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Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 6b: From the Ashes


Dawn OOC

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It was in the early hours of the morning; the sun wouldn't be up for another hour or so. The sled had gotten back in the dark of the night; after everyone had dispersed to grab a bite or a shower or both, they recieved word to met back at the HQ for the refuge.

A few couldn't. Myfwany was cornered by a nurse immediately on her return and given some notes about the new people. "Also, we have a critically injuried woman; Dr. Singh is keeping her alive, but he needs your experience."

Click to reveal..
Feel free to meet here if you were riding back on the sled with Fox, Dan, et al. You have all heard about the new people, and something about a fire. I think all the new people will be directed here, but amongst the old-timers, attendence is at your discretion.

Myf, you can have your own thread, or work in this one. Let me know.

Remember, you go from this to your downtime, so have fun!

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Ira and Cassandra found themselves standing cold in the night, covered in dirt and wondering what the hell was going on as a couple of Fox's men took the injured punk away.

Ira finally relaxed and plopped down where he was, keeping the rifle handy as he tugged on the backpack in Cassandra's arms. She relinquished it with barely a thought as she sat down next to Ira, still looking around in a daze.

"Baby, calvary's here, have a seat for a moment, catch your breath." Ira said, turning off the Zune and stuffing it in the backpack as he pulled out his socks and gloves. "We better get that fucking shower."

"You two, that building, now." Jules said, pointing as she walked by.

"But we were just enjoying the midnight festivities sugar." Ira responded, gesturing towards the now blazing quarantine building.

The dancing firelight gave Jules' glare a definite air of authority, and he had a rifle, no one had seemed to notice that yet, it was pretty dark after all. "You heard the woman. Baby, let's go see if the King is holdin' court."

Ira got up after he finished getting his socks and gloves on and handed the pack back to Cassandra as he slung the rifle over his shoulder. He offered a hand to Cassandra, knowing she could use some comfort after all this excitement as they walked to the aforementioned building.

Ira kept the pace nice and slow, a turnaround difference to the knee-jerk speed he had kept just a few moments ago. "Sorry I flung you around like that baby, thought the shit had hit the fan."

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Violet had James in tow and helped him to cope with the world of darkness he was living now. The first tears and shock had settled now and she even managed to get a laugh out of the sisters and James after they took stock of the situation. Joking around was just another way to cope with it, secretly she hoped he would regain his sight and recover to full health just like before the accident.

James was using a stick as a walking cane while she held his hand in the other. Of course something had happened during their absence and another emergency meeting of the supers had been requested by Fox. They were to meet at the HQ – she wondered if they would ever find peace again?

She had considered wearing the cloak again, it did seem to do its job quite well to conceal figure her but being back at the base she felt it wasn’t necessary. What was she supposed to hide anyway? It was still dark outside and she slowly started to glow illuminating the area around her with a warm golden light. James was blind but she wasn’t and she preferred having light in the darkness. What terror it would be if she was ever in a situation like James.

There were rumors about newcomers, some of them most likely supers, too. It looked like this ‘emergency’ meeting was yet another welcoming round and ‘who-is-who’ thing. She hoped she wouldn’t cause another riot just because she was who she was.

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Walker made sure that the rest of his group was all right, and confirmed with Henry that he and the rest of the scientists would be meeting at the HQ building as well, and then he quickly vanished again. (Not disappeared this time, he simply managed to pass out of everyone's notice and leave the area undetected - easy enough, considering the burning building that was distracting everyone's attention.)

Walker 'reappeared' as he strode into the HQ building itself, the sniper still slung over his shoulder, and the rifle still gripped in his two lower appendages. He walked purposefully but quietly to a counter along one wall and dumped the unconscious man onto it unceremoniously, and then he shifted the rifle to his upper limbs, turned to face the rest of the room, and pulled that 'frozen solid' trick of his. Then he waited.

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The sled trip hadn't been too bad. James could tell himself his eyes were closed voluntarily, and the sun was down anyway. He'd tried to sleep, eaten what little food they'd brought, and hoped he'd heal up on the way back.

The camp was a whole new world without vision. Violet was doing her best but she wasn't used to leading and James wasn't used to following. He'd have bruises from his 'bumps' if he could bruise from such minor things which he couldn't. James tried to take some comfort in that, his powers were still working.

For the 20th time James heard a noise and turned his head to try to 'see' what it was... and the world remained dark. He wondered, *How do people live like this?*

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"Hate R-rated life," Cassie whispered to him. "Like G better." She blinked, then added, "Ok, sometimes like the higher rating, but only when dying the little death." She gave him a shy smile and squeezed his hand. That mood passed quickly, though. Her strange eyes were wide as she watched the fury of movement around them; as they left the quarantine and headed to HQ, she calmed a little more.

Not long after Walker "appeared" at the HQ, Ger arrived. Seeing the sniper and the rifle, he cautiously approached the man, eying his four arms. The men trailing him were just as cautious; maybe more so. Ger usually dealt with the "weirdos" though there hadn't been a lot of those among their supers. "This one of the attackers?" he asked, waving the men forward to take the sniper. "And may I see the rifle, sir?"

People were watching James and Violet walk. There were a couple of snickers from the gathering crowd as the watchers gloried in James' fall.

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Dan arrived next, cleaned up, but not clean-shaven, wearing another of his sets of fatigues. He was as always packing his pistol, though the battlerifle was back in his room. He quietly took a seat after looking and at least acknowledging the newcomers. He was tired, having played air shuttle longer than Fox.

He was passed through with only a cursory examination, his work in the machine shop and as one of the soldiers of the refuge having earned him some leeway.

He waited until someone approached him, or until Fox arrived. Whatever had happened he was glad that at least the community was still here. After the way the Mission went FUBAR, he wasn't in the mood for bad news.

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Walker regarded Ger silently with his unblinking eyes for a second or two before answering. "Found him inside your compound. Shot my prisoner."

Walker paused to clear his damaged throat with a short, hacking cough and a few deep wheezing breaths, and then indicated the unconscious man behind him with a jerk of his head. "I give you this rifle, what guarantee I got he won't get shot with it too? Yer track record so far aint 'zactly spotless..."

Having said that much, Walker seemed content to wait for a satisfactory answer from Ger (or whoever). He made no move to hand the rifle over to anyone while he waited.

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Myfwany gave the nurse a curious look, then took the note and scanned it. No sooner had she done so than she stuffed the slip of paper in her pocket and called to Fox, "I have to go take care of something! I'll meet you back at the bunker!"

Then she was running for the makeshift 'hospital' building with the nurse trailing after her.

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Ger quirked an eyebrow. "We're not big on shooting people around here. That man is a member of our community, and he violated Fox's laws by doing harm to another, prisoner or not. He'll face Fox's judgment on that. Probably means he'll be exiled from here, but that's Fox's call." His eyes flicked down to Walker's arms and back up. "I'm sure you can present your case to Fox, and he'll take your position into consideration. Me, I just want the rifle for evidence. People ain't supposed to run around armed in here, and that guy ain't a guard. So I want to see if it came from our armory, or somewhere else." He gave a wry grin. "Besides, if we were gonna shot 'em, we don't need that rifle for it. Gots lots more."

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Originally Posted By: Dawn, OOC
"Hate R-rated life," Cassie whispered to him. "Like G better." She blinked, then added, "Ok, sometimes like the higher rating, but only when dying the little death." She gave him a shy smile and squeezed his hand. That mood passed quickly, though. Her strange eyes were wide as she watched the fury of movement around them; as they left the quarantine and headed to HQ, she calmed a little more.


"Yeah baby, I enjoy livin' the romantic comedy much more than the thriller too." Ira said as they walked. "Let's hope Fox is all kinds of understanding and not sitting on a throne in that building. Want to get this quest over with...take a fucking shower, gas up and get the hell out of here."

Ira stopped and turned to Cassandra, her face lit with a paleness by the light hanging over the entrance to the building they had been directed to. He looked at her beautiful lavendar eyes and brushed some hair behind her ear with his hand. "You'll go with me, right baby? When its time to jump this joint, you don't plan on staying do you?"
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Myf

Myf burst into the hospital and saw the commotion immediately. Singh was desperately working over a woman in the main examination room, the closest thing they had to a surgery bay. "-again! Nurse, keep her breathing steady! I need more blood and gauze!"

It was the same nightmare as any emergency room scenario, save that this was more dangerous. There were no paddles, no pumps, no high-tech life-saving tools. There was the old-fashioned way of doing things, and the moment Myf saw this woman, she knew it wouldn't be enough. Her left torso was a mangled mess of blood and gauze; there was a wound under there but Myf couldn't see it.

Ira

Cassie looked up at him, her beautiful eyes bright in the light. "You are my chosen companion, until Hope dies," she murmured. She hugged him suddenly, fiercely. "Death will not steal me from you, as he is turning his eyes to another." When he met her eyes, she had that thousand-mile stare again and was somewhere far, far away. "I am a miser with a treasure, who won't feed his neighbors, and I am blind to their cries! It is my gold, my hope! It will be stolen, but I will have it until then, and I will not share. Will not." She was tearing up, some kind of anguish on her face. Her arms were still tight around him.

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As they reached the building Violet saw a young couple and smiled. It was obvious that the two of them were engaged especially if one took their bodylanguage into account. Violet stopped when she saw the young girl. There was something about her eyes and then she realized it - they were the same color as hers! Without realizing it she let go from James' hand and just stared for a moment at the couple. Who is she?

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Morgan and Jules walked into the room, Morgan looking considerably refreshed after a meal and a shower even if he hadn't had any rest. He looked around at those present. One of the newcomers had extra limbs and stood stock still like some predator or reptile waiting to spring into action. That was pretty odd. The other, who he had seen outside, seemed to have a girl draped around his waist as tight as a shirt. Then there was the man laying on a table against a wall. "Ger, what's the story there?" He pointed to the unconscious man.

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Walker's reaction to Ger's attempt at humor was nil, his face giving no reaction of any kind. For an instant, Walker seemed inclined to resist Ger's demands for the weapon, but the explanation that he wanted to investigate where it had come from seemed to appease him somewhat. Walker's hands jerked - far too quickly - and suddenly Ger found himself holding a large calibre rifle. He nearly dropped it as the strange... er, stranger let go of the weapon just as suddenly.

Walker half-turned and casually (but with a far too smooth motion of the lower right arm) pointed at the sniper behind him, saying, "Fire was set on purpose. He knows why. Woman was shot on purpose. He definitely knows why. He doesn't leave m'sight until 'e wakes up, an' tells me what 'e knows."

So much talking seemed to be putting a strain on the four-armed man's vocal chords, because as he finished speaking he turned his head to one side, breathed in a single wheezy breath, and then let out one sharp barking cough. In coughing, his chest had visibly let out the air he'd just taken in - but then it failed to reinflate afterwards. Ger and his guards stared awkwardly at Walker as he stood stock still, stared at them with his carapace eyes, and didn't breath.

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Ger looked from Walker to Fox, but Walker spoke first. "What Still-Man here said," Ger replied when Walker was done. "This is some jackoff named Dolby, and he shot this man's... prisoner. Something about the Roff Enclave massacre. I was going to put him in custody, but this gentleman doesn't seem to trust us to hold him." He looked at the rifle butt and cursed softly. "Somehow, Dolby got one of our rifles. I'll be investigating." Ger looked pissed and embarrassed. This looked bad on him.

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"Is he hurt or just out?" The captain addressed that to the still man. Then added to the room in general, "Sounds like this is pretty complicated. I'm going to have a seat. The rest of you might as well too, and someone get those two love birds outside. I want to get their accounts of what happened as well."

He looked to the still man, "First of all, I'm Captain Morgan Fox, and I created this refuge. What's your name? And while you are at it give me what you know about this Roff massacre. That's not something I've heard of." Despite the demanding sounding words it was apparent from Fox's expression that he was not meaning any offense, he just looked all business.

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Originally Posted By: Dawn, OOC
Cassie looked up at him, her beautiful eyes bright in the light. "You are my chosen companion, until Hope dies," she murmured. She hugged him suddenly, fiercely. "Death will not steal me from you, as he is turning his eyes to another." When he met her eyes, she had that thousand-mile stare again and was somewhere far, far away. "I am a miser with a treasure, who won't feed his neighbors, and I am blind to their cries! It is my gold, my hope! It will be stolen, but I will have it until then, and I will not share. Will not." She was tearing up, some kind of anguish on her face. Her arms were still tight around him.


"Hey, hey, hey...baby, it's ok." Ira said consoling her as he held onto her. "I still don't understand what's going on, but I'm here for ya. You tell those voices to shove it up their ass."

As they had been standing there, holding each other, Ira was aware of people passing by and walking into the building, one must have had a lantern from the glow, but his focus was on Cassandra as she went through her 'episode'. "C'mon baby, we can talk about it later, promise. Looks like this is gonna be a town hall, need to get some good seats."

Ira adjusted the rifle on his back as he broke away from Cassandra and took her hand as they entered the building. It didn't take long before Cassandra had her arms around him again as they entered the building and took a spot leaning against the inside wall of the Quonset.
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Ger whispered in Fox's ear, then the Captain nodded, "Strike that last bit. I didn't realize that Roff was the name of that enclave we visited the other day. Bad business that. So what did your prisoner have to do with the Roff enclave?"

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Myfwany forced herself to take a breath. Instinct screamed at her to go charging in, shouting orders and taking over. Rationally, she knew that would very likely just increase the already unbearable tension and increase the chance of deadly errors. She had to stay calm, to keep the others calm.

That didn't mean there was time to lose though.

She jogged up to the bed the woman was in and said, "Keep going, doctor, don't stop treatment." She took another breath, let it out. "In a moment, I'm going to reach past your hands. When I do, I want you to take your hands away."

When Singh opened his mouth to protest, Myf shook her head sharply. "No time for arguing. Just do it."

To emphasize that lack of time, she acted then. She leaned forward and reached past Singh's arms to touch the patient on the ruined part of her torso.

No gloves, she thought wryly. Hope she's clean...

"Everyone let go of her now," Myf instructed...and without waiting to see if they did, she closed her eyes.

The 'emergency room' was largely dark to her senses, save where the nurse and Singh were blazes of green-gold threads all tangled in roughly human shapes. Thin loops of light twirled lazily in the air, and along the walls...occasionally making knots that she suspected represented insects or lichens on or in the walls. The woman before her though, the patient, was shedding those bright lines, like a pile of spaghetti falling over...curls and vines twining and slipping around each other as they cascaded out of their container.

So that's what it looks like when someone's dying.

The strange energy bent to her will though, streaming down from the walls and air, and up from the floor where it dripped. She gathered it, and directed it back into the woman, but it would just keep starting to slither back out. Finally Myf realized what she was doing wrong, and instead of just shoving the threads back in she started weaving them. She stole a glance at the nurse, and tried to copy those patterns...rebuilding the twisting vortexes that she now recognized as healthy.

It was better than the job she'd done on James...Myf was sure of that. But this woman lacked his inhuman healing ability, and she was still badly hurt when she reached her limits, and the web of light slipped out of her mental 'fingers.'

With a tired gasp, she opened her eyes and looked down with her eyes to see what she'd wrought.

(OOC - if you rule I can spend exp before this, then it's 2 levels of lethal damage healed. Otherwise it's just 1. :))

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Walker just stared at the Captain, and while he didn't lose that preternatural calmness in his demeanor, there was now a hint of annoyance in his eyes. The former SEAL fought the urge to roll his eyes and thought, *Why am I surprised? He is Air Force, after all...*

Finally, he forced his voice out in a rasping whisper, and said, "Talking is difficult. If you're not going to listen, I won't bother."

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It was difficult to tell if his eyes actually moved, but there was definitely a sense that Walker's pure black gaze shifted from Fox to Jules. After a moment of staring at her, as though appraising her own gaze, he finally nodded once in agreement.

Turning back to Fox, he answered him more quickly this time. The man might have some trouble listening, but then Walker had trouble talking. As long as it didn't become a habit, he figured he'd let it go. The USAF thing would take longer to forgive, though ( wink ).

In answer to Fox's question, Walker merely said, "Because she told me."

Which wasn't exactly true, but it was close enough. Walker was sure there was someone over Kiet - possibly multiple someones - but he really didn't have any proof of that, only personal conjecture and circumstantial evidence. For now, Kiet would have to shoulder the blame. Somehow, Walker couldn't manage to feel sorry for her...

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Fox nodded, he didn't think the man was lying, although it was admittedly hard to tell with him.

"I imagine that someone responsible for ordering the deaths of dozens of people wouldn't be keen on spreading that information about. How is it that she came to tell you?" He gave the other man an encouraging smile, or at least he hoped it was friendly and encouraging, as tired as he was it might be a grimace, "I hope you understand that I consider the matter extremely important since we investigated the site only a couple days ago, so I'm pretty curious about the specifics."

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Without V's hand and with only a stick to guide him James hesitated and then continued walking. After all... he'd been to this building at least a dozen times, how hard could getting there be? Real men don't ask for directions and they don't ask for help.

James missed the building entirely and kept walking, certain he'd find the door in just a moment.

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Ira watched the exchange, trying not to pay attention as much as possible, this was not his issue and he didn't want to make it his either.

After Fox had made it clear who he was and the one in charge, Ira leaned down and whispered to Cass, "There's the King, now we need his chirugeon...he still obfuscated?"

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To Jules, Walker nodded his head once, and said, "Sure."

Turning back to Fox, he forced out a lengthier response, "I worked security at Roff. We were attacked. Military strike. Quick, brutal, efficient. Afterwards, survivors were flown to a compound. Colonel Kiet was in command there. Tried to interrogate me."

Walker paused his account for a moment, and actually let a tiny smile form on his lips before whispering, "Didn't work out so good." But the smile was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared, and with a much more sober expression, Walker continued, "Afterwards, I rounded up the others, and we came here. The Colonel wouldn't talk. Was hoping someone here might know something about it. Now I'm hoping he-", and here Walker indicated the unconscious sniper again, "might know something. S'why I brought him with me."

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Fox nodded to the man, it made sense and he could imagine just how badly the interrogation could have gone from the man he could see before him. "I see. We will question him together then. I want answers too. So where was the compound they took you to, and were there any other survivors after you turned the tables on your captor?"

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Walker still hadn't blinked once since the conversation had started, a fact which tended to make the eyes of the 'normals' water just from watching him, if not the eyes of the 'supers' as well.

Walker responded to Fox in his now familiar whisper by saying, "Northeastern Tennessee. 'Bout 20 miles West of Union City. Maybe some survivors still. Doubt it, though. Left gates open when we left. Only took the Colonel with us."

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Originally Posted By: Dawn, OOC
Cassie was quiet for a moment. She shook her head at Ira, then softly asked, "Will you seek the Chirgeon... ask them?"


Ira whispered back quietly, using his hand to shield his mouth, "Yeah, let them measure each other's dick's first."

He hated the military types, always so smug, assuming civilians didn't know the barrel of a gun from a hole in their head. Problem was, growing up in Pueblo, he had to deal with them all the time.
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The threads rewove themselves, in part. But only some of them; Myf found that she couldn't weave them all together, but she was able to stop the ones that remained tattered and torn from falling further. It was the best she could do.

The woman was suddenly awake, and she cried out, a wordless sound of pain. Singh jumped back to the bed, holding her shoulders gently as she writhed. "Morphine!" he called, and a nurse came forward to inject her. After a moment, the woman slumped to the table, her eyelids fluttering. "Terrible... retirement... plan," she mumbled, then was silent.

"She's stabilized," Singh said softly. His eyes were wide with shock, and perhaps a bit of fear. Cautiously, he lifted the gauze; some blood oozed out of the wound, but it was clearly better than it had been. "Dr. Shattuck..." He just shook his head, realizing that there was nothing that the supers could not do.

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"Tennessee. Well, we may know of another location associated with Roff an that compound you were taken to in Tennessee. After we question Dolby we'll discuss possible options. You have anything else to add before we move on to greet our other new arrivals?" Fox didn't want to reveal too much on the off chance that he was wrong about this man and he was actually one of those who had destroyed Roff.

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Myfwany lifted her blood-soaked hands and swallowed, her expression not far from Singh's.

After a second she said, "Dr. Singh, you kept her alive under the worst of conditions for longer than anyone could have expected." She looked at him with a respectful nod. "You're a credit to the profession, in my view. More so than me."

She went to the sink and started scrubbing her hands clean.

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