Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 8c: The Test

[Dawn OOC]

The days following Han's departure passed too fast and too slowly. The hard labor demanded to bring about their plans were brutal torture, and it seemed that the breaks never came quickly enough for sore limbs and overworked bodies. At the same time, with so much to do, there never seemed enough time for everything.

The seamstresses of the community had united to create more shirts for Gabrielle; it wouldn't do to have their angel improperly clothed. She barely managed to stop them from making them of the finest material available, or from making them ornate and unnecessarly fancy. She knew their intentions were mostly pure; they did it from love - and from pride, a little.

Things were going well. Soon she would be able have running water piped directly into the building, hot running water. More importantly, it would provide heat this winter. The thought made her smile; it would be proof that she and hers were going to make it, that they'd be alright.

As if her thoughts summoned a trial, Michael appeared, his eyes worried. "Gabrielle, we have a problem with the steam system."

"Problem?"

"Yes, there's a pipe broken somewhere in the access tunnels, which we had closed because of zombies," he said. "We going to need to clear out those tunnels before we were ready to, because we have to gain access to fix the system. What do you want us to do?"

[z016]

"Alright." She took a breath, thinking about the best way to do this.

"Have Caleb pick a team of men for another run around campus and into the city. They're to look for shields. They might start with the police station, but if that's already been raided they should try the Home Depot. We can make them if we have to...." Her voice trailed off as her mind wandered down a tangent. After a moment she came back to the present. "Actually, scratch that. Just send them to the Home Depot. We'll need wood, saws, woodglue, and some of the large trollies that they move heavy merchandise on in places like that. The tunnels are large enough for them, and if we can send a team in in something armored and with holes just big enough to aim out of, we stand a much better chance of clearing them out without any casualties."

She grinned, and then another thought struck her. "And two bikes. We'll have to make a propulsion system that is manual and doesn't leave large holes in our wooden turtle."

"We can seal off the doors down in the tunnels until we get to clearing out those parts of the campus, and that'll give us the tunnels to work with when we get to that." She nodded, pleased with the start of this solution. "Get with Caleb and find out who and what he needs. We'll adjust the rosters and make this a top priority; hot running water will do wonders for morale."

[Dawn OOC]

"Alright, Gabrielle," Michael said, hope returning to his eyes as she spoke. "We'll get right to work on that." He was as good as his word, dashing off to get Caleb. When he came back with Caleb, they discussed the plan briefly before Caleb gathered up a handful of the men and they left.

A couple of hours they were back, tired and freckled with dried blood. They'd ran into some zombies; no one was hurt, and the eye protectors and medical face masks were saving them from indirect infection. It was still a harrowing reminder of how close they walked to death every day. Their mission had been mostly successful, and the handymen started in on the project immediately.

"We were only able to find one working bike before we had to fall back," Caleb said wearily as one of the children carefully sponged blood off his face with a mixture of soap and bleach. "I'll go again tomorrow," he sighed, wincing as he rotated his wrist. He'd gotten it caught between the one bike they'd gotten and a four-by-four. "Sorry, Gabrielle."

[z016]

She took his wrist in her hand, a pleasant heat spreading through and chasing away the pain. "Don't apologize. You and your men came back alive and with what we needed, that's a heroic feat in these days. Don't worry about the second bike. I can make the transport with two wheels; it'll just mean people will need to balance well in it. I'll talk with the builders." She squeezed his shoulder and smiled in appreciation, hoping he took her words to heart. "Was anyone else hurt?"

After tending to any more wounded, she headed over to the handymen to modify the plans to accommodate for only two wheels. It would be a little balance-tricky until they got the rest of the wheels for it, but it could work for short runs into the steam tunnels and back out. If it proved even halfway effective in keeping her people safe, she'd spend more time on creating something more elegant and useful. Forays into the city could use transport vehicles as well.

[Dawn OOC]

"Minor cuts and bruises," Caleb said, flexing the wrist and nodding. He followed her, as was his wont, her quiet shadow as she conferred with Michael and his team. They were already examining the wood Caleb's team had brought back.

"This'll work," Michael told her, smiling, though that smile slipped when he found out about the bike. "We could really use two."

"I can get another," Caleb insisted, crossing his arms. "Just give me until tomorrow. I can get a second bike. We'll just hit another store this time."

Michael looked to Gabrielle. "I can start tonight, but I need to know if we're doing one or two bikes."

[z016]

She debated it for a minute. It really would work better with two bikes. She sighed and nodded to Caleb. "Alight, but try the motorpool on campus first. It's closer and hopefully has less zombies to deal with."

She glanced up at her erstwhile shadow, knowing that he wouldn't be deterred from going out again himself. "Take another group, though. The men that already went out need their rest. So do you, if you'd take it." Her tone was somewhere between resigned and teasing.

[Dawn OOC]

"I get enough rest," Caleb said, smiling gently at her. As if to prove his point, he retired early that night and was up in the morning to lead another team into the unsecured area of campus. Mid-afternoon found him back, this time with three bicycles. "I figured that we could use the potential spare parts."

[z016]

They were welcomed back in the manner that all those that went out were welcomed back - with cheers and admiration from those that stayed behind. One of the older children spent the afternoon taking all the doors off their hinges in one of the apartments and swiping the extra bikes for the kids to play obstacle course with. It was amazing how much better most children had coped with the end of the world than their adult counterparts.

Meanwhile, those adults concentrated on the tasks necessary to keep what was left of their world running. Food was cooked, clothing washed, prayers whispered when needed, and in the main room of the Magdalen Community, the new vehicle of a world with the walking dead was slowly taking shape. It was an ugly thing made of wood, metal, and plastic; it was designed for utility and safety and shouldn't ever travel much faster than a light jog. They named it the Dove.

[Dawn OOC]

The next morning, the next stage of work began. With a bit of effort, they levered the Dove into the tunnels. The fit was perfect, and the team selected to do the cleaning was safely hidden behind her wings. Slowly, nervously, they started to explore the tunnels.

It was thankless, dirty work. Downing the zombies - always unpleasant - was followed by back-tracking while dragging the corpses out. They couldn't be left, because they couldn't be rolled over by the Dove. They also couldn't be left because they had to be burned. Once dragged back to an access point, the doubly-dead bodies were wenched out and added to the bonfire they had prepared.

By the end of the day, they had cleared out some tunnels, but they weren't done, and everyone was exhausted. They were more disspirited than purely tired; hours of shooting, hauling and burning the bodies of men, women and children had sapped their soul as much as their limbs.

[z016]

Gabrielle watched them work for a while from the safety of the cleared tunnels, frustrated that she couldn't do more herself. Even if they'd have allowed her go along with the Dove, she'd never have fit inside with her new wingspan. She watched as each second death they delivered tested their hope and their faith all over again and fretted; eventually she left the tunnels, taking to the air to see if the skyline or the city too dangerous to walk had some spark of God's inspiration for her.

She found it in the rotting remnants of a child's backyard birthday party. The cake had long since been taken by ants and animals, the balloons were sad tatters of plastic blowing listlessly along the ground, and the blood smears on the picnic tables left little hope for the child this had been a celebration for, but it reminded Gabrielle of the human need for ceremony and festival. In all the work that there was to be done, and it seemed never ending, she'd forgotten to remind her people why this world and this life was still worth fighting for.

The moans from the house underneath her was a reminder as well. They were gathering from all over the neighborhood now, blind eyes and rictous limbs seeking out the heat of life that had invaded their territory. Gabrielle took off the shotgun that had been slung over her back for the flight and took careful aim. The goal was one bullet to one zombie, and she was learning quickly. It took two reloads and a melee finale with the machete Caleb insisted she start wearing if she was going to go flying on her own. She wasn't quite so practice with that and by the end she was covered in blood, gore, and sweat.

She took what she could find in the houses, moving quickly to avoid the next wave of undead that was no doubt already making their way towards the noise and whatever it was that they used to track the living. New clothes and oversized picnic basket with blankets for the stops at the JB Crafts N More, the jewelry and spa stores she'd seen in town from other fly-by's, and the beverage bottling and shipping centers that were in the industrial park rounded out her first acquisitions. It was going to take several trips to and from the college to gather what she wanted, but with her wings and her stamina the effort seemed well worth seeing her people smile again.

It was nightfall by the time she finished and curious parishioners had gathered on the roof, obviously wanting to poke through the blanket-covered piles but held back by her cheerful, "Wait until I'm done, please." As she made her last trip back to the apartment roof she could see the smoke trail of the bonfire that had been lit behind the power station. She set down her final blanket of trinkets, decorations, sodas, and snacks that had been left in the warehouses and addressed her flock.

"Tonight and until dawn the day after tomorrow I am declaring a jubilee." She grinned at the looks of confusion and wonder. "We've gone too long merely surviving and forgetting what it is to take joy in living. The Lord gave us Sabbath days to remember Him, His infinite Grace, and the love with which He created the world and His children. In these past months, we've forgotten. But look at what we've accomplished!"

She motioned out to the campus, the fences that were making patches of haven in the collegiate jungle, the homes they had made in the abandoned apartment building beneath them, the little touches that could be seen everywhere the congregation had been that said 'we are still live, civilization still lives in us'. She turned her face back to them, her smile shining in the waning light. "So we should celebrate. There are decorations in those piles, gifts to be given out in those, and drinks and snack foods I found at some of the warehouses in those. Not everything is going to be good, I know, but I figured we could find enough to share and enjoy something other than canned beans."

Excited titters went through the crowds as they moved to uncover the bounty of useless but necessary things their leader had brought for them. Lamps and candles lit the roof in a Mardi Gras light, balloons and streamers were filled and set loose for the children to play with, and tables were brought up to lay out the foods and gifts. Guards drifted in and out, taking word to their companions still on patrol of the celebration at home and the bonfire was built up to burn faster and hotter, ending the unpleasantness of the day as quickly as possible.

Small tiffs over this bracelet or that soda broke out, but Gabrielle took heart in such petty grievances. It meant that they were making progress, that her people felt safe here. Some of the men grumbled at the Coca Cola and muttered longings for a good draft beer, but Caleb made quick rounds and reminded them that drunk men couldn't defend themselves, let alone families enjoying themselves for the first time in over half a year. The grumbles continued, but halfheartedly and Gabrielle noticed that the sodas were the first of her bundles to be finished off.

She caught up to Caleb herself a little after midnight. Most of the children had been put to bed, exhausted from sugar highs and games of tag and hide-an-seek on the roof. The adults themselves were winding down; someone had found a guitar in one of the apartments and repaired it working order over the past week, they were still learning but the sound of simple music and contented voices drifting over the air was an angelic choir to her ears. They were standing on the edges of the light from the singers and their musician.

"I want you to take tomorrow off, Caleb. Completely off. You have good people that can take your place for a day."

The Iowa farm boy frowned, "I'm taking time off right now. Besides, the men deserve to sleep in and enjoy tomorrow as well."

"No, you're not. You haven't been out of sight of me the entire time you've been up here, and you make rounds like a mother hen at least once an hour. You're not on duty, but you're still working." She smiled up at him, trying to take any sting he might feel out of her words. "You need a day off, even if that means locking you in your room to get it. We can have everyone on guard duty take shifts for an hour or two tomorrow so everyone has most of the day off. Just one day, Caleb. Take your Sabbath. You deserve it."

[Dawn OOC]

The jubilee was a massive hit. Caleb took part of the day off, though Gabrielle caught him sneaking off regularly to check in with his men. It was the closest he'd come to rest yet, and she accepted it gladly.

A couple of the older women grabbed several of the trinkets, starting a fight until Gabrielle interceded. Once she was alone with them, they explained that they wanted to have prizes for games for the children. Gabrielle kept the prizes to forestall any more fights. The games went off without a hitch, and Gabrielle was asked to award the winners.

There was music, dancing, impromptu dramas performed and more as the citizens of the enclave cut loose for the first time in a long time. Death and disease were forgotten in favor of life and hope for a while.

As it grew dark, things wound down again, slowly becoming quieter. Gabrielle watched as her people slowly went to sleep, their faces far more peaceful than they had been in a while. She knew that they would return to the drudgery of their life tomorrow, but for tonight, they were content.

[Dawn OOC]

Click to reveal..

OOC: Closing this out to keep roughly with the others.

5 xp