Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 8a: The Refuge Does Dallas

[Priest]

{Note, Premonition is running}

Priest stepped forward, empty hands held up.

"You forgot, come take me to your leader," he joked. "Seriously, I'm Priest. The man over there is Fox and he's in charge. The rest are a mixture of people from Fox's Refugee, if you've heard of it, or my crew. Fox's crew is here gathering up needed supplies for his enclave. Me and mine are here to scavange and help Fox and Company haul gear."

He stops advancing, but keeps his empty hands in evidence.

"Since night is about here, we are heading out for a good camping site. Then we are back to the Oklahoma border in the morning. You can lager up with us if you like. Zombies are still making a pest of themselves, so there is safety in numbers. You just need to promise not to steal or destroy anything, okay?"

Click to reveal..

(15:27:06) (Priest): First is a Mega

Perception Test(15:27:17) ChatBot: (Priest) rolls 11d10 and gets 5,10,10,3,6,6,6,3,9,4,6 = 3 successes

"Are you a scout for a refugee column, or out here alone? I figure since you a super you might be helping some people out. That's what the supers with us are doing - helping out. We aren't look for a fight. We've had enough killing for today," he adds quietly.

Click to reveal..

1q for Quatum Awareness

[Nuri Solomon]

Nuri nods at the man's comment about too much killing although she doesn't otherwise react to his other comments. If she realized he was joking or found it funny she didn't show it.

"Hello Priest," She said, again gruffly. "I'm called Efreet. That is a generous offer, are you the leader of this convoy?" Apparently she was choosing to ignore the personal questions directed at her.

[Priest]

Click to reveal..

(17:05:17) (Priest): First is a Mega
(17:05:31) ChatBot: (Priest) rolls 7d10 and gets 2,4,7,7,3,3,2.

It was with a no surprise that Priest realized this was a super - what have you. The obvious question was why the obvious display of power. What was he afraid of. Cowing the normals wasn't a good way of going about business, even if you did have the power to back it up.

"Fox is the leader," Priest said, pointing toward the vehicle that Jas and Fox were at. Wesson had said something to Jas, but Priest had missed it. Wasn't really his business anyway. What interested him more was his daughter. She was a solid gun.

Looking back to Efreet.
"This way," he motioned. "Did you ever play D&D as a kids ... well a younger kid than you are? Efreet is an interesting chioce of handles."

With that, he led Efreet toward Fox, being careful to keep his insights secret. No sense in spooking him. He could also watch his other people pulling their guns close seeing the newcomers sidearm out. Was this guy really willing to risk a sniper round. That spoke of power, or ego, or a bit of both.

{Quantum Attunement again}

[SalmonMax]

Originally Posted By: Jasmine Gentian

"At least the cancer's gone now too. I used to think that's all I wanted, but if I could take it back to change everything that's happened since then, I would. That's not an option though, so I'll just make do with what I've got now. So.. thanks for the offer. But it was never really about the piece of paper."

Myfwany didn't say anything to that, but she went to stand next to Jasmine, offering support through her presence.

After a second she did add, "So Jasmine, what kind of thing do you like to do? What sort of classes have you had?"

[Nuri Solomon]

"No," was the only answer Nuri gave Priest's question as she followed him. She slipped the gun back into it's holster but left her hand on it.

"They might as well put there guns away," She said, nodding at the people who'd armed themselves when she showed up. "They'd just be wasting the bullets anyways." Her tone was neither agressive nor smug.

[Dawn OOC]

Min sat on top of Something Blue's trailer, a rifle across her knees. She was watching the newcomer, her dark eyes not leaving the boy's lithe form. Suddenly, she chuckled and looked away, digging out her pocket flask. Spotting that calls for a celebration, she grinned, tipping it back and taking a deep swallow. The cheap liquor burned down her throat, chasing back the demons and driving away the shakes that had started to plague her again. Next time, she wouldn't drink, she'd hold off a little longer before her next swallow. She could cut it back, slowly.

Keeping the rifle not-quite-trained on the stranger, she watched Priest provide an escort, talking as the two walked. Her dark eyes lingered on the convey leader; realizing she was staring, she diverted her gaze back to the stranger, waiting for her to make a wrong move.

Click to reveal..

Min's Per+Awareness to see through N's disguise: 5 sux!!

1d10=10, 1d10=7, 1d10=8, 1d10=8, 1d10=10

[Wesson]

Originally Posted By: Jasmine Gentian

"At least the cancer's gone now too. I used to think that's all I wanted, but if I could take it back to change everything that's happened since then, I would. That's not an option though, so I'll just make do with what I've got now. So.. thanks for the offer. But it was never really about the piece of paper."

"As someone close to me used to say.You can have it all.My empire of dirt.It is form a song,I know. But the point is the same. I would trade everything i have now for the past. But that deal is not the table. So, let me tell you this much, we can't go back, but I'll be damned if your father would have enjoyed it being the other way either. Again if you want to learn, I am willing to teach."

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine shrugged a little, but offered Wesson a small smile.

"Thanks - I'll keep it in mind."

Turning to Myfwanny, she looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged.

"I'm sorry - I wish I could say. I was never really good enough at any of it.. the last few years were sometimes kind of a blur. Like I was doing stuff to get it done. I focused on having a good time with my family, that's what mattered. We didn't know how long it would last, you know? I used to love working on projects with Dad. My brother didn't, he wasn't really into that stuff.. he was more of an artist, Dad always said I was like his son where it counted, doing the around the house stuff. Me and Den helped him build the addition when the baby was born, and I was only ten. Mom said if it hadn't been for me being around to help, she wouldn't have let him do it. I was way better at it than Den was, he just hammered where Dad told him to hammer."

She looked thoughtful, then shrugged a little.

"I guess that's what I liked. I was good at math, and not too bad at science either. I thought about being a doctor, when I first got cancer.. but I was so sick of hospitals and doctor's offices after a few years I gave up on that idea. I kind of thought about being an architect, if I lived through it and went to college."

[Priest]

Priest stops and rubs the bridge of his nose in some pain. He feels the threads of connective energy fall away from his grasps and his ability to contact them remain beyond his reach.

Click to reveal..

(12:40:50) ChatBot: (Priest) rolls 7d10 and gets 3,6,5,1,1,4,4=botch; Enhancement gone for a scene?

"Sorry, headache," Preist comments. He finishes the walk, letting his eyes roam as they have become trained to. Always on the look out for trouble no matter how safe you feel. He spots Min watching him, or is that the newcomer, for an instance, but she looks away. More on that later.

"Efreet, I'm kind of like the Eyes of this operation. I can tell when trouble is right around the corner. It's what I do. I can tell you do some special shit too. No need to freak out, we mean you no harm."

When the reach Fox,

"Major Fox, this is Efreet. Efreet, this is Captian Fox, formerly of the US Air Force and now grand Poo-ba of this expidition to the Walmart and Beyond. Captian, Efreet has some sort of protective barrier around himself. Can't tell what kind or how strong."

He rubs the bridge of his nose again.

"Not having a good evening so far."

"You two have fun. I'm going to check on the kid."

[Dawn OOC]

Pumpkin was sleeping in the back of the big rig while Sarah pointedly ignored her. A large blue creature sat behind her, raising its head to look at Priest as he approached. When he made no threatening move, it dropped its head and quietly watched him.

"Daddy, she's a super, isn't she?" Sarah asked. "Like you?" Priest nodded, but before he could clarify that she wasn't exactly 'like' him, Sarah continued. "I want to be a super, too, Dadddy. I want to be able to help you more, and make it so you won't have to worry about me when the zombies are around. You're a super, it should be easier for me, right?"

In the back, Pumpkin whimpered for her daddy, caught in a dream.

[Priest]

"Sarah, Mom didn't make it. I've heard no word of my folks. There is no guarantee that you would become super. Its much more like you would become a zombie and have to die. Please don't ever put me in that situation, okay Honey?"

"If you are going to become a super it will be in time - years from now, when I can help train you and you are ready for it. Look at Pumpkin. Do you think she's ready for the power she wields? She's not and she's going to have trouble all her life because of it," he whispers softly."

"Do you accept what Daddy is saying? Do you understand that I couldn't lose you and keep going on? You are too precious to me and I don't want to see you become a zombie. I love you too much. Since Mommy has been gone, its been just me and you. Sure, we have friends - good friends - but you and I are the only Priests out there. Okay now?"

"If you want to become a super, I'll find a way, I promise. As long as it doesn't involve zombies biting you, or falling off tall buildings, or the like. There has to be a safer way. Maybe Doctor John can find the gene that makes you super and then can tell you if you have it. That's a possibility."

"We have a plan now. Tomorrow I'll talk to Doctor John and see what we can do with that. Alright get some sleep and we'll talk some more in the morning."

As he kissed his daughter and pulled away, he reminded himself to tell his sentries to watch out for Sarah sneaking away from camp. She was determined that way.

[Nuri Solomon]

Nuri appraised the Captain and those around him with cool detachment, knowing she could be gone in the blink of an eye.

"A pleasure," she said neutrally. "I was hoping you'd be willing to make a trade for some food. I'm running low and would rather not spend the time searching through all these houses for any canned goods."

"Your man Priest offered me a place at your camp for the night. Was his offer good?"

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany nods at Jasmine and shades her eyes to look up at the wheeling birds in the sky. Scavengers had had it good since Z-day.

"Architecture is a good choice," she muses. "There'll be a lot of building and rebuilding eventually. Are you going to stay with the Refuge?"

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine was quiet, and for a moment she was quiet, as if thinking. She nodded politely to the new person talking to the Captain, but since it didn't appear to concern her right now, she turned her attention back to Myf. It was so odd, to be having a normal conversation like "What do you want to do with your life?" in the midst of all this.. craziness.

"I.. don't know. Maybe. I gotta go look for my Mom, and sisters. And then maybe for my brother, but I wouldn't know where to start, with him. I don't know if Fox will be willing, or able to help me with that. I'd like to get them back there at least, it seems like a safer place than most. There, or that religious refuge Gabrielle is setting up in Missouri, depends on how well they've done. I dunno. What about you?"

[Mr Fox]

Fox looked up from his check list. They had managed to get nearly everything on it between these two schools and the Walmart/Library trip the day before. He was a little surprised to see fire licking about the new comer, but was put at ease by Priest's relaxed demeanor. If he didn't sense a threat it mean there was no immediate danger, but that still didn't mean he would not keep his guard up. "Welcome Efreet. We have enough that we could spare a little for you. These schools had pretty well stocked kitchens, we've got some canned goods and dry goods from them. If you feel like it you are welcome to visit the Refuge when we head back in the morning. It's only about 50 miles away or so. Tomorrows trip might be a little slow though, there is a horse ranch that we were going to stop by on the way back to see if any of them got loose and are still running around. That's the last major thing on our shopping list. Unless we get some refining going on we'll be out of luck on cars and trucks in a few months and horses will be the best transport around. Fuel that sits in tanks for long separates and goes bad. Already we've run into gas that's not so good, causes the cars to have knocks and pings, but at least it still works. I give it a year before it's all bad then we're out of luck."

[Nuri Solomon]

Nuri nodded as Fox spoke but her guard was still up. He mentioned sparing food without asking for anything in return. No one did that these days and she wondered what his angle was. Charity for charity's sake practically unheard of and dangerous to boot.

Nuri looked around at the rest of the caravan. men and women, both have guns. Maybe these people aren't like Buck. This Fox guy is thinking about the future too. The fact that gas could go bad never even crossed her mind; that fact hadn't been in any of the auto repair books she'd read, but why would it? Without a vehicle she'd be screwed and if the gas supply was even more limited then she guessed then she couldn't keep driving around the countyside like she was.

"I'll share your campfire tonight. I can cook as repayment for any food I eat. I....I'll think about the refuge." She finally said. "Let me go get my truck."

[Priest]

"Oh! You cook? A chef, great!," beams Priest to Nuri. "Want to cook in my camp tonight. Bethany's turn at the pot and she's ... not gifted. She smuthers everying in chilis to burn out the taste of whatever crime she's committed."

"So, what do you say? We have a refrigerator with chicken and ground rabbit in it. We even have three varieties of Hamburger Helper, about a dozen herbs, and ... OH, we have eggs ... from the chickens."

He seemed particularly keen on not eating the 'normal' fare for this evening.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine glanced up at that with a bit of a laugh, she couldn't help herself. It was the first time any of them had seen her crack a smile all day. She shook her head at Priest.

"You know, if Bethany can manage to screw up Hamburger Helper.. no offense Priest, but you guys are getting what's coming to you, if you're letting her cook. Maybe she needs some other duties."

[Nuri Solomon]

Nuri listened to the banter between these people and it dawned on her that this goup was much different then the others she'd encountered so far. She nodded to Priest and said "I thought you were all one convoy? I can cook for your group as well but you can keep the Hamburger Helper," She wrinkled her nose when she said 'Hamburger helper', apparently not having a high opinion of the substance. "I'll make you something much better."

Nuri jogged back to her truck and made a quick inspection of it and the trailer, making sure nothing had been tampered with and no zombies had managed to climb in the back. Once she was satisfied she climbed into the front seat, started her up and drove the block and a half back to the convoy.

To say her truck had seen better days would be an understatement. It was a later model probably from the mid 90's and was well beaten. It was covered in caked on mud and the dried up remains ofthe walking dead. Apparently 'Efreet' had no issues with using her vehicle as a battering ram. Attached to the trailer hitch was a large, covered, U-Haul trailer; the kind that was used for moving. It seemed to be in lightly better shape than the truck but it too was filthy with dried mud and ichor.

She pulled up to the other vehicles and stepped out of her vehicle. The group seemed to be almost finish their raid of the school and she looked around to see if there was anything she could do. "How may I help?"

[Priest]

"You tell us what to get for you and you start the fire," Preist began.

"This is my crew. Colt," he pointed to the sentry on the top of the traier, "is the quiet type. Bethany here," he pointed to a slightly dusty woman with black under her fingernails - she wasn't pretty, but she was stocky, "is our chief mechanic. Willie is our dumb muscle," He indicated a man patroling the grounds, a man easily seven feet tall. "The man and woman inside the trailer taking inventory are Andie the Cop, and Leo -nardo, our chief engineer. She invents stuff."

Three people and a dog came out of the gloom. One was a drop-dead gorgeous blonde best described as America's cheerleader with her tanned skin, blonde hair, perfect teeth, and blue eyes. The other two were children. The elder one was packing a pistol.

"This is Rhonda, the tall squirt is my daughter Sarah, and the little one is Pumpkin, who we found here today. She survived on her own for God knows how long."

Rhonda extends a hand, "Hi there. I"m on bathroom patrol. You need to go and I'll walk out with you and keep watch." She rolls her eyes. "I get all the cherry assignments."

Sarah looked Nuri up and down then said, "Whatchya want ... E-free-t? I hope you are better than Bethany," she added with a whisper.

Pumpkin came over and sat down in Priest's lap. The dog, something definitely strange about it, cirlced around behind him. Sarah gave a 'look' toward Pumpkin but looked back to Nuri, waiting.

"I'll help step and fetch it too. Otherwise I've got to go catalog the books and insturments we found, which I can tell you is no fun," he grinned.

[Dawn OOC]

The stranger Efreet cooked a good meal in the wonderful facilities at Jon’s lab. The lab was a marvel to the nomadic super – running water, indoor toilets and a real kitchen. She was able to whip up a great meal; the only downside to dinner was that it had to end. Everyone agreed that it was good meal, and Sarah gravely informed Efreet that ‘he’ was a much better cook than Bethany.

In the morning, everyone was up early. The trucks were almost bursting with goods, and the convoy rolled out early. Despite their early departure, it would still take them almost the whole day to get back to the Refuge, mostly because getting out of McKinney was difficult. There were more zombies around, drawn by the sense of life. Fox was able to burn some of them off, but his fire also did damage to roads, and had to be used carefully.

Their return, as always, brought out a lot of people to gawk and see what was going on. Ger and Jules were waiting, having been warned early that they were inbound. The two pulled Morgan away for the nasty business of the double murder – but Jules gave Morgan a big hug before they got down to the dirty work of running a civilization.

A sense of holiday atmosphere settled over their return as the trucks started to unload. People were coming to see if their wish was granted, or to see what new books were found, or just to look for any news they had of the Dallas area. Nuri found herself the center of a lot of attention, mostly from men – but not in the way she was used to being noticed. She was shocked when she realized that most of them thought she was a guy and they were worried that she was competition. Even with just arriving, she could see the clear gender imbalance – and the way that woman hovered close to protective men. But even with that, Nuri could see that Fox’s Refuge wasn’t quite like any other place she’d seen yet.

Click to reveal..

4 xp

[SalmonMax]

Distracted for a moment by the goings-on, Myf looks back at Jasmine and shrugs with a smile.

"I think I'll be staying here, at least for awhile. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with Gabrielle's interpretation of events. And truth be told..."

She surveys the Refuge and all its hustle and bustle as the trucks come in to unload.

"This is the first time and place I've felt At home at for a long time. I think I can do a lot of good here. I hope I can."

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan had been the last to arrive before they left, having srounged up a full load for his humvee. He hadn't had much time before they left to meet Pumpkin or Nuri, as such he was suprised by the reaction to them from the crowds. He walked over to Nuri and smiled.

"I didn't really get the chance to meet you earlier, I'm Captain Daniel Hawkins, USMC."