Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 12a: Former Family

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine let out a soft gasp of surprise as she felt the sting of the bullets, but it wasn't until she glanced over at Mrigesh and saw him, his trembling hand pressed firmly against his skin as blood seeped out from under his fingers, that she truly registered what had happened. Her nostrils flared angrily and she dropped the machete and pulled out the semi-automatic assault rifle that had been Bond's gift to her with one swift motion. She swung it up in the direction of the gun-wielding bitch that had shot Mrigesh. If she'd felt regret before that it was loaded with the real deal, instead of the crowd-controlling ammunition back in the vehicles, it had been burned away in that swift surge of rage that ripped through her at the sight of Mrigesh's blood.

"Bitch!! PUTA!!!"

She was pretty sure that was a word that she'd learned from a Spanish-speaking schoolmate, as opposed to one of the Spanish-English dictionaries she'd been studying.. but between the word and the look of hatred on Jasmine's face, it got the point across. Shots from the assault rifle rang out, one after the other and faster than even a professionally-trained sharpshooter, as Jasmine sighted first on the woman and fired, then again on each of the men who'd fired on her.. and just as accurate too.

Click to reveal..

Free Move, Initiative 23: Drop machete.

First Round: Draw assault rifle.

Activating Quickness (1): -1QP = 11/21 QP

Second Round, Initiative 21: Firing on Mrigesh's attacker.

1st Shot, 1st two dice M-Dex: 8d10 → [1,3,2,7,7,8,8,8] = 5 suxx

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3140863/

Activating Quickness (2): -1QP = 10/21 QP

Third Round, Initiative 19: Firing on own Attacker (#1).

2nd shot, 1st two dice M-Dex: 8d10 → [5,9,9,7,2,6,5,2] = 4 suxx

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3140869/

Activating Quickness (3): -1QP = 9/21 QP

Fourth Round, Initiative 17: Firing on own Attacker (#2).

3rd shot, 1st two dice M-Dex: 8d10 → [1,10,8,5,2,10,5,6] = 4 suxx

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3140871/

*"¡Todos, ausente trasero! ¡Parte posterior lejos ahora!"

She didn't know if her Spanish was getting across, but she screamed it anyway, fury and a touch of desperation in her voice. This was wrong, it was all going wrong, and she had to get to Mrigesh to try and help him. They needed to get out of here. Even as that ran through her mind she tightened her grip on the weapon, trying to push down the tremor of exhaustion she felt surge through her, and the horrible, nagging feeling that she was pushing herself too far, too fast.

Click to reveal..

*Babelfish for "Everybody back away! Back away right now!" I figure however Babelfish may be screwing that up is probably a decent representation of how Jasmine might be screwing it up a bit, Spanish not being a language she's gotten very good at yet. She has a point in Languages, so I imagine she's getting the point across, but it's just a bit of RP-flavor that she's not very good yet. Not much practice. Hehe.

[Dawn OOC]

Jas's damage:

Carver *rolls* 8d10: 7+8+1+3+4+2+3+5: 33 + Carver *rolls* 4d10: 5+2+10+6: 23 = 3 Lethal

Carver *rolls* 8d10: 4+9+7+5+8+10+5+6: 54 + Carver *rolls* 3d10: 2+7+6: 15 = 5 Lethal

Carver *rolls* 8d10: 7+7+4+9+6+1+3+3: 40 + Carver *rolls* 3d10: 3+6+7: 16 = 4 Lethal

Simon was crouched near the gate; he heard Jasmine's cries and the firing, but he was too busy staring at the warehouses. There was a flicker of something there and he focused harder. Like ripples of hot air rising from an oven, the former cop saw Carlos slipping into the third warehouse, behind some of the villagers exiting. "Fuck," he hissed, then radioed, "Bond, we killing everyone or getting out of here?" He didn't seem to care which way the action went.

Eric is up - you have until Sunday to post.

[Fox]

"Carlos is our target. We let him get away, and he'll bite us in the arse later." Bond replied over the radio net. "Put down anyone between us and him, and watch your backs." If Bond was at all bothered at sentencing people to death by making that call, it didn't show. He just hoped Primal could catch up with the son of a bitch and put him down before too many of Carlos's little cult got killed.

[SalmonMax]

Enormous white puffy hands came up to encircle the kid that had knocked him over as Eric sat up and shouted, "Are you guys crazy?! There's kids here! You've even got kids with you! Whatever you want I'm sure it can be worked out, just stop shooting! Everyone STOP SHOOTING!"

Enlarged as he was, with plenty of lung volume, the shout came out like James Earl Jones hollering into a bullhorn, rolling over the entire compound and echoing off anything flat.

Eric managed to clumsily scramble to his feet, keeping his hands clasped gently around the child he'd saved.

[Dawn OOC]

Carlos's actions are out of view; Hana is up now. You have until Monday to post.

[Atomicweasel]

Hana’s baleful black gaze turned toward the two villagers who came rushing out of the third warehouse. Somehow the darkness in her eyes grew deeper, past shadow and starless night to the absolute absence of light. Whatever the villagers saw in that oblivion, they could not look away. The blackness held them, transfixed them...

...and then they began to scream. Their own eyes had filled with darkness and now that darkness came spilling forth like ink tears. It ran down their faces as both men went to their knees, howling for mercy that would not come. Abruptly, their screams cut short. Black bile came bubbling from their throats, spewing from their mouths like a geyser of oil. It poured from their nostrils and their ears and both men fell flat on their faces in widening pools of black effluence. One man’s leg twitched violently for some moments, and then both men lay still and stiff and dead.

[Dawn OOC]

Jasmine wasn’t quite able keep them from surrounding her and Mrigesh. Horrified, the young mother-to-be watched as Mrigesh was shot again, sinking to his knees in the dusty earth – which was rapidly becoming the bloody earth. She didn’t even notice the man shooting at her, or hear the screams of the man whose gun misfired.

Villager fires at Mrigesh: Carver *rolls* 5d10: 4+8+3+1+2: 18 = 1 sux

Shotgun, no overage: Carver *rolls* 7d10: 8+1+8+4+10+4+4: 39 = 3 Lethal

Villager fires at Jasmine: Carver *rolls* 4d10: 7+10+10+1: 28 = 2 sux

Light Pistol, 1 overage: Carver *rolls* 1d10: 3: 3 = 0 Lethal

Villager fires at Jasmine: double Botch, 2 levels of Lethal damage to himself.

Carver *rolls* 4d10: 3+1+1+6: 11

Kid Villager bites Jasmine: Carver *rolls* 3d10: 3+4+8: 15 = 1 sux

Unable to do damage.

Kid Villager bites Jasmine: Carver *rolls* 3d10: 3+4+8: 15 = 1 sux

Unable to do damage.

Mrigesh takes 3 lethal from one source.

Jasmine takes no damage.

Celeste wasn’t surprised when the man burned. She didn’t like it; it wasn’t pleasant. But the other man was still hurting her, firing his gun at her. It was another tiny hurt, but she still felt them!

Villager fires on Celeste: Carver *rolls* 6d10: 4+3+7+7+5+9: 35 = 3 sux

Heavy pistol, +2 overage: Carver *rolls* 3d10: 6+6+7: 19 = 1 lethal damage

Celeste takes 1 lethal from 1 source.

Eric was still trying to comprehend what was happening. It was all moving so fast; the villagers fighting, shooting, bombs, roaring men and flying kids. All of that narrowed down to a hard focus when he felt teeth grab his skin. Surprise, he looked down to see the brat he’d just saved gnawing on him like a toothless baby on a teething ring.

Kid Villager bites Stay Puft: Carver *rolls* 3d10: 3+5+9: 17

Unable to do damage.

Celeste is up next, you have until Sunday evening to post.

[SalmonMax]

"What the...gah!"

Eric looked down, thunderstruck. Was the kid so far out of his mind with terror that he was fighting his own savior? The sensation of being gnawed on wasn't painful, but it was oddly unpleasant. Like when he'd been twelve and had been poking an anthill with a stick. Ants swarmed out and climbed up the stick, and he'd watched with fascination as one perched on his fingers and chewed on him with its mandibles. It hadn't hurt, but the tiny little 'I'm being chewed' feeling was kind of gross. Then its head had fallen off, and he'd freaked out and...etc etc. The important thing was that it still felt gross, and he really didn't want the kid's head to come off. So he controlled his natural instinct to jerk his hand back and wave it around.

He looked pleadingly at the raiders, the big animal-man and the guy with the gun. "Call it off," he entreated. "They're scared, they're freaking out, but they're not bad people. They've got kids. They're just trying to get by. Don't kill them!"

[Dawn OOC]

Celeste viciously hopped toward the next uninjured man. He had hurt her and she was going to be sure he didn't again. The man stumbled backwards but couldn't evade the girl's questing hand. Her touch sizzled his flesh and set him to screaming.

Mrigesh, looking worse than before, tried to continue the patch job. His hands were shaking badly - too badly to help himself, though.

Primal is up - you have until Wednesday evening.

[Primal]

His massive footfalls thundered into the ground as he ran off towards the third warehouse, following Simon's tactical advice. He winced and growled a few times as stray bullets tore into his flesh, burrowing deep into his organs and splintering bones. The behemoth didn't break stride when he reached the warehouse doors, he simply barreled on through them. The ramshackle door splintered into a mess of debris consisting of bent metal roofing sheets and splintered old two-by-fours.

One by one the small lead pellets plinked to the ground as Primal's wounds healed, forcing the bullets out of his wounds. He stood to his full height and the bear of a man took in a deep breath, making note of the various scents on the wind. "Carlos!" He growled as he yelled the name. "I am not like my companions. I will kill everyone here if it means I get to you. Have the balls to face what is coming to you with some fucking dignity. You may live through this yet. Continue to flee and I will hunt you," The beast within let a short roar slip as the thought of the alternative filled it with pride. It resounded of the walls and vibrated the flimsy steel walls and roof. "And I will kill you."

His long talons slid from their natural sheathes slowly and as Primal stiffly moved all his fingers, each of his knuckles cracked loudly. "Time to choose."

[Dawn OOC]

Pumpkin had managed to recover of of her equilibrium in Bond's care; this was signaled by the blue panther that appeared out of no where. It was as big as a tiger, with tentacles rising from its shoulder blades that ended in sharp spines. The strange cat growled at everyone save those that Pumpkin saw as allies.

As the cat paced and snarled, Pumpkin lifted her head from Bond's shoulder, sniffled and said, "Primal scary."

Bond is up - you have until Sunday evening to post.

[Fox]

"Yes he is." Bond replied. "But you don't need to be scared of him. Now hold on tight and keep your friend there with us." He ran flat out to the hummvee, covering the ground with sure-footed speed. The strange shape-changing super didn't seem to be hostile, as well as having his hands full of one of Carlos's demon-children. Right now, from the sounds of gunfire from the other side of the wall, his friends needed his attention more.

"Pumpkin. I want you to stay in here and keep your friend next to you." he told the child as he put her in the Falcon. "Stay on the floor, sweetheart. Okay?" She nodded, sniffling slightly. Bond smiled as he pulled out his shotgun. "I've got to go help Jasmine. But you're safe as long as you stay down and keep your friend here. We'll be right back, Pumpkin." The large blue cat-creature jumped into the back seat alongside Pumpkin, growling under it's breath as Bond calmly slapped a drum magazine into his weapon and shut the door, hitting the locking system. The Falcon wouldn't start without him, anyway. Not quickly at least.

Turning, he took two steps and leapt, landing first on the hood of his hummvee and then springboarding from there to the top of the low wall, balancing as easily as though he were on a sidewalk as he brought the muzzle of his gun up, picking targets as he made ready to dodge any incoming fire.

I think he's done a round-load of actions, so unless Dawn says I can do otherwise I'm not making any attacks with Bond this time around.

[Dawn OOC]

Bond saw a scene of carnage; the mother of his child, bloody and pissed, firing on defenders with her automatic machine gun. Mrigesh on the ground, bleeding and gasping. Children attacking Jasmine just as they had Eric, their arms wrapped around Jasmine and trying to bite through her jeans.

It was pure chaos, and it was just the way that Bond liked it.

Jasmine! You are next - You have until Tuesday evening to post.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine could feel the little monsters swarming around her, gnawing on her legs through the denim fruitlessly, and she struggled to push back the memories of the last time she'd been in this situation.

This is getting me nowhere.. we have to get out of here!

"Mrigesh, just hold on!"

And with that, she grabbed the little brats and wrenched them off of her, shoving them out of the way. She knelt down and picked up Mrigesh before they could recover, fear at their situation warring with fear of jolting him too much. But if she didn't get him out of here, he would die. She picked him up the way a strong man could pick up a petite woman - as if it was effortless to her, and indeed it was. Then she ran, towards the Hummers and away from the chaos of the fight.

Initiative 23: "Holster" assault rifle. (Throw it back onto her back with the strap).

Activating Quickness: -1QP = 8/21

Initiative 21: Grapple brats again.

Grappling Brats:

[Jasmyne] 2:02 pm: I mean, how do you roll again?

[jameson] 2:03 pm: "/d xdy"

Jasmyne *rolls* 6d10: 6+8+2+5+6+6: 33

1 suxx + 5 auto-suxx = 6 suxx

-1QP for Quickness = 7/21 QP

Initiative 19: Picking up Mrigesh.

-1QP for Quickness = 6/21 QP

Initiative 17: Running away.

"Run away - RUN AWAY!!"

[Dawn OOC]

Simon shook his head as Primal burst into the warehouse. Still, he was smirking as he ran down between the warehouses, moving to cover the back. He was pretty sure that Carlos would rather take a hot poker up the ass than fight Primal head on. The question was, would he run or would he try to hide?

Eric is up now - you have until Sunday night to post.

[SalmonMax]

Eric wasn't stupid. He wasn't the brightest light under the bushel, but he wasn't stupid. Little kids attacking giant monsters like him, and gun toting women like that one, wasn't normal. They should be running. Hiding. The people of this community should be trying to protect them, not just attacking mindlessly.

Something was seriously wrong here, and he was starting to think these people might know what.

He kept the child in his giant, doughy hand, since he didn't seem able to hurt him, and started walking after the girl. She was heading for a car, and he wanted to find out what she knew before she got away. He'd already decided he was going to let them go. They were looking less and less like raiders.

"Wait!" he called to Jasmine. "Lady, wait just a second!" Despite his voice being all slow and low-pitched and thunderous in volume, the tone was very much of a confused kid. "Everyone's going crazy! Can you just tell me what happened?!"

[Dawn OOC]

Carlos crouched in his hiding space, listening to Primal's challenge. Quietly, he closed his eyes and gathered his strength, waiting for the beast to find him. Of course, there were a couple of people the monster would have to go through first.

Carlos' Dex+Stealth roll: 2 sux

Hana, you're up.

[Atomicweasel]

Hana stalked across the open ground, and bent to retrieve a shotgun one of the villagers had dropped. The darkness clouding her features and her form had begun to clear. It seemed fainter now, more ethereal, as it clung to her limbs and drifted away in wispy little clouds. Here and there the girl beneath the darkness could be glimpsed: a swath of her forearm before the trailing shadows regrouped and wound themselves around her arm again, the soft lines of her cheek, in the instant before more inky blackness spilled from her eyes and shrouded her face once more.

In her small hands the shotgun seemed an elephant gun, enormous, unwieldly, and unlikely to hit anything more than five feet away. Hana must have known it too, because she began to walk unhurriedly toward the two villagers to her left.

[Dawn OOC]

The two that had been following Jas focused on Bond when their first target disappeared. The two women were aiming sidearms at him and Bond tensed for the shot. He got lucky; one was hurt so badly that she couldn’t line up her shot. The other one hit him; though he felt the heavy slug of the revolver, he could tell it hadn’t pierced his skin. And the two kids Jasmine hadn’t been able to bring herself to hurt were uselessly throwing rocks at Bond.

Primal was having a different sort of fun. Carlos didn’t step out to face him; three of his goons did. They would slice up just as well as their leader but first, they took their shot. Two of them seemed competent, but one managed to jam his shotgun and couldn’t seem to unjam it. One of the bullets found no purchase in his skin but the other actually hurt.

Shot on Bond: Carver *rolls* 4d10: 10+7+4+10: 2 sux

Damage with a Heavy Revolver: Carver *rolls* 1d10: 5, No Lethal

Kid throwing rocks at Bond: Carver *rolls* 4d10: 6+9+4+2: 1 sux

Kid throwing rocks at Bond: Carver *rolls* 4d10: 6+10+10+6: 2 sux

No damage from either rock.

Shot on Primal: Carver *rolls* 6d10: 2+10+6+10+2+9: 3 sux

Carver *rolls* 3d10: 3+1+5: 0 Lethal

Shot on Primal: Carver *rolls* 6d10: 1+5+4+4+6+6: botch!

Shot on Primal: Carver *rolls* 6d10: 5+7+6+6+10+8: 2 sux

Carver *rolls* 2d10: 6+8: 1 Lethal

Celeste followed Primal into the building, both spoiling for a fight but also being cautious.

Mrigesh gasped as Jasmine got him to the truck. "Not... good," he rasped. Pumpkin made a scared sound at the sight of the man's chest.

Primal is up next - please post by Thursday evening.

[Primal]

The man-beast was no stranger to pain and his instincts spurred him to actiona against the one of the three that caused the most hurt. The bullet wound in his abdomen barely bled as the dense constriction of muscle tissue stopped it before it could puncture through to his vitals, not that it would have mattered too much, Primal had taken some pretty bad wounds since Z-Day and a bullet really did nothing much these days but piss him off.

He thundered to the man in four easy yet very long strides and before the man knew it he was held aloft by Primal's steel grip and trunk of an arm. “God makes three requests of his children: Do the best you can, where you are, with what you have.”

He turned to face he other men and began walking towards them as they backed away, one still fearfully trying to unjam his gun. There was the sudden tearing of fabric and the muffled cry as the man in his arm cried out in pain as he choked for air under Primal's grip. Slowly Primal's hand came into view from the cover of the man's thrashing body as his death throes continued. His hand coated in blackish-red, sticky blood Primal showed the men the man's heart. "I'm only sayin' that so guys don't die feelin' like it was fer nothin'."

He grinned and was on the second thug in no time having cast the heart and body aside during his dash. Primal's claws pierced the man's chest and his gigantic hand nearly 'palmed' the man's entice body. Slowly Primal squeezed and the man's chest cavity and ribs could not even fight against the lion-man's strength. The man cried out in agony as his collar bones, ribs, and vitals collapsed under the beast's power. It was a slow and agonizing way to die and Primal made it last as long as he could.

The dying man beat on Primal's in some vain attempt to beg for mercy as the blonde giant looked to the poor sap still trying to unjam his gun. He hunkered down to meet the man's fearful gaze, an exhale from the wild man made the hair in the thugs eyes billow back slightly. "I'm trying to be sporting here bro, could you hurry the fuck up please?"

A slight 'ping' echoed and they both took a look at the floor. The bullet in Primal's abdomen had fellen from the wound as it miraculously sealed itself in moments. The man swallowed hard and Primal grinned a pearly white, fanged grin. "Ever get that feelin' like you're ice skating uphill?"

Roll (8d10): 8,8,5,10,10,4,3,9. 5 Successes. (I'm not re-rolling the 10's for his Quality, there really is no need to roll extra dice to kill an extra.)

Damage Pool: [10] + 13L

Roll (7d10):4,2,6,8,8,7,8. 4 Successes.

Damage Pool: [10] + 12L

Spent 1 Quantum to Regenerate 1HL

[Dawn OOC]

The man turned and ran. Whatever had caused an entire group of people to go crazy couldn’t stand in the face of the terror that was Primal’s smile. Primal smirked and went deeper into the warehouse, looking for Carlos. The men in the front room had been barely a warm up and he wanted something tougher. Of course, to get the fight he wanted, he’d need a fuckin’ bear.

In the last room, he found the man he was looking for. Carlos stood in the center of the room, his dark eyes focused on Primal. “Time ta die,” the feral nova snarled and charged. The man threw a bolt of energy at him, which surprised Primal. His super-human reflexes still allowed him to dodge the shot and his uppercut raked open the man’s chest from groin to neck.

A satisfied smile curled up his lips but faded quickly. He’d felt the blow but he couldn’t smell the visceral blood. Growling, Primal turned, squinting at the room and sniffing suspiciously. “Tricky fucker,” he snarled, “but not tricky enough.” With a roar, he tore the room apart, leaving no inch uncovered. When that was done, he still hadn’t felt him or heard him… but he could still smell him. Where is he?

Primal looked up, his eyes resting on the rafters overhead. There, a corner where the shadows drew close and thicker than they should. “Gotcha,” he snarled. A high leap put him up there, and the slicing claws tore through real flesh and bone this time. A man’s scream brought him a measure of satisfaction, but a second later, a bolt of energy tore through him. Primal snarled with pain but leapt again as soon as he landed. This time, when his claws caught, they pulled the man down with him. Either that attack or the fall had killed him.

Outside, Bond used another grenade to stop the threat chasing his girlfriend. Coolly, he surveyed the field of battle to see that only children and his people were left. There were a few women that he had knocked out, but mostly it was just them.

He turned his attention to Mrigesh, frowning at what he saw. Thumbing his radio, Bond relayed, “Back to the Hummers. We have to get to somewhere else before anyone else shows up. Someone get that girl and get her into the car. We’re leaving.”

After a bit of hunting, they found a local hospital and holed up there, raiding it for supplies and securing it for a stay. Mrigesh was going to need long-term care, and he couldn’t get that from the back of a moving Hummer. This would set them back a while, even if Bond left them and drove back up to get Myf’s help. They couldn’t move Mrigesh far, and he didn’t want to split up the group. It was longer, but safer this way.

Besides, it’d give everyone a chance to acclimate to Primal – and Primal to them.

5 xp