Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 6a: Redemption [Complete]

[Dawn OOC]

The members of Fox's Refuge had left, leaving destruction and guilt in their wake. Gabrielle's spiritual and physical family stood around her, looking lost.

Emma was the first to speak. "Gabrielle, what do you think we should do?"

It was odd, having them all looking to her with worried eyes. It was strange, the way that the hope filled their eyes when they looked to her, as if she held all the answers. She wasn't sure that was true.

But they were all expecing her to make the calls now. She'd died and returned to them. She was their angel. Caleb looked at her, and his eyes burned with zeal. And he was only the first, she suspected.

They were hers to lead now, for better or worse.

[z016]

She took a deep breath, fighting back a wave of nausea and fear. I can do this. God provides. Her eyes swept over the ruin of the room and came to rest on Elijah's body. In her mind, this place was already a tomb.

"We need to leave this place, and take as little with us as possible. We know some of what was tainted, but it is better to err on the side of "...paranoia..."caution." She picked her way over to a window, "With the fence down and with the Captain sending out word to the other compounds, this hospital is nothing more than a death trap." Her eyes flicked back to the body, "Or a coffin. We are still living, we must act like it. Does anyone know a better place here that we could move to?"

There was the uneasy silence of indecision and fear, then Caleb spoke up, "There's the university, on the other side of town. We'll have to clear the area out, but there's dorms and apartments, and probably a lot of canned food that no one's touched yet."

Gabrielle nodded, "And clothes from the campus store, the library..." She trailed off, her eyes far away on the possibilities. She smiled warmly at her guardian, "Yes. The campus is a wonderful idea. We'll need to move carefully, though. The Refuge's team cleared out many of the Touched from the area, but there are bound to be stragglers headed this way from the commotion, and who knows how many at the campus itself. We'll move in shifts: a scouting party, a vanguard, the non-combatants, and the rear guard. I want everyone to take no more than ten minutes, gather up only clothing, personal items, and weapons. No food, no medicine, nothing that could have been infected with the virus in any way. That includes knives and other weapons that could have infected blood on it. Bring it to the main lobby. Caleb, you'll be leading the scouting party. Take anyone you trust, take any weapons you need, and find us the safest way to one of the smaller buildings on campus that we can use as a base of operations."

Ten minutes later Caleb had left with his band of warriors, a set of walkie-talkies their only communication with the rest of the congregation. Gabrielle was saying silent prayers for them; for all of them. She had briefly inspected each person's pack, parting some from frivolous or simply heavy baggage and using this opportunity as her first test of them. She knew of at least one former member of Elijah's faithful that still believed; it would be beyond naive to think that would all have left as her father did. Or that he was not out there in the city, waiting for them.

Crossing the city was a nightmare of tension. Most of the congregation, especially the women, hadn't left the hospital since finding Elijah's 'refuge'. Even those that had had still developed a sort agoraphobia: outside was where the zombies were, where the infidels were, where the dead and dying and damned existed. It was the Devil's Playground and it was no place for those who sought Grace. Gabrielle pushed on, needing to get them to their new haven before nightfall; unwilling herself to spend the darkness in the broken shell of the shattered city.

The campus loomed out at them from the gathering shadows of the evening. They were greeted by broken windows, tattered banners of this or that Greek life waving listlessly in the twilight breeze, the hollow remnants of once hallowed halls. This was their hope, and even as they reached it the wind carried to them the mournful and hungry howls of humanity's newest predator.

[Dawn OOC]

Caleb's voice came strong and sure over the radio. "Gabrielle, I think we have a place. It's Wooster Place. One of the guys tells me it was the married students' housing once. It has apartments inside. Best of all, it's near the energy center and the library. Should I have my team clean it?"

Clean it - remove the dead. If only all they had to do was sweep through the building with some guns to make it habitable. But the sweep with the men was just the beginning. After that, they'd be hauling out and burning bodies. Then would come the cleaning and trying to make it somewhere to live rather than a hellhole where they just survived. There was a lot of work ahead. "Yes," Gabrielle said, holding tight to her brother's hand. "If you think that's the best building, go ahead."

"Roger. We'll proceed," Caleb replied, his voice confident. Gabrielle had heard that tone before: he'd spoken that way while on-mission for Elijah. Caleb seemed happiest when he had a mission to follow.

The group waited tensely, moving forward so that they could get inside quickly. A couple of shots were heard, making the group jump. There was a scream, a human scream, then another barrage of shots. Gabrielle heard someone begin to pray; she realized after a moment that it was the wife of one of the men in the vanguard.

The radio crackled. "All clear. There were only a couple."

"What was the scream about?" Gabrielle asked, her voice calmer than she felt. She saw the building ahead, with one of the members standing, holding a door and waving them in.

"Had a zomb drop on Parker. It didn't bite him, though. He's shaken and bruised."

"Praise God," Emma whispered softly. She was echoed by several others. On shaking legs, they hurried into the building.

Caleb was already issuing orders. Some cords were looped around the dead zombies, and men were dragging them out. Another man was following after, splashing bleach on the smeared blood and bits of zombie. "I suggest we go upstairs to live for now," Caleb told Gabrielle calmly as he watched his men work. "There's a busted door on the first floor and we'll need to replace it before we can secure the lower levels."

[z016]

She nodded, then looked over the weary band. "Josephine, please see to Parker. He may not have been bitten, but we're ill equipped to deal with even bad bumps and bruises, especially the ones we don't know about. And it's never a bad idea to be too careful these days." An athletic woman fading into middle age stepped out of the crowd and went where Caleb motioned. Her brunette swath of hair had been her pride when she'd first come to Elijah's sanctuary; wings of white had aged her decades in the months to follow. Gabrielle hoped she looked forward to resuming her occupation as a caregiver. They had no one else of skill right now to shoulder that burden.

After that was taken care of, she addressed the small crowd again. "We're going to move to the second floor to begin with. These are apartments, so hopefully they'll have some immediate supplies for us. However, some ground rules. Don't open any refrigerators. We'll deal with them later; we don't need people getting sick even just from the smell. Canned food and non-perishables will be brought to the middle most apartment, along with any salvageable goods. That's where we'll store community goods and organize households for equitable shares of what we find. Even if the pipes work, don't drink the water, don't run it unless you have good reason to. If you find bottled water, get that to the community store as soon as possible. We'll start tonight by sorting out what can be salvaged and what can't."

She started grouping everyone off by numbers, setting up sleeping schedules that meant a good mix of people were always awake. It had been days and she still didn't feel the need to sleep. "It's going to be rough going for a while. We've got to start all over and we don't have the luxuries of the hospital. What we do have is a future."

Quietly to Caleb she said, "Once we have a pile of unsalvageable combustable material, set up a pyre on the other side of campus. They deserve a respectful end, but we can't afford to attract more of them here. On top a building would be best, if you can do that without harming the building itself."

She turned and faced their new home, drawing her resolve up with a breath. "Let's go."

[Dawn OOC]

The next several hours were long and grueling. Even Gabrielle was tired, so she knew that the members of her flock were beyond exhausted. But they had clean rooms and a small supply of food that they knew was untainted by Elijah. There was a common room, and everyone crowded into it to eat. It had to be after midnight, but everyone was starving.

Only Caleb seemed immune to hunger and tiredness. "Gabrielle," he said softly. "We've found enough semi-rotten bedding to make a pyre. I'll attend to it first light. I think I've seen a building from here where we can burn; it looks like the library has a slate roof. Until then, I've had the bodies moved away from here." He tilted his head and gave her a little smile. "You look tired. So do they. You all should get some sleep."

She didn't feel like she could sleep, but she'd like some rest. So she nodded and gathered them, and they slept under the watchful gaze of Caleb's hand-picked men.

In the morning, it was back to work. Apartments were assigned to families, as men and women adjusted to living together again. Elijah had separated the sexes and forbidden intercourse; why bring more innocents into the Apocalypse? Now long-parted families were learning how to be together again.

Gabrielle ordered a census, both of people and clean food and water supplies. Next, she sent Caleb and some of the others out for fencing supplies. Meanwhile, an interior fire door was taken out of its frame and used to close off the first floor. Someone had already boarded up the windows on the first floor, and the building was as secure as they could make it for now.

[z016]

She'd been making lists all night, since she didn't seem to need to sleep anymore. The lists were of what they knew they had, what they needed, who they were, and anything else that came to mind that might determine whether or not this little pocket of humanity survived the coming winter.

For the next three days there were only the critical lists to care about: finding enough water and food to last for next couple of months, putting up strong fences around the apartment building, and spending at least a little bit of time with every single member of the fledgling community. She wanted to trust them all, but her own father had abandoned them to continue Elijah's delusion and she couldn't retreat far enough back into her naivety to think that there couldn't be others still amongst them, waiting for the chance to strike. So she circulated, talking and working with everyone long enough for her new senses to tell her a bit of the person: how they felt when she approached them or when certain subjects were mentioned.

Eventually even she saw how ragged Caleb was becoming, falling asleep standing up, unable to follow a sentence from one end to the other. She made up rosters that night and told him that she wanted to know roughly when everyone was working, had free time, and was sleeping. She hadn't put herself on the list. She was eating or drinking either, and she wasn't quite sure what she would do once people had the time to notice.

The first fence went up well and she sent some of the men in groups to paint signs on the highways pointing travelers towards the college. She also sent them raiding for more clothes, non-perishable food, and above all, bottled water. She and small group toured the college, marking building of interest on hand drawn maps. The power plant was steam/coal plant, a blessing that had nearly had her in tears. In the quiet times of the night she was making plans for how to convert it for wood and test the water for use by the community. She still didn't have a way that didn't require someone take the risk; she prayed for guidance.

In those same quiet times she pushed away the thoughts of her own loneliness. Her people needed her to be strong for them; her own desires were unimportant.

[Dawn OOC]

"We found a cache of bottle water today, left in a dorm room," Caleb reported on the third night. He paused in his report to yawn, then continued in a sleep-tinged voice. "That's another day of hydration for us, praise be to God. And to you."

Gabrielle blinked. "Caleb!" she gasped, hand flying to her throat. "That's... what do you mean?"

"You are our guiding light," he said, his eyes shining with pride and fervent love. And there was no mistaking that burning light in his eyes; this was agape, the complete, unconditional love that Christians were to feel for God. And it shone in Caleb's eyes, as bright and wonderful as any she'd ever seen. He believed what he was saying, completely and totally.

[z016]

"Christ is our guiding light," her response was quick and only a little stammered. "If I shine, it is only by His grace. Please, do not say such things."

There was a tremor of fear in her words. She did not want to become another Elijah to them, someone followed without question or hesitation no matter how dark the path they tread. The look in his eyes was frightening to her, as much for the near-blasphemy it represented from Caleb as for the confusing and unwelcome thrill, how ever brief, that ran through her to have him look at her so.

"You...you are tired. You will think more clearly after you've slept." Her eyes took in the new lines on his face and the deep circles under his eyes with worry. Worry was much safer.

[Dawn OOC]

"Gabrielle, I shine with Christ's grace," Caleb said, picking up her hand and clasping it in his big ones. It wasn't anything other than the fervent man touching the hand of God, and his eyes almost shone. "You... you shine with so much more than one human can shine. You are more than us, less than God. You are like the angels."

He released her hand, his face still glowing with righteous bliss. "You know this. You have to. You have to feel it."

[z016]

Her eyes widened as he took her hand, her heartbeat skipping faster not from teenage hormones but from the fear of his utter devotion. It had been her first thought, too, and for a few hours she had reveled in the idea of being so special, so much more than just another pretty girl. Now, though, it was terrifying to have so many people looking to her, expecting so much from her.

Then again. She'd been resurrected from death. She didn't need to eat or sleep anymore. She could heal with just a touch. If the Pope was still alive and there was any way to reach him, she didn't have any idea what he would say she was. She couldn't meet Caleb's shining eyes.

"I-I don't what I am anymore, Caleb," she whispered while trying to hold back tears. "I frighten myself."

[Dawn OOC]

"I know what you are," Caleb said. "You're an angel. You're our angel. God led you to Beaver Lake so that he could empower you, then he brought you back to us to save us. We'd be lost without you."

He shook his head. "Don't be afraid, Gabrielle. God is with you. He's watching you, guiding you so that you can guide us. It seems too simple to say it so, but it's true." He smiled so gently, so fervently, that it was hard to say the words to deny what he was feeling. "You are God-sent - human, angel or whatever you want to call it. It's what you are."

[z016]

She sighed. She didn't know how to deal with this kind of devotion, so for now she simply didn't. "It's what I'll try to be then, Caleb. You should get some sleep, though. I've been told you haven't really gotten any since we came back, and that you're not eating that much either. You won't do any of us much good if you pass out from exhaustion and hunger. We have enough food for now, and the rosters should help in making sure there's always someone on watch."

She glanced over at the notebook that she'd been keeping her ideas in, "I have some plans for the power plant across the street, and Simon told me that there's a greenhouse on the other side of the campus. Even if we can't use it yet, it's something to work towards. But it can all wait until tomorrow."

[Dawn OOC]

He looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "I'll go sleep. You..." He paused before asking softly, "You don't need to anymore, do you? Sleep, I mean?"

Gabrielle looked at him, wondering when people were going to notice her lack of need for sleep. "I don't sleep anymore," she told him softly, "but my body does need to rest from time to time."

He nodded, smiling as if he'd expected this exact answer. "You are truly blessed among men," he said, rising from the chair. Now that he'd confirmed her special nature, he seemed easier with sleeping. "I'll be in the next room, if you need me, and William will be on your guard tonight. I'll see you in the morning."

[z016]

The next few days were all about water. They made their way into the power plant, their initial security sweep discovering only two zombies: one that had been locked in a utility closet and another that wandered up from the service steam pipe tunnels that ran underneath the campus. They'd dispatched them both and blocked off the tunnels for now. Those might come in handy as a safer way to traverse the campus once they had the time to clear them out, but for now it was safer just to bar the doors and keep looking around the plant.

Gabrielle and the more mechanically inclined of the flock spent two days inspecting the state of the plant and pouring over the manuals they found in what looked like an employee break room/office. She'd pulled out her sketches and ideas from the nights before to see if they had any merit or could at least be used for inspiration for something feasible. Michael had stared at the crude sketches, his brow furrowed for several long, quiet moments. Then he looked up at the angelic beauty watching him with hope.

"You came up with this on your own?" He blinked at the pages again and muttered under his breath, making marks on the designs with numbers, angles and minor adjustments. He didn't say anything else, but the secretive glances in her direction spoke volumes. She saw him speaking softly with Caleb later that day, both of them watching her with that awestruck look she was slowly getting used to.

It would take a week or two to get it all up and running, and to get enough materials to make the adjustments. Firewood was added to the list of raid goods from forays into the city, though fence materials and bottled water were still the highest priorities. Gabrielle spent those nights trying to come up with another way to test the facility, her need making her more careless about when she was seen and her excuses about eating and drinking.

[Dawn OOC]

The whispers were becoming louder and more frequent. Gabrielle wasn’t sure what to do about them, once she realized how she’d messed up. But the whispers didn’t seem that loud either, or upset – more like questioning, and awed. Everyone in their small settlement was starting to change toward her, even her family. Her brother seemed unsure of how to act around her, and there was a strange note in her mother’s voice when she spoke to her now. It made Gabrielle feel all the more isolated.

One morning, as she was discarding yet another idea on how to safely test the water, Caleb came running up to her. “Gabrielle,” he said, panting slightly, “a man just dropped out of the sky and landed in front of the building. He’s… like you, I think. He wasn’t anyone I saw at Fox’s. He’s asking for our ‘touched’ leader. I think that means you.” Caleb’s hand tightened on his rifle. “I don’t know that it’s safe for you to meet with him.”

[z016]

"Most of life isn't safe anymore, and we won't accomplish anything by hiding away. Let's see what he wants before we go assigning sinister motives." She put a hand on his arm, "Come with me; I am hopeful, but not that foolish. And he may be looking for Elijah. Captain Fox said he would be sending word to the other compounds Elijah tried to destroy, remember?"

She was frightened, but she knew if she let that fear show Caleb might do something rash and unnecessary with their first visitor since the hospital and Elijah. She smoothed out some of the wrinkles in her dress and pulled her hair back into a modest braid, then laid a hand back on Caleb's arm, saying softly, "Take me to him."

[Dawn OOC]

Caleb did, his entire body screaming his stress at doing so. The man waiting for them stood just inside the fence, looking out at the parts of campus they hadn't claimed. He was tall and looked thin, but even with his back turned to them, he radiated power. His hair was a dark color, cut shaggily. As they approached he turned, showing her a face that was all angles and sclupted planes. He was a beautiful as Fox, maybe more so, even if his eyes were shaded behind sunglasses. A long coat swept around him, though it wasn't that cold.

The hidden eyes bore into her for a moment; then he smiled. "Hello, there," he said easily, in a friendly way. "I have heard of your enclave, and thought I'd swing by and say hi. So... hi." His smile was genuine.

[z016]

Gabrielle smiled in return and nodded to the stranger. "Hello. My name is Gabrielle. May I ask how your name and how you heard of us?"

She kept some distance between them, more for Caleb's sake than her's or the stranger's. She'd been told he'd flown in and with his beauty he reminded her a great deal of the leader of Fox's Refuge. That was both a mark for and against him, which left him unknowingly pretty much were he'd started. She would offer him food and shelter, no matter how he answered, but how close to her people that meal and bed would be depended on why he was here.

[Dawn OOC]

"I am Han," he said, crossing his legs under his floating body. Caleb went a little wide-eyed at this casual display of power. "I heard of you when my people came to trade with Elijah some months ago." Caleb tensed and his rifle started to come up before he stopped it. Han smiled, his shades giving away nothing.

[z016]

Her smile faltered, worry lines finding purchase if only for the moment on her angelic features. She placed a hand on the barrel of Caleb's rifle, pushing it downward with a slow but insistent motion.

She took a step towards the floating man, her hands held out to her sides so he could see she bore no weapons. "Are your people alright? Elijah is dead; I am responsible for these people and this place now." Her tone dropped low and soft but still carried well across the distance between them, "What do you want or need of us?"

It was an offer as much as a question.

[Dawn OOC]

"Nothing," Han said, shrugging. "Those who became sick didn't make it home. No harm was done to my enclave. I am more interested in you, Gabrielle. You are like me, and I would like to get to know you better." He glanced past her to look at Caleb. "If that's alright."

[z016]

She frowned at his casual dismissal of the deaths of his trading party, but her heart was lifted somewhat to know that Elijah had not succeeded in wiping out an entire enclave. She could only hope the other missionaries had been as unsuccessful.

Did he know about me before he came here? How? It's been less than a week since I changed. Perhaps he heard from Beaver Lake? That was not the most pleasant thought. Or maybe from the Refuge?

She nodded to him again, motioning back to the apartment building behind her. "Please, come inside. I promise you, we mean you no harm. I know that trust must be earned; will you accept the offer of my hospitality?"

[Dawn OOC]

"Of course I will," he said easily, drifting forward and stepping down, putting his feet down. He walked lightly, as if his feet didn't touch the ground. "I am most interested in seeing what you have done here." He stopped next to her, smiling, his shades making an impenetrable shield between her eyes and his. Yet there was a draw, as if his eyes were meeting her and compelling her. What they compelled was unknown; there was only that pull.

[z016]

She blinked against that pull and fell into step next to him, playing the part of the host with nervousness. She lead him back into the apartment complex and up to second floor lobby that was acting as the common room for the tiny village that lived here. The villagers present stared at the new arrival with varying states of welcome, fear, and curiosity, but at Gabrielle's request a corner of the room was cleared and chairs and a table moved over to make an impromptu sitting room. She smiled at Han and offered a seat to him.

"Are you thirsty or hungry? We only recently finished our breakfast, it wouldn't be any trouble to fix you something."

She tried to intimate to Caleb that there was no more need for the rifle or his hovering quite so close without outright saying so, but she wasn't sure how quick he'd be to pick up on nuances.

[Dawn OOC]

"No, no," he said softly. "I don't wish to put a strain on your resources. I don't need to eat, though I enjoy it from time to time. I am fine, thank you." He sat down at the table and folded his hands over each other.

He seemed unconcerned with Caleb's hovering; he kept the wieght of his gaze on Gabrielle. "So you say that Elijah is gone? What happened? Did you wrest power from him?"

[z016]

Her eyes widened in surprise when he mentioned that he, like her, no longer needed to eat. Perhaps he doesn't sleep, either. But then, I cannot fly.

"No, not like that; although I am responsible for his death. I was chosen by Elijah to be infected and sent to an enclave called Beaver Lake. I died, but I was saved in death. We left Beaver Lake under threat of execution, in the company of several others that had arrived there a day or so after us. They had heard of another enclave, called Fox's Refuge, and took myself and my companions there. I told them my story as warning and my first act of contrition for the mass murder I would have been party to, save for the grace of God. Fox's Refuge is controlled by those like us, and fearing for the safety of the people under their protection, they came here and murdered Elijah to prevent further missionaries being sent to infect the enclaves of the living." Her words were soft and even and held a somber note of regret through the entire recitation.

"After Elijah's death, those that had not been engulfed by his dark vision of God and this world accepted my leadership. From there, we have been working towards building a community capable of providing some small amount of restitution and restoration to those that were harmed by Elijah's madness. It is our act of contrition and our hope to be returned to grace."

She waited then, watching him without any idea of what to expect in reaction to her story.

[Dawn OOC]

"Contrition is a noble goal," Han said, tilting his head so that his long hair swept across his glasses and cheekbones. "I hope it will not cost you your people or your life." He tucked his hair back, a feminine gesture that he managed to not make feminine at all. "I would hate for you to go through all this effort only to be gunned down by some inferior being who can't recognize the import of a change in leadership. It'd be a heinous crime against evolution - or God's will, if you prefer."

"Evolution? Inferior beings?" Caleb asked. His knuckles whitened on his gun. "Are you listenin' to yourself speak?"

"I hear what I say," Han said softly, his voice purring with a sudden, quiet threat. "It's good to know that you are paying attention as well." His shades turned to look at Caleb; Gabrielle saw her follower sway backwards, then take a step away from them. Caleb was very pale as he did so.=

[z016]

Gabrielle moved between the stranger and Caleb, a swift defensive move that was nearly instinctual. She knew all to well that aggression and even attack could come in soft spoken words. She kept her own voice as calm as she could, "What is, is. We have chosen our path and we will follow it as long as God wills us to. I thank you for your concern, but the Lord provides."

Part of her knew this was only human nature, those that were different, blessed, some of them would not take to the power and responsibility well. They would see themselves a superior, as rulers and masters instead of servants. She had seen that Fox's Refuge as well. "I do not know how things are where you come from, Han, where you have been since the plague, but here we all equal in God's eyes. If a person has a talent or a gift that is greater than the others, then it is there to be shared and to serve. We do not call nor imply that anyone is inferior; we are all children of God."

She was trying to keep the conversation civil while still imparting the firm understanding that insulting or intimidating those of her community was unacceptable behavior. Now I know what Mother must have felt like when Christopher and I would fight, she thought wryly. Leading seems to be half urban planning and half parenting.

[Dawn OOC]

Han tilted his head at her, those hidden eyes pressing on her like a weight. "We are all children of God; some of us need more tending than others," he said, relaxing into his chair. "I've had to be diligent in defending my enclave from others, both improved and... normal others. I feel responsible for those who look to me for defense. It's easy to feel like a parent."

His fingers found a lifted a scrap of thread, twisting it back and forth idly. "In time, it becomes easy to think of them as children who need guidance rather than adults. Perhaps that is wrong. And I hope you never come to feel like that, given your ethos."

[z016]

"Even adults need guidance, especially in times like these." She moved back to the chair across from him, mulling over the similarity in her thoughts and his words. "If your home has had so much aggression directed towards it, are they safe with you here instead of there? I mean no insinuation, I merely concerned. There are so few of us left."

[Dawn OOC]

Han smiled. "Your concern for others is a virtue," he sighed. Sombering up, he added, "They are safe, for now. I have many allies among those I tend. They can keep them safe, and I will be informed if I am needed." He smiled. "My best advice is to gather us... empowered beings to yourself, and let them help you keep your people safe."

He shifted slightly. "What of you? Do you have enough to secure and defend your people?"

[z016]

She nodded, "Such as we are now, yes. I am hoping in time that we will be able to provide a safe haven and community for others as well. The college campus provides many infrastructure advantages that, if we are able to adapt them to our current world, should allow us to become a center for learning and maintaining our knowledge."

She thought briefly on his advice concerning others like themselves. "There is another enclave, Fox's Refuge in southern Oaklahoma, that seems to be a gathering place or at least a way-station for ones like us. They were speaking of a run into Dallas for supplies and reconnaissance soon and then several of them were going to come back by here to see how we're doing. Several of them fly as you do so travel for them is quicker and safer. If you would like I could arrange for you to meet them as well?"

[Dawn OOC]

"If you tell me where they are, I can introduce myself," he said. His eyebrows rose as he asked, "Unless they are hostile and wouldn't be open to a visit from a strange person? Particularly a peer rather than a non-enhanced person?" He laughed suddenly. "That would be the definition of irony, I believe."

[z016]

"Why is that ironic? And no, they are very open to new people, though perhaps a little less so since their encounter with myself and the activities Elijah had pursued. I merely offered an introduction in courtesy, as they left me with a radio to contact them should I need to. Also, I am not entirely certain who all will be at the Refuge itself and who is going to Dallas, nor what their exact dates are for the excursion." She shrugged. "You are more than welcome to introduce yourself, I simply do not have much better directions than 'southern Oaklahoma' as I was driven there from Beaver Lake and then flown here. I can call them on the shortwave and acquire more precise directions, if you would like."

[Dawn OOC]

"From air, I have no doubts I can find them," he said softly. "Forgive my paranoia, but I like strangers to not know I'm coming. Gives them less time to prepare traps." He smiled winningly. "I mean them no harm, I'm sure you can see."

He was calm and casual, that little smile still curling his lips. He clearly was enjoying himself, even after their tiny disagreement earlier.

[z016]

She nodded. "An understandable precaution, however I think you would find at least your initial interaction with them much more pleasant with an introduction. Your precaution is understandable, but then so are theirs. As you wish, though; I have made my offer. I will not insist upon it."

She smiled back, realizing she also was enjoying herself. As much as her new qualities had helped her hold the group together after Elijah's death, it was nice to speak with someone that neither half-worshiped her or derided her for having faith.

[Dawn OOC]

He suddenly tilted his head. "I have thought of something I could do for you, if you wish," he said. He smiled widely, taking joy in being able to help her, to offer to do something for her. "I can scout for you, or take someone up to see. Flying around is a great way to get perspective on buildings and the general layout. Perhaps we can see something up there you can't from the ground."

[z016]

She glanced at Caleb and smiled. "That would be wonderful. We have campus maps, but being able to see what buildings are still in fair repair and how it all lays out firsthand would be a great help. Before when I was flown, the two men with the power to fly took a group of us by carrying a large platform of wood between them. Would it be easier for you take someone in some sort of harness, or to carry them? Also, how strong are you? Would the person need to be smaller or does it matter?"

[Dawn OOC]

"I can carry," he said, still smiling easily so that it was hard to tell if he were serious or joking. "I will also accept being harnessed, for this purpose. With a harness, I could easily take more than one person. A hot air basket would also work well." He turned a winning smile to Caleb and the man relaxed, oddly. "Don't happen to have one around, do you?"

[z016]

"Not at the moment, no," she returned lightly. She was relieved to see some of the tensions easing between Han and Caleb, and excited at the prospects of leisurely flight over their new home. "We could look for something that might work, or we could decide on one person to go and leave it at that for now."