Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 2: Chasing a Bee

[Dan Hawkins]

"Roger that. I'm gonna need a few more minutes here to pack up what I can, then I'll meet you atthe armory."

[The Fine Balance]

((Dan))

"Yeah, there's guns 'n' stuff in the sporting department. I dunno about computers....we'd take ammo 'n' canned food, and wire cutters, nails, stuff like that."

She doesn't answer his question about the enclave, and after a moment she emerges, in clean clothes if not clean herself, dressed in a grey long-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans. She looked him in the eyes, trying to get his measure. There was a nervous shiftiness to her movements; Dan was an intimidating man. "The enclave's good as dead. I ain't ever goin' back there. I'd rather die."

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

Jules hung in Morgan's arms, tired and empty. The fetid corpse that had been Ben hung in her arms. Everything felt heavy; her body, Ben's body. She almost felt like she could be as dead as Ben. But her heart still beat and the blood pulsed through her body and she lived.

Looking ahead, she saw a trail of dust rising. That had to be the convey that Morgan had mentioned. It didn't matter, but she noticed. What she didn't see was whether Cal was following them or not. She didn't - couldn't care.

[Dan Hawkins]

"Fine with me, come on." He leads her over to the Sporting department, grabbing batteries, and with a trio of shots, he blows the locks off the gun and ammunition lockers. He began filling the bag with all the ammunition he for his handguns and what could be used by the others in the convoy.

He held her gaze when her eyes met his. "Nobody wants to go back to hell, but I assure you it's all around us. There's only a handful of civilized places left in this godforsaken world."

[The Fine Balance]

((Dan))

"Yer tellin' me," she said dryly. "So is there a spot for me in your 'civilized place'?" She looked around and picked out an SIG P226 and matching ammunition.

((Jules&Fox))

Cal managed to shut his mouth and nodded frantically, nearly leaping back into the car and strapping himself in, following Morgan rather slowly to dodge abandoned cars and other road hazards.

In the air, Morgan could see the rest of the crew edging into the city.

((James, Priest and Co.))

They caught up with the convoy easily, as it began to trudge into town. Priest had a clear view of Morgan flying in their direction. Meeting him in the middle, however, was going to be difficult: the roads were clogged with vehicles and discarded objects. A route through would have to be careful and possibly more trouble than it was worth...but it looked possible.

[Dan Hawkins]

"Yeah. We don't turn survivors away like the others I've come across. Fox is the one to talk to on that, since it's his show." He clicks the radio one more time. "Speaking of..."

"Fox this is Hawkins, we're done here, well with as much as I can haul on my own. You want to bring a truck, or are we gonna head to the base?"

He carefully notes where Lorraine stores her chosen weapon. If need be, he'd do the humane thing if she turned, but he sincerely hoped that wouldn't be needed. He's not fully trusting of her, but if she's okay, then anyone who wants to fight back is fine by him.

[Priest]

Leo gave Priest one of those looks, one of those "do we have to?" looks.

"Zombie activity is low and the Walmart looks clear. Let's go get them."

"Everyone, spot for Leo. We're going to go pick them up" ... and put them were, Priest had no idea as there were already people hanging off the truck.

[Mr Fox]

Fox breaks in on the radio, "Keep a sharp eye out people. We've got some strange zombie activity in this little town. I just ran across one that had big ass fangs and wasn't your run of the mill dummy. If you start getting that creepy feeling that something's not right, shoot first and ask questions later if you know what I mean. I've got the convoy in sight now and I've got 2 survivors with me. Rendezvous at the Wally World and we'll head out from there. Just remember to keep your eyes open."

[Dan Hawkins]

"Roger that."

He looks over to Lorraine. "We're gonna go wait the safest place I know. Take my hand."

"There's a ladder in the back."

"Too slow and not particularly safe, my way is faster and safer, you just have to trust me."

After a moments consideration she takes his outstretched hand and he takes hold of her. "Stand on my feet."

"Getting a little Fresh ain'tcha?"

"It works better this way."

With that he rises into the air, holding her tight and after a few moments lands on the roof of the Walmart. A cursory evaluation of the rooftop shows no signs of other occupants and Dan starts reloading the clips for his battle Rifle as he waits for the convoy.

"The others are on their way. Now we wait." It was as though flying was something he did regularly, not something humans normally couldn't do.

[Courier]

James makes some huge hops with Erica in his arms and lands on a roof where he can watch what's left of the caravan go past. After he lands he asks her,

"Erica, what do you want?"

[The Fine Balance]

Erica smiled. "If you can't guess by now, you don't deserve the power you've been given."

[Courier]

James thinks for a moment then says with a smile,

"Trying to destroy the world? Erica..." James waves his hand vaguely towards some zombies, "...there's lots of dead people to kill if you feel the need."

"And there's a saying, if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem." James sighs and continues, "You have so much potential."

[Priest]

The interception wasn't going to work, so Priest had Leo make for the Walmart and Dan. The parking lot was surprisingly crowded for the End of the World, but you could figure you could always find a traffic problem at Wally's World.

The truck pulled around to the back of the store. Priest informed Dan of were the were going. Sure enough, they found a trailer (with all flat tires) sitting at the back loading area.

"Okay. Let's find some tires. Leo knows the sizes we need, so let's not get silly. Everyone keep in communication."

With that, the team got ready to head out.

Violet was left alone with Leo, Sarah and the two dogs. She could still hear them talking occassionally on headsets.

[Joani]

Violet got out of the truck and took a brief scan of their surroundings. "I guess we are supposed to guard the truck?", she said to no one in particular. She was still in a foul mood and it spread around her like a contagious cloud.

(ooc: Emp. Manipulation active - anyone close to her should make a roll else her mood will affect him/her)

[The Fine Balance]

Originally Posted By: Courier

James thinks for a moment then says with a smile,

"Trying to destroy the world? Erica..." James waves his hand vaguely towards some zombies, "...there's lots of dead people to kill if you feel the need."

"And there's a saying, if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem." James sighs and continues, "You have so much potential."

She laughed at that. "The world will destroy itself, James, with or without my help. There isn't any magic cure. Haven't you noticed everything getting worse? There were signs, before this happened, that things were Not As They Should Be. But everyone ignored them. I ignored them. No more. As you said...if you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem. And this is the solution. The 'final solution' if you like." Her smile was oddly brittle. "What did you think your neato powers were for?"

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan took hold of Loraine and smiled. "They're here, C'mon." He takes her hands and flies back down into the store. Together they make their way to the Automotive area and Dan takes hold of the door into the garage and rips the door from its hinges. He looks back to Lorraine. "Don't worry, I work out alot."

He moves on inside and undoes one of human-sized exits and greets the others. "Hey over here. Back the transport up to the last bay, that's where the tire cage is."

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Alex OOC

She laughed at that. "The world will destroy itself, James, with or without my help. There isn't any magic cure. Haven't you noticed everything getting worse? There were signs, before this happened, that things were Not As They Should Be. But everyone ignored them. I ignored them. No more. As you said...if you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem. And this is the solution. The 'final solution' if you like." Her smile was oddly brittle. "What did you think your neato powers were for?"

James shrugged helplessly. He was seriously unhappy about this...

*No choice. No, I have choices, they're all just worse. Let her go and she'll come back, probably not against 'me' but the girls aren't bullet proof. Try to reform her and I'm stuck to her wrist until she gets free. Violet saw this coming like 2 minutes after they met. That's why she left on the truck, she didn't want to see how it ends.*

*...*

*Fine. That's my job and it's been a crappy day already. Maybe I can get V to cheer me up later. What a damn shame.*

James replied, "Well..." *Something like this I guess.*

James drew her in close with both arms then brought his full superhuman strength to bear and tried to pressure his murderous blade into her back.


(Clinch Attack, with Claws making it lethal damage. Should be automatic since he was already holding her. Unless something unusual happens he'll continue till she's dead.)

[The Fine Balance]

Erica shudders for a moment, gasping, pain and a strange sort of exultation warring on her face, and she leans forward, kissing James' cheek. Then she dies.

Her blood is red, as usual, but once she's dead her body begins to shift back into the slightly overweight, doughy-faced man they saw before. The look on his face is a bizarre duplicate of hers.

[Courier]

James stared a long time at the dead MAN(?)...

*(@&()#&%! Idiot!!!*

*And you were seriously thinking of... OK. Best not think about it. It never happened. Of course it really didn't happen. Good God I feel unclean. Yuck!*

James checked the body, again, to make sure *he* was dead... then he searched *him* for a wallet, or map. Then he kicked the body off the roof and down into some undead.

Over the radio he sent,

"James here. He, I mean 'She' is dead. She tried to escape and I had to kill her."

[Joani]

Originally Posted By: Courier

Over the radio he sent,

"James here. He, I mean 'She' is dead. She tried to escape and I had to kill her."

Violet smiled as she heard the message and instantly her mood changed accordingly. Good boy, she would have caused only trouble anyways.

She walked around the Truck and waited impatiently for the others to come back with the new tires. This was taking too long already and she wanted to get back to the base as soon as possible.

[Priest]

"Better dead than escaped," Priest mutters. Life was hard and with a Special, they were just harder. It wasn't like anyone had a high-tech prison. With that, Priest's mind moved over to other things.

"Let's get enough tires out here to get the trailer moving then we can get what we need for our convoy. All we need is enough tires to get the trailer moving. It won't have to go far."

"Willy and Bethany, Andy and me will get those tires off. Leo, and Cody start getting those new tires. Violet, Rhonda and Sarah keep overwatch. Dan, could you and your newcomer help Leo and watch over them?"

[Courier]

Regardless of what he found, after making sure the body wouldn't spring back to life when the zombies started eating, James leapt off to Wal-Mart to join with Violet the rest of the party.

[The Fine Balance]

Originally Posted By: Courier

James checked the body, again, to make sure *he* was dead... then he searched *him* for a wallet, or map. Then he kicked the body off the roof and down into some undead.

No map, no wallet. Keys to something or other, a small knife, and a scrap of paper with the words "THERE'S A HOLE IN THE BUCKET" scribbed on it in smudged black ink.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nodded and climbed up on top of the truck and helped Lorraine do the same. Up here we have a clear field of fire, if it's dead and moving take its head off, it's that simple." With that he floated up into the air and took an overwatch with his battle rifle, actively scanning the area for any undead.

[The Fine Balance]

Originally Posted By: Dan Hawkins

Dan took hold of Loraine and smiled. "They're here, C'mon." He takes her hands and flies back down into the store. Together they make their way to the Automotive area and Dan takes hold of the door into the garage and rips the door from its hinges. He looks back to Lorraine. "Don't worry, I work out alot."

Lorraine is mostly silent, perhaps in shock, as she allows Dan to lead her on. Eventually she seems to recover, a bit of colour returning to her sallow cheeks. She nods. "Eat a lotta spinach?" she asked dryly.

Originally Posted By: Dan Hawkins

Dan nodded and climbed up on top of the truck and helped Lorraine do the same. Up here we have a clear field of fire, if it's dead and moving take its head off, it's that simple." With that he floated up into the air and took an overwatch with his battle rifle, actively scanning the area for any undead.

Lorraine gritted her teeth and cocked her Sig, scanning the area unprofessionally but carefully.

There are several undead in the immediate area and more farther off, too distant to shoot very accurately. The bitch of it is that the sound of gunfire will alert the others, who in turn will attract others, until a huge chain is slowly formed. The only way to deal with that is to nip it in the bud and limit the area of attraction, change location, or just exterminate every single one.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan calls up on the radio. "We got any other fliers in the group I've got an idea to buy us some time, but it's gonna take more than just me."

[Courier]

James thought,

*No wallet but he keeps his keys? Maybe the other bozo has an idea where his cache is.* James put the keys and the paper in his pocket.

Originally Posted By: Dan Hawkins

Dan calls up on the radio. "We got any other fliers in the group I've got an idea to buy us some time, but it's gonna take more than just me."

James sent back,

"I'm on my way and I'm feeling pretty pissed off. If you need a diversion I'd love to start a fight somewhere."

[Mr Fox]

Morgan hovered over the convoy as it loaded up near the Walmart holding his sister-in-law in his arms, more comforting now than urgent. Once he saw that everyone was doing what needed to be done he flew down to the roof of a neighboring building and landed setting his passengers down, one alive and the other very much dead. Feeling awkward he stroked Jules hair, "Jules, you know what we need to do. Jules... he's not going to wake up." Seeing that she was still lost in her grief and denial, "Jules! Snap out of it. There will be time for grieving later. He's gone. Put him down."

[Dan Hawkins]

"Roger that James. There's a group about a quarter-mile further into the city. Let's go get their attention. Stay in the air and if ya can cut yourself once you get there. the blood will draw them in. We gotta buy some time for the convoy."

He goes around to the propane cage and finds a single full one. "This will be enough." He stops by Lorraine and smiles. "Stay here and guard the others. I'm gonna go give the zomibes something to focus on." With that he hoists the tank up and goes off to meet with James.

After he's a ways away he radios Morgan privately. "Fox come in. This is Hawkins. I need you to watch The civilian I found. She's on top of the convoy with the .22 mag. She may be infected, but thus far she's shown no signs. Keep an eye on her for me. James and I are gonna go distract the dead-heads. Radio when you guys are ready to head out."

[Courier]

James sends back,

"Hawk, I hop, I can't hover. I can't bleed either. But you're talking about going a couple of blocks away from Wal-Mart and making an obvious distraction, right?"

"How about I land on the street and start killing them in Hand To Hand? That should draw their attention."

"James out."

[Mr Fox]

Morgan responded to directly to Hawkins, "I've got a little situation of my own here at the moment and someone I need watched for infection as well. Keep on your toes too, I ran across a new breed of zombie a few minutes ago. Looked human but had big ass fangs and had some kind of mojo, seemed somewhat intelligent too. We're either looking at a mutation or something else. Either way life just got more interesting. I'll let everyone know once we get back on the road, but watch for unusual behavior."

Over the open channel to everyone, "Look alive people, Hawkins and James are going to provide a little distraction to keep the critters off you. We have two survivors that were collected just now. Watch em both closely until we are sure they aren't infected, but make em welcome. Oh and MOVE YOUR ASSES, we've got places to go!"

[Joani]

Violet was about to complain about James' absence when she heard Captain Morgan broadcast something about survivors that probably got infected. Fumbling around with the radio she managed to sent something back after cursing again to herself for being there in the first place.

"Captain... I think I can notice if they change. I can tell zombs from humans apart, trust me on that one.", she didn't quite know why she offered help but it felt like the right thing to do given the extreme circumstances.

[Mr Fox]

"Right Violet, keep your eye on them and if they are ok, make the welcome and make sure they don't put anyone else in danger."

[Dan Hawkins]

"Roger that, just be ready to jump way the hell off when I give the signal. They may not be able to hurt you, but five gallons of pressurized propane going off might. I'd prefer not to chance it."

With that he flies to where he'd seen the last big bunch of zombies and takes up the battle rifle and starts sniping zombies from the air and making all kinds of vocal racket in an attempt to attract the deadheads to him.

He calls James back. "Fox said something about some weird mutated zombie that seemed to have beyond normal capability, watch yer back down there."

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

"I know he's gone." Her voice was hollow with grief, shaking as hard as her body. Jules looked up at him, her eyes and nose red, even against her copper skin. "I know he's dead... I just..." Don't want to let him go. All this way, from Towaoc to here... all this way, to lose him now. Her chest felt as if someone were crushing it; it was her spirit dying - she would live, but she felt as dead as the things shambling below them.

"Are we coming back for him? We can't just leave him here," Jules said. Her eyes begged him to let her give her son this one last thing. Her fingers touched his dark hair, shying away from the sticky clot she brushed over.

[Mr Fox]

Morgan nodded gravely, "I know." Feeling awkward but knowing it was the right thing to do, he drew her into a hug and said quietly, "I will get something to wrap him in and we will bury him outside of town if you'd like. Or if you prefer we can find a place and make a funeral pyre." He stoked her hair and hoped the loss of her son wouldn't break her spirit beyond recovery. "We will need to so as soon as the others get those tires and supplies loaded. Guard Ben and I'll return in a minute with some linen." Letting her go and looking about to make sure she would be safe he flew over and into the Walmart where the others were looting the things they needed and retrieved some sheets from the housewares department and returned to Jules. He didn't want to say anything to her but he was really hoping that Ben wouldn't 'turn', especially having been killed by that mutant zombie.

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

Jules sat on the rooftop, the hot sun beating into her. She felt cold, and tired, too. She also felt numb and empty through and through, like a magician had emptied her of all blood and flesh and left a simple shell behind.

This wasn't right. It wasn't fair. But even those enraged thoughts couldn't awaken her ire. She'd been angry when Danny had died, and heartbroken when she'd watched Sami die. But now, with the last of her family lying so damned still at her feet, she found that she'd lost the ability to feel anything other than grief.

"God?" She immediately felt stupid, like she was talking to herself. But she persisted, blindly, even standing up and looking up at the blue sky. "I thought we had a deal. I thought you'd let me die first. I thought we'd agreed to that, I thought you understood that I couldn't go bear to bury my son, too." The knot in her chest was coming undone in painful jerks. "But apparently, someone got confused! News for you - it wasn't me. And it shouldn't be you! You know this stuff - you're all-knowing. Well, fine... you're all-knowing... Which makes you an asshole. That's right, God - you are such a fucking jerk! Shocked at my attitude? Well, what the fuck did you expect? He was only six years old, you fucker!"

There was no answer, and she didn't expect one. If he couldn't be bothered to save a little boy, to save the last thing his mother had, then he couldn't be bothered to care about her anger, either. "I should become a Satanist," she mumbled, realizing she was crying. She dropped to her knees and then to her ass, sitting down hard. "Switch teams... At least you know what you're getting with the Devil." She brushed at the tears on her face, hating everyone at this moment.

[Mr Fox]

Morgan returned to find Jules sitting by Ben's side tears streaking her face. Good. That was healthy. She looked pissed as well as hurt. Well good on that too, it meant she wasn't bottling it up inside. And those thoughts just about exhausted Moran Fox's empathy and understanding of human nature. It seemed like a long time since he'd stopped to consider or empathize with individual suffering. For months now he'd been working to survive and build something up again from the ashes of the world that was lost, but this tragedy hit home. That was his nephew lying there, his own flesh and blood, and that was his brother's wife crying. As crazy as it sounded the apocalypse had just become personal.

He gently laid out a sheet on the ground and moved Ben over onto it and checked one last time to make sure there wasn't any life, or pseudo-life in the body. Then with Jules he began to wrap the child in the sheet like a mummy. With strips torn from the pillowcase he secured wrapping to ensure they wouldn't come off when they flew back to the others. "Jules, are you ready? It's time we get going."

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Dan Hawkins

"Roger that, just be ready to jump way the hell off when I give the signal. They may not be able to hurt you, but five gallons of pressurized propane going off might. I'd prefer not to chance it."

James sent back,

"Yeah, it might at that."

Quote:

With that he flies to where he'd seen the last big bunch of zombies and takes up the battle rifle and starts sniping zombies from the air and making all kinds of vocal racket in an attempt to attract the deadheads to him.

He calls James back. "Fox said something about some weird mutated zombie that seemed to have beyond normal capability, watch yer back down there."

Following the 'trail' James landed a building next to Hawk, then jumped down to the street and laid into them.


(If and when James gets surrounded he'll jump to a different location and start over. When half his pool is gone, or Dan gives the signal, he'll leap several buildings away.)

[z-Jules WhiteElk]

Jules nodded slowly, picking up the shroud. It was easier this way - it didn't seem so immediate and personal. This wasn't necessarily her son. It could be anything. Ben could still be ok, if only in her heart for a moment, he could be alright somewhere else. It allowed her to stand up and hold the bundle with reverence, but not mindless loss. "Let's go. I need to get a gun in my hands and take out a few monsters."