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Aberrant: Dead Rising - Being Human (Fin)


Karren Gaunt

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At the dorm building, someone found a mostly empty washing machine running and clucked their tongue at someone forgetting the rules they had come up with to conserve the precious water supply they managed to jury rig after the city water system failed. Hearing the shower running in a near-by bathroom, the Marion native went over and knocked on the door, a woman's voice, warm but stern, "You know we agreed in Mr. Morgan's meeting that we're not to use the tower water without checking, don't you? There's only so much clean water water we can manage to get up there."

Meanwhile, enroute the building, the blonde megamorph chuckled in graditude, "I'm slightly blessed to have found two such places, I think. I'll certainly do all I can to convince Mr. Morgan so. We really don't have a lot to spare in trade, but we do have five former nursing students who know a fair amount about stitching people up cleanly. That service has been worth a lot with past travelers. Even if for too many people there's only one treatment that works for their problem. Still, if we don't have some faith in tommorow, might as well lie down and not wake up."

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Dan nodded. "It likely would be. With Myfwany moving on to further her research, we're left largely without a resident doctor."

"I'm not one for giving up myself. Your clean water issues, is it a lack of access, or non functioning equipment? I can help some on the latter, though the former is abit beyond my means."

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"Oh, right, I just finished, I'll fix the water problem in payment for the shower."

Matt turned off the water and did a quick flash dry, some bright light appearing under the door and disappearing, "In any case, I'm indecent until I get my clothes, so, unless you want to see me mostly naked...."

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There was a pause outside the bathroom containing Mathew, the kind of pregnant silence of someone thinking frantically. "Could you stay right there, please? Outsiders aren't allowed to wander around the enclave, and someone could get hurt. Someone will be back with your clothes and an escort to the quarantine very soon," replied the voice, inflection on that last part making clear that infection was her primary concern.

Meanwhile, enroute to the building, Sarah shrugged amiably, "We've got the river that way about two miles and enough supplies to boil it up, but it's mainly a question of 'too much work for too few hands' to get more than the one building with working water. I don't know the details, but I'll point you at our main engineer at dinner. I think he worked at one of the local factories. I just did the heavy lifting for him from time to time."

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"So hope we all," replied the blonde megamorph as they stepped through an entrance into a somewhat busy lobby area, a few people bustling from the stairs into a dining area where something meaty with a hint of mixed vegetables can be smelled cooking, "Hmmm. Smells good. Let's get stowed and come back."

She led the way to an out of the way table in front of an improptu drawing of the building little numbers showing where each of the Enclave's 56 Residents are staying. Behind the table is a harried-looking older woman speaking into a radio, "...keep looking then, John. We can't have someone wandering around potentially waiting to die and bite some one. Mr. Morgan sa... Oh, hello, Sarah. Mr. Hawkins, is it? Welcome, too. We have a bit of a mess in that the man who was in quarantine with you just escaped. If you want a room to dump those packs before we do our best to make you sick of us, let me fish up a key from my pile in just two beats, okay?"

She gave the smile of stressed-out people who are happy to see you, truly glad to chat and truly needing to be doing something else five minutes ago.

It made Sarah laugh and the woman laughed, too, the metahuman turning to Dan, "This is Marien. She runs things while Mr. Morgan is too busy being a good example to the rest of us to actually run things."

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"It is nice to meet you Marien. Administration is such a thankless job, I'm sure your work is appreciated though."

He waited for a key and looked to Sarah. "We should help with Matt after we're done. I know we just got here, but if he's like us we should try to help him, if anything to keep anyone from getting hurt by accident."

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"Oh. An officer *and* a gentleman. Good catch," responded Marien with the gentle sarcasm of the good-natured to Sarah, fishing out a pair of keys labeled 216 A and 216 B, "Here you go."

Sarah nodded and accepted the keys, passing one to Dan, "Got a spare radio so you can patch us into the grid? Food always goes better with a job well done."

"Of course, don't go running off before we find him though. Everyone would kill me for monopolizing your time first night back. Good job or no, Mr. Hawkins."

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Matt stood there a moment, and then went to the washer and looked, "great its on spin, should be easy enough."

He grabbed his clothes out of the machine and put them on wet, the room is then filled with a bright flash and steam before he makes his way out of the window and into the refuge. He swiftly makes his way around, making a few wrong turns along the way, getting spotted a couple times and making quick time out of the area.

Within minutes he's back to the quarantine and he slips in through a window and through the bars and sits back on the cot and lays down, "that was fun."

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Marien and Sarah blurt out the frequency at the same time, glance at each other at the moment, and smile. "Oh, tell me you're staying, Sarah. You make my duty rosters so much easier to fill out," the older woman commented practically, "Mr. Morgan always disapproved but he never disagreed when I put you on double repair shifts."

"And I never minded because I could do the work," Sarah answered as she watched Dan presumably fiddle with his radio to ready it, "But I don't think so. Dan's Enclave is doing very good works, and I want to be a part of them. They've got someone trying to solve the Z, Marien, and I think she can do it."

"Oh really," Marien commented with wide eyes, "That sounds very..."

Meanwhile across the settlement, Matthew found himself facing a very irrate Micheal, the quarantine warden resting one hand on a gun and frowning as his subordinate called the message out over the network, "This is John at Quarantine. We have the escapee. He's... re-entered the quarantine with clean clothes and a shower. Over."

Micheal was considerally less happy than normal, growling, "Okay, Mr. Matthew. I'm not gonna ask how you got out of my cells, but John here will make sure there's no more tricks out of you. Unless you're metahuman in which case I don't want in my cells unless Mr. Morgan tells me so."

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"So you mean if I can use super powers, I don't have to stay? Why didn't you say so, yup I have powers, how else can someone get out of here and within 30 minutes be back in freshly clean and dry clothes." Matt sits up, "I can fix your water problem by the way, sure it's bum fuck nowhere, but we can get a good system going here piece of cake." He offers them a toothy grin.

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Matt thinks, "oh come now, you can't expect a magician to give up his tricks on command, besides, you've seen several examples already, the dry clothes, the fact I never used a lighter or matches for my cig, or maybe how someone got through these bars without you noticing it, but if you need a child safe example let me help you." He turns around and snaps his fingers, a flash of light and heat appear at the mans feet, as there's now a small burning smiley face staring back at the man.

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"Okay then," replied the man, trying not to fluster at the thought of what else this metahuman could do with some kind of control over fire in a complex where water was scarse and fire extinguishers even scarser, "Out you go. Food's in the building where you went to wash up if you went where I think, Be respectful to Mr. Morgan, don't hurt anyone, and if Zeds show up, you probably know what you should do."

He put the rifle down, pulled out the cell keys and moved to unlock the door, his back up vanishing out to more important duties.

"...And it sounds like our man is on his way here, another Metahuman for Mr. Morgan to court," Marien answered across the compound and one radio call later to the two Supers in front of her, quietly impressed by words of the garbled goings on but relunctaly sucumbing to the invisible paperwork piling up on her 'desk', "Go stow your things. I can take care of the rest."

Sarah smiled and complied with a 'let's go on' look, confident and in her element with that out of the way as she strode for the stairs, a blonde amazon happy and at peace in the world in a way Dan wouldn't have seen since the nightmare of Jon's laboratory purging.

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"That simple...I'm still a person you know nothing about...eh..well I'll be off then," with that Matt made his way out of the quarantine and back to the dorm, he looked around, "wonder if anyone I know made it..." he paused and gazed at the sky.

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"Hello." The voice behind Matt was soft and gentle; when the pink-haired man turned around he saw an older man, who gazed at him with eyes full of infinite peace. "I understand you are our newest guest. I thought I'd come and see if you needed anything." There was something compelling about him; a gentleness that suffused his entire being.

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"I think we'd have to look very hard to find boring in any of the enclaves these days between what the zeds do to us and what we do to each other," chuckled the blonde megamorph, looking from side to side as she tracked numbers on the second floor of the dorm building, "As for 'abnormal' and whatever *that* means these days, Mr. Morgan's good example has a way of helping people to get over their problems. Myself included."

They reached a locked door marked 216 which both of the keys given them fit, Sarah unclicking the barrier to reveal a small common room connected to two bedrooms respectively marked A and B. The furniture within the dim space was neatly arranged and had the look of an empty space cared for every so often, the fading sunset from outside betraying gathering grit in far corners. "And here we are, a guestroom. Swept and dusted once a week, just in case. Our things will be safe here."

Sarah put action to word, shucking off her pack and leaning it against a wall, pausing with a wistful expression when she put one hand on the strap of her weapon sheath, chuckling to herself.

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"Nothing really," she mused aloud at Dan with a smile and deciding to leave the blade with her pack, "Just realizing that they gave me my sword here to protect myself and others on my walkabout and it did just that. Brought me home again a stronger person with a new frie... no, I hope I'm not assuming too much to call you a partner, Dan."

The smile turned a little shy and she looked away in the dark, "You can keep a few weapons on you if you'd like. The off duty guards will just in case of zeds or raiders. Just nothin like a machine gun or sword that'd get in the way. We may be nicer in a few ways where can but we're still an enclave of survivors."

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"True," the blonde megamorph answered, "Let's go. I may not need to eat as much as I used to, but I'm going to enjoy this."

And with a quick locking of the door behind them, the two Supers headed to the dining area. It was a large space, the former cafeteria for the dorm building in-fact, and while the 30-some survivors currently within nowhere filled the space and tables, it was an alive space. There was the chatter of people sharing their day and clatter of dishes in use, a line formed with a large pot of some stew brown and meaty smelling at it's head. And while the portions served weren't large, they were served with a smile and nod by both server and receipient.

The motion stilled as Sarah and Dan appeared and then a spike of welcoming noise and gestures. Sarah took the inviatation with relish and strode into and among the people of the Christmas City Enclave, asking and being asked what happened, a treasured returnee completely and happily unselfconsious at being the center of attention.

There were a few, looking to be centered around the off-duty guards from this morning, who looked at the hub bub surrounding Sarah and instead waved Dan over to their table.

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Dan let Sarah have her moment of welcome, instead taking the guards up on their silent invitation. "Gentlemen." He nodded his head as he sat. "I have to say you've all done pretty well here from what I've seen."

He looked to see if there wasa any rank insignia discreetly, or if their bearing hinted at former military personnel.

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Although free of official insignia as any of the men at the table and lacking the traces of a millitary background a few of them seemed to have, Sean seemed in charge by sheer gregarious personality. "Better off than some, worse off than others, Mr. Hawkins," the older man returned with a grim smile, "But thanks for notiscing. We've been lucky in our oppurtunities and blessed with just enough common sense to even thrive a little with them. Always a lot to do and look out for though, as I guess you know from your end of things."

Another of the guards leaned forward, having just finished a mouthful of stew, "So, a Marine. Can't say I've seen many of you since things fell apart, God knows that I've have been glad to. Outside of those RUS ghosts you keep hearing nasty rumors about second and third hand, mind you."

Meanwhile, Sarah had been defeated by good cheer and forced to sit down at an even more crowded than normal table and provided with a bowl of stew, still answering questions and telling some of her happier stories about what she had found on her trek out west. The Refuge featured rather prominently among them as most of her months of wandering had been rather... spiritually bracing and she said as much to reactions of sympathy.

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Matt spun on his heels quickly before he even started his statement, everything Matt did so far had been quick and deliberate, graceful and refined, aside from his moments of psychosis. He relaxed when he realized the man was only slightly creepy.

"Uh, yeah, still getting used to the concept of, people...know where I can get some smokes, well at least where the nearest city is that I might be able to loot some turkish silvers...?

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The man smiled serenely. "I don't smoke myself, so I don't know. But I'll ask around the enclave, if you wish."

Matt hesitated, then nodded.

"Alright. I'll find out and let you know," Morgan replied. "In the meantime, would you like to join us for dinner and lend us your company?" He had a gentle way about him - so in Matt's eyes, he was either a crazy old serial killer or demented.

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"I'm not sure," Morgan admitted with a smile. "I didn't check. I'm sure it will be delicous. Harriet is in charge of our kitchens. She was a mother of eight, so she's used to feeding a lot of mouths."

"Wow, eight?" Matt asked, surprised by the number.

"Well, there are fewer now," Morgan said sadly. He was silent as they continued their trek to the cafeteria. Morgan was smiling as the door opened to the buzz of excitement. Sarah was telling her stories as he made his way through the line for food. Drawing Matt with him, his mere presence was enough to secure two seats across from Sarah. "Please," he told Sarah with a smile, "continue."

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Sarah had paused respectfully in a slightly-sanitized version of the purging of Jon's laboratory when Morgan sat down, willing to concede the floor to her mentor, but nodded with a grin as she picked it up again, "So there I was, on my hands and knees with my back scraping the ceiling at giant size, feeling the monsters biting at me even as I swept them away to pop against the walls. I barely missed hitting Kristen as she fought, stomping and tearing at them as well, the flashing light of Dan's attacks but a glimmer by the door as he fought to protect Doctor Myf. The leeches screamed as they died, inhuman and hungry for blood but outmatched at last. Their numbers thinned and thinned until there were none left, only the four of us left alive in a room full of fallen monsters and the Super Zed's former equiptment."

The blonde megamorph had omitted the detail of where Super Zed's came from so far, aware of the need to show that monsters could be beaten but not wanting to thinking too deeply on her potential future as a monster.

"For he and his monstrous mate had fallen to the first blows of Kristen's borrowed strength, even before the hoard attacked, and with the fight in that room, the complex was won save for a final sweep of living quarters where in better days the people of that Enclave had lived. There was horror in that place, a victim left to rot by the monsters, the blood-painted eyes of whatever cruelty had seized the survivors in their last days, signs that in their madness the super zeds had attempted to breed despite the fact they were dead and twisted, traces of normality lost... But there was one thing good in that dark place," she finished, "A baby but a few months old and alive and human... Afraid, I doubted the miracle for another cruel trick of the place, waiting to do what I might have to do to protect others, but I was wrong. He was healthy. And beyond that, a metahuman besides. Hope in a place that seemed bereft of it but is not bereft even now as the Doctor turns a place of horror into a place of research into the Z plaguing our world."

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Matt listened to her story. She wad cute, and big, and seems underage. He pauses, could there be babies turned zombie out there?

He seemed to daydream off, some baby on some guys face,'bwaaains omnomnomnom'.

A cute woman more of age walks by and his gaze travels, he absent mindedly sings, "I. Don't. Want to set the world. On. Fiiire. I just want to staaaaart a flame in your heeeaaart...." he stops, remembering present company, "uh, yes, soooo a cure, that would be awesome."

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"That is quite a story," Morgan said with a charming smile to Sara. It might be seen as sexually charged, but there was no such feeling in the warmth in Morgan's gaze. "I didn't know what I was sending you out to, Sara." He paused as Matt spoke - or rather sang. Far from looking disgruntled by Matt's outburst, he was grinning. "Yes, a cure would be wonderful. Sara, Dan - how long before the research can begin? Is there anything Christmas City could do to help?"

"Us?" one of the men asked, blinking.

"Yes, us. Why should we wait for someone else to do the research?" Morgan asked seriously. "All of the hope and things we work towards can be given to us by a cure." His expression was grave and hopeful as he added, "This could be the single greatest thing we can do for our future. Cure the Z. We could really start to rebuild."

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"I'm not sure, Mr. Morgan," confessed the blonde megamorph after nodding enthusiatic agreement with his suggestion, "We just finished cleaning out and fixing up what we could in the lab, but from Doctor Myf's determination, I think she'll be starting soon as possible to do whatever *is* possible. I will ask as soon as Dan and I return to the Refuge, though."

"...If you feel that I should return to the Refuge and aren't needed more here that is, Mr. Morgan," Sarah continued with a pause and a conflicted glance at Dan that conveyed the hint of the developing partnership she felt with the other Super, "I feel I can do a lot of good over there, enough metahumans there to go after the roots of the problem in a way so far beyond just surviving I didn't believe it at first, but if you need me here, I will stay."

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Matt finishes his plate politely, his appetite hadn't been much since Z day, but he didn't want to turn them down, "well, I'm done, think I'll work on that water problem, where are you guys getting your water from? I can maybe figure out a way to make a better collection method and filtering process to help make the supply a more steady and reliable source."

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After chatting with the other men, Dan was pulled into the main conversation with Morgan, Matt, and Sarah. "Myfwany will begin quickly, now that she has what she needs. As far as how you can contribute, I won't say no to any help you can offer in medical training. She is one of the only doctors we have in a refuge of almost five hundred. If you have some personnel among you who'd be willing to spend some time each week at the refuge, either training others, or helping see to the odd injuries bound to occur, we can help provide what supplies you need here."

he nodded. "I myself am both an Engineer and mechanic, sof if you need some vehicles fixed, I can likely help on that end."

He looked to morgan after Matt questioned him. "Maybe I can also help on the water issue, at least to get things fully functional."

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Morgan smiled. "If you can help, we'll happily accept it. That kind of altruism is what we'll need to rebuild our world into the bright and shining place it used to be, and well again." He didn't seem to intend to sound so chipper but it didn't sound false either. He was a Believer.

He turned and looked at a man further down the table. "Randy, would you take them to the filters and show them how we get our water clean?"

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The man stood, having finished his soup, "Of course, Mr. Morgan."

He led Matthew and Dan into the basement after fetching a flashlight from a supply closet. "Watch your head," Randy warned, ducking under a pipe, "Had to cut the power to the lights down here if we wanted to light up some more areas above ground without running everywhere for fuel once the city grids stopped working. Really hated having to tell Mr. Morgan there was no way me and the other guys who know their way around a six bolt flange could keep that blessing going once the inevitable happened. Anyway, here we are."

He pointed the flashlight around as he pointed out each piece of equiptment and what they'd done to get it work. A big pipe, cut off from the sewer grid by blinds at all the intersections, leading to the river, gravity fed with a series of filters in place, a fueless but potentially functional boiler treated to kill anything the filters missed. A pump and it's back up to kick the water up to a holding tank on the roof once a day for an hour or two for the rest of the day where a solar water heater guaranteed a little hot water for important tasks. All in all, a lot of work and continued maintenance for a bit of gain and comfort in an uncomfortable, dangerous world.

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