Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 12d: The Box

[Dawn OOC]

This thread is for the people joining through the Refuge in this chapter. Feel free to RP your time in the quarantine. Supers are held only one day, to verify that they aren’t contagious or sick. Non-supers are held a minimum of three days.

The quarantine area was a fenced enclosure. There was room for parking to one side but most of the area was a small building, obviously hastily erected out of a pre-made form and steel. Inside were small cages, ten by ten, large enough the cot inside them. All the doors were opened. The cages latched from the inside as well as out, so that someone could barricade themselves inside one if needed.

There was an exam room at the end of the double row of cages, but tonight it was doubling as the guard’s station so that ever other inch of the building could be used for the incoming. There were a number of them; twenty from DC and thirteen ‘walking dead’ – the possibly infected – and sixteen other survivors from Vegas. There was even one lucky dog, who belonged to one of the four children saved.

[Karren Gaunt]

Sarah sat crosslegged in one of the corners, her backpack and sheathed sword leaning against a near-by wall, a neatly folded pile of zombie-gore stained clothing tucked in a sturdy garbage bag with her similarly-befouled boots. Her hair was still faintly damp from a much needed shower, the megamorph having had a good few days worth of travel dust even before arriving at the ill-fated Vega enclave.

She gave the other survivors a quick once over, glad for even the modicrum of space they afforded her in these packed conditions, blue eyes clouding a little in unhappiness as she considered the possible infected from Vegas. They should have been dealt with before, one way or the other...

Sarah sighed and put the thoughts from her mind, digging out a paperback book with a missing cover and cracking it open about a third of the way through. A pen followed, and then, with every trace of seriousness, the towering metahuman began reading and occasionally scribbling down a note in the margins, stretching her sock-clad toes from time to time.

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

Jules paced into the building, looking around at the gathered people. She was tired and more than a little bloody from her own captivity, but because the blood was all her own, she didn't need a decontamination shower. She was going to take care of it later, after she'd made sure everyone was comfortable.

Her eyes shifted away from the infected, trying not to stare at them. They were dead and knew it; right now, they were talking with friends and family, making peace with their lives. Jules ignored the angry voice that reminded her that she'd never gotten closure with her family.

Instead, she focused on the newcomers who weren't going to die. One woman in particular caught her eye; the large blonde who had helped them fight in Vegas. She wandered over to her cage and stopped, leaning against the wire. "Hey, you're Sarah, right?"

[Karren Gaunt]

Sarah pauses in her studies and looks up from her book, one 'Zombie Survival Guide' if Jules was sharp of gaze, pen in hand. She blinks and nods with a smile on her face, "I am. Can I help you? You look... A lot like I did before my shower right now, actually."

She really didn't *want* to help anyone else just now, just plain tired, but basic politeness while a guest in someone else's house was the very root of civility.

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

"Meh, just some trouble with some trigger-happy morons in DC," Jules said, grimacing. "This blood is mine, not a zombie's, so I'm letting others shower first.

"Mostly, I'm just catching up with the people I haven't met yet," Jules said, giving her a smile. "Dan mentioned that you're with another group and just happened to show up for Vegas? I was hoping you could tell me where that other group is, who they are and how we can reach them. More trade partners are always a good thing."

Jules paused and then added, "We can do this later, if you want."

[Karren Gaunt]

Sarah closed her book and waved Jules in, "No. It's fine. Take a seat. I can reclock while I talk as much as I can studying, Either proves I'm more than just a large blonde hammer. That's the important part."

She puts away the book and pen as Jules settles down in the cell.

"I come from back east, a settlement in Indiana lead by Mr. Morgan Shelldon, a good man and a better teacher than I had any right to hope to meet, let alone meet. He's... He's not like me or Dan or one of your other Metahumans, but he's an honest optimist who knows how to lead others into a better tommorow if they want to be led. A very good man. The settlement... it was just better than anything I'd seen since Z-day. Not a lot extra of everything, but it was shared where needed. Good people in a bad situation trying their best to do more than just survive, enough to give me back myself. Like I guess you're doing here for others."

She chuckled and let the smile fade to a more serious expression, "As to getting in touch with them, I'd like to get to know you a little better before radioing back home in my check up time. Then it's up to my Morgan and, I suppose, your Morgan what happens next. I have to protect my people to the best of my abilities, after all. I don't mean to offend, but with rumors about some group called RUS and all the other maniacs..."

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

"Understandable," Jules said, leaning back on her arms. "I'm so used to being the good guy that I forget others don't know that we're not out to rape, loot and pillage. So take your time - you'll come to see that we just want someone to trade food and goods with.

"We've had some success hunting and our farming is actually coming along, thanks to the efforts of Myfwanny, our doctor," Jules added. "And yeah, I don't blame you for being cautious; so far, we've met a lot more hostile groups than friendly."

[Karren Gaunt]

Sarah smiled and stretched her hands over her head with a satisfied sigh, "That's some Doctor you have, and everywhere I've gone, Doctors are the most valuable member of an enclave, so that's saying something."

She tilted her head to one side, musing aloud, "I never caught your name... And if all that is your blood, and you're walking around in here unafraid, you have to be a metahuman, too."

[BlueNinja]

Just inside the door to the showers, Adam sits, holding a stack of fraying towels, handing them out. "So, this could be worse," he says.

"Could be better," Black Dave responds. "But yeah, could be a lot worse." They both fall silent as one of the injured women from their encampment (Priss? Trish? Adam twitches his head, trying to remember) comes past, taking a towel and a hotel bottle of shampoo and soap. "We've got almost all the food, the building materials, and loads of info on supplies that no one else can access."

Their conversation is paused by the sound of the ammo press, and Wei tosses the bullet into the air before catching it. "Two boxes of nine mil," he brags, flexing his skinny arms dramatically.

"Nice," Adam deadpans, "and the way you shoot, you could take down a whole five zombies with that." Dave and Julia join in the chuckling as the teenager reddens. "It is good work. Certainly help you earn your keep when you're out of quarantine."

"Uncle Adam, what are you going to do tomorrow?" Julia asks him, taking the last bullet and putting it into the box before closing it.

He reaches over to ruffle her hair, shifting the last three towels to his knee. "I'm not going to leave you alone in here for long, sweetie. I do need to talk to some of the other super people, like that guy Fox who runs this camp, and work out what is going to get done with my powers and our knowledge."

The nine year old sits there for a moment, then sighs. "You should go back to fixing cars, uncle Adam. It's simpler." The two adults laugh before going back to idle chit-chat.

[LydaLynn]

Olivia sat in one of the cells. A notebook out, she was jotting down observations, particularly of those who had been infected. More than anything, she wished she had an equipped lab where she could work. Someone needed to find a vaccine for those who hadn't yet been infected and Olivia itched to be that someone.

Of course, she needed someplace safe to work if that was going to be doable. And in all her travels, so far, this was the most promising possibility. A community that valued safety but was still willing to open up to outsiders, even if putting them in quarantine was a prerequisite. And it seemed they had a decent collection of mutated people. Those who had become something more instead of becoming one of the zombies. Though Olivia had noted that many of the mutations included outward differences as well as an off-putting quality that she had been unable to define. She looked forward to getting to work in a lab and seeing just exactly how they were changed.

Olivia hadn't spoken much to anyone, but that was neither new nor uncomfortable for her. She would speak when it was needed, but for now, she would wait.

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

Originally Posted By: Envoy

Sarah smiled and stretched her hands over her head with a satisfied sigh, "That's some Doctor you have, and everywhere I've gone, Doctors are the most valuable member of an enclave, so that's saying something."

She tilted her head to one side, musing aloud, "I never caught your name... And if all that is your blood, and you're walking around in here unafraid, you have to be a metahuman, too."

"Well, we call 'em supers around here," Jules replied. "I'm Jules WhiteElk. I kinda help Fox run the Enclave, doing Admin stuff whenever I'm not getting pulled out into the field." To be knocked out, captured and shot! Go me!

She ignored those thoughts and extended a hand. "Nice to meet you," she added with a smile.

[Karren Gaunt]

"A pleasure to meet you," readily answered the megamorph as she returned the handshake, her smile turning wry, "At least since I got revived from being knocked out by that 'super zed'. I've heard rumors about tougher than normal Zeds, but that thing... I haven't been knocked around like since Z-Day. Still, if we had no problems, we wouldn't learn and improve, would we?"

She let go and gestured at the crowded building, pondering something, "You take in this many people often?"

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

Jules's expression darkened. "No, this is actually kinda light for us," she said, her voice hard. "Our record was five hundred or so when we emptied out a prison in New Mexico." Seeing the look in her face, Jules added, "It was a woman's prison where the guards were abusing the women. There was no one to stop them or monitor them and they were doing terrible things. If you ever hear anyone talking about Paradise, that's what they're talking about. Raping, mutilating, forcing women into pits to fight zombies. The guys running it were real winners."

Jules stopped before she got going, forcing a smile. "Then, we couldn't even quarantine. We just kinda put everyone together and hoped that it'd all work out. It did, the women who were falling into line were protected from infection, so it was alright to do that. And it all worked out."

[Karren Gaunt]

Sarah's eyes narrowed as she listened to this, anger flushing her veins. So this was what Dan could have been refering to and Khristen's anger if it came from there... Well, being humane sometimes meant fighting and killing the inhumane, and this Paradise...

"Sounds like a good deed for you, that. Taking on 500 extra people at once, even with new supplies, must have been a logistical nightmare," she added aloud, smiling thinly, "Mr. Shelldon took on mere handfulls at a time while I was there, at least in terms of people not just passing through. We don't have your 'Supers' though, so that's all we can do, I guess."

"So, what can I expect once I get cleared to go inside the Refuge proper? I'd like some sterile boiling water to clean off my gear at least. Willing to trade for it, too."

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

Jules quirked an eyebrow. "It wasn't a good deed, not for me," she said softly. "I spent six hours in Paradise before I escaped. That was why I pushed for us to clear the place out. And I got to kill the leader, so it wasn't kindness. It was vengeance." She cleared her throat and added, "You can give those kudos to others in the Refuge. Just not to me."

"We have plenty of water, don't worry about having to trade for that." She sat up and put her elbows on her crossed legs. "The inside of the Refuge is pretty good. We are almost done with the barracks which should help get a lot of people out of the tents, but we're still looking for a new place to land, so I don't know that we'll be doing much more. We have communal showers for everyone to use. There's Violet's if you wanna stay somewhere with a bed and can talk her into it... though I really doubt you'll have an issue with that."

Sara frowned. "Meaning...?"

"Meaning Violet likes boys and girls, and from what I've seen, she likes her women big and strong and blonde."

[Karren Gaunt]

Sarah briefly had an odd look on her face at that statement, having been raised with somewhat conservative values, not that she'd actively begrudge anyone the right to live however they wanted long as no one else was hurt in the process. "I see," she managed to answer after a pause for thought, "I'll keep that in mind. Any questions for me in return? It's only polite of me to sate some of your curiousity."

[LydaLynn]

Olivia had been distracted from her observation by the conversation nearby. Trying to be inconspicuous about it, she listened in, making notes on a fresh page as things were mentioned that she found interesting. So far, things seemed friendly and open. Strange as it was to find, Olivia wondered if maybe this place was going to be viable for her small group to join and settle.

Even if they ultimately didn't stop and stay here, this would be a community to keep in touch with. Not just for trading, but potential support against threatening forces. That presumed they didn't journey much farther, but Olivia, for one, felt as though she had traveled far enough. The climate here was good and the land viable for cultivating. In her mind, it was an obvious choice. Of course, traveling with others, Olivia had learned to be accepting and accommodating of the views and desires of the rest of the group.

Sometimes she missed her quiet solitude, being alone, or nearly alone and staring up at space, wondering what wonders were out there. Now, she had too much to concern herself with here on earth to worry about the stars. One day humanity would overcome this horror, and when it did, Olivia planned to be there, building a foundation to bring civilization back to the world. This refuge seemed to be trying to build that foundation. For her, it might be a good fit, but she wouldn't abandon those she had been traveling with, so she would move on if she was called to do so.

But for now, she'd listen and learn. The more she knew, the better she could tell the others. And the more they knew, the more likely they would be to stay.

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

"James may try to add you to his harem, as well," Jules said, looking irritated. "He might not; it's not like he comes onto every woman. But Violet... she's got a way of making it way too easy to forget what you really do and don't want. Just watch yourself around her."

Jules paused a moment. "Beyond that, Ger is a good person to talk to if you have issues. He's Morgan's other little helper. If you want to learn survival skills, just talk to me or Walker - Walker's the guy with four arms. Lesse... Bond, and yeah, he looks like Daniel Craig, is a good source for supplies, when he's around. Watch the hooch in Hop's bar. Some of it's homemade and can blind even one of us."

[Karren Gaunt]

"Thank you for the advise."

There was a minute or so of quiet pondering from Sarah, the tall megamorph tapping her chin with one finger, blue eyes appraising Jules and the crowded room behind her. "This multiple metahumans living in one comunity thing is far more complicated day to day than even I think it to be, isn't it?"

[Galahad]

Galahad arrives with the others from DC. He and Verity park the bikes and give them a final check over to make sure theres nothing wrong with them before both heading in for the check up.

Galahad is sure the smell must be overwhelming for most people there. Though they might be used to it. He looks around at the others while he waits for his turn and notices not a half glancing at him if not full out staring. He shrugs to himself and thinks.

Must be the hair...

He runs a filthy hand through it again.

The checkup isnt a problem and he listens patiently as things are explained.

"Sorry mate," he says to Verity before when he is finished, "I'm sure you'll have a fine time in here."

"At least its better than the last accomodation we had," he replied.

"Yeah, real Ritzy compared to that. Time to get a proper cleanup I suppose," he looks around for some new clothes, "Hey, something new to wear?" he calls.

When some random clothes are thrown his and Ver's way he frowns at them. He then shakes his a little before shrugging.

"I guess a foray into a decent clothing store is called for. If I wear this for too long I wont be able to keep up with you," he nudges Verity with his elbow.

"Yeah, I dont think thats gonna be much of a problem Gaz," even Verity had started to notice the looks Galahad was getting despite being covered in filth.

The two headed off for the shower. It took some time, considering how thick the filth was. But eventually the two of them returned. Verity headed off to get acquainted with his quarters for the next few days and see how his new friends was doing.

Galahad caught a glimpse of the beautiful amazonian Jules and made his way over to her. The new clothes clung a little as he was still a little damp from his shower, but as usual nothing seemed to have touched his hair. It was bone dry and still floating straight up from his head, shiny and silver.

"So, Jules, whats next? I realise I've gotta stay here overnight, but whats going on after that? I was trying to head to the Pentagon cause my father told me too."

[BlueNinja]

Adam runs out of towels as the new couple on the motorcycles come out, and he stands up, stretching. "We should probably introduce ourselves to the lady there," he gestures towards Jules, "and meet the giantess who helped kill the zombies in Vegas." Gesturing, he extends a hand until Wei picks up the ammo press, and with Julia right behind him, walks stiffly over to join the small collection of supers.

"Nice to meet you," he says to Jules, holding out a hand. "I'm Adam. I talked some with James and Dan and Doctor Myfwany before they helped rescue what was left of our encampment in Vegas." As she takes his hand, he bows over it (without kissing her knuckles) in an almost courtly gesture.

Turning to Sarah, he extends his hand again. "I don't think I caught your name earlier, when you were helping us against the incredible vanishing zombies. Thank you." He bows over her hand as well.

"Are you American Indian, or just Mexican?" Julia blurts out, looking up at WhiteElk. With an eloquent expression of Dear God, I'm sorry for that, Adam turns back to face them, and also gently flicks his niece on the back of her head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Remember the conversation we had about rudeness?" he pointedly asks her.

"Yeah," the girl sulks. "Sorry," she insincerely says, looking up at the darker-skinned woman.

Sighing, Adam shrugs his shoulders. "Other than myself and your Captain Fox, are there any supers who can teleport? There's a whole lot of places inside Vegas city limits that we never got a chance to raid for supplies. Especially construction supplies. I overheard a bit of the conversation, and we," he gestures to Dave and Wei, "have some small experience setting up simple buildings for shelter."

[LydaLynn]

Fighting vanishing zombies? Teleport? Well, the overheard conversation was defiantly getting interesting. Olivia continued to make notes, slightly fascinated by the odd silver hair.

But she knew from experience that if she stayed quiet they'd keep talking, likely revealing things they might not otherwise have discussed with her. For now Olivia was happy being quietly unnoticed, she'd ask her questions later when there weren't fascinating discussions going on around her.

[Karren Gaunt]

"My only wish is that I had been able to do more, um, 'Adam' wasn't it? My name's Sarah Daunt but please call me Sarah," the megamorph answered with a smile that turned wry at Julia's innocent faux pass, "Please, have a seat in my cell, all of you, cozily crowded as it's getting. Use the cot if you don't like the floor."

The last bit was directed at least in some part towards the simply breath-catchingly handsome young man with silver hair who had addressed Jules. She managed to keep from staring, but... Wow.

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

Jules blinked at Julia's question. She often got such inquiries, but usually not delivered with such bluntness. "I'm Native American," she answered easily, grinning a little. "Mix of Cherokee, Sioux and Fox, actually."

She rose gracefully to her feet and clapped her hands on her ass and thighs, knocking the dirt loose. "Just a minute, guys. I think I now know everyone's names."

She began pointing as she went around the circle of people clustered around them. "Adam, Sarah, Galahad, Verity and... I'm sorry, I don't actually know your daughter's name, Adam."

[LydaLynn]

Olivia made sure her notes included names, jotting next to each name descriptions of the person the name belonged to. She felt a bit bad about eavesdropping, but didn't want to interrupt either. They were all so beautiful and different. There was no way she could fit in with them, short and mousy and at best average.

With a half restrained sigh, Olivia turned on her bed, again facing those who had been infected. Fascinating as the others were, they would be there later for her to study. Now, she had an opportunity to observe the course of the disease and she shouldn't pass that up.

In the back of her mind, Olivia wondered how many of the people of this place had been changed by the virus, how many mutated individuals lived here. Were they carriers or did their bodies kill the disease? How had they been changed? She itched to catalog the results of the virus, to study and make discoveries. But more than that, she wanted to find an explanation and, ultimately, a vaccine. From what she had seen so far, Olivia didn't expect there was a 'cure' that could return those changed by the disease to their former selves.

For now, she would watch, and when she had the chance, she would work. Olivia wanted to participate in that important work, not because she thought it would make her important, but because it needed to be done. To her mind the need of humanity was too great not to have everyone who could working towards the goal of ending the zombie menace and restoring civilization. Finding the source of the mutation, the cause of the deaths, and the way to inoculate those still unaffected was the work she was suited for. Not engaging in that work was almost physically painful. No longer seeking knowledge for knowledge sake, Olivia was ready to be actively working and not just surviving.

[Jordan]

The three trucks bumped over the rise of Noblethon Road, and the enclave came into sight. "Is that it?" Jessica's voiced crackled over the CB.

"Looks like it," Jordan replied. "What is that penned off area?"

Royce answered from the third vehicle. "It's the only way in or out of the compound, so I'm guessing it's a quarentine zone of some sort. Smart idea."

Jordan slowed his truck and took a better look with his super-human eyes. The beautiful young man's eyes narrowed and magnified the quarentine area. He watched the activity for a moment, suprised at just how many people were moving around the area. "It's a busy place; looks like Esai was right," he reported over the CB. "I think I should go check it out first, if that is a quarentine then I don't want to risk either of you in case any of those people are infected."

"Ten Four" the others replied.

Jordan maneuvered his cube van down the road and after a few minutes stopped outside the outer gates. After a brief introduction and a few questions, the gate guards directed him to where he could park his truck and find someone in charge, a woman named Jules WhiteElk.

Jordan wandered the enclosure briefly, observing the people there waiting for examination, or showers, or freedom. It only took him a few minutes to find the woman the gate guards had described; a beautiful Native American who was clearly like him, Superhuman, in the midst of a conversation with a small group of people.

He approached the group and as politely as possible, interrupted the conversation while brushing a lock of his blonde hair out of his bright blue eyes. "Excuse me, Ms. WhiteElk? The guards at the gate directed me to talk to you," He extended his hand as he continued. "My name is Jordan Rossi. My companions and I are traders and are interested in doing business with your enclave here."

[Galahad]

Galahad takes a seat on the floor after hearing the slight tone at the end of Sarah's sentence.

"Theres no reason why a gentleman should take a seat on the cot while there are so many lovely ladies around. It is only right that they should be given priority to comfort."

He listens intently as the others speak. He is only new hear and the others seemed to at least have some knowledge of each other. Then Jule's stands and goes around the group saying names.

"Oh yes, my apologies, how impolite."

He looks at everyone in the group, smiling slightly at the girls with a slight twinkle in his eyes.

"My name is Galahad, this is my college buddy Verity. We were study up at Washington State. I was studying Civil Engineering. Both our fathers worked at the Yakima Training Facility. Last contact we had with them though was a message from them telling us to get to the Pentagon."

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

"Well, folks, it was nice to meet you," Jules said, nodding to everyone, "but it looks like I have some business to attend to." Yeah, business. She knew that it was foolish to be nervous around the silver-haired man, but when guys got that hot, Jules did start to lose her cool. It was hard enough resisting Violet; Jules actually liked men.

Well, when they weren't rapist assholes trying to use her son as sexual leverage.

"Jordan, care to walk with me?" she asked, relieved to have an excuse to get away from Galahad. She also wished she didn't have an excuse, but when she warred with herself like that, she tended to go on the defensive. And right now 'defensive' meant getting the hell away - even if the new guy just has attractive as Fox. "Since we're talking business?"

[Jordan]

"Absolutely," Said Jordan. He gave a polite nod to the other assembled people jules had been talking to, his eyes lingering over the gorgeous white haired man before he turned and followed Jules.

"you are quite busy here. Does you always get this much traffic?" He asked as they walked.

[LydaLynn]

The arrival of someone new brought Olivia's attention away from the infected. He was quite the looker, but something in his smile warned her that he was all too aware of this fact. She flipped back a page to make note of his name with the others.

This enclave seemed to be a hub of activity for the area. Olivia couldn't imagine a better place to gain samples for her research. Of course, there was no telling if that would be allowed, let alone if she would stay. Frustrated with the world and the insanity that had her so nebulously uncertain, Olivia sighed, fully and with great frustration.

Flipping the page back to her observations of the infected, Olivia returned her gaze to her work. She hadn't really spoken much with anyone and wasn't sure how long she would be there, but she might as well do something useful. Nice as it might be to drool at hansom men, the future of humanity should be the most important thing on her mind. Knowing that didn't stop her eyes from wandering to 'take in the sights' upon occasion.

[Karren Gaunt]

The blonde megamorph smiled back in reply to Galahad, almost as impressed by charming pre Z-dayish gesture as his good looks. Goodness knew there was little enough of either around these times, as scarse in 'practical' value they were rated right or wrong. She basically missed Jordan's arrival and retreat with Jules, composing her willpower before answering, "So I'm not the only one in this group whose college education was cut short by Z-day. Good to know."

She offered a warm glance to Adam and the girl she assumed was his child, "I'm sure your daughter would like to sit on the cot. She can have it in fact since I haven't felt tired since we checked in here."

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

Jules cast a glance back more or less without meaning to, her eyes flicking to Galahad. Damn it! If you stay that subtle, you should just go ahead and rip off his shirt! Way to not get involved.

"We get it in waves," Jules said. "We cleaned out a prison once, that was five hundred right there. But usually we're super quiet - then bang! We have people pouring out of the woodwork."

They walked away from the tents and vehicles and building, far enough away that they could still be seen but not heard. "First things first... how'd you hear about us?" Jules asked, giving the handsome man a cool smile.

[Galahad]

Galahad followed Jules with his eyes as she walked away. He did raise an eyebrow briefly at the lingering look the guy talking with Jules seemed to give him, but shrugged it off as nothing.

He brings himself back to group when he's addressed by the woman Jules had marked as Sarah.

"Sarah, was it? Yes, both our degrees have been halted, permanently I would probably say. I dont really know whats going on though. I was in the mountains with my buddies and Grandpa. When we came down to get supplies the world was like this,"

He opens his arms wide, gesturing to everything.

"Its all a bit much to take in. I mean, my hair wasnt always like this. And unless your brother is that chinese basketball player, then I have doubts about your height. Weird things are going on now. I think I'm in shock by it all really. Though right now I just wish I could get to an Tommy Hilfiger store or something. Just to get rid of these rags and get something decent on."

[Jordan]

Originally Posted By: Jules WhiteElk

Jules cast a glance back more or less without meaning to, her eyes flicking to Galahad. Damn it! If you stay that subtle, you should just go ahead and rip off his shirt! Way to not get involved.

"We get it in waves," Jules said. "We cleaned out a prison once, that was five hundred right there. But usually we're super quiet - then bang! We have people pouring out of the woodwork."

They walked away from the tents and vehicles and building, far enough away that they could still be seen but not heard. "First things first... how'd you hear about us?" Jules asked, giving the handsome man a cool smile.

"Word of mouth, basically," He said. "A group we trade with has done business with people who've done business with you. My contact heard that you we a stable enclave with a bunch of people with super powers and he figured that would interest my associates and myself. He was right."

"Jessica, my associate, is looking for a place to settle down and open a trading post, while I want to meet other people with powers," He continued. "I've heard rumors of some fantastic things but I haven't met any other super people yet. I have a lot of questions and I'm hoping to find some answers."

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

"Well, you've met a couple of us now," Jules said with a wry smile. "We have several of them here - Violet, James, Fox, myself... we're all supers." As are you, my hot friend. At least you're not painfully hot like Galahad in there. "And this is a stable enclave, largely because of the supers here."

She leaned against the fence with a casualness that only someone immune to the infection could manage. "As for questions... I can try to answer them, but I make no promises. I'm not sure anyone has all the answers to what has happened in this fucked-up world."

[Jordan]

"I'd like that, the chance to talk to super people with more experience I mean," Jordan said, his body relaxing as he unconciously mimiced Jules' easy posture.

"So what's your policy on traders? The past couple of places we've stopped have been, err, unsuitable for what Jessica is looking for. Most of them have rules about equal distribution of anything brought into their camps," The young man smiled ruefully, and seemed almost embareassed. "Jessica is looking for a place she can set up shop, create a trading post I guess."

Jordan paused, seeming to be slightly uncomfortable before continuing. "Anyways, we a fairly good selection of stuff; garden seeds and tools, some unopened Ikea furniture, clothes, CDs and personal electronics, tools, medicine. My friends are not too far away, with the other trucks. Do you allow traders into your compound or would it be better if we set up outside?"

[BlueNinja]

Adam smiles as Jules departs before he can do more than open his mouth - and despite his own interest in women, even he's having trouble not staring at the silver-haired man who could put any bodice-ripper book cover to shame. "This is my niece, Julia."

"Julia Angela Moore," the nine-year old intones solemnly, then holds out both hands to Sarah to shake one of hers.

"Thanks for the help back there," Adam tells her. "It was ... well, by the time you got there, that was the end of a twelve hour fight." He shakes his head. "I'm hoping that was the end of those teleporting zombies. They never seemed to teleport more than line of sight, but -"

"You're cute," Julia interrupts, staring at Galahad. As other people start chuckling, she pulls her legs up, curling up on the cot. Adam shrugs, giving a little "Kids, what can you do?" roll of the eyes.

"Anyway, I think I'll be taking it easy for a few days - taking out that last zombie, the leader-one, makes me feel like I was doing jello shots of bleach and battery acid." He holds up a hand, and after a moment a faint, vaguely threatening golden light envelops his hand. "Has a benefit though."

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

"I wouldn't let a dog stay outside the fence," Jules snorted. She eyed him for a moment. "We're open to traders, and you keep what's yours. If you go on a sponsored raid, one lead by Fox, then yeah, some of the stuff from that goes to the Refuge. Anything that you find on your own is yours. I know that some places have to impose a tax - we're lucky enough that we don't have to do that to feed our people.

"There are some rules, they're pretty common sense," she said softly. "Don't start trouble. Fox is in charge - don't try to fuck with that. Don't steal something that isn't yours. Those are pretty much the big ones." She smiled, knowing that the rules were as sweet as they came in this world. "Does any of that sound like a problem?"

[Jordan]

Jordan Smiled at Jules' dog comment. "So far your rules seem reasonable. There are more than a few enclaves out there that aren't so trusting, but then they don't have a bunch of super powered people to keep them safe so, I guess I can understand why,"

He sighed and stretched before continuing. "Well, if there is no problem, I'll radio my people and have them come in. How long do you keep people in quarentine?"

[Karren Gaunt]

"A pleasure to meet both you and your Uncle, Julia Angela Moore," Sarah answers after retrieving her hand from the girl before turning back to the adults, giving ever-slightly-more of her attention to Galahad than Adam. She couldn't quite seem to help it.

"I think I know what you mean, Adam, a low tingle that doesn't hurt and leaves you feeling better than before you felt it. At least that's what it was like when I gained the need to keep an eye out for Big and Talls back on Z-day and just now after we finished up shifting your people here. I'm going to want to run through some drills just to see what I got this time."

"What happened in DC, by the way?" the megamorph asked Galahad, "I'm curious."