Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 8d: The Open Road

[Dawn OOC]

The UpChuck was purring like it hadn't in years, and Ira felt his grin widen as they got back on the open road. As luxurious as that place had been, he didn't really feel safe there. Of course, was there anywhere left that was safe? Maybe not.

Beside him, Cassie relaxed, her eyes on the passing landscape. She had been quiet, but he didn't sense that she was withdrawn. Instead, he felt contentment from her. Occasionally, she hummed along with the Zune, giving Ira a good idea what songs she liked.

Something was standing just off the road ahead and Ira slowed nervously. It was really tall, but before he got too worked up about it, he realized it was a scarecrow. He relaxed, only to tense as he realized that someone had mounted it not in a field, but in the middle of a crossing road. The southward-bound road was clear, but dead in the middle of the north-bound road, the scarecrow loomed.

Ira was closer still before he realized it wasn't really a strawman; the thing was too solid. And as they drew even, the 'corpse' lifted its head and looked at them with dead eyes.

[Ira Sagebrush]

Ira slowed the Nova as they approached and eventually stopped in the middle of the crossroads to get a better look.

Rolling down the driver's window, he lifted his shades and examined the once living man. Someone had chained the zombie to a post from which it now was struggling to get free, the opportunity of fresh meat within its grasp. The tore up jeans and shirt flapped about in the creature's movement as the chains rattled, somehow seeming to remind one of the approach of Marley's ghost.

"Baby, I'll be right back." Ira said, dropping his shades and grabbing the Citori from the dash as he threw open the door.

"Tread lightly." Cass warned, leaning down to look at him.

"No worries sugar." He replied as he took aim from where he stood up.

One well aimed shot later, the zombie's head was all but destroyed and the body slumped against the restraints.

"Scarecrow really needs a brain now, baby." Ira said smirking as he got back in the car.

[Dawn OOC]

As he started to get in the car, the sun flashed off something, and Ira instinctively ducked just as he heard the rifle crack. Where his shoulder had just been, there was now a small metal cylinder that ended in a bit of pink fuzz.

That looked almost exactly like what tranq darts in movies looked like.

Click to reveal..

Ira's Perc (+1 diff): 1 sux

1d10=1, 1d10=1, 1d10=8, 1d10=8

Ira's dodge: 1 sux (lucky bastard! )

1d10=1, 1d10=9, 1d10=1, 1d10=1

NPC's firearms: 1 sux, failure

1d10=1, 1d10=7, 1d10=2, 1d10=1, 1d10=4, 1d10=4

[Ira Sagebrush]

Not one to leave anything to chance, or to put his butt on the line for the death of one measly Zom-crow, Ira quickly dove into the car and slammed the door closed behind him as he hit the gas to finish his progress through and out of the intersection, haphazardly firing a shot out the driver's window in the direction of the assailant.

[Dawn OOC]

The car rocketed forward with a roar as Cassie huddled and put her arms over her head. Ira was looking over his shoulder, and almost didn't see the guy who darted out into the road, rifle coming to his shoulder.

Click to reveal..

Ira needs to make a Dex+Drive check; if he chooses to hit the guy, it's at no difficulty to keep going. If he chooses to swerve, it's at a +1 difficulty.

[Ira Sagebrush]

All of time seemed to slow down for Ira as he quickly made the mental calculations necessary for the best plan of action.

Straight on, he'll get a shot, bust the windshield or baby, swerve, he shoots at the back, same possible outcome.

Microseconds later, the internal debate came to an end and Ira made a small jerk of the wheel to the right in an attempt to throw the insane man's shot and give the guy an Up-Chuck Brushback.

Click to reveal..

Dex+Drive +1 Diff

(23:33:55) ChatBot: (Ira_Sagebrush) rolls 5d10 and gets 7,1,7,3,4.[2] yay!

[Dawn OOC]

The rifle barked and Ira heard it impact the Up Chuck somewhere; then there was the slam of the guy bouncing off the car. Ira had a flash of his face; something was wrong with it, but at the speeds he was moving, it was hard to tell what. Cassie, curled on the floorboard, simply whimpered at all the noise, her eyes fixed on his face.

Click to reveal..

Assailant's shot (+1 diff): 1 sux

1d10=7, 1d10=6, 1d10=9, 1d10=3

[Ira Sagebrush]

"What, baby?" Ira said, breathing hard in his excitement as he glanced between her and the road, "The flying monkey's a little scary?"

He smiled, trying to reassure her as much as himself as he focused on the driving, checking the rearview mirror frequently to make sure no one was gonna sink the land yacht from behind.

[Dawn OOC]

"Did you pierce the cypher?" Cassie asked after she'd finally crawled back into her seat. Even now, she was kneeling on the seat, peering back over the head rest as if expecting someone to come up, even after Ira had put more than ten miles between them.

[Ira Sagebrush]

Ira mouthed her question as he drove. ...pierce the cypher? "Baby? Break the code...?" He guessed as he glanced over at her. "I think you can stop looking, sugar. 'Less they got your blinking ability, we don't have much to worry about from the monkeys."

He was glad to be back in relative safety of the open road, and heaven strike him down if he ever stopped to shoot a damn zombie again! While he waited for Cass' response, Pearl Jam's "Better Man" came up on the Zune.

[Dawn OOC]

Cassie shivered and then turned around, sitting down in her seat. "Here there be Dragons," she muttered, shaking her head. "Where are the furry puppies?"

She reached out and took his hand, smiling at him. "My knight rode to my side again," she said, her voice shy but pleased. "My favor is properly placed."

[Ira Sagebrush]

"Don't look at me baby!" Ira said, surprised that Cass was surprised at finding trouble where the voices pointed her to. "You're the one tellin' me to head East."

Girl can't make up her mind!

"I don't know that I did much but pull a 'Sir Robin' baby. Thanks though." Ira said, "We better pull over and see where that bullet punched a hole in our steed."

Not really pulling over, but more just slowing to a stop, he put the car in park and left it to idle while he exited and circled the car looking for the tell-tale hole from the gun, the Citori light in his hand.

[Dawn OOC]

"Yes, going East," she said, frowning. "But 'furry puppies'... I was just looking for rainbows in the night."

When Ira stopped and circled the car, he found the hole in the passenger side back seat; it had passed through and the Up-chuck's backseat had a hole in it too. A quick inspection of the trunk showed that the bullet had stopped somewhere between the back seat and the trunk.

Cassie had gotten out and was walking around. She stayed close to the car, but while Ira wasn't looking, she had hopped up onto the barbwire fence and was standing on the top wire, balancing effortless. As he started at this display, she said, "Knight! Eye-spy." When Ira joined her, she was pointing at a couple of trailers, just out of sight from the road. They appeared abandoned.

[Ira Sagebrush]

I am a lucky, lucky man. he thought, looking at her balance on the barbwire.

Once he joined her at the fence, he looked at the single-wides. They definitely appeared abandoned, but what was it with finding places just off the road? There had to be a driveway somewhere. Ira just hoped that there wasn't an extended family of Illegal Zombies holed up in there.

"C'mon baby," he said, offering a hand to help her down. "Let's go take a look, doubt they been plundered yet." Never know what you find stored in the Redneck Treasure Chest.

Both back in the car, Ira with a mental note to go through the trunk to inspect damage, he continued down the road, looking for a way to pull off towards the trailers.

Barely a hundred yards down, just over a blind rise, a poorly maintained dirt road was trying and failing to fend off the encroaching grass, but appeared transversable. It was hardly the worst thing he had taken the beast down and it was only a slightly bumpy ride as Ira turned onto it and followed it back to the trailers.

As they got closer, it was obvious that they had not seen any particular care in awhile, though they were basically intact, the windows and doors still holding their own.

"Stormclouds gathering." Cass piped in as they pulled up, adding further to Ira's apprehension about approaching strange dwellings off the beaten path.

"Hope you're talkin' 'bout the weather baby, cuz Hell if I'm getting out of this car if you're not." He said, stopping the car and glancing over at her before giving the trailers a more thorough inspection.

[Dawn OOC]

"Stormcrow," she said, pointing at something Ira couldn't see. He leaned over to get a good look. Cassie was pointing to an army jeep. It wasn't painted with that crazy RUS flag, but it was far too clean to have been here long. Ira had the sudden sensation that someone was watching them.

[Ira Sagebrush]

RUS... Ira thought, the jeep triggering a thought, The difference between them and the ROUS isn't far enough, probably a tie I'd rather not know about.

"You know baby, those love shacks look like they've been claimed, how's about we just keep headin' on down the road and look for less occupied territory..."

Ira put the car in reverse and started to flip the car around, pointing them back at the way out.

[Dawn OOC]

"Wait!" The door of the trailer banged open and a woman in BDUs came barreling out. "Stop, just a moment!" She was armed in classic military gear, and but her hands were empty as she waved them to get his attention. It was hard to see her features under the gear, but she was clearly a she.

"Lamprey," Cassie said softly, looking at Ira.

In the door behind her, a bigger form hovered, leaning on a crutch. His - and he was too big in the shoulders to be a girl - leg was heavily bandaged and in a splint.

"Stop!" the girl shouted again, slowing down her run as she got close, but still frantically waving at them.

[Ira Sagebrush]

Stop!

Click to reveal.. (Flashback)

"Stop! Don't leave us Ira!" The boy said, running after him.

Ira spun around, pulling the familiar shotgun up and pointing it vaguely in the direction of the boy as anger spewed from his mouth. "Why the hell shouldn't I?! You guys fucking ripped my grandfather into pieces! And tried to off me too! Give me one goddamn reason why I shouldn't blow you the fuck away!"

"It wasn't us Ira, it was them. The zombies. At least take us with you." The boy pleaded, tears leaving tracks down his dusty face.

"Not a chance. This place is dead... look at your arm." he said, gesturing with the gun.

The boy quickly covered up the oozing cut with his other hand, his already fearful face becoming frantic.

"Go enjoy your last day on this godforsaken planet." Ira said, his anger bleeding away as he turned around and continued towards his Orange vehicle.

Ira barely had time to turn around at the sound of rapidly approaching footfalls before the boy barreled into him, nearly knocking him down as he tried to wrestle the gun out of Ira's hands.

"You can't leave us!"

"Get off me you psycho brat!"

"I won't let you go!"

"I...said...get...the fuck...off me!"

Ira's hand dug into the boy's neck, drawing blood as he manhandled him and tossed him back. Before the small, weak body had come to a stop, the black lines started spider-webbing across his neck and his eyes glazed over in death.

As Ira watched, the once emotionally torn boy stood back up, his distraught replaced with insatiable hunger.

Psychologically distant, Ira raised the Citori that, too often, had been fired that day, once more letting loose its thunder.

"Not encouraging words to mention blood sucking eels baby." Ira said softly as he glanced at Cassandra and then in the rearview mirror.

He sighed as he let off the gas and brought the car to a stop, pulling the Citori from the dash as he rolled down his window. "That's close enough Brigadier Barbie. Whaddya want?"

[Dawn OOC]

"Our jeep is dead, we have psychos to the west picking us off at night, my last teammate is injured, and we desperately could use a ride to our base. Or at least away from here," she said, ignoring the awful nickname. "We'll replace your gas; there's some left in the jeep. And we'll give you some equipment if you'll take us all the way to our base."

She looked young, this close. Probably someone who had signed on out of high school and now found herself in an army that wasn't safe to leave.

"Visualize? Lamprey," Cassie said, sounding smug.

[Ira Sagebrush]

Yeah, yeah, Cass, I get it.

"What base, and what's wrong with the Jeep?" Ira asked, the gun not even quivering as it threatened to add some air conditioning to the insides of this hard-up cutie.

Probably find some nasty gun-toting ROUS' to greet me at Fort Deadite and take my wheels.

In a world that promised to take your life and reanimate it for the deader good, Ira wasn't about to take any chances on a couple trailer-tossin' Cobra Commandos.

[Dawn OOC]

'Barbie' hesitated and her hands remained in the air, then her mouth set in a line and she said, "We're out of Cheyenne Air Force Base. It's about thirteen hours, straight shot. It'll be longer on the back roads, but we'll get you the fuel and our general will reimburse you for your time and effort.

"Our jeep doesn't have much of an engine anymore. On the first night that they attacked, the sonavbitches broke it down and took most of it while their friends held us down with cover fire. They killed two of my teammates - there's only the Captain and I left."

She paused, then said, "Can we have a ride, please, at least away from here. Otherwise, those red-neck savages are going to kill us."

[Ira Sagebrush]

He should leave them for the banjo-playing psychos, but something about their sob story was striking a nerve and Ira was willing to at least give them the benefit of the doubt. Not to mention having the military...or what was left of it, on your side was always a good thing. Besides, picking up Cassandra had ended up being a good thing..right?

"Fine, but ya both strip to your skivvies, gimpy sits in the back and you ride up front with a bullet funnel pointed at your kidneys. Been through too much crap lately to take any chances."

The lack of clothing would keep them vulnerable, while at the same time allowing Ira to look for weapons and zombie scat.

[Dawn OOC]

"Uhh..." the woman said, her eyes widening. After studying Ira for a moment, she said, "Lemme... talk to my CO." She went back to the trailer and spoke to the man leaning in the doorway.

"No longer peanuts," Cassie sighed, getting out of car and putting an arm around him. "Peas, now."

After a long chat, 'Barbie' came back. "Alright," she said nervously. "It's a deal. Before I strip, can I load our gear?"

"What gear?"

"Mostly supplies - food, water, clothing, firepower," the woman said, biting her lip. "Medical supplies, too. That was our mission. Getting the supplies. We'd like to bring something back with us so that our team didn't die for no reason."

[Ira Sagebrush]

As the two redshirts conversed, Ira leaned into Cass and mirrored the arm around him on her. "Yeah baby, let's hope these peas get shucked soon."

~~

"Fine." Ira said, waving a hand dismissively, "In the trunk, we'll help, don't need the primates getting a jump on us while we pack. Tell Lieutenant Dan there to start stripping, looks like it might take him awhile."

[Dawn OOC]

'Dan' gave Ira a flat look but started to slowly strip. "I suppose ya'll be wantin' to see my wound?" he asked in a voice thick with a Kentucky accent. Ira gave him a look that practially said 'of course' and the man nodded and hobbled over to the hood of the Up-Chuck. As they loaded the trunk, he got his pants and jacket off and started to unwind the wound.

Several backpacks went in the back, along with two metal boxes that had the familiar red cross that was the symbol of the healing help in the military. The boxes were stoutly built and securely locked, so they were unlikely to bounce open in the trunk.

With that done, Barbie went to check on Dan, and helped him finish exposing the wound. "There," she said when they had the bandage back. A large hole had been roughly sewn shut; whomever had done the stitches hadn't had the best talent at thread work. It clearly was a large bullet wound, not a bite. But there were the distressing red that Ira could see starting to show around the wound, the first signs of infection. "Are you satisfied?" Barbie asked, her eyes worried as she stared at the wound.

[Ira Sagebrush]

Once upon a time, Ira would have fell over himself, probably wretching at the site of an infected gunshot wound. But not anymore, the world had shown him its darker undead side, and it was ugly.

Therefore there was no apology in his voice, no sympathy, he had agreed to help under his conditions, there was no tugging at this man's heartstrings.

"He's good to go, now you." Ira stated, resting the Citori on his shoulder.

[Dawn OOC]

'Barbie' helped 'Dan' redress his wound and finish pulling off his shirt. She was procrasinating, but when there was nothing left for her to use to put the moment off, she took a deep breath and started to strip. Her removed clothes revealed a decent body, one that would have been hot enough before Ira had seen Violet. She was still hot, but not by comparison. 'Barbie' stood in her tank top and undies and did a spin, showing herself to be clean of bites. "Satisfied?"

[Ira Sagebrush]

"Oh yeah baby...I am." Ira said, appreciating the view. "You both can get dressed. Hurry, we're wasting daylight."

Ira waved at their clothes with the shotgun. Giving Cass a nervous glance and blushing slightly.

First, piss them off by taking it all away, then give them a piece of candy...and keep the Lady pleased.

[Dawn OOC]

'Barbie' turned bright red while Cassie just looked a little perturbed. But his Lady still came and put her arm around him. Watching as the two got dressed. 'Barbie' wasted no time getting her CO into the back seat, moving him carefully. The bottom edge of the red-tinted sun was kissing the ground when they were ready to roll; as 'Barbie' took her seat, she said, "Let's get the fuck out of here. They're most active at night."

[Ira Sagebrush]

"Don't have to tell me twice, sugar." Ira said, pushing the refurbished Nova across the dirt road and back towards the smoother pavement.

"Which way Barb?" he asked as they approached the roadway, "Not exactly familiar with this area."

"My name is Teresa, Sargeant Teresa Bowe, not 'Barbie'. And we'll need to head north and west..." she said, pulling out her map and pointing to it while she held it up. "...but we'll want to avoid this area, so we head South then come back around and head North."

"The peas are riding the teacups." Cass whispered.

Ira glanced at Cass, cocking an eyebrow, then looked at the map to confirm his route as he pulled out onto the road. "Sounds good."

Hitting the 'play' button on the Zune, 311's "Don't Stay Home" cued up.

[Dawn OOC]

The only sign of civilization they saw was a zombie - not usually considered a sign, but this one was chained to a run line, allowing it to 'guard' an opening in the fence along the north side of the road. This time, no one suggested stopping to shoot it and Ira even picked up speed to blaze past it.

Things settled down after they were sure they were clear of the nuts' area, and for a while things were quiet. "So," Teresa said, breaking the sudden silence, "you know me, and this is Lt. Miles Flannery. Who are you two?"

"You'll fly," Cassie said suddenly, looking irritated. She glanced at Miles and shrugged. "You'll fly away."

He stared at her, and Ira was used to the expression on his face. It was the same one everyone got when Cassie said something that scared or startled people. "I... uh... are you one of those super-humans I've heard about? Because, um... you shouldn't know that." He smiled suddenly. "But thanks for letting me know. I appreciate it."

[Ira Sagebrush]

Ira slammed on the brakes, bringing the hulking car to a screeching halt. He killed the power to the radio just as The Fray's "Dead Wrong" was hitting the chorus and turned around in his seat. "You can fly?!"

[Dawn OOC]

"Well, no," Miles said, grimacing as the sudden stop jarred his leg. "Your lady-friend just told me something that had been bothering me." He looked awkward. "I could explain, but it's personal."

Teresa stared at the three of them as if she didn't know what to think anymore. "Though we do know someone who can fly," she said. "One of our enhanced humans has that ability. She said she'd teach others, if you're interested."

[Ira Sagebrush]

"Fair enough." Ira said, responding to Miles.

"Sure, would love to learn." Ira said, rolling his eyes and clearly not believing her. "Right after my conference call with Santa."

Ira took his foot off the break and quickly got the car up to speed. "Name's Ira, the Lady here is Cassandra. We're only super insofar as we've managed to live this long after Zombigeddon."

[Dawn OOC]

"That is an achievement. More than some have managed," Miles sighed, looking out the window. There was some more silence, as the four all found their minds going back to those who didn't make it. The only interruption was Teresa giving Ira the occasional direction.

Finally they had circled far enough around that the psychos had been left behind, and they were on their way north and west. "So," Teresa said, tired of the silence, "how long have you two been traveling? Where are you from?"

[Ira Sagebrush]

Ira glanced at Cass, hoping she would pipe up and respond, but she seemed stoic in her reserved lull.

Shoulda queued the music.

"Few weeks. Myself, I'm from what used to be Pueblo, now I'm from this Chevy and wherever Cass needs me." He answered.

Ira's lip curled a bit, as he quickly debated whether to be polite, and decided it might not be too bad to know some more about the fox before he drove into the den.

"How 'bout you two?"

[Dawn OOC]

"From southeast o' Lexington, Kentucky, originally," Miles said. He shifted lightly, moving his leg in the cramped back seat. "Little town called Egypt just outside the Daniel Boone National Forest."

"Yonkers," Teresa said softly. "It's all zomb-land, just like the rest of New York City." She snapped out of her funk. "We're both stationed in Cheyenne Air Force Base now. That's home." She sounded like she was convincing herself of that.

"It's one of the safer places, if you'd both like to stop there for a while, or forever," Miles said, his tone considering. "Could always use more people. Not enough of those anymore. You seem like good people, and there's even fewer of those now."

"I lived a mile over the ocean," Cassie said, looking a little embarrassed as she spoke. But she kept trying. "There was a place, with healers, that tried to get me out of the box. I had to get sick to free myself."

Teresa frowned, then asked, "No offense, hon, but do you ever make sense?"

"Broken tongue," Cassie said helplessly, holding her hands up in a 'what can you do' gesture.

"I guess." She glanced at Ira. "Can you follow her? Does exposure grant you an English to Cassie translation?"

[Ira Sagebrush]

Ira snorted, "No, not really, I still don't understand her half the time. Though I'm hoping that its like what they say happens in foreign countries, enough exposure and you just start to get it. Though the idea of speaking it back may be just as confusing. Really I'm hopin' we can learn sign language or something, she's awesome at charades."

He glanced at Miles in the rearview mirror, "How many you got at the base? Just military?"

[Dawn OOC]

Miles shook his head. "Don't know the exact numbers, over a hundred, three enhanced, and some civilians. Once we realized what was happening, we stopped turning people away. We have a bunch of them camping in the entrance tunnel, but they're safe there, so it's good. We also have a bunch of scientists, working on a cure. Honestly, it's not the damn zombies you have to worry about though. It's those punks to the west."

"Punks?" Ira repeated, wondering if this guy would ever leave the 80's.

"Yeah, an enclave of about twelve enhanced people somewhere out to the west," Miles said. "They wanted our place, we told them to shove off, but I get the feeling they'll be back at some point. One of the little shits damn near convinced the General to leave; if he hadn't had Colonel Marsh there, we'd be looking for a new home. And they all have fucking pretentious names, like Battalion and Snake-tongue."

"Wormtongue, sir. It's a bad situation," Teresa said softly. "If they changed their mind about needless killing, it could get really ugly."

"Greedy," Cassie said softly, looking a little pale. "They have Olympius - why do they need Hades, too?"

The two soldiers looked at her, looked at each other and then looked at Ira. "Got any idea what she means by that one?" Miles asked him casually.

[Ira Sagebrush]

"Well, I think she's saying that they already have a great place, why do they need to come down to the Land of the Dead and take that too?" Ira asked, his voicing raising at the end to indicate his question as he looked over at Cass for confirmation.

I have a feeling I would be Knight. Cass could be Blink.