the smoldering living armor. "We need to get a hold of Fox or some of the others, tell them to come back. I don't know why it left, but if it comes back I don't think either of us is going to really be a match for it. We're healers; we need warriors with us." She bit her lip. "I have no idea how to do that, though. I mean, I'm not even really sure where they all went. London, right? The radio won't reach that far. Is there anyone else you can think of that could get here in case it comes back?"

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Kristin glanced down at the ground, shifting her weight awkwardly. She had seen her own ghosts too, the ghosts of her parents, her brothers - it had made for a trying night. Also, it seemed the ghosts had shown up everywhere that night. That was a disturbing to think about it. Kristin looked back up at Angie and Logan, shrugging, a faint, wry grin on her lips.

"Yeah, the ghosts were bad. Well, no, you don't have to pay for the food, I guess. This time." She pursed her lips, pondering, then gave a firm nod. "You already got those picked, so we might as well make a real meal of it." Kristin pointed around the side of the house. "If you'll fill up a pair of buckets - they're just inside the door - at the pump right around there, I'll start of the generator and get something out of the stores I hid here."

Kristin waddled over to a large boulder sitting beneath the boughs of a tree. Angie and Logan eyes widened in shock - Mark grinned in wonder - as she casually rolled it aside with a single hand, the other picking up a battered, tin box. She pulled out a key, then replaced the box and the boulder. She waved the key at Mark. "Need the key to get to the electrical panel and the pantry. There's a spare back at the Refuge, too."

As Angie and Logan went back to filling the buckets, Kristin led Mark down into the basement, to a heavy security door she had installed herself. On the other side, there was a generator rigged up the the electrical panel, as well as a pair of crates filled with canned food. On the concrete floor, rested a couple of crates of soda pop and water. Kristin started up the heavy-duty generator, then flipped several of the breakers on the electrical panel.

"Power - I try to be careful with it." Kristin bent over to dig through the crate, then glanced over at Mark, half her face concealed by golden hair. "So, you want beef, chicken, or pork for dinner? It's all canned, but it's good stuff - cooked in its own juices, not water."

"Uh, wow. Beef, I guess. Where'd you find all this?"

"Found a distribution warehouse for Best Prices Storable Foods. One of my better finds," Kristin admitted, picking out cans and handing them to Mark - she added cans of peas and carrots too, and a twelve pack of precious Coke. Resting on the concrete, if it wasn't precisely cold, they were at least cool. "They can use a treat. I know how bad it was, before... before."

Heading back upstairs, Angie had already found the Brita filter jug and filled it, as well as a pair of pots on the stove, and had begun peeling the potatoes. She smiled. "Logan's outside splitting wood for a fire."

"That's always helpful, but for today, we'll just use the stove and oven. And we have Cokes and canned peaches for a treat, too."

"Wow! Really? Tha-thank-you, Kristin."

Soon, they had a hearty meal of beef, potatoes, carrots, and carrots prepared, as well as several ears of corn that had been picked. Angie and Logan made appreciative noises, as if they hadn't had something cooked over an open fire in some time, and with her condition, Kristin ate more than any other two of them.

Taking their time over the peaches, Kristin asked, "So, where are you guys coming from? And are you heading anywhere in specific?"

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The angel rocked back on her heels, relief flooding through her, then shrugged. "It left. I don't know why...."

She looked up, scanning the skies just like dozens of others near them, but the speck that had caused so much destruction so quickly was still conspicuously absent. She frowned and helped the doctor out from the smoldering living armor. "We need to get a hold of Fox or some of the others, tell them to come back. I don't know why it left, but if it comes back I don't think either of us is going to really be a match for it. We're healers; we need warriors with us." She bit her lip. "I have no idea how to do that, though. I mean, I'm not even really sure where they all went. London, right? The radio won't reach that far. Is there anyone else you can think of that could get here in case it comes back?"

Myfwany got to her feet, wincing as she did. The pain was...bearable, but intense. She knew her healing powers worked on herself so she wasn't too worried just yet. That she was still able to move meant she'd recover. But it had been close, she figured. Much much too close.

"I've been away from the Refuge for awhile before I came back for this," she said. "I'm not sure offhand who's still here, or who's new. Lets you and I go find that out and organize some kind of defense. We may not be the heavy hitter brigade, but if we coordinate we might be able to handle..."

Her eyes widened and she grabbed Gabrielle's arm as memory exploded.

"I know who it was! The man who was attacking! He was with Violet the day she left for good."

She shakes her head.

"Nevermind the defense plan. We need to relocate. Get people out of here. Lets see what we have as far as transportation."

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“Why?” The woman’s voice and tone added to the blunt nature of her question. “Why would you bother? Ain’t your problem.” The woman all but scowled at them as she peered the assembled supers.

“It could be in the future.” Fox’s tone was pragmatic and inoffensive, but the woman still snorted.

The woman still snorted. “We ain’t got no money, ain’t got nothing to spare, so don’t think you can waltz in and save us, then charge us something for it.”

“No charge. Small problems for a few can become big ones for many. Besides,” Fox added with a grin, “it’ll be fun.”

“You’re a loon. Bloody Americans waving around your pistols.”

Fox looked at Dan. “Oh, we’re coming back.” His grin seemed to say it was as much to annoy the woman here as to fix problems.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The two traded glances, nervously. “We came from Minneapolis.” Logan was the first to speak, as if they’d reached some kind of silent agreement. “We had a decent place in the country, but the winters get real rough up there and we thought we should move away from that kind of bitter cold. We’ve been going south looking for other people and had family in Norman, Oklahoma. But there was some weird sign there-”

“Something about a zombie plague-zone? It said to keep moving. So we did.” Angie added her bit quickly then blushed and fell silent.

“Yeah and we weren’t sure where to go next.” Logan looked way too tired for his age. “So we decided to find a nice farm and settle down. We watched this place for a bit and didn’t think anyone was here. Sorry. Again.”

“Yeah.” Angie agreed quickly, giving Kristen a shy smile.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A truck roared up and Ger hopped out, his eyes wide. “Jesus, Myf! Are you all right?”

“Yes, thanks to Gabrielle. We need to start an evacuation.” The doctor looked at him. “Can we do it?”

“Maybe. That new woman has a big boat and some of the locals have boats, but it’s gonna be tight.” Ger looked between the two women. “Now’s the time for ideas.”

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"Don't worry 'bout it," Kristin said, returning Angie's smile with a small grin of her own behind a curtain of golden hair as she ducked her head. "I know 'bout wanting to find a safe place to settle."

Her jade eyes hardened with remembered pain for a moment before she shook it off, her smile growing as shy as Angie's. "I heard some things about Norman - that was before I found the Refuge - but if you don't have some place to head to, if you want, you can help me with the farm here, and stay at the Refuge. I don't stay overnight here much, it's safer at the Refuge and only a few minutes away and we have a lot of extra space at the moment, so you'd be welcome. Power and running water and all that."

She gave her guests an apologetic shrug as she began gathering up her dishes, including the empty tin cans - Jill could reuse the metal. "You'd have to spend a day in quarantine though, just to make sure you don't have the zomb-virus - every new person to the Refuge has to." She levered herself up from her chair, but grunted, staggering, dropping her plate as the rapidly maturing fetus gave a vicious kick - why that should hurt when bullets didn't was beyond her - growling in a low voice, "Dammit! Little bastard."

Mark was immediately at her side, holding onto her muscular arm to keep her steady. Surprisingly, Angie was nearly as quick, giving her a hand, then gathering up Kristin's dishes for her. "It's okay. I got the dishes. Are you okay, Kristin?"

Unaccountably, Kristin felt tears brightening her eyes, her emotions growing wild, feeling a surge of gratitude and near giddiness. She had her cousin and felt safe enough at the Refuge, and there had been Violet, but she had made few she would really call friend - Hana... hadn't worked out. "I'm fine, I'm fine," Kristin assured them, trying to sound annoyed around a fit of the giggles. "Just these stupid hormones and this stupid baby. I'll be happy when I'm rid of it in a few more weeks."

Angie and Logan shared a glance, then looked a question at Mark, who shook his head, silently asking them to leave it alone for now. Getting her breathing and emotions under control, Kristin glanced down, lips twisting wryly as she noticing Mark still holding her arm. "I'm okay, really. You can let me go now."

"Oh! Oh, sorry." Mark quickly - if reluctantly - let of the incredibly solid, silky smooth, limb.

"If you guys want to finish with the cleaning - keep the cans too, we can use the metal - I'll go back down to turn off the generator. Any requests? More pop or fruit cans? Then I can show you the Refuge." The wholesomely, if unique, blonde smiled sadly. "It's nice you've got horses. We couldn't save ours when the zombs came to our farm."

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  • 3 weeks later...

"Evacuate? To where? That demon can fly, and can anyone here really man a ship? And what about Fox and the others? They won't know where to look for us if we just disappear...." The angel's brow creased as she tried to think of some way out of this nightmare that simply didn't want to end. That Violet was involved in it somehow only made matters worse; the woman had done nothing Gabrielle could qualify as evil during their brief crossing in the Refuge, but she seemed a woman looking for sin. "He's left for now. I think we need to get everyone together, see if anyone else was hurt, and then see what options we have in case he comes back. And pray that the others will return soon. I'm thinking you are right, that this island is not the sanctuary we need, and being surrounded by water is making me feel far too trapped to be comfortable staying here permanently."

She shook her head, "I don't know that Fox will agree on that, but I'm going to ask him to open one of his portals back to Columbia and anyone that wishes to come with us is invited." Her eyes flicked up to Ger, glad to see the man was at least still standing and hoping he was in better faith than when they had last spent time together; if only one of Fox's followers came with her, she hoped it would be him. And she said a silent prayer to the Lord that the congregation and priest here would be amenable to moving to the Midwest, so that the faithful would have the services of a priest and the priest a number of eager acolytes to join him in tending to the lost souls wandering a forsaken world.

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"I was thinking..." Myfwany started, then she paused as a new thought burst on her. "...underground!"

She whirled on Ger, suddenly energized despite her injuries.

"This island...does it have any rocky beaches? I didn't look while I was coming in. But between the ocean and river runoff, there ought to be natural caverns. Something we can hollow out, put some basic amenities into...make into a kind of emergency, underground shelter."

The doctor paused and did a clinical self-inventory, then shook her head. "That took too much out of me. I don't think I should risk flying. Gabby, can you do a flyover of the coast area? Look for cliffs, or any kind of rocky surface at the water's edge. Ger, you and your men must have done some scouting when you arrived here...any runoff caves or openings into other kinds of natural caverns? I don't think we have anyone here who could blast or dig something artificial out..."

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“We found these after. They were wandering around, with burrs in their coats and half-starved.” Logan grinned slightly. “They were a little skittish, but after we reminded them of the benefits of grooming, they got real fond of us.”

“So… when’s your baby due?” Angie seemed uneasy asking the question, but she was also compelled to ask it out of politeness. “Do you know the gender yet?”


Ger looked discouraged. “We’ll talk to him when he gets back. At least we have the Refuge to return to, and you have your town. We’ll work it out, I think it’s more important to be able to guard the people here until Fox gets back. Which he should, soon.” Ger was clearly upset and agitated, and there was a hard tone in his voice.

At Myf’s suggestion, he paused and thought a moment. “We don’t know about caves, but there are plenty of basements in town. Would that work?”


“All right. We’ll be back to check out that thing in the castle.” Fox seemed reluctant to leave right now. He cast a final glance over toward the palace; it irked him to leave this undone. But a warp still formed in front of them. “Hawaii, here we come.”

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“All right. We’ll be back to check out that thing in the castle.” Fox seemed reluctant to leave right now. He cast a final glance over toward the palace; it irked him to leave this undone. But a warp still formed in front of them. “Hawaii, here we come.”

The blonde megamorph gave a chuckle and nod as she followed the Captain's glance to the palace. "We'll be back to have me play a fifty-foot distraction while the rest of you go and find the queen bee behind those wraiths soon enough," she offered, already striding for the warp, having no intention of doing that trick again so soon, "But if we get distracted with every wonder or horror, we'll lose track of the larger mysteries."

Sarah hit lip of the warp and passed through without pause, willingly taking point and knowing Dan would be no more than a heartbeat behind.

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The infernal giddiness persisted, colour high in Kristin's cheeks as she gave Angie a one-armed hug that made her ribs creak. Still, the table splintered under the force of her fingers.

"'Bout seven weeks left Dr. Shattuck says, " Kristin confirmed with an awkward grin, trying to convey her anger at her predicament through the giddiness she currently suffering from. "It's probably a boy or a girl, one of those. I don't care much, I ain't keeping it."

That put an end to that topic. The group of young people finished cleaning up the house, then gathered up a few of the crops. The giddiness was fading by then, and Kristin considered her unexpected guests. She got a loose plank out of the shed and dug a black marker out of her truck, and made a sign she hung from the front porch that said, 'Occupied.'

"Just in case," Kristin told Angie and Logan with a wry smile that attempted to be teasing.

She and Mark were loading up the back of the truck with the few baskets of crops while Angie and Logan went to get the horses, filling the saddlebags with the crops they had picked. Kristin smiled with melancholy fondness - she missed horses. She hopped off the back of the truck, one hand supporting her belly, and shyly approached them. "Do you... would I be able to ride one of your horses back to the Refuge? It's been a while. Mark, you know how to drive standard?"

"I can, Krstin."

Angie and Logan shared only a brief glance before Logan slid off the saddle and offered a hand to help boost Kristin up. "Of course, Kristin. Only fair, since you gave us dinner and some extra to take with us."

"Thank-you." Kristin grinned, nodding her gratitude for the hand, but swung up into the saddle on her own with surprising ease, despite her condition. Though she had to scooch back in the saddle a bit, her belly pressing against the pommel. "Let's head out."

Mark slid over in front of the wheel as Logan climbed into the passenger seat, then put the big white Ford Super-Duty into gear and followed the girls. Kristin and Angie started off at a trot but soon moved up to a canter, keeping pace with her truck just a little bit ahead of them. Her grin widened, turning into full, free laughter, feeling the surge of bone and muscle beneath her. I'm gonna find me and Ash some horses!

Watching the girls in the side-mirror - especially the way Kristin's heavy, swollen breasts bounced around inside her shirt - Logan glanced over at Mark.

"So, you tapping that?"

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Dan was a step behind Sarah, emerging right behind her, his battle rifle coming up as he moved to her side, looking around for signs of danger. "Be on your guard, they were not really freindly last time. No reason to believe they will be this time." He was concerned, not just about this seemingly more and more of a fools errand, but her, their child, and Alicia and Lorraine back at home.

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Myfwany nodded reluctantly. "It's a start," she said. "They're less secure, but more available, and a lot better than running around outside in the open...or in a building just waiting to be blown apart. Natural caves, or mineshafts, will be better...but basements will work for now. If you can get the people into them, I'll start looking for sturdier alternatives."

She scanned the sky nervously.

"Any idea what scared him off, Gabrielle? Did you do anything to him?"

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Gabrielle shook her head, "No. I didn't even get a good look at him. I didn't know it was a him until you said something." She glanced around the still smolder area. "We should find a basement large enough to fit everyone or split into as few groups as possible. The last thing we need is more panic. Maybe the church has a large basement for functions or storage. Or is there are large store in the area, like a Target or Walmart or whatever kind like that would be here?"

The last was asked to Ger and she added, "Somewhere with bathrooms available space enough for activities would be the best, so people aren't just going stir-crazy. That or just find a place and make sure everyone knows how to get there if there's another attack. We don't know why it-he left, so he might be back just as suddenly. Let's get people rounded up, make sure no one's missing or hurt, and then make plans."

Fitting actions to words, she started pulling some of her own people from the milling, unhappy crowd and organized a search of the town and a make-shift buddy system roll-call to account for everyone. Her people weren't military trained, but they worked well together, flitting to and from their winged leader and doing their best to bring some order to the chaos after the attack.

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  • 1 month later...

Myfwany nodded, recognizing the wisdom in Gabrielle's advice. A basement wouldn't be as good as a cave for shelter, but it was a damn sight better than panicking in the street, and it would give people a sense of control; that something was being done. Important in the short term.

"We'll still want to see if there's some longer term shelter too," she mentioned to Ger, but lets you and I find the biggest, most stable basements we can in the meantime. We can funnel the people Gabrielle gets together into them and out of harm's way for now. It'll also get anyone who's hurt and needs my help under one roof, instead of my having to track them all down. And...we should get someone higher up, on a roof maybe, to keep watch. With a loud whistle or air horn or something to make noise to warn us if he's coming back. Or let us know when Fox and the others get back."

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  • 2 months later...

Hawaii was in shambles. The mostly-empty city of Honolulu was deserted; the signs of a fire were clear. It took Fox several passes over the city to find anyone. The survivors shakily told the same tale they’d heard over and over again: vengeful or sad ghosts, coming out of the night to haunt or help. In some cases, it was clear it was both. The dead wanted to embrace their living loved ones, but the horror of facing the dead had been too traumatic for people already on the edge of madness. The pain from this night would linger for a long time.

“I want to try one more place to confirm that this was truly everywhere.” As the others sighed impatiently, Fox said, “We should know this.”

“One more place,” Sarah agreed reluctantly. Her mind was on the woman in Britain, challenging them to do nothing. And in truth, she wanted to go and do some good, to clear out the wraiths from Britain. The group waited impatiently as Fox opened his warp to another place.

They stepped out into a stinking, zombie-clogged nightmare. Fox had wisely chosen to put them out on a roof, which was good, because the streets below were wall-to-wall zombie. A second after they arrived, the still mass of monsters below them began to stir. They went from complete stillness to soft moans and tipping their heads back to stare hungrily at the life above them.

“Where are we?” Sarah asked.

“Somewhere in Asia,” Dan remarked. “Japan?”

“Tokyo.” Fox glanced around. “I don’t think there’s anyone alive to ask.” They spent an hour looking for life, but found none, only the dead. The reason became apparent after Fox happened to notice a crater—and realized that it was a former nuclear plant. After that, they left quickly, just to be safe.

Back in London, they met up with Dr. Varro. “I was about to head home,” he told them with a smile. “Then I saw your warp.”

“We’re ready to go after the wraith-things. Wanna help?” Fox asked, grinning his vulpine smile they knew so well.

Varro nodded. “Of course!”

“I think Sarah should stay back.” Dan was quick to remind them that some of them had more to risk than others.

“We’ll take care of her. Nothing bad is going to happen to her, not with us watching her.” Fox looked as sure of this as he did about anything. “We will make sure she doesn’t hurt herself or the baby.”

Dan didn’t like it, but Sarah wanted to help. So the big ex-Marine held his tongue as they regrouped and prepared an assault. Finding the wraiths wasn’t hard; from the air they were easy to find and follow. It did give them pause when they saw the monsters duck into Buckingham Palace. “Are they the royal family?” Varro looked shocked at the suggestion even as he voiced it.

Fox looked grim as he checked his rifle. “No way to know, but if they are, then we’re going to save them from that fate.”

The four of them grouped up and entered the palace from the north. In a short time, they were at the heart of a fight, battling angry wraiths. Sarah managed to not grow herself during it, relying on her strength, wit and passion to win. Dan stuck close to her side, while Varro and Fox took the front and rear, each man fighting to protect their comrades in the center. They fought their way to the throne room, where a new challenge awaited; a woman clothed in wraiths, who seemed to command and control them. She attacked them with life-draining powers, even as her minions ate from them, too. Throughout, Sarah found herself terrified, sure that she’d just condemned her baby to death. It seemed to her that each time her life was drained, that surely it would kill the small life in her.

When the woman finally fell, Sarah felt sick and fragile, sure that she’d just lost the baby. “I want to talk to Myfwany.”

Dan just nodded, turning to Fox. “Take us home.” It wasn’t quite a demand but if Fox’s answer was anything other than ‘yes’ there would have been a fierce argument.

Fox simply nodded and turned from the group, starting the warp…

… to be continued…

I’ll work up the wrap for the refuge next (hopefully tomorrow evening) and finish this thread. Then I’ll see about getting new chapters started.

:D
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